Because you have kept My command to persevere, I will also keep you from the hour of testing that is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.

— Revelation 3:10

8 And all who dwell on the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written from the foundation of the world in the Book of Life belonging to the Lamb who was slain.

14 Because of the signs it was given to perform on behalf of the first beast, it deceived those who dwell on the earth, telling them to make an image to the beast that had been wounded by the sword and yet had lived.

— Revelation 13:8, 14

6 Now in the days of King Josiah, the LORD said to me, “Have you seen what faithless Israel has done? She has gone up on every high hill and under every green tree to prostitute herself there.

9 Indifferent to her own infidelity, Israel had defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and trees.

— Jeremiah 3:6, 9

Thoughts on Today’s Reading

Grace, mercy and salvation from Christ to you.

In Revelation 17, after the seven angels emptied seven bowls of God’s wrath upon the earth, John wrote that “God remembered Babylon the Great and gave her the cup filled with the wine of the fury of His wrath.” Then one angel beckoned to John to come and see the great prostitute’s punishment as John was in the Spirit. John found himself taken away to a wilderness, where he saw a woman seated on a scarlet beast. While describing the prostitute to John, the angel first notes that the woman “sits by many waters.” The angel pointed out that the kings of the earth committed adultery with her. John consistently describes people who reject God as “inhabitants of the earth”, and are intoxicated with the wine of the woman’s adulteries. John’s vision portrays Babylon”s control over earthly kings and kingdoms as seductive and adulterous.

Old Testament prophets often used marriage metaphors to describe Go’s intimate relationship with His people. Because God calls people to love Him with their whole heart, idolatry by God’s people was equated with infidelity, adultery, and prostitution. Israel’s unfaithfulness to God led to immorality, degradation, and broken relationships. God’s holy jealousy for His people led to His discipline of them. Yet like a loving husband, God forgives and restores those who repent and return to Him. Those who remain unfaithful reap judgment.