1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,000 All right, good morning. 2 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:03,000 Good morning. 3 00:00:03,000 --> 00:00:05,000 How are you guys doing today? 4 00:00:05,000 --> 00:00:06,000 Awesome. 5 00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:11,000 Well, we always like to start out, and I've already met a couple today, but if this is 6 00:00:11,000 --> 00:00:15,200 your first time visiting us here at Hosanna Christian Fellowship, whether you're here 7 00:00:15,200 --> 00:00:18,160 in our room or if you're joining us online, welcome. 8 00:00:18,160 --> 00:00:22,040 We're so glad you're here to worship with us today. 9 00:00:22,040 --> 00:00:25,880 I am Pastor Nathan, and before we get into our intro, I do want to take just a quick 10 00:00:25,880 --> 00:00:32,280 moment to say thank you to all of the men and women here in our church and around the 11 00:00:32,280 --> 00:00:36,360 world that have served in the armed forces. 12 00:00:36,360 --> 00:00:38,520 Yeah. 13 00:00:38,520 --> 00:00:44,040 My dad was a veteran, served in the Vietnam War, and I've always had great respect for 14 00:00:44,040 --> 00:00:45,600 those that serve. 15 00:00:45,600 --> 00:00:50,860 I myself had wanted to be a pilot in the Air Force, and then God was like, no, I got other 16 00:00:50,860 --> 00:00:51,860 plans for you. 17 00:00:51,860 --> 00:00:52,860 And I was like, all right, Lord. 18 00:00:52,860 --> 00:00:55,360 So, but thank you so much. 19 00:00:55,360 --> 00:01:00,840 We greatly honor those of you that have served, that are serving, and have put your life on 20 00:01:00,840 --> 00:01:04,480 the line to defend our country and our freedoms. 21 00:01:04,480 --> 00:01:08,200 And so we say thank you, we honor you, and I just want to pray for you right now before 22 00:01:08,200 --> 00:01:09,200 we get started. 23 00:01:09,200 --> 00:01:13,760 So if everybody, if you'll join me in prayer, Father, we pray, God, for the veterans here 24 00:01:13,760 --> 00:01:17,400 in our room and online and just all over, Lord. 25 00:01:17,400 --> 00:01:19,160 We pray for them that you would bless them, God. 26 00:01:19,160 --> 00:01:25,000 We are so grateful that you put a call on their heart to serve in our military, God, 27 00:01:25,000 --> 00:01:28,880 to defend the freedoms that we hold dear here in America, God. 28 00:01:28,880 --> 00:01:32,720 And we pray, Lord, that you would bless them and their families, God. 29 00:01:32,720 --> 00:01:37,400 We pray for those that may still be dealing with some of the difficulties of their service, 30 00:01:37,400 --> 00:01:40,520 God, that you would bring healing and hope and wholeness. 31 00:01:40,520 --> 00:01:45,080 But God, we pray, Lord, that you would just bless their lives abundantly, that they would 32 00:01:45,080 --> 00:01:50,480 know you, they would know your presence, and they would know the blessing, God, of who 33 00:01:50,480 --> 00:01:52,840 you are in their lives. 34 00:01:52,840 --> 00:01:56,880 May they truly understand how much we love them and thank them for their service, Lord, 35 00:01:56,880 --> 00:01:59,280 in Jesus' name, amen. 36 00:01:59,280 --> 00:02:05,340 All right, this morning we are continuing our study of Revelation chapter 17, looking 37 00:02:05,340 --> 00:02:13,400 at Babylon, but Babylon in the perspective of its representation as the one world religion. 38 00:02:13,400 --> 00:02:19,480 Now last time we went, we looked at the first six verses of Revelation chapter 17 here at 39 00:02:19,480 --> 00:02:22,000 the vision that was given to John. 40 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:26,160 And today we're going to be looking at the interpretation of that vision as the angel 41 00:02:26,160 --> 00:02:28,640 interprets what John saw. 42 00:02:28,640 --> 00:02:34,000 If you remember at the end of chapter 16, which was the conclusion of the seventh bowl 43 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:42,020 of wrath, that brought us to the chronological conclusion of the seven-year tribulation period, 44 00:02:42,020 --> 00:02:48,900 that seventh bowl being the final judgment of God on earth at the end of tribulation. 45 00:02:48,900 --> 00:02:53,720 And I mentioned then that the actual chronology of the story we'll pick back up in chapter 46 00:02:53,720 --> 00:02:56,480 19, and so we'll pick the story back up there. 47 00:02:56,480 --> 00:03:03,200 But Revelation 17 and 18 are a pause in the action, as John has done a couple times already 48 00:03:03,200 --> 00:03:08,360 in Revelation, to look back on what we just went through and to take a look at something 49 00:03:08,360 --> 00:03:09,560 in more detail. 50 00:03:09,560 --> 00:03:15,920 Ultimately, what we're looking at in chapter 17 and 18 is what is being judged through 51 00:03:15,920 --> 00:03:18,520 the close of tribulation. 52 00:03:18,520 --> 00:03:22,520 And that is namely Babylon the Great. 53 00:03:22,520 --> 00:03:27,560 Babylon the Great, which represents the entirety of the kingdom of the Antichrist, which is 54 00:03:27,560 --> 00:03:34,400 expressed in the end times in a one-world government, a one-world socioeconomic system 55 00:03:34,400 --> 00:03:38,080 that stands against God and against His people. 56 00:03:38,080 --> 00:03:44,240 But Babylon the Great also represents this one-world religious system that itself represents 57 00:03:44,240 --> 00:03:53,160 man's humanistic attempt at elevating itself, its own values, its own priorities above and 58 00:03:53,160 --> 00:03:55,840 instead of God. 59 00:03:55,840 --> 00:04:01,360 And so Babylon, this concept, this idea of Babylon represents everything that stands 60 00:04:01,360 --> 00:04:07,560 in opposition to Jesus Christ, everything that stands against Him, every thought, every 61 00:04:07,560 --> 00:04:14,560 philosophy, every practice, everything that would stand against Jesus, both religious 62 00:04:14,560 --> 00:04:15,560 and political. 63 00:04:15,560 --> 00:04:20,920 Now, in Revelation 17, what we've been seeing is the religious embodiment of this idea of 64 00:04:20,920 --> 00:04:28,360 Babylon as seen by John the Apostle and characterized as a notorious prostitute. 65 00:04:28,360 --> 00:04:36,800 This notorious prostitute characterizing a system of false religion, false worship, unfaithfulness 66 00:04:36,800 --> 00:04:38,000 to the true God. 67 00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:42,200 And as we looked at that in our last study, we saw the representation pointing out the 68 00:04:42,200 --> 00:04:50,240 spiritual immorality, the idea of adultery and fornication committed against God in false 69 00:04:50,240 --> 00:04:57,560 worship, against the one true creator, God Almighty, who is the only one worthy of worship 70 00:04:57,560 --> 00:04:59,700 and our everything. 71 00:04:59,700 --> 00:05:05,280 And so this system we've been studying is pictured as being in control of and having 72 00:05:05,280 --> 00:05:10,920 influence over all peoples, cultures, and religions of the world. 73 00:05:10,920 --> 00:05:16,320 As we saw in our previous study, this system is initially supported, this one world religious 74 00:05:16,320 --> 00:05:24,120 system is initially supported and elevated by and even has influence over the Antichrist 75 00:05:24,120 --> 00:05:26,700 and the government he leads. 76 00:05:26,700 --> 00:05:31,960 This system in the early days of the tribulation period manages to bring all the people of 77 00:05:31,960 --> 00:05:36,280 the world together and by people it's specifically contextually pointing out all the different 78 00:05:36,280 --> 00:05:43,160 faiths and religions and expressions of spirituality somehow brings them together, uniting them 79 00:05:43,160 --> 00:05:48,920 in the rejection of Jesus Christ and the persecution of those who believe in him. 80 00:05:48,920 --> 00:05:57,040 In this reality it says astonished John the Apostle in its blatant hypocritical brutality. 81 00:05:57,040 --> 00:06:00,600 Well today what we're going to be looking at is the angel as I said showing John what 82 00:06:00,600 --> 00:06:07,920 this vision means, showing him the interpretation of what John saw, providing him and us with 83 00:06:07,920 --> 00:06:14,160 some clarity as to how this all comes to be in the ultimate judgment of this one world 84 00:06:14,160 --> 00:06:20,940 religious system, how it all comes to be, what it all leads to, and really how the man-centered 85 00:06:20,940 --> 00:06:28,380 self-exalting expression of religion and power ultimately destroys itself. 