KINGDOM BIBLE STUDIES

 THE ATTIRE OF THE HARLOT

 THE CUP OF ABOMINATIONS

BABYLON — MIXTURE AND CONFUSION 

            “So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet colored beast…having seven heads and ten horns” (Rev. 17:3).

             In oriental symbolism a horn or horns stands for power and strength with their attendant glory and honor.  The ancients thought of the horns of animals as being the focal point of their power, as well as their adornment or glory.  They remind us of the rhinoceros, unicorn, bull, etc.  Therefore majesty and might were often adorned with various horns, such as the turbans of the Magoi of Persia which were twisted into the shape of great horns, to indicate their power and glory.  Furthermore, since animals used their horns in acts of aggression and defense, the horn was also used symbolically to speak of war and defiance.  More than once the scriptures speak of the horns, or power, of God’s enemies.  On the positive side, the scriptures speak of the horn, or power, of God’s judgments, and the horn, or power, of His salvation within His people.  Not only are horns used symbolically to speak of military strength, of a proud and arrogant spirit blasphemously exalted against God, and of the saving power of the Lord towards His elect, but they are also used as Bible symbols for kings and their kingdoms.  Of course this is in keeping with the horn as a symbol for strength and majesty as already noted.  

             The beast has seven heads and ten horns.  Some have questioned the relative position of the seven heads and the ten horns — how many horns were upon each head?  Were there one horn upon four heads and two upon each of the remaining heads — or one of several other possible configurations?  The question is actually irrelevant.  John tells us nothing about their relative position, so the way they are arranged on the beast is not the point and therefore has nothing to do with any spiritual truth.  Rather, it is the fact of the “heads” and the “horns” together with their “number” or quantity that is significant to us.  That is what the Holy Spirit is impressing upon us!  The numbers seven and ten are symbolical numbers.  They do not refer to ten kingdoms, or ten kings, or to seven kings literally; but they denote the authority and power of the carnal nature and the carnal church systems  of man.  Heads are the symbol of authority.  When the scripture says that Christ is the “Head” of the church, and that the man is the “head” of the woman, it bespeaks a headship which expresses itself through a sphere of authority.  Christ is the AUTHORITY over the church!  He is the Leader, the Chief, the Commander, the Captain, the Controller, the Administrator, the Master — the LORD!  That makes Him the Head of this body!  The seven heads represent the realm of thoughts, plans, and designs.  The seven heads of the beast bespeak the usurpation of the mind of Christ and the plans and purposes of God as the carnal mind within the Lord’s people and within the carnal church systems of man seeks to dominate their thinking and their spiritual life.  The powers of man’s spiritual thoughts, desires, and plans are prostituted to the purposes of the great whore!

                        The Lord gave to Israel a covenant of AUTHORITY OVER THE NATIONS when He said to them, “The Lord shall open upon thee His good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow.  And the Lord shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath…” (Deut. 28:12-13).  This is also why prophets, priests, and kings were both anointed and crowned upon their heads — it signified the absoluteness and supremeness of their authority!   

            Horns, on the other hand, are the symbol of might, strength, and power.  The beast carrying the harlot has seven heads of authority and ten horns of power!  Seven and ten are both complete numbers.  Seven is a sacred number in this respect, that it generally is used of the perfection of spiritual realities and the completeness of God’s purposes and kingdom.  It denotes fullness in the things of God.  In our text, however, it is used with a negative application, signifying the fullness of that authority which purports to be, claims to be, pretends to be the authority of Christ, but is in reality the fullness of the carnal mind usurping the place of Christ’s authority in the church!    

            Now, the number ten denotes the measure of time or space or power as it is allotted and limited to any creature by God’s decree.  It is a full number, denoting that which is complete, yet of limited duration.  It is completeness or fullness on the human, worldly level, the limit of man’s power within himself.  Ten stands for the maximum limit to which man can reach — ten fingers, ten toes, ten commandments — fullness in a limited realm!  Ten is a number which is frequently employed in scripture, and it often occurs in the book of Revelation.  Ten horns is the fullness of power, yet it is a power that is limited — it can only reach so far and continue so long according to God’s allotment.  The ten horns of power signify that the beast carrying (thus including) the woman has just exactly as much power as God has allowed him — no more and no less.  They are not ten separate, literal kingdoms anywhere on earth at any time, but bespeak the usurpation of the might and power of the Holy Spirit by the strength of the flesh in any man or in any movement of the Lord’s people!  And when God’s time comes for Great Babylon to fall within us and within the world, fall she will! 

