We're back into the book of Revelation.
We've been studying this book now for 10 and a half years.
But we will finish it this year.
We're going to try to get through all of chapter 17 tonight.
That's not going to happen, but it is a lofty goal to have.
So we're jumping back into Revelation chapter 17.
And if you've been with us or if you haven't been with us throughout this study,
we've basically just gotten through the seven bowls of God's wrath.
And now we're getting into this section where every time there's this series of sevens,
whether it's the seven seals or the seven trumpets or the seven bowls,
there's always a section immediately afterward that goes into some detail about what's happening here on earth
and then what our hope is for the future.
And so as we get into this section, God is going to reveal to John
how Satan uses intimidation from governments and the enticements of the flesh
to gain submission in our world.
So it's a very relevant passage for our world today.
And the reason for this vision is really twofold.
It's not only to show us the judgment that's coming upon the great prostitute and the beast,
but also to inform Christians of Satan's tactics so that we would be aware of them.
So God is going to say, hey, this is what's happening.
There is judgment coming, but I want you to know and be able to recognize what's happening
so that you will not fall victim to the devil's enticements and to the schemes of the wicculent.
So look how it starts in verses one and two.
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 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.
Okay, so immediately we have a question, right?
We're reading this very symbolic apocalyptic language.
The first question that comes to my mind when I'm reading this is,
what does it mean for the prostitute to be seated upon these waters?
It seems like a reasonable question, right?
You've got this prostitute, she's seated on waters.
What does that mean?
Well, thankfully John tells us in chapter 17 verse 15,
the angel reveals to him the meaning.
He says, the waters that you saw where the prostitute is seated are peoples and multitudes
and nations and language.
So this is a reference to all the people who are under the influence of the prostitute.
And we see a common theme come up again that we've seen throughout the book of Revelation,
which is that Satan is constantly trying to set up this counterfeit kingdom, right?
So God presents us with his true kingdom.
And if you remember, we've seen this a couple times all throughout the Old Testament.
We also see it here in the book of Revelation.
The kingdom of God is described as being comprised of people from what?
From every tribe and tongue and nation and language and people.
And so what do you see of Satan's kingdom?
Who are under his influence?
Well, it's people from multitudes of nations and languages and tribes and all that kind of stuff.
And so it's this counterfeit kingdom that is present in our world today that is set up against the kingdom of Christ.
And so it's saying that his reach, his influence is far reaching in this world.
And so the prostitute has enticed in a lured people from all over the globe to take part in her debauchery.
And John says as much here, he says that the kings of earth have committed sexual immorality with her
and have become drunk on her wine.
So something we need to understand here is that though it mentions sexual immorality,
sexual sin is not the only sin in mind here.
Sexual immorality, we're tempted to think only in sexual terms, but in actuality this refers to all rebellion against God.
Because if you think about it, think about throughout the book of Revelation,
God has described the church as what?
It's the what of Christ, the bride of Christ, right?
And in Christ is the groomsman.
So that's what we see.
We see this picture of a spiritual marriage and all people are called to be faithful to the Lord.
All people are called to be covenantly faithful to God.
And so any act of sin is an act of faithlessness.
Any act of sin is an act of rebellion.
And so all sin is spiritual adultery against God.
And so when it's talking about here that they've gotten drunk off her sexual immorality,
it's just another way of saying that the world is in rebellion against God and has committed spiritual adultery against the Lord.
And so the the Bible is telling us here that this prostitute is going to work through human government,
so kings of the world, human kingdoms, human governments,
to lead people into spiritual adultery against God.
And this is not hard to imagine in our world today, is it not?
So what did the Bible just say here?
The Bible just said Satan, the beast, the prostitute,
they are going to be influencing human governments to try to enforce their rule upon people.
And we see all sorts of evidence of human governments doing that today.
I mean, thankfully, we just had a new president of the United States say something that has never been said in American history.
It's never needed to be said until recent times.
But the newest president of the United States literally just said it is the official policy of the United States from this day forward that we recognize only two genders, male and female.
And praise the Lord for that. That is a huge step.
Like no matter where you fall on the political spectrum, that is a biblical statement.
That's not a political statement.
