Revelation 17:1-6 Most Dangerous (2)

Revelation 17:1-6

Revelation 17:1-6 – Most Dangerous

What do you think is the most dangerous thing to your existence? Some people may say “SPIDERS” or perhaps “snakes”! People could say that automobile accidents or accidents of any kind would be the most dangerous thing to their existence. We could also add in fires or storms to the list of dangers. Some parts of the world it could be thirst or hunger or even war and other violence. But can you think of the one thing that is most dangerous to you? Now let me change that question just a little, the same question but with a different focus. What do you think is the most dangerous thing to your Christian walk? What is most alluring to you in that it would draw you away from following Christ? For some it would be a desire for power. For others it may be riches or at least the appearance of riches. There are those who are dragged away by prestige. For some people it could be really good things like family or friends. It could be a desire for comfort, not necessarily opulence but just plain old comfort. Some people like me it is my appetite for food but for others it could be sexual appetite. None of those things are in and of themselves bad or evil if held within the confines of God’s plan for it. But can you think of one thing that is most dangerous to your Christian walk?

Today we will be looking at Revelation 17:1-6 talking about the great harlot of Babylon. Let’s go ahead and pray then we will read our passage.

17 1Then 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.” 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. 4 The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication. 5 And on her forehead a name was written: MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH 6 I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement.

The first two verses set the scene for the entire passage. The fact that John’s guide is one of the angels that had one of the bowls of wrath indicates that this passage still pertains to God’s judgment. This is not a “this happened next” passage but instead it is a continuation of verses 17 through 19 of chapter 16. We will see this carried all the way through chapters 18 and into 19. In these 2 verses we meet two characters or participants in the scene and in verse 3 and 4 we will meet 2 more. In verse 1 we meet the great harlot who sits on many waters. In verse 15 we are told that the many waters are indeed the people of the earth or the inhabitants of the earth that we see in verse 2 and further defined in verse 8 as those whose names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world. So the fact that she sits on the waters indicates that this great harlot has strong influence over the people of the earth. In these verses we meet kings of the earth who commit fornication with the great harlot; they are in bed with her. Also we meet the inhabitants of the earth and they are so influenced by this great harlot that they are not in their right mind, they are staggering in her dominate sway. That is just the first two verses.

John has not yet seen this woman, the great harlot; he has only been introduced to her existence by the words of the angel. So the angel takes John, in the Spirit, into the wilderness to get a look at this woman. I think that perhaps the reason for the removal of John from his “normal” surroundings was because it is often difficult to see the problem when you are in the middle of it. I love to go out at night and look at the stars. In fact I miss that around here because there is too much light pollution around to be able to see the stars clearly. But when you move yourself to a place where the pollution of earthly light is not so strong then stars in the sky stand out and give you a clear view of their brilliance. I think that what the angel is doing by removing John from the normal so that the glitter if you will of the harlot will stand out. Everything about this woman is attractive or alluring. She is dressed in the most expensive clothing, red and purple clothing was very expensive, and she was decked out in gold jewelry and precious stones and pearls. All of this reflects the opulence of what she represents. She represents a world system, the culture that seeks to replace God in the lives of His creatures. Her name is a mystery because it is something that is almost impossible for man to see in his fallen nature. We like what we see and we want what we see and we love what we want, then we will worship what we love and the natural man does not see the evil in that and unfortunately often those in the church don’t either. She is Babylon the Great. Babylon was one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world due to its beauty and wealth. It was known as a place of great idolatry and sacrifice to false gods. I do not believe that the angel was showing John the literal city of Babylon but instead the entire world system of idolatry and distraction from the one true God. The natural man does not see the abominable nature of this world, its culture and its drive to deceive them. She is the mother, or beginning of all the abominations that lead mankind away from God. She is the civilization of mankind and all of “civilization” has sought to supplant God. Let me give you an example. In Genesis 11 we find the event we call the Tower of Babel. Mankind was told to go out from the ark (Noah and his descendents) and to spread out and populate the world bringing it under their dominion for the glory of God. However some, most of his descendents decided they knew better than God and chose to settle all together in the Shinar Valley, Babylon. There they decided to build a tower to heaven so that they would make their name great instead of making God’s name great. They wanted to make sure they were remembered not that God would be remembered. God ended that by confusing their languages but man just moved on to start this culture of supplanting God all over again in other places; Assyria, the Kingdom of Babylon, Media, Persia, Israel, Judah, Athens, Rome, London, Paris, New York City, Washington D.C., the list is endless.

All through history there have been cities or civilizations or organizations that would be good representations of the great harlot. Old Testament saints saw Nineveh or Babylon as harlots, the first readers of the Revelation would have recognized the representation of all that is described in this harlot to be Rome. But they simply represent a world system that is a concerted effort of man teamed with Satan, Antichrists and the false prophets to over throw the rule and reign of God. It induces in the inhabitants of the earth a desire for power, riches, comfort anything that distracts them from trusting in God.

John says that he sees her riding on a scarlet beast with seven heads and 10 horns. We have met this beast before in chapter 12. He is the beast from the sea, we know him as the Antichrist. He is scarlet just like the red dragon (Satan) making it clear that he is directed by and subservient to Satan. We already know that Satan is going about in the world even today pouring his wrath out on the redeemed of God. The fact that the woman is riding on this beast’s back indicates that the world system that is set on displacing God in the heart of His creatures (mankind) is carried along by the political and military power of the Beast, empowered by Satan. This harlot has sold herself to the Beast as a prostitute to further her goal of destroying the people of God. She is drunk with blood of the saints and the witnesses (martyrs) of Jesus. She has been and is active with the beast of political leadership and military power to destroy the redeemed of God.

