So this morning, we're going to be in Revelation chapter 17. We finished the seven bowls last week. So we're ready for Revelation chapter 17. But before we start, we'll go back and do a quick review here, as we do every week. And so, Revelation, we've given an overview of the entire book. The premise of the entire book is this, that the Revelation of John is a Christocentric book. That's kind of my underlying baseline understanding of the book, is that this book is about Christ. And the purpose of the book is to show us the pattern of this world from Christ's first coming to his second coming, or as I say often, from Christ to Christ. And as we look at this book, John wants us to see the spiritual realities that are around us. That's what he's trying to describe. What is actually going on in the spiritual realm as you are living here on earth as Christians in the last days? He wants us to see the spiritual realities around us and then to understand there are dangers that face us on every side. He wants us to recognize those dangers. But then in the face of the dangers and the realities around us, he wants us to know that God is going to win. We can face all the things that are going on around us because God has it under control. And so Revelation has a call, it has an exhortation for us. And the exhortation is threefold. First, Revelation calls us to wisdom, to rightly understand the world around us and not get pulled into it, not be deceived by it. And then calls us to perseverance. There will be hard times because we do face danger, but we keep following Christ. And then ultimately to worship. The purpose of Revelation is to call us to worship Christ, the risen King. And so as we've gone through Revelation, we've gone a long way through the book already. We're about three quarters of the way through now. And so we've seen several things. We started with the prologue, where Christ himself came and presented himself to John as the one who is gloriously the keeper of the seven lampstands. He proclaimed that he was the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, and the lampstands belonged to him. And so as the keeper of the lampstands, the risen Christ wants to send a message to his churches. And so we had the first seven. We talked about how there's seven sevens, or maybe six sevens and a seventh. And so we get our first set of sevens, the seven letters to the seven churches, which describe various dangers that face the churches in the last age. But then it calls us in the face of dangers to look at Christ, to love his command, and to rejoice in his promise. And if we're supposed to keep our eyes on Christ in the midst of the dangers that we face, then it calls us into the courtroom of heaven to look at the glories of Christ. First, to see the glory of God, the Father, the Creator, who is praised eternally. But then second, Revelation 5, to see the glory of the risen lamb, the lion of the tribe of Judah who looks like a lamb who was slain, but who is worthy to open the seven seals. And so we see the song of heaven worshiping this great king. But if the Lamb is worthy to open the seven seals to declare what the pattern of history will be from Christ to Christ, then the next set of sevens is the seven seals. The Lamb opens the seven seals. And we thought about how we have this pattern of history that's going to continue from Christ to Christ. There will be wars and rumors of war. There will be famine and plague and death. And those things will be normal to see from Christ to Christ. But as we face these things, we need to remember 5th, 6th, and 7th seal that God is not absent. He is promising to judge the nations. He is promising to save his people and he will bring it to an end eventually. And so the outcome of the seven seals is we end up on the mountain, we see 144,000. 12 times 12 times 1,000, a full number times a full number times a great number gathered on the mountain from every tribe and tongue and language and nation, a great multitude gathered to sing the praises of the Lamb. Where there had been praise in heaven, now there is praise on earth. But that leads us into a next set of sevens, the seven trumpets. And if the seven seals were a general pattern from Christ to Christ, the seven trumpets echo the seven seals. In fact, they're very similar, but one thing we notice is that things happen in quarters in the seven seals. But in the seven trumpets, they happened in thirds and intensified. A quarter of the earth was destroyed in the seven seals, but a third of the earth was destroyed in the seven trumpets. And we thought about how God's judgment does lie over all of history until Christ returns. But it won't be static. His judgment will intensify. As Paul says, it will be like the pangs of labor that continue to get intenser and intenser until the day of reckoning comes. But what does the church do in the midst of this? We saw the story of the two witnesses and thought about, even in the midst of God's increasing judgment on history, the church will not fail in her mission. In fact, she will be sovereignly protected so that she continues to proclaim God's message until the church meets the end of her purpose. But the church shouldn't expect victory in this world. In fact, the church knows that it's going to defeat. The two witnesses will be killed. But God will not let that be the end of his plan. He raises up the two witnesses as a testimony to his power. So then we entered into the fourth seven of the book, which is the central seven. And the central seven is different. It's a story. Now, we've gone through. We've been talking about the increasing judgments of God on history. But now we step back and we look at this story, the sevenfold saga of the woman and the dragon. And with very picturesque language, John tells us the story of what happens from Christ to Christ. And we saw a dragon, a dragon that tried to kill the promised son, but the promised son was victorious. And he went up to heaven to make war with the dragon. The dragon was cast out of heaven. And it says, Rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them. But you on earth, fear, for he is wrathful and his time is short. We thought about how we exist in that period. The dragon has been cast out of heaven. The accuser of the brethren no longer has any authority to accuse us anymore. Yet he still is here on earth and has a short time that he wants to destroy the church. And so we saw the first beast, and the second beast raised up as powers of the dragon to come and chase the church. But even in the face of imperial power and in false worship, the lamb is going to be victorious. The beast does not defeat the church, but the lamb gathers them on the mountain at the end, and they again sing the praises of the risen lamb. And so that's where we end up in the next interlude, as the saints are beside the sea, singing the praises of the lamb. Which leads us finally into the seven bowls. We come back to the theme of judgment. That God's judgment is over all of history from Christ to Christ, but it will intensify as we go through history. Eventually it will reach its needed end, and the last bowl of God's judgment will be poured out on the earth. And it will be a terrifying judgment, but a glorious judgment as God executes his righteousness on the earth, and the seven bowls tell us about the end of God's wrath. So we're ready for another interlude, and that's what we're gonna do this morning. The next interlude, if we just talked about the end of God's judgment, we hear echoes of the prophets, and we hear the announcement, fallen, fallen is Babel on the grave. And that's what we're gonna look at this morning, is fallen, fallen is Babel on the grave. So if you have your Bibles, open up. We'll be in Revelation chapter 17 and 18 this morning. Follow along in your Bibles, or if you want to, I've got the text up on the screen. starting in Revelation chapter 17. Then one of the angels, I'm sorry, one of the seven angels who had the seven bulls came and said to me, come, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters, with whom the kings of earth have committed sexual immorality, and with the wine of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk. And he carried me away in the spirit into a wilderness, And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names. And it had seven heads and ten horns. