Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction:

Although we’ve certainly come across some difficult passages in our journey through the Book of Revelation, there is little doubt that the passages that we’ll examine over the next two weeks in chapters 17 and 18 are the toughest to deal with.

There are so many different opinions about what all the details in these chapters represent.

For instance, the city represented by the harlot woman in chapter 17, which we’ll look at in just a few moments, is identified by various scholars as Jerusalem, or Rome, or today’s city of Babylon, or even by a couple, New York City.

But as we’ve seen with other parts of Revelation, it seems difficult to argue about these kinds of details when in all honesty, YHWH doesn’t give us enough information to make those kinds of determinations with a degree of certainty.

And the danger of that approach is that while we’re arguing over the details, we are probably going to miss why Jesus wanted us to hear this, and what we can learn and apply if we will take a step back and look at the bigger picture.

So before we go through chapter 17 this morning, let’s do just that--take a step back and understand the overall picture of chapters 17 and 18.

The first thing that is apparent in these two chapters is that much of this is clearly to be taken figuratively-- it’s symbolic language.

Just like the beasts we saw earlier in the book were not literal beasts, but rather represented the human Antichrist and false prophet, the woman prostitute that we see in chapter 17 is not a literal woman who is seated on literal waters.

We can be confident of that conclusion because many of the elements in this chapter are identified clearly in the chapter as symbols which represent something else.

We can still take a literal interpretation of Revelation while recognizing that these verses are from a literal angel, speaking literally to the Apostle John, about the literal meaning of the symbols that in of themselves, have figurative meanings.

So is the city of Babylon literal?

The important element that ties these two chapters together is Babylon.

As a city, Babylon is second in importance in the Bible only to Jerusalem, with around 300 mentions in Scripture.

We’ve already seen in Revelation, Babylon represents more than just a physical city located in present day Iraq.

It is used as a symbol in much the same way that we use the terms “Wall Street” or “Hollywood”.

Although those terms do indicate a physical location, we generally use them to represent much broader concepts like our financial system or the film industry in America.

We are going to see that here in the book of Revelation, Babylon represents two aspects of the human systems that will be significant factors in the events surrounding the Day of the Lord.

• Chapter 17 – a world religious system

• Chapter 18 - a political and economic system.

Worldly Empire(s)

Michael Gorman observes seven features of empire that emerge in Revelation 17–18.a

Empire

1. is a system of domination that seduces the powerful and intoxicates the common people, all with promises of power and security;

2. is both territorially grand and ideologically expansive, creating a kind of false ecumenism;

3. presents itself as aesthetically pleasing and full of benefits for its subjects;

4. is always opposed to the true God and his followers;

5. grows and expands, in part because the conquered give in;

6. will eventually die of self-inflicted wounds, as subjects revolt and destroy what originally empowered them;

7. is a short-term incarnation of the more permanent and powerful empire of Satan.

sound any familiar?

Transition:

Most famously, Babylon is portrayed negatively as a great worldly power that destroyed Jerusalem in 586/587 BC (Jerem.

50; Isaiah 13–14; 21; 47).

The early Christians even spoke of Rome as “Babylon” (1 Pet.

5:13).

As a result of her history, Babylon becomes a symbol of an evil empire, the great center of political, economic, and military power that opposes God and serves Satan.

Babylon is also known as the great prostitute who exports her idolatry and immorality to every nation.

There have always been and will still be centers of power that export immorality, indulge in luxury, and ensnare smaller empires and individuals in forms of slavery.

We must heed again Jesus’s warning not to be deceived and led astray by such display of power, especially when they benefit us, since they are in partnership with the devil himself.

Only the Lamb of God is worthy of our sacrificial devotion.

This passage this morning is set within the judgment of Babylon the Great (17:1–19:5) and is the angelic interpretation of the immediately preceding vision of 17:1–6.

We’ll find similarities between Revelation 13 and 17, illustrating again the presentation of complex symbolic truth in the book.

Scripture Reading:

Revelation 17:7–18

This is the angel’s interpretation of the vision of the harlot.

The angel begins with a description of the beast ridden by this woman, along with his influence among unbelievers (17:7–8), then moving to explain the beast’s seven heads (17:9–11) and ten horns (17:12–14), as well as the destruction of the prostitute (17:15–18).

Through it all, we hear again about Jesus’s lordship and triumph, the challenge for his followers, and the sovereign plan of God to destroy evil.

Transition:

Numbers seem significant in this morning’s passage so we will use ONE now:

I.

One beast & One influence (17:7–8)

verse 6 told us John is marveling at the woman and now the angel tells him not to marvel.

It’s as if the angel is asking John, “Why are you so impressed with this woman?”

Many times, we are impressed with the works of this world as well

Anything that removes our attention from the Lord is something that Satan can use to distract us.

(Idolatry)

-- APP: She is not going to last, she is evil, she is being judged, so he should not be impressed with her

Here we see another instance of evil trying to imitate good, since both God and Christ are described similarly:

“was, and is not, and is about to rise”

The beast’s “dying and rising” also parodies Christ’s death and resurrection, and while his time on this world will be apparently marvelous, he comes from the bottomless pit/the Abyss and is going to eternal destruction (20:10).

“The dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in the book of life”

The “inhabitants of the earth” will be mesmerized/astonished by the beast’s counterfeit resurrection.

The names of these unbelievers were never written in the book of life, a heavenly register used for the security of believers.

— I find it very interesting that first it was John marveling at the harlot then…

“The dwellers… will marvel to see the beast.”

These Earth dwellers stand in awe of the anti-Christ and are amazed at everything he does.

-- Why?

Because he does things in the name of “god” … so “we” must follow

“whose names have not been written… from the foundation of the world”

here in v8, the names were kept out of the book from eternity past, pointing to God’s foreknowledge.

Is this double-predestination?

Are some predestined to hell “from the foundation of the world”?

Not Necessarily

John is not teaching a form of determinism/fatalism because even according to Rev 3:5

names could possibly be blotted out of the book of life—so names could be changed or perhaps added, so John can be emphasizing the great distinction that exists between the followers of the Lamb and those who give their allegiance to the beast.

Anyone who makes conscious decision to not follow Jesus belongs to Satan

Transition:

We can now move from ONE number to the number seven:

II.

Seven heads & One beast (vv.9–11)

Those who have spiritual wisdom must understand this

“This calls for a mind with wisdom”

This connection is made explicit in verse 10, but here is a call to biblical wisdom

I believe that John is not talking to the average Sunday-only Christian-- This is for those who would seek after God’s Word to understand, to be changed by it.

So then, the next few verses apply directly to those who would seek to know more, to be more

This is then a call to get beyond the black text on white paper … what’s the application?

- IMP: “If you are to understand this enough to apply these words, then being a casual Christian is not going to cut it.

We have to study and learn – in order to teach to disciple others.”

The angel is about to describe the meaning of the 7 heads (2 diff meanings)

-- First the seven heads represent 7 mountains:

“ seven mountains on which the woman is seated”

-- A mountain is symbolic with a seat of power

- We are told the woman sits on these 7 mountains, but why sitting?

-- She’s got control; in short, she is sitting in domination of these 7 kingdoms

Second, the seven heads represent seven kings

Now for the harder part:

5 (fallen) + 1 (is now) + 1 (has not yet come but will only remain for a little while) + 1 (the beast = the 8th king).

-- We know from the context of Daniel 7:17 that there are 4 kingdoms from Daniel’s time until then end of days …

-- Daniel 7:16-17 says,

Those 4 kingdoms are: