The Fall of Babylon

Bottom line

Stop cheating on God with the ways of the world. Remain faithful to Him through your good deeds!

Opening Line

How many people ever played the game Cheat?

Introduction

That probably feels like a bit of a trap, right? I don’t know if I should admit to playing cheat at church. It’s OK, I’ll admit it, I’ve played it before. In fact, I’m pretty sure I learned to play at a church camp.

If you’ve never played, the game is really simple. You need two decks of cards shuffled up, and the whole deck is dealt out to the group. Then the person to the left of the dealer starts with ones, and puts as many ones as they have into the middle of the table. The next person plays 2, followed by 3s. The trick is when it is your turn and you don’t have the number. Then you have to play another number, but convince the group that you are playing honestly. If no one says anything, you’re fine. If someone calls cheat, you take the whole pile. If they are wrong, they take the whole pile. The object of the game is to run out of cards. It can be a really fun game, but I’ve also seen friendships come to an end over it, which is typical of any game really.

Main Point

I start there because I believe that there are many people who take this approach to life. The vast majority of their life is honest and above board, but there are certain areas where the cards don’t quite line up, and they are just hoping they don’t get caught making the wrong move.

Why it matters

As we continue in Revelation, the Apostle John is going to use the imagery of two women. The first is that of a prostitute, and of all the things that will said about her, there is one over arching attribute of the prostitute that stands out: immorality and unfaithfulness. The second image is that of a bride. If a prostitute is the picture of unfaithfulness and immorality, a bride is the picture of faithfulness and purity. This is an image that Solomon uses when he compares wisdom and folly. The image requires you to make a choice, but as the passage is going to show this morning, the choice is not always as easy as it should be.

Scripture

If you have your Bible, we are in Revelation 17. It is also available on the app or you can follow along on the screen.

Revelation 17:1–6 NLT

One of the seven angels who had poured out the seven bowls came over and spoke to me. “Come with me,” he said, “and I will show you the judgment that is going to come on the great prostitute, who rules over many waters. The kings of the world have committed adultery with her, and the people who belong to this world have been made drunk by the wine of her immorality.” So the angel took me in the Spirit into the wilderness. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that had seven heads and ten horns, and blasphemies against God were written all over it. The woman wore purple and scarlet clothing and beautiful jewelry made of gold and precious gems and pearls. In her hand she held a gold goblet full of obscenities and the impurities of her immorality. A mysterious name was written on her forehead: “Babylon the Great, Mother of All Prostitutes and Obscenities in the World.” I could see that she was drunk—drunk with the blood of God’s holy people who were witnesses for Jesus. I stared at her in complete amazement.

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Now as astute students of the bible as you are, you will recognize the description of the beast. It is the same description as the beast earlier with seven heads and ten horns. In case you are wondering, yes, this is the very same beast.

But John looks at the woman riding the beast and is amazed. I mean, it is quite the sight to behold. She is riding this great beast. She is very well dressed with the very best fabrics money can buy, adorned with all kinds of jewelry. Despite the fact that John is very aware of who this woman is and what she stands for, he is still caught in amazement.

This is part of the problem with the sin nature that is at war with our minds. Even though John knows that what he is looking at is wrong, he can’t help be amazed by it. This has been the problem since the beginning of creation. In Genesis 3, even though the man and woman had a garden full fruit to choose from, they became fixated on the one fruit they were supposed to avoid.

The great thing in the passage is that the angel calls him on it.

Revelation 17:7–10 NLT

“Why are you so amazed?” the angel asked. “I will tell you the mystery of this woman and of the beast with seven heads and ten horns on which she sits. The beast you saw was once alive but isn’t now. And yet he will soon come up out of the bottomless pit and go to eternal destruction. And the people who belong to this world, whose names were not written in the Book of Life before the world was made, will be amazed at the reappearance of this beast who had died. “This calls for a mind with understanding: The seven heads of the beast represent the seven hills where the woman rules. They also represent seven kings. Five kings have already fallen, the sixth now reigns, and the seventh is yet to come, but his reign will be brief.

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The discourse of the beast having died but coming back is meant to draw your attention to the earlier description, where the beast receives a severe wound yet survives.

Then the angel says that the seven heads represent to separate things: seven hills and seven kings. The seven hills would draw the attention of the early church to Rome, a city on seven hills. The seven kings is not so clear. There were seven emperors of Rome, but the reference of the sixth with the seventh to come is unclear since the seventh emperor was technically reigning at the time of John’s writing.

The one thing we can note is that there is one yet to come, and that is the Antichrist, the beast that rises out of the sea, the final king of the earth.

Chapter 17 continues by describing the ten horns as ten kings that haven’t come yet. The ten kings, along with the beast, will wage war against the Lamb of God, but they will be defeated by Him because he is the King of kings and the Lord of Lords.

The beast and the kings will then turn on the prostitute, the great city, and completely destroy her. The picture is that the beast used the prostitute to gain power and authority, and when it has what it wants, it disposes of the woman.

Which brings us to chapter 18.

