E11: The Bowls and Babylon (Revelation 15–17)

Judgment intensifies as the bowls are poured out and Babylon is revealed. This episode explores what these symbols represent and what they say about human systems opposed to God.

Transcript

Michael Berry: All right, so at this point, we are more than halfway through the book, and I'd like to just kind of recap where we've been so far and take us back through the first 14 chapters as we prepare to get into ⁓ chapter 15 through 17, where we will see the the bowls being poured out in Revelation. chapter one, Of course, we had the introduction to the resurrected Jesus. And this resurrected Jesus has a message for His church during their tribulation. ⁓ Chapter 2 and 3, this is Jesus' message to His church, and it comes with the challenge to conquer this world. Chapter 4 and 5, then Jesus shows us what conquering looks like, not our own conquering. But the conquering that he achieved ⁓ and showed us that he has already overcome the world as he promised through his death, his resurrection. Chapters 6 through 8 then show us ⁓ sin's effect on humanity ⁓ and it ⁓ creates conquering kings, it creates war, it creates unjust economics, death, and the church, call for the church is to overcome by the blood of the lamb. The call for the church is to overcome by the blood of the lamb. Chapters 8 through 11 then, God will achieve his purposes, remember his purpose is repentance, and he'll achieve that purpose when his church stands in the gap and conquers by the word of their testimony. Chapters 12 through 14 come in and show us the real enemy behind this chaos, shows us how he works through power and worship of that power or subjugation to that power. And then here in chapter 15 and 16, we'll also get into chapter 17, we're ⁓ going to see the judgment of God that will one day come to rest on those who do not follow the Lamb. So that's a picture of where we've been. Let's jump into where we're going. We're going to get into the final set of the three major recapitulations Jesus has in this book. We've seen the seals opened and the church conquered by the blood. We've heard the trumpet sound and seen the church conquer by the word of their testimony to the Lamb. Today in the third set of seven, the bowls will be poured out And as we get ready to step into this section, where do you think we're going to have to look in order to gain an accurate understanding of these bowls? After all we've learned in Revelation, any clue where we should turn? Yeah, we're going to go to the Old Testament. And in the Old Testament, there is the, of course, the story of Exodus. And that is going to be the main backdrop of these bowls. And when we look at the story of Exodus, ⁓ and we start in Exodus chapter 8, we see, and it's one of the most famous stories of the Old Testament, the ten plagues that God pours out on Egypt while He tries to get Egypt to, on their own, let go of His chosen people, the Israelites. And we've seen those ten plagues poured out. We see... Water turned to blood. We see the plague of frogs. We see the plague of gnats. We see the plague of flies. We've seen where Egyptian livestock die. We see the boils that come up on the Egyptians. We see hail. We see locusts. We see darkness. And then the final one, and that's where the Passover comes from. If you don't put the blood of a lamb on your doorposts. then it's promised that the firstborn of those families who do not do that will die. And our consciences kind of bristle at that final plague, don't they? We're kind of okay with the first nine, ⁓ but the one where the firstborn dies, ⁓ it's every firstborn. I used to picture that as just kids, but ⁓ no, it's the firstborn of the family. So all throughout Egypt, young, to old, the firstborn of the family dies. And so we bristle at that. But we don't just bristle at that story. But it's not just the Exodus story. It's also the story of Noah, where the people of earth were destroyed in the flood, except for Noah and his family. It's also the story of Israel itself. Numbers 23, God sends snakes on his people who ⁓ were unrepented, ⁓ who were ⁓ being a problem ⁓ in the wilderness. It's a really interesting story if you want to go back to Numbers 23 and read that. ⁓ Also, we kind of bristle when God tells about the Canaanites dwelling in the Promised Land, and he tells his people to go and to destroy them all. And all these stories don't quite sit right. All of these stories do, and what the Exodus specifically does, is force the question, what has God to do with a people in complete and total rebellion towards Him? And if we look at the Exodus story, the first action we see of God to Pharaoh, to Egypt, is a revelation of His presence. Moses walks into the courts of Pharaoh and Turns his staff into a snake and declares the god of my people says let my people go Then the second action, we see patience. We see that with the plagues themselves. There's 10 over the course of months or even years. And then the third action comes into place and the plagues intensify. And all of this is to seek repentance. And if we think of the seals and the trumpets, those are playing in our minds, right? And we actually... see this strategy working in the seventh plague of hail in Exodus 9 20. says then whoever feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh hurried his slaves and his livestock into houses but whoever did not pay attention to the word of the Lord left his slaves and his livestock in the field. And so all along