The Prostitute and the Beast. Sermon on Revelation 17:1-6.

grab your Bibles with me we're in Revelation chapter 17 today beginning a new chapter in a new section let's go ahead and stand up on our feet for this as we read The Inspired in the inherent word of the true and living God our text today Revelation 17 we're going to do verses 1 through6 this morning again recalling that as we read Holy Scripture it's the same as if God were audibly speaking to us so authoritative is the written word of God Revelation 17:1 then one of the Seven Angels who had the seven Bulls came and said to me come I will show you the Judgment of the great prostitute who is Seated on many Waters with whom the kings of the Earth have committed sexual immorality and with the wine of whose sexual immorality the Dwellers on earth have become drunk and verse three he carried me away in the spirit into a Wilderness and I saw a woman sitting on a Scarlet Beast that was full of Blasphemous names and it had seven heads and 10 horns the woman was a arrayed in purple and Scarlet and adorned with gold and jewels and Pearls holding in her hand a golden cup full of Abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality and on her forehead was written a name of mystery Babylon the great mother of prostitutes and of the Earth's Abominations and I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the Saints the blood of the martyrs of Jesus and when I saw her I marveled greatly may God add his Blessing to the reading and hearing of his holy word amen you may be seated when CS Lewis was crafting his Lion The Witch in the wardrobe series and I hope you hope you've read that with your children if not for your own reading pleasure when CS Lewis devises the sort of incarnation of evil in that children's series he does something very different than let's say what John bunan did in his Pilgrim's Progress when he wanted to depict pure evil when bunan depicts evil in Pilgrim's Pro progress he draws up this horrendous fiend demon called apalon as you may recall from Pilgrims Progress apalon is a beast likee Dragonoid type character that has scales like a reptile and breathes fire like a dragon but when CS Lewis wanted to sort of depict Pure Evil he does something very different from that CS Lewis as you may recall draws up a character called the White Witch or Jadis and she's very different from aalon because well quite obviously she's beautiful and that's one of the main powers of her attraction is that the White Witch Jadis has the power of seductive Temptation and so she's easily able to overcome the Lesser minds and duller hearts of men who have no discernment it's almost as though as you're reading the line the wi in the wardrobe and the other books in the series that only those whose hearts are true to Aon who is the Christ figure in the books only they can and even desire to resist her satanic manipulations she's beautiful she's tall she's sleek and she is clearly Aur now I think we see something of that in this new section that we're going to get into today in Revelation chap 17 and that really begs sort of a philosophical or metaphysical IAL question for us that I'd like to dwell on just a little bit today and the question is this is evil better depicted as beautiful and alluring or contrarily as ugly and repulsive which is the better way to depict evil or maybe a better way to ask the question would be to say this in what way is evil presented as beautiful and alluring and in what way is evil itself presented to us as ugly and repulsive because I think that both bunan and CS Lewis have something right in their depictions of what evil incarnate may look like for us now today we're starting a new section Revelation 17 uh opens up a new set of passages to us we've completed a number of the sevens series here we've looked at the seven Bulls now in chapter 16 now we're going to be looking at the great prostitute in the Beast for these next two chapters chapter 17 and chapter 18 just to give you a little bit of introduction this morning chapter 17 really introduces for us the great prostitute in the Beast who is called Babylon now technically we've already met this this idea because in chapter 14:8 it already told us that Babylon is going to fall and so today and next week we're going to look at what this prostitute or Harlot looks like what is its uh what is its form and what are its mechanisms in chapter 17 and then flip with me to chapter 18 just for a minute what we're going to see then when we get there in a few weeks s is that there are seven ODS or songs or laments or poems in which the fall of this Babylonian incarnation of evil is going to be discussed at some length and from various perspectives so today we kind of have to now make an interpretive decision and the interpretive decision that we've been looking at for the last few weeks is what is the signification of this Babylon prostitute which we've already been introduced to some and let me just review with you very quickly the options and I'm not going to take long here because honestly I've given them in previous sermons some would say that Babylon pertains to the city of Jerusalem especially as she has rejected her own Messiah the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ so some would point to Jerusalem especially in the first century even as the city is destroyed in 70 AD others like U the Puritans would say it's something far more specific later in history the Puritans and the reformers would point to the medieval institutional Church especially as it is seated in the city of Rome and the papacy others would take a broader interpretation of this and this is in fact a direction that I'm going to go with you this morning I'm going to take a broader interpretation for Babylon the Harlot and I'm going to interpret this with the broadest lens so that it's applicable in every age of church history