The book of Revelation in your Bibles and the 17th chapter. We have moved chronologically through the 70th week of Daniel by the time we come to chapter 17 of Revelation. The judgments of that seven-year period have been completed in that the last of them, the seventh bowl, was poured out at the end of chapter 16. The next event chronologically is the return of Christ to earth in Revelation 19, 11, which will bring final judgment upon the world and provide the opportunity for Him to begin His earthly kingdom. Now, in chapter 17 and 18, and the first ten verses of chapter 19, we have an elaboration of a judgment that takes place under the seventh bowl. In chapter 16, verse 19, a great earthquake has taken place and the great city was split into three parts, referring to Jerusalem. The cities of the nations fell, referring to the non-Jewish cities around the world, and Babylon the Great was remembered before God to give her the cup of the wine of His fierce wrath. Chapter 17, 18, and the first ten verses of chapter 19 are an explanation of that statement in verse 19 of chapter 16, Babylon the Great was remembered before God to give her the cup of the wine of His fierce wrath. What does it mean Babylon the Great was remembered before God? What does it mean that she is going to drink of the cup of His fierce wrath? In chapter 17 and 18, we'll record The judgment of Babylon. The first ten verses of chapter 19 will regard the rejoicing of heaven over the fact that Babylon has finally been destroyed by the mighty power of God. Because that means now we are ready for Christ to return and set up His kingdom. Back in chapter 14 of Revelation, in preparation for the final seven bowls, the seven judgments that will complete the judgments of the tribulation, an angel declared in verse 8 of chapter 14, another angel, a second one followed saying, Fallen, fallen is Babylon the Great. She who has made all the nations drink of the wine of the passion of her immorality. Here, in anticipation of the seven bowl judgments, the fall of Babylon is declared. Here we are told that Babylon the Great was the one who made all the nations drink of the wine of the passion of her immorality. That helps prepare the way in our thinking for the description that is going to be given in chapter 17 of Babylon. Babylon is going to be described as a harlot, as a woman involved in great immorality. And the word immorality here we carry over into English. It's the Greek word porne or porneis, pornea. We have it in words like pornography. And it denotes sexual sin, impurity, harlotry, all kinds of depravity in the sexual realm. Now here it is used primarily in a spiritual sense. Broader than just sexual immorality. Broader than just spiritual immorality, but that will be the root of her sin. But it will include political, commercial, social immorality as well. Because Babylon the Great, as we will see, has been the leading force in the corrupting of the world and turning the world against God and away from God. Prophecy of judgment on Babylon was given in chapter 14, verse 8. The announcement that that judgment had come was given in chapter 16, verse 19. With chapter 17, we are ready for the unfolding of this judgment. And the discussion of the judgment on Babylon can be somewhat complicated. I hope my explanation of it is not complicated. Keep in mind, we are going to take it a piece at a time. So, there will be explanations we will not make as we go along because they will be more clearly dealt with later. And we can't deal with everything. If things don't seem clear to you in areas, don't get discouraged. We'll be taking a number of weeks to move through these chapters. And hopefully by the time we've moved through the pieces, then we'll have a completed picture. And I struggled with what to include and what to leave out. And I had the first hour with the workers where we go through this and I found out I got through about one third of my material. So I come here with full confidence because I know how far we are going and it's not nearly so far as I thought. But it will lay the foundation and that's what we're going to cover. The first six verses of chapter 17 give you the vision that John has of the woman Babylon. Then with verse 7, the angel begins an explanation. That explanation will really go through the rest of chapter 7, down through verse 18. Then chapter 18 will give you the response to the destruction of Babylon. Babylon is destroyed at the end of chapter 17. Chapter 18 primarily describes Babylon within the context of telling the reaction to Babylon's destruction. And then the first ten verses of chapter 19 will show us heaven's response and reaction to the destruction of Babylon. There is a growing picture. I'm going to try not to get too far ahead of ourselves in the explanation, but just to cover it as it comes. So, we're going to look in the first six verses at the vision John is given of the woman, the harlot, who will be identified as Babylon. One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me saying, here you had the seven angels, each one had a