{"id":19005,"date":"2019-10-20T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-10-20T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/revelation-056-the-clash-of-the-titans-part-2\/"},"modified":"2019-10-20T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-10-20T05:00:00","slug":"revelation-056-the-clash-of-the-titans-part-2","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/revelation-056-the-clash-of-the-titans-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Revelation 056 – The Clash of the Titans (Part 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[111],"series_event":[490],"sermon_service_type":[472],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-19005","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-revelation","series_event-revelation","sermon_service_type-main-service","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Revelation 056 - The Clash of the Titans (Part 2)","sermon_date":"20191020","sermon_month":"10","sermon_year":"2019","sermon_notes":7160,"sermon_slides":7164,"sermon_mp3":7166,"sermon_id":"1020191416232405","series_or_event":490,"service_type":[472],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":111,"chapter_and_verse":"17:13-18","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nThe Clash of the Titans (Part 2)\n\nRevelation 17:13\u00a0 Lesson 56\n\nGood morning everybody.\u00a0 Let\u2019s take our Bibles if we could and open them to the Book of Revelation, chapter 17, and verse 13, trying to look as time permits at verses 13 through the end of the chapter today; we\u2019ll see if we can do that.\u00a0 The title of our message this morning is The Clash of the Titans (Part 2).\u00a0 As you know we\u2019re moving through the Book of Revelation, having come to the end of chapter 16 which is that final bowl judgment.\u00a0 And as that final bowl judgment is poured out upon the earth we learn of the destruction of the great city, named Babylon.\u00a0 Revelation 16:19 says, \u201cBabylon, the great was remembered before God to give her the cup of His fierce wrath.\u201d\n\nChapter 16 then logically leads into chapter 17 because in chapter 17 we read these words, verse 1, \u201cThen one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me, saying, \u2018Come here, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 The very angel that poured out the destruction on Babylon now begins to show John some special information about Babylon, temporarily interrupting the chronology in the Book of Revelation.\u00a0 This sort of non-chronological break has happened four times earlier in the book and now it\u2019s happening again, and that\u2019s why you get this extended treatment about Babylon, some of the most fascinating but probably misunderstood chapters in the whole Bible, here in chapter 17 verse 1, it\u2019s going to go all the way through chapter 18 and actually all the way through chapter 19 and verse 6.\u00a0 And once we finish chapter 19 and verse 6 then the sequence and the chronology will start up again and we\u2019ll have a record of the future, the second advent of Jesus Christ.\n\nSo we find ourselves in chapter 17 which has basically two parts to it; a vision concerning Babylon, verses 1-16 and then an interpretation concerning Babylon.\u00a0 Verses 1-6 we covered where we saw this seductive harlot prostitute seemingly riding upon and dominating an entity called the beast.\u00a0 And then what follows, about halfway through verse 6 to the end of the chapter, which is what the Bible typically does, it will interpret the vision for us.\u00a0 We\u2019ve seen an interpretation promised to John, he doesn\u2019t understand it at all, what is this woman, who is this woman riding on the scarlet beast.\u00a0 Who\u2019s the woman?\u00a0 Who\u2019s the beast?\n\nAnd from there, after he is wondering about this, puzzled about this, then what starts to happen in verses 8-14 is you start to get a description of the beast that the woman is riding on.\u00a0 Last time we began looking at that and we saw the beast; the beast, of course, is the coming antichrist who is sort of propelled into world domination one day, through the performance of a political ruler.\u00a0 He brings back an ancient world empire from the dead.\u00a0 It\u2019s kind of the way Adolf Hitler was worshipped and embraced because of his ability to bring back Germany from the brink of destruction and hyper-inflation and all of those things at the end of the World War I era into World War 2. But the beast also, it\u2019s interesting, doesn\u2019t just have a political miracle, he has a personal miracle, a personal resurrection from the dead.\u00a0 And we saw that last week and we saw how because of these two miracles the world system will wander after this beast.\n\nSo the beast is a future ruler that\u2019s coming but as you look at this woman on the beast, we\u2019ll speak of the woman a little later, but the woman on the beast has seven heads and ten horns.\u00a0 The seven heads, if you tracked with us last time, represent various anti-Semitic kingdoms which have come against the nation of Israel.\u00a0 These heads are on this particular beast because the beast that we\u2019re talking about is sort of the absorber, the composite if you will, of all of these anti-Semitic kingdoms that have come before.\u00a0 Five have fallen, Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia and Greece.\u00a0 One is, one was in existence when John had this vision in the first century (that was Rome), and one is yet to come.\n\nThe entity yet to come is this political miracle that the antichrist pulls off.\u00a0 He brings back from the dead this empire that wants to dominate the face of the earth, Ancient Rome, an empire that many, many people have tried to put back together, Napoleon, Charlemagne, you go back in history all of them have this ambition.\u00a0 But the future antichrist under satanic power actually pulls it off and that would be the entity yet to come.\u00a0 And the best I can tell that\u2019s the meaning of those seven heads on this beast, sort of a composite of everything that\u2019s evil and wrong in all of the previous empires handed down.\u00a0 In other words, the features of those prior empires always coming against the Jews, always coming against Israel, always coming against the things of God, that\u2019s what this future system is essentially going to be like.\n\nAnd then we moved to the discussion, we looked at verse 12, which I think is as far as we got last time, but we saw that this beast not only has seven heads, she has ten horns.\u00a0 And the ten horns we saw, verse 12, would represent basically the ten contemporaneous kings arising all at the same time with the antichrist.\u00a0 In other words, the antichrist will have working with him a ten king confederacy\u00a0 These are the ten horns of Daniel 7:24, and kings.\u00a0 And we made the point last time that this ten king confederacy is not just something that will arise out of a particular part of the world but ultimately Daniel 7:23 will devour the whole earth.\u00a0 [Daniel 7:23, \u201cThus he said: \u2018The fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on the earth, which will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth and tread it down and crush it.\u201d]\n\nAnd I find it very interesting that the Club of Rome, a one-world government promoting organization has the world divided into ten kingdoms or ten economic regions.