these. plagues, he is telling the Egyptians what will happen. If I tell you not to step out into the street because there's a bus coming at 55 miles an hour, and you still step out into the street and become a hood ornament, is it my fault? Is it the bus driver's fault for you getting hit? Whose fault is that? That's the idea of what's going on with these plagues. And then the fourth and final action is God's final and sweeping judgment. that leads to the angel of death really taking what belongs to him. And the way I phrase that is really key. God did not send the angel of death as a punishment for rebellion. God allowed the angel of death to take what belongs to him, to take what belongs to the angel of death. He's giving over of what the angel claims. And so let's lay that out. What is God to do with the people in complete and total rebellion towards him? Reveal his presence, number one. Remain patient, number two. Number three, intensify his signs of judgment. And number four, a final act of judgment and the final consequence of sin and disunity with God. And so you know the story after the angel of death. Pharaoh gives in. He lets the people of Israel go. Then he changes his mind, right, pursues them to the Red Sea. And then Israel crosses over on dry land. Pharaoh tries to follow. And then he and his army is killed. And when you look at the story of Exodus, of people oppressing the Israelites, people oppressing the people of God, Is God not fair? When you look at the story of our world, is God not overwhelmingly patient and kind and revealing of himself to us? See, for Israel, the Exodus story is the defining story in their history. In fact, Deuteronomy captures this in chapter four, verses 34 and 35. It says this, has any God ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation by trials, by signs, by wonders, and by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great deeds of terror, all of which the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes. To you it was shown that you might know the Lord is God, there is no other besides Him." And so this story was so foundational for them. that the idea of Egypt was not simply left in their history. It was not a story that they just thought about every once in while. Egypt became a symbol for them. And so whenever Egypt is mentioned throughout the rest of the Old Testament in Psalms or the prophets, it's used to remind them of the slavery and oppression God brought them out of. And it would do well for us whenever we think of that story, whenever that story is brought to our minds to think of the same thing. And so as we put that story in our back pocket, we turn to Revelation 15. Let's jump in. Jump in and read. We're going to start, obviously, in verse one and go through verse eight. There's only eight verses in chapter 15, so it's a transitory ⁓ chapter for us. But verse one, then I saw another sign in heaven, great and amazing, seven angels with seven plagues, which are the last, for with them the wrath of God is finished. It's going to, these bowls kind of have a sense of don't know, of finality, kind of a sigh as you read through this. But right off the bat, we have plagues. These bowls are plagues. And so that kind of already starts to put in our mind the Egypt story. And I saw what appeared to a sea ⁓ of glass mingled with fire and also those who had, keyword, conquered the beast in its image, and the number of its name standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands. And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God. So now we've got a song of Moses coming on. And so that's even further imprinting the story of Egypt in our minds. Jesus does not want us to miss that. And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty. Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations, who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name. For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed." And so these that are standing by the sea are those who have conquered, who have come out of Egypt, not literal Egypt, but symbolic Egypt. And this is the nation God has created out of the slavery of the power of the beast. They are those who have conquered the beast. After this I looked, and the sanctuary of the Tent of Witness in heaven was opened, and out of the sanctuary came the seven angels with the seven plagues clothed in pure bright linen, with golden sashes around their chests. And one of the four living creatures gave the seventh angel seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God, who lives forever and ever. And the sanctuary was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power. and no one could enter the sanctuary until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished. And so the stage is set for the bowls. But by this stage in Revelation, what should we know or expect based on the previous two sets of seven? We should expect that we're going to see a recapitulation of the same time frame, but pushing the principle further. And so We're going to go through the bowls and in verse 18 of chapter 16 we're going to see thunder lightning earthquake the works end of the world We hit the first four in in rapid succession and then the final three Hammer home the point just like in the other two So let's jump in 16 And then I heard a loud voice from the temple telling the seven angels go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth and harmful and painful sores came upon the people who bore