Ultimate Prostitute - Rumor notes 179

 Revelation 17

1 One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me, saying, "Come here. I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who sits on many waters, 2 with whom the kings of the earth committed sexual immorality, and those who dwell in the earth were made drunken with the wine of her sexual immorality."

One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls

I like to look for clues that might indicate which of the 7 angels this might be. It would seem that it should have something to do with the content found in this chapter and relate to it somehow.

The first went, and poured out his bowl into the earth, and it became a harmful and evil sore on the people who had the mark of the beast, and who worshiped his image. (Revelation 16:2)

The fifth poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom was darkened. They gnawed their tongues because of the pain, and they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores. They didn't repent of their works. (Revelation 16:10-11)

At this point I think it is likely this last one, for the throne of the beast is very relevant to the contrast between this woman ensconced on her ‘throne’ atop the multi-faceted beast manipulating people all over the world, and the other throne that is quite the opposite found in various places in Revelation.

Come here. I will show you the judgment

Next time we will take a closer look at the close parallel between the two verses we are looking at here, and the three that follow. But first we remind ourselves of the true meaning of judgment to avoid confusion about how heaven views what is transpiring here.

This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil. (John 3:19)

The entire book of Revelation is all about the light of truth about God becoming ever clearer in the face of increasing resistance from darkness, lies, violence and masterful deceivers. Keep in mind that this and following chapters unpack what was summarized in the previous 3 chapters, and involves the reactions of what was long shrouded in darkness when exposed by the light of truth.

After these things I heard something like a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, "Hallelujah! Salvation, power, and glory belong to our God: for true and righteous are his judgments. For he has judged the great prostitute, who corrupted the earth with her sexual immorality, and he has avenged the blood of his servants at her hand." (Revelation 19:1-2)

the great prostitute

We recently examined in depth the phrase Babylon the Great as the metaphor of a city. Here we find a corollary to that metaphor in the Great Prostitute as seen from heaven’s view things. Later in this chapter we learn the two are in reality one and the same entity.

The woman whom you saw is the great city, which reigns over the kings of the earth. (Revelation 17:18)

Again, we have explored this subject of the harlot/prostitute at great depth in recent studies, particularly in the messages of 3 angels in chapter 14. Yet in this chapter we will be given concentrated details about both the ID as well as the activities and character of this infamous enemy of God.

Behold, there a woman met him with the attire of a prostitute, and with crafty intent. She is loud and defiant. Her feet don't stay in her house. Now she is in the streets, now in the squares, and lurking at every corner. So she caught him, and kissed him.

With an impudent face she said to him: "Sacrifices of peace offerings are with me. This day I have paid my vows. Therefore I came out to meet you, to diligently seek your face, and I have found you. I have spread my couch with carpets of tapestry, with striped cloths of the yarn of Egypt. I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. Come, let's take our fill of loving until the morning. Let's solace ourselves with loving. For my husband isn't at home. He has gone on a long journey. He has taken a bag of money with him. He will come home at the full moon."

With persuasive words, she led him astray. With the flattering of her lips, she seduced him. (Proverbs 7:10-21)

The entire chapter 16 in Ezekiel (and also 23) relays a vivid metaphor of a prostituted people very much like what is described in this chapter, only with even more lurid details. Here are a few excerpts.

Your renown went forth among the nations for your beauty; for it was perfect, through my majesty which I had put on you, says the Lord Yahweh. But you did trust in your beauty, and played the prostitute because of your renown, and poured out your prostitution on everyone who passed by; his it was. (Ezekiel 16:14-15)

See how this parallels with the former glory described of this former woman of God in Revelation 12, here exploiting her gifts to enhance her ability to manipulate and subjugate others under her spell.

A great sign was seen in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was with child. She cried out in pain, laboring to give birth. Another sign was seen in heaven. Behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven crowns. (Revelation 12:1-3)

Moreover you have taken your sons and your daughters, whom you have borne to me, and these have you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your prostitution a small matter, that you have slain my children, and delivered them up, in causing them to pass through the fire to them? In all your abominations and your prostitution you have not remembered the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, and was weltering in your blood. (Ezekiel 16:20-22)

The description of the days of her youth are quite opposite as outlined in the first verses of this chapter.

You have played the prostitute also with the Assyrians, because you were insatiable; yes, you have played the prostitute with them, and yet you weren't satisfied. You have moreover multiplied your prostitution to the land of merchants, to Chaldea; and yet you weren't satisfied with this.

How weak is your heart, says the Lord Yahweh, seeing you do all these things, the work of an impudent prostitute; in that you build your vaulted place at the head of every way, and make your lofty place in every street, and have not been as a prostitute, in that you scorn pay.

A wife who commits adultery! who takes strangers instead of her husband! They give gifts to all prostitutes; but you give your gifts to all your lovers, and bribe them, that they may come to you on every side for your prostitution. You are different from other women in your prostitution, in that none follows you to play the prostitute; and whereas you give hire, and no hire is given to you, therefore you are different. (Ezekiel 16:28-34)

Not only God, the jilted Husband who rescued this entity left abandoned at birth, then chose her as His bride and showered her with lavish gifts of favor and love – not only is He in amazement at the level of depravity she plunges into, but all other prostitutes feel revulsion and refuse to follow her lead, viewing her as strange and loathsome.

I will judge you, as women who break wedlock and shed blood are judged; and I will bring on you the blood of wrath and jealousy. I will also give you into their hand, and they shall throw down your vaulted place, and break down your lofty places; and they shall strip you of your clothes, and take your beautiful jewels; and they shall leave you naked and bare. (Ezekiel 16:38-39)

This all plays out similarly later in this current chapter in Revelation.

I believe it is important to here identify the core meaning of what defines a prostitute. An article I read recently by David Ryser explained a core principle that resonates with everything I have been learning about the big picture and the principles involved. Here is a quote from the core of what I learned from his article that happened during a class he was teaching.

I came across a quote attributed most often to Rev. Sam Pascoe. It is a short version of the history of Christianity, and it goes like this: Christianity started in Palestine as a fellowship; it moved to Greece and became a philosophy; it moved to Italy and became an institution; it moved to Europe and became a culture; it came to America and became an enterprise.

