Over in Revelation chapter 19,
if you'd like to be turned there with me, it is a wonderful joy
to be here. Thank you, Pastor, for inviting
me. I got a little note from him,
and the way he began his note was a great encouragement and
comfort to my heart. He began his note by saying,
My dear brother, I thought you know a man of his caliber, but
only as a brother. What a blessing to me. I appreciate
him and his dear wife. I appreciate you. I appreciate
you very, very much. In Revelation 19, I know there is a blessing pronounced
upon those who read this book and hear its words and keep its
prophecies and its sayings. But there is so much about this
book, to be honest with you, I don't understand. So many symbols
and visions. The 19th chapter seems to be
the closing of it, as the judgment here has come. He speaks here
in verse 2. the Lord judging the great whore,
whoever that is and whoever that might include. I'd almost be
embarrassed to limit it to Catholicism and leave out Protestantism and
leave out Baptistism. I think Bunyan probably said
it well when he called this world that has gone whoring from its
creator, a city of destruction. This whore is called Great Babylon,
the great city. And God's going to judge her.
Whoever she is, whoever's included in her, he's going to judge her.
She brags now. She brags now. The poor church
She goes weeping because she's so destitute and afflicted and
poor. And Babylon brags about what
a great city she is. The church brags about being
destitute. She said, I've never been that
way. I've sat over many people. I'll never be a widow.