Revelation 17-18 - A Tale of Two Cities

Behind door number seven, you will see

two cities. So this is a tale of two

cities. You are either a citizen of

Babylon or you are a citizen of New

Jerusalem. Now you may physically live

in Weeksville or East City or Pank or

the Mills or Moyok or Kurtuk or you know

we got people from all over. So you may

physically have a house or an apartment

or some somewhere to live in one of

those those counties, those cities,

those areas. But ultimately, your spirit

lives in one of two places. And this is

for the Christian and the non-Christian.

Your spirit either lives in Babylon,

which is governed by the red dragon, or

it lives in New Jerusalem, which is

governed by Jesus. Now, as we turn to

Revelation 17, I want you to understand

that this is one of those PG-13 passages

of scripture in your Bible. In fact, if

I probably if I just read through this

chapter, uh YouTube would maybe even

shut down our feed because of some of

the words that would be coming out of my

mouth. So, um just understand that this

graphic imagery is there, but it's there

for a purpose. God gives you this

graphic imagery to bypass your intellect

and to hit you in the fields. Like, if

you read 17 and 18, it's going to make

you feel some sort of way. And that's

exactly the point. God is trying to get

you to feel what he is talking about.

So, uh, in this passage of scripture,

we're going to be talking about a

prostitute, a beast, and some kings.

Now, these are not specific individuals.

These are representatives of people that

have existed throughout human history

and will exist in the future. So in door

number seven, we see a vision of a

notorious woman who is clothed in purple

and scarlet. She is wearing silver and

gold and pearls. And she is drinking

from a golden goblet that in verse four

we find out contains everything

detestable. And she is sitting on a

scarlet beast that is covered with

blasphemous names according to verse

three. And she's hooking up with these

kings. beside in verse one many waters.

Okay, so this is kind of the imagery

that's going on. So let's break it down.

Let's figure out what is God trying to

teach us in this passage. Well, first of

all, we got to ask ourselves the

question, who is this beast? Who is this

beast that this notorious woman is

setting upon? We learn that in verse

seven of chapter 17.

The angel came and said to me, "Why are

you astonished? I will explain to you

the mystery of the woman and of the

beast with the seven heads and the t

horns that carries her. The beast that

you saw and is not and is about to come

up from the abyss and go to destruction.

Those who live on the earth whose names

have not been written in the book of

life from the foundation of the world

will be astonished when they see the

beast that was and is not and is to

come. So the beast here is the same

beast that is referred to in Revelation

13. And since we know there's nothing

written in Revelation that is not

written elsewhere in the Bible, this is

also one of the two beasts or one of the

four beasts that's talk about talked

about in Daniel chapter 7. So the the

Daniel 7 · chapter mention

beasts there are symbolic. They're

symbolic of all the structures and the

systems that this world has placed who

attempt to uh move our worship and our

attention and our affection away from

God. So we're talking about stuff like

businesses. We're talking about stuff

like governments. We're talking about

things like social media and false

religions. And and what we know about

this beast is this beast works for the

red dragon to wage war against the

people of God. And during our Christmas

Eve service, we celebrated the fact that

on Christmas day when Jesus was born, he

symbolically just stomped the head of

the enemy. And we celebrated the fact

that we get to fight back against our

enemy now because we have Jesus. We have

our savior. We have the Holy Spirit. And

through our our ministry efforts,

through our serving others and sharing

Jesus, we are fighting back against this

enemy. So the red dragon sees that he is

losing the battle. And so what he does

is he tags in these two beasts to come

and to help him at the secular level and

actually at the religious level as well.

