Williams, Gordon: Revelation-07 ~ Calgary

The mystery of the woman and of the beast that carried her, which hath the seven heads and came home. The beast that thou sawest was and is not, and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit and go into perdition. They that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was and is not and yet is. Here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits. And there are seven kings. Five are fallen, one is, the other is not yet come. When he cometh, he must continue a short space. And the beast that was and is not, even he is the eighth, and his other seven goeth into perdition. And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet, but received power as kings, one power with the beast. These have one mind, shall give their power and strength unto the beast. These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them. For he is Lord of lords and King of kings. They that are with him are called and chosen and faithful. He saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest where the whore sitteth are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues. And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore and shall make her desolate and naked and shall eat her flesh and burn her with fire. For God hath put in their hearts to fulfill his will and to agree and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. The woman which thou sawest is that great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth. And shall we carry on with the reading into chapter eighteen, please? After these things, I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power, and the earth was lightened with his glory. He cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils and the hold of every foul spirit, the cage of every unclean and hateful. 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 are acts rich with the abundance of her delicacy. I heard another voice from heaven saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sin, that ye receive not of her plague. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquity. Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works. The cup which she hath filled, fill to her double. How much she hath glorified herself and lived delicious. So much torment and sorrow give her, for she saith in Oheim, I sit a queen and am no widow and shall see no sorrow. Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death and mourning and famine, and she shall be utterly burned with fire, for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her. The kings of the earth which have committed fornication and live deliciously with her shall bewail her and lament for her when they shall see the smoke of her burning, standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city, for in one hour is thy judgment come. And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her, for no man buyeth their merchandise anymore, the merchandise of gold and silver and precious stones, and of pearls and fine linen and purple and silk and scarlet, and all thine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass and iron and marble and cinnamon and odors and ointment and frankincense and wine and oil, and fine flour and wheat and beasts, and sheep and horses and chariots and slaves. And souls of men. And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee. Thou shalt find them no more at all. The merchants of these things which were made rich by her shall s- shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing and saying, Alas, alas, that great city, which was clothed in fine linen and purple and scarlet and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, for in one hall so great riches has come to naught. Every shipmaster and all the company and ships and sailors and as many as trade by sea stood afar off and cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city? They cast dust on their heads and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city wherein we're made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness, for in one hour is she made desert. Rejoice over her, thou heavens, and ye holy apostles and prophets, for God hath avenged you on her. The mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and cast it into the sea, saying, thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all. The voice of harpers and musicians and pipers and trumpet- trumpeters shall be heard no more at all in thee. No craftsman of whatev- whatsoever craft he be shall be found anymore in thee. The sound of the millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee. The light of the candle shall shine no more at all in thee, and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee. For thy merchants were the great men of the earth, but by thy sorceries were all nations deceived. And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all that was slain upon the earth. Now may Lord, the Lord bless to us this reading of his own word. We'll go back and fairly quickly run down through these verses, looking at some of the high points that are in them. Now, just for a moment again, the chart behind me, as we've noticed in nights past, we're working our way through, and tonight we look at these chapters, we're over to this section right here, chapter seventeen and eighteen. You would remember that the first three chapters showed us something of the letters to the churches. Then we have a picture of the rapture. Now, it's only a picture, but the picture of the rapture in chapter four, four and five, John is in heaven. Then the great events of the seven-year period, which run from the beginning of chapter six right to the end of chapter nineteen, which Lord willing we'll look at tomorrow night. That seven-year period is seen between six and nineteen of the book of the Revelation. Now, the latter half of that seven years, the last three