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The Revelation of Jesus Christ
"STRONG Is THE LORD Goo WHo JuoGETH HER" In verses 5-8, the Spirit of God gives a further description of the pride and the arrogance of "the great whore," and the terrible judgments that will come upon her: "For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: In the cup which she hath filled fill to her double. How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith In her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire : for strong is the Lord God who Judgeth her." The language of this prayer for the destruction of the enemy of God's truth is in harmony with the character of the period of time in which the events will take place. God will be dealing in righteous judgment, and it will be perfectly proper for the tribulation saints to pray according to God's ways with the people at that time. The language used here reminds us of Psalm 137:8: "O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed; happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us." It is the language not of the people of God living during this dispensation, for God is showing grace to men now, and consequently Christians are exhorted not to recompense evil for evil. The words refer, rather, to the Jewish remnant, and belong to those petitions that are known as the lmprecatory Psalms. The people of God are to take the attitude that God takes with respect to everything, and should pray according to the character of the dispensation in which they are living.
"THE KINGS .•• AND THE MERCHANTS OP THE EARTH
SHALL ••• LAMENT FOR HER" Verses 9-13 present Babylon, "the great whore," as a com mercial system, and the lamentation that shall be made over her by kings and merchants: "And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornica tion and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning,
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