Some of the students were only 18 or 19 years old – barely out of diapers – and I wanted them to understand and appreciate the import of the last line, so I clarified it by adding, “An enterprise. That’s a business.” After a few moments Martha, the youngest student in the class, raised her hand. I could not imagine what her question might be. I thought the little vignette was self-explanatory, and that I had performed it brilliantly. Nevertheless, I acknowledged Martha’s raised hand, “Yes, Martha.” She asked such a simple question, “A business? But isn’t it supposed to be a body?” I could not envision where this line of questioning was going, and the only response I could think of was, “Yes.” She continued, “But when a body becomes a business, isn’t that a prostitute?”

[https://www.testimonypress.org/the-question-that-changed-my-life/]

As I have reviewed many of the Scriptures related to prostitution, I noticed that it almost always involves commercial exchange and exploitation. It also often involves worship of false gods in place of Yahweh worship. In other words, what prostitutes true worship (which really is about simply reflecting the glory of God by freely receiving from Him to freely share with others), is what happens to religion when elements of Satan’s counterfeit kingdom of commerce infects our thinking and emotions. We turn to inferior sources from which we attempt to find fulfillment and identity, yet we can never find lasting satisfaction. In short, once we exchange The Truth for The Lie, the rest is a downward spiral and is vividly outlined in the last half of Romans 1.

Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and traded the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds, and four-footed animals, and creeping things. Therefore God also gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to uncleanness, that their bodies should be dishonored among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason, God gave them up to vile passions... (Romans 1:22-26)

who sits on many waters

He carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness. I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet-colored animal, full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns. (Revelation 17:3)

He said to me, "The waters which you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and languages. (Revelation 17:15)

Here we see a convolution of symbols that is not accidental. She sits on many waters which is defined as peoples, nations etc. At the same time she sits on the scarlet multi-headed beast who likewise is obsessed with controlling all the peoples of the earth as we studied in chapter 13. What this appears to indicate is that she styles herself as having intimate control over this wild creature as they conspire and collude together as to how to maximize their agendas for authoritarian control over all who dwell on the earth.

The serpent spewed water out of his mouth after the woman like a river, that he might cause her to be carried away by the stream. The earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the river which the dragon spewed out of his mouth. (Revelation 12:15-16)

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we won't be afraid, though the earth changes, though the mountains are shaken into the heart of the seas; though the waters of it roar and are troubled, though the mountains tremble with their swelling. Selah.

There is a river, the streams of which make the city of God glad, the holy place of the tents of the Most High. God is in her midst. She shall not be moved. God will help her at dawn. The nations raged. The kingdoms were moved. He lifted his voice, and the earth melted. Yahweh of Armies is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah. (Psalms 46:1-7)

The floods have lifted up, Yahweh, the floods have lifted up their voice. The floods lift up their waves. Above the voices of many waters, the mighty breakers of the sea, Yahweh on high is mighty. (Psalms 93:3-4)

Ah, the uproar of many peoples, who roar like the roaring of the seas; and the rushing of nations, that rush like the rushing of mighty waters! The nations will rush like the rushing of many waters: but he will rebuke them, and they will flee far off, and will be chased like the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like the whirling dust before the storm. (Isaiah 17:12-13)

I create the fruit of the lips: Peace, peace, to him who is far off and to him who is near, says Yahweh; and I will heal him. But the wicked are like the troubled sea; for it can't rest, and its waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, says my God, to the wicked. (Isaiah 57:19-21)

Set up a standard against the walls of Babylon, make the watch strong, set the watchmen, prepare the ambushes; for Yahweh has both purposed and done that which he spoke concerning the inhabitants of Babylon. You who dwell on many waters, abundant in treasures, your end is come, the measure of your covetousness. (Jeremiah 51:12-13)

The ships of Tarshish were your caravans for your merchandise: and you were replenished, and made very glorious in the heart of the seas. Your rowers have brought you into great waters: the east wind has broken you in the heart of the seas. Your riches, and your wares, your merchandise, your mariners, and your pilots, your repairers of ship seams, and the dealers in your merchandise, and all your men of war, who are in you, with all your company which is in the midst of you, shall fall into the heart of the seas in the day of your ruin. (Ezekiel 27:25-27)

When your wares went forth out of the seas, you filled many peoples; you did enrich the kings of the earth with the multitude of your riches and of your merchandise. In the time that you were broken by the seas in the depths of the waters, your merchandise and all your company did fall in the midst of you. (Ezekiel 27:33-34)

Son of man, tell the prince of Tyre, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because your heart is lifted up, and you have said, I am a god, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet you are man, and not God, though you did set your heart as the heart of God-- (Ezekiel 28:2)

This woman sits on this beast as her throne. In symbology of prophecy she mimics the posture and even asserts authority to be like the One who introduced in chapters 4-5 as seated on the throne of heaven. She also shares the disposition of the original dragon who aspires to displace or at least equal the Almighty by sitting in a strategic location at the pinnacle of authority in heaven.

You said in your heart, "I will ascend into heaven! I will exalt my throne above the stars of God! I will sit on the mountain of assembly, in the far north! (Isaiah 14:13)

Compare this to the angel’s explanation of the meaning of the seven heads later in this chapter.

Here is the mind that has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sits. (Revelation 17:9)

Another compelling aspect to explore is the symbol of waters describing what she sits on. She is said to sit on waters, though when John looks he sees her sitting on a 7-headed beast/dragon. Later these waters are defined as peoples as we have unpacked above. Yet what is important to contrast is how the passages describing the kind of waters representing the wicked differ from the waters described in the activities of heaven.

Before the throne was something like a sea of glass, similar to crystal. In the midst of the throne, and around the throne were four living creatures full of eyes before and behind. (Revelation 4:6)

This positions the throne where God sits surrounded by or sitting on an amazing, glassy smooth sea.