Revelation 18:1–8 NLT

After all this I saw another angel come down from heaven with great authority, and the earth grew bright with his splendor. He gave a mighty shout: “Babylon is fallen—that great city is fallen! She has become a home for demons. She is a hideout for every foul spirit, a hideout for every foul vulture and every foul and dreadful animal. For all the nations have fallen because of the wine of her passionate immorality. The kings of the world have committed adultery with her. Because of her desires for extravagant luxury, the merchants of the world have grown rich.” Then I heard another voice calling from heaven, “Come away from her, my people. Do not take part in her sins, or you will be punished with her. For her sins are piled as high as heaven, and God remembers her evil deeds. Do to her as she has done to others. Double her penalty for all her evil deeds. She brewed a cup of terror for others, so brew twice as much for her. She glorified herself and lived in luxury, so match it now with torment and sorrow. She boasted in her heart, ‘I am queen on my throne. I am no helpless widow, and I have no reason to mourn.’ Therefore, these plagues will overtake her in a single day— death and mourning and famine. She will be completely consumed by fire, for the Lord God who judges her is mighty.”

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Now there’s two ways to read this. The first is the down fall of Rome. Everything being described is how history remembers Rome before the collapse of the empire. Revelation was a reassurance to the church that things were going to change.

But the author never says Rome but Babylon. I said at the beginning of the series that Revelation was largely written in code so that if someone didn’t understand the scriptures they would have missed the reference. However, I think something else is happening. Maybe Babylon isn’t a place, but an idea. It is easy to use different places throughout scripture and history to epitomize the ideology that is being represented.

THE PROSTITUTE, THE GREAT CITY, REPRESENTS EVERYTHING THAT IS OPPOSED TO GOD AND DRAWS PEOPLE AWAY FROM HIM

You could start with the tower of Babel in Genesis 11. God told humanity to cover the earth and have dominion, yet the people gathered together and refused to spread out. A rejection of God’s plan that lead to the failure of Babel.

Fast forward to Babylon, the great empire. The city of Babylon was thought to be impenetrable. It was the pinnacle of human achievement, and it bread immorality and arrogance until the day it fell.

Then Rome. One of the largest empires in history with some of the most impressive structures of the ancient world. The city which embodied power became a factory of depravity.

All three of these cities are a picture of what happens when humanity chooses to reject God’s ways and embrace their own sinful nature. As the sinfulness increased, the beacons of righteousness were eliminated so that they would not interfere with the ways of the people.

So when the voice from heaven in v.4 calls to his people to come away from Babylon, it isn’t a call to move away from a place, but to stay away from the fallen thinking of the world.

The reason God’s people must stay away from this kind of influence is that it is coming to an end.

Revelation 18:21 NLT

Then a mighty angel picked up a boulder the size of a huge millstone. He threw it into the ocean and shouted, “Just like this, the great city Babylon will be thrown down with violence and will never be found again.

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Babylon will fall because of it’s sin, its depravity, and it’s allegiance to the beast. The sinfulness of the city is magnified by the fact that God’s holy people were slaughtered in the streets.

Which brings us to chapter 19, and a very different picture. The chapter begins with heaven praising that the great city has fallen. But then the picture shifts in v. 6

Revelation 19:6–9 NLT

Then I heard again what sounded like the shout of a vast crowd or the roar of mighty ocean waves or the crash of loud thunder: “Praise the Lord! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns. Let us be glad and rejoice, and let us give honor to him. For the time has come for the wedding feast of the Lamb, and his bride has prepared herself. She has been given the finest of pure white linen to wear.” For the fine linen represents the good deeds of God’s holy people. And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb.” And he added, “These are true words that come from God.”

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I want you to see the comparison here. The prostitute of Babylon is dressed in purple and scarlet, embodies the depravity of the world and everything that is wrong. The bride is dressed in white, which represents the good deeds that God’s holy people have done.

Transition to Application

The funny thing about this picture is that has been one of the major themes of scripture from the beginning. Look at what God tells Cain in Genesis 4

Genesis 4:7 NLT

You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.”

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You will be accepted if you do what is right.

Main To Do

I believe that one of the greatest misconceptions of the church is that holiness and righteousness are all about not doing the wrong thing. The problem with that is you have to be aware of what it is you are trying to avoid. What ends up happening is like Eve, you grab the fruit. Like John, you become amazed by the prostitute. The longer you look at something you aren’t supposed to do, the easier it becomes to justify it.

Yet the bride of Christ isn’t pure because of what she didn’t do, but because of what she did.

If that’s the case, then we better get out there and do something good. Now I know you are all amazing people and do good things regularly, so I want to push you a bit. Do something good that’s a little out of the box; out of your comfort zone. Do something nice to someone who makes life difficult. Do something extra special for your spouse or your family. Develop a habit of doing good.

Why it matters

If you can create a habit of doing the good things that Scripture teaches, you will be too busy to worry about the wrong things. In fact, you will be so focused on the good that the things that are contrary to God’s way will feel like an inconvenience. And even in those moments when it is hard, you’ve got the Holy Spirit in you to carry you through.

Closing Line

You are called to be faithful to God. Stop cheating on him with the ways of the world, and commit to doing to good things He has called you to.

Discussion Questions

What stood out from the message?

How can we identify areas in our lives where we might be 'cheating' on God?

In what practical ways can we replace negative behaviors with good deeds as encouraged in the sermon?

What is a good deed you can commit to this week that goes beyond your normal routine?

How does the imagery of the prostitute and the bride in Revelation challenge us to examine our own faithfulness to God?

What does it mean to be faithful to God in a world full of distractions?