The Fall of Religious Babylon

of Revelation chapter 17 Revelation 17 so I wonder if anybody else's week has been like mine it's just been wild and every day has been a new adventure and you've had a hard time focusing this week anybody else been that way dude I don't know if it's just may I don't know what it is but Wow it's just been one of those kind of weeks where on Tuesday you were like, nothing ruins my Friday more than knowing it's only Tuesday, right? It's one of those kinds of feelings. So here we are, Revelation chapter 17. Now we have seen all of the different sets of judgments that have come. We've seen the seals,

we've seen the bowls, we've seen the trumpets. Actually we saw the trumpets and then we saw the bowls. And now as we come to Revelation 17, 17 and 18 really go together. We won't cover them together tonight because my brain couldn't handle that this week. But they do go together and both of them have to do with the judgment of Babylon. As a matter of fact, chapter 17 deals with the

fall of religious Babylon. Actually that's what tonight's message is entitled, the fall of religious Babylon. And then chapter 18 deals with the fall of political Babylon. And so we've hinted at this a few times, but I'm one of those kind of guys that says, if I've said it once, it's probably important to say it again, because if the Bible talks about it, it's probably important to say it more than once. It's probably important to talk about it again. Just a little bit of the

background of Babylon. So just a handful of things by way of a background and introduction here. Remember the first time that we saw any aspect of the empire, the city, or even a mentioning of Babylon was back in Genesis chapter 11. Only we didn't call it Babylon at that point in time. We called it Babel. It didn't start off being called that. It started off being a tower that was built

plain of Shinar, headed up by a guy named Nimrod. And the goal was to build a tower into the heavens for man's glory, so that they would not be separated throughout the earth, so that they would not be scattered throughout the earth. And it was sealed up so that God couldn't judge them again. Really there were three issues with the building of this original Babylon, for lack of better terms, but this tower of Babel. Number one, we could say it was a man-made religion because

of God. Number two, we could say that it was for the pride and glory of man. And then number three, it was direct rebellion against the commandment of God. That was what we first saw in this tower of Babel. Interestingly enough, it's called the tower of Babel because God knew that when men could get together and all speak the same language, when they could be unified, that this is what they

God confused their language and scattered them throughout the entire world. Isn't it kind of interesting that sin ultimately brought confusion? Rebellion against God brought confusion. And it goes back to a saying that I don't think is probably original with me, but I do say it, especially to my kids a lot, whether they be the kids I teach at HACA or the kids that live in my house. I tell them that sin is complicated because sin always brings about confusion.

Isn't it interesting that when we move into the New Testament, Paul tells us that God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, right? Because that's who he is for us. He's the author of peace. And while sin is complicated, the truth is incredibly simple. And so at this tower of Babel, God confused the languages. And that was really the first man-made religion that sought to glorify man and sought to rebel against God. If you will,

this was the first of what we might call the mystery religions, the mystic religions, the idolatrous religions of the world after the flood. Interestingly enough, the guy that started it, again, his name was Nimrod. Now, Nimrod had a wife named Semiramis. You don't need to spell the name. You just need to know what the name is, right? Semiramis. And she is really the one who

was the prophetess of many of these mystery religions, of many of these idolatrous religions. She had a son named Tammuz, which, by the way, she claimed to be of miraculous, miraculous birth. This son Tammuz went on later in life to receive a mortal or a fatal wound from an animal. He was gored by an animal, and then he was magically or miraculously resurrected.

Does all that kind of sound familiar to you? That there was a woman who gave birth to a child in a miraculous way who was mortally wounded and then raised from the dead. And so they worshiped Tammuz because he was their savior. Matter of fact, this worship of both Semiramis and Tammuz is actually mentioned in both the books of Jeremiah and Isaiah, because for the nation of Israel, not only did they deal with this worship of Semiramis and Tammuz, but they worshiped another God named Baal, which was the Canaanite name for the God Tammuz. So kind of some interesting things. So we see that this

Tower of Babel really carried with it a great deal of influence throughout the entire world. Well, this Tower of Babel, though people were scattered, they were scattered all over the world. And so from there, this plain of Shinar continued to be a place where empires were built. The first Babylonian empire was built and actually had a law code, a guy by the name of Hammurabi, if you've ever studied ancient history, gave us our first law code in this first Babylonian empire.