bowl judgment they had poured out on the earth. Now, one of these angels who had poured out a bowl judgment on the earth comes to speak with John and give him a further explanation of the destruction of Babylon. Perhaps it is the seventh angel who poured out the seventh bowl that brings the destruction of Babylon. We're not told that. We're just told it's one of those seven angels. That would be fitting because this comes under the seven bowl judgments, particularly the seventh. The angel says to John, come here. And I shall show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters." This harlot is going to be identified for us in verse 18 as the great city. The woman whom you saw is the great city, verse 18 says. My understanding is that we are seeing here the city Babylon. That is the great city. Babylon the great, as she will be called in verse 5. Now the exact expression the angel uses with John when he says, come here, I shall show you, is used later in Revelation in chapter 21, verse 9. Revelation 21, 9. Note the similarity of the setting. And one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the last plagues. So it's the same group of angels, one of that same group that is involved in the revelation given to John in chapter 21, verse 9. Because remember, the rest of the book of Revelation, chapter 17 on, are part of the seventh bowl. So here, one of these seven angels comes and spoke with John saying, now note what he says, "...come here and I shall show you." That's the same expression he used in chapter 17, verse 1. Come here and I shall show you. Now in chapter 21, verse 9, come here and I shall show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb. And as chapter 21 goes on, the wife, the bride, the wife of the Lamb is the city, the New Jerusalem, who comes down out of heaven as a bride adorned for her husband. So, this is the city prepared as the dwelling place for the people of God. The center of Christ's rule and reign. What you have in chapter 17, verse 1, is John being shown another woman who represents another city, Babylon. And I take it the picture here is a reminder to us by drawing a stark contrast. We have two conflicting empires. We have Satan who has set himself in opposition to God. He has one consuming passion, to replace God and become the center and object of the worship of all creation. He has been working this plan since his rebellion. When He said, I will be like God, I will be like the Most High. He attempted to implement it in the temptation of Christ in Matthew 4. When He said to Christ, if you will fall down and worship Me, I will give you all the kingdoms of the world. You see, rule and reign in the world associated with worship. Now, as we come into the 70th week of Daniel and have experienced this seven-year period, we find Satan attempting to bring his plan, a counterfeit plan, in opposition to God with a desire to replace God's plan being put into force. You have Satan trying to take the place of God the Father. You had in chapter 13 him raising up the Antichrist to be a false Messiah to replace Christ. And you have the second beast of Revelation 13, who directed the worship of the world to the Antichrist. That second beast is trying to carry out the ministry that the Holy Spirit has in God's plan. The Holy Spirit, what? Directs the worship of all believers to Jesus, the true Christ. And in the plan of God, we are moving toward a time when He will establish His kingdom and authority over all the world. His Son will rule on the earth. Jerusalem will be the capital of the world and ultimately the New Jerusalem will be the center of all. In Satan's plan, as he attempts to implement it upon the earth during the 70th week of Daniel in its final form, he will also have a city, Babylon, that will be a harlot, not a true bride. And you see, something of the satanic system A counterfeit imitation system being brought to fruition in its most complete form, but its end will be destruction. So, I think we have a stark contrast drawn in chapter 17, verse 1, and chapter 21, verse 9, between the two cities represented as two women, one vile and polluted, repulsive before God as a harlot, the other as a bride. The wife of Christ adorned in her pure splendor for her husband. Also, remember that in chapter 12 of Revelation, Israel was represented as a woman. Consistent, the use of a woman in portraying peoples and key cities here. Back in chapter 17 verse 1, Come here and I shall show you the judgment of the great harlot. who sits on many waters." I take it this woman is the same woman identified in verse 18 as the great city Babylon. I'll have more to say about her in a moment, but note her position. She sits on many waters. Isaiah says that Babylon is the city sitting by waters. He's describing her physical location. by the Euphrates River and with the canals and so on that were used coming off of the Euphrates for the city of Babylon. But here, maybe there is an illusion physically, but the point of her sitting on many waters is not the physical location. For the angel interprets this for us in