Transcript Document

Presentation 12
Presentation 12
Introduction
In this section the judgement of
Babylon is fully and finally dealt with.
Remember that Babylon describes the
world as a centre of seduction at any
moment in history. As such it is judged
throughout history.
John’s readers would have identified
Rome as the Babylon of their day.
Presentation 12
The Harlot And The Scarlet Beast [17:1-6]
The spirit of seduction is characterised as a
prostitute [cf. Prov. 2:12-19, 5:7] whose
seductive allurements mesmerise those
she influences. Her influence is universal
and so she is described here as ‘sitting
upon many waters’.
John is taken to see the woman from a
different viewpoint - a wilderness context.
The intention is to reveal the true
character of this alluring women. All of the
make up is removed!
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The Harlot And The Scarlet Beast
[17:1-6]
This woman stands in sharp contrast to the woman
of 12:1 [the church, whose beauty is the beauty of
holiness]. She is not the enemy of the dragon and
enjoys a close relationship with the beast on which
she sits- seduction and deception go hand in hand.
The beast is covered with blasphemous names cf.
the divine titles of the Roman emperors.
The woman herself is clothed in luxurious garments.
But clothes do not hide her purpose, the golden cup
she holds promising fulfilment and satisfaction is
deceptive, for upon examination its contents are full
of her gross wickedness and corruption.
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The Harlot And The Scarlet Beast [17:1-6]
The external senses of men are attracted
to her but the intoxicating, debasing and
dehumanising spirit she offers ironically
provides them with a decreasing sense of
satisfaction.
She appears to be a great lady but the
name on her forehead disabuses those
who have eyes to see cf. v5. Not content
with her own wickedness, she is the
mother of prostitutes spawning her
abominations over the face of the earth.
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The Harlot And The Scarlet Beast [17:1-6]
Tacitus described Rome as the place
where ‘all the horrible and shameful
things in the world congregate and find
a home.’
The description reaches its climax as we
learn that the woman was intoxicated
with the blood of God’s people. She got
her ‘kicks’ from their death. This was
the great source of pleasure to her.
Little wonder John was astonished v6!
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The Harlot’s Destruction [17:7-18]
But heaven is not surprised by the depths of her
wickedness. The mystery of first the beast and then
the woman is revealed to John. The beast ‘was and is
not and is about to come up out of the abyss.’ There
is a studied parody on the Lamb here [1:18, 2:8]. This
Satanically inspired power, having received a death
stroke returns, to hurl himself with renewed fury
against the forces of God [13:3, 12, 14].
Throughout history, wave upon wave of persecution
arises. The reason that unregenerate men marvel is
that they think this spirit will go on forever but the
comfort to the saints is that the beast will go at last to
destruction.
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The Harlot’s Destruction [17:7-18]
In v9-14 we are provided with clues to the
identity of the beast as it manifested itself
in John’s vision. The seven heads of the
best are first identified as the seven hills
on which the woman is sitting.
The first century reader would understand
this to be a reference to Rome, which was
built upon seven hills. The seven heads of
the beast are also seven kings, five of
whom have fallen, one is, and one is yet to
come. Some identify the seven kings as
Roman emperors.
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The Harlot’s Destruction
[17:7-18]
Others point to a succession of Empires, Egypt,
Nineveh, Babylon, Persia and Greece as the
five that have fallen, Rome as the present
kingdom and the one to come the Christian
Empire which began with Constantine or
alternatively a collective title for all the
antichristian governments between the fall of
Rome and the final empire of the antichrist
[Hendriksen and Ladd].
This leads us to the heart of the mystery. The
beast is the eighth king but also one of the
seven.
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The Harlot’s Destruction [17:7-18]
The eighth can be viewed as the antichrist who is
one of the seven in the sense that the spirit of the
antichrist is presently at work in the world. The ten
kings of v12 may represent the spirit of the beast in
human rulers. The comparative brevity of their rule
is in view. They will put their power at the beast’s
disposal. They are willing collaborators in the
pursuit of their goal - the overthrow of the Lamb but will be defeated in their purpose.
The beast will be overcome because he comes up
against One to whom all others will become
ultimately subordinate. The specific role of those
who accompany the Lamb in battle is not discussed.
Presentation 12
The Harlot’s Destruction
[17:7-18]
The angel continues his interpretation in v15 with
particular reference to the prostitute. She is seated on
the one hand on the waters of the people and on the
other on the beast. Her seductive performance does
not please the beast.
We begin to see, that the alliance of evil powers against
God is not as united as we might think for, amongst
themselves, there exists disunity and disagreement.
Evil has within it the seeds of self destruction. Indeed,
we are given insight into the way in which God can use
evil to accomplish his sovereign purpose cf. v17 ‘God
put it into their hearts to accomplish his purpose.’
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Babylon Declared Desolate [18:1-8]
In chap 18 we have a detailed account of
the destruction of the spirit of Babylon
which has characterised so many empire
capitals including Rome. [cf. the fall of
Tyre, Ezek. 26-28; Babylon, Isa. chs 13,14
21, Jer. chs 50-51; Nineveh, Nahum.]
The once proud city becomes the haunt
of demonic spirits and unclean creatures.
The picture conveyed is one of absolute
desolation! The reason for her collapse is
given in v3, [cf. Gibbon’s ‘Rise and
Decline of the Roman Empire’] which
touches upon some of this.
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Babylon Declared Desolate [18:1-8]
John hears a call to separation in v4 cf. Isa.
52:11 Jer. 51:45. One writer describes this as a
call to ‘spiritual withdrawal from Vanity Fair’.
The separation for the Christian will not always
be physical, else we would all be monastics,
but ideological.
Babylon has shed the blood of the saints. She
is now about to reap in kind what she has
sown cf. Jer. 50:29.
Rome proudly saw herself as mistress of the
world beyond the possibility of personal loss
or sorrow. How wrong she was. [cf. Isa. 47:7-8
with reference to Babylon].
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Lament Of Kings, Merchants,
And Seamen [18:9-20]
Babylon’s loss will be mourned not for her own
sake but only for what others were able to get
out of her. The great trade that once flowed
into Rome is now stopped. They are astounded
that judgement could fall so suddenly [cf.
Belshazzar’s feast... Dan. 5:30 ‘that very night’].
The Gk. word for woe ‘ouia’ is onomatopoeic.
The church in heaven is encouraged in v20 to
rejoice because God the righteous Judge has
turned back the evidence laid against believers
and has in turn brought judgement against the
accuser himself.
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Babylon Destroyed [18:21-24]
A strong angel casts a millstone into the sea
to illustrate the fate of Babylon. She will
disappear forever!
The word translated ‘with such violence’
appears as a cognate verb in Mk. 5:13 to
describe the way in which the herd of swine
rushed down the steep bank into the sea. In
this way the suddenness and spectacular
nature of the judgement is stressed. Where
there was once a bustle of sound and an
abundance of light there is now silence and
darkness- the end of an empire!
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Hymn Of Vindication
[19:1-5]
The hallelujah chorus of 19:1 ff. is the
response of the redeemed to the
injunction of 18:20 to rejoice. God is
and should be praised for his righteous
judgements.
The word ‘Hallelujah’ is only found in
these few verses of the NT. stressing
that it is a cause for great rejoicing that
evil is brought to an end, to trouble
God’s purpose no more.
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