1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:09,480 Good morning. How are you all doing today? Awesome. Awesome. We always like to start 2 00:00:09,480 --> 00:00:13,560 every Sunday. If you're joining us here for the first time in our sanctuary or 3 00:00:13,560 --> 00:00:17,360 if you're joining us online for the first time, we want to say welcome to all 4 00:00:17,360 --> 00:00:22,800 of you. We're so glad you're here to worship with us here at Hosanna. I am 5 00:00:22,800 --> 00:00:27,840 Pastor Nathan and this morning we are going to be looking at Revelation 6 00:00:27,840 --> 00:00:34,480 chapter 17 or at least the first part specifically at the one world religious 7 00:00:34,480 --> 00:00:40,600 system that will be present upon the earth during the tribulation period. It 8 00:00:40,600 --> 00:00:47,520 may surprise some of you to hear that there is coming in the future a great 9 00:00:47,520 --> 00:00:55,640 worldwide spiritual revival but not the revival you might be thinking of. See 10 00:00:55,640 --> 00:00:59,000 when I make that statement I'm not referring to a Christian revival which 11 00:00:59,000 --> 00:01:03,880 is of course we're praying for. We want to see Jesus just sweep the earth again 12 00:01:03,880 --> 00:01:08,240 and save lives but in the end times there is going to be a coming worldwide 13 00:01:08,240 --> 00:01:15,480 religious revival that exalts man. That exalts man in his ways and 14 00:01:15,480 --> 00:01:20,920 minimizes God. It'll be the culmination of a trend that we see in the world 15 00:01:20,920 --> 00:01:25,320 today, a trend that has existed for a while and it's a trend called humanism. 16 00:01:25,320 --> 00:01:32,600 Humanism is a word that refers to the exaltation of humanity, lifting up 17 00:01:32,600 --> 00:01:40,120 mankind's values, mankind's capacities, mankind's worth above everything 18 00:01:40,120 --> 00:01:51,360 including God. Humanism exalts humanity above God. Humanity makes itself God and 19 00:01:51,360 --> 00:01:56,560 humanism is what this is all about. It's expressed in thoughts that we hear today 20 00:01:56,560 --> 00:02:06,160 like my truth, expressed in thoughts like my expression, my way, my desire, what I 21 00:02:06,160 --> 00:02:11,480 want, my values. It's the idea that all of those things are number one, the greatest 22 00:02:11,480 --> 00:02:17,320 and only priority of life and therefore God's truth and God's expression, God's 23 00:02:17,320 --> 00:02:24,800 ways, God's desires, God's values and so it's God's truth and God's expressions, 24 00:02:24,800 --> 00:02:28,720 everything that he is and he wants, his ways and desires, it's the idea that all 25 00:02:28,720 --> 00:02:35,120 that is God must conform to my will, must conform to my way and if God's ways 26 00:02:35,120 --> 00:02:40,200 won't conform to my ways well then I will just create a faith that does. I will 27 00:02:40,200 --> 00:02:45,120 create a God of my own to worship that will. This trend unfortunately will 28 00:02:45,120 --> 00:02:50,120 continue and reach its fullest expression during the tribulation period. 29 00:02:50,120 --> 00:02:56,520 And so Revelation 17 and 18 detail the fall of a very specific thing, a place, 30 00:02:56,520 --> 00:03:01,920 an idea, an attitude called Babylon. The fall of Babylon has already been declared 31 00:03:01,920 --> 00:03:08,360 in Revelation in chapter 14 verse 8 and chapter 16 verse 19 but what we're going 32 00:03:08,360 --> 00:03:12,720 to see here is the fall of this thing called Babylon. Chronologically as we've 33 00:03:12,720 --> 00:03:17,480 been studying through Revelation we have reached the end of the tribulation period, 34 00:03:17,480 --> 00:03:22,720 that's what we saw in chapter 16. We came to the very end of the tribulation period 35 00:03:22,720 --> 00:03:27,360 as we saw the final judgment of the seventh bowl being poured out upon the 36 00:03:27,360 --> 00:03:33,800 earth. We saw during that seventh bowl where God said it is done and so the 37 00:03:33,800 --> 00:03:39,360 actual chronology of Revelation is going to pick back up in chapter 19 as we get 38 00:03:39,360 --> 00:03:44,280 to the second coming of Jesus Christ. But here in chapter 17 and 18 we have 39 00:03:44,280 --> 00:03:47,280 another one of these parentheticals. There have been times throughout the 40 00:03:47,280 --> 00:03:50,800 study of Revelation as we're studying through the chronology and then there's 41 00:03:50,800 --> 00:03:54,600 a couple chapters where we say okay let's take a step back for a moment and 42 00:03:54,600 --> 00:03:59,000 look at something that's been happening in the chronology in more detail. And 43 00:03:59,000 --> 00:04:02,920 that's what 17 and 18 do here in Revelation. They let us take a step back 44 00:04:02,920 --> 00:04:07,800 to look at something in greater detail rather than looking at the judgment as 45 00:04:07,800 --> 00:04:12,480 an overall chronology of what God is doing. We're going to be taking a closer 46 00:04:12,480 --> 00:04:17,320 look at what's being judged, specifically what's being judged and that is the 47 00:04:17,320 --> 00:04:23,480 kingdom of the Antichrist referred to collectively as Babylon. And so chapter 48 00:04:23,480 --> 00:04:28,080 17 specifically is going to deal with what's called religious Babylon, the 49 00:04:28,080 --> 00:04:32,240 one-world religious system. And then chapter 18 when we get there it's going 50 00:04:32,240 --> 00:04:37,060 to be dealing with political Babylon, the governmental system, the economic system 51 00:04:37,060 --> 00:04:40,600 that is existent on the earth during the tribulation period. But these chapters 52 00:04:40,600 --> 00:04:45,520 together both detail the development and the destruction of both of these things. 53 00:04:45,520 --> 00:04:49,040 And so this morning we're going to deal with the first part of religious Babylon 54 00:04:49,040 --> 00:04:53,320 but before we get into all of that we're going to spend some time in worship. You 55 00:04:53,320 --> 00:04:57,080 know we just want to praise God and keep praising God. As we've been studying 56 00:04:57,080 --> 00:05:01,160 through Revelation and dealing with a lot of the grossness of what's to come, 57 00:05:01,160 --> 00:05:05,880 you know we don't have to work very hard to just look around our world today and 58 00:05:05,880 --> 00:05:10,080 we see some really terrible things taking place. There's wars taking place 59 00:05:10,080 --> 00:05:14,600 that we're praying for, there's people dying, there's wickedness abounding, 60 00:05:14,600 --> 00:05:18,920 there's things like trafficking and organ harvesting that are just rampant 61 00:05:18,920 --> 00:05:25,560 around the world. And Lord come quickly, Lord come quickly. And we know that his 62 00:05:25,560 --> 00:05:29,760 judgment will indeed fall upon the earth at one time in the future but we're not 63 00:05:29,760 --> 00:05:34,040 there yet. And so as we study these things I pray that we would continue to 64 00:05:34,040 --> 00:05:39,040 be encouraged that God is sovereign and in control. His will, his plan, his 65 00:05:39,040 --> 00:05:43,440 purposes will be done even when we don't understand them. But in the process of 66 00:05:43,440 --> 00:05:47,160 that we could trust him. We could trust him with our lives, we could trust him 67 00:05:47,160 --> 00:05:52,680 with everything. And we know that his will is going to come to pass. In the 68 00:05:52,680 --> 00:05:55,560 meantime we want to be people that are about preaching the gospel and seeing 69 00:05:55,560 --> 00:05:59,780 people come to come to know him, come to be saved before his judgment falls upon 70 00:05:59,780 --> 00:06:03,180 this earth. But with that we're going to worship him and praise him for a moment. 71 00:06:03,180 --> 00:06:08,040 Join me in prayer as we get started. Father we love you. We're so grateful God 72 00:06:08,040 --> 00:06:13,760 for who you are and what you've done. Lord we know that we live in a world that 73 00:06:13,760 --> 00:06:18,520 is increasingly, I won't even say secular Lord, because God there is a movement 74 00:06:18,520 --> 00:06:24,000 upon the earth right now where people are becoming spiritual again, spiritual in a 75 00:06:24,000 --> 00:06:29,400 fresh new way. But Lord all of this spirituality is all about saying you, 76 00:06:29,400 --> 00:06:33,600 Jesus Christ, are not God. That you are not the way, the truth, and the life. That 77 00:06:33,600 --> 00:06:37,680 you are not the hope and the salvation. But that it's in other things, it's in 78 00:06:37,680 --> 00:06:42,960 man's ideas and man's expressions and man's ways Lord. And God we know it's 79 00:06:42,960 --> 00:06:48,480 just a part of what's to come as we get closer to the end times. Lord we want to 80 00:06:48,480 --> 00:06:52,320 take a moment before we study your word this morning to just focus on who you 81 00:06:52,320 --> 00:07:00,160 are. To think about your glory and to praise your holy name for it. Because God 82 00:07:00,160 --> 00:07:06,040 you are God Almighty. You are worthy of all praise. We love you. We thank you. And 83 00:07:06,040 --> 00:07:12,720 it is in your name Jesus Christ we pray this morning. Amen. We are in Revelation 84 00:07:12,720 --> 00:07:19,920 chapter 17 looking at the fall of Babylon through these two chapters. We're 85 00:07:19,920 --> 00:07:23,580 gonna be looking at the first six verses today. I was trying to get through the 86 00:07:23,580 --> 00:07:28,960 whole chapter in one shot and then when I was on verse 5 on page 6 of my notes I 87 00:07:28,960 --> 00:07:32,700 realized that was not gonna happen. So we're gonna be breaking this into a part 88 00:07:32,700 --> 00:07:37,000 1 and part 2. This week we're gonna be looking at the actual vision that John 89 00:07:37,000 --> 00:07:42,760 gets about this vision of Babylon. And then next week we'll be dealing with the 90 00:07:42,760 --> 00:07:47,920 interpretation of that vision that the angel gives to John. And so Babylon, this 91 00:07:47,920 --> 00:07:53,360 this name, this this thing called Babylon, it is a name that is used to refer to 92 00:07:53,360 --> 00:07:58,320 several different things throughout Scripture both physical and metaphorical. 