Gary Gleans

Then I heard another voice from heaven saying,  “Come out of her, my people,   lest you take part in her sins,   lest you share in her plagues;   for   her sins are heaped high as heaven,   and   God has remembered her iniquities.   Pay her back as she herself has paid back others,   and repay her   double for her deeds;   mix a double portion for her   in the cup she mixed.     As she glorified herself and lived in luxury,   so give her a like measure of torment and mourning, since in her heart she says,   ‘I sit as a queen,   I am no widow,   and mourning I shall never see.’   For this reason her plagues will come   in a single day,   death and mourning and famine,   and   she will be burned up with fire;   for   mighty is the Lord God who has judged her.” Since judgment on the great city and system of Babylon has been pronounced, another angel steps forward to ...

After this I saw   another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and   the earth was made bright with his glory.    And he called out with a mighty voice,  “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great!    She has become   a dwelling place for demons,   a haunt   for every unclean spirit,   a haunt   for every unclean bird,   a haunt for every unclean and detestable beast.    For all nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality,   and   the kings of the earth have committed immorality with her,   and   the merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power of her luxurious living.” In the previous chapter we saw the religious nature of the great city of Babylon.  In this chapter we see the political and economic aspects of the city.  When religious idolatry, political corruption, and economic greed combine; we have a recipe for disaster....

And the angel said to me,   “The waters that you saw, where the prostitute is seated, are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages.    And   the ten horns that you saw, they and the beast   will hate the prostitute. They will make her   desolate and   naked, and   devour her flesh and   burn her up with fire,   for   God has put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose by being of one mind and   handing over their royal power to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled.    And the woman that you saw is   the great city that has dominion over the kings of the earth.” John continues to receive the interpretation of the vision he was given of the harlot riding on the beast.  This explanation makes it clear that while the beast and the harlot appear to be in an alliance, the reality is that there is animosity and resentment between the two that will ultimately result in the overthrow of ...

When I saw her, I marveled greatly.    But the angel said to me, “Why do you marvel? I will tell you   the mystery of the woman, and of the beast with seven heads and ten horns that carries her.    The beast that you saw   was, and is not, and   is about to rise from   the bottomless pit and   go to destruction. And   the dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in   the book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel to see the beast, because   it was and is not and is to come.    This calls for a mind with wisdom: the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated;   they are also seven kings, five of whom have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come, and when he does come he must remain only a little while.    As for the beast   that was and is not, it is an eighth but it belongs to the seven, and it goes to destruction.    And   the ten horns...

Then   one of the seven angels who had   the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of   the great prostitute   who is seated on many waters,   with whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality, and   with the wine of whose sexual immorality   the dwellers on earth have become drunk.”    And   he carried me away in the Spirit   into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on   a scarlet beast that was full of   blasphemous names, and   it had seven heads and ten horns.    The woman   was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned   with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand   a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality.    And on her forehead was written a name of   mystery:   “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth's abominations.”    And I saw the woman, drun...

The seventh angel poured out his bowl into   the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple, from the throne, saying,   “It is done!”    And there were   flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, and   a great earthquake   such as there had never been since man was on the earth, so great was that earthquake.    The great city   was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell, and God   remembered   Babylon the great,   to make her drain the cup of the wine of the fury of his wrath.    And   every island fled away, and no mountains were to be found.    And   great hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, fell from heaven on people; and   they cursed God for   the plague of the hail, because the plague was so severe. The end of an era is described in this section of Scripture.  The era of plagues, storms, and disasters that have fallen upon the ear...

The sixth angel poured out his bowl on   the great river Euphrates, and   its water was dried up,   to prepare the way for the kings   from the east.  And I saw, coming out of the mouth of   the dragon and out of the mouth of   the beast and out of the mouth of   the false prophet, three   unclean spirits like   frogs.  For they are   demonic spirits,   performing signs, who go abroad to the kings of the whole world,   to assemble them for battle on   the great day of God the Almighty.   (“Behold,   I am coming like a thief!   Blessed is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on,   that he may not go about naked and be seen exposed!”)    And   they assembled them at the place that in Hebrew is called   Armageddon. Since the fall, humanity has been at war with one another.  Cain killed his brother and the killing has not stopped since that day...

Then I heard a loud voice from the temple telling   the seven angels, “Go and   pour out on the earth   the seven bowls of the wrath of God.”  So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth, and harmful and painful   sores came upon the people who bore   the mark of the beast and worshiped its image.   The second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and   it became like the blood of a corpse, and   every living thing died that was in the sea.   The third angel poured out his bowl into   the rivers and the springs of water, and   they became blood.    And I heard the angel in charge of the waters say,  “Just are you,   O Holy One,   who is and who was,   for you brought these judgments.    For   they have shed the blood of   saints and prophets,   and   you have given them blood to drink.     It is what they deserve!” ...

Then   I saw another sign in heaven, great and amazing,   seven angels with seven plagues, which are the last, for with them the wrath of God is finished.  And I saw   what appeared to be a sea of glass mingled with fire—and also those   who had conquered the beast and its image and   the number of its name, standing beside the sea of glass   with harps of God in their hands.    And they sing   the song of Moses,   the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying,  “Great and amazing are your deeds,   O Lord God the Almighty!    Just and true are your ways,   O King of the nations!  Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name?     For you alone are   holy.     All nations will come   and worship you,   for your righteous acts have been revealed.”  After this I looked, and   the sanctuary of   the tent of witness in heaven was open...

Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and seated on the cloud one   like a son of man,   with a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand.    And another angel   came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud,   “Put in your sickle, and reap, for the hour to reap has come, for   the harvest of the earth is fully ripe.”    So he who sat on the cloud swung his sickle across the earth, and the earth was reaped.    Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle.    And another angel came out from the altar,   the angel who has authority over the fire, and he called with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, “Put in your sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth,   for its grapes are ripe.”     So the angel swung his sickle across the earth and gathered the grape harvest of the earth and threw it...

Then I saw another angel   flying directly overhead, with an eternal gospel to proclaim to   those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people.    And he said with a loud voice,   “Fear God and   give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come, and   worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the   springs of water.”    Another angel, a second, followed, saying,   “Fallen, fallen is   Babylon the great,   she who made all nations drink   the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality.”    And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone   worships the beast and its image and receives   a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink   the wine of God's wrath,   poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and   he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in t...