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality. And on her forehead was written a name of mystery, Babylon the Great, mother of prostitutes and of Earth's abominations. And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. When I saw her, I marveled greatly. But the angel said to me, why do you marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast with seven heads and ten horns that carries her. The beast that you saw was and is not and is about to rise from the bottomless pit and go to destruction. And the dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel to see the beast, because it was and is not and is to come. This calls for a mind with wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated. There are also seven kings, five of whom have fallen. One is, and the other has not yet come. And when he does come, he must remain for only a little while. As for the beast that was and is not, it is an eighth, but it belongs to the seven, and it goes to destruction. And the ten horns that you saw are ten kings, who have not yet received royal power, but they are to receive authority as kings for one hour, together with the beast. These are of one mind, and they hand over their power and authority to the beast, and they will make war on the lamb, and the lamb will conquer them. For he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those who are with him are called and chosen and faithful. And the angel said to me, the waters that you saw where the prostitute is seated are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages. And the ten horns that you saw, they and the beast will hate the prostitute. They will make her desolate and naked and devour her flesh and burn her up with fire. For God has put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose by being of one mind, and handing over the world power to the beast until the words of God are fulfilled. And the woman that you saw is the great city that has dominion over the kings of the earth. After this, I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority. And the earth was made bright with his glory. And he called out with a mighty voice, fallen, fallen is Babylon the great. She has become a dwelling place for demons, a haunt for every unclean spirit. a haunt for every unclean bird, a haunt for every unclean and detestable beast. For all nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality, and the kings of earth have committed immorality with her, and the merchants of earth have grown rich from the power of her luxurious living. Then I heard another voice from heaven say, come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plays. For her sins are heaped as high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. Pay her back as she herself has paid back others, and repay her double for her deeds. Mix a double portion for her in the cup she has missed. As she glorified herself and lived in luxury, so give her a like measure of torment and mourning. Since in her heart she says, I sit as a queen, I am no widow, and mourning I shall never see. For this reason, her plagues will come in a single day, death and mourning and famine, and she will be burned up with fire. For mighty is the Lord God who has judged her. And the kings of the earth who committed sexual immorality and lived in luxury with her will weep and wail over her when they see the smoke of her burning. They will stand far off in fear of her torment and say, alas, alas, you great city, you mighty city, Babylon, for in a single hour your judgment has come. And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn for her, since no one buys their cargos anymore. Cargo of gold, silver, jewels, pearls, fine linen, purple cloth, silk, scarlet cloth, all kinds of scented wood, all kinds of articles of ivory, all kinds of articles of costly wood, bronze, iron, and marble, cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, frankincense, wine, oil, fine flour, wheat, cattle, and sheep, horses, and chariots, and slaves, that is, human souls. The fruit for which your soul longed for has gone from you, and all your delicacies and your splendors are lost to you, never to be found again. The merchants of these wares who gained wealth from her will stand far off in fear of her torment, weeping and mourning aloud. Alas, alas for the great city that was clothed in fine linen, in purple and in scarlet, adorned with gold, with jewels, and with pearls. For in a single hour, all this wealth has been laid waste. And all shipmasters and seafaring men, sailors and all whose trade is on the sea, stood far off and cried out as they saw the smoke of her burning. What city was like the great city? And they threw dust on their heads as they wept and mourned, crying out, alas, alas for the great city, where all who had ships at sea grew rich by her wealth. for in a single hour she has been laid waste. Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets, for God has given judgment for you against her. Then a mighty angel took up a stone, like a great millstone, and threw it into a sea, saying, so will Babylon, the great city, be thrown down with violence and will be found no more. And the sound of harpists and musicians of flute players and trumpets will be heard in you no more. And a craftsman of any craft will be found in you no more. And the sound of the mill will be heard in you no more. And the light of a lamp will shine in you no more. And the voice of a bridegroom and bride will be heard in you no more. For your merchants were the great ones of the earth. and all nations were deceived by your sorcery. And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all who have been slain on earth." So as we go through Revelation 17 through 18, there's a lot of stuff there. We're not actually going to cover everything. I'll just give you a preview on that. But this is going to be my proposition. This is what I want to get to as we go through Revelation 17 through 18, is that the current age is marked by two cities. The current age is marked by two cities that have two different loves. The city of man loves itself and loves the world and is doomed to destruction. The city of man loves itself and loves the world and is doomed to destruction. So those belonging to the city of God must be careful not to be found loving the things of this world. So that's what we're going to look at as we go through Revelation 17 through 18. I'm going to have three points this morning, which I'll admit, this is one of the harder texts in Revelation, which itself is not the easiest book in the world to interpret. But these are three questions I had about the text. And hopefully, as we work through and answer these questions, we'll have a better understanding of what this text is about. So three questions. Who is the great prostitute? Who is this Babylon, the great mother of prostitutes and the abominations of Earth? And second, what is the end of the city of man and its loves? And then third, what should the citizens of the city of God do? Those are the three questions I want to ask of the text this morning. I think the first question will lead to the second, and then the second will lead to the third. And we'll understand how this all goes together. And then by the end, hopefully we'll have at least a better grasp on what this vision of Babylon the great, the great prostitute in Revelation has to do with. So we'll start with our first question. Who is the great prostitute? Who is Babylon the Great? We're gonna see the city of man and the love of the world is at the center of who the great prostitute is. So we'll just start in Revelation 17, verse one. It said, then one of the seven angels who had the seven bulls came and said to me, come, I will show you the judgment. Like I said, all the interludes look back at the last seven and then they catapult us into the next seven. And so we're actually looking back. We've had the