Good morning, everyone. It's great to worship with you. If you don't know me, my name is Sean.
I'm one of the pastors of Trinity Cambridge Church, and it is my joy and privilege to preach God's
Word to you this morning. If you have your Bibles, please open it to Revelation. It's the last book
in the Bible. If you don't have a Bible, please raise your hand. We'd love to give you a copy
that you can have and use while you're here and take home with you. Revelation chapter 17.
Let me pray for the reading and preaching of God's Word. Father, we humble ourselves again
and incline our ears and our hearts to you so that you might address us, speak to us from your Word,
so that our perspectives that are so pervasively and thoroughly enculturated in this
sinful world might be renewed and transformed and aligned with your purposes and priorities.
So to that end, God, minister to us by the power of your Holy Spirit in the reading and preaching
of your Word for the glory of your name and fill your people this morning with the hope of the gospel.
in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
If you are able, please stand and join me as I read Revelation 17.
Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bulls came and said to me,
Come, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters,
with whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality,
and with the wine of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk.
And he carried me away in the spirit into a wilderness,
and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names,
and it had seven heads and ten horns.
The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls,
holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality.
And on her forehead was written a name of mystery,
Babylon the Great, mother of prostitutes and of earth's abominations.
And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.
When I saw her, I marveled greatly.
But the angel said to me, Why do you marvel?
I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast with seven heads and ten horns that carries her.
The beast that you saw was and is not and is about to rise from the bottomless pit and go to destruction.
And the dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world
will marvel to see the beast because it was and is not and is to come.
This calls for a mind with wisdom.
The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated.
They are also seven kings, five of whom have fallen.
One is, the other has not yet come.
It is an eighth, but it belongs to the seven and it goes to destruction.
And the ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have not yet received royal power,
but they are to receive authority as kings for one hour together with the beast.
These are of one mind and they hand over their power and authority to the beast.
They will make war on the lamb and the lamb will conquer them.
For he is Lord of lords and king of kings.
And those with him are called and chosen and faithful.
And the angel said to me,
the waters that you saw where the prostitute is seated are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages.
And the ten horns that you saw, they and the beast will hate the prostitute.
They will make her desolate and naked and devour her flesh and burn her up with fire.
For God has put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose by being of one mind
and handing over their royal power to the beast until the words of God are fulfilled.
And the woman that you saw is the great city that has dominion over the kings of the earth.
This is God's holy and authoritative word.
You may be seated.
I came across a fascinating list that WalletHub, a finance company, put together entitled
The Most Sinful Cities in America.
It ranked 182 major cities in the U.S. based on how sinful it is according to their estimation.
And they used 37 different metrics with corresponding weights to determine how sinful the city is
across seven different categories of sin, broad categories of sin.
So the first category was anger and hatred.
So they used rates of violent crimes and assaults to assess the city's level of sinfulness in that category,
among other metrics.
Secondly, the rate of fraud and theft was used to assess its level of jealousy.
The instances of driving under the influence and drug use was used to assess its excesses.
The number of casinos per capita and to assess its greed.
And the number of adult entertainment establishments per capita and Google search interest index for porn to assess its lust.
And then the number of tanning salons per capita and Google search interest index for plastic surgeries to assess its vanity.
And the average time spent watching TV, among other factors, to assess its laziness.
And this is no definitive list.
It's not the Bible, obviously.
But still fascinating.
And unsurprisingly, at the top of the list is, you might guess, Las Vegas, which has been nicknamed Sin City since the early 1900s.
Houston, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Atlanta round out the top five.
Boston is ranked 95th.
But we break the top 50 in the greed category, which is not surprising.
A city is where there's a high density of people.
And for that reason, there is a concentration and synergy of human creativity and wealth and intellect.
However, that also means that there is, in cities, a concentration of human sin and pride.
And that's also one of the reasons why we are here as a church in the city.
Because those who are well have no need of a physician.
But those who are sick.
And Jesus came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.
Ever since the tower and the city of Babel in the land of Shinar in Genesis 11,
when people said to themselves,
Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens.
And let us make a name for ourselves.
It was the first city.
Cities have since then been a monument to human hubris.
Don't people move into cities nowadays for the exact same reason?
Let us make a name for ourselves.
Let us build a city to reach to the top of the heavens.
Living life apart from God.
Living life without reference to God.