Of course, it fell apart and then was resurrected in an amazing way under Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar made it one of the strongest empires the world had seen up to that point in time. And of course, the Babylonian empire, while we often view it as somewhat of a glamorous sort of empire, they were actually some of the most fierce warriors anyone has ever seen. They were some of the most intimidating warriors anyone had ever seen. And it was a fearful thing to fall into the

hand of the Babylonians. And they, of course, were the ones who took over the nation of Israel, who destroyed Judah and carried off the people captive. Well, that's the city of Babylon. Of course, later it became the empire of Babylon. And though the actual city of Babylon fell, its spirit continued. As a matter of fact, many of the gods that were worshiped by the Persians and by the Greeks and by the Romans

can find their roots in the Babylonian world. And in John's day, when he was writing this, Rome was often referred to as Babylon because of the idolatry in the Roman empire. And interestingly enough, I feel like that same spirit is carried in the culture today, though maybe not with one particular city like in Rome, but in the world today, you still see this spirit of Babylon. And that's what's being taught in the Bible. And that's what's being taught in the Bible.

And that's what's being talked about here tonight. It's kind of interesting. I looked up the name Babylon. I just Googled it to see if it would give me a definition. First of all, it pulled up some kind of a movie called Babylon that I'm pretty sure has a lot of scenes my mom won't let me watch. So I'm not going to watch that movie. I was like, it was rated R and I was like, R means not for

Ryan. And so that's the first thing that popped up. I'm like, no, no, I don't want Babylon movie. I want Babylon definition. Well, it gave me two different definitions. Kind of interesting. The first definition that he gave to me was, a contemptuous and dismissive term for a society as seen in it, as it is seen in being both degenerate and oppressive, particularly the police. Kind of interesting, right? Well,

the second definition I found even more fascinating. This was out of Merriam-Webster's dictionary. It said a city devoted to materialism and sensual pleasure. Now I feel like we get to the heart of it. I feel like we get to the heart of it. I feel like we get to the heart of it. I feel like we get to the heart of what Babylon was all about. And now I feel like we get to the

heart of what the spirit of Babylon was all about. And then I gave it the Ryan definition, which won't get you very far in life, but it's what I thought of. A world system under the spirit of Antichrist that is soon to be under the rule of the Antichrist. Because really, even when John wrote 1 John, he said the spirit of Antichrist is already in the world. And really it had been

in the world since the time of Nehemiah. And so I feel like we get to the heart of what the spirit because after all Nimrod elevated himself as God, right? So with that as a little bit of a backdrop, we jump into Revelation chapter 17, and we see this, my Bible titles it the doom of Babylon. Perhaps yours titles it the fall of religious Babylon. I had to get overly creative

in my title here. It starts off in chapter 17, verse one, like this. Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me saying, come here and I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters with whom the kings of the earth committed acts of immorality. And those who dwell on the earth were made drunk with the wine of her immorality.

I've called this first section, the judgment of the great harlot or the pronouncement of judgment upon the great harlot. The first thing that we see is that one of the seven angels comes to John. Remember there were seven angels and they were each given a bowl and then that bowl was given vials of judgment. If you will, incense of judgment that they were to pour out and each of them poured out their judgment upon the world. And it caused all kinds of grief, woe and misery in the world.

Well, one of those seven angels looks at John. Now I believe that he's going to give him a quick panorama of God's destruction of this, of this mystery Babylon, this system of Babylon, both in the religious and political sense. I think he gives us a little bit of a panorama of the tribulational period as he lays this out for him, because we've wrapped up all of the judgments and now we're seeing the ultimate fall of this world system. And so it's one of these seven angels says, Hey, John, come here. I want to show you the judgment of the great harlot.

