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Welcome to lesson 18 the Book of Revelation. We come now to chapter 17 and 18. I will talk
about the fall of Babylon as a religion and the actual city of Babylon. In chapter 17,
it speaks the false religion. This is the system that will be used by Satan to bring
together all the nations. And then he would destroy and discard of it. The women and the
beasts are its flame.
God tells John about the kingdoms that will resurface. These are from Nebuchadnezzar’s
dream. In Daniel chapter 7 and that the seven hills, which have been known as Rome, will
fall. Chapter 18 details of the fall of an actual city of Babylon. It doesn’t exist
now, but there will be one rebuilt. There’s a debate on where this will be. But the bottom
line is in chapter 18, there’s a final destruction and fall, and Babylon is destroyed.
Chapter 17:1, “One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came me, he said, ‘Come,
I will show you how the great *** will be punished. She is the one who sits on many
waters.’” Well, who is the great ***? It’s the false Babylonian religion. It started
in Babylon. It was in Babylon when men rebels against God, decided to build a tower where
they could communicate to the universe. It’s actually to communicate to the sky and where
astrology and the origins of it started.
And this is where God confuses men’s language. This spiritual system led men to trust in
something other than Jesus Christ or a relationship with God. They would trust in their own works
and what they can do. The kings of the earth took part in her evil ways. The people living
on the earth were drunk with wine for terrible sins.
Who create this system, this Babylonian spiritual system? Earlier, we had talked about ***,
who’s a great leader that led the building of the tower of Babylon. His name in Hebrew
is marad, or to rebel. And we have the story of ***, Semiramis and Tammuz, where Satan
knew that a savior was to come thro a *** birth. And then he set up a false counterfeit
religious system with the same principle.
*** was the leader of Babylon. He marries Semiramis and he goes out to hunt supposedly
before having relations with Semiramis. *** is killed by a wild boar. The stories say
he laid there for three days and after three days he came back to life. Semiramis mourns
and then she claims that she’s with a child, a *** child. This child is Tammuz. He calls
Semiramis, the queen of heaven.
This calls the worship of Ishtar, the golden egg of Astarte for fertility and coloring
of eggs. They also worshipped around the time in the winter solstice, December 23 to 25th,
and supposedly when Tammuz was born. They celebrate with fires and parties and drunkenness,
just like it’s spoken of in verse 2. And they would take an ule log and burn it in
the fire. And the next day, they replace with an evergreen tree, representing new life and
decorate it with gold and silver tinsel.
In the book of Jeremiah chapter 10, it talks about these customs. In verses 3 and 4, “For
the customs of the people’s are worthless. They cut a tree out of the forest and a craftsman
shapes it with his chisel. They adorn it with silver and gold and they fasten it with a
hammer and nails so it will not totter.” And much like we have our Christmas trees
today, which leads to the next section on how these practices got intertwined with Christianity.
As Babylon was conquered by other empires, this entire religious system was transplanted,
first to Pergamum as we saw in Revelation 2:12-17 and then Rome. In 313 A.D., Emperor
Constantine took power and claimed to be a Christian, and he established Christianity
as the official state religion. All babies were baptized into Christianity and this is
where entered infant baptism started.
Many of the religious traditions of Babylon were incorporated into Christianity. These
include many of our traditions today surrounding the winter solstice, Christmas and Easter.
Babylonian would worship Ishtar and he just changed it to Easter. This way everyone could
be happy. He was a politician. On the winter solstice, he turned it into Christmas.
That is why today people will argue, well, why do we celebrate Jesus’ birthday in the
winter when we know from the scripture he must have been born during the spring. Well,
this is where it comes from. And even Christians put a lot of effort to say Christmas is about
Christ. And we can see here from history that it never was. This is not to say we should
not celebrate Christmas. We can take this time to share Christ with others.
But it’s important that you’d know where the origins of all the different traditions
came from. We do seek to every day and celebrate his death in resurrection. And we now celebrate
this around the time of Easter for it was adopted at this time.
Verse 3, “The angel carried me away in a vision. The Holy Spirit took me into the desert.
There I saw a woman sitting on a bright red beast. It was covered with the names that
say evil things that are displeasing to God. It had seven heads and ten horns.” The red
beast is Satan. The seven heads are the seven superpower nations. The ten heads are the
10 nation confederation.
Verse 4, “The woman was dressed in purple and bright red. She was gleaming with gold,
jewels and pearls. In her hand she held a golden cup filled with things that God hates.
It was filled with her terrible and dirty sins.” Purple and bright red, purple was
a predominant color in Rome. You may recall Lydia was a seller of purple and it was very
expensive. Scarlet red is the color of the Roman Catholic religion.
