 Let's open our Bibles together to Revelation, chapter 18. We'll be looking today at what is called commercial Babylon, and I'll be giving you quite a bit of information as we look at it. And I mentioned to you last week, you know, that I usually keep my notes to about seven pages. Last week we're nine, and again this week is nine, so I went through first service a little bit, and I'm feeling a little more comfortable because there's so much information I want to give to you to help us all to understand what's taking place. And so, you know, again, I'll be reading and giving a lot of scripture as is what I normally do so that we have an actual Bible study. And so we'll be looking at these verses in just a moment. John already mentioned that we do have a trip to Israel planned if you've never been to Israel, or if you've been and would like to go again, you can go to our webpage and get information. We're still setting the dates and we're trying to firm up a price for it, but as much information as we have will give to you. As he mentioned, we have quite a number of people interested in going, and I pray they're able to do that. We do have a Wednesday night Bible study, as mentioned, I'd love to have you with us. I'm looking to the possibility of moving it back into the chapel. We have 760 or 770 seats in there, and we can set it up in such a way as to allow you a section for masks and all of that. And if you feel comfortable with social distancing out, we'll make that possible. So I'm possibly going to do that, not this Wednesday, but the following, just letting you know. We've been going through Job and it's quite a study. It's quite a great book. And so anyway, I'd invite you to be with us. And then finally, the couples thing that we're having with Carlos Oscar and everything, he's very funny, and I think you'd appreciate that. Marie and I will be coming. We've heard him many times, and he's very funny, and I think you'd appreciate that. As well as the parenting seminar, as John was mentioning, that's not just for junior-high-age parents, parents who have junior-highers, not junior-highers who are parents. That's what we're trying to prevent. But anyway, I think you'd appreciate it and would love to have you. Again, what we're going to do now is I'm going to be giving you a lot of foundational information, and I know it can sometimes feel like you're in school or anything like that. And I know many of you loved going to school. But what we're going to do here is I want to lay the foundation and look for some practical application as we continue and go through this. And so again, I'm going to read just the first few verses, verses one through four. We'll get into our study. We're looking at commercial Babylon, Revelation chapter 18. And John writes after these things, I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illuminated with his glory. And he cried mightily with a loud voice saying Babylon the Great is fallen, is fallen, and has become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird. For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. The kings of the earth have committed fornication with her. And the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury. And I heard another voice from heaven saying, come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues. And so I'm going to give you, as mentioned a moment ago, an introduction. Some of you have gone through Revelation more than once and are already pretty much aware of what we'll be looking at. Others perhaps have never gone through the book of Revelation. And it still remains kind of a mystery to you. And so I want to take you through it and give you some background and lay some foundation. It'll take a little while and then we'll move into our study and see where we can find some application to the things that we're reading here. So I'll begin like this. I'll remind you that throughout the Bible there are warnings to those who reject God and those who live in a sinful way. From the Old Testament to the New Testament, there are warnings that God gives concerning judgment. For example, in the Old Testament book of Job, we're going through Job right now on Wednesday nights. In the Old Testament book of Job, in chapter 21 verse 30, it reads, for the wicked are reserved for the day of doom. They shall be brought out on the day of wrath. In Psalm 96 verses 12 and 13, it says, let the field be joyful and all that is in it. Then all the trees of the woods will rejoice before the Lord for He is coming. For He's coming to judge the earth. He shall judge the world with righteousness and peoples with His truth. And so judgment is spoken of throughout the Old Testament. But we need to remember in the New Testament, we are told that Jesus Christ came to save people from this coming judgment. In John 3.17, we read, God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. So Jesus Christ came in order that He might bring salvation. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Why? Because God didn't send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. And so we know that God has promised wrath and judgment. You see it throughout the Old Testament. You see it in the New Testament. Salvation from sins and deliverance from God's wrath were actually part of the purpose for Jesus coming. Now in spite of this, Jesus made it very clear that people who reject Him, those who reject Him, will be judged. In Matthew 7.21-23, Jesus said, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, we'll enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven, on that day many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do many mighty works in your name? And then will I declare to them, I never knew you, depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. There are going to be people claiming to have known Him and done things in His name, even some marvelous things, but He's going to say, I never knew you. I had no relationship with you and you are actually what He called a worker of lawlessness. Now remember in