The End of World Religion, Part 4

If you have your Bible, I would invite you to turn with me to Revelation chapter 6. I know we're in Revelation 17, but I want to begin our time in Revelation. Chapter 6. We studied this many, many months ago. And I saw when the lamb broke one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying, as with a voice of thunder, Come. And I looked, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer. There are a lot of translations who believe that this person on the horse is Christ.

It's not. It's antich. All that to say is that how that comes about is described for us in Revelation chapter 17, where we are at this evening. When we get all the way to Revelation 17, after already having the seven bowls poured out and described for us. The angel who poured out one of those seven bowls comes to John and invites him to see Babylon. To see the woman, to see the characteristics of this empire. And so, what we have been doing over the last few weeks. Is exam and exposing and explaining this woman so that we understand exactly.

What takes place in that seven-year time frame and how this Antich begins to rule. If you got your Bible, turn back with me, if you would, to Revelation chapter 17. Verse number one, and one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me, saying, Come here, I shall show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters.

With whom 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. And he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast. full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns. And 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 of the unclean things of her immorality.

And upon her forehead, a name was written, a mystery, Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots, and of the abominations of the earth. And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the witness of Jesus. And when I saw her, I wondered great. And the angel said to me, Why? Do you wonder? And John sees all this stuff, and he sees this woman, and the angel describes this woman to him, and he is able to observe her, and then he's taken away into the wilderness. And he sees this beast.

He knows who the beast is because we saw him in Revelation 13. He was introduced in Revelation chapter 11. So John has seen the beast. But now he sees this woman, this harlot, this mother of abominations that we've already spent three weeks describing, riding this beast. He says, I wondered greatly. He had a question. He needed some answers. The Antichrist, the rider on the white horse in Revel 6, when he comes into power, he realizes that the way to win the world is not through economics and not through politics.

It's through religion. That one element is going to be the deceptive measure that will bring the world to. He knows that. So he allows this woman, this harlot, to ride him. He's the beast. And so we move from the question to the distinction. And this, of course, is review from last week, but I need to review a little bit for you to bring us up to speed so that we are not Totally in the dark this week when we cover the rest of Revelation chapter 17. But there comes the distinction: the distinction between the harlot and the beast.

We went to verse number 18 because that's where we needed to understand this woman. Because the woman whom you saw is the great city. We talked about that city. I really believe that city is a rebuilt Babylon. So we know that the whole world is going to be trafficking through this system and somehow through this city. Somehow, this city becomes the capital city. Of a satanic empire that begins to rule the world. It is a false religious system that rules. It brings the people together. And the Antichrist works alongside of that system.

The beast works alongside of that system because he knows he needs to win the affections of the world. To do so, he works alongside this false prophet. The distinction further comes in verse number 8. And here we briefly cover this, and hopefully, we can do it in a lot more detail tonight. It says in verse number 8, the beast that you saw was and is not, is about to come up out of the abyss and to go to destruction. John, listen, he says, I want to tell you about the beast. The beast that you saw is Satan's man.

The world ruler, as Daniel 7 depicts him, an intellectual genius, a master pol, an outstanding Orator, a military mastermind. Paul called him the royal blasphemer against God. He is the most incredible human being ever to walk the face of the earth. He is a thousand Hitlers. He is a thousand Stalins. He has a thousand Napoleons all wrapped up into one. Go back with me to Revelation chapter 17. That's where we left off last week. It takes us back to the second point under main point number three, the call for wisdom.

The call for wisdom. It says, Here is the mind, verse number nine, which has wisdom. Now listen very carefully. This is for the person who wants to move off the surface to that which is deeper. This is for those who want to put their thinking caps on. This is for those who really want to dig into the truth and understand it. This is for those with spiritual minds. This is for those who seek spiritual wisdom. And it may be that only the ones who will really completely understand verses 9 and following are the ones who live during the tribulation.

They are the ones who will seek for wisdom. They are the ones who are looking for answers. And maybe they and they only will really fully comprehend what we're about to tell you. But we're going to give you as best as we possibly can this evening. What the rest of these verses talk about. But here is the mind, John, which has wisdom: the seven heads. Are seven mountains on which the woman sits. And so he says in verse number ten. And they are seven kings. Oh, okay. So now we have a little bit more descriptive detail.

He says, the seven heads. Which the woman sits are this beast with seven heads. The seven heads are seven mountains. The seven mountains are seven kings. Y'all with me? Pretty easy to understand. Seven heads? Seven heads are seven mountains. Seven mountains are seven kings. So, we understand that the beast is vastly more than just one city. It's a city of kings. Or many cities with many k. It 's more than just a geographical reference to one city on Seven hills. Why? Because the beast has worldwide power, not just city power, right?

