DAILY TEXT, Friday, July 5, 2024. I was totally amazed (Rev. 17:6).

DAILY TEXT, Today's Friday, July 5, 2024. I was totally amazed (Rev. 17:6).

Let us examine the scriptures every day 2024

Friday, July 5, 2024

I was totally amazed (Rev. 17:6).

What was it that amazed the apostle John? A woman who was sitting on a scarlet red wild beast. She is represented as a “great prostitute,” and her name is “Babylon the Great.” She has “immoral sexual relations” with “the kings of the earth” (Rev. 17:1-5). What is “Babylon the Great”? This woman cannot represent a political organization because Revelation says that she has immoral sexual relations with the political leaders of the world (Rev. 18:9). The fact that she is sitting on the wild beast shows that she is trying to control them. She and she, too, cannot represent the greedy commercial organizations of Satan's world, for Revelation speaks of them later and calls them “the merchants of the earth” (Rev. 18:11, 15, 16). Ancient Babylon was a city where false religion abounded. So Babylon the Great has to represent false worship in all its forms. In fact, it is the set of false religions in the world (Rev. 17:5, 18). w22.05 11 paras. 14-16.

What will happen to Babylon the Great?

What will happen to Babylon the Great? Revelation 17:16, 17 says, “The 10 horns that she clothes on her and the wild beast will hate the prostitute and leave her in ruins and naked. They will eat her flesh and burn her completely with fire. Because God put it in her hearts to carry out his thought.” Yes, Jehovah will cause the nations to use the scarlet-red wild beast, the United Nations, to attack the false religions of this world and completely destroy them.​—Rev. 18:21-24.

What should we do to have nothing to do with Babylon the Great?

Lessons for us. It is important that we hold fast to “the form of worship” that God considers “pure and undefiled” (James 1:27). Let us never allow Babylon the Great to influence us with its false teachings, pagan celebrations, permissive moral standards, and spiritualistic practices. And let's keep telling people: “Get out of it.” If they do, God will not consider them complicit in the sins of Babylon the Great (Rev. 18:4).

Who is the “big fire-colored dragon”?

The book of Revelation also speaks of “a great dragon of the color of fire” (Rev. 12:3). This dragon fights against Jesus and his angels (Rev. 12:7-9). Furthermore, he attacks God's people and gives power to political beasts (Rev. 12:17; 13:4). Who is this dragon? He is “the original serpent, called the Devil and Satan” (Rev. 12:9; 20:2). He is the one who controls all the other enemies of Jehovah.

What will happen to the dragon?

What will happen to the dragon? Revelation 20:1-3 says that an angel will cast Satan into a pit, and that will be like a prison for him. Satan will be locked up for 1,000 years and will not “deceive the nations” again until that period of time is over. And finally, Satan and his demons will be cast “into the lake of fire and brimstone.” This means that they will be destroyed once and for all (Rev. 20:10). Can you imagine what life will be like without Satan and demons? It will be wonderful!

Why does what we have read in the book of Revelation make us happy?

Isn't it encouraging to understand what the signs or symbols in the book of Revelation mean? In addition to discovering who Jehovah's enemies are, we have also seen what will happen to them. That's right, “happy is he who reads the words of this prophecy aloud, and happy are those who hear… the things written in it” (Rev. 1:3). Now, what blessings will faithful human beings enjoy when God's enemies have been destroyed? We will see that in the last article of this series.

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