[Darris McNeely] Do you ever wonder in Bible prophecy why in Revelation 17:2, where you have this description of a woman riding this beast, it says that the kings of the earth committed fornication? The inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication. Why is the term fornication used in this big image of a woman representing a false religious system, riding a beast, which is a representative of the nations of the world, and the relationship between this woman and this beast or this religious authority and the nations of the world is described as fornication. Now fornication, for those of you that might not be aware, is a term that does refer to sex outside the bounds of marriage. All right? And it is used here to describe an unholy alliance, an unholy relationship, essentially, a relationship with no commitment. It's not like a marriage.

Christ is described in Revelation 19 as preparing to marry the bride, which is His church in a marriage ceremony, which is a relationship of a covenant commitment between two people. Fornication, again, is sexual relationships between people without the commitment of the marriage. And that's what is being described here. Now, why is this term important to understand as it relates to the relationships between the nations?

Let me give you an example from a current issue that I think can help us to understand this. On Beyond Today, we've talked a lot about Brexit over the recent years, this idea of the United Kingdom, Great Britain, leaving the European Union, which several years ago they voted to do. And now in 2020, they finally got around to making it final that they would leave, and by the end of 2020, they should be out but it's been a very acrimonious, a bitter, contested relationship, and what essentially is a divorce.

You know, a lot of you've probably been through divorce or you certainly know people who have, and you've been a bystander to divorce. And we all know how unhealthy, angry, bitter divorce can be, rips people and families apart, impacts children, damages people for life, quite frankly. It's a horrible thing. God says He hates divorce. And with Brexit, the UK leaving the European Union, it's been like a divorce. First, they didn't think it would ever happen and they would never vote to make it happen. Well, they did. And then the European Union made all kinds of charges, and threats, and tried to make it very difficult for Britain to leave. And people in Britain who didn't wanna leave thought they could revote and make it happen again, and that never happened.

And now, finally, the divorce has been written out, and it's just a matter of finally, everybody signing off, and it's over, and they're out of there. But there's still some things to be done. And it's been playing itself out here. Relationships between nations are really kind of like the issue of fornication. Everybody's got their best interests in mind. It was no longer in the interests of England, of the United Kingdom to be in the EU for all the reasons stated. All the other nations that are together in the EU, they still have their own national interests. There's not a really deep commitment politically and in a full union like other states have and other nations have had in history. And we're seeing like a divorce, but it's because of what is described here.

There was, with Britain and with the EU, a marriage or a relationship that was kind of like fornication, where they were only there to serve their own interests, England and Europe to have them there. And now they're losing them, and they're sad for what they're going to lose economically, not for the welfare and the good of the people there. It's sort of a relationship kind of like what is described here prophetically between this woman and the beast, a relationship of fornication. That's the relationship between nations that we see throughout history and we see today. And actually what the Bible prophecy is describing, and those relationships never endure. This relationship in Revelation 17 will come crashing down. That's what chapter 18 shows.

The only relationship that will endure is a marriage and spiritually, the union that Christ makes with His church is one that will endure for eternity. That's why Revelation 17:3 uses the idea of fornication to describe the relationship here among the nations and a religious authority. We're saying it really a good example of it with Brexit and what's happening today in the United Kingdom and the EU, a lesson in Bible prophecy and a lesson in geopolitics.

That's BT Daily. Join us next time.