...for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne shepherds them, and leads them to springs of waters of life. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. (Revelation 7:17)

Yahweh is my shepherd: I shall lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He guides me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. (Psalms 23:1-3)

I saw, and behold, the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with him a number, one hundred forty-four thousand, having his name, and the name of his Father, written on their foreheads. I heard a sound from heaven, like the sound of many waters, and like the sound of a great thunder. The sound which I heard was like that of harpists playing on their harps. They sing a new song before the throne, and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn the song except the one hundred forty-four thousand, those who had been redeemed out of the earth. (Revelation 14:1-3)

I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire, and those who overcame the beast, his image, and the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, having harps of God. They sang the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, "Great and marvelous are your works, Lord God, the Almighty! Righteous and true are your ways, you King of the nations. Who wouldn't fear you, Lord, and glorify your name? For you only are holy. For all the nations will come and worship before you. For your righteous acts have been revealed." (Revelation 15:2-4)

This is about saving God’s reputation, adding their testimony to that of God’s Christ for His salvation.

He showed me a river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb, (Revelation 22:1)

In all these references we can see how the waters symbolizing those connected with heaven are untroubled, making these waters able to reflect God’s glory. Now let’s see how God deals with the other kind of waters that are ever troubled like restless seas that cannot know peace.

I will signal for them, and gather them; for I have redeemed them; and they will increase as they have increased. I will sow them among the peoples; and they will remember me in far countries; and they will live with their children, and will return. I will bring them again also out of the land of Egypt, and gather them out of Assyria; and I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon; and there won't be room enough for them. He will pass through the sea of affliction, and will strike the waves in the sea, and all the depths of the Nile will dry up; and the pride of Assyria will be brought down, and the scepter of Egypt will depart. I will strengthen them in Yahweh; and they will walk up and down in his name," says Yahweh. (Zechariah 10:8-12)

Behold, a violent storm came up on the sea, so much that the boat was covered with the waves, but he was asleep. They came to him, and woke him up, saying, "Save us, Lord! We are dying!" He said to them, "Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?" Then he got up, rebuked the wind and the sea, and there was a great calm. (Matthew 8:24-26)

with whom the kings of the earth

The kings of the earth, the princes, the commanding officers, the rich, the strong, and every slave and free person, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains. (Revelation 6:15)

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, something like frogs; for they are spirits of demons, performing signs; which go forth to the kings of the whole inhabited earth, to gather them together for the war of that great day of God, the Almighty. (Revelation 16:13-14)

The woman whom you saw is the great city, which reigns over the kings of the earth. (Revelation 17:18)

For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her sexual immorality, the kings of the earth committed sexual immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth grew rich from the abundance of her luxury. (Revelation 18:3)

The kings of the earth, who committed sexual immorality and lived wantonly with her, will weep and wail over her, when they look at the smoke of her burning, (Revelation 18:9)

I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him who sat on the horse, and against his army. (Revelation 19:19)

Revelation foresees a class system divided between those lording it over others, and the rest of the populace. The kings of the earth represent those advancing their political agenda of total control over the masses, while the weakened and mesmerized majority of people are called all those who dwell on the earth. These have been enslaved by their emotions, conditioned to pursue immediate gratification, and be submissive to the demands of the leaders from fear, threats and coercion. Both of these classes live according to the flesh, the law of sin and death, the manipulative system of earning and deserving, rewards and punishments. At the same time this woman representing apostate religion, asserts spiritual authority mingled with political manipulation to benefit at the expense of the masses.

He said to them, "The kings of the nations lord it over them, and those who have authority over them are called 'benefactors.'" (Luke 22:25)

committed sexual immorality

To summarize what we have learned about this previously, this describes an amalgamating arrangement that employs political enforcement by manipulative religious entities that coerce the conscience of people and denies their freedoms, compelling them to conform to the agendas of corrupt power brokers operating in both religion and politics.

those who dwell in the earth

This is a key phrase referring to all who have a settled mindset like the world and live according to the flesh, the ways of commerce, law and hierarchy. This is in contrast to those who dwell in heaven.

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is-- his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:2 NIV)

made drunken with the wine of her sexual immorality

Both the powerful elite along with those they lord it over, all are living in the flesh. They become intoxicated by the seduction of power to unite the world under the guise of whatever cause is promoted as beneficial to achieve order and peace, yet serving the agenda of those in both political and religious power for their own advantage.

Hailstone Bombs - Rumor notes 178

 Revelation 16

19 The great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. Babylon the great was remembered in the sight of God, to give to her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. 20 Every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. 21 Great hailstones, about the weight of a talent, came down out of the sky on people. People blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, for this plague is exceedingly severe.

Every island fled away

I John, your brother and partner with you in oppression, Kingdom, and perseverance in Christ Jesus, was on the isle that is called Patmos because of God's Word and the testimony of Jesus Christ. (Revelation 1:9)

The stars of the sky fell to the earth, like a fig tree dropping its unripe figs when it is shaken by a great wind. The sky was removed like a scroll when it is rolled up. Every mountain and island were moved out of their places. The kings of the earth, the princes, the commanding officers, the rich, the strong, and every slave and free person, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains. (Revelation 6:13-15)

I saw a great white throne, and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. There was found no place for them. (Revelation 20:11)

Then the LORD said, "Just as My servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and a wonder against Egypt and Ethiopia, "so shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians as prisoners and the Ethiopians as captives, young and old, naked and barefoot, with their buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt. "Then they shall be afraid and ashamed of Ethiopia their expectation and Egypt their glory. "And the inhabitant of this territory [island] will say in that day, 'Surely such is our expectation, wherever we flee for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria; and how shall we escape?'" (Isaiah 20:3-6 NKJV)

The burden of Tyre. Howl, you ships of Tarshish! For it is laid waste, so that there is no house, no entering in. From the land of Kittim it is revealed to them. Be still, you inhabitants of the coast [island], you whom the merchants of Sidon, that pass over the sea, have replenished. On great waters, the seed of the Shihor, the harvest of the Nile, was her revenue. She was the market of nations.

