The Woman and the Lamb
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him,
Claim: The prostitute, Babylon, represents the reality of repulsiveness disguised by the veneer of beauty and wonder that the ‘world’ has chased after instead of God. Ultimately evil will do God's bidding by destroying itself.
Focus - The world is enormously attractive yet ultimately and eternally destructive - Love the Lord alone instead.
Function - to see the repulsiveness and futility of the worlds attraction and seek the true bride of Christ.
I was at conference this week with Co-Mission,
and there was some talk about some recent statistics that suggest evangelical Christianity is down to 2% of the population in London.
In Mission organisations, that percentage is used to identify people groups who are unreached - and urgently need a gospel work.
Even if the percentage is inaccurate - it certainly ought to concern us.
That’s more that 8.5 million people who, according to this book of Revelation, have turned their backs on God who created all, and loves all His creation.
8.5million people (just in London) who are deceived by the lies of Satan.
Fooled by the world’s flawed wisdom.
Blinded by their own rejection of Jesus as their only hope.
8.5 million people destined for an eternity in hell.
I hope that shocks us,
I hope we are astonished.
We saw in February when we were last in Revelation,
that God in Chapters 15 and 16 inflicts painful punishment upon the earth,
upon humanity,
now, as he has done throughout history,
And we saw in February when we were last in Revelation, that God inflicts painful punishment upon the earth, upon humanity, now, as he has done throughout history,
as a warning.
‘I am holy’ God says.
You cannot behave and do whatever you like.
And yet I love you enough to give you my son Jesus, the sacrificial lamb.
He died on the cross, in the place of you and me,
The one perfect man, taking the wrath of God on himself
- so that we may inherit eternity with God the Father.
Wars, disease, violence, famine, economic disaster.
A world of pain and suffering which are just symptoms of something worse - an eternal judgement.
‘I am holy’ declares the Lord God.
Heed these painful warning.
Recognise that all you believe in in this life is failing you,
And that only faith in Jesus can deliver you into an eternal joy.
And then we saw, represented by the 7th Bowl last time,
that God will bring final and full judgement in the end.
There is still time - but not much.
8.5million in London today - blinded by sin and Satan,
I hope that astonishes us.
8.5 million people, given life by God, given warning by God, given the offer of salvation in Jesus from God, and yet they reject the God who loves them so dearly.
And today, here in Chapter 17, God calls their rejection adultery.
Perhaps worse,
A humanity that lusts after worldly schemes that reject his great holiness and love,
One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits on many waters.
is described as sleeping with a prostitute.
rev 17 1
One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits on many waters. With her the kings of the earth committed adultery and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries.”
A world drunk on it’s lustful adulteries against God,
in exchange for false promises, lies, selfish ambition and greed.
A world that is in bed with the devil’s lies.
Perhaps it’s not that suprising though:,
Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a desert. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns.
The woman is riding the beast with 7 heads and 10 horns.
Its the beast that carries out the tactics of Satan from .
The World has been been lied to by Satan.
Satan has blaspehemed the God of Holiness and love.
The beast is coverd in blasphemous names.
I’m the one of true might and strength he blasmephes.
I’m the one who cares for the development of humnaity,
I’m the one of love and peace.
I’m the future,
I’m the ultimate power,
Forget God,
Forget truth,
forget righteousness,
you need non of that with me.
Take a bite of the apple, it’s delicious, go on, go on, go on.
Take a bite of the apple, go on, go on, go on.
(WHISPER)
And as the truth of God is twisted and strained, look who arrives - v4
The Holy Bible: New International Version—Anglicised (1984) The Woman on the Beast
4 The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls.
The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls. She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries.
A woman dressed in the finest clothes and colours, adorned with beauty all around her,
A temptress stunning enough to tempt any man, who is already questioning the integrity of his relationship through the lies of Satan the beast.
REv 17
For those hearing this vision at John’s time,
they would have not had to look far for this woman who had led their world astray.
Rome, the mighty imperialistic force of the time, would have sprung to their minds.
V18 likely confirms this as the angel explains this mysterious vision to him in v9-18.
V18 confirms as the angel explains this mysterious vision to him in v9-18.
v18
The woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth.”
Rome - at that time often refereed to as the ‘great city’.
Powerful,
Organised
Efficient
Slick
Progressive,
fuelling infrastructure
importing the greatest treasures and luxuries from around the world.
