Revelation Part 32
Revelation 17:1-4
Introduction
Chapter 17 shows us some very unique perspectives from all of history. What we are seeing here is the work of the devil from time of Noah until the very end of time ¡V it is a panoramic view of history that if ever you wanted a quick look at Satan¡¦s work, this would be the chapter to show it to you.
Chapter 17 shows us the religious system that Satan has established and actually begins at the beginning of the second half of the Tribulation.
Remember that the book of Revelation goes back and forth in time, and shows John things that are happening all at once, and this is one of those instances.
Since the rapture of the church, many people are confused and seeking answers, and this is the primary reason why the world is able to be united under one ¡§religion¡¨ ¡V because of the confusion and chaos, people will be looking for anything to explain things away, and the devil knows this about us.
He knows that we are willing to follow any trend of the day, and hence why with this knowledge, he is able to take control. As Christians, we need to understand this and be able to explain it to others so that they may be made aware.
Read Revelation 17:1-4
Pray
Point 1 ¡V The Great Harlot
1Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and talked with me, saying „Tto me, ¡§Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, 2with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication.¡¨ Revelation 17:1-2
After the 7 bowl judgments are done on the Earth, one of the angels is inviting John to see this religious system for what it is, so that we may have knowledge of what Satan is planning to do with this world.
Throughout the bible, women are predicted in two ways: spiritual purity or defilement. Here, the angel is clearly defining the role this woman is playing. The greek word used to describe this woman is ¡§porneo¡¨, which is where the word pornography comes from. So obviously, the term ¡§harlot¡¨ (or prostitute) is acceptable here.
Note: The book of proverbs has two definitions for women: adulterous (proverbs 5) or as a faithful wife (proverbs 31).
Ezekiel sees Jerusalem as an adulterous wife because the city was seeking out to leave God, and cling to anything that would make them happy.
Ezekiel 16:30-33 says, ¡§¡§How degenerate is your heart!¡¨ says the Lord GOD, ¡§seeing you do all these things, the deeds of a brazen harlot. ¡§You erected your shrine at the head of every road, and built your high place in every street. Yet you were not like a harlot, because you scorned payment. You are an adulterous wife, who takes strangers instead of her husband. Men make payment to all harlots, but you made your payments to all your lovers, and hired them to come to you from all around for your harlotry.¡¨
Harlotry is considered that same as spiritual adultery or idol worship in the scriptures (worshiping anything OTHER than God) ¡V as the church, we must uphold God and remain pure ¡V and not fall into the trap of seeking out things to make us better, or to make us feel good ¡V but align with the Word and nothing else. This is our challenge today!
This harlot is well equipped to deceive ¡V as you see here shown that her work is world-wide. She is working with the kings of the Earth and because of that, they have led the people they are responsible for into this deception.
Remember that Satan has been given control of the entire earth by the leaders of countries (10 to be exact) ¡V and these nations have pledged allegiance to Satan ¡V this means that the laws of the land have changed, and so, the people under the Kings of the Earth are now in bondage as well.
They have been deceived to believe this world religion.
Point 2 - The Woman on the Beast
3So he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness. And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. 4The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication. Revelation 17:3-4
John is about to be treated to a journey that only a few have experienced before. He is being taken away in his spirit to a different location. If you will remember, Ezekiel was taken away ¡§in the spirit¡¨ into a valley of dry bones (Ezek 37:1) and Paul was also taken up into the third heaven and was given a thorn in his side to keep him humble (2 Corin. 12:1-6). Being in the spirit John sees a vision in the spiritual wilderness ¡V something that we need to see as well.
The beast that woman is sitting on is the same beast that Daniel sees, and the same beast that is all over Revelation. This beast has 10 horns (representing the 10 kingdoms of the Earth) and 7 heads (representing the 7 nations that will come out of the Tribulation). Revelation 12 and 13 covered this beast in detail ¡K
This is Satan in the flesh, and the same who empowers the anti-Christ to rise to power and take his place as supreme ruler of the Earth. Do not be caught up in the ¡§Halloween/Worldly-image¡¨ of who Satan is ¡V he is an incredibly dangerous figure and worthy of our acknowledgement of who he is.
He has no authority over us (by the blood of the lamb we are triumphant), but we have an enemy and we need to know who he is and what he is capable of.
Her clothing is significant and actually appealing to mankind. Purple signifies royalty as does scarlet, and so she is respected by man. Do you see how Satan uses the same colors as the Lord to trick us? Purple is on the cross at Easter to signify royalty ¡V and we are made clean by the blood (red) of Jesus. Satan uses these same colors to falsify who he is.
The woman is also wearing gold and precious stones to again show how worthy she is to the world, and even her cup is gold! Inside the cup though, are all the impurities that make up who Satan is. She tricks the world into drinking from her cup because she is so beautiful ¡V and thus the deception of this world.
Think of this: Note how the woman is dressed ¡K now consider the two witnesses that God sent back dressed in rags. See the difference? Pride and humility ¡K God seeks humbleness, Satan seeks arrogance and exaltation.
Conclusion
We are going to go ahead and stop here tonight because the next few verses take us much deeper and I would like to continue on those all at once rather than breaking it up.
You can see though, the stage is set ¡K Satan is using the vision of a beautiful woman to seduce the nations ¡V and men AND women are buying into it. After all, she is beautiful. She is appealing. She appears trust-worthy. She is someone or represents something so pure and innocent that surely this would be from ¡§god¡¨ ¡K Do not be deceived by this!
As the church, we have to remain awake and aware, or else we might miss the actual coming of the Lord because we were too busy being enticed by the world¡¦s image of what is Godly. Remember the parable of the 10 virgins ¡V wake up!
Pray