and a half years, is properly called the Great Tribulation in the Bible. We don't read very much, or hardly anything, of the first part of it, but we do know from Old Testament scriptures that in a coming day, now before that day comes, the Lord Jesus will come for those who are saved. The rapture will take place first, but in a coming day, the nation of Israel will sign a seven-year agreement with some king of a coalition of Gentile countries, and that is the covenant that we looked at on Lord's Day, Isaiah twenty eight. chapter fifty seven, Isaiah deals with it, but particularly you'll find it in Daniel chapter nine. That great covenant Israel will sign, it'll be a defensive covenant. Mind you, the Middle East is being conditioned for that. You think of what's happening over there, the s- the stage is being set. Now it'll, it'll turn out to be a terrible mistake that Israel will make, because in the middle of the seven years, the leader of the country that he signed the agreement with will break his agreement and turn against Israel. That's the terrible beast that we read. We read of two beasts in chapter thirteen, the first one being the head over the Gentile country, and the second being the false prophet, particularly the Jewish man. We notice that there are three sequences of judgments that will come upon the earth in that seven-year period. There are seven seals on a book that the Lord Jesus opened and gave us a picture of what was coming. Seven angels with seven trumpets blew them, and as they blew and sounded, again, we saw a sequence of judgments that would come upon the earth. These particularly in the last three and a half years. Then last night we noticed seven other angels with seven vials, or bowls, we might call them, but they were poured out, and they contained the wrath of God or the judgment of God. Now they'll be right towards the end of the seven years, and as they're poured out, terrible things will be happening upon earth. Now we've, in between those three sequences of judgments, there's been chapters whereby we've stopped and looked at certain characters that will be prominent in that seven-year period. So the book of the Revelation is not consecutive time-wise all the way through. It'll take us through with one sequence of judgments, then we go back and get another look at some things, like the trumpets, and then again the vials, but in between there, we've seen different companies of people. For example, chapter seven we saw that God would seal one hundred forty four thousand going into the heaven. Chapter seven we saw that a great multitude of Gentiles would be saved out of the heaven. So one towards the end sealed, one saved at the end, towards the end, coming through. We saw in chapter eleven that God had two prophets, two witnesses who will be his testimony working for him upon earth in that time. Then in chapters twelve and thirteen we saw the individuals listed here. There's the woman, which is Israel, the man child, the Lord Jesus, Michael the Archangel, the dragon, we are told, is Satan, and then the two beasts, the two great leaders that will arise in that coming day. Now, tonight we're going to look at this subject that's mentioned in chapter seventeen and eighteen, and Lord willing, tomorrow night, spend our time with chapter nineteen. You want to read that in advance. Now, chapter chapters and seventeen and eighteen deals with the subject of Babylon the Great. You will notice as we look at this that she's called the Mother of Horus. I'm going to go down through a few principles in connection with this. Let me say just quickly that there are four separate women mentioned in the book of the Revelation. four is the earth's number. Uh, Two of them, incidentally, are good, and two of them are bad. The first one you'd meet would be if you went back to Revelation chapter two and read of a woman called Jezebel. And again, a point that I've made several times in the book of the Revelation, the names and pictures come up, or im- images or symbols, please go to the Old Testament to find out what they mean. And again, that'll be very important because much of what I read to you in chapter eighteen tonight, you know, the, the wording of it comes right from the book of Jeremiah, if you were to go back and read. So John the Apostle that's given this book, given by the Lord Jesus, would be bringing before us great prophetic passages of Old Testament scripture. So the symbols here have been used previously. Now, Jezebel, chapter two, I hardly need to say this for most of you. You'd know that Jezebel, we can find in the Old Testament, was a wicked woman, an enemy of God's people, when you think of it back in the Book of the Kings, and of course she was the avowed enemy of the prophet Elijah. You know of that. We find Jezebel and her work in chapter two of the Book of the Revelation, and of course it's very significant there that she comes in in relation to the church of Thyatira, because Thyatira is symbolic of something in chapter two. Thyatira will give rise to what we've got here in chapter seventeen and eighteen. Then there's another woman mentioned in chapter twelve, and that's Jezebel's the bad woman. In chapter twelve we have one of the good ones, and that's Israel, the people of God, particularly those who are the remnant for God in a coming day. Now there's a third one. Well, the third one's the one we've read of here tonight, Babylon the Great, and I don't need to tell you, that's the bad one. A terrible system that we're going to look at. And then there's a fourth one you'll read of when you get to chapter nineteen, and that's the bride, the bride of the Lamb. And so you see Israel the good one, chapter twelve, that represents God's earthly people, the Jewish people. The bride of chapter nineteen will be God's heavenly people, that's the church. By the way, in case you're not familiar with it, when I use the word church, or when