It's kind of interesting. The word that is used for this Babylon, this world system, it's not referred to as anything that's overly encouraging or overly flattering. It refers to this world system as a harlot because she has prostituted herself out to whoever will pay the highest bid. She has prostituted herself. Out to whoever will further her kingdom. And so the great harlot, and it describes her in three

ways. Number one, it describes her as the one who sits on many waters. Second of all, it describes her as the one with whom the kings of the earth had committed immorality. And third, it describes her as the one who has made all those who dwell on the earth drunk with the wine of her immorality. Now, I think there's something really specific to pay attention to about those things. Number one,

it says that she sits on many waters. I think that speaks of the fact, that she's very global in nature. If you will, we could use the word ecumenical. She's very ecumenical in nature. It appeals to everyone because it's very global. This religious system that's being spoken of here is global and ecumenical. She sits on many waters. At the end of the chapter, I'll tell you why it says that or why I believe that. The second thing it says is that

the kings commit immorality with her. Interestingly enough, the word immorality or the idea of any form of immorality is going to be used frequently in the Bible. And so the word immorality is going to be used frequently throughout this chapter because throughout the Old Testament, anytime God wanted to point out that the children of Israel had fallen into idolatry, he also equated it with the word adultery because that's what it was. It was spiritual adultery because adultery is the breaking of a covenant, the breaking of a covenant between a man and a woman. Spiritual adultery is

the breaking of a covenant between God and man. And that's what the idolatry of this religious system caused all the kings of the world to do. I believe it's because every king uses religion for his own good, right? Every king seems to use religion as a way to control the people. And that's exactly what these kings do. They commit immorality with the woman. But then the third thing is that all of the earth dwellers drank

of the wine of the immorality. Again, I think that speaks of the global influence of this religious system, that it wasn't just focused in one particular place. It was focused in one particular area of the world or on one particular people group. This false religious system has had influence globally over people, not just governments, but individuals. All the people

of the earth were made to drink of her immorality. Well, it then goes on to talk about a journey into the wilderness that John takes with this angel. Verse three, it says this, and he carried me away in the spirit into a wilderness. And I saw a woman, sitting on a scarlet beast, full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns. The woman was clothed in purple and scarlet and adorned with gold, precious stones, and pearls,

having in her hand a cup full of abominations and the unclean things of her immorality. And on her forehead, a name was written, a mystery, Babylon, the great, the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth. And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus. When I saw her, I wondered greatly. So he takes him on a journey into a wilderness, a desolate area.

And the first thing that he sees is he sees a woman riding a beast. Now, of course, we know that the woman is this same harlot, because that just seems to make sense contextually of what he's speaking here. The woman is this false religious system. So this false religious system comes riding in on a beast. Notice how it describes this beast. It was a scarlet beast, and it was full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns. Now,

if we're going to use the Bible to interpret the Bible, we've seen something similar to this before, haven't we? It came up out of the abyss, and it was empowered by the dragon. It had seven heads, and it had ten horns, and it spoke blasphemous words. I believe that the beast that this woman comes riding in on is none other than the Antichrist himself, because I believe that at the beginning of the tribulational period, this Antichrist will use this religious system to bring all of the people together. After all, all of those fundamental Christians will be gone.

The ones holding back peace will be gone. After all, we're the ones that caused the problems, right? We're the ones that caused the problems at the Burford, right? We're the ones that stopped that crazy thing. Which, by the way, that thing got canceled. You guys know that? Yeah, I know. Praise Jesus. Well, he says it got postponed. So we'll see. Listen, it ain't over yet, okay? It won't be

over until Jesus comes back. We have to keep waging, listen, a spiritual war. But we as Christians are the ones that are still in the way of this whole situation, right? Well, once all of us Christians are gone, all of a sudden, now the third leg of the stool will be able to stand, because now we'll have world peace, because now there won't be all these fights over religion. And there will be this one world religion that the beast supports that will

actually ultimately allow this beast to have a rule over the people. After all, how is it that kings are able to control the people? Well, they control them oftentimes through religion, right? And so, this woman comes riding in on this beast who has these seven heads and these ten horns. Well, now we know that that's the Antichrist, but now the woman is described in greater detail.

