Turn with me to the 17th chapter
of the book of Revelation. Revelation 17. The 16th chapter
of the book of the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ set
forth what was described as the last seven plagues, or the seven
last plagues. That is, judgment in this life
before the great white throne judgment. In that chapter, each
vial of judgment which is actually executed by the preaching of
the gospel, that's how the vials are poured out. I know, as I
said last week or so, in our minds, we get in our minds an
angelic being with a giant bowl because that's the terminology
in the scripture of a bowl being poured out. You've seen pictures
like that. Well, actually, what is the way
that it's done is it's the preaching of the gospel. This is the way
that the vials are actually poured out. It was seven vials. The first vial was poured out,
and this was what was stated, that physical diseases in this
world, which are actually pictures or a type of the spiritual disease
of sin, it's a picture. Every time that someone gets
sick, you get a cold, you get whatever, sickness, all sickness
in this world is saying this body is dying. This body is frail. This body is breaking down. But
there is a greater picture there. And there is an incurable disease
called sin. And in this life, every time
a person, an unbeliever, gets sick, this is what God is saying
to them. Judgment is coming. Eternal judgment
is coming. Now to the unbeliever, there
is no judgment for the unbeliever, so the same disease that is had
by the believer is actually chastisement, lovingly handed out by the hand
of a merciful and kind Lord and Savior, teaching them this world
has nothing that's lasting in it for you. The second vial was
poured out, and it was poured out, and we saw that the fleeting
lusts of this world The false religionist, everything that
he thinks of, everything he strives after is to get. I've got to
get more. I've got to get some stuff. I've
got to get more things. I'm going to build some bigger
barns. My barns aren't big enough. I'm
going to get, you know, this world, everything in it is going
to pass away. And God has graciously given
these things to His people, and we enjoy them. We do enjoy it. But a believer knows, I'm not
taking it with me. The third vial was poured out,
and in that we saw the emptiness. The Lord poured out the vial,
it says, on the fountains and on the rivers, and it all turned
to blood. And what the false religionist
thinks that I'm drinking from, I'm refreshing myself, all the
false religion of this world is empty, has nothing to it. The fourth vow was poured out
and the Word was made death unto death to the wicked. The fifth
vow was the glory of Christ, was actually darkness to the
unregenerate. And they nod in this life, they'll
chew their tongues, the Scripture says. They'll chew on this false
religion. They'll chew on it and eat on
it. And eventually they'll go into eternity having to eat and
to remember the gnawing of their tongues. And the sixth vial was
poured out. And it says that God is gathering.
He's gathering all of the wicked unto Armageddon. And the seventh
vial was poured out and Armageddon was here. Well, in this chapter,
the seventeenth chapter. We're now given, we're going
to see a description or the nature and the history of the great
harlot, Mystery Babylon that was actually said in the sixteenth
chapter to be judged. As I said this morning, what
God said in the sixteenth chapter is, I judged you. Now the seventeenth
chapter, eighteenth chapter is going to set forth Why? God did it. What's the character? Now, we know in this first verse,
open it up, and this is what we see. Scripture says, And there
came one of the seven angels, which had the seven vows, and
talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither, I will show thee
the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters."
Here is the means by which, this is the way that Almighty God
speaks. Now, remember I said that the
seven angels that poured out the seven vials, I said the seven
vials was the preaching of the gospel. Well, then the seven
angels are the preachers that preach the judgment of Almighty
God. So here is one of the angels.
I don't know which, it's just one of them. They all say the
same thing. But one of the angels spoke to
John, and here is God teaching. This is what we're doing tonight.
God is teaching us, all of us. I want to know what this book
has to say. I want to know what the Spirit
says to the church, to the churches. I want to hear. And so this evening,
we sit and we watch and we listen and we ask, Lord, speak to me,
tell me the things. I don't know what tomorrow holds,
but as I've heard, I know who holds it. I know I rest in Him,
but He's got something to say to us. Now, as we've already
considered, this chapter that we're going to deal with is going
to tell us about this false religion, this great whore. She said, as
one of the seven angels talked with John, he said, Come hither.