The primary issue is that the mountain represent kings. Mountains represent or symbols of power. Kings are symbols of authority. But listen to this. What are these seven kings? The angel tells you. Okay, so as you get further into this, the angel begins to describe everything for you. Look what it says. Five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come. Who are these seven kings? If you go back to Daniel chapter 2, don't turn there with me, but if you go back to Daniel chapter 2, you realize that there's a huge image that Daniel interprets for King Nebuchadnezzar.

That image was represented by a head of gold, a chest of silver, a midsection of bronze, and a lower section of iron and clay. Each of those sections of that huge figure that Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream was representative of four major world empires Babylon, Medo-Pers, Greece. And Rome, four. Before those four, there were two: Egypt and Syria. Now you have six. Okay? The text says, Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come. So, if you have Egypt number one, Syria number two, Babylon number three, Medo-Persia number four, Greece number five, and Rome number six, you have five that are fallen.

You have one that is. Who was in power when John wrote Revelation? Rome. He was on the island of Patmos because of the Roman government. So you have five that are fallen, you have one that is, and you have one that is yet to come. And that is the kingdom of the Antichrist. And that kingdom somehow embodies all the power of the previous six kingdoms. That's how powerful the Antichrist kingdom W become. And it says, seven heads are seven kings, seven mountains, which are seven kings. Five were. Or five have fallen, one is, and one is about to come.

Five that have fallen? Are Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, and Greece. The one that is is R, and one to come was the kingdom of the Antichrist. You with me so far? Follow closely. Go to verse 11. And the beast which was and is not. Is him also an eighth and is one of the seven, and he goes to destruction. This is not hard to understand at all. Listen very carefully. It says very simply this: Seventh kingdom is to come. That's the kingdom of the Antichrist in the future. But that kingdom that is to come is also the eighth.

How can it be the seventh if it is the eighth? Simply this. We know what happens to the Antichrist. John is even told that again by the angel. And the beast, which was and is not, speaking of his life. His death is him also an e. The seventh kingdom is the Antichrist kingdom that begins at the first part of the tribulation.

His death and resurrection make him the eighth kingdom. Why? Because it will be different than the system where the harlot and the beast coexist together. Because he will devour the harlot, and he will become the ultimate kingdom, the eighth. And the eighth embodies all seven together into one. That's what makes him the all-powerful anti-God of the universe. He now is also the eighth kingdom. He is part of the seventh kingdom because he is side by side with a false prophet. But when he dies and rises again, the fake counterfeit death and resurrection.

Now he sets himself up as God. When does that happen? At the abomination of desolation in the middle of the tribulational period. He sets himself up as God and demands that the world worship him as God. The text says he goes to destruction. 2 Thessalonians 2:3 says he's the son of destruction. He will not fall. Like the six previous empires, he will fall differently, and he will fall more harshly because God Himself will destroy. Him, the eighth kingdom. And then verse number 12 says, And the ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have not yet received the kingdom.

Why haven't they received the kingdom? Because Antichrist is in the power. But these ten horns, which you saw, are ten kings who have not yet received the kingdom, but they receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour. Somehow, this beast is going to be able to rule the world through ten kings. And there's already talk, even in many articles today, about dividing the world up into ten strategic zones. And as they divide the world up into 10 strategic zones, they will have 10 specific rulers over those zones.

So, the world is already moving in that direction. And there will be ten kings. The ten horns are ten kings, ten simultaneous kings. The final kingdom is the seventh kingdom. And then it becomes the eighth kingdom in the middle of the tribulation. And it's composed of ten component parts, ten horns, horns symbolizing power and authority, of course. So during the time of Antichrist's reign, ten kings will help him rule the globe. Daniel described that in the figure that we talked about earlier as ten toes.

The ten kings are the ten toes back in Daniel's image of the great beast, which all come to ruin. They have not received this yet. That's because Antichrist is not ruling. But when he does. He will assign them responsibility over the world, and they will rule for how long? For one hour. Very brief period of time. And what's their purpose? Verse number 13. These have one purpose, and they give their power and authority to the beast. They give all their authority to the beast. Why? Because they will do exactly what the beast wants them to do: destroy Israel, destroy Christians, and ultimately come together to destroy Christ.

Which leads us to our last point, point number four, the woman exterminated. Three things I want you to see. Number one, the sneak preview.

Number two, the satanic program. And number three, the sovereign pl. It says in verse number 14, 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. These ten kings. That are under the rule of the Antichrist, who is the seventh kingdom and becomes the eighth. Wh he devours the harlot woman in the middle of the tribulation, at the abomination of desolation, sets up his kingdom and rules as God upon the earth.

He influences these ten kings to do battle, to wage war with the Lord. That's their agenda. That's their purpose. When will they do that? Revelation 16, verse number 14. Verse number 13 says, And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits, like frogs, for they are spirits of demons, performing signs which go out to the kings. Of the whole world. Who are the kings? There are ten of them. Kings of the whole world.

