The Revelation of Christ – Part 38:
The Punishment of the Great Prostitute I
Pastor Bruce A. Shields
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SERMON
INTRODUCTION
The
Book of Revelation, or the Revelation of Christ, is the most challenging book
in the bible.
Because
of this fact, many avoid it or ignore it altogether. Some fear lack of
understanding; others afraid to misinterpret, which I guess it is better to
avoid than dive in and get it completely wrong.
Many
times, when a new believer comes to me for direction, they want to jump right
into Revelation and find out what’s to come.
This
is equivalent to deciding one day to learn Mandarin and sitting down to author
a novel in Chinese that very same day.
Or,
a kindergartner learning how to count, and then trying to calculate quantum
mechanics calculations.
The
words in Revelation have caused much debate on rapture, judgment, even some who
claim John was writing about the events in his day in code rather than Jesus
Christ revealing to him about the coming events and Judgment.
A
special blessing is promised to those who read Revelation.
Although
it may be a difficult book, we could all use a special blessing, reading this
is good for us all, and with the help of the Holy Spirit, we will take the
Revelation of Christ in small portions and gain understanding, little by
little.
SERMON SERIES
THE THINGS WHICH
SHALL BE – The Coming Judgment
Part 10 – The Throne of God
Part 11 – The Scroll and Seven Seals
Part 12 – The Lamb is Worthy
Part 13 – The First Seal
Part 14 – The Second Seal
Part 15 – The Third Seal
Part 16 – The Fourth Seal
Part 17 – The Fifth Seal
Part 18 – The Sixth Seal
Part 19 – The 144,000 Sealed
Part 20 – The Great Multitude
Part 21 – The Seventh Seal
Part 22 – Trumpets 1-4
Part 23 – The 5th Trumpet (1st woe)
Part 24 – The 6th Trumpet (2nd woe)
Part 25 – The Mighty Angel
Part 26 – The Two Witnesses
Part 27 – The 7th Trumpet and 3rd Woe
Part 28 – The Woman and the Dragon I
Part 29 – The Woman and the
Dragon II
Part 30 – The Beast out of the Sea
Part 31 – The Beast out of the Earth
Part 32 – The Lamb and the 144,000
Part 33 – The Three Angels
Part 34 –
Harvesting the Earth
Part 35 – The Seven Angels with the Seven Plagues
Part 36 – The First Bowls
Part 37 – The Last Bowls
TODAY’S SERMON -
THE THINGS WHICH SHALL BE – The Coming Judgment
SCRIPTURE READING
Revelation 17:1-6
One
of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will
show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits by many waters. 2
With her the kings of the earth committed adultery, and the inhabitants of the
earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries.”
3
Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness. There I saw a
woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and
had seven heads and ten horns. 4 The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet,
and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls. She held a golden cup
in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries. 5
The name written on her forehead was a mystery:
Babylon
the great
the
mother of prostitutes
and
of the abominations of the earth.
6
I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of God’s holy people, the blood
of those who bore testimony to Jesus.
I.
ONE OF THE 7 ANGELS WITH THE BOWLS SAID, “COME, I WILL
SHOW YOU THE PUNISHMENT OF THE GREAT PROSTITUTE”
a.
The Great Prostitute sits by many waters
i. Water (as in “spring of
life”, “The Word”, “The Holy Spirit”)
ii. But here, this is referring
to what we read in Revelation 12:15, “And the serpent cast out
of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be
carried away of the flood.”
1. This “flood”, or “torrent”,
“deluge”, is Satan’s “water”
2. His false teachings
3. Since Satan could not stop
the woman, stop Jesus’ birth, stop the woman’s children or other offspring
(Christian’s), he would try to drown them in a flood of false teachings, false
doctrines, false religions, in hopes they would be carried away in their
confusion about the Truth.
4. John 8:44 “…He was a murderer from
the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he
lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”
5. 1 Corinthians
14:33 “For
God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the
saints.”
a. Using basic inference, we
can conclude that God is not the one causing confusion in the churches
b. He also is not causing the
fighting, bickering, grumbling, back-biting, problems within the churches
6. Satan’s last-ditch effort
was to create confusion about what the Truth is, or what the Church is, through
lies, false doctrines, teachings of men, cults, religions, etc.
b.
With her, the kings of the earth committed adultery
i. Kings of the lands who chose
to follow the Beast (666) accepted this false religion as truth, practiced it,
and gave it to their people.
ii. This is “Spiritual Adultery”
we read about in 1 John 2:15-17; 1 Corinthians 10:6-11; Colossians 3:5;
Hebrews 3:12-14; Hebrews 10:26-31; James 4:4-5, 1 John 5:21; Judges 2:11, and so on.
iii. This is why God divorced
Israel in Jeremiah 3:8 “I gave faithless Israel her certificate of divorce
and sent her away because of all her adulteries. Yet I saw that her unfaithful
sister Judah had no fear; she also went out and committed adultery.”
