The Great Prostitute, Part II

You have your bibles with you today, open them to Revelation chapter seventeen. We are in the second of three movements, if you will. In Revelation seventeen. On last week we looked at the first movement, and in that first movement we were introduced to Babylon the Great, the Great Harlot, the great prostitute, who rides upon a beast. In this second movement, we focus upon the beast on whom the Great Harlot rides. It's important to remember where we've been as we examine this picture here in the center of chapter seventeen. It's important to understand where we've been, not just in this chapter, but also it's important to understand where we've been in Revelation. It's important to understand that we have us seeing these seven bold judgments, and that we've seen at the end of them, really the culmination of God's judgment against the world. We've now come back and we're looking again at this judgment, and particularly at the sixth and seventh bowls. So as we move forward here, notice that we're also moving back. That's what the Book of Revelation does. It gives us a picture again and again from various angles and perspectives of this judgment that God will bring and the victory of Christ. And here we focus in in chapter seventeen, and then again in chapter eighteen, even more specifically on this judgment of Babylon the Great. We saw last week that this Babylon the Great was not a picture of a particular empire. That the idea here of the Harlot, especially when she is compared to, contrasted with the New Jerusalem, is that she's the anti New Jerusalem. That New Jerusalem is the bride of Christ. This is a harlot. The New Jerusalem comes down out of heaven. We see her coming up out of this desert. We see the New Jerusalem white and pure, and we see her clothed with her jewels and with her gold. We see the New Jerusalem as being pure from within, and we see the Harlot as being blasphemous and leading not toward purity, but toward infidelity, toward idolatry. And so the New Jerusalem is a picture of the Church, the bride of Christ. We see that the Harlot Babylon the Great, is a picture of the city of Man. It's a picture of the world, not a particular empire, but of the world itself. Now we look closely at the beast on which she rides. So join me here in chapter seventeen, beginning at verse seven. Let's catch up at the second half of verse six. 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 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 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 little while. And as for the beast that was and is not, it is an eighth, but it belongs to the seven, and it goes to destruction. And the ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have not yet received royal power, but they are to receive authority as kings 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 Lord of lords and king of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful. Amen. This is a very difficult paragraph. It really is. There are parts of this that are as difficult as anything else in revelation. But the beauty, of course, is that we have continued through this process and understand the patterns that we've seen before, which makes it much easier to deal with. First of all, we see that this is an astonishing mystery. Note this, this is an astonishing mystery. 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, the seven heads and the ten horns that carries her. Notice you say, he didn't say why do you marvel? You should be able to figure this out. It's just why do you marvel. I will tell you this mystery. It is an astonishing mystery. Without divine help, we can do nothing but wonder at the harlot, the beast. This is important to know. Without divine help, all we could do is marvel at the beast, just like the world whose names are not written in the Lamb's book of life, marvel and are astonished at the beast and worship at the altar of the beast. It is only as a result of divine help that we are able to do anything other than marvel. This is important to know. It's important that we need divine revelation. It's important for us to recognize that just being a Christian, because John's a Christian, John saved, but he looks at the beast, he looks at the harlot, and all we can do is stand there in marvel. He doesn't understand it, which is a dangerous place to be in. Folks, I want you to understand that without divine revelation, that's exactly where we are. We look at the world and we don't even see the world. We look at the beast, this false Christ, and we don't even see him as a false Christ. That unless we are feeding ourselves on the word of God. Unless we are applying ourselves to those ordinary means. We don't just walk around and automatically understand everything that is unfolding around us. But there is a need for God to reveal to us what is happening. But why is this important? First, let's look at this woman that we saw last week, the harlot, the prostitute. She is alluring. There is gold and jewels, and she's attractive and seductive. The world is coming to her. All the kings of the earth are coming to her. She's attractive, she's seductive. She's alluring. She offers power and wealth, and we desire power and wealth. She offers freedom and independence. We desire freedom and independence. But no, she doesn't offer the freedom and independence that we as Texans love. Amen. She offers a freedom and