That, at its heart, is what sin is all about.
Seeking to make a name for ourselves rather than praising the name of God.
And wanting to reach the heavens so that we can, in a sense, be gods ourselves.
That sinful human hubris is succinctly captured in the final stanza of William Ernest Henley's defiant poem, Invictus.
Which goes like this.
It matters not how straight the gate, how charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate.
I am the captain of my soul.
He's making two biblical allusions here that you may be catching on to already.
The straight gate, S-T-R-A-I-T.
He's referring to the narrow gate that Jesus speaks of when he commends us in Matthew 7, 13.
Enter by the narrow gate, or the straight gate.
For the gate is wide, and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.
For the gate is narrow, and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.
That's the first illusion.
The second one, when he talks about the scroll that is charged with punishments,
he's speaking of the scroll with the judgment seals in Revelation 5.
So then the poet is saying here,
I don't care how narrow the gate is, or how hard it is to get to heaven.
I don't care what kind of standards of obedience I have to, I'm required to follow.
I don't care what kind of fearful punishments await me in the scroll of God's judgments.
I'm going to do what I want to do, and I'm going to go where I want to, where I please to go,
because I am the master of my fate.
I am the captain of my soul.
It's such a bare-faced declaration of human rebellion that it's shocking,
but that's what's at the heart of sin, and that's what the heart of the city of man.
From the ancient city of Babel to Babylon,
from the ancient city of Rome to modern-day metropolises,
cities have been incubators and stewards of human culture,
the good, the bad, and the ugly.
And therefore, cities have been a monument to human hubris.
This is what Babylon, the great prostitute, represents,
the center of the sinful world's cultural and economic power.
Revelation portrays three main enemies of God's people
as the beast, the false prophet, and the great prostitute,
and they're all under the authority of Satan, the ancient dragon.
And they use different tools to attack and oppress God's people.
The beast's primary tool of offense against the people of God is persecution.
Oppressing the people of God.
And the false prophet, the second beast's main tool, the primary tool,
is deception.
False religion.
He gets people to worship the beast.
But the third, the great prostitute,
her primary tool is perhaps the most insidious and subtle of all.
That's seduction.
Revelation 17 to 18 both deal with the fall of Babylon, the great prostitute.
And the main point of chapter 17 is that as the bride of the lamb,
we must resist the seductive power of the prostitute and the beast.
First exhortation, verses 1 to 8, is do not marvel at their debauchery and dominion.
And the second exhortation, verses 9 to 18, is keep in mind their destruction and desolation.
And the third and final exhortation in verse 14, is be faithful to the lamb who chose you.
In order to resist the seductive power of the prostitute,
we must take care not to marvel at her debauchery and dominion in this world.
An angel invites John to come and see the judgment of the great prostitute
who is seated on many waters, in verses 1 and 2,
with whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality,
and with the wine of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk.
We are told in verse 5 that the name of this great prostitute is Babylon the Great,
mother of prostitutes and earth's abominations.
And so the downfall of Babylon was already proclaimed early in chapter 14,
and the seventh bull that Charlie preached on last week from chapter 16
also talked about the fall of Babylon.
And in chapter 17 to 18, we see in great detail how it actually happens.
She is called Babylon the Great, and the great prostitute,
much like the great red dragon that she serves from chapter 12,
to indicate the enormous scale and power and influence that she wields.
Verse 18 calls her the great city that has dominion over the kings of the earth.
Ancient Babylon was the biggest city in the world in its heyday,
and because the Babylonian empire sacked Jerusalem
and carried Judah into captivity and exile,
and because King Nebuchadnezzar tried to assimilate the Jews,
their culture and their religion into Babylonian culture and religion,
and lead them to apostasy,
the name Babylon became synonymous in biblical literature
with worldly powers and influences that persecute God's people
and seduce them into compromise.
That's what Babylon represents.
In the first century AD, when Revelation was written,
the main Babylon would have been Rome,
because in the same way that Babylonian empire destroyed Jerusalem
and its temple in 586 BC,
so the Roman empire destroyed Jerusalem and its temple in 70 AD.
Later in verse 9, we're told that the seven heads of the beast
are seven mountains on which the woman is seated.
Rome was popularly called a city on seven hills,
city of seven hills.