86 00:06:28,380 --> 00:06:33,480 And that is the picture of being fully defeated and judged by the true Lord of Lords and the 87 00:06:33,480 --> 00:06:34,720 true King of Kings. 88 00:06:34,720 --> 00:06:38,680 So that's what we're going to be looking at today but as we do is we're going to first 89 00:06:38,680 --> 00:06:43,240 be celebrating God in worship and praising him. 90 00:06:43,240 --> 00:06:47,160 We're also celebrating today at the end of our service of baptism we have a number of 91 00:06:47,160 --> 00:06:52,260 people getting baptized today and you know baptism being a public expression of faith 92 00:06:52,260 --> 00:06:56,720 requires a public to express that faith too and you all get to be the public today to 93 00:06:56,720 --> 00:06:59,800 celebrate with our brothers and sisters making that expression. 94 00:06:59,800 --> 00:07:02,440 But let's pray and we'll get into our time of worship. 95 00:07:02,440 --> 00:07:05,440 Father we love you so much. 96 00:07:05,440 --> 00:07:09,040 God we're so thankful for who you are. 97 00:07:09,040 --> 00:07:13,160 We're so thankful for what you've done and we're so thankful for what you're going to 98 00:07:13,160 --> 00:07:15,320 do. 99 00:07:15,320 --> 00:07:20,560 Lord we know as we've been looking at Revelation God that really bad times are coming upon 100 00:07:20,560 --> 00:07:23,000 the earth. 101 00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:31,720 Lord that you will one day and hopefully soon Lord judge all the false religion and false 102 00:07:31,720 --> 00:07:35,920 faith that man has propped up. 103 00:07:35,920 --> 00:07:41,360 All of the false gods that that man has lifted up whether it was under the inspiration of 104 00:07:41,360 --> 00:07:44,840 Satan himself or due to his own fallen nature Lord. 105 00:07:44,840 --> 00:07:50,800 Even the worship of himself Lord man has tried to to find this this spiritual expression 106 00:07:50,800 --> 00:07:57,040 in everything but worshipping you the one true God. 107 00:07:57,040 --> 00:08:01,360 And Lord we know that today we are in a in a time of patience Lord where you were just 108 00:08:01,360 --> 00:08:05,800 patiently waiting for those that are going to be saved before you take your church out 109 00:08:05,800 --> 00:08:09,480 of this world to get saved. 110 00:08:09,480 --> 00:08:15,320 But Lord we're looking at today God what you're going to do in the end to finally and fully 111 00:08:15,320 --> 00:08:20,440 deal with false worship idolatry. 112 00:08:20,440 --> 00:08:26,360 And so God encourage us Lord encourage us as you have been to be people who are aware 113 00:08:26,360 --> 00:08:33,960 of what's coming that we would be people who warn those today about the judgment to come. 114 00:08:33,960 --> 00:08:39,160 To share with them the hope that is found in Jesus Christ the one true God who came 115 00:08:39,160 --> 00:08:46,220 to this earth lived a perfect life and died on the cross for the sins of all mankind. 116 00:08:46,220 --> 00:08:53,440 That we would share Lord that through faith in what you did we can be restored our fellowship 117 00:08:53,440 --> 00:08:57,760 can be restored with you our creator. 118 00:08:57,760 --> 00:09:02,200 And God we pray for those getting baptized today Lord what a blessing. 119 00:09:02,200 --> 00:09:07,100 And they be may they be greatly blessed today as they as they make this public profession 120 00:09:07,100 --> 00:09:11,540 Lord proclaiming that they have eschewed all false religions and now believe in the one 121 00:09:11,540 --> 00:09:14,300 and true Almighty God. 122 00:09:14,300 --> 00:09:18,200 Lord we're so grateful we want to praise you now in Jesus name we pray. 123 00:09:18,200 --> 00:09:19,200 Amen. 124 00:09:19,200 --> 00:09:25,080 I want to open up with looking at Revelation 17 chapter 17 verse 1 again just as a context 125 00:09:25,080 --> 00:09:30,480 where we're at it told us there then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came 126 00:09:30,480 --> 00:09:36,440 and spoke with me said come I will show you the judgment of the notorious prostitute who 127 00:09:36,440 --> 00:09:39,680 is seated on many waters. 128 00:09:39,680 --> 00:09:45,360 And so that told us right in the very beginning of Revelation 17 that what John was witnessing 129 00:09:45,360 --> 00:09:51,040 what what the angel was about to show him was very specifically the judgment of what 130 00:09:51,040 --> 00:09:56,160 we know is this notorious prostitute that represents the false religious system and 131 00:09:56,160 --> 00:10:00,720 then kind of in a in a broader scope false religion in general. 132 00:10:00,720 --> 00:10:05,280 God is judging that and we know that God is going to judge that one day and really it's 133 00:10:05,280 --> 00:10:12,480 just you know since the very beginning of time with man the very beginning of man's 134 00:10:12,480 --> 00:10:20,720 existence the sin of man has been believing the lie that they don't need God or his ways 135 00:10:20,720 --> 00:10:24,640 that that that is the original problem. 136 00:10:24,640 --> 00:10:29,880 The idea that from the very beginning man has thought you know we can have wisdom on 137 00:10:29,880 --> 00:10:37,080 our own and we could have knowledge of good and evil and we can be like God without God 138 00:10:37,080 --> 00:10:42,120 or specifically without his ways that was the temptation in the garden all the way back 139 00:10:42,120 --> 00:10:46,440 in the beginning and has been man's problem ever since. 140 00:10:46,440 --> 00:10:51,340 As we follow the chronology through the Bible we see almost right away Cain tried to approach 141 00:10:51,340 --> 00:10:57,560 God on his own terms and we read that God rejected his his offering because it was on 142 00:10:57,560 --> 00:11:00,840 Cain's own terms and not on God's own terms. 143 00:11:00,840 --> 00:11:07,200 Well that made Cain so angry that he went he killed his brother Abel specifically because 144 00:11:07,200 --> 00:11:14,480 Abel's offering was accepted by God because Abel brought an offering on God's terms but 145 00:11:14,480 --> 00:11:18,240 Cain was so upset about that he murdered his brother. 146 00:11:18,240 --> 00:11:22,920 And then we touched on last week a little bit that after the flood a man named Nimrod 147 00:11:22,920 --> 00:11:28,280 the hunter led a rebellion against God again attempting to be spiritual or attempting to 148 00:11:28,280 --> 00:11:34,160 lead man in being spiritual on man's own terms instead of God's terms and that's what we've 149 00:11:34,160 --> 00:11:37,620 seen throughout history over and over again. 150 00:11:37,620 --> 00:11:46,100 Man has been deceived duped used by Satan to create false religion after false religion 151 00:11:46,100 --> 00:11:54,280 over and over and over in an attempt to satisfy what the Bible really teaches is man's innate 152 00:11:54,280 --> 00:12:04,240 desire to worship something somehow some way and Satan's desire to do everything he can 153 00:12:04,240 --> 00:12:07,600 to be worshiped instead of God. 154 00:12:07,600 --> 00:12:11,280 And then what I also believe is that Satan's desire is just to cause pain and hurt to God 155 00:12:11,280 --> 00:12:13,740 Almighty in any way he can. 156 00:12:13,740 --> 00:12:21,580 So from the beginning until now Satan has largely been temporarily satisfied with man 157 00:12:21,580 --> 00:12:25,080 worshiping anything but God. 158 00:12:25,080 --> 00:12:27,120 Right? 159 00:12:27,120 --> 00:12:36,220 Worship Allah worship Buddha worship Krishna worship one of the thousand gods of Hinduism 160 00:12:36,220 --> 00:12:42,280 worship anything but the one true God and Satan has been okay with that but in the end 161 00:12:42,280 --> 00:12:46,360 times we've been studying in Revelation that the time is going to come where Satan eventually 162 00:12:46,360 --> 00:12:52,760 is going to step out of the shadows and step into the spotlight and he's going to crush 163 00:12:52,760 --> 00:13:00,360 all of that through his puppet the Antichrist and then demand to be worshiped alone as God. 164 00:13:00,360 --> 00:13:04,280 Where he's going to step onto the scene and demand I am God worship me and he's going 165 00:13:04,280 --> 00:13:06,800 to do that through the Antichrist. 166 00:13:06,800 --> 00:13:14,880 But regardless this anything but God mentality this we don't need God in his ways mentality 167 00:13:14,880 --> 00:13:21,540 is going to be judged and ruined and dealt with finally once and for all. 168 00:13:21,540 --> 00:13:26,480 This is what we're seeing in Revelation chapter 17 and 18. 