So let's not get that twisted and say, oh, Pastor, you're talking about that's not politics.
That's the Bible.
In the beginning, God created man and he created them male and female in the image of God.
Now, here's what's amazing, right?
A president just said that as the official policy of the United States.
But think about what we've been dealing with over the past few years.
We've been seeing madness in our world that we've never seen before.
We've seen biological males claim to be women and then they go and compete in women's sports.
And we've seen biological women claim to be men and we've got people identifying as non-binary and every other created term you can imagine.
We've got people today who are identifying as animals.
That's like a literal reality that we're dealing with in our world.
And so that's one thing for people to be doing that.
But the amazing thing is that our government not only tolerated this, they promoted it.
And they were so in favor of this that they were actually putting this in the education system.
And it was tall as curriculum as early as elementary school and in some cases preschools.
There were two year old classes that were being taught these things in their schooling.
And so that is literally Satan and the prostitute working through a human government to spread debauchery
and promote rebellion and entice people into the kingdom of darkness rather than the kingdom of Christ.
That is a clear example of the prostitute at work in the world today.
And how do you say that?
Well, to claim that you're another gender than the one you were born with is to claim that God made a mistake.
And God doesn't make mistakes.
God does everything right.
So to do that is just an enticement by the prostitute and to get drunk off her wine.
Or you think about another issue in our world today and it's the prominence of abortion in our country.
Our government has even codified the right to abortion.
And it's not something it merely tolerates.
It's something that it promotes and claims as a basic right of every female.
And yet this too is clearly rebellion against God.
It's a rebellion against the God who said that every single person is made in his image.
And because every single person is made in his image, every single life is valuable to God.
And that does not start when a person is able to take their first breath.
That starts at conception when a person is made.
That is literally what God says.
He cares about this.
You look all throughout the Bible and he is constantly condemning people for ripping open the wombs of pregnant women.
Or for killing people or killing babies while they're in the womb.
He says in Psalm 139, I knew you and I formed you together.
I knitted you in your mother's womb before you were ever even born.
I knew you.
That's a personal term.
And yet you look at what our world is doing today and our government is saying not only is it okay,
it's going to be promoted, it's going to be encouraged for people to go and do this.
And that is just another way that Satan is working in human governments
to try to entice people into the kingdom of darkness.
We are literally seeing the setting up of a counterfeit kingdom and it has infiltrated America.
And it is a kingdom that is opposed to Christ and his word.
And we can go on and on with the examples.
But the point is that the prostitute is alive and well today.
And she is at work in the hearts of the kings of the earth.
And she is trying to entice as many people as possible to join the kingdom of darkness.
And John goes on with the description in verse three.
This is what he says.
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.
All right.
So another description.
We've got a breakdown.
What is the significance of the color scarlet?
Okay.
It was sin.
Anybody else?
Satan has already been identified as the red dragon in the book of Revelation.
So it's a connection to Satan and his kingdom.
But also it's representative of the bloodshed that is going to be inflicted upon the world
because of the prostitute and the beast.
And then it says that she has blasphemous names or the beast has blasphemous names.
And those represent the idolatrous demand to be worshiped.
The beast has seven heads and they correspond to the four beast of Daniel chapter seven,
which we've already discussed.
And if you remember back to our discussion on Daniel seven,
we said those four beasts represent four different kingdoms in the world.
And then it's 10 horns that we see here.
That corresponds to Daniel chapter seven, verse seven, where the Bible says this.
And after this, I saw in the night visions and behold a fourth beast,
terrifying and dreadful and exceedingly strong.
It had great iron teeth.
It devoured and broken pieces and stamped what was left with its feet.
It was different from all the beasts that were before it.
And it had 10 horns.
Now almost every theologian believes that this fourth beast refers to the Roman empire.
And that's incredibly significant for John's readers.
Is it not because who were they being oppressed by at the time that John was writing?
Roman Empire, right?
So John is writing and the angel is giving him this vision.
And he's telling them that this empire that's oppressing them is in fact under the influence
of the beast and is doing everything it can to destroy believers and influence them
to join the kingdom of darkness.
And then another vision that the angel somewhat helpfully interprets for us
for all of these colors and things in Revelation 17, verses nine to 11, the angel says,
this calls for a mind with wisdom and it does.
