Revelation 17 describes Babylon as a great harlot riding a scarlet beast, symbolizing a corrupt city that prostitutes righteousness for luxury and power. The sermon connects this imagery to historical empires, particularly the Roman Empire, and its future revival as depicted in Daniel's vision of the great image. It explains that while the Antichrist (the beast) will emerge from this revived empire, a controlling city (Babylon) will ultimately be destroyed by the very power it manipulates. The core lesson is that God's judgment is certain and that His kingdom will ultimately prevail over all earthly powers, urging believers to live holy lives in anticipation of Christ's return.
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I invite you tonight to turn to the book of Revelation chapter seventeen Revelation chapter seventeen a few years a few weeks ago not years ago just a couple weeks ago I mentioned certain things concerning Babylon on a Wednesday night because my soul had been definitely touched by events that are taking place and at that time I made a fresh study of Babylon and I want to go into that subject again because I just barely touched on it and I probably said too much that night on the subject because we just wet your appetite and then not do anything about it.
So now I want to do something about what we looked at a few weeks ago and just briefly passing over the subject. I mentioned in prayer tonight Miss Janie Smith. I think many of you remember her. She always sat in the corner there where Brother Ben is sitting tonight on a Sunday morning or whenever she was here. That was her seat. And she's been hemorrhaging and they got it stopped. But she's very weak. And for a while it was very touch and go with her.
So do pray for her. And she surely appreciates this assembly. And she appreciates every visit that she gets. I get to see her once in a while in her apartment in Graham. But she's been quite weak in the last little while. Revelation seventeen. We'll read this chapter and then we'll deal with it. I'm not too sure how far we'll get tonight. And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials or bowls of the wrath of God and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither, I will show unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters.
with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness, and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet-colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication. And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.
And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. And the angel said unto me, Wherefore, did thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carryeth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns. The beast that thou sawest was and is not, and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit and go into perdition. And they that dwell on the earth shall wonder whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world.
when they behold the beast that was and is not, and yet is. And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sitteth. And there are seven kings. Five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come, and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. And the beast that was and is not even he, is the eighth, and he is of the seven. and goeth into perdition. And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet, but received power as kings one hour with a beast.
These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. These shall make war with the lamb, and the lamb shall overcome them, for he is Lord of lords, and king of kings, and they that are with him are called and chosen and faithful. And he saith unto me the waters which thou sawest where the whore sitteth are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues. And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast these shall hate the whore and shall make her desolate and naked and shall eat her flesh and burn her with fire.
For God hath put in their hearts to fulfill His will, and to agree and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. And the woman which thou sawest is that great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth. Now may the Lord bless the reading of His words. The seventeenth chapter of Revelation could be entitled Beauty on the Beast. Here we see the reason for the announcement of judgment that was made back in chapter fourteen and verse eight. So if you just look back at chapter fourteen and verse eight for a moment, we read this.
And there followed another angel saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen. That great city. You'll notice Revelation fourteen eight, Babylon is here. denominated a city. Revelation eighteen just flip or seventeen just flip your page over again to the last verse. Verse eighteen it says, And the woman which thou sawest is that great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth. Now let's go back to fourteen and verse eight again. And there followed another angel saying Babylon is fallen is fallen. That great city because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
Here we have the announcement of judgment in chapter fourteen in verse eight. We have that judgment executed under the seventh bowl of the wrath of God in chapter sixteen and verse nineteen where we read. And the great city was divided into three parts. And the cities of the nations fell. And great Babylon came in remembrance before God to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. The judgment that is here spoken of is a judgment of the destruction of the city Babylon.
Now in chapter eighteen of Revelation where Babylon is again before us, we have the response of various individuals to the destruction and the judgment of Babylon. Now the keys to interpret this rather difficult section of the Word of God are right within the chapter itself. You don't need to go out of the chapter, even though we're going to. But the keys are right there. If we just take a look, at what we read and think it through. Notice the first thing in Revelation seventeen, Babylon is introduced as a great harlot who sits on many waters.