the New Testament, both the apostles Paul and Peter made this judgment very clear in the writings. In 2 Thessalonians 1.7-10, Paul said, the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power when He comes. In that day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe because our testimony among you was believed. The apostle Peter in 2 Peter said it like this, he said, the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment. So the Old Testament and the New Testament both make it very clear that God is going to bring judgment. Jesus Christ was sent in order to save us from the wrath to come. But those who refuse Him will undergo judgment. So in Scripture, the most detailed description of God's judgment on earth is found here in the book of Revelation. When you look at chapters 6 through 18 in Revelation, you have great detail concerning the conditions on earth when God brings His judgment. And these judgments come in the form of various plagues, if you will. And you have various judgments that are described. His wrath is displayed in a series of escalating judgments. And John reveals this. He speaks of the seal judgments, the trumpet judgments, the ball judgments. Those are worldwide judgments with the main focus on Antichrist, Babylonian empire. Now as you read your scripture and as we went through chapter 17 last time, it appears that during the first half of the tribulation, the Antichrist, the coming world ruler, will establish his religion. And this system, this religious system, will incorporate all the main essentials of the various world religions. It's going to be a unified religious system. It's going to pave the way for a false sense of peace. That's how it's going to take place. But at the midpoint of tribulation, Antichrist will destroy the false religious system. We saw that in chapter 17, verse 16, where it says the ten horns, which you saw on the beast, these will hate the harlot. That's a religious system. Make her desolate and naked, eat her flesh and burn her with fire. So in the middle of the tribulation, Antichrist destroys a false religious system. Now his religious system has incorporated the major essentials of all world religions. That enabled people of different faith traditions to live in peace. Jews rebuild the temple. Muslims coexist as do other faith systems. But Christianity, Christianity, as you read through the Revelation, has been excluded. Why? Because Christians worship Christ, our Messiah. And because Christians refuse to conform to his system, Christians will be persecuted to the death. In Revelation 17, verse 6, that verse speaks of the religious system that is drunk with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. Now in the middle of the tribulation, Antichrist will break his covenant that he has with the Jewish nation. He's tired of using the false system. He now expects the world to worship him alone. In the Old Testament book of Daniel, chapter 9, verse 27, speaking of Antichrist, it says that he will confirm a covenant with many for one seven. That seven is a seven-year period for seven years. In the middle of the seven, he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And at the temple, he will set up an abomination that causes desolation until the end that is decreed is poured out on him. Daniel 11, 36, speaking of the Antichrist called the king or the willful king. It says the king will do as he pleases. He will exalt and magnify himself above every God and will say unheard of things against the God of God. He will be successful until the time of wrath is completed for what has been determined must take place. So Antichrist will destroy the false system and will replace it with the world worshiping him. He will destroy mystery Babylon as we saw in chapter 17, but he makes worship of him mandatory. Paul in 2nd Thessalonians, chapter 2, verse 4 in the New Testament said that he'll oppose and exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped so that he sets himself up in God's temple proclaiming himself to be God. So at this point, his religious system is absorbed into what has been called his commercial empire. Religion is not abolished, but is now directed only to the Antichrist. So as we look at chapter 18, we're going to be looking at his commercial empire. And that chapter gives us insight into the destruction of the last and the greatest human empire. Today, we're going to be looking at commercial Babylon. Now notice some verse one here in chapter 18, where it says, after these things, I saw another angel coming down from heaven. So after these things indicates that this is a later revelation. It's later than the one that we saw in chapter 17. Again, in chapter 17, we had a look at mystery Babylon, the great harlot. Mystery Babylon speaks of that system that dominates the world during the tribulation, it's economic and political. And it's a religious system that is established by Antichrist. And so as we looked at chapter 17, we saw the religious aspect mystery Babylon, chapter 18 speaks of the commercial quality and how God will destroy it. Again, in chapter 17, mystery Babylon is identified as a religious system that influences the world. She was sitting on many waters, which verse 15 of chapter 17 identified as people and nations. And that identified the religious system as having worldwide influence. So mystery Babylon is a system influencing the world in chapter 17. But as we get into chapter 18, chapter 18 refers to Babylon as a city five times. You'll see it in verse 10 and 16, verse 18, 19 and 21. So that makes us believe that it's the city of Babylon that is being spoken of literally. And that Babylon will be Antichrist's headquarters. Now I'm going to develop this a little bit further for you. In the Old Testament, there are prophecies that speak of the destruction of Babylon. Isaiah 13, 19 through 22 says, and Babylon, the jewel of the kingdom, the glory of the pride of the Chaldeans will be overthrown by God like Sodom and Gomorrah. She will never be inhabited or settled from generation to