In the ancient world, you can see actually a coin
that was produced in 71 AD under Emperor Vespasian's reign,
which depicts on the left,
I think I have a picture of this to show, Gary.
It shows the picture of goddess Roma,
who is a personification of the city of Rome,
and she is sitting on seven mountains or seven hills.
And to the right of her, you see the water, the river Tiber.
And Babylon, the great prostitute,
cannot be understood, however, as only referring to Rome.
Even though it does refer to Rome,
it's not referring only to Rome.
And John makes that clear here in Revelation 17 to 18,
because Rome already fell.
It was already sacked many hundreds of years ago.
But this Babylon will finally fall only at the end of the age.
So she is called Babylon here, not Rome,
because Babylon is the type and the pattern
that represents all cities that are at the center
of the sinful world's cultural influence and economic power.
So what modern sociologists call today global cities,
or world cities, or alpha cities,
I didn't even know these terms existed until this week,
such as New York and London,
which function as hubs of the global economy
and international politics,
as well as cultural centers featuring world-renowned theater,
museums, and landmarks,
can also be appropriately called Babylon.
Verse 1 says that this great prostitute
is seated on many waters.
This is an expression that is taken from Jeremiah 51.13,
which prophesies of the fall of Babylon,
who dwells by many waters, rich in treasures.
The idea of dwelling by many waters
is connected to the fact that she is rich in treasures
because of the bodies of water that enrich the cities
by making them centers of trade and commerce.
Ancient Babylon was famously built upon
the Tigris and Euphrates rivers,
the rivers,
thrived as the economic center of the ancient world.
That's why that whole geographic region
is called Mesopotamia,
which means between two rivers,
between the rivers.
Similarly, ancient Rome,
seated on the Tiber River,
and by the Tyrrhenian Sea,
was the commercial center of the world.
An angel later explains in verse 15,
the waters that you saw
where the prostitute is seated
are peoples and multitudes
and nations and languages.
Both Babylon and Rome
teamed with multitudes
and nations and peoples
from all cultures
going in and out of them all the time.
And this is an apt picture
of the great prostitute
seated on many waters
and her whoredom,
her sexual immorality.
Proverbs 5, 15, 16
counsels young men
to flee from the adulteress
and to be faithful to his wife
with these words.
Drink water from your own cistern,
flowing water from your own well.
Should your springs be scattered abroad,
streams of water in the streets,
let them be for yourself alone
and not for strangers with you.
But Babylon and Rome
and all major metropolitan centers
of cultural and economic power,
they drink,
not from one source of water,
but from many waters.
And they share their streams of water
with strangers,
scattering their springs abroad.
So verse 2 says,
with her,
the kings of the earth
have committed sexual immorality
and with the wine
of her sexual immorality,
the dwellers on earth
have become drunk.
And if you've been with us
through our series
in the book of Revelation,
you know that the phrase
dwellers on earth
is John's characteristic way
of referring to
the unrepentant,
people who in this world,
unbelievers,
who are unrepentant of their sins
and continue to rebel against God.
And these people are drunk
on the wine of Babylon's
sexual immorality,
which we find out in verse 6
is the blood of the saints,
the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.
Babylon's prosperity
and intoxication
come at the expense
of the lifeblood
of the people of God
because her cultural
and economic prowess
lead to the oppression
and marginalization
of God's people
who do not participate
in their idolatrous agenda.
And this prostitute
is fertile.
Verse 5 says
that she is a mother
of prostitutes
and of earth's abominations.
She produces offspring
that are also prostitutes
and our abominations
fill the earth
with even more abominations.
And this is figurative language
because obviously people
don't commit sexual immorality
with cities.
They do so all the time
in cities,
but they don't do it
with cities.
So this is a metaphor
for partaking in
and coming under
the influence
of Babylon's worldliness
and sinful idolatry.
Because sexual immorality
is such a shocking
betrayal of true love
within marriage,
the Bible often uses it
as a metaphor
for spiritual idolatry.
In what ways
have the self-sufficient arrogance,
the self-absorbed vanity,
the liberal sensuality,
and the boundless greed
and ambition
of the city of man
rubbed off on you?
Maybe you're not committing
blatant adultery
and spiritual idolatry
against God.
But imagine a married woman
who is infatuated
with a man
who is not her husband.
She hasn't had sex with him,
but they're in each other's DMs
sending flirty texts
and emojis.