To gather them together for the war of the great day of God the Almighty. Verse number sixteen. And they gathered them together to the place which in the Hebrew is called Har. Mag. But the Lamb will overcome them. Why? Text tells you, because he's king of kings. These are kings, but he's the king of kings. These are lords, but he is the Lord of all lords. And he will overcome them. The Lamb, the repeated theme of the book of Revelation. Remember, he's called 28 times the Lamb. In the book of Revel, more so than any other place in the Bible.

And so he comes to massacre. Those who rebel against him. Revelation 19 gives you a detailed description of how all that's going to come about. And it says in verse number 16: And on his robe and on his thigh, he has a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Deuteronomy 10:1 says that's a title for God. God returns. The Lamb returns. Christ Himself returns. Who's He returned with? He returns with the called, the chosen, and the faithful. Who's that? That's us. That's you and me. That's the bride.

We are the called ones. We are the chosen ones. We are the faithful ones. Three distinct names. Angels aren't. Called and angels don't operate by faith, angels operate by sight. Angels, of course, will be with him. 2 Thessalonians 1:7 says that the angels will come with him. But we ourselves, the redeemed, glorified church, according to Revel 19:14, and the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following him on wh horses. That's us. That's the preview. That's what's going to happen.

Oh, they're going to wage war against the Lamb, but they're going to lose. They're going to lose because he's the king of kings. He is the Lord of Lord. He will overcome them. Antichrist will have the strength of all the combined world empires of the history of the world. He will be the most ominous, awesome figure the world has ever seen. We can't even begin to describe his power. He will be infused with the power of hell. He will rule this world with demons. Yet he cannot defeat the Lamb. He's not strong enough for God.

That's the sneak preview. Number two, the satanic program, verse number sixteen says. 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. These ten horns, which are ten kings, will be under the influence of the Antichrist, the one who fakes his death. Fakes his resurrection so that now he is filled with the demons from the abyss because he comes up out of the abyss, which is symbolic of his demonic influence.

He demands the whole world worships him. And this woman has ridden this beast for three and a half years. They have coexisted together, but now it's time for him to have full respect. He will demand full homage. He will demand everything. He wants it all. He will not share it with no one. And so the ten kings who side with this one, who's part of the seventh kingdom, will destroy this false prophet. Set himself up as the eighth kingdom, that is, the only God in which the people are to worship. He demands that they do that.

And Satan knows that he can't defeat Christ unless he's unified. Christ said, a house divided against itself can't stand. Well, there are two heads here. Got a false prophet and got a beast. Only one can rule. So the beast informs his ten kings. To devour the woman. And they do. They leave her desolate. They rob the system of its treasure. They rob the system of its wealth. They leave her naked. They strip her bare. She is left with absolutely nothing. The false prophet needs a job. So, in order to have a job according to Revelation 13, he has to point everybody in the direction of the Antichrist.

So, he gets the whole world now to bow down to the Antichrist and to the image of the Antichrist. The image, according to Revelation 13, that is. Able now to speak through demonic influence. So the false prophet needs some kind of job, and so he comes alongside and worships the Antichrist as well. The text says that her flesh is eaten. There's nothing left of the false religious system as in the first three and a half years.

For now there's only one religion. It is the religion of Antichrist. The religion of anti-God. The Antich is now the King. All will follow Him. And the bones, the residue of this woman are burned with fire. She no longer ex. Then it says, verse number 17, and this is point number three: the sovereign plan.

For God has put it in their hearts to execute. His purpose. Why does the Antich destroy the false prophet? Because it 's the purposes of God. That's what God has designed. This is the way God wants it to happen. Think about that. This is the way God has decreed it. This is the sovereign plan. He says, the angel says, for God has put it in their hearts. Whose hearts? The Ten Kings. The Antichrist, who is ruled by Satan him, to execute his purpose by having a common purpose and by giving their kingdom to the beast.

Until the words of God should be fulfilled. You see, God wants there to be a war with the Lamb, He wants there to be a massacre of the world, He wants it that way. He's going to get it that way because he's designed it that way. That's how he wants it to end. He wants to destroy all wickedness, he wants to destroy all sin. And so he will do it as he wants to. Why? Because he's given us his word. His word will be fulfilled as he says. All prophecies of God's judgment are to be fulfilled. The good news about that is that God is never out of control during the tribulation.

It's all under a sovereign plan. The seals are his, the trumpets are his, the bowls are his, Satan's plans. Are his. He's going to make it come about just exactly as he wants it to be. For he is the king, and he will rule on this earth. And every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. That's our God. And that is the fall of world religion. It will fall. It will fall greatly. It will fall greatly because God has assigned it to fall. But note the beast him.

He too will fall because it's said over and over again in Revel 17: he goes to destruction. The angel wants John to know that as powerful as he is, he will be destroyed. By the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Let's pray.