flow from the ayin section of Psalm 119. Let us pray.
Father, at times we feel like even though we have done what is just and right, we are still left to our oppressors. And so we ask that you might give us, your servants, a pledge of your good, that the insolent would not oppress us. Lord, our eyes long for your salvation. We long for the fulfillment of your righteous promises, and we ask that you might deal with us, your servants, according to your steadfast love, that you would teach us your statutes. Lord, we are your servants, and we ask that you would give us understanding, that we might know your testimonies. Father, it is time for you to act. For your law has been broken. And Lord, we desire to love your commandments above gold, even fine gold. And we ask that you would help us so that we would consider all your precepts to be right.
Lord, use this time to work your word deep into our lives as we have need, that you might receive the glory. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we praise you this day.
Amen. As we look to the reading of God’s word this morning, we’ll be looking at a portion that’s printed in your bulletins from chapter 17, 18, and the first part of chapter 19. You may want to find— or you may find in the sermon you’re going to want to follow along.
I’ll be referencing a lot of other verses from those chapters If you want to use the pew Bible, you can find, uh, chapter 17 beginning on page 1037. This is God’s holy and inerrant word.
Revelation 17. Then one of the 7 angels who had the 7 bowls came and said to me, come, and 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.
He carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness, and I saw a woman seated on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names, and it had 7 heads and 10 horns.
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 her sexual immorality. And on her forehead was written a name of mystery, Babylon the Great, Mother of Prostitutes and of the Earth’s Abomination.
And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.
In chapter 18, after this, I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was made bright with his glory. And he called out with a mighty voice, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the Great, for all the nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power of her luxurious living.” And then I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins.” And the kings of the earth who committed sexual immorality and lived in luxury with her will weep and wail over her when they see the smoke of her burning. And the merchants of the earth will weep and mourn for her since no one buys their cargo anymore. For in a single hour all this wealth has been laid to waste. And all the shipmasters and seafaring men, sailors, and all whose trade is on the sea stood far off and cried out as they saw the smoke of her burning, what city was like this great city?
Chapter 19. After this, I heard what seemed to be a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven crying out, Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for his judgments are true and just. For he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality and has avenged on her the blood of his servants.
The word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God. You may be seated. In my house there’s a long-standing tradition when I’m preaching, my kids ask me, “What are you preaching on?” And I say, “Sin. I’m agin’ it.” This week it looked like that is the case, but I trust you’ll see more than just that. Let me pray for the preaching of God’s word. Father, the grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of the Lord endures forever. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, work your word into our life that you might draw glory. In Jesus’ name we pray.
Amen.
Many years ago, on a trip into Iraq, I needed to meet with my Army chaplain counterpart And his headquarters was housed in one of Saddam Hussein’s many palaces.
And as we drove up to that palace, I was impressed with its massive columns, the gold filigree, the tremendous doors. And that impression continued as I entered into the reception hall and its grand staircase and patterned marble floors and sparkling chandeliers.
Such lavish opulence after weeks of sleeping in a tent in desert conditions. I’ll admit, I was a tad envious of my Army counterpart. Perhaps he read that on my face, because he said, “Let me show you something.” And we walked through one of the back doors of that entry hall, and I was immediately in another world. This one had sagging, patchy, unpainted drywalls and literally a single light bulb hanging by its cord in long, dark, and extremely narrow passageways. Every room was horrendous. The flooring, the cheapest linoleum. Turns out the palace was a fake. Only the front rooms were beautiful.
It was just a show.
Indeed, at times, things are not as they appear. Who among us has not been disappointed when a product didn’t live up to its advertising, or a book wasn’t quite up to its cover, or an acquaintance turned out to be less than or other than they initially presented.
Here in our text this morning, we’re invited by John to consider another scene in his great revelation, and he describes a woman in verses 3 and following.
And as he does that, we realize she too is not quite what she initially seems.