\u00a0 And what they\u2019ve started in Europe they want to replicate in ten parts throughout the face of the earth.\u00a0 And it\u2019s interesting that they\u2019ve selected the number ten, not nine, not eleven, but ten.\u00a0 And I think there may be some twists and turns to go before the final form emerges and I\u2019m not saying it\u2019s going to look identical like this but I just find this a very interesting precursor.\u00a0 In other words the world, being ruled by a ten kings or kingdoms already apparently exists in the minds of fallen humanity.\u00a0 This is how the future or present movers and shakers of the world think.\n\nIn fact, at a prophecy conference or the teaching conference I was just at in Middletown Connecticut, there was a gentleman there by the name of Rob Comden, and he\u2019s written a book on Revived Rome, and Revived Europe.\u00a0 And so he has a lot of contact and some of the contacts in Europe have kind of pulled him aside and said everything in your book is accurate and when you want to update it just let us know because we can give you some inside information.\u00a0 He told me that the world divided into regions has always been in the thinking of these future or these present manipulators of the globe, and this, of course, would coalesce, it would be consistent with what our Bible teaches about the end times.\n\nSo the beast arises but the beast has working with him these ten kings or ten kingdoms or ten regions.\n\nAnd if you take a look at verse 13 we pick it up here and notice what it says in verse 13. \u201cThey\u201d that\u2019s the ten kings, \u201chave one purpose and they give their power and the authority to the beast.\u201d\u00a0 In other words, the beast is coming but he has with him, in submission to him, these ten kings.\n\nIt\u2019s interesting that the Book of Daniel has a detail that you don\u2019t find in the Book of Revelation.\u00a0 That\u2019s why you have to understand Daniel and Revelation together, Daniel being the basement, the Book of Revelation being the ceiling, that\u2019s why I decided to teach both books together.\u00a0 And Daniel 7:24 says this: \u201cAs for the ten horns out of this kingdom ten kings will arise and another will arise after them and will be different from the previous ones,\u201d that\u2019s our beast who rises from the dead, and notice what it says, \u201che will subdue three kings.\u201d\u00a0 So you\u2019ve got the world divided into ten and three of the kingdoms are noncompliant with the anti\u00adchrist.\u00a0 Seven are compliant with the antichrist.\u00a0 Seven are compliant, seven submit, three do not, so the antichrist has to in his route to power subdue three of the ten kings.\n\nSo people typically don\u2019t just take over things unless there is some opposition and in the antichrist rise to power over the entire globe, getting under his control the ten kingdoms, ten kings, ten regions, three seem to not cooperate with him so they have to be put down.\u00a0 They have to be subdued and in their place will be puppet kings that will this time submit to what the antichrist wants to do.\n\nYou know, it\u2019s interesting how good Satan is in putting puppet kings into existence.\u00a0 You\u2019ll find Babylon doing that, related to the final kings of Judah; they were to a large extent puppets of Nebuchadnezzar.\u00a0 That way Nebuchadnezzar could actually rule over Judah while the people thought that they were sort of an independent sovereign nation.\u00a0 And apparently this is what the antichrist must do with three of the seven, the remaining seven, cooperating with him.\n\nDwight Pentecost in his excellent book, Things to Come<\/em>, says this concerning the beast. \u201cIn gaining his authority three of the ten kings are overthrown.\u201d [Things to Come<\/em>, Page 321-22]\u00a0 So this is the piece of information that you see in Daniel that you don\u2019t find in Revelation.\u00a0\u00a0 Both talk about the ten kings but Daniel adds a little ingredient that you don\u2019t find in Revelation.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what\u2019s a lot of fun, if you will, about studying theology and in particular prophecy; you kind of feel like you\u2019re dealing with pieces on a jigsaw puzzle, this piece goes here, that piece goes there, at the end of the day all of the pieces sort of are connected to each other and you can kind of sit back and you can see a mosaic.\u00a0 The mosaic of what the pictures are supposed to look like you usually find on the box top; that\u2019s why you can cheat a little bit by looking at the box top first.\n\nBut this is a composite Scripture that the Holy Spirit has given concerning the end times.\u00a0 You\u2019re not going to find everything that there is to be known in the Book of Revelation.\u00a0 An awful lot is to be known there but other things must be supplemented through other parts of the Bible, such as the Book of Daniel.\u00a0 But what is the true character of this coming beast and specifically these ten kings?\u00a0 Take a look, if you will, at verse 14.\u00a0 \u201cThese\u201d the ten kings or kingdoms, \u201cwill wage war against the Lamb.\u201d\u00a0 [Revelation 17:14]\n\nThis is how you can determine the true nature of anything or the true nature of anyone.\u00a0 It\u2019s not so much do they speak a spiritual lingo, it\u2019s what is their position relative to Jesus Christ?\u00a0 You know, it\u2019s kind of interesting, you can do a lot of God talk with people, God this, God that, spiritual this, spiritual that, but you mention the J word, Jesus, and suddenly there\u2019s a dividing line.\u00a0 And consequently you can tell an awful lot about people by how they respond to Jesus.\u00a0 What do they mean by Jesus?\u00a0 What place do they give to Jesus?\n\nAnd in 1 John 4:3, John\u2019s other book, among others, he wrote Revelation and 1 John, he says this, 1 John 4:3, \u201cAnd every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist which you have heard that it is coming and now is already in the world.\u201d\u00a0 You want to determine the difference between the spirit of Christ and the spirit of antichrist?\u00a0 You want to determine where people are at spiritually and theologically?\u00a0 Just get into the true subject of Jesus Christ and you\u2019ll see the line of demarcation.\u00a0 You can see the wicked character of these ten kings because\u00a0 you\u2019ll notice verse 14 that they \u201cwill wage war against the Lamb.\u201d\u00a0 They\u2019re not just against Jesus but they are the types that will actually wage war against Jesus Christ Himself.\n\nIn fact, there is a reference to this a couple of chapters later in Revelation 19:19 and notice what it says there.\u00a0 \u201cThen I saw the beast\u201d that\u2019s the entity we\u2019re talking about, \u201cand the kings\u201d the ten king confederacy, \u201cof the earth and their armies gathered to wage war\u201d the Greek word for war there is polymos<\/em>, it\u2019s the opposite of irenic, irenah<\/em>, peaceful, there\u2019s the opposite word, it\u2019s war, it\u2019s where we get the word today polemical, warlike, \u201cThen I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered to wage war against the rider on the horse and His army.\u201d\n\nI mean, why is it that in the American school system today almost anything can be taught; there\u2019s almost no boundaries anymore, except Jesus Christ.