Midweek Bible Study | Revelation 18 | Gary Hamrick

[Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] well let's talk about the end of the world revelation chapter 18 revelation 18 is where we are we're going to continue in our study now through the book of revelation we are nearing the end of it and we haven't been in revelation for the last four weeks because of the christmas holidays and so welcome back to church on wednesday nights as we resume the book of revelation and because we are resuming our study after so many weeks i thought it would be necessary to have somewhat of a brief review at least as it pertains to chapter 17 as it moves and transitions here into revelation chapter 18. so uh when we come to revelation 17 and 18 these two chapters are about babylon babylon is the most mentioned city in the bible next to jerusalem so it's a very significant city there are 404 verses in the book of revelation 42 are about babylon which is roughly one in ten verses in the book of revelation are about this city of babylon and when we speak of ancient babylon we're talking about the ancient city that's located 55 miles south of baghdad along the euphrates river in iraq so that's the geography that's the territory presently babylon is just in ruins it's a it's a place of archaeological excavation saddam hussein tried to rebuild babylon before he was seized and subsequently hanged but he had a vision in fact he referred himself as the revived nebuchadnezzar who was the last and greatest king of the ancient babylon the babylonian empire and saddam hussein even had a coin minted with his profile on one side of the coin and nebuchadnezzar's on the other side of the coin but even though he attempted it it has never been rebuilt it was captured the babylonian empire fell to the medes and persians on october the 12th 539 bc and it has never been to its former glory but when we read about babylon in the bible it seems that there's going to be a rebuilding and a revival of this ancient city now i will tell you that there is great debate scholars who read the book of revelation some believe that the reference in chapter 17 and 18 to the ancient city of babylon is more symbolic than it is literal and there are some who actually uh would say that babylon was a veiled term that john used when john was inspired by god to write revelation that actually referred to rome and that rome was the dominant empire at the time that john wrote this in the first century and that rome posed the greatest threat and rome was the center of uh commerce and rome was the center of uh religion as as false as as polytheistic religions go uh and so some believe that it is either a babylon in revelation 17 18 is either a reference to a system rather than a city but if it is a reference to a city it perhaps is a reference to rome but then there are other schools of thought and i fall into this ladder camp that believes that babylon is actually babylon and that it is a literal reference to a literal city there is one reference in the new testament where it is clear that babylon is veiled terminology for rome but other than that again it is the most mentioned um city in the bible next to jerusalem over 300 references in the bible to babylon and all but one is literal so why is it when we get to the book of revelation we think well it's got to be symbolic i mean when you look at the predominance of the use of the word babylon throughout the whole bible it's it's always literal except for one time and thus that's how i lean and that's how we are going to be interpreting 17 and 18 in the book of revelation as a literal city but it hasn't been in its glory days since the days of nebuchadnezzar and during those days of course the hanging gardens of babylon was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world so revelation 17 that we talked about four weeks ago before the the christmas uh break uh is a reference to spiritual babylon that it will be the center of false world religious system there will come a time when um the world will merge into a one world religion and that's what chapter 17 is all about now when we went through chapter 17 i'm just going to highlight some of the things of that of that chapter it's a reference to a woman who rides a beast and we talked about how the woman of revelation 17 represents a false world religion that rises on the back of the antichrist and seduces the nations so you have to remember at the time when the antichrist appeals appears rather uh you have the church has already been raptured so you have christians who have vacated the planet there are christians who are still coming to faith during the tribulation but otherwise christianity which is presently the largest world religion is gone um and so you know when when the largest world religion is gone it creates a vacuum the second largest world religion right now of course is islam about a billion worshipers in in islam so does that become the predominant religion i don't know is it an amalgam of other world religions that kind of merge into this you know ecumenical kind of a thing we don't really know but we do know that it will be a world dominating religious system and the center of which will be again if you believe as i do the center of which will be located in babylon i took you through the book of genesis the last time we were together to show you how all ancient occult started in babylon the tower of babel the tower of babel was in babylon and that's where the first occult worship started where they were building this ziggurat this this uh well to borrow an old tune from my generation a stairway to heaven that was an attempt to get up to the heavens so that they could worship the star and the moon and and so god had to confound language and uh and so but that's where occult worship and the worship of the stars and the moons started right there in babel or babylon and so the woman in chapter 17 represents this false world religion that's going to dominate the world sometime in the future and then the woman is called a harlot or a prostitute or a depending on your translations three times in chapter 17 her title is in verse 5 mystery babylon the great the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth and then taking you real quickly through chapter 17 she sits on many waters we talked about how that's global influence verse 15 spelled it out for us so this world religion has global influence uh also the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication it speaks of this false religion which is spiritual adultery that's why the word fornication is used because people are turning their hearts away from god and turning towards this false religion in