These sisters
are "Israel and Judah", both idolaters and fornicators.
Read in v
28- "For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will deliver thee into
the hand of them whom thou hatest, into the hand of them from whom thy mind
is alienated:
v 29 And they shall deal with thee hatefully, and
shall take away all thy labour, and shall leave thee naked and bare: and the
nakedness of thy whoredoms shall be discovered, both thy lewdness and thy whoredoms.
v
30 I will do these things unto thee, because thou hast gone a whoring
after the heathen, and because thou art polluted with their idols.
v 31 Thou hast walked in the way of thy sister;
therefore will I give her cup into thine hand.
v 32 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou shalt drink
of thy sister's cup deep and large: thou shalt be laughed to scorn and
had in derision; it containeth much.
v 33 Thou shalt be filled with drunkenness
and sorrow, with the cup of astonishment and desolation, with the cup of thy
sister Samaria.
v 34 Thou shalt even drink it and suck it out,
and thou shalt break the sherds thereof, and pluck off thine own breasts: for
I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
v 35 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because
thou hast forgotten me, and cast me behind thy back, therefore bear thou also
thy lewdness and thy whoredoms.
v 36 The LORD said moreover unto me; Son of man,
wilt thou judge Aholah and Aholibah? yea, declare unto them their abominations;
v 37 That they have committed adultery, and blood
is in their hands, and with their idols have they committed adultery, and have
also caused their sons, whom they bare unto me, to pass for them through the
fire, to devour them.
v 38 Moreover this they have done unto me: they
have defiled my sanctuary in the same day, and have profaned my sabbaths.
Is this cup of
wrath only for Israel and Judah, or is God condemning the whole religious world?
Remember Babylon was the mother of harlots [false churches
and religions].
Let's notice what
it states in Jeremiah 25:15 - "For thus saith
the LORD God of Israel unto me; Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand,
and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it.
v 16 And they shall drink, and be moved, and be
mad, because of the sword that I will send among them.
v 17 Then took I the cup at the LORD's hand, and
made all the nations to drink, unto whom the LORD had sent me:
v
28 - " And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thine
hand to drink, then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts;
Ye shall certainly drink."
WILL
SOME ESCAPE DRINKING FROM THIS CUP?
Let's
again turn back to:
Isaiah
51:17 - "Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem,
which hast drunk at the hand of the LORD the cup of his fury; thou
hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung them out."
v
21 -"Therefore hear now this, thou afflicted,
and drunken, but not with wine:"
The
cup of trembling, but not with wine.
Despite God's
anger, it appears some will not have to drink of His
wrath. Who will this be? Is it Israel,
or the church, or both?
v
22 - "Thus saith thy Lord the LORD, and thy God that pleadeth the
cause of his people, Behold, I have taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling,
even the dregs of the cup of my fury; thou shalt no more drink it again:"
Then
who must drink of this cup? In the Old Testament this seems to mean
His people, Israel, is this a type?
v
23 - "But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee;
which have said to thy soul, Bow down, that we may go over: and thou hast laid
thy body as the ground, and as the street, to them that went over."
We are reading
from the Old Testament. However, if we go to the New Testament, and the book
of Revelation, we find the anti-type of God's people as the church, which it
also appears to suffer at the hands of the wicked.
Revelation
13: 4 - "And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the
beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who
is able to make war with him?
v 5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking
great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty
and two months.
v 6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against
God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.
v 7 And it was given unto him to make war with
the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all
kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
v 8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship
him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from
the foundation of the world."
Just as Israel
and Judah were afflicted by the powers around them, so is the church of God,
However, if we read on, we find those that kill by the sword shall be killed
by the sword. This seems to indicate God's wrath.
v
10- "He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he
that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience
and the faith of the saints."
Lets see now what
happens to the wicked that afflict God's people. In the latter days it will
be the beast and the great religious power, Babylon the great
Let's continue
in the book of Revelation:
Revelation
14: 9- "And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice,
If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead,
or in his hand,
v 10 The same shall drink of the wine of the
wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation;
and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy
angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
v 11 And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up
for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast
and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
v 12 Here is the patience of the saints: here are
they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.
v 13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto
me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea,
saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do
follow them."
In
Revelation 6, we read of those who will apparently be martyred for God
over the centuries. It appears this will happen again in the latter days. We
read of the opening of the 5th seal:
In Revelation
6: 9- "And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar
the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony
which they held:
v 10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying,
How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on
them that dwell on the earth?
v 11 And white robes were given unto every one
of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season,
until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as
they were, should be fulfilled."
Some
shall drink of the wrath of God, but we also read in the book of Isaiah
that some will not have to drink of it. Who are these?
And why don't they feel the wrath of God?
Question? Why
does God remove the cup from His people? Again we can see there
is a duality here. Physical and spiritual , both of whom are God's people.
In
Jeremiah 51:1- "Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will
raise up against Babylon, and against them that dwell in the midst of them that
rise up against me, a destroying wind;
v 2 And will send unto Babylon fanners, that shall
fan her, and shall empty her land: for in the day of trouble they shall be against
her round about.
v 3 Against him that bendeth let the archer bend
his bow, and against him that lifteth himself up in his brigandine: and spare
ye not her young men; destroy ye utterly all her host.
v 4 Thus the slain shall fall in the land of the
Chaldeans, and they that are thrust through in her streets.
v 5 For Israel hath not been forsaken, nor Judah
of his God, of the LORD of hosts; though their land was filled with sin against
the Holy One of Israel.
v 6 Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver
every man his soul: be not cut off in her iniquity; for this is the time of
the LORD's vengeance; he will render unto her a recompence."