\u00a0 The fact that everything and anything seems to be tolerated, except the Biblical revelation of Jesus Christ, that should be an indicator which side of the ledger the American school system is on.\u00a0 And I can run that litmus test with anything; I can run that litmus test with a church, with a person.\u00a0 The whole issue is what side of this conflict are\u00a0 you on?\u00a0 What saith you about this man, Jesus Christ?\u00a0 And a lot of people will just take the name\u00a0 Jesus and twist it into something that\u2019s not.\n\nIslam, for example, teaches\u00a0 oh, we believe in Jesus.\u00a0 Well what do you mean by that?\u00a0 What they mean by that is Jesus Christ is going to come back sort of as a sidekick and rule alongside under delegated authority some other deity.\u00a0 That\u2019s not what the Bible says.\u00a0 What the Bible says is right here, He\u2019s the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.\u00a0 You see that there in the second part of verse 14 which is a description on why these ten kings are on the losing side of history. \u201cThese will wage war against the Lamb<\/strong>,\u201d that\u2019s Jesus, \u201cand the Lamb will overcome them,\u201d why is that?\u00a0 Why is Jesus always going to win in the end?\u00a0 Why is it a foolish thing to oppose Jesus Christ?\u00a0 \u201c\u2026 because He is Lord of lords\u201d verse 14, \u201cand King of kings, [and those who are with Him are the called and chosen and faithful.\u201d\u00a0 Revelation 7:14 NASB]\n\nYou find these what we call superlatives; it\u2019s like saying the Holy of Holies. When you use the expression Holy of Hollies or Solomon in his book, The Song of Solomon uses the expression Song of Songs, Solomon wrote many songs and proverbs but he\u2019s saying this is the ultimate song.\u00a0 Holy of Holy is the ultimate holy place on planet earth; it\u2019s not a holy place, it\u2019s the<\/u> holy place.\u00a0 It\u2019s not a song, we\u2019re dealing with the<\/u> song.\u00a0 And here you have not just one superlative but two superlatives applied to Jesus Christ explaining exactly who He is.\u00a0 You guys aren\u2019t going to be ruling alongside anybody, HE is going to be the authority. HE is the way of salvation.\n\nThere\u2019s not one of many options that we\u2019re dealing with here; HE is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords and that\u2019s why these ten kings waging war against Him aren\u2019t going to get very far because you\u2019re dealing with the Creator and the Ruler and THE Redeemer of the universe, Jesus Christ.\u00a0 And fighting against Him is foolishness.\u00a0 And no doubt there are people within the sound of my voice in their lives, maybe to some extent even Christians going back into carnality and they\u2019re actually making decisions against Jesus Christ.\u00a0 They\u2019re fighting Jesus Christ.\u00a0 And what the Book of Revelation is explaining to us is that\u2019s a losing cause.\u00a0 I\u2019m sort of a path of least resistance type myself, why not just surrender now, since He is the ultimate authority that\u2019s coming?\n\nBut you see, their true nature explained here and as you look at verse 14 it\u2019s an explanation as to why they will lose this war.\u00a0 The word \u201cwar\u201d is used, verse 14, why are they going to lose this war?\u00a0 Because they\u2019re fighting against the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings and the called and chosen faithful.\u00a0 Now there\u2019s an argument here that Jesus, when He returns, is called and chosen but He is also coming back with His called and chosen holy ones or faithful ones.\u00a0 I mean, it would be one thing to fight just against Jesus Christ, you couldn\u2019t win that round at all, could you?\u00a0\u00a0 But He\u2019s coming back with the armies of heaven.\n\nJude verse 14 says, \u201cwith thousands and thousands of His holy ones.\u201d\u00a0 And who are those holy ones?\u00a0 Well, part of it is there are angels, Matthew 25:31 says, \u201c\u201cBut when the Son of Man comes in His glory,\u201d notice it doesn\u2019t say if He comes, \u201cWhen\u201d He comes, He\u2019s coming back, it\u2019s just a matter of time, \u201cBut when the Son of Man comes in His glory and all\u201d not some, \u201call the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne.\u201d So He is coming back with His angels and one angel of the Lord killed in the Book of Isaiah, I think it\u2019s in Isaiah 37 if I remember right, 185,000 Assyrians, one angel of the Lord.\u00a0 [Isaiah 37:36-37, \u201cThen the angel of the Lord went out and struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians; and when men arose early in the morning, behold, all of these were dead. [37] \u00a0<\/sup>So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and ]<\/sup>returned home<\/em> and lived at Nineveh.\u201d\u00a0 2 Kings 19:35, \u201cThen it happened that night that the angel of the Lord went out and struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians; and when men rose early in the morning, behold, all of them were dead.\u201d\u2019]\n\nThink if the return of God Himself is accompanied by myriads of angels, armies of heaven, what chance would a person have in that battle?\u00a0 No chance at all!\u00a0 And by the way, if you are a Christian, if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ and you have been made a part of that church you are coming back with Him.\u00a0 We are returning WITH Him to subdue the earth and to rule and reign.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because He needs our help?\u00a0 NO! \u00a0He gives us the privilege of participating in this final conflict and in this final battle.\n\nI like to call the present age training time for reigning time.\u00a0 Everything that\u2019s happening in your life is preparatory for that future role that you will have ruling and reigning alongside Jesus Christ because He gives us the privilege of that experience under\u00a0 His delegated authority.\u00a0 Revelation 5:10 is very clear concerning us as a kingdom of priests that we will reign with Him upon the earth.\n\n[Revelation 5:10, \u201c\u201cYou have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.\u201d]\n\nThere is so much talk within Christianity today about dying and going to heaven and there\u2019s really not enough talk about what is going to happen after we\u2019re with the Father in the Father\u2019s house for seven years.\u00a0 What then?\u00a0 Then we are returning with Him and subduing the earth with Him, and reigning alongside of Him; we are part of that vast army that comes against this ten king confederacy and deposes it.\u00a0 We have to understand who we are in Christ and we have to understand what our identity is.\u00a0 And we have to understand what our destiny is because the more you understand your destiny the more it shapes our behavior in the present.\n\nPaul says to the struggling Corinthians who were suing each other (can you imagine that), don\u2019t you know that the day will come when you will judge angels He says.\u00a0 If that\u2019s true then why can\u2019t you just work out the minor problems of this life given\u00a0 your identity, given your future authority, given who you are.\n\nSo we move away from the beast, the woman that\u2019s on the beast; you say well is this chapter about the woman or the beast.\u00a0 And the answer is yes, there\u2019s two entities here; the woman is riding the beast.\u00a0 We\u2019ve had a description of the beast.