Revelation 2:22-23, "Behold I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am He Which searcheth the reins and hearts, and I will give unto everyone of you according to your works."
What? This woman has children? And she a whore? If that is the case that she had children by her whoredoms then she must be burnt with fire as the Word has said. That is exactly true. That is her end for she will burn with fire. Her end is the lake of fire. But stop and think about these children for a moment. A woman is the one out of whom the children come. It is evident that this woman had children that came out of her but they did the same thing she did. Show me one church that ever came out of organization that didn't go right back into it. There isn't one. Not one. The Lutherans came out and then organized right back and today they are hand in glove with this ecumenical move. The Methodists came out and they organized right back. The Pentecostals came out and they organized right back. There is going to be another coming out, and praise God they won't organize back because they know the truth. That group will be the bride of the last day.
Now it said here that this whore had children. Now what were they? They were daughters, for they were churches just like her. Now here is a very interesting point. Jezebel and Ahab had a daughter. That daughter married Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat and in II Kings 8:18 it says that "Jehoram walked in the ways of his father-in-law." He went right into idolatry by this marriage. He brought God-fearing and God-worshipping Judah into idolatry. That is exactly what all these daughter churches have done, even as I have pointed out to you. They start in the truth and marry into organization and leave the Word for tradition, creeds etc. Now let me get this across. In Hebrews 13:7 it says, "Obey them which have the rule over you who have spoken unto you the Word of God." It is the Word that rules us, not men. Now a man as a husband is head of the woman. He rules her. But the church is a woman, too, and her ruler is the Word. Jesus is the Word. If she rejects the Word and takes any other headship she is an adulteress. Now you name me one church that hasn't given up the Word for traditions and creeds. They are all adulteresses - like mother, like daughter.
What will be the punishment of the harlot and her children? Well, it is going to be twofold. First He said, "I will cast her into a bed." According to the last part of verse 22 it will be a bed of tribulation, or the great tribulation. That is exactly what Jesus said in Matthew 25:1-13. There were ten virgins. Five were wise and five were foolish. The five wise had oil (the Holy Spirit) but the other five did not. When the cry went up, "Behold the Bridegroom cometh," the five foolish had to run seeking oil while the five wise virgins went in to the marriage. The five that remained outside were left to the great tribulation. That is what will happen to all who do not go up in the rapture. That is what will come upon the harlot and her daughters. Secondly, it says that he will kill them with death or as a literal translation says, "Let them be put to death with death." This is a strange saying. We might say, "let a man be put to death by hanging, or by electrocution or some other way." But this says, "Let them be put to death by death." Death itself is the cause of their death. Now I want you to see this clearly so I will take our illustration again of the daughter of Jezebel marrying into the house of Judah and thereby bringing it right into idolatry and causing God to deliver Judah to death. That is what Balaam did, too. So here was Jezebel with her paganism. Over there is Judah properly worshipping God and living under the Word. So Jezebel marries her daughter to Jehoram. The minute that happens, Jehoram causes the people to become idolaters. The minute that marriage took place Judah was dead. Spiritual death came in. The minute the first church of Rome organized, it died. The minute that the Lutherans organized, death came in and they died. The Pentecostals came along last and they organized. The Spirit left, though they don't believe it. But He did. That marriage brought death. Then the light of Oneness of the Godhead came. They organized and they died too. Then after the fire of God fell on the Ohio River in 1933 a healing revival swept the world, but it never came through any organization. God went outside the Pentecostal groups, outside of organization, and what He is going to do in the future is going to be outside organization, too. God can't work through the dead. He can only work through the LIVING members. Those living members are outside of Babylon.
So you see, "Death" or "Organization" came, and the church died, or to make it plainer death became a resident wherein shortly before only LIFE reigned. As the original Eve brought death to mankind so now organization has brought death, for organization is the product of the double corrupters, Nicolaitanism and Balaamism, propagated by the prophetess Jezebel. Now Eve should have been burned along with the serpent for their awful deed. But Adam intervened, taking her quickly to himself so that she was saved. But when this Satanic religion has gone the full course of the ages, there will be no one to intervene, and she will be burned with her seducer, for the whore and her children and the anti- christ and Satan will all find their places in the lake of fire.
Right here I will be getting ahead of myself and maybe I ought to reserve this for the message on the last age, but it seems just right to put it in now because it deals so clearly with organization and what is going to happen through it. And I want to warn you. Revelation 13:1-18, "And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion; and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat and great authority. 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. And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, and His tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. If any man have an ear, let him hear. He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints. And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. And he deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live. And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is six hundred three score and six."
This chapter shows the power of the Roman Catholic Church and what she will do through organization. Remember this is the false vine. Let it name the Name of the Lord, it does so only in a lie. Its headship is not of the Lord but of Satan. It finally ends up completely identified with the beast. The whore riding on the scarlet beast distinctly shows her power is the god of force (Satan) and not our God, the Lord Jesus Christ.