whether the first century the early church the Reformation or even today and so here's going to be my definition though it's going to be short and in few words I'll elaborate on it as we go I think what's Happening Here is Babylon depicts false religion in general okay false religion in general but especially as it is conjoined with authoritarian tyranny I think that's what we're seeing here with the prostitute who stands for false religion and the Beast who stands for authoritarian tyranny now no what no matter whatever we do with this a very complex series of symbols here we all recognize that the main point of chapter 17 and chapter 18 is that Babylon is going to fall we all agree on that no matter else whatever else we say about this but this morning I hope to maybe lead us into a little bit more detailed conversation on some of these things and I'm going to ask really three questions about this text I hope you'll follow along with me initially I want to ask the question so who is the woman that is Seated on the beast that's what I would like to do principally this morning subsequentially I'm going to ask um why is she depicted here as auring or beautiful in other words what does CS Lewis have right in depicting Jadis the White Witch as a evil but seductress a beautiful harlot in his depictions in the lon the Witch and the Wardrobe and then conclusively I want to also ask though to be fair why is she also repulsive and ugly here in this text as well so there's a paradox between Evil's beautiful nature and its ugly reality in this text I think so with those three questions in mind let's go ahead and dig into the text again grab your Bibles with me let's get started here with the first question the initial question here who is this woman so look at verse one then one of the Seven Angels who had the seven Bulls Okay so we've met the seven angels with the seven Bulls in the previous chapter chapter 16 right so the same of the seven angels with the seven Bulls one of them came to me John says and said come I will show you the Judgment of the great prostitute now if you have the new King James it has the word Harlot there if you have the old King James you've got the word there but we have the word prostitute in the ESV all with the same idea here who is Seated on many Waters and then look at this look at in verse two with whom the kings of the earth so there's a political Motif right so we have this uh this symbol of prostitution that is merged or conjoined with the power of the kings of the earth who have committed immorality sexual immorality and with the wine of whose sexual immorality the Dwellers on the earth have become drunk now almost every time in the Book of Revelation we see the Dwellers on the earth there's sort of the naves and the fools of the whole story because they're constantly rejecting the gospel and refusing to repent okay so those who dwell on the Earth are those who are always deceived in the Book of Revelation they're deceived now who is doing the deceiving here well look at this we have the principal figure here is described as a great prostitute and she's alluring because she's female she's depicted as a woman and as we know women are the more beautiful sex they're the more delicate and the more fair sex here and there's something already of kind of an alluring attraction about this prostitute and I realize like put yourself in my shoes here just for a moment this is a difficult passage because we have to talk about some words and Concepts that are a little bit awkward prostitution harlotry I'm going to I'm going to restrict my vocabulary as I can to be fair to the text but I also recognize we have kids and children in the room so parents you'll have to at some point to read between the lines with what I'm saying here and how I'm defining terms so I'm going to go ahead and give a definition of a prostitute and I'm going to Define it carefully and restrictively here as one who perverts what is good are we all tracking with that one who perverts what is good how so well by contaminating it in a sense contaminating it in the sense of exchanging what is lovely for that which is cheap and disposable Discerning Minds will know exactly what I'm talking about here yes now prostitution as such is obviously condemned let's just talk about the concept here broadly speaking it is condemned in the Scriptures it is against the moral law of God in multiple places Leviticus chapter 19 condemns prostitution as an act so also Deuteronomy chapter 23 now as we read through the Bibles it's true that sometimes particular prostitutes come across in the stories as at the very least pitiable I submit to you the story of Tamar who's a pitiable character for sure and in some occasions even somewhat likable we might think of Rahab for instance in the Book of Joshua okay so there's a sense in which on a human level we can at least relate to or pity those who find themselves in this act or this vocation of prostitution even though it's clearly evil and there's no question about its moral character and conduct in the law of God however all that not withstanding I want you to understand this and this is very important to the rest of the sermon prostitution as such takes on as a literary figure of speech a very nuanced um implication in the prophetic writings are you ready is everybody with me so far when the prophets speak about prostitution or harlotry okay Isaiah Jeremiah Ezekiel they all do this usually what they're talking about is false religion it is taking that which was meant to be pure and right and amalgamating it with the false teachings of the unbelieving Nations such as that we can say that the visible people of God have now compromised contaminating how they believe and how they act so much so that the prophets lament their activities and their teachings as nothing more than spiritual harlotry and I could give example after