Come here. I'm going to show you the judgment
of, and listen to how he describes her, the great whore. You know,
the Scripture is to the point. It tells us exactly the character,
exactly the way that things are. whenever it speaks of the blessed. Blessed are they. We looked at
this morning where it says, blessed are the ones that are found watching. In verse 15 of the 16th, I come
as a thief. Blessed is he. How blessed? Blessed. How deep does that blessing
go? Deep. How far is it? I don't know, but I know this,
Brother Scott, blessed. Blessed are you. Blessed are
they. when He's coming that are watching,
looking for Him, waiting on Him, and keeps His garments. That's
blessed. But here, the Scripture says,
this is her character, great whore. She's a great whore. Now, you know, if you come up
and say that to somebody, say that to a woman, and I'm going
to tell you something, that's pretty offensive. I mean, you're
just getting right down to where the paddle meets the water now.
Here is the great... She is the exact opposite of
the chaste virgin that the Lord Jesus Christ describes as His
bride. This great whore is the culmination
of all false religion that makes blasphemous claims to love God
and Christ. She says she loves Him. She says
she does. It's repulsive to listen to men
and women when you listen to them and they're lying on God
and they talk about how much they love the Lord and she's
loud and she's mouthy. But they say, but it's nothing
more than self-will and self-seeking, unfaithful whoredom of all that
is called holy. Angel says, John, come here.
Come here, and I'm going to show you. I'm going to show you the
judgment. I'm going to show you why God
has judged this great whore that sits upon many waters. This great whore, this harlot,
finds herself for a while, because toward the end of this chapter,
you're going to find out that the very beast that she's sitting
upon is going to turn on her. But we'll deal with that later.
But this great harlot finds for a while what she thinks is her
place and her rest and her strength. It's upon many waters. It's upon the sea of this world's
multitudes and tongues and nations. This is where false religion
finds herself. You can find false religion.
It just permeates into every area. I was down visiting with
Brother Walter and Cody down there a year or so ago, and they
were telling me it's just unbelievable the hold that Roman Catholicism
has on the people. They rule with fear. He said,
it's unbelievable! the thought process of how they
feel so inadequate if the church turns. And this great whore,
the false religion, Mystery Babylon, is sitting upon many waters,
many waters, out of the tribes of this world, the tongues of
the nations. But out of those that this great
harlot sits upon, out of every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue,
God has a people that He's called out and chosen unto Himself that
He didn't leave to themselves. But this great harlot sits upon
these many waters and finds herself resting, thinking that she's
secure and safe. In verse 2, it says that one
that sitteth upon many waters with whom the kings of the earth
have committed fornication and the inhabitants of the earth
have been made drunk, with the wine of her fornication." The
kingdoms, the inhabitants of this earth, all except, of course,
those sealed by the grace of God, the Scripture says, has
committed fornication with her, unfaithful to Almighty God. And this term, having committed
fornication with her." The Scripture describes that statement in saying
this is what it is. They've committed fornication. Here's what it is. They've been
made drunk with the wine of her fornication. That's how the Scripture
says that they've committed fornication with her. Every person left to
themselves to rebel against Almighty God commits spiritual adultery
against God. You know that. They are unfaithful,
unfaithful, unfaithful. All men, all women without a
new heart, new mind that loves and serves God Almighty is in
a spiritual drunken stupor. They are just blind and they
are oblivious to that which is right. They're not sober. Paul told them, said, be sober.
Man by nature is in a drunken stupor. Proverbs 20, verse 1
says, wine is a mocker. It scoffs. That's what that means. And strong drink, liquor, is
raging. That means it's loud mouthed.
And whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. As wine and strong
drink cause men to think themselves to be ten feet tall and bulletproof,
false religion causes the inhabitants of this world to think, I'm invincible. I've made an alliance with hell.