1. “But doesn’t the Lord say in
Malachi
2:16
“For I hate divorce,” says the Lord, the God of Israel, “and him who covers his
garment with wrong,” says the Lord of hosts. “So take heed to your spirit, that
you do not deal treacherously.”?
2. He does hate divorce, and he
hates adultery, or any sin for that matter
a. And guess what sin does?
Separates us from the Lord!
3. When we commit Spiritual
Adultery, WE are at fault against our covenant with God (as it states inn
Malachi), and when WE are at fault, a divorce can take place.
4. This doesn’t mean God
doesn’t “hate” divorce…it means He HATES that a covenant with Him was broken
and so severed the relationship between us and Him!
c.
The inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the
wine of her adulteries
i. Intoxicated means someone
received something TOXIC (poison)
ii. It can also mean to
exhilarate, thrill, elate, delight, captivate
iii. This was the state of the
people of earth who were “poisoned” with false teachings, yet, were thrilled to
believe so.
iv. 2 Timothy
4:3 “For the time will
come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their
own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say
what their itching ears want to hear.”
d.
The angel carried me away in the spirit to the
wilderness
i. Here we see another time
& space travel at the hands of an angel
1. Taking John to another time
and space in the Spirit realm
2. Why in the spirit?
3. Because he is witnessing
Symbolic Images
4. There is no “literal” Whore
of Babylon personified, rather, an symbolic image of Satan’s kingdom of false
teachings in imagery John could understand…Spiritual Adultery=the Whore
5. Teachings, not from God’s
Truth, but Satan’s Kingdom, the New Great Babylon
ii. Babylon: Revelation
13:3
“One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal
wound had been healed. The whole world was filled with wonder and followed the
beast.”
iii. The Wilderness = in
scripture means a location of “intense experiences”
1. The Jews during Exodus
(needing Manna from God)
2. Moses and the burning bush
(for renewal and to meet God)
3. Elijah in isolation (to hear
God’s still small voice)
4. Hagar and Ishmael (needing
divine deliverance)
5. Jesus in the desert (needing
the Holy Spirit)
II.
THERE, I SAW A WOMAN
a.
Sitting on a scarlet beast
i. This is the beast from Revelation
17:18 that rules over the
kings of the earth.
ii. The Beast (666)
iii. Scarlet is also often
associated with immorality and sin, particularly prostitution or adultery
iv. This “scarlet” beast offers
sin to mankind through the false teachings of the whore
b.
The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet
i. This is a little different
from the beast though
ii. Revelation
17:4
“The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold,
precious stones and pearls.”
iii. Sound
familiar?
1. Exodus
26:1 “you
shall make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine woven linen and blue,
purple and scarlet thread.
2. Exodus
26:36 “You
shall make a screen/curtain for the door of the tabernacle, woven of blue,
purple and scarlet thread”
3. And so on through the
building of God’s Tabernacle
iv. Satan, wanting to “be” God,
imitates the Holy Trinity, has his own unholy communion (Revelation
16:6
“for they have shed the blood of your holy people and your prophets, and you
have given them blood to drink as they deserve.") and now, the Whore of
Babylon is the false teachings of Satan’s church.
v. Adorned as God’s Holy
Tabernacle!
c.
In her hand a golden cup
i. The golden cup mimicking our
cup through Christ in Communion
ii. Luke
22:20 “after
the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood,
which is poured out for you.”
iii. However,
Satan’s church also has communion
iv. The golden cup filled with
abominable things and the filth of her adulteries.
III.
THE NAME WRITTEN ON HER FOREHEAD WAS A MYSTERY
a.
Babylon the Great
i. This is the new Babylon,
Satan’s rebuilt kingdom on earth
b.
The mother of prostitutes and the abomination of the
earth
i. Through Satan’s deluge
(flood of water, false teachings) ALL OTHER false religions and cults, false
doctrines and false teachings come from this original spilling out from Satan
c.
I saw the woman was drunk
i. With the blood of God’s holy
people, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus
ii. Remember what drunk (or
intoxicated) means?
iii. She was exhilarated, thrilled,
elated, delighted, captivated
1. By what?
iv. The BLOOD of God’s Holy
People and the BLOOD of those who bore testimony to Jesus!
CONCLUSION
–
The whore of Babylon, the
great prostitute poisoned the leaders of the world with false teachings, and
longed and desired for the blood of God’s people, especially those who preach
Christ.
NEXT
WEEK: The Punishment of the Great Prostitute II
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