July 12, 2025 • 16 mins
Ever felt like the bad guys are winning? That's exactly what Revelation 17 addresses, and Pastor Brandon breaks it down with a powerful analogy about bullies that perfectly captures the chapter's message. Just as a seemingly intimidating bully might crumble when finally challenged, the mighty Roman Empire—symbolized as a great prostitute riding a scarlet beast—will ultimately fall before Jesus Christ.
This episode dives deep into the rich symbolism John uses to describe Rome without directly naming it—a necessary precaution for early Christians facing persecution. The "seven hills" where the woman rules, Babylon imagery, and the prostitute's luxurious adornments would have clearly identified Rome to first-century readers. Rather than promising immediate relief, however, God reveals that Rome's power will continue briefly, even gaining allies, before its final destruction.
What makes this message so relevant today is its timeless truth: appearances can be deceiving. Pastor Brandon shares a moving story about a man fighting for his marriage while watching a friend who abandoned his family seemingly prosper. The lesson? "Play it forward." Today's struggle and faithfulness builds tomorrow's legacy of victory. While Rome appeared invincible to early Christians, God assured them of its eventual fall. Similarly, our current battles—whether with relationships, health, finances, or injustice—exist within God's larger narrative where Jesus ultimately triumphs.
The most encouraging takeaway from this study is that "sometimes the greatest act of faith is faithfulness." When circumstances suggest evil is winning or that following God isn't worth it, Revelation 17 reminds us that God sees the complete story. The message echoes Jesus' own words: "In this world you will have trouble, but take heart. I have overcome the world." Whatever you're struggling with today, take courage—the Lamb will defeat every adversary because He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, everybody, welcome back to the Bible
Breakdown podcast with your host, pastor Brandon, today,
revelation, chapter 17,.
And today's title is Jesus WinsJesus wins.
This chapter reminds me of onetime I was listening to this
story about.
There was this guy whoeverybody in the school was
(00:23):
afraid of.
He was just this bully and heseemed like he was unbeatable
and he just just walked aroundjust strutting you know what I
mean.
And one day there was this newkid that came to school and, as
the story goes, the new kidlooked at that bully and was
like, hmm, well, I mean, he isbig and all, but that just means
he's easier to hit, you know.
(00:43):
And everybody was like man, youcannot fight him, he is going
to kill you and whatever.
And the truth is is thatactually this big bully had
never actually been in a fight.
He was so big that no one everdared try to confront him.
And so once this bully came upto this new kid, and the new kid
didn't back down, the bullydidn't know what to do and,
(01:07):
according to the story, the newkid didn't even have to hit him.
He just said yeah, yeah, I'll,I will fight you right here and
now.
And then, you know, the bullywas like OK, well, I'm going to
kill you and that's whatever.
Is like OK, come on, come on,and he never would do it.
That reminds me of this chapter, because there is this big
bully to the early church calledthe Roman Empire, and Jesus is
(01:29):
the one who is going to stand upto this bully and just be like
okay, what you got, buddy?
And the answer is absolutelynothing against Jesus.
And so, as you can tell, I'mexcited about this chapter, and
so, if you want to get out yourBibles, open up with me to
Revelation, chapter seven.
While you're doing that, asalways, if you're new around
here, take just a moment to like, share and subscribe to the
YouTube channel and the podcast.
(01:50):
Make sure you leave us a fivestar review on the podcast it
really does help and make sureyou tell us how you are
connecting with God's word,because what it does is, when
other people are searching forpodcasts, they find this one and
they're able to look and go oh,I see how this relates, because
(02:11):
that's what I do when I'mlooking at podcasts.
I'll just be honest with you.
I'll see something.
I'll read the bio that they put, but what I'm really interested
in is in those reviews, becauseI want to know how other people
are relating to God's work.
So it's really good, reallyimportant.
And then also, make sure you'regoing to the Bible breakdown
discussion on Facebook.
It's an amazing group of peopledoing a wonderful job over
there.
And, as always, the more we dig, the more we find.
(02:33):
Well, if you remember our, wejust kind of got in this habit
of doing a um, kind of a, adaily disclaimer, and that is
that in a lot of books are a lotof podcasts, a lot of things
that talk about the book ofRevelation.