            It is not in the gross sins of the flesh that the harlot is known, for she has a name written in her forehead — MYSTERY BABYLON THE GREAT.  She is very mystical, so that indeed, upon the workings of her mind and the intent of her soul there is written “MYSTERY”.  This whore works in a mystery, that is, in an enigma, a puzzle, a riddle, in ambiguousness — inscrutableness.  You find her where you don’t expect and in a way that seemeth right, and therein lies the deception! 

            Now, as we consider this truth, we should especially notice these significant statements made a little further on in chapter seventeen concerning these same ten horns.  “And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet: but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.  These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.  These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for He is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with Him are called, and chosen, and faithful” (Rev. 17:12-14).  Some portions of this passage we will address later, but at this time I would draw your reverent attention to the statement, “These shall make war with the Lamb.”  Now I query this of you: How do these “kings” make war against Christ, the Lamb of God?  Do they make war against Him in the flesh, as the Jews did?  Are they literal armies of nations coming against the Lamb of God with tanks and guns and bullets and bombs?  They cannot, of course, seeing He is risen and ascended up far above all heavens!  Everywhere in the Revelation the Lamb is seen only in heaven and upon the heavenly mount Zion!  Therefore, I would ask you, how these ten kings make war against the Lamb, unless it be in the spirit — against His light, against His truth, against His life, against His spirit, against His nature, and against His will, way, and purpose! 

            If these ten symbolical kings cannot war against the Lamb in the flesh, if you confess that He is exalted high above all principalities and powers, then do not such war against Him in His life, and against Him in His light, and against Him in His purpose, and against Him within His people?  Indeed, the powers of the flesh and the carnal mind warring against the spirit of Christ, and against the spiritual mind, and against the spiritual life, bringing a man into captivity to the flesh, and to the fleshly mind, and to the fleshly life, with its law of sin and death — just there the battle rages!  Obviously these kings are not outward kings of literal nations on earth!  Obviously they have nothing to do with the outward warfare of military machines!  Nearly all expositors of the book of Revelation assert that they are earthly rulers — either historical characters, or future rulers still to arise at the end of time.  Many have been the efforts to identify them historically, or to speculate who they will be in some future “end-time” scheme of things.  The revealing fact is that there are as many opinions about their identities as there are expositors!

            The same crowd is all about us today.  They look for an outward warfare between the kings and the Lamb, with an outward victory.  They want deliverance from the government, from persecution, from socialism, from the antichrist, from terrorism, from the Jews, from the Moslems, from the Catholics, from the banking system, from the abortionists, from liberal politicians, and from all kinds of political conspiracies that are steadily pushing our nation and the world down into the dark abyss and nightmare of godlessness and tyranny.    But I do not hesitate to tell you that none of these are the problem!  The most powerful kings that rule in the world today are those that rule inwardly — and it is only as the kingdom of God takes its rightful place in our lives, that these kings are subdued and deposed.  In the soul-realm we have the dominant king of self-will which has usurped control and ridden roughshod over the ways of God.  There are religious kings of static creeds, false doctrines, traditions, commandments of men, carnal-minded methods, and sectarianism.  There are kings of passion and desire, bringing the dominion of the flesh.  There are kings of emotion which usurp unholy sway over people of God.  There are kings of ruling thoughts and imaginations which exalt themselves against the knowledge of God.  There are kings of doubt and fear that destroy faith and rob men of victory.  But, praise God!  There is a Lamb upon the throne in the heavens of the Spirit of the Lord and He is mighty within — King of kings, Lord of lords — and He arises within us in the power of righteous conquest and dominion.  This means victory!  The old Roman conquerors, when celebrating a brilliant conquest, rode down the avenues of the Imperial City upon a snow-white steed, and received the plaudits of the people.  And so Jesus Christ, in the spirit and by the spirit, astride a snow-white charger of righteousness and power rides in swiftness and strength into our earth, into our inner land.  I have heard the hoofs of His horse thundering through the corridors of my soul as He has marched into my land conquering and to conquer, bringing all into submission to Him.  The harlot’s beast with his ten horns of fleshly power, might, and strength are no match for the King of kings and the Lord of lords!

