Structure of Revelation 14-19: Water is peoples, multitudes, nations, tongues
Study:
"And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs." Revelation 14:19,20
"And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest." Revelation 15:3,4
"And the seven angels came out of the temple, having the seven plagues, clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles." Revelation 15:6
"And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory." "And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great." Revelation 16:9,21
"And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:" Revelation 17:1
[See below for Revelation 17:8-18.]
"And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues." "Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine;..." Revelation 18:4,8
"...and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her. And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning, Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come." Revelation 18:8-10
"And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God: For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand." Revelation 19:1,2
"Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints." Revelation 19:7,8
"And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war." "And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God." Revelation 19:11,14,15
Song of Moses:
"And Moses spake in the ears of all the congregation of Israel the words of this song, until they were ended. ... Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to his people. And Moses came and spake all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he, and Hoshea the son of Nun." Deuteronomy 31:30-32:43,44
Note: "avenge the blood of his/my servants" occurs 3 times in the scriptures, in the KJV - Deut 32:43; 2 Kings 9:7; & Revelation 19:2.
Revelation 17:8-18:
"The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition. And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful. And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth."
Structure:
Structure of Revelation 17:8-18:
E
F
F'
1'
i'
Layer A:
We know that both Revelation 14:14-20 & 19:11-21 are pictures of the Second Coming because of the repeated imagery of horses and winepress... just in case that wasn't clear in the first verses given at the start of this study. Of course, the imagery of Christ on the cloud reaping and the Word on horseback are also indicators.
Layer B1:
As indicated above, this layer is tied together through Deuteronomy 31:30-32:44:
"And Moses spake in the ears of all the congregation of Israel the words of this song, until they were ended. ... Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to his people. And Moses came and spake all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he, and Hoshea the son of Nun."
Layer B2:
How do we know that the 7 angels with the plagues are both Jesus and His bride? Because of structure. This structure implies that the 7 angels are the Bride while the structure of Revelation 1-16 implies that the 7 angels are Christ. Taking these two implications together we get that it is Christ and His Bride in marriage union... as marriage makes the husband and wife one. (Genesis 2:24)
Layer Ci:
This layer contains the 7 plagues and a call to escape them by coming out of Babylon.
Layer Cii:
The first Judgment on the whore, its result pictured in Revelation 17:1-7, involves the removal of her husband. This is mentioned in Revelation 13:3: "And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast." The second Judgment involves the burning of the whore which is not only mentioned in Revelation 18:8-24, but also in Revelation 17:16. (See my study on the life of Jezebel if some of this is not clear. It will clarify much of the imagery of Revelation concerning the woman and the beast, and their relation to one another.)
Layer D:
This just highlights one of the identifying characteristics of the woman, that she is the great city that sits upon 7 hills and reigns over the kings of the earth, i. e. Rome.
Layer F:
Verse 14 is the same as Revelation 19:11-21. The parallel with verse 16 reveals that Christ's bride is the army that comes with Him.
Layer G:
The central issue of this structure. An important symbol definition: "...waters are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues."
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