So let me just go ahead and warn you as we read this.
This calls for a mind of wisdom.
So follow me if you can.
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.
And when he does come, he must remain only a little while.
As for the beast that was and is not, it is an eighth, but it belongs to the seven.
And it goes to destruction.
Right?
Good.
So some verses are so clear, they don't even need an explanation.
And I'm not going to belittle you by acting like you need an explanation.
So we're just going to keep on trucking.
No, so there are a couple things here we could point out.
Many have understood these mountains to be the seven mountains of Rome that surrounded Rome,
which would again specify that Rome is in mind here.
But notice that the angel also identifies them not just as mountains, but as seven rulers.
Okay, so that's important.
And again, you'll hurt your head trying to fully understand this, but there are seven
rulers, five of whom are fallen.
One is one, meaning he's currently there.
One's yet to come.
And when he does come, he'll rule only a little while.
And then the beast is the eighth that belongs to the seven.
And that's what we have here.
And so it's real easy to get so focused on the bark that you missed the forest.
So let's just take a step back and ask what is being communicated here?
What is the main thing that the angel is wanting us to see and understand?
I don't think what we're supposed to do is what others have done,
where they've gone back through the Roman emperors and they've counted to see,
okay, how long was their rule?
Would they be the fifth one who had a short rule?
Where do we start counting?
I don't think that's what we're supposed to do here.
I don't think we're supposed to look through history and see who fits this best.
I think the overall message that's being communicated here is that Satan and the prostitute
and the beast are going to be at work in human rulers from now,
from back then, until the time that Jesus returns.
That is just a reality that we're going to live with.
And however you count them, that's in the mind of God.
I do not know.
It calls for a mind of wisdom and I'm not there yet.
So you just bear with me, but I don't know who these rulers are.
You don't know who these rulers are.
You don't know who these rulers are and that's not the point.
The point is to let us know that there are going to be rulers in this world
who are heavily influenced by the devil, by the beast, by the prostitute,
and they are going to be at work in those kingdoms and in those rulers,
and those rulers are going to try to get their people that they rule over to submit to the beast as well.
And I think that's exactly what's being communicated here.
These are the things that stand for the entire corruption of human governments and kingdoms
in this world until Jesus returns.
And the same is true with the Ten Horns.
If you look at the interpretation in verses 12 through 14,
the Bible says in 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.
They have one mind and they hand over their power and authority to the beast.
And 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.
So notice again, the main description of these Ten rulers, the Ten Horns here,
is that they are going to be given authority.
And what are they going to do with their authority?
The Bible says here they're going to lay aside all their authority and give it to who?
To the beast, right?
They're going to give their authority to the beast,
and because they are rulers over a domain or a kingdom or a place, a nation,
they are going to give their nation over to the beast
in trying to get their people to submit to Him.
And obviously this does apply to Rome at the time,
but what we need to understand is that it doesn't just apply to Rome.
I think this is a mistake some people interpret when they read the book of Revelation.
There are many people who only see AD 70, the fall of Jerusalem.
You know, they see Rome coming in and they think everything is written about Rome.
And I just want to say, yes, it is, but also it continues to be relevant for today,
because the spirit of the beast is still at work in human governments today.
I would say one of the main ways we see this is when individuals completely submit
and surrender to the will of human governments.
Anytime individuals surrender their God-given rights to the will of the government,
they are falling for the beast's deceptions.
And why is that?
It's because God calls us to be completely submissive to Him.
You remember what the Apostles said?
Why should we obey man, we need to obey God rather than man.
And so, yes, we're called to respect and honor our government
and to submit to the authority that God has given them.
But if our government ever calls us to do anything that would go against God
and what He has revealed to us in His Word, we must obey God rather than man.
So obey God, defy tyrants.
That should be the motto of every Christian, okay?
Obey God, defy tyrants.
Because too many Christians today read Romans 13 and they see submit to your government,
they go, no matter what the government says, I will submit to them.
No matter what they say, I'm going to lay aside my rights and submit to them
because that's what the Bible says.
That's not actually what the Bible says.
We are to submit to the government as the government submits to God.