Be ashamed, Sidon; for the sea has spoken, the stronghold of the sea, saying, "I have not travailed, nor brought forth, neither have I nourished young men, nor brought up virgins." When the report comes to Egypt, they will be in anguish at the report of Tyre. Pass over to Tarshish! Wail, you inhabitants of the coast [island]! Is this your joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient days, whose feet carried her far away to travel?

Who has planned this against Tyre, the giver of crowns, whose merchants are princes, whose traffickers are the honorable of the earth? Yahweh of Armies has planned it, to stain the pride of all glory, to bring into contempt all the honorable of the earth. (Isaiah 23:1-9)

Behold, the nations are like a drop in a bucket, and are regarded as a speck of dust on a balance. Behold, he lifts up the islands like a very little thing. Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor its animals sufficient for a burnt offering. All the nations are like nothing before him. They are regarded by him as less than nothing, and vanity. (Isaiah 40:15-17)

Yes, truth is lacking; and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. Yahweh saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice. He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his own arm brought salvation to him; and his righteousness, it upheld him. He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head; and he put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a mantle.

According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, wrath to his adversaries, recompense to his enemies; to the islands he will repay recompense. So shall they fear the name of Yahweh from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun; for he will come as a rushing stream, which the breath of Yahweh drives. (Isaiah 59:15-19)

For thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, to me: take this cup of the wine of wrath at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send you, to drink it. They shall drink, and reel back and forth, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them.

Then took I the cup at Yahweh's hand, and made all the nations to drink, to whom Yahweh had sent me: to wit, Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings of it, and the princes of it, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, a hissing, and a curse, as it is this day; Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and all his people; and all the mixed people, and all the kings of the land of the Uz, and all the kings of the Philistines, and Ashkelon, and Gaza, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod; Edom, and Moab, and the children of Ammon; and all the kings of Tyre, and all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the isle which is beyond the sea; Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all who have the corners of their hair cut off; and all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mixed people who dwell in the wilderness; and all the kings of Zimri, and all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes; and all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another; and all the kingdoms of the world, which are on the surface of the earth: and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them.

You shall tell them, Thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel: Drink you, and be drunken, and spew, and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you. It shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at your hand to drink, then shall you tell them, Thus says Yahweh of Armies: You shall surely drink. For, behold, I begin to work evil at the city which is called by my name; and should you be utterly unpunished? You shall not be unpunished; for I will call for a sword on all the inhabitants of the earth, says Yahweh of Armies. (Jeremiah 25:15-29)

The word of Yahweh that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the Philistines, before that Pharaoh struck Gaza. Thus says Yahweh: Behold, waters rise up out of the north, and shall become an overflowing stream, and shall overflow the land and all that is therein, the city and those who dwell therein; and the men shall cry, and all the inhabitants of the land shall wail. At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his strong ones, at the rushing of his chariots, at the rumbling of his wheels, the fathers don't look back to their children for feebleness of hands; because of the day that comes to destroy all the Philistines, to cut off from Tyre and Sidon every helper who remains: for Yahweh will destroy the Philistines, the remnant of the isle of Caphtor. (Jeremiah 47:1-4)

Thus says the Lord Yahweh to Tyre: shall not the islands shake at the sound of your fall, when the wounded groan, when the slaughter is made in the midst of you? Then all the princes of the sea shall come down from their thrones, and lay aside their robes, and strip off their embroidered garments: they shall clothe themselves with trembling; they shall sit on the ground, and shall tremble every moment, and be astonished at you.

They shall take up a lamentation over you, and tell you, How are you destroyed, who were inhabited by seafaring men, the renowned city, who was strong in the sea, she and her inhabitants, who caused their terror to be on all who lived there! Now shall the islands tremble in the day of your fall; yes, the islands that are in the sea shall be dismayed at your departure. (Ezekiel 26:15-18)

When your wares went forth out of the seas, you filled many peoples; you did enrich the kings of the earth with the multitude of your riches and of your merchandise. In the time that you were broken by the seas in the depths of the waters, your merchandise and all your company did fall in the midst of you. All the inhabitants of the islands are astonished at you, and their kings are horribly afraid; they are troubled in their face. The merchants among the peoples hiss at you; you are become a terror, and you shall nevermore have any being. (Ezekiel 27:33-36)

What might we condense from these references to islands in prophecy?

Keep in mind that we first approach everything in Revelation as symbolic of important realities, concepts, principles, metaphors that need to be taken very seriously and that apply in these last days of history.

While nearly all these references had to do with fleeing or trembling in fear, there are also quite a number that invite the islands to a more positive response to God.

I don’t believe these merely refer to physical outcroppings of land above the surface of the physical oceans on earth. The way these words are used often refer or infer kings, nations or important cities.

The Philistines are defined as remnants of the island of Caphtor.

Ezekiel links islands closely with the metaphorical history of the king of Tyre which we understand unmasks the patterns of thinking and strategies of Satan and those who follow his lead.

the mountains were not found

The sky was removed like a scroll when it is rolled up. Every mountain and island were moved out of their places. (Revelation 6:14)

But now you number my steps. Don't you watch over my sin? My disobedience is sealed up in a bag. You fasten up my iniquity. "But the mountain falling comes to nothing. The rock is removed out of its place; The waters wear the stones. The torrents of it wash away the dust of the earth. So you destroy the hope of man. You forever prevail against him, and he departs. You change his face, and send him away. (Job 14:16-20)

For all the high mountains, for all the hills that are lifted up, For every lofty tower, for every fortified wall, For all the ships of Tarshish, and for all pleasant imagery. The loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be brought low; and Yahweh alone shall be exalted in that day. (Isaiah 2:14-17)

The voice of one who calls out, "Prepare the way of Yahweh in the wilderness! Make a level highway in the desert for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low. The uneven shall be made level, and the rough places a plain. The glory of Yahweh shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken it." (Isaiah 40:3-5)

I saw the earth, and, behold, it was waste and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. I saw the mountains, and behold, they trembled, and all the hills moved back and forth. I saw, and behold, there was no man, and all the birds of the sky were fled. (Jeremiah 4:23-25)

"Judah's sin is engraved with an iron tool, inscribed with a flint point, on the tablets of their hearts and on the horns of their altars. Even their children remember their altars and Asherah poles beside the spreading trees and on the high hills. My mountain in the land and your wealth and all your treasures I will give away as plunder, together with your high places, because of sin throughout your country. Through your own fault you will lose the inheritance I gave you. I will enslave you to your enemies in a land you do not know, for you have kindled my anger, and it will burn forever."