seven angels with the seven bowls. They poured out their bowls of judgment on the earth. And that judgment has been exhausted. So at the end, it is now done, is the word at the end of the seventh trumpet. But then we step back again. We keep stepping back out of history and looking again and again at what happened. So he says, come. We just finished that judgment. I'll show you the judgment. I'll tell you what happened when this judgment was poured out. But this time, it's specifically the judgment of the great prostitute. who sits on many waters. So that's who we're talking about in this, is that great prostitute who is seated on many waters with whom the king of the earth had committed sexual immorality. And with the wine of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth had become drunk. So just a couple notes at the beginning, this great prostitute is someone who has had sexual immorality with many of the kings of the earth. But as John speaks picturesquely, And as the prophets often speak, sexual immorality is a background for idolatry, of giving your love to something other than God. And so Babylon the Great, the great prostitute, whoever she is, is something that has lured nation after nation to turn away from God and to pursue something else, to go into idolatry, to turn away from God and commit to something else. And so he has this proclamation, and then it says, and he carried me away in the spirit into a wilderness. Interestingly, the last time he was in a wilderness, he saw another woman, a woman crowned with 12 stars, who was given a promise of a son. And so now we have a contrast between the woman whom God saved, who got cast out into the wilderness so that the dragon could not devour her. But now he's brought back into the wilderness and said, there's another woman here. And he said, I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names. And it had seven heads and 10 horns. And so right off the bat, we've got a whole lot of picturesque things going on, a lot of imagery that we're going to have to tear through. I'm going to kind of gloss over this a little bit, because we've already talked about the beast. And so this beast is the same as the first beast from earlier, the beast with seven heads and 10 horns, the beast that represents imperial power. We get a few more descriptions here, but not a ton of more descriptions. It's looking back at what has already been said about that beast. The main thing we get here is apparently the beast is red, which we hadn't known yet. It's a scarlet beast. Not sure that that's super important. But we have the woman, but the woman sits on the beast. The beast and the prostitute go together. They work together in this world, although we'll talk about that more as we go through. But we keep going, and it says, the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet and adorned with golden jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup. And so, as John looks at this woman, at first glance, she's riding this terrifying beast, and she's arrayed in great beauty. Something that might be alluring, something that seems like it's full of good. But then John, with the eyes of the spirit, says, she's arrayed in great beauty, but in that golden cup, it's full of abominations. It's full of the impurities of our sexual immorality. He says, she looks good. She looks alluring. She appears glorious. And yet, at the core, she is corrupt, intensely corrupt, ultimately corrupt. And on her forehead was written a name of mystery. John comes to mystery several times as we go through Revelation. He usually is not talking about something that we have to penetrate into to understand something like a future prophecy. In fact, most of the time he's talking about mystery. He's talking about, I don't want to say it plainly, but if you look around you right now, you can see what I'm talking about. So he says he has a name of mystery, and this is the mysterious name, not the literal name, but the mysterious name that she has given, is Babylon the Great, mother of prostitutes. So he looks and says, this great prostitute is something like the ancient city of Babylon. We go back to that ancient city of Babylon. It was the great city of the earth, ruled over by great kings. We even have these great visions in Daniel. And Babylon was set at the top as gold. All the other empires that came afterwards were less good. There was gold, and then silver, and then bronze, and then iron, and iron mixed with clay. All of them got less and less precious as they went down. And he looked, and he said Babylon the Great was this great city. It looked glorious in every way. And this is kind of what I'm talking about. Not exactly. This is the name of mystery. We'll have to untangle what he's talking about. But he's saying it's something like Babylon the Great. He said Babylon the Great was the mother of prostitutes. the one who had enticed all nations to come and follow her instead to follow after God. And so Babylon the Great, the mother of prostitutes and averse abominations. And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And so, so far, we haven't actually answered much of the question. We've mostly set up the question. We have this great prostitute that John comes in and he sees. It's an alluring woman that's somehow identified with Babylon, but not exactly Babylon the Great. And so when John saw her, he marveled greatly. He goes, I was confused. I didn't know what I was looking at. I'm not sure what I was supposed to make out of this. But then the angel said to me, why do you marvel? They're like, this is actually really clear. And if you don't get it, he said, I will tell you the mystery. I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast with seven heads and 10 horns that carries you. I'm going to skip over the beast. I'm going to come back to that later. We'll talk about the beast a little bit. But these are distracting details that actually pull us off the main point. And so if we dive in too hard on that, we may miss the main point. Instead, I want to come back later and fill those in in a little bit. But we're going to have the mystery of the woman proclaimed in a few minutes. So we'll skip over that and come to Revelation 17.9. This is the mystery of the woman. So John says, this calls for a mind with wisdom. He says, again, I'm going to give this in code. He's given code several times. The number of his name is 666. Think about what's happening here. Put it together and get the name. John almost was writing a book with plausible deniability. He wanted to write about things, but he didn't want government censors to find the book and throw it away. So he said, you know what? When they get this book, they're not going to find their name in it anywhere. So he says, just think about what I'm saying. You'll understand. This calls for a mind of wisdom. Then he says this. The seven heads of that beast are seven mountains on which the woman is seated. So if we go to the ancient world, we go to John's day, this would have been actually an extremely clear reference. There was a city set on seven hills, a city known the world over. It was the city of Rome, the great capital of the empire. And so what John is saying is the great prostitute is Rome, the city built on seven hills. And so now we're starting to make connections. Rome, like Babylon before, were very similar in some ways. the great cities of their empire, the great cities that entice to all the nations around them to follow after them instead of following after God. And then at the end, to make sure we understand, John says it again, Revelation 17, 18, and the woman that you saw is the great city that has dominion over the kings of the earth. And so that's the first identification I want to make, is that the great prostitute is somehow equivalent to Rome. Rome is going to be identified as the great prostitute in Revelation 17 and 18. But we're not done. We've got a lot farther to go. So the next thing I want to look at is how this great prostitute is described. We've already started on this a little bit. But Rome is not all that we see about this great prostitute. There's something else that actually woven through and makes the bulk of what is said about this prostitute. So we've already seen it once. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet adorned with gold and jewels and pearls. But I want to follow that thread because that actually keeps getting repeated over and over again as we talk about this great prostitute. So we'll flip over into Revelation 18. Start with verse 3. It says, for all nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality. And so somehow, this great prostitute is offering something to the nations that is enticing to them. In fact, this prostitute is contrasted with the beast. The beast represented imperial power, the ability to force others to do what was required. And they raised up religions, a second beast, or false worship that could require people to bow down, the force of the sword that would create or force people to obey. The prostitute is different. Instead of having power to force, she uses guile to entice. She offers something that they want. And so the wine of the passion over sexual immorality. And then it says what that offering is. It says the merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power of her luxurious living. Somehow Babylon the Great, before Rome, offered the nations a way to pursue the love of money. a way to pursue the things of this earth. And that's actually what's repeated over and over again. We come, it says, she was luxurious in her living. Verse 7, she glorified herself and lived in luxury. She had all the pleasures of the earth and she offered them to those who would come and worship her. Revelation 18, 11 through 17. So Revelation 18 is a series of three songs. There's first a song of judgment from God, which is what we were just in, and then a song of mourning from the merchants of the earth, and then a song of victory from heaven again. But we come to the song of mourning, and what do the people that see the fall of Babylon the Great, that see the fall of this great city mourn over? They mourn over the fact that no longer can they find the luxury that they were used to. The merchants of earth weep. and mourn for her since no one buys their cargo anymore. Cargo of gold and silver jewels, pearls, fine linen, purple cloth, silk, scarlet cloth, all kinds of scented wood, all kinds of articles of ivory, all kinds of articles of costly wood, bronze, iron, and marble, cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, frankincense, wine, oil, fine flour, wheat, cattle, sheep, horses, and chariots, and slaves, that is, human souls. Everything that our heart could love in this world, Babylon the Great offers. Everything that our heart could love in this world was found in that great prostitute. And that's what she offered when she was cast down, those things went away in this world. And so it says, the fruit for which your soul longed for has gone from you. All your delicacies and your splendors are lost to you, never to be found again. The merchants of these wares who gained wealth from her will stand far off. in fear of her torment, weeping and mourning aloud. Alas, alas for the great city that was clothed in fine linen, and purple and in scarlet, adorned with gold, with jewels, and with pearls. For in a single hour, all this wealth, oh, I skipped something, all this wealth has been laid waste. That was what was at the core of what the great prostitute was, of Babylon the Great, identified with Rome, was great wealth, the ability to seek pleasure in this world, to set our love on the things of this world. And so the first identification we'll make is that somehow this city has identified very closely with Rome and very closely with Babylon. We'll come back to that in a few minutes. Second, we'll identify that this city is marked by a love for the things of this world. But then we'll go, we'll keep going for a few minutes, come back to Revelation 17, go to verses 1 through 2, skipped over something, it said, Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bulls came and said to me, Come, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters. Okay, so the great prostitute is riding this beast, this seven-headed dragon, scarlet beast, riding around the nations of the earth, identified as Rome. But then it also says that she has sitted on many waters, not only on that beast, but on many waters. And then this gets interpreted for us in Revelation 17, 15. The angel said to me, the waters that you saw where the prostitute is seated, these are peoples. I'm sorry, peoples and multitudes and nations and languages. Actually, it's a phrase that's already been used several times in Revelation. This is the phrase of those whom the Lamb is going to redeem as its own from every tribe and tongue and language and nation. But the prostitute has gone to those as well, to peoples and multitudes and nations and languages, and has enticed all of them to follow after her. Rome is the great city. But maybe Rome is not all of the great city. Babylon was the great city, but maybe Babylon is not the only part of the great city. And so it's a city who has influence in every nation and culture, influence everywhere that people have ever been. If the lamb is redeeming from every people, people for himself, then the prostitute has gone to all peoples and enticed them to himself as well. And so now we can put all this together. We're going to identify the great prostitute. Listen, three things we said. The great prostitute does equal Rome. That's the first, to the people of the first reading of Revelation, that's what John wanted them to read. That this is equal to Rome, the city of seven hills, the great city of the empire. And that was enticing the people to follow after her because there they could become rich. There they could love the things of this world. And so that's actually the main mark of the city, is that the great prostitute is marked by decadence and pleasure, pursuing the things of this world, setting our hearts on those things, loving those things. That's where joy is found. That's where our desire is found. And the third thing we said, the great prostitute is found in every language, in every nation, in every culture. There is nowhere where she is not found. So do a little bit of synthesis, think through what John wants us to think through. I'm going to say something like this. The great prostitute is Rome. The great prostitute is Rome, but not merely Rome. Rome was the manifestation in John's day. Babylon was the manifestation many years before. There would have been other manifestations along the way. And once Rome goes away, there will be other manifestations in the future. Rome was the manifestation in John's day. But just as with the beast, the beast who raised up and was identified with the imperial power of Rome as well, it wasn't the end of the beast. The beast didn't die when Rome went away. The prostitute also didn't die when Rome went away. And so if we generalize it and say, what is John talking about? We could say something like this. The great prostitute is the city of men. The great prostitute is the city of men in love with the things of this world. And John said, look. Look around you. Babylon enticed all nations, all peoples, to come and love the things of this world. Rome called all nations. all peoples to love the things of this world. They set up situations in which people could become rich. The world still celebrates the Pax Romana, the peace that Rome brought to the nations in which trade routes could become established, in which trade could happen, in which people could be enriched, which grain could go across the earth. And the standard of living during Rome went up greatly. And John said, look at that. Look at what Rome did. That's not good. That was evil. That was enticing the nations to love the things of this world. And it's still going to go on. There'll be people and places that entice to love the things of this world. The city of man won't fall with any individual city. Babylon fell, but Rome took its place. Rome fell, and another place took its place. So just to close this, I think a great person to go to is Augustine. Augustine