generation. No nomad will pitch his tent there. No shepherd will rest his flock there. But desert creatures will lie down there and howling creatures will fill their houses. Ostriches will dwell there. Wild goats will leap about. Hyenas will howl in her fortresses and jackals in her luxurious palaces. Babylon's time is at hand, and her day will not be prolonged. In the book of Jeremiah chapter 50 verse 13, it says, because of the Lord's anger, she will not be inhabited but will be completely desolate. All who pass Babylon will be appalled. They will scoff because of all her wounds. And then in the same chapter, Jeremiah 50 verse 39, he goes on to say, desert creatures and hyenas will live there. There the owl will dwell. It will never again be inhabited or lived in from generation to generation. So the prophecy of the complete destruction of Babylon has yet to be fulfilled. Babylon exists today. In 1983 Saddam Hussein ordered the rebuilding of Babylon. The site was open to tourists in in 2009, but there's really not much left to see. In 2019 UNESCO branch of the United Nations designated Babylon as a World Heritage Site. There's a commentator by the name of Henry Morris Hussein. He wrote about Babylon in his book The Revelation Record. And in his book Morris spoke of the work being done to rebuild ancient Babylon. And this is what he said. He said, never has a great world city had such a meteoric rise as new Babylon and never will one experience such a cataclysmic in total fall. Babylon on the Euphrates has lain dormant and foreboding for centuries. But mighty Babylon is not really dead. Suddenly it will rise once again. Under the impact of overwhelming geopolitical needs it will be authorized and implemented by the unprecedented building program undertaken by the federal Ten Kingdom Empire of the West. Then pushed to dynamic completion by the beast antichrist. Finally it will be inaugurated as the great world capital of the beast who will have become king of all the kingdoms of the globe. There's a man by the name of Joel Rosenberg and he has a blog and he wrote skeptics and cynics abound to be sure. But the fact is Babylon is being rebuilt right now in part with U.S. taxpayer funds. Iraqi leaders hope that eventually millions of tourists will come to visit and real progress is being made. Consider the June of 2009 edition of Stars and Stripes a U.S. military publication. They had a fascinating story that was headlined U.S. Iraqi experts developing plan to preserve Babylon build local tourism industry. Babylon under Antichrist will be rebuilt and become the capital city of this empire. So as a capital it'll be the center of his commercial empire. Now over the years of the tribulation Babylon has grown in prestige and influence. During the tribulation warnings to the world including to Babylon are given of a coming judgment. Remember we've seen 144,000 evangelists. We've seen two witnesses. We've seen converts and an angel and they're proclaiming the everlasting gospel. As we saw chapter 14 in the tribulation an angel cried out of Babylon's destruction. We saw in Revelation 14 8 how he said fallen fallen is Babylon the great she who made all the nations drink of the wine of the passion of her immorality. While the angel was crying out the certainty of judgment a judgment that was soon to come. You see this call for repentance fell on deaf ears. The majority of the world hearing it still rejects it. In Revelation 16 9 we saw men were scorched with great heat. They blasphemed the name of God who has power over these place and they did not repent and give him glory. People don't repent. They hear the message. They don't want to hear it. They don't want to believe it. They don't want to act on it and that's taking place now but that also takes place in the last days. That's going to take place in during the the tribulation. There'll be so many opportunities to turn to Christ. God is still sending messengers and telling people come to faith turn away from your wickedness but they refuse to do that. We'll see this in just a moment in more detail here in chapter 18. But the call for repentance falls on deaf ears. The majority of the world don't want to hear anything. So we saw already that that judgment on mystery Babylon but we're going to see now the judgment on what is called commercial Babylon. And so when he says again in verse 1 after these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven well that informs us that this is a new vision speaking of commercial Babylon. Another angel differentiates this angel from the one that we saw in chapter 17 verse 1. This may be the angel spoken of in Revelation 14 that was crying out Babylon is fallen. It's a very powerful angel. One who's going to do a great work for the Lord and that's made clear by the statement of the illumination of the earth by its glory. Remember in the fifth bold judgment anti Christ throne in kingdom had been darkened. This bright light now shocks and even terrifies those who see it. And so he says in verse 2 and the and he cried mightily with a loud voice saying Babylon the great is fallen is fallen and has become a dwelling place of demons a prison for every foul spirit a cage for every unclean and hated bird. And so when he cries out is fallen is fallen that speaks of a sudden and complete action. What had been spoken of in chapter 14 is finally and completely fulfilled. Now we saw the bold judgments and we saw the seventh judgment speaking of Jerusalem and Babylon in Revelation 16 19 it said great Babylon was remembered before God to give her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath while Babylon is now fallen. And when it says Babylon is fallen is fallen that could speak of two separate stages. It could reveal two aspects of the fall of Babylon. Her false religious system as well as her commercial system. Now the events of chapter 18 are going to be taking place during the last half of the seven-year period of the tribulation. Again it seems that the first three and a half years are consummated at the destruction