             How easy it should be for the devout mind to understand that the Revelation was sent and given from Christ to His church — His body on earth.  How easy it should be for the devout mind to understand that the Lord’s message to His people does not concern itself with such unspiritual things as the kings of Europe, past, present, or future, but with spiritual realities and divine dealings of God in the lives of His called and separated people!  The great truth that I pray may grip your hearts, my brethren, is simply this: these seven heads and these ten horns will exert their carnal wisdom and fleshly powers right in the exercise of your spiritual performances and sacrifices to the Lord!  If you can discern, you will see them appear in prayer, in humiliation, in fasting, in service, in giving, in preaching, yea, in all your efforts to fulfill the will of God and perform the work of God.  You will see your desire for recognition, the pride of ego, arise right in your giving and service to the Lord.  You will see your own desires and they will exert themselves right in your praying, asking, and seeking.  You will see your own wisdom and abilities subtly steal your heart from the Lord, by enticing you to walk after your own reasonings, ingenuity, and strength, rather than by the mind of Christ and the power of the spirit.  Ah, therein lies the deception of the whore within us, in those things where we would not expect her she deceives us, and herein is plainly seen her mystical apparition.  This whore and her beast with his heads and horns meet you, precious friend of mine, in the walking out of your spiritual life, and there she attributes all the goodness that is done to her self, usurping the glory, and you give consent to it, and thereby commit fornication with her.  

             All the way from the moment of our new birth to glorification and exaltation this inner antagonist — the seven heads and the ten horns — is present.  This is why every revival that God has sent through the ages ended in apostasy.  The flesh — that inward devil of fleshly wisdom, carnal understanding, sense-knowledge, soulish zeal, and spiritual pride has a subtle way of identifying himself with every move of the Spirit of God, so as to corrupt it from within.  Many years ago F. J. Huegel wrote: “Students of the great Welsh revival (1900 — 1903) say that the wonderful stream of divine life little by little lost its saving efficacy, as another stream from a very different source, naturally very filthy, began to mingle with the river of the water of life proceeding from the throne and from the Lamb.  ‘Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them.’  Beware the false fire!  Beware the counterfeit glow!  When the soulish takes the place of the pure working of the Holy Spirit, you have a ‘revival’ whose fires, though they purport to be from heaven, are more likely to be kindled in hell.”

             From the mists of the long ago Eden we read, “Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made.  And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” (Gen. 3:1).  The word “serpent” in our language comes from the Latin serpo meaning “to creep,” but the Hebrew term has no relation to the form or motion of any external attribute of a serpent.  The word used here for serpent is the Hebrew word nachash which is a primitive root meaning “to hiss or whisper.”  It, furthermore, means “to search or scrutinize closely, to find out by experiment, to practice divination, augury, incantation, or enchantment.”  According to Webster incantation means “the chanting of special words or a formula in magic spells or rites.”  Incantation may speak in addition to hypnotism.  The serpent, then, is a HISSER, a WHISPERER, a DIVINER, an EXPERIMENTOR, an ENCHANTER, a MAGICIAN, and a HYPNOTIST!  And all this activity takes place from within!  Now we understand how it was so easy for mother Eve to be deceived!  The “inner voice,” the “carnal reasonings,” the “soulical suggestions” of the natural mind, yea, the religious mind, sounded so plausible, so logical, so spiritual, so divine — it just had to be the word of God and the way of the Lord!  It had to be the very highest truth!  As she listened to this voice Eve was enchanted, hypnotized, mesmerized — by this high revelation!