\u00a0 Who is the beast?\u00a0 The antichrist, the composite of the past anti-Semitic kingdoms of the earth and he has ten allies, a ten king, a ten kingdom, a ten region confederacy and he begins to deal aggressively with this woman that\u2019s seated on top of him.\u00a0 Now the woman is the city of Babylon in this vision.\n\nSo what you have in chapter 17 is a description of how Babylon falls.\u00a0 We know that the city of Babylon falls, we saw that in the seventh bowl judgment.\u00a0 What we don\u2019t know is how it falls.\u00a0 John himself didn\u2019t know exactly how Babylon was to fall, and so the angel kind of pulled him aside in these chapters and gives him information about this.\u00a0 And now we\u2019re starting to get details about the future destruction of the city of Babylon.\u00a0 Now we\u2019re not focusing on the beast so much as the woman that is on top of the beast.\u00a0 And so we can look at the woman\u2019s influence, verse 15, her destruction, verses 16-17 and then the verse that almost everybody chops and it\u2019s almost like it doesn\u2019t even appear in their Bibles.\u00a0 Verse 18 tells you exactly who her identity is.\n\nBut notice her influence; notice if you will Revelation chapter 17 and verse 15, \u201cAnd he said to me, \u201cThe waters which you saw where the harlot sits, are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues.\u201d\n\nNow when you go back to chapter 17 and verse 1 we already learned of this harlot sitting on many waters.\u00a0 You remember 17 verse 1, \u201cCome here and I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on the many waters.\u201d\u00a0 So you have a reaffirmation here of the fact that Babylon, the city of Babylon represented by this woman is seated on many waters.\u00a0 And when you read the Book of Rev you have to have the Old Testament ringing in your ear, because Babylon in the Old Testament in Jeremiah\u2019s prophecies concerning the destruction of Babylon on the Euphrates, described in all ways as a city dwelling on many waters.\n\nJeremiah 51:13, see Jeremiah 50 and 51 are about to be fulfilled here.\u00a0 Jeremiah 51:13 says, \u201cO you\u201d speaking of Babylon, \u201cwho dwell by many waters\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 Psalm 137 which you might recall is the most recent Psalm in the Psalter, if you\u2019re into Bible trivia we\u2019ve got 150 psalms, five books, organized into five books, the oldest Psalm is a psalm written by Moses, Psalm 90.\u00a0 The most recent Psalm is Psalm 137 written by the exiles when they were torn out of their homeland and brought 350 miles to the east, to this place called Babylon, and all they could do was weep.\u00a0 Everything that they had known had been destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, Jerusalem was destroyed, the temple was destroyed.\n\nAnd in this description as they\u2019re weeping there by Babylon they give this description of the waters of Babylon.\u00a0 Psalm 137:1 says, \u201cBy the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down and we wept when we remembered.\u201d\u00a0 When you come to Revelation 17 and you know a little something about Jeremiah\u2019s prophecies and you know a little something about the last Psalm in the Psalter, you can start to connect the dots as to why Babylon is associated with many waters as it is here in Revelation 17:15.\n\nBut now we get a description of what these waters represent.\u00a0 \u201cThen he\u201d that\u2019s the angel, \u201csaid to me, \u2018The waters which you saw where the harlot sits are peoples, multitudes, nations and tongues.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Those are four nouns, each in plural form that we have seen many other times in the Book of Revelation.\u00a0 And whenever these four nouns are used together it is communicating global influence.\u00a0\u00a0 They\u2019re used, for example, in Revelation 5:9, same four nouns to describe those redeemed from every nation of the earth in the church age worshipping Jesus Christ.\u00a0 [Revelation 5:9, \u201cAnd they sang a new song, saying, \u201c Worthy are You to take the [the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.\u201d]\n\nThey\u2019re used in Revelation 7 and verse 9 to describe the evangelistic efforts of the hundred and forty-four thousand Jewish evangelists who will evangelize the whole world.\u00a0 They\u2019re used to describe the whole world in Revelation 11:9, looking at the dead bodies of the two witnesses.\u00a0\u00a0 [Revelation 11:9 NASB, \u201cThose from the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations will look at their dead bodies for three and a half days, and will not permit their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb.\u201d]\n\nIt\u2019s really interesting to watch some of the older commentators try to make sense of that one.\u00a0 How do people writing in 1920 interpret the whole world looking at the dead bodies of the two witnesses?\u00a0 Those from Revelation 11:9, \u201cpeoples and tribes and tongues and nations will look at their dead bodies for three and a half days,\u201d and people try to make some kind of sense of that in the early 1900\u2019s and earlier.\n\nIt\u2019s kind of interesting living in a time period where we know exactly what it means.\u00a0 I don\u2019t have to guess as to what that means because of all of this technology I can take you to websites right now as I speak that will show you exactly what is happening in the city of Jerusalem in the temple area as I speak.\u00a0 It is interesting to me how technology has finally caught up to the time period that the Bible predicts, that\u2019s rapidly coming upon the earth.\n\nThese four nouns are also used in Rev 13:7 to describe the one-world government of the antichrist.\u00a0 Politicians today can\u2019t even get through speeches without mentioning \u201cglobal\u201d or \u201cworld.\u201d\u00a0 And Revelation 17:15, the verse we\u2019re looking at here is a description, the same four nouns, peoples, multitudes, nations and tongues, of the universal influence of the harlot.\n\nAt some point you have to ask yourself a basic question, what city is it that\u2019s influencing the entire world?\u00a0 To my mind the only city that makes sense is the tower of Babel because we know from Genesis 11:1 that this tower was built in Shinar, Mesopotamia, between the rivers, modern day Iraq.\u00a0 It was built during a time period when the world only had a single language.\u00a0 [Genesis 11:1, \u201cNow the whole earth<\/strong> used the same language and the same words.\u201d]\n\nSo the sin that took place here was exported into the entire world, into every culture because this is the origin of the cultures.\u00a0 See that?\u00a0 That\u2019s why the title on the harlot\u2019s forehead is \u201cthe mother of harlots.\u201d\u00a0 She spread harlotry everywhere and as we have studied the religious system which existed at the tower of Babel can be traced into the entire world.\u00a0 There have been some bad nations since the tower of Babel but nothing of this magnitude.\u00a0 Most of them, Rome, Jerusalem, whatever name\u00a0 you want to come up with here were absorbers of the mother child system that began at Babel but they were never the mother or the progenitors of it.\n\nAnd some way, somehow in the providence of God and in the timing of God, and we\u2019ve looked at all of these passages, Old Testament and New Testament which describe this reality.