So, so one beast was in charge of all

the the secular things, the the

businesses, the governments, the the

social media to try to dissuade people

from worshiping Jesus. Then you had this

other beast that works at the religious

level. These will be the false prophets

that start quasi relian religions or

even anti-Christian

religions. So, specifically though for

this passage, the beast that's being

referred to here is the beast that works

at the secular level. All right. So,

setting on the beast, we have a

notorious woman. So, who is this

notorious woman? Well, in verse 5, we

found out a little bit about her. Says,

"On her forehead was written a name, a

mystery. Babylon the Great, the mother

of prostitutes and of the detestable

things of the earth." So, first of all,

if this is your first time in church, um

we're not always this weird. Uh so, just

keep that in mind. Um but we do study

the Bible and uh it's part of it. So,

how would you like that to be your

epitap, by the way? Like, mother of

prostitutes, detestable things. Like,

you wouldn't want that on your your

resume for sure. But that's on her

resume. And as we talked about before,

though, remember this. Everything that

is written on your head and your hand

comes from your ideology. And so, what

we're getting a picture of is the

ideology of the notorious woman. You do

what you do because you think what you

think. So head and hands are tied

together. And this notorious woman's

ideology is directly opposed to that of

Jesus. And it comes through in her

actions as she starts a city, a city

called Babylon that represents all of

humanity's desires to to rebel against

God. All of our insatiable desires for

for pleasure and comfort and more and

money and all that stuff. That's that's

what she builds for us. It's a city of

pleasures. Matt Chandler says of this

woman, "She is lewd, yet we can't take

our eyes off of her. We know it's wrong,

yet we are drawn toward her. The

notorious woman is the architect of all

things that are antirist."

So, where is she seated? Well, we read

that in verse one. She is seated on many

waters. What does that mean? Well,

thankfully, we have an angel that came

down from heaven to tell us exactly what

that means. In verse 15, the waters you

saw where the prostitute was seated are

peoples, multitudes, nations, and

languages. So the notorious woman is

seated near the people of the earth.

This isn't in the future. This notorious

woman is seated near the people of the

earth. She is always active. She is

always wooing you into her city of

Babylon.

Now, we have to ask a question. Is she

seated in a real city? Is there a city

somewhere out there in the world that we

can point out and say, "Yep, that's

where she's at." Well, here we we read

in verse 9 that this calls for a mind of

wisdom. The seven heads are the seven

mountains on which the woman is seated.

So, at this time when this book was

written, Rome was the world power. And

Rome is situated geographically between

seven mountains. In fact, they had a

festival called the festival of the

seven mountains. So is this notorious

woman seated in Rome? Well, we also

learn that she is seated beside many

waters. And the real city of ancient

Babylon in the Old Testament is a city

that geographically is situated by many

waters. So are we talking about Babylon

back then? Are we talking about Rome

now? Like what are we talk Well, yes.

We're talking about all those places and

more. the the notorious woman

symbolically is seated over all of the

pagan cities that have ever been built

or will ever be built in the future. So,

let's study her a little bit more in

depth. Who is she really? Like, we see

who she is on the surface, the the

jewels and the pearls and all that, but

but who is this woman really? Well,

verse 18 says, "The woman you saw in the

great city that rules over the kings of

the earth." So, we know this about her.

She is able to attract the kings of the

earth. Kings are drawn to her opulence.

But not just kings. This is a reference

to the church as well. We're not just

talking about non-believers, people that

don't worship Jesus. We're talking about

people within the church that are drawn

to the city of Babylon. Think about

this. The Apostle John is coming off of

a vision where he saw the seven cups of

God's wrath being poured out upon

humanity. He has been spending every day

one onone with Jesus. And yet when he

sees this notorious woman in verse 6, it

says that he was greatly astonished.

The Apostle John was not above being

attracted to this notorious woman. He

was greatly

astonished.

He's looking at this woman. He's like,

"Oh, she's pretty."

He's hanging out with Jesus every day.

Yet when he sees this woman, he is

attracted to her. He is astounded by

what he sees. And so this this angel has

to come and snap John out of his stuper

to be like, whoa, whoa. It says in uh

verse 7, why are you astonished? Why are

you astonished, John? Let's break the

trance for a second and let me tell you

exactly who she is. See, friends,

Babylon is not some faux utopia that's

going to happen in the future. thousands

of years from now. No, it's attainable

comfort. It is pleasure. It is

self-indulgence. It's all the things

that appeal to our fleshly desires. All

the things that distract us from

worshiping King Jesus. And it's

attracting Christian citizens right now

to leave New Jerusalem and to build

their homes in Babylon. So this angel

comes down thankfully and says, "Hey,

John, let me show you who this woman

really is.