She fantasizes about him
and her mind and heart
are more occupied with him
than with her own husband.
When she is talking to him
in person,
she gets,
her eyes get all,
you know,
oogly-googly
and she giggles
in a way that she never does
when she's with her husband.
Yes, she hasn't slept with him,
at least not yet,
but would you call that faithful?
Faithful?
Even if there isn't
physical adultery,
there is certainly
emotional adultery,
adultery of the heart.
And in what ways
are we trying to do
exactly that with Babylon,
the city of man?
Babylon exerts
its sinful influence
upon people of God
even today.
Are you consumed with zeal
for the glory of God?
Or are you consumed
with lust
for the glory of man?
Do you live
with an eternal,
heavenly perspective?
Or do you live
with a temporal,
earthly perspective?
Are the purposes
and priorities
of your life
governed by
and grounded
in God's word
in the scriptures?
Or have you adopted
the world's agenda
of health
and wealth
and sex
and success
at all costs?
Are your relational
impulses
driven by
the principles
of scripture?
How you treat people?
Or is it determined
more by Taylor Swift lyrics
than TikTok videos?
Is your perception
of beauty
shaped by the virtues
described in scripture?
Or is your view
of beauty
motivated
or shaped
by the style trends
on Instagram?
Are you motivated
and constrained
by the love of God?
Or do you live
primarily for the love
and approval
of man?
When John actually
sees
Babylon the great
prostitute
in his vision
in verse 3
he sees that she
is sitting
on a scarlet beast
that was full
of blasphemous names
and it has 7 heads
and 10 horns.
This description
is a tip off
that we've seen
this beast before.
In Revelation 13.1
we saw a beast
with 10 horns
and 7 heads
with 10 diatems
on its horns
and blasphemous names
on its heads.
And when I preached
on chapter 13
I explained to you
that this beast
is a hybrid beast.
It's a combination
of the four beasts
that are prophesied of
in Daniel 7
that represent
the Babylonian Empire
the Medo-Persian Empire
the Macedonian Empire
and finally
the Roman Empire.
So then this beast
is not primarily
a representation
of a single antichrist
as much as
it is a composite symbol
and a corporate representative
of all antichrists
of the worldly kings
and kingdoms
that oppose God
and persecute his people.
The beast in short
represents political power
and Babylon in short
represents cultural
and economic power.
And there is an unholy alliance
between the two.
We are told in verse 7
that this beast
carries Babylon around
meaning this beast's
political authority
serves as a pedestal
for Babylon's cultural
and economic prominence.
the political powers
of this world
ensure the ascendancy
and dominance
of sin and worldliness
in our culture.
Remember the beast's policy
in chapter 13 verse 17
no one can buy or sell
unless he has the mark
of the beast
that is the name of the beast
or the number of its name.
Unless you pledge allegiance
to the beast
and commit idolatry
you cannot buy
and sell and prosper.
So then people
who would grow rich
people who would grow rich
must prostitute themselves
with Babylon
and they also must
prostrate themselves
at the feet of the beast
and worship him.
And there's something
about this dominion
that the beast
and the prophet
have over the world
that's alluring.
I will elaborate on this
a little further later
but the beast
and the prostitute
both imitate Christ
and his church respectively.
Three times we are told
here that this beast
was and is not
and is to come.
This is a crude imitation
of God and Christ.
God is repeatedly described
in the book of Revelation
as the eternal one
chapter 1 verse 4
chapter 1 verse 8
chapter 4 verse 8
as the one who was
and is and is to come.
Moreover we are assured
repeatedly
all throughout Revelation
that Jesus is the one
who is coming soon.
So then this beast
is imitating that.
It says in verse 8
that the world
will marvel
to see the beast
because it was
and is not
and is to come.
This is alluding back
to chapter 13 verse 3
which talked about
how the beast
was one of its heads
seemed to have
a mortal wound.
It died basically
but it was raised
to life again.
It was healed
and the whole world
marveled at it
and followed it.
Notice the word marvel
is used there
as well as here.
in parallel.
So one of its heads
the beast's heads
one of the kings
that seemingly dies
and is raised to life again
is making a mockery
of Jesus
a parody of Jesus
who was described
in chapter 5
as having been inflicted
with a mortal wound
and yet standing
risen.
Irish poet
Oscar Wilde
popularized the proverb
imitation is the
sincerest form
of flattery
that mediocrity
can pay to greatness.
