Sermon Tone Analysis

God’s Final Victory - Part 2 Revelation 18:1-18.

Textual Idea – Our text summarizes God’s final victory over Satan and his evil forces.

Transition w/ key word – Our text reveals 4 voices in response to God’s final victory over Satan and his evil forces.

The voice of judgment - vs. 1-3 The voice of separation - vs. 4-8 The voice of mourning - vs. 9-19 The voice of rejoicing - vs. 20-24

Introduction – It’s always exciting in sports competition when your favorite team comes from behind in dramatic fashion late in the game to win.

In championship games it’s even more exciting isn’t it?

A bottom of the 9th home run to win the World Series, a long touchdown pass in the last few seconds to win the Super Bowl.

College sports, High School sports or even little league, there’s something thrilling about wins like that.

The greater the number of points the comeback team is down, the more thrilling the victory, especially when arch rivals are playing the game.

In many cases, the player who hits the home run, throws or catches the winning touchdown becomes an instant hero to their fans.

In business, it was always thrilling to me to outsell one of my competitors even though they offered a lower price.

My client saw the greater value in my security & fire alarm system design because it was a comprehensive plan to protect their family, home or business.

They could see the fatal flaws in the competition’s design when they saw how complete my system was compared to the $99 system they were being offered.

So in many cases, they’d spend thousands of dollars more to protect their families.

(Slide) Background – Somewhere in eternity past, an ugly war, certainly not a game in athletic or business competition, it was literally a life & death war began between Satan and the angels following him who were cast out of Heaven fighting against God and the host of Heaven.

The war is ultimately over who is God and who will rule the universe.

War is an ugly thing but God has been at war with Satan as He will not share His glory with another; and God is fighting for the souls of human race!

For thousands of years, from a human point of view, it has appeared that Satan has been winning by a wide margin.

Even Biblical characters & writers wrestled with this.

Consider:

Jeremiah’s struggle with it: Jer.

1:1-2 “Lord, you always give me justice when I bring a case before you.

So let me bring You this complaint: ‘Why are the wicked so prosperous?

Why are evil people so happy?

You have planted them & they have taken root and prospered.

Your Name is on their lips, but you are far from their hearts.”

Habbakuk also: Hab.

1:13 - But you are pure and cannot stand the sight of evil.

Will you wink at their treachery?

Should you be silent while the wicked swallow up people more righteous than they?”

The Book of Job reveals the struggle of a man, arguably a good man named Job, who did what was right in God’s eyes & yet lost his wealth, his family & his health; all to have his “friends” accuse him of committing some secret sin which had to have happened to be under the judgment of God the way he was.

From a human point of view, Job was a big loser, and yet in God’s economy Job was a major winner!

In Job we learn about the Sovereignty of God & His righteous rule over the earth and the people in it.

Job 12:6 “The tents of robbers prosper, and those who provoke God are secure - in what God provides by His hand.”

Read Job 21:7-18 in the NLT.

When Jesus came to earth the first time, the world didn’t pay much attention to Jesus.

The prophet Isaiah said: “He was despised and rejected of men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised and we did not esteem Him” (Is.53:3).

Jesus own disciples ran and hid when Jesus was dying on the cross because it seemed it was all a lost cause!

Some Messiah - got Himself crucified by those evil Romans.

Even at times in this vision we now call Revelation from the pen of the Apostle John, he wept in chapter 5 because it seemed no one was found worthy to open the scroll, the title deed of the universe (Rev.

5:1-4).

The Martyrs even cried out to God in 6:10 asking “How long, O Lord, holy & true till You avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth.”

In Chapter 5, the Lord Jesus Christ was also clearly identified as the one found worthy to open the scroll, the title deed to the universe.

The inside of that scroll contains the message to the people of God: “We win for all eternity!”

On the outside of that scroll is a message to Satan and all his followers: “You lose for all eternity!”

Last week in chapter 17, we saw the beginning of God’s final victory with the overthrow of Satan’s counterfeit religious realm.

Today in our study through the Revelation of Jesus Christ, we’ll see another component of God’s final victory over Satan’s economic realm, just before Jesus Christ declares complete victory over Satan, the Antichrist & his evil empire.

The incredible thing about all this is that from Heaven’s point of view, this is not a “come from behind victory.”

God has been winning the entire time carrying out His plans, according to His own purposes and timetable.

We read in 17:17 about the collapse of Satan’s religious empire: (Read 17:17)

Make no mistake ladies & gentleman, God always has been, always is, and forever will be in charge!

Notice in our study of chapter 18, four voices:

1.

