By Rick Lange
Posted with authors permission
http://bibleprophecybyricklange.blogspot.com/
“And he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness; and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast, full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was clothed in purple and scarlet and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and of the unclean things of her immorality and upon her forehead a name was written, a mystery, BABYLON THE GREAT THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF The ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus. And when I saw her, I wondered greatly.” Revelation 17:3-6
Now this beast with seven heads and ten horns is first identified in Revelation 12:3 where it says: “And another sign appeared in heaven: and behold a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns and on his heads were seven diadems.” (or crowns.)
We know that this dragon is Satan because he drew 1/3 of the stars with him when he was cast out of heaven. So he is a spiritual entity, but when he emerges in Revelation chapter 13, this same dragon has now given his power to a beast that has seven heads and ten horns and ten diadems as well and verse 2b tells us that the dragon in chapter 12 gives the beast his power and his throne and great authority.
Then beginning in verse 11 another beast arises from the earth having 2 horns like a lamb, but he speaks like a dragon and this beast seems to have the job of causing everyone on earth to worship the first beast.
Well, who are these beasts and what do they represent? In Revelation 17 we see a woman, a harlot sitting on this scarlet beast with seven heads and ten horns. Who is she?
Well, the traditional answer has always been that this woman is pagan Christianity, for the church divorced itself from its Judeo/Christian roots and married pagan gods and thus became the great whore of Babylon and that is most likely true. We have also identified the Beast as the secular global government of the antichrist and that is true. And we have rightly identified the woman who rides the beast as the false church that rules over the kings of the earth. She is riding the Beast and thus seems to be in control of it and this also is true, for if we could see into the inner workings of the global government that is taking shape in Israel, we see that the Papacy is in charge of the antichrist kingdom at this point and working behind the scenes to put the whole global kingdom together… especially as it pertains to forming the global religion of the coming antichrist. However, we also find that at some point the beast will hate the whore, for after he is done using her to do his dirty work he destroys her and burns her with fire.
There are many different opinions as to who these beasts represent, but I think that in general we know, because we see these powers rising in our day. But here’s the problem: if we point the finger at Rome and say, over there is where the whore is, and over there is where the antichrist kingdom is being formed, whether we see it as being in Israel or in Europe, we may be in real danger of missing the fact that we are completely surrounded by the spirit of antichrist and it is all around us and in fact many Christians in America are drinking the wine from her cup and don’t know it.
Listen to Paul’s description of the coming antichrist. He says: “For the mystery of LAWLESSNESS is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way and then that LAWLESS one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; that is the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders and with all deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive a love of the truth so as to be saved.
So the antichrist is described as a lawless one, whereas in juxtaposition to that the Remnant people of God are identified as those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. Rev. 12:17.
May I suggest that the remnant body of Christ should stop preaching that the Law was done away? The Law was not done away. Some of you may disagree and some of you might even get angry at that statement, but the church has ridden that horse to death and we need to understand that because of such preaching, we live today in a lawless nation that wants to throw off every constraint of decency that God has put in place to bless us and protect us.
We may argue that Paul taught that the law was done away, but in reality he did not. A careful reading of His entire treatise on the Law tells a different story. He said that the Law is like a tutor to lead us to Christ and once it has accomplished that its job is finished. He also said that the Law is not for the righteous man, but for sinners. This is true, but we have to be honest about what He is really teaching. What Paul is saying is that the Law brings us to the foot of the cross where we die to the Law and to self and we are born again from this point forward to live by the Spirit of Christ and not by the flesh. What has Jesus done in this process? He has written the Law on our hearts.
Now, as Paul says, the Law will be fulfilled in us who live not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit and not only that but the Law will now be fulfilled in the way that it was intended to be fulfilled… by loving God with all of our hearts and our neighbor as ourselves. It was never about do’s and don’ts. It has always been about love and the Law simply shows us what we are breaking when we don’t live in love. This is why the fruit of the Spirit fulfills the Law and this is why it must be written in our hearts and not on tables of stone. We are breaking not only laws but God’s heart.
Jesus came to show us how to properly fulfill the Law… and what He showed us made the Law infinitely beyond our reach, unless the very Spirit of God dwells in our hearts. The letter of the Law only tells us what not to do. The Spirit of the Law deals with our heart, our motives, our love. And it is in this revelation that we find ourselves infinitely short of the Law’s requirements. Without God’s love functioning in us we have no hope of fulfilling it. This is why it is Christ in us, the hope of glory.
We can look at the Ten Commandments and think we are doing pretty well. Simple…right? Just ten common sense rules . Keep these and you stay out of jail. But when we begin to look at the implications of actually loving God with all of our heart and soul and mind… when we think of what it means to love our neighbor as much as we love ourselves… we suddenly understand why we need a Savior and why we need the infinite Spirit of God dwelling in us and empowering us. Real love is not a bit easy, nor can sinful flesh produce this kind of love. And when we see how far we fall short of God’s love, we fall at His feet and cry for mercy.
