While I've got the Bible open, I should look at the rest of the story:
Rev 16
[
1] And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth.
[
2] And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image.
[
3] And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea.
[
4] And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood.
[
5] And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus.
[
6] For
they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy.
That's a scripture that the "rapture" crowd should look into. It says "
They" have shed the blood of the
saints and
prophets, referring to people alive at the time of the end. This points to a slaughter of the "saints and prophets" in the end (i. e. our) times. The Rapture set believe that "we" (unbelievers need not apply nor comment) will certainly go through a great tribulation; and if we escape the plague of blood, it might not be because of a rapture, but rather because we have been killed.
Rev 16
[
7] And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.
[
8] And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.
[
9] 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.
[
10] And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain,
[
11] And
blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.
Isn't God merciful? Even during the last plagues, he will not force anyone to accept Him. Right sporting of Him, eh, Val?
Rev 16
[
12] And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.
[
13] And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.
[
14] For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of
the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.
[
15] Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
[
16] And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue
Armageddon.
That puts a date on these things: "Armageddon" is, indeed, the battle of Zech 14 -- as the esteemed "Interpreter" has already told us.
Rev 16
[
17] And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done.
[
18] And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great.
[
19] And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and
great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.
[
20] And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.
[
21] 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.
Ah! The freedom continues! Freedom to blaspheme at will! That will be a wondrous time for unbelievers, a time to give full vent to their spleens!
Meanwhile, Babylon is mentioned IN THIS CONTEXT.
That's noteworthy. I still haven't quite figured "Babylon" out. She is the Great Harlot, which makes me think she is a woman who had great beauty, but sold it cheap. Some have called Babylon the
Apostate Church, and this description seems to fit her in the "harlot" category. Other descriptors have Babylon as a physical city, a great center of commerce and riches in the earth. That might seem to indicate
North America, Europe and the margins of
East Asia, or a city that somehow embodies the above. But those places contain the great Western Powers of the past century, to whit,
1. The United States
2. The UK & British Empire £
3. France
4. Italy
5. Germany
6. Japan
7. Spain
8. Portugal
9. Netherlands
10. Belgium.
Between them, those countries ruled all the world except the Shanghai Council area, an area of secondary importance.
Other countries in the world with great wealth are mostly either NATO members, allies of NATO members:
Luxembourg, £ Qatar, Norway, £ Singapore, £ Kuwait, £ Brunei, Switzerland, £ UAE, Austria, £ Ireland, Sweden, Denmark, £ Canada, £ Australia, Finland, Equatorial Guinea, Iceland, Japan, EU, £ Bahamas, £ Cyprus, S. Korea, £ New Zealand, £ Oman
That's a list according to PPP, ranked richest to poorest of the residue of countries. Altogether, the picture is the same: North America, Europe, the East Asian-Oceania margin and perhaps one or two other small countries. "Babylon", whoever she is, is identified with the above -- as, of course, is the "Beast that comes out of the Sea", upon which she rides.
"Babylon", then, seems to represent not only the apostate Church, but also the PEOPLE of that church, who collectively have become the great ones of the earth. Note also that Babylon is called the MOTHER of harlots. If she represents the Church of Rome, then, notice that her children (the Anglican Church, Lutheran Church, etc.) are also called "harlots", or, by analogy, "apostates".
All of these will be remembered for God's wrath at Armageddon.
Supper's on.
Shalom shalom
