Voddie Baucham - The Great Prostitute, Part I

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
This morning, take out your bibles and turn them all
the way to the right. As we return today to Revelation.
We have taken a brief hiatus and gone and done
some selected psalms. This is our second or third break

(00:22):
as we've preached through the Revelation, and now we rejoin
this letter in chapter seventeen. So join me in Revelation
chapter seventeen. It is always difficult to take a break

(00:42):
in Revelation and then come back because there is so
much involved, and it requires a certain amount of continuity
for us to be able to continue to interpret this
particular letter properly. So let me just bring you up
to speed. Let me give you a sort of outline

(01:03):
of where we've been. We've seen basically seven visions. There
was an introduction in those first eight verses. That introduction
tells us what kind of letter this is, and it
also tells us how this letter is to be interpreted.
So we see that in those first eight verses. In
those first eight verses, we see that we're dealing with

(01:24):
signs or symbols, and so we know that the Book
of Revelation is not a code book, but it's actually
a picture book that John is painting for us pictures,
and these pictures have symbolic images, and so we're to
interpret these images symbolically based on our understanding of what

(01:46):
he is drawing from. We know that largely he is
drawing from the prophetic books, that he is drawing largely
from Daniel, largely from Isaiah and the other prophets. We
know that he is also drawing from the Psalms. There
is a sense in which virtually the entire Old Testament
is represented here in the Revelation, and so because of that,

(02:09):
we understand that if we're to interpret these pictures that
he paints for us, we have to go back and
understand what he's drawing from. We also understand that he
repeats certain things so that he helps us get a
glimpse as to what he's dealing with. We know that
there are numbers that are important. We know that the
number three is important, that number that refers to God.

(02:33):
We know that the number seven and ten are important,
those numbers that refer to completion and perfection, we know
or fullness. We know that the number twelve is important
because the number twelve is a reference to the people
of God. We know also that there's the multiplied number

(02:57):
of a thousand, which is ten times ten times ten,
if you will, and that number is important as a
number that represents a large sum of things, if you will.
We know also that what we have in Revelation is

(03:19):
a repetition of the judgment of God on the world,
this picture that is painted again and again and again,
and it's in some ways opening like a telescope, and
as it opens, we come to another part of the
telescope that opens a little longer, and another part that

(03:40):
opens a little longer that gets us closer and closer
and closer to what we're looking at. We know, however,
that it also acts as though we're looking from different angles,
and so we'll see the same judgments repeated again and again,
but from different angles and different perspectives, so that when

(04:00):
you put them all together, you get a more full
orbed impression or understanding of what it is that's being communicated.
When also that one way to divide the book is
through these seven visions makes sense because of his repeated
use of the number seven Vision number one the Church

(04:21):
on Earth, that's one nine to three twenty two, Vision
number two, God's Throne in the seven Seals, that's four
to one through eight one. Vision number three, the Seven
Trumpets eight two to eleven nineteen, Vision number four, the interlude,
and there's a picture of warfare and salvation, and that's

(04:42):
twelve one through fourteen twenty. Vision number five, the Seven
Bowls of Judgment fifteen one to sixteen twenty one. Vision
number six, the Victory of Christ. We see that in
seventeen one, where we are today through nineteen twenty one.
And then finally Vision number seve is the New Heavens
and the New Earth. And so here we are in

(05:05):
that sixth of the seven visions. So we're almost there. Amen,
We're almost there. In Revelation, in seventeen and eighteen we
see the destruction of Babylon the Great. We'll begin that
today in seventeen one through six, but again chapters seventeen
and eighteen give us the destruction of Babylon the Great.

(05:28):
Interestingly enough, in chapter seventeen we have the destruction of
Babylon the Great from a spiritual perspective. In chapter eighteen
we see it from an earthly and economic perspective. So
again it's a theme that's carried out throughout the book,
but here we see it sort of condensed in these
two chapters, where we see the same judgment from two

(05:49):
separate angles. But this judgment has also been seen earlier
in chapters thirteen and fourteen. In Revelation in nineteen we
read of the fate of the Beast and the false Prophet.
You remember that unholy trinity. We see the beast and
the false prophet. In Revelation twenty we read of the

(06:14):
fate of the Dragon, and so that unholy trinity will
be dealt with in Revelation nineteen and twenty. With that
in mind, let's look here at Revelation seventeen. We're going
to concentrate on verses one through six, but let's read
the entire chapter this sort of orient us. Then one

(06:38):
of the seven angels who had the seven bulls came
and said to me, Come, I will show you the
judgment of the great prostitute, who is seated on many waters,
with whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality,
and with the wine of whose sexual immorality the dwellers
on earth have become drunk and married me away in

