 Okay, Revelation, Revelation chapter 17, I'll begin reading at verse 1, Revelation 17, and I'll read to verse 6, and we'll get into our study. Revelation beginning at verse 1 in chapter 17, then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and talked with me saying to me, Come I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication. So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemy having seven heads, ten horns. The woman was irate in purple and scarlet and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication. And on her forehead a name was written, mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and the abominations of the earth. And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her I marveled with great amazement. Now as we've already seen as we've been going through the book of Revelation not all the events recorded in Revelation are in what would be called chronological order. The events found here in this chapter in chapter 17 obviously occur chronologically prior to what are called the bowl judgments. So what we have in this passage is an introduction to mystery Babylon. Mystery Babylon is referred to as being the tool of the Antichrist. In the context of Babylon here in this passage Babylon is used as a picture of man's kingdoms on earth. In other words Babylon is more than simply speaking of a particular city in Iraq. It can also speak of something beyond just the identification of the name Babylon. For example when we speak of Hollywood we don't really refer to Hollywood simply as a city. When we speak about it you know that guy's gone Hollywood or they have Hollywood values. We're not speaking simply of a city. We are speaking of a movie industry. If we speak of Wall Street we're speaking really of commerce or the stock market. If we spoke about somebody who's involved in Madison Avenue we're speaking of advertising. So there are times that you will use the name of a city or a location as a generalization and in some ways we can be looking at Babylon in that way. When you speak of Detroit, Detroit once some of you are old enough to remember this. When you use the name Detroit you are speaking of the auto industry and somebody spoke of Detroit they're speaking of the auto industry. When you say Chino you're thinking of flies. I mean it's what it represents. Well mystery Babylon speaks of a system that will dominate the world during the tribulation. What it is and we'll see this in chapters 17 and 18 it is the economic, the political and the religious system that is established by Antichrist. Chapter 17 is going to refer to the religious aspect of mystery Babylon and chapter 18 will speak of its commercial quality and so tonight obviously in chapter 17 we'll be looking at the religious aspect of this system called mystery Babylon because chapter 17 is going to reveal something. Chapter 17 is going to reveal God's judgment on apostate religion and we'll look at that in some detail in just a moment. During this time Antichrist has allowed religion to continue as long as it suits his purpose. But now chapter 17 gives to us a picture of God judging a false religious system. Now in verses one and two again it says one of the seven angels who had the seven bolts came and talked with me saying to me come I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters many waters obviously representing many peoples with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with a wine of her fornication well what we have now is John being invited to see the judgment that God brings on false religion and and this false religious system is referred to and notice it's referred to as the judgment of the great harlot this great harlot who sits on many waters so that would refer to the incredible influence mystery Babylon has had on the world her influence in other words it's not simply during the tribulation but this is an influence of mystery Babylon that Jack actually can trace back much before the tribulation it's actually this influence that is coming to its culmination during the tribulation has actually been present throughout pretty much the history of man the influence of mystery Babylon the influence of mystery Babylon has already invaded all the nations of the world even as I am seated here in this room speaking to you about Revelation 17 we know that even at this moment the influence of mystery Babylon is influenced and invaded all the nations of the world it's a worldwide deception and and the heart of mystery Babylon and this mystery Babylonish religious system is a denial of the truth of scripture and in and is revealed in a replacing of scriptural truth with a lie of Satan Babylon has an ancient symbolism in scripture Babylon is mentioned in Genesis chapter 11 and all the way back in the first book of the Bible it is associated with rebellion and it is associated with confusion and when you think of Babylon in Genesis 11 obviously if you if you've read your Bible and read that portion you know it's speaking of the Tower of Babel and the confusion that took place where God had confused the tongues the languages of men because they had decided that they would choose to follow the astrological signs of heaven rather than the revelations of God and so it's all the way back in Genesis 11 this this mystery Babylon spirit as already referred to very early in the age of man it's an ancient false worship it's a spirit that has influenced religion throughout the ages and it continues to have influence even during the tribulation this influence of mystery Babylon is something we experience now Christianity is rapidly losing its impact in the world and has rapidly lost its influence in the nations of the West Great Britain is an example of that when you look at the history of missions and all you will see that in the history of Great Britain Great Britain in the 1800s especially and even prior to that but especially in the 1800s produced some of the finest and most dedicated missionaries this world has ever seen the Hudson tailors and Dr. Livingston's and and some of the greatest preachers