Who is "her"?
It is Babylon the great whore which rides over many people, including God's
people, both anciently and today.
v
7 -"Babylon hath been a golden cup in the LORD's hand, that made
all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations
are mad.
v 8 Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl
for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed.
v 9 We would have healed Babylon, but she is not
healed: forsake her, and let us go every one into his own country: for her judgment
reacheth unto heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies.
v
33 - "For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; The daughter
of Babylon is like a threshing floor, it is time to thresh her: yet a little
while, and the time of her harvest shall come."
[notice
the daughter of Babylon. The time of her harvest will come. (The daughter is
obviously the anti-type in the latter days.)]
We read a prophecy
of the daughter of Babylon in:
Isaiah
47:1 -" Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of
Babylon, sit on the ground: there is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans:
for thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate.
v 2 Take the millstones, and grind meal: uncover
thy locks, make bare the leg, uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers.
v 3 Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy
shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and I will not meet thee as a man.
v 4 As for our redeemer, the LORD of hosts is his
name, the Holy One of Israel.
v 5 Sit thou silent, and get thee into darkness,
O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called, The lady of kingdoms.
v 6 I was wroth with my people, I have polluted
mine inheritance, and given them into thine hand: thou didst shew them no mercy;
upon the ancient hast thou very heavily laid thy yoke.
v 7 And thou said, I shall be a lady for ever:
so that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart, neither didst remember
the latter end of it.
v 8 Therefore hear now this, thou that art given
to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thine heart, I am, and
none else beside me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss
of children:
v 9 But these two things shall come to thee in
a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood: they shall come upon
thee in their perfection for the multitude of thy sorceries, and for the great
abundance of thine enchantments.
So there is a
type and anti-type, ancient and modern, of this great whore - Babylon.
The one prophesied
in Isaiah 47 is pictured in Revelation
17: 1- "And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven
vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee
the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
v 2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed
fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the
wine of her fornication.
v 3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the
wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names
of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
v 4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet
colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden
cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
v
5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY,
BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
v 6 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.
v 7 And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst
thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that
carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.
v
8 The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of
the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth
shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation
of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.
v 9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The
seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.
v
10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other
is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.
v 11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he
is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.
v 12 And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten
kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one
hour with the beast.
v 13 These have one mind, and shall give their
power and strength unto the beast.
v
14 These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them:
for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called,
and chosen, and faithful.
v 15 And he saith unto me, The waters which thou
sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and
tongues.
v 16 And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the
beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and
shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.
v 17 For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil
his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words
of God shall be fulfilled.
v 18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great
city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.
With
the blowing of the seventh trumpet, we find God's saints are taken up into the
clouds (I Thess. 4:17).
They are protected from the fate of the rest of an unrepentant world, who
will now face the wrath of God.
We can read of
the beginnings of God's wrath in Revelation 14: 13- 20
when we read about a sickle, and the time that the earth is ready for
harvest.
We read in v
19- "And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered
the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of
God.
v 20 And the winepress was trodden without the
city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles,
by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs."
Then we read of
the 7 last vial plagues that God will pour out
over the whole earth. And the unrepentant wicked shall feel His wrath. These
came within the blowing of the 7th trumpet after God's people are resurrected
(I Cor. 15; I Thess. 4).
Revelation
15: 1-2 - With these verses we see God's saints being protected from
God's wrath. They are up on the Sea of Glass. [Apparently
in the clouds.]
v
6 "And the seven angels came out of the temple, having the seven
plagues, clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded with
golden girdles.
v 7 And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven
angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever
and ever.
v 8 And the temple was filled with smoke
from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into
the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled."
With the next
chapter we see the 7 vial plagues of God's wrath being poured out upon the earth,
one at a time, on people and the earth's topography.
In Revelation
16: 1 "And I saw another sign in heaven, great and
marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled
up the wrath of God.
v 2 And I saw as it were a sea of glass
mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and
over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on
the sea of glass, having the harps of God."
When we read the
entire chapter, it appears that these complete the wrath. If you remember in
the 7 trumpet plagues, only 1/3 of the earth was destroyed.
Now with the 7 vial plagues , the destruction of the earth is complete.
HOW
LONG DO THE VIAL PLAGUES LAST?
We
read of the destruction of the great whore Babylon which happens within a short
period of time.
Notice
in Revelation 18: 3 - "For all nations have
drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth
have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed
rich through the abundance of her delicacies."
and
in v 16 -"And saying, Alas, alas that great
city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with
gold, and precious stones, and pearls!
v 17 For in one hour so great riches is come
to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors,
and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,"
In
the next chapter we read that this is God's vengeance on the whore.
Revelation
19: 1- "And after these things I heard a great
voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and
honour, and power, unto the Lord our God:
v 2 For true and righteous are his judgments: for
he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication,
and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.
v 3 And again they said, Alleluia And her smoke
rose up for ever and ever.
In
the 16th chapter of Revelation, God uses all
seven of the vial plagues. You can cross reference these with the previous
seven trumpet plagues that only destroyed 1/3 of the earth.