93 00:07:58,320 --> 00:08:05,000 Obviously Babylon was an actual literal city. We know that. Babylon was the name 94 00:08:05,000 --> 00:08:11,400 of an actual literal empire in history. It's also used to refer to a type of 95 00:08:11,400 --> 00:08:16,480 system or a type of mentality or a type of world system. And we know through our 96 00:08:16,480 --> 00:08:20,980 study of Revelation that in the future I believe there is going to be a rebuilt 97 00:08:20,980 --> 00:08:26,920 literal city of Babylon. I believe that Babylon also refers to this one world 98 00:08:26,920 --> 00:08:31,120 global government that will be in place during the tribulation period. And I 99 00:08:31,120 --> 00:08:35,440 believe it also refers to the system, the socio-economical system that's gonna 100 00:08:35,440 --> 00:08:40,600 exist that the Antichrist is gonna put into place as he enforces a mark and 101 00:08:40,600 --> 00:08:46,780 controls the economy and all that type of stuff. But the concept of Babylon 102 00:08:46,780 --> 00:08:52,280 scripturally, it's much greater than just a city. It's much greater than even the 103 00:08:52,280 --> 00:08:58,160 kingdom of the Antichrist. The concept of Babylon scripturally is a 104 00:08:58,160 --> 00:09:06,120 concept that is associated with idolatry, blasphemy, rebellion, and persecution and 105 00:09:06,120 --> 00:09:15,200 oppression of God's people. The idea of Babylon is inclusive of everything that 106 00:09:15,200 --> 00:09:20,880 stands against God. So when you think of the term Babylon, it's inclusive of the 107 00:09:20,880 --> 00:09:25,720 idea of everything that stands against God or everything that is presented as 108 00:09:25,720 --> 00:09:33,920 instead of God, which is the definition of humanism. Babylon scripturally is the 109 00:09:33,920 --> 00:09:39,760 symbol of human civilization with all its pomp and circumstance in its own 110 00:09:39,760 --> 00:09:47,280 organized opposition to God. It's the sum total of pagan culture, the social, 111 00:09:47,280 --> 00:09:52,360 intellectual, commercial, political, and religious culture that stands against 112 00:09:52,360 --> 00:09:57,600 God. Babylon is the essence of evil and pagan opposition to Jesus Christ 113 00:09:57,600 --> 00:10:02,600 specifically as Lord and Savior of the world. Babylon is a symbol for the 114 00:10:02,600 --> 00:10:08,800 collective rebellion against God in all forms and every form. And Babylon is 115 00:10:08,800 --> 00:10:16,840 really the universal or the worldwide system of unbelief and idolatry and 116 00:10:16,840 --> 00:10:23,280 apostasy that opposes the people of God and persecutes the people of God. Now 117 00:10:23,280 --> 00:10:28,960 Babylon has a variety of features and expressions throughout Scripture, but the 118 00:10:28,960 --> 00:10:34,680 two most prominent expressions of Babylon as a concept and an ideology is 119 00:10:34,680 --> 00:10:39,940 its religious expression and its political embodiment. As I said, Revelation 120 00:10:39,940 --> 00:10:44,000 17 is a picture of the religious embodiment of Babylon and it is 121 00:10:44,000 --> 00:10:50,140 presented to us in this vision as a notorious prostitute riding a scarlet 122 00:10:50,140 --> 00:10:54,800 beast, which is then the political embodiment of Babylon. And we'll talk 123 00:10:54,800 --> 00:10:59,720 through these as we go through these chapters. So Revelation chapter 17 124 00:10:59,720 --> 00:11:06,200 specifically details the rise and fall of religious Babylon, okay? And when I say 125 00:11:06,200 --> 00:11:10,400 religious Babylon, I'm referring to the one world religious system that we 126 00:11:10,400 --> 00:11:16,040 will see during the tribulation period upon the earth. Now religious Babylon is 127 00:11:16,040 --> 00:11:20,460 simply another example of Satan's attempt to counterfeit everything God 128 00:11:20,460 --> 00:11:24,680 does. We've seen that numerous times throughout Revelation already as Satan 129 00:11:24,680 --> 00:11:28,000 has tried to counterfeit the Trinity, where we have the Father and the Son and 130 00:11:28,000 --> 00:11:31,160 the Holy Spirit and the Godhead and the Holy Trinity and Satan has tried to 131 00:11:31,160 --> 00:11:35,080 create his own counterfeit version, presenting himself in the place of the 132 00:11:35,080 --> 00:11:39,200 Father and the Antichrist in the place of Christ and the false prophet in the 133 00:11:39,200 --> 00:11:45,200 place of the Holy Spirit who points back. We've seen his counterfeit worship as 134 00:11:45,200 --> 00:11:50,160 he's getting the whole world to gather together worshiping him as God. We've 135 00:11:50,160 --> 00:11:54,600 even seen counterfeit miracles that have been exercised by the enemy and then of 136 00:11:54,600 --> 00:11:58,080 course throughout the history of man we have seen false religion after false 137 00:11:58,080 --> 00:12:02,760 religion after false religion presented as mockeries of what is the true faith 138 00:12:02,760 --> 00:12:08,720 about worship of the true God and his son Jesus Christ. Now some of you may be 139 00:12:08,720 --> 00:12:12,880 familiar with a quote made by Karl Marx years ago, it's a pretty famous quote and 140 00:12:12,880 --> 00:12:18,680 it says, religion is the opiate of the masses. This is what Karl Marx presented 141 00:12:18,680 --> 00:12:23,280 and he said that because in his own studies he discovered that mankind is 142 00:12:23,280 --> 00:12:31,680 incurably drawn or driven to worship something, somehow, in some way. Now I 143 00:12:31,680 --> 00:12:36,920 would amend his statement to say false religion is the opiate of the masses 144 00:12:36,920 --> 00:12:41,600 because there is a truth that when it comes to mankind and humanity if man 145 00:12:41,600 --> 00:12:48,560 will not bow down and worship the one true holy God Almighty that has presented 146 00:12:48,560 --> 00:12:53,520 himself to mankind then they will end up devising their own method, their own 147 00:12:53,520 --> 00:12:57,720 system, their own God and they will worship at the altar of that false 148 00:12:57,720 --> 00:13:02,680 religion. So the system we're about to read about here it's an ecumenical 149 00:13:02,680 --> 00:13:07,920 combination of everything the world will buy into. It's a melting pot, an 150 00:13:07,920 --> 00:13:12,440 amalgamation of religious ideas and religious philosophies and religious 151 00:13:12,440 --> 00:13:16,720 practices that all have a common thread in them. The common thread is that they 152 00:13:16,720 --> 00:13:23,480 all reject the true God but they exalt man's false ideas about God in all its 153 00:13:23,480 --> 00:13:29,240 blasphemous forms. This religious system is called here in chapter 17 Babylon the 154 00:13:29,240 --> 00:13:34,200 Great represented as a prostitute and so as we study through these first six 155 00:13:34,200 --> 00:13:38,040 verses we're gonna see what that means, why she's represented as a prostitute. 156 00:13:38,040 --> 00:13:43,040 We're also gonna see where the roots of this system are and the scope of 157 00:13:43,040 --> 00:13:47,000 influence that this system is gonna have upon the earth and the next time when we 158 00:13:47,000 --> 00:13:50,280 get together and continue the study we're gonna look at the fall of this 159 00:13:50,280 --> 00:13:54,480 system which I believe takes place right at the midpoint of tribulation because 160 00:13:54,480 --> 00:13:59,720 this worldwide religious system is replaced at the midpoint of tribulation 161 00:13:59,720 --> 00:14:05,180 with a direct and enforced worship of none other than Satan himself where 162 00:14:05,180 --> 00:14:09,280 there is a forced worship of the beast enforced by the false prophet and the 163 00:14:09,280 --> 00:14:13,360 image of the beast and so we're gonna see the fall of this precursor religious 164 00:14:13,360 --> 00:14:17,080 system if you will its ultimate ruin and destruction when Jesus Christ returns 165 00:14:17,080 --> 00:14:20,880 and so we're gonna be jumping around the chapter a little bit here so please 166 00:14:20,880 --> 00:14:27,280 buckle up and hang on but read with me in Revelation chapter 17 verse 1. It 167 00:14:27,280 --> 00:14:30,600 says then one of the seven angels who had the seven balls came and spoke with 168 00:14:30,600 --> 00:14:37,000 me come I will show you the judgment of the notorious prostitute who is seated 169 00:14:37,000 --> 00:14:42,040 on many waters the kings of the earth committed sexual immorality with her and 170 00:14:42,040 --> 00:14:48,120 those who live on the earth became drunk on the wine of her sexual immorality so 171 00:14:48,120 --> 00:14:51,880 we know that it's John the Apostle who has been given this vision he is the one 172 00:14:51,880 --> 00:14:55,400 that is seeing all of these things we have been studying and writing it down 173 00:14:55,400 --> 00:15:00,280 and as John has just seen what was the the end of the chronology of the seven 174 00:15:00,280 --> 00:15:04,720 year tribulation period as he saw the seventh bowl of wrath finally poured out 175 00:15:04,720 --> 00:15:07,880 upon the earth the angel now says hey now now come I want to show you 176 00:15:07,880 --> 00:15:12,400 something else in more detail I want to take a look if you will at really what 177 00:15:12,400 --> 00:15:17,200 is the final end in the judgment of this system called Babylon so he's being 178 00:15:17,200 --> 00:15:20,280 called by this angel to