(07:00):
the spirit into a wilderness. And I saw a woman
sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names,
and it had seven heads and ten horns. There're those numbers.
The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned
in gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hands

(07:21):
a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of
our sexual morality. Now we have the symbolism of colors
and of jewels as well. And on her forehead was
written a name of mystery, Babylon, the great mother of
prostitutes and the earth's abominations. And I saw the woman

(07:42):
drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of
the martyrs of Jesus. When I saw her, I marveled greatly.
But the angel said to me, why do you marvel?
I will tell you the mystery of the woman and
of the beast with the seven heads and ten horns

(08:02):
that carries her. The beast that you saw was and
is not, and is about to rise from the bottomless
pit and go to destruction. And the dwellers on earth
whose names have not been written in the Book of
Life from the foundation of the world will marvel to
see the beast, because it was and is not and

(08:24):
is to come this calls for a mind with wisdom.
The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman
is seated. They are also seven kings, five of whom
have fallen. One is, the other has not yet come,
And when he does come, he must remain only a

(08:47):
little while. As for the beast that was and is not,
it is an eighth, but it belongs to the seventh,
and it goes to destruction. And the ten horns that
you saw are the kings who have not yet received
royal power. But they are to receive authority as kings

(09:10):
for one hour together with the beast. These are of
one mind, and they hand over their power and authority
to the beast. They will make war on the lamb,
and the lamb will conquer them. For he is the
lord of lords and king of kings, and those with
him are called and chosen and faithful. And the Angel

(09:35):
said to me, the waters that you saw where the
prostitute is seated are peoples and multitudes, and nations and languages.
And the ten horns that you saw, they and the
beast will hate the prostitute. They will make her desolate

(09:59):
and naked, and devour her flesh, and burn her up
with fire, for God has put it into their hearts
to carry out His purpose by being of one mind
and handing over their royal power to the beast, until
the words of God are fulfilled. And the woman that
you saw is the great city that has dominion over

(10:22):
the kings of the earth. Amen, hallelujah. What does that mean? Again?
We have to keep these things in their proper context.
We have to keep them in the context of what
John is doing and has done throughout this letter, And

(10:45):
we have to keep them in the context of that
to which John is referring. Particularly here, there are many
references to Daniel chapter seven, but also there are references
to the other prophetic books as well. Keep in mind
also that this is a picture book, not a code book.

(11:06):
I remember we've talked about the different perspectives that people
bring to the Book of Revelation, and there there's the
perspective that basically looks at the Book of Revelation and says, Okay,
where are we now, what has happened so far and
what is still yet to happen? And who is this
person and who is that person? And how do I
find them on the world seen? How do I look

(11:27):
in the newspaper and locate these things. There's another perspective
that looks at Revelation quite differently and understands that the
goal here in Revelation is not to give us a
code by which we cipher particular events, but it's to
give us something much more significant. And because of that,

(11:51):
we see Revelation as a book that has meaning and
value to every generation of Christians, not just two generations
of Christians. One the generation that was alive at the time,
and two the generation that's alive that in that very
short period of history when these things actually happen. It's
not the perspective that we take, but a perspective that says,

(12:14):
if you understand this properly as a picture book that
is referring to certain universal realities, this book has value
for every Christian in every age, in every time, and
in every location and situation. That in mind, let's look
at this first. Let's look at the Companion of Babylon

(12:37):
the Great. That's important. The Companion of Babylon the Great.
We see that in verse three. Look beginning of verse one.
Then we'll concentrate on verse three. Then one of the
seven angels who had the seven bulls came and said
to me, come, I will show you the judgment of
the great prostitute, who is seated on many waters, with
whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual morality,

(13:00):
and with the wine of whose sexual morality the dwellers
on earth have become drunk. And he carried me away
in the spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a
woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of
blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns.
Now this is familiar for a number of reasons. There's

(13:23):
been another instance where we've been carried away and we
saw a woman, and we saw a beast, and we
saw this beast rising out of the sea in chapter thirteen.
But in chapter seven there's another woman who was protected
from a red dragon who wants to devour her child.

(13:43):
So obviously there is a reference here that is connecting ideas.
The ideas here is that this dragon, who is read
by the way, this is a picture of sin and sinfulness.
This woman is writing on this dragon. Her clothes looks
similar even to the color of the dragon. So we

(14:04):
have this picture of a personification of satan, a personification
of evil, and the woman rides on it. But this
personification has also had other meanings attached to it. For example,
some have said that it is a personification of the

(14:24):
totalitarian state, the authoritarian state that forces compliance, So that
you have the authoritarian state that forces compliance and the
woman who seduces the carrot and the stick, so to speak.