She's wooing you into her city by

promising you pleasures that she cannot

deliver upon." And friends, this has

been the tactic of the dragon ever since

he fell to earth. Genesis chapter 3,

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

Adam and Eve, the dragon comes to them

and says, "Hey, hey, God is holding out

on you. There's something better."

They're standing in the Garden of Eden.

They're standing in the most perfect

place that has ever been created. But

when the dragon comes to them and says,

"Oh, by the way, there's something

better for you. God is holding out."

They give into that temptation. So if

Adam and Eve would give into that

temptation while standing in the middle

of paradise, who am I to think that this

notorious woman would not be able to woo

me out of my city into hers? It's the

same tactic. The problem is the

notorious woman's promises run contrary

to every single thing that Jesus has

ever taught us. If you just look at the

biatitudes in Matthew chapter 5,

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

everything that the woman talks about is

in direct opposition to the biatitudes

that are given to us in Matthew chapter

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

5 by Jesus himself. Jesus says, "Blessed

are the

the poor in spirit."

Jesus says, "Blessed are the poor." What

does the woman say? She says, "Blessed

are the wealthy." Jesus says, "Blessed

are those who are persecuted in my

name." What does the woman say? "Blessed

are those who persecute others." These

are two different kingdoms. These are

two different cities with opposing

values. And it's been that way since the

beginning of time. The very first child

of Adam and Eve was a man by the name of

Cain. And Cain killed his brother Abel.

And then he builds an evil city called

Enoch or Enoch. Babylon was named after

a real city, the city of Babel. The city

where the people got together and said,

"Hey, we don't need God. We can be God.

So, we're just going to build a tower

all the way up to heaven so we can be

gods ourselves."

The Roman coliseum, I read, was probably

built on the with the gold and silver

that was stolen from the destruction of

the temple in Jerusalem. Pharaoh used

Jewish slaves to build his empire in

Egypt. The the notorious woman

represents all of these cities and more,

all these pagan nations that have come

to to oppose God. So the question is

why? Why do people fall for this? Well,

in Psalmap 2:1, we we were asked that

question. We get an answer. Says, "Why

do the nations rage and the people plot

in vain? The kings of the earth take

their stand and the rulers conspire

together against the Lord and his

anointed one." This is a messianic

prophecy. This is talking about what

would happen when Jesus was born. How

the the world and the cities would

continue to stand against God and his

anointed one. But why? Why do they fall?

Well, they fall because they're falling

for the lies of the notorious woman. The

angel is exposing the real truth about

this notorious woman. She has the

ability to make promises, but she does

not have the power to keep them.

We learn later on that if you or your

household

chase after the temporary pleasures of

the world, then you will move into

Babylon, but then Babylon will turn its

back on you. So, let's look at the the

city a little bit more in depth. What is

Babylon the Great? What is this city all

about? Well, we get a second angel that

comes in and tells John some more

specifics about this city and what it's

all about. In chapter 18:2

we learn that in the future this city

will fall. The angel says, "Fallen,

fallen is Babylon the great. She has

become a dwelling for demons and a haunt

for every impure spirit. A haunt for

every unclean bird, a haunt for every

unclean and detestable animal." But

here's the interesting part. Ask

yourself, how did Babylon fall?

See, in the past, I would have just

said, "Well, God God crushed Babylon,

the evil city. God knocks down the evil

city, right?" No, that's not at all what

happened here. If you go back to chapter

17, verse 16,

it says, "The beast and the t horns you

saw will hate the prostitute. They will

be they will bring her to ruin. The

beast turns heel against the notorious

woman. She and all the citizens of her

kingdom become demonized. Not

demonpossessed, but demonized.

