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The Bible Breakdown: Daily Bible Reading
Welcome to "The Bible Breakdown," where we break down God’s Word so we can know God better. I'm your host, Brandon Cannon, and I'm here to guide you through the pages of the Bible, one day at a time.
Each day, we'll read through a section of the Bible and explore key themes, motifs, and teachings. Whether you're new to the Bible or a seasoned veteran, I guarantee you'll find something insightful or inspiring. My hope is to encourage you to dive deeper and deeper.
So grab your Bible, your journal, your coffee, and join me on this journey of faith and discovery. And don't forget to hit that subscribe button to stay up-to-date with our daily readings and breakdowns.
Remember, as we journey through the pages of the Bible together, we're not just reading a book, we're unlocking the secrets to eternal life. The more we dig, the more we find! Let's get started!
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The Bible Breakdown: Daily Bible Reading
Revelation 17: Jesus Wins
Ever felt like the bad guys are winning? That's exactly what Revelation 17 addresses, and Pastor Brandon breaks it down with a powerful analogy about bullies that perfectly captures the chapter's message. Just as a seemingly intimidating bully might crumble when finally challenged, the mighty Roman Empire—symbolized as a great prostitute riding a scarlet beast—will ultimately fall before Jesus Christ.
This episode dives deep into the rich symbolism John uses to describe Rome without directly naming it—a necessary precaution for early Christians facing persecution. The "seven hills" where the woman rules, Babylon imagery, and the prostitute's luxurious adornments would have clearly identified Rome to first-century readers. Rather than promising immediate relief, however, God reveals that Rome's power will continue briefly, even gaining allies, before its final destruction.
What makes this message so relevant today is its timeless truth: appearances can be deceiving. Pastor Brandon shares a moving story about a man fighting for his marriage while watching a friend who abandoned his family seemingly prosper. The lesson? "Play it forward." Today's struggle and faithfulness builds tomorrow's legacy of victory. While Rome appeared invincible to early Christians, God assured them of its eventual fall. Similarly, our current battles—whether with relationships, health, finances, or injustice—exist within God's larger narrative where Jesus ultimately triumphs.
The most encouraging takeaway from this study is that "sometimes the greatest act of faith is faithfulness." When circumstances suggest evil is winning or that following God isn't worth it, Revelation 17 reminds us that God sees the complete story. The message echoes Jesus' own words: "In this world you will have trouble, but take heart. I have overcome the world." Whatever you're struggling with today, take courage—the Lamb will defeat every adversary because He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
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The More We Dig. The More We Find.
Well, everybody, welcome back to the Bible Breakdown podcast with your host, pastor Brandon, today, revelation, chapter 17,. And today's title is Jesus Wins Jesus wins. This chapter reminds me of one time I was listening to this story about. There was this guy who everybody in the school was afraid of. He was just this bully and he seemed like he was unbeatable and he just just walked around just strutting you know what I mean. And one day there was this new kid that came to school and, as the story goes, the new kid looked at that bully and was like, hmm, well, I mean, he is big and all, but that just means he's easier to hit, you know. And everybody was like man, you cannot fight him, he is going to kill you and whatever. And the truth is is that actually this big bully had never actually been in a fight. He was so big that no one ever dared try to confront him. And so once this bully came up to this new kid, and the new kid didn't back down, the bully didn't know what to do and, according to the story, the new kid didn't even have to hit him. He just said yeah, yeah, I'll, I will fight you right here and now. And then, you know, the bully was like OK, well, I'm going to kill you and that's whatever. Is like OK, come on, come on, and he never would do it. That reminds me of this chapter, because there is this big bully to the early church called the Roman Empire, and Jesus is the one who is going to stand up to this bully and just be like okay, what you got, buddy? And the answer is absolutely nothing against Jesus. And so, as you can tell, I'm excited about this chapter, and so, if you want to get out your Bibles, open up with me to Revelation, chapter seven.
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Speaker 1:Well, if you remember our, we just kind of got in this habit of doing a um, kind of a, a daily disclaimer, and that is that in a lot of books are a lot of podcasts, a lot of things that talk about the book of Revelation. Their goal is to predict the future, and what we're saying on this podcast is there's a place for all of that. But we're going to leave that to others, because what we look at is we see the book of Revelation not as a horoscope, but as a message, as a revelation of Jesus Christ. And so the way the early church would have looked at it is they would have gotten the central message and of Jesus Christ. And so the way the early church would have looked at it is they would have gotten the central message, and that is Jesus wins. That above everything else they're going through, above everything else that's happening. Jesus is the one who is victorious, and we can see that throughout the different chapters because, in the very beginning, john tells us that he is writing to the seven churches that he would have oversaw while he was on the island of Patmos. And while he's there he gets a revelation about what God is doing and about how, even though the Roman Empire and other places and all these things are pushing for these seven churches to compromise, jesus is still on his throne, he's still winning, he's still doing all these great things.