of mystery Babylon. That religious system will no longer be necessary. The world church will be destroyed in favor of a world honor of the antichrist. And so at the end of the first three and a half years of the tribulation mystery Babylon is dealt with but in the second half political or commercial Babylon is also dealt with. Now notice again in verse two that it has become a habitation of demons a prison for foul spirits and hated birds. In chapter nine spoke of demons that were released at the abyss in the fifth trumpet. It spoke of 200 million demons being released in the sixth trumpet. Now these demons would also include those who were cast out of heaven with satan in chapter 12 and all other demons on the earth. So Babylon has become a habitation notice of prison as a cage for demons and for unclean or hated birds. Now you see this in Isaiah 14 22 and 23 where God said I'll rise up against them declares the Lord almighty. I will cut off from Babylon her name and survivors her offspring and descendants declares the Lord. I will turn her into a place for owls and into a swamp land. I will sweep her with the broom of destruction declares the Lord almighty and so he's speaking concerning this now how it's become this a prison. In verse three all the nations have drunk the wine of the wrath of her fornication. The kings of the earth have committed fornication with her. The merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury. Now this judgment comes on Babylon because of the total wickedness of her inhabitants. Her religious political and commercial dealings have polluted the world and the people have become rich through them. She's become the merchandising capital of the world filled with greedy exploiters. The wealth accumulated by the apostate church is taken over by the political system and her commercial enterprise has made many greedy and materialistic people extremely rich. The merchants of the earth become rich through the abundance notice of her luxury. So this temptation to become rich this temptation for extreme riches has seduced them into yielding their very souls to this system. In 1st Timothy Paul had written but people who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. The rich man is asked how much is enough and he says a little bit more. There's this eyes of man are never satisfied. We have a little bit but we want a lot. Well that spirit is going to be completely blossoming during the time of Antichrist and commercial Babylon is going to be utilized for a lot of people to become extremely extremely rich and they're going to become full of abundance. In verse 4 it says, I heard another voice from heaven saying come out of her my people lest you share in her sins and lest you receive of her plagues. Come out of her. There's a call for people to come out to come out. Now notice he says I heard another voice another voice of the same kind in other words this the speaker is an angel but it's making a call come out of her my people. So that's a call for God's people to reject and flee from antichrist system. I've been asked this question in the past and the answer will be this they'll say are people going to get saved in the tribulation and the answer is yes it's been said that the tribulation period will be one of the most incredible times of awakening that there'll be so many people coming to faith in Christ. Again there are 144,000 spirit-filled witnesses preaching the gospel 144,000 Billy Graham types. There'll be the two witnesses who who perform miracles and are protected by the Lord and they're preaching. They have that angel that is flying with the everlasting gospel. You have people who have been saved who are taking their very lives into their hands and tell people about the salvation that's been given to them through Christ. So there'll be many people who are coming to faith and many of the converts are going to be martyred. They're going to be martyred because remember during this time there's going to be a system a marking system it's called we call it the mark of the beast and there are going to be many who are martyred because they refuse to take the mark. I've had people say to me well you know I want to live for now I want to see what's going on and and I won't take the mark so I slap them so that's it's not true if you can't live for Christ now what makes you think you'll die for him then you're not going to of course you're going to take that mark you have to be aware of these things because there are going to be people who aren't converted in and they will be martyred there's going to be a time of great martyr again martyred them you know that the the false system is drunk on the blood of the martyrs there are many martyrs people who are dying they're going to be people who are tempted by their family and their friends they're going to say you need to take it we don't want you to die what's a big deal it's not really a mark that matters at all you need to buy you need to sell they're going to kill you and they're going to be pressuring their family and and they're going to say you need to take that mark there's going to be a lot of economic pressure and they may begin to feel at that time I I have to take it if I don't take that mark I'm not going to survive my kids aren't going to eat you know there's so much pressure and all of that but what does the bible say well they're called believers are called to flee from her come out of her is what it says flee from her don't share in her sins now it's interesting when you read this in verse four come out of her my people lest you share in your sins unless you receive of her plagues that reminds me of something Paul says in 2nd Corinthians chapter 6 verse 17 where Paul wrote therefore come out from them and be separate sayeth the Lord touch no unclean thing and I will receive you that's something we're already called to right now come out of that system you know the church I was mentioning the first service the word church in the original language in greek it's called koine greek the word church is