(14:46):
Do you need to be forced to comply or do
you need to be persuaded to comply. The other alternative,
by the way, is that you are martyred because there
is no way that you will comply. You will not
accept the mark, so to speak. So it's important that

(15:07):
we understand that this woman has a companion, that this
companion has showed up before. It's important that we see
that this picture of the wilderness and a woman in
the wilderness is set at odds with this other woman
who was in the wilderness, who was, by the way,
protected from this same beast. So there's a woman earlier

(15:28):
who's been protected from this beast, and there's a woman
now who is riding on this beast. By the way,
as we read through to the end of the chapter,
this woman needs some protection from the beast as well. Amen,
because the beast ultimately turns on her as well. So
there's a woman who was protected from the beast and

(15:49):
not devoured, and her child was not devoured by the beast.
Now there is a woman who rides on the beast,
who partners with the beast, and ultimately will be destroyed
in part by the beast, who is accomplishing the will
of God. In this process, not only the companion of
Babylon the Great is important, but also the allure of

(16:10):
Babylon the Great. Look at the next verse. The woman
was arrayed in purple and scarlet and adorned with gold
and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden
cup full of abominations and the impurities of our sexual morality.
This is a familiar story, this picture of the alluring woman.

(16:33):
It's a story, for example, that we see in Proverbs
a number of times. Proverbs Chapter five, verses one through six.
My son, be attentive to my wisdom. Incline your ear
to my understanding, that you may keep discretion, and your
lips may guard knowledge. For the lips of a forbidden
woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil.

(16:55):
But in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp
as a two edged sword. Her feet go down to death.
Her steps follow the path of she Oh. She does
not ponder the path of her life. Her ways wander,
and she does not know it. But this is more
than that. This woman knows exactly what she's doing Proverbs

(17:20):
seven twenty one to twenty three. With much seductive speech,
she persuades him with her smooth talk. She compels him
all at once. He follows her as an ox goes
to the slaughter, or as a stag is caught fast
till an arrow pierces its liver, as a bird rushes
into a snare. He does not know that it will

(17:42):
cost him his life. It's a familiar story, the seductress.
This is a picture that we've seen used also in
prophetic literature, the picture of the woman of the prostitute
as representing a nation under the judgment of God Ninevah,

(18:08):
for example, and Nahum three four and all for the
countless horrings of the prostitute, graceful and of deadly charms,
who betrays nations with her hearings and peoples with her charms.
The idea that nations are being carried away like men

(18:29):
carried away by a prostitute, like men who are allured
by a prostitute, who see a picture of something that
looks attractive, and goes in for this thing that they
consider to be attractive, only to discover that it will
not and cannot satisfy. But beyond that, not only will
it not satisfy and can it not satisfy, but it

(18:50):
will ultimately destroy Tire. In Isaiah twenty three, sixteen and
seventeen to Haarp, go about the city, Oh forgotten prostitute
makes sweet melody, sing many songs that you may be remembered.
At the end of seventy years, the Lord will visit Tire,

(19:12):
and she will return to her wages and will prostitute
herself with all the kingdoms of the world on the
face of the earth. Again familiar language. John is familiar
with this language, and he is bringing it to bear.
Jerusalem is referred to with similar language. There's a picture here.

(19:37):
Listen to this, Johnson writes. The Harlot, the Harlot's seductive
influence and the beasts coerce of violence are symbiotic. The
nations bow to Rome not simply because its legions suppress
insurrection the beast, but also because Rome's far flung administrative
efficiency maintain social stability and economic price disparity. The harlt,

(20:02):
the threat of force, and the allure of affluence work
perfectly together. So of course Babylon celebrates the slaughter of
Jesus people since they refuse to buy into her economic interests.
Babylon the Great is alluring. She's alluring like a prostitute.