thought about this deeply, and I think he wrote very well. He identified the story of the Bible does focus on two cities. And I've borrowed this language. You probably hear me talking about this a lot. But Augustine talked about two cities, the city of man and the city of God. And this is what he wrote. This is actually, he's written a long book so far. This is kind of his conclusion. It's kind of in the middle of the book. It's a transition point, but it's a large conclusion. to a very long thesis that he's already written, and that's why it starts accordingly. Look back at what I've written. This is my conclusion. Accordingly, two cities have been formed by two loves, the earthly by the love of self, even to the contempt of God, and the heavenly by the love of God, even to the contempt of self. The former, in a word, glories in itself, the latter in the Lord. For the one seeks glory from men, But the greatest glory of the other is God, the witness of conscience. The one lifts up its head in its own glory, the other says to its God, thou art my glory, and the lifter up of my head. And the one the princes and the nations it subdues are ruled by the love of ruling, and the other the princes and subjects serve one another in love. The latter obeying while the former take thought for all. The one delights in its own strength, represented in the persons of its rulers. The other says to its God, I will love thee, O Lord, in my strength. And therefore the wise men of the one city, living according to man, has sought for profit to their own bodies or souls or both. And those who have known God glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened, professing themselves to be wise. That is, glorying in their own wisdom and being possessed by pride, they became fools. and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and to four-feeted beasts, and to creeping things. For they were either leaders or followers of the people in adoring images, and worshiped and served the creature more than the creator, who is blessed forever. But in the other city, there is no human wisdom, but only godliness, which offers due worship to the true God and looks for its reward in the society of the saints of holy angels as well as holy men, that God may be all in all. I think that's what John's talking about, is that city of man, that city of man that has set its love on self, that has set its love on the things of this world, that desires the best of what this world has and will take joy in that. And he's saying that is Babylon, Babylon the great. That is Rome. That is every culture that entices you to come and to pursue the love of money, the love of pleasure, the love of X that happens in this world. So that's my answer to who is the great prostitute, Babylon the Great. The great prostitute is that city of man, that concept of enticing the world to follow after the riches and the pleasures of this world. So that's my conclusion there. My second question is going to be, what is the end of the city of man and its laws? Because that's actually the point of Revelation 17 and 18, what happens to Babylon the Great. We're going to see the world is passing away along with its desires. So we come to Revelation 18.1. Revelation 17 sets up the problem. We see this great prostitute, Babylon the Great, sitting on many waters, writing on this great piece. And then he does a little bit of interpretation, says, I'm not going to tell you straight out, but I'm going to give you real clear pointers what I'm talking about. And then Revelation 18, we come, and we see what happens. After this, I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority. And the earth was made bright with his glory. And he called out with a mighty voice, Fallen. Following is Babylon the Great. John said, there was a city that enticed all peoples to follow after it. A city that not only executed power, imperial power, to force men, but also offered riches to entice men. He said, that city fell. That city will not last forever. He does it in the past tense, looking towards the future, but she has become a dwelling place for demons. a haunt for every unclean spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, a haunt for every unclean and detestable beast." This is actually a quote. Fallen, fallen is Babylon the Great, is from Isaiah 21.9. So we read that this morning. And actually, this quote, fallen, fallen is Babylon the Great, comes from Isaiah 21.9. But then most of the imagery that we go through Revelation 18 through is actually from Isaiah 23, which is an interesting thing. Why does he start with this quote from Isaiah 21.9? which is an oracle against Babylon, and then jumps out of that oracle. It doesn't really come back to that oracle at all, and instead jumps into Isaiah 23, an oracle against the city of Tyre. But this is great. We've been going through Isaiah for the last several, I don't know, maybe a year, and Wednesday nights. And actually, as we go through this, we see that there were three sections of oracles to the nations. The first section. was sets of oracles that were hopeful oracles, oracles that declared judgment and offered salvation. But then we had a second set of oracles against the nations. It started in Isaiah 21.1 with an oracle against Babylon and ended at the end of Isaiah 23 with an oracle against Tyre. So what John is doing, with the inspiration of God, is looking back and saying, you know what? We're going to look at this second group of oracles, a set of oracles that was much less hopeful, a set of oracles that said, eventually, God's judgment will fall, and there's no escaping God's judgment. He says, it starts with fallen, fallen is Babylon the great. But here's where it ends. It ends with the downfall of Tyre. And in Isaiah, Tyre was this great city, a city of merchants, a city that offered her wares to the world. It said, come. be part of what I'm doing. And that's what John's going to do, is he's going to come, fall on his babble on the grave, but then he's going to look and say, where does this end? It ends with the fall of those who hold up the riches of this world as something to run after. So we see this over and over again. We have no... misunderstanding what happens to Babylon. Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great. Again, Revelations 18, six through eight. Pay her back as she herself has paid back others and repay her double for her deeds. Mix a double portion for her in the cup she has mixed. As she glorified herself and live in luxury, so give her a like measure of torment and mourning. Since in her heart she says, I said as a queen, I am no widow, and mourning I shall never see. For this reason, her plagues will come in a single day, death and mourning and famine, and she will be burned up with fire, for mighty is the Lord God who has judged her." We're going to come back to that, but we have a straight-up declaration. God himself is judging Babylon. God himself is judging the city of man. God himself is going to cast down that system that entices and lures the nations with the promise of wealth and pleasure. But then we keep going. 