like Charles Spurgeon all of them were were British preachers and missionaries if you if you spent some time looking even even a little bit at church history and and look at the church in its life there in Great Britain you'll see that it was once an incredibly powerful nation but I was reading that there are about 63 million inhabitants of what is called the United Kingdom today about 63 million and it is estimated that out of the 63 million population that you may have approximately one person was saying as as little as 1 million evangelical Christians evangelical now I was thinking about that as I was preparing this today because I used terminology very often that I naturally assume is just this language that all of us use but perhaps you you don't know what that word evangelical refers to so let me define it for you when I speak of an evangelical Christian an evangelical Christian is a person who's who is centered on the person of Jesus Christ an evangelical Christian is obedient to the Great Commission an evangelical Christian is committed to the gospel as set forth in the Bible an evangelical Christian is one who values a day-to-day personal life in Christ as well as witness for Jesus Christ and an evangelical Christian is one who labors for the Lord because that evangelical Christian anticipates the return of Jesus Christ and in Great Britain you have approximately 63 million people living in the United Kingdom and you have around a million who would fall under the category of evangelical believers in Christ which leaves quite obviously 62 million who do not have a relationship with God the nation that at one time sent missionaries throughout the world to proclaim the gospel who boasts some of the greatest preachers who have ever graced the pulpit to where it is today so the church is rapidly losing influence throughout the world when you go into Great Britain when you go into for example I've been into England and and when you're in London many of the churches that at one time were filled to over overflow are actually standing empty some of those churches I've seen have been transformed into and to dance halls they've been transformed into libraries or coffee shops restaurants some of them are simply landmarks today and others have been changed into mosques and that's in in Great Britain in England and that's in London and some of the city surrounding there are those in England today that are what are called neo pagans and the neo pagans are increasing a neo pagan is defined very often as an individual who practices Wicca or witchcraft and and even in England today there are people who are going back to the ancient practice of Druidism and that's there in England right now there is a hyper Pentecostal movement that has been in England and problem is it's infected a lot of the churches taking them away from the teaching of the word of God and into extravagant displays of flesh in Germany churches battle against the extremism of state-run churches and hyper Pentecostalism in in Germany you have liberal theology and you also have what would be called Holy Spirit extremism there are various TV preachers in Germany that actually have had an incredibly negative impact on the gospel of Jesus Christ in Germany and there was a time in Germany where on television people were actually being warned against what they refer to as American cultural Christianity so the Germans were being warned don't believe these Christians who are coming out here from the United States because they're bringing a bunch of nonsense to you mystery Babylon mystery Babylon is waiting in the wings to be fully exposed even now in the United States there are a lot of American churches that have what we call feel-good theology verse by verse studies are not the norm the Bible is disrespected rebellion exists concerning biblical authority I can I can tell you that right now stop on that one point and so I can tell you that right now I've had more than one discussion with people who who will differ with what the Bible has to say and it's based on their feelings and their emotions and if they don't feel good about it then they're going to argue with you there are their signs and wonders that are exalted there's a false love with no discernment and that false love is confused with the fruit of the of the Spirit grace has been twisted into permission to continue to sin just as last weekend when I was teaching in another church in another state I was sharing about the wonderful transforming power of the gospel of Jesus Christ do we all agree that the gospel changes lives I mean I was I was simply I was saying you know what the gospel of Jesus Christ changes life and I was just sharing a basic study a very basic study nothing deep and profound I don't have the capacity for that but I was giving a simple study God's word is true and when you have God's word and God's spirit working in a human life transformation happens and what you were at one time is what you were but are no longer basic if any man be in Christ is a new creation old things are passed away you hold all things are become new very basic and by way of illustration I shared how my sister Rebecca had lived in the homosexual lifestyle for many years just shared a general kind of how powerful God's transforming power is she serves the Lord down it was a praise report to the body of Christ how God forgives you of every sin but you need to repent and turn to him and when you do he transforms you very simple Bible teaching and a lady came up afterwards and wanted to chew me up she didn't get to me she got to the pastor of the church but she says I want to talk to you and him she has four children and is a lesbian and doesn't want to come to a church that has no tolerance and you're preaching hate and I don't want my children in a church like this this is the first time we've ever come and it's the last time we'll ever be here and so when the pastor begins to speak to her and says but the Word of God teaches that that lifestyle is sin turns to the scriptures and read the passage and says this is