Demonized. That's why the church can get

can get caught up into this because you

can't be possessed when you're full of

the Holy Spirit, but you can be

demonized. And one author said that the

way to think about that is kind of like

the demons are a tick. They don't

possess you, but once they attach

themselves to you, they they start to

drain your life force. They they start

to make you you sick and you don't even

know why you're sick. You just know that

you're not feeling right. Well, that's

what happens. These the these demons,

they attach themselves now to the

notorious woman and the citizens that

live in Babylon. She's being used and

abused by the beast. You see, Satan

doesn't even have any love for her. He

doesn't have any love for the people

that move into his city. He has no love

for anyone but himself.

So she served her purpose and the

citizens of Babylon have served their

purpose. And now the enemy is done with

them. So the beast leaves her anxious

and addicted. And it's the same thing

that the beast will do to you and or

your family when they move into the city

of Babylon. It looks beautiful on the

outside, but once you get there and once

the enemy is done with you, they will

leave you addicted and anxious. So you

get what you think you need. They'll

give you what you need for a time, but

then eventually they'll withhold those

things from you. Sex, money, power,

whatever you chased into that city.

You'll receive it for a temporary time,

but then it will be taken from you and

you'll have no long you you no longer

will have access to it. And what happens

to people is when they don't have access

to this thing that they have worshiped,

this thing that they thought they needed

in their life. When that's taken away

from them, they're broken and left alone

and they're they're anxious and they're

worried because that pillar that they

built their life on is no longer there.

Friends, there is only one source of

joy. There is only one source of lasting

security. There is only one source of

peace and that is through a personal

relationship with Jesus Christ.

And that's why the enemy builds a city

that Jesus is not invited to be a part

of. Life in Babylon always leaves you

fallen. It always leaves you broken. It

always leaves you demonized, haunted,

alone, and surrounded by detestable

things. The angel continues the vision

in verse 21 of chapter 18.

Then a mighty angel picked up a boulder

the size of a large millstone and threw

it into the sea and said, "With such

violence, the great city of Babylon will

be thrown down, never to be found

again."

So here's the good news. Here's the

encouragement for today. If you live in

Babylon, you can still move out before

that city is destroyed.

Christians, non-Christians, hear me. If

you live in Babylon, you can still move

out before that city is destroyed.

So, so people who have been seduced by

the notorious woman, who have been wooed

away from Jesus by all the shiny and and

things of the world, they they can still

move out of the city before it's too

late. So, let's let's check Zillow.

Let's see what's available. Let's call

our real estate agent. Let's let's see

where we can go. Let's get out of

Babylon before it's too late. And so,

the question is, well, how do you do

that? I'm going to give you three

practical steps to get out of Babylon

today.

They come out of chapter 18 verse4.

Then I heard another voice from heaven

say, "Come out of her, my people." I I

believe this is the voice of of Jesus

speaking to John. Then I heard another

voice from heaven say, "Come out of her,

my people, so that you will not share in

her sins, so that you will not receive

any of her plagues."

So this whole time you might have been

saying, "Well, no, this is a message for

people that aren't Christians." No. Who

comes out of Babylon?

My people. God's people. These are

Christians who have uprooted their lives

in New Jerusalem and moved into Babylon.

And now God is saying, "Look, it's not

too late. I love you. I have a house for

you right here in glory. I just need you

to move into it." How do you do it?

Number one, you share Jesus. This is our

church mission statement as well, by the

way. You share Jesus. Do not friends,

please hear me. Do not hate the citizens

of Babylon.

This world wants you to hate the

citizens of Babylon. Jesus does not want

you to hate the citizens of Babylon.

Jesus tells us that our battle is

against the spiritual authorities, the

spiritual principal principalities. We

are fighting an enemy, but our enemy is

the notorious woman. Our enemy is the

red dragon. That our enemy is the two

beasts. Our enemy are the ticks, the

demons. Those are our enemies. And those

are the things that we should be

fighting, not the people. God gave John

this vision ahead of time to encourage

people to move out of Babylon and to

move into New Jerusalem. This is an

evangelistic passage of scripture. And

and one of the coolest things that can

happen is if if you were a citizen of

Babylon for any amount of time, then you

know what it's like to live there. So

you are uniquely equipped to talk to the

people who are still citizens of

Babylon. You can let them know how you

were used and abused while you were a

citizen of Babylon and how Jesus made

your life better when you moved back

into New Jerusalem.