independence from God. Not the freedom and independence to worship God, but a freedom and independence from God. She offers what the serpent offered in the garden. You can be your own God. So she is alluring and she is seductive. Hear me, people, you are not immune to the harlot. You are not immune to Babylon the Great. You need the word of God. And the people of God. Otherwise you stand there and marvel, and the next thing you know, you're sucked into it. Have you ever been there? You ever walked there for a while? Are some of you there now? Where? All of a sudden the things of God become less and less attractive to you. They become less and less appealing to you. Being with the people of God becomes burdensome to you. Opening your Bible becomes difficult to you. The praise of God becomes mundane to you. And all of a sudden you look around and you can't even remember what it was like before. This is what happens with the allure of the world. All of a sudden, our appetites are changed. It's sort of like our children. You know. If we let our children eat cake and candy all the time, their appetites would change. But who who wants vegetables when you can have all of that other stuff? Of course, the the end of that is teeth that rot and fall out and a body that won't do what it's designed to do. Amen, but it sure does taste good on the way. That's the allure of the world. She offers something that is attractive but will only satisfy momentarily. She offers something that is beautiful on the outside, but in the inside it reeks. She offers something that seems to be appealing and have the ability to satisfy you, but it is void of the only thing that God has designed to satisfy you. We need divine wisdom, we need divine revelation. Then there is the Beast. Not only is there the harlet, but there's the beast, which is the focus of this section. The beast makes it hard for those who resist. Remember we talked about the powerful one two punch. On the one hand, there is the harlot who offers us what our flesh desires, and we have a natural tendency to want to go in that direction. That that's the carrot. The beast is the stick. So when we begin to open our eyes and see that what the harlot is offering us is not as appealing as it seems, we try to turn away, and the beast is there. The beast is powerful, more powerful than you or I will ever be. The Beast is brutal, and he uses brutality in order to beat us into submission when our flesh is not enough. With both of these there is an added difficulty. First, there is the harlot, and here she is. She's alluring and attractive and what our flesh wants. And as if that's not difficult enough, the overwhelming majority of people are more than willing to lay with her. And we look at that. It's easy for us. You know, we get older and we have children, and as parents, you know, we love to say as parents what we hated to hear as children. If everybody jumped off a bridge, would you join them in jumping off the bridge? As though it's so simple to walk away from the crowd, as though it's so simple to not be like everybody else around you, As though it's so simple to make a decision that number one is unpopular to your own flesh, and number two it's unpopular to everyone around you. And then there's the beast, who is powerful and brutal. So on the one hand, most people are following their flesh and going after the city of man, pursuing the world gladly, which makes it more difficult for you to walk away. On the other hand, the beast uses his power and brutality when you make a decision to walk away, and most people who were able to resist. On the one hand, are not able to resist him. This is hard, this is difficult, and we need to be aware of that. That's why this picture is painted here. But what is this astonishing mystery? First, there is the beast who's playing God. Look a mere verse eight. 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 is and is not and is to come. First of all, this is a familiar construct. We've seen this construct before at Revelation one eight. I am the Alpha, and the Omega says the Lord God, who is and who was and is to come the Almighty Revelation four eight, Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come. That's the formulation. It's different here. John tweaks it a bit here, and that's important because this is a feeble imitation. This is the beast who was mortally wounded and recovered. We see that in thirteen three. Look with me. Turn back to thirteen three it's a couple of pages there. One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed, and the whole earth marveled as they followed the beast. So it's wounded in one of its heads, says this mortal wound, and yet it's healed from this mortal wound. Look down in verse eleven. Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, and it spoke like a dragon. It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast whose mortal wound was healed. He performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in front of the people, and by the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence of the beast, it deceives those who dwell on earth, telling them to make an image for the beast that was wounded by the sword and yet lived. It's a feeble imitation. It's an imitation of Christ. The beast here is attempting to do what the beast always does. Remember, we have the unholy trinity of the Dragon and the beast and the false prophet. It is a trinitarian mimic of the Holy Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And here the beast is presenting himself as a type of Christ. Here, here the beast. The beast doesn't just say, don't worship him, worship me. The beast says, I can do what he does, and I can be what he is. See, the most dangerous lie is not a lie that sounds like a complete lie. The most dangerous lie is a lie that is based on the truth. You don't fall for something that has no basis in reality. The most dangerous lie is a lie that sounds like the truth. Our culture is not saying reject Christ, reject Christianity, reject all things biblical. In fact, our culture if you look around here, you know, having to meet in this school today, you look around, and when you came in, you saw this no place for hate campaign, this anti bullying campaign, and the very alma mater of this school. You know, on your way out, I encourage you to look at the alma mater of this school, which talks about the idea of hate and no place for hate. You hear that and we hear, yeah, you shouldn't. You shouldn't hate, you shouldn't bully. We shouldn't be bullies, we should respect people. See, it doesn't just go completely off the rails. But then you need to understand that the no place for hate campaign and the anti bullying campaign is birthed out of and linked inexorably to the pro homosexual campaign. It's not about kids not being bullied, it's about kids accepting homosexuality. But to use an idea that is good, and that is true and that is right. See, that's the subtlety of the harlot, And if you recognize it and stand up against it, that's when you get the brutality of the beast. He uses this to mimic Christ. Notice the beast was, there is life, the beast is not. There is death, and the beast will be the idea of resurrection. But notice that's a little different than was, and is and is to come. The beast was and is not. Christ was and is. The beast was and is not, and he is about to rise out of the bottomless pit. Christ was and is and is to come. But why is he to come? Because he ascended to the right hand of the Father, and we'll come again to judge the living and the dead. But watch this. The beast was and is not and is about to rise from the bottomless pit and do what go to destruction. Christ is to come because he ascended to the right hand of the Father, and we're going to see him in Revelation nineteen, coming to bring the destruction. This is anti Christ. Here's a picture of the Antichrist. The Antichrist, by the way, is not some political leader. The spirit of Antichrist is always talked about. For example, in First John, the only place where we read about Antichrist, is always talked about in the plural, not as an individual, but always in the plural. And when John writes First John, he says, Antichrist is with us even now. So when John, when First John is being written, Antichrist is with us. So certainly Antichrist is with us. Here this spirit of Antichrist, which always has been but won't always be amen. It will be dealt with by Christ himself. There's a couple of ideas here. One is that this is the mimicking of the death and burial and resurrection of Christ. Listen to beale on this. Not first of all, the negative middle term is not. Then the third term coming up are probably a parody of Christ's death and resurrection. That the beast is not points to the continuing effects of having been decisively defeated at the cross of Christ. That the beast yet lives to persecute the people of God is why the earth dwellers wonder and follow him. Also observe that whereas christ resurrection results in being alive forever one eighteen, the beast resurrection results in destruction. There's an important point that Bial makes here, and we'll get to this when we get to chapter twenty. And this is where we once again demonstrate the distance between us and what most of us have been taught our whole lives, what most of us have been brought up with, and what the overwhelming majority of people, even in Christian culture in America, hold on to. Most people are holding onto this idea. You know that there is this thousand years coming where Satan will be bound. He's going to be bound for a thousand years, this idea of the millennium. And when Satan is going to be bound for those thousand years, we miss some thing. That binding has already happened it happened at the Cross. We're in the midst of that period right now. Now. Won't go all the way into chapter twenty verses one through four right now, but suffice it to say, because here's the objection that people have. Really, you think Satan is already bound all the evil in the world and the death in the world. Notice, go to chapter twenty really quickly. Go to chapter twenty really quickly, and then we're going to come back. This is important for us to understand. Okay, Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless Pit, and a great change up by the way in chapter seventeen, where's he coming up from? Okay, look at look at seventeen eight one more time. He's about to rise from the bottomless pit and then go to destruction. Chapter twenty gave the bottomless pit and a great chain, and he sees the dragon, that ancient serpent who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit and shut it and sealed it over him. Look at this, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be released for a little while. Doesn't say that when Satan is bound, sickness goes away and evil goes