169 00:13:26,480 --> 00:13:32,440 Now again the first six verses of Revelation 17 John was allowed to see what is really 170 00:13:32,440 --> 00:13:42,360 a picture of the seductive alluring tempting character of false worship in all of its detestable 171 00:13:42,360 --> 00:13:46,080 and impure glory. 172 00:13:46,080 --> 00:13:51,560 And in verse six it told us that John was astonished by what he saw specifically he 173 00:13:51,560 --> 00:13:58,680 was astonished amazed at what false worship leads mankind to do in its brutal violent 174 00:13:58,680 --> 00:14:02,840 stand against the one true God and his people. 175 00:14:02,840 --> 00:14:09,960 And so we pick it up in verse seven of Revelation 17 then the angel said to me why are you astonished 176 00:14:09,960 --> 00:14:14,520 I will explain to you the mystery of the woman and of the beast with the seven heads and 177 00:14:14,520 --> 00:14:17,160 the ten horns that carries her. 178 00:14:17,160 --> 00:14:22,200 So this beast is referring to the beast that the woman is sitting on we read that earlier 179 00:14:22,200 --> 00:14:27,600 in Revelation 17 that this woman is sitting on a beast specifically verse three it said 180 00:14:27,600 --> 00:14:32,800 John says I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names 181 00:14:32,800 --> 00:14:38,400 and had seven heads and ten horns and so the beast here in verse seven where he says I'm 182 00:14:38,400 --> 00:14:42,200 going to explain to you the mystery of the woman and the beast it's that beast. 183 00:14:42,200 --> 00:14:47,400 Now this was also in reference to the beast that was introduced to us in chapter 13 of 184 00:14:47,400 --> 00:14:52,460 the book of Revelation because it's almost the exact same description we read there back 185 00:14:52,460 --> 00:15:00,080 in chapter 13 but the focus you might catch on to as we go through this the focus of the 186 00:15:00,080 --> 00:15:06,640 interpretation of this vision is still primarily on the beast even though we're talking about 187 00:15:06,640 --> 00:15:08,520 this notorious prostitute. 188 00:15:08,520 --> 00:15:13,560 So although this notorious prostitute is sitting on the beast it says and that word sitting 189 00:15:13,560 --> 00:15:21,040 is indicating some type of influence or control over the beast is still the dynamic factor 190 00:15:21,040 --> 00:15:25,360 in the whole story the beast is still the main actor if you will and so as we're going 191 00:15:25,360 --> 00:15:33,360 to see this beast which I believe represents both the Antichrist as an individual and it 192 00:15:33,360 --> 00:15:39,080 represents the one world government that he leads the system of government that he leads 193 00:15:39,080 --> 00:15:47,440 is ultimately using the notorious prostitute using this system of false worship as a mere 194 00:15:47,440 --> 00:15:53,920 tool to accomplish its own ends and its own means and really if we look down through history 195 00:15:53,920 --> 00:16:01,760 we've seen tyrants have always used religion as a means to gain their own influence and 196 00:16:01,760 --> 00:16:05,600 control tyrants have always used religion when it suits their aims and it's really 197 00:16:05,600 --> 00:16:08,920 no different here at the end of time. 198 00:16:08,920 --> 00:16:13,440 So much that this angel says here in this interpretation connects this beast to the 199 00:16:13,440 --> 00:16:17,640 beast of Revelation 13 we're going to deal specifically with the seven heads and the 200 00:16:17,640 --> 00:16:22,440 ten horns in a moment but we're going to move on to verse eight first it says the beast 201 00:16:22,440 --> 00:16:29,540 that you saw was and is not and is about to come up from the abyss and go to destruction 202 00:16:29,540 --> 00:16:33,240 those who live on the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from 203 00:16:33,240 --> 00:16:40,320 the foundation of the world will be astonished when they see the beast that was and is not 204 00:16:40,320 --> 00:16:42,200 and is to come. 205 00:16:42,200 --> 00:16:46,920 So twice there it gives us this weird phrase about the beast right the beast that was and 206 00:16:46,920 --> 00:16:51,080 is not and is about to come and specifically it opens up they're about to come up from 207 00:16:51,080 --> 00:16:52,940 the abyss and go to destruction. 208 00:16:52,940 --> 00:16:59,880 Now this is a call back to a very specific identifier of the antichrist that we learned 209 00:16:59,880 --> 00:17:05,540 in earlier chapters if you remember in Revelation chapter 13 it says that this beast came up 210 00:17:05,540 --> 00:17:10,360 from the sea and it had seven heads and ten horns and we read there that one of those 211 00:17:10,360 --> 00:17:18,520 heads was fatally wounded but then that fatal wound was healed some way and if you remember 212 00:17:18,520 --> 00:17:25,240 in chapter 13 that phrase fatal wound in the original language means a life terminating 213 00:17:25,240 --> 00:17:27,920 injury. 214 00:17:27,920 --> 00:17:33,000 So this antichrist and this government he leads but specifically they're talking about 215 00:17:33,000 --> 00:17:39,540 this one world leader contextually is going to experience some type of life terminating 216 00:17:39,540 --> 00:17:45,920 injury but in chapter 13 it says but that fatal wound was healed and the beast came 217 00:17:45,920 --> 00:17:48,280 back to life right. 218 00:17:48,280 --> 00:17:53,440 Now we talked a lot about that back then and I don't have time to go through it again but 219 00:17:53,440 --> 00:18:01,520 that moment is likely some type of miracle miraculous healing that is performed by Satan 220 00:18:01,520 --> 00:18:07,080 and possibly allowed by God and we see that in second Thessalonians chapter two where 221 00:18:07,080 --> 00:18:15,400 God allows Satan to perform certain signs and miracles and this resurrection this counterfeit 222 00:18:15,400 --> 00:18:20,080 resurrection of the antichrist is brought on really because of mankind's persistent 223 00:18:20,080 --> 00:18:25,560 desire to believe the lies that Satan is peddling and so just like God hardened Pharaoh's heart 224 00:18:25,560 --> 00:18:30,800 God allows the people who insist on believing the lie to see more of the lie and then thus 225 00:18:30,800 --> 00:18:36,160 be further led into that false belief but again it's not God forcing them or leading 226 00:18:36,160 --> 00:18:41,280 them into it it's their choice they want to believe the lie and so it tells us here that 227 00:18:41,280 --> 00:18:52,160 this beast it says he was alive then he is not because he died and then he comes again 228 00:18:52,160 --> 00:18:57,000 specifically now resurrected through some miraculous sign that that Satan performs and 229 00:18:57,000 --> 00:19:02,240 now fully empowered it directly by Satan and the result then in chapter 13 we read that 230 00:19:02,240 --> 00:19:11,040 the whole world would be astonished wowed he came back to life right people have been 231 00:19:11,040 --> 00:19:15,640 telling us Jesus came back to life for 2,000 years but I don't see no Jesus but right here 232 00:19:15,640 --> 00:19:22,580 in front of us is this worldwide charismatic leader and he died and he came back and they're 233 00:19:22,580 --> 00:19:27,240 just wowed by that and then it results in it tells us there of them following the beast 234 00:19:27,240 --> 00:19:32,040 and worshiping the dragon and worshiping the beast and we see that in Revelation 13 8 where 235 00:19:32,040 --> 00:19:37,720 it says all those who live on the earth will worship it and this is referring to the beast 236 00:19:37,720 --> 00:19:43,240 that was and is not and is to come and it says there in Revelation 13 8 everyone whose 237 00:19:43,240 --> 00:19:46,920 name was not written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the lamb 238 00:19:46,920 --> 00:19:53,320 who was slaughtered very similar language and I believe describing the same event the 239 00:19:53,320 --> 00:20:00,440 same moment as we're looking at here in Revelation 17 8 right so verse 9 of Revelation 17 it 240 00:20:00,440 --> 00:20:08,080 then says this calls for a mind that has wisdom this phrase is much like the parallel phrase 241 00:20:08,080 --> 00:20:12,680 we also read in Revelation 13 if you remember in that chapter as we were talking about the 242 00:20:12,680 --> 00:20:19,320 mark of the beast and John was describing to us what this mark of the beast is he describes 243 00:20:19,320 --> 00:20:24,360 it in somewhat cryptic language and it says they're a very similar thing that that let 244 00:20:24,360 --> 00:20:29,280 the mind that has wisdom understand what this means and there I mentioned that the idea 245 00:20:29,280 --> 00:20:34,880 of having wisdom then really I think and I