Revelation 17-The Antichrist Destroys World-Wide Apostate Church
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday January 4, 2009
The Day of the Lord: Revelation 17-The Antichrist Destroys World-Wide Apostate Church
Lesson # 21
Please turn in your Bibles to Revelation 17:1.
This morning we will continue with our study of the prophetic subject known as “the Day of the Lord.”
We are currently studying the “Tribulation” portion of this period, which is also known by students of prophecy as, “Daniel’s Seventieth Week.”
During the last three and a half years of this period before Christ’s Second Advent, both religious and political, commercial Babylon will be destroyed.
Revelation 17 records the destruction of religious Babylon, while on the other hand, Revelation 18 describes the destruction of political and commercial Babylon as it is embodied in the city of Babylon, the headquarters of Antichrist.
Revelation 17 describes Babylon in its mystery form, as a religious system or spirit of false worship whereas Revelation 18 describes Babylon as a political and commercial system embodied in a city, the city of Babylon of the future.
This system will have its tentacles in every part of the world where there is any kind of religion at all, apostate Christendom (the Roman Catholic Church, the Greek Orthodox Church, Protestant unbelieving churches), the Jewish religion, and the cults.
These will all come together in one great ecumenical movement, a super world religion, and the beast will use this to extend his authority and power throughout Europe, parts of Africa and perhaps the Americas.
This apostate religious system originated in ancient Babylon of the Old Testament whose origins were at the Tower of Babel rebellion led by Nimrod recorded in Genesis 11:1-9.
Ancient Babylon began with Nimrod and the Tower of Babel rebellion and was located in modern Iraq, about twenty miles south of Baghdad, near the modern city of Hilla, on the Euphrates River, south of where the Tigris and Euphrates approach.
¬Babel was the seat of Satan’s ancient counterfeit strategy to des¬troy and corrupt the knowledge of God as well as God’s plan of salvation as anticipated in Genesis 3:15.
It was accomplished by Nimrod’s political, commercial, and international system as demonstrated in the tower of Babel and by the mother child cult instituted by Nimrod’s wife, Semiramis.
In the Babylonian religion, Nimrod died and became the sun god and his wife Semiramis was impregnated by a sunbeam and gives birth to her son Tammuz (a counterfeit miraculous birth) who was later killed by a wild boar.
However, after Semiramis cries for 40 days, Tammuz comes back to life again, which is a counterfeit of the resurrection.
During the Babylonian captivity Jeremiah condemned Israel’s worship of Semiramis “Queen of Heaven” (Jeremiah 7:18-19; 44:15-30) and at Jerusalem, in the Temple, they were worshipping Tammuz, the son of Semiramis (Ezekiel 8:14-15).
This idolatrous worship spread around the globe where in Egypt Semiramis is called Isis and her son is Osiris, and in Assyria it was Ishtar and Bacchus and in ancient Greece it was Aphrodite and Eros.
The mother-child cult worship is a clever attempt on the part of Satan to anticipate the genuine virgin birth and thus to cast doubt upon the story when the Son of God would later become a human being in the town of Bethlehem.
The cult has also crept into Christianity and forms the basis for the Mariolatry that has prevailed in the Roman Catholic Church, where the Mother and Child are worshipped as joint redeemers.
This idolatrous religion culminates at last in the Bible in the book of Revelation and is described as the “great harlot” whose name is “Mystery Babylon the Great,” the originator of all the harlotries and false religions of earth.
The religious system, which began in Babel (or Babylon), became the mother, the source of all pagan religions of the world and this is the reason she is called “Mother of Harlots” (Rev. 17:5).
History shows us this system has never ceased to exist in one form or another and will exist in a revived form in the Tribulation as never before.
Revelation 17:1, “Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me, saying, ‘Come here, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters.”
Babylon’s description as “the great harlot” refers to the spiritual prostitution and fornication that categorizes the apostate church of the Tribulation which is unfaithful and rejects the Lord Jesus Christ as her husband (2 Pet. 2:1 2).
