Today our message is taken from
Revelation chapter 17 and I'm using for a title what is said
in verse 5. Revelation 17 verse 5, upon her
forehead, that is the forehead of this harlot that is on the
scarlet colored beast, upon her forehead was a name written mystery. It's a mystery. The Mystery of
Babylon, Mystery Babylon the Great Mother of Harlots, and
Abominations, Abominations of the Earth. So the title I'm going
to use is Mystery Babylon. Babylon is a mystery, that is
a mystery that must be revealed unto us, the gospel of the of
the Lord Jesus Christ is often called a mystery that must be
made known unto us. Now, we've seen this city, Babylon,
that's mentioned here. We've seen this before in Revelation
14, verse 8, and again in Revelation 16, verse 19, and here in verse
5. And each time we see this city
mentioned, we see that the Lord is going to righteously judge
and condemn those who are promoters of the religion of Babylon, and
those that take refuge in Babylon. Now, I don't want to take refuge
in a place that God said He's going to destroy. Do you? Would
you take refuge in a place that you know that God's going to
destroy? Well, you would be a fool, wouldn't you? to make your refuge
in a refuge of lies, knowing that God is going to send judgment
on it? If you look over at chapter 19
for just a minute, verse 1, After these things I heard a great
voice of much people in heaven, saying, Hallelujah, salvation,
glory, and honor, and power, unto the Lord our God. True and
righteous are his judgment, for he hath judged the great whore.
which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged
the blood of his servant at her hand. And again they said, Hallelujah. That is, praise the Lord. And
her smoke rose up forever and ever. Now what a dreadful thing. God is going to judge that which
is contrary to the way of grace. As we read a moment ago from
Genesis chapter 11, Babel or Babylon means confusion, and
there is much confusion in the religion of men today. There
is a way that seems right unto men, but the end of that way
is death, death. The language of the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ speaks of one way, one truth. One life. Our Lord said that
in John 14. I am the way, the truth, the
life. No man comes to the Father but
by and through the Lord Jesus Christ alone. The Gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ reveals salvation as all in Him. Christ is all
and in all. In Him dwells all the fullness
of a Godhead bodily. In the Lord Jesus Christ we stand
complete. Everything apart from the Lord
Jesus Christ and every religion, no matter what you name it, every
religion, no matter what you name it, apart from the Lord
Jesus Christ is Babylon. Bible. Confusion. Now each time
we see the judgment and wrath of God upon Babylon, and this
city represents that which is in fierce rebellion and great
opposition to the way of salvation by the grace of God. Nimrod,
that mighty rebel against God, thought that he could gang up
on God and build a way to heaven by bricks and mortar and the
deeds of the flesh. God came down and destroyed what
they were building and what they were doing. Babylon represents
a way in fierce rebellion and great opposition to the way of
salvation by the grace of God through the person and work of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now historically, if you look
at biblical history, Babylon, the children of Israel were carried
away into Babylonian captivity When Nebuchadnezzar and that
great army came in and destroyed Judah and Jerusalem, and they
carried away all those Jews into Babylonian captivity for 70 years,
read the book of Daniel, the book of Ezekiel, they were two
of those men who were carried away into Babylonian captivity. So historically, Babylon was
a city and a place and a people that were enemies to the children
of God, the Israel of God. They stood in opposition to the
grace of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. Even so, spiritually,
the way of Babylon, an anti-Christ religion, they are enemies to
the church of the Lord Jesus Christ even now. We need not
fear Babylon. or all the enemies of the Lord's
people, the Lord will conquer all our enemy, and He already
has. If you look back, how did we
conquer? Look back at chapter 12, Revelation
chapter 12 verse 11, And they overcame him by the power of
the Lamb, by the word of their testimony, and they love not
their lives unto death." How do we overcome? Through Christ
who is our conqueror. In chapter 17, look back over
there, in verse 14, these shall make war with the Lamb, and the
Lamb shall overcome them, They're talking about the beast and his
allies, Satan and his allies. They shall make war with the
Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them. For He is the Lord of lords,
He is King of kings, and they that are with Him are called
Chosen and faithful. That's a good description of
God's people. They are called out of darkness
into God's marvelous light. They are chosen by the grace
of God and they are faithful to the Lord. We are kept by the
power of God through faith. We studied in Revelation chapter
6 verse 2, and I think this is one of the key verses in the
whole study of the 22 chapters of the Revelation. In Revelation
6 verse 2, we see the Lord Jesus cry, He came for conquering and
to conquer. He wins. All the enemies are
defeated, and He wins. And we are winners in Him. We
are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. Now in these
next three chapters, Revelation 17, 18, and 19, we see the enemies
of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, The enemies of the church
of the Lord Jesus Christ who are allies to the great red dragon,
who is Satan, meaning their final and just end, which is eternal
condemnation for the wages of sin, is death. Babylon, the great whore, the