The golden cup represents idolatry. The sins in the cup are the teachings that deny God
and that you can be saved by works and what you do. Here’s a name that was written on
the forehead; Mystery, the Great City of Babylon, The Mother of Prostitutes, The Mother of Everything
on the Earth That God Hates. This simply speaks of everything God dislikes on this false religion.
Verse 6, “I saw the woman was drunk with the blood of God’s people. They are the
ones who gave witness to Jesus. When I saw her, I was very amazed. Then the angel said
to me, ‘Why are you amazed? I will explain to you the mystery of the woman and of the
beast she rides on.’ The beast is the one who has the seven heads and ten horns.”
John is amazed because the false church is being used. In Fox’s Books of Martyrs, one
pope killed more Christians in one day than all of the Roman emperors. That is why it’s
described as drunk with blood of the saints and all of the people that were persecuted.
Verse 8, “The beast that you saw used to exist. But now he does not. He will come up
out of the abyss. He will be destroyed. Some of the people who live on the earth will be
amazed when they see the beast. Their names have not been written in the Book of Life
from the time the world was created. They will be amazed because even though the beast
used to exist and does not, he will come again.”
Here is a problem that you have to be wise to understand. The seven heads are seven hills
that the woman sits on and the seven hills is Rome. The woman who sits on it is this
false religion appears to embrace Christ, but Satan uses it. There are also seven kings;
five have fallen, one is ruling, and the other has still not come. When it does come, he
must remain for a little while.
These are the seven emperors. At this time, five had already died at the time John was
writing this on Patmos. Caesar Nero was in charged. He was the worst and he was called
the beast. And his name numerically adds up to 666 in the Hebrew. But we also know the
number of the man who will be the world leader called antichrist.
The beast who used to exist and now does not is an eighth king. He belongs to the other
seven. He will be destroyed. The 10 horns you saw of the 10 kings, they have not yet
received a kingdom, but for one hour they will receive authority to rule together with
the beast. They have only one purpose. So they shall get power and authority to the
beast.
Satan’s seven super kingdoms of the seven mountains were governments in the prophecy
in Daniel 2:25. And they include Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece and the 10 nation
confederation that give power to the beast in order they might combine to destroy God.
The one hour is the time they will come together against Christ and try to prevent his coming.
They will make way against the land, but the land will overcome them because he’s the
most powerful Lord of all and the greatest king of all. He’s appointed, chosen faithful
followers who’ll be with them. That is us, whom we return. It’s going to be no big
battle. They tried to make war against the lamb. But actually, words will come from his
mouth and these great nations will be wiped out.
Then the angel spoke to me. “You saw the waters the *** sits on. They stand
for all the nations of the world, no matter what their race or language is.” The beast
and the ten horns you saw will hate the ***. They will destroy her and leave her naked.
They will eat her flesh and burn her with fire. God has put it into their hearts to
carry out his purpose. So they agreed to give the beast their power to rule. They will give
him that power until God's words come true. The woman you saw stands for the great city
that rules over the kings of the earth.
And this woman is riding the beast as a religious system, but the whole time, Satan hates, just
like a *** is used. The *** or harlot that rides the beast is not Satan
and he will predominantly use the Roman Catholic, but there will be other false religions that
unite together and Satan will use.
Revelation chapter 18, Babylon falls. And this section is talking about the actual city,
Babylon. After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven. He had great
authority. His glory filled the earth with light. With a mighty voice he shouted, “Fallen!
Babylon the Great has fallen! She has become a place where demons live. She has become
a den for every evil spirits. She has become a nest for every unclean and hated bird.
It’s interesting that Saddam Hussein, his hero was King Nebuchadnezzar. And he started
to rebuild Babylon. He actually hid there as the American troops were instructed not
to destroy whatever had been started. Now what city or where the city relocated is a
matter of speculation. Some believe that the rebuilding in this actual place was Saddam
Hussein. Or, there are some who believe it could be America. But wherever it is, it will
be rebuilt quickly and it will be the capital of commerce for the whole world and the antichrist
will base his system there.
Verse 3, all nations have drunk the strong wine of her terrible sins. The kings of the
earth took part in her evil ways. The traders of the world grew rich from her great wealth.
Then I heard another voice from heaven. It said, “Come out of her, my people. Then
you will not take part in her sins. You will not suffer from any of her plagues. Her sins
are piled up in heaven. God has remembered her crimes.”