(20:23):
There is a picture of the colors that she wears,
which is also important. She offers pleasure, which is symbolized
by illicit sexuality and sexual immorality, but it's a pleasure
that satisfies only momentarily. She also offers freedom, freedom from

(20:46):
what freedom from God. There are blasphemies and abominations. So
here's a picture of sexual immorality, which in one sense
is equated with idolatry. Listen to Ephesians five three to five.
Sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even
be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let

(21:07):
there be no filthiness, nor foolish talk, nor crude joking,
which are out of place. But instead let there be thanksgiving.
For you may be sure of this that everyone who
is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous, that is,
an idolator, has no inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ
and of God. There is a sense in which there

(21:27):
is this connection with all illicit sexuality and idolatry, but
particularly here because of cult prostitution, whether there would have
been houses of worship and prostitutes attached to the houses
of worship, so that going into these prostitutes was actually
part of the idolatrous worship. John is clear about the

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picture that he's painting. She's offering you satisfaction, She's offering
you freedom. She's also offering you wealth. How so well,
the idea that she's wearing scarlet and purple for one,

(22:13):
the idea that she has these precious jewels for another,
the idea that she has this golden cup for another.
These are pictures. Understand that John is in Rome. He
is painting a picture here that everyone would have understood
from the Roman Empire. That she's dressed like someone who
is wealthy. She has the accouterment of someone who is wealthy.

(22:34):
So she is offering those who will come to her
her wealth. Come to me and you can have my wealth.
This goes back to what we saw earlier. Is it
not the idea that in Thiatyra there are those who
are being seduced by these guilds, that you have to
join these guilds in order to be able to work
in a trade. In other words, come to me and

(22:56):
engage in this process of sex, shoela, morality, and idolatry,
so that you can be a part of the guild,
which is the only way that you can work, which
is the only way that you can acquire wealth. This
goes back to the idea of taking the mark of
the beast. You have to take the mark of the beast, why,
so that you can buy and sell, so that you
can acquire and attain wealth. She's offering wealth. We know

(23:22):
this because she's called Babylon. Now, Babylon is in ruins,
Babylon is gone, but she's referred to as Babylon. Babylon
was extremely wealthy. Why was Babylon wealthy, Well, because it
was seated on many waters. Much of their wealth was
maritime wealth. Oftentimes, even today, there is a connection between

(23:44):
a nation's wealth and their ability to have trade with
other nations. And historically that has always meant you had
to be on the water so that ships could come
and bring goods from Afar. And if you were on
many waters, that meant there was much access to material
wealth and trade. So the idea here is she's Babylon.

(24:07):
Babylon is wealthy and great. She's on many waters. That's
why Babylon was wealthy and great. Listen to Jeremiah fifty
one thirteen, Oh, you who dwell on many waters, rich
in treasures, your end has come. The thread of your
life is cut. Being set on many waters is connected

(24:28):
to being wealthy. Also to whom does John refer who
comes in to her, The kings of the Earth, again
a picture of wealth. John is not saying here that
this is a high class prostitute who only caters to
men who are kings of particular countries. It's not the

(24:51):
message here. The reference to kings of the Earth is
a reference to wealth. There's also later evidence when we
get in chapter eighteen. This becomes even clearer Chapter eighteen,
verse three. For all nations have drunk the wine of
the passions of her sexual immorality, and the kings of
the Earth have committed a morality with her, and the

(25:12):
merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power
of her luxurious living. So there he takes away. You
don't even have to guess. She offers wealth eighteen nine.
And the kings of the earth who committed sexual morality
and lived in luxury with her will heap, will weep

(25:34):
and wail over her when they see the smoke of
her burning. Here's her allure. She's alluring and beautiful. Her
clothing is alluring, Her jewels, her possessions are alluring. The

(25:58):
wealth that people see to acquire when they are with
her is alluring. But beyond the allure, it's the identity
of Bebylon the Great. We get it pretty clear. Look
again at verses one and two, and then we'll look
at five and six. You put the beginning and the

(26:20):
end together. That's a pretty clear picture. Then one of
the seven angels who had the seven bulls came and
said to me, Come, I will show you the judgment
of the great prostitute, who is seated on many waters,
with whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual morality,
and with the wine of whose sexual immorality that dwellers
on earth have become drunk. Verse five. And on her

(26:44):
forehead this is really important. We've seen this before, have
we not, in revelation, the idea of something on the
forehead or a mark somewhere identifying you. There are those
who have this mark that the beast demands, and then
there are those who are marked or sealed as belonging
to the land. Now we see this woman has a
mark on her forehead. Was written the name of mystery Babylon,

(27:09):
the great mother of prostitutes and of the earth's abominations.
And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of
the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. Who
is this? Who is this? Some have argued that this

(27:32):
is Rome, and that that's all it just represents. It's Rome.
John is painting a picture here of Rome. No more,
it's all he means. That's a hard sell for a
number of reasons. There are others who have argued that, well, know,
what he means is actually Roman Catholicism, that the Roman

(27:55):
Catholic Church is actually the horror of Babylon. Again, very
very hard sell. There are others who identify this with
a later Babylonian empire that will rise up. If you'll remember,
during the First Gulf War, there were a lot of
people who were pointing to the fact that Saddam Hussein