what it says she says I was raised a Baptist I know what the Bible says and she said this damn she said it's a sin like any other sin and God is merciful and he forgives sins and so her whole argument is I can remain in sin because God is merciful with no understanding of why Jesus died on that cross in the first place listen if you could go to heaven with just a few sins Jesus died in vain Jesus died to set you free from the bondage of sin and anticipated that when he saved you that you would understand that means that you're now born again and your life is transformed by the wonderful grace of God but because we live in a time where grace is looked at now as permission to continue in sin where you can go to church and hear a message that's just Bible and get so angry because it just doesn't agree with your opinion on life and God mystery Babylon it's called the great harlot as a harlot she has seduced multitudes but she's revealed as having no relationship to God but is in reality an apostate she is more than likely what we would call today an eclectic religious system I have a slide I want to show you very briefly you guys seen this mystery Babylon that's what I'm talking about it's right there you've got all these various symbols you know Islam pacifism that E stands for homosexual rights Judaism paganism is the eye Buddhism Taoism and Christianity and what you what you have is you have that mentality listen if you don't think it's here it's here it's here right now you've seen that bumper sticker it's all over let's just get along the great philosopher Paul McCartney one of the Beatles said this he said I pick bits out of all the religions so I like many things that Buddha say I like a lot of things that Jesus said that Muhammad said Paul McCartney that's a mentality that is out there today the New Testament contains warnings concerning this the time that we're living in and 1st Timothy chapter 4 verse 1 the spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons 2nd Peter 2 1 through 3 there were also false prophets among the people just as there will be false teachers among you they will secretly introduce destructive heresies even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them bringing swift destruction on themselves many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute in their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up their condemnation has long been hanging over them their destruction has not been sleepy we are warned in Scripture about this mystery Babylon spirit when Jesus is asked what is the sign of your coming and the end of all things the first thing he says remember I've quoted this to you Matthew chapter 24 take heed that you are not deceived that's the sign of the last days and that's what we're living in right now and so we're looking at this mystery this great harlot that is being described here in verses 1 and 2 in verse 3 it says he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemy having seven heads and ten horns the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication and so she is she is revealed as as sitting on notice a scarlet beast chapter 12 of Revelation verse 3 use that to describe Satan himself so this is Satan's religion in a wilderness when it's referred to when wilderness he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness the word wilderness is a picture of a lifeless religion it it's dry it has no no living water my people have committed two errors they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters and they have hewn for themselves cisterns broken cisterns that can hold no water God refers to himself in the book of Jeremiah as the fountain of living water Jesus had come unto me and drink and even as the scripture says out of your belly shall flow rivers of living water he told the woman at the well the woman of Samaria if you drink this water you will thirst again but if you drink of the water that I give to you you will never thirst again false religion listen carefully false religion always leaves you thirsty wanting something else that's what false religion does and so that's what is being described here in verse 4 her apparel is purple scarlet etc purple throughout scripture is a picture of royalty scarlet is a picture of redemption the golden precious stones refers to false blessings the golden cup filled with intoxicating drink is speaking of a false spirit she gives her followers wine in other words because it dulls their senses excites their passions and renders them unable to discern truth from error have you ever witnessed to somebody who's drunk have you how many of you have how to curiosity I have I've been drunk and someone's witness to me and and it's just you just it's just kind of like stupid conversation because there's there's no communication taking place and so the enemy that's that's a picture of what she does she intoxicates you so it's senseless and it's dull it makes no sense her religious system is that way but she's described here as a seductress so she's causing people to get drunk but as she does so she's actually robbing them she's robbing them it says in verse 5 on her forehead a name was written mystery Babylon the great the mother of harlots and the abominations of the earth so when it speaks in that way on her forehead outwardly she is beautiful and I shared this with you before and you'll see something in just a moment there is what is called a beautiful side of evil in and I like that term it's a it's a it's a very rich term the beautiful side of evil the enemy never reveals himself to you in all his hideousness he will always disguise himself as an angel of light so there's a beautiful picture of evil there are a lot of people who think that evil has a beauty to it because the enemy disguises the evil but doesn't give to you a full picture so the commercials on TV show this this person with the six pack drinking beer when in reality his belly is a case or a keg or or or you're always so sophisticated smoking that cigarette aren't you you're just so cool so cool blowing smoke rings