The woman was clothed in purple and scarlet. She was adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a gold cup full of abominations and of the unclean things of her immorality. Now, there's the potential that each of those things is incredibly symbolic for something. I want to tell you what I think that they're saying. I think that they're saying that

they're symbolic of. I think they're symbolic of two things. Number one, this woman is both wealthy and desirable. She's clothed in purple, scarlet. She has beautiful jewelry on. You see, everything about this religious system will show that it is wealthy and show that it is very desirable. Remember what Paul told us in the book of 2 Timothy, people will heap to themselves

teachers who will tickle their ears. It'll be very desirable. And can I say that this religious system isn't just going to be wealthy and desirable in the end times. It has been wealthy and desirable since the beginning of religion, because there has always been a false religion out there that tells everyone you can have everything that you want. You can have everything that your heart desires. Come here. We have all of the things that you want.

We're wealthy. We're desirable. Come to our religious service, because we'll give you all the things that you need. And that's always been the pull. As a matter of fact, that's the pull now. Listen, even in many Protestant churches today, the pull is, oh my gosh, look at the light show. Oh my gosh, look at the amazing things that they have. You know, they really have the best coffee bar. If you want to watch something funny slash sad,

you should Google John Crist church hunters. Funniest video you're ever going to watch. Also saddest video you're ever going to watch, because it absolutely points to people who are interested in the woman. The woman who has the scarlet and purple, who has all of the jewelry, who has all of the things, because she is wealthy and desirable. But not only is she wealthy and desirable, the second thing I

take note of is that she is incredibly immoral. Did you take note of the last thing that it said? And she had in her hand a gold cup, again, wealthy and desirable. But what was the gold cup full of? Abominations and the unclean things of her immorality. You know what's always true about every false religion? You will always have their sins that they're willing to support. They'll always have their

sins that they're willing to excuse. As a matter of fact, this ecumenical church says all are welcome. And listen, I believe all are welcome too. But once you're welcome here, I'm not going to not tell you the truth. Jesus says, come to me, but he's not going to leave you the way that you are. Because that's what Jesus does. He changes hearts. But you see this system, this woman,

she says, all your immoralities. Welcome here. All your sin is welcome here. You can live how you want to live. And so this woman on this beast seems to be this way. And then it says, and on her forehead, a name was written, a mystery. Now, if you have the old King James Bible, it's just going to say a name was written, mystery Babel on the great. The new King James and the new American standard both put a comma

after mystery, because I believe that's the right way to translate that. On her name was written, a mystery. That means that this is both, first of all, spiritual, second of all, symbolic of who she is. There's not actually a woman with a tattoo on her forehead or as the Roman prostitutes wore at that point in time, some sort of a headband with her name written on it, like a name tag on her head. It speaks of who this is, both in a spiritual and symbolic sort of way. On her name

was written a name, a mystery. And what was it? Babylon the great. Mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth. It's a really good question to ask right now is, who's Babylon the great? People have their ideas, don't they? I actually went to lunch with a guy last week and he goes, so you're teaching through revelation. He goes, just for conversation sake, not because I think you know, or I know,

or anybody else, who do you think Babylon the great is? I said, I have no idea, but I can give you some thoughts. Now, the prevailing thought about Babylon the great, amongst some Bible scholars, is that Babylon the great is none other than the Roman Catholic church. Because after all, the Roman Catholic church has all of the money and all of the prestige, has drunk the blood of the saints and all those kinds of things. Listen, while I have

an incredible number of things that I disagree with the Roman Catholic church on, and while I don't think that they're the same as we are as Christians, I think that some people within the Roman Catholic church can be saved, but I think if you are saved, you're not going to stay in the Roman Catholic church. So I don't think that's Babylon the great, because I don't think it's all encompassing enough to be Babylon the great. Actually, in my studies that I've been doing, I really feel like Babylon the great encompasses way more than just the Roman Catholic church. I think it also encompasses the Muslims. I think it also encompasses the Buddhists and the Hindus

and the Jehovah's Witnesses and the Mormons. And listen, wait for it, and the Protestants too. Because I think that Babylon the great is much more extensive than just one particular church movement. It is a spirit that infiltrates all of the churches, a spirit that is opposed to the things of God, a spirit that is a man-made religion that supports the pride and the glory of man, and that is rebellious against God. The spirit of Babylon the great can take place in just

about any church possible, because I'll tell you what, I can point to just as many Protestant churches right now that I am so scared for that pastor as I can. I can point to the Roman Catholic church where I am scared for the priests and the members of the church. Because this mystery, this Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth, speaks of a religious system that pulls people away from the true gospel of Jesus Christ. I think that that's what Jesus was talking about in all of those parables that Jesus told, those kingdom parables where he said, a farmer went out to sow wheat, but while he was asleep at night, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat.

