Jaw-dropping Jewels about Jesus
Rarely does Jesus, God the Son, do exactly what we expect of Him. It seems odd that He so frequently surprises us, given that He never changes. Hebrews 13:8 makes this absolute statement: “Jesus the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Still, though He is blessedly consistent in His goodness, Jesus does unforeseen things. Even when He does what is expected, He does not always do it in the way that we anticipate. Let us join with Jesus on a jaw-dropping journey. (I will be using this opening paragraph for each of the brief messages in this series. The following material will change daily.)
One of the most misinterpreted verses in Scripture is Revelation 17:9: “And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.” Because Rome, the capital city of the Roman Empire, has throughout history been known as the city on the seven hills, people have erroneously thought that this is a reference to Rome (and, by extension, the Roman Catholic Church). Unfortunately, this misinterpretation, based on a preconceived opinion, is found in the popular New International Version’s mistranslation of “mountains” as “hills.” This is an example of bias determining a translation rather than an actual analysis of the original Greek of the New Testament. The word “mountain” is distinct; there are other Greek words that mean “hill.” Even the NIV correctly translates ore as “mountain” in its seven other instances in Revelation (6:14; 8:8; 14:1; 16:20; 21:10). There is no legitimate reason to use anything other than “mountain” (or, if plural, “mountains”) here. Since the context specifically references Babylon (Revelation 16:19; 17:5; 18:2), any notion that Rome is being discussed is an unsupported assertion. Instead of placing our own opinions above the words of Scripture, let each of us “study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (II Timothy 2:15).