Another proverb says
hypocrisy is
an homage
that vice
pays to virtue.
This is what's
going on here.
The dragon
and the beast
cannot fix
their mediocrity
so they imitate
God and Christ
in their greatness.
The beast
can only produce
cheap knockoffs
of the real thing.
so everything about him
his kingdom
and his glory
his name
it's all bootleg
bogus
and this beast
derives
its plausibility
its credibility
by imitating
the true king
Jesus.
But this imitation
is alluring.
Verse 8 says
that the world
will marvel
to see the beast.
Similarly verse 6
says that
when John saw
the great prostitute
he marveled
greatly.
John is obviously
not worshipping
Babylon
in the same way
that the earth dwellers
are following
after her
and marveling
at the beast
because he knows
exactly what she is.
The angel tells him
exactly what this
woman is.
John can see
the name
the profanities
the blasphemous name
on her head
but when he still
sees this woman
this Babylon
all rayed
in purple
and scarlet
a beautiful
seductive
nightgown
adorned
with gold
and jewels
and pearls
holding in her hand
a golden cup
and he sees her
sitting on this
powerful beast
writing
John marvels
greatly
prompting the angel's
implicit rebuke
in verse 7
why do you marvel?
Don't be amazed
by her
don't be dismayed
by her
I will explain
to you
her full identity
and faith.
There's something
about the rule
and authority
of the beast
and the Babylon
the prostitute
something about
the beast's rule
and authority
and power
resembles God's
rule and authority
and power
something about
the beauty
and the diversity
of Babylon
resembles the beauty
and diversity
of the people
of God
the church
of Christ
there's something
about the productivity
and prosperity
of Babylon
that resembles
our heavenly
inheritance
and labor
for the Lord
in the kingdom
of God
but don't marvel
at the great
prostitute
what makes you
marvel at the city
of man
is it its
cosmopolitanism
with its
various languages
and cuisines
the world
is your oyster
does it make
you feel cultured
not boxed in
by the narrow
bigotry
and prejudice
that you attribute
to your parents
or the small town
that you grew up in
or is it the city's
prosperity
cities generate
so much wealth
people living
in urban areas
earn significantly more
and have higher
living standards
than people in rural areas
or is it the city's
intellectualism
are you drawn
to the air
of sophistication
and academic rigor
that permeate our city
or is it the many
sensual pleasures
and delights
that the city
of man promises
Babylon
the city of man
is only a crude
imitation of the
new Jerusalem
the city of God
so do not marvel
at the debauchery
and dominion
of the prostitute
also keep in mind
the eventual destruction
and desolation
of the beast
in Babylon
I've said to you before
that the description
of the beast
as the one who was
and is not
and is about to rise
is John's creative use
of the Nero legends
that were popular
during his day
Nero Caesar
was the emperor of Rome
from 54 to 68 AD
but when he was
eventually deposed
by the Roman senate
he killed himself
but because his death
was shrouded in mystery
and there weren't
many witnesses
there were really
no witnesses
many people refused
to accept the rumor
of his death
and believed that
Nero had taken refuge
among the Parthians
who lived in the north
and that he would return
that Nero would return
to exact vengeance
on those who had deposed
him in order to
retake the kingdom
so this was a myth
that was very popular
called Nero returned
or Nero living again
two related myths
and this myth
was so widely believed
that historically
there were three
Nero imposters
emerged in the coming years
after Nero's death
all trying to lead
a rebellion
trying to claim
to be this return of Nero
and John is making
creative use
of this Nero legend
because he's using Nero
as the type
or the pattern
of the antichrist
because of Nero's
notorious persecution
of Christians
second century
Christian author
Tertullian
calls Nero
the first
that persecuted
the Christian doctrine
third century
Lactantius
also wrote
that Nero
was the first
that persecuted
the servants of God
so he's the first
great persecutor
of the church
and in that sense
becomes the prototype
and the archetype
of all those
who would come
as antichrist
to persecute
God's people
and that's why
Tertullian later
calls Emperor Domitian
who also persecuted
Christians
the second Nero
in this way
this beast
who has been healed
of his mortal wound
appears in the
repeated rise
and fall
of states
and kingdoms
that oppose God
and oppress his people
in scripture
first it was Egypt
and then Babylon
then Persia
then Macedonia
and then Rome
and so on
right down
to our modern age
but I think
at the end
of the end times
there will also be
a singular
antichrist
who will conquer
the people of God
like never before
that's why
verse 8 says
that the beast
that was
and is not
and is about
to rise
from the bottomless pit
and go to destruction
it talks about
how he is not
during John's time
this beast
is not
but he's about
to rise
from the bottomless pit
this final beast
is a part
of this beast
in chapter 13
but according
to verse 11
it is an eighth head
that comes
at the end
of the end
though it belongs
to the seven
it is an eighth head
and it goes
to destruction
people have tried
to decipher
verse 10
the meaning of it
in so many different ways
seven kings
five of whom have fallen
one is