believe is pointing to the idea of that that 246 00:20:34,880 --> 00:20:40,480 the people living during the time of tribulation are going to understand what the mark of the 247 00:20:40,480 --> 00:20:46,200 beast is we can speculate we could go it's a tattoo it's a subdermal this it's a it's 248 00:20:46,200 --> 00:20:51,440 a chip you know we could speculate but we don't know for sure but the people living 249 00:20:51,440 --> 00:20:55,160 during that time it's going to be clear as day to them they're going to understand what 250 00:20:55,160 --> 00:20:58,840 that mark is they're going to understand how to determine it and so when it's talking about 251 00:20:58,840 --> 00:21:03,400 here that this beast that was and is not and how how people are going to be astonished 252 00:21:03,400 --> 00:21:09,560 by that right because John was astonished and the angel said why are you astonished 253 00:21:09,560 --> 00:21:13,000 this beast is going to die and come back to life and people are going to be wowed by the 254 00:21:13,000 --> 00:21:19,960 miracle and so likely during this time the reason people are going to be astonished and 255 00:21:19,960 --> 00:21:23,720 the reason some people are not going to be astonished because some are going to believe 256 00:21:23,720 --> 00:21:28,280 in Jesus during this time and others are going to persist persist in believing the lie and 257 00:21:28,280 --> 00:21:33,760 so therefore the mind that has wisdom is the one that's going to be able to go wait a second 258 00:21:33,760 --> 00:21:40,040 this is not true this is false this is counterfeit so moving on in verse 9 the angel says the 259 00:21:40,040 --> 00:21:50,200 seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated they are also seven kings 260 00:21:50,200 --> 00:21:56,200 well thanks for clearing that up angel right the seven heads are seven mountains and they're 261 00:21:56,200 --> 00:22:02,160 also kings so so what does he mean here and specifically you'll notice the seven heads 262 00:22:02,160 --> 00:22:06,520 are seven mountains on which the woman is seated and it's referring to that notorious 263 00:22:06,520 --> 00:22:13,920 prostitute from earlier in the chapter so it's both the seven heads symbolize or a representative 264 00:22:13,920 --> 00:22:18,440 of both seven mountains that the woman is sitting on and seven kings now when it comes 265 00:22:18,440 --> 00:22:22,760 to seven mountains there are some people who read this section and they are very quick 266 00:22:22,760 --> 00:22:28,760 to associate this beast and the seven heads and therefore its influence and we're talking 267 00:22:28,760 --> 00:22:33,720 about one world religion they're very quick to associate it to Rome because the city of 268 00:22:33,720 --> 00:22:40,240 Rome was historically called the city of seven hills right and so some get really excited 269 00:22:40,240 --> 00:22:45,800 and they say you know there's a clear connection because Rome represented the excess of political 270 00:22:45,800 --> 00:22:51,260 corruption and political power and false worship and persecution of believers right you go 271 00:22:51,260 --> 00:22:57,640 back in history and Rome as a city and then as a city representing the empire reflected 272 00:22:57,640 --> 00:23:03,560 all of that represented all of that and then so then many go on to make a connection between 273 00:23:03,560 --> 00:23:09,720 Babylonian paganism and Roman Catholicism because in Roman Catholicism there's a worship 274 00:23:09,720 --> 00:23:16,160 of Mary and and so some people go ah the Catholic Church is going to be the head of the one 275 00:23:16,160 --> 00:23:23,160 world religion at the end of all things specifically back in the late 90s people got all excited 276 00:23:23,160 --> 00:23:30,180 because Pope John Paul II had a lot of tendencies towards unified ecumenical interreligious 277 00:23:30,180 --> 00:23:36,040 cooperation and people are like oh he's going to lead the one world religion and then on 278 00:23:36,040 --> 00:23:39,740 top of that when you look at the prophecies in the book of Daniel about this government 279 00:23:39,740 --> 00:23:45,200 during the end times a lot of people refer to it as the revived Roman Empire because 280 00:23:45,200 --> 00:23:49,760 of the vision in Daniel chapter 2 with the statue and the feet and we're going to get 281 00:23:49,760 --> 00:23:57,500 to that in a little bit and then on top of that Rome was the last world empire world 282 00:23:57,500 --> 00:24:05,340 controlling empire that led with a philosophy of we have a God for everybody but not Jesus 283 00:24:05,340 --> 00:24:11,320 now there's a couple objections to that one Rome was built on hills not mountains and 284 00:24:11,320 --> 00:24:15,200 the word here when it says the seven heads or seven mountains in the original language 285 00:24:15,200 --> 00:24:21,400 is a word that very specifically means mountain not hill okay and then on top of that Pope 286 00:24:21,400 --> 00:24:27,560 John Paul II passed in 2005 so he's not the head of one world anything at this point and 287 00:24:27,560 --> 00:24:33,680 the woman represents the one world religion not the beast so those are a few objections 288 00:24:33,680 --> 00:24:39,640 to that interpretation but then on top of that in Daniel chapter 2 verse 35 when we 289 00:24:39,640 --> 00:24:44,520 have this vision of the statue it tells us that at the end of the vision a stone flies 290 00:24:44,520 --> 00:24:49,640 from heaven strikes the foot of the statue destroys it all and then that stone becomes 291 00:24:49,640 --> 00:24:55,160 a mountain very specific Hebrew word mountain and we know that in that vision it tells us 292 00:24:55,160 --> 00:25:00,840 that mountain represents a kingdom it represents specifically the kingdom of God that is to 293 00:25:00,840 --> 00:25:07,280 come after the end of things at tribulation so the word mountain can biblically represent 294 00:25:07,280 --> 00:25:13,560 kingdoms in governments in general and so since the seven heads both represent mountains 295 00:25:13,560 --> 00:25:19,480 and kings right the seven heads it's better to see them as representing kingdoms and the 296 00:25:19,480 --> 00:25:25,000 seven leaders that lead those kingdoms okay so the woman is seen however sitting on all 297 00:25:25,000 --> 00:25:29,920 seven of these kingdoms what is that a picture of well since we know the woman is representative 298 00:25:29,920 --> 00:25:36,000 of this false religion that has its roots back in Babylonian false worship and stuff 299 00:25:36,000 --> 00:25:41,240 the idea is that this woman has had influence the influence of false worship has permeated 300 00:25:41,240 --> 00:25:47,600 every single major world influencing kingdom throughout history and will do so again during 301 00:25:47,600 --> 00:25:54,820 the tribulation period so verse 10 he says five have fallen one is and the other has 302 00:25:54,820 --> 00:26:00,680 not yet come this further reinforce reinforces the interpretation of the mountains being 303 00:26:00,680 --> 00:26:05,240 kingdoms and the seven kings being leaders of those kingdoms because what we read here 304 00:26:05,240 --> 00:26:12,400 is a description of history five have fallen one is and one is yet to come so remember 305 00:26:12,400 --> 00:26:18,840 John is receiving this vision at the end of the first century during that time the world 306 00:26:18,840 --> 00:26:26,800 controlling empire was the Roman Empire led by the Emperor and so prior to John's day 307 00:26:26,800 --> 00:26:33,980 prior to the influence of the Roman Empire there had been a five major worldwide empires 308 00:26:33,980 --> 00:26:41,400 historically that that effectively controlled the known world of their time okay those five 309 00:26:41,400 --> 00:26:46,760 empires started with the Egyptian dynasties and then you had the Assyrian Empire then 310 00:26:46,760 --> 00:26:53,480 the Babylonian Empire then the Medo-Persian Empire then the Greek Empire five and these 311 00:26:53,480 --> 00:26:58,740 five kingdoms and the leaders of those five kingdoms by John's time receiving this vision 312 00:26:58,740 --> 00:27:07,360 had already fallen then he says one is the sixth of course one is the then living Roman 313 00:27:07,360 --> 00:27:15,320 Empire Emperor leading the Roman Empire that empire is so five had fallen one is and again 314 00:27:15,320 --> 00:27:22,000 that empire had had huge control John had been exiled to Patmos by the Roman government 315 00:27:22,000 --> 00:27:29,120 but then he says the other has not yet come this is the seventh king the seventh kingdom 316 00:27:29,120 --> 00:27:34,680 or