away. When he's bound, he's not allowed to deceive the nations. Folks, the Gospel has reached to the end of the earth. There are just a few places in the world that the Gospel has not penetrated. We're in the midst of that right now. That's not something that's coming in the future. That's what we're in the midst of right now. But again, the objection is always based on a faulty reading of that first paragraphing chapter. You believe Satan is bound, all these bad things happen in the world, all this, all that and the other. The text does not say that Satan will be prevented from people being evil. Doesn't say that this binding only relates to him deceiving the nations. Again, we'll say more about that in a few weeks when we get to chapter twenty. But it's important for us to understand where we are right here, because here in chapter seventeen, we're dealing with that idea of the one who is bound and the end of the age when he is released for a little while and finally done away with, finally dealt with. Then we move into the Age to come, where there is no death and no dying and no sin. The major difference between the two is that the Beast will go to destruction and come to an end and Christ will reign forever. But note that there is this mimicry that he presents himself as the one to be worshiped, and there are those who worship him because there's a gullible audience listen to this, 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 is to come. Folks, this is not a matter of mere intelligence. He doesn't say that there will be smart people in the world who can figure out who he is and not so smart people in the world who can't figure out who he is. What's the difference between those who see him and those who don't. The difference is your name being written in the Lamb's book of life. Remember, there is a seal that you receive from the beast, but there's also that seal that protects us and identifies us as the people of God. The difference here is the seal that we receive. This is not a matter of inherent goodness. It isn't that there are some people who are just so inherently good that they won't fall for the beast, Shenanigans and other people who are not. No, this has nothing to do with inherent goodness. This is a matter of election. This is a matter of God saving and sealing his people. The only thing that saves us, and this goes back to the first point. The only thing that saves us here is God. What we are dependent upon here is God. We're not for God and his revelation, we would have absolutely no hope. Now let's look at these seven mountain kings again. It's astonishing, these seven mountain kings. Look at nine and ten. This calls for a mind of wisdom. We've seen that before, something similar to it. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated. There are also seven kings, five of whom have fallen, one is the other has not yet come. There's the same pattern, and when he does come, he must remain only a little while exact same pattern. Okay, I want you to notice this. Notice a couple of things here. Again, We've said it before, I'll say it again. No one interprets the Book of Revelation literally. You can't. Makes absolutely no sense to try to be literal with the Book of Revelation. What we do see here is this is one of those instances where we're told what the symbol is, what the symbol refers to, which is one of the key that we use when we're interpreting other parts of the book. But even when we're told what the symbol is, it doesn't reveal something concrete. It reveals another symbol. So there are these seven mountains, there are these seven heads. Seven heads are the seven mountains on which the woman is seated. Well, that's symbolic, but we understand that from last week there are also seven kings. So these seven heads represent mountains and they represent kings at the same time. Human observation is not sufficient to answer this question. This calls for a mind of wisdom. This is reminiscent of the revelation of the number of the beast. You remember that that called for wisdom. It's not as straightforward as it seems. There are a number of possibilities as to these seven kings. There are some who have argued that these these seven kings are seven emperors of Rome, that there's a problem there. It's difficult. You have Julius Caesar forty nine to forty four BC. You have Augustus Caesar from twenty seven to twenty seven BC to eighty fourteen. Then there's Tiberius fourteen to thirty seven. Then there's Caligula thirty seven to forty one, Claudius forty one to fifty four, Nero fifty four to sixty eight. Then there's Galba June sixty eight to January sixty nine, although January sixty nine to April sixty nine. Then there's Vitellius April to December sixty nine, Vespatian sixty nine to seventy nine, Titus seventy nine to eighty one, and Dimssion eighty one to ninety six. What's the problem. I just gave you the name of twelve emperors. How do you pick the seven? Will? Some go to the first seven and they go one, two, three, four, five six seven. Okay, that gets us right past neuro. Some start at Nero and they go one to three, four, five sixty seven. Great, that takes us from neuro to some omit certain individuals because of their short tenures or whatever combined tenures to try to get to wherever you are. But here's the point. Usually what they're trying to accomplish is they're trying to say that John is identifying this beast in his day. He's