18, 17 through 20, and all shipmasters and seafaring men and sailors, and all whose trade is on the sea, stood afart out and cried out as they saw the smoke of a burning. What city was like the great city? And they threw dust on their heads as they wept and mourned, crying out, alas, alas, for the great city where all who had ships at sea grew rich by her wealth. For in a single hour, she has been laid waste. Rejoice over her, oh heavens, and you saints and apostles and prophets. for God has given you judgment for you against her. Or Revelation 18, 21 and 22. Then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, so will Babylon the great be thrown down with violence and will be found no more. And the sound of harpists and musicians, of flute players and trumpeters will be heard in you no more. And a craftsman of any craft will be found in you no more. And the sound of the mill will be heard in you no more. The fate of Babylon is very clear. It will fall we come back to Revelation 17 actually the fall of Babylon was already mentioned in Revelation 17 actually tells us how so it's very clear. What is the end of the city of man? What is the end of Babylon? What is the end of Rome? It will fall by the hand of God We come to the end of Revelation 17 where they're doing some interpretation of the vision and it says this the angel said to me the waters that you saw are Where the prostitute is seated are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages. And the tin horns that you saw, they and the beast will hate the prostitute. So I skipped over this for a couple reasons. We saw the woman was riding on this beast. We saw that the beast was the same as the beast before. The beast was seven heads and 10 horns. And we thought about how that beast before had been a model of imperial power, a beast that mirrored the beast that came from Daniel, but combined aspects of all of them. And so this great beast. that this woman riding is the same beast. But then more details are given. It says the seven heads are seven mountains on which the city sits, which the woman sits, identified with Rome. But then he says it's also seven kings, five which were, one which is not, and one which is to come. But when he comes, he's only going to last a little while. Then he says the beast is an ape that is like to it. I'm going to tread real lightly there, because there's lots of different ways people go with that. I'm not going to jump into trying to predict what's going to happen in the future, because number one, I'm not 100% sure that's what it's talking about. It might be, but if it is talking about the future, I have no way of knowing how in the world I'd tell you what's going to happen. It doesn't fit any clear situation in the past all that well. Some people try to mash it together, but it honestly doesn't fit anything in the past. But it does fit the numbers in Revelation pretty well. John's saying there's seven heads. It's a mirror, a mockery of the fullness of what God provides. God's number is seven. It's going to come to completion. This beast, this dragon, is trying to have seven and saying, I'm going to bring to completion my thing. And John says, five of those have already happened. This beast has been in the world a long time. It goes back to what he said before. The beast was Babylon. And the beast was Persia. And the beast was Greece. And the beast is now Rome. And the beast will be whatever the beast will be in the future. He says, five of them have already fallen. One is, but is not. It's an interesting thing. I'm not entirely sure what that means. But it comes back to what he said about Nero, that the Roman Empire almost fell. But then it came back. And men marveled. It has that same kind of language there. Then he says, one more will come. He says, don't think that if Rome falls, the beast is dead. One more will come. But he says this, it will only last a little while. Some people will take that and say, we're looking for some nation that will rise up, only be there for a little while, and then fall. I think that's not what John means, though, because John in the entire New Testament describes a little while as the period from Christ to Christ. So he says, there's more that will rise. but it will only be a little while. It will not be forever. Then he says, the beast is an eighth, but it belongs to the seven. What he's saying, I think, is the same thing that I've been saying the whole time. Each of these are images of the beast. The beast is an eighth, the ultimate one, but all of these were just representations of that beast that happened throughout history. So that's my quick, dirty overview of that, and saying we're going to brush that under the rug, because I don't think it's super important to the main point. But he's saying this beast and the prostitute go together. And that's the main point. The beast and the prostitute work together. The imperial power of this world and the lust for the things of this world are both going to work together as weapons of the dragon against the church. But then things get dicey. Because the beast and the prostitute work together. But then the ten horns, these ten kings that rise up. Again, not going to say much about those. Again, it's a number. It's a perfect number. It might just represent all kings that will rise up. It might represent ten specific kings that I have no idea how to identify. But again, brushing that under the rug. These ten horns. you saw will hate the prostitute. The beast and the prostitute are working together, but they don't get along very well. Imperial power and pursuing the wealth of this world, they tend to be at odds with each other. And eventually, the imperial power of this world is going to say, you know what? Wealth is great, but I want power more than wealth. And so they will make her desolate and naked and devour her flesh and burn her up with fire. the power of this world and the wealth of this world, they work together to entice the church away from God, but eventually they're going to clash with each other. And they're going to find that they can't go together. In fact, we have this contrast. The beast and the prostitute are both weapons of the dragon, but they don't go together very well. In fact, as we look at history, even as we look around our present day, we can see contrast between the beast and the prostitute. I've actually enjoyed what Gary has brought up several times. Gary, I'm putting the spotlight on you for a second. Sorry. But Gary has mentioned several times that perhaps China or Russia or the communists are more like the beast. I've disagreed with Gary a little bit. But in large part, I agree with Gary. There are more aspects of the beast represented in those cultures. And on the other side, we have aspects on the other side, the West, that doesn't have as many of that. It has tendencies toward that. The beast is represented there, but it doesn't have as much of that imperial power trying to force people to fall in line with them over time. More and more seems to happen. But on the other side, we have the prostitute. We have the wealth of the nations held out. We have, if I could go just a little bit into our present time, America the Great offering to the nations wealth of all kinds. Come, partake in my system. My system gives you the best of what the world can offer. My system will grow wealth. My system will raise up nations. And so, yeah, there is a contrast between different systems, some that run towards the beast and some that run toward the prostitute, because those are both weapons of the dragon, both wars by the dragon to deceive the nations, but they end up not getting along very well. But then it says at the end, The beast is going to get tired of those who pursue wealth and crush them. That's kind of the notion here. The beast comes and destroys the prostitute and says, I can't stand this anymore. That's what does replicate over and over again in cultures is power ends up destroying the wealth of the culture. That's not to say that the wealth of the culture was good. It was just a different evil. One side is evil in this way. The other side is evil in this way. But if it's the beast that destroys the prostitute, we have an interesting thing. It said God judged the prostitute. But in Revelation 17, it said the beast judged the prostitute. But it says, you know what? God uses physical things to carry out his purposes. For God has put it into their hearts, into the hearts of these 10 kings, into the hearts of those who represent the beast to carry out his purpose. And they will end up destroying the wealth of this world. And so we have the beast versus the prostitute. And so that's the end of the city of man. It will eventually fall. The love of this world cannot be sustained indefinitely. In fact, we see the evil of it in that it can't get along even with itself, and it ends up destroying itself. It ends up turning in on itself and destroying. The love of the things of this world cannot last. There is no way to make them last forever. They will end up being corrupted and destroyed. And so that's the end of the city of man. What is the great prostitute? It is the city of man, represented