What is THE MATRIX?

Scripture

Revelation 17

1 One of the seven angels who had poured out the seven bowls came over and spoke to me. “Come with me,” he said, “and I will show you the judgment that is going to come on the great prostitute, who rules over many waters. 2 The kings of the world have committed adultery with her, and the people who belong to this world have been made drunk by the wine of her immorality.” 3 So the angel took me in the Spirit into the wilderness. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that had seven heads and ten horns, and blasphemies against God were written all over it. 4 The woman wore purple and scarlet clothing and beautiful jewelry made of gold and precious gems and pearls. In her hand she held a gold goblet full of obscenities and the impurities of her immorality. 5 A mysterious name was written on her forehead: “Babylon the Great, Mother of All Prostitutes and Obscenities in the World.” 6 I could see that she was drunk—drunk with the blood of God’s holy people who were witnesses for Jesus. I stared at her in complete amazement. 7 “Why are you so amazed?” the angel asked. “I will tell you the mystery of this woman and of the beast with seven heads and ten horns on which she sits. 8 The beast you saw was once alive but isn’t now. And yet he will soon come up out of the bottomless pit and go to eternal destruction. And the people who belong to this world, whose names were not written in the Book of Life before the world was made, will be amazed at the reappearance of this beast who had died. 9 “This calls for a mind with understanding: The seven heads of the beast represent the seven hills where the woman rules. They also represent seven kings. 10 Five kings have already fallen, the sixth now reigns, and the seventh is yet to come, but his reign will be brief. 11 “The scarlet beast that was, but is no longer, is the eighth king. He is like the other seven, and he, too, is headed for destruction. 12 The ten horns of the beast are ten kings who have not yet risen to power. They will be appointed to their kingdoms for one brief moment to reign with the beast. 13 They will all agree to give him their power and authority. 14 Together they will go to war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will defeat them because he is Lord of all lords and King of all kings. And his called and chosen and faithful ones will be with him.” 15 Then the angel said to me, “The waters where the prostitute is ruling represent masses of people of every nation and language. 16 The scarlet beast and his ten horns all hate the prostitute. They will strip her naked, eat her flesh, and burn her remains with fire. 17 For God has put a plan into their minds, a plan that will carry out his purposes. They will agree to give their authority to the scarlet beast, and so the words of God will be fulfilled. 18 And this woman you saw in your vision represents the great city that rules over the kings of the world.”

Focus Statement

The world order we know is not what it seems.

Though it offers us everything from the moon and back, it fails to deliver.

Thankfully, God offers a way out through Jesus Christ.

Point of Relation

First I have to ask this question:

How many of you have not seen the film, “The Matrix”, starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, and company?

Let me begin by explaining the basics of the plot, so that you can best follow and get the most of this series...

The film opens up with a black screen which fills up with green computer data raining down character by character.

It is clear your are inside a computer...

You hear talking and then the sound of radio or some indiscreet music or noise...

and then another black screen…with a blinking cursor...

The words then begin to type on the screen with a digital chiming sound waking someone sleeping on the desk beneath the screen.

The person looks up to see the words typing themself...

Wake up Neo. The Matrix has you.

At that moment we are introduced to the first and most important character in the movies franchise...

NEO…the hacker name of one Mr. John Anderson...

Who works for a computer software firm by day.

To make a long-story short...

Neo is told to follow the white rabbit...

a cryptic code for what turned out to be a woman with a white rabbit tattoo who knocked on his door...

and he is led to a place where he meets a hacker he has LONG wondered if he existed and hoped to meet one day...

A hacker named Morpheus...

Why? Because Neo had somehow heard of a Matrix through him and others who followed him...

And he wanted to know…what is the Matrix

Upon meeting Morpheus, Neo is given very cryptic messages about a world that is illusion…this world being called “The Matrix”...

An illusory world used to mask the TRUE reality of humanity’s plight...

That we are slaves, kept in artificial embryo sacks, hooked up to a computer mainframe through a plug in the back of our heads...

where we are fed images of what the computers/machines…

have learned we humans accept as real.

All of this so that we can generate energy for the machines.

Whoa?!?! Right. Kinda creepy, surreal...

The stuff that keeps you up late at night questioning...

do I really exist?

This is some real Renee Descartes mind bending stuff.

Morpheus then offers Neo a choice...

He holds out his hand and in it are two pills.

One Blue…the other Red.

Take the blue bill:

and you will wake up in bed tomorrow morning as John Anderson...

Living the LIE that has been built for you… OR

Take the red pill:

“And,” to quote Morpheus, “see how far this rabbit hole really goes...”

An obvious reference to Lewis Caroll’s Alice and Wonderland...

which was one of the Wachowski’s influnces in writing and making the film.