Their goal is to predict thefuture, and what we're saying on
this podcast is there's a placefor all of that.
But we're going to leave thatto others, because what we look
(02:54):
at is we see the book ofRevelation not as a horoscope,
but as a message, as arevelation of Jesus Christ.
And so the way the early churchwould have looked at it is they
would have gotten the centralmessage and of Jesus Christ.
And so the way the early churchwould have looked at it is they
would have gotten the centralmessage, and that is Jesus wins.
That above everything elsethey're going through, above
(03:15):
everything else that's happening.
Jesus is the one who isvictorious, and we can see that
throughout the differentchapters because, in the very
beginning, john tells us that heis writing to the seven
churches that he would haveoversaw while he was on the
island of Patmos.
And while he's there he gets arevelation about what God is
doing and about how, even thoughthe Roman Empire and other
places and all these things arepushing for these seven churches
(03:37):
to compromise, jesus is stillon his throne, he's still
winning, he's still doing allthese great things.
And the revelation of JesusChrist is about how, as the
early church is being faithfuland doing what they can do in
the physical, god is doing thesupernatural in the spiritual.
And we are getting close to theclimax of what's coming, of
(03:59):
what lies ahead, and what we sawyesterday is that these angels
are coming from the temple ofGod in heaven and they're
pouring out these bowls of God'swrath that symbolize that God
is is wreaking justice, reapingjustice on the people, to which
we could all say I mean, thinkabout this for a moment.
(04:19):
When, when injustice happens inthe world today, people say
where is God?
Why isn't God doing somethingabout this?
If God were real and if Godwere good, he would be just and
do something about this.
But then, at the same time, I'veheard people who have read the
book of Revelation and they gowhy is God doing all these bad
(04:41):
things to all these bad people?
Well, here's the thing youcan't have it both ways.
Either God's going to be justand we celebrate his justice, or
not, and it's like for a longtime.
I love the idea that God usesthese bowls, because bowls take
a while to fill up, and so Godhas been storing his wrath.
He's been merciful and merciful, and merciful, until finally
(05:03):
it's time to pour out hisjustice.
And we're going to see today howhe's pouring out his justice on
this evil empire called Rome.
And here's one other thing Iwant to tell you before we get
started.
It's going to talk about thisgreat prostitute and it's going
to talk about all thesedifferent things.
It's going to say Babylon, thegreat mother of all prostitutes
(05:23):
and obscenities in the world.
Here's the thing John iswriting to people who live in
the early in the first century,who are being persecuted by Rome
.
They know exactly who he'stalking about.
He doesn't have to say Rome,because when he says Babylon the
Great, he is going back to thefact that Babylon was the one
that destroyed the nation ofJudah and led them into 70 years
(05:45):
of captivity.
They're the ones who justdecimated everything, and so
he's doing that.
So it would be just like todayif we were talking about a
nation and say, oh that that red, white and blue did this, or oh
, the eagle did that, peoplewould immediately know you're
talking about the United States,because that's a symbol, a very
(06:06):
recognizable symbol of theUnited States.
And so when we read and he'stalking about Babylon and the
prostitute and all of that,imagine that the nation that the
people reading this rather knowexactly who he's talking about.
Okay, you ready, here we go.
Revelation 17, verse one, saysthis One of the seven angels who
had poured out the seven bowlscame over and spoke to me.
Come with me.
He said.
(06:26):
I will show you the judgmentthat is going to come on the
great prostitute who rules overmany nations.
The kings of the world havecommitted adultery with her and
the people who belong to thisworld have been made drunk by
the wine of her immorality.
So the angel took me in thespirit, into the wilderness.
There I saw a woman sitting ona scarlet beast and had seven
(06:50):
heads with ten horns, andblasphemies against God were
written all over it.
The woman wore purple andscarlet clothing and beautiful
jewelry made of gold andprecious gems and pearls.
In her hand she held a goldgoblet full of obscenities and
the impurities of her immorality.
The mysterious name was writtenon her forehead Babylon, the
(07:13):
Great mother of all prostitutesand obscenities in the world.
I could see she was drunk.
She was sauced drunk with theblood of God's holy people who
were witnesses for Jesus.
I stared at her in completeamazement.