Of great attraction to those who were willing to play ball.
V18 confirms John’s suspicions as the angel explains this mysterious vision to him in v9-18.
Rome - at that time often refereed to as the ‘great city’.
But not just dangling a carrot,
They persecuted and killed those who remained faithful to Jesus.
Isn’t Satan deceptive,
The Christians of the day were not stuck between a Rock and a hard place,
They were stuck seemingly between a Rock (of death) and an easy place!
What would you have chosen.
Well we know even without the threat of death on one side,
8.5million people still choose the so called ‘easy place’ today.
I trust the Lord would cause the words of Jesus to echo through our minds if we were to find ourselves in that situation today,
With death for remaining faithful to Jesus on one side, and succumbing to the temptations and lies that look so comfortable on the other side.
For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.
v18
The woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth.”
Rome - at that time often refereed to as the ‘great city’.
But, she is more than just rome
Why do Jesus followers choose death over this attractive woman..
Becasue we know this woman’s true colours.
For we know this woman’s true colours before we see her.
The Holy Bible: New International Version—Anglicised (1984) The Woman on the Beast
She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries.
To the lover of Jesus, we see through her false facard,
we see beyond the stunning clothes, make-up and jewels.
We see her for who she really is, an adulteress, a whore, a painted lady,
her figure beneath the finery is abominable and filthy.
This title was written on her forehead:
mystery
babylon the great
the mother of prostitutes
and of the abominations of the earth.
She is given the age old title of Babylon the Great.
The fiercest and most powerful enemy of God’s people in history at that time.
She is the mother of prostitues,
representing all the satanic lies and powers that have come since Babylon.
She represents the materialistic promises of today,
the silencing of the gospel encroaching on our country,
The liberal teaching in many churches that deny the essential need for Jesus
and so I could go on.
Infact - we have to say This woman represents all of fallen human culture in all the apparent glory of its achievement and the true repugnance of its arrogance.
This woman represents fallen human culture in all the apparent glory of its achievement and the true repugnance of its arrogance.
But the the most abominable filth that Babylon represents in history,
is the actual martyrdom, the murder, of Christians by oppressive regimes and governments.
I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus.
When I saw her, I was greatly astonished.
8.5 million people in London today have fallen for this woman
- But in Jesus we see her for who she is and we are astonished at her!
She has led so many into adultery with her -
And yet we see how filthy she really is.
We see those 8.5 million represented in v15, being infected by the woman.
as we remember from v1 that the woman sit’s on many waters:
(we saw in v1 she was by the water)
Then the angel said to me, “The waters you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations and languages.
All attracted to and tainted by the woman.
In v9-13 John is given a more expansive explanation of who this woman and beast represent.
I’m not sure we are supposed to be able to totally distinguish the woman from the beast as we read through it.
There is overlap in what they are and represent.
The lies, threat and power of Satan
intermingled with the Woman called Babylon who carries out and infects the people of the world.
And To be honest it’s a bit complicated to to be conclusive about the imagery in this chapter as well
Then the angel said to me, “The waters you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations and languages.
The beast she rides and the 7 heads are explained in v9-13 and it’s to be honest a bit complicated.
I’ll try and explain the imagery a little but I’m not expecting it to make much sense!
But, The big picture is what we have already talked about.
That Satan through his beast -his tactics - attracts the world to himself though attractive world powers and phylosophies - the woman.
And that will continue throughtout history until Jesus returns.
So,
“This calls for a mind with wisdom. The seven heads are seven hills on which the woman sits.
So, the 7 hill are a reminder of the 7 hills that Rome the great city was built upon,
In other words - this is not jst a one time Beast - we are seeing links to Babylon and Rome, in fact all enemies of God.
They are also seven kings.Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; but when he does come, he must remain for a little while.
The 5 fallen kings are most likely the 5 great fallen empires of the ancient world
kings most likely represent the
Old Babylonia, Assyria, New Babylonia, Medo-Persia and Greco-Macedonia,
And they tie in with the repeated phrase about the beast in v8
The Holy Bible: New International Version—Anglicised (1984) The Woman on the Beast
8 The beast, which you saw, once was, now is not, and will come up out of the Abyss and go to his destruction.
So those 5 kings represent the beast who ‘once was, now is not’.