This is what the LORD says: "Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the LORD. He will be like a bush in the wastelands; he will not see prosperity when it comes. He will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives. (Jeremiah 17:1-6 NIV)

I will render to Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight, says Yahweh. Behold, I am against you, destroying mountain, says Yahweh, which destroys all the earth; and I will stretch out my hand on you, and roll you down from the rocks, and will make you a burnt mountain. They shall not take of you a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations; but you shall be desolate for ever, says Yahweh. (Jeremiah 51:24-26)

Then he answered and spoke to me, saying, "This is the word of Yahweh to Zerubbabel, saying, 'Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says Yahweh of Armies. Who are you, great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you are a plain; and he will bring out the capstone with shouts of 'Grace, grace, to it!'" (Zechariah 4:6-7)

He said to them, "Because of your unbelief. For most certainly I tell you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will tell this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. (Matthew 17:20)

Jesus answered them, "Most certainly I tell you, if you have faith, and don't doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you told this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' it would be done. (Matthew 21:21)

in the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness. He came into all the region around the Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for remission of sins. As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, "The voice of one crying in the wilderness, 'Make ready the way of the Lord. Make his paths straight. Every valley will be filled. Every mountain and hill will be brought low. The crooked will become straight, and the rough ways smooth. (Luke 3:2-5)

Great hailstones

The first sounded, and there followed hail and fire, mixed with blood, and they were thrown to the earth. One third of the earth was burnt up, and one third of the trees were burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up. (Revelation 8:7)

God's temple that is in heaven was opened, and the ark of the Lord's covenant was seen in his temple. Lightnings, sounds, thunders, an earthquake, and great hail followed. (Revelation 11:19)

Behold, tomorrow about this time I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail, such as has not been in Egypt since the day it was founded even until now.

So there was very severe hail, and lightning mixed with the hail, such as had not been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. The hail struck throughout all the land of Egypt all that was in the field, both man and animal; and the hail struck every herb of the field, and broke every tree of the field. Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, there was no hail. (Exodus 9:18, 24-26)

It happened, as they fled from before Israel, while they were at the descent of Beth Horon, that Yahweh cast down great stones from the sky on them to Azekah, and they died: they were more who died with the hailstones than they whom the children of Israel killed with the sword. (Joshua 10:11)

Have you entered the treasuries of the snow, or have you seen the treasures of the hail, which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war? (Job 38:22-23)

At the brightness before him his thick clouds passed, hailstones and coals of fire. Yahweh also thundered in the sky. The Most High uttered his voice: hailstones and coals of fire. (Psalms 18:12-13)

Woe to the crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim, and to the fading flower of his glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fertile valley of those who are overcome with wine! Behold, the Lord has a mighty and strong one. Like a storm of hail, a destroying storm, and like a storm of mighty waters overflowing, he will cast them down to the earth with his hand. (Isaiah 28:1-2)

I will make justice the measuring line, and righteousness the plumb line. The hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters will overflow the hiding place. (Isaiah 28:17)

Yahweh will cause his glorious voice to be heard, and will show the descent of his arm, with the indignation of his anger, and the flame of a devouring fire, with a blast, storm, and hailstones. (Isaiah 30:30)

The work of righteousness will be peace; and the effect of righteousness, quietness and confidence forever. My people will abide in a peaceful habitation, in safe dwellings, and in quiet resting places. Though hail flattens the forest, and the city is leveled completely. (Isaiah 32:17-19)

Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace; and there is no peace; and when one builds up a wall, behold, they daub it with whitewash: tell those who daub it with whitewash, that it shall fall: there shall be an overflowing shower; and you, great hailstones, shall fall; and a stormy wind shall tear it.

Behold, when the wall is fallen, shall it not be said to you, Where is the daubing with which you have daubed it? Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: I will even tear it with a stormy wind in my wrath; and there shall be an overflowing shower in my anger, and great hailstones in wrath to consume it. So will I break down the wall that you have daubed with whitewash, and bring it down to the ground, so that the foundation of it shall be uncovered; and it shall fall, and you shall be consumed in the midst of it: and you shall know that I am Yahweh. Thus will I accomplish my wrath on the wall, and on those who have daubed it with whitewash; and I will tell you, The wall is no more, neither those who daubed it; (Ezekiel 13:10-15)

With pestilence and with blood will I enter into judgment with him; and I will rain on him, and on his hordes, and on the many peoples who are with him, an overflowing shower, and great hailstones, fire, and sulfur. (Ezekiel 38:22)

I struck you with blight, mildew, and hail in all the work of your hands; yet you didn't turn to me,' says Yahweh. (Haggai 2:17)

about the weight of a talent

You shall make a lampstand of pure gold. Of hammered work shall the lampstand be made, even its base, its shaft, its cups, its buds, and its flowers, shall be of one piece with it. (Exodus 25:31)

You shall make its lamps seven, and they shall light its lamps to give light to the space in front of it. (Exodus 25:37)

It shall be made of a talent of pure gold, with all these accessories. (Exodus 25:39)

David gathered all the people together, and went to Rabbah, and fought against it, and took it. He took the crown of their king from off his head; and the weight of it was a talent of gold, and in it were precious stones; and it was set on David's head. He brought forth the spoil of the city, exceeding much. (2 Samuel 12:29-30)

Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred and sixty-six talents of gold, (2 Chronicles 9:13)

Part of the deeper definition of this word in Hebrew is its use as a counter-weight on scales to evaluate how much something weighs. This might involve the reaction of cause/effect principles of creation releasing their natural consequences in response to rejection of God's truth by the world.