(28:17):
saw himself as sort of a reincarnation of Nebuca Nezer.
They're in the same sort of region, although I would
argue that probably would be more of an Iranian, you know,
location than an Iraqi location, but he's in sort of
the same region. He refers to himself as you know,
the reincarnation of Debacon Nezer. He has this huge statue,

(28:38):
so on and so forth. So there are a lot
of people during that time who were actually saying that
what we had was Revelation seventeen coming to pass, because
that was Babylon the Great. But what does the text say, Well,

(29:00):
whoever she is, she's aligned with the beast. We know
that clearly she's aligned with the beast. We know that
by her clothing, we know that by the fact that
she rides on the beast, that she is aligned with
the beast. So there is a satanic influence here that

(29:20):
we're talking about. We know that she is seductive and impure.
We know that she has seductive power and that her
seductive power is impure. We know that she seduces people,
which is symbolized by a prostitution. She seduces people like
a prostitute seduces people. We understand that what she seduces

(29:42):
them to is blasphemy, which goes back to this first idea,
because this beast was filled with blasphemy. He was blaspheming God.
Now she rides on this beast who is filled with blasphemy,
and she encourages people and allures them toward blasphemy, and
they drink from this cup of hers that is filled

(30:03):
with blasphemies. But we also know this that she has
a timeless and universal appeal. This is why I'm going
to say John is not talking about Rome. I think
it's pretty clear that he's not talking about Rome. I

(30:23):
think it's also pretty clear that he is talking about Rome.
How can he be talking about Rome and not talking
about Rome. Let me show you Number one. She is
called Babylon, but the Babylonians are gone Babylons in ruins,
So he names her Babylon the Great, pointing back to

(30:47):
a historic nation. So you know that he's not talking
about Rome, or that even if he is talking about Rome,
he's talking about Rome to the degree that Rome has
the same case characteristics that have existed for a long time,
so even to the gree that he's talking about Rome,
and there's no doubt that he is actually talking about Rome,

(31:09):
but not just about Rome. What he's saying is that
Rome stands in a long line called Babylon the Great.
So Babylon the Great is Rome. Babylon the Great is
Rome of the first entry Babylon the Great. Yes, but
Babylon was also Babylon the Great, and the Means and

(31:31):
the Persians they also represented Babylon the Great, and other
great nations that existed between Babylon and Rome would also
qualify as Babylon the Great. So he calls her Babylon.
So we know that he's not just talking about Rome.
It's not as though John is scared to call out Rome. Amen. Secondly,

(31:56):
he describes her as Rome. There's an image on the
Roman coin, this image of seven hills, and Rome is
this great city on seven hills. So there's no doubt
that he is making a reference to Rome. But again,
is he making a reference to Rome only No, we
know that because he's pointing back even to Babylon, and
he's referring to an idea that we see that refers

(32:19):
to Babylon. That refers to Sire and Titan, and also
refers to Jerusalem at different times in history, who has
gone off houring with other nations. So it's bigger than Rome.
There's also a message about what is to come. So

(32:41):
whoever Babylon the Great is, she was at least as
early as Babylon, I would argue before from the Fall.
She is because she's manifesting herself in first in Rome,
and all of John's readers would have understood that. But

(33:06):
she also is to come. She's future. From John's perspective,
She's also multinational. There's not just one particular nation that

(33:29):
equals Babylon the Great, which would have to be true.
Since she was, and she is and she is yet
to come. She's multinational. So whatever John's talking about here,
he's not talking about one particular nation. She is an
enemy of Christ and of Christians. Listen to the way

(33:53):
he says it verse six. And I saw the woman
drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of
the martyrs of Jesus. Other people are drunk with her blasphemies.
But she's not getting drunk on her blasphemies. She's getting
drunk on the blood of the saints. She's satiated, she's

(34:16):
filled with the blood of the saints. Why. Here's why.
Because there is the beast who says, by force, you
will worship me. Then there's the woman who's like a prostitute,
who says love for sale, but the only way you
get it is you worship this beast. And then together
they say to Christians who won't take the mark, or

(34:37):
who won't offer worship to the woman or to the beast,
they say, fine, then you die, you bow to the beast,
you sleep with the prostitute, or you die. And the text.

Speaker 2 (34:57):
Says she is drunk the blood of the saints, drunk
with the blood of martyrs, absolutely filled, beyond filled, satiated.