Many places in the bible God declares He will not be mocked. And here, he’s saying it’s
an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, and there is judgment from God and there is
fairness in that judgment. Do to her as she has done to others. Pay her back double for
what she has done. Mix her a double dose of what she has mixed of us. Give her as much
pain and suffering as glory and wealth she gave herself. She brags to herself, “I rule
like a queen. I am not a widow. I will never be sad.” But she will be plagued by death,
sadness and hunger. In a single day they will all catch up with
her. She will be burned up by fire. The Lord God who judges her is mighty. The kings of
the earth who committed terrible sins with her will sob. They will be sad because they
used to share her riches. They will see the smoke rising as she burns. They will be terrified
by her suffering. Standing far away, they will exclaim, ‘How terrible! How terrible
it is for you, great city! How terrible for you, Babylon, city of power! In just one hour
you have been destroyed!’
There are three great groups of people singled out, kings, merchants and those who trade
by sea. It is possible it’s a nuclear destruction and people see it from miles away, much like
when the U.S. bombed Japan in Hiroshima. But whatever it is, it’s destroyed instantly.
Verse 11, the traders of the world will cry and be sad over her. No one buys what she
sells anymore. Now, on verse 12, you could think of it as a shopping complex that we
might have a mall or a store. Here is what she had for sale. The jewelry department – gold,
silver, jewels, pearls. The clothing department – fine linen, purple, silk, bright red cloth.
Furniture – every kind of expensive wood. The Home Depot section – all sorts of articles
made out of ivory and valuable wood and bronze, iron and marble. They could be instruments
for house furnishings.
We go to the perfume section – cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, frankincense. We go
to the food section – wine and oil. The livestock – meat and food. In verse 13,
it says the vine flour, and wheat, cattle, sheep, and horses. The automobile department
– the carriages, human slaves. In Rome, one-third of the population was slaves, 10,000
traded for per day in the empire and there was over 50 million estimated.
In the bible, when it talks of slaves, it talks of these servants, the jobs. And we
have slavery today, forced. And we also have slavery we put on ourselves, to work harder
and longer, and achieve more, to get more, bigger homes, newer cars; better, better,
better. And we miss what’s really important and the simple things in life.
Verse 14, the and became rich because of her will stand far away. Her suffering will terrify
them. They will cry out and be sad. And they will cry out, “How terrible! How terrible
it is for you great city “‘Woe! Woe to you, great city,
dressed in fine linen, purple and scarlet, Woe! Woe to you, great city,
a and glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls!
Commerce is wiped out likened to 9/11 attack on twin towers. It killed many people and
ruined lives. It had more economic eff2ct. In USA many Jobs lost, Euro-dollar went up
in value. In 2008 election, economic crises hot topic people voting on. We have seen the
full affect us of a Obama Sim Laden. This event will be similar city but the whole city
will be destroyed. As
17 In one hour such great wealth has been brought to ruin!’
“Every sea captain, and all who travel by ship, the sailors, and all who earn their
living from the sea, will stand far off. 18 When they see the smoke of her burning, they
will exclaim, ‘Was there ever a city like this great city?’ 19 They will throw dust
on their heads, and with weeping and mourning cry out:
“‘Woe! Woe to you, great city, where all who had ships on the sea,
became rich through her wealth! In one hour she has been brought to ruin!’
Once again we see people crying how about losing stuff. Wealth and the things and we
have people say we are in an economic crisis, blood still buy, spend, on where they want.
All we really and an economic crisis? People go to Disney over the day, still. People still
spend money: If They was really in crisis, they would just by what they needed to eat.
Verse 20 is a high point 20 “Rejoice over her, you heavens!
Rejoice, you people of God! Rejoice apostles and prophets!
For God has judged her with the judgment she imposed on you.”
And we rejoice in heaven. What do you rejoice over now? What is your heart fixed on today?
Is it Jesus? 21 Then a mighty angel picked up a boulder
the size of a large millstone and threw it into the sea, and said:
“With such violence the great city of Babylon will be thrown
down, never to be found again.
This is an example of how the city will be destroyed. A Millstone weighs between 1200
to 1500 pounds... May not seem very big, but. It is just an example. It could be a bomb
or asteroid. It could cause pain no damage to the change the water.
Jesus used a millstone as an example of their warning not to order or deceive children.
He said it would be so for 20 millstone tied to his head and phone into the sea. Remember
this when people exploited children. There are so many of the stories of terrible things
people do to children. And God hates and detests this
22 The music of harpists and musicians, pipers and trumpeters,
will never be heard in you again. No worker of any trade
will ever be found in you again. The sound of a millstone
will never be heard in you again. 23 The light of a lamp
will never shine in you again. The voice of bridegroom and bride
will never be heard in you again. Your merchants were the world’s important
people. By your magic spell all the nations
were led astray. 24 In her was found the blood of prophets
and of God’s people, of all who have been slaughtered on
the earth.” This is the final destruction of the city. This is for prime for the return
of Jesus.