Abstract
D.Litt et Phil.
Bauckham rightly observes that the “… theology of Revelation is highly theocentric. This, along with its distinctive doctrine of God, is its greatest contribution to New Testament theology. Our study of it must begin with God and will both constantly and finally return to God” (1993b:23).
True knowledge of who God is, is inseparable from the worship of God (cf. John 4:22) (Bauckham 1993b:32). To worship God is for the people of God the ultimate display of a love relationship that has been impacted by true knowledge. Apart from the outward liturgical forms, stands an inward reality of the people of God offering themselves to God (Romans 12:2-3). This inward reality, thereafter finds its expression in liturgical forms and traditions. The cliché “Worship is a life-style” cannot be overstated. Corporate worship cannot exist without a life-style of individual worship. How does authentic individual worship express itself?
Jesus, in Matthew‟s Gospel (cf. 13:24-30; 36-43), warned that the kingdom will consist of wheat that is Jesus‟ seed; and weeds that are the devil‟s seed. At the end of the age, the separation of the two will take place with the former being gathered as God‟s possession; and the latter, gathered for punishment. Our study investigates this concept within the context of the Church which belongs to the kingdom of God. The reality within the Catholic Church and the individual local congregations that make up the Catholic Church, finds a mixture of wheat and weeds. The Scriptures teach that great apostasy will come about in the latter days as evil extends its seductive influence over God‟s people. Many will be seduced. Many already are!
The prostitute Babylon, in the book of Revelation, is a major symbol which contradicts everything that is godly, holy and sacred [as represented by the Holy city, the New Jerusalem which resembles a prepared bride beautifully dressed for her husband (Rev. 21:2)]. God‟s message to His people is that Babylon will fall and forever be destroyed. Revelation 17 and 18 presents Babylon as evil in two spheres (Manikam 2004:VIII). Firstly, evil is personified as a prostitute who seduces people away from God into idolatry. Idolatry is witnessed in organized religion and even unorganized religion. Every belief outside of the true worship of Christ revealed in the Scriptures, is idolatry. Idolatry finds its root in the Beast, or the Anti-Christ, symbolized by the prostitute‟s prominent position on the beast (Rev 17; cf. Rev. 13-14). She is described as “sitting” on the beast, signifying her unity with the beast and her representation of the beast on earth as his ambassador. The beast is identified as the great persecuting power that rules by brute force and is the supreme enemy of Christ and the Church. This beast of Rev. 13 is further described in Rev. 17 as the one who leads the inhabitants of the earth into idolatry through the prostitute. In Rev. 18, the beast is portrayed as the one who seduces people into commercialism, through the prostitute. The seducing of humanity into idolatry and commercialism is still the beast and prostitute of modern times. This beast prevents man from acknowledging God and entering into a relationship with Him. It is this beast of Idolatry and Commercialism that Revelation reveals as the seducers of mankind, pointing them away from the living God. Revelation 17-18 outlines the final judgment and destruction of the beast‟s evil system, which leads to the true worship of God.