the other is not yet to come
and when he does come
he must remain
only a little while
people have tried
to pin
these exact
exact words
on individuals
historical figures
but there
has been no consensus
because I don't think
John intended
for us to pin
these people
on exact historical figures
there are seven kings
because as John does
all throughout the book
seven is the number
for completeness
and the seven kings
represent all
of the worldly rulers
that persecute
God's people
during the church age
and this eighth one
is the final one
the end of the end
the ultimate antichrist
who will reign
with the ten horns
in verse 12
who are called
the ten kings
who have not yet
received royal power
and they are to receive
authority as kings
for one hour
together with the beast
but these ten kings
will eventually
hand over their power
and authority
to the beast
and together
they will make war
on the lamb
it says in verse 14
notice just how many times
this passage reminds us
of the final destruction
of the beast
and the prostitute
it's ironic
that the beast was
and is not
and is about to rise
from the bottomless pit
but for what
what does
what purpose
and to what end
does he rise
from the bottomless pit
verse 8 tells us
the beast was
and is not
and is about to rise
from the bottomless pit
and go to destruction
that's the destiny
of the beast
when this eighth king
finally comes
what will happen
to him
verse 11 tells us
it goes to destruction
again
these ten kings
will reign
with the final antichrist
and hand over
their authority
to the beast
how long will
their reign last
verse 12 tells us
only for one hour
indicating a short
defined
limited period of time
this is in stark contrast
to our lord jesus
the lamb of god
who is the lord of the lords
and king of kings
unlike the beast
and these kings
who come
rise only in order
to go to destruction
the resurrected jesus
says in verse
chapter 1
verses 17 and 18
fear not
i am the first
and the last
and the living one
i died
and behold
i am alive
forevermore
and i have the keys
of death
and hades
jesus died
for our sins
on the cross
and he was raised
from the dead
so that death
no longer has
dominion over him
unlike this beast
who will come
and only go
to destruction
likewise with babylon
it says in verse 16
the ten horns
and the beast
will hate
the prostitute
they will make her
desolate and naked
and devour her flesh
and burn her up
with fire
that's the sad fate
of all prostitutes
eventually they're
discarded
when they're no longer
useful for the pleasures
of the man
that they serve
at the end of the end
the great prostitutes
unholy alliance
with the beast
will fall apart
and the great prostitute
will be abandoned
left desolate
and naked
by the very kings
that ravaged her
for their pleasure
the three descriptions
of babylon's
ultimate fate
fit the metaphors
that are in this chapter
like a discarded prostitute
she will be desolate
and naked
like an animal
that is preyed upon
she will be devoured
her flesh will be devoured
by the beast
and like a city
that is conquered
she will be burned up
with fire
the political side
of the world's
anti-god system
will turn against
the center
of the world's
cultural and economic
influence
and they will together
become undone
because as Jesus said
in Mark 3 26
if Satan has risen up
against himself
and is divided
he cannot stand
but is coming
to an end
that's how
the beast
and the prostitute
and Satan
the great dragon
will all come
to an end
the sovereignty
and providence
of God
in all of this
should give us
much comfort
notice in verse 17
the reason why
the beast
and the ten kings
turn against Babylon
it says
for God
has put it
into their hearts
to carry out
his purpose
by being of one mind
and handing over
their royal power
to the beast
until the words
of God
are fulfilled
that's an amazing
verse
the Bible
never paints
a dualistic
picture
of God
pitted against
Satan
as if they're
equals
kind of
in a do or die
match
Satan
is never
God's
equal
to suggest
it is blasphemous
and insulting
to the glory
of God
Satan
will always
and forever
do God's bidding
no matter how hard
he tries
to rebel
it's God
who puts it
into the heart
of the antichrist
and his puppets
to unite
in their desolation
of Babylon
it's God
who puts it
in their heart
so that they
together wage
war against the lamb
and his saints
so that he can
fulfill the word
of God
that's so much
power
so much majesty
authority
glory
and that
ought to give us
hope and endurance
when we know
that our victory
is assured
in the end
in 2017
Super Bowl 51
the New England
Patriots
accomplished the
largest comeback
in Super Bowl history
how many of you guys
there for that
yeah
not many
I wasn't there
either
I mean I was there
in front of TV
is what I mean
they came back
from a 28-3
deficit
in the third quarter
to win the game
it was an incredible game
it's the only football game
that I've watched
more than once
and when I talked
to a friend of mine
Toby
after the game
he told me how
he told his kids
to go to bed
during the third quarter
because it's over
you know
they're not coming back
from this
so go to bed
and they went to bed
and they missed
the greatest comeback
of the greatest game
in NFL history
I'm not biased at all
and they lost hope
and they despaired
but imagine later on
if they're re-watching this
the recorded game
do you think that they will
stop watching
in the third quarter?