verse 15. He said to me, the waters which you saw where the harlot sits, are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues. So, the waters represent peoples and nations. The woman is sitting on the waters. Being in a position of sitting on something denotes a position of power and authority, influence and dominance. So, this harlot is seen as being in a position of power Authority and influence over the peoples and nations of the world. So, she has a strong, pervasive influence. That influence will be for evil, not good, because she is a whore. She's a harlot, a prostitute. Down at the end of verse 18, we are told, "...the woman whom you saw as the great city, which reigned over the kings of the earth." Same kind of picture. Reigning over. having power and authority over the kings of the earth. She sits on the waters. She has power over nations. She is a very influential and powerful woman. She is the one, verse 2 tells us, with whom the kings of the earth committed immorality. And those who dwell on the earth were made drunk with the wine of her immorality. That word for harlot, as I mentioned, the word for immorality, all come from the Greek word, basic word, porne, porneis, pornea. Same basic word, different forms of that word. To talk about a harlot, immorality. I believe that King James uses the word whore and then speaks in verse 2 of whoredoms, carrying the idea of the same word. That word is used five times in chapter 17. There's an emphasis. that this is an immoral woman. She is a whore. She is corrupt and corrupting. And here we're told the kings of the earth committed acts of immorality with this harlot, as well as those who dwell on the earth. And those who dwell on the earth, who have looked at this expression and related expressions through the book of Revelation, become almost a technical term for the non-elect. Chapter 13 of Revelation, it was used of those whose names are not written in the book of life. So the kings of the earth, the mighty rulers, and the people of the earth, who have not come to believe in the salvation God has provided in His Son, are all joined together in relationship with this harlot, this woman. The kings of the earth, those who dwell on the earth. Committed acts of immorality. We're made drunk with the wine of her immorality. You see the corrupting influence of this woman. It's like wine that she is passing out, making everyone drunk. We're going to see she is the source of all the corruption and vileness in the world. So when we get to verse 5, she'll be called the mother of harlots and of abominations of the earth, this picture of a major city. Being a corrupting influence in the world is drawn from the Old Testament, it becomes very important here as we contemplate the background in the Old Testament for chapter 17. Come back to the book of Nahum and once you go to your index of your Bible first, they'll tell you what the page is. So go to the book of Nahum. Chapter three. Verse 1, woe to the bloody city, completely full of lies and pillage. Her prey never departs. The bloody city talked about here is Nineveh, the capital of Assyria. So the empire becomes identified with its capital as well, much as we would talk about Washington today for our country. Well, that becomes a synonymous way of talking about the United States. We say, what is Washington going to do? Another way to say it is, what is the United States going to do? Here, Nineveh is the bloody city. We'll skip down to verse 4. All because of the many harlotries of the harlot. You see, Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, is viewed as a harlot, who by her harlotries is corrupting the world. The charming one, the mistress of sorceries, See the religious element here, who sells nations by her harlotries and families by her sorceries. See the weaving of the harlotries, the sorceries, where you have the religious elements. Because we're going to look at, as we move back into the New Testament, the religious corruption is the foundation for all the other corruptions that will take place. So at the heart of the corrupting influence of Nineveh, It's idolatry, it's sorcery, it's rejection of the living God and worship of its own gods. But here, that picture of a harlot, that city is like a harlot corrupting the world. Look back to Isaiah chapter 23. Here you have the city of Tyre. Now it will come about in that day that Tyre will be forgotten for 70 years, like the days of one king. At the end of 70 years, it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the harlot. Take your harp, walk about the city, O forgotten harlot. So here's a harlot that's been off the streets for a while. Now's back playing the song, Hey, I'm Back in Business, that you may be remembered. The picture here, what is Tyre? It's like a harlot. It had corrupted the world, but it had been put on the shelf for 70 years. Now it's coming back in the bloom again. Back on the streets, as we would say today. That picture again of the harlotry of Tyre. Come over to Isaiah chapter 47. It says, "...and the prophecies regarding Babylon and its