Rejoicing in the Victory of God: The Self-Destruction of Sin - Glorious Hope | Studies in Revelation

But Revelation, chapter 17 and verses 1 to 18.

Revelation 17 · chapter mention

Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and

said to me, come, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute

who is seated on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth

and have committed sexual immorality, and with the wine of

whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk.

And he carried me away in the spirit into a wilderness.

And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous

names, and it had seven heads and ten horns.

The woman was a red in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold

and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of

abominations, the impurities of her sexual immorality.

And on her forehead was written a name of mystery, Babylon,

the great mother of prostitutes and of earth's abominations.

And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood

of the martyrs of Jesus.

When I saw her, I marveled greatly.

But the angel said to me, why do you marvel?

I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast with seven

heads and 10 horns that carries her.

The beast that you saw was and is not and is about to rise from

the bottomless pit and go to destruction.

And the dwellers on earth, whose names have not been written

in the book of life from the foundation of the world, will marvel

to see the beast because it was and is not and is to come.

This calls for a mind with wisdom.

The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated.

There are also seven kings, five of whom have fallen.

One is, the other has not yet come.

And when he does come, he must remain only a little while.

As for the beast that was and is not, it is an eighth, but it belongs

to the seven, and it goes to destruction.

And the ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have not yet received

royal power, but they are to receive authority as kings for one

hour together with the beast.

These are of one mind, and they hand over their power and authority

to the beast.

They will make war on the lamb, and the lamb will conquer them.

For he is the lord of lords and king of kings.

And those with him are called and chosen and faithful.

And the angel said to me, the waters that you saw where the prostitute

is seated are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages.

And the 10 horns that you saw, they are the beast.

Sorry.

They and the beast will hate the prostitute.

They will make her desolate and naked and devour her flesh and

Burn her up with fire.

For God has put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose by

being of one mind and handing over their royal power to the beast

until the words of God are fulfilled.

And the woman that you saw is the great city that has dominion

over the kings, the earth.

Amen.

This is the word of God.

This morning we were thinking of the children of Israel and a report

card that they may be given since their exodus from Egypt.

And through each difficulty they faced, they questioned if God

was really on their side.

Now, the passages would tell us that they grumbled and they quarreled

against God, yet God remained faithful because it was they who

needed to trust him more.

That's why we would suggest a need to try harder report when it

came to trusting the God of their salvation.

And as we come to Revelation 17, we again get a sense of a report

card, only this time it is a judgment card against the great prostitute

and the beast.

As we finished chapter 16, we saw through John's vision the things

that will take place at the end of human history.

The seventh bowl of God's wrath will be poured out into the

air, and that would bring judgment and punishment against Babylon.

She and all that she represents would face God's wrath.

And because of her rejection of him, even though they would have

had the opportunity to repent, we consider this to be the end of

the opportunity for gospel response as this seventh bowl of

wrath was poured out on the world.

So now, as we come into chapter 17, we're going to see a

shift.

We're going to drill down deeper into what this means and what

this looks like between chapters 17 and 19, but particularly

in chapter 17, we're now told what John is, or that John has given

more details about the punishment that Babylon will face

here, called the great prostitute.

But between chapter 17 and 19, we're going to be presented with

two women in the text, the harlot of Babylon and the bride of

the lamb.

The former is judged and the latter is blessed.

The former is faithless and the latter is faithful.

The former is a prostitute worshipping false gods.

The latter is a celibate bride devoted to the Lord.

Now, there's a few words in this passage that might make us bright.

Blush and you will be happy to know I'm not going to give you a

definition of a prostitute this evening.

However, we will know what that means.

Someone who does not live by the standards of God, who does not

keep in a correct place the gifts that God has given to a man

and woman in marriage alone.

And so we see someone who is in another sense abusing what is

the standard of God.

And verses 1 and 2 tell us of what is called the harlot Babylon.

Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and

said to me, come.

So the invitation to John is to come, I will show you the judgment

of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters, with whom

the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality, with

the wine of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth

have become drunk.

So John isn't seeing anything yet.

He's simply being told what he's about to see.

And he's told that he's going to see the great prostitute sitting

on many waters.

And she's called a prostitute because of her spiritual adultery

and her worship of false gods, not because of her sexual deviance,

although the former clearly leads to the latter.

The waters are identified later in this chapter, in verse 15,

as Peoples and multitudes and nations and languages.

So Babylon's sitting on the water signifies her sovereignty and

rule over them.

But she has had influence over the rulers of the age, and they have

accepted her advances, the advances of a prostitute, as if selling

her wares on a street corner.