Babylon the great got sown amongst the wheat, and that purging will take place in the end. He describes this mystery Babylon another way, and I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus, and when I saw her, I wondered greatly. Friends, we have to understand something. Most of the greatest persecution that has come against true believers in Jesus Christ has come from a religious organization. To an extent, the world's

not wrong when they say there'd be a lot more peace in the world without religion. The problem is there would not be more peace in the world without Jesus. But organized religion has been the greatest proponent of persecutors, of persecution throughout history. I think I've shared with you before that every morning, my class, I bought a devotional journal from Voice of the Martyrs, which by the way, if you want to know how to pray for the persecuted church, you should go to Voice of the Martyrs and you should buy this prayer journal and they'll give you a country every day to pray for. And they'll tell

you who the greatest persecutors are within those countries. You know who the greatest persecutors are within those countries? The Islamic people, who when you come to know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, your family turns against you, the government turns against you, your job turns against you, the Muslim community turns against you. And I'm not just here to pick on Muslims, it's happened throughout the centuries. The Roman Catholic Church persecuted Christians

during the Dark Ages. The Jewish community, the Judaistic followers of the law persecuted Paul and the apostles. If you will, religion is what you're talking about. caused much of the persecution of the Roman government because they viewed Caesar as God and any of the believers that wouldn't disavow God and say that Caesar is God were persecuted for it. Religion has been at the heart of all of it,

this false religion. And so he says, they've been drunk with the blood of the saints and the blood of the witnesses of Jesus. And so here's John in this wilderness, he sees this woman, this horrific woman who is a harlot, who's dressed amazing, but full of nothing but filthiness with a crazy tattoo on her head about Babylon the great. And he's going, huh? You ever been like that

when you've read something in scripture? I call it Revelation chapter 17. And you're going, huh? I want you to notice how the angel responds. The angel responded in verse seven. He said, why do you wonder? We'll tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the 10, which has the seven horns. Can we pause the apocalyptic stuff

for one quick second? And let me bring a little bit of personal application to something here. I was first studying this in an old Bible that I had. And at some point in time, I had read through this passage of scripture in my devotional reading in this Bible and making a little note off to the side. I'd underlined this and made a little note. A little note that I made off to the side is,

God always takes time to explain what we need to know. You know, not only when it comes to apocalyptic stuff, but also when it comes to the Bible. And I'm going to read a little note that I made off to the side. Apocalyptic teaching, prophetic things when we find ourselves going, huh? But sometimes just in life in general, we come across things in life. We're like, Lord, I don't understand this.

And we wonder greatly at the things that we see happening around us or perhaps the things I see happening in my life or perhaps the things I'm reading in scripture at that point in time. And we find ourselves just like John in the wilderness, wondering greatly and going, Lord, I don't understand what you're showing me. I don't understand what you're doing. I don't understand what's happening right now.

But you know what I find throughout scripture is that God is always so patient to do with his servants to take time and explain it. It may not happen right away. The explanation may not come right away like it does here. It may take years for the explanation to come. Daniel had to pray three or four weeks one time when he saw a vision. It took three or four weeks

for an angel to get there to explain it to him. But God was always willing to explain. So if you find yourself in a place right now where you're wondering greatly and you feel like you're stuck, stuck in the wilderness, asking God what's going on and he hasn't seemed to answer it yet, I'll tell you, just keep praying and keep seeking because he will take that time to explain it to you. So that's what this angel does for John.

So he says, as a matter of fact, I've actually labeled this section The Explanation. So the angel said, Why do you wonder? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and ten horns. And so John gets out his pen and he gets ready to write again. It says, The beast that you saw was and is not and is about to come up out of the abyss

and go to destruction. And those who dwell on the earth whose name has not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will wonder when they see the beast that he was and is not and will come. Of course, I feel like this speaks of the Antichrist because the Antichrist will come out of the abyss. The Antichrist will eventually go to destruction.