beast, the dragon, and the false prophet, shall be righteously
condemned for their wicked deeds against the Lord Jesus Christ
and his covenant children, and they will meet their just end. Turn one page to chapter 19,
verse 19, the Lord Jesus Christ upon his white horse come forth
with a mighty sharp sword to tread the winepress of the fierceness
of the wrath of Almighty God. Revelation 19, 19, I saw the
beast, the kings of the earth who allied with the beast, That's
the beast representing here anti-Christ government and their enemies
and their armies. They gathered together to make
war against him that sat on the horse, the white horse, the Lord
Jesus Christ, and against his army. And the beast was taken
with the false prophet that brought miracles before him, with which
he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them
that worshipped his image, And these boats were cast alive into
a lake of fire, burning with brimstone." Now, judgment's coming. The wrath of God is coming. I
want to be found in Christ because there's no condemnation to those
who are in Him. There's no wrath, there's no
judgment to those who are in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, getting
back to this chapter, Revelation 17, verse 1, down through verse
6, John is carried away into the wilderness in this vision
to see the judgment of God upon those who hate the gospel, of
the Lord Jesus Christ, who hated the way of free grace, pictured
by this woman, who was called a great whore, who was called
the mother of harlots, Babylon the Great. Now, again, this is
graphic language, and I'm not going to sugarcoat it, because
the Lord uses these words to tell us just how wicked and abominable
is false religion. We've seen this name Babylon
before. If you look back in Revelation
14 verse 8, and each time it's mentioned here, it mentions Babylon
being destroyed. And therefore, this is Revelation
14 verse 8, There followed another angel saying, Babylon is falling.
Now, Babylon represents all false religion. Babylon is falling,
is falling, that great city, because she made all nations
to drink the wine of the wrath of her fornication. And again, this is spiritual
fornication, spiritual adultery, if you will. Again, another reference, we see in chapter 16, Verse 19,
Revelation 16, 19, And the great city was divided into three parts,
and the cities of the nations fell. And great Babylon came
in remembrance before God to give unto her the cup of the
wine of the fierceness of His wrath. So, I don't want to be
allied with Babylon. I don't want to be allied with
the beast or the woman or the false prophet. I want to be found
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation is in Him. Now, if
I know anything about salvation that's taught in this book, and
I've been looking at it a long time. I've been looking at this
book pretty seriously for 40 years. And if I know anything
about salvation, In Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ alone. Alone. In Him alone. He is everything
in salvation. Christ is all and in all. Now, God's elect are object of
God's everlasting love and mercy in the Lord Jesus Christ. Those
who are not found in Christ are object of God's wrath. Those
found in Christ are object of God's love. Now, I can read this
to you, and you're all familiar with this, but let me just read
it to you. If you want to turn, you can, but this is in Romans
8. Verse 29, For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate
to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be
the firstborn among many brethren. Romans 8, verse 30, Moreover,
whom He did predestinate, Then he also called, and whom he called,
then he also justified, and whom he justified, then he also glorified. Now what shall we say to these
things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared
not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall
he not with them also freely give us all things? I like that
word freely, don't you? Freely, he gives us all things.
Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is
God that justifies. Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died. Yea, rather, is risen again,
who is even at the right hand of God, who also, he ever lived
to intercede for us. He's able to save to the uttermost
all that come to God by Him, saying that He ever lives to
intercede for us. Now we see in this chapter, we
see the church of the Lord Jesus Christ that was pictured in Revelation
chapter 12. Turn over there. Revelation chapter
12. We see in this revelation of
the Lord Jesus Christ, we see two unnamed women. Two unnamed
women. In Revelation chapter 12 verse
1, there appeared a great wonder in heaven, a woman clothed with
the sun and moon under her feet and upon her head a crown of
twelve stars. Now that unnamed woman there
is a picture of the redeemed, the church of the Lord Jesus
Christ. But we have also in the Revelation chapter 17 another
unnamed woman The great harlot, as she's mentioned
here in verse 1, 2, and 3, and verse 4, so he carried me away
in the spirit into the wilderness. I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet-colored
beast. The woman here, this great harlot,
representing Babylon. Everything that's contrary to
the way of salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. Representing all
false religion in this world, past, present, and future. Now,
I looked something else up this week about the different religions
in this world. 7,000 plus known languages. But also, I asked my phone this
information, how many different religions are there in this world? 4,300. 4,300 religions. Now, when you boil
it all down, there's just two religions in this world. When
you take all the veneer off and peel it all away, there's just
two. the way of grace, or the way of works. It's that simple.