take a look at what is being judged we saw the 179 00:15:20,280 --> 00:15:25,880 judgment itself but now what is being judged in a broad sense and what he is 180 00:15:25,880 --> 00:15:32,140 looking at here is described for us as a notorious prostitute a woman who is 181 00:15:32,140 --> 00:15:36,400 described as a notorious prostitute as we will see shortly who represents a 182 00:15:36,400 --> 00:15:40,760 false religious system that is on the earth during the end times now this 183 00:15:40,760 --> 00:15:45,720 false religious system is called a prostitute three different times and one 184 00:15:45,720 --> 00:15:51,080 time is called the mother of prostitutes and so you can imagine that as God is 185 00:15:51,080 --> 00:15:55,120 describing this or John is describing what God is showing him it's not 186 00:15:55,120 --> 00:16:00,160 presented in a very flattering way you might think what's the idea with 187 00:16:00,160 --> 00:16:04,800 prostitute right some of you may be familiar that in more traditional 188 00:16:04,800 --> 00:16:11,800 translations this woman here was called the whore of Babylon right we understand 189 00:16:11,800 --> 00:16:15,320 what that word prostitute means at least we should understand what that word 190 00:16:15,320 --> 00:16:21,840 prostitute means on one hand it refers to a woman or a person who exchanges sex 191 00:16:21,840 --> 00:16:26,120 for money right they've been called hookers they've been called all kinds of 192 00:16:26,120 --> 00:16:30,160 different words over throughout history but this word here in the Greek also 193 00:16:30,160 --> 00:16:36,680 means to devote to corrupt or unworthy purposes so you might have someone who 194 00:16:36,680 --> 00:16:41,640 has a skill and and they prostitute their skill to corrupt purposes right 195 00:16:41,640 --> 00:16:47,160 they're prostituting their ability but it's an interesting word choice and and 196 00:16:47,160 --> 00:16:50,720 all that because there is a big push today I don't know if any of you are 197 00:16:50,720 --> 00:16:54,640 aware have you seen it but there's a big push in the world today to take the 198 00:16:54,640 --> 00:16:59,960 negative connotations out of the word prostitute to to turn that word into 199 00:16:59,960 --> 00:17:04,520 something positive right there's even a big push where people that are engaged 200 00:17:04,520 --> 00:17:08,920 in this world say no no don't don't don't say I'm a prostitute say I'm a 201 00:17:08,920 --> 00:17:15,680 sex worker right because they want to normalize the the the perversion of what 202 00:17:15,680 --> 00:17:20,780 is done within these these the concepts of prostitution and so there's this big 203 00:17:20,780 --> 00:17:26,400 push in the world to de-stigmatize this idea of what a prostitute is but 204 00:17:26,400 --> 00:17:30,800 biblically the word here carries its full connotation and its full meaning 205 00:17:30,800 --> 00:17:38,400 now biblically prostitution always symbolizes idolatry it symbolizes false 206 00:17:38,400 --> 00:17:44,120 worship okay so when you see the idea of prostitution in the Bible it's usually 207 00:17:44,120 --> 00:17:48,120 connected to the idea of someone devoting their affections demoting 208 00:17:48,120 --> 00:17:56,400 their devoting their worship to anything but God so when someone is giving their 209 00:17:56,400 --> 00:18:00,200 their all right they're giving the deepest parts of themselves they're 210 00:18:00,200 --> 00:18:05,280 giving the most intimate parts of themselves in worship when they're doing 211 00:18:05,280 --> 00:18:09,200 when they're giving that to anything but God it's looked at as prostitution in 212 00:18:09,200 --> 00:18:14,040 the Bible so whenever God's people turned from him they were labeled as 213 00:18:14,040 --> 00:18:18,440 being in prostitution or committing prostitution when any group of people 214 00:18:18,440 --> 00:18:24,000 worships anything other than God it's pictured in scripture as prostitution or 215 00:18:24,000 --> 00:18:29,000 a more traditional word harlotry now there's many scriptures to back this up 216 00:18:29,000 --> 00:18:31,960 but I just want to share a couple notable ones with you in Jeremiah 217 00:18:31,960 --> 00:18:38,680 chapter 3 verse 6 it says this in the days of King Josiah the Lord asked me 218 00:18:38,680 --> 00:18:45,040 have you seen what unfaithful Israel has done she has ascended every high hill and 219 00:18:45,040 --> 00:18:50,640 gone under every green tree to prostitute herself there now some of the 220 00:18:50,640 --> 00:18:54,480 details of what was taking place during those times is that there would be these 221 00:18:54,480 --> 00:18:58,000 groves of trees up on hills and what they would do is they would go up into 222 00:18:58,000 --> 00:19:03,680 these groves and they would engage in false worship they would carve statues 223 00:19:03,680 --> 00:19:07,320 out of the tree trunks they would carve statues out of stones and they would 224 00:19:07,320 --> 00:19:12,360 set up these kind of like worship areas up in the hills now just a few verses 225 00:19:12,360 --> 00:19:18,720 later in Jeremiah 3 9 it says she speaking of Israel defiled the land and 226 00:19:18,720 --> 00:19:25,520 committed adultery with stones and trees so what you see there in Jeremiah 3 6 227 00:19:25,520 --> 00:19:30,260 and Jeremiah 3 9 is that being unfaithful is connected to the idea of 228 00:19:30,260 --> 00:19:36,080 prostitution and prostitution is connected to the idea of adultery and we 229 00:19:36,080 --> 00:19:41,800 understand what those terms are now it's not referring to any type of weird 230 00:19:41,800 --> 00:19:46,080 twisted physical intimacy with trees and rocks all right that's not what it's 231 00:19:46,080 --> 00:19:50,840 referring to here the idea is the spiritual intimacy that Israel was 232 00:19:50,840 --> 00:19:56,480 engaging in it's speaking of commitment and devotion and adoration and love 233 00:19:56,480 --> 00:20:03,560 really all that worship is being given to anything else but the one who deserves 234 00:20:03,560 --> 00:20:08,760 it being given to anything else but God our creator and so that's the idea of 235 00:20:08,760 --> 00:20:13,000 the unfaithfulness being connected to prostitution being connected then all 236 00:20:13,000 --> 00:20:18,200 the way to adultery it's like cheating on God when we give our adoration and 237 00:20:18,200 --> 00:20:23,800 our worship to anything but him Hosea was a whole book I don't know if you've 238 00:20:23,800 --> 00:20:28,360 ever read Hosea it's a whole book devoted to the concept the metaphor of 239 00:20:28,360 --> 00:20:33,400 an unfaithful wife one who would play the harlot it says and and this book is 240 00:20:33,400 --> 00:20:37,800 a prophecy given to the nation of Israel as God is is desperately trying to draw 241 00:20:37,800 --> 00:20:43,080 his people Israel back to himself he's like look come back home come back into 242 00:20:43,080 --> 00:20:47,600 the relationship come back to me where where we are safe and where you are safe 243 00:20:47,600 --> 00:20:51,800 come back in devotion bring your worship back to me we see in this book that 244 00:20:51,800 --> 00:20:57,200 Israel is is presented as going out over and over again to go worship other gods 245 00:20:57,200 --> 00:21:01,880 and the metaphor there is as an unfaithful wife who is prostituting 246 00:21:01,880 --> 00:21:05,760 herself although that she is supposed to be in relationship with her husband she 247 00:21:05,760 --> 00:21:10,320 goes out sleeping with other people and so the idea there is this spiritual 248 00:21:10,320 --> 00:21:16,560 intimacy and so here in Revelation we see this this religious system presented 249 00:21:16,560 --> 00:21:21,760 as a notorious prostitute and that word notorious is interesting because it 250 00:21:21,760 --> 00:21:28,480 means exceedingly great or surprising in its magnitude and so again this religious 251 00:21:28,480 --> 00:21:33,240 system personified as a woman here surprisingly great in her 252 00:21:33,240 --> 00:21:41,640 unfaithfulness super cheater dirty girl whatever term you want to use right just 253 00:21:41,640 --> 00:21:47,280 foul in her unfaithfulness and so this notorious prostitute she represents a 254 00:21:47,280 --> 00:21:51,360 system that will be upon the earth a religious system that will be upon the 255 00:21:51,360 --> 00:21:57,200 earth during that time that claims to be spiritual that claims to be connected to 256 00:21:57,200 --> 00:22:03,320 God that claims to have the secrets of what real religion is all about but like 257 00:22:03,320 --> 00:22:09,640 a prostitute is actually unfaithful to the true God the true creator and it 258 00:22:09,640 --> 00:22:13,880 tells us here in these verses that her sin is sexual immorality again this is 259 00:22:13,880 --> 00:22:17,920 metaphorical sexual immorality is also the word fornication in other 260 00:22:17,920 --> 00:22:23,640 translations again it's the picture of giving away the most intimate thing the 261 00:22:23,640 --> 00:22:28,080 old most intimate part of you to someone who doesn't deserve it to someone who it 262 00:22:28,080 --> 00:22:32,360 doesn't belong to it's this idea like fornication we understand that 263 00:22:32,360 --> 00:22:37,080 fornication is the idea of engaging in sexual intimacy outside of marriage 264 00:22:37,080 --> 00:22:42,720 right biblically we understand that the intimacy of sexual contact is between a 265 00:22:42,720 --> 00:22:46,880 husband and a wife that is where that is reserved for it's not supposed to be 266 00:22:46,880 --> 00:22:54,000 engaged in outside of the covenant of marriage and so fornication connects or 267 00:22:54,000 --> 00:22:58,520 biblically fornication is strongly connected to idolatry and worship of 268 00:22:58,520 --> 00:23:02,600 