Speaker 1:And the revelation of Jesus Christ is about how, as the early church is being faithful and doing what they can do in the physical, god is doing the supernatural in the spiritual. And we are getting close to the climax of what's coming, of what lies ahead, and what we saw yesterday is that these angels are coming from the temple of God in heaven and they're pouring out these bowls of God's wrath that symbolize that God is is wreaking justice, reaping justice on the people, to which we could all say I mean, think about this for a moment. When, when injustice happens in the world today, people say where is God? Why isn't God doing something about this? If God were real and if God were good, he would be just and do something about this.
Speaker 1:But then, at the same time, I've heard people who have read the book of Revelation and they go why is God doing all these bad things to all these bad people? Well, here's the thing you can't have it both ways. Either God's going to be just and we celebrate his justice, or not, and it's like for a long time. I love the idea that God uses these bowls, because bowls take a while to fill up, and so God has been storing his wrath. He's been merciful and merciful, and merciful, until finally it's time to pour out his justice.
Speaker 1:And we're going to see today how he's pouring out his justice on this evil empire called Rome. And here's one other thing I want to tell you before we get started. It's going to talk about this great prostitute and it's going to talk about all these different things. It's going to say Babylon, the great mother of all prostitutes and obscenities in the world. Here's the thing John is writing to people who live in the early in the first century, who are being persecuted by Rome. They know exactly who he's talking about. He doesn't have to say Rome, because when he says Babylon the Great, he is going back to the fact that Babylon was the one that destroyed the nation of Judah and led them into 70 years of captivity. They're the ones who just decimated everything, and so he's doing that. So it would be just like today if we were talking about a nation and say, oh that that red, white and blue did this, or oh, the eagle did that, people would immediately know you're talking about the United States, because that's a symbol, a very recognizable symbol of the United States. And so when we read and he's talking about Babylon and the prostitute and all of that, imagine that the nation that the people reading this rather know exactly who he's talking about. Okay, you ready, here we go.
Speaker 1:Revelation 17, verse one, says this One of the seven angels who had poured out the seven bowls came over and spoke to me. Come with me. He said. I will show you the judgment that is going to come on the great prostitute who rules over many nations. The kings of the world have committed adultery with her and the people who belong to this world have been made drunk by the wine of her immorality. So the angel took me in the spirit, into the wilderness. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast and had seven heads with ten horns, and blasphemies against God were written all over it. The woman wore purple and scarlet clothing and beautiful jewelry made of gold and precious gems and pearls. In her hand she held a gold goblet full of obscenities and the impurities of her immorality. The mysterious name was written on her forehead Babylon, the Great mother of all prostitutes and obscenities in the world. I could see she was drunk. She was sauced drunk with the blood of God's holy people who were witnesses for Jesus. I stared at her in complete amazement. Why are you so amazed, the angel asked. I will tell you the mystery of this woman and the beast with the seven heads and the ten horns on which she sits. The beast you saw was once alive, but isn't now. And yet he will soon come up out of the bottomless pit and go into eternal destruction, and the people who belong to this world, whose names are not written in the book of life before the world was made, will be amazed at the reappearance of this beast who died. This calls for a mind with understanding. Seven heads of the beast represent the seven hills where the woman rules, and they represent seven kings. By the way, pause real quick. Seven hills that's talking about the woman rules and they represent seven kings. By the way, pause, real quick. Seven hills, that's talking about the Roman Empire, like the seven different areas where Rome basically saying Rome rules the world.
Speaker 1:Five kings verse 10. Five kings have already fallen. Six now reign and seven is yet to come. The seventh is yet to come, but the reign will be brief. The scarlet beast was that. Excuse me say it again, verse 11. The scarlet beast that was, but is no longer, is the eighth king. He is like the other seven and he too is headed for destruction. The ten horns of the beast are ten kings who have not yet risen to power. So, in other words, there are parts of this that talk about future things. They will be appointed to their kingdoms for one brief moment to reign with the beast. They will all agree to give him power and authority. Together they will go to war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will defeat them because he is Lord of all l Lords and King of all Kings. He is called and chosen and faithful ones. He and his called and chosen and faithful ones will be with him.
Speaker 1:Pause, you have to.
Speaker 1:You have to forgive me.
