Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits by many waters.


Good morning! Here is today’s word of blessings for you.
Revelation 17:1-5


1One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits by many waters. 2 With her the kings of the earth committed adultery, and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries.” 3 Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns. 4 The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls. She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries. 5 The name written on her forehead was a mystery: babylon the great, the mother of prostitutes, and of the abominations of the earth.


Today’s title is “Punishment of The Great Prostitute”


One of the oldest sins that we found in the history of mankind is prostitution. It is found in every age and in every place that man lived. It is a universal sin that has a great impact on personal and communal life. When such sins go unchecked, families and nations suffer great corruption and destruction. Sodom and Gomora is a good example. That must be why God commanded not to commit adultery in the seventh commandment. As a matter of fact, the sins of adultery and prostitution can be restrained quite a bit if not completely as people or nations come to know the Lord. It’s somewhat proportional to the spiritual purity of a person or a community. Spiritual prostitution is as old or even older than bodily prostitution. We can find it even in paradise. The serpent tempted away Adam and Eve from their pure and faithful devotion to God to break the boundary that God has set for them. Once people gave in to the spiritual temptation, they will subsequently fall into the bodily temptation too. So the history of mankind is riddled with the sin of prostitution both physical and spiritual. God shows such a strong presence of spiritual and physical prostitution and the final punishment for them in today’s passage. An angel said, “Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits by many waters. With her, the kings of the earth committed adultery, and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries.” The angel’s remark shows how powerful and prevalent was the sin of prostitution. Then the angel shows it more vividly by carrying John the apostle in the Spirit into a wilderness. She was attracting people with a highly noticeable appearance with colorful dress in purple and scarlet, and with glittering jewelry such as gold and precious stones. Who would not want to watch such a show of attraction? But the beast that she was sitting on was covered with blasphemous names. The golden cup that she was holding was filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries. In fact, on her forehead was written “ Babylon the great, the mother of prostitutes, and of the abominations of the earth.” Such a great prostitute is still luring us with lavish attraction. It is no secret that the great prostitute is blaspheming God and an abomination of the Lord. But we often overlook it and fell into her temptation. We have to get out of it as soon as possible before it is too late forever.