destruction." It talks about, "...come and sit down in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon." Verse 1. Then come down to verse 5. "...sit silently and go into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans." For you will no more be called the queen of the kingdoms." In its great position. Verse 8. Now then, hear this usensual one. We're taking on a dimension of the sexual imagery. Because there's going to be one who lures and corrupts. Hear this usensual one who dwells securely and so on. Down at the end of verse 9. in spite of your many sorceries, in spite of the great power of your spells. Now, that one is going to be involved in the commercial and social and political corrupting of the world, but at the heart of all of its corruptions is its religious corruption, its many sorceries, its great spells. Down in verse 12, stand fast now in your spells and in your sorceries. Verse 13, You are wearied with your many counsels. Let now the astrologers, those who prophesy by the stars, predict by the new moon, stand up and come save you from what will come upon you. They have become like stubble. Fire burns them. They cannot deliver themselves from the power of the flame. Verse 15, So have those come to you with whom you have labored, who have trafficked with you from your youth. Those who have been involved with Babylon from youth know that corruption, mutual corruption that flows out of her sorceries, out of her spells, out of her astrologies. All kinds of other corruptions have come. One more passage in the Old Testament, Jeremiah 51, verse 1. Chapter 51 of Jeremiah is another prophecy about Babylon and the destruction of Babylon. The chapter opens up. I realize we're belaboring a little bit the imagery from the Old Testament, but this saturates the rest of what we're going to say about Babylon in chapter 17 and 18. We want to be well familiar with the picture. Thus says the Lord, behold, I am going to arouse against Babylon. So he's going to talk about what he's going to bring up to destroy Babylon. Come down to verse 7, a verse that's going to be used and behind the subject of chapter 17 of Revelation. Babylon has been a golden cup. We're going to see in a moment, chapter 17. Babylon has a golden cup in her hand. Has been a golden cup in the hand of the Lord, intoxicating all the earth. The nations have drunk of her wine. Therefore, the nations are going mad. Suddenly, Babylon has fallen and been broken. See that picture of Babylon as a corrupting influence? Like she's got a golden cup. Wealthy. Attractive, but you drink from that cup, it corrupts you. It's like going in our day to a beautiful prostitute that is extremely sensual and physically attractive, but has AIDS. The end result of that is you are destroyed and defiled. That's the picture. Babylon here is passing on her vileness, her corruptness, by giving out her cup to others to drink. in corrupting the world. Jump down to verse 17 and you see the contrast here. Don't you see the comparison with God and Babylon in a religious element permeating all that said about Babylon? Verse 15, speaking about the true and living God of Israel. It is he who made the earth by his power, who established the world by his wisdom, by his understanding, he stretched out the heavens. So on. Verse 17. All mankind is stupid, devoid of knowledge. Every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols, by his molten images, for his molten images are deceitful. There's no breath in them. They are worthless, a work of mockery. In the time of their punishment, they will perish. The portion of Jacob is not like these. The maker of all is he. The Lord of hosts is his name. See the contrast with what Babylon was offering? Idols, false worship in contrast to the living God. And out of that false worship comes all kinds of corruption. Come over to the book of Romans, chapter 1. Romans, chapter 1, we are told that all kinds of corruption, whether it's greed, whether it's social, whether it's moral, flow out of basic religious corruption. I say that because, so you know where we're going and why. Many make a strong, hard distinction between Revelation 17 and 18 in the religious and the commercial division. And I studied Babylon over the last few weeks. I really believe we're talking about the same entity in chapter 17 and 18 of Revelation. You can't sort out the corruption because it all blends together, but it is all dominated by one corrupting influence, the religious corruption. In Romans 1, verse 18, the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, so that at the end of verse 20 they are without excuse. The picture here is God has revealed Himself, the true and living God, the Maker of all. All the creation declares the glory of God. But man, as a sinful being, is unwilling to acknowledge the existence and thus the authority of the true and living God. Because if I acknowledge His existence, if I acknowledge His power, then I must acknowledge that I must bow before Him as Almighty God. And I will not do that. What man does is suppresses the truth. You know, he's responsible