Sickle of Truth

  Revelation Chapter 18 Brother Shallieu’s thoughts on Verse 8 “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 judges her.” Immediately there comes to attention a listing in the reverse order of what might be expected: “death, and mourning, and famine.” Normally, death might be seen as the logical culmination of this sequence. But, on second thought, the order as…

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Revelation Chapter 18 VERSE 7 “In the measure that she glorified herself and lived luxuriously, in the same measure give her torment and sorrow; for she says in her heart, ‘I sit as queen, and am no widow, and will not see sorrow.’” TO THE DEGREE THAT SHE GLORIFIED HERSELF AND LIVED LUXURIOUSLY: Clearly, she exalted herself to the top and spared no expense for her comforts or in bragging about her wisdom. TO THE SAME DEGREE GIVE HER TORMENT AND MOURNING: Truths…

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Revelation Chapter 18 VERSE 5 “For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.” FOR HER SINS HAVE PILED UP (Literally = JOINED TOGETHER) AS HIGH AS HEAVEN: The thought seems to be that heaven (God) can no longer overlook the accumulation of sins. They are past excusing or cleansing. AND GOD HAS REMEMBERED HER INIQUITIES: God tends to forget iniquities if things are going in the right direction. (See Ezek. 18:21, 22.) The fact that God is…

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Revelation Chapter 18 VERSE 4 “And I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues.” AND I HEARD: The first three verses totally summarized the condemnation of Babylon. The picture was complete. John now uses his traditional section-dividing words to look at the results of that condemnation. ANOTHER VOICE FROM HEAVEN: — a messenger sent who will deliver the Lord’s previously-stated condemnation to His…

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Revelation Chapter 18 PART II (Verses 4 – 20) An Introduction to Part Two — Part II deals with how the “fall” of Babylon (Verse 2) will progress to its culmination in its destruction. Part II is entirely narrated by the “voice from heaven” (Verse 4) who is the Seventh angel who did, indeed, in the great detail of Volume 4 (“Studies in the Scriptures” series, “The Battle of Armageddon”), predict all of these trends leading to Babylon’s final, total…

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Revelation Chapter 18 PART I (Verses 1 – 3) continued VERSE 3 “For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury.” FOR: This little word, meaning BECAUSE, connects the second and third verses. The implication is that demons, unclean spirits, and hateful birds have made their homes in Babylon BECAUSE: ALL THE…

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  Revelation Chapter 18 As was stated at the beginning of Chapter 17: In this study as usual we will be consulting our two primary sources on the book of Revelation, viz., the “New Albany Notes on Revelation” along with excerpts from Brother Frank Shallieu’s work “The Keys to Revelation”, any other sources of information including the Reprints will be duly noted. Our first view entertained will generally be from the New Albany notes as that is our preference, followed…

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  Revelation Chapter 18 THE DECLINE AND FALL OF BABYLON (Rev 18:1-24) Introduction to This Chapter, continued Verse 20: A statement about how the saints rejoice because they know the good that is to follow. Chapter 13 in Volume Four covers this. Only here does the order of Volume Four differ from the order of Revelation 18. Whether Brother Russell was cognizant that his Volume Four was a detailed explanation of Revelation 18 is questionable. What does not seem questionable…

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  Revelation Chapter 18 THE DECLINE AND FALL OF BABYLON (Rev 18:1-24) Introduction to This Chapter It should be said from the outset that Chapter 18 of Revelation has an uncanny resemblance to Volume Four of Studies in the Scriptures. It seems most probable that the “voice from heaven” in Rev 18:4 is the Seventh Messenger to the Church, Charles T. Russell — the same as is symbolized in Rev 17:1 as “one of the seven angels who had the…

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