mountain and in John's time this seventh kingdom had not yet come Rome was the one 317 00:27:34,680 --> 00:27:40,880 that is but the seventh had not yet come and it hasn't come in our day either because if 318 00:27:40,880 --> 00:27:49,900 we look through history since the Roman Empire there has not been one single world controlling 319 00:27:49,900 --> 00:27:56,920 an empire like Egypt or Syria or Babylon or there hasn't been after the Roman Empire fell 320 00:27:56,920 --> 00:28:04,000 the whole world started dividing up into localized governments there hasn't been an empire like 321 00:28:04,000 --> 00:28:10,680 these previous ones since but Daniel speaks of the seventh kingdom and the seventh king 322 00:28:10,680 --> 00:28:15,260 and we get the idea that this is called the revived Roman Empire led by the beast led 323 00:28:15,260 --> 00:28:21,600 by the Antichrist during the tribulation period just as a quick recap this comes from Daniel 324 00:28:21,600 --> 00:28:27,680 chapter 2 if you remember in Daniel chapter 2 Daniel was in Babylon with his people they 325 00:28:27,680 --> 00:28:32,500 were captives there the king of Babylon at the time was a man named Nebuchadnezzar and 326 00:28:32,500 --> 00:28:38,960 he had a dream a really strange dream and in this dream it was a statue that had a head 327 00:28:38,960 --> 00:28:45,020 of gold and it had a chest and arms of silver its abdomen and its thighs were bronze its 328 00:28:45,020 --> 00:28:52,600 legs were iron and its feet were made of iron and clay and in that dream he saw that this 329 00:28:52,600 --> 00:28:56,880 stone came out of heaven and it struck the feet it struck the base of that statue and 330 00:28:56,880 --> 00:29:01,320 the whole thing just collapsed and then that stone became a mountain as we talked about 331 00:29:01,320 --> 00:29:08,320 representing a kingdom that comes after all of this so Nebuchadnezzar called Daniel after 332 00:29:08,320 --> 00:29:11,800 all his guys failed miserably to interpret the dream and said Daniel can you tell me 333 00:29:11,800 --> 00:29:18,120 what this dream means and Daniel is like yeah bro he didn't say bro but that's modern language 334 00:29:18,120 --> 00:29:25,860 he said I'll tell you what you saw what you saw was the kingdoms of the earth in succession 335 00:29:25,860 --> 00:29:32,960 from the present time all the way through the end of time and so you Nebuchadnezzar 336 00:29:32,960 --> 00:29:39,320 you're the king of Babylon the head of gold but after Babylon falls another empire will 337 00:29:39,320 --> 00:29:46,240 rise led by another king and then that was the chest of silver and so on and so forth 338 00:29:46,240 --> 00:29:50,600 but all of that will go in succession until we get to these legs of iron which represented 339 00:29:50,600 --> 00:29:56,400 historically the Roman Empire the empire that was as John is receiving this vision and then 340 00:29:56,400 --> 00:30:02,300 after that empire falls subsequent to that will be an empire of iron and clay with ten 341 00:30:02,300 --> 00:30:12,960 toes right now in Daniel's vision that empire that comes after the legs of iron after the 342 00:30:12,960 --> 00:30:18,680 iron strength of the Roman Empire that seventh kingdom is going to be a mix of iron and clay 343 00:30:18,680 --> 00:30:24,640 so it's going to be Roman like it's going to be Romanesque but different and that's 344 00:30:24,640 --> 00:30:30,600 why people refer to it as a revived Roman Empire but the ten toes in that particular 345 00:30:30,600 --> 00:30:36,800 vision we learn elsewhere in Daniel represent ten smaller kingdoms and governments that 346 00:30:36,800 --> 00:30:41,880 will work together in like a coalition if you will during the end times to form one 347 00:30:41,880 --> 00:30:48,320 larger worldwide government but made up of these ten individual kingdoms and that larger 348 00:30:48,320 --> 00:30:53,480 government will control the world of its time something we haven't yet seen since the fall 349 00:30:53,480 --> 00:30:58,400 of Rome to our present day so it's still yet future but then as we see in that vision in 350 00:30:58,400 --> 00:31:04,080 Daniel 2 the whole thing is ultimately destroyed by this stone that comes from heaven and then 351 00:31:04,080 --> 00:31:09,640 becomes a mountain representing God's kingdom now you might go wait a second that's only 352 00:31:09,640 --> 00:31:16,120 five kingdoms in the statue there's seven heads on the beast how do we reconcile that 353 00:31:16,120 --> 00:31:22,120 well remember Daniel's vision was from his present time the Babylonian kingdom through 354 00:31:22,120 --> 00:31:28,020 the end of time behind him the Assyrian Empire had already happened number six and the Egyptian 355 00:31:28,020 --> 00:31:33,040 Empire had already come and gone number seven so the conclusion of Daniel's vision here 356 00:31:33,040 --> 00:31:37,520 is although the first Roman Empire fell it's going to resume in some way in the future 357 00:31:37,520 --> 00:31:45,440 as a seventh kingdom you guys tracking with me here awesome all right verse 10 then it 358 00:31:45,440 --> 00:31:53,200 says when he comes remember mountains and kings represent kingdoms and leaders he must 359 00:31:53,200 --> 00:31:57,960 remain for only a little while so now we're looking at the king of the seventh kingdom 360 00:31:57,960 --> 00:32:04,480 representing the whole government he leads and so when he comes is referring to the Antichrist 361 00:32:04,480 --> 00:32:10,920 the seventh king the beast and the seventh empire the seventh government or the seventh 362 00:32:10,920 --> 00:32:16,640 mountain that he leads that the woman then sits on and has influence over because remember 363 00:32:16,640 --> 00:32:23,200 it said the woman is sitting on the seven heads or the seven mountains now look in verse 364 00:32:23,200 --> 00:32:28,800 11 that's going to be clarified in verse 12 we'll get there so the beast that was and 365 00:32:28,800 --> 00:32:36,800 is not is itself an eighth king but it belongs to the seven and is going to destruction you 366 00:32:36,800 --> 00:32:44,400 can understand why people get a headache trying to study revelation okay the Antichrist as 367 00:32:44,400 --> 00:32:53,320 the seventh king over the seventh kingdom has reign over that government so it's a coalition 368 00:32:53,320 --> 00:32:58,240 of coal coalition of ten governments but the Antichrist is leading it if you will he's 369 00:32:58,240 --> 00:33:04,080 kind of the the CEO of it and he has reign over that for the first three and a half years 370 00:33:04,080 --> 00:33:09,720 of tribulation he has rulership over that seventh kingdom but then it says the seventh 371 00:33:09,720 --> 00:33:15,200 is itself an eighth king but it belongs to the seven a very strange phrase okay so let 372 00:33:15,200 --> 00:33:22,760 me try and break this down for you the Antichrist is one of the seven kings leading one of the 373 00:33:22,760 --> 00:33:28,000 seven kingdoms okay so in the beginning of the tribulation period right around there 374 00:33:28,000 --> 00:33:35,760 there's this ten governments this ten region this ten nation governmental entity that that 375 00:33:35,760 --> 00:33:40,240 forms together and then this one man kind of rises to the top to lead the whole thing 376 00:33:40,240 --> 00:33:46,360 but it's still led almost in a like we're all peers yeah he's the CEO but we all work 377 00:33:46,360 --> 00:33:50,720 together right and it's this government that then brings alleged peace to the world and 378 00:33:50,720 --> 00:34:00,640 that's the whole ten toes of Daniel and all this stuff but the beast that was and is not 379 00:34:00,640 --> 00:34:04,880 meaning the beast that will suffer a fatal wound at the midpoint of the tribulation period 380 00:34:04,880 --> 00:34:11,640 the beast who was and is not and will come again right he will die and he will be resurrected 381 00:34:11,640 --> 00:34:19,560 somehow and when he dies as the seventh king his seventh kingdom his allegedly peaceful 382 00:34:19,560 --> 00:34:25,640 government the government that he leads that one world government will effectively cease 383 00:34:25,640 --> 00:34:31,520 but not like the previous governments or the previous entities instead that seventh kingdom 384 00:34:31,520 --> 00:34:39,000 and the seventh king will change it'll come back it'll resurge into something radically 385 00:34:39,000 --> 00:34:45,160 different something far more malevolent something far more outwardly evil and wicked as we've 386 00:34:45,160 --> 00:34:51,200 seen in our previous studies of revelation because at that midpoint as the Antichrist 