\u00a0 That will be the seat in a literal city between the rivers\u00a0 in the exact same place that the tower of Babel once stood.\u00a0 That will be the seat or the headquarters of the future religious system of the world.\u00a0 It\u2019s like using the \u00a0name Wall Street; you think of Wall Street\u00a0 you think of a financial system but Wall Street is an \u00a0\u00a0actual place from which this system originates.\u00a0 The same with Madison Avenue, Hollywood, system headquartered in the city and that\u2019s what you have in this coming one-world religious system.\n\nThe tower of Babel is coming back to life is my understanding of this.\u00a0 And this is what God is going to destroy.\u00a0 In fact, her judgment, because of all of the chaos that she has taught, has long been hanging over her head but the influence that she wields is what makes the beast jealous because this woman is riding the beast.\u00a0\u00a0 You know, I just find it very interesting that the primary value of western civilization used to be a word beginning with the letter T called truth.\u00a0 In other words, the highest virtue is the pursuit of truth; if you were pursuing truth you were looked at as being on the right side of things.\n\nIt\u2019s sort of interesting to me that that word truth is no longer in vogue today.\u00a0 It\u2019s been replaced by a different word.\u00a0 The different word also begins with the letter T, it\u2019s called tolerance.\u00a0 You can believe whatever you want but the moment you become absolutist and you become intolerant or closed minded towards other things is the moment you lose you stature very fast in the world system.\u00a0 You see, what all of this is, is it\u2019s preparatory for the one-world religion of tomorrow where everybody is right, as long as they\u2019re sincere.\u00a0 In this type of thinking\u00a0 you can\u2019t say such and such over there is wrong; that\u2019s not acceptable anymore because you\u2019re no longer embracing the highest virtue of western civilization in the world; you\u2019re not longer considered a tolerant person.\n\nLet me tell you something, sincerity,\u00a0 you can be very sincere about something and be completely wrong about it.\u00a0 The example I\u2019ll use is the prophets of Baal, where is that, 1 Kings 18, right in there, where they were summoning their deity to bring down fire to the point where they were out there, what does it say, all afternoon, all day, all night, something to that extent.\u00a0 And they were starting to lance themselves and self-inflict wounds because they were so sincere in their religion.\u00a0 And we know the story, they were humiliated.\u00a0 I mean, you want to talk about some very sincere people, that\u2019s who these people all were.\u00a0 I can\u2019t think of any more sincere people, yet the Elijah story tells us that they were totally wrong, completely wrong and Elijah himself starts to mock the fact that they\u2019re wrong.\n\nWow!\u00a0 Talk about political incorrectness [laughter].\u00a0 Some of the Bible translations on this are very easy. Perhaps\u00a0 your god is on a vacation.\u00a0 Some are a little bit more graphic, perhaps he\u2019s seated on the toilet some versions say.\u00a0\u00a0 Just because someone is sincere doesn\u2019t make them right.\u00a0 This mindset that we\u2019re moving into, a one-world religion that influences all peoples, nations, tongues and multitudes is being prepared as I speak via a second T word, not Truth, Truth is the enemy\u2026Toleration!\n\nSo what happens is we begin to see glimpses of the destruction of the city.\u00a0 And see, this is the mystery that John is being given here because as we\u2019ve tried to explain, as you go through the Bible you see these two strands of prophetic truth developing.\u00a0 First of all we know that there\u2019s coming a system of the beast, Daniel 2, Daniel 7 tell us that.\u00a0 Secondly, we know that there\u2019s coming a city of Babylon, Isaiah 13 and 14, Jeremiah 50 and 51, Zechariah 5:5-11.\u00a0 So we\u2019ve got a clash of the titans here; we\u2019ve got two strands of prophetic truth that are on a collision course.\u00a0 And how does this whole thing get resolved?\u00a0\u00a0 That\u2019s the mystery.\u00a0 This is why John is wondering about this and the angel is giving him an answer.\n\nSo as we move into verse 16 we know that Babylon is going to be destroyed, the woman on the beast, we just don\u2019t know how until we get to verse 16 and verse 17.\u00a0 Notice verse 16, \u201cAnd the ten horns,\u201d now who are they?\u00a0 That\u2019s the allies of the antichrist, the ten region, ten kingdom confederacy.\u00a0 \u201cAnd the ten horns which you saw and the beast will hate the harlot and will make her desolate and naked and will eat her flesh and will burn her up with fire.\u201d\u00a0 Here comes the beast and the ten contemporan\u00adeous kings and now what we\u2019re told is they hate the harlot.\u00a0 Why do they hate the harlot?\u00a0 They hate the harlot because she becomes too powerful.\u00a0\u00a0 They hate the harlot because she becomes too popular.\u00a0 They hate the harlot because of the harlot\u2019s influence over the beast\u2019s system, after all, this woman is riding or to my mind seems to be dominating the beast, a woman rides the beast.\n\nAnd what do we know about the beast?\u00a0 What do we know about the antichrist?\u00a0 He\u2019s not interested in playing second fiddle to anybody.\u00a0 In fact, Daniel 11:36-37, of the antichrist says, \u201cThen the king will do as he pleases, and he will exalt and magnify himself above every god\u201d [and will speak monstrous things against the God of gods; and he will prosper until the indignation is finished, for that which is decreed will be done. Talk about an ego problem!\u00a0 Daniel 11:37 says, [37] \u00a0\u201c<\/sup>He will show no regard for the gods of his fathers or for the desire of women, nor will he show regard for any other<\/em> god; for he will magnify himself above them<\/em> all.\u201d\n\n2 Thessalonians 2:4 of this coming antichrist says, who opposes and exalts himself over everything that is called God, or is worshiped so that he sets himself up in God\u2019s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.\u201d\u00a0 There is no interest in rival because he is interested in being the supreme being, the supreme leader.\u00a0\u00a0 And this is one of the problems I have with the Muslim identification of the anti-Christ.\u00a0 Don\u2019t be me wrong, I think Islam has a tremendous role to play in Bible prophecy, I tried to write a little book on that, called The Middle East Meltdown<\/em>, I think Islam you can see very clearly in Ezekiel 38 and 39 because the various nine names that are mentioned there with the possible exception of Rosh or Russia are all located today in Islamic countries.\u00a0 The stage is being set for the end time invasion of Israel.\n\nAnd I think it\u2019s very interesting that we just made a decision nationally to pull out of Syria. I\u2019m not here to comment on that, whether it\u2019s good or bad, you can make your own decision about that.\u00a0 I just find it very interesting that that\u2019s what the Bible says will happen, all of these nations without any resistance at all would invade Israel in the last days.\u00a0 Ezekiel 38 and 39, to me it looks like removal of America from Syria is preparatory for that.\n\nDo I know that for sure? Not necessarily but you see, the Muslim, how could a Muslim be the antichrist?