We always ask what is our responsibility to human government.
We need to start with the question, what is the government's responsibility to God?
Because God has ordained government and government is supposed to rule
in accordance with His Word.
And if they are not doing that, then they have already failed their responsibility to God,
long before we're ever called to fulfill a responsibility to the government.
I could go on and on on this, but one of the key aspects of the beast's plan
is that he aims not just for total submission and obedience,
but you need to understand that he's aiming to change people into his own likeness.
In the same way that God created man in his own likeness,
the beast is trying to recreate people into his own image and likeness.
So control isn't enough.
He wants people to be so drunk on the wine of the prostitute
that they don't even realize they're being controlled.
He wants them to feel as though it is their will.
And not his.
And this is how he works in corrupt governments
and has been working in corrupt governments throughout history.
And what's amazing is in 1948, George Orwell wrote a book called 1984,
and he understood this back then.
And this is what Orwell said back, all the way back then.
He said, this is the party speaking in the book.
He says, we do not merely control our enemies, we change them.
Power is in tearing human minds to pieces
and putting them together again in new shapes of our own choosing.
Whatever the party holds to be, the truth is the truth.
It is impossible to see reality except by looking through the eyes of the party.
Now, it's not not exactly what we've seen in our world over the past four or five years,
six years, seven years, however far you want to go back.
I mean, I think one of the craziest parts of all this is in,
if you read 1984, the main character Winston, his job was to take headlines
or previously published articles.
And what he did was the big brother would tell him, hey, we need it to say this now.
And so he would change the headline and he would burn the old one.
So there was no evidence of what was said before.
It was only what was said now.
And they tried to basically gaslight you to go, we never said that before.
This has always been the official policy of our country.
And what's amazing is that's literally happening in our country.
That is happening in the United States.
And that is literally the beast at work trying to control how people think
and get them to submit to him.
I mean, if you want to get real touchy and we'll get taken on Facebook and YouTube for this, but that's okay.
I mean, but just think about COVID when that happened, right?
Now, let me say this.
I'm not denying COVID.
I've had COVID five times.
I hold the record.
Okay. I know COVID's real.
But what I remember is in 2020, people were saying things like COVID is extremely deadly.
You need to take the vaccine so you don't get it.
The vaccine is safe and effective.
And there were people at the time who questioned us and said, hey, this is a brand new disease.
You produced the vaccine in half a month.
Seems like it'd be hard to know if it was truly safe and effective.
But this is what they told us.
And you were crazy if you questioned anything.
And then people suggested that there were certain remedies.
And then that was ridiculed.
And they said, well, that's horse medicine and that's ineffective.
And now five years later, we're seeing headlines where they're saying no one ever said the vaccine was completely safe and effective.
The remedies might actually work and no one ever said that they were horse medicine and that they wouldn't work.
And they said that no one ever said COVID was extremely deadly.
That is a complete reversal of what we saw.
And then what's crazy, this has been proven because people took screenshots of these articles.
They took down all those other articles where they originally said all the stuff.
And they said, no, this has always been our policy.
And I'm like, we're literally living in 1984.
This is the craziest thing.
Like you're going to try to convince me I never read this article and that you never said this thing.
And I know that you did.
So that's not just, oh, hey, we live in a new age and a new world.
That's literally the beast is working in human governments to literally control the narrative and control how you think.
So this is what I'm trying to get you to understand.
This is not just a political issue.
This is not just a cultural issue.
This is literally a biblical issue.
This is the Bible.
This is the book of Revelation playing out in front of us.
Where the beast wants you to only see reality through the lens that he has put it behind.
He wants you to understand reality only in the way that he presents it to you.
I mean, literally we're seeing introduction of phrases that we've never seen before.
The Bible says there is truth.
God is truth.
Jesus said, I am the way, the truth in the life.
But now we're seeing phrases like my truth.
Your truth.
His truth.
Her truth.
Third truth.
What does that mean?
It means that everybody gets to control reality for themselves.
Everybody gets to dictate what is real and what is false.
What is true and what is false.
It's just another way that we're seeing people get drunk off the wine of the prostitute.
Come and take part in this debauchery.
Come and be so muddled in your brain that you will believe literally anything that put is part of your life.