example after example in the Old Testament of how the prophets do this trust me it's almost ubiquitous in the writings almost every Prophet uses this Trope as a way to condemn Israel and Judah for their false adop in of the beliefs and the practices of the Pagan world into what should be the more pure and right practices of the visible people of God okay again I could quote to you Isaiah 1 Jeremiah 2 Jeremiah 3513 Ezekiel 16 and 23 major sections on this concept I submit to you the entire book of Hosea espe especially chapters 1 2 and9 but for the sake of Simplicity because we are going to come to the Lord's table and I'm working with a time frame here this morning I'm going to give you one one verse that encapsulates what I'm saying here and that verse that single verse is Isaiah 1 vers uh well I said one verse well let's go a couple 21 and 22 listen to this okay you don't have to turn there but listen very carefully to how Isaiah speaks of prostitution are you ready Isaiah 1:21 my only example for the sake of Time how the faithful City that's Jerusalem has become a or or a harlot a harlot or a prostitute depending on your translation she who was full of Justice righteousness lodged in her but now murderers your silver has become draw your best wine mixed with water so there is a clear example of that prophetic motif of Amalgamated righteousness but now polluted by the contaminants of unbelief and Pagan and false teachings and practices okay uh the city who was meant to be righteous and just Jerusalem has now become a or a harlot and look at the example he even gives your silver that which is pure has become dross that which is contaminated your wine that which is precious has become mixed with water that which dilutes it and ruins it you see so this is why I am going to broadly speak of Babylon or The Prostitute here as false Rel religion in general but especially as it's contaminated with authoritarian tyranny so just so we're clear um when the Bible usually uses prostitution in the prophetic writings it's the visible people of God who are described as the corisan and it is the Pagan Nations that are described as the clients and we might think the relationship is the other way around but it's not it's Israel and Judah the visible people of God who are the corisan in the unbelieving pagans who are the clients and that's what leads me to think that Revelation chapter 17 flipping back to our major text here this morning would have certainly come across in John's day as a forceful blow against that compromise that happened in Jerusalem in the first century ad that's exactly why Jesus has his most serious confrontations with the Pharisees why because they're the would be the should be people of God they're the ones who have the scriptures there's the ones who should know better they're the ones who have the covenants they're the ones who have the teaching and the promises of God and yet what has happened to the Pharisees is that they have rejected the pure teachings of the coming Messiah and instead they've traded it for something far less and so too with the Sadducees and their flirtation with political power and so too with the high priests especially as they convicted the Lord Jesus Christ handing him over the Sanhedrin did to Pontius Pilate into the Pagan leadership of R and so yes of course Jerusalem in the first century Judaism is in view here in Revelation 17 I just don't think that we can limit the scope to that particular application because one of the reasons I think so is because when you read the reformers and especially the Puritans whenever they're talking about texts like this and trust me you can look it up in Edwards you can look it up in Matthew Henry you can look it up in any one of the purans or reformers when the reformers and the Puritans read texts like this where did they Point as to a location which you could find this kind of spiritual prostitution where did they point they pointed to the medieval institutional Church seated as it was in the city of Rome I.E the papacy they constantly pointed that out because it was those who should have known better those who had the scriptures those who knew the Covenant and yet what did they do they watered it down they added draw to the silver they contaminated that which is pure by amalgamating that which is false in practice and in Doctrine and by the way if you'll permit me that's why I don't think that we are off the hook either today even today as the Evangelical Church even in conservative churches if we are so willing to compromise at any point our Doctrine whether we look at the world and we adopt their values into our practices and our doctrines and our beliefs here whether we're captured by political movements whether it is that we're covering or hiding our own sin as is so very often we are want and prone to do in any way that we begin to adopt the mores and values of the world into the visible church we are becoming the very thing that John is decrying here in Revelation chapter 17 so be careful evangelicalism be very careful lest we make the very same mistakes notice that in this text The Prostitute uh very gloriously rides upon the beast but watch out because what's going to happen in chapter 17: 16 is that the 10 horns that you saw they and the Beast will hate The Prostitute and they will make her desolate and naked and devour her flesh and burn her up with fire so this Union only lasts for so long before the Pagan nations are done with the visible church and throw her down and turn against her so watch out for that all right so that's my basic interpretation here of the woman The Prostitute who is described here as Babylon now secondly we need to ask another question here and I think this is very important why is she so alluring in other words in what way is CS Lewis write that evil looks beautiful well look with me at verse three and he carried that is the