\u00a0 Do you know of any Muslim that would exalt himself over Allah?\u00a0 That has never made a lot of sense to me.\u00a0 Islam clearly has a role to play but I don\u2019t think the Muslim himself will be an antichrist, he\u2019ll be bigger than Islam because I can\u2019t for the life of me think about how a Muslim would exalt himself over Allah because these verses are very clear that he will exalt himself above everything that is called God.\n\nSo the beast and these ten kings are allies with him and will hate the harlot.\u00a0\u00a0 Why will they hate the harlot?\u00a0 Because the harlot, the city of Babylon, is influencing them too much and they don\u2019t like it and they will turn on the harlot, make her desolate and naked and will eat her flesh and will burn her up with fire.\u00a0 Now we\u2019re not getting an answer to the that question but the how question.\u00a0 We know that Babylon will fall in the final bowl judgment but how is Babylon going to fall?\u00a0 Apparently it\u2019s the beast and his system that turns on Babylon in the city.\u00a0 And this is the mystery or the new truth that\u2019s never thus far been divulged.\u00a0 Now it\u2019s interesting that Babylon will be destroyed, it specially says by fire.\u00a0 And if you know Jeremiah\u2019s prophecies, Jeremiah 50 and 51 concerning the destruction of Babylon, all of a sudden you have an aha moment because Jeremiah 51:30 says of the future destruction of Babylon her dwellings are set on fire.\u00a0 [Jeremiah 51:30, \u201cThe mighty men of Babylon have ceased fighting, They stay in the strongholds; Their strength is exhausted, They are becoming like women; Their dwelling places are set on fire, The bars of her gates are broken.\u201d]\n\nIt\u2019s interesting that the destruction of the city by fire is found here, not just in Revelation 17:16 but it\u2019s described in the next chapter.\u00a0 [Revelation 17:16, \u201cAnd the ten horns which you saw, and the beast, these will hate the harlot and will make her desolate and naked, and will eat her flesh and will burn her up with fire.]\u00a0 Notice, if you will, Revelation 18:8, she will be consumed by fire.\u00a0 [Revelation 18:8, \u201cFor this reason in one day her plagues will come, pestilence and mourning and famine, and she will be burned up with fire; for the Lord God who judges her is strong.\u201d]\u00a0 \u00a0Notice Revelation 18:18, when they see the smoke of her burning.\u00a0 [Revelation 18:18, \u201cand were crying out as they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, \u2018What city is like the great city?\u2019\u201d]\n\nI don\u2019t think chapter 17 is talking about one city and chapter 18 is talking about a different city.\u00a0 I think both chapters are talking about the same city, chapter\u00a0 17 bringing out more of the religious side of the city; chapter 18 bringing out more of the commercial side of the city but it\u2019s the exact same city.\u00a0 As I told you earlier when we began to study these chapters I was going to try to make the point that the forces that draw these chapters together are much greater than those that divide them.\u00a0\u00a0 That\u2019s what this chart here indicates and you see another commonality, her destruction via fire.\n\nAnd as we move into verse 17 and you see what I think is one of the most interesting verses, perhaps in the entire Bible.\u00a0 It says in Revelation 17:17, \u00a0\u201cFor God put it in their hearts to execute His purpose by having a common purpose and by giving their kingdom to the beast until the Words of God are fulfilled.\u201d\u00a0 So the ten kings turn on the woman riding the beast, the city of Babylon and then we learn it\u2019s God who actually put His [can't understand word] for the destruction of Babylon which has long been hanging over her head, in the hearts of these unsaved and unregenerate rulers.\n\nPastor, are you telling me that God uses unsaved people to accomplish His will?\u00a0 Yes, I\u2019m telling you that!\u00a0 God can take the wickedest of the wicked and as they pursue their wicked agenda they\u2019re actually fulfilling, as it says here in verse 17, the fulfillment of God\u2019s Word.\u00a0 You say well how does that work?\u00a0 I have no idea, I just know God does that!\u00a0 People, when they reject Jesus Christ and move away from Jesus Christ and we know that God desires that all be saved, that\u2019s His desire, but there are some people who will have nothing of it, and they\u2019ll reject God and they\u2019ll go out into life in their ungodliness and as they go out into life in their ungodliness God is actually using them to execute His will.\u00a0\u00a0 We think if we make a decision against God that somehow oh, we really pulled one over on God.\u00a0 Not at all!\u00a0 God can take the poor choices of people and use them for His own purposes.\u00a0 As these rulers turn on Babylon out of jealousy they\u2019re actually fulfilling everything God intended with the seventh bowl judgment.\n\nJust to show you how God works in this way, Isaiah 45:4, concerning Cyrus; Cyrus is a pretty key guy in Bible history.\u00a0 It\u2019s through Cyrus that the nation of Israel was allowed to go back into their land at the end of the Babylonian captivity.\u00a0 Cyrus, that Persian king.\u00a0 And we say well, Cyrus, he must have been a believer, right?\u00a0 I mean the Christian public\u00a0 probably got out there and voted for him.\u00a0 Right?\u00a0 God specifically says of Cyrus in Isaiah 45:4, and by the way God is calling out these things about Cyrus by name 200 years before the man ever existed.\u00a0 And he says of Cyrus, his servant, he calls him his shepherd, who will lead the nation of Israel out of the seventy year captivity, he says something there that\u2019s very interesting in Isaiah 45:4, concerning Cyrus, \u201cThough you have not known Me.\u201d\u00a0 [Isaiah 45:4, \u201cFor the sake of Jacob My servant, and Israel My chosen one<\/em>, I have also called you by your name; I have given you a title of honor though you have not known Me.\u201d]\n\nThis guy, to my understanding was never a believer in Yahweh, to my understanding he lived his entire life as a polytheist who believed in many gods, rejected monotheism, and yet God still used him.\u00a0 Folks, this guy wasn\u2019t even a Republican [Laughter]\u00a0 and God used him.\u00a0 See, we\u2019re so worried about gosh, who\u2019s going to be in control of the country, and believe me, vote and do your Christian patriotic duty and do all that stuff.\u00a0 But here\u2019s the deal, it doesn\u2019t matter who\u2019s in there as far as God is concerned because God has Proverbs 21:1, it talks about how the king\u2019s heart is like water in a water in a water course.\u00a0 [Proverbs 21:1] \u201cThe king\u2019s heart is like channels of water in the hand of the Lord ; He turns it wherever He wishes.\u201d]\u00a0 And as the water course changes the direction of the water that\u2019s what God does to a king\u2019s heart.\u00a0 If you really want some power the pray for the people in office.\u00a0 Well, I don\u2019t know, I don\u2019t like that person or I didn\u2019t vote for that person; what does that have to do with anything?\u00a0 God is sovereign no matter what.\u00a0 And this what he\u2019s doing with these ten kings or kingdoms.\n\nThen you\u2019re probably asking well if God put it in their hearts to destroy the city named Babylon do these ten kings really have a free will?