you know how madly you know but they don't show you 40 years later with a hole in your throat so you can breathe they don't show you that way they don't show you with diseases and and getting you know amputation sometimes that are actually direct causes of nicotine addiction they don't tell you how much money you're going to spend over the next 30 years on cigarettes when I smoked and I did smoke for a few years when I smoked cigarettes at that time were 25 cents a pack I don't know what they are now but I know they're not 25 cents a pack and so if anybody here knows how much they are start multiplying a pack a day multiply that over 30 years and you get an idea of what I'm trying to say it's just an amazing amount of money that is spent on something that is day by day killing you day by day killing you and killing others around you the fact but it's never presented that way is it because when you see it in movies it's always cool you know fornication oh no that's just making love or that's just in your so and while though it's it's going to be okay but they don't show you AIDS they don't show you herpes they don't they don't show you the results of these they don't they don't show you the the syphilis and venereal warts and the variety of things that occur when you're just casually having sex and the and the multitude of abortions the children that have been been been put to death their mama's wounds out of convenience they don't show you that you're not going to be told that you're not you're not going to that's not going to be told to you that's really not it's not there's a beautiful side to evil don't forget it don't forget it seduction seduction is telling somebody something that they know that person wants to hear in order to get something that they want from them that seduction and mystery Babylon is seduction and people are following this particular spirit now when it's referred to as mystery that would speak of it being a magic religion it's a cultic it could include things like trying to speak to the dead that's necromancy or sooth saying even astrology Babylon when you see Babylon again that harkens back to the city that was founded by Nimrod in the in the book of Genesis now in verse six notices I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus now notice when I saw her I marveled with great amazement that's what I'm talking about when I say evil has it can have a an effect even on strong believers John is dazzled by her even though she's being revealed as a savage beast that destroys Christians I was watching a history special a few days ago and it just so happened that it was a special related to the early church and the commentator was speaking concerning Caesar Nero how that Nero instituted the first persecution against the church and how that Nero had a hatred for Christians a hatred it's historically a fact this was not a Christian program this was on the Discovery Channel so you can't say that they had a bias of any sort they're just reporting the facts and he said Nero this guy who was speaking said Nero hated Christians so much that he would actually stand and watch them as they were beaten to death he would stand with pleasure and they had an enactment where a woman because a lot of women were beaten to death and martyred in the early church and this woman's hands are tied over her her head well some Roman they called them the the Lictor Ally CTOR they had a cane and they beat until you died and the blood is splattering all over and Nero's just smiling and that's an historical fact I mean that actually happened and from the time of Nero even prior to that was Steven the first martyr there were persecutions unto the death and historically that has happened and and John is seeing this and yet as he sees this as one who is drunk with the blood of the martyrs basically when he sees her he says in verse 6 I marveled with great amazement but notice verse 7 the angel said to me why did you marvel I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her which has the seven heads and the ten horns he receives a rebuke again apostate religion has a beauty and a seductiveness to it and now it's explained verse 8 the beast that you saw was and is not and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition and those who dwell on the earth will marvel whose names are not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world when they see the beast that was and is not and yet is here is the mind which has wisdom the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits are also seven kings five have fallen one is the other has not yet come when he comes he must continue a short time the beast that was and is not is himself also the eighth and is of the seven and is going to perdition the ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet but they receive authority for one hour as kings with the beast these are of one mind and they will give their power and authority to the beast these will make war with the lamb and the lamb will overcome them for he is lord of lords and king of kings and those who are with him are called chosen and faithful he said to me the waters which you saw which the harlot sits are peoples multitudes nations and tongues the ten horns which you saw on the beast these will hate the harlot make her desolate and naked eat her flesh burner with fire for God has put it into the hearts to fulfill his purpose to be of one mind and to give their kingdom to the beast until the words of God are fulfilled and the woman whom you saw is that great city which reigns over the kings of the earth so a beast is pictured here he ascends out of the bottomless pit he is the counterfeit messiah and notice how it says he was then he was not then he ascends well if we remember Revelation 9 that revealed Satan as ascending out of the pit and so the beast is of satanic origin and as chapter 13 revealed Satan gives him his throne and his power the result is going to be that the world will marvel and follow after the antichrist now in verse 8 when it speaks of the ungodly that those those