Why are you so amazed, theangel asked.
I will tell you the mystery ofthis woman and the beast with
(07:36):
the seven heads and the tenhorns on which she sits.
The beast you saw was oncealive, but isn't now.
And yet he will soon come upout of the bottomless pit and go
into eternal destruction, andthe people who belong to this
world, whose names are notwritten in the book of life
before the world was made, willbe amazed at the reappearance of
(07:58):
this beast who died.
This calls for a mind withunderstanding.
Seven heads of the beastrepresent the seven hills where
the woman rules, and theyrepresent seven kings.
By the way, pause real quick.
Seven hills that's talkingabout the woman rules and they
represent seven kings.
By the way, pause, real quick.
Seven hills, that's talkingabout the Roman Empire, like the
seven different areas whereRome basically saying Rome rules
(08:18):
the world.
Five kings verse 10.
Five kings have already fallen.
Six now reign and seven is yetto come.
The seventh is yet to come, butthe reign will be brief.
The scarlet beast was that.
Excuse me say it again, verse11.
The scarlet beast that was, butis no longer, is the eighth
king.
He is like the other seven andhe too is headed for destruction
(08:41):
.
The ten horns of the beast areten kings who have not yet risen
to power.
So, in other words, there areparts of this that talk about
future things.
They will be appointed to theirkingdoms for one brief moment
to reign with the beast.
They will all agree to give himpower and authority.
(09:02):
Together they will go to waragainst the Lamb, but the Lamb
will defeat them because he isLord of all l Lords and King of
all Kings.
He is called and chosen andfaithful ones.
He and his called and chosenand faithful ones will be with
him.
Pause, you have to.
You have to forgive me.
I'm thinking about too manythings at one time.
(09:23):
Let's finish this up.
Verse 15.
Then the angel said to me thewaters where the prostitute is
ruling represent the masses ofpeople of every nation and
language.
Verse 16, the scarlet beastwith his 10 horns all hate the
prostitute.
They will strip her naked, eather flesh and burn her remains
with fire.
That's a bad way to go.
(09:44):
Verse 17, for God has put a planinto their minds and a plan
that will carry out his purposes.
They will agree to give herauthority.
Give the authority to thescarlet beast, so the words of
God will be fulfilled and thiswoman you saw in your visions
represent the great city thatwould be Rome, that rules over
(10:04):
the kings of this world.
Now, like I said, you have toforgive me.
I literally think my brainfroze when I got there, because
this chapter is what so manypeople look to, because it
literally does say there arethings that are going to happen
that he was seeing, that hadn'thappened yet, and it was where
this prostitute, whichsymbolized the Roman Empire, was
(10:27):
going to then lead these othernations, take over these other
nations, and there were going tobe things that was going to
then lead these other nationstake over these other nations,
and there were going to bethings that were going to happen
, and some of these nations weregoing to come to power and lose
power, but then eventually allwill be destroyed.
Notice how it said in verse 17,.
All of this was going to happen, so the words of God will be
(10:48):
fulfilled.
And so what God is telling theearly church is he's telling
them Rome is going to continuefor a season.
That sounds like bad news,right?
I mean you think that whenyou're in the early church,
you're hoping that God is goingto say any day now, all of your
enemies are going to go away.
They're going to be gone,they're over.
(11:09):
Praise the Lord.
That's not what God says.
He says your enemies are notgoing to go away right away.
As a matter of fact, for alittle while it's going to look
like they're winning.
Not only is it going to looklike they're winning, it's going
to look like other people aregoing to rise up and take their
place and serve alongside them,and it's going to look like that
they are collecting and doingwell.
(11:31):
However, all of these thingsare only going to last for a
season and it's all going to bedone to fulfill the word of the
Lord, because God is going todestroy it all in the end.
That is encouraging, becausehere's the thing God tells us.
Jesus himself said in thisworld you will have trouble, but
(11:52):
take heart.
I have overcome the world.
The reason why that is suchgood news is because the Lord
tells us before it even happensthat, yes, bad things are going
to happen, but that doesn't meanthat Jesus is losing anything.
As a matter of fact, jesus isalready victorious, and so the
lesson to the early church wouldhave been don't be seduced by
(12:16):
the world.