the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. And so the first bowl reminds us of the plagues of Egypt, ⁓ Harmful, painful sores, that was one of the plagues. And who was affected? The people with the mark of the beast, the people who were oppressing the people of God, right? The second angel poured out his bowl into the sea and it became like the blood of a corpse and every living thing that was in the sea died. So the second bowl is blood ⁓ Egypt plagues, right? That's we're continuing to press that metaphor The third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of water and they became blood and I heard the angel in charge of the water say Just are you ⁓ Holy One who is? and who was. Notice what's missing. Not who is to come. And so here we already seem to be at the end of the world where God is present, who was and who is. For you have brought these judgments, for they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink. It is what they deserve. And I heard the altar saying, Yes, Lord God the Almighty, true and just are your judgments." The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was allowed to scorch people with fire. And they were scorched by ⁓ fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God who had power over these plagues. They did not repent and did not give Him glory. One of the interesting things here is the bowls. ⁓ actually have the same targets as the trumpets. So from the second bowl, the sea is affected. The third bowl, the rivers and springs of water. The fourth bowl, it's the sun. And so it's mirroring those trumpets from earlier in Revelation. And so in verse 9 here, we have no repentance. So we're continuing to deal with a stubborn people. Verse 10, the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast and its kingdoms was plunged into darkness. People nod their tongues in anguish and curse the God of heaven for their pains and their sores. They did not repent of their deeds. Once again, we are furthering that purpose. ⁓ And so this overthrows the fourth or fifth bowl overthrows the throne of the beast into darkness ⁓ Egypt plague there the plague of darkness and and so the first five of these bowls are almost like God's last attempt to win hearts and souls and It doesn't change hearts We should we should expect that by now and then verse 12 really sounds like the 6th trumpet. And the 6th angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates and its water was dried up to prepare a way for the kings from the east. We'll go on. And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet. So here ⁓ we have this trinity, the evil trinity coming back into the picture. ⁓ and three unclean spirits like frogs. For they are demonic spirits, performing signs who go abroad to the kings of the whole world to assemble them for battle on the great day of God the Almighty. Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on, that he may not go about naked and be seen exposed. and they assembled them at the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon. And so, so far in Revelation, we have seen out of the mouths of this parody trinity, we've seen the dragon in chapter 12, spew water like a river to drown the woman. ⁓ Remember the woman is the church. So the lies and the deceit that he inflicts and he ⁓ really preaches against the church ⁓ is what is seen there. The sea beast, the first beast, we see blasphemies come out of his mouth. Then the second beast, ⁓ we see him, remember he looks like a lamb, but he speaks like a dragon. So he speaks lies and deceit. And so these frogs that are mentioned here, once again, remind us of the Egypt plague, right? These are merely deceit and lies. And what do they do? They entice the kings of the world to go and to pick a fight. Then verse 15 comes into play and it's like a wake up call if we've gone to sleep. Hey, this is real. The deceit and the lies are real. Don't be fooled by the lies. And even though it is very short, it's only one verse, this is the intermission of the bulls. It's not as long as the intermission of the seals and the trumpets, but it has the same purpose. to speak the truth of the situation. And then of course, we have that ⁓ place in Hebrew called Armageddon. This is a big battle place for those in the dispensational pre-millennial cloud or the ⁓ futurist interpretation. ⁓ And there's a lot of conversation about where this is, where this battle is gonna take place, who's in this battle, all that sort of stuff. ⁓ but I'm going to underwhelm you again in this scenario. This is just simply a place of war that is likely Mount Megiddo where many battles in ancient times took place. And so what we have here is just the people who are ⁓ deceived by this false trinity ⁓ are gathering at a place of battle. so ⁓ verse 17. The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out from the temple, from the throne, saying, It is done. And there were flashes of lightning and rumblings and peals of thunder and a great earthquake, such as there had never been since the man was on earth, and so great was that earthquake. The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell, and God remembered Babylon, the great. to make her drain the cup of the wine of the fury of his wrath. And every island fled away and no mountains were to be found and great hail stones about 100 pounds each fell from heaven on people. And they cursed God for the plagues of the hail because the plague was so severe. And so here we have hail, Egypt, And the bowl