             We do well to consider also the word translated “subtle” in this passage.  “Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field…”  The Hebrew word for “naked” in Genesis 2:25 is arom.  The English word that describes the serpent’s  nature is “subtle,” and the Hebrew word for this is arum.  Both arom (naked) and arum (subtle) are derived from aram which means “to be bare, to be cunning.”  Hebrew scholars say that originally these three words were the same word.  Now, why should the expression “naked” and the term “cunning” be the same word?  What is the connection?  We can answer with only one word: SEDUCTIVE.  By way of illustration, a naked woman may be a seductive woman!  There is a close connection between the two. The ideas of naked and cunning come together in the words SEDUCTIVE and SEDUCE.  Can we not see by this that the serpent was actually more seductive than anything in the bestial (fleshly) realm!  Ah, when Satan transforms himself into an angel of light, he is the most seductive thing in the world!  Under a different figure, that of the cunning serpent, even in that long ago Eden the lewd, alluring, tempting, enticing, tantalizing, bewitching, seductive harlot of CARNAL REASONING AND MAN-MADE RELIGION came riding upon her beast with the seven heads and the ten horns!    

             “And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.  These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast” (Rev. 17:12-13).

             From these statements of divine revelation we learn the great truth that the ten-fold powers of the flesh have no kingdom in their own right.  It is only as they are given expression through the life of the bestial system of man that they truly have power.  As an example, let us suppose a man who is possessed of a carnal desire to build a little religious kingdom over which he can be the ruler.  Now that carnal desire has no kingdom as yet, nor can it have one of itself.  It is a king without a kingdom!  Only when the man goes out and is successful in gathering around him some people whom he can form into a movement, and then dominate them, does his desire for kingship “receive power.”  It is only as the “kings” within are given expression through the system that they have power.  These have one mind — the ego — and give their power and strength “unto the beast” of the worldly system.  Thus they “receive power as kings” — but, notice, how limited is their power!  “They…receive power as kings one hour with the beast.”  The “ten horns” and the “one hour” taken together express absolute limitation!

             The word “hour” appears various times throughout the book of Revelation.  To the church in Philadelphia the Spirit says, “”Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth” (Rev. 3:10).  Does the “hour” of temptation mean that the testing will last literally for one hour?  Not at all!  “The hour of temptation” is a metaphor indicating something of limited duration — it comes and soon it passes, with no indication whether the actual time is short or long, as man conceives time.  In relation to a man’s life ten years of hardship might define the “hour of testing,” whereas in the history of a nation a hundred years or even more could bespeak their “hour of trial.”

             Later we read, “And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth…saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come…” (Rev. 14:6-7).  “The hour of His judgment is come.”  Does this signify that God’s judgment lasts only for one hour?  Certainly not!  Again, the expression indicates something of limited duration — the “hour” is simply the time period during which God’s judgments are manifest and apparent to the consciousness of men.  Can we not see by this that the bestial systems of man, and the rule of the flesh in the lives of God’s people, is of limited scope and duration — it shall not last forever, it is not an eternal, indestructible, undefeatable, unchangeable, unending state or condition.  Oh, no!  O that men might see that the significance of the “one hour” of the rule of the flesh is explained by the verse which follows our text: “These (the ten horns) shall make war against the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for He is Lord of lords, and King of kings!” (vs. 14).  That is how and when their “one hour” of fame ends — with the triumph of the Lamb within!  Isn’t it wonderful!   

 THE ATTIRE OF THE HARLOT

             “And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication” (Rev. 17:4).

             This passage gives us the picture of a prostitute in the days when the Revelation was written.  She is not clothed in white (as is the bride of the Lamb), but her dress is the same color as that of the animal which she rides, showing both her connection to the “beast nature,” and the origin of her pollution.  Let us, then, meditate upon her pretentious appearance as a woman.  The text makes a distinction between her outward appearance and her essential character, a distinction which comes down to this, that she appears as a woman, but that her essential character is that of a prostitute.  She is richly and beautifully arrayed with all that is glittering and luxurious in the world, decked with precious stones and pearls and arrayed in purple and scarlet, while holding in her hand a golden cup.  Purple and scarlet were colors of royalty and magnificence in Bible times.  The dyes were extremely expensive, and only the wealthy could afford them.  Thus the woman’s clothes and all her adornments speak of all the external signs of success that the worldly church seeks. 

