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October 2002 BOOK OF REVELATION (continued from previous issue) By Carlos Mesters |
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Continue from ...... The future: the judgement and condemnation of the Beast and the Dragon (14:6-20:15)
Seven angels appear carrying seven plagues (15:1) which gradually destroy the great city of Babylon (16:19). John sees also all the men and women who suffered from the persecution of the empire and have triumphed over the Beast. They stand near a sea of crystal (15:2). Like the people of the Exodus after the crossing of the Red Sea (Ex. 15:1-21), they sing the hymn of Moses and of the Lamb (15:3; 14:3) to celebrate the judgement of God that has just begun (15:3-4). The plagues fall one after another upon those who are serving the Beast: disgusting and virulent sores (16:3-4), the fierce heat which scorches the people (16:9), the darkness (16:10), the rivers that dry up (16:12) and the earthquake which finally destroys the city itself (16:18-19). These plagues are the calamities of history interpreted by John as judgement of God and solemnly celebrated in a heavenly liturgy (16:5-7). And yet these plagues do not succeed in converting those who adore the Beast (16:9,11). On the contrary, inspired by the spirits of the Dragon, the Beast and the false prophets, the kings of the entire world enter into a league to fight against God (16:14,16). Rather than leading to conversion, the plagues have provoked blasphemies against God (16:9,11,21). | |
| . . . to be continued | |
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