for it. All the debates about evolution versus creation, all the debates about science so-called, are all a smoke screen by fallen man who at his heart has rejected the living God, who is the maker of all, because he will not bow before Him. Everyone who rejects God replaces God with something or someone else. Because in the very act of rejecting God, you have replaced God with yourself. I have raised myself up against God as Satan did. I will be like God. I will be like the Most High." Well, you say, no, I don't do that. I just don't believe He exists. Well, what have I done? I, by my might, have ruled Him out of existence. I'm suppressing the truth, is the point here. That leads in verse 21. Even though they knew Him as God, they did not honor Him as God, but they became futile in their speculations. Their foolish heart was darkened. They lost their ability to think and reason. You sometimes say, why doesn't the unbeliever see what's happening? Why don't people of the world wake up? We are destroying ourselves. Even the unbeliever can't walk down the streets of the city. I mean, don't people realize something's wrong? Well, they know something's wrong, but they don't have the foggiest idea why. They become empty in their speculations. Their foolish heart was darkened. This leads to open physical idolatry. In verse 23, they make idols. They worship the creation and forms of the creation. Verse 25, they exchange the truth of God for a lie and worship and serve the creature rather than the creator. You see, behind everything that's going to happen here is the rejection of God and the replacing of God with something or someone else. And this leads to what? All kind of moral depravity. Verse 24, God gave them over in the lust of their hearts to impurity, to dishonor their bodies. But you know, the dishonoring of their bodies is not the main issue. It is the result of spiritual corruption. But going to homosexuality is the leading example that he gives here in verses 26 and 27. The vileness of this sin. It is rebellion against God by rejecting what God created to be natural. A man with a woman and pursuing the unnatural. Man with man and woman with woman. The real issue is not the homosexuality. The real issue is homosexuality is being practiced by people who have rejected the living God. And that's true of all kinds of other immoral sins. And other sins as well. Come down to verse 29, 30, 31. You have unrighteousness, wickedness, greed. That's going to be an issue. We're going to see that in chapter 18, particularly of Revelation, the greed and covetousness that people are mourning over the destruction of Babylon. Why? They got rich in commerce with the city of Babylon. Envy, murder, strife, deceit, gossip, slanders, haters of God, disobedient to parents, untrustworthy. You see, all blend together. So when we talk about Babylon in Revelation 17 and 18, we're talking about a city represented as a woman who has corrupted politically, socially, economically, morally, the world. But there's one unifying factor in all that. That corruption has flowed out of the spiritual and religious corruption that she has spread through the world. Come back over to Revelation 17. We keep this in mind as believers that we bring a redemption to fallen man in Jesus Christ. That's the point begun in Romans chapter one that's found in Christ. And that's the flaw as I realize I over belabor. on us wringing our hands as believers and thinking we ought to change the world and do something. The issue is not secular humanism. We're going to talk about that next week. I'm reading an article I'm going to read to you next week. The man says that we as Christians, quote, what else, Christians I have some questions about, have to unite against the common enemy, secular humanism. I want you to know the enemy is not secular humanism. The issue and the enemy is Satan, and the spiritual corruption that pervades the hearts of fallen men and all the corruption that goes with that, political, economic, and so on. That's what we have back in Revelation 17, verse 2. The kings of the earth acted immorally. Those who dwell on the earth were made drunk with the wine of her immorality. The basic issue is her spiritual religious corruption. But out of that will flow all the other corruptions that exist in the world. Some of those will be covered particularly in chapter 18. Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 6, verse 24? You cannot serve two masters. You cannot serve God and mammon riches. Same kind of division. It's a spiritual issue. It's not a money issue. It's a spiritual issue. When Satan said to Christ, I'll give you all the kingdoms of the world, that was not a political issue. It was a religious issue because it was conditioned on what? if you'll worship Me." You see, pervading it all, Satan has one driving ambition. To be worshipped as God. And he is the God of this world according to 1 John 5. And what we're seeing is the unfolding of his plan in its final form before the return of Christ. Okay, come back to chapter 17. Let's look at verse 3. And He carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness. So the Holy Spirit is carrying John away in a trance or a vision, I take it, into a wilderness. Now, the wilderness is not defined for us here. It may be a reference to Babylon. Isaiah 21, verse 1, the Greek translation of that verse uses the same word for wilderness in referring to Babylon there. The city of Babylon would be in what we would think of as a wilderness, a desert. That may be what is in view here. Maybe further glimpse that we're talking about the physical city of Babylon rebuilt. We'll talk more about that as we progress in our future studies. But we're not given any explanation of the wilderness here. John's just taken there to see the city. There he saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns. The same woman as we have in verse one who corrupts the kings and peoples of the earth with their immorality, because that's going to be reemphasized in verse 4. Now this harlot who sat on many waters, representing people and nations and so on, is seen sitting on the scarlet-colored beast. This scarlet-colored beast has seven heads and ten horns, and there's no question this is the beast of Revelation 13. I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten diadems, and on his head were blasphemous names." We identified that beast as the Antichrist and the final form of earthly kingdoms that will take place in the seventieth week of Daniel under the authority and leadership of the Antichrist. The king in a kingdom will be used interchangeably through chapter seventeen as it is in other prophecies of Scripture. We have this woman sitting on the scarlet-covered beast. Now we see a close association with the beast, the Antichrist, and the harlot or the whore. But they are not the same. They are different. But the whore, the harlot, is riding on the beast. Just as she sat on the waters, now she sits on the beast. She is in a position of dominance, of control, of influence. over this beast. Yes, sitting on something portrays in Scripture. And sitting on the back of an animal is to portray you're in charge, I'm told. She's sitting on a scarlet beast. We'll talk more about her as she's described as we come into verse 4. Also, the seven heads and ten horns. When we get down to verse 7, the angel says to John, I will tell you the mystery of the woman and the beast that carries her. So we're just seeing the vision in the first six verses. So we'll delay our explanation again of the beast and the heads and the mountains, the seven heads, the ten horns that are described in verse 9 as the seven heads are seven mountains and they are seven kings in verse 10. We've seen that already back in chapter 13 of Revelation. We'll unfold now its connection more fully later. But this woman is riding on this beast and all that he represents And that is a reminder that the influence of this woman, while it now centers as this city, at this time in the 70th week of Daniel is not limited to that. Because we'll see when we get to verse 9, this woman has exercised control and authority over all the successive empires of the world. It just comes to culmination in Babylon at the end of the 70th week of Daniel, verse 4. The woman was clothed in purple and scarlet and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and of the unclean things of her immorality." This woman has obviously prospered from her immorality. She has been a prosperous harlot. She's not been a low-class whore. She has gotten rich. She is clothed splendidly. She's adorned with gold and precious stones. She's gotten rich and wealthy through her prostitution, by corrupting others. And note, she has in her hand a gold cup. Remember the picture in Jeremiah 51.7 was that Babylon was a gold cup in the hand of the Lord. And drinking out of that cup, all the nations were defiled. Well, here you have that imagery picked up. She has a gold cup. She's rich. She's attractive. But she's fatal. Remember the descriptions in the opening chapters of Proverbs about the woman who comes out to meet the unsuspecting man and lures him back to her bed. He doesn't know. He's going like a bird to the snare. He doesn't know that her house is the steps to hell. Her guests are among the dead. That's the picture here. This beautiful, sensual, attractive harlot adored splendidly, effectively corrupting the kings and peoples of the world. There is a stress here. You see how God sees this woman as repulsive and vile. She has a gold cup full of abominations, unclean things of her immorality just piles on the words for vileness, pollution, abominations, vile things, immorality. And everybody who has intercourse with her partakes out of that cup and is corrupted themselves. One of the things the study of a passage like this ought to do for us as believers today is to cause us to see how God sees this world. When He says, love not the world, neither the things of the world, we get an idea of how God sees the world. Friendship with the world is enmity with God. It causes us to see how God sees the spiritual and all other kinds of pollution of the