Don't think that because yourenemies have momentary success,
that in some way Jesus is not incontrol.
Actually, all of this is stillpart of his plan.
So for us today, the messagewill be the same.
I've talked to so many peoplewhose hearts were broken because
(12:36):
they were doing the right thing, and it seemed like they were
being persecuted, punished.
Things are going wrong, butother people are not following
God and it seems like they'reliving successfully.
Me give me give an example.
I was talking to a gentlemanthe other day and he was
struggling because he, hismarriage, was falling apart.
I mean just absolutely fallingapart.
(12:57):
And he was struggling becausehe was saying, pastor, I'm doing
everything I know to do to savethis marriage.
We're going to counseling,we're doing the hard things
together, we're working throughthe process where we're doing.
It'll be so easy to give up andquit, but we're trying our best
.
And he and he was talking to me.
He said, however, I have afriend and he said he ran out on
his wife, he abandoned his kidsand he looks like he's living
(13:19):
the high life.
He said he's, he's spendingmoney, he's making money, he's
doing all these things.
He's like it's not fair, pastor, and I was there to tell him.
I said well, first of all, youshould never compare your life
to another person's, because youdon't know what someone else is
going through on the inside.
The grass is always greener onthe other side of the fence, but
the water bill is also higher.
In other words, there's a priceto pay.
(13:48):
But, at the same, play itforward.
10-15 years you fight for yourmarriage and let's say that God
is gracious and you're able tosave your marriage 15 years, you
have a legacy of a hard-earnedvictory On the other side, your
friend who abandoned them.
You know what he has to lookforward to unless he changes
Brokenness.
Play it forward and can I tellyou?
If you're in a situation whereyou're struggling, can I tell
you Jesus wins.
Play it forward, realize that,yes, there will be seasons when
(14:10):
it looks like the enemy iswinning, because for seasons it
will be very much like he is,but play it forward and realize
that in the end God wins.
Whatever you are struggling tobe faithful with.
Sometimes, the greatest act offaith is faithfulness, but if
you're faithful to the end,watch and see what happens.
Let's pray together right now.
(14:31):
God, thank you so much fortoday.
Thank you, god, that you'rewith us and you're for us, and
thank you, god, that the messageyou gave to the early church is
still true for us today.
You are real and that you aremoving and you are doing great
things.
Help us, lord, to trust you andto see it through to the
victory.
In Jesus' name, we pray Amenand amen.
(14:52):
Can I tell you I kind of hateleaving it right here, because
the next chapter chapter 18,shows that, even though it
looked like the enemy won for aseason, we get to see the mighty
fall as the king rises, and soI can't wait to get there.
But for today, revelation 1,verse 7, say it with me.
It says look, he is coming withthe clouds of heaven and
(15:12):
everyone will see him.
My prayer is as we go throughthe book of Revelation, you are
seeing the Lord fresh and newmore every day.
I love you.
I'll see you tomorrow forRevelation, chapter 18.
Well, everybody, welcome back to the Bible
Breakdown podcast with your host, pastor Brandon, today,
revelation, chapter 17,.
And today's title is Jesus WinsJesus wins.
This chapter reminds me of onetime I was listening to this
story about.
There was this guy whoeverybody in the school was
(00:23):
afraid of.
He was just this bully and heseemed like he was unbeatable
and he just just walked aroundjust strutting you know what I
mean.
And one day there was this newkid that came to school and, as
the story goes, the new kidlooked at that bully and was
like, hmm, well, I mean, he isbig and all, but that just means
he's easier to hit, you know.
(00:43):
And everybody was like man, youcannot fight him, he is going
to kill you and whatever.
And the truth is is thatactually this big bully had
never actually been in a fight.
He was so big that no one everdared try to confront him.
And so once this bully came upto this new kid, and the new kid
didn't back down, the bullydidn't know what to do and,
(01:07):
according to the story, the newkid didn't even have to hit him.
He just said yeah, yeah, I'll,I will fight you right here and
now.
And then, you know, the bullywas like OK, well, I'm going to
kill you and that's whatever.
Is like OK, come on, come on,and he never would do it.
That reminds me of this chapter, because there is this big
bully to the early church calledthe Roman Empire, and Jesus is
(01:29):
the one who is going to stand upto this bully and just be like
okay, what you got, buddy?