pointing to someone specific in his own time. So another of you that these don't refer to specific emperors in Rome, but they refer to seven empires, and all of these empires that have oppressed the people of God. You have Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece. Then the sixth kingdom is Rome, which rule the world at the time of John. Hence Rome is the one who is. And then the seventh kingdom is a kingdom that is going to come at the end of the age. Here is in the symbols first mountains symbolized political power. We see this in Isaiah two too, Jeremiah fifty one twenty five, Daniel two thirty five. We understand this that mountain symbolize power. We understand that Christ is the one who is on the mountain of God. This number of seven, we've seen this number seven again and again and again over forty times. In Revelation, this number seven is a number that identifies something that is complete, and its corresponding number is three and a half. Three and a half is a seven cut short. And so when we see seven years in three and a half years. Again, these numbers are not presented literally. In Revelation, seven years is something that comes to completion. Three and a half years means God stops it before it comes to completion. So this idea of the Church and her tribulation, seven years of tribulation. They are not seven literal years because seven is not used literally. Here. It's the idea of something that is complete, but that tribulation is not complete, it is cut short. Therefore you have a three and a half. So here there are these seven heads, these mountain symbolized power, political power, and authority. Complete political power and authority. Listen to sam Storms. The number seven is not a literal number designating the quantity of kings in one epic, but is figurative for the quality of fullness or completeness, as in the Old Testament, particularly Daniel seven, and throughout the Apocalypse, where seven or seventh occurs about forty five times. Outside of this paragraph all in clearly figurative expressions. Therefore, rather than seven particular kings or kingdoms of the first century or any other, the seven mountains and kings represents the oppressive power of world government throughout the ages, which arrogates to itself divine prerogatives and persecutes God's people when they do not submit to the evil states false claims. This power is complete. This beast has complete political power in the world. I'll think more about that later. There's then the mystery of the eighth king. The worst is yet to come. As for the beast that was and is not, it is an eighth, but it belongs to the seventh, and it goes to destruction. Now, let me just cut to the chase here. I don't know what this means, Amen, I don't know what this means. There are several possibilities that the eighth is a reference to a derivation of the number of the beast. Richard Balcom cousin. He's not really my cousin. It's b A U C K H a M British guy. He just doesn't know where related. But Balcom has a complicated rendering of the numerology here that I won't bother to go into but he says, basically this is a derivation of the number of the beast. It could also be a reference to the totality of the evil of the seven kingdoms. That you have an eighth, that you have you have something that goes beyond, which is the final idea, that there is an excess, there's an excess of power that is exerted. Here. Those't of Balkham's words here. Thus the beast is in the same sense both the eighth in that particular series of numbers, and also related to the first seven. Another approach uh is to observe that the beast is called a because he is one of the seven, recurring as a king of final excess of evil or kind of final excess of evil. In him, completeness becomes excess. This is not a radical idea. For example, Proverbs thirty and fifteen, or let's look per six sixteen. There are six things which the Lord hates, yets seven which are an abomination to him. Proverbs thirty and fifteen. The leech has two daughters, give give. There are three things that will not be satisfied, four that will not say enough. Proverbs thirty and eighteen. There are three things which are too wonderful for me, four which I do not understand. And again you could go on. There is this pattern of that extra number, this number of excess. But what's the right answer. The right answer is whatever this refers to. It's awful, it's powerful. It is a political power at the end of the age that represents this final oppression of the people of God that is unlike anything we've ever seen before. It's not a seven, it's an eight. What does that mean. I don't know, but it's bad because seven is bad enough. It's an eight. It could be a renewal of this oppression. But regardless of which of these angles we take, they all point in the same direction that at the end of the age there is an overwhelming oppressive power and authority that goes to war against Christ and his church. By the way, we've already seen this. This is the idea of armageddon, which we looked at at the end of chapter sixteen. Then there are the ten Kings and the last battle. The ten Horns that you saw are ten kings who have not yet received royal power, but they are to receive authority as kings for one hour together with the beast. The number ten. Again, it's a number of perfection in the decimal system, but it refers exclusively in the Revelation to the Beast to Satan chapter