387 00:34:51,200 --> 00:34:57,160 is killed and then this miracle brings him back to life everybody goes wow he's God not 388 00:34:57,160 --> 00:35:07,120 Buddha he's God not Allah he's God not fill in the blank and then he goes yes I am and 389 00:35:07,120 --> 00:35:13,720 I demand you worship me and as we're gonna see in subsequent verses here then these ten 390 00:35:13,720 --> 00:35:19,520 nations that are part of this one world government they give all their power to him they step 391 00:35:19,520 --> 00:35:24,680 aside they say you're in complete absolute control bro and that's when all hell literally 392 00:35:24,680 --> 00:35:32,080 breaks loose so the seventh king the beast the Antichrist will itself become an eighth 393 00:35:32,080 --> 00:35:37,160 king so he's the seventh king during the first three and a half years he dies he's resurrected 394 00:35:37,160 --> 00:35:41,840 he then becomes effectively an eighth king during the last three and a half years of 395 00:35:41,840 --> 00:35:46,280 tribulation but it's during that last three and a half years where he becomes an absolute 396 00:35:46,280 --> 00:35:51,920 tyrant empowered directly by Satan himself during what is known as the great tribulation 397 00:35:51,920 --> 00:35:56,400 period and that's as I said when things get bad that's when the mark of beast comes on 398 00:35:56,400 --> 00:36:00,000 the scene that's when the image of the beast is created that's where you say you worship 399 00:36:00,000 --> 00:36:04,560 the image or you will be killed that's when the persecution against the Jewish people 400 00:36:04,560 --> 00:36:10,920 and all who would believe in Jesus Christ gets really out of control and really bad 401 00:36:10,920 --> 00:36:17,440 verse 12 the ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom but they 402 00:36:17,440 --> 00:36:23,160 will receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour so here we get to the interpretation 403 00:36:23,160 --> 00:36:28,040 of the ten horns they are ten kings in line with Daniel's prophecies the ten toes and 404 00:36:28,040 --> 00:36:34,800 other places in Daniel but they don't exist during John's time they have not yet received 405 00:36:34,800 --> 00:36:38,720 a kingdom they don't exist during John's time while he was receiving this vision but they 406 00:36:38,720 --> 00:36:43,840 will exist during the tribulation period and then it says they will receive authority as 407 00:36:43,840 --> 00:36:49,640 kings with the beast this is this coalition right for one hour now people go what does 408 00:36:49,640 --> 00:36:56,440 one hour mean well it means a very short period of time in the original language okay it's 409 00:36:56,440 --> 00:37:01,560 not necessarily saying 60 minutes some do interpret it that way but when I looked up 410 00:37:01,560 --> 00:37:06,160 the original word in the Greek it's simply a word that refers to a very short period 411 00:37:06,160 --> 00:37:13,800 of time we've all done that right I'll call you back in five minutes do we mean five minutes 412 00:37:13,800 --> 00:37:21,080 or do we mean I'm gonna call you back pretty shortly right so we get the idea there verse 413 00:37:21,080 --> 00:37:26,280 13 speaking of these ten horns and these ten kings these have one purpose and they will 414 00:37:26,280 --> 00:37:31,400 give their power and authority to the beast so the purpose of these ten nations that are 415 00:37:31,400 --> 00:37:35,440 part of this coalition is ultimately not to rule as equals with the Antichrist which is 416 00:37:35,440 --> 00:37:39,640 how it works during the first three and a half years of tribulation but ultimately their 417 00:37:39,640 --> 00:37:43,640 purpose is to throw all of their authority and all their power all their rulership everything 418 00:37:43,640 --> 00:37:47,800 they have as leaders of these these nations or areas or however you want to look at that 419 00:37:47,800 --> 00:37:53,320 they throw it all behind the beast that word power means controlling influence means strength 420 00:37:53,320 --> 00:38:00,200 it means force and then authority means their domain or sphere of influence so the idea 421 00:38:00,200 --> 00:38:03,800 is that they have certain areas of the earth that they're leading and they're in control 422 00:38:03,800 --> 00:38:08,120 over and yeah they assent to the Antichrist is kind of the CEO over everything but they 423 00:38:08,120 --> 00:38:12,640 have authority well they give all that up at the midpoint they give it all to the beast 424 00:38:12,640 --> 00:38:16,400 so everything that they have governance and control over is given and yielded handed over 425 00:38:16,400 --> 00:38:24,600 to the beast who then will exercise sole complete dominance globally and that is exactly what 426 00:38:24,600 --> 00:38:28,920 we see after the midpoint of tribulation and we've looked at in previous studies where 427 00:38:28,920 --> 00:38:34,840 we get the enforced worship of the beast where we get the enforced worship with death as 428 00:38:34,840 --> 00:38:40,280 a penalty where the mark comes onto the scene that's saying I have allegiance to the beast 429 00:38:40,280 --> 00:38:45,560 and you can't buy and sell without it and you can't work without it and it gets real 430 00:38:45,560 --> 00:38:54,600 real bad and this is all what ramps up to a very full overt intentional public effect 431 00:38:54,600 --> 00:39:02,440 and this effect is simply the outward overt public persecution of the Jews and all believers 432 00:39:02,440 --> 00:39:08,000 in Jesus Christ look at verse 14 these speaking of the ten nations and the beast will make 433 00:39:08,000 --> 00:39:12,080 war against the lamb but the lamb will conquer them because he is Lord of lords and King 434 00:39:12,080 --> 00:39:17,800 of kings those with him are called chosen and faithful so what we've been looking at 435 00:39:17,800 --> 00:39:22,000 is kind of like a rapid overview of the progression of history all the way through the end time 436 00:39:22,000 --> 00:39:27,300 scenario right through all the persecution all the oppression all the way up to the outright 437 00:39:27,300 --> 00:39:33,200 slaughter of those who believe in Jesus bringing us all the way up to the battle of Armageddon 438 00:39:33,200 --> 00:39:37,320 ultimately to the return of Jesus Christ who returns with his people and the defeat of 439 00:39:37,320 --> 00:39:43,920 the Antichrist who is the final earthly King representing Satan himself ultimately defeated 440 00:39:43,920 --> 00:39:50,680 by the Lord of lords and the King of kings now before we move on you might say well what 441 00:39:50,680 --> 00:39:54,960 about the notorious prostitute right so I thought this chapter was about right we've 442 00:39:54,960 --> 00:39:58,960 been talking about the beast what about this one world religious system that is initially 443 00:39:58,960 --> 00:40:03,840 propped up and supported right we see her sitting on the beast that means it's supporting 444 00:40:03,840 --> 00:40:08,600 her it's propping her up what about this one world religious system that is that is supported 445 00:40:08,600 --> 00:40:12,560 and endorsed by the Antichrist and what about the one world government and all that how 446 00:40:12,560 --> 00:40:19,380 does that all what happens to her well look at verse 15 he also said to me the waters 447 00:40:19,380 --> 00:40:24,440 you saw where the prostitute was seated are people's multitudes nations and languages 448 00:40:24,440 --> 00:40:30,760 and that's basically speaking about the influence she has over the world the ten horns you saw 449 00:40:30,760 --> 00:40:37,520 on the beast will hate the prostitute they will hate the effect religion has on people 450 00:40:37,520 --> 00:40:41,240 they will hate the fact that it's like oh everybody you can you can worship however 451 00:40:41,240 --> 00:40:46,400 you want we all get along in a big spiritual hug they're gonna hate that and they will 452 00:40:46,400 --> 00:40:51,720 make her desolate and naked devour her flesh and burn her up with fire for God has put 453 00:40:51,720 --> 00:40:55,800 it into their hearts to carry out this plan by having one purpose and to give their kingdom 454 00:40:55,800 --> 00:41:03,720 to the beast until the words of God are fulfilled so what we see is Babylon embodied as the 455 00:41:03,720 --> 00:41:09,920 religious system of the end times will have significant influence over the people of the 456 00:41:09,920 --> 00:41:16,720 earth for a time remember we just saw her she's been seated and had that influence over 457 00:41:16,720 --> 00:41:21,240 all the major world affecting empires going