The way of Abel, who brought the blood sacrifice, representing
Christ and the way of grace, salvation through the blood sacrifice
of Christ, or the way of Cain. What did Cain bring? He brought
the work of his hand. God said away with it. God had
no respect to his offering, but he had respect to the offering
of Abel, picturing the way of grace. The way of Abel, in free
grace, or the way of Cain, in free will, works, man-centered,
works religion. One is of God, true. One is of Satan, and it's false.
One is Christ-centered. One is man-centered. A preacher
friend of mine wrote this, and I'll read it for you now. There
are only two religions in the world. One of Cain and the other
of Abel. One of Ishmael and the other
of Isaac. One of Esau, the other of Jacob. One of the law, the other of
promise. One of Mount Sinai, the other of Mount Calvary. One
condemns, the other finds no fault. One leads to bondage,
the other to freedom. One leads to death, the other
to life. One of weakness, one of power. One of merit, or one of mercy. One of guilt, one of justification
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, you see what I'm saying?
All the religions, I don't care what it goes by, what flavor,
what color, whatever it is, the 4,000 some known religions among
men. It all boils down to Christ alone
or something else. Or they say Christ plus what
you bring. That's another gospel. It's Christ
alone. Grace alone. His righteousness
alone. Now, that's a lengthy introduction. Let's look at verse 1. And there came one of the seven
angels, the seven angels which had the seven bowels, we know
the seven bowels full of the wrath of God from chapter 15
verse 1. And he talked with me, this messenger
of God, and he said to me, come here, I want to show you something. I'll show unto thee the judgment
of the great whore that did sit upon many waters. the great whore
in all the nations. If you look over across the page
in verse 15, the waters which thou sawest where the whore sitteth
are peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues. So there it describes
what these many waters are. So this great whore, the influence
of false religion is everywhere. Whenever you find men who are
sinful, You find men trying to come to God some other way than
Christ alone. Christ always, Christ alone.
This plague of false religion is spread everywhere and has
affected all people upon this earth. This prostitution of divine
truth is universally accepted by the fallen sons of Adam. This
is what the Lord called the broad way, the wide gate that leads
to destruction. Now there is that straight gate,
Matthew 7. He says, the Lord said, enter
in at the straight gate for wide is the gate and broad is the
way that lead to destruction and many there be which go in
there at because straight is the gate and narrow is the way
which leads to eternal life in Christ. And then he said this,
beware of false prophets which come unto you in sheep's clothing
but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Our Lord through the apostle
John, the same one who's carried away and given his revelation,
John writes in 1 John chapter 4, he said, Believe not every
preacher, but try them whether they be of God or not, because
there are many false prophets gone out into the world. Now,
false prophets don't come to you and announce themselves,
I'm a false prophet, I'm here to deceive you. They don't come
that way. They come in sheep's clothing. Inwardly, our Lord said, they're
ravening wolves. So I want you to take everything
I tell you, everything I say to you, I want you to prove it
by the Word of God. Like the Bereans, they search
the Scriptures whether these things be so. Just don't take
it because I tell you. I want to tell you the truth,
but I want it to be proved by not what I say, but what God
says. Now, if it's contrary to what God says, now, just reject
it. But if that's what you read,
then if you're a believer, you have to believe the word of truth,
the word of truth. Now, look at verse 2, Revelation
17, verse 2, with whom the kings of the earth, the kings of the
earth have committed fornication. the kings of the earth. And that
includes, and you think about this, who put John on the Isle
of Patmos in that day? It was the Roman government.