two, verse ten, ten days of persecution instigated by the Devil Chapter twelve, verse three, The Dragon with ten horns Chapter thirteen, verse one, the beast coming out of the sea with ten horns and ten crowns. And then here in this chapter, this beast with ten horns, that this perfect round number. So these ten kings represent this perfect and complete worldwide opposition to the Church, which looks just like what we saw at the end of sixteen and Armageddon. All of the kings of the earth rallied against God and his Christ. There's a sudden and temporary nature to this power. Again, Storm's Right writes, the ten horns represents any and all kings. I either totality of the powers of all nations on the earth, which align themselves with the beast in a final effort to crush the Church. He has to war with the Church. Here this saints the world will tell you that they're at odds with us because of who we are and what we do, and if we just did it better, the conflict wouldn't exist. Revelation seventeen crushes that idea. The only way that the world will not be at odds with us is if we accept the Beast and his mark, which is his blasphemy and the worship of him as opposed to God. He does not want to be worshiped alongside God. He wants to be worshiped instead of God. He demands to be worshiped instead of God. And anyone who will not worship him instead of God must be devoured and crushed as an example to the rest who are worshiping him, but also because of this completely unnatural desire to do away with God. And then, just when it seems too much to bear Verses thirteen and fourteen, these are of one mind. They hand over their power and authority to the Beast. They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them. Amen, they will make us because so far all we've seen is that they're complete political power, complete military might complete, this complete that they're all the power that the world has to offer, and the Lamb will conquer them. For he is Lord of lords and king of kings, and those with him, are called and chosen and faithful. There's the answer. We do not wrestle against flesh and blood. We wrestle against something far more significant and more powerful than that. But we also do not wrestle with flesh and blood. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they are mighty. The one whom we serve is mighty. And so here we had this idea of the you know, the seven heads and the ten horns. Here we have this idea of all the political power that the world has to offer, all the military might that the world has to offer, all of the venom and hate that the world has to offer, all bearing down on the people of God. And in fact, don't think for a moment that just won't be bloody. If you go back to the beginning, go back to the end of the first paragraph, lookive verse nine, and I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. There will be martyrdom unlike anything that we've ever seen. But it won't destroy the church. He won't destroy the church. So what should my attitude be? How should we think about this? How can you put into words what our perspective ought to be in light of these realities. I think somebody already has put it into words. A mighty fortresses our God, a bulwark never failing our help, or he emits the flood of mortal lits prevailing. For still, our ancient foe does seek to work us woe. His craft and power are great and armed with cruel hate on earth is not as equal. Did we and our own strength confide, our striving would be losing. We're not the right man on our side. The man of God's own choosing, dost ask whom that may be? Christ Jesus. It is he Lord Sabo, with his name from age to age the same. And he must win the battle. And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us, we will not fear. For God has willed his truth to triumph through us. The prince of darkness grim We tremble not for him his rage we can endure. For lo his doom is sure. One little word shall fall him, that word above all earthly powers. No thanks to him abideth the spirit and the gift are ours through him who with as sightheth let good and kindred go this mortal life, all soul, the body. They may kill God's truth about his still his kingdom is forever. By the way, if you were wondering, is what that heman is all about? This is why it's so significant. This is why I hadn't gone anywhere for so long. This is why it still does to us what it does to us every time we sing it or just read the words. This is real, and this is not something that's real for some future generations. This is something that is real in the here and the now. This is something that was real in John's day. This is something that's always been real for the Church. But there is a time coming with that wounded snake, that serpent who was promised in Genesis three fifteen, I will put in between between you and the woman, in between your seed and her seed, and you're gonna bruise his heel, but he's gonna bruise you head. This is the wound. And yet though at the Cross he was done away with, there is still this war raging on. There is still the world and all that the world offers, the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, boastful pride and possessions. There is still the power of the state that has codified these ideas of the world in opposition to our Christ and his bride. And there is still this war that rages on, and yet there is a victory that is assured. This beast was and is