The 6th beast is therfore probably Rome itself and the 7th represents the fulness (7 representing perfection, completion in Revelation -) the rest of empires and powers from then and into the future.
The 10 horns are explained in v12
“The ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but who for one hour will receive authority as kings along with the beast.
Possibly they refer to the 10 Roman emperors who followed this time - but certainly they remind us again that this Woman and beast is anticipated to be at work (symbolically) into the future.
She is here today - attracting the world away from the Holy and Loving God of All.
But, now come 2 significant reasons not to be
tempted to think this woman may be worth having a quick affair with,
Look how the vision concludes..
ook how the vision concludes with 2 shocking conclusions.
1 - The Lamb Wins - along with His followers.
They will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings—and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers.”
rev 17
However good the temptress looks, however convincing the lies that take you towards her are, She, Satan, the lies, will all loose.
Jesus, the Lamb will win.
Jesus is Lord of Lords.
Jesus is King of Kings.
And Jesus will take his followers into eternal victory!
The second conclusion
2 - Satan’s Followers are Cannibals
The beast and the ten horns you saw will hate the prostitute. They will bring her to ruin and leave her naked; they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire. For God has put it into their hearts to accomplish his purpose by agreeing to give the beast their power to rule, until God’s words are fulfilled.
It’s not hard to see really is it.
History repeatedly shows us how one empire,
power or even philosophy destroys, burns and eats the flesh of another.
There is no hope in any of the beasts kings,
no hope in the attractiveness of the prostitutes lies that draw us in,
no hope in following the scheme’s of Satan.
For they will all end up doing the one thing they really don’t want to do.
They will carry out the purposes of God by binging destruction and wrath upon each other.
then you belong to They will eat the flesh of the filthy and naked prostitute
Then you belong to the side who is
If you are not on the winning side - a called, chosen and faithful follower of the lamb,
Then you will find yourself both a consumer - and consumed by
those who eat the flesh of the filthy and naked prostitute.
Pause
Co-mission growth
I trust some of this has helped us think through our own lives
as we have gone through the chapter,
but there perhaps a few obvious applications that are worth pointing out.
Firstly, If you’re not a ‘called, chosen and faithful’ follower of Jesus the Lamb
- then you simply have to see that your life is built on the lies and deceptions from Satan.
I urge you to repent before the Lamb, the Lord Jesus - and you too will then join the winning side.
You will then see the world and it’s lies as astonishing - filthy and abomnibale, not attractive.
Talk to me or someone you know here, join LE, pray that the Lord might spare you.
And those of us who are ‘called, chosen and faithful’,
who have already fallen on the mercy of the Lord,
Well, Look at the attractiveness of the world and ensure you are astonished at it’s evil.
Be astonished that there are 8.5million people in London who follow the filthy prostitutes ways.
And do all you can to show them a far more beautiful sight - the Lamb, the Lord Jesus, calling his children home.
And when we find ourselves attracted to the woman of the world, more than Jesus,
remember how filthy she is inside.
Remember that we, in Jesus, are able to see through the false fascard.
remember we can see she is a prostitute luring us away from our Lord.
Maybe.
The kids slot we saw this verse which helps us greatly here:
Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives for ever.
What does that mean in practice - is a big house, a shiny car, a shopping trip, nice holidays, more money all luring us away from Jesus?
Maybe.
But It is not the ‘things’ themselves that are the problem - it is our love that is the issue.
The craving of sinful man - do we crave a holiday, crave a shopping trip, carve more money, crave a bigger house.
The lust of his eyes - do we lust sexually after others or even images, do we lust after anothers possession, do we lust after more and more.
The boasting of what he has a does - do we boast about our status, boast about being right, boast about our achievements.
These 'loves’ are reflecting the lies of satan.
All these things will pass away we are told.
Instead - Love God,
crave after doing his will, following his commands, praising his name,
Lust after the beauty of Jesus, worshipping him with your life - fill your eyes with him.
Boast only about his work of salvation - about his rule over eternity.
Perhaps the test of love is whether you think you can love without them.
If you can’t live without a shopping spree each week,
If you can’t live without attaining the next promotion,
Without people thinking your the best,
Without lusting after something,
Then it’s time to let that love go - the protitute has worked her magic on you -
she has made the ‘thing’ ‘too attractive’ for you - she is luring you from Jesus. You are believing her lies.