The description of the great harlot “who sits on many waters” refers to the fact that the nations are religiously united and politically affiliated with each other through the power and control of this religious system and its head.
The prostitute exists today in many forms (Roman Catholicism, liberal Protestantism, the cults, etc.), but after the church is gone, or perhaps even before it is gone, they will unite and become one great ecumenical religious system.
As some of the parables of Matthew 13 suggest, and as Paul and Peter explicitly warn us, the church age will be characterized by growing apostasy (see 1 Tim. 4:1-3; 2 Tim. 3:13; 2 Pet. 2:1-3:4).
This apostasy will take the form of ecumenicity, which is the movement of uniting all religions together into a one-world church governed and controlled by Rome.
To accomplish its goals, this apostate ecumenical system will of necessity employ a number of practices to bring off its goals of a world-wide, universal church.
First of all, it will refuse to accept any one system of doctrine, but seek to take the so called best from all systems of belief.
Secondly, it cares little about creeds or doctrine but rather emphasizes sincerity more than what is believed, which opens the door for anything.
Lastly, this system seeks to unite all opposing theological and philosophical positions by arriving at a common denominator or by coming to a new synthesis.
In all of these there will be persecution and rejection of the truth on behalf of establishing a world church.
True Christianity is exclusive in that it sees that only Christianity has The Truth in the person of Jesus Christ and in the Bible (John 14:6; Acts 4:12).
The world hates this commitment to absolute truth, especially as it is promoted in the Bible (written Word of God) and in the person and work of Jesus Christ (the Living Word).
After all, the world is the child of the Antichrist, and will have no tolerance for true Bible-based Christianity and will seek to persecute and annihilate believers in Christ unmercifully.
Revelation 17:2, “with whom (the great harlot) the kings of the earth committed acts of immorality, and those who dwell on the earth were made drunk with the wine of her immorality.”
The wine refers to the demonic doctrines, ideologies and concepts pro¬duced by this religious/political alliance between the kings of the earth and the apostate religious system.
Revelation 17:3, “And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness; and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast, full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns.”
The “wilderness” is not only a literal desert that the Spirit carried John away to but also is symbolic of the “spiritual wilderness” the world will be during the Tribulation because of the rejection of the absolute truth contained in the Bible.
“The scarlet beast” refers to the blood thirsty character of Antichrist and the “blasphemous names” refers to His anti-Christ character.
“Ten horns” refers to the ten nation European confederacy of the Tribulation period, which constitutes the Revived Roman Empire.
Revelation 17:4, “The woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a gold cup full of abominations and of the unclean things of her immorality.”
The “purple and scarlet” are colors of royalty and the wealthy and interestingly are the colors of the Roman Catholic Church and are symbolic of the apostate church’s political power and wealth.
The harlot is “adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls” which refers to the apostate church’s immense wealth.
“Abominations” refers to the various forms of idolatry involved in the worship of God through images, statues, and medals, etc.
“Unclean things” refers not only to the nature of the doctrines taught, but what they lead to in life, namely, immorality and impurity.
Revelation 17:5, “And on her forehead a name was written, a mystery, ‘BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.’”
“And on her forehead was written” refers to the practice of prostitutes in ancient times where they wrote their names on their foreheads for easy recog-nition, which showed the shamelessness of their character and it revealed a seared conscience from continual rejection of God’s truth.
“Mystery” is not a part of the name but a description of the name, a secret in that initiation into the mysteries of the cult was always a part of Babylonianism and links this harlot with the ancient system.
“Babylon the Great” is the secret name and is telling us that Baby¬lon the Great refers not only to the city of Revelation 18, but to a religious system, the Babylonianism of ancient time, which will reach its peak in the Tribulation.
“The mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth”: The word “mother” indicates the position the harlot will play in the final days where she will gather all the forms of false religions under her wings for the one great world wide harlot system.
Revelation 17:6, “And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus. When I saw her, I wondered greatly.”
“And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints” is a reference to the fact that this apostate religious system will murder believers.