With hell, the Scripture says, I'm at agreement. What that means
is this, I've settled things as far as the Lord is concerned.
Me and the Lord, they say, blasphemous. Me and the good Lord, you know.
They're drunk with the wine of her fornication. They're in a
drunken stupor. They don't know where they are.
They don't see. They don't know. Turn back to
Jude, just before the book of Revelation. Here, Jude describes.
Look at Jude. Let's just look at a few verses
in the book of Jude. There's only one chapter. Look at verse
8. Jude 8. Likewise also, these filthy dreamers
defile the flesh, they despise dominion, they speak evil of
dignities. Look at verse 10. But these speak
evil of those things which they know not, but what they know
naturally as brute beast. In those things they corrupt
themselves. Look at verse 13, raging waves
of the sea foaming out their own shame, wandering stars to
whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. Look at
16. These are murmurers, complainers
that walk after their own lust and their mouth speaking great
swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because
of advantage. Look at verse 18, how that they
told you there should be mockers in the last time who should walk
after their own ungodly lust. Here is an awful but accurate
picture of this world's religion. Disregard what men say, what
self-willed religion says they believe about loving God. They say they do. They make these
great Swelling words, and they appear outwardly to say, I love
Him. I serve the Lord. I serve God. But their preaching refutes that. The Lord said, if you are not
with Me, you are against Me. Paul said, any man that doesn't
preach the gospel that we preach to you, The gospel of free grace,
sovereign, saving grace. He said, let him be anathema,
accursed. Paul says, if an angel from heaven
preaches any other gospel, let him be accursed. The gospel of
free grace is the power of God unto salvation. The gospel of
God's grace, sovereign grace. Man's free will lies about being
able to, by his own ability, to accept Christ, making God
to be a beggar, making it appear as though the Lord has done all
He can do. Now, He died on the cross and
that's up to you to make it. That's blasphemy. That's blasphemy. There's a difference in error
and blasphemy. God's people may err on their
interpretation, but blasphemy is to deny the gospel of God's
grace than thy Christ. There's nothing more that can
be said than that these are drunken ramblers, the kings of this earth. They've committed fornication
with her. They've been unfaithful with
her to Almighty God. Now, I'm going to look just in
a few moments to Lord willing in verse 6. If you just look
down at verse 6, I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the
saints. I'm going to deal with the word
drunken a little bit more, even though it says in verse 2 that
the inhabitants of the earth had been made drunk with the
wine. It's the same word, same meaning, but I'll deal with the
word drunken, Lord willing, in just a few moments. Let's look
at verse 3. So he carried me. John was brought by one of the
seven angels. He said, come here, I'm going
to show you the judgment. I'm going to show you why God
judged this great whore, this one with whom the kings of the
earth committed fornication. The inhabitants of the earth
had been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. So he
carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness. And I saw
a woman sit upon a scarlet-colored beast full of names of blasphemy,
having seven heads, and ten horns." Now, under the direction and
the power of the Spirit of God, John says, He carried me away
in the Spirit. This is what's happening as God
the Spirit teaches His people. I was in the Spirit, John said,
on the Lord's Day. I was being taught by, directed
by, carried by. John here is being carried away
in the Spirit by God's Comforter. John 14, 26 says, "...but the
Comforter, the Spirit of God, which is the Holy Ghost, whom
the Father will send in My name, He shall teach..." He shall cause
you to learn all things, that is, all things that pertain to
life and godliness. and bring all things to your
remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you." The way that
we know anything tonight is the Spirit of God has taught us this.