And those who dwell on the earth, whose names aren't written in the book of life, will go, Wow, look at the beast. Remember what we said they would do? They would worship him because who is like the beast who is able to be healed from the mortal wounds? Remember that section when we talked about the beast and the false prophet? I think that's what that's referring to.

So who is this beast that she comes writing in on? Well, it's none other than the Antichrist himself. And then in verse nine, he goes on to say, And here is the mind which has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits. And they are seven kings. Five have fallen. One is, the other has not yet come. And when he comes, he must remain a little while.

The beast which was and is not is himself also an eighth and is one of the seven. And he goes to destruction. Now, if I'm John at this point in time, I'm like, can you do that again?

Here is the mind which has wisdom. Okay, go. Right? Because I read that and I'm like, oh, son of a gun. I'm going to need you to explain that one more time. You know what every Bible commentator I read said? This is a really hard section. And I'm like, you don't say. Right? I read David Gusick and he's like, oh, there's a few explanations for this, but it's a really hard section.

And when he got done, he goes, but all that to say, that's a really hard section. So let's work through it the best we can, shall we? Okay, so the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits. Okay, I'm with it so far. Seven heads, seven mountains. Now, a lot of people believe that speaks of Rome because Rome is known as the city of seven hills. Only as David Gusick points out that

Rome is the city of seven hills, not seven mountains. So maybe it's not Rome. Perhaps these seven mountains could be seven kingdoms. I think we're a little more plausible at that point in time. Again, if you disagree, that's okay. We can agree to disagree on that. But I think when you think about seven kingdoms, maybe that's what you are talking about. Because if you think about,

the great kingdoms that have ruled throughout the earth, there's been about seven of them. The sixth would have been ruling at that time, which was the, or the fifth would have been ruling at that time, which was the Romans. The sixth was yet to come, which is the revived Roman empire. The seventh will be the Antichrist, who's also the eighth, who was and is not.

It is again, and eventually goes to destruction. Now, I think we could be onto something there. Some believe that the seven are actually, actually speak of seven main rulers of the Roman empire, potentially. But he says, there's seven mountains on which the woman sits. And then he goes on to say, and there's seven kings. Five have fallen, one is. The other's not yet come.

And when he comes, he must remain a little while. Of course, that could be the Antichrist. And the beast, which was and is not, is himself also an eighth. And there's one of the seven. He goes to destruction. Ultimately, what I've come to is this. Speaking of the kingdoms of the world, and this woman will sit upon the kingdoms of the world. And ultimately, the beast, the Antichrist,

is going to be one of them. And he will eventually go to destruction. That's the best I've come up with there. That's the best anybody I read came up with. Everybody had some different ideas, but anyway, there it is. Verse 12. The 10 horns, which you saw, are 10 kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but they receive authority as kings with the beast, for one.

Now, this one I do know. It speaks of a 10-nation confederation. We saw this also in the book of Daniel in the description of both the statue and in the description of the beast that were to come. These 10 nations, which I believe will be established during that tribulational period, will all give their power to the Antichrist, will all give their power to the beast, because that's what it says.

They'll receive power for one hour. Then in verse 13, it says, and these have one purpose, and they give their power and authority, authority to the beast. And so, all of these speak of a world government that ultimately will give authority to the beast, but upon whom this woman, this religious system, will rest. Hopefully, you're as confused as I am. We'll roll on from there.

Verse 14, it says, and these will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, because He is the Lord of lords and the King of kings. And those who are with Him are called chosen and faithful. Now, I know exactly what that means. That means that all of these world systems, both the religious and the political, will try to come against the Lamb, and they will find that they can't.

Do you know that's been happening for years? It's not just something current. It's not even just something that's going to take place in the future. For years, they've been trying to come against the Lamb, and they haven't been able to. Just for the sake of learning, sometimes you should go back and do just a little bit of research on the Dark Ages. They call it the Dark Ages because it was an age in which learning didn't take place.

Not only learning in general, but learning about God's Word. And yet, through all of those periods of the Dark Ages, shockingly enough, one thing was preserved. The Word of God. The Word of God was preserved that entire time. It was preserved. All of a sudden, the Word of God began to be translated into languages that people could read. It began to be translated into languages that people could understand.