She comes in great power, she comes in great beauty, and with the admiration of the nations but her end is a great judgment, and that is cause for a great praise, because God will not be mocked. He will not let the guilty go unpunished, and in this woman, the sins of all of mankind are revealed. And yet we’ll see that salvation and power ultimately belongs to our God, and therefore, against all appearances, We actually can wait for God’s true and just judgment. John is invited into the scene by one of the angels who held the 7 bowls, and he carries John into the wilderness. And as he does so, he’s given a glimpse of the woman. She’s called the great prostitute or the great harlot. And immediately we realize in some sense she’s a magnification of Lady Folly in the Proverbs. Lady Folly stands on the opposite corner of Lady Wisdom. Lady Wisdom, who calls men into safety, and who Pastor Lloyd reminded us this morning in the parenting class, her words are full of kindness.
Lady Folly has another message. She is calling men into their destruction.
In our case, though, these aren’t the simple-minded men. Verse 2 shows us these are the kings of the earth that follow her, and they have committed sexual immorality with her, and that has resulted in a near global debauchery. The nations are drunk on their immorality, and we see also in verse 6 that the woman is drunk too, but in her case, she is drunk on the blood of the saints, those martyred for for Jesus.
Who is this woman?
As John is brought out into the wilderness by an angel, he gets a better glimpse of her, and he notes that she is seated on a scarlet beast. She has arrayed herself in scarlet and purple. She is adorned with gold and jewels and pearl, and in her hand she holds a golden cup.
If one were to stop right there, we would admit that she is strikingly beautiful and captivating. But John shows us that she is truly the harlot.
Uh, he takes us beyond those front rooms and we’re reminded of her horrendous actions and her deadly passion. Notice in verse 3, she’s riding the beast of blasphemous names. And in verse 4, her golden cup is full of abomination and impurity. And in verse 5, she wears on her head the mysterious name Babylon the Great.
And as we’ve already mentioned, she is drunk with the blood of the saints.
Verse 6 ends with John noting that when I saw her, I marveled greatly. This marveling, it’s literally the same word for admiring, as the wicked did to the beast in chapter 13:3, or the dwellers of earth do in just a couple verses in verse 8. They’re admiring her. This marveling, this admiring of John seems to receive a rebuke from the angel who says, “Why do you marvel?” And the angel begins to unravel the mystery.
This woman is Babylon.
That is, she is that civilization founded in luxury and sensuality.
But as is the case in our Revelation series, she is Babylon, but she’s so much more than Babylon.
In fact, chapter 17, verse 9 calls her— calls us to use a mind of wisdom and also explains that the 7 heads are the 7 mountains on which she is seated.
The immediate—
here would immediately think of Rome. This woman-beast combo is the city of Rome, the city set on 7 hills, a city of ruthless and expansive power.
So she’s Babylon and she’s Rome.
But chapter 18, verses 12 and 13 will all show us that she is also the great coastal city of Tire, She’s trading in cargoes of gold, silver, jewel, pearls, fine purple and scarlet, all sorts of scented wood, ivory, bronze, marble, cinnamon, spices, the list goes on.
In fact, there are 28 items named here in chapter 18, and it ends—
that long list ends with, “and horses, chariots, and slaves.” That is, ‘human souls,’ end quote.
If Babylon is guilty of sensual sin, if Rome of its raw power, Tire is unbridled greed. Profit for me, whatever the cost to others. Human souls traded like cattle and sheep.
This is what happens to a people who are ruled by unbridled greed. And this is the harlot who rides the beast. She can dazzle you with her scarlet. She can blind you with her jewels. She can hold your gaze with a golden cup.
Do not underestimate the allure of this woman riding the beast. A New Testament scholar, Michael Wilcox, notes that the angel has done, has done John a favor by bringing him into the wilderness.