here is not only thrown on the earth, it also is thrown into the air. And so this final judgment involves the spiritual as well. And here Babylon is brought up again. Remember the first time we saw Babylon was earlier in I think it's chapter 14, where we see Babylon mentioned and it's already defeated. Here again, we see it mentioned and we're going to jump further into Babylon in chapter 17. But the point of these bowls is that ⁓ God is seeking repentance once again, ⁓ but the people, ⁓ they curse God. because though judgment can lead to repentance, more oftentimes than not, it hardens rather than converts, just like we saw in Pharaoh's heart. And so we ask the question again, what is God to do with a people in complete and total rebellion towards him? Because yes, God is loving and his love enacts his patience. But at some point in time, God will act. His love, even though it does first enact His patience, it eventually demands that justice be carried out. And there will be consequences for rejecting Him. You know, the idea of hell ⁓ is one that tends to make us uncomfortable. You know, it's the idea that there are some, if they don't accept the blood of Jesus as they're covering, will spend an eternity suffering in the pits of hell being tormented day and night. At least that's the picture that we get, ⁓ right? And I think there are a few things that I wanna hit briefly. ⁓ that I wish we could get into further, but we'll just touch on them briefly because the judgment of God ends this opportunity to come to repentance in him. His final judgment, I should say, ends the opportunity to come to repentance to him and it will enact the eternal state of those who have followed him and those who have not followed him. We have this picture in our mind of hell as this burning furnace, a place of torment from fire forever and ever. And really that comes more from a misunderstanding of symbolism in the Bible than anything else, because the Bible also describes hell as a place of darkness. Well, you can't have both fire and darkness. And so these are symbols. And really, that really what God is after? Is his strategy to use the threat of pain and torment for eternity for those who don't choose him? Or is he trying to save us from ourselves and the marriage that we have with death? Remember how I phrased it earlier? The angel of death in the Egypt story was allowed by God to claim his own, the angel of death's own. And I think at this moment, ⁓ a C.S. Lewis interpretation of hell is really helpful. He wrote a book called The Great Divorce, and it has been really, really helpful for me to wrap my mind around this idea of hell. And in this book, he pictures a gray and joyless city, which is meant to symbolize and depict hell. And the narrator of this story, ⁓ boards a bus that is headed for heaven. And the people on the bus ⁓ are ghosts. So there's not really, there's not a physical presence with them. And so the narrator's on this bus with a lot of other ghosts, and when they get to heaven, they are invited to stay if they will let go of what keeps them married to death, married to their current state. a mother whose love for a child has turned into idolatry, a man who clings to his lust, a ghost in self-pity who wants sympathy instead of healing. These are all the examples of these ghosts that C.S. Lewis paints. And then there is a contrast, because when they get to heaven, the people in heaven are real and physical, the ghosts who ⁓ who are willing to let go of what keeps them married to death, ⁓ they slowly turn real and they slowly turn to have a physical presence and become full of color and beauty and they start to have joy. And so in this book, heaven is depicted not simply as a destination, but a transforming presence. Meanwhile, the ghosts, they can't even walk on the grass without the paint. And so there's this contrast. And what happens? Well, a few of the ghosts accept the offer to stay, but most of the ghosts, they get back on the bus and begin their journey back to hell. they choose hell rather than heaven, they would rather cling to their vice than have life. And so they are allowed to leave. And one of his more famous quotes from this book really locks all of this into place. He writes, these ghosts are successful rebels to the end. For there are only two kinds of people in the end. Those who say to God, thy will be done. And those to whom God says in the end, thy will be done. See, the doors of hell are locked from the inside because all that are in hell choose it. See, the worst thing that God could do is force someone to be with him for eternity who simply doesn't want him. And so hell in its simplest form is the absence of God and the absence of all that is good. And those who are there have chosen to be there. And sometimes it's like, well, that kind of feels like a a better place than just a plain place where people are tormented. honestly, can you imagine a place where men and women are controlled by their lust or their greed or their drunkenness or their violence and they're powerless to stop? See, right now we are a people that harness both virtue and vice within our heart. but imagine a place where none of the good remains within a person. Only his, only her evil desire. Doesn't that align with what we've been learning in Revelation? And doesn't that change the picture of hell for us? What is God to do with a people in complete and total unrepentant rebellion towards Him? God is trying currently to save us from ourselves, and He does