The kings of the earth set themselves together against the Lord and
against his Christ. With whom the kings of the earth
have committed Fornication, spiritual adultery. And the inhabitants
of the earth, not just the kings, but the inhabitants of earth
have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication, her
spiritual adultery. The kings of the earth and inhabitants
of the world are drunk with the wine of idolatry. The way of
false religion is superstition. They've become intoxicated with
the lies of Satan, and their judgment has been clouded from
believing the truth. They'd rather lay hold of the
traditions of men than the truth of God. Now, you can turn and
read this with me if you want to, if you can find 2 Thessalonians. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 talks
about the same thing here. This is 2 Thessalonians chapter
2. Page 290, if you have the Cambridge
I'm reading, verse 7. The mystery of iniquity doth
already work. Only he who now letteth will
let, until he be taken out of the way. Then shall the wicked
be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his
mouth, and destroy with the brightness of his coming. Even him whose
coming is after the working of Satan, with all power, signs,
lying wonders, with all deceivableness of unrighteousness, and them
that perish, because they receive not the love of the truth, that
they might be saved, or drunk with false religion. And for
this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should
believe a lie, that all might be damned who believe not the
truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." Now is that being unkind? That's
being truthful, isn't it? That's being truthful. Those
who reject the way of salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ have
no other hope. There is no other hope. There
is no other way of salvation. Our Lord said to those most religious
Pharisees, but in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrine
the commandments of men. Remember, our Lord said to those
most self-righteous Pharisees, who are the epitome of the religion
of Babylon and this great whore. Our Lord said to them, you are
those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your
heart. That which is highly esteemed
among men is an abomination in the sight of God. Now look at
verse 3. So he carried me away in the
spirit, in his vision, into the wilderness, and I saw this woman. this harlot, sit upon a scarlet-colored beast,
and this is one of the agents of Satan, that scarlet-colored
beast, full of the names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. Now, turn back to chapter 13.
We met this monster, this beast, remember there was that beast
out of the sea, And there was that beast out of the earth.
Revelation 13, 1. And I stood upon the sand of
the sea and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven
heads, ten horns, and upon his horn ten crowns, and upon his
head the names of blasphemy. Now, that beast out of the sea
represents all ungodly government, and especially had to have application
in John's day to Rome and the government of Rome. Having the
names of blasphemy, seven heads, ten horns. Now, purple is usually
the color of royalty, scarlet here is the color of sin. Remember from Isaiah chapter
1, he said, Come now, let us reason together. Though your
sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Though they
be red like crimson, they shall be wool. Our sins are scarlet
colored before God. And this woman sits upon this
ungodly government, this beast, full of sin, motivated by Satan,
having a name full, full of evil speaking against God, with seven
hands and ten horns. And you can read in verse 10
and verse 11, verse 12, we'll look at those things next week.
Verse 4 says the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet. She ducked
out. I mean, this I don't want to be ugly, but
this woman who is the whore, is the whore of false religion.
She decked out in such fine clothes, purple, scarlet, with gold, precious
stone and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand, full, not of
goodness. Not full of salvation, full of
abomination and filthiness. Now to the eye, she's appealing. She's appealing to the eye. My
friend, false religion is dressed up to appeal to the flesh. With their temples, with their
robes, with their crown, with their doing, with their tradition,
all those different things. I grew up in the religion of
Babylon. I grew up with all this outward
pomp and ceremony and all these different things. They even used the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ. They called themselves the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. known as Mormons. It's a way of Babylon. It's a
way of false religion. It's a way of this horror of
abomination before God. Anytime a man says that salvation
depends upon you, what you do, what you give, what you bring,
it really depends upon your choice, your decision, your energy, your
flesh. We've got to do it. We used to
sing a song when I was a little boy. Put your shoulder to the
wheel and push along. Do your duty with a heart full
of song. Works. Abomination in the sign
of God. Now I'm telling you the truth.
Don't go that way. Ask the Lord to deliver you from
that. The woman was arrayed with all
this outward appeal. but she has nothing but death.
In that cup is nothing but death. You drink that cup and you'll
die eternally. You die with that cup, resting
in that cup, you'll die without Christ, without God, and without
hope. But look at verse 5. Remember
how the Lord said to those Pharisees, inwardly, He said, you appear
beautiful outward before men, but within you're full of dead
men's bones. Look at verse 5. Upon her forehead
was a name written, a name written mystery. Oh, we have a great
mystery. Babylon, the great The mother
of harlots, the abomination of the earth. The Lord labels and
describes false religion for what it is, abomination, abomination
in the earth. Look back at chapter 16, verse
19 again. The Lord will not forget. He
will remember. Revelation 16, 19, And the great
city was divided into three parts, and the cities of nations fell,
