December 6: THE MOST MARVELOUS TREASURE

I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement. Revelation 17:6

This detail of John’s vision presents a contrast between two sets of participants in worldwide Babylon: leaders and followers. We saw in verse 2 that the followers are intoxicated with the wine of her fornication, the cup of false doctrines that the woman mixes and serves to the world. But the upper echelons of the woman’s infrastructure are affected by a different wine, the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. It is likely that Jesus referred to this wine as the depths of Satan (2:24). This is the kind of intoxication that permeates the leadership: a heady sense of power (see 13:2). With the long history (1260 years) of mass murder by order of the Catholic church, we learned that the only ones who stood in the way of the power she enjoyed during the Dark Ages were the true Christians.

One of many such examples of this sweeping power occurred in 1572: The Protestants of France, called Huguenots, were killed in such large numbers that the Seine River ran red with their blood. Their crime was the “heresy” of believing the Bible over church traditions.

Revelation 13 reveals that in the last days, the Catholic Church will gain a “partner” who will exercise power on her behalf. The second beast in that chapter will be an image of the first beast. It will speak—give breath—to this image (through laws and their interpretation) in support of the first beast. This is why the second beast acquires the title of false prophet (16:13).

And when [John] saw her, [he] marveled with great amazement. John had been invited by the angel to see the judgment of the great harlot (17:1). But, at this point in the vision, he is seeing the bejeweled church in all her earthly glory, arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls. The magnificence of the riches possessed by the Catholic Church are, in a material sense, unmatched on the earth. They have been amassed over centuries through donations of the wealthy and the labor of slaves. The cost of guarding and maintaining the enormous collection of architecture, artifacts, and art is borne by the followers within this worldwide religious system, the vast majority of whom are quite poor, materially speaking. None of this is in any way connected to the mission of Jesus on the earth—the salvation of souls—yet the opposite message is force-fed to the poor, drunk (v.2) followers.

It is no wonder that this sight caused John to marvel with great amazement. But even this glittering sight is little more than a pile of rubble compared to the glory of God. Let each of us daily ask the Holy Spirit for eyes to see the incomparable treasures of a never-ending love relationship with Him who is the Creator, Sanctifier, and Savior. To love and to be loved is the most marvelous treasure of all. Jesus said:

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.” Matthew 6:19-20