this by revealing Himself to us through Jesus. He does this by being patient towards us in our rebellion. He does this by giving signs. the cross and the resurrection that guide us towards repentance. But eventually, he will put an end to the rebellion and let the natural consequences of sin and disunity with him bear out. Doesn't that sound like Egypt? Doesn't that sound like the trumpets? Doesn't it sound like those who choose the mark of the beast instead of the lamb? Doesn't it sound like these... bowls? That's the point of the bulls. Who you have chosen to side with is what will define your eternity. I wish we could camp there. It's a lot to take in, but we have to keep going because the bowls also introduce the next chapter in verse 19 where God remembers Babylon the Great. Now I would have liked to have placed chapter 17 with chapter 18 through 20 because it does fit better there, but there's a ton to unpack in those chapters. So we'll go ahead and start that journey in chapter 17 today. And in chapter 17, we've talked about it or we've seen it a couple times already in Revelation, but it depicts the fall of Babylon the Great. And so this is going to be what we're going to see as a recapitulation of chapter 16 verse 19, where God does say, God remembered Babylon the Great to make her drain the cup of the wine of the fury of his wrath. So it's a recapitulation of that verse right there. And if you can remember our study from previous, ⁓ Babylon was the kingdom led by Nebuchadnezzar who conquered Judah. And so Nebuchadnezzar led his armies ⁓ into Judah, into Israel, into Jerusalem and ⁓ destroyed the temple. And at this, he took the Jews ⁓ to Babylon in exile. And it was one of the empires in Daniel's visions, one of those what we call the intertestamental period, ⁓ one of those empires, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome. And so the prophets then use Babylon as a symbol for a pattern of pride, a pattern of cruelty towards God's people and a pattern of human power over God's people. And so if we take that concept, We know at this point that Revelation is written that Babylon is gone. Who fills that role now? Rome. And so this is a symbol. Babylon is a symbol. And in chapter 17, Babylon is going to be portrayed as a prostitute. ⁓ She's gonna be portrayed as really, really seductive. She's going to be drunk with the blood of God's people. She'll be sitting on a scarlet beast. ⁓ And so that could get into our minds. The Scarlet Beast is the power offered by the dragon. And we'll see that it is the great city that has dominion over the kings of the earth. And she's going to be understood as as Rome. OK, so you see what's going on. Babylon is used as a symbol of the current power, the current human power over God's people, which in Revelation is Rome. So that's kind of a picture where we're going in chapter 17. We'll jump in. Verse 1. Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, come, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters. That is the focus. Okay. In chapter 17, that is going to be the focus. We've seen it. We've heard it a couple of times that Babylon has fallen. This is going to be the focus of chapter 17, judgment of the prostitute. That is the point. A lot of people get off ⁓ into trying to ⁓ use this chapter to try to date the book of Revelation through the emperors of Rome and all of that. We'll jump into a little bit that here in a little bit, but it misses the whole point. The point of 17 is judgment of the prostitute. Underline it, highlight it, do whatever you have to do. That is what we're going to get through. And so, We see, so he's going to show the judgment of the great prostitute 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 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 ten horns. So that's the beast from chapter 13, verse one. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls holding in her hand a goblet full of the 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 the earth's abominations. And I saw the drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I'm And so the kings of earth we see have had sex with her and the people of earth have had sex with her and now they are drunk because she is so seductive and she is, you can see that she is luxurious at all those descriptions of what she is wearing ⁓ is just drawing people in, drawing people towards her and she's holding a goblet. She looks pretty magnificent, but the cup she drinks is full of unbelievable wickedness. And what is her drink of choice? It's the blood of the followers of Jesus. And John stands in amazement of this picture because she is so overwhelmingly enticing. power and her beauty are so attractive and they're seductive even to John. Verse seven, but the angel said to me, why do you marvel? Tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast with seven heads and 10 horns that carries her. So this angel kind of slaps John out of his trance. So what are you doing? Stop. The beast that you saw was and is not and is about to rise from the bottomless pit and go to destruction. And the dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel to see the beast because it was and is not and is to come. This calls for a mind with wisdom." Okay, so a mind with wisdom. Remember, what are we discussing here? the judgment of the prostitute. Okay. ⁓ You're going to there's going to be these verses are pretty they're admittedly pretty confusing. A lot of people try to get into counting