So telling us that Babylon's evil has influenced and persuaded

the nations to follow her path of rebellion against God.

We also have in this invitation for John to come and see

the image of intoxication, drunkenness, telling us how freely

the world has followed her without question, and how the world

is kept in its stupor because of its drunkenness.

So John knows what he's about to see.

He's been warned, as it were.

But it's now in verse three that John is taken away to see this,

and he's brought into a wilderness.

And as we've already seen in Revelation and in other parts of

Scripture, in the wilderness is either a place of judgment or

it's a place of blessing.

Even as we think of the Exodus, wanderings in the wilderness,

it is both a place of judgment on the people for their disbelief

against God and his provision, but also a blessing to them as God

reveals himself to them in that pillar of cloud and pillar of

fire.

So brought into a wilderness is John, and he sees there a woman

sitting on a scarlet beast.

Now, I'm sorry to Manchester United fans, but a red devil.

Now you know where it comes from.

Now we know why the devil's always painted red, why this beast

of evil is seen as scarlet.

Because here the woman is sitting on a scarlet beast, whom

we will know and understand to be the evil one.

But we even get a glimpse of that here because we're told in this

verse that the beast itself is full of blasphemous names.

Remember what we're told about the devil.

He's the father of lies.

No truth can ever come from his mouth.

And what is blasphemy, after all?

Blasphemy ultimately is lies.

Blasphemy is saying something in rage or in frustration or anger

or simply to get a rise out of someone.

But of course, blasphemy is never true.

So this beast is very quickly identified as the devil because he's

full of blasphemous names.

There's no truth in him.

And as we know the devil to be the father of lies, so we see that

here.

So this is not a good thing on which the woman is sitting on.

But it also doesn't look like anything John would naturally see

on earth.

John seeing something that is not what he would see around him.

Because the beast has seven heads and ten horns, demonstrating

its authority and strength.

And we've already seen this in chapter 13.

The beast should use its strength for humane and righteous

purposes, but it resists truth and goodness, using its strength

to revile and blaspheme the one true God.

And so verse four describes the woman now for us by saying the

woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet and adorned with gold

and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of

abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality.

What we're given here is a picture of wealth and opulence.

Purple and scarlet in John's time were the rich colors that you

couldn't just afford.

They were so expensive.

And she's adorned in gold and jewels and pearls.

So there's opulence here.

This is what the world wants.

She looks like what the world wants to be with wealth and beauty

and with that coming par.

But her beauty, we see, has been defaced because she has given

herself to evil and to false gods.

And that's what the golden cup full of abominations and impurities

are.

It may look as if it's tantalizing on the outside a gold

cup, but inside it is full of sin.

And so she has been defeated because of her immorality.

She has enriched herself by giving her allegiance to others and

has devoted herself to material wealth instead of the one

true God.

And we think of what Daniel says about Antiochus IV Epiphanes

in Daniel, chapter 11 and verse 38.

Daniel 11 · chapter mention

Daniel says this about Antiochus forth the Epiphanies, he

shall honor the God of fortresses.

Instead of these, a God whom his fathers did not know, he shall

honor with gold and silver, with precious stones and costly gifts.

And the reason why we look at this is to remind us that humanity

doesn't change.

Whether it be at the time of Daniel or what John sees, or even

in our age or in the age of what is yet to come in human history,

humanity doesn't change.

It goes after what is flashy, what is perceived to be wealth.

If you remember the game, the Game of Life, which was about in

the 1980s and the 1990s, one of the things you got was status,

social status.

You got a wealth card, because that's what we believe the world

wanted us to have.

So even here in Daniel's time and in John's time, even in our own

time, and whatever is yet to come, we will continue to see this

played out.

That instead of worshipping the one true God who gives us spiritual

wealth, the world will want to go after gold, silver, purple and

scarlet clothing, jewels and pearls.

But as we get back to this woman in chapter 17, she has something

inscribed on her forehead.

And we might automatically think that it'll be the mark of the

beast and his number, certainly not the mark of the risen

Lord Jesus that revelation speaks of.

But we're told that it is a mystery of what she has.

And typically in Scripture, a mystery is something previously hidden

that is now revealed.

And here, the true nature and character of the woman is revealed

to us so that believers will not give their affection to the city

of man.

And the woman suggested as the city of Rome is identified as Babylon

the Great, the mother of harlots and the abominations polluting

the earth.

Now, this would have been known as a definition of Babylon

in John's time, although in his time, Babylon was a simple trading

center with all its glorious days behind it.