The Word of God began to flow again. People came out of the dark. They came into the light. Because though they tried to come against the Lamb, they were unable to. People for years have tried to destroy the work of the Kingdom of God. But I believe Paul put it best when he said, but the Gospel is unchained. And so, these world systems try to come against, they try to wage war against the Lamb,

and the Lamb will overcome him. Well, then he goes on to describe these waters. Verse 15, and he said to me, The waters which you saw, where the harlot sits, are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues. As I mentioned before, this woman sits upon all of the nations, making it a very ecumenical system. Because that's what's going to happen. This is going to be really popular,

because that's what people are ultimately looking for is, how can we all come together and find peace? And so this will be an ecumenical or worldwide sort of a religious system. But then I want you to notice what happens in verse 16. It says, And 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, will burn her up with fire.

For God has 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 will be fulfilled. The woman you saw is the great city, which reigns over the kings of the earth. All of a sudden it gets a little confusing here, because notice what it says. It says, The ten horns which you saw, and the beast, these will hate the harlot.

Now wait, just a minute ago, who was riding on the beast? The harlot was. Why? Because the beast was using the harlot for his own purposes. He was using this religious system for his own purposes. I think that speaks of the first three and a half years of the tribulation. But what's going to happen halfway through the tribulation? What's that beast going to do?

You should worship me as God. See, that's the waging of war against this harlot. And he destroys her. In other words, this religious system that's ecumenical is destroyed, and all of a sudden he now lifts himself up, as God, to be worshiped by everyone, and he destroys the religious system. Isn't that kind of fascinating to see? That it's actually done by the Antichrist,

but I want you to notice who's behind it. For God has 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 will be fulfilled. Isn't it amazing to think that even in the end times, God will use this beast to destroy, the harlot. You say, how can God do that? Well, a prophet of God asked the same question

in the Old Testament when he said, God, when, when, who he was Habakkuk, who said, when are you going to judge the people? When are you going to judge us for our evil? When are you going to deal with us as a nation? And God said, dude, if I told you what I was going to do, your ears wouldn't stop tingling. He said, try me, I know what you're going to do. And he said,

I'm going to bring against them the Babylonians. And he said, Lord, listen, we're really bad, but they're really bad. How can you use the Babylonians to bring judgment on us? And God says, I use who I use to fulfill my purposes. Isn't that amazing that even the most evil things in the world, sometimes God uses for his purpose, and that's exactly what he's going to do here.

You know how I know that? Because it says, for God has put it in his heart to execute his purpose. And that's exactly what God's going to do in those end times. And he will use that antichrist to destroy that world system. And then of course, we know what's ultimately going to happen to the antichrist. Well, we were told up there in verse 11, that he will go to

destruction. So he finishes up by saying, the woman who you saw, she's the great city. Which reigns over the kings of the earth. And so again, we ask ourselves a question. Who's the great city? Is the great city Rome? Maybe. Is the great city Babylon? Actually the city of Babylon? Maybe. Is the great city Jerusalem? Perhaps. One thing I do know is this, the great city,

this great city that ruled over the kings of the earth, it's a false religious system. Whichever city it finds itself in, it's a false religious system that is of the world, that is man-made, that glorifies man, and is rebellious against God. Now, there's three things, three takeaways, I would like to give you as we end chapter 17. And then next week, we'll get into chapter 18 and talk about the fall of political Babylon.

Three takeaways. Number one, false religion is not bound up in one church, we need to be Bereans. False religion is not bound up in one church, we need to be Bereans. We need to study to show ourselves approved unto God. Because if there is one common theme throughout the entire New Testament, it is the warning about false religion. False religion in the church,

false religion outside of the church, but we are told over and over again, about the spirit of antichrist that is throughout the world and that we need to be Bereans. As a matter of fact, the book of Jude starts off saying, I was going to write to you about our common faith, but I got distracted because now I need to tell you about the false religion that's coming, about the false religion that's in the world, and things that you need to be aware of. And it's because it's not bound up in one church, brothers and sisters. False religion is everywhere and we've got to be aware.