the Bible uses the word church in that context, it is not speaking of this building. The Bible never speaks of the church as being a building. The church in this context, we're using it here, chapter nineteen, is the great company of all saved people, and they'll, they'll be seen as identified with the Lord Jesus, linked with him in glory in a day that's to come. So we have two good ones mentioned, two good women mentioned, and two bad ones. Now Babylon the Great. I want you to notice that as we look at chapter seventeen and nineteen, we have another example of satanic imitation. I mentioned in previous nights, there's a trinity of evil in this final book of the Bible, in contrast, no doubt, to the fact that the Godhead is Father, Son, and Spirit. We find in the book of the Revelation, then, the dragon is the devil, the power behind this, the first beast, the great Gentile leader of the ten countries, and then the false prophet, and they, those three work together. We noticed as well a number of things about them, you know, the mark of the beast in contrast to the sealing of God and the, and the indwelling of the spirit of Christians today by the Spirit of God. The wound of the beast, likely again in contrast, you see, to the work of the Lord Jesus, that is the resurrection I'm thinking of, of the Lord Jesus at Calvary, and so the world will wonder at the beast. Now, chapter seventeen brings before us the subject of Babylon the Great. And we're going to look at a woman that, that runs right alongside of the beast. They're hand in hand, as it were. There's a great, what we have pictured before us is a great system, a religious system that will be linked with this terrible leader that's come. And I don't doubt that it's a contrast again, you see, to the bride of Christ. In the New Testament, you know, we find the Lord Jesus spoken of as the bridegroom. You know that John the Baptist spoke of him that way in John chapter three. but you know that the Lord Jesus himself spoke, spoke of himself as the bridegroom. In the Gospel of Matthew, Luke chapter nine, you'll find that. You'll find the picture again in Ephesians five. Paul uses it of the church, Two Corinthians eleven. And so the picture of the church as the bride and Christ as the bridegroom is presented. Now Babylon is linked with the beast in the coming day. And again, there's a number of contrasts you can watch there. When you read of the bride of Christ, you find that it's a chaste virgin. This woman is the mother of harlots. You'll find the bride is seen in purity, white linen. You see, speaks of faithfulness and cleanliness and holiness, if you like. But this woman is dressed in scarlet because wickedness ma- marks this woman. But in any way, we have a satanic imitation. Now, in ver- verses one to six of chapter seventeen, we have what John saw. And then verses seven to eighteen, the remainder of the chapter, we have the explanation of what John saw. We'll have a description of Babylon in chapter seventeen. You'll have the destruction of Babylon in chapter eighteen. So we'll just look at it in that simple way as we run through. I'll ask you to notice that in verse one, there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials. Incidentally, it'll be one of the seven angels with the seven vials that will occur again in chapter, uh, twenty one and show John, you see, the New Jerusalem. So we'll find that the same angelic source will be used to point out the good and the bad to John. Why is that? Because the contrast between the two is being brought to our attention. Comet says, and I will show thee the judgment of this great wicked woman then that sits upon many waters. Now again, it's a chapter where we really don't have to use any imagination, nor should we, because everything is explained. Later in the chapter, if you want to drop your eye to, uh, to verse fifteen, you will find that the waters which thou sawest where the horse sitteth are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues. So this great wicked woman that sits upon the waters, it sits literally upon the nations of the world. It's a great system out of what we would call the Gentile countries. You'll notice that the woman then is seen in relation to the waters in verse one. You will notice that the woman is seen in relation to the wilderness in verse three. You notice that the woman is seen in relation to her wealth in verse four. And as you look at verse 6 and verse 5 and six, you'll notice that it's the wickedness of the woman that's brought her. The waters then represent the nations of the world, so we see her nationally. You'll notice in verse three we see what she is spiritually. Then, if you notice in verse five, you see what she is material. Now we find in verse two this woman, it says, with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk. Verse three, John is carried away in spirit into the wilderness. I mentioned to you five positions in the book of the Revelation we read of John being in, five different positions, and I said every one of them is significant. Number one, chapter one, the Isle of Patmos, John in old age, loneliness. Do you understand what I'm saying? Thirty or more years, over thirty, well over thirty years before the last of the apostles would have gone, John's been left. What? Christians do sometimes ask why. John is left, the last of the apostles, alone, a prisoner for Christ on the Isle of Patmos. But on the Isle of Patmos, and John walked. In all of his loneliness, he sees the Lord in glory, and he's given this wonderful gift. So you see, Christians, there's a purpose in it. Now, there's a lot of things you can think of there. God has a purpose in things. Chapter four, John is in heaven. Thank God for that, because symbolically it means, you see, he's in heaven before he sees any of the judgments of earth. And it's symbolic of the fact that the true church will be in heaven before ever this