Good afternoon friends,

I hope you're staying safe, warm and dry. With the roads and weather as they are, we are canceling supper and scripture tonight. Sorry to do it, but it's better to have everyone safe. Today's reading is kind of a doozy. We've talked about how both the woman and the beast symbolize Rome; but here we see the beast and other powers turn on the woman. I wonder if that suggests that the powers of empire eventually turn on each other? At any rate, here we see the judgment of God happening through human conflict. Empires destroy others and then ultimately destroy themselves. God's call to peace is constant, even when violence surrounds us.

God bless,
Sam

Revelation 17:7-18

⁷But the angel said to me, “Why are you so amazed? I will tell you the mystery of the woman, and of the beast with seven heads and ten horns that carries her. ⁸The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to ascend from the bottomless pit and go to destruction. And the inhabitants of the earth, whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, will be amazed when they see the beast, because it was and is not and is to come. 

⁹“This calls for a mind that has wisdom: the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated; also, they are seven kings, ¹⁰of whom five have fallen, one is living, and the other has not yet come; and when he comes, he must remain only a little while. ¹¹As for the beast that was and is not, it is an eighth but it belongs to the seven, and it goes to destruction. ¹²And the ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but they are to receive authority as kings for one hour, together with the beast. ¹³These are united in yielding their power and authority to the beast;

¹⁴they will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful.” 

¹⁵And he said to me, “The waters that you saw, where the whore is seated, are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages.¹⁶And the ten horns that you saw, they and the beast will hate the whore; they will make her desolate and naked; they will devour her flesh and burn her up with fire. ¹⁷For God has put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose by agreeing to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God will be fulfilled. ¹⁸The woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth.”