ecclesia ecclesia literally means the called out ones the church has been called out we're called out of the world we are in the world but we are not of the world we're here but we're salt and we're light we're not supposed to partake in the things of the world but rather we're supposed to share with the world that there's an answer that you don't need to think that these are the things that will fulfill your life that's something greater is possible through christ that's what we do when we preach the gospel we tell people you can buy things you can have so many things many cars nice homes and all of that and who's to say there's anything wrong with that at all it's nothing wrong with that give me one of your cars i i love you but it it's the worship of those things it's making that the center of your whole life it's the system that denies the reality of god and rewards that come through following christ and says your your greatest moment is now get as much as you can now but the bible says here and it says in second Corinthians come out be separate you see by not participating in her sins they're not going to receive her punishment and these judgments would be specific judgments judgments that are brought on Babylon now in verse five it says her sins have reached to heaven god has remembered her iniquities this is an interesting verse when it says her sins have reached that word reached in the original language is a word that could be used speaking of piling up bricks and it's actually a picture or a reminder of the tower of babel how that that tower was built to reach unto heaven and so what's being said here is her sins have been piled up like ricks to heaven and god is remembered her sins are piled up like a new tower of babel this time they have gotten god's notice in a special way they didn't reach heaven because of anything other than the fact that god has noticed what they're doing in other words god doesn't forget their sins and god is judging them in the book of Jonah remember that book of the reluctant prophet and he was called to preach to Nineveh in Jonah chapter one verse two god it said arise go to Nineveh that great city cry against it and he went on to say for their wickedness has come up before me it's a way of saying god has remembered their wickedness has come up before me and so he goes on to say in verse six render to her just as she has rendered to you and repay her double according to her works in the cup which she has mixed mixed double for her and so this angel is speaking and the angel is not speaking to john the angel is speaking to the judge he's he's speaking to god himself and this is what he's saying he's saying there needs to be swift and just judgment in keeping with their bloody persecution of the saints that's been called keeping with the principle of fair and proportionate justice eye for an eye tooth for a tooth that's proportionate justice and so when he speaks concerning rendering that word render means to give back that which is due they have sown and therefore may they reap in Psalm 137 8 and 9 it says oh daughter of Babylon doomed to destruction happy is he who repays you for what you've done to us he who seizes your infants dashes them against the rocks she considered herself invulnerable may her judgment be swift and severe it says in verse 7 in the measure that she glorified herself and lived luxuriously in the same measure give her torment and sorrow for she says in her heart i sit as queen and am no widow and will not see sorrow so she says in her heart i i sit as the queen she glorifies herself instead of glorifying god she indulges her flesh and she's arrogant so give to her in the same measure in other words give her torment give her sorrow and by the way that would be a description of how in verse 8 it says therefore her plagues will come in one day death and mourning and famine and she will be utterly burned with fire her strongest the lord god who judges her her plagues come in one Babylon's destruction is not going to be progressive it's not going to just slowly but surely be judged it's going to be sudden the city is going to be instantly destroyed think for a moment of anything that you've ever seen any history on the history channel or in school the the the films of Nagasaki and Hiroshima and how you see the the bomb explode and you see as it just generates all of that energy it's in a moment it's just gone and that's the picture that is given to us here it's something that happens instantly it's not it's not something that progressively is going to happen it's going to fall now she is boasting she boasts it of her glory she boasts it of her luxury but she loses it in an instant death mourning and famine hit her and in the end she's destroyed verse 8 for strong is the lord god who judges her for strong is the lord god what god is determined to do he will do and no one can stop him again it's like in Job 42 verse 2 I know that you can do all things no purpose of yours can be thwarted and so he's speaking of this instant destruction and then verse 9 the kings of the earth who committed fornication and lived luxuriously with her will weep and lament for her when they see the smoke of her burning standing at a distance for fear of her torment saying alas alas that great city babble and that mighty city for in one hour your judgment has come and the merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her for no one buys their merchandise anymore merchandise of gold in silver precious stones and pearls fine linen and purple silk and scarlet every kind of citron wood every kind of object of ivory every kind of object of most precious wood bronze iron and marble and cinnamon and incense fragrant oil and frankincense wine and oil fine flour and wheat cattle sheep horses and chariots and bodies and souls of men the fruit of your soul the fruit that your soul long for has gone from you and all the things which are rich and splendid have gone from you and you shall find them no more at all those are cheery words huh now notice first nine how they