false gods James even did this in the New Testament he connected the idea of 269 00:23:02,600 --> 00:23:07,480 adultery to spiritual and faithfulness to God in James chapter 4 verse 4 what 270 00:23:07,480 --> 00:23:13,160 does he say here you adulterous people don't you know that friendship with the 271 00:23:13,160 --> 00:23:20,400 world is hostility towards God so friendship with the world connected to 272 00:23:20,400 --> 00:23:24,520 being adulterous he said so whoever wants to be a friend of the world 273 00:23:24,520 --> 00:23:31,440 becomes the enemy of God in other words you can't have an affair with the world 274 00:23:31,440 --> 00:23:36,720 is what James is getting out there you can't turn from God run out on Jesus and 275 00:23:36,720 --> 00:23:41,400 put other things as the focus the object of your commitment and your affections 276 00:23:41,400 --> 00:23:47,680 in your worship and so this woman here in Revelation 17 represents a whole 277 00:23:47,680 --> 00:23:54,680 world worship system that does exactly that we will devote our attention and 278 00:23:54,680 --> 00:24:01,560 our adoration and our worship to everything but God everything but God 279 00:24:01,560 --> 00:24:06,480 and she is judged for it so where does this system come from though where does 280 00:24:06,480 --> 00:24:10,000 this idea come from what is the Bible telling us about it if we jump to verse 281 00:24:10,000 --> 00:24:16,080 5 in chapter 17 we see as John is seeing this woman it says on her forehead was 282 00:24:16,080 --> 00:24:22,160 written a name a mystery Babylon the great the mother of prostitutes and of 283 00:24:22,160 --> 00:24:27,840 the detestable things of the earth so on her forehead was written a name it was 284 00:24:27,840 --> 00:24:32,160 common in ancient times especially during the first century that in all of 285 00:24:32,160 --> 00:24:40,560 the false temples that would have sex and all of that is a part of their 286 00:24:40,560 --> 00:24:43,960 religious expression they would have temple prostitutes and the temple 287 00:24:43,960 --> 00:24:48,000 prostitutes would typically wear these headbands that had their name on them and 288 00:24:48,000 --> 00:24:51,960 so he's seeing the same type of thing here as this prostitute has a name 289 00:24:51,960 --> 00:24:57,000 written on her forehead but it says a mystery there's a mystery here that is 290 00:24:57,000 --> 00:25:00,800 referring to now some people look at that word and they go the mystery what 291 00:25:00,800 --> 00:25:05,160 it's referring to is is the idea that there is something that is known unknown 292 00:25:05,160 --> 00:25:09,080 to us known to God that will be revealed in the future right that's how some 293 00:25:09,080 --> 00:25:13,920 people read this word but the Greek word has a little bit of a of a more specific 294 00:25:13,920 --> 00:25:20,400 deep idea to it what the word literally means is secret things of God or the 295 00:25:20,400 --> 00:25:26,400 private counsel of God it's the idea here that the word mystery is this is 296 00:25:26,400 --> 00:25:31,640 what God really thinks of this thing that's the idea of this word mystery so 297 00:25:31,640 --> 00:25:35,520 the name of this woman as John is seeing this vision written on her forehead is 298 00:25:35,520 --> 00:25:41,960 as God sees her as God knows her to be it's his perspective his understanding 299 00:25:41,960 --> 00:25:46,600 of who or what this system is and so when we ask the question how does God 300 00:25:46,600 --> 00:25:52,140 see mankind's humanistic attempts at worship well let's look at it he calls 301 00:25:52,140 --> 00:25:56,680 our first Babylon the great now as I mentioned earlier this isn't to be 302 00:25:56,680 --> 00:26:02,680 confused with a literal physical city of Babylon that existed in Iraq at the time 303 00:26:02,680 --> 00:26:09,240 that city is being rebuilt incidentally and and as a city yeah Babylon holds a 304 00:26:09,240 --> 00:26:13,800 very significant place in Scripture when it comes to cities named in Scripture 305 00:26:13,800 --> 00:26:19,040 Babylon is mentioned 287 times throughout all of Scripture the only 306 00:26:19,040 --> 00:26:25,840 city that is mentioned by name more than Babylon is Jerusalem so it's a prominent 307 00:26:25,840 --> 00:26:31,880 place here but in the Jewish mind according to the Jewish mind Babylon as 308 00:26:31,880 --> 00:26:36,320 a city as an empire again this is where the Jews were held in captivity right 309 00:26:36,320 --> 00:26:42,800 Babylon as an idea represented all the evil and embodiment of cruelty it 310 00:26:42,800 --> 00:26:47,800 represented everything that stood against God it represented lasting and 311 00:26:47,800 --> 00:26:55,360 perpetual sin carnality lust and greed and so anytime you have a group of 312 00:26:55,360 --> 00:27:02,240 people you have a city an empire an ideology that is characterized by false 313 00:27:02,240 --> 00:27:07,240 religions about presenting religious adoration to anything other than God it's 314 00:27:07,240 --> 00:27:15,440 a Babylon that make sense all right cool and and the reason Babylon is 315 00:27:15,440 --> 00:27:19,400 representative of all these things is because the roots of Babylon and so 316 00:27:19,400 --> 00:27:22,760 we're gonna take a little history journey here back to Genesis chapter 10 317 00:27:22,760 --> 00:27:28,560 in Genesis chapter 10 we are introduced to a character on the stage of history 318 00:27:28,560 --> 00:27:35,080 named Nimrod the hunter he was a very fierce and great leader he was a fourth 319 00:27:35,080 --> 00:27:41,640 generation from Noah his grandfather was ham who is the wicked son of Noah this 320 00:27:41,640 --> 00:27:48,520 is Nimrod's genealogy here so after the flood happened God told Noah and his 321 00:27:48,520 --> 00:27:54,960 sons and he told the people go scatter fill the earth right multiply across the 322 00:27:54,960 --> 00:27:59,000 earth and so as you read through Genesis 10 or through the early parts of Genesis 323 00:27:59,000 --> 00:28:02,240 you'll see that the people after the flood waters receded it says they 324 00:28:02,240 --> 00:28:07,760 migrated east and they found this this valley called the land of Shinar and it 325 00:28:07,760 --> 00:28:11,480 was there in the land of Shinar that the people started going hmm maybe we don't 326 00:28:11,480 --> 00:28:16,240 want to do what God is telling us to do because although God told the people 327 00:28:16,240 --> 00:28:21,360 scatter throughout the whole earth what we find is that some got to this valley 328 00:28:21,360 --> 00:28:25,160 of Shinar and they didn't scatter instead they clung together and they 329 00:28:25,160 --> 00:28:29,600 started forming tribes and clans and in groups and then when we get to Genesis 330 00:28:29,600 --> 00:28:36,720 chapter 11 verse 4 we find this it says and they said come let us build 331 00:28:36,720 --> 00:28:44,160 ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the sky let us build ourselves a 332 00:28:44,160 --> 00:28:51,320 city a political social act socioeconomic center and a tower with its 333 00:28:51,320 --> 00:28:57,480 top in the sky a religious system let's make a name for ourselves otherwise we 334 00:28:57,480 --> 00:29:02,520 will be scattered throughout the earth and so what we see there in Genesis 11 335 00:29:02,520 --> 00:29:10,240 is God said scatter and these people said nah we're gonna do our own thing 336 00:29:10,240 --> 00:29:14,880 you said scatter Lord but instead of scattering we're gonna build a political 337 00:29:14,880 --> 00:29:20,600 system a city and we're gonna build a religious system this tower that's gonna 338 00:29:20,600 --> 00:29:24,640 reach to the sky and we're gonna do our own thing and so this city that is 339 00:29:24,640 --> 00:29:29,520 founded here was the city founded on rebellion against God now there's 340 00:29:29,520 --> 00:29:33,400 nothing wrong with building cities right but look at their philosophy let's build 341 00:29:33,400 --> 00:29:39,120 ourselves a city let's make a name for ourselves so the idea of these people 342 00:29:39,120 --> 00:29:43,400 back in Genesis in the early times of Genesis has said let's live our life 343 00:29:43,400 --> 00:29:50,400 without God we don't need him we can govern ourselves we don't like worship 344 00:29:50,400 --> 00:29:55,000 as he tells us who we're gonna create our own worship system and so this is 345 00:29:55,000 --> 00:30:00,280 the first city built on humanism this is the first city that was built to exalt 346 00:30:00,280 --> 00:30:06,640 man's values and man's wants above God and so they built this city and like I 347 00:30:06,640 --> 00:30:09,400 said they were also a religious system and we get that because it says let's 348 00:30:09,400 --> 00:30:14,380 build a tower with its top in the sky that word sky there literally means the 349 00:30:14,380 --> 00:30:21,080 heavens the word in the real the original language means where God lives 350 00:30:21,080 --> 00:30:26,120 so the idea here and that tower of course we know it as the Tower of Babel 351 00:30:26,120 --> 00:30:31,000 right that's that famous story we see that the people here recognize their 352 00:30:31,000 --> 00:30:35,640 need for spiritual connection to the divine but they sought to fulfill it on 353 00:30:35,640 --> 00:30:40,280 their own terms they recognize their need to be connected to their creator 354 00:30:40,280 --> 00:30:44,640 but they said we're gonna get there according to our plan our way our will 355 00:30:44,640 --> 00:30:52,240 and Nimrod led this group led this cult led this false counterfeit faith that 356 00:30:52,240 --> 00:30:56,320 was opposed to God now the roots of all of this reason I share all this is 357 00:30:56,320 --> 00:31:00,960 archaeology and stuff archaeology have