Use your testimony. Don't be ashamed of

who you were. use that as motivation, as

power to help other people uproot their

lives in Babylon and move into God's

grace and God's love and God's mercy. So

share your faith. And when you do that,

when you share the gospel with people,

you are solidifying your own house, your

own citizenship in New Jerusalem.

Because the Bible says that that

citizens of the kingdom of God are

people that share their faith. And so in

doing so, you're just making sure that

you're in the right place. Number two,

serve others. Serve others. You can do

this in three ways. Number one, you give

your treasure. Talking about tithe,

talking about sacrificial giving,

whatever you believe, whether it's 10%

or more than that, that's up to you. But

we are talking about giving money to the

ministries of your local church. Why

would we want to do that? Just to to pay

the pastor's salary. Well, yeah, that's

part of it. But to keep the lights on?

Yes, that's part of it. But Jesus says

where your treasure is, there your

heart will be also. So if you are

investing in the things of God, in the

ministries of God, then it just shows

that your heart is in New Jerusalem. It

shows that you are a a person that lives

in the kingdom of God. That's why we've

been trying to introduce you to the

different ministries of the church and

the different ministry leaders of the

church because we want you to see what

you're investing in. We want you to see

how your your giving is allowing us to

share the gospel and serve other people

in their context. But we don't want you

to just give your treasure. We want you

to give your time. We want you to give

your time. See, we try to create a place

for everyone to use their unique

spiritual gifts in the local body of

believers that we call the church. We we

we talk about it. We put people on the

stage so you can see the ministry

leaders faces and what they do. We have

an app that you can go to where you can

look at all the different ministry

opportunities. We have social media. We

have our our bulletin that Kay puts

together for us each week that talks

about the different ministries. And we

do that because we want everyone here to

serve in some type of a ministry

capacity. Because as you you serve, it

means you are putting God's kingdom

first. And there's a promise that Jesus

gave us. When you seek first the kingdom

of God, what happens? Anybody remember?

What was that?

Yeah. Yeah. You seek the kingdom of God

first and all that you need will be

given to you. So if you want to know

whether or not you're in the kingdom of

God or not, then you serve other people

with your time and you see that God will

continually meet your needs every time

you give. You can't outgive God. Number

three, I would say let's give some

encouragement. Let's give some

encouragement to people. Every year it

seems like there are fewer and fewer

encouragers in this world. Uptick in

critics, downtick in encouragers. So you

say, "What what's encouragement have to

do with being a citizen of the kingdom

of heaven?" Well, everything there

literally I I looked up on uh I had AI

look up all the verses talking about

encouragement. There's over 30 verses in

the New Testament alone talking about

what it means to be an encourager. These

are just a few of them. 1 Thessalonians

1 Thessalonians 5:11

5:11, "Therefore, encourage one another

and build each other up." Ephesians

Ephesians 4:29

4:29, "Let no discouraging talk come out

of your mouths, but only what is good

for building one another up." Romans

Romans 15:5

15:5, "Bear with the failings of the

weak. Not everybody's perfect. We're

going to screw up." We know that. So, we

need your encouragement. It says, "Not

to please ourselves, but to build up

your neighbor for their good." Romans

Romans 15:5

15:5, "May the God who gives endurance

and encouragement give you the same

attitude and mind toward one another."

Hebrews 3:13, "But encourage one another

Hebrews 3:13

every day." Hebrews 10:24, "Let us

Hebrews 10:24

consider how we may spur one another on

toward love and good works." 1 John 4 7

and 8. Dear friends, let us love one

another because love is from God and

everyone who loves has been born of God

and knows God. The one who does not love

does not know God because God is love.

And then my personal favorite, Proverbs

12 26, anxiety in a person's heart

weighs them down, but a good word makes

them glad.

