Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Revelation 1 - Introduction

Revelation 1:1-3 - Prologue & Benediction

Revelation 1:4-8 - Epistolary Introduction

Revelation 1:9-20 - A Vision of the Son of Man

Revelation 2-3 - The Seven Churches

Revelation 2:1-7 - The Letter to Ephesus

Revelation 2:8-11 - The Letter to Smyrna

Revelation 2:12-17 - The Letter to Pergamum

Revelation 2:18-29 - The Letter to Thyatira

Revelation 3:1-6 - The Letter to Sardis

Revelation 3:7-13 - The Letter to Philadelphia

Revelation 3:14-22 - The Letter to Laodicea

Revelation 4-5 - The Throne Room

Revelation 4:1-11 - A Vision of the Throne Room

Revelation 5:1-14 - The Lamb is Worthy

Revelation 6-8:5 - The Seven Seals

Revelation 6:1-8 - The First Four Seals

Revelation 6:9-17 - The Fifth and Sixth Seals

Revelation 7:1-17 - Who can Stand on the Day of the Lord?

Revelation 8:1-5 - Anticipation of Further Judgment

Revelation 8:6-11:19 - The Seven Trumpets

Revelation 8:6-13 - The First Four Trumpets

Revelation 9:1-21 - The Fifth and Sixth Trumpets

Revelation 10:1-11 - The End is Near

Revelation 11:1-14 - The Two Witnesses

Revelation 11:15-19 - The Seventh Trumpet

Revelation 12:1-15:4 - The Seven Visions

Revelation 12:1-17 - The Woman, Child, and Heavenly Hosts Versus the Great Dragon

Revelation 13:1-10 - The Beast out of the Sea

Revelation 13:11-18 - The Beast from the Earth

Revelation 14:1-5 - The 144,000

Revelation 14:6-13 - The Proclamations of the Three Angels

Revelation 14:14-20 - The Harvest and Judgment

Revelation 15:1-4 - The Glory of God fills the Heavenly Sanctuary

Revelation 15:1-4 - The Song of Moses and the Song of the Lamb

Revelation 15:5-16:21 - The Seven Bowls

Revelation 15:5-8 - The Glory of God fills the Heavenly Sanctuary

Revelation 15:5-8 - The Seven Bowls of God’s Wrath

Revelation 16:1-21 - Seven Bowls of God’s Wrath

Revelation 17-19 - Judgment

Revelation 17:1-18 - The Great Prostitute is Judged

Revelation 17:1-6 - The Vision

Revelation 17:7-18 - Vision Explained

Purpose of Book

The purpose of Revelation is to challenge/encourage believers, who are expectantly awaiting the reign of Christ, to live faithfully for Him despite worldly circumstances, persecution, and the cosmic battle between God and Satan.

Main Point

The woman, Babylon, is exposed by the Lord.

She looks luxurious and powerful, but in reality she is a cruel mistress who kills the saints.

Ultimately, God ordains for Babylon to be killed by the beast and the 10 kings.

Revelation 17:1-6 - The Vision

1 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters, 2 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.”

Contrast of the two peoples of the world - New Jersualem and Babylon

Babylon leads to death

New Jerusalem leads to life and is beautiful

Babylon is the great prostitute leading countless people to spiritual adultery against the true triune God

Babylon is now judged

She is seated on many waters - authority and enthroned

The kings/leaders of the world have aligned with Babylon AND so have ALL the earth dwellers

The lure of Babylon is overwhelming to the hearts and minds of many

3 And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns.

John is taken away into the wilderness - the place of death

The woman represents Babylon who is Rome

The beast is the first beast from Revelation 13

Blasphemous names - hates God and pretends to be Him

7 heads and 10 hours - just like the dragon

Scarlet - terrifying and the same color as the dragon

4 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.

The woman looks beautiful, stunning, and is covered with royal wealth, BUT she is a cruel mistress

Her golden cup that looks luxurious is filled with sin

5 And on her forehead was written a name of mystery: “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations.”

The woman is now identified as Babylon

This is Rome, but also symbolic of all godless cities with economic power

6 And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.

The cities kill the Christians because they are against her own agenda

When I saw her, I marveled greatly.

John’s response is to marvel at the woman

Revelation 17:7-18 - Vision Explained

7 But the angel said to me, “Why do you marvel?

I will tell you the mystery of the woman, and of the beast with seven heads and ten horns that carries her.

The angel tells John that he will reveal the identity of both the woman and the details of the beast

8 The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to rise from the bottomless pit and go to destruction.

The beast, as we’ve previously talked about, is the roman empire

People assumed the Roman empire was dead due to Nero’s death, but Vespasian brought the empire back to prominence

Ultimately, however, the Roman Empire is going to be destroyed

This is also symbolic moving forward - great human nations will come and go, but ultimately God will destroy them all

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.

The ones who will marvel are not those in Christ, but those who are unbelievers

Book of life

9 This calls for a mind with wisdom: the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated; 10 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.

The seven mountains refer to Rome which was founded on seven mountains

Here is the difficulty, there are over 50 different interpretations regarding these verses… FIFTY!

I believe this speaks symbolically of the totality of rulers who have complete authority

11 As for the beast that was and is not, it is an eighth but it belongs to the seven, and it goes to destruction.

This verse also is a difficult verse to interpret - this chapter is more challenging than all other chapters in Revelation

The number 8 in Judaism and early Christianity has eschatological significance

12 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.

10 Kings

Together both the beast and the 10 kings will have authority as final judgment comes close

13 These are of one mind, and they hand over their power and authority to the beast.