world. So when we get to chapter 18, verse 4, God will say to His people, come out of her. Come out of her. that you may not partake of her pollution. Mine says what Paul said to the Corinthians when he exhorted them, come out from among them and be ye separate, says the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing. They're concerned that Christians being too separatistic, but the concern of the Word seems to be they're not being separatistic enough. There is to be a separation between the believer and all that Babylon represents and that will unfold even more fully for us as we proceed. Verse 5. The woman is identified. Upon her forehead, a name was written. Remember, the followers of the beast will get his name and number on their head. Well, here this woman is identified by a name on her forehead. The name is a mystery. The word mystery is not part of the title as the King James has it. It's not Mystery Babylon the Great. The other references to Babylon are simply to Babylon the Great, not Mystery Babylon the Great. But the point is that here is a mystery, something that necessitates divine interpretation. The angel will give that beginning in verse 7. I shall tell you the mystery of the woman and the beast. You couldn't figure it out, but I will explain it to you, he says. The mystery here is identified as Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the world. Babylon the Great. The woman is identified for us. Babylon the Great. Babylon the Great is said to be the great city in verse 18, which reigns over the kings of the earth. But, as I mentioned, and I want to reiterate, the influence and impact of this woman is not limited to the 70th week of Daniel. We haven't gotten to verse 9 yet, but verse 9 will make clear that she has ruled over all the successive empires of the world down to the last one. The unique thing about the 70th week of Daniel is she will rule more completely, corrupt more thoroughly during that period of time than she has been enabled to at any other time in history. But Babylon the Great has its roots far back because Babylon the Great is the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth. So you want to talk about harlotry, religious prostitution and all the corruptions that flow out of that. Here you are at the mother of them all. Come back to Genesis chapter 10. We looked here in our last study, but we have to go back. We're not going to get much further than this. And then in our next study, I want to look at something about Babylon. Genesis 10, we had Nimrod presented to us. Verse 8, he was a mighty one. The beginning of his kingdom was Babel and in other cities of Shinar. But Babylon becomes the dominant city of the land of Shinar, as though to speak of Shinar comes to speak of Babylon in future times. Nimrod, incidentally, will be the founder of the Babylonian mystery religions. We'll say more about that in our next study. We come to chapter 11. We have, as we've already seen in a previous study, Babylon. Now note, this is not the beginning of sin. What Babylon begins and is the mother of is of organized religion drawn together in an attempt to make an empire in opposition to God. What did they try to do at Babylon? Well, they come to Shinar, settled there, and then they start to make bricks to build a city. Verse 4. So they want to build a city, and in that city a tower. So you see what we have here? You have the religious corruption joined together with commercial and political corruption. That's why we've seen Nineveh, pictured as a harlot, and other cities. Why? Now, that picture of being joined together, you don't sort it out and say, well, this is something political. This is secular. This is social. This is religious. No, what Babylon is unique about is the attempt of those at Babel in those days were to unite themselves as a city, a political and commercial entity, united and tied together by their worship. That's the very thing the God of this world has attempted to do with the successive empires of the world. Beginning at Babylon, He wanted to start His own kingdom on the earth with a city, the city of the God of this world, built around the worship of the God of this world. So that's what Babylon, the mother of harlots, is. Sin began in Genesis 3. We're in Genesis 10 and 11. Sin has been present, but Babylon is the beginning of organized religion, as Satan makes his attempt to forego the earthly kingdom of God by establishing his own kingdom. That's why all movements toward one world government, one world religion, are tied together by the common thread of the God of this world, Satan, attempting in his rebellion against God to overrule The plan of God, by creating a world that is united by worship of Him. I say all this because I don't think the commercial and the religious division in chapter 17 and 18 of Revelation is one that makes great distinction. They blend together as they did in Babylon. How do you talk about the building of the city and not building of the tower? They go together, they're doing it together in verse 4, and God puts an end to it In verses 7, 8 