There's a lot of anxious people out

there, and a lot of times it's because

we haven't encouraged them enough. So if

you want people to get better at what

they do in any context, then the best

thing you can do for them is to

encourage them. Because when they're

anxious, they're not as effective. But

when they're confident, they're more

effective. So encouragement, what a

great word for us to to focus on in

2026. And then finally, the third thing

you can do is very simple. Just see the

truth. I'm so glad you're here today.

I'm so glad that you're listening to

this word because this is just revealing

truth to you. You need to be able to see

Babylon for what it is. Yes, it's

attractive, but it is destined to fall.

You don't want to be there when that

happens. And then number two, we got to

see the notorious woman for who she is.

She is a liar and she is haunted by

demons. You don't want any part of what

she is offering you. So, Father, I just

want to close by

praying for those who have chosen to

build their home in Babylon.

Lord, it's not a it's not a shame to to

admit that because the enemy is tricky.

The enemy is deceitful. The enemy is

really good at what he does. This

notorious woman, the representative of

the city of Babylon, they are really,

really good at what they do. And so it

is no shame at all to have been wooed

away from the the love of Jesus into

this this place that seems so perfect on

the outside but is so broken on the

inside. So I just pray for my brothers

and sisters today if anybody is is

starting to feel that draw to move to

Babylon. If maybe they've already set up

shop there, maybe they they they live

there now. Lord, I just pray that you

would help them to see the reality of

their situation, to see that you're not

mad at them, that you love them. and you

gave John this vision because you want

them to move back into your loving

kingdom where you can be their father

where you can care for them and love

them perfectly throughout all of

eternity. So Lord, I pray today that if

that's weighing on the hearts of

someone, Lord, that maybe they would see

the reality of where they're at and go

ahead and put their house on the market,

Lord, that they would start to to serve

others. That they would start to to

share the gospel, share their testimony,

that they would start to to give of

their time and their talent and their

treasure and to to give their

encouragement to those who need it and

to just see the enemy for who he is so

that they won't fall back into those

temptations. And in doing so, Lord, they

just cement their their their legacy in

your kingdom. Lord, I pray for those

that maybe haven't really chosen yet,

Lord, that those that haven't given

their lives to Jesus. I just pray that

today would be a great day for their

salvation, Lord, that you would help

them to see how much you love them and

how much you want a personal

relationship with them. And I pray that

today they would just pray a very simple

prayer. Just say something like, "I know

I'm a sinner and I need a savior." And I

believe that savior's name is Jesus.

and I give my life to him.

Forgive me. Save me. I make you the Lord

of my life. Just a simple prayer like

that. And the Holy Spirit says that he

will come in and seal your salvation and

fill you with the spirit of God. And

we'll begin to bring blessing upon

blessing to you as you get these

spiritual gifts that you can use in your

church context. So Lord, if any prayed

that prayer today, I just want to

celebrate with them and encourage them

to let someone know about the decision

they made so we can help them take some

next steps as well. Lord, as we get

ready to draw into our time of communion

as a faith family, I pray that if

there's anything on our hearts and minds

that would separate us from focusing on

what this is, which is a a picture of

Jesus on the cross, his body broken, his

blood spilled for our salvation. Lord, I

pray that you would help us to focus on

on that that picture that you're drawing

for for us as we take the bread and the

cup as we celebrate the the relationship

that we have with you, Jesus. I pray

that in these moments that we would

really be drawn to the foot of the cross

and also realize that we are not alone

in this that around this room and the

people watching online that are part of

this church. Father, we we know that we

have a family, a faith family that we

can turn to in our times of need, a

faith family that we can encourage as

they step out in ministry. So Lord, help

us to draw together as a little branch

of your family tree right here at Sawers

Creek. It's in Jesus name I pray. Amen.

This time you stand as we sing. We're

going to have a song of invitation. So

if you need to come and pray, I'll be

right up here to pray with you. If you'd

like to make use of the altar and pray,

uh the altar is available to you as

well.

Let's worship together.

Oh Lord my God,

when I in awome

wonder

all

the world thy hands have made.

I see the stars.

I hear the rolling thunder.

Thy power throughout

the universe

displays

my soul,

my savior God to thee.

How great thou are.

How great thou

my soul

to thee.

How great thou are.

How great.