Angel he carried me away in the spirit into a Wilderness and I saw a woman sitting on a Scarlet Beast that was full of Blasphemous names and it had seven heads and 10 horns the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet and adorned with gold and silver and Pearls holding in her hand a golden cup full of Abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality here so notice that we have the false religion which is the prostitute conjoined in some sense with the Beast now do you remember what we taught about the beast in Revelation 13 piggybacking off of what is taught in Daniel chapter 7 that the Beast and this seems like the same Beast of Revelation CH 13 here stands for those authoritarian tyrannical governments okay but notice that the woman here is decked out as it were she's dressed to the nine so to speak with all these sort of accoutrements that she's wearing let's look in particular at some of those accoutrements first of all she's described as wearing purple and Scarlet both of those colors are symbolically important here track with me please what is the symbol behind purple garments in the New Testament do you remember wealth and riches and elitism we're going to see that even in chapter 18 that purple cloth is some of the trade some of the wears of the merchants that we're going to discuss later you may already know this that purple cloth in the ancient world was very expensive and that's because uh it was a dye to dye purple clothing that was rather rare and came in minuscule quantities it took a lot of it to die cloth purple and for it to actually stay in garments so those kinds of garments those colors of garments were very expensive that's why Lydia in Acts chapter 16 was a purple Trader she's a pretty well-off fashioned merchandiser that's why Lazarus and the rich man it's the rich man wearing the purple garments and not Lazarus Lazarus that's why when Jesus is being crucified what color of garment did they take and put upon Christ you remember take a purple garment possibly even from Pontius pilot himself little conjecture there but who knows so purple stands for material IAL wealth she is dressed out very extravagantly the look of elitism is just wafting off of this prostitute riding on the beast in some sense people want to be like her but also watch out for the color Scarlet here because this is also symbolically important because every single time in the Book of Revelation and you can look this up yourself that Scarlet or red is mentioned watch out that is a sign a johannine code to use of evil just retracing the red in the Book of Revelation the second Horseman of the Apocalypse who comes bringing Bloodshed and War the dragon himself is said to be what color in chapter 12 the red dragon here the Beast itself is described as the red or the Scarlet Beast okay so every time we see red it's like a warning it's a warning flare stay away she looks beautiful but she's dangerous and that's how evil often presents itself beautiful but dangerous now one more detail here that I think is worth looking at carefully and that is that she's look at verse four she adorns herself with gold and jewels and Pearls okay why that well I mean that's what a seductress would do right yes but also very interestingly that's the same thing that the high priest would wear into the holy of holies in the Old Testament remember the high priest he wore that ephod and it was decked out with various Jewels you can look this up in if you have time uh Exodus chapter 25 and chapter 28 so there's something of religious vain Glory here that's the idea religious vain glory and that's what evil very often does is it cloaks itself in the vestage of that which is beautiful now I wish that reality was as simple as the old Disney movies do you remember the old Disney movies not the new stuff reject All That the old ones are good though in the old Disney movies it was really obvious who was good and who was evil because the princesses were always beautiful and that was your sign to children that they're the good people you know it's Snow White and Sleeping Beauty but it was always the wicked witch who is repulsive physically manifested and that children understand that but but but listen to me mature Christians need to understand that sometimes the most diabolical evil is actually dressed up as though it were beautiful and therein is the deception that's why Lewis has it right okay some of the best speakers the most audite and eloquent preachers you'll ever hear far more audite than me are false teachers and that's what's so hard to discern is because they're very good at what they do the outside is beautiful but the inside is dangerous the outside is purple but the inside is red does that make sense same thing is true happening in our day today listen to me very carefully sexual perversions of various kinds often cast themselves in the language of Rights rights yes you with me cloaking themselves in terms like a affirming care and other such things that sounds so good to the ears but inside is deadly poison and that could multiply examples tyranny often Brands itself as protecting the rights of the people or preserving democracy or Equity or social justice it's always beautiful sounding terms describing something as actually quite evil in its nature censorship often describes itself as preventing hate speech and who wouldn't want to do that okay debauchery presents itself as entertainment sometimes um just to say this proverbially the books with the most beautiful covers have the worst content inside and that's how evil works okay so remember here The Prostitute is the manifestation of corrupted religion outward Beauty riches elitis Etc but bought and paid for by the intoxicating power of political force and that's why she's riding on the Beast and that's why she becomes so repulsive let's go on to the next and last portion here look at verse