But if you want to enjoy soemthing
It is the lies, the powers, the filthy promises behind them that is the problem.
God himself gave us creation to subdue it, to work it, to enjoy it.
We need God, we enjoy creation and things, all to and for Him.
But if you find that you
Need things.
I need to go shopping, I need an amazing holiday, I need more money
No - Go shopping because you need too, not becasue you need it.
Go shopping because you need too, not becasue you need it.
Extend your home that to Materialism, to wealth, to sh
Co-mission growth
Flee from that love and
return to your love for Jesus for satisfaction.
This is why Rick, who has what this world would consider to be one of the highest career callings as a doctor,
has decided to trade that in to plant a church. Becasue he loves God, not career.
It’s why Ken and Helen are in a dangerous country for Christians - daring to tell others about Jesus. Becasue they love God not themselves.
It’s even why you can go home and decide to sacrificially support them financially each month, so that work can continue. Becasue you love God not money or comfort for your family.
It’s why we are employing more staff as a church becasue we will not sit idly by as Satan’s lies spread across WP or our church.
We love God more than an easy life.
Becasue we wnabecause we want to save as many as we can who can join us as we grace lovingly at the Lord Jesus - and we want to ensure we as a church maintain our boasting in Jesus alone.
It’s why Ken and Helen our in a dangerous country for Christians daring to tell other about Jesus.
We wont love lives that look no different to our neighbours. - give to Ken and Helen.
It’s why you can give go home and sacrificially decide to support them financially each month,
Who will you love this week,
the filthy prostitute, or the Lamb who is Lord of Lords and King of Kings.
or the Lamb who is Lord of Lords and King of Kings.
I’ll give you a moment to think of something you perhaps love too much,
And we belong to the lamb who wins!
We will mobile us as a church to glory the lamb!
To tear downt he lies of Babylonian lies.
And if we don’t - well then maybe we are whores riding the beast!
Let us all be astoni
The angel will provide this interpretation, explaining the mystery tery to John (17:7). This woman represents fallen human culture in all the apparent glory of its achievement and the true repugnance of its arrogance. In John's day, seven-hilled Rome was her contemporary rary expression, but long before Rome arose and after Rome fell, the harlot Babylon was giving illegitimate birth
I’ll give you a moment to think check in your heart what you might be at risk of committing adultery with before God,
What might you be at risk of committing adultery with before God,
Dennis E. Johnson. Triumph of the Lamb: A Commentary on Revelation (Kindle Locations 2684-2686). Kindle Edition.
the filthy prostitute, or the Lamb who is Lord of Lords and King of Kings.
The seven mountains refer to the well-known known geography of Rome's site.15 But in prophetic imagery mountains tains are associated with great power or rule (, ; cf. ), and God had called ancient Babylon a "destroying mountain": tain": "Behold, I am against you, 0 destroying mountain, who destroys stroys the whole earth. . . . I will make you a burnt out mountain" (). So both mountains and kings symbolize the worldwide wide (sevenfold = comprehensive) authority given to the beast to rule "every tribe and people and tongue and nation" ().
PRAY
Dennis E. Johnson. Triumph of the Lamb: A Commentary on Revelation (Kindle Locations 2711-2714). Kindle Edition.
She controls them in her arrogant confidence, through the heart-stealing seduction of her promises ises of prosperity and through the brute force of the beast's military might (17:15).20 But when the dragon's worldwide web of wickedness ness starts to unravel, the harlot will be the first casualty: the beast and its military allies "will hate the harlot and make her desolate and naked, and will eat her flesh and will burn her up with fire"
Dennis E. Johnson. Triumph of the Lamb: A Commentary on Revelation (Kindle Locations 2751-2753). Kindle Edition.
"For God has put it in their hearts to execute His purpose by having a common purpose, pose, and by }giving their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God will he fulfilled" (17:17). If there is one thing in all the world that the rebels do not want to do, it is the purpose of God. But they are helpless less to keep that sovereign purpose out of their hearts, to protect their minds from invasion by the Lord God Almighty. In doing what they want to do, hating the harlot and ripping her to pieces, they are doing precisely what God wants. And in gathering to wage their war against the Messiah, they are merely assembling for their own execution.
Dennis E. Johnson. Triumph of the Lamb: A Commentary on Revelation (Kindle Locations 2763-2767). Kindle Edition.