Because Babylon here is called a harlot, has led many to identify Babylon as a false religious system. The Old Testament prophets described Man's infidelity to God as harlotry. You have that in a number of places. Notice Isaiah chapter one, for instance, and verse twenty-one. Isaiah chapter one and verse twenty-one, where we read, How is the faithful city becoming harlot? And the whole of Isaiah chapter one points forward to God's judgment upon Jerusalem and upon Judah because of their infidelity to him.
And he calls them in verse ten Sodom and he calls the people like Gomorrah. In other words, their moral condition of Jerusalem at that time was exceedingly low. and of course in this first chapter he says what do you mean by all these things that you offer to me you're giving me lots of lip service but you have no heart for me your heart is in the world your heart is not toward me so in verse twenty one he says how is a faithful city becoming harvest it was full of judgment righteousness lodged in it but now murderers he shows how depraved the city had become.
When you go to the next prophecy of Jeremiah chapter two and verse twenty we read this. Jeremiah two verse twenty. For of old time I have broken thy yoke and burst thy band. Yet thou saidest I will not transgress when upon every high hill and under every green tree thou wanderest playing the harlot. Now you have the same truth, and we're not going to turn and read it in Ezekiel chapter twenty-three. Now, inasmuch as harlotry was called by the Old Testament prophets, man's infidelity to God, when the woman is addressed as a harlot that sits upon many waters, there are many have just simply drawn the line and said, this has reference to a religious system, a false religious system.
And of course, there are many who have tried to identify this religious system. But notice, Babylon in Revelation seventeen and in Revelation fourteen and in Revelation sixteen is not presented as a false religious system as much as it is presenting a pagan city. In Revelation fourteen you'll notice we read that great city Babylon came before God. Babylon a great is fallen is fallen. In the seventeenth chapter of the Revelation and the last verse He tells us, and the Spirit of God here identifies the woman.
He says, And the woman which thou sawest is that great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth. Now, when Babylon here is presented as a pagan city, we need to look at some more Old Testament references. because cities have been denominated harlot by God. Notice the little prophecy of Nahum. In the book of Nahum, and we studied Nahum not too long ago, chapter three, verse one, woe to the bloody city.
It is all full of lies and robbery. The prey departeth not. When you come to verse four, we read, Because of the multitude of the hordoms of the well-favored harlot, the mistress of witchcraft, that selleth nations to her hordoms and families through her witchcraft. Here, the harlot is definitely a city. And you have the same thing as a city spoken of as a harlot in the twenty-third chapter of Isaiah. And Isaiah twenty-three in itself is a very, very interesting chapter.
Now, why are these cities called harlots? Whether you're thinking of Babylon as outlined in Revelation seventeen, or whether you're thinking of Jerusalem in Nehemiah chapter three, or really the city here is Nineveh, the city is Nineveh that had repented under the preaching of Jonah, but now is ripe for judgment about a hundred twenty-five years later. Why are these cities called harlots? Because they prostituted what was right and noble for the questionable ends of luxury and power.
And this is what Babylon is going to be doing during the tribulation period. That period of time when God is bringing the whole world into judgment because He's sending His Son back to rule and to reign in Jerusalem. And the whole of the world is going to come under His judgment. And the tribulation period is a period of judgment. You'll notice it is the woman who rides the beast. This is very important.
The beast is described for us in the thirteenth chapter of Revelation. And I'm going to ask you to read it with me. And then we're going to go to the book of Daniel. And we're going to look at a little portion there. And those who attended the Bible class yesterday morning will have to forgive me for repeating myself tonight from Daniel chapter two. Because to me the ringing argument here, if we can get it through our minds, is what is given to us in Daniel chapter two. And I don't believe that God wants us to be ignorant of his ways when it comes to the doctrine of end things.
when it comes to the knowledge and the sure return of our blessed Lord. You'll notice Revelation thirteen and I stood upon the sand of the sea and saw a beast rise up out of the sea having seven heads and ten horns. So the beast is described in Revelation thirteen the same as he is described in Revelation seventeen. The beast here is none other than the Antichrist who is the political leader and ruler of the world during the tribulation period. And this political leader is going to come out of Western Europe.