emperors and all that sort of stuff. And if you if you get into it, it's going to make it your head spin if you try to do it that way. But there's actually a pretty simple interpretation to all this because what we're doing with numbers and revelation is not counting them. we're recognizing their significance. Okay, we're not looking at their numerical value as much as we're looking at their significance and what they portray. And so in verse nine, it says, calls for a mind with wisdom. The seven heads, this is referring to the beast, the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated. And so a lot of people will say, ⁓ this is Rome because Rome was known as the city on seven hills. And while the symbol can be multifaceted and in this case it likely is, you know, symbolizing Rome, I think what Jesus has in mind here is a deeper sense of power. If you can remember what I talked about in Chapter 13, that the beast represents this human power that is used by the dragon. And so that's what I think Jesus has in mind here. And so more likely it's that these seven mountains represent previous empires that have come and gone before Rome, all appearing to have perfect or ⁓ complete power. That's why it's used. That's why the number seven is used like the beast, but they will eventually fall. So the point is that this beast has pelts on the wall. Rome is currently being hunted, though she doesn't know it yet. The Babylon is currently being hunted. though she doesn't know it yet. if we think in those terms, it really starts to make sense. Babylon was once Babylon, and it was sitting on the beast. If you think of it in that way. The beast used Babylon until it needed to get rid of Babylon. Then the beast used Persia, and Persia became the prostitute sitting on the beast. Then Greece, and now it's Rome. And so that's kind of the way I'm working through this. so ⁓ verse 10, they are also seven kings. That's referring to the seven heads. They are also seven kings, five of whom have fallen. One is and the other has not yet come. And when he does come, he must remain only a little while. And so these seven heads are also seven kings. It could be recognized that the seven kings or ⁓ empires that have come before, so Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, well, there's only five there, Michael. Yes, Rome would be the sixth, the one that is, and then there would be one that is to come. The point is that some have reigned, one currently is reigning, and another will eventually replace it. You see, the interpretations are pretty simple if we allow the text to speak the way it has for 17 chapters. Verse 11, this one's admittedly pretty confusing. As for the beast that was and is not, it is an eighth, but it belongs to the seven. And it goes to destruction. It is an eighth, but it belongs to the seven. It's hard to tie down. It could be that it refers to the papacy that comes from the same source. It could be the succession of Roman emperors, right? What we've already noted it as is that it's the empires that just keep coming. It's like, it's part of what already is here, but it's also going to be the next one as well. So yeah, it's part, it's part of the seven, but it's an eighth. It's gonna be the next one as well. The first 12 kind of helps lock that in. And the 10 horns that you saw are 10 kings who have not yet received royal power, they are to receive authority as kings for one hour together with the beast. And so these ten, ⁓ ten horns are ten kings to come. So don't be confused. It's not as if you just have to survive Rome, if you even could, because they will just keep coming at you. They'll rule with the beast for a bit and then they're going to be cast aside. And yet again, what is each of these kingdoms function under the influence of the beast? To make war with the lamb and those who follow the lamb because the beast is working on behalf of the dragon from chapter 12. So don't be surprised if the next king or the next empire or the next oppressor is just as terrible. Do you see what's going on here? And so remember, at this point, We are still going to find out the judgment of Babylon. That is the whole point of all of this. We're going to find out the judgment of Babylon. Verse 13. These are of one mind, meaning the kings, meaning the horns, meaning the heads of the beast. All of them are of one mind, and they hand over their power and authority to the beast. They will make war on the lamb, and the lamb will, there's that word again, ⁓ conquer them. For he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful. And the angel said to me, The waters that you saw where the prostitutes seated are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages. And the ten horns that you saw, they and the beast will hate the prostitute. They will make her desolate and naked and devour her flesh and burn her up with fire. This is the plot twist. You see, she's sitting on the world. The waters that you saw where the prostitute is seated, peoples, nations, multitudes, languages. She's sitting on the world. Everything appears under her control. But the angel confirms here that the pattern of what we just saw, Babylon, symbolic for Rome, is just the current flavor of the month. I mean, why do you think Babylon is depicted as a prostitute? Because the beast treats her like a prostitute. She is used for its purposes and then is thrown out. And I want you to hear that before we get to the next verse. The beast uses the prostitute. This concentrated power