Speaker 1:I'm thinking about too many things at one time. Let's finish this up. Verse 15. Then the angel said to me the waters where the prostitute is ruling represent the masses of people of every nation and language. Verse 16, the scarlet beast with his 10 horns all hate the prostitute. They will strip her naked, eat her flesh and burn her remains with fire. That's a bad way to go.
Speaker 1:Verse 17, for God has put a plan into their minds and a plan that will carry out his purposes. They will agree to give her authority. Give the authority to the scarlet beast, so the words of God will be fulfilled and this woman you saw in your visions represent the great city that would be Rome, that rules over the kings of this world. Now, like I said, you have to forgive me. I literally think my brain froze when I got there, because this chapter is what so many people look to, because it literally does say there are things that are going to happen that he was seeing, that hadn't happened yet, and it was where this prostitute, which symbolized the Roman Empire, was going to then lead these other nations, take over these other nations, and there were going to be things that was going to then lead these other nations take over these other nations, and there were going to be things that were going to happen, and some of these nations were going to come to power and lose power, but then eventually all will be destroyed. Notice how it said in verse 17,. All of this was going to happen, so the words of God will be fulfilled.
Speaker 1:And so what God is telling the early church is he's telling them Rome is going to continue for a season. That sounds like bad news, right? I mean you think that when you're in the early church, you're hoping that God is going to say any day now, all of your enemies are going to go away. They're going to be gone, they're over. Praise the Lord. That's not what God says. He says your enemies are not going to go away right away. As a matter of fact, for a little while it's going to look like they're winning. Not only is it going to look like they're winning, it's going to look like other people are going to rise up and take their place and serve alongside them, and it's going to look like that they are collecting and doing well. However, all of these things are only going to last for a season and it's all going to be done to fulfill the word of the Lord, because God is going to destroy it all in the end. That is encouraging, because here's the thing God tells us. Jesus himself said in this world you will have trouble, but take heart. I have overcome the world. The reason why that is such good news is because the Lord tells us before it even happens that, yes, bad things are going to happen, but that doesn't mean that Jesus is losing anything. As a matter of fact, jesus is already victorious, and so the lesson to the early church would have been don't be seduced by the world. Don't think that because your enemies have momentary success, that in some way Jesus is not in control. Actually, all of this is still part of his plan. So for us today, the message will be the same.
Speaker 1:I've talked to so many people whose hearts were broken because they were doing the right thing, and it seemed like they were being persecuted, punished. Things are going wrong, but other people are not following God and it seems like they're living successfully. Me give me give an example. I was talking to a gentleman the other day and he was struggling because he, his marriage, was falling apart. I mean just absolutely falling apart. And he was struggling because he was saying, pastor, I'm doing everything I know to do to save this marriage. We're going to counseling, we're doing the hard things together, we're working through the process where we're doing. It'll be so easy to give up and quit, but we're trying our best. And he and he was talking to me.
Speaker 1:He said, however, I have a friend and he said he ran out on his wife, he abandoned his kids and he looks like he's living the high life. He said he's, he's spending money, he's making money, he's doing all these things. He's like it's not fair, pastor, and I was there to tell him. I said well, first of all, you should never compare your life to another person's, because you don't know what someone else is going through on the inside. The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, but the water bill is also higher. In other words, there's a price to pay.
Speaker 1:But, at the same, play it forward. 10-15 years you fight for your marriage and let's say that God is gracious and you're able to save your marriage 15 years, you have a legacy of a hard-earned victory On the other side, your friend who abandoned them. You know what he has to look forward to unless he changes Brokenness. Play it forward and can I tell you? If you're in a situation where you're struggling, can I tell you Jesus wins. Play it forward, realize that, yes, there will be seasons when it looks like the enemy is winning, because for seasons it will be very much like he is, but play it forward and realize that in the end God wins. Whatever you are struggling to be faithful with. Sometimes, the greatest act of faith is faithfulness, but if you're faithful to the end, watch and see what happens.
Speaker 1:Let's pray together right now. God, thank you so much for today. Thank you, god, that you're with us and you're for us, and thank you, god, that the message you gave to the early church is still true for us today. You are real and that you are moving and you are doing great things. Help us, lord, to trust you and to see it through to the victory. In Jesus' name, we pray Amen and amen. Can I tell you I kind of hate leaving it right here, because the next chapter chapter 18, shows that, even though it looked like the enemy won for a season, we get to see the mighty fall as the king rises, and so I can't wait to get there. But for today, revelation 1, verse 7, say it with me. It says look, he is coming with the clouds of heaven and everyone will see him. My prayer is as we go through the book of Revelation, you are seeing the Lord fresh and new more every day. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow for Revelation, chapter 18.
