(Pastors Gonzalo and Andrea Sanabria)
Introduction:
today many things are happening in the church of the Lord in the world, and many signs are being activated on the planet and in the midst of the church, that is why we must discern the times. Well, not everything that happens in the church comes from God. The child of God must develop his spiritual senses to see and hear what is of God…
YO. RELIGIOUS BABYLON: Rev. 17:1-2.
“Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke to me saying: Come here, and I will show you the sentence against the great harlot, who sits on many waters; with which the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been drunk with the wine of her fornication”.
1. The great whore: refers to the union of the apostate church with the political powers (“kings of the earth”), of all times.
two. “The many waters”:
mean crowds of people, vs. fifteen.
Note:
It is interesting that his wine is immorality, and with it he intoxicates the inhabitants of the earth, seeing Apoc. 18:3, we see that it offers salvation and prosperity without holiness. We can see a universal and apostate ecumenical religious system, in the first part of the great tribulation, which will later be replaced by the religion of the antichrist.
3. “And he led me in the Spirit into the wilderness; and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, and she had in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication; and on her forehead a name written, a mystery: BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH”, Rev. 17:3-5.
Four. the scarlet beast, vrs 3: it is the antichrist, who supports and supports the woman, it is the same beast of Apoc. 13:1.
5. The woman’s dress, vrs 4: reminds us of the religious pomp of Rome, and of other religions. The golden cup contains a mixture of filth, religion and paganism offering its followers the lie of worldly enjoyment and divine acceptance.
6. THE GREAT BABYLON, vrs 5: the origin is Babel (Gen. 10), which symbolizes false religion, sorcery, astrology and rebellion against God. This system has persecuted and will persecute those who are faithful to God, vrs 6-7. His expressions:
“the great one, the mother” refers not only to the one that has given birth to the historical false religion and its great cultural diversity, but also refers to “the great final unity of different religions worldwide, before the appearance of the antichrist.” It will be a world religious movement, different religions from all the countries of the world, united to worship “one god”, sacrificing the biblical doctrine and the truth of God.
“the great one, the mother” refers not only to the one that has given birth to the historical false religion and its great cultural diversity, but also refers to “the great final unity of different religions worldwide, before the appearance of the antichrist.” It will be a world religious movement, different religions from all the countries of the world, united to worship “one god”, sacrificing the biblical doctrine and the truth of God.
7. Man, by nature, seeks the spiritual, the external to him. Satan has taken advantage of this, and since the time of the construction of the tower of Babel (Gen. 11), after the Flood, he has been teaching man how to “get” to God through the different religions.
But man cannot reach God by himself. It is God who comes to man in the person of Jesus Christ. This is the message of the Gospel. The true Christian understands that only thus can he be reconciled with his Creator. There is no other mediator between God and men, but Jesus Christ.
But man cannot reach God by himself. It is God who comes to man in the person of Jesus Christ. This is the message of the Gospel. The true Christian understands that only thus can he be reconciled with his Creator. There is no other mediator between God and men, but Jesus Christ.
8. Since Genesis chapter 11, the man without God tries to reach God by inventing a whole series of commandments and liturgies. The first city built after the Flood was Babylon. There Satan began to set up his headquarters. That name, Babylon, was going to define that system of confusion and spiritual evil that has existed and dominated throughout the history of humanity without God.
9. When John was inspired to write his book of Revelation, ancient Babylon as a city had long since ceased to exist. There were hardly any ruins. The city was destroyed, but the city’s religion was not. The culmination of this process of extreme impiety was going to be the rise of the Great Whore (Rev. 17: 3), the false church that claims to be of Christ.
b. INTERPRETATION: Rev. 17:8.
“The beast that you saw was, and is not; and it is to rise from the abyss and go to perdition; and the inhabitants of the earth, those whose names are not written from the foundation of the world in the book of life, will be amazed seeing the beast that was and is not, and will be.”
1. The antichrist (the beast), which was, is not, and will be, indicates a being or spirit that has operated at different times in history and will reappear, or continues to appear.
two. The seven hills, vs. 9: Rome is known as the city of the 7 hills, since it is surrounded or settled on 7 hills.
