The great whore HER CRUELTY Revelation 17v6
"And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration."
In order to understand the force of this, we need to focus on the last phrase of the verse. The word used for "admiration" can also be used for wonder or astonishment and this seems to fit the context more than the other. The apostle John is astonished at what he is seeing. He has been involved in the church of Jesus Christ from its very beginning. He has witnessed times of great spiritual power and also times of decline. In penning the book of the Revelation he wrote to seven churches, and to five of the seven churches he had to insert the word "repent." In the course of time there was a gradual decline in the character of the churches, until we come to the last mentioned when Jesus said "I will spew thee out of my mouth." He had seen good and bad in the churches, but never did he ever think that the professing church would sink to such depths such as is described here.
In summary God calls her the great whore; she is in league with the corrupt kings of the earth; she has tried to intoxicate the world with evil doctrines; she holds a golden cup but it is full of abominations. She is shameless in her apostasy. It is as if John is saying how can something that started in full spiritual power presenting the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ descend to such depths? No wonder he was astonished. This is the answer to what was outlined by Paul in 2nd Thessalonians 2v3 "that day shall not come, that is (the day of Christ) except there come the apostasy(R.V.) first, and that man of sin be revealed the son of perdition." The professing church (or what is left of it) has overthrown every tenet of the pure doctrine of Jesus Christ, and substituted it with the doctrines of demons. She is the apostate church, with no semblance of spirituality, no desire for holiness, no meekness of spirit, as indicated by her pomp and splendour and vast riches. We can well understand how this servant of God was astonished, but it gets worse.
What he saw was something beyond belief, and what was shocking to his system, "a woman drunken with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. Not only a faithless church marked with greed and pride, she is now a killer church who has slain the true followers of Jesus Christ. No doubt John in his vision was made aware of the horrors enacted in the world against believing Christians. This martyrdom began with the Jews in the promised land, (Stephen then James then many others), officiated from Jerusalem, and in the course of the past 2000 years has spread out across the world in unbelievable numbers. In the course of ten Roman emperors believers in Christ were persecuted and killed. "Throwing Christians to the lions" became the pastime of at least three of these emperors. Out of twelve apostles eleven were martyred. Many details are recorded in the book called "Foxe's book of martyrs." There were the slaughters of the Waldenses; and that of the Albigones. There were the butcheries by Duke D'alva in what are known as the low countries. There were the massacres in France and in Ireland; the Spanish inquisition; the burning of the martyrs in the days of Queen Mary of England. These are but samples of mass killings which took place because of religious intolerance against the followers of Christ. What will happen in this future day described here will be on a much larger scale of martyrdom (as indeed recorded in Revelation) so the trend will go on. In the name of this apostate church, unfaithful to Jesus Christ many millions of believers will be slain for their faith. The worst thing about this is that this woman was not drunk with wine or any other intoxicating substance, she was drunk with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus. She becomes so used to it that it becomes an addiction, she is in a stupor with blood lust, desiring to put down anyone who would oppose her ways. This arrogant breaking of the sixth commandment is carried out by someone who takes the name of God upon them. Jesus warned His disciples that the time would come "that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God's service." And these things they will do unto you because they have not known the Father nor Me."
In order to understand the force of this, we need to focus on the last phrase of the verse. The word used for "admiration" can also be used for wonder or astonishment and this seems to fit the context more than the other. The apostle John is astonished at what he is seeing. He has been involved in the church of Jesus Christ from its very beginning. He has witnessed times of great spiritual power and also times of decline. In penning the book of the Revelation he wrote to seven churches, and to five of the seven churches he had to insert the word "repent." In the course of time there was a gradual decline in the character of the churches, until we come to the last mentioned when Jesus said "I will spew thee out of my mouth." He had seen good and bad in the churches, but never did he ever think that the professing church would sink to such depths such as is described here.
In summary God calls her the great whore; she is in league with the corrupt kings of the earth; she has tried to intoxicate the world with evil doctrines; she holds a golden cup but it is full of abominations. She is shameless in her apostasy. It is as if John is saying how can something that started in full spiritual power presenting the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ descend to such depths? No wonder he was astonished. This is the answer to what was outlined by Paul in 2nd Thessalonians 2v3 "that day shall not come, that is (the day of Christ) except there come the apostasy(R.V.) first, and that man of sin be revealed the son of perdition." The professing church (or what is left of it) has overthrown every tenet of the pure doctrine of Jesus Christ, and substituted it with the doctrines of demons. She is the apostate church, with no semblance of spirituality, no desire for holiness, no meekness of spirit, as indicated by her pomp and splendour and vast riches. We can well understand how this servant of God was astonished, but it gets worse.
What he saw was something beyond belief, and what was shocking to his system, "a woman drunken with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. Not only a faithless church marked with greed and pride, she is now a killer church who has slain the true followers of Jesus Christ. No doubt John in his vision was made aware of the horrors enacted in the world against believing Christians. This martyrdom began with the Jews in the promised land, (Stephen then James then many others), officiated from Jerusalem, and in the course of the past 2000 years has spread out across the world in unbelievable numbers. In the course of ten Roman emperors believers in Christ were persecuted and killed. "Throwing Christians to the lions" became the pastime of at least three of these emperors. Out of twelve apostles eleven were martyred. Many details are recorded in the book called "Foxe's book of martyrs." There were the slaughters of the Waldenses; and that of the Albigones. There were the butcheries by Duke D'alva in what are known as the low countries. There were the massacres in France and in Ireland; the Spanish inquisition; the burning of the martyrs in the days of Queen Mary of England. These are but samples of mass killings which took place because of religious intolerance against the followers of Christ. What will happen in this future day described here will be on a much larger scale of martyrdom (as indeed recorded in Revelation) so the trend will go on. In the name of this apostate church, unfaithful to Jesus Christ many millions of believers will be slain for their faith. The worst thing about this is that this woman was not drunk with wine or any other intoxicating substance, she was drunk with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus. She becomes so used to it that it becomes an addiction, she is in a stupor with blood lust, desiring to put down anyone who would oppose her ways. This arrogant breaking of the sixth commandment is carried out by someone who takes the name of God upon them. Jesus warned His disciples that the time would come "that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God's service." And these things they will do unto you because they have not known the Father nor Me."
Amazon bookshelf George Neilly
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