People blasphemed God

People were scorched with great heat, and people blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues. They didn't repent and give him glory. (Revelation 16:9)

and they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores. They didn't repent of their works. (Revelation 16:11)

And the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore. Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten diadems, and on his heads were blasphemous names. (Revelation 13:1 NAS95)

They worshiped the dragon, because he gave his authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, "Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?" A mouth speaking great things and blasphemy was given to him. Authority to make war for forty-two months was given to him. He opened his mouth for blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his dwelling, those who dwell in heaven. (Revelation 13:4-6)

He carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness. I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet-colored animal, full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns. (Revelation 17:3)

Isaiah said to them, "Tell your master, 'Thus says Yahweh, "Don't be afraid of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me." (Isaiah 37:6)

Whom have you defied and blasphemed? Against whom have you exalted your voice and lifted up your eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel. (Isaiah 37:23)

But the things which proceed out of the mouth come out of the heart, and they defile the man. For out of the heart come forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual sins, thefts, false testimony, and blasphemies. (Matthew 15:18-19)

this plague is exceedingly severe

So there was very severe hail, and lightning mixed with the hail, such as had not been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. (Exodus 9:24)

Pass Her the Cup - Rumor notes 177

 Revelation 16

18 There were lightnings, sounds, and thunders; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since there were men on the earth, so great an earthquake, so mighty. 19 The great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. Babylon the great was remembered in the sight of God, to give to her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. 20 Every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. 21 Great hailstones, about the weight of a talent, came down out of the sky on people. People blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, for this plague is exceedingly severe.

give to her the cup of the wine

Another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a great voice, "If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead, or on his hand, he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is prepared unmixed in the cup of his anger. He will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb. (Revelation 14:9-10)

When we discussed this previously we saw that God’s wrath means letting go, releasing natural consequences after His merciful protection is removed. God’s protection can be revoked by the free will of individuals. This is how authority is released to either God or the enemy, allowing them access to the heart and life. The message of the third angel highlights this reality, warning that anyone who gives worship/authority in their lives over to a counterfeit version of God as embodied in and practiced by the symbolic beast system, gives notice that they reject the authority of God in their lives. When this rejection becomes complete and permanent, God is compelled by the principle of freedom to respect their decision must withdraw His protection from around them. This leaves them vulnerable to both the natural principles of cause and effect as well as supernatural satanic evil forces, all eager to reek violence and destruction even while blaming God as the cause.

The real problem described in that message involving torment in the presence of holiness, is not at all about any intent on God’s part to inflict punishments on them, but rather a natural effect that inevitably results from the extreme dissonance between selfishness and agape love. A character formed around selfishness, self-indulgence and violence reacts in torment when confronted by the pure, selfless, agape love that is completely non-violent. True love does not involve punishments inflicted in the name of justice. That is Satan’s distortion of truth that has been successfully branded as belonging to God, but is in reality the nature of the beast who relies on the system of rewards and punishments, balancing good and evil in order to manipulate society and individuals.

It is the distinct difference between God’s methods and Satan’s slanderous allegations of how God treats dissenters, that comes to a head both here at the end of the bowl outpourings and also summarized by the third angel of chapter 14. What this describes is the culmination of the maturation of the beast/dragon version of God exploited by a religious force that amalgamates political force with religious authority to control the masses of people all over the world with fear, intimidation, seduction and deception on a global scale.

The next chapter describes in more detail this religious entity symbolically portrayed as a prostitute, also labeled as Babylon the great, who exploits her attractions and advantages to gratify her thirst for power and control over others at the cost of the lives of any who expose or resist her. At the end of the chapter we find an expansion of what is being summarized here at the end of the bowl outpourings, when God sees there is nothing more that can be done to reverse apostasy and is forced to release the world’s corrupt systems to the inevitable consequences that will come from insisting on sticking with the reward/punishment, good and evil system introduced originally at the fall.

He said to me, "The waters which you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and languages. The ten horns which you saw, and the beast, these will hate the prostitute, and will make her desolate, and will make her naked, and will eat her flesh, and will burn her utterly with fire. For God has put in their hearts to do what he has in mind, and to be of one mind, and to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God should be accomplished. The woman whom you saw is the great city, which reigns over the kings of the earth." (Revelation 17:15-18)

He cried with a mighty voice, saying, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, and she has become a habitation of demons, a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird! For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her sexual immorality, the kings of the earth committed sexual immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth grew rich from the abundance of her luxury."

I heard another voice from heaven, saying, "Come out of her, my people, that you have no participation in her sins, and that you don't receive of her plagues, for her sins have reached to the sky, and God has remembered her iniquities. Return to her just as she returned, and repay her double as she did, and according to her works. In the cup which she mixed, mix to her double. However much she glorified herself, and grew wanton, so much give her of torment and mourning. For she says in her heart, 'I sit a queen, and am no widow, and will in no way see mourning.' Therefore in one day her plagues will come: death, mourning, and famine; and she will be utterly burned with fire; for the Lord God who has judged her is strong. The kings of the earth, who committed sexual immorality and lived wantonly with her, will weep and wail over her, when they look at the smoke of her burning, standing far away for the fear of her torment, saying, 'Woe, woe, the great city, Babylon, the strong city! For your judgment has come in one hour.' The merchants of the earth weep and mourn over her, for no one buys their merchandise any more; (Revelation 18:2-11)

Again, we need to connect the link between the cup of God’s wrath and the cup in which the great prostitute mixed her intoxicating brew to seduce and manipulate the whole world for her advantage to exploit everyone. God’s cup of wrath represents the principle of respect for freedom of choice on the part of all, meaning each one, individually and collectively, chooses which system of justice, which version of reality they will form their character around by their settled choices over time. God never wants to let anyone go, but capacity for love requires freedom to not love, and He must respect it.

The cup of the prostitute is fashioned on the model invented by the dragon and promoted by the beasts and image. The prostitute exploits this for her own selfish agenda through mingling the violence-oriented practices of politics for controlling people, with the dogmas of religion rooted in pagan portrayals of gods operating like human despots. Yet this deceptive exploitation cannot last forever, despite her wishful thinking, and in chapter 17 we find that those she has exploited to her advantage in the end turn on her in fury and destroy her violently.