You've got to know what this has to say. My fear is that sometimes we as the church in general are so interested in whether or not what we hear is entertaining and we're less concerned about whether or not it's actually teaching us the truth. Whether or not the truth of God's word is being spread. As a matter of fact, right in the middle, I believe it's in the middle, of a book called Haley's Bible Handbook.

And if you don't own a Haley's Bible Handbook, you should go out and buy a Haley's Bible Handbook. But right smack dab, in the middle of it, is what he calls the most important page in the book. Because on that page, he says this, there is one thing that will transform the life of the believer and there is one thing that will transform the life of the church and that is the reading of God's word. It is the one thing that will grow the believer.

It is the one thing that will grow the truth. It is the one thing that will protect against false teaching. It is the one thing that will protect against error. And if done properly and obeyed, it is the one thing that will keep us from sin. And the neglect of the reading of God's word is the one thing that will destroy the believer and the one thing that will destroy a church.

You know why? Because false religion is everywhere. And if we don't know what this has to say, then we don't know how to stand up against that which is false. Number two, Jesus wins. I don't know, that just really stuck out to me. That in verse 14 it says, these will wage war against the Lamb and the Lamb will overcome them. Listen brothers and sisters, Jesus wins.

And I think sometimes when we're seeing all the garbage going on in the world, I have way too many conversations where we go, gosh, the world's just going crazy right now. Yeah, we should know that the world's going to go crazy. We've got to stop being shocked by that. I've got to stop being shocked by that and just know that Jesus wins. In the end, that's just the truth.

Jesus is going to win out in all of these things. And we don't have to worry about what's going to happen with our government. We don't have to worry about who's going to get elected president next. Which by the way, are we watching that there's a major battle? Listen, there is civil war going on in every portion of the country right now. I know it's not actually

a civil war. Please don't take my words and say Pastor Ryan said there's a civil war going on right now. But there's division like I've never seen before within every political party, within every church, within every portion of our country right now because we can't agree on anything. You know why? Because we can't agree on this. But Jesus wins. So turn your eyes

towards Jesus because he's ultimately going to win. And then the third one is a question that only you can answer. And the question is this. What reigns in your life? In verse 18 it says, The woman whom you saw is the great city which reigns over the kings of the earth. Everyone is going to serve something. We were created to respond and to serve. And each of us

is going to serve something. We will either serve God or we will serve the system of the world. And here's what we need to know about the system of the world. The system of the world will eventually destroy you. I was listening to Dr. Michael Youssef the other day. I don't listen to Michael Youssef very much because he's on at a time when I just am not able

to sit down and listen. But I was listening to him the other day and he was talking about this similar thing about what reigns in your life. And he told the story of a snake charmer. I don't know why you'd ever want to be a snake charmer. It's the dumbest idea I've ever heard in my entire life. But this guy wowed audiences to charm a snake because he had a python

or boa constrictor, some evil creature that would wrap itself around him and put him in a hold where he couldn't get out. And then he would be able to say the right words and the snake would become docile, fall down at his feet and do nothing to him. Everybody was amazed. Look at how he controls that snake. Look at how he's able to have control over that snake.

Until one day the snake didn't listen to him anymore. And the snake just kept squeezing and squeezing. And he used all the same words he'd used before, only this time the words didn't work. And when he tried to cry out for help, everybody just thought it was part of the show. And nobody did anything to help him until finally the snake squeezed the life out of him.

And Dr. Michael Youssef brought it to a point when he said this, too many of us allow the word to come out of the mouth of a snake. And that's what we're trying to do. We're trying to make the world to reign in one portion of our life thinking that we have control. I can maintain control over it and it will never take me over. But one day that portion of the world

that has a little bit of control on you will decide a little bit of control is not enough and it will eventually choke the life out of you. Brothers and sisters, what reigns in our life is it the system of the world or is it Jesus Christ? Because Jesus is pretty intent on telling us no one can serve two masters. Amen. Father, we come to you now and Lord, there's much

to be learned from 17 and there's much to be confused about but Lord, ultimately we know you win. And so Lord, may our hearts be directed to you and may we know you more clearly. And Lord, the things of the world may they just grow strangely dim in the light of your glory and grace. In Jesus name. Amen. Be blessed.