We understand. We don't perceive anything of
ourselves. The Lord says, without Me, you
can do nothing. By yourself, you don't understand
this. He chose you. He redeemed you. He called you. He teaches you. And if He doesn't
teach you continually, you wouldn't know. This is spiritually discerned. We don't have anything to be
proud of except we rejoice in the Lord Jesus Christ and thankful
for Him. So John says, He carried me in
the Spirit. I was taught by the Spirit of
God. He carried me into the wilderness,
into the lonesome and desolate place. That is where the true
bride, though she's not of it, this world, she's not part of
this world, but this is the place of our pilgrimage. We are, as
the Scripture says, Abraham was. He was a pilgrim. We're looking
for a city whose builder and maker is God Himself. And John said in that third verse,
he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness, and I saw
a woman sit, obviously the great whore of verse 1, and she sat
upon a scarlet-colored beast. This harlot is resting upon the
beast that is described by the color that is set forth. It was a scarlet-colored beast. The same color that was referred
to in Isaiah 118 when the Lord says, ìCome now, and let us reason
together, saith the Lord, though your sins be as scarlet.î That
is bright in appearance. ìThough they be as scarlet,î
not hid, bright. The Lord says, ìI see them.î
ìThough your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow,
though they be red like crimson, They shall be wool." This word,
scarlet, very descriptive of the beast, the scarlet-colored
beast. This word is the same word used
to describe the robe that was placed upon our Lord at His mock
trial. In Matthew 27, 28, it says, "...they
stripped Him and put on Him a scarlet robe." Can you see this picture
that's being set forth now? You see what's happening right
here? Picturing that which he bore for the elect, that which
wrapped his soul, and that soul that was made an offering for
sin. He was our sin bearer. They wrapped
him in scarlet. There was a picture of the Lord
Jesus Christ, our substitute. Now this beast that the woman
sat upon, that was a scarlet-colored beast, indicative of the nature
of that beast. Full of names of blasphemy. Swelled
out is what it means. Covered over. Heavily laden and
possessing excessive titles. Names of blasphemy against God. No end to the blasphemous names
upon that beast. Having full of names. Everything that you could ever
be said. Everything you could ever dream
of that could be said that is blasphemy. That was that beast
right there. I got to thinking about this.
We speak so lightly about the awfulness of sin. We talk about
the Lord being made sin, about what He bore as our substitute,
the elect's substitute, the bride's substitute, the indescribable
awfulness of sin. God Himself did not look upon
him. Why? The Lord Jesus Christ said, Why
have you forsaken me? He bore our guilt, the awfulness
of sin itself. John says that this beast, scarlet-covered
beast, full of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns, will
Look in the next verses 9 and 10. We'll see a description of
this. But it's these seven heads. Seven
heads. Seven kings. The complete rebellion. Let me just say it like that.
Now, obviously, this is the same beast that John saw, this scarlet-colored
beast full of the names of blasphemy, having seven heads. It's the
same beast Chapter 13 and verse 1. If you just look back, here
was the beast. John said, I stood on the sand
of the sea and I saw a beast rise out of the sea having seven
heads and ten horns. So we're going to see in this
chapter, remember I told you that it's stated up through the
16th chapter that God judged it. And now we're going back
and He's going to show us the character Why? So what's happening? We're coming
up. We'll deal with the seven heads and the ten horns here
as it's set forth for us in the verses that follow, but it won't
be tonight. And verse 4 says, And the woman
was arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold and
precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand, full
of abominations and filthiness, of her fornication. She was covered
over, Scripture says in purple, which is the color that is normally
associated with rank and wealth. Purple. She was covered over,
arrayed in purple and scarlet. Now there's that word scarlet
again. That picture setting forth the color associated with sin. and the penalty of sin. She's
made a gaudy appearance. She is the epitome of this world's
desire for false hope. Here's what she looks like. She's
arrayed in purple and scarlet. God's setting forth how she looks
to the false religionist and what she is before Almighty God. She's decked with gold and precious
stones and pearls. She looks inviting. She looks
wonderful. And but for the grace of God,
she would appeal to anybody. Surely, surely, look, this is
rich. This is glorious. This is wonderful. Men, the Scripture says, have
just drank with her, been drunk with her in the abominations
against Almighty God. And she has in her hand a golden
cup The nations of this world in seeing this golden cup would
think, surely, whatever we drink from this cup is worthy to be
had. Now, you know, you think about
it. If you had a golden cup at your house, I mean, just think
for a minute. I mean, I'm talking about 24
carat, not even 18 carat, 24. pure gold. You wouldn't want
to just put just anything. You wouldn't just take that one
down, Gary, and just, you know, just dip some water out of it,
you know. I mean, that's a special cup. I mean, that's the golden
cup. Now, that is the one that's set
right up in the, you know, behind the glass doors, you know. If
you'd take that one out, that, oh, man. Here she is, the Scripture
says, she's got this golden cup. in her hand. And men look at
that and they say this, whatever she's serving, that's got to
be the best. That's got to be it right there.