Revelation 17:7-8, “And the angel said to me, ‘Why do you wonder? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns. The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to come up out of the abyss and go to destruction. And those who dwell on the earth, whose name has not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, will wonder when they see the beast, that he was and is not and will come.’”
Now, we must understand that the ancient Orientals regarded kings and kingdoms synonymously.
Therefore, the “beast” in Revelation 17 will refer at times to the Revived Roman Empire and at times to the Antichrist who is the leader of it with the context determining which one is view.
“The beast” in Revelation 17:8 does not refer to Antichrist but to the Revived Roman Empire since it is described as having “seven heads,” which refers to six Gentiles nations of the past and one to come in the future.
It is also described as having “ten horns,” which refers to the ten-nation European confederacy, also known as “the Revived Form of the Roman Empire” whose headquarters will be in Rome.
Lastly, the beast is described as having existed at one time in the past and then will cease to exist but will come back into existence in the future and then go to its final destruction in the future.
Revelation 17:9-10, “Here is the mind which has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits and they are seven kings; five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; and when he comes, he must remain a little while.”
“The seven heads are seven mountains” refers to six successive Gentile nations in history and the one to come in the future: (1) Egypt (2) Assyria (3) Babylon (4) Medo-Persia (5) Greece (6) Rome (7) Revived Roman Empire of the Tribulation.
History teaches that the five kings who have fallen are Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persian and Greece and the king that remained in John’s day was the Roman Empire and the other to come is the Revived Form of the Roman Empire, which John says will “remain a little while,” which refers to three and a half years.
Revelation 17:11, “The beast which was and is not, is himself also an eighth and is one of the seven, and he goes to destruction.”
“The beast which was and is not, is himself also an eighth” refers to the fact that the Revived form of the Roman Empire will take on the form of an imperial dictatorship and by this change actually become an eighth kingdom, a whole new and vicious form of government, the blasphemous form seen in Revelation 13.
Revelation 17:12-13, “The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but they receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour. These have one purpose, and they give their power and authority to the beast.”
“The beast” this time is referring to Antichrist, Satan controlled man and not the Revived Roman Empire because we are speaking in the context of kings or leaders.
Revelation 17:14-16, “These will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, because He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those who are with Him are the called and chosen and faithful. And he said to me, ‘The waters which you saw where the harlot sits are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues. And the ten horns which you saw, and the beast, these will hate the harlot and will make her desolate and naked, and will eat her flesh and will burn her up with fire.’”
Revelation 17:16 teaches that Antichrist and his ten-nation European confederacy, which is called by students of prophecy “the Revived Form of the Roman Empire” will destroy this apostate religious system in order that he might receive world-wide worship.
For centuries the kings and the harlot have appeared as lovers, but in reality they used each other to further their own ends and now the religious system will have served its purpose, so the ten kings banish and completely destroy the harlot when her wealth, buildings, property will be confiscated, her leaders killed, and everything else destroyed.
Revelation 17:17-18, “For God has put it in their hearts to execute His purpose by having a common purpose, and by giving their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God will be fulfilled. The woman whom you saw is the great city, which reigns over the kings of the earth.”
The “great city” is Rome where the apostate church will reside since at the present time this appears to be Rome, for this is where Babylonianism today has its headquarters though that is not the emphasis here in this chapter.
The city here according to verse 5 is a mystery, not a literal city and the entire context of chapter 17 supports this interpretation, distinguishing as it does between the city identified with the woman and the political power referred to as the beast and the ten horns.
Yet it is the great city, the mother city, the archetype of the evil Babylonian system that has been opposed to God throughout history.
This leads us to the communion service and so therefore, could we have the deacons pass out the communion elements and let us take a few minutes to meditate upon the Lord and prepare ourselves for the Lord’s Supper.
Luke 22:14, “When the hour had come, He reclined at the table, and the apostles with Him.”
Luke 22:15-16, “And He said to them, ‘I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer for I say to you, I shall never again eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.’”
Luke 22:17-18, “And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He said, ‘Take this and share it among yourselves for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until the kingdom of God comes.’”
Luke 22:19, “And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’”
Luke 22:20, “And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, ‘This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.’”