Harlotry or prostitution in Scripture is almost always describing a counterfeit relationship. Physically a prostitute counterfeits a marriage relationship between a husband and his wife. In the spiritual sense it represents a counterfeit or substitute relationship between God and His creatures created in His image. We have to understand that this harlot, Babylon the great, is alive and active today. I know that John wrote Revelation but before he did that he wrote the gospel that bears his name and he wrote 3 letters. In the first letter John somewhat defined this harlot. He called it “the love of the world”. Remember what I said earlier; “What we see we want, what we want we love and what we love we worship”. In 1 John 2:15-16 John wrote: 15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.[1] Why is the love of the Father not in us if we love the world? When John speaks of the world here he is not referring to nature or to human beings. Rather, he is speaking of the world system that sets itself up in opposition to the things of God. Because we often substitute our love for God for the love of the things of this world, we have prostituted ourselves following the harlot of Babylon and you cannot love both.

We as believers live a life that is in constant tension. We have been made new by the Holy Spirit and we have the ability to resist the lure of the harlot, the world. But at the same time the tension resides in the fact that sin and the world that allures us to sin is still present, it has not been eliminated completely. We will see the elimination of the harlot in the rest of chapter 17 and 18 it is a sure thing, but today the harlot still looks good if we don’t look at the cup of abominations she carries. As I said earlier the harlot, love of the world, Babylon has always been with us but I am going to say that there is much more pressure or tension on the believer and the non-believer than ever before in history. Even those who work the hardest, those who have the hardest job among us in our society today have more spare time than our grandparents had and they had more spare time than their grandparents had. The nature of mankind is to fill that spare time. God made us that way so that we could hunger and thirst after righteousness, so that we could seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness. God designed us to want to fill every waking moment. The problem is that we have so much time and so much more to fill it with that the harlot keeps pointing us toward the shiny things that are substitutes for righteousness.

This world system, the harlot of Babylon, holds sway over the lost world almost completely. They are “drunk with the wine of her fornication”. The inhabitants of the earth stagger under the sway of this great harlot. Their reasoning ability is clouded to the point that all they can see is what she has to offer them. 2 Corinthians 4:4 says: the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. [2] Let’s face it the world, the harlot, applauds sin and unrighteousness. Look at almost everything that comes out of Hollywood. Almost every movie and celebrity encourages us to envy sinners and to compare ourselves with the beautiful people. No wonder the lost are lost. The cause of the Babylon the harlot is to stir up in mankind, who is suppose to find their satisfaction in God and in Him alone, dissatisfaction with our lives and long for more of what the world has to offer. The inhabitants of the earth, those whose names are not written in the Lamb’s book of life from the foundation of the world are devoted to their mistress, they love what the mother of harlots has to offer them, and they love her treasures, her philosophies and her priorities.

But the redeemed of God are different. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says that we are new creations, and John 3 says that we are “born again”. We are still in this world with all of its glitter but we are not of this world. Like I said we live a life of constant tension but we know that to continue to love the world the way unbelievers do will cripple our spiritual growth and render us unfruitful to our Master. Jesus made it extremely clear that you cannot serve two masters. As believers we are wed to the Lamb and we must not fall for the counterfeit harlot. So how do we do that?

When the angel took John in the spirit into the wilderness John could see very clearly what the harlot really was. All the glitter did not camouflage the cup of abomination. We as believers must go often to the wilderness. I’m not saying you need to go off into the woods but that would be a good place to do what I am suggesting. We need to separate ourselves from the things of the world which draw us away for periods of time so that we will dwell on the person and blessings of God through Christ. Jesus often went into deserted places when He was struggling with the events of His mission. He spent all night praying before He named His apostles. He went to a deserted place after He heard about John the Baptists death. Often and long Jesus spent time in the wilderness with His Father. If our Lord, fully man and fully God, needed to go to the wilderness then folks we need to do so even more. Turn off the TV, turn off the phones, turn of the computers, turn off the conversation with other and get alone with God. It is our first line of defense against the harlot that would drag us away from our Lord.

In Revelation 18:4 we read this: 4 And I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues. [3] People of God if you find yourself caught up in the world of the harlot, get out. Don’t wait until it is an opportune time, do not delay. Remember what happened to Lot’s wife. She didn’t really want to leave Sodom and she looked back longing for the glitter, the cup of abominations and she was lost. Do not hesitate to remove yourself from whatever it is that is drawing you away. The harlot is crafty and alluring, you cannot work yourself away from sin you must “come out from her”. The great news is that when you come out from her and repent God through Christ will forgive and you are restored to proper fellowship with Him.

Finally in 1 John 2:15-17 we read this: 15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. 17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.[4] Remember that everything that the harlot, the world, promised you, everything that tempted you, everything that caught your eye will pass away. It will come to an end and all that will be left is the kingdom of God. All the substitutes for God will be gone and only the glory of God will be seen and only those who do the will of God will abide forever. As believers we must keep our eyes on that truth. If we waiver from that our eyes will be distracted to seek the lust of the flesh the lust of the eye and the pride of life and that is not of the Father.

If you have never received Christ then you are not wed to the Lamb, you are in essence a slave to the mother of harlots. You have been blinded by the god of this world and have not received the gospel. When this world is that is passing away is gone then so will you be. There are no second chances. Jesus stands ready to forgive and save, if you will but turn to Him. Let’s pray.

[1] The New King James Version. (1982). (1 Jn 2:15–16). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

[2] The New King James Version. (1982). (2 Co 4:4). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

[3] The New King James Version. (1982). (Re 18:4). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

[4] The New King James Version. (1982). (1 Jn 2:15–17). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.