The Scarlet Woman and Beast
Notes
Transcript
We have been in this study for a while, but we have finally made it through the last of God’s judgments upon the earth. Though the seals, the trumpets, and the bowls are all expired, the final battle has yet to take place, so we are not completely finished with the evil of this world just yet, but the stage has been set, the final players are in place, and the second coming of Jesus is right around the corner.
As we have seen with all of the sets of seven so far, after the seventh judgment of the set has transpired, there is an interlude before moving on. Chapters 17-18 is another interlude. Within these two chapters, we are going to see the worldly systems that will be at play during the tribulation period.
Chapter 17, which we will try to get through tonight, is going to show us the worldwide religious system that everyone is going to give way to. But as we will see, this system will only take them so far. At some point, the world leaders decide that this religious system is either unnecessary or problematic, so they will turn on the religious system that has united the world during this time and give way to a worldwide economic system, which is the thought of Chapter 18.
Though each of these systems are uniquely different from one another, they are both equal parts of the same whole and are therefore referred to as Babylon throughout these two chapters.
This New World Babylonian Empire will rise to stardom and then fall in destruction within a span of just seven years. It will reach the heights of the Global domination that the original Babylonian empire had. It will share the same destructive methods and mindset of that original kingdom as well. With that being said, it will also be completely destroyed in a flash, just as the first Babylonian Empire was.
Understanding Babylon
Understanding Babylon
Babylon’s Beginning
Babylon’s Beginning
The first time we see Babylon is Scripture is in Genesis 10:8-10
8 Cush begot Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one on the earth.
9 He was a mighty hunter before the Lord; therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord.”
10 And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.
Nimrod is the great grandson of Noah through the line of Ham and it tells us here that he is the one responsible for building the city called Babel, which was later referred to as Babylon. It is the same Hebrew word used for both cities, and it is agreed by scholars almost unanimously that Babel and Babylon are one in the same.
The name Nimrod means “to rebel” or “rebellious one”. Scripture does not give us the name of Nimrod’s wife, but we know from secular sources that he married a woman named Semiramis. Semiramis is known as “The Mother of Idolatry” because she is believed to be the first idol worshiper upon the earth. She was known to worship the things of astrology (the sun, the moon, the stars, etc.) and it is said that all occult worship, including the Zodiac, can be traced back to Babel.
When it says that Nimrod “began to be a mighty one on the earth”, it means that he was the first heroic warrior. He was the first to travel and conquer other regions. Though it is not stated, some even believe that he could have been one of the first giants of the day.
When it says that Nimrod “was a mighty hunter before the Lord”, the word “before” can also be rendered “against”, which seems to fit better within the context of his voyages and accomplishments.
This information is important, because we know Babel best from Gen 11, and having this understanding helps us to understand what takes place there.
1 Now the whole earth had one language and one speech.
2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there.
3 Then they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar.
4 And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”
5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built.
6 And the Lord said, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them.
7 Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.”
8 So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city.
9 Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.
They wanted the top of the tower to reach the heavens, because Semiramis’s worship of astrology had infected many during this time. They wanted to make a name for themselves, not for God. They wanted to worship the things of the heavens and this tower would allow them to reach those things in which they sought to worship.
Show pictures of possible “Tower of Babel” layout…
This idea of “making a name for ourselves” is the very heartbeat of evil. It is the same mindset that Satan against God. It is also the same mindset that carried on into Babylon years later, and it is also the same mindset that will guide the evil forces of the future Babylon that is pictured in Revelation.
Babylon was the birthplace of false religion and will also be the death place of false religion.
Babylon’s Global Influence
Babylon’s Global Influence
Other than Jerusalem, Babylon is mentioned more times in the Scripture than any other city. God has had a lot to say about Babylon. There are over 300 references in total. The Book of Revelation only has 404 verses in total… 42 of which either directly or indirectly reference Babylon. That is roughly 1 out of 10 verses.
Babylon is located about 50 miles South of Bagdad, along the Euphrates River in modern day Iraq. In its glory days, when King Nebuchadnezzar reigned there during the time of Daniel, it was considered to be one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world.
The hanging gardens was known for its beauty and people travelled from around the globe to see it.
There was an “impenetrable wall” that surrounded the entirety of the city. The wall stood 35 stories high and were 87’ thick. It was truly a marvel.
It sat directly on the Euphrates River, but King Nebuchadnezzar had the river diverted around the city, creating yet another layer of protection from foreign enemies. He also had certain channels dug underneath the walls of the city to allow water from the river to be diverted into various streams that ran throughout the city. This provided easy access to clean water for almost anyone who lived in the city.
Babylon’s Fall
Babylon’s Fall
Despite it being a global power and one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, God prophesied that this impenetrable city would fall.