The voice of judgment - Vs. 1-3

Explanation - Chapters 6-18 of Revelation describe in detail God’s holy, righteous and just judgment of the world during the future 7 year period known as the Great Tribulation.

We’ve seen God’s judgments rain down on earth in the form of 7 seal judgments, 7 trumpet & 7 bowl judgments.

Seven is the number of perfection and each of these judgments reveal God’s judgment is perfect because God is perfect.

At the midpoint of the tribulation or 3-1/2 years into it, the Antichrist will destroy the false religious systems of Babylon we studied last week which is graphically pictured in chapter 17.

Religion will not cease to exist at the end of 3-1/2 years of the Great Tribulation, it will merely be replaced with the direct worship of the Antichrist

This will happen through aid of a faked miracle where the Antichrist fakes his own death and resurrection (17:8b)

What is in view in chapter 18 is the Antichrist’s worldwide commercial empire, the greatest commercial empire the world will ever know.

It is in the midst of these awful judgments of the tribulation, the Antichrist will have vast political, religious & financial power.

Babylon will have received plenty of warnings of its impending doom by the occurrence of the events of chapter 18.

The 144,000 Jewish evangelists,

The two witnesses,

The rest of the redeemed,

An Angel flying in the heavens will have proclaimed the gospel message.

That message includes the truth that God will judge those who refuse to repent.

In addition, earlier in the Tribulation an angel specifically warned of Babylon’s impending doom, crying out “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who has made all the nations drink of the wine of the passion of her immorality” (14:8).

The angel spoke of Babylon’s yet future fall as if it had already happened, emphasizing the certainty of its doom.

Despite the repeated warnings the people of Babylon refuse to repent & give God glory.

(9:20-21, 16:9, 11)

Vs. 1 - Some view this angel as Christ, but the use of allos (another of the same kind) instead of heteros (another of a different kind) indicates that this is an angel of the same type as the one in 17:1.

He may be the angel who had earlier predicted Babylon’s downfall (14:8).

Three features in the text reveal his unusual power & importance.

(Slides) First, he came down from heaven with great authority.

He left the presence of God with delegated authority to act on God’s behalf.

Second, when he arrived, the earth was illumined with his glory.

He will make his dramatic appearance onto a darkened stage, for the fifth bowl will have plunged the world into darkness (16:10).

Manifesting the flashing brilliance of a glorious heavenly being against the blackness, the angel will be an awe-inspiring sight to the shocked and terrified earth dwellers.

Third, the angel cried out with a mighty voice.

No one will be able to ignore him; everyone will hear him as well as see him.

His message will add to the consternation and terror caused by his appearance.

The voice of judgment provides 3 reasons for Babylon’s destruction.

1.

She had become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every unclean spirit & hated bird.

In the parable of the sower & the soils, Jesus pictured the evil one who snatched the truth away as a bird who devoured up the seed that fell on hard ground.

Recall from chapter 9:13-16, it was near the vicinity of Babylon on the Euphrates river 200 million demons were released from the abyss at the sounding of the 6th trumpet.

They along with the demons released from the abyss at the sound of the 5th trumpet in 9:1-11 and those cast from heaven with Satan according to 12:4 & 9 will be confined in Babylon.

It is like God is putting all of the evil eggs in one basket before He disposes of them once and for all.

2. Secondly, Babylon’s corrupting influence over the whole earth, like alcohol makes people drunk, will have whole earth under an immoral, religious and materialistic stupor.

3. Finally, the merchants of the earth have become outrageously wealthy.

The picture is of consumerism & greed that makes people intoxicated for stuff.

Illustration/Argumentation - We’ve all watched in horror, video footage of people getting trampled on “Black Friday” as people stomp each other to save $100 on a new TV.

The irony is Black Friday occurs the day after Thanksgiving, a time set aside for us to be thankful to God for His abundant blessings; but people are consumed with getting more and more stuff.

It’s interesting to me that the first commandment in Ex. 20:3 is “You shall have no other God’s before me.”

The Babylonian system of false religion & idolatry was overthrown in chapter 17 for having other gods besides Yahweh.

The 10th & last commandment is “You shall not covet.”

Chapter 18 describes God’s judgment of the greed of the world and every sin in between commandments 1-10.

Not only do we have the voice of judgment; notice:

2. The voice of separation - Vs. 4-8

Explanation - Some of God’s people are in this city, and God wants them to come out for two reasons: (1) the city will be destroyed and He wants them saved; (2) the city is satanic and He does not want them defiled.

“Come out!” has always been God’s call to His people, for salvation means separation from the world unto the Lord.

The world glorifies itself (v.