see the smoke of her burning and cry and they lament they lament at her sudden destruction in one hour in other words quickly in one hour the mighty city has undergone sudden and complete devastation isaac 13 6 and 7 says well for the day of the lord is near it will come like destruction from the almighty because of this all hands will go limp every man's heart will melt in verse 11 it speaks of the merchants of the earth how they're weeping and mourning why because no one's buying from them anymore their riches their opulent lifestyles have come to an immediate and crashing halt they are immediately bankrupt they lose every single thing in a moment that they valued they were oblivious to and completely opposed to placing things in heaven they they didn't care about a relationship with god it's what jesus said in matthew 6 19 and 20 where he said do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal what you have taken a lifetime to accumulate can be gone in a moment anybody who invests in stock in stock exchange and all of that you know that anybody who puts a lot of money and puts all their stock on stock they they they discover that that the the stock market goes up and it goes down you can you can become rich in a moment and you can be broken a moment and that's why jesus taught us not about the stock market so much but as to what really value what we should really value what we should really desire and what he said you really should desire is something that is permanent something that is in heaven not things on the earth he says you can have gold and you can have clothing but rust rust and moth will destroy those things lay your treasures in heaven why because where your your heart is there share your treasure also be and so that's what he teaches that's what jesus taught but these people did not do that these people are making so much money they couldn't believe it and the swift destruction of babbling stuns them the real over what has happened all of the luxury items that they had are gone when you read verses 12 through 14 that's a list of luxury items that were sources of immense wealth these items give us a picture of opulence and the luxury that they that they live with but what's interesting is when you see all of these things in verse 13 notice cinnamon and incense fragrant oil frankincense wine oil fine flour wheat cattle sheep horses chariots all of those are things that very rich people had and they market in but notice what else bodies and souls of men trafficking they trafficked in human beings slavery even today as we see the trafficking of human beings even at this time there's still trafficking going on even right now throughout this world throughout this world and what's happening is they made money off of people not only all these goods but they also made money off of people and they also basically seduced the souls of men this is simply a partial picture of gaining all that the world has to offer them Jesus said something about that in Matthew 1626 when he said what will a prophet a man if he gains a whole world for fits his soul what shall a man give in return for his soul while their god was materialism its cost was the souls of men they prostituted themselves listen guys we're in the 21st century we see this as being something even around us right now maybe not to the degree that it will be in the very last days no but we see it already this already happens this is already in existence these people prostituted themselves for materialism there was a greed within them that that drove them on we know that today and i didn't take the time to to to get any stats on this but we all know this already that billions today are made billions are made from the sale of alcohol billions are made through gambling and prostitution billions are made through the sale of pornography and and illegal drugs and today we are seeing the fruit of human trafficking and we're seeing the destruction well this is something that is going to come to full bloom during this period notice verse 15 the merchants of these things who became rich by her will will stand at a distance for fear of her torment weeping and wailing and saying alas alas that great city that was clothed and fine linen purple and scarlet and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls for in one hour such great riches came to nothing every shipmaster all who travel by ship sailors and as many as trade on the sea stood at a distance and cried out when they saw the smoke of her burning saying what is like this great city they threw dust on on their heads and cried out weeping and wailing and saying alas alas that great city in which all who had ships on the sea became rich by her wealth for in one hour she's made desolate and so they see this taking place and they're weeping and they're moaning and it's interesting how it speaks of them standing at a distance weeping they weep and they mourn but it's not out of sympathy that it's not because people have died in this terrible thing no it's because they lost their riches that their sources of material luxury and pleasure are gone and it's gone in an instant when it speaks in verse 17 of the shipmaster those who travel by sea and all these are the ones who made their living transporting luxury items and again in a moment they're gone and what is their responsibility says they throw dust on their head they cry out they lament it's all gone and as they're doing this verse 20 rejoice over her oh heaven and you holy apostles and prophets for god has avenged you on her now the believers in heaven are actually encouraged to rejoice why because god has answered the prayer god has avenged you on those who martyred you so instead of weeping over this rejoice that god has heard you and then finally verse 21 then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea saying thus with violence the great city of Babylon shall be thrown down and shall not be found anymore the sound of harpists musicians flutists and troubadours shall not be heard in you anymore no craftsmen of any craft