And he writes, quote, “The wilderness represents that perpetual condition of Christian detachment from the affairs of civilization.” He further writes, “It is from the desert that the Christian is able to view civilization clearly as it really is,” end quote. Now the harlot then represents all and any thing that mankind has set up as a god, either in false religious worship, self-indulgent pleasures and passions, or the supposed harmless accumulation of material goods.
How much is enough? One dollar more.
One more shirt, one more pairs of shoes. If I could only look like him or her.
If I only just had— you know it’ll never end.
And in a wilderness camping trip, uh, like— or in the wilderness, rather—
like a good camping trip, after your phone batteries have died, that’s when you can begin to remember what you really need in life.
That’s when you can really begin to see all the ways in which we too are tempted to pursue Lady Folly, the whiff of her perfume, a glimpse of that gold, but all is not lost. For even after the forces of evil, even after they are all of one mind in chapter 17, verse 13, even after they hand over their power and their authority to the beast who makes war on the Lamb, we read in 17:14, that the Lamb will conquer them, for he is the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings.
What a tremendous imagery. The Lamb conquers the beast.
He is the King of Kings. The text tells us, and all those with him are called chosen and faithful. Those with the Lamb are you and me. And though we are vulnerable to the many temptations that surround us, notice that we are called chosen. We are called faithful. Indeed, next week in chapter 19, verse 11, we’ll see the king riding in on his white horse, and he is called faithful and true.
And here we get a glimpse of that glory as he calls us his chosen ones, faithful. God certainly preserves his children.
You can see that in chapter 18, verse 4.
Then I heard another voice in heaven saying, come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins.
Now here we are wise to consider what might be our points of weakness. What might be those sins we are likely to fall into? Is it envy? Is it greed? Is it sensuality? Is it power and control?
Where are we likely to follow this diabolical queen?
How do we get some wilderness time to really evaluate what might be the gaps in our own spiritual armor?
How do we train ourselves to hear the voice of the Lord calling us to come out of her? Of course, the answer is, in part, we must utilize the means of grace that God has given to us, his church, his bride. The means of grace, the word and the sacraments, is what the Lord has given to us.
The word read, the word preached, the word prayed over, the word meditated on, the word memorized. The word is a means of grace that strengthens us, that prepares us, that tunes us into the voice of the Great Shepherd.
And the Lord’s Supper and Baptism.
In those sacraments we see again the great Gospel testimony that God has worked in our lives and will preserve us to the end.
These means of grace are the gifts that God has given to us that we would be made ready to resist the evil one, to be trained to hear the Shepherd King Lamb when he calls us. And this Lamb responds to the harlot’s great power, and the Lamb conquers with a great judgment.
You can read the beginning of this judgment.
It’s It’s also the end of the harlot.
It’s, uh, starts in chapter 17, verse 16, where the angel notes that the 10 horns are kings, and those kings and the beast now turn and they hate the prostitute. The scriptures say they make her desolate and naked, and they will devour her flesh and burn her with fire.
In verse 17, God has put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose. Her demise begins with the beast and the many kings turning against her.
This is evil working against evil. Within the Trinity, there is always perfect unity, and there ought to be unity among the servants of God when we serve for his good pleasure. But the forces of evil are generally focused on their own interest. They may all share an aversion to God’s righteousness, but they are not unified.
They are selfish, jealous, and bent on destruction.
Jesus in Mark chapter 3, in a section in verses 23 to 26, he speaks about that.
In verse 26, he declares, “If Satan has risen against himself and is divided, He cannot stand, but he is coming to an end, and that end is beginning here, beginning to be shown. The New Testament scholar Dennis Johnson, he also remarks, he says, “If there is one thing in the world that the rebels do not want to do, it is the purpose of God, but they are helpless to keep that sovereign purpose out of their hearts.” or to protect their minds from the invasion of the Lord God Almighty. In hating the harlot, in ripping her to pieces, they are doing precisely what God wants. Her power, her prestige, her influence, it’s all ending.
She who in chapter 18, verse 8, captured her attitude, that reflection of her time in power, that time when she glorified herself, when she lived in luxury, when she said in her heart, quote, “I sit as queen.