Speaker 1 (35:13):
Completely inebriated, and out of control with the blood of
the saints. There's a final piece of the puzzle. The
final piece of the puzzle is that she is the
anti New Jerusalem. What I mean by that, well, John

(35:39):
is being very careful with the wording that he uses.
What I want you to do is I want you
to put your finger here, and I want you to
turn to Revelation twenty one. This is one of those
times I wish I had rejected something up here, because

(36:01):
when you see this, I kind of I put it
here and I color coded it, you know, so I
could see the things that were similar and whatnot, and
it just kind of screams at you. So in Revelation seventeen,
we read then one of the seven angels who had
the seven bulls came and said to me, okay. Revelation

(36:24):
twenty one to nine. Then came one of the seven
angels who had the seven bulls full of the seven
last plagues, and spoke to me, saying, okay, I could
just speak coincidental, right, okay, fine, Revelation seventeen. Next line, Come,
I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute.
Revelation nineteen. Next line, Come, I will show you the bride,

(36:48):
the wife of the lamb. I would argue that the
opposite of a prostitute is a bride. You go on
in Revelation seventeen, and he carried me away in the
spirit into way wilderness. Next phrase in Revelation nineteen, and
he carried me in the spirit to a great high mountain.

(37:14):
Bride is the opposite of a prostitute. High mountain is
the opposite of a desert wilderness. Then we find at
the end of Revelation seventeen Babylon the Great, mother of
prostitutes and of Earth's abominations. And next phrase in Revelation

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twenty one, and he showed me the Holy City Jerusalem,
coming down out of Heaven from God, having the glory
of God. One is called Babylon Great City. The other
is called Jerusalem Great City. Babylon is a city that
represents the antithesis of all things God and godly. Jerusalem

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is a that represents all things God and godly. In
Revelation seventeen, the woman was a raid in purple and scarlet,
and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls. Revelation twenty
one to nine. Listen to this. It's radiance like a

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most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. One
had things on the outside of her that said I'm
a prostitute. The other one has a radiance inherited to
her that says I'm pure. Folks, This couldn't be clearer.

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Babylon the Great is the anti New Jerusalem. But Babylon
the Great is not a reference to a city. Newsflash,
Neither is New Jerusalem. The New Jerusalem is not a city.
It's a people. The New Jerusalem is the Church, Babylon,

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the Great is the world. She is not a literal woman,
couldn't be. She couldn't be. And I know that there
are people who you know, who push forward. You know,
we have to be literal. We have to be literal.
We have to be literal. No one interprets Revelation seventeen literally,

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you can't. It's ridiculous if you try to be literal here.
So she's not a literal woman who lives on many waters.
So there's an actual prostitute who lives on an island
that connects many waters and kings sail out to come on. Now.
She is not a literal city. She can't be, because

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she's timeless, boundless. It's not a literal city. This is
a reference to Babylon. This is a reference to Rome.
This is a reference to Paris. This is a reference
to London. This is a reference to New York, to

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every city that has risen up and said I have
everything you want. Come to me, bring yourself to me,
but not your Christ. Worship at my feet, and I
will make your dreams come true. That's Hollywood, Amen, somebody,

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this is not a literal city in the future somewhere.
This is every every city that has represented the kingdom
of this world and offered the kingdom of this world
and seduced people with the kingdom of this world. Listen

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to what Alan Johnson says. But the great prostitute Babylon,
that revelation describes as not any mere historical city with
its inhabitants, whether in John's past, president or future. Rather,
the city is the mother of all these historical prostitutes,
the archetypal source of every idolatrous manifestation in time and space.

(41:41):
That's Babylon, the grave. She's the world. By the way,
what do we know about the world? And John refers
to the world in many different ways. When we say
the world here, we're not talking about the planets. When
you say the world, we're not talking about all the people.
When we say the world, we're talking about that of
the world that holds itself up in opposition to God.

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What does the scripture saying same author one John two
fifteen to seventeen, do not love the world or the
things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the
love of the Father is not in him. For all
that is in the world. The desires of the flesh,
and the desires of the eyes, and the pride of
life is not from the Father, but is from the world.