will use whatever and whoever it needs to in order to accomplish its purpose. What is the purpose of the beast from back in chapter 13? where the dragon pulled it out of the sea to make war on God's people at the direction of the dragon. So if the beast needs to use Rome, it will use Rome. If the beast needs to use Babylon, it will use Babylon. If the beast needs to use Nazi Germany, it will use Nazi Germany. If the beast needs to use economics, it will use economics. If the beast needs to use corporations or wayward church hierarchies or a drunk father, an apathetic mother or your abuser. The beast will use whatever it can to achieve its purpose to destroy you. destroy me. to destroy the people of God. And when all of this seems like it's too much. Jesus flips everything on its head. And he speaks verse 17. says, God has put it into their hearts to carry out His purpose by being of one mind and handing over their royal power to the beast until the words of God are fulfilled. See, everything looks stacked against the people of God until verse 17. And verse 17 tells me who is really in control. And he, God, put it into their hearts to achieve his purposes. ⁓ wait, hold up, Michael. Persecuting God's own people is God's purpose? No, no, no, no, no. What God is doing is ordering everything. even evil, to accomplish His ultimate purpose. What was His purpose in the trumpets? Repentance. To have His name written on their foreheads. To have His children come home. So what does this teach me? It teaches me that if allowing his people to be persecuted is what it takes to overcome the beast and eventually overcome the dragon and steal souls from the dragon, then he will allow it and he will redeem it. ⁓ but that doesn't make sense. That doesn't seem loving. God is supposed to protect me from evil. Not condone it in my life. ⁓ hold up. Wasn't that the same strategy that God used with the lamb? what God has always done is work in spite of the evil in our world so that even those corrupt desires, even corruption, even evil end up serving his purposes. God gave Jesus into the hands of death to save lives. And it's by Jesus' self-sacrifice that he conquered the greatest weapon the enemy has, death. It's broken, it's shattered, it is no longer to be feared. Hebrews 212 says, himself likewise became flesh and blood so that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver all those who fear death and were subject to lifelong slavery. And that is why chapters 5 and 12 are massive in this book. Chapters that pierce through the seals, pierce through the trumpets and the bowls, they show the power of what Jesus accomplished in the midst of this broken world. He conquered by his death, chapter 5, and he defeated the dragon, chapter 12, and continues to defeat him today. How? through the faithfulness of his people. Remember, Revelation 12, 11. And they have conquered him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. Paul says in Romans 16, 19, be excellent in what is good and be innocent of evil. For the God of peace will soon crush Satan underneath your feet. And all the people who went to Bible camp in the 90s said, huh. Paul says underneath your feet he is speaking to the Roman church in a Roman world, being oppressed by Roman authorities and reminding them that they will win. God's plan for defeating the enemy started when Jesus was born in Bethlehem, chapter 12, climaxed when he went to the cross and walked out of the tomb. And it continues today through his church who is learning to conquer through faithful love and devotion to their King, even through suffering. That is the purpose of God. And through your suffering and through my suffering, he can save not only us, but those whom we are so bold to declare our testimony of Jesus to. We serve the King and we conquer like the King conquered. And if the King asks us to pick up our cross, we have to trust that picking up our cross is how we conquer. It doesn't make sense to the world, but that is how this kingdom functions. We have to learn this because we are part of the fight. And when we see ourselves as part of the fight, all of a sudden we're back at chapter six again. And the horsemen start riding again. And the trumpets sound again. And the locust swarm again. And the bulls are out again. And the armies of the world gather again. And the Church of Jesus Christ keeps singing. God's throne is closer than you think and its power has no limit. So when you and I come face to face with Babylon on Earth, do not fear. the invitation that Jesus has for us through revelation is to join the fight. and learn to conquer. And so to you, I say. Whatever appears to have power in your life right now or in the past. Conquer. whatever spiritual oppression is pursuing you right now. Conquer. Whatever your past keeps holding over your head, conquer. not of your own power. by the blood of Jesus as your defense, and the word of your testimony as your offense. Seven sessions ago, I told you about my story. how sexual abuse wrecked me. and I ask the main question that we all have when it comes to trauma. Why? And I put these three answers in front of you. And I want to revisit them now that we're 17 chapters into Revelation. You know, the first answer to that question of why is that, you know, God has caused this pain and evil in my life. What has Revelation shown us? Is that true? No. God has not caused this pain and evil in my life. then must be the second answer. Well, God is powerful enough to have stopped pain