In the meantime keep in mind that until this becomes clarified in the end, this release to inevitable consequences is most often attributed to being imposed punishments from God against evildoers.

Yahweh examines the righteous, but the wicked and him who loves violence his soul hates. On the wicked he will rain blazing coals; fire, sulfur, and scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup. For Yahweh is righteous. He loves righteousness. The upright shall see his face. (Psalms 11:5-7)

For in the hand of Yahweh there is a cup, full of foaming wine mixed with spices. He pours it out. Indeed the wicked of the earth drink and drink it to its very dregs. (Psalms 75:8)

For thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, to me: take this cup of the wine of wrath at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send you, to drink it. They shall drink, and reel back and forth, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them. Then took I the cup at Yahweh's hand, and made all the nations to drink, to whom Yahweh had sent me: (Jeremiah 25:15-17)

You shall tell them, Thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel: Drink you, and be drunken, and spew, and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you. It shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at your hand to drink, then shall you tell them, Thus says Yahweh of Armies: You shall surely drink. (Jeremiah 25:27-28)

For thus says Yahweh: Behold, they to whom it didn't pertain to drink of the cup shall certainly drink; and are you he who shall altogether go unpunished? you shall not go unpunished, but you shall surely drink. (Jeremiah 49:12)

It is easy to presume this refers to use of force on the part of God based on how Bible authors word this. Yet what is attributed to God directly doing very often describe how the principles God designed within creation operate. What is being described symbolically is the principle of cause and effect, that choices and actions have inevitable consequences that ultimately return back on us.

Babylon has been a golden cup in Yahweh's hand, who made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunk of her wine; therefore the nations are mad. Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: wail for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed. We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her, and let us go everyone into his own country; for her judgment reaches to heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies. (Jeremiah 51:7-9)

This is a place where the methods of God become more visible, that though He does everything possible, there comes a point of no return on the part of all who resist and reject His ways of mercy.

Has not the LORD Almighty determined that the people's labor is only fuel for the fire, that the nations exhaust themselves for nothing? For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea. [This glory filling the earth is found at the beginning of Revelation 18 and again in 20 and represents the unveiling of the clear truth of God’s passionate love that has been spurned and denied access to hardened hearts. It can be discounted, discredited, resisted and defamed, but it cannot be destroyed or diminished in the slightest until sooner or later becomes unavoidably clear to everyone. How we relate to it is what is most important.]

"Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbors, pouring it from the wineskin till they are drunk, so that he can gaze on their naked bodies. You will be filled with shame instead of glory. Now it is your turn! Drink and be exposed! The cup from the LORD's right hand is coming around to you, and disgrace will cover your glory. The violence you have done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, and your destruction of animals will terrify you. For you have shed man's blood; you have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in them. (Habakkuk 2:13-17 NIV)

It is critical that we come to perceive and appreciate the true nature of this cup given to Babylon to drink from the hand of God. If we cling to the traditional notion that God is simply executing justice like we do here on earth, we remain trapped in the very mindset that reacts in torment when the real truth of God’s glory finally breaks like a tidal wave over the entire world and can no longer be denied or refuted. This torment also involves keen disappointment. Each one of us must choose which version of God we will embrace and allow to shape our character and produce its fruit in our choices and treatment of others. This is the message of the entire book.

Jesus came to this world as a human being in order to save us from the darkness, fear, deception and violence caused by sin. He did this to not only expose the real truth about God that had been largely lost in the abject darkness of heathen views of God that permeates even the beliefs of His chosen people, but to also fully identify with humanity and our false identities derived from distorted misrepresentations of God in order to disarm their power over us. When Jesus accepted the cup of wrath from His loving Father’s hand, it was not to satisfy the fury of an offended deity demanding appeasement as religion has taught, but in order that the tenacious lies of this sinister system of wicked views of God might be broken and exhausted by His death. Jesus took the cup of lostness, despair and feelings of abandonment by God so that He could earn the authority to gives us our true identity as reflectors of God’s glory as humans. His resurrection confirmed the success of this strategy on the part of the Godhead, leaving only for each one to choose to accept and embrace their true identity in Christ and allow His Spirit to dwell in them to transform their character to prepare them for frontal exposure to God’s passionate love up close.

But Jesus answered, "You don't know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?" They said to him, "We are able." He said to them, "You will indeed drink my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with, but to sit on my right hand and on my left hand is not mine to give; but it is for whom it has been prepared by my Father." (Matthew 20:22-23)

He went forward a little, fell on his face, and prayed, saying, "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass away from me; nevertheless, not what I desire, but what you desire." (Matthew 26:39)

Jesus therefore said to Peter, "Put the sword into its sheath. The cup which the Father has given me, shall I not surely drink it?" (John 18:11)

You can't both drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You can't both partake of the table of the Lord, and of the table of demons. (1 Corinthians 10:21)

The intoxicating elixir of the great prostitute unveiled in the next chapter is the attempt to do what Paul says is impossible – mixing multiple versions of God into a toxic brew. That is why it is so evil, because it violates and denies principles of reality and turns the truth into the great lie.

the fierceness of his wrath

Most of what we are learning about this wrath was covered in our study of Revelation 14:9-11. Here we find an amplifier word – fierceness – that highlights the intensity and climactic level of what is transpiring in this prophecy. We begin with a passage to help give more clarity to the true nature of what this means and why such intense words are used to describe God’s emotions.