The knowledge of her conquering Israel from the time of

Daniel and leading captives into exile would not be lost on the

original readers and hearers of this.

They knew how to define Babylon from their Jewish history.

And so, even though historical Babylon may no longer have existed

when John wrote, there's still a manifestation of evil in the city

of man that reflects Babylon and her evil.

And for John, in his day, it was the city of Rome.

Hence, those with eyes to see would realize that Babylon was revived

in the city of Rome.

And throughout history, Babylon has arisen again and again.

And Babylon will continue to rise with each generation until she

will face her ultimate punishment for her rebellion and

rejection of God.

And verse 6 tells us of her evil.

She has gone after and persecuted the saints, the followers

of Jesus.

And that's presented here as being drunk on their blood.

And that's the followers of the prostitute.

They've gone with her and they, as it were, have taken the

spoils once again drunk in their blood, celebrating in the destruction

of God's people.

And so in this picture it looks as if the beast and the prostitute

have won, but they haven't, because the voices we heard from

beneath the altar are once again presented to us.

Yes, their blood may be consumed, telling us of their martyrdom,

but we know their cries have been heard by God and he has moved

to see them, to see them restored, to see them glorified in

eternity, and to ensure that their cries and their prayers are

answered.

Of how long?

Well now we're seeing the answer.

But verse 6 does end with a surprise for us because we're told

that John marvels at the prostitute greatly.

This means he was shocked or he was fearful on seeing her drunk

with the saints blood.

And the angel asks John why he is shocked and gives him a warning.

And this is what we read in verse 8.

The beast that you saw was and is not, and is about to rise from

the bottomless pit and go to destruction.

And the dwellers on earth whose names have not been written

in the book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel

to see the beast because it was and is not and is to come.

In this verse we come face to face with one of the most difficult

texts in the entire book.

John says the beast was, is not now, but will be raised from

the abyss.

And so it's puzzling what is John saying here with this structure

of language?

Because it is puzzling how John says the beast is not twice

in this verse.

For if the beast refers to the Roman empire active while John wrote,

how can he say it is not?

And so it may be that rather than thinking of the Roman Empire

itself, John is thinking of a particular emperor such as Nero,

whose rule had ended, which could possibly explain what he means

by saying that there's no ruler presently.

And some have speculated that John wrote these words in the in

between period between Nero and Vespian, nero ending in 68 AD

and Vespian taking up in 69 AD.

And it was in those or that year or a couple of months that Rome

had three emperors.

Galba, Otho and Vitellius.

They all took power for a short time.

And it is said that Rome lacked a ruler in this unstable period,

which ended with Vitellius being defeated by Vespian's forces,

and the latter began his reign well.

However, John understands that what he's saying about Rome is true

also of human history generally.

There are periods of history where totalitarian rule seems a thing

of the past, but history keeps ro along, and totalitarian power

returns with all its ferocity and all its cruelty.

And so believers must not think that evil has been defeated

permanently.

In the periods of relative peace, the devil is still at work.

Those who dwell on earth are amazed at the beast.

It seems to be resurrected again, for it will seem that the

beast's power has ended, but yet he appears on the scene again.

The inhabitants of the earth will give their allegiance to the

beast, since it appears that he has conquered death.

So they believe him to be, as we've known him before in Revelation,

the false Messiah, the unholy Trinity, or part of the unholy Trinity.

And the inhabitants of the earth are morally responsible for

their allegiance to the beast, and yet at the same time, their unbelief

was destined from the beginning of history, before the

world was created, their names were not inscribed in the Book of

Life.

That's what John is seeing here in this chapter.

And such a statement doesn't mean that people are either justified

or condemned before they're born.

Nor does it indicate our choices do not matter.

What it does do is signify that God is sovereign over all of

history.

He knows and he ordains whose names will be in the Book of Life.

Nothing takes God by surprise or deters him from accomplishing

his purpose.

The Book of Life is often mentioned in Revelation, referring

to the book containing the names of those who will enter the

new Jerusalem and will escape the second death and the lake of

Fire.

Those who give themselves to the beast will most certainly be

excluded from this most precious of books, the Book of Life.

In verse nine, John is warned that this is not an easy thing to

understand and calls for a wise mind.

But we do have an explanation given to us.

We're told that the seven heads of the beast are identified

with the seven mountains on which the woman is seated.

For John's mind and the mind of his readers, that will immediately

take them to the imperial capital of Rome, because the seven

mountains are almost certainly those on which the city of Rome was

founded.