that sense it's spiritual fornication in verse three it tells us she's sitting on a scarlet beast in other words that this world religion rode to prominence with the antichrist he ushers this in in verse 4 it says she is arrayed in purple and scarlet adorned with gold precious stones and pearls meaning that she's associated with wealth and royalty this world religion is lucrative also in verse 6 it says that she was drunk with the blood of the saints so this religion promoted through violence against believers and verses 9 and 10 tells us that she sits on seven mountains which are seven kings or kingdoms and that tells us that she's associated with the political system which links to chapter 18 we'll talk about tonight this is where though by the way some people think it's a reference to rome the seven hills of rome but i think it's more than that some also talk about well maybe this is catholicism the roman catholic church i think it's larger than that and then also in chapter 17 verses 16 and 17 it says the beast and the ten horns will hate the harlot and bring her to ruin and give their kingdom to the beast so this ten nation confederation that governs the world at the time will hand their power over to the antichrist and at the same time they do that uh he will be exalted as the the world leader who should be worshipped himself so chapter 17 appears to happen in the first three and a half years of the tribulation and the antichrist will rule and be worshipped and so that takes us now to chapter 18 chapter 17 about this spiritual babylon this false world religion and now when we come here to chapter 18 we're dealing with commercial babylon that is that it will likely be the center of world political and an economic system so we have one world religion in chapter 17 it merges into the antichrist himself and we see in chapter 18 a one world government which gets condemned here and so we're going to go through chapter 18 let me read the first eight verses and then we'll we'll pray for our bible study tonight so here we go chapter 18 verse 1 after these things john writes i saw another angel coming down from heaven having great authority and the earth was illuminated with his glory and he cried mightily with a loud voice saying babylon the great is fallen is fallen and has become a dwelling place of demons a prison for every foul spirit and a cage for every unclean and hated bird for all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication that's very similar to what we read in chapter 17 about the world religion the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury and i heard another voice from heaven saying come out of her my people lest you share in her sins and lest ye receive of her plagues for her sins have reached to heaven and god has remembered her iniquities render to her just as she rendered to you and repay her double according to her works in the cup which she has mixed mix double for her in the measure that she glorified herself and live luxuriously in the same measure give her torment and sorrow for she says in her heart i sit as queen and am no widow and will not see sorrow therefore her plagues will come in one day death and mourning and famine and she will be utterly burned with fire for strong is the lord god who judges so let's just pray again and commit our study to the lord lord as we open up your word here tonight we pray for insight and wisdom and clarity and understanding and lord thank you that you are giving us a glimpse of things that are to come so that we might be ready we might be watching and we might be looking forward to your imminent return come lord we pray we love you and we thank you for this time together in your word in jesus name and everybody said amen so john starts this chapter by saying in verse one after these things i saw another angel coming down from heaven great authority the earth illuminated with his glory some think that this is a reference to jesus but but it's not a reference to jesus because john says i saw another angel and it is the greek word alon alon or alos means of the same kind what's he comparing to the angel of chapter 17. in chapter 17 verse 1 he said then one of the seven angels who had their seven bowls came and talked with me and so this is a similar angel this is not jesus here he sees another angel of the same kind as chapter 17 coming down from heaven great authority earth illuminated with his glory so you know angelic beings are are glorious uh but this is not jesus and verse two and he cried mightily with a loud voice saying babylon the great is fallen is fallen as become a dwelling place of demons a prison for every foul spirit and a cage for every unclean and hated bird what i'm going to do is i'm just going to go through not every single we're going to read every verse but i'm just going to highlight a couple of verses that kind of highlight what babylon the great is here in chapter 18. and the first thing that he says there is babylon is fall and he repeats it for emphasis is fallen and has become a dwelling place of demons he talks about a prison for foul spirits a cage for every unclean and hated bird and what he's saying here is it will become desolate so he he prophesies about the day of its desolation and destruction now he's going to get more specific about its destruction coming but he starts the chapter by saying that and we would say whatever this babylonian system is it's going to be destroyed and john sees it and talks about it right at the beginning of the chapter and he mentions also there in verse 3 that all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornications in other words that nations became intoxicated with materialism and greed you see when babylon becomes this center of one world commercial economic system it becomes the um the trophy for greed and materialism and people in this day are going to be just overwhelmed with greed and materialism and um and and things related to commercialization of stuff and so that's how the world is going to trend it's going to have this one world uh religion in chapter 17 it's going to have this one world economic system that people are basically going to love and worship and you know it's not far-fetched because materialism is something that can grab any of our hearts if we're not careful there's there's a little bit in every single one of us that covets what we don't have there's a little bit in every one of us that is greedy uh for for material things it's just part of our sin nature and and so we have to be very wise about these things now now look again there's nothing against material things there's nothing against wealth in fact in deuteronomy 8 18 god it says that god gives