And the answer is absolutelynothing against Jesus.
And so, as you can tell, I'mexcited about this chapter, and
so, if you want to get out yourBibles, open up with me to
Revelation, chapter seven.
While you're doing that, asalways, if you're new around
here, take just a moment to like, share and subscribe to the
YouTube channel and the podcast.
(01:50):
Make sure you leave us a fivestar review on the podcast it
really does help and make sureyou tell us how you are
connecting with God's word,because what it does is, when
other people are searching forpodcasts, they find this one and
they're able to look and go oh,I see how this relates, because
(02:11):
that's what I do when I'mlooking at podcasts.
I'll just be honest with you.
I'll see something.
I'll read the bio that they put, but what I'm really interested
in is in those reviews, becauseI want to know how other people
are relating to God's work.
So it's really good, reallyimportant.
And then also, make sure you'regoing to the Bible breakdown
discussion on Facebook.
It's an amazing group of peopledoing a wonderful job over
there.
And, as always, the more we dig, the more we find.
(02:33):
Well, if you remember our, wejust kind of got in this habit
of doing a um, kind of a, adaily disclaimer, and that is
that in a lot of books are a lotof podcasts, a lot of things
that talk about the book ofRevelation.
Their goal is to predict thefuture, and what we're saying on
this podcast is there's a placefor all of that.
But we're going to leave thatto others, because what we look
(02:54):
at is we see the book ofRevelation not as a horoscope,
but as a message, as arevelation of Jesus Christ.
And so the way the early churchwould have looked at it is they
would have gotten the centralmessage and of Jesus Christ.
And so the way the early churchwould have looked at it is they
would have gotten the centralmessage, and that is Jesus wins.
That above everything elsethey're going through, above
(03:15):
everything else that's happening.
Jesus is the one who isvictorious, and we can see that
throughout the differentchapters because, in the very
beginning, john tells us that heis writing to the seven
churches that he would haveoversaw while he was on the
island of Patmos.
And while he's there he gets arevelation about what God is
doing and about how, even thoughthe Roman Empire and other
places and all these things arepushing for these seven churches
(03:37):
to compromise, jesus is stillon his throne, he's still
winning, he's still doing allthese great things.
And the revelation of JesusChrist is about how, as the
early church is being faithfuland doing what they can do in
the physical, god is doing thesupernatural in the spiritual.
And we are getting close to theclimax of what's coming, of
(03:59):
what lies ahead, and what we sawyesterday is that these angels
are coming from the temple ofGod in heaven and they're
pouring out these bowls of God'swrath that symbolize that God
is is wreaking justice, reapingjustice on the people, to which
we could all say I mean, thinkabout this for a moment.
(04:19):
When, when injustice happens inthe world today, people say
where is God?
Why isn't God doing somethingabout this?
If God were real and if Godwere good, he would be just and
do something about this.
But then, at the same time, I'veheard people who have read the
book of Revelation and they gowhy is God doing all these bad
(04:41):
things to all these bad people?
Well, here's the thing youcan't have it both ways.
Either God's going to be justand we celebrate his justice, or
not, and it's like for a longtime.
I love the idea that God usesthese bowls, because bowls take
a while to fill up, and so Godhas been storing his wrath.
He's been merciful and merciful, and merciful, until finally
(05:03):
it's time to pour out hisjustice.
And we're going to see today howhe's pouring out his justice on
this evil empire called Rome.
And here's one other thing Iwant to tell you before we get
started.
It's going to talk about thisgreat prostitute and it's going
to talk about all thesedifferent things.
It's going to say Babylon, thegreat mother of all prostitutes
(05:23):
and obscenities in the world.
Here's the thing John iswriting to people who live in
the early in the first century,who are being persecuted by Rome
.
They know exactly who he'stalking about.
He doesn't have to say Rome,because when he says Babylon the
Great, he is going back to thefact that Babylon was the one
that destroyed the nation ofJudah and led them into 70 years
(05:45):
of captivity.
They're the ones who justdecimated everything, and so
he's doing that.