Literally anything that put is put in front of you.
That's the way the beast works.
He works through the prostitute to allure the flesh and he works through human governments and kingdoms to control and shape.
And then I want you to look at verses four and five very quickly.
He continues with this description and he says,
The woman was arrayed in purple and in 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 so you see here this is a royal description, right?
Scarlet, purple, gold, jewels, pearls, that's all signs of royalty.
And her golden cup is full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality,
and it's a reference to all of her idolatrous and immoral ways.
And it says here that she has a name on her head.
So you're wondering who is this prostitute? Does she have a name?
Yeah, the Bible says she's got a name written on her forehead and her name is Babylon.
So here's the question. Does this mean the ancient historical city of Babylon is going to rise to power again and lead people astray?
Maybe. That is an absolute possibility.
However, I personally think that it's highly unlikely because Babylon throughout the Bible is a metaphor for rebellion and disobedience to God.
So in the Bible, Babylon is often used metaphorically and you see that especially in the prophets.
So I'm going to pull up a passage. Zechariah chapter 5.
This is a really telling passage. Zechariah chapter 5.
Beginning in verse 5, it says,
And the wind was in their wings. They had wings like the wings of a stork and they lifted up the basket between earth and heaven.
So baskets in between earth and heaven.
Then I said to the angel who talked with me, where are they taking the basket?
And he said to me to the land of Shinar to build a house for it.
And when this is prepared, they will set the basket down there on its base.
So a few things to keep in mind with this passage is that Zechariah is what's known as a post-exilic prophet,
meaning he is writing after the time of the Babylonian exile.
This is a time when the people had returned back to Jerusalem, back to the promised land, and they were rebuilding the city and the temple.
And he sees this woman in a basket and the woman is called wickedness.
So here's wickedness.
And then when he asks where wickedness is being taken, he says to the land of Shinar.
Anybody know why that's significant?
That's Babylon. Yeah, it's literally another name for Babylon.
So the angel, this is the vision we have.
The angel has wickedness in this basket, and the angel says we're taking the wickedness to the land of Shinar to Babylon,
and we're going to build a house for it there.
And so if you were to ask biblically, where is the house of wickedness in the Bible?
And it is Babylon, the land of Shinar.
It's this place between heaven and earth.
It's Babylon is metaphorical for all the wickedness and evil in our world today.
So when we read about Babylon in the book of Revelation, we don't necessarily need to think of the historical city.
We need to think instead of the place of evil and wickedness and rebellion.
And the angel clarifies in verse 18.
And the woman that you saw is the great city that has dominion over the kings of the earth.
And so in other words, what this chapter is saying here is there's a true clash of kingdoms.
We think that we just live in a material world when in reality you have the kingdom of God that he has created that rules over all.
And yet here comes Satan and the beast and the prostitute and they have set up this counterfeit kingdom to the kingdom of Christ.
And it is going to lead many people astray.
It is going to entice many people to come and join that kingdom.
And it seems like there's this never ending battle between these two kingdoms.
And yet the Bible says that we do have hope because if you look back to verse 14,
the Bible says this is our hope, they will make war on the Lamb and the Lamb will what?
Conquer them for he is Lord of lords and king of kings and those with him are called and chosen and faithful.
And so here's the reality of what John is doing here in recording this vision.
He's saying these are the things God has shown me.
These are the things that you need to know.
These are the things that you need to be aware of so that you can identify them in our world today.
But as a Christian, you don't need to be afraid of them.
Be aware of them.
Know how the enemy works.
Know his tactics so that you can avoid being deceived and let astray.
But you don't need to fear them.
Even though Satan and the beast and the prostitute are at work in the world today,
we need not fear them because the Bible says Jesus will conquer Satan and the beast and the prostitute in that entire kingdom
because he is Lord of lords and king of kings.
And he says that we will get to share in his victory because we have been called and chosen and we remain faithful to Christ.
And so that is our hope.
Yes, the world is bad.
It's probably going to get a lot worse before Jesus returns.
But when he does return, we get to share in his victory and he will have the victory.
Alright, so we got through pretty much all of Revelation chapter 17.
Michael, how about hitting us with a word of wisdom?