Things to Consider

Today, sisters and brothers, and for the next few weeks, you will be offered the same choice...

Do you choose to take the blue pill

and remain in the Matrix?

Or do you choose the red pill

and see just how far this rabbit hole goes?

Of course, we’re not in a literal computer system getting fed images by computers or machines…

Or are we?

But we are nonetheless in the matrix in another way...

We are so attached to this world order…to the ways and the temptations and promises of the world...

That we are unable to truly see, let alone live for, God.

Still, like Morpheus, God has given us a way out of the Matrix , out of the world order...and into the Kingdom of Heaven.

What Scripture Says

There is no doubt the Wachowskis turned to the Bible to craft their story...

The truth is, they turned to the Bible, Buddhism, and other religious and philosophical sources...

Which is what makes these films so brilliant and timeless.

In today’s Scripture,

God is showing John a vision of what is to come to the world order.

Like in The Matrix, the Bible chooses allegory, metaphor, and fantastic imagery in order to describe the current world order.

In this chapter we read...

After the bowls of God’s wrath and judgment are poured on the city of Babylon,

one of the bowl pouring angels comes to John

and explains the judgment that is about to fall on that wicked city.

So, what is Babylon...

Well, Babylon was an ancient empire that conquered the Jews, tore down the temple,

and exiled all of the leadership to the city of Babylon.

John is using this as a metaphor for THE WORLD ORDER...

In John’s day…that world order was the ROMAN WORLD ORDER.

In our day and age…it is the AMERICAN WORLD ORDER.

Are you following me so far?

The angel show John that Babylon, shown now as a great harlot or prostitute,

Who rules of many waters...

Again, in John’s day and age…that was Rome.

Today? America.

John uses the imagery of a wicked female...

And I want to acknowledge that as a blind spot of John’s.

He lived in a patriarchal society…and thought like a typical man…a sell out has to be a woman…right?!?!

WRONG! The prostitute could be a guy…should be a guy…since guys ruled the world back then!

So, I will refer to this prostitute, this Babylon, as a guy…Babylon the Gigalo or male prostitute!

The rulers of the earth have all committed adultery with him...

and the people who belong to this world order have been made drunk on the wine of his immorality.

There, John was shown the image of the great gigalo, Babylon, riding on a scarlet beast.

I won’t belabor the full meaning of the beast...

but beasts are typically nations and the horns are the rulers of said nations...

So, the nations and their rulers are under the sovereign rule of the world order.

Which is riding them like they’re a beast of burden.

Of course this gigalo, this Babylon the Great,

was drunk on the blood of all of God’s people destroyed through the millennia by this world order.

So, what does this all mean for us...

Well, Babylon, strictly speaking, is the world we live in today...

The world of luxury, of convenience, of promises of prosperity, and the American Dream...

The world order…the big MACHINE that keeps us in the daily bump and grind...

That bitters us...

That hardens us...

And that keeps us working like slaves with the elusive hope that we’ll come out on top.

And we have been drunk on the wine of this world order’s immoraliy...

We have placed politics above politeness...

We have split off from each other because we refuse to compromise.

We have put complacency as a higher priority than compliancy

And, worst of all, we have put ourselves…before and even ABOVE God.

Each…and…every…one…of…us.

As it says in Romans 3:23: “ For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.”

What Does This Mean for You?

So, as in the film The Matrix, God is offering us a choice today…and always:

Do you want to take the blue pill and remain in the Matrix, in Babylon the Great,

as a slave to this current world order?

Is ignorance truly bliss?

Or are you compelled to take the red pill...

To choose to WAKE UP and see the world for what it truly is...

A world order that is THE GREAT GIGALO,

who comes in with empty promises only to rob you of all you have?

Are you going to take the red and wake up to God

who is calling to Follow the White Rabbit down the rabbit hole…to see just how far this rabbit hole goes.

If you come back next week, I will take your answer as a YES to the red pill.

What Does This Mean for Us?

Taking the red pill is essential for us as the Christian Church...

We are Christians because we said yes to God by accepting Jesus Christ as our LORD…as our TRUE WORLD ORDER…AS OUR TRUE REALITY.

The RED PILL is what we experience when we read the Bible

and study what God is telling us about the World and about God’s Kingdom.

It is what transforms us from who we think we are...

The identity the world has given to us...

to who God created us to be..

Over the next several weeks, we will dive into the Matrix, not just the film…but our present reality…

and we will see how through the Bible and through films like The Matrix, we can grow even closer to the mind and heart of Christ.

We now know what the Matrix is…that it’s our current world order...

Next wee we will learn just how deceptive our current world order is. Amen? Amen!