I am no widow, and mourning I shall never see.” And now she is cast down.
And now she is laid to waste in a single hour. And although God uses the evil forces of the 10 kings and the beast, Chapter 18, verse 8, make it very clear who is actually doing the judge—
the judging here. Quote, “For this reason her plagues will come in a single day: death and mourning and famine. She will be burned up with fire, for mighty is the Lord God who has judged her,” end quote. In her judging, there’s tremendous mourning and wailing.
All that civilization holds dear has ended. We see this first in chapter 18, verse 9, where the kings of the earth, those leaders who had committed sexual immorality with her, who pursued a life of luxury, they will weep and wail when they see the smoke of her burning. It should be noted here that this language of sexual immorality, it likely means two things.
First, It is a warning against the mere sensual living, living solely for personal pleasure. But the use of the image of idol— of adultery, rather, throughout the Old Testament is also speaking against false worship, idolatry, and pursuing after foreign gods. Unfaithfulness is spiritual unfaithfulness. Believers are a part of the body of Christ, often called the bride of Christ, and as such we are called to remain pure and undefiled, reserving our love for Christ alone.
Well, along with the kings and their lament, the merchants join in. They are driven by profit, they are driven by luxurious living, and as the great city civilization of mankind comes to an end, all of their finery is now worthless. Adjoining them are the shipmasters and the seafarers, who all in their dismay wonder aloud, “What city is like this great city?” And here we realize that just as the diabolical queen who’s picturing all of civilization, just as she’s a counterfeit to the bride of Christ, who represents the church. This question, “What city is like this great city?” mocks the better question of Exodus 15:11, “Who is like you, Lord, majestic in holiness, awesome in praises, working wonders?” This lament for the great city, it is a lament for all who would fix their hope on nothing more than human power or pleasure or culture or commerce.
All those shallow hopes will be dashed in an hour.
We are repeatedly warned in Scripture not to set our hopes on wood, hay, and stubble, things that are transitory, things that will burn. Rather, we are to set our hope on that which is eternal, We are to look to the one who created all things by the power of his word, and he will one day bring justice and make all things right.
Only Christ can save you, that Lamb.
Only Christ can fill your life with a lasting purpose and true meaning.
In verse 23 of chapter 18, we note again that in her, in her demise and destruction was found the blood of the prophets and of the saints and of all those who are slain on earth. She is Rome, she is Babylon, she is Tire, and she is even the old Jerusalem that killed the prophets. But also in this note, we realize that there’s a gentle reminder that God knows and will attend to all who have perished for him. Their blood is precious to our Father.
Your trials, the tribulations you experience in Christ, are precious to the Father. Your—
all of that in Christ, it’s all seen by the Father, and this great judgment will vindicate all of that pain. And all of that death.
Notice further in chapter 18, verse 21, the mighty angel takes a great millstone and hurls it into the sea, and in an instant, the stone is gone.
And in another instant, there is no trace whatsoever. And we read, “So Babylon will be thrown down with violence,” and will be found no more.
All of the culture that made the city great, verses 22 and 23, the sound of the harpist, musicians, craftsmen, the sound of the mill, all of that ceases.
Silence now reigns in this desolation.
Indeed, the text continues, the lights of the city lamp that Golden glow is all gone. And verse 23 ends by reminding us that all of the nations deceived by sorcery, they’re all ended.
It is all gone. There is not a trace, there is not a ripple, and there is not a sound.
And the sound which ends the great judgment of chapter 18 It’s broken by a great praise in chapter 19, verse 1, by the sound of what seemed to be a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven. And they cry out, “Hallelujah!
Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for his judgments are true and just.” Now, this is the first of 4 quick scenes of praise.
In each of those four scenes, the imperative hallelujah, that is the command to praise the Lord, is given. The first reason noted to praise God’s holy and just judgment is that the blood of God’s servants has been avenged on the great harlot. She who corrupted the earth with her morality has now been judged. Uh, the second reason is like the first, and that’s in verse 3. Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up forever and ever.