starts. There's a lot of other reasons you can look at. Chapter thirteen, John's taken to the seashore. The seashore is significant of the fact that the great leader, the first beast, will arise from the nations. That's the sea, you see, symbolic of the nations of the world. We read of the waters here. That's where the beast will come from. But John is taken to the shore and watches him arrive. Mind you, in vision, John literally would have been taken to an ocean and watched the big beast come up, but symbolically it tells us of this great rising evil one. Now, in chapter seventeen, the fourth position, John in spirit is taken to a wilderness. Why would he be taken to a wilderness? Well, again, if you think of the Bible, the wilderness of the, of Bible lands, the wilderness of Israel, what does it speak of? Remember the story of the lost sheep? The wilderness of the Bible lands would be simply this, a place of bleakness, a place of darkness, a place of thirst, a place of danger, a place where there's nothing to satisfy. And so symbolically, you see, when John is taken to the wilderness to watch the emergence of this woman and the beast, you'll understand that we're going to look at a religious system that is completely devoid of anything to meet man's greatest need. You know, there's no spiritual need that can be met by this great system. You'll understand as we look, she's got everything materially, filthy rich, but nothing to meet man's need. Now, before we go any further, what is this great Babylon we're talking? Well, we'll notice that in chapter seventeen there's certain things about this Babylon that marks it as a great religious system. It's seen in a twofold way. It's a great religious system that will be linked with this coming world dictator. But Babylon is more than a religious system. Babylon in chapter eighteen is also a great commercial system. So it's, there's something religious about it, and there's something very commercial about it. That's why we read all those details of chapter eighteen. There's a twofold aspect to this one. We learned that the woman is also a city, and the woman is a system, the two things. And again, if you just want to think of it quickly, the bride of chapter nineteen is a great company of individuals, but in chapter twenty one of this book, we see that the b- bride is a city. There again, you have the, the contrast, you see, between the two. The bride of chapter nineteen is the great company of redeemed. The bride of chapter twenty one is the city, the New Jerusalem, the dwelling place of the bride, if you like. And so Babylon is both a city and a system. It's both religious and it's commercial. But where does it come from? What is it? Now, you'd understand this, that Babylon, and again the Old Testament, Babylon takes us back to Genesis chapter ten where we have the first mention of Babel. And incidentally, the word Babel, initially it's Babel, which means El means God. It's the gate of God. Please watch this. After the Tower of Babel was built, it's no longer known as Babel, but Babel, and Babel means confusion. So watch the two. Babel is the gate of God. Babel is confusion. Genesis eleven, of course, I'm referring to where they built the Tower of Bab- Babel. God confused their languages, confused the tongue, they spoke differently. But my point is simply this. What ought to be the gate of God, in other words, the way to God, becomes confusion. The tragedy over the years is simply this. We're looking at a great super religious system that will be linked with the coming leader, the beast. And religion as such, which ought to point man to God, becomes a system of absolute confusion. And I say to you again, the wilderness, empty and dry. Now, I don't want you to misunderstand. I'm simply saying this. Religion without Christ is an empty thing, and the greatest need for mankind is to know God's son, the Lord Jesus, as Savior. It is Christ that the world needs. There's good and bad to be said about religion, but religion without Christ is an empty thing. There's a great system here. It's been developing for centuries. You can find it running its way through the Old Testament. It's linked with the place Babylon, the Old Testament scriptural name, because in Babylon is found the peak of idolatry. The peak of ungodliness is linked with this, and that's the pathway of various religious things down over the years. Incidentally, the Persian king Cyrus, who was responsible for the destruction of Babylon, he ordered out the, all the sorcerers and soothsayers, you know, those that were associated with Nebuchadnezzar. I don't know whether you would know it or not, but they made their way to a city called Pergamos, the third city in the chapter two of the book of the Revelation, where the seat of Satan was in the heaven. We didn't mention that going through. Julius Caesar, the great leader of the Roman Empire, that's before Christ was born, of course. Julius Caesar wore that title, remember, Pontifex Maximus. Julius Caesar brought most of that stuff and the priests over to Rome later on. And if you were to stop and think, we have in our culture today so many things that literally have come down from the old Babylonian system. I could take the rest of the time and list off for you things that we just automatically accept, and they have their roots in ancient Babylon. We just take them for granted. They're part of our culture. Many things of our culture, you know, come from not only Babylon, but even the old Roman system. You think of July and August and October are months, you know, they're called after three different Roman emperors, don't you? Julius Caesar, Augustus Caesar, and Octavius Caesar. We have a lot of things, but in any event, Babylon in the future day will be a great religious system, and it's been developing over the centuries. Now, you'd understand something. When the Lord Jesus in Matthew thirteen gave the