not, and he's coming again, but he's coming only for a little while that he might go to destruction. What are the implication of this? I think there are several implications of this that we need to hold on to. Number One, the rise of evil kings at the end of the age is not the fault of the Church. Please hear this. Every time something goes bad in the culture, you hear people who begin to him and haw and say, only if the church would only if the church didn't, Only if the church had, Only if the Church hadn't. Folks, the rise of evil at the end of the age is not the fault of the Church. The rise of evil kings and evil nations is not the fault of the Church. There's another side of that. Being blessed in a nation that acknowledges God is not the fault of the Church. God is not sitting passively in heaven wondering what kind of country we're going to be. God does not sit in heaven and say, oh, I wonder what this Supreme Court decision is going to say. I wonder how this election is going to turn out. Oh, if the Church would only enough already with the overrealized eschatology. The Church is everything Christ says. She is, she always has been, and she always will be. The fact of the matter is, we live in a country where there is so much ease that anything can call itself the church, and most of what passes for the Church is not. Oh, if we could only get Christians mobilized, which Christians and mobilized in what direction? As though we all are of the same mind, we are not. There are many who are following false teachers. Remember, in the last days, people are not going to abide the truth, but instead they're going to turn aside the myths and accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires. Paul tells us that in two Timothy four, how is that the fault of the church. Be careful with that, Be careful with americanized arrogance. I've said it before, let me say it again. When we talk like that, if Christians were only serious, if Christians were only prayerful. If Christians would only this, if Christians would only that, here's what we do. We look at our experience as Americans, and we sort of generalize it as though it's the normal reality of the Church and the way God has designed the world. But please note that every time we say that, we are saying that every country in the world that doesn't even have as much freedom as we do is in that state because the Church there is not as faithful as we are. Well, oh, no, no, no, we're not saying that. Yes, actually we are. If the only reason that things are bad is because the Church is not faithful, then that means places where things are good, it is because the Church is more faithful than other places. Folks, if you've traveled this world, if you've been to third world countries and worship with your brothers and sisters in Christ, you know that dog won't hunt. Some of the most faithful believers in the history of the world have experienced the greatest persecution in the history of the world. Great faithfulness in the church usually doesn't equate to a nation that loves the church. It usually equates to a nation that persecutes the church. So enough, already with the idea that if the church only. Secondly, there is no nation on Earth apparently that's exempt from this war. It's interesting, how, you know, in in most people's eschatology, In most people's eschatology, the Kings of the Earth represents everybody but Israel and America. If you can't say amen, you ought to say ours. Okay? For most people, you know, there's this idea you know that that that you know Israel, they they're there, They're they're God's time peace and they're his cherished one. And you know, geopolitically, it doesn't matter who and what they are. You know, those are folks. And so at the end, when we see the battle of armagedin the idea of the kings of the Earth arraying themselves against God, we believe that that is them arraying themselves against Israel, which means we equated Israel with God. That's blasphemy. And somehow Americans are on the right side of this because we're political allies with Israel. Hey, Revelation seventeen doesn't leave anybody out. This final battle is not a battle of some ungodly nations versus godly nations. It's all the Earth's kings and all the earth's powers arrayed against God. See, there's been a shift in redemptive history. There is this picture where God has promised that he would bring his son, and in doing so, he chooses this nation through whom he will bring his son. And there is this nation, and we know that they're called to be a blessing to the entire world. But there is this focus on that nation. And then there is this son who comes, the promised One is born through that nation, and this gospel is preached, and this promise that we've seen since the beginning of all the nations being blessed comes to fruition in him. And so now there's not the concentration of the people of God in a centralized place or location, or a concentration of the worship of God a centralized temple or location, but the people of God spread abroad throughout the earth, so that the worship of God is spread abroad throughout the earth, so that at the end of the age, you don't have a picture like you did in the Old Testament, of pagan armies arrayed against Israel to fight in one particular location. But now you have the people of God spread abroad throughout the entire earth, so that all nations and all kingdoms rise up to cross the