“This for the mind that has wisdom: The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sits”
3. The seven kings, vs. 10: probably refers to 7 empire kingdoms, thus: five have fallen (Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persian and Greece), one is (Rome in the time of Apoc.) and the other (is the confederation of nations that have continued to the present day).
“and there are seven kings. Five of them have fallen; one is, and the other has not yet come; and when he comes, it is necessary that he last a short time.”
Four. The eighth king, vrs.11: the beast, that is to say the antichrist, comes out from among the seven, he is the head of the last world empire.
5. The ten horns, vs. 12-14: there are ten nations that will have a lot of political power and will support the antichrist, and together they will make war against the Lamb.
6. The great harlot will be destroyed by the beast, vrs 16-18.
Note: The antichrist with his allies will destroy the great whore along with her institutions, it may be in the middle of the great tribulation, when the beast claims he is god, and demands that all worship him.
7. The Founder of the first New Kingdom was Nimrod son of Cush which means (rebellious) Genesis 10:8-9. It was the first prototype of the antichrist in all the earth, the first world kingdom, they were building a tower, which reached the highest of heaven, as a symbol of rebellion and apostasy before the eyes of God. Genesis 11:4-9.
It was called” Babel” which means: Babylon, and Babylon also means (confusion) they wanted to found the tower of Babel, as a symbol of rebellion and apostasy against God, their purpose of existence was to concentrate power in a single kingdom, it was the effort of the humanistic religion for a World Government. In addition to this, the tower of babel is the mother of all the false religions of the world, the tower was raised for the practice of astrology and the worship of the Sun God (“satan”), even that’s how they were building it. God undid this demonic project, and will do it again.
It was called” Babel” which means: Babylon, and Babylon also means (confusion) they wanted to found the tower of Babel, as a symbol of rebellion and apostasy against God, their purpose of existence was to concentrate power in a single kingdom, it was the effort of the humanistic religion for a World Government. In addition to this, the tower of babel is the mother of all the false religions of the world, the tower was raised for the practice of astrology and the worship of the Sun God (“satan”), even that’s how they were building it. God undid this demonic project, and will do it again.
II. THE POLITICAL, SOCIAL AND COMMERCIAL BABYLON: Apoc. 18:1-3.
“After this I saw another angel descend from heaven with great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. and he cried out with a loud voice, saying: He is fallen, Babylon the great is fallen, and has become a dwelling place for demons and a haunt for every unclean spirit, and a haunt for every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication; and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown rich through the abundance of her delights.”
A. ITS DESTRUCTION ANNOUNCED.
1.
By a special angel, vs. 1.
By a special angel, vs. 1.
two.
Its commercial facet stands out, vs 2-3.
Its commercial facet stands out, vs 2-3.
b. THE PEOPLE OF GOD ARE CALLED TO COME OUT OF HER, vrs. 4-5.
1.
It is a call to believers who survive the persecution of the antichrist.
It is a call to believers who survive the persecution of the antichrist.
two.
The punishment will be double the suffering and misery caused, vs. 6-8.
The punishment will be double the suffering and misery caused, vs. 6-8.
c. COMMERCIAL DISTRESS BEFORE ITS FALL.
1.
Lamentation of the kings, vrs. 9-10.
Lamentation of the kings, vrs. 9-10.
two.
Lamentation of the merchants, vs. 11-19
Lamentation of the merchants, vs. 11-19
d THE JOY AT HIS FALL.
1. There is joy for the justice of God, vrs 20.
two. There is joy over the destruction of the Babylonian system, vrs. twenty-one.
3. The happy, prosperous, worldly, idolatrous and immoral city is reduced to ruins and misery by fire, vs. 22 and 18.
Four. The reasons for its destruction are described: vrs. 23.
a. Because of his avarice and covetousness (“he hoarded the riches of the world”),
b. With his witchcraft he deceived the whole world,
c. His greatest crime: spilling the innocent blood of prophets, saints, and many more, vs. 24.