shall be found in you anymore and the sound of a millstone shall not be heard in you anymore the light of a lamp shall not shine in you anymore and the voice of bridegroom and bride shall not be heard in you anymore for your merchants were the great men of the earth for by your sorcery all the nations were deceived and in her was found the blood of prophets and saints and of all who were slain on the earth so finally verse 21 another strong angel throws a millstone into the sea and a millstone is very heavy and it will just drop and sink immediately and so like that millstone sinking instantly Babylon in an instant will also disappear notice it says no one will be making music no one will be working a job no one will be making food the city is going to be completely dead it's abandoned it's empty it's destroyed there will be no more falling in love no more getting married it's all gone forever why is that well because you're great and wealthy men were materialists and heartless they used their wealth to abuse others and were in love with power and prominence and second by your sorcery you deceived the world your occult influence blinded people from the gospel of jesus christ so i'm going to share with you just a couple minutes about this is we're about to close sorcery in the in the time of of the new testament writing in the old testament also you'll find the word sorcerer the sorcerers in the old as well as the new were were those who who um who would use drugs they used drugs in the um in the different kinds of uh ceremonies that they have and sometimes the sorcerer would drug somebody as they were taking control of their mind and they would use the drugs to do that and and it would alter their perception of reality and so the word sorcery is actually the greek word pharmakia and the word pharmakia is where we today get the word pharmaceutical and so the word sorcery is not just in reference to occult practices though it does refer to that but it is also speaking of drug use and so drug use according to glacial's chapter five is a work of the flesh it speaks of sorcery there but it's not simply a cult that is speaking about speaking of recreational use of of a drug in order to alter your perception of reality and so as a christian you know i'm aware that drugs are forbidden of the lord to be used with the voluntary altering of my perception it's something that i'm not to to be involved in when i first got saved i had a friend of mine who was you know telling me well you know what you know drugs are okay you know god created weed we used to call it herb this is a long time ago maybe i have some gray hairs in here i might remember that we called it we called it herb and one of my friends said wait a minute the bible says that god created the herb and that it's good like it was dope right like it was marijuana and i said are you telling me that god this i was a brand new christian when i said this are you telling me that god created dope so i could get loaded is that what you're saying that the herb is he was speaking of marijuana is that what you're saying he goes yeah god created it i said listen god created poison ivy but i don't use it as toilet paper so come on i mean i'm not a brand new christian that just didn't make sense to me then it doesn't now are you kidding me you know just because it was created doesn't make it good just because it's part of nature doesn't make it good and just because it's part of nature now doesn't mean it was originally intended for the use that we find ourselves using it in our day you just can't make that argument but people voluntarily will use drugs to alter their perception and i was sharing this with first service and i i actually was a little reserved when i did so but i'll say it's second to um simply because it was it was true in my testimony which is this before i got saved you know as a young person from the age of 17 till i was 20 many of you know my testimony i'm not going into it but i did use acid i i did like acid and so i used acid on occasion and when i used acid i liked it because it altered perception and one of the things that we were told back at that time some of you may be old enough to remember this and some of you remember it but you pretend you forgot because you don't want to admit you're so old but at that time we we would use it and we were told use it to alter reality use it to tune into the other we used to call spiritual things the other so you can tune into the other the other reality you know you know you remember the group the doors i'm i'm floating here we go um well the doors you know where they were called the doors they were called the doors because that was from algeos huxley's book the doors of perception and the doors would use that term the doors to speak about other world the experiences and things like that see so that was part of what i grew up with and that's part of what i knew and so to take acid was to open the doors of perception so that i could make a connection with the other with the other reality the spiritual truth that's out there and that's what was going on in the 60s and into 1970 and so drugs were used by not everybody but by some to try and connect with the supernatural eventually transcendental meditation came in and people said you can have the same kind of perception by doing tm but that's another study in future but that's what they said you don't need acid you can learn how to alter your perception reality and have something very similar to an acid trip and we can teach you how to do that through meditation so that was going on in the late 60s and into 70s i got saved in 1970 but i knew then and i know now i knew then that that could be a door to something else i know now that is forbidden by god it's forbidden by god if i want to connect with quote-unquote the other i come to him through jesus christ and he's not just a power he's a person and he has a relationship and he loves he's not just some energy out there in that you tap into through meditation he is a person who has a relationship