Jeremiah prophesied 50 years in advance that Babylon would soon see its demise:
11 Make the arrows bright! Gather the shields! The Lord has raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes. For His plan is against Babylon to destroy it, Because it is the vengeance of the Lord, The vengeance for His temple.
Isaiah prophesied 150 years in advance what would happen to Babylon:
17 “Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, Who will not regard silver; And as for gold, they will not delight in it.
18 Also their bows will dash the young men to pieces, And they will have no pity on the fruit of the womb; Their eye will not spare children.
19 And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, The beauty of the Chaldeans’ pride, Will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
28 Who says of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd, And he shall perform all My pleasure, Saying to Jerusalem, “You shall be built,” And to the temple, “Your foundation shall be laid.” ’
1 “Thus says the Lord to His anointed, To Cyrus, whose right hand I have held— To subdue nations before him And loose the armor of kings, To open before him the double doors, So that the gates will not be shut:
Though it might have been more difficult for them to piece this all together back then, looking back 2,000 years later gives us a great advantage. Isaiah even goes as far as to prophesy who He will use to deliver Israel and restore His kingdom. He calls Cyrus by name.
Cyrus conquered Babylon with a very strategic military move. As we previously mentioned, King Nebuchadnezzar diverted the Euphrates River around the city of Babylon, as well as underneath the city. King Cyrus sent his men a few miles up river from the city and dammed up the river. Once the water had lowered enough, King Cyrus sent his men through the tunnels that went underneath the walls of the city. This allowed them to completely surprise the enemy, surpass the massive wall surrounding the city, and also enter into various places of the city at once. With this, Babylon fell just as God had predicted.
Babylon’s Future
Babylon’s Future
Some speculate that the Babylon of Revelation is a literal city and that the New Babylon spoken of will be built back upon the same foundation of the older city. I personally do not believe that there will ever be rebuilt a place upon that foundation…not completely. Saddam Hussein attempted to do so back some years ago. He was the leader of Iraq at the time, and was in the process of building a magnificent palace, directly on top of the foundation of the original city of Babylon, when he was captured and killed. Some speculate that he spent north of 500 million dollars building this palace, but it was never completed. He was attempting to reestablish the fallen empire to its former glory. He even had coins printed with his face on one side and King Nebuchadnezzar on the other, but all of this was halted at his death.
Furthermore, both Jeremiah and Isaiah in their prophesies say that no one will ever inhabit that area again. Some speculate that this simply means that particular nation will never live there again, but others believe that no one means no one…
20 It will never be inhabited, Nor will it be settled from generation to generation; Nor will the Arabian pitch tents there, Nor will the shepherds make their sheepfolds there.
21 But wild beasts of the desert will lie there, And their houses will be full of owls; Ostriches will dwell there, And wild goats will caper there.
22 The hyenas will howl in their citadels, And jackals in their pleasant palaces. Her time is near to come, And her days will not be prolonged.”
39 “Therefore the wild desert beasts shall dwell there with the jackals, And the ostriches shall dwell in it. It shall be inhabited no more forever, Nor shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation.
40 As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah And their neighbors,” says the Lord, “So no one shall reside there, Nor son of man dwell in it.
Despite the fact that this global empire was defeated and its land cursed from being inhabited again, Revelation paints this global empire that will rise in the future as another Babylon. It will not only equal, but far surpass that of the original empire.
The Vision of the Woman and the Beast
The Vision of the Woman and the Beast
1 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and talked with me, saying to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters,
2 with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication.”
This time, the one who comes to speak to John is one of the seven angels who was tasked with pouring out one of the bowls of God’s wrath. He comes to John to show him one last vision before Jesus’s return. This vision will consist yet again of another angle to view the tribulation period. This time, the content will consist of the worldly systems that are in place during the tribulation.
It tells us here that the woman is a great harlot (vs. 1). As we will see, this is not a physical woman, but a representation of a world system, so this harlotry spoken of here is spiritual. She is referred to as a harlot because she has turned many hearts away from God to chase after other gods. This is false religion.
The impact she makes upon the world is global. This is revealed through the fact that she sits on many waters (vs. 1). Verse 15 of this same chapter actually tells us what these waters represent:
15 Then he said to me, “The waters which you saw, where the harlot sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues.
This means that her influence reaches the entirety of the earth. There will be no nation, no tongue, and no people group that does not know who she is. Not all will follow her as some will become martyrs for God during this time, but everyone will hear her and feel the weight of her presence.
This harlot is so mesmerizing that the kings of the earth and the inhabitants of the earth will participate in her fornicating practices (vs. 2). This woman represents the worldly system of false religion. Verse 18 says:
18 And the woman whom you saw is that great city which reigns over the kings of the earth.”
This woman, this spiritual harlot, will reign over the earth for a short time, bringing into subjection every culture imaginable.