So it would be just like todayif we were talking about a
nation and say, oh that that red, white and blue did this, or oh
, the eagle did that, peoplewould immediately know you're
talking about the United States,because that's a symbol, a very
(06:06):
recognizable symbol of theUnited States.
And so when we read and he'stalking about Babylon and the
prostitute and all of that,imagine that the nation that the
people reading this rather knowexactly who he's talking about.
Okay, you ready, here we go.
Revelation 17, verse one, saysthis One of the seven angels who
had poured out the seven bowlscame over and spoke to me.
Come with me.
He said.
(06:26):
I will show you the judgmentthat is going to come on the
great prostitute who rules overmany nations.
The kings of the world havecommitted adultery with her and
the people who belong to thisworld have been made drunk by
the wine of her immorality.
So the angel took me in thespirit, into the wilderness.
There I saw a woman sitting ona scarlet beast and had seven
(06:50):
heads with ten horns, andblasphemies against God were
written all over it.
The woman wore purple andscarlet clothing and beautiful
jewelry made of gold andprecious gems and pearls.
In her hand she held a goldgoblet full of obscenities and
the impurities of her immorality.
The mysterious name was writtenon her forehead Babylon, the
(07:13):
Great mother of all prostitutesand obscenities in the world.
I could see she was drunk.
She was sauced drunk with theblood of God's holy people who
were witnesses for Jesus.
I stared at her in completeamazement.
Why are you so amazed, theangel asked.
I will tell you the mystery ofthis woman and the beast with
(07:36):
the seven heads and the tenhorns on which she sits.
The beast you saw was oncealive, but isn't now.
And yet he will soon come upout of the bottomless pit and go
into eternal destruction, andthe people who belong to this
world, whose names are notwritten in the book of life
before the world was made, willbe amazed at the reappearance of
(07:58):
this beast who died.
This calls for a mind withunderstanding.
Seven heads of the beastrepresent the seven hills where
the woman rules, and theyrepresent seven kings.
By the way, pause real quick.
Seven hills that's talkingabout the woman rules and they
represent seven kings.
By the way, pause, real quick.
Seven hills, that's talkingabout the Roman Empire, like the
seven different areas whereRome basically saying Rome rules
(08:18):
the world.
Five kings verse 10.
Five kings have already fallen.
Six now reign and seven is yetto come.
The seventh is yet to come, butthe reign will be brief.
The scarlet beast was that.
Excuse me say it again, verse11.
The scarlet beast that was, butis no longer, is the eighth
king.
He is like the other seven andhe too is headed for destruction
(08:41):
.
The ten horns of the beast areten kings who have not yet risen
to power.
So, in other words, there areparts of this that talk about
future things.
They will be appointed to theirkingdoms for one brief moment
to reign with the beast.
They will all agree to give himpower and authority.
(09:02):
Together they will go to waragainst the Lamb, but the Lamb
will defeat them because he isLord of all l Lords and King of
all Kings.
He is called and chosen andfaithful ones.
He and his called and chosenand faithful ones will be with
him.
Pause, you have to.
You have to forgive me.
I'm thinking about too manythings at one time.
(09:23):
Let's finish this up.
Verse 15.
Then the angel said to me thewaters where the prostitute is
ruling represent the masses ofpeople of every nation and
language.
Verse 16, the scarlet beastwith his 10 horns all hate the
prostitute.
They will strip her naked, eather flesh and burn her remains
with fire.
That's a bad way to go.
(09:44):
Verse 17, for God has put a planinto their minds and a plan
that will carry out his purposes.
They will agree to give herauthority.
Give the authority to thescarlet beast, so the words of
God will be fulfilled and thiswoman you saw in your visions
represent the great city thatwould be Rome, that rules over
(10:04):
the kings of this world.
Now, like I said, you have toforgive me.
I literally think my brainfroze when I got there, because
this chapter is what so manypeople look to, because it
literally does say there arethings that are going to happen
that he was seeing, that hadn'thappened yet, and it was where
this prostitute, whichsymbolized the Roman Empire, was
(10:27):
going to then lead these othernations, take over these other
nations, and there were going tobe things that was going to
then lead these other nationstake over these other nations,
and there were going to bethings that were going to happen
, and some of these nations weregoing to come to power and lose
power, but then eventually allwill be destroyed.
Notice how it said in verse 17,.