with you who loves who actually has a demonstration of love by giving his son jesus christ well these people here are into the sorcery they were into that other experience of some sort they took the drugs they tried to perceive reality or the other in the supernatural and he said no he said it was by your sorcery that they were deceived and so sorcery has blinded you and then finally he says you martyred the believers in christ and for this you've been judged remember again in revelation six verse 10 how the martyrs said how long oh lord holy and true until you judge in avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth how long well in the judgment of babelon this prayer is answered now in a second in a moment it's gone it's done with there'll be merchants standing afar off weeping because they lost their source of income because for them greed and materialism and making so much money off of those who could hardly afford was what they liked is that possible i'll close it with a couple of thoughts do we really think that's true yeah the first house i ever bought first house i ever bought cost me 47 000 i'll let that sink in some of you young people here in california five hundred dollars a month house payment and i told my dad i can't believe this dad i'm spending five hundred dollars a month for rent and my dad says to me son one of these days you're going to be thinking that's not very much at all i said i hope i never see that day i see it i i see it now you can have a house that should be burned down the backyard just has dirt you you grow nice of dirt and that's about it and some weeds and you got a bathroom that's falling apart and you can sell that house for four hundred thousand dollars pretty easily right somebody's gonna walk up do you know where that's at i'll buy it you know four hundred thousand dollars did you ever think that would take place did you ever did you ever think that here in chino in chino not Beverly Hills we're talking about chino that houses would cost as much as they do i had somebody saying that i can't afford to live in chino really that's how much houses have gone up isn't that amazing right when's it gonna stop it will stop every bubble burst eventually but we already see that and i'm not gonna call a person who's a business person who's making money off our house i'm not i'm gonna call you greedy by the way i'm not i'm really not i find it interesting that the house that you buy for four hundred and fifty thousand dollars here you can go to texas and get a half acre two thousand square foot home i'm not telling you to but if you do you invite me over you know um you can get that for three hundred fifty thousand dollars a nice home i have a friend of mine who just bought a house in in i don't know it's a three thousand square foot house on a half acre or four hundred and fifty thousand dollars you know but homes we're watching we're watching things go up to the point where how are my children gonna buy a house like my my my son joseph and carina um they're living with us right now because they sold their home because they want to buy a home and they're out there in the homes are seven hundred eight hundred thousand dollars homes that last year would have been for four fifty five hundred five fifty maybe it's just exploding so we say to ourselves is is this true yes these things that we just looked at in versus 12 following those are all luxury items and these merchants who are shipping and these people who are selling these people were making money hand over fist they were rich but they were greedy and they were making money off of luxury items and even the sale of human beings and stealing of human souls is that possible absolutely absolutely and so god says or the word says to us rejoice because the judgment has finally fallen and commercial Babylon the financial political arm of antichrist kingdom one hour has been judged and the trauma of that is exceptional we'll close with that with one last word next week we get to see the return of jesus christ and that i'm looking forward to now after this after this and father we bless you and we thank you for your promises for your word is sure and we trust you and i would ask lord in jesus name that we would make sure where we stand with you because lord you say come out from her and lord i pray that every person who's listening to this message has come out from the world and have come to you separated from the world separated unto you but even as our eyes are closed and our heads are bowed perhaps there are some right now who haven't separated who haven't come to the lord yet this is an opportunity for you to do that as our eyes are closed and our heads are bowed if you need to get right with the lord you can do so if you're watching online or in one of the overflows you can do so if you need to get right with god right now before we close this service you can do do that right where you're at you can say god be merciful to me forgive me i want to be one of yours i want to come out of this and i want to be part of what you would have me to be i want to be changed i want my sins forgiven i want to connect with you and if you have that desire i want to pray for you and if you need that right now would you raise your hand let me pray for you right where you're at just raise your hand father you see these hands that are going up throughout this place right now in jesus name i asked that you would reach down and touch each person whose hand is raised to you father i pray that you would wash and cleanse and by your spirit you would settle within may their lives be forever changed from this moment on may they serve you and love you and lord may they be an open testimony of your grace we give to you praise for this now and we receive by faith thank you lord for jesus and we just receive by faith is forgiveness and may you enter into our life slide to every person whose hand is raised by your spirit thank you bless you you can put your hands down and jesus i pray keep moving in all of us to your glory in your name amen