He is going to come out of the revived Roman Empire. I believe the Word of God teaches that the Roman Empire is going to be revived. I believe the Word of God teaches that all the world empires have continued. Did you get that? They have continued. For years when I studied Daniel two and when I studied Daniel chapter seven, I thought, well, Babylon is gone. That's over. It was superseded by the Medo-Persian Empire.
and the Medo-Persian Empire was superseded by Greece, and the Grecian Empire was superseded by Rome, and in due time the Roman Empire will be revived, and that's it. However, I don't believe that anymore. I believe all the empires, all four of them, that are outlined in Daniel chapter two, have continued. A nation does not continue in its armies. Let me say that again. A nation does not continue in its army. A nation continues in its culture. And you and I are living in a land whose culture is Roman.
You and I are living in a land whose culture is Greek. The culture of Greece is with us today. Any university that teaches philosophy, would certainly be incomplete without teaching of the Greek philosophers, Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, and others. You see, empires continue in their culture, and that is so important. Now, you'll notice that the city Babylon, who is described as a woman in Revelation chapter seven, is riding the beast.
And the person who rides the beast controls the beast. And what we're taught here, what God is teaching us here in Revelation, is that while the Antichrist is going to arise out of Western Europe, out of the revived Roman Empire, there's some city that's going to be controlling him to a large extent, who has prostituted that which is right for the luxuries that money can buy. And of course you get into the luxuries when you get into chapter eighteen, when you see the reaction of those who behold the destruction of the city.
So we notice that the beast from Revelation chapter is going to control all the peoples of the world except one group. And I want you to look at verse eight. For Revelation thirteen and verse eight is very similar to what we read in Revelation seventeen. Verse eight says, And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him. This is the beast, the Antichrist. whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb, slain from the foundation of the world." In other words, there is only one group that is exempt, and that group is made up of the people of God, those who belong to Him.
And you have the same truth in Revelation Now I want you to turn to Daniel chapter two. And I notice time is moving very rapidly. And whenever you deal in the subject of the doctrine of end things, these things to me are most intriguing. And when you make statements concerning Bible prophecy, you don't want to push and shove to make pieces fit. That is one of the most dangerous things that can happen. I was about eighteen years of age when I heard a famous doctor, a medical doctor, who became a preacher, and it was not Dr.
DeHon. Notice I said not. It was Dr. Roy Brown. I'll tell you his name. And I heard him preach in the First Baptist Church in Lebanon, Pennsylvania. And he was identifying the Antichrist. Yes. And it's an amazing thing. The Antichrist to him was Mussolini. And he had a system of putting scriptures together that made Mussolini come forth from the dead. Well, I was just a teenager and didn't believe it then. And I certainly believe it a lot less now. But whenever you try to push and shove and make parts fit when it comes to Bible prophecy.
men usually make a fool of themselves and we don't want to do that but what we want to do is lay a hold of truth in order in order that the coming of the Lord is a living reality with us day by day that we purify ourselves as John writes even as he is pure in Daniel chapter two the king had seen a had dreamed a dream and in his dream he saw a great vision but he forgot the dream and Daniel tells the king the dream and he interprets what the dream is now this is important and I want you to think with me through the interpretation that Daniel gives verse twenty nine of Daniel chapter two as for thee o king Thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed.
What should come to pass hereafter? And he that revealeth secrets maketh known to thee what shall come to pass. Verse thirty-one. Thou, O king, sawest and behold a great image. This great image whose brightness was excellent stood before thee, and the form thereof was terrible. The image's head was of fine gold. his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his side of brass, his legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. Tha saw us till a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay and break them to pieces.