             Yet — purple is a mixed color — it is compounded of blue and red.  And what a revelation that is!  In its spiritual significance it represents the mixture or confusion of the heavenly blue with the earthly red of Edom.  And at this time all the church systems of man unite the earthly and the heavenly, joining flesh with spirit, mingling the anointing with carnal efforts and methods, mixing truth with error.  False doctrine is for the most part a corruption of divine truth — error overlaid with a thin layer of truth, like base metal gilded.  That very mixture yields a royal purple which is so awe-inspiring, powerful, and captivating to the souls of men!  Gold, precious stones, and pearls are emblematic of spiritual truths and of the wondrous revelations of the riches in Christ Jesus.  And who can deny that all the believers in all the churches have truly received from the Lord gifts of grace, truth, and salvation!  Oh, yes, God Himself has enriched them with multiplied blessings according to their faith. The problem is, however, that even these are now employed by this woman, along with her other attire of the harlot, to attract people to her lewdness, thus prostituting even those beautiful truths and graces she has received and proclaims!

             As we examine the rich and luxurious attire of this woman it is plain to see that this is no cheap street whore — she is beyond question what we would call today a high-class call girl!  Her services would demand thousands of dollars per night!  The message is just this: both the flesh nature and fleshly religious systems will take everything you’ve got!  She certainly makes the impression of being rich and powerful, enveloped in a halo of worldly glory.  The rich, beautiful, royal colors, with their attraction for the eye skillfully woven into her overall seductive appeal, reveal that she certainly knows her business well, how to make herself appear desirable!  A woman in her profession often commands the finest jewelry, usually as gifts from her lovers.  Her personal physical beauty of face or form is not mentioned.  Her power to entice is pictured as lying in outward finery designed to capture the eye, the mind, the emotion, the imagination, the passion, and the heart of men.   She is indeed a very rich, powerful, and successful woman!

             The harlot religious systems have indeed been phenomenally successful when measured in terms of untold millions of members, inestimable wealth, costly buildings and ornate temples, impressive rituals and ceremonies, pomp, splendor, and worldly honor.  It is successful because it is worldly minded; it loves pleasure more than it loves God; it loves feasting more than it loves fasting; it loves entertainment more than it loves repentance and waiting upon the Lord.  It compasses land and sea to make one proselyte and frequently the proselytes are two-fold more the children of the devil than they were in the beginning.  Previously they were sinners; now they have become deceivers.  Caught in her web of enchantment, those whom the harlot system “wins to the Lord” by teaching them the word of God according to the precepts of men, these babes are imprisoned within her fortress of forms, traditions, religious works, and organizational structures until they become hideously dwarfed and but grotesque caricatures of what a child of the living God should be like!

             The entire church system is full of professional beggars who will fleece your money and steal your time and consume your talent in the name of their program just as a street beggar will beg in the name of his infirmity.  From time to time through the years I have received these lying letters from men I have never met nor seen nor known, who tell me how the Lord has laid me and my family upon their hearts, how they are praying for me, personally, every day, and what wonderful things will happen to me if I will just send them an offering for their work.  One dear friend shared a letter with me from a well known evangelist in which he informed her that he had seen a vision of her house with the angels of God ascending and descending upon it.  He was scheduled to be in Africa within a few days for a great healing campaign, but the Lord had told him, he said, to postpone the campaign until he could write to her and get her most urgent prayer requests  to take with him to Africa.  If she would only send an offering of $20.00 along with her prayer requests, he would carry them to Africa where they would be prayed over during the great crusade and she could expect miraculous results…as though God answers prayer more effectively from Africa than in the United States of America!  These letters are mailed out by the thousands, monthly and weekly, all making the same claims.  At my friend’s query I suggested to her that she write to this so-called evangelist and tell him that she had her $20.00 ready to send just as soon as he would describe to her what her house looks like and what color it is — since he had seen it in a vision!  More than one widely known evangelist of our day has become a multi-millionaire, and  that by peddling the whore’s religious con-games to gullible Christians devoid of understanding, and deceived by their religious guile, though their wicked devices should be evident to the simplest mind.