and 9, what we will have in the 70th week of Daniel is Satan's final attempt, and he has attempted it consistently down through history. The Babylonian Empire under Nebuchadnezzar, called the Neo-Babylonian Empire, was an attempt to do that. It only went so far. His greatest success will be in the 70th week of Daniel. Back in Revelation 17, In our next study together, I want to talk about some of those corruptions of Babylon, religious, political, commercial things that are taking place. We also see in verse 6, and let me just draw your attention to this verse, I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus. Another characteristic of this woman, as we've seen already in Revelation, but now is being brought to a head, is she is unalterably opposed to anyone who is a true worshipper of the living God. She's drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus. Remember in John 15, Jesus says, the world hates you. The world hates you because it hates me. Babylon has been consistent and united in its opposition to God and the hatred of the people of God from the days of Genesis 11. And that's why any attempt by believers to make peace with Babylon is at best futile. There is no peace. Believers can expect opposition. Now, as we move toward the 70th week of Daniel and the realization of Satan's dream, if you will, in its fullest, most complete form, we can expect to see these things develop. We can expect the rise, quote, of secular humanism. We can expect a multiplication of all that is in opposition against God. Because that's going to come to a head in the 70th week of Daniel. We as believers need to understand the spiritual forces that are at work. Sin reigns in the world. Romans chapter 5 verses 20 and 21 says sin reigns until the grace of God comes and reigns in its place. We see the multiplying of the reign of sin in the world. We'll talk more about this with Babylon. But you and I as believers, as we study the Word, ought to be prepared. We ought not to be running around wringing our hands saying, Oh my, what next? What are we going to do? How are we going to stem the tide of secular humanism? Well, we ain't. In fact, it is going to wash over the world before Jesus Christ comes at His second coming. That Babylon will be there as the earthly center. And the world will be all but completely corrupted and only by God's grace will the elect be spared involvement with the whore. We are called to bring the message of the grace of God to those who live under the reign of sin so that they might be set free by the power of God and be prepared to be taken into the presence of God as He completes His program for the world. Isn't it amazing to see the hand of God at work? See the counterfeit program of Satan opposing God at every step? We sometimes wonder why there's such conflict. Why there's such tension? Why the battle seems endless and unending? Because the woman rides. She has sat on the mountains of the successive empires. And she does today, as we'll see. And she will with a power that has not been experienced before, before the Kingdom of Christ is instituted. The only plan of God for deliverance in all this is to believe in His Son, Jesus Christ. To be removed from the power and authority of the God of this world. Be born into God's family and experience His deliverance. You and I may be living very close to the 70th week of Daniel. We need to be very careful that we are not allowing ourselves to be polluted and corrupted by the harlot and the whore Babylon. The religious, commercial, political, social corruptions that characterize this woman. We are a different people redeemed by God's grace. It's very possible you're not a different person. The solution, the only solution, but the only one you need. is Jesus Christ. Let's pray together. Father, we thank You for who You are. Lord, we are not discouraged. We're not fainthearted. We're not fatalistic. Because, Lord, we've read the closing chapters of Revelation. We see that You will reign, that Jesus Christ will rule over all, that we will rule and reign with Him. Father, we praise You for the glory that is ahead. We thank You for the privilege bestowed upon us to be called the sons of God. We thank You for the privilege of suffering for Jesus Christ. God, forgive us for all the compromises and all the contortions we go through to try to make life easier for ourselves. Lord, may we be unwilling to compromise in any way with the whore, to allow ourselves to be polluted and corrupted in any way by her vileness, Lord, may we remain faithful and pure as the Bride of Christ until He comes to call us to be with Himself. Lord, I pray for those who are gathered in this auditorium today who indeed are part of this corrupted system under the God of this world. Their hearts have never been redeemed. They've never been cleansed. They are polluted and defiled. Yet, Lord, in Your grace, You offer to them forgiveness and cleansing if they will but repent and turn from their sin and believe in the Savior. By Your grace, I pray that that might happen today. We pray in Christ's name, Amen.