\u00a0 It\u2019s interesting to me that when God hardens people\u2019s hearts He gives them over to what they already wanted to do.\u00a0 Do you believe in election Pastor, or do you believe in free will.\u00a0 My answer is yes!\u00a0 The most famous example of God hardening someone\u2019s heart, a wicked ruler that we have in the Bible is Pharaoh in Egypt, in the Book of Exodus, where it says in Exodus 9:12, \u201cThe LORD hardened Pharaoh\u2019s heart.\u201d\u00a0 [Exodus 9:12, \u201cAnd the Lord hardened Pharaoh\u2019s heart, and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had spoken to Moses.\u201d]\n\nAnd most people will camp there on Exodus 9:12 and they won\u2019t talk about the six times Pharaoh hardened his own heart against God.\u00a0 Did you know God doesn\u2019t harden Pharaoh\u2019s heart, I think it\u2019s till the sixty\u00a0 plague, and there are six occurrences in the Book of Exodus where Pharaoh hardened his own heart against God.\u00a0 Exodus 7:13, of Pharaoh He said, \u201cand he did not listen.\u201d\u00a0 [Exodus 7:13, \u201cYet Pharaoh\u2019s heart was hardened, and he did not listen to them, as the Lord had said.\u201d]\u00a0\u00a0 Exodus 7:22, \u201che did not listen.\u201d\u00a0 [Exodus 7:22, \u201cBut the magicians of Egypt did the same with their secret arts; and Pharaoh\u2019s heart was hardened, and he did not listen to them, as the Lord had said.\u201d]\u00a0 Exodus 8:15, \u201cPharaoh hardened his heart and did not listen.\u00a0 [Exodus\u00a0 8:15, \u201cBut when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and did not listen to them, as the Lord had said.\u201d]\u00a0\u00a0 God\u2019s not doing this, Pharaoh is doing it to himself.\u00a0 Exodus 8:32, Pharaoh hardened his heart.\u00a0 [Exodus 8:32, \u201cBut Pharaoh hardened his heart this time also, and he did not let the people go.\u201d]\u00a0\u00a0 Exodus 9:35, he did not the people go.\u00a0 [Exodus 9:35, \u201cPharaoh\u2019s heart was hardened, and he did not let the sons of Israel go, just as the LORD had spoken through Moses.\u201d]\n\nAnd then finally in Exodus 9:12 you read these words, \u201cAnd the LORD hardened Pharaoh\u2019s heart.\u201d\u00a0 Wow!\u00a0 Talk about how free will and divine sovereignty interplay! I wish I could explain it, it\u2019s a bit above my [can't understand word] to explain something like that.\u00a0 I just know it\u2019s taught in the Bible.\u00a0 People, through their own volition reject the things of God and yet somehow when they reject the things of God they\u2019re fulfilling the will of God and accomplishing the will of God.\u00a0 You know, one stand of theological thought puts all the emphasis on free will; another stand of theological thought puts all of the emphasis on divine sovereignty.\u00a0 And these people have been fighting about this within Christianity for centuries.\u00a0 I just think there\u2019s what D. A. Carson called \u201cthe fallacy of the excluded middle.\u201d\u00a0 People are falling for the either\/or fallacy when the reality of the situation is the Bible teaches both and.\n\nSo this is how Babylon falls, God has put it in the heart of the ten kings as part of the beast\u2019s system to burn Babylon with fire.\u00a0 Now who is Babylon?\u00a0 We know who the beast is, and we know who his allies are, but who is this woman that was on the beast called Babylon, and if you look at verse 18 you see there\u2019s no ambiguity here.\u00a0 By the way, that bottom part of the screen is correct I think, on the harlot\u2019s forehead is a title that reads Babylon the Great.\u00a0 Who is the woman?\u00a0 She is Babylon the Great, and people get very imaginative here and they say it\u2019s just a religious system.\u00a0 But look at verse 18, there\u2019s nothing really to debate.\u00a0 It says, \u201cThe woman whom you saw is the great city.\u201d\u00a0 You all see city in your Bible?\u00a0 Everybody look at their Bible and see if they see the word \u201ccity.\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s in my Bible, it\u2019s the Greek word polus<\/em>, the great city, which reigns over the kings of the earth.\u00a0 The first thing you have to understand when you interpret this particular chapter is you have to understand this woman having the title \u201cBabylon the Great\u201d as a city.\n\nBullinger says, \u201cIt is indeed surprising how any mistake could have been made in the identification of this woman. For the Holy Spirit first shows us her very name upon her forehead.\u201d\u00a0 We just saw that, right?\u00a0 Babylon the Great.\u00a0 Then, in verse 18, He tells us as plainly as words can tell anything, \u201cthat \u2018the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigns over the kings of the earth,\u2019\u201d [chap. xvi. 19, as well as xvii. 5] \u201cand identifies this city with Babylon. God says it is a \u2018city.\u2019 He doesn\u2019t say a system<\/em> or a religion<\/em>, but a \u2018CITY<\/u>.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 <\/strong>[Bullinger, The Apocalypse or \u201cThe Day of the Lord\u201d, 509<\/em>]\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t says a system or a religion and I think it\u2019s the headquarters of perhaps that, but \u201ca city.\u201d\n\nCharles Dyer, in his excellent book, The Rise of Babylon, says, \u201cWhatever else is said about the harlot, she is first a city, not an ecclesiastical system.<\/strong>\u201d Of course we\u2019re getting lost when we don\u2019t follow the directions.\u00a0 You can\u2019t ignore the interpretation and interpret this correctly.\u00a0 We\u2019re told very clearly who this woman on the beast is, she\u2019s an actual city.\n\nI get lost a lot, just ask my wife about that, and it always brings my sanctification to the breaking point when I finally have to stop and ask directions, because I don\u2019t know where I am.\u00a0 And so a lot of times I\u2019m driving around and I\u2019m too proud (you know) to ask directions.\u00a0 Now we have Google maps and that kind of messes me up sometimes too, so I still have to ask directions. That\u2019s how bad it is with me; even with Google maps I still have to ask directions.\n\nBut if you won\u2019t ask directions or won\u2019t pay attention to the directions then don\u2019t plan on arriving when you\u2019re supposed to arrive at your destination.\u00a0 That\u2019s how almost everybody interprets this chapter, they just read right through it and talk about verse 18.\u00a0 And they come up with all these creative answers as to who Babylon is, all of this longwinded talk about a religious system and this and that, ignoring the interpreter\u2019s clue.\u00a0 The popular view out there is this is just a religious system that\u2019s destroyed midway through the tribulation period.\u00a0 That\u2019s NOT what the passage says!\u00a0 The passage says it\u2019s a city, a religious system perhaps headquartered in the city but first and foremost you have to acknowledge the fact that it\u2019s a city.\u00a0 What people do is they just chop off verse 18.\u00a0 The best of the best do this.\n\nJohn Walvoord, probably one of the best commentators on Revelation ever written but what does he say in his commentary?\u00a0 \u201cBabylon ecclesiastically symbolized\u201d the religion in other words, \u201cin Revelation 17 proposes a common worship and a common religion<\/u> through uniting in a world church<\/u>.