             Cursed be such wicked men!  Cursed be the whore upon her beast!  Cursed be the seven heads and the ten horns!  Cursed be her gaudy garments of seductive enticement!  The churches today are filled to overflowing with programs hatched out of carnal minds.  It is not easy to write these things, my beloved, for I would rather share out of the storehouse of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge that are hidden in Christ Jesus.  Yet, were it not necessary to establish these truths in the hearts of all hungry men who sense a call to something deeper in God, and who hear within themselves  the call to come up higher to the high calling of God in Christ Jesus where sons of God follow the Lamb to the heights of mount Zion, then the Holy Spirit would not have dwelt for two whole chapters of the Revelation upon this important theme.  Ah, wicked Babylon, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth!  She professes to know God, and in a measure she has known Him, but in works she denies Him, being abominable and to all  the true riches reprobate.  No wonder Jesus said, “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name done many wonderful works?  And then will I profess unto them, I NEVER KNEW YOU: depart from me ye that work iniquity (lawlessness, that which I have not commanded)” (Mat. 7:22-23).  No wonder the Spirit inspired John the beloved to pronounce destructive judgment against the great whore and all her filthy daughters!

             This woman isn’t gold (as is the New Jerusalem bride of the Lamb) but she is decked out with gold.  All her appearances of godliness are external things.  The adornment is only on the surface, and her character is the opposite of the beauty that she presents to the world that is under her influence.  She is decorating herself, and none can doubt that the church systems of today are gaudily bedecked with external works of righteousness, with pomp and ritual and ceremony and program and music and preachings and outreaches of all kinds which appear as godliness but in truth are not born of God at all.  In our past religiousness have we not all been there!  We decked ourselves with gold and precious stones and pearls and had all the appearance of the wealth and riches of God by the Spirit, but like the Pharisees of old we were impoverished in spirit and full of dead men’s bones and all manner of uncleanness.  Only the deep dealings of God can strip away the garish adornment of the whore and transform us into the pure gold of HIS DIVINE NATURE.  Of the beautiful bride of Christ it is written, “…and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass” (Rev. 21:18).  The harlot wears gold.  The bride is gold.  The harlot puts on an appearance, a façade.  The bride exists as a state of being — in the gold of divine nature and the dazzling glory of incorruption.  That is the mystery!

             In the days of the Old Testament prophets the supreme mission of the prophet Elisha was to destroy that which had destroyed the anointing and work of God in the land of Israel.  So Jehu (the king) went into Jezreel and the scripture says that when he arrived Queen Jezebel got her face all painted, her hair tired, and looked out of the window high upon the wall.  The painted face wasn’t what made her Jezebel — she was Jezebel before she put the paint on and had already done great damage by killing the prophets of God and leading the people of Israel into abominable idolatries.  But she had herself all made up this day because she heard that something was going to happen in town.  The painting of the face has the meaning of painting the eyes.  Painting the eyes has the meaning “to allure, to look more appealing.”  What Jezebel was actually doing was appearing at the window high upon the wall with the tawdry appearance of a harlot.  She counted on Jehu being a man, and she thought she could seduce her way out of her problems.  Jezebel tried all her alluring and deceptive ways to dissuade Jehu from his appointed task!  King Jehu, whom Elisha had anointed, was on his way to get her!  Jezebel hoped to flatter her way out of King Jehu’s advance to take her captive or destroy her!  She plotted to get into a high place, up on the wall of the city, into a high and elevated position in the church, as it were, where she could see all that was going on and manipulate and control and create a resistance to the thing the prophet of God had said he was going to accomplish.  But Jehu was on a mission for Yahweh and he wasn’t having any of it!

             Terry Crisp wrote once about the marks of harlotry.  “In the natural, the spirit of harlotry was generally evidenced in a woman’s countenance, and in her attire.  It was easy to spot a prostitute by her appearance; by the way she excessively painted her face, and seductively dressed herself, the message she sought to convey was unmistakable.  This is why the Lord admonished Israel to ‘clear her face of the marks of harlotry.’  He knew that as long as she adorned the countenance of an available woman, seeking to enhance her features in order to attract the attention of others than her husband, she would not be true to Him.  No matter what she told Him, or how she tried to convince Him that she was doing it all for Him, the intents of her heart were obvious; the image she projected told the story!  It was a manifest token that she was not committed to a monogamous relationship; and she was not ready to settle down and become one with Him.  The underlying truth was that she sought independence from her Husband!”