found a lot of ancient documents back to 358 00:31:00,960 --> 00:31:04,800 this time and they have found documents that prove that Nimrod existed but what 359 00:31:04,800 --> 00:31:08,700 they've also found out is that this man Nimrod who led this cult cult that said 360 00:31:08,700 --> 00:31:11,360 we're gonna create a system that that doesn't have God involved and we're 361 00:31:11,360 --> 00:31:16,480 gonna create our own system he had a wife named Samaramis and his wife bore 362 00:31:16,480 --> 00:31:22,880 a son named Tammuz now according to legend his wife Tammuz said that I got 363 00:31:22,880 --> 00:31:28,260 pregnant not by being with my husband but a sunbeam shown from the sky and the 364 00:31:28,260 --> 00:31:34,320 sunbeam shone on my belly and boom pregnant and then when she gave birth to 365 00:31:34,320 --> 00:31:39,760 this son he was considered the savior of the world because of his divine origins 366 00:31:39,760 --> 00:31:45,240 well as her son Tammuz grew up in his teenage years I believe it was he was 367 00:31:45,240 --> 00:31:50,040 gored by a wild boar playing outside one day and he died well gosh that's really 368 00:31:50,040 --> 00:31:56,600 gonna damage the my son's God thing right he's he's dead and so Tammuz to 369 00:31:56,600 --> 00:32:02,840 perpetrate the ruse here told a story that for 40 days she wept and grieved 370 00:32:02,840 --> 00:32:09,040 over her dead son for 40 days and at the end of 40 days her dead son rose from 371 00:32:09,040 --> 00:32:14,440 the dead sound familiar some people look at this and they go this is the origins 372 00:32:14,440 --> 00:32:20,960 of lent the 40 days before Easter where we grieve leading up to the resurrection 373 00:32:20,960 --> 00:32:24,960 right now there are people that look at this stuff and go oh look these legends 374 00:32:24,960 --> 00:32:27,840 existed all the way back in the past and that's you know just Christianity 375 00:32:27,840 --> 00:32:33,160 co-opted all of these things I believe Satan is intelligent and I 376 00:32:33,160 --> 00:32:37,240 believe Satan knew from what God told him in the garden that there will be a 377 00:32:37,240 --> 00:32:42,920 descendant of the seed of Adam and Eve come to crush your head and so all the 378 00:32:42,920 --> 00:32:45,800 way back in the beginning here in Genesis I believe Satan was already 379 00:32:45,800 --> 00:32:49,600 propagating a false counterfeit version of what would come to be true upon the 380 00:32:49,600 --> 00:32:54,960 earth and so he set up his own version of a virgin born Savior of the world 381 00:32:54,960 --> 00:32:59,960 who died and rose again now back in the Babylonian times because again where the 382 00:32:59,960 --> 00:33:04,740 Tower of Babel was this city that grew up there was called Babylon and the 383 00:33:04,740 --> 00:33:09,300 worship of Cimaramus and Tammuz grew there and then eventually people did 384 00:33:09,300 --> 00:33:13,260 scatter from there because you remember the story of Tower in Babel right God 385 00:33:13,260 --> 00:33:16,000 was like well they're gonna build a tower to the earth these people got a 386 00:33:16,000 --> 00:33:20,480 problem boom changed everybody's language no duolingo at that time 387 00:33:20,480 --> 00:33:24,000 everybody's like I can't understand what you're saying I don't understand your 388 00:33:24,000 --> 00:33:27,320 language I don't understand mine and so people naturally went peace out and they 389 00:33:27,320 --> 00:33:31,800 scattered so God scattered the people by confusing the languages of the world but 390 00:33:31,800 --> 00:33:36,000 as they scattered this worship of Cimaramus and Tammuz went with them and 391 00:33:36,000 --> 00:33:39,880 so after the Tower of Babel situation after the city of Babylon there as 392 00:33:39,880 --> 00:33:45,100 people scattered the worship of this woman and her son went with them she 393 00:33:45,100 --> 00:33:49,960 became known as the Queen of Heaven and we see that actually referenced in 394 00:33:49,960 --> 00:33:54,400 Jeremiah chapter 7 verse 18 where it says the sons gather wood the fathers 395 00:33:54,400 --> 00:33:59,440 light the fire and the women need dough to make cakes for the Queen of Heaven so 396 00:33:59,440 --> 00:34:04,340 this Babylonian worship permeated out through the cultures and we know it 397 00:34:04,340 --> 00:34:07,560 permeated out through the cultures because historians and archaeologists 398 00:34:07,560 --> 00:34:11,640 have tracked that that as the people scattered this worship of this mother 399 00:34:11,640 --> 00:34:15,120 and this son just simply changed names when people got to Nineveh 400 00:34:15,120 --> 00:34:21,120 Cimaramus became Ishtar who had a son named Tammuz in the Phoenician cultures 401 00:34:21,120 --> 00:34:25,840 Cimaramus became Ashtoreth who had a son named Baal we read a lot about that in 402 00:34:25,840 --> 00:34:32,120 the Old Testament in Egypt Cimaramus became Isis who had a son named Osiris 403 00:34:32,120 --> 00:34:36,760 by the time we get to the Greek cultures Cimaramus was now Aphrodite with her son 404 00:34:36,760 --> 00:34:42,540 Eris by the time we get to the Roman cultures Cimaramus had become Venus with 405 00:34:42,540 --> 00:34:49,520 her son Cupid now we do know that by the time the Roman Empire collapsed all of 406 00:34:49,520 --> 00:34:54,520 this false Roman worship collapsed with it and we don't see you know this type 407 00:34:54,520 --> 00:34:58,560 of worship today necessarily but remember during the tribulation period as 408 00:34:58,560 --> 00:35:02,240 this new one world government is put back together a lot of people refer to 409 00:35:02,240 --> 00:35:06,840 it as a revived Roman Empire and so we see these roots going all the way back 410 00:35:06,840 --> 00:35:11,960 that John is seeing a future religious system that is called a notorious 411 00:35:11,960 --> 00:35:18,720 prostitute mothering false religious systems whose roots lie all the way back 412 00:35:18,720 --> 00:35:23,320 in Babel all the way back in ancient Babylon and the false instead of God 413 00:35:23,320 --> 00:35:27,360 worship that started way back then we don't want God's way we're gonna create 414 00:35:27,360 --> 00:35:31,440 different system that suits our needs and we're gonna see that this idea that 415 00:35:31,440 --> 00:35:35,600 has been inside mankind the whole time is gonna finally fully blossom during 416 00:35:35,600 --> 00:35:41,240 the tribulation period now he calls her there not just Babylon the great but he 417 00:35:41,240 --> 00:35:46,280 calls her the mother of prostitutes that idea there is that this Babylonian false 418 00:35:46,280 --> 00:35:51,920 system of worship is really the basis of all false religions you know this 419 00:35:51,920 --> 00:35:59,440 alternative to God concept this instead of Jesus mindset has spawned every false 420 00:35:59,440 --> 00:36:05,040 religion that exists in the world the whole idea is that it's not the truth 421 00:36:05,040 --> 00:36:10,800 it's this counterfeit version and that's the basis of every false religion they 422 00:36:10,800 --> 00:36:18,920 all have the same basic premise anything but Jesus anything but God's truth their 423 00:36:18,920 --> 00:36:24,800 premise is we will get to heaven we will get to heaven but not through Jesus not 424 00:36:24,800 --> 00:36:28,800 through God not through his truth found in his word we will get there through 425 00:36:28,800 --> 00:36:33,160 our own ways and during the tribulation period all of these false religious that 426 00:36:33,160 --> 00:36:36,920 come back home to mama prostitute and they're all gonna gather together and 427 00:36:36,920 --> 00:36:40,920 coexist under this huge umbrella that will accommodate everything that 428 00:36:40,920 --> 00:36:45,160 everyone has ever wanted will accommodate every concept except 429 00:36:45,160 --> 00:36:50,920 biblical Jesus except to genuine Christianity and yes this will even 430 00:36:50,920 --> 00:36:55,720 include those that are on the earth today that insist they are true 431 00:36:55,720 --> 00:36:59,760 Christians but when you analyze their theology you find out very quickly that 432 00:36:59,760 --> 00:37:07,240 there are perverted apostate false form of Christianity and so back to verse 1 433 00:37:07,240 --> 00:37:10,680 we're gonna see the scope of this system so if we go back to verse 1 it tells us 434 00:37:10,680 --> 00:37:18,240 that this notorious prostitute is seated on many waters all right four times in 435 00:37:18,240 --> 00:37:23,600 Revelation chapter 17 this prostitute is described as sitting okay she's sitting 436 00:37:23,600 --> 00:37:28,360 on many waters we're gonna see that she is sitting upon the scarlet beast the 437 00:37:28,360 --> 00:37:32,680 the idea of sitting here in this word speaks of enthronement it speaks of 438 00:37:32,680 --> 00:37:37,920 rulership it speaks of influence if you will later on when we get to Revelation 439 00:37:37,920 --> 00:37:43,280 chapter 18 Babylon is personified there still and it says she says I sit as a 440 00:37:43,280 --> 00:37:48,960 queen right so it's this idea of influence and power and so when it says 441 00:37:48,960 --> 00:37:53,480 that this notorious prostitute is seated on many waters we don't have to really 442 00:37:53,480 --> 00:37:58,880 struggle with interpreting this because later on in Revelation 17 verse 15 the 443 00:37:58,880 --> 00:38:03,160 angel actually interprets this for us this is what the angel says the waters 444 00:38:03,160 --> 00:38:08,640 you saw where the prostitute was seated are peoples multitudes nations and 445 00:38:08,640 --> 00:38:14,640 languages now you should know that that phrase we've seen it a few times in 446 00:38:14,640 --> 00:38:18,160 Revelation already every time we see this phrase peoples multitudes nations 