Then was the iron, the clay, the brass. Notice. Then when the stone hits the image, Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver and the gold, broken to pieces together. Now if the gold is no more, how could it be broken at the same time? The clay and the iron is broken? If the brass is no more, how could it be broken at the same time? It is an amazing thing, friends. And I challenge you with this thought, that in our day, the nations that made up the four empires of the world are now very prominent, geographically, economically, and in other ways.
They are broken together. And we'll move on. And we read at the end of verse thirty-five, and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. This is a dream, and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king. Thou, O king, art a king of kings. For the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom power and strength and glory. And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the falls of the heaven, hath he given into thine hand and hath made thee ruler over them all.
Thou art this head of gold. In other words, the head of that image which was of gold stood for the Babylonian empire under Nebuchadnezzar. Thou art the head of gold. It's an amazing thing. The image here that God gives is the image of a person. And it is the head that controls the body. does it not? And Babylon stood, or the head stood for Babylon. Now, verse thirty-nine, after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, that's a Medo-Persian kingdom, and another third kingdom of brass, which was the kingdom of Greece under Alexander the Great.
which shall bear rule over all the earth, and the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron. And the fourth kingdom is the Roman Empire. Inasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueeth all things, and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and grooves. And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes part of potter's clay and part of iron. The Roman Empire never got as far as the feet. The feet were made up of ten toes, which speaks of ten kings, ten nations, that are going to make up the final form of the Roman Empire.
Now notice, verse forty-two, and as the toes of the feet were part of iron and part of clay. So the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly broken. And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with mirey clay, they shall mingle themselves with a seed of men, but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay. And in these days, the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, and the kingdom shall not be left to other people. In other words, at the time when the ten toes of the image are prominent in the world, and the beast, because that's what he is inwardly.
He is beastly in character. The image looked great to Nebuchadnezzar in his dream. But in Daniel seven, where we're given the same truth, under the imagery of beast, to Daniel because to the servant of God, God shows his servant what these empires are inwardly. They are beastly. But in the days of these kings, in the days when these ten kings are in authority, and we find that these ten kings are going to be united under the leadership of one person called the beast. In Revelation thirteen, in Revelation chapter seven, he is called the little horn.
But notice it says, in the days of these kings, shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms. It shall stand forever. For as much as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it break in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold, the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter, and the dream is certain.
And the interpretation thereof sure. Daniel says to the king, What I have told you is sure. It is certain. And what I've interpreted for you is reality. You can depend upon it. And as we look back over past history, beginning with Babylon, Babylon was overrun by the Medes and the Persians. The Medes and the Persians were overrun by Greece under Alexander the Great. And the kingdom of Alexander the Great was overrun eventually by the Roman Empire. and the Roman Empire only got in its existence as far as the two legs of the image.
For the Roman Empire was divided between the Western Roman Empire with its capital at Rome, the Eastern Roman Empire with its capital at Constantinople and religious headquarters at Sophia. There it was. But the ten toes of the image That's why I believe in a revived Roman Empire. And this is where we get the idea that the Antichrist is going to arise out of one of the nations that make up the revived Roman Empire. Those ten nations that are going to align themselves with the world ruler that's coming.
But the world ruler that's coming is going to be ridden by a city who is described as a harlot who's going to ride his back and the person who rides the beast is the one who controls the beast and that woman who is described as a great city that reigneth over the kings of the earth that woman is going to be destroyed by the beast that she rode.
And the scripture says in Revelation seventeen, and I marvel at this scripture, God has put it in their hearts to fulfill His will. God is going to judge. He's going to judge in righteousness. He's going to judge in holiness. Beloved, The doctrine of the coming of the Lord is a very real doctrine. It should stir our hearts. It should cause us to want to live for Christ because He is coming again. This is a thrust of Second Peter three. And this is the whole thrust of the book of the Revelation.
And the book closes with the words, even so come. Lord Jesus. We'll continue in the will of the Lord next week. Let's pray. And now we pray to our God and Father that you'll take this word and bless it to every heart. We thank you for divine grace and for infinite love. And we pray that we may live holy lives and that we may be as servants who await their Lord. For Jesus' sake, amen.