John goes on to say that the seven heads of the beast also stand

for seven kings.

And here we're giving a chronology.

Five of the kings have fallen and are no more One king is now,

and hence his rule continues to be exercised.

Still, the rule of the present king is not the end, for another

king will succeed the sixth one.

Though his reign will be limited, he will rule only for a

short time.

That's quite the riddle to try and figure out.

But it would be acceptable to suggest that the short period of

time designates the entire period between Jesus first and second

coming.

The same term was used to designate the devil's time on earth

after being expelled from heaven by virtue of the cross of

Christ in chapter 12.

And Peter also remarks that the trials and sufferings or tribulations

affecting believers occur only for a short time in his first letter,

meaning they last until Jesus returns.

And it's verse 12 helps us understand what the 10 horns mean.

And the 10 horns that you saw are 10 kings who have not yet received

royal power, but they are to receive authority as kings for one

hour together with the beast.

The 10 horns on the beast are identified as 10 kings.

And these kings are probably kingly powers outside of Rome's borders.

But they also represent all earthly powers and governing authorities

that are opposed to God.

And such an identification still fits with what Daniel saw in

his vision, where the fourth beast in that vision has ten horns

representing ten kings in chapter seven of Daniel.

And the fourth beast combines together the hideous and beastly

character of all four beasts that Daniel sees.

And as in Daniel.

And so now horns designate strength and rule, and here they

stand for political force and strength to subjugate other nations.

And that's exactly what we see going on.

These kings have not yet received their authority, but they

will rule with the beast for a limited time before the end of history.

But we see within world history the dangerous work of the

beast and its influence.

The leaders of the world who have their own right to rule, give

their authority over to the beast.

And this is a moment of great fear.

But the Church should not fear when nation states conspire together

against the people of God.

And this is what we're warned about here in verse 14.

We are warned of their opposition and war against Christ,

but Christ will conquer them because of who he is.

And John is told that he is the Lord of lords and King of kings,

something we have affirmed throughout this evening.

And as we move into verse 15, we come to a third section in this

passage.

And the angel interprets for us the waters on which the prostitute

sits.

That's what we saw in the opening verses.

And the waters are the nations of the earth, as we mentioned then.

But verse 16 goes on to tell us in the 10 horns that you saw,

they and the beast will hit the prostitute.

They will make her desolate and naked and devour her flesh and

burn her up with fire.

The ten kings who follow along with the beast are now filled with

hatred towards the harlot.

It seems that the rulers of the empire will turn against the

economic and religious centers of their society.

Babylon is a harlot because of her idolatrous devotion to false

gods and her greedy economic system that abuses others.

The kings are animated by hatred and so they destroy the prostitute

who ends up desolate and naked, destroyed by fire.

Hatred is irrational and demonic.

Evil ultimately implodes upon itself.

It is inherently self destructive.

The city of man will collapse under the weight of its own evil

and hate.

This is how God has put it in their hearts.

They will quite literally be eaten by their own sin.

But a day will come for them when they will have to pay attention

to the words of the lord.

And verse 18 ends by telling us who the woman is.

And we're told that she represents a city.

The text would suggest Rome in John's time, so that he would understand

this clearly.

And for our present we see many cities of the world following

the same path as what John sees in Revelation.

And I guarantee you there is worse to come, that there will be

cities rising up like Babylon who will want to follow the way of

the prostitute, who will want to give allegiance to the beast and

follow the ways of the evil one.

But for now, we must think about what this means for us today.

And as we finish, I want to give you two things that we must

marvel at.

And the first thing is to marvel at the self destruction of

evil.

Now, I don't know if it surprised you or not to see the rulers

of the world who had given their authority so freely over to

the prostitute, now turning on it.

And this is the stark reality that sin never fully satisfies.

And that's what evil is.

Sin.

Sin is any want of conformity onto or transgression of the law

of God, as question 14 of the Westminster Shorter Catechism tells

us.

We learn this in our Sunday school because we must know what

sin is.

And sin is evil.

To remain in your sin is to chance falsehood.

We may think this evening, you may think that you're not a great

sinner, you might even shudder at the thought of being called evil.

But if you're not living for God through Jesus Christ, then you

are a sinner and you are ruled by evil.

And this should be a warning Cry to you this night evil and sin

will self destruct and you will have no hope of salvation because

it will be too late.

As we saw in chapter 16, the opportunity for gospel response will

be over.

And so while there is still time, come to the Savior and no true

hope in him.

As James warns us in James 4, verse 8.

James 4:8

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.