We may feel uncomfortable praising God for the destruction of his enemies, but that’s likely because we neither completely understand his holiness, purity, and goodness, or even our own sinfulness. But the multitudes in heaven, having seen God in his full glory, have no qualms in praising the destruction of God’s enemies. The focus is to look to the Father and not to gloat ourselves.
Now, there’s a third call to praise here in verse 4. This time the 24 elders join in. Along with the four living creatures, and they all fall down and they worship God who is seated on the throne, saying amen, as in it is finished, and hallelujah, as in a call to praise.
And this call receives a response from the throne, and it too is a command calling us into praise. Verse 5: Praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, small and great. It seems that God commands us to praise him, and indeed gives us so many reasons in scriptures to call us into praise. The fourth call to praise: the focus, the picture, it all changes.
Babylon is no longer in view. The counterfeit queen is gone from the picture. Her vivid gown of scarlet and purple nowhere to be seen. Instead, in verse 6, we, we hear that this multitude, like a roar of many waters, the loud peals of thunder, the call to praise with a hallelujah, the command to rejoice and to exalt and to give God the glory—
this is all because the Lamb has entered.
The bride of Christ is seen.
And she is glorious, and she is beautiful, and she is stunning because she is made so. Now, this is a beautiful picture of the truth that Christ’s righteousness is what we wear.
That’s what our text says. She is a tremendous contrast with the first lady here. This bride is sparkling in her simplicity and as she is wearing a righteousness that was granted her.
That’s what the text says.
It’s a gift. The righteousness has been given to her, and we as members in this bride of Christ, we’re poor sinners in need of grace, but that’s exactly what Christ the Lamb has given to us. And he’s invited us into this marriage supper of the Lamb, and the text tells us all those invited are blessed indeed.
This scene, this change, this power, this glory, it’s so overwhelming that John now falls down at the feet of the angel showing him this, and he begins to worship the angel, and the angel in 1910 gives the second rebuke: “You must not do that, for I am a fellow servant.” with you and all who hold to the testimony of Jesus.
What an encouragement to realize that you are fellow servants of the Father along with the angels.
You and they were in the same company. But John also reminds us in his action how easy it is to misplace misplace our worship. He is in the most amazing of circumstances, in close proximity, and he falls down and worships the wrong one. It is easy to misplace our worship. It is easy to misplace our affections. How susceptible we all are to follow after counterfeit. But Hallelujah. Salvation and glory and honor and power, they belong to our God, and his judgments are true and just, and he has chosen us, and he has called us faithful, and he has clothed us in the Son’s own righteous linen. We wear it, and it’s a gift. And we await that glorious day of the marriage supper with the Lamb. And because we know it’s coming, we can endure all sorts of injustices now. And indeed, we are called to do just that, hoping on this glorious day. Let’s pray. Father, indeed, what a glorious thing that you have called us, you’ve chosen us, and you’ve granted to us to wear righteousness. You have called us faithful because it was your Son who is faithful, the Lamb who is pure and spotless, the Lamb who was slain, the Lamb who conquers the beast.
And Father, we rejoice that we are the bride of that Lamb, that you have taken all of our sin, all of the horrendous selfish focus, all of those things that we have done wrong against you and against others, and in the Lamb you have washed them whiter than snow. And in the Lamb we are given pure and undefiled garments of your Son Christ Jesus’ righteousness. Father, help us to rejoice in that. May our praise be free and natural because we understand your beauty, your goodness, your glory, your justice, and your holiness. Show us where we are weak and let us avail those means of grace whereby we may be strengthened to endure this day, holding on to the reality of the hope, that sure and steadfast anchor of the marriage supper of the Lamb. Father, we praise you in Jesus’ name and for his sake.
Amen.
Discaimer: This sermon text was generated by an automated transcription service.