are the ones the ungodly are the ones whose names are not written in the book of life those whose names are written in the book of life are believers he notice in verse 8 he mentions their names being written from the foundation of the world so it would seem that these names are not written down during the course of history but prior to creation and it may imply that these names are not erased now in verse 9 when he says here is the mind which has wisdom he speaks of seven heads that are seven mountains these mountains representing seven successive kings and their kingdoms mountains are commonly used in scripture to represent kingdoms authority as well as an empire in Jeremiah 51 25 as an example it reads I am against you oh destroying mountain when he said oh destroying mountain he was speaking of Babylon you who destroy the whole earth declares the Lord I will stretch out my hand against you roll you off the cliffs and make you a burned out mountain so mountain very often represents kingdoms he speaks in verse 10 of seven kings and when he speaks of that he's speaking of a succession of kingdoms now when you look into history we know that there've already been five great empires that have not only existed but they cease to exist you have the Egyptian the Assyrian the Babylonian the Medo Persian as well as the Grecian those are empires that have already existed the one that he speaks of that is would be the world government that existed during his day and the world government that existed during the day of John is Rome he speaks of an empire that is yet to come that would be the antichrist empire now this empire the seventh will not last long not compared to the other empires but what will happen is there will be a ten nation confederacy that it that is developed out of this confederacy will come the one who's going to be the leader the leader of that confederacy will be antichrist he himself according to verse 11 will be the eighth empire is it possible that a world ruler can actually come into existence today and we all answer that by saying yeah yeah it's very possible you already see the European Union you already see you know Euro dollars you go into into you know various places throughout the Western Europe and you use what is called the Euro dollar it's a European money system that's already in existence there's already a union that is established doesn't have ten nations at the moment has more than ten but eventually what you'll have occur is going to be the reduction till it's got a ten nation confederacy and out of that ten nation confederacy you're going to end up with somebody who's going to be a leader over it and that's basically what the bible says that's what it says there's going to be a vacuum that needs to be filled by a leader and the antichrist is the one that will fill that void and he himself according to verse 11 is going to be the the eighth empire now in verse 12 it says the ten horns which you saw are ten kings these these ten nations again are not in existence during john's time these are end time empires and what they're going to do is they're going to turn the power over to the antichrist and he will somehow affect three of the kings they will according to verses 13 and 14 they will go to war against the lamb imagine that for a moment they'll go to war against the lamb the lamb is a lion and like c.s lewis pointed out i believe it was c.s lewis aslan is not a tame lion the psalmist and psalm two said it like this verses one through six why do the nations conspire in the people's plot in vain the kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the lord and against his anointed one let us break their chains they say and throw off their fetters the one enthroned in heaven now this is interesting this is the only time in scripture that i find this interesting do you ever read that god laughs this is the only time it says the one enthroned in heaven laughs the lord scoffs at them then he rebukes them in his anger terrifies them in his wrath saying i have installed my king on zion my holy hill you can join all you want and you can raise your puny little fist into the face of god if you like but it my granddaughter stella a couple years old her mama got her crispy cream donuts today those are good so she ate one but she wanted another one and so my daughter was with one of the ladies in our church angie and angie said uh stella no you can't have that so stella being a good child that she is grabs the donut in her hand you can't have that she squashes it i can't have it you can't either and eats it and my daughter karin is not happy and i hear her lecturing her daughter i'm a grandfather so i go to the rescue it's only a donut and i walk in and karin's lecturing stella as she's watching all of this stuff off her face in her hands so stella sees me and says ah lucky break and she reaches out to me and so i give to her protection i hold her and i said and what's the problem stella she didn't speak yet nothing really everything's cool pops so i say to her mama what's up oh she just did this this this and that i said really i said isn't that terrible now she's being defiant towards her mom in reality she's just a baby what what power does she really have she can be defiant all she wants but mama still has control mama always does mama has control and that's just on a human level if you defy your earthly father or mom that's one thing but when you defy god himself that's crazy that's crazy that is crazy it really is to defy the god of the universe hey let's join forces and we'll go against him and the lord in heaven laughs are you kidding me you have no ability ability to resist me i've installed my king in zion messiah will reign no matter what you do and so with the anti christ putting together a religious system joining forces and developing a political system to resist the rule of god the lord in heaven scoffs and laughs and says that's not going to take place jesus christ is lord he shall rule and he shall reign and that's what we see in revelation chapter 17 jesus christ rules and he reigns