all the way back through history right false 458 00:41:21,240 --> 00:41:28,600 worship pagan religion has had influence over all of the governments of history during the 459 00:41:28,600 --> 00:41:34,120 tribulation all the different religions that have sprung up over time will somehow be united 460 00:41:34,120 --> 00:41:39,880 I'm not sure but they will be united brought under one banner and the governing authorities 461 00:41:39,880 --> 00:41:46,720 of the earth at that time including the beast initially support her initially endorse it 462 00:41:46,720 --> 00:41:52,360 they support her efforts to bring peace amongst the warring religions right even the antichrist 463 00:41:52,360 --> 00:41:59,160 himself it tells us in Daniel that he ratifies a peace treaty with Israel he somehow manages 464 00:41:59,160 --> 00:42:07,520 to get the the Jews and the in the Arabs in Israel to to to be at peace to work together 465 00:42:07,520 --> 00:42:12,400 which allows the Jewish temple to be rebuilt on the mount right next to I believe the Dome 466 00:42:12,400 --> 00:42:18,720 of the Rock so it's like you guys can both worship here stop blowing each other up just 467 00:42:18,720 --> 00:42:23,140 get along right it all works out the antichrist is a part of that and what a wonderful picture 468 00:42:23,140 --> 00:42:28,560 of what mankind wants religion to be right can't we all just get along we can all come 469 00:42:28,560 --> 00:42:34,960 to God our own way and we're gonna see that during the end times but incidentally this 470 00:42:34,960 --> 00:42:40,160 method of taking control isn't new if you study histories you see regimes come into 471 00:42:40,160 --> 00:42:46,520 an area what they'll commonly do is make friends with all the religious leaders they'll 472 00:42:46,520 --> 00:42:50,320 endorse the religious leaders they'll even raise up those religious leaders into positions 473 00:42:50,320 --> 00:42:55,440 of authority until those religions become so entrenched into the culture and then the 474 00:42:55,440 --> 00:43:00,440 government starts restricting the religious freedoms of those religious groups it happened 475 00:43:00,440 --> 00:43:07,320 with Hitler it happened in the Soviet block it's gonna happen through the end but then 476 00:43:07,320 --> 00:43:13,000 this wonderful peacemaking inclusive tolerant leader the antichrist will be killed somehow 477 00:43:13,000 --> 00:43:17,800 miraculously come back to life and astonishing the world and the world will then be forced 478 00:43:17,800 --> 00:43:23,680 to abandon all of their individual iterations of faith because it'll be no you must worship 479 00:43:23,680 --> 00:43:29,480 the beast and nothing else many will do so easily and I see that because you'll notice 480 00:43:29,480 --> 00:43:35,900 the woman sits on the seven mountains but not the eighth she sat on the seven mountains 481 00:43:35,900 --> 00:43:41,080 not the eighth this one world religion has no place in the final three and a half years 482 00:43:41,080 --> 00:43:49,080 of tribulation because it's worship of Satan and Satan alone so the government's hated 483 00:43:49,080 --> 00:43:52,920 her it says you know we look at all this stuff that's happening and we go what happens to 484 00:43:52,920 --> 00:43:57,920 the notorious prostitute what happens to religious Babylon what happens to this one world religious 485 00:43:57,920 --> 00:44:02,440 system during the end times well the government's hated her all along and so at the end point 486 00:44:02,440 --> 00:44:07,040 at the midpoint as the antichrist is killed and comes back to life and commits the abomination 487 00:44:07,040 --> 00:44:11,280 of desolation in the Jewish temple it says all those ten kings will give all their power 488 00:44:11,280 --> 00:44:18,840 and authority to the antichrist to the beast and thus they will all war against all the 489 00:44:18,840 --> 00:44:22,760 religions they will make her desolate and naked devour her flesh and burn her up with 490 00:44:22,760 --> 00:44:28,680 fire and thus we see that the false religious system of the world will be struck down it'll 491 00:44:28,680 --> 00:44:34,960 be destroyed and replaced with a worldwide enforced worship of the beast now it tells 492 00:44:34,960 --> 00:44:40,080 us there that this all happens according to God's will it all happens to God according 493 00:44:40,080 --> 00:44:45,360 to God's purposes it's been predicted by God's prophets right we've been studying a lot of 494 00:44:45,360 --> 00:44:50,960 that through the Old Testament and what does that tell us is that false religions all of 495 00:44:50,960 --> 00:44:56,480 them false worship it's all going to be judged by God himself at the end times as he lets 496 00:44:56,480 --> 00:45:04,880 the beast and this woman fight and lets the beast devour her destroy her it says every 497 00:45:04,880 --> 00:45:11,760 false religion every man centric antichrist philosophy every humanistic effort to connect 498 00:45:11,760 --> 00:45:17,360 to the divine without submitting without yielding to the one true creator of the universe Jesus 499 00:45:17,360 --> 00:45:26,120 Christ every single one are ultimately precursors for and point to worship of the one who hates 500 00:45:26,120 --> 00:45:33,120 God with everything he is they all point to worship of Satan they all point to him who 501 00:45:33,120 --> 00:45:37,940 is the ultimate expression of the worship of self in the place of the worship of God 502 00:45:37,940 --> 00:45:43,640 Almighty and so it ends here on verse 18 and the woman you saw is the great city that has 503 00:45:43,640 --> 00:45:51,720 royal power over the kings of the earth you go is she a noratars prostitute is she a city 504 00:45:51,720 --> 00:45:57,200 right all these pictures and images they kind of weave in and out of each other and back 505 00:45:57,200 --> 00:46:03,960 and forth but in John's day there was no doubt which city on the earth had royal power of 506 00:46:03,960 --> 00:46:08,600 the kings of the earth it was Rome right Rome was the political power the economic religious 507 00:46:08,600 --> 00:46:13,640 center of the world at that time and so when you see this phrase royal power it simply 508 00:46:13,640 --> 00:46:20,400 means great power great influence or great control but as we've talked about Babylon 509 00:46:20,400 --> 00:46:25,360 the concept of Babylon refers to many things it refers to an actual city it refers to an 510 00:46:25,360 --> 00:46:31,480 actual empire in the past it refers to an ideology and an attitude it refers to everything 511 00:46:31,480 --> 00:46:37,680 that is against God and as a concept and an ideology in a world-spanning system of thinking 512 00:46:37,680 --> 00:46:44,920 and belief Babylon this woman has always been the great city that had royal power over the 513 00:46:44,920 --> 00:46:50,720 kings of the earth because we saw it in Egypt we saw it in Assyria we saw it in Babylon 514 00:46:50,720 --> 00:46:54,760 we saw it in the Medo-Persian Empire we saw it in the Greek Empire we saw it in the Roman 515 00:46:54,760 --> 00:47:04,480 Empire the question for us today is does it have royal power over you that's the question 516 00:47:04,480 --> 00:47:09,460 am I a citizen of the world or am I a citizen of heaven do I live like it do I behave like 517 00:47:09,460 --> 00:47:16,880 it you know Rome may have been the personification of Babylon in its time the personification 518 00:47:16,880 --> 00:47:21,640 of a world system and rebellion against God in John's day but today idolatry is just as 519 00:47:21,640 --> 00:47:30,680 strong it's a little bit more dispersed it's a little bit more subtle right we don't necessarily 520 00:47:30,680 --> 00:47:35,160 have a society where we have temples in every city to the multiple multiple different gods 521 00:47:35,160 --> 00:47:41,520 and in in in idolatry today it's closed in secular terms it's not necessarily enshrined 522 00:47:41,520 --> 00:47:48,960 in statues or temples per se but you don't have to drive very far through any city to 523 00:47:48,960 --> 00:47:57,520 see the many places of worship that worship gods that aren't Jesus Christ and then we 524 00:47:57,520 --> 00:48:02,480 see that idolatry is clothed also in money and power and reputation and personal feelings 525 00:48:02,480 --> 00:48:07,840 and priorities and self and the attitude the attitudes that stand against God some might 526 00:48:07,840 --> 00:48:16,600 say the Babylon of today goes by a much different name it's called woke ism my feelings my needs 527 00:48:16,600 --> 00:48:21,720 priority above God I don't care what God says I will live how I want