Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction:

There seems to be a tremendous aim among religious leaders to join forces with those who do not accept the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

There seems to be a grand desire for all the religions of the world to unite in one big religious melting pot.

Let me give you some quotes from some well known religious leaders; hailed my some to be great spiritual leaders.

Speaking to a gathering of ecumenical leaders in Calcutta, India; one leader said:

“My dear brothers, we are already one but we imagine that we are not.

And what we have to discover is our original unity.”

Other religious leaders have said:

“We should not hesitate to take the fruit of the aged-old wisdom of the east and capture it for Christ.

Many Christians who take their prayer life seriously have been greatly helped by Yoga, Zen, TM, and similar practices,”

So the leaders have no problem mixing their belief with Buddhism and Hinduism.

Another leader said:

“Buddhism and Christianity are alike in making use of ordinary every day human existence as a material for a radical transformation of consciousness,”

Another Religious leaders said of the Dalai Lama, who is a Muslim

“Both of us have the same aim.”

We have made our society rip for the final false religious system of the AntiChrist.

I.

The Exposure of the Harlot

a.

The Authority of the Harlot (vs.

6b, 15)

Revelation 17:1

b.

The Alliances of the Harlot (vs.

2-3)

Revelation 17:2-3

c.

The Apparel of the Harlot (vs.

4a)

d.

The Abominations of the Harlot (vs.

4b-5)

e.

The Accusations of the Harlot (vs.

17:6)

II.

The Explanation of the Harlot (vs.

7-14,18)

a.

The Perplexity (vs.

7)

b.

The Pit (vs.

8a)

c.

The People (vs.

8b)

revelation 17:8

d.

The Powers (vs.

9-13)

Revelation

As the angel explains to John the vision of the woman, a interesting phrase is added.

“here is the mind which hath wisdom”

In other words, this is a way of saying to Hohn that something is about to be reveled to him about the Beast and the Woman that is not self-evident.

That it can only be explained through spiritual understanding.

Only the mind that has been enlightened spiritually will he able to understand these truths.

1 Corinthains 2:14

So these truths can only be understood by careful study and by dependence on and the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit.

We have no ability of ourselves to understand these things, only as the Lord revels them to us can we understand, that is the idea.

Now, remember that the beast that the harlot woman, the false one world religious system, is sitting on is described in our previous verses as having seven heads and ten horns.

Some modern commentators see the seven mountains at the city of Rome.

Because Rome was widely known in the ancient world as the city built on seven hills.

And so they attempt to identify the final world religion as from the Church of Rome.

The problem with such an interpretation is that it is far too narrow and given the fact that verse 10 really gives us the identity of the seven, such a narrow interpretation is unnecessary.

Verse 10 makes it clear to us that the seven mountains are; in fact, representative of Kings.

Just a note: Sometimes in the OT mountains are used metaphorically to represent rule or power

The angel describes the kings as:

Some people see the Seven kings as representing the seven Emperors of Rome.

Show Slide with names and dates of Emperors

Ending with the last Emperor as believed to be the AntiChrist.

But that does not make much sense that John would see it that way because, during the life of John, there would have been about 11 different Emperors that reigned.

So, I think that it is something different than that.

What helps us to understand what John is saying is that if we do not interpret the “five have fallen” as kings, but as kingdoms.

The word “fallen” is much better applied to the fall of a kingdom versus the death of an Emperor.

The great harlot who seduces the nations and persecutes the saints finds her support from the beast who appears in history in a succession of secular, godless kingdoms; five belong to past history; a sixth kingdom—Rome—ruled the world when John wrote.

This goes back to the great image that Nebuchadnezzar saw and that Daniel interpreted for him in .

That image spoke of the first 5 world empires that have, during John’s vision, already fallen.

So, you have five that have fallen, one that is, and the other is yet to come.

These are the kingdoms of AntiChrist.

So see this has been building for Millenia.

The five Gentile kingdoms that John saw as fallen and also the ones that Daniel saw are:

Show slides of Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece.

What about the “one that is”.

That is the kingdom in power during the life of John.

That would be Rome.

The one that is “yet to come” is AntiChrists’ final world empire.

Henry Morris, says this regarding the significance of the first six world empires.

Though none of these empires ever actually ruled the whole world, each was the greatest kingdom of its own time, particularly in reference to the land and people of Israel and these kingdoms’ opposition to the proclamation of God’s Word and the accomplishment of His purposes in the world.…

These, of course, have not been the only kingdoms that have been at enmity with God and His purposes.

In this category could also be placed such kingdoms as Syria, Edom, Moab, Midian, and many others, but none of these were empires of great size and influence.

On the other hand, there were other great and powerful empires in the ancient world—China, India, and the Incas, for example—but these had only peripheral contact with the Word of God and the chosen people.

There were only six kingdoms that met both criteria up to the time of Christ and the apostles.

Furthermore, all six of these were not only legitimate heirs of political Babel but also of religious Babel as well.

Babylonia, Egypt, Assyria, Persia, Greece, and Rome were all strongholds of the world religion of evolutionary pantheism and idolatrous polytheism.

Thus, they appropriately are represented as six heads on the great beast that supports the harlot.

(Morris, Revelation Record, 337.

Italics in the original.)

The angel further explains that when the AntiChrist does come, that his empire will be short lived.

He will only reign for 42 months (that last half of the tribulation).

Now notice verse 11.

How can the beast be the eighth and also one of seven?

To key to understanding that is the phrase, “the beast, that was and is not....”

AntiChrist will be one of the seven kings before his supposed demise and resurrection.

And the eighth afterwards during the second phase of his rule.