The problem is that much of the church has the wrong message to give to the world. We teach that the Law was done away and as a consequence we have to keep lowering the standards as to what it means to be a Christian. We compromise. We become tolerant… seeker friendly… eventually embracing the world’s morals… even embracing things that God calls an abomination to Him.
In truth, when you throw away the Law, you introduce lawlessness and you give your life over to the Lawless one whom God will slay with the breath of His mouth at His coming.
The woman who rides the beast was once someone’s wife. She once belonged to the Lord, but she began to play the harlot with all of the gods. Think about it. A faithful wife is only to receive the seed of her husband. Likewise the Bride of Christ is only to receive the seed of Christ and that seed is His Word… and this Word is implanted in us by His Holy Spirit to produce sons and daughters of God.
But what happens when preachers begin to say that Allah is the same God as Yahweh? What Happens when they build a global religion made up of all religions? The global religion that the false prophet is now forming is a whore from the outset. She mingles the seeds of many gods calling them equal. She takes into herself the seeds of every religion and every god and mixes them with the seed of Christ. Is there a greater blasphemy than that?
And yet, the church today is embracing tolerance and false unity and seeker friendly environments where people can come as they are and leave as they were. Of course we can come as we are to the foot of the cross, but if we do we must be born again there, we are not going to leave the same as when we came in. We will be new creatures in Christ, filled with His Spirit, the seed of the Word planted in us and growing, the Spirit of God being that power by which we now live.
God has made His people the guardians of the purity of His Word. We are to make sure that the seed of other gods doesn’t make it into our midst. And we, as the Bride of Christ, must keep ourselves free from the seed of other gods. We are not members of the harlot church. We are being called further and further out of that pagan mix of false Christianity. As bond servants, we must have ears only for one Master.
This is what Passover is all about. We leave Egypt. We leave under the power of the blood and the strength of His body. We march through the Red Sea, never to return that way again. We come to Mt. Sinai where the Law leads us to Christ and shows us His will for our lives. There we die to self and He writes His law on our hearts. And since His seed is now planted in us, we will grow up to look like Him.
But if we continue in lawlessness, we will eventually side with the lawless one. We will seek unity through compromise. We will mix the seed of the gods. We will take the Mark of the Beast and we will be eternally lost.
It is time to start telling the truth about the Law of God. It changes form when it is written in our hearts but it is not done away. It is a change of Priesthood also for Melchizedek writes God’s Law on our hearts rather than on stone.. Jesus said as much when He said that not one jot or tittle will pass from the Law until all is fulfilled. Mt. 5:18 The Law is the foundation upon which grace is built.
The only way to have the Law written on our hearts is to come to Christ. That means that everyone that is not in Christ is still under the Law and it will remain that way until all are judged by that Law and condemned because they never received Christ so as to be saved.
So if we want to be identified as God’s Remnant people, we need to stop telling people that the Law was done away. That is a doctrine of the antichrist and we need to quit teaching it.
We have treated God as if He experimented with the Law and found that it didn’t work, so now He is trying something else. NO! He has been laying down the foundations in their proper order. Sin must be defined or there is no basis for salvation. The Law must be given or there is no basis for forgiveness and restoration. Lawlessness tears away the foundation of grace and mercy and makes light of the government of God. He is infinite in wisdom and power. His truth will stand even if every man be found to be a liar. But God is looking for a Remnant people in these last days that will stand…stand in the face of the fire and stand upon the Word of God. He is looking for a remnant people, who, like the Ark of the Covenant, have the Law written in their hearts and the Spirit of God upon and within them. Selah.
The Whore of Babylon is the Catholic Church. The Apostle John was astonished because the woman looked like Mary, the Lord's mother.
The Jewish Law with it's 613 commands is no longer in effect. That should be obvious.
God isn't looking for "remnant people". That phrase is not found in the Bible. Believers became known as "Christians". That's what believers should be called.
To be saved you need to repent of your sins. Accept what Jesus did on the cross as payment for those sins. Accept Jesus as Lord. Salvation is like a gift. You can know it's available but until you consciously accept it, it isn't yours. If Jesus is your Lord you'll do the best you can to live a holy life and do the things the Bible commands.
If you want to grow as a Christian you should pray everyday (I use the ACTS model of adoration, confession, supplication, and thanksgiving), read the Bible everyday and go to church regularly.
Revelation 12:17 is an example where "remnant" is mentioned.
Jesus did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17).
Nowhere in the Bible does it say that the Law has been done away with. Yes, we are saved by grace through faith, but that does not mean that we should no longer strive to keep God's commandments.