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Is that not a picture of this woman riding on
the red Come on, this is her, This is her,
This is what she's selling, This is what she's wearing,
this is what she's offering. John continues, And the world
is passing away, along with its desires. But whoever does

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the will of God abides forever. The world is passing away.
Babylon the Great is falling. Babylon the Great doesn't stand.
So what's the meaning? Then? A Babylon the Great. We
see her companion, we see her allure, we see her identity,
But what's her meaning? What does this mean? What good

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does it do us that John identifies Babylon the Great
for us here, here's the good that it does us.
It reminds us that what the world offers is appealing.
What the world offers is appealing. The biggest fool in
this room is the one who says, I'm immune to

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this particular prostitute. She doesn't even look good to me.
That's the biggest fool in this room, the one who
says I don't want what the world has to offer.
Yes you do, Yes, you do, And to say that
you don't is lying to yourself and to God. You

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want this, Your flesh yearn for it. It looks good
to you, feels good to you, feels good on you,
feels good in your hands. You want it. You want
this stuff. We all want this stuff, every last one
of us. Because here's the problem. This stuff is not

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inherently bad. Follow the illustration. There's a prostitute over here,
and going into this prostitute is evil and sinful. Why
because sex is evil and sinful. No, it's not. It's

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a gift from God. It's a beautiful thing, but over here,
in this context, it's evil and sinful. So it's something
that you ought to want. That's why it's alluring beautiful things.
Beautiful things are bad. We should all avoid beauty at

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any cost. Really, that's not true. Beautiful things are beautiful,
and we're designed to want beautiful things. We're designed to
want to make beautiful things, to enjoy beautiful things, to
watch beautiful things. We want to hear beautiful music, we

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want to see beautiful paintings, we want to admire beautiful creation.
But the prostitute, just like she wants to offer sex
that is illicit and wrong because of its context, she
wants to offer us these things that are illicit and

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that are wrong because of their context. The world says,
I will not only give you beauty, but I will
define what is beautiful for you. I'll tell you what
is beautiful, and then I'll give it to you. Well,

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that's salesmanship right there. I'll tell you what you need
and then I'll sell it to you. Is that not
what the world does on our televisions Every day. You're
sitting there and you're watching your television, and all of
a sudden they show you something that you had no

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thought about before, which means you really didn't need it,
because if you did, you'd have been thinking about it already.
And they show you this thing, and you're picking up
your phone about the call of one nine hundred number.
Why I gotta have that? Why? Well, because did you
see what that thing does? I just I gotta notice
how you respond. I gotta have that, and I gotta

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have it now what you've already got something like that? Yeah,
but that one is altogether better. That's Babylon the Great

(47:18):
that's Babylon the Great. Babylon the Great has people at
home during this time of the year, because Babylon the
Great says, why would you want to go to church
when you can come watch the Texans? Amen, somebody, what

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the world offers as alluring, and we need to be
aware of that. Secondly, what the world offers has strings attached.
With shekels, come shackles. Okay, what the world offer offers
has strings attached. What's the string that's attached. Here again,

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you can come to me, or you can be forced
to come to me. But if you come to me,
you do not bring your worship of your Christ. For
that you die. That's the string that's attached. The world says,

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come and I'll give you all of this, But here's
the price. You alienate yourself from Christ and from the
people of Christ. You alienate yourself from the one who
died to liberate you, from the one who died to
save you, from the one who died to purchase you.
And instead you come to the counterfeit and be satisfied

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with this. That's the string that's attached. The string that's
attached as you can't have both, and we try, we
really do try. We try to have both, We work
to have both, and oftentimes, again Babylon the Great sharp

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to deceive you into thinking that you can have both.
But know this there are strings attached. Thirdly, what the
world offers is inferior. What the world offers is inferior.

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Just like the prostitute offers something that's inferior. A prostitute
cannot give you what a bride can. It's inferior. It
will always be inferior. Sexual morality will never give you
what true God are honoring. Biblical sexuality will give you

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never ever ever. It's inferior. It has always been inferior,
it will always be inferior. What the world offers is inferior.
How is the world going to offer you something that
is more beautiful than the one who created the world.
How is the world going to offer you something that

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is more satisfying than the one who created you and
is the only one who can fulfill your greatest desires.
How is the world going to offer you something that
is of greater value than that which God can give you?
It can't. It can only offer you that which is inferior. Fourthly,

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what the world offers is temporary. What the world offers
is temporary. Again, this is the message from the illustration
of sexual morality. Sexual morality is temporary. What the prostitute offers,
it's temporary. It's not lasting. It's temporary. The satisfaction in

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the rush that the world offers you, it's temporary. That's
why you gotta always go back. It's temporary. Finally, you
cannot lay with the prostitute and march with the bride.