in Babylon, and Rome, and in many other cultures throughout the world. What is the end of that city of man and its slaves? Utter destruction. So third question, what should the citizens of the city of God do? What does this mean for us applications? And the straightforward application is going to be this, go out from among them and be separate. go out from among them and be separate. In fact, I've pointed this out over and over again in Revelation. Revelation can be a hard book to interpret. I'm not sure 100% what it's saying all the time. But John comes through and tells us what he wants to do with it all the time. If we don't understand it, we can at least read the commands and say, well, I don't know what he's saying, but this is what he wants me to do with whatever he's saying. Turns out John gives us two very straightforward commands in this passage as well. I'm actually going to give three exhortations, three applications of the passage. But we'll see two of them are direct commands that come out of the passage. The first one is actually not a direct command, but something that, as you look at the passage, I want to think about. So, first application. What does this mean for us? We see the announcement of the downfall of the city of man, the system that desires the things of this world. The first application is this. We should recognize that the pleasures that this world offers are completely opposed to the people of God. We should recognize that the pleasures this world offers are completely opposed to the people of God. Because, and I say this as those who I think do live very close to the prostitute, who live very close to a center of wealth, a center of luxury, a center where we are offered whatever we could possibly desire. And we're called to say that that is good. This is evidence of great goodness. That's what the world wants us to see. But we ought to be able to see with the eyes of the spirit and say no. What the world is offering to me is contrary, opposite, completely opposed. to what Christ is offering. Actually, John shows us this when we come back to Revelation 17, four through six. It says, the woman was arrayed in purple and in scarlet adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality. So he starts out there. We already talked about it. She looks alluring, but she's actually full of death, full of corruption. But he says, that's not all I want you to see. Yes, she looks good, but she's full of death. Then it says, on her forehead was written the name of Mystery Babylon, the great mother of prostitutes and of the earth's abominations. But then this is what it finishes with, the vision. And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints. That is, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. So John looks and he says, I saw with the eyes of the spirit. That woman looked good, but she was full of corruption. And this was her end. Her end was to drink the blood of the saints. Her end was to destroy those who belonged to the land. Her end was to be a tool of the dragon to try to take down the church. And this prostitute rejoiced in the downfall of Christ's people. I think if we took it out of such picturesque languages, we might come back to 1 Peter 5, where it says, be sober-minded, be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. No, and that verse right there, I think, goes on to talk about persecution, which is one way the devil seeks to devour. But I think that's not all Peter's thinking about, because if we just go back a couple verses, he says something else as well. He said this, 1 Peter 4, 3 through 4. He says, for the time that has passed, suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do. And what do the Gentiles want to do? They live in sensuality. They see the pleasures of this world, and they love it. They live in sensuality. Sorry, I lost my place. Passion, strunkenness, war juice, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. Then it says, with respect to this, they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you. They have immersed themselves in the love of the things of this world. And the devil calls out to the church and says, forget the love of Christ. Love the things of this world. In fact, he doesn't even say forget the love of Christ. He just says, look how good the things of the world are. If I can draw your heart towards these, I'll draw them away from Christ. And the world looks at this and says, I don't understand why you don't love what I'm offering to you. And so that's the first application. Be sober-minded. Be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion. And one of the main tools he uses in our society is to hold out the wealth, the pleasures, the sensuality of this world and say, you know what? Be happy here. Be happy here. Look at your system and say, it's good. Be careful about that. The pleasures this world offers are completely opposed to the people of God. But then the next two we're actually gonna see as direct commands in the passage. So the second one is gonna be this. We should refuse to love or to become entangled in the world or the things of this world because it is doomed to destruction. We should refuse to love or become entangled in the world or the things of this world because it is doomed to destruction. Come back to Revelation 18, 4 through 6. We heard a first voice cried out in a loud voice, fallen, fallen is Babylon the great. But then it says, then I heard another voice from heaven saying, the first one was an announcement to the world. The second one was to God's people saying, come out of her, my people. This is what's going to happen to Babylon the Great. It's going to fall. It's going to be destroyed in a day. Everything that it stands for will be burned up in fire. Come out of her, my people. First, lest you share in her sins or lest you take part in her sins. If you immerse yourself in that, you will find that your heart is drawn towards it. That's what Jesus said. Don't let your treasures be here because wherever your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Your heart will be drawn to what you have. That's invariably what happens. So he says, come out of her. Don't partake. Don't run after these sins. I'll let you first take part in her sins, and then if you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues. The judgment that is coming will sweep up all who have immersed themselves in the love of the things of this world. For her sins are heaped as high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. So, again, coming out of the picturesque languages, I think it is simply another statement of 1 John 2, 15-17. We already read it this morning, but it's worth reading again. John says, do not love either the world or the things of the world. He says, look around you. You can love the system of the world, or you can just get drawn into the love of the things of the world. the things that are offered to you, the pleasures, the love of money, the love of sensuality, the love of whatever you find in this world that's offered to you. Do not love those things. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, pride and possessions, is not from the Father, but is from the world. And then this is John's final statement. Those things, they belong to the world, and the world is passing away along with its desires. You love those things, you'll lose. You love those things, you're destroyed. You love those things, you'll be swept away with the rest. But on the other hand, whoever does the love of God abides forever. Those are two contrasts. You can either love the things of this world or you can love God. You can love the things of this world or you can love Christ. So we should look at the promise to Babylon the Great and say no. We have to be on guard against all love of the things of this world. Refuse to love or become entangled. Don't get tied down by things in this world, because it is doomed to destruction. But then third, we should rejoice. We should rejoice at the destruction of the city of man, because God is fighting for us. That seems, again, very odd, similar to my application for last week. But we shouldn't overlook straightforward commands. It says this, starting in Revelation 18, 19, It's talking about the merchants. They threw dust on their heads as they wept and mourned, crying out, alas, alas for the great city, where all who had ships at sea grew rich by our wealth. For in a single hour, she has been made waste. But then a voice comes and talks again. It says, rejoice over her. Rejoice. That's a command. It's actually an active, present command. Rejoice over her. Be glad that she is going to fall. Be glad that she has fallen. Rejoice over her, starting with the heavens. Rejoice over her, O heavens, you who sit in the realm of God. But then, lest we think it doesn't apply to us, he makes it clear. Rejoice over her, O heavens, and you saints and apostles and prophets. Rejoice. God will bring on Babylon all that she deserves. God will bring on Babylon everything that she has earned, and she will be burned up in fire. Rejoice. Rejoice over her, O heavens. for God has given judgment for you against her. We look at Babylon, we look at Rome, we look at America, we look at whatever system holds up wealth and pleasure and sensuality and whatever else it can hold up to us and say, you tried to tempt me. In fact, if it had been on my power, you would have tempted me and you would have caused me to fall away from Christ. You are my enemy, and I will rejoice in your downfall. the people of God, but God judged for me against you. God said, I will save him and I will destroy you. Again, we don't say that in any personal sense. I hope God destroys you. But we are grateful that God will bring justice in the end and will cast down the order of this world and say, you know what? These structures will fall. These structures that have been built up against Christ and against his kingdom will all fall on the last day and they will not defeat us. And so we rejoice. Rejoice over her, O heavens, and you saints and apostles and prophets, for God has given the judgment for you against her. And so that's our final application. We should rejoice at the destruction of the city of man, because God is fighting for us. So kids, here's your kids' questions. Finishing up the passage, what is the city of man? What is Babylon the Great? What is the great prostitute? And it is, again, the world opposed to God. But specifically, it's the world opposed to God that's in love with the pleasures of this world, in love with the things of this world. People will be lovers of self, lovers of money. They will be lovers of pleasure instead of lovers of God. It's the world opposed to God in love with the pleasures of this world, and it is doomed to destruction. It may hold out enticing things now, but it will not last. It may last for a lifetime even, but it will not last. It will be destroyed in the end. Second, so how is the city of God different? If that's a city of man, in love with itself, in love with its own things, what is the city of God? The citizens of the city of God refuse to be enticed by the pleasures of this world. They look at this world and say, you can hold out to me whatever you want, but I'm going to love Christ. I'm going to turn away from the things that you offer, because I want to hold on to Christ. I'm going to turn away from whatever you can give me, because when you give me that, I'm going to love it, I'm going to want it more, I'm going to run after it. And instead, they rejoice in God, and they wait for him. The city of man, and the city of God. Let's pray together. Father, we're sobered as we read and meditate on the fall of the world order, the fall of the world that loves itself, that loves its own things, that have traded your glory for the glory of created things. Father, we tremble because we know it could be so easily us. We know that it is so easy to fall in love with the things of this world. And so, Father, as we hear these promises made about the system of this world. I pray that you would guard us against those. I pray that even this morning, you'd give us renewed vigilance to look at our lives and make sure that we are not falling in love with the things of this world, starting to accumulate treasures here on Earth. Instead, that you would free us from the love of self, from the love of money, from the love of pleasure, so that we can love the things that you have given us, so that we can love Christ, so that we can love your salvation, so that we can love your glory. Father, we admit before you that we are weak in that, but we trust that your spirit is powerful. We trust that you can work that in us and that you can preserve us to the last day. Father, I pray that you would help us to glorify you as we turn away from the things of this world that would be evident to those around us that we are different, that we don't love what they love, that we love something different. We pray that this would be a glory to Christ. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Let's open it up for any questions or comments or other discussion. Yeah. Thank you for the continued study of Revelation. It's been really good. You were talking about I couldn't help but see a clearer picture pointing towards also in the early portions of Genesis. Judgment was pronounced upon Cain for killing Abel, but also protection was promised to him. And his response to that, instead of trusting in God's protection, was he built a city for himself. And the culmination of that was Babel with Nimrod. And for me, it's just such a clear picture. They heaped up for themselves this great effort protect themselves, to show how great they were. And God's response was to bring destruction and devastation to them. And I see, just like you were talking about, how this world, how we look for our own protection when God has promised to give it. And I think one of the most amazing things, though, is that confusion was what the city brought. People's tongues were changed, and they spoke different languages. And if that was where we were left, we would have no hope. But I love what happens at Pentecost and where the apostles are given the gift of tongues to speak to all the nations, where confusion was. Now the declaration of God's salvation has been brought. And so I just can't help but think how part of the response of the city of God is to speak the truth in grace and love. And I think more than ever, as a church, we have to speak that to the nations. And they may revile us, and they may hate us. But God, in his great wisdom, has ordained that we should be a part of the salvation of the tribes, and the nations, and the tongues. And we have to declare it. we have to declare it. So I pray that God will give us strength, because it's easy to shrink back. It's easy to be scared. It's easy to not speak out against this world or to speak harshly. No, good word. And I 100% agree that because the world is pursuing all of their own things, we have to testify that we have a different love and that they're going towards destruction. Yeah, absolutely. Anything else? If not, I'll, yeah. I'd just add, I appreciate your study in Revelation. I think that was a, not that you need me to say this, but a good and faithful exposition of God's wisdom. Yeah. We were talking about the things that will obviously, we have some relapse on the New Period, and the things around that make you think of Providence 30 versus 89. Giving you the Providence, or just giving you the Supremacy of Revelation, That is excellent. Thank you for bringing that up. Or I think of Paul saying, I've learned the secret of being content whether in plenty or in much. They're both dangerous in different ways. But I'll learn how to focus on God, whether he gives me lots. And I can be generous with it, or if he gives me little, I can be content with it. But yeah, exactly. Anything else? No, I'll turn it over to Keith. Good morning, everybody. Matthew, thank you. I do appreciate that. So as we come now to the time of the table, I just wanted to go back and think about, as we had talked about in Matt's sermon, this idea of being separate from the world. And really this, as we think about, you know, to stay true to Christ, We must follow him, his word.