Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction:

Revelation 17:1-6

Play Video of Rodney Howard Brown

If that was not so serious, it would be funny to watch.

But that is the depths of false doctrine and the false Church.

This is dead serious stuff.

We all know people that are trying to get themselves tied up with false religion.

The portrait that is painted in chapter 17 and 18 are probably, to me, the most important portraits in the book of Revelation.

Because it tells us exactly what will be the cause of the end of the world.

And it is not going to be social collapse.

It is not going to be economic collapse; although that will happen.

It will not be military collapse; although that will happen.

It will be a religious collapse that will cause all of the other things to collapse.

It will be those people who blindly follow a false gospel and a false Christ, but are religious.

Any religious organization that denies the facts of the gospel, is a false religion.

Any religious system whose focus is not on Christ is a false religion.

Play Video of John MacArthur speaking about false teachers

This kind of false religion is going to be what will be the final destruction of society.

And it will be so easy then, because it is so easy now.

People flock to false religion.

What begins all of this?

A lack of commitment and love of God’s Word.

When God’s Word is not your absolutely authority than false religion will get a foot hold.

When we do not cherish and feed on God’s Word, false religion will not be far behind.

Play John MacArthur video on Charles Spurgeon

It is not too late for the true Church to get back to the unquestionable truths that are found in God’s Word and fight with spiritual weapons the warfare of the false religion that plagues our day and will plague the days of the Tribulation.

But we have a mandate

It will be the false gospel that plagues the Church today, that will plague and destroy civilization.

I.

The Exposure of the Harlot (1-6, 15)

a.

The Authority of the Harlot (1b, 15)

Revelation

b.

The Alliances of the Harlot (vs.

2-3)

c.

The Apparel of the Harlot (vs.

4)

Revealtion 17:4

d.

The Abomination for the Harlot (vs.

4b-5)

e.

The Accusation of the Harlot (vs. 6)

In this very graphic illustration, this Babylonian harlot is seen as being drunk with the blood of the Saints.

The word there for “drunk” is “μεθύω” and means to drink to the point of intoxication.

This word is a Present, Participle.

What John is literally saying is, “I saw this harlot drinking to the point of intoxication.

But what she is drinking on is blood”.

The blood of who?

The text gives us the answer; the blood of the saints and the blood of the witnesses.

John seems, in this vision, to notice two different groups of people.

Now, while both groups would describe those that have placed faith in Christ, John seems to separate them as two different kinds of believers; because they are separated by the conjunction “and”.

Now, I am not going to spend a lot of time here, because John does not give much description of the distinction, only names them and keeps going; probably because they are all bound in the same people namely, Christians.

But I do believe that John may have in view here two different type of Christians.

John says he saw this harlot, drinking to intoxication, the blood of the “ἅγιος”, in the Greek, or the holy ones or the saints.

Now, it could be that what John is seeing in this group are Church age Christians that have been killed by the harlot; the false religious system.

You say, “Well, what a minute how can that be?

This harlot is not reveled until the Tribulation.

How can Church age saints be in view here”?

Simple.

While this harlot is not revealed until the Tribulation, that does mean that she does not already exist.

In fact, I would argue the fact that this harlot is very much in existence now; just not revealed for who she full is as of yet.

And being in existence now, she is responsible for the murder of many of the saints of God; or drinking to intoxication the blood of the holy ones.

The second group that John see, is the “μάρτυς”, which is a transliteration of “martyr” but literally the word means “witnesses”.

This group that John has in mind could be the tribulation saints that have been murdered by this harlot.

Those saints that were under the altar at the opening of the fifth seal back in Chapter 6.

But however you separate them or not separate them at all; they are God’s people whose blood or death the harlot is becoming drunk by drinking.

This vivid expression that John is using was often used in the ancient world to describe a a murderous lust for violence.

While not making a big deal for or against the separation of the groups; the important part here is that this false religion is a murder.

She has been responsible for the murder of millions of God’s people throughout the centuries.

The history of the Church has proven that the apostate Church has been relentless in its pursuit of those that hold to the true faith in Jesus Christ.

It was July 6, 1415 when the preacher John Huss was burned at the stake for his belief in two main articles of faith.

First, that the Bible Alone is the sole authority that we live by.

Second, that Jesus Christ is the head of the Church.

John Hus, in his book “De Ecclesia” wrote: “The Pope is not the head nor the Cardinals the whole body of the Church, for Christ alone is the head of the Church”.

And he was burned by the Church for his Scriptural beliefs.

It was February 22 or 23, 154-156, not completely sure of the date, that Polycarp, the great Bishop is Symrna was put to death for his beliefs of faith alone in Jesus Christ.

When asked to deny his Christ, these were his final words before being sentences to death:

“For eighty-six years I have been his servant, and he has done me no wrong.

How can I blaspheme my King who saved me?”

“You threaten with a fire that burns only briefly and after just a little while is extinguished, for you are ignorant of the fire of the coming judgment and eternal punishment, which is reserved for the ungodly.

But why do you delay?

Come, do what you wish.”

And while the world becomes drunk with lust for her, the harlot becomes drunk with the blood of saints.

This vision was so appalling that when John saw her, the text says that he wondered.

The interesting thing that John does here that, and you get this from the Greek text, is that John uses two words to express a similar thought.

He uses two different Greek words that share the same root word.

It is a figure of speech that is used 160 times the NT, it is called a Polyptoton.

It is a repetition of the same word in the same sense, but not in the same form.

But it shares the root word.

It is a purposeful repetition for emphasis.

What John is saying here is, “When I saw her (the harlot) I was distressed with great amazement”.

And it was not good amazement; it was sincere distress.