Church. Wherever she's found, She's everywhere. There is no safe place. America is not a safe place. Had people ask me all the time, do you think we'll ever experience persecution here? What would make you think we wouldn't the Bible are you reading? Of course we will. This is not the new Jerusalem. Amen. Now granted, within these United States we have Texas, which is the Promised Land. But outside of that we can't count on anything. Finally, the victory of the victory of Christ is never in doubt. We need to be reminded of that. The victory of Christ is never in doubt. It has never been in doubt. This is not a battle against two equals who are trying to figure out who's the best on game day. You see that on Saturday afternoons or you know, or today or wherever, and you know football, you can see that. No, this is not that. This is not going to be decided by who he has the most injuries on their roster. This is done. God is not running for God. Christ is king of kings, He is Lord of lords, which means that there is no number of kings on the earth, no particular arrangement of nations on the earth that could ever be a threat to His kingdom coming never believe that saints. Why is that important? Because remember, at the end of the age, there's persecution like we never experienced before. And I don't care how holy you are. When that happens, there is always a tendency to look and say, God, have you forgotten me? It's just natural. One of the things that I hate. My wife would tell you this, and I hate when our kids, you know, I have to get stuck with a needle for something. I just I just I just hate it. I don't mind me having to get stuck with a needle for something, but I just don't like it when when my children have to get stuck with a needle for something. It's just bad. And one of the things, one of the reasons that I just hate it is because as a father, I cherish the incredible privilege that I have of being one to whom my children turn when they're afraid of something, something's bigger than them, more powerful than them. They run to Daddy and they say, hold me and protect me. I love the way that feels, but when they're getting stuck with a needle, that's just wrong. Because they come to me and they run to me, and I hold them and they think I'm a daddy and I'm safe, and then that sharp pain comes and that look comes in their eyes, that look that says you were supposed to protect me, And I just hold them and just kiss them and rock them and sometimes cry, and I say, you don't understand it, but I am. I am. Folks, there are times that are like that for us as believers, where our God holds us in his arms and we are safe and we are protected in an ultimate sense. But yet there are things in this world that hurt us the less. And one of the beauties of maturing and grace is coming to a place where we can actually understand that we're no longer like a baby who has that look come over him that says, I can't believe you let this happen to me, because I'm When I'm with you, nothing is supposed to be able to arm me. But coming to maturity that says, I knew you wouldn't let me go even when the pain came, I knew you wouldn't let me go. This is Revelation seventeen. In fact, this is the entire book. We have a God who holds us in his arms, and even when we are afflicted with pain and persecution, no, that it will not cause him to stop holding us. And that no matter how much we have experienced or enjoyed of the comfort and love of being in his arms, it pales in comparison to the ultimate reality that is yet to come. In the age to come, we're there. Indeed, we will be held in arms that bring with it no pain, no tears, no disappointments, no sorrows, because all adversaries would have been done away with. This is our hope because we are in Christ. This is our hope, because He was and his and is to This is our hope because unlike the beast, he died, he was resurrected, ascended to the right hand of the father Sits there forever to make an a session for us, and is coming again to judge the living and the dead. The only reason, in the only way, that we have hope is because we have trusted in Him and him alone. We have come to Him in repentance and faith. We have turned from the world, from the Beast, we have turned from our sin, and we have turned to Christ. We are trusted in Him and in Him alone as our only hope in this life and in the life to come. And my prayer for you is that whomever you are, you come to that reality, you come to that truth, you embrace it with every fiber of your being, that you cast yourself completely on Christ, because he is indeed your only hope. Trust it. Let's pray our Father. As we bow, we confess to you that we marvel at the world, that we're intimidated by the beast, that we are far too easily satisfied with the temporary pleasures that this world has to offer. And we asked that he would forgive us, that you would cleanse us, that you would conform us to the image of Christ, that you would change the desires of our heart, he would mortify our sin, that you would deliver us from the evil One. And Father, we look forward with anxious anticipation to the time when that deliverance will be consummated and complete. In the age to come, Grant by your grace that we might hold on to that hope, especially when the world grows darkest. We pray this and the name of the one who was and who is and who is to come, Jesus Christ, our Lord, Savior, master deliverer and King. Amen.