447 00:38:18,160 --> 00:38:23,160 and languages it's a broad way to just refer to all the peoples of the earth all 448 00:38:23,160 --> 00:38:27,960 of the nations of the earth and so when it says that she is seated on many 449 00:38:27,960 --> 00:38:35,480 waters it's referring to the global cross-culture influence of this false 450 00:38:35,480 --> 00:38:39,960 religious system that's gonna happen during the end times why is that 451 00:38:39,960 --> 00:38:45,040 important because the idea is that she is gonna be her this false religious 452 00:38:45,040 --> 00:38:48,720 system is gonna include religions from every culture and you think well how is 453 00:38:48,720 --> 00:38:51,880 this cultures religion gonna get along with this cultures religion I don't know 454 00:38:51,880 --> 00:38:57,400 exactly but it's gonna happen how is how is Islam gonna get along with Buddhism 455 00:38:57,400 --> 00:39:00,920 and how they're gonna get along with Hinduism and Taoism and Confucianism 456 00:39:00,920 --> 00:39:06,080 and in Mormonism and and all how are they all you they're gonna get together 457 00:39:06,080 --> 00:39:10,480 somehow they're going to unify in some way and that's what it means by her 458 00:39:10,480 --> 00:39:15,560 being seated she has influence over the peoples of the earth and this idea is 459 00:39:15,560 --> 00:39:22,400 all the peoples and their faith systems so regardless of geopolitical boundaries 460 00:39:22,400 --> 00:39:27,240 regardless of cultural distinctions they are brought together now there's also 461 00:39:27,240 --> 00:39:32,200 some alliance or some influence over the beast for a time because what we're 462 00:39:32,200 --> 00:39:35,520 gonna read here in a moment the angel you know starts out here and says John 463 00:39:35,520 --> 00:39:39,480 look come I'm gonna I'm gonna show you the judgment of this notorious 464 00:39:39,480 --> 00:39:44,480 prostitute and and again we'll deal with that next time and so John is carried 465 00:39:44,480 --> 00:39:49,000 into the wilderness verse 3 it says he has carried carried away in the spirit 466 00:39:49,000 --> 00:39:52,680 into the wilderness to then see the actual full description of this 467 00:39:52,680 --> 00:39:56,760 prostitute riding the beast now the idea of wilderness there that's a callback to 468 00:39:56,760 --> 00:40:01,560 Revelation chapter 12 if you remember there it tells us that God took his 469 00:40:01,560 --> 00:40:07,000 people represented as the woman right took her from from Satan's destructive 470 00:40:07,000 --> 00:40:11,040 plans took her out into the wilderness to protect her and so John being carried 471 00:40:11,040 --> 00:40:16,400 by the spirit into the wilderness here could be a excuse me a reference to John 472 00:40:16,400 --> 00:40:22,120 being taken to a place of safety specifically out of the reach the allure 473 00:40:22,120 --> 00:40:28,040 the attraction of this notorious prostitute so that he could see the 474 00:40:28,040 --> 00:40:33,240 vision he's about to see more accurately he could see the vision accurately enough 475 00:40:33,240 --> 00:40:37,200 so he could testify truthfully to the character of this false religious system 476 00:40:37,200 --> 00:40:42,960 it's just a picture of how attractive it's gonna be of how it's gonna make 477 00:40:42,960 --> 00:40:47,320 sense to most people that of course wow why didn't we ever think about that of 478 00:40:47,320 --> 00:40:52,680 course the Jews and the Muslims could both coexist on the Temple Mount duh why 479 00:40:52,680 --> 00:40:56,000 didn't we ever think of that right it's gonna be a system that is just so 480 00:40:56,000 --> 00:40:59,640 attractive to people and I think John is specifically pulled to a place where 481 00:40:59,640 --> 00:41:03,200 he's like okay I want you to look at it without being influenced by it that's 482 00:41:03,200 --> 00:41:07,880 just an interpretation of mine but verse 3 it goes on to describe for us what John 483 00:41:07,880 --> 00:41:11,800 saw and he says I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with 484 00:41:11,800 --> 00:41:16,080 blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns so now we see the woman 485 00:41:16,080 --> 00:41:21,200 sitting on the scarlet beast you're like well is she sitting on the many waters 486 00:41:21,200 --> 00:41:26,760 or is she sitting on the scarlet beast right which is it well if you remember 487 00:41:26,760 --> 00:41:32,080 from Revelation 13 the description here of this beast is almost verbatim it's 488 00:41:32,080 --> 00:41:36,120 almost exactly the same and so we're going to discuss more about the beast 489 00:41:36,120 --> 00:41:40,560 when we get to the interpretation that the angel gives but in Revelation 13 the 490 00:41:40,560 --> 00:41:45,240 beast we know is symbolic I believe the beast is symbolic of two things the 491 00:41:45,240 --> 00:41:50,040 Antichrist individually and also symbolic of the one world government 492 00:41:50,040 --> 00:41:55,520 system that he leads they're both referred to as the beast so this beast 493 00:41:55,520 --> 00:42:00,040 here I believe is referring to the political system that the Antichrist will 494 00:42:00,040 --> 00:42:04,320 be leading and the idea that this beast is scarlet is just connecting it to the 495 00:42:04,320 --> 00:42:07,920 great fiery red dragon so it's under the control of Satan and so on and so forth 496 00:42:07,920 --> 00:42:12,540 but again remember the idea of this woman being seated is the idea of 497 00:42:12,540 --> 00:42:20,520 enthronement or rulership or influence so what does that tell us one that this 498 00:42:20,520 --> 00:42:25,440 global government system which is put together and led by the Antichrist 499 00:42:25,440 --> 00:42:30,120 initially at the beginning point the first three and a half years of the 500 00:42:30,120 --> 00:42:35,920 tribulation system initially supports this false religious system props up 501 00:42:35,920 --> 00:42:41,680 this global religious system is somehow helping it attain its influence and 502 00:42:41,680 --> 00:42:45,360 power and then the religious system itself then has influence over the 503 00:42:45,360 --> 00:42:48,240 peoples of the earth so that's the idea that she's sitting on the many waters 504 00:42:48,240 --> 00:42:53,280 and she's sitting on this beast but the idea of her sitting on the beast could 505 00:42:53,280 --> 00:42:58,480 also indicate that she is exerting some type of control over the world government 506 00:42:58,480 --> 00:43:02,520 system that she has some type of influence on it at least initially kind 507 00:43:02,520 --> 00:43:06,360 of like a rider on a horse right the rider on the horse kind of controls the 508 00:43:06,360 --> 00:43:10,400 amount it could indicate that initially specifically during the first three and 509 00:43:10,400 --> 00:43:14,400 a half years of the tribulation period that the world is primarily looking to 510 00:43:14,400 --> 00:43:19,360 this false religious system for help and hope rather than the Antichrist and his 511 00:43:19,360 --> 00:43:23,680 governmental system now the Antichrist is involved in propping it up and stuff 512 00:43:23,680 --> 00:43:26,940 but there's this picture here that as the heavens and the earth start falling 513 00:43:26,940 --> 00:43:30,440 apart during tribulation and we looked at that in the seals right we looked at 514 00:43:30,440 --> 00:43:35,520 that in the trumpets as everything is just just just falling apart worldwide 515 00:43:35,520 --> 00:43:39,080 people's hearts it tells us in Revelation are failing them that they're 516 00:43:39,080 --> 00:43:42,760 being overcome with fear and hopelessness during the first half of the 517 00:43:42,760 --> 00:43:46,520 tribulation period and and and what happens is that people are gonna get 518 00:43:46,520 --> 00:43:50,840 spiritual which is a fairly common thing on the earth you guys ever notice that 519 00:43:50,840 --> 00:43:56,560 you know when things get really bad people start showing up to church more 520 00:43:56,560 --> 00:44:02,400 when things get really really really bad people start getting a little more 521 00:44:02,400 --> 00:44:06,880 spiritual and they start grasping for things right when things get to that 522 00:44:06,880 --> 00:44:10,640 point where they're like oh I can't explain or understand what's going on 523 00:44:10,640 --> 00:44:15,160 they start to entertain the idea of the supernatural I think that's what's gonna 524 00:44:15,160 --> 00:44:18,640 happen during tribulation period as things are falling apart people are 525 00:44:18,640 --> 00:44:21,760 gonna get really spiritual and that's that worldwide revival I was talking 526 00:44:21,760 --> 00:44:27,640 about in the beginning and so they might have by this point or at least begun to 527 00:44:27,640 --> 00:44:32,080 lose hope and their trust in politics that's already happening on earth today 528 00:44:32,080 --> 00:44:36,280 especially in our country we're divided like we've never been before right 529 00:44:36,280 --> 00:44:40,400 one half of the aisle goes we have to vote and the other half goes why it's 530 00:44:40,400 --> 00:44:44,040 rigged and the other half you know and it's like and we just people are losing 531 00:44:44,040 --> 00:44:49,440 hope in the political process for a long time people not just in our country and 532 00:44:49,440 --> 00:44:52,640 multiple countries are like who cares who you vote for they're all corrupt 533 00:44:52,640 --> 00:44:57,640 right you have these types of ideas that are permeating our culture and please 534 00:44:57,640 --> 00:45:00,800 don't misunderstand me I believe that we have a civic duty to be involved I 535 00:45:00,800 --> 00:45:03,320 believe we should vote I believe we should be a part of that that's my 536 00:45:03,320 --> 00:45:06,720 