In verse 17, it emphatically shows that she will gain absolute control of the commerce of the earth, for no man can buy or sell apart from her. This is borne out in Revelation 18:9-17 which shows her involvement with kings, princes, merchants, all of whom have to do with Rome and commerce.
In Revelation 13:14, we learn that the beast spreads his influence through the image which was built for him. The image that is made is a world-wide ecumenical council, wherein all the organized churches will get together with the Roman Catholics (they are doing it even now.) It is quite possible this union will come in order to stop the power of communism. But since communism like Nebuchadnezzar has been raised up to burn the flesh of the harlot, Rome will be overcome and destroyed. Take note that everywhere the Romish church went, communism followed. It has to be that way. And let me warn you now, don't get thinking communism is your only enemy. No sir. It is the Catholic Church also, and even more so.
Now let us read Revelation 13:1-4, and compare this with Revelation 12:1-5. Revelation 13:1-4, "And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion; and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat and great authority. 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. And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with him? Revelation 12:1-5, "And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and it cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to His throne." Satan and his Satanic religion are in both of these beasts. In Revelation 14, the beast that was wounded unto death but lived again is imperial pagan Rome that fell to the onslaught of the barbarians and thereby lost her temporal power. But she regained it in papal Rome. Do you see it? The nation that ruled by crushing all and which became the strongest empire ever known, was finally wounded to death. Her power was gone physically as to control by armies etc. But under Constantine she came back to life, for papal Rome has infiltrated the whole world, and her power is absolute. She uses kings and merchants and in her deadly religious and financial strength she is governing as the goddess of this present age. She is also the dragon that stood waiting to devour the man child. Herod tried to kill the Lord Jesus and failed. Later Jesus was crucified by Roman soldiers, but now is caught up to the throne.
Now along with what I have just said, recall the vision of Daniel. The last part of the image, the last world power was in the feet. That was iron and clay. See the iron is the Roman Empire. But now it is no longer solid iron. Clay is mixed in it. Yet it is there and running world affairs in both the democratic nations and the more despotic ones. The Romish church is in every nation. It is mixed up in it all.
Let me give you a little something on the iron and clay. Remember when Khrushchev beat his shoe on the desk at the U.N.? Well, there were five eastern nations there and five western. Khrushchev spoke for the East and President Eisenhower for the West. In Russian, Khrushchev is clay and Eisenhower means iron. The two main leaders of the world, the two big toes of the feet of iron and clay, were side by side. We are in the end of it all.
In verse 4 it asks, "Who is able to make war with the beast?" Now there are at present some great names in the world. There are some mighty nations, but right now Rome is calling the tune. The pope is in the driver's seat. And his power is going to increase. No one can war against him.
Verse 6 "And he opened his mouth in blasphemy." (Teaching for doctrine the commandments of men, heady, high minded, lovers of pleasure, having a form of godliness and denying the power thereof.) He blasphemed the Name of God - changing that Name to titles and refusing to do otherwise.
Verse 7 "And it was given unto him to make war with the saints." Persecution - death to the true believer and all in the Name of the Lord in order that the Name of God be blasphemed, even as it is in Russia, because of what the Catholic religion did there.
Verse 8, "And all that dwell upon the earth (all whose names are not written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world) shall worship him."
Thank God the sheep will not worship him. Everyone but the very elect will be deceived. But they will not be deceived. For they hear the Shepherd's voice and they follow Him.
Now then, see this, what we have been trying to show you. This seed of death that started in the first age - this seed of organization, has finally grown into the tree in which every foul bird is lodged. In spite of her claims that she is the giver of life, she is the giver of death. Her fruit is DEATH. They that partake of her are dead. This mighty world church system that fools the world that in her is physical and spiritual salvation deceives and destroys the multitudes. But not only is she death personified, but this dead carrion creature will be itself put to death with death which is the lake of fire. Oh, that men would perceive what their end will be by remaining in her. "Come out of her, for why will ye die?"
Revelation 2:23. "And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am He Which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works."
God looketh on the heart. That has never changed. Neither will it ever change. Here, as through all the ages there are two groups, both proclaiming their revelation from God and their relationship to God. "Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them which are His." II Timothy 2:19. "The Lord searcheth the reins." The word `search' means to `track' or 'follow up.' God tracks down our thoughts (reins); He knows what is in our hearts. He sees our works which are a definite manifestation of what lies within us. It is out of the heart that proceeds either righteousness or wickedness. Our motives, our purposes - all are known unto Him as He watches every action. And every action, every word shall be brought into judgment when the accounting for our lives is given. There was no fear of God before the false vine and dearly shall they pay. Let all who name His Name, so live as becometh saints. We might fool the people but we will never fool the Lord. 7ch032.htm