But back in Revelation 14a, turn back to Revelation 14a, there followed another angel
saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because
she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her
fornication. They're drinking down like there
is no tomorrow. I mean, men by nature is drinking
in false religion and blasphemy against Almighty God and they're
thinking this is the best of it. We're going around one time
and we're going to get all the gusto we have. This is what's
in that cup. The wine of the wrath of her
fornication. Full of abominations and filthiness. Full of detestable things. Filthy and impure. Things that
would surely disgust God's people. And you know it disgusts Almighty
God. You that believe. When you hear
men say blasphemous things in the name of false religion, when
they speak blasphemously and they hold up that golden cup. Here is the chastity. This is it. This is the good
stuff right here. And a believer hears that and
they detest it. They're disgusted. They think
that's a lie. That's a lie. That's a lie. Here
she is. It seems to the world to be a
drink that would just settle them down. This calls them to
just be able to just relax. And I love the taste of it. But
actually, it's a cup that leads to nothing but corruption. All false religion is the golden
cup that this great harlot sets forth. Drink that. Drink that. You'll love that. Anybody want
to drink? This is it right here. disgust me." And upon her forehead,
verse 5, was a name that was written, Mystery Babylon the
Great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.
Now, everything that can be said about false religion is summed
up in this verse right here. Everything that can be said about
false religion Summed up, upon her forehead, first of all, was
a name written. You know, to the sealed saints,
upon their forehead, the Scripture reveals, was written the name
of God. They had a mind, is what it was
saying, of Almighty God. God had written His name in their
foreheads. You that believe God's name,
God's honor, God's glory is written in your forehead. You know, when
the High Priest would go in in the desert and he had that golden
plate and it said, Holiness to the Lord, that was a symbolic
setting forth. That's the way God's people,
the name of the Lord is written in their forehead. To all the
world left to themselves to worship the beast, left to themselves
to do exactly what they want to do, is written in their forehead
or upon their right hand this number, 666, man, man, man. I was watching
yesterday, I think yesterday, there was a little program going
on and because it was on the teaching of the book of the revelation. I'm sitting there. I wanted to
watch. I wanted to hear what they had to say. A fellow come
up and he had a little chip, a little thing. It was a little
bitty, I mean a little bitty black thing. He was just sitting
right there and you could see a finger and it was a little
computer chip. And he said, now this is probably
the way. What will happen is men will
not be able to buy and sell and that chip will be implanted either
in their forehead or in their right hand and they'll scan,
you know, and that'll be the number, Gary, the number of 666.
That's how, you know. And false religion says, boy,
you'll never catch me letting them put that chip. That's the
mark of the beast. Now, this is false religion saying this. Boy, I'm not going to take that.
That's the mark of the beast. You'll never put that in my forehead
because I love the Lord. They don't even realize The number
666 is not a computer chip that false religionists say they'll
never have them put in their forehead. I'm telling you this
right now. All that believe not the gospel left to themselves
that Almighty God from the foundation of the world has not set his
affection on, the name is already there. It's 666. It's there. All will follow after the beast
whose name was not found written in the book. from the foundation
of the world, all of them, all of them. How will you know who
they are? I'll tell you how you'll know.