Cleanse your your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts,

you double minded.

Strong words from James.

Double minded.

Bringing us back to what the prostitute looks like.

Running after scarlet and purple clothing of gold and silver

and jewelry and pearls.

That's the image we're given of what it means to remain in our

sin.

But what was the prostitute holding?

A gold cup that many of us would want.

But what it contained was nothing but the evil of the world

that when consumed completely pollutes our hearts.

You see, we are to marvel at the self destruction of evil because

if we are not with Christ this night, then that is what will happen

to us.

We can chase all the gold we want, we can have all the silver

and all the finest of clothing, but it will self destruct

because that is what God has ordained for sin and evil.

So while there is still time, come to the Savior and know true

hope in him.

But the second thing is to rejoice at the sovereign victory

of God.

I've put marvel here, but it is to rejoice at the sovereign victory

of God.

And as much as we see the evil of rebellious humanity, we also see

the victory of God.

We see in verse 14 of the Victory of Jesus over evil, meaning

that evil will be no more and he will consummate his kingdom for

his people to dwell in for all eternity.

And this is a wonderful reminder that we do not fear, fear

the Babylon around us.

It may want to redefine marriage.

The Babylon around us may want to decide who has the right to life

through abortion and assisted suicide.

It may want to silence our free speech and create laws that

make it harder to assemble freely.

But the Babylon in which we live will not win.

And the victory will will be Christ's.

And I understand how at times our hearts can be heavy with what

we see in the world, because my heart is heavy with it too.

We can feel the grip of the Satan on our lives and on the lives

of others.

But he will not win.

And as we reflected, do not believe.

Simply because he's quiet doesn't mean he's not at work.

I probably have struggled over these past six months because I have

had a real sense of the work of the devil in this area and where

he has really gone after the people of God.

Did we get this sense a year ago at the time of mission?

No.

Or in the summer months, or into September through to December?

No.

We were still knowing the goodness and the glory of God.

And while we still know that goodness and glory of God today,

it seems to me that the devil has been prowling since the start

of this year, waiting on whom he may devour, crushing our souls,

wanting to pull us away where we will question things of God.

So just because he was quiet for last year didn't mean he wouldn't

rear his ugly head and we would face his onslaught.

And what do we do as God's people?

Well, I joked that when Ian Paisley got a black hat, everything

changed.

And I started growing my beard in January.

The beard's gone.

And I'm hopeful the attacks of the Evil One are gone too.

Because we must continue to hide God's word in our hearts.

And we must pray to the Almighty that His will be done on

earth as it is in heaven, so that we will know his rule and reign

even in the darkest and most troublesome of days, and that we

will be found to stand, having endured the attacks of the Evil One.

For he is real, but he will not win.

The dark night of the soul and the valley of great shadow will pass

as we place our trust in the Lord and we rejoice at his sovereign

victory.

You see, Revelation 17 allows believers to look to the Savior and

to know that we are safe in his hands.

That's what Jesus tells us in John chapter 16 and verse 33.

John 16 · chapter mention

I have said these things.

Jesus said that in me you may have peace.

In the world, you will have tribulation.

But take heart, I have overcome the world.

And this is now the fourth time that in our studies in Revelation,

we have come to this.

These words of Jesus that John recorded for us.

And I don't believe it's any accident, because we have seen the

Evil one.

We have seen Babylon the Great, we have seen the beast, we

have seen the slaughter of the saints, and we have heard the cry

of the martyrs.

But yet what does Jesus tell us?

He is the one who has overcome.

Therefore, we can look to him and we can rejoice in all that God

has done, his sovereign victory.

So this night, be very aware of the Babylon, the Babylon, that

great harlot and prostitute that is all around us and that is

still to come.

But also be aware of the sovereign victory of God through

his Son Jesus where the Lamb will not be defeated even though

they will try to come and defeat him.

He will win and the victory is his.

And those of us found in him, that victory is ours.

But beware of the self destruction that evil and sin will

bring.

That is its nature nature.

And while it is still time, come to the Savior and know that

he has overcome so that we can rest in complete glorious hope that

he will lead us home.

Let's pray.

Our Father God for your word we thank you.

A word of surprise, a word of challenge, a difficult word, but

yet one in which we come before your throne of grace.

That we need not fear the temptation of the devil that we stand

in Christ for he is victorious.

The risen Lamb.

So Father, help us to marvel at the self destructive nature of

sin but to rejoice in your sovereign victory over evil.

And Father, indeed may we be found on the side of Christ and of

him alone.

And we ask these things in Jesus name.

Amen.