Title: Judgment of Babylon / Revelation 17:1-18
Contents Babylon's Judgment / Revelation 17:1-18
Last time we talked about the seven bowls of the last plague. He said that the bowl would be poured into the air, and the kingdoms of the world would be completely destroyed.
If you look there, this is the meaning of the saying, "Each island was gone, and there was no mountain, and there was no place for Babylon."
Today's text tells in detail what the family of beasts and Babylon are, drawn in advance and told little by little up to this point.
In verse 1, it says, “I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters.” Here, “many waters” is revealed in verse 15 and symbolizes the nations.
And the "great harlot" is said to refer to a great city. If you look at 18:11-20 you can see that this is a global importer of all commodities. These are countries that depend only on material things and not on God. Therefore, it can be seen as a generic term for this world that betrays God and the things that belong to it.
The world appears as such a great harlot, and you can see the contrast with the previous chapter 12, “The Woman in Sundress,” the Church.
A "great harlot" is a person who rebelled against God, and a "woman clothed with the sun" is a person who is faithful to God.
In verse 17:16, it is said that the Antichrist and her confederates burned this harlot, which means that the world and its things, that is, those that betray God, will be utterly destroyed by the world war caused by the Antichrist. that's what it's showing.
Because of the evil thoughts of the Antichrist, a great war will inevitably break out, and then all cultures in this world will be completely destroyed. Just as our bodies must die to receive the resurrection of glory, the New Jerusalem will come after being destroyed and destroyed as if dead in the end of this world.
Verse 2 says, “The kings of the earth committed fornication with her, and those who dwell on the earth were drunk with the wine of her fornication.” As the end draws near, the leaders of the earth are saying that they will be engrossed in the attention of this world, unite with the world and sin, and turn away from God.
That is why, like drunkenness, it draws people into filthy sins and blinds them, so they do not understand the truth and do not even try to understand the truth, they say that they will betray God.
In verses 3-5, it says, “I went into the wilderness,” and when John saw New Jerusalem, the kingdom of heaven, he saw it from the mountain, and when he saw Babylon from here today, he saw it in the wilderness. By "wilderness" we mean a barren, desolate, dead atheistic life. Therefore, the attention of this world will become like a wilderness in the future. This is described in detail in Chapter 18.
Here, a woman rides a red beast, a seducer who is born in a luxurious and luxurious appearance. In other words, the great whore, which shows that she will appear carrying the kingdom of antichrist
Satan always tempts humans with the pleasures of the world.
Micah 6:14 says, “You will eat, but you will not be satisfied, and you will always be empty.
This is because the pleasures of this world are vain, and although they taste sweet, they do not give you any satisfaction, they only cause harm, and in the end, they break your heart.
Haggai 1:6 says, “You sow much, but you bring little; you eat, but you are not full, and you drink
But they are not satisfied, they wear them, but they are not warm; and when a worker is paid, he puts it in a bag with holes in it.”
1 Timothy 5:6 says, “He who loves pleasure lives, but is dead.”
And in James 5:5, it says, "You have lived in luxury on earth, and contacted them, so that your hearts were nourished in the day of the slaughter."
In this way, humans are easily attracted to worldly pleasures. Therefore, we must always strive to keep ourselves reverent by being armed with the Word.
And in verse 5, people are easily tempted by abominations. "Abominable things" can be said to refer to anything that is not centered on God but centered on humans.
In other words, humanism and liberalism. Therefore, everything that turns away from God belongs to spiritual fornication and is an abomination in the sight of God. This abomination is the philosophy of humanism, religion, art, culture, politics, education...etc.
The Tower of Babel incident in Genesis 11:2-9 is a product of humanism. Because the Tower of Babel was purely man-based, and its purpose was for human glory. The words “Come on, we” are used twice, which means to do something with human-centered unity.
What happened as a result? The wrath of God has come. It's the language being confused. Words have changed. As the language changes, the culture changes and the thoughts and ideas change. As a result, disputes and fights began to arise.
Anything that is humanistic is to challenge God, and it is foolish to claim God's wrath and destruction. Not only that, he said, "Let's make a name for ourselves and avoid being scattered under the world." This is a rebellious humanism for the glory of God, not for the glory of God.
The only result of humanism is the wrath of God. Today, the religious life of humanism is spreading even in the church. Simply put, it refers to a life of self-convenience.
God-centered, word-centered, church-centered, in other words, it is not a life of faith according to the Word, but a life of faith in moderation. This is like the folly of building the Tower of Babel.
These sins can be committed unknowingly today, so we need to be careful in everything we do.
Verses 6-8 allude to the martyrdom of Jesus' true witnesses.
“They were drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus.” The world is always against God. Therefore, it also opposes and opposes those who belong to God.
In James 4:4 it says, “Women who commit adultery, do you not know that friendship with the world is the enemy of God?
This has happened in the past and will continue to happen in the future. They said that they would appear with the power of Satan coming up from the abyss, and their actions would become extremely wicked.
But it is said in verses 10-11 that their evil deeds will not last forever, but for a short time. And in verses 12-13, “It is said that you will receive authority like a king for a time.
The world always hates us when we try to live rightly, according to the truth, and according to the will of God. That's why Jesus said, "Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness." Therefore, in order to accomplish the will of God, we hope that you will all be blessed with patience and perseverance.
But the problem is that I misunderstand my will for God's will. This is because of religious pride. Therefore, we should always be aware of our shortcomings and be humble.
When we have the attitude of absolute obedience to the words of the Bible with a humble heart, we can receive the guidance of the Holy Spirit and understand God's will.
Verse 14 promises the ultimate victory of the saints. “They will make war with the Lamb, but because the Lamb is Lord of lords and King of kings, he will overcome them, and those who are with him, those who are called and taken out, those who are sincere will overcome.”
Our victory is guaranteed because the Lord is with us. Who did the Lord say He would be with? He said he was a true man. A person of faith is always true and truthful.
When we are sincere, there is repentance, and when we repent, we can receive God's love, grace, and blessings, and our faith will grow. Therefore, we must not tolerate lies among us. A lie is like a scary bottle bag.
In verses 16-18, it is said that the Antichrist's kingdom and its allies love to fight, and that those kingdoms wage the war of Armageddon. It will be the last war in the world.
As a result, he said that the kingdom of this world would fall apart. This means that you are digging your own grave. The fall of Babylon is detailed in Chapter 18.
God never suffers loss or fails because of his enemies. So, it is not detrimental to our members either. Rather, there are times when evil people use it to accomplish God's deep and mysterious will. Therefore, we should not be resentful or discouraged just because the wicked have gained power for a while.
Proverbs 16:4 says, "The LORD hath made all things for a covering, even the wicked for the day of evil."
It is true that it is difficult to say that we live according to the Word of God. That's because they receive Satan's dozan. There may also be losses in the beginning. Pain may also follow. However, if you rely on God's promises with faith and obey Him to the end, God will surely be with you.
Dear saints, As the last days draw near, it will become increasingly difficult to follow the word of faith. I hope that you will be armed with the Word of God and do not fall into the temptations of liberalism or humanism or the temptations of the devil, keep the truth until the end, and pray and work hard to keep the fidelity of your faith. If you do that, God will be with you and give you the power to win. So, I pray in the name of the Lord that you may receive all of God's special love and blessings.