They'll die in unbelief. Until that happens, I don't know
who they are. This is her name. Upon her forehead
was written a name, and here's her name, Mystery Babylon the
Great. Now Babylon represents, and I'll
show you this, Lord willing, represents all religion that
teaches salvation is accomplished by the works of man and that
man is due the glory for it. Turn back to Daniel 4. We've
read this before, but we need to look again. Daniel 4. Mystery
Babylon, the great. What is the thinking? What's
the preaching? What's the mindset? Daniel 4,
28 to 30, all this, Daniel 4, 28, all this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar. At the end of 12 months, he walked
in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon. And the king spake. Now here is the mindset of all
false religion, Mystery Babylon. It is not this great Babylon
that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of
my power and for the honor of my majesty. That is the way that
all false religion thinks. There's only two messages that's
being preached. Salvation by works. Salvation
by the grace of God. Now, to understand the history
of Mystery Babylon, turn to Genesis 11. Genesis chapter 11. Genesis 11, I want to read the
first nine verses. Now here is the mystery. What
is her name? Upon her forehead was written
a name, John said, and here is her name. It is called Mystery
Babylon the Great. Genesis chapter 11 verse 1, And
the whole earth was of one language and of one speech. And it came
to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain
in the land of Shinar. And they dwelt there. And they
said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them
throughly. And they had brick for stone,
and slime had they for mortar. And they said, Go to, let us
build us a city, and a tower whose top may reach unto heaven. And let us make us a name, lest
we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. And
the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the
children of men built it. And the Lord said, Behold, the
people is one, and they have all one language, and this they
begin to do. And now nothing will be restrained
from them which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down
and there confound their language that they may not understand
one another's speech. So the Lord scattered them abroad
from fence upon the face of all the earth and they left off to
build the city. Therefore is the name of it called
Bible or confusion. Because the Lord did there confound
the language of all the earth, and from thence did the Lord
scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth." Now,
what happened? A group of people got together.
They said, let's build a tower into heaven. We can build us
a tower. We can get into heaven. We'll build a tower to heaven.
The Lord came down and confounded them, made their speech so that
they couldn't understand one another. and they all dispersed. Now, rebellion was universally
shown by a race who proudly boasted that they could, by their own
power, build themselves a city and a tower into heaven. They refused to call upon the
God of all grace. They despised God's sovereignty. His atonement, His salvation,
and the glory of God had absolutely nothing to do with the attempts
that they tried. So God scattered them. Here was a group of people. They
had one purpose. We can build a city to God. We can reach God by our power. Give us enough time. Give us
enough brick and give us enough slime. and we'll build us a tower
to God. We'll make it. God scattered
them, confused their languages so that they couldn't understand
each other's speech. Now, all of the outshoots of
false religion, they went here and they went there and they
went there, and this one didn't understand this one, and this
one didn't speak this one's language, and this one didn't speak this
one's language. They didn't speak each other's language, but they
all had one heart. We can all make it to heaven.
You understand? Okay, here's the mystery. Here,
John says, here is the mystery. Here's the great whore. Here's
mystery Babylon, the great. All of those outshoots of false
religion, though they seem to speak a different language. See,
this one here, this one there, he spoke this, and he spoke this,
and he spoke that, and he spoke that. And this one said, I'm
not saying what you're saying, and that said, I'm not saying
what you're saying. This said, I know I'm not saying what they're
saying. They seemed to speak different languages. The Lord
confounded them. They couldn't speak the same
language. But they had one heart. One heart. Pentecostalism says,
I don't speak the same language, Buddhism. I don't believe that. That's not my speech right there.
And Buddhism says, I don't believe Roman Catholicism. I don't speak
that language. I don't say what they do. And
this one says, I don't say what they do. And that one says, we
don't say the same thing. Their speech is confusing to
us, they say. But actually, the Scripture reveals
their source is truly the same. They all came from the same pit. They all came with the same mindset. They all said at first, we're
all going to make it to God. We're going to build us a place.