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It's one or the other. There is a choice to
be made. Try as we might, we can't have both.
We cannot serve both God and Mammon. You cannot give

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yourself to Babylon the Great and then see yourself come
down with the New Jerusalem. It doesn't work that way.
It's not even possible. And by the way, that's from
both sides. It's not possible over here because Christ died

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for sin, once for all, the just, for the unjust,
that he might bring us back to God. God is
the one who makes us right with him, who declares
us righteous, who sanctifies us. He does this through the
person and work of Christ. So being part of the
New Jerusalem requires that we turn away from the world,
that we repent of our sin, and that we turn

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to Christ, that we trust him and him alone, not
him and the world. So on this side the bride,
the New Jerusalem cuts off Babylon. But on the other side,
Babylon cuts off the New Jerusalem. Babylon says, you get
me and only me. You can't get me and the

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New Jerusalem. We kill those who belong to the New Jerusalem.
Your allegiance must be to me and to me only.
That's what Babylon says. It doesn't say it that openly
and that honestly. It may say it like this. Listen,
come on now, you come to me, and I will
give you wealth, I will give you riches, and I

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will give you pleasure in the form of this job.
But it's going to require that you don't name the
name of Jesus here, and incrementally, it's going to require
that you give up those things that belong to the

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worship of God. Incrementally, it's going to squeeze tighter and
tighter and tighter until you get the message, and you
get the message clear. If you are over here, you
cannot be over there. The great irony is that the

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prostitute has us believing that it's the New Jerusalem, which
is really limiting and wants to withhold good things from us,
when the fact of the matter is the exact opposite
is true. It's babel On the Great. It's the great

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prostitute that wants to give us a counterfeit, but only
for a time, and who wants to do so only
if we are willing to forsake our allegiance a pure bride.

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If you think the text of the Book of Revelation
is somehow way out there, not applicable, not practical, think again.
This is right where we live. This is what we

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deal with every day of our lives. And John says
to us, I want you to know who she is,
but not just that. And the next couple of weeks
he says to us, I want you to know how
she ends, because that's important to know. One of these

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stands forever the other one turns in on itself. Babylon
the Great doesn't just fall, but she falls, this colossal
fall as she turns in on herself, because that counterfeit
is unsustainable. Saints, hear me, what we have is more

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than enough. Don't let the world tell you otherwise. If
you're here today and you've not come to faith in Christ.
Hear me. What you have is not enough. What you
have will never be enough. What you have is a counterfeit.
What you have will only satisfy you temporarily, and what

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you have will ultimately pass away. But there is one
who offers you truth and beauty and goodness. That is
a true truth, a beautiful beauty, and a good goodness.
There is one who laid down his life that he

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might redeem sinners, that we might have life and have
it more abundantly, Not so that he could withhold from us,
but that we might find fullness of joy. And what
he calls us to is repentance and faith. What is repentance,

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It is a turning, turning from what, turning from Babylon
the Great to the New Jerusalem, turning from the world.
And don't let anyone lie to you and say turning
from the world means that you can't enjoy anything anymore.
That's the lie the world tells. That's the lie the
world wants us to believe that the only place that

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you find truth and beauty and goodness and joy and
enjoyment or anything else is over here in Babylon. Because
there's none of that to be had in the New Jerusalem. Folks,
don't believe that for a second. There is truth, there
is beauty, there is goodness. It's authentic, it's genuine, lasting, satisfying,

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that it is only found in Christ. Babylon the Great
will fall, then New Jerusalem will forever stand. The question
is to which city do you cling? Let's pray, Father,

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as we bow before you, we confess to you that
our lives are filled with compromises, where we have offered
ourselves to Babylon the Great. The lust of the eyes,

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and the lust of the flesh, and pride and possessions.
We want, and we want, and we want, and we
are never satisfied. Grant by your grace that we might
see this great Harlot for what she is, that we

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might see the world and all that offers has the
great counterfeit that it is. That we might see beyond
the purple and scarlet, that we might see beyond the
jewels and the golden cups, and that we might see
the abominations and the blasphemies, and in seeing them we

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might turn from them, that our hearts might be turned
to Christ and to Christ alone, that we would turn
from Babylon to the New Jerusalem. Father, I pray for
those under the sound of my voice who are currently
under the allure of the city of Man, and pray

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that you would bring freedom, wholeness, deliverance, that the person
and work of Christ would be seen clearly and embraced fully.

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And for those of us who are His who have
come to Him in repentance and faith. God, I pray
that you would guard our hearts, that you would guard
us from our sinful desires, and that we might find
satisfaction and fullness of joy in you and in you alone.

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Thank you that you have not called us to choose
between that which is good and beautiful and true and
satisfying and that which saves. Thank you for exposing that
lie of the great prostitute, that lie that says you

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can only find joy, you can only find beauty, you
can only find goodness outside of the place that saves.
Thank you for reminding us that we can be yours
and half fullness of joy. Grant by your grace that
we would embrace this, that we would live this, that

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we would pursue this, and that on that day we
would be found in it. This we pray in Christ's
name and for his sake, Amen.