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2023-Q2-L09: A City Called Confusion

Read for This Week’s Study: Rev. 17:1, 2, 15; Rev. 18:1-4; Rev. 17:4-6; Matt. 16:18; Jer. 50:33-38; Ps. 115:4-8.

Memory Text: “These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful” (Revelation 17:14, NKJV).

Scripture

  • Revelation 18:1–4 (ESV): 18 After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was made bright with his glory. 2 And he called out with a mighty voice, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place for demons, a haunt for every unclean spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, a haunt for every unclean and detestable beast. 3 For all nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power of her luxurious living.” 4 Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues;

Notes

  • continual burnt offering, and the disobedience that makes desolate, to give both the sanctuary and the army to be trodden under foot be?”
  • Confusion. Comes from the Tower of Babel.

SABBATH.

From the lesson:

SUNDAY. Two Contrasting Systems

Scriptures

  • Revelation 12:17 (ESV): 17 Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. And he stood on the sand of the sea.
  • Revelation 17:14 (ESV): 14 They 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.”
  • Revelation 17:1–6 (ESV): 17 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters, 2 with whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality, and with the wine of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk.” 3 And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns. 4 The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality. 5 And on her forehead was written a name of mystery: “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations.” 6 And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. When I saw her, I marveled greatly.

Notes

  • Revelation 17:4. "the unclean things of her immorality." Greek: akatharta autes porneias.
  • Reveleation 17:5. "mother of harlots." Greek: meter pornon.
  • She's not an adulterer (NIV) but a prostitute and mother of prostitutes. Specifically, sexual immoral or uncleanness, filthiness, impurities.
  • Woman on a scarlet beast had these colors: purple, red, and gold.
  • Colors of the high priest (Exodus 28:6): gold, blue, purple, scarlet and (white) linen.
  • The woman is missing the color blue, which represents the 10 commandments which were written on (blue) stones.
  • Number 15:37-40. Tassels on the corners of their garments made of blue thread to remember all the commandments of God.
  • Wine. Life is in the blood (Leviticus 17:11).
  • Mystery. A counterfeit to the mystery of God. "God has chosen to make known among the Gentiels the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27).
  • Is Christ's death a legal payment which satisfies an angry, legalistic God in order to forgive sins?

MONDAY. The Wine of the Wrath

Scriptures

  • Revelation 17:1–2 (ESV): 17 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters, 2 with whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality, and with the wine of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk.”
  • Revelation 17:15 (ESV): 15 And the angel said to me, “The waters that you saw, where the prostitute is seated, are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages.
  • Revelation 18:1–4 (ESV): 18 After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was made bright with his glory. 2 And he called out with a mighty voice, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place for demons, a haunt for every unclean spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, a haunt for every unclean and detestable beast. 3 For all nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power of her luxurious living.” 4 Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues;

TUESDAY. Mystery, Babylon the Great

WEDNESDAY. A Call to Commitment

THURSDAY. Babylon: The Center of Idolatry

Notes

  • Idolatry. a false conception of God and his attributes can lead to idolatry.
  • Baa. "Son of El."

FRIDAY. Further Thought: “The message of Revelation 14, announcing the fall of Babylon must apply to religious bodies that were once pure and have become corrupt. Since this message follows the warning of the judgment, it must be given in the last days; therefore it cannot refer to the Roman Church alone, for that church has been in a fallen condition for many centuries.” — Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 383.