people the ability to produce wealth but at the same time we have to understand he doesn't give everybody that ability you know there are some people who can't handle money they just can't uh you when you look at stories if you've ever read stories about people who have won the lottery and they've gotten a boatload of money that they didn't earn and how they either squander it or they get killed because of it or they or they uh you know snort it or drink it until they're dead and you see all these tragic stories about people who win the lottery why because some people just can't be trusted with money and so there are some people that god gives the ability to produce wealth and and they use it well and not not in every case obviously some people use money for wrong purposes but you know at least as it as it relates to a biblical world view of things god entrusts material things to some people and not to others and and so if he's entrusted you with uh you know material blessings then be a blessing be a funnel for for god's uh goodness and be generous as he's been generous to you um but whether much has been given to you or little has been given to you be good stewards of what you have you know jesus said in luke 12 48 to whom much is given much is required so we are accountable with what we have whether it's a lot or whether it's a little we have to be good stewards of that and so we we have to make sure that we manage money well and material things well and that those things don't manage us you know there's there's some cautions to materialism uh that we need to be aware of and i i put it basically into three categories the first category is identity we have to make sure that our debt our identity is in the lord not in material things there's a lot of people who get their whole identity wrapped up in their stuff and the problem with that is many reasons but one reason is and then when you lose your stuff your identity goes sailing down the river with it and so don't don't get attached to stuff your identity should not be in stuff identity is one responsibility is another we should never live beyond our means we should be responsible to live within our means you know the average credit card debt of an american is over six thousand dollars which might be a lot to some of you who or might be a little to some of you who have more debt than that but most americans on average have six thousand dollars worth of credit card debt why do we accumulate debt like that because we're living beyond our means so identity is important when it comes to material things making sure our our identity is not wrapped up in our stuff but in the lord responsibility is an important thing making sure we live within our means and and don't leverage credit cards and credit and stuff and live beyond what we can actually afford and the third category that i think of when i when i you know try to frame a biblical view of material things is tranquility identity responsibility and tranquility we should we should be at peace and content with what we have we should not be we should not be coveting what we don't have we should be content with what we do have so if if we if we can check the boxes in those three areas identity making sure our identity is not on our stuff responsibility making sure we live within our means and tranquility making sure that we're content with what we have and not covetous about what we don't have then material things won't own you you will own them and you will use material things for the benefit of and the glory of god but otherwise we have to be careful of this look here's some interesting statistics because you know we should be challenged and aware of this as americans listen to some of these stats there are 300 000 items in the average american home the average size of the american home has nearly tripled in size over the past 50 years and still one out of every 10 americans rent off-site storage and it's the fastest growing segment of the commercial real estate industry over the past four decades while 25 percent of people with two car garages don't have room to park cars inside them and 32 percent only have room for one vehicle because of all our stuff the united states is up upward of 50 000 storage facilities more than five times the number of starbucks currently there is 7.3 square feet of self-storage space for every man woman and child in this nation thus it is physically possible that every american could stand all at the same time under the total canopy of self-storage roofing that's a lot of stuff 3.1 percent of the world's children live in america just 3.1 percent but they own 40 percent of the toys consumed globally merry christmas the average american woman owns 30 outfits that's one for every day of the month in 1930 it was nine the average american throws away 65 pounds of clothing per year americans spend more on shoes jewelry and watches 100 billion than on higher education so when we talk about materialism and we go that's babylon that's coming down the road way in the future well maybe a little babylon is here and we have to make sure that we are good stewards of what god has entrusted to our care nothing wrong with having stuff just to make sure this stuff doesn't have you and so as he continues on here in this chapter in verse four uh he gives a a uh a call out he says in verse four come out of her my people lest you share in her sins unless you receive her plagues this is a call for god's people to separate themselves from this world system again christians will be taken from the earth but people can still come to faith in jesus during the tribulation period that's who he's speaking to here if you come to faith in christ during the tribulation he says don't be a part of this world commercial system where you are you know coveting and um and just living in the lap of luxury and worshiping material things come out you know all in the bible god constantly is directing his people come out live in the world but don't be of the world separate yourself to be distinguished for the lord don't get caught up in everything that the world does so that's a common theme that the bible teaches when we come here to this particular passage it's a call to come out of this economic system and then he also adds in verse 8 for strong is the lord who judges her so god is going to judge babylon let's keep reading now verse 9. it says the kings of the earth who committed fornication and lived luxuriously with her will weep and lament notice this kings will weep and lament for her when they see the smoke of her burning standing at a distance for fear of her torment saying alas alas that great city babylon that mighty city for in one hour your