opinion all right but but I believe that's an accurate call for the 537 00:45:06,720 --> 00:45:10,400 Christian but I'm not here to get into that topic right now but the idea is 538 00:45:10,400 --> 00:45:14,920 that during this time people have lost hope they've lost their trust in the 539 00:45:14,920 --> 00:45:18,680 political system to fix the errors of the world they've lost hope in the 540 00:45:18,680 --> 00:45:24,920 economic system right we're experiencing that right now I just I'm just baffled 541 00:45:24,920 --> 00:45:28,920 that week by week the not a recession keeps getting worse as a not a recession 542 00:45:28,920 --> 00:45:32,920 and it's like how much worse is it gonna get before people go okay we're in a 543 00:45:32,920 --> 00:45:37,600 recession right you know do interest rates have to get to like 85% before 544 00:45:37,600 --> 00:45:41,640 someone goes hey there's a problem right again another soapbox I don't have time 545 00:45:41,640 --> 00:45:48,800 to get on to okay but as people lose their trust and their hope in politics 546 00:45:48,800 --> 00:45:54,840 and economics they're gonna turn back to religion in mass but the problem is is 547 00:45:54,840 --> 00:45:58,760 which one this religion hates this religion hates this religion which one 548 00:45:58,760 --> 00:46:01,880 do we turn to and suddenly there's gonna be a way to unify all of them 549 00:46:01,880 --> 00:46:06,560 there's gonna be a way to unify all the religions make them work to together 550 00:46:06,560 --> 00:46:10,160 there's gonna be a way to give it all meaning beyond what's right in front of 551 00:46:10,160 --> 00:46:15,200 him but it's gonna give meaning in a way that still ultimately is according to 552 00:46:15,200 --> 00:46:18,920 man's own desires and man's own values and man's own pursuits and the 553 00:46:18,920 --> 00:46:23,320 Antichrist is going to go along with this at first and he's gonna prop this 554 00:46:23,320 --> 00:46:29,440 up now at the midpoint we're gonna see next week as we deal with the fall of 555 00:46:29,440 --> 00:46:33,720 this system we're gonna see that when we get to the midpoint of tribulation he 556 00:46:33,720 --> 00:46:37,200 stops supporting this know all the face are true and says no no no worship me 557 00:46:37,200 --> 00:46:43,920 I'm God but this one world religion is gonna be propped up supporting the idea 558 00:46:43,920 --> 00:46:51,960 that of course all religions lead to God except Jesus so this religious system 559 00:46:51,960 --> 00:46:56,440 it's gonna have incredible influence over the entire world for a time that's 560 00:46:56,440 --> 00:47:00,360 what we see by her sitting on many waters right verse 2 it tells us that 561 00:47:00,360 --> 00:47:04,720 the kings of the earth it's referring to governmental leadership and those who 562 00:47:04,720 --> 00:47:10,040 live on the earth it tells us commit sexual immorality with her it tells us 563 00:47:10,040 --> 00:47:14,080 they get drunk on the wine of her sexual immorality we know that that sexual 564 00:47:14,080 --> 00:47:19,080 immorality that fornication is idolatry false worship and so we see the idea 565 00:47:19,080 --> 00:47:22,760 here is that the everybody from the leaders of governments all the way down 566 00:47:22,760 --> 00:47:27,320 are gonna be intoxicated with what this one world religious system brings and 567 00:47:27,320 --> 00:47:34,720 they over indulge in it that's the idea of drunkenness so verse 4 what did John 568 00:47:34,720 --> 00:47:38,000 see specifically and we'll go through these pretty quick the woman was dressed 569 00:47:38,000 --> 00:47:42,840 in purple and scarlet adorned with gold jewels and pearls she had a golden cup 570 00:47:42,840 --> 00:47:45,960 in her hand filled with everything detestable and with the impurities of 571 00:47:45,960 --> 00:47:52,000 her prostitution the idea of gold or purple and scarlet these are colors of 572 00:47:52,000 --> 00:47:58,880 splendor colors of magnificence and power in ancient times to to get a purple 573 00:47:58,880 --> 00:48:03,480 colored cloth or a scarlet colored cloth both of those were very expensive 574 00:48:03,480 --> 00:48:08,800 colors so it was very expensive fabrics to get the gold and the jewels and the 575 00:48:08,800 --> 00:48:13,320 pearls these are these are items of luxury and in items of opulence and so 576 00:48:13,320 --> 00:48:17,280 again this is where we get the idea that this religious system is going to be 577 00:48:17,280 --> 00:48:22,360 very attractive very appealing it's gonna have great power and influence 578 00:48:22,360 --> 00:48:27,840 over people and in this system is likely gonna promise by appearance if you will 579 00:48:27,840 --> 00:48:32,160 that yeah you know you you tow the line with this one world religion you'll get 580 00:48:32,160 --> 00:48:36,240 everything you've ever wanted in my head it sounds much like the prosperity 581 00:48:36,240 --> 00:48:40,040 gospel of today look at me look at my expensive watch I don't have an expensive 582 00:48:40,040 --> 00:48:43,880 watch by the way but you know look you look at my look at my nolex right look 583 00:48:43,880 --> 00:48:47,240 at my look at my expensive suit or whatever right and you have these people 584 00:48:47,240 --> 00:48:51,120 even in today's world they're like look if you have the faith I have by giving 585 00:48:51,120 --> 00:48:57,200 me all your money you'll have what I have and it's it's false it's a false 586 00:48:57,200 --> 00:49:02,080 gospel right this whole religious system is gonna be like that like wow I could 587 00:49:02,080 --> 00:49:06,600 have what what it promises me to have if I just do what it says and worship the 588 00:49:06,600 --> 00:49:11,000 way it tells me to and again it's this idea of this self-exalting religion 589 00:49:11,000 --> 00:49:15,200 because this everything everybody's ever wanted well God defines it right here 590 00:49:15,200 --> 00:49:22,240 what's in the cup everything detestable with the impurities of her 591 00:49:22,240 --> 00:49:27,240 prostitution that's how God sees self-exalting religion it's detestable 592 00:49:27,240 --> 00:49:32,720 it's impure and so one of the things that will unify the world unify all 593 00:49:32,720 --> 00:49:37,520 these faiths and people under this it's persecution of those who profess Jesus 594 00:49:37,520 --> 00:49:42,080 Christ look at verse 6 then I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of 595 00:49:42,080 --> 00:49:47,640 the Saints and with the blood of the witnesses to Jesus and when I saw her I 596 00:49:47,640 --> 00:49:54,520 was greatly astonished and so this woman this false religious system not only 597 00:49:54,520 --> 00:50:01,120 persecutes believers but revels in it she's drunk with the blood of the Saints 598 00:50:01,120 --> 00:50:07,320 same word this system over indulges in the persecution of those who profess 599 00:50:07,320 --> 00:50:12,080 Jesus and that phrase there the blood of the Saints and the blood of the 600 00:50:12,080 --> 00:50:16,800 witnesses to Jesus the idea of that is is the persecution is more than just 601 00:50:16,800 --> 00:50:22,400 harassment it's gonna go far beyond oh no you can't bake a cake nope you can't 602 00:50:22,400 --> 00:50:25,800 have a flower shop it's gonna go far beyond you can't work here it's gonna 603 00:50:25,800 --> 00:50:29,760 go far beyond you know we're gonna fire you it's gonna go so far to the point 604 00:50:29,760 --> 00:50:35,520 where it's actual harm being done to people where people are getting hurt 605 00:50:35,520 --> 00:50:40,080 killed we all read about martyrs during the tribulation period we read about 606 00:50:40,080 --> 00:50:45,120 people losing their head over their belief in Jesus as Lord and Savior and 607 00:50:45,120 --> 00:50:50,520 so her alliance with with the beast her writing the beast and her alliance with 608 00:50:50,520 --> 00:50:54,960 the world in leading the populations it's ultimately an alliance against God's 609 00:50:54,960 --> 00:50:58,680 people which we've seen through Revelation over and over right Satan's 610 00:50:58,680 --> 00:51:03,040 goal I hate God I hate his people I want to destroy them I don't care if they're 611 00:51:03,040 --> 00:51:08,320 Jews or Gentiles I want them all dead that's really what this is all about now 612 00:51:08,320 --> 00:51:14,560 we see precursors or the precondition of this in the world today at least I do we 613 00:51:14,560 --> 00:51:20,880 see it in in abortion right and again I don't mean to condemn anybody if you've 614 00:51:20,880 --> 00:51:27,240 had an abortion and and you've said God I repent of that you're forgiven okay 615 00:51:27,240 --> 00:51:33,520 know that please know that but the concept of abortion in our world today 616 00:51:33,520 --> 00:51:43,960 is that if a life is inconvenient just kill it just get rid of it right we see 617 00:51:43,960 --> 00:51:48,280 that in abuses that take place in senior care facilities today this life is 618 00:51:48,280 --> 00:51:54,320 meaningless this life is a hindrance and so it people will be an ego where does 619 00:51:54,320 --> 00:51:58,240 where does this kind of thinking stop where does this kind of thinking stop 620 00:51:58,240 --> 00:52:02,080 well like I said I believe it's a societal preconditioning to get people 621 00:52:02,080 --> 00:52:06,560 to accept and normalize that any life that is deemed unwanted any life that 622 00:52:06,560 --> 00:52:11,080 is deemed unproductive or uncooperative with the masses any life that is in the 623 00:52:11,080 --> 00:52:17,280 way with what we want to do should be removed any life and with that mindset 624 00:52:17,280 --> 00:52:21,160 when the world is under the sway of this notorious prostitute when the world is 625 00:52:21,160 --> 00:52:26,040 under the sway of the beast those who are hindrances to the self-exalting 626 00:52:26,040 --> 00:52:30,240 freedoms that mankind wants to have those fundamental believers that are 627 00:52:30,240 --> 00:52:33,640 always preaching about Jesus the worldwide mindset is going to be can we 628 00:52:33,640 --> 00:52:39,600 just remove them can we just kill them and we see that the people are going to 629 00:52:39,600 --> 00:52:42,480 be excited about that because we saw that when the two witnesses were 630 00:52:42,480 --> 00:52:45,800 murdered in Jerusalem at the midpoint of tribulation their bodies were left to 631 00:52:45,800 --> 00:52:52,800 rot on the streets and the entire world celebrated the world from the top down 632 00:52:52,800 --> 00:52:56,960 is just gonna be glad to overindulge in that kind of persecution and so I think 633 00:52:56,960 --> 00:53:01,040 that is why John is greatly astonished here right he is greatly astonished I 634 00:53:01,040 --> 00:53:06,840 mean at the gleeful brutality in the name of religion in the name of 635 00:53:06,840 --> 00:53:13,240 connecting to God it's gonna be this this this horrible brutality based upon 636 00:53:13,240 --> 00:53:17,160 false truths about false gods but even more so than that I mean John has already 637 00:53:17,160 --> 00:53:21,840 seen from chapter 13 John already was introduced to the beast he saw that the 638 00:53:21,840 --> 00:53:25,480 time is coming where the entire world is gonna worship the beast and worship the 639 00:53:25,480 --> 00:53:29,920 Antichrist but now he's he's seeing something that that that that that is 640 00:53:29,920 --> 00:53:35,480 before that worship something that leads up to that open satanic worship of the 641 00:53:35,480 --> 00:53:40,560 Antichrist he sees this woman sitting on top of the beast controlling it 642 00:53:40,560 --> 00:53:45,840 directing it influencing it intoxicating the world with the detestable things of 643 00:53:45,840 --> 00:53:51,640 the earth and they're clearly detestable and yet mankind thinks it's good and 644 00:53:51,640 --> 00:53:57,600 right and moral and proper and spiritual and they think it's gonna lead to our 645 00:53:57,600 --> 00:54:04,960 exaltation and how wrong they are how wrong they will be and how sad will be 646 00:54:04,960 --> 00:54:11,200 their fall next week we're gonna look at the angels interpretation of this vision 647 00:54:11,200 --> 00:54:15,440 and get into some more details about the beast and what it all means the angel 648 00:54:15,440 --> 00:54:19,960 goes on to describe to John more about this notorious prostitute and the 649 00:54:19,960 --> 00:54:23,400 scarlet beast that she was writing and we're gonna see how this one world 650 00:54:23,400 --> 00:54:28,840 religion really prepares the way for what Satan has been after all along a 651 00:54:28,840 --> 00:54:35,320 world that worships him and him alone a world that will worship him in direct 652 00:54:35,320 --> 00:54:42,240 intentional overt opposition to God Almighty and his son Jesus Christ you 653 00:54:42,240 --> 00:54:47,240 know knowing the truth it's paramount to ours resisting the 654 00:54:47,240 --> 00:54:51,600 deceptions that the world brings there's so many people deceived in our world 655 00:54:51,600 --> 00:54:56,960 today there are so many people in pursuit of religion pursuit of some 656 00:54:56,960 --> 00:55:02,000 connection to the divine there they're caught up in all kinds of false things 657 00:55:02,000 --> 00:55:08,320 and I think sometimes we as the church can do too comfortable for that well you 658 00:55:08,320 --> 00:55:10,480 believe what you want to believe I'll believe what I want to believe and 659 00:55:10,480 --> 00:55:15,640 that's not the call of the church the call of the church is to lovingly kindly 660 00:55:15,640 --> 00:55:21,080 boldly and confidently go shine a light on falsehood there's so many books 661 00:55:21,080 --> 00:55:24,360 throughout the New Testament that deal directly with hey here's how to identify 662 00:55:24,360 --> 00:55:31,320 false teaching here's how to respond to false teachers right we're called to know 663 00:55:31,320 --> 00:55:37,000 the truth and there is much out there that appears truthful enough that it 664 00:55:37,000 --> 00:55:42,080 sways the masses and we shouldn't be surprised by that Satan has been at work 665 00:55:42,080 --> 00:55:47,680 since all the way back in Babylon he has been at work to set up counterfeits to 666 00:55:47,680 --> 00:55:53,600 deceive to destroy to ruin lives and the many false religions in the world today 667 00:55:53,600 --> 00:55:59,400 they all point to the same thing they all point to the same thing they say 668 00:55:59,400 --> 00:56:05,080 Jesus is not God Almighty they say that he is not God in the flesh they say that 669 00:56:05,080 --> 00:56:11,440 he is not the Savior of the world but we who know him we know the truth we've 670 00:56:11,440 --> 00:56:16,560 experienced a change that people cannot explain and knowing the truth means that 671 00:56:16,560 --> 00:56:20,840 we should live the truth and we should be people who share that truth that 672 00:56:20,840 --> 00:56:26,880 truth Jesus Christ who said I am the way the truth in the life that's what we're 673 00:56:26,880 --> 00:56:30,760 called to be about that we would be part of rescuing those that are trapped in 674 00:56:30,760 --> 00:56:36,120 the humanistic ideas of religious Babylon I believe the roots of this 675 00:56:36,120 --> 00:56:39,560 exists today I believe it's going to continue to grow and flourish to the end 676 00:56:39,560 --> 00:56:45,960 times we have the truth we have the hope let's be people who share that now that 677 00:56:45,960 --> 00:56:51,320 we would save those from the judgment to come but that we would be a people of 678 00:56:51,320 --> 00:56:55,160 such reputation that even when God would take us from this earth prior to point 679 00:56:55,160 --> 00:56:59,040 out his wrath upon the earth the reputation of the people at our church 680 00:56:59,040 --> 00:57:03,640 and every church worldwide would be such that people would go maybe they were 681 00:57:03,640 --> 00:57:10,360 right about Jesus maybe I should turn to him maybe I should give my life to him 682 00:57:10,360 --> 00:57:15,520 because nothing else seems to be working right he is the truth he is the hope 683 00:57:15,520 --> 00:57:26,240 amen let's pray father we love you God we thank you Lord it's been said there's 684 00:57:26,240 --> 00:57:33,840 nothing new under the Sun your servant said that in your own word God mankind 685 00:57:33,840 --> 00:57:42,040 is seeking and has always been seeking that which would bring glory sadly Lord 686 00:57:42,040 --> 00:57:48,480 so many are seeking that which will bring glory to themselves and not that 687 00:57:48,480 --> 00:57:53,600 was we're being glory to their Creator Lord we know the time is coming where 688 00:57:53,600 --> 00:58:00,000 you're gonna judge that Lord it's within the spirit of man due to the fall and 689 00:58:00,000 --> 00:58:06,120 due to sin for us to say we don't need God to live like the people under Nimrod 690 00:58:06,120 --> 00:58:09,000 and say you know what we're gonna create our own system we're gonna govern 691 00:58:09,000 --> 00:58:16,320 ourselves we're gonna create our own faith in our own religion and yet Lord 692 00:58:16,320 --> 00:58:22,240 we know that that is all self-exalting and leads nowhere except to judgment 693 00:58:22,240 --> 00:58:26,760 God we pray for the world we live in today God we pray your spirit would go 694 00:58:26,760 --> 00:58:33,320 forth and change hearts change minds we pray for those that are trapped into the 695 00:58:33,320 --> 00:58:38,160 false religions and false ideas things that have their root and religious 696 00:58:38,160 --> 00:58:44,160 Babylon God we pray you'd give us opportunity to share with them to hand 697 00:58:44,160 --> 00:58:51,840 them a track to tell them about Jesus to converse with them in a loving way God 698 00:58:51,840 --> 00:58:57,800 that they would come to know the truth but at the same time Lord we know yet 699 00:58:57,800 --> 00:59:02,280 there are so many in this world that are gonna reject you to the very end that 700 00:59:02,280 --> 00:59:08,520 are led and guided and influenced by Satan that are gonna continue to do 701 00:59:08,520 --> 00:59:15,560 horrible things and we trust you in all of that Lord we trust your timing let us 702 00:59:15,560 --> 00:59:21,840 individually Lord be people that proclaim your name loud and clear that 703 00:59:21,840 --> 00:59:28,620 those who are trapped in falsehoods would recognize truth it would recognize 704 00:59:28,620 --> 00:59:34,320 that they're trapped in something that is a counterfeit of what is true and that 705 00:59:34,320 --> 00:59:39,600 Lord they would just come to know you we pray for our outreaches as a church Lord 706 00:59:39,600 --> 00:59:44,400 especially this season there's so many trapped in darkness Lord they need the 707 00:59:44,400 --> 00:59:53,520 light help us introduce them to that light God we want them to be saved use 708 00:59:53,520 --> 00:59:57,680 us use our church and when the time comes Lord where you take our church out 709 00:59:57,680 --> 01:00:02,880 of this world you take your people your your your believers God the church of 710 01:00:02,880 --> 01:00:09,920 Jesus Christ out of this world that the reputation that is left behind would be 711 01:00:09,920 --> 01:00:18,320 a reputation of people who knew truth lived truth shared truth and that those 712 01:00:18,320 --> 01:00:22,360 who would be left behind would come to know truth through that witness and 713 01:00:22,360 --> 01:00:26,880 through that testimony God we love you we thank you it's in Jesus name we pray 714 01:00:26,880 --> 01:00:30,920 amen let's worship guys