All of this was going to happen, so the words of God will be
(10:48):
fulfilled.
And so what God is telling theearly church is he's telling
them Rome is going to continuefor a season.
That sounds like bad news,right?
I mean you think that whenyou're in the early church,
you're hoping that God is goingto say any day now, all of your
enemies are going to go away.
They're going to be gone,they're over.
(11:09):
Praise the Lord.
That's not what God says.
He says your enemies are notgoing to go away right away.
As a matter of fact, for alittle while it's going to look
like they're winning.
Not only is it going to looklike they're winning, it's going
to look like other people aregoing to rise up and take their
place and serve alongside them,and it's going to look like that
they are collecting and doingwell.
(11:31):
However, all of these thingsare only going to last for a
season and it's all going to bedone to fulfill the word of the
Lord, because God is going todestroy it all in the end.
That is encouraging, becausehere's the thing God tells us.
Jesus himself said in thisworld you will have trouble, but
(11:52):
take heart.
I have overcome the world.
The reason why that is suchgood news is because the Lord
tells us before it even happensthat, yes, bad things are going
to happen, but that doesn't meanthat Jesus is losing anything.
As a matter of fact, jesus isalready victorious, and so the
lesson to the early church wouldhave been don't be seduced by
(12:16):
the world.
Don't think that because yourenemies have momentary success,
that in some way Jesus is not incontrol.
Actually, all of this is stillpart of his plan.
So for us today, the messagewill be the same.
I've talked to so many peoplewhose hearts were broken because
(12:36):
they were doing the right thing, and it seemed like they were
being persecuted, punished.
Things are going wrong, butother people are not following
God and it seems like they'reliving successfully.
Me give me give an example.
I was talking to a gentlemanthe other day and he was
struggling because he, hismarriage, was falling apart.
I mean just absolutely fallingapart.
(12:57):
And he was struggling becausehe was saying, pastor, I'm doing
everything I know to do to savethis marriage.
We're going to counseling,we're doing the hard things
together, we're working throughthe process where we're doing.
It'll be so easy to give up andquit, but we're trying our best
.
And he and he was talking to me.
He said, however, I have afriend and he said he ran out on
his wife, he abandoned his kidsand he looks like he's living
(13:19):
the high life.
He said he's, he's spendingmoney, he's making money, he's
doing all these things.
He's like it's not fair, pastor, and I was there to tell him.
I said well, first of all, youshould never compare your life
to another person's, because youdon't know what someone else is
going through on the inside.
The grass is always greener onthe other side of the fence, but
the water bill is also higher.
In other words, there's a priceto pay.
(13:48):
But, at the same, play itforward.
10-15 years you fight for yourmarriage and let's say that God
is gracious and you're able tosave your marriage 15 years, you
have a legacy of a hard-earnedvictory On the other side, your
friend who abandoned them.
You know what he has to lookforward to unless he changes
Brokenness.
Play it forward and can I tellyou?
If you're in a situation whereyou're struggling, can I tell
you Jesus wins.
Play it forward, realize that,yes, there will be seasons when
(14:10):
it looks like the enemy iswinning, because for seasons it
will be very much like he is,but play it forward and realize
that in the end God wins.
Whatever you are struggling tobe faithful with.
Sometimes, the greatest act offaith is faithfulness, but if
you're faithful to the end,watch and see what happens.
Let's pray together right now.
(14:31):
God, thank you so much fortoday.
Thank you, god, that you'rewith us and you're for us, and
thank you, god, that the messageyou gave to the early church is
still true for us today.
You are real and that you aremoving and you are doing great
things.
Help us, lord, to trust you andto see it through to the
victory.
In Jesus' name, we pray Amenand amen.
(14:52):
Can I tell you I kind of hateleaving it right here, because
the next chapter chapter 18,shows that, even though it
looked like the enemy won for aseason, we get to see the mighty
fall as the king rises, and soI can't wait to get there.
But for today, revelation 1,verse 7, say it with me.
It says look, he is coming withthe clouds of heaven and
(15:12):
everyone will see him.
My prayer is as we go throughthe book of Revelation, you are
seeing the Lord fresh and newmore every day.
I love you.
I'll see you tomorrow forRevelation, chapter 18.
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