judgment has come meaning in one hour it's going to be swift when god brings judgment and again this seems to be literal here doesn't it because it's talking about they're watching a great city burning so this you know if it's just a system this language here is is two figured it would be too figurative it needs to be understood as literal kings of the earth they're mourning the fact that their commercial industry is collapsing because god is bringing it down verse 10 standing at a distance for fear of her torment saying alas the last that great city babylon that mighty city for in one hour your judgment has come verse 11 and the merchants of the earth in addition to the kings will weep and mourn over her for no one buys their merchandise anymore see it has this domino effect in commercial industry and there's going to be a list now here in verse 12 a list of assets and commodities so verse 12 merchandise of gold and silver precious stones and pearls fine linen and purple silk and scarlet every kind of citron wood every kind of object of ivory every kind of object of most precious wood bronze iron and marble and cinnamon and incense frankincense rather fragrant oil and frankincense wine and oil fine flour and and wheat cattle and sheep horses and chariots and bodies and souls of men the fruit that your soul longed for has gone from you and all the things which are rich and splendid have gone from you and you shall find them no more at all and so it's a list of all this different these commercial commodities and assets these are the things that are just going to begin to lose their value it's going to become you know you talk about a stock market crash i mean all of this is going to come to an end verse 15 the merchants of these things who became rich by her will stand at a distance for fear of her torment weeping and wailing there you have these words again and saying alas the last that great city that was clothed in fine linen purple and scarlet and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls for in one hour such great riches came to nothing every shipmaster or some of your translations say captain every captain all who traveled by ship sailors and as many as trade on the sea stood at a distance and cried out when they saw the smoke of her burning saying what is like this great city in verse 19 they they threw dust on their heads and cried out weeping and wailing and saying very similar to what the merchants and the kings said alas alas that great city in which all who had ships on the sea became rich by her wealth for in one hour she is made desolate and so between all these different verses here versus 9 11 and 19 it talks about kings it talks about merchants it talks about captains and sailors they will weep it talks about they will lament it says they will mourn and they will wail because they will lament their material loss but what is so sad is they're not lamenting about their spiritual loss they're not lamenting over the fact that they are estranged from god this is not moving them to the heart of god they are lamenting over the fact that their material things have lost their value or disintegrated or burned or been taken from them that's what they're mourning about they're weeping over their stuff i mean you talk about a culture that's become consumed with materialism it's this culture here and god is going to bring it to an end because god knocks down every idol in our lives at some point by some means or some methods have you ever noticed that when you start to have too much affection for something or someone other than god you ever noticed how he begins to knock down our idols and so god is the only one who should be exalted the whole world is going to turn towards this religious system god will destroy and the whole world is going to turn towards this commercial economic system that they worship god's going to destroy it he's going to show them on whom they should have their true dependence and so all of these things are going to pass away now notice verse 20 rejoice over her o heaven and you holy apostles and prophets for god has avenged you on her notice what's happening in heaven there's rejoicing in heaven while there is mourning and weeping and wailing going on on earth quite a contrast the last section here in verse 21 says then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea saying thus with violence the great city babylon shall be thrown down and shall not be found anymore so the last verse to highlight from this chapter is verse 21 here where where he says just what i read and it's it's telling us that god will destroy babylon will he destroy the city or will he destroy the system or both i think it's both it's both this economic center that also is a system that people have been exalting and god is going to destroy it they won't be found anymore verse 22 the sound of harpists musicians flutists or flautists and trumpeters shall not be heard in you anymore no craftsmen of any craft shall be found in you anymore and the sound of a millstone shall not be heard in you anymore the light of a lamp shall not shine in you anymore and the voice of bridegroom and bride shall not be heard in you anymore for your merchants were the great men of the earth for by your sorcery all the nations were deceived and in her was found in the blood of prophets and saints and of all who were slain on the earth and so god brings an end to spiritual babylon and political commercial babylon and paul will tell us in 2 thessalonians 2 8 that the lawless one that is the antichrist because all of this rises on the back of the antichrist paul writes in 2 thessalonians 2 8 that the lawless one will be overthrown by the breath of the lord and will be destroyed by the splendor of his coming that's chapter 19 and that's next week so read ahead we'll pick it up there next week lord thank you for this time in your word and thank you for a reminder to us that we sh we can't get caught up in materialism help us to be good stewards of what you've entrusted to us whether it is much or whether it is little that we might use all that you've given us for your glory and for your honor help us not to be greedy or covetous lord we know our hearts are prone to those things so we pray god that you would regularly remind us that you own everything we're just managers of it and we thank you that you've entrusted to us and given to us all that we have we're grateful lord we're thankful may we be good stewards of it for your glory in jesus name and everybody said amen

Channel: Cornerstone Chapel - Leesburg, VA

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Length: 31min 17sec (1877 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 07 2021