and evil, but he didn't care to. What has Revelation shown us? No. It's not that God is powerful enough to have stopped pain and evil in my life, but he didn't care to. That's not the truth. Okay, so God cared and he wanted to stop pain and evil in my life, but wasn't powerful enough to do so. What have we seen through Revelation? Who is in control? Is that answer true? Each of those answers suggests that God is either causing the evil in my life or not strong enough to stop it. Both of those ditches wreck the car. God does not cause evil in our lives. The devil and people at his work who perpetuate what the devil is after are morally responsible. So what Revelation shows is that God in His sovereignty has allowed evil to have authority on earth for a time in order to shape a people who learn how to conquer through the blood of the lamb in the word of their testimony. And John actually captures this for us, not in Revelation, but in 1 John, in chapter 5 verses 4 and 5. This is amazing. He writes this, for everyone who has been born of God conquers. That word, Nakao, conquers the world. And this is the victory that has Nakao conquered the world. our faith. Who is it that Nakao overcomes, conquers the world, except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? See, God is always at work to bring beauty and strength out of the evil in our world and in our lives. And whenever we latch onto this truth, it actually is revealed all over the pages of scripture. I'm gonna hit five scriptures in quick succession here just to highlight this and show you how prevalent it is. Second Corinthians four, eight through 11. It says, are afflicted in every way, but we're not crushed. We're perplexed, but not driven to despair. were persecuted but not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed, always carrying in the body the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 1 Peter 1, 6 through 7, in this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, You have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Ephesians 6, 10-13, Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Philippians 1, 6, and I am sure of this, he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. at the day of Jesus Christ. you and I are being prepared. Romans 8, 28, all things work together for the good of those who love God. All of this reframes our pain and hurt and suffering in our world and in our lives. For me, no longer was I someone who didn't matter enough to God to protect me at my most vulnerable moments. No, I was a victim of the enemy. And if you've faced trauma, if you've faced the beast. If you've faced the dragon, you're a victim of the enemy. And that might be what you need to rest in today. The enemy has attempted to destroy you, just like he promised in chapter And I pray that you feel and you understand the weight of the love of God has for you to comfort you and to bring you peace. That might be what you need to rest in today. But my prayer is that one day you will recognize the robe in which you are wearing. The robe that is drenched in the blood of Jesus Christ. A robe that defines a conqueror. And my prayer is that you will reach out to him and you will ask him to teach you how to walk, how to live in that robe that is given to you through his conquering. That is the invitation of revelation. No matter what the enemy has thrown at you, will you choose to conquer? I had to have the courage to say yes to that question and to learn how to fight, how to conquer. And guys, it changed my life. And I promise you, it will change your life too. This is the whole point. This is what I've been driving at in all of my study of Revelation and the whole purpose of doing this study with you is to drive to that point. Because it will change your life. And it will move God from this ⁓ influence of evil that we all kind of wrestle with to a God who is on your side and who is willing and ready to teach you to overcome, to teach you to conquer. I could go on and on, but we need to conclude. What I would encourage you to do is to reflect further on this, what I've presented today. I want to invite you to meditate on one of these chapters this week or two weeks or maybe even months to let this truth sink in. 1 Corinthians 15. It's magnificent. All of these are magnificent. Second Corinthians chapters four through six, or Hebrews two, they all have this concept woven throughout. And so I will close with this. Jesus invites us to conquer. but he doesn't invite us to do it alone. Every time we see a picture of the church, we see peoples, not one person. And so if what I've said touches a wound in your life, please, I'd be willing to talk with you through that. Or what I'd encourage you to do is find another brother or sister in Christ in your life. And the next step might be to direct you to counseling. It might simply be prayer. It might simply be a conversation inviting that brother or sister or brothers and sister, maybe your community group to speak truth into you or to pray over you or to just walk with you as you journey. But I want you to know you're not alone. I had to find help in my trauma. I had to, mentioned it in the first session, the people in my life that poured into me, that prayed with me, that encouraged me, that ⁓ kept me on the journey with Jesus. And that's what Jesus in community helps us walk through. So please talk to someone. That is the beginning of healing and the beginning of restoration, the beginning of learning to conquer.