of course not
that's when the fun starts
right
because you know
what the outcome is
you know they come back
and win in the end
they can endure
the three quarters
of thumping
by the Atlanta Falcons
because they know
what's coming
in the end
I hesitated to use
this illustration
because
even though there are
good
good things
about sports
and in sports
that we can enjoy
responsibly
it also appeals
to the vanity
and pride of man
like all things
that are of Babylon
and they tend
toward idolatry
unless checked
by the redeeming grace
of God
but it illustrates
the importance
of faith
and hope
when you feel
downtrodden
by the sinful world
and the flesh
and the devil
when you're weary
from your spiritual battle
when you're on the verge
of despair
when you begin to wonder
if it's
is it worth
following Christ?
is it worth
bearing all this cost?
keep in mind
the destruction
of the beast
and the desolation
of Babylon
they will make war
on the lamb
and the lamb
will conquer them
for he is lord of lords
and king of kings
and those with him
are called
and chosen
and faithful
it's this hope
for the end
the triumph
of the lamb
that will enable us
to be overcomers
instead of suck-comers
and that brings me
to my final point
verse 14
reminds us
that we
who belong to the lamb
are called
and chosen
and faithful
the words called
and chosen
both refer to
God's unilateral
act of choosing us
his election
and his effectual call
of his people
out of all the nations
and out of all the peoples
of the world
God chose us
to be his people
and God called us
to be his witnesses
and to belong to him
and as such
we should be set apart
for God
as the bride of the lamb
as his bride
we should be faithful
to him
and resist the seductive
power of the prostitute
there's an implicit
command there
in describing
God's people
as faithful
the word faithful
is reminiscent
of Jesus' command
in Revelation 2.10
be faithful
unto death
and I will give you
the crown of life
be faithful
trustworthy witnesses
just like Jesus
but God is not
commanding us here
to earn his favor
by our faithfulness
rather
the people of God
are faithful
because they are called
and chosen
as you saw earlier
in when describing
the people of the world
the dwellers on earth
who marvel
and follow after the beast
it said that they were
specifically those
whose names were not
written in the book of life
it's because
we are called
and chosen
that we do not marvel
at the beast
and follow him
but instead remain faithful
to the bride
of the lamb
Babylon the great prostitute
serves as literary foil
to the church
the bride of the lamb
in several important ways
notice how John
is carried away
in the spirit
into the wilderness
in verse 3
where he sees a woman
do you remember
when another time
when John was carried
in the spirit
into a wilderness
to see a woman
in chapter 13
or chapter 12
verse 6
and in there
he saw a woman
in the desert
and it was
the woman
that represented
the church
the people of God
and she was nourished
by God
in the wilderness
but that's contrasted here
with this woman
who is a prostitute
in the wilderness
and she instead
of being nourished
by God
is nourished
by her sexual immorality
intercourse
with the people
the nations
in the languages
the contrast
is reinforced
by the way
Babylon is introduced
in verse 1
it says
then one of the
seven angels
who had the seven bowls
came and said to me
come I will show you
the judgment
of the great prostitute
now compare that
to Revelation 21 9
where it says
then came
one of the seven angels
who had the seven bowls
full of the last plagues
and spoke to me
saying
come I will show you
the bride
the wife of the lamb
it may be
the exact same angel
that's introducing
both of these women
they're both
the angel
that had the bowl
of the wrath of God
and they both
use the same formula
to introduce them
come I will show you
the prostitute
or the bride
the great prostitute
is the city of man
but the bride of the lamb
is the city of God
the holy city of Jerusalem
it says
in chapter 21 verse 10
the prostitute
was drunk
with the blood
