March 23 - The Great Prostitute (pt. 2)

March 23 – The Great Prostitute (pt. 2)
Revelation 17:3

The beast that holds the woman is the political power ruling the world. For a time, the whore will direct the movement of the beast. In essence, the apostate church will direct the politics of the world.

But soon, the prostitute will be destroyed and we find that the water is symbolic of the peoples, nations and languages. They will completely destroy her.

When the church runs the political powers, it opens itself up to the sin that power offers. As I’ve studied the History of the Church, we’ve already seen this occur. There is an inextricable link between power and sin. When the church opens itself to power, it opens itself to sin.

Eugene Peterson says, “Worship under the aspect of the great whore is the commercialization of our great need and deep desire for meaning, love and salvation. Whore-worship thrives by naming the worst things about us – pride, lust, envy, greed and anger with the designation – god. The diabolical inversion of ‘you are bought with a price’ to ‘I can get it for you wholesale.’”

This type of deterioration is seen in nearly every church today. The heart of the church is generally honest and true to the message of the saving grace of Jesus, but the trappings become more nad more extravagant and are geared to the healthy and wealthy. When we begin to emphasize the excess: the building, the programs, the outer image of the church; we find that the orthodox message is lost in the noise.

The message of Jesus gets lost in our personal ‘stuff’ as well. We’ve worked hard for it and deserve it. We focus on it and on the extravagance of someone else’s stuff. We’ve bought into the materialism of the world and this drowns out the truth that God wants us to live.

This is one of the strongest warnings found in Scripture. Israelites were constantly warned about consorting with other tribes. James 4 warns Christians about falling prey to the things of the world.

James 4:1 – Fights and quarrels among us come from desires that battle within us. James 4:3 – When we ask God, we don’t receive because we have wrong motives. James 4:4 – friendship with the world is hatred toward God. James 4:7 – We must submit to God and resist the devil so that he will flee from us. James 4:9 – Grieve, mourn and wail. James 4:10 – Humbles ourselves before the Lord and he will lift us up.

We aren’t to be condemned for the things we own, but we must remember that the extravagance of the world belongs to the whore of Babylon … to the beast. The gold, pearls, scarlet and purple stand in direct contrast to the very simple white linen that is bright and clean … the garment found in the closet of the Bride.