\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s a church, it\u2019s ecclesiastical.\u00a0 \u201cThis is destroyed by the beast in Revelation 17:16 who thus fulfills the will of God (Rev. 17:17)<\/u>.\u201d [John F. Walvoord, The Revelation of Jesus Christ: A Commentary<\/em> (Chicago: Moody, 1966), 267.]\u00a0 \u00a0And what did he fail to comment on there?\u00a0 Verse 18, he just dropped it off the map.\n\nA lot of my very good friends have in the back of their books they have all this long outline about prophetic events.\u00a0 And this is how weird I am, this is the first thing I look at when I look at one of those outlines.\u00a0 And they all have religious Babylon being destroyed in the middle of the tribulation period, commercial Babylon being destroyed at the end of the tribulation period and when they quote their verses putting their chronologies together they do exactly what Walvoord does there; they just chop off verse 18 because it doesn\u2019t fit the system. Do you see that?\n\nWalvoord, who I love, I mean, this guy has forgotten more about prophecy than I\u2019ll ever know.\u00a0 He says, \u201cThe city here according to verse 5 is a mystery, not a literal city<\/u>.\u201d\u00a0 Then he goes on and he says, \u201cThe ultimate decision depends upon the judgment of the expositor, but in many respects\u201d this is chapter 18, \u201cit is simpler to postulate a rebuilt Babylon as fulfilling literally<\/u> the Old Testament prophecies as well as that embodied in this chapter.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 [John F. Walvoord, The Revelation of Jesus Christ: A Commentary<\/em> (Chicago: Moody, 1966), 257, 263.]\u00a0 The first part of the quote is from page 257; the second part of the quote is from page 263.\n\nSo the word \u201ccity\u201d is not literal in chapter 17 but now it becomes literal in chapter 18.\u00a0 That\u2019s not how you interpret the Bible; that\u2019s not a consistent method of interpretation because she\u2019s called a city which is the same Greek word, polus<\/em>, city, as a metropolis, used in chapter 18 verse 10.\u00a0 [Revelation 18:10, \u201c[standing at a distance because of the fear of her torment,[ saying, \u2018Woe, woe, the great city, Babylon\u2026.\u201d She\u2019s called a city in both chapters.\u00a0 Whatever you do with that word \u201ccity\u201d in chapter 17 you can\u2019t switch horses in midstream and make it something totally different in chapter 18.\n\nThis is all a description of the destruction of Babylon that you find in the final bowl judgment.\u00a0 It\u2019s the same event but God, in chapter 17 is bringing out one facet of it, how Babylon is going to be destroyed, as He puts His purpose in the hearts of the ten kings and burns her flesh with fire.\u00a0 By the way, can you burn a religious system with fire?\u00a0 Ever tried that?\u00a0 I don\u2019t think that would work very well.\u00a0 But you can sure burn a city with fire, can\u2019t you?\n\nAnd then chapter 18 moves on and says let me tell you another aspect of this city, the commercial side of it.\u00a0 So you\u2019re saying to yourself well, Pastor, you know, this is very interesting to me, Babylon a literal city, headquarters of a religious system, I\u2019d like to learn about the commercial side of the city, in which case I say I\u2019m so glad you asked because next Lord\u2019s day we\u2019ll talk about chapter 18, which is the same city, same destruction, but it\u2019s bringing out information that you don\u2019t find in chapter 17.\n\nWhy would we study chapter 18 to repeat what\u2019s in chapter 17, because then we wouldn\u2019t need a chapter 18, right?\u00a0 And so that\u2019s the blessing of moving through a book verse by verse is you can start to see things in their context rather than grabbing a verse here, grabbing a verse there, throwing it into a blender, because you\u2019ve already got a preordained conclusion on your prophecy chart and you don\u2019t want to rewrite it because then your readers won\u2019t think you know what you\u2019re doing, and pride kicks in.\u00a0 See that?\u00a0\u00a0 And so we\u2019ll take a look at chapter 18 next Lord\u2019s day, having covered today the interpretation of the vision concerning Babylon, an interpretation of promise, we have a description of the beast and his system and then we have a description of how that system turns on the city of Babylon, jealous over her influence.\u00a0 And that\u2019s a description of her destruction by fire and now we don\u2019t just know that Babylon will fall, we learn how Babylon will fall, as God even uses the free moral will of His enemies to work His purposes and fulfill His truth.\u00a0 Wow!\n\nWell, I\u2019m tired of preaching and you guys are tired of listening but the reality of the situation is as we\u2019ve explained before is this whole world system is going down.\u00a0 Do we\u00a0 understand that?\u00a0 The city of man is going to be destroyed and how important it is to trust in Christ and Christ alone and be a citizen of the eternal city which cannot be shaken, cannot be destroyed by fire.\u00a0 And how do you become a citizen of that coming city, a city whose foundation is God Himself.\u00a0 How do you become a member of that coming city?\u00a0 Well, it\u2019s very simple, God has made it simple; it\u2019s called the gospel, meaning good news.\u00a0 We call it good news because Jesus stepped into the line of fire and absorbed the wrath of a holy God in our place and He really offers us a very simple promise\u2014if you will believe, which is more than just intellectual ascent, it has to do with trust.\u00a0 If you will trust in what I have done for you, not what you do for yourself, but what I have done for you and you trust exclusively in that then your passport is updated and you\u2019re a citizen of that coming city.\n\nJohn 3:36 says, \u201cHe who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.\u201d\u00a0 Either I\u2019m going to experience wrath or life!\u00a0 Either I am caught in the failing systems of man, Babylon, which are destined for deterioration and destruction of I\u2019m a member of that coming city.\u00a0 And how do I move my citizenship or identity from one to the other?\u00a0 You fulfill a simple condition which is to believe or trust in what Jesus has done.\u00a0 It\u2019s something you can do right now, you don\u2019t have to walk an aisle to do it, join a church to do it, give money to do it, it\u2019s a matter of privacy between\u00a0 you and the Lord where the Spirit convicts you of your need to do this.\u00a0 And we know the Spirit does this because Jesus says, \u201cThe Spirit is sent into the world to convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment.\u201d\u00a0 And you respond in your heart of hearts and you trust in what Jesus did and you\u2019re saved just like that.\u00a0 It\u2019s that simple.\u00a0 So if it\u2019s something\u00a0 you need more explanation this week I will be here at the end of the service to talk.\u00a0 Shall we pray.\n\nFather, we\u2019re grateful for these chapters that don\u2019t get a lot of attraction today but they\u2019re part of\u00a0 Your Word; help us to interpret them correctly.\u00a0 And thank You today for the reminder that You are in control of history.\u00a0 We\u2019ll be careful to give you all the praise and the glory.\u00a0 We ask these things in Jesus\u2019 name, and God\u2019s people said\u2026. Amen.","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t