of the saints
the blood of the martyrs
of Jesus
but the bride of the lamb
is washed clean
in the blood
of the lamb
Revelation 7 14
Babylon
has written
on her forehead
the name
Babylon the great
mother of prostitutes
and of earth's abominations
but for new Jerusalem
the name of God
and of the lamb
will be on their foreheads
it says in Revelation 21 4
at the end
of the end
the great prostitute
will be desolate
and naked
but the bride of the lamb
will be clothed
in white garments
it says
throughout Revelation
no we will not
be desolate
and abandoned
God will dwell
with us forever
and wipe every tear
from our eyes
are you desperate
and discouraged
this morning
because of your own
sinfulness
do you feel defiled
by your spiritual adultery
do you feel
that you're more
like the whore
Babylon
and less like
the pure
virgin bride
of Christ
there's hope
for you
and for all of us
because
Jesus Christ
our bridegroom
is also our redeemer
contained within
the genealogy
of Jesus our savior
in Matthew chapter 1
is not one prostitute
but two prostitutes
in the ancestry
of Jesus
Tamar
who prostituted
herself
and Rahab
the prostitute
in the book
of Hosea
in order that
God might
show
the Israelites
what his relationship
with them is like
he commands
prophet Hosea
to take
and marry
a wife
of whoredom
and have children
of whoredom
for the land
commits great whoredom
by forsaking the Lord
then in Hosea
2.23
God promises
that he will redeem
his unfaithful
whoring people
saying
I will have mercy
on no mercy
and I will say
to not my people
you are my people
no mercy
and not my people
are respectively
names of the daughter
and son
of Hosea
and Gomer
his unfaithful wife
his whoring wife
he will say
to them
to no mercy
I will have mercy
to not my people
you are my people
and he shall say
you are my God
that's what we read
in our assurance of pardon
from 1 Peter 2.9-10
today
but you are a chosen race
a royal priesthood
a holy nation
a people for his own possession
that you may proclaim
the excellencies
of him who called you
out of darkness
into his marvelous light
once you were not a people
but now you are God's people
once you had not received mercy
but now you have received mercy
this is
a staggering reality
God out of his love for us
arranged for his only son
to marry a prostitute
in God's grace and mercy
the whore
becomes the pure virgin
bride of the land
isn't that why God commands
us husbands
to love our wives
as Christ loved the church
and gave himself up for her
by washing her
with the water of the word
that she might be
set apart
so he might present
the church to himself
in splendor
without spot
or wrinkle
or any such thing
that she might be holy
and without blemish
we were all
once prostitutes
in league with Babylon
but Jesus
sanctified us
for himself
by dying on the cross
for our sins
and being raised
from the dead
Jesus called us
and he chose us
to be his holy bride
so how can we be faithful
to this bridegroom
it's by
abiding in
Jesus
the faithful one
he's described
again and again
throughout revelation
as the faithful
and true one
by believing
in this gospel
of what Jesus
has done for us
by putting
all our faith
in Jesus
and not in our own
righteousness
we cling to Jesus
and abide in him
and in abiding
in the faithful one
we ourselves
are strengthened
and enabled
to be faithful
to him
let's pray
that God
will help us
to do that
Father thank you
for your mercy
for sending your only son
to take for himself
a wife of whoredom
so that we might be
rescued
redeemed
cleansed
called
chosen
and what glorious
future
what glorious
reality
you
impart to us
that we get to be
the bride of the lamb
pure and without blemish
because of Jesus
and his
sacrifice
on the cross
Lord
fill us with
the renewed
sense of wonder
help us instead
marveling at
the beast
and the prostitute
help us to grow
in our
in marveling at
in worshiping
our Lord Jesus
and his wondrous gospel
what he has done
help us
fill us with
thanksgiving
in response
to that
in Jesus name
we pray
amen
exhale
so
receiving
induction
prayer
JEFF
you
okay