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Article		August 27, 2017
Bridegroom and Bride

Revelation 17 and 18 describe the judgment of the Harlot. Through symbolism these chapters paint a picture showing who the Harlot is, what she has done, and what will happen to her.

The short answer is that she is the apostate church. She began with the Roman Catholic church but includes the Orthodox churches and Protestant churches that she gave birth to and who are like her. Revelation calls for God's people to come out of her.

A few verses are particularly interesting. Beginning in Chapter 18:22 the verses in this chapter seem more like a lament by God for how well this organization started and how badly it is ended.

And the sound of stringed instruments and of trumpets and the various singers and shouting will not be heard in you again! (Revelation 18:22)

No longer will people worship God in you.

And the light of a lamp will not appear to you again, and the voice of a groom and the voice of a bride will not be heard in you again, […] (Revelation 18:23)

The understanding of the lamp reference here comes by way of Psalm 119:105:

Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.

The message is that no longer will the Bible be read, heard, and studied in the Harlot church.

The references to groom and bride are obviously to Jesus and the community of believers. Therefore the message is that no longer will the bride and groom speak to each other in the harlot church.

What makes the first part of verse 23 especially interesting is that it is very similar to, and has essentially the same meaning, as the following passage from Jeremiah, where God is describing the destruction of the harlot community of Israel.

I will utterly destroy them and make them a horror and a hissing, and an everlasting desolation. ¹⁰ Moreover, I will take from them the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp. (Jeremiah 25:9-10)

The situation in Jeremiah is that God is describing the results of his punishment of the sins of Israel. The words are true, as they are here in Revelation, in both a physical and spiritual sense.

Going back to Revelation 18:23, all of this has come because of what the harlot was selling.

[…] because your merchants had been great ones of the Earth, for by your sorceries you deceived all the nations!" (Revelation 18:22)

The definition of sorceries gives a pretty clear picture. In the physical sense the definition is "Use of supernatural power over others through the assistance of spirits; witchcraft." In the spiritual sense the definition is "convincing others that you have control … of anything". By selling this she deceived the whole world.

And in her was found the blood of the Prophets and Holy Men who were murdered on Earth. (Revelation 18:24)

She is accountable for the spilled blood of the many she has killed. This probably refers to physical deaths as well as spiritual deaths.

Addendum

In this article I talked about spiritual sorcery and how that is believing you have control, which ultimately means having control over God. You might wonder who would be crazy enough to believe that. It's easy because it is never put in those terms, but that's what it is.

We see it constantly from the Israelites. For example, in 1 Samuel, they want to fight the Philistines. They are sure that God wants this too. So they grab the Ark of the Covenant to lead them into battle. But they are using God to get what they want - or at least are trying to. The Philistines crush them and destroy the entire worship center at Shiloh. It will never be rebuilt.

In the early Catholic Church they began to declare the Pope to be the Vicar of Christ. In our business world we would use the words Acting Christ - the person who sits in the place of Christ while he is gone and has his full authority. Of course Catholics don't see this as controlling God or using God. None-the-less the Pope felt empowered to change some of God's laws.

In more modern times we see some people declaring all sorts of things and believing they would happen … if only they had enough faith. Doesn't God get a say in the matter? What if God wants that mountain to stay right where it is?

We see some people believing they can do things for God so God will bless them. Worse than that, some of them believe they have Bible verses saying that God has promised to bless them if they do certain things. They believe they have control over God through a promise made by God. Please understand, God would never bind himself to a man.

All of these are sorcerers in God's eyes.