five why is she repulsive okay well she looks beautiful on the outside but look at verse 5 here's the reality on her forehead was written a name of mystery Babylon the great mother of prostitutes and the Earth's Abominations and I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the Saints the blood of the martyrs of Jesus there is no ambiguity here whatsoever about the real moral ethical and spiritual nature of the prostitute it's written right on her forehead okay what does it say about her well it is written Babylon the great the mother of prostitutes of the Earth's Abominations now I just have to linger over here on this word Abominations for just a minute with you please because the word Abominations um that is not a word that the Bible throws around casually the Bible doesn't throw around any words casually but the Bible certainly does not throw around the word Abominations casually whatsoever this is not a trit word here the word abomination in the scriptures that is is used is to describe the most um spiritually debased of activities to give a couple examples beastiality is described as an Abomination so to is incest so to is homosexuality so to is crossdressing Deuteronomy 225 so to is burning one's own children in the fires to the god mik in 2 Chronicles 283 here in other words an Abomination is the most despicable and disgusting of all sins and that's really what she's concealing here all of the external vanities of beauty beuty and her Allure is really hiding nothing more but that which is abominable and disgusting in the sight of the Lord okay and why is this so heinous why is this so serious why does the bible here use one of the most serious of words to describe the nature and the activity of this Harlot well because look at what it says next she is drunk on what look at verse six I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the Saints the blood of the martyrs of Jesus and you and I know that it is truly true that you can take the most beautiful woman in the whole world and when she becomes drunk when she becomes intoxicated her beauty just e away it's exactly what happens and that's what John is describing here she's drunk on what on power yes on violence certainly but specifically look at this the blood of the Saints and the blood of the martyrs of Jesus if there's one thing that false religion and tyrannical Powers have in common they hate the truth of the Living God and those who live accordingly which is why it always results in the persecution of God's people always look through church history whenever you see false religion Amalgamated with tyrannical dictatorial power the result is persecution uh one more bit here and then we're going to move on we'll have to move on for the sake of time notice verse three he the angel carried me away in the spirit Into the Wilderness did you notice that that is a necessity for the people of God in order to objectively analyze these things in order to see what is really happening here John has to be removed and actually set into a a removed and objective position so that he can even contemplate this why is that because it's too dangerous it's too alluring and remember the Wilderness here flip with me back really quickly here for the sake of time Revelation CH 12 remember when the dragon character was introduced and the dragon was bent on destroying the child and destroying the church and it says this in Revelation 12:6 and the woman fled Into the Wilderness where she has a place prepared by God in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days it's the Wilderness where the people of God go to be safe and so John the Visionary he's the apocalyptic writer here he's seeing these Visions the angel has to as it were remove him from the city of Babylon has to remove him has to take him outside of the confines placed him in the wilderness where he's safe in the hand of the Lord in order for him to even see and understand understand and perceive these things spiritually safely and that is why it's so difficult for us to be Christians because it's so hard for us to remove ourselves from all of the sin and all of the pollution and all the contamination of the unbelieving world that is all around us we're so prone to seeing it from the inside and what the scripture says we have to be removed from the outside to truly see it now I want to wrap up here with one more detail that I think is absolutely important I cannot but skip this or I cannot skip this I must look at this notice how there is a real literary parallelism in 171 okay our first verse and 219 which we're going to cover weeks from now let's read them both and I want you to see this 171 parallelism here then one of the Seven Angels who had the seven Bulls came and said to me come I will show you the Judgment of the great prostitute pause right there you see that sentence okay look at almost the exact verbal parallel in 219 this cannot be an accident then came one of the Seven Angels who had the seven Bulls full of the last seven plagues and spoke to me saying come I will show you the bride the wife of the Lamb almost every single word is exactly the same same Angel a same description same bidding language come I will show you but in Revelation 219 who do we see not the prostitute but the bride and so there is the dichotomy in which we have to examine our own hearts and ask ourselves to which do we belong The Prostitute the Covenant breaker uh who is more interested in the lies and the deceptions of this world or do we more closely associate with the bride who is faithful and true and devoted to her Lord and Savior let's think

Channel: Matthew Everhard

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Keywords: Matthew Everhard, Presbyterian, Reformed Theology, PCA

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Length: 33min 35sec (2015 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 05 2023