and great Babylon came in remembrance before God. Why don't I want
God to remember my sins? I want him to cast my sin into
the depths of the sea. For those who find themselves
resting in Babylon, God will remember their sin." Notice on
her forehead, written this terrible yet true description of fleshly
religion of men, contrasted with what God wrote upon the forehead
of the priest when he went in to minister in the tabernacle
in Exodus 28. Thou shalt make a plate of pure
gold, graven upon it, like the gravings of a great signet, holiness
to the Lord." Now I want that written on my head. The saints
of God, remember, turn back to Revelation 14. No, Revelation
7 first of all. The saints of God are sealed
in their forehead with the name of God upon their forehead. You
remember Revelation 7? Verse 3, Revelation 7, verse
3, saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees,
till we've sealed the servants of God in their forehead. They have the name of God imprinted
on their mind. Now I want you to turn to Revelation
14, verse 1. And I looked, and lo, a lamb
stood on Mount Zion, and with them the 144,000 having his father's
name written in their forehead." Now, this is a no-brainer. Which would you rather have written
upon your forehead? And by that it means written
in your mind, in your heart, your will, your affections. Would you rather have written
Babylon, the great mother of harlots? Or would you rather
have written the name of your Father? Behold, what manner of
love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called
sons of God. God sealed His servants in their
forehead, their mind, their thought, they think upon Him. Now look
at verse 6. And I saw the woman, and this
is almost through, I saw the woman drunken with the blood,
murder of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And when I saw her, boy, I was
amazed. I was amazed when I saw the blood
dripping from the hands of this murderous woman who was motivated
by Satan and his allies. This woman delighted in killing
the faithful saints of God. We read this again, look at chapter
18, verse 24. In her was found the blood of
prophets and of the saints and of all that were slain upon the
earth. This certainly had been true
down through history. And it will be to the Lord come
back. We read in Revelation 13, 15, as many as would not worship
the beast, Remember, it said they should be killed. Cain rose
up and killed his brother Abel because his works were evil and
Cain's were righteous. Now, that's been going on ever
since that first murder. You think about this. Those two
brothers raised under the same house, under the same roof, and
one was taught the way of salvation in Christ by the grace of God,
the blood of God. And I know that Cain was taught
the same lesson that Abel was taught, but he didn't believe
God. Abel brought the blood of a substitute, the blood of a
lamb. And Cain brought the blood, or
rather Cain brought turnips, they said. You can't get blood
out of a turnip. But the first murder that ever occurred in
human history was over this, how God saves sinners. How God
saves sinners. And it's been going on for a
long time. Every believer here, as it says,
every believer is a saint, were sanctified by God the Holy Spirit,
set apart in that eternal covenant of grace, and made holy in Christ. Every sinner saved by the grace
of God is a saint. And I can say that with knowing
what the scriptures teach. If you're a sinner, and know
you're a sinner, you're a saint. You're a saint. Because every
sinner, God's going to save every sinner, everyone he teaches.
that they are guilty before God. If God taught you that you're
guilty before God, He's going to save you by His grace. He's
going to make you a saint in Him with the blood of martyrs. That
word martyr there is translated in other places, witness. Witness. The Apostle Paul, when he met
the Lord Jesus Christ and Saul of Tarsus. The Lord said, I appointed
thee for this purpose to raise thee up, to make you a martyr,
to make you a witness of the gospel of the grace of God. The apostle Paul was also in
prison in Rome. Imprisoned in Rome as many other
martyrs were. Many other Christians who were
fed to the lions in the Colosseum. Murdered by Rome, this great
harlot. You know Rome had all kinds of
religion. You know it? Caesar, if you didn't
say that Caesar was God, they'd burn you or kill you. You had
to confess. Polycarp, I believe I'm right
on this, Polycarp would not confess that Caesar was God. They burned
him. They had all kind of religion.
It's a religion of Babylon. Babylon. The Apostle Paul was
imprisoned in Rome for two years, and he spent two years in prison.
preaching the Gospel, and then he said, the time of my departure
is at hand. He gave his life for the Gospel.
He was one of those martyrs. We read recently in Acts chapter
7 about Stephen. They took stones. Those religious
blasphemers, the religion of Babylon, those Jews who hated
what Stephen preached, salvation in Christ, they picked up big
rocks the size of your fist and dashed his brains out. Why'd
they do that? They hated God. They loved the
religion of Babylon, Babylon, Babylon. John sees this vision
and is astonished. I think two things. He's astonished
that these witnesses willingly laid down their lives for the
gospel. And he's also astonished and
amazed that this woman has such hatred and vengeance against
God's people. And I wonder, I wonder. As I
said earlier, John, the apostle here, saw his brother James killed
for the gospel by Herod. Herod was an agent of who? Rome, the beast out of the sea. Now what a marvel, in closing,
what a marvel of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, of his
sovereign love, mercy, and grace, to rescue us from the monster
of Babylon, false religion, bondage, sin. and to call us out of darkness
into His marvelous light, and make us new creatures in Christ. That's a marvel, isn't it? But
the God of all grace, who hath called us to His eternal glory
by Jesus Christ, after you have suffered a while, make you perfect,
established, strengthened, and settled you, to whom be glory
and dominion forever and ever. Amen. That's 1 Peter 5.10.