3 So he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness. And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
The fact that John is carried...away...into the wilderness, seems to imply that the identification of this woman and beast will be a secret to the world. Their real identity will be shrouded from the masses until it is too late. Furthermore, John was in the Spirit, which also seems to indicate that only those who are in Christ during this time will be able to see this woman and the beast for who they truly are.
The woman is found sitting on a scarlet beast. The woman and the beast represent two different world systems that will be at play during this time. The woman represents the religious system, and the beast represents the political system of this day. Together, this worldwide religion and political power will bring about a thriving economic system as well. Though they are distinct from one another, they are three parts of the same whole. They rise and fall separately in a sense, as we will see, but I do not believe that either one could fully exist to the same degree of global power and influence without the other. They work hand in hand with one another, and it is this conjunction of these systems that is referred to as Babylon throughout Chapters 17 and 18.
For instance, when we read:
2 And he cried mightily with a loud voice, saying, “Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird!
This angel is not referring to the false religious system, the corrupted political system, or the economic system individually, but to all of them. The entirety of the demonic workings has crumbled and as a result, heaven will rejoice:
1 After these things I heard a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, “Alleluia! Salvation and glory and honor and power belong to the Lord our God!
2 For true and righteous are His judgments, because He has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her fornication; and He has avenged on her the blood of His servants shed by her.”
3 Again they said, “Alleluia! Her smoke rises up forever and ever!”
4 And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sat on the throne, saying, “Amen! Alleluia!”
This beast has seven heads and ten horns. We have seen this beast before. This is the political system that will rise during these last days, from which the Antichrist will come. Using almost the rest of this chapter, the angel breaks down who this beast is what each part of the beast represents:
8 The beast that you saw was, and is not, and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition. And those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.
9 “Here is the mind which has wisdom: The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits.
10 There are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come. And when he comes, he must continue a short time.
11 The beast that was, and is not, is himself also the eighth, and is of the seven, and is going to perdition.
12 “The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority for one hour as kings with the beast.
13 These are of one mind, and they will give their power and authority to the beast.
All of these descriptions intermingle with one another, as we have previously discussed in Ch. 13.
Let’s start with the seven heads. It tells us that the seven heads are seven mountains and seven kings. They are mountains, because they represent more than just a man. They represent actual kingdoms, but then again every kingdom has a king.
The seven mountains represent seven globally dominating powers, or kingdoms, that have risen to conquer the known world. Notice that it says in verse 10, that five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come. This timeline is according to John, as he is writing in the first century. The five kingdoms that have come and gone are the Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Medes/Persians, and the Greeks. As John is writing, there is another globally dominating power in place which is the Romans. The other that has not yet come is referring to this final global power referred to as Babylon here in Revelation 17-18.
The phrase saying the beast that was, and is not, and yet is refers to the supposed death of the Antichrist (Revelation 13:3). He was alive; he supposedly dies (receives a mortal wound); he resurrects from this supposed death (mimicking the resurrection of Christ). We know that the Antichrist receives his power from the dragon (Satan; Revelation 13:2) which is how this same being ascended out of the bottomless pit and will again go to perdition (destruction). This fake miracle will convince most of those upon the earth to marvel, but these of course are the ones whose names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world.
The ten horns represent the ten kings who form this new world order. It will be a coalition of world dominance. But notice that these ten kings have received no kingdom as yet. This is because the antichrist will be the ultimate authority during this time and they will gladly let him reign. These ten kings are of one mind, and they will give their power and authority to the beast.
16 And the ten horns which you saw on the beast, these will hate the harlot, make her desolate and naked, eat her flesh and burn her with fire.
17 For God has put it into their hearts to fulfill His purpose, to be of one mind, and to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled.
At some point during the tribulation period, these ten kings are going to look at the harlot, which represents the worldwide religious system, and they are going to view her as unnecessary, or maybe even problematic. They are going to feel that they could accomplish more with the religiosity out of the way.
Once the world has been brought together under the guise of religion, a booming economic system will be put in place. All countries will be working together under one leader, which will allow for all of the red tape to come down and trade will be easy. Chapter 18 outlines just how robust this economic system will be, as well as how much of an impact it will have on the world when it comes crumbling down. Once this economic system is in place and the world seems to be united under the Antichrist, he will no longer see a need for the religion that accomplished this. They will turn against the religious system in place, destroy it, and move forward in political power only.
Why will they do this? Because God has put it in their hearts to fulfill His purpose, to be of one mind, and to give their kingdom to the beast. Regardless of how unhinged and chaotic this all seems, God still proves that He is in control and that He will never be defeated.
14 These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful.”
They will become so prideful in their power, that they will even attempt to make war with the Lamb. But we already know how that goes. The Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of Lords and King of Kings; and those who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful.