I don't care what God 528 00:48:21,720 --> 00:48:27,480 commands me to do I'll go to a church that allows me to live however I want to so I could 529 00:48:27,480 --> 00:48:36,440 say I'm a Christian but live in disobedience to the Almighty Jesus is the only way the 530 00:48:36,440 --> 00:48:44,720 only truth the only life nobody comes to the father but through him and he is the only 531 00:48:44,720 --> 00:48:50,400 thing that sets us free from the disease of self so today we're gonna celebrate with some 532 00:48:50,400 --> 00:48:56,400 members of our Christian family that are professing that they have been set free and saved by 533 00:48:56,400 --> 00:49:01,240 Jesus Christ that they're making a public declaration that they've been redeemed from 534 00:49:01,240 --> 00:49:06,480 the sin of self and what they're doing is making a public profession of the truth that 535 00:49:06,480 --> 00:49:11,360 Jesus Christ has changed their life and they're doing that through the act of baptism here 536 00:49:11,360 --> 00:49:21,200 and so real quick baptism is a public profession of faith here at Hosanna we baptize kids as 537 00:49:21,200 --> 00:49:27,440 long as those minors those children can express an understanding of salvation and why they're 538 00:49:27,440 --> 00:49:33,640 getting baptized you know we do baby dedications we don't baptize babies but we do dedications 539 00:49:33,640 --> 00:49:38,480 as parents want to dedicate them to God and so we have some minors getting baptized today 540 00:49:38,480 --> 00:49:44,600 and we'll do that as long as they can acknowledge this is why I'm getting baptized I understand 541 00:49:44,600 --> 00:49:49,800 who Jesus is I understand that I put my faith in him and then of course adults right we're 542 00:49:49,800 --> 00:49:53,560 gonna ask you the same thing but the idea is that there's this public profession of 543 00:49:53,560 --> 00:49:57,680 what God has already done in your heart so this is how it's gonna work today for those 544 00:49:57,680 --> 00:50:01,600 of you getting baptized today okay those of you that signed up and if you didn't sign 545 00:50:01,600 --> 00:50:05,960 up we got stuff for you too but in a moment I'm gonna ask you to come forward okay I'm 546 00:50:05,960 --> 00:50:08,560 gonna ask you to get up out of your seats and come forward and you're gonna come down 547 00:50:08,560 --> 00:50:13,360 the aisle and you're gonna go out the side of the sanctuary right here up the stairs 548 00:50:13,360 --> 00:50:17,640 to the back where you can get changed for the baptism okay if you bought brought clothes 549 00:50:17,640 --> 00:50:23,280 to change into we have changing booths back there for privacy as well as cubbies to hold 550 00:50:23,280 --> 00:50:27,700 your personal items and we have staff back there that is watching everything so nothing 551 00:50:27,700 --> 00:50:33,280 gets stolen but when you're changed I want you to come back out front and line up against 552 00:50:33,280 --> 00:50:38,080 the wall right this white wall right here just line up right there for your baptism 553 00:50:38,080 --> 00:50:44,080 now myself I'm gonna go get changed as well me and pastor Rick will be inside the baptismal 554 00:50:44,080 --> 00:50:48,400 and we will call you into the baptismal one at a time we will have one of our elders on 555 00:50:48,400 --> 00:50:52,800 the outside here to make sure you get over the stairs and stuff okay and then we will 556 00:50:52,800 --> 00:50:57,880 baptize you after you are baptized you'll just exit the baptismal we'll hand you a towel 557 00:50:57,880 --> 00:51:02,160 so you can dry off and wrap yourself with and then just proceed to the back into the 558 00:51:02,160 --> 00:51:06,200 changing booth where you can change back into your clothes and then come back outside and 559 00:51:06,200 --> 00:51:11,240 continue to worship with us as we're completing the baptisms now during the entire baptism 560 00:51:11,240 --> 00:51:15,680 team our worship team will be on stage leading us here in worship and so I encourage all 561 00:51:15,680 --> 00:51:21,600 of you just praise God as we celebrate the profession of faith that our brothers and 562 00:51:21,600 --> 00:51:26,920 sisters are making now as I said if you didn't sign up for the baptism today but God has 563 00:51:26,920 --> 00:51:33,080 put it on your heart I'm saved and I've never made that public profession of faith come 564 00:51:33,080 --> 00:51:37,160 forward to get baptized we have shorts you can change into we have shirts you can change 565 00:51:37,160 --> 00:51:41,680 into we have towels for you we got you covered now for friends and family of those getting 566 00:51:41,680 --> 00:51:46,240 baptized we encourage you to come up to the front if you want to take pictures or take 567 00:51:46,240 --> 00:51:51,240 video of any of this we are live streaming this because we do have family and friends 568 00:51:51,240 --> 00:51:55,000 that aren't here that want to watch their loved ones get baptized so if you're like 569 00:51:55,000 --> 00:52:00,060 kind of like in the middle of the building here please stay seated okay or come up here 570 00:52:00,060 --> 00:52:02,800 if you want to stand up and worship all right but we're just asking you not to block the 571 00:52:02,800 --> 00:52:07,840 camera so family and friends could see and witness their loved ones getting baptized 572 00:52:07,840 --> 00:52:12,640 and then after everybody getting baptized is baptized our worship leaders will close 573 00:52:12,640 --> 00:52:17,640 out the service for prayer and then we'll have a final song of worship and so I am very 574 00:52:17,640 --> 00:52:23,440 blessed to do this with you guys to be a part of this and so right now if you signed up 575 00:52:23,440 --> 00:52:30,320 to get baptized if you didn't sign up to get baptized please stand up please stand up and 576 00:52:30,320 --> 00:52:37,240 come on forward see our worship team is going ahead of you just in case you're nervous so 577 00:52:37,240 --> 00:52:40,260 come forward with your stuff if you're getting baptized you're going to follow them out the 578 00:52:40,260 --> 00:52:44,280 side and go into the changing booths and we will be ready back there to help you get ready 579 00:52:44,280 --> 00:52:51,640 for the baptism and while our worship team is getting on stage let's pray and let's worship 580 00:52:51,640 --> 00:52:56,740 and I know it's late guys I tried to get through it as fast as I could if you have to leave 581 00:52:56,740 --> 00:53:00,440 you have to leave that's okay but I encourage you guys to stay as long as you can to celebrate 582 00:53:00,440 --> 00:53:10,520 with us amen let's pray father oh god the future is difficult to look at but Lord we 583 00:53:10,520 --> 00:53:14,720 know that as we've been studying this revelation of Jesus Christ it's teaching us about you 584 00:53:14,720 --> 00:53:19,840 and who you are and Lord specifically through our last few studies we have been learning 585 00:53:19,840 --> 00:53:24,760 how you feel about idolatry how you feel about false worship how how you feel about those 586 00:53:24,760 --> 00:53:33,560 things that draw our attention our heart away from you and God it's not a pretty picture 587 00:53:33,560 --> 00:53:37,320 Lord we know that today you are patient as we see false religions all around us and we 588 00:53:37,320 --> 00:53:43,280 see the religion of self and really what is becoming the religion of woke ism permeating 589 00:53:43,280 --> 00:53:48,800 our cultures and God we know you're going to judge it but you're being patient now that 590 00:53:48,800 --> 00:53:53,320 people will get saved and so Lord we pray God that people would come to know you to 591 00:53:53,320 --> 00:53:58,000 see the truth of Jesus Christ in the midst of all of the falsehood that's out there I 592 00:53:58,000 --> 00:54:05,200 pray God you use us as your people to lead those that don't know you to the truth that 593 00:54:05,200 --> 00:54:11,440 God we would be ready when you come for the church but God we're so excited to celebrate 594 00:54:11,440 --> 00:54:15,360 today with our brothers and sisters getting baptized Lord because they have come to know 595 00:54:15,360 --> 00:54:21,240 you they are saved and God that is awesome we want to praise you for that now we want 596 00:54:21,240 --> 00:54:27,080 to worship you for how just glorious you are so God thank you for this time thank you for 597 00:54:27,080 --> 00:54:31,400 this study thank you for these in our family we get to celebrate with today we love you 598 00:54:31,400 --> 00:54:51,800 so much it's in Jesus name we pray amen let's worship guys.