And the Lord came down and confounded them and scattered them. So they
didn't start speaking the same languages to each other. But
really in heart, Brother Scott, they did speak the same language.
They all came from Babel. And so John is told something. This angel says, let me tell
you something. Here is Mystery Babylon the Great. She is the
mother. They all come from her. She is
the source of all. It's the mother of harlots and
the abominations of the world. And I don't care what shingle
you hang in front of this building, or not this building, but a building.
It doesn't matter. You may not think you're speaking
the same language as that building over there or that one's not
saying what that one over there is saying or this one down here,
but they come from the same place. Mystery battling. The mother,
the mother of harlots and the abominations. And John says,
and I saw in verse 6, and we'll try to end here, I saw the woman
drunken with the blood of the saints and with the blood of
the martyrs of Jesus, and when I saw her, I wondered with great
admiration. The great whore, Mystery Babylon
the Great, the mother of harlots and abominations, the source
of all of them, I said, I don't care what you call them. If they're
not preaching the gospel that this book, this Bible sets forth,
they all come from the same place. I don't care what the denomination
is. They come from the mother, the great whore. She's the mother
of all of them. Not only has this great whore
caused the kings of the earth that have committed fornication
with her to be made drunk with the wine of her fornication,
but this says, I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the
saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. phrase, drunken, drunken
with the blood. It is a word, the word is actually
satiate. It is a word that means to attempt
to put out the fire, in this case, of lust. To satiate, to
try to slake the thirst. We think of drunken by getting
drunk on alcohol, and what happens is we go into a stupor, and it
causes us to lose our ability to be able to think soberly and
to act rationally. We do things that are irrational. But the word that is there when
it says, drunken with the blood of the saints, it is that word
that means to try to slake the thirst of, the lust of it. I've got to have more. This woman
is said to be drunken. Jeremiah 46.10 says something. Let me read this to you about
being made drunk with blood and speaks of the justice of Almighty
God. For this is the day of the Lord,
God of hosts, a day of vengeance, that He may avenge him of his
adversaries. The sword shall devour and it
shall Satiate. That's the same word. Satiate
is the word drunken. It shall be filled with satisfaction
or filled toward satisfaction and be made drunk with their
blood. Here the Scripture is saying
the sword of God's justice shall satiate and be made drunk with
their blood. You see, it's that word that
means to satisfy the slakingness, God Almighty, shall execute judgment
and justice. For the day of the Lord of Hosts,
the God of Hosts, hath a sacrifice in the north country by the river
Euphrates." So this harlot, the mother harlot who breeds harlots,
that's what she makes. What does she make? This great
whore, Mystery Babylon, the mother of harlots, that's all she makes. She makes harlots. She tells
people, Come to the Lord. Walk down. Give Me your hand.
Pray the prayer that I pray. You can do it. God wants to save
you if you will let Him. She breeds harlots. She breeds
disrespect and irreverence. So this harlot, she nurses them. She trains them to idolatry and
feeds herself and intoxicates herself greedily with the blood
of the saints to the point that she can never tell when she's
had enough. She's drunk. She's satiate. And is in a drunken stupor that
is never satisfied to quit. Never. Never. And when I saw
her, John says, I wondered with great admiration. Great admiration. That word admiration
means astonishment. I was astonished at her. I marveled with great astonishment. John's marveling with astonishment
was certainly pertaining to how this harlot shall be dealt with
in judgment. And that question, as he looked
upon her with great admiration or astonishment shall be dealt
with in the next few verses through this chapter in the next one.
Almighty God showed John. This is what the Lord God Almighty
justly does. And for all that the Lord had
shown mercy to, they look at these Scriptures and they realize,
as I've said before, But for the grace of God, I would do
absolutely the same thing. Had He not called me out of darkness
and given me a heart to bow to Him, I would do just exactly
what they do. Gary, you come.