Let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good works, not forsaking our own assembling together, as the custom of some is, but exhorting one another; and so much the more, as you see the Day approaching. For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire which will devour the adversaries. (Hebrews 10:24-27)

Out of his mouth proceeds a sharp, double-edged sword, that with it he should strike the nations. He will rule them with an iron rod. He treads the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of God, the Almighty. (Revelation 19:15)

We just reviewed verses describing how Jesus did this very thing when accepting the cup from His Father in the garden of Gethsemane. Again, this is not about an angry, vengeful God versus a ‘fall guy’ Son taking the beating from Him that others deserved. That originates in the matrix of lies the enemy uses to keep us in darkness and fear of God. What Jesus actually did was to allow our wrath, along with Satan’s wrath to be fully exhausted onto Himself in order to demonstrate that God is the very opposite of what we have so long imagined Him to be. Jesus allowed the effects of our sins to torment His own psyche to the point of killing Him in order to break the very power of death itself, and not just for Himself but for all who believe Him. That was the greatest power struggle of all history, where the power of fear, death and darkness attempted to defeat the power of love, truth and light. Jesus overcame the world by seizing the keys of death from the devil to disarm all his arguments and discredit his slander against God. This is how He tread the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of God, smashing the feelings of hopeless despair and eternal loss everyone will feel when they realize they have spurned and rejected their only connection to hope and the Source of life itself.

Wail; for the day of Yahweh is at hand! It will come as destruction from the Almighty. Therefore all hands will be feeble, and everyone's heart will melt. They will be dismayed. Pangs and sorrows will seize them. They will be in pain like a woman in labor. They will look in amazement one at another. Their faces will be faces of flame. Behold, the day of Yahweh comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger; to make the land a desolation, and to destroy its sinners out of it. (Isaiah 13:6-9)

I will make people more rare than fine gold, even a person than the pure gold of Ophir. Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place in the wrath of Yahweh of Armies, and in the day of his fierce anger. (Isaiah 13:12-13)

Who is there among you who will give ear to this? Who will listen and hear for the time to come? Who gave Jacob as plunder, and Israel to the robbers? Didn't Yahweh, he against whom we have sinned? For they would not walk in his ways, and they disobeyed his law. Therefore he poured the fierceness of his anger on him, and the strength of battle; and it set him on fire all around, but he didn't know; and it burned him, but he didn't take it to heart." (Isaiah 42:23-25)

I have made you a tester of metals and a fortress among my people; that you may know and try their way. They are all grievous rebels, going about with slanders; they are brass and iron: they all of them deal corruptly. The bellows blow fiercely; the lead is consumed of the fire: in vain do they go on refining; for the wicked are not plucked away. Refuse silver shall men them, because Yahweh has rejected them. (Jeremiah 6:27-30)

For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel; (Ezekiel 38:19)

The mountains quake before him, and the hills melt away. The earth trembles at his presence, yes, the world, and all who dwell in it. Who can stand before his indignation? Who can endure the fierceness of his anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken apart by him. Yahweh is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and he knows those who take refuge in him. (Nahum 1:5-7)

The great day of Yahweh is near. It is near, and hurries greatly, the voice of the day of Yahweh. The mighty man cries there bitterly. That day is a day of wrath, a day of distress and anguish, a day of trouble and ruin, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness, a day of the trumpet and alarm, against the fortified cities, and against the high battlements. I will bring distress on men, that they will walk like blind men, because they have sinned against Yahweh, and their blood will be poured out like dust, and their flesh like dung. Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them in the day of Yahweh's wrath, but the whole land will be devoured by the fire of his jealousy; for he will make an end, yes, a terrible end, of all those who dwell in the land. (Zephaniah 1:14-18)

I said, "Just fear me. Receive correction, so that her dwelling won't be cut off, according to all that I have appointed concerning her." But they rose early and corrupted all their doings. "Therefore wait for me," says Yahweh, "until the day that I rise up to the prey, for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour on them my indignation, even all my fierce anger, for all the earth will be devoured with the fire of my jealousy. (Zephaniah 3:7-8)

You adulterers and adulteresses, don't you know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, "The Spirit who lives in us yearns jealously"? But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble." (James 4:4-6)

This word jealousy is key to appreciating the intensity of what we have been looking at.

Set me as a seal on your heart, as a seal on your arm; for love is strong as death. Jealousy is as cruel as Sheol. Its flashes are flashes of fire, a very flame of Yahweh. Many waters can't quench love, neither can floods drown it. If a man would give all the wealth of his house for love, he would be utterly scorned. (Song of Solomon 8:6-7)

How can we reconcile anger and jealousy with what we are learning about God’s disposition from Jesus? It is helpful to examine carefully the only instance where we are specifically told Jesus became angry and what that actually looks like and involved.

He entered again into the synagogue, and there was a man there who had his hand withered. They watched him, whether he would heal him on the Sabbath day, that they might accuse him.

He said to the man who had his hand withered, "Stand up."

He said to them, "Is it lawful on the Sabbath day to do good, or to do harm? To save a life, or to kill?" But they were silent. When he had looked around at them with anger, being grieved at the hardening of their hearts, he said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out, and his hand was restored as healthy as the other. The Pharisees went out, and immediately conspired with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him. (Mark 3:1-6)

This story gives us the key insight about how God’s anger is very different from our kind of anger.

So, then, my beloved brothers, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger; for the anger of man doesn't produce the righteousness of God. (James 1:19-20)

You sit and speak against your brother. You slander your own mother's son. You have done these things, and I kept silent. You thought that the 'I AM' was just like you. I will rebuke you, and accuse you in front of your eyes.

"Now consider this, you who forget God, lest I tear you into pieces, and there be none to deliver. Whoever offers the sacrifice of thanksgiving glorifies me, and prepares his way so that I will show God's salvation to him." (Psalms 50:20-23)

One of our greatest dangers is projecting our definition of anger onto God. Jesus alone is the accurate revelation of God’s heart, motives and disposition. In this story of Jesus and throughout Scripture, the truth can be seen that God’s anger actually refers to His intense grief over the rejection of His love and kindness on the part of those who turn their back on Him. That is nearly opposite of how we define anger.

So as we seek to interpret what this fierceness of wrath means here in this study, we can connect the dots to unveil the truth that this is describing God’s extreme anguish over the rejection of His kindness and mercy by those His Spirit yearns to draw into intimacy with Him. He is jealous for our deepest affections, but also respectful of our right to spurn His affections. This perspective is key for understanding and interpreting the words and symbols of Scripture, particularly in Revelation.