parables, the weep and the tears were mentioned. I mentioned this last night. The true and the false were run side by side right to the end. Now, it's a tremendous truth that the Lord will come for the truly saved ones at the rapture. But the tares as such will run on through this great seven-year period. Not only did the Lord Jesus speak of it, you can go to the epistles, the church epistles, and you'll find the apostles warned of it, the true and the false, even back there. Remember Paul's words to Timothy, for example, in the latter days some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and so on. You can read in Second Timothy three where the Apostle Paul speaks of the latter days, perilous times will come. He goes on to speak of how men will be lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. And incidentally, is he talking about the ungodly of the world? He's speaking about those who have a form of godliness but are denying the power thereof. Second Timothy four, Paul says to Timothy, the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, keep to themselves teachers, having itching ears. Is he talking about the ungodly of the world? No, he's talking about those that have a form or a profession, and they won't listen to the clear, plain teaching of the Word of God, but will go in for that which pleases them. But you see, that is developing, and it's been developing, and the seven churches of chapters two and three showed it. As a matter of fact, look at this system here. Filthy rich Babylon, wealthy beyond our understanding. And I pointed out to you in chapters two and 3 that at the early stages of the church history, Smyrna, the Lord Jesus said, I know thy poverty, but thou art rich, the Lord Jesus said. Now, he wasn't talking about material things. When he said, I know thy poverty, Smyrna had nothing. When the Lord said, thou art rich, he meant spiritually, you got everything. But the last church is Laodicea. Laodicea said, I am rich and increased of goods and have need of nothing. The Lord Jesus said, thou knowest not that thou art poor and wretched and miserable and blind to know. The church, the last of the seven in the letter, had everything material. The Lord Jesus says, you've got nothing spiritual. That's the course of the years. Now then, here is this system. Everything material, but a bleak, barren wilderness. The woman is linked with the beast, the beast we know. You notice that the woman sits upon the beast, and the question often arises, who's in control? Who's in control? You naturally think that the woman on the beach means the woman's in control. Let me just leave it with you and say this. There's been many a time in history when political ambitious leaders have used religion in one way or the other to gain power and to get into power. Now, just quickly, this system will come in at the beginning of the seven years, hand in hand with the beast. The woman sits upon the beast. The religious aspect of this, we will see, will be destroyed, and I would believe destroyed about the midpoint of the seven years, that is the religious aspect. I'll tell you quickly why I say that. The ten kings will turn against the system religiously and destroy it, strip it of its wealth. Likely the reason is because at the midpoint of the seven years, we know Satan's cast down, the beast breaks his covenant, the image of the beast is put up, the mark of the beast is imposed, and the beast, as we know from Second Thessalonians two as well as chapter thirteen, sets himself up to be worshipped. In other words, at that point, he's no longer any need of religious Babylon. So the kings will destroy religious Babylon, but it's God that will, in chapter eighteen, take care of the city and commercial Babylon. Furthermore, I'll just leave it with you to think over. The religious aspect of Babylon will be gone. Here we come into the great lovely picture of the marriage of the Lamb, and following that, the marriage supper of the Lamb. The one goes before the other, but anyway, I'll leave that. You notice the beast has got the seven heads, the ten horns. We find out what they are later on. That again is explained when you go down to chapters, verse eight and verse ten. Now the, the seven heads, just quickly. We are told that they are seven kings. Five are fallen. I'm looking at verse ten now. Five are fallen. One is. The other is not yet come. When he cometh, he must continue a short space. Now, there's differences of thoughts as to these seven kings, and again, don't be dogmatic about some of these things. Some have thought that they were seven different forms of the governments of the Roman Empire. Others have thought that they represented seven different emperors. Mind you, that one runs you into trouble because there are other emperors later. And likely the best explanation is this, that there have been, up to John's day, seven great world empires that have afflicted Israel. And for example, you go back, Egypt will be the first one, Assyria the next one, Babylon the third, Medo-Persia the fourth. You'd have the Greek Empire, these are in Daniel, of course, that'll be the fifth one, and then following that is the five that were passed by the time you come to this day here. So five have fallen, one is, that'll be the Roman system, you see, the great Roman empire. Then it goes on to tell us this. The other is not yet come. Now, the one that was not yet come in John's day, we find in, uh, the later verse. That one is the coalition of ten countries. That's a future thing as far as John is concerned. Now, the question always arises, what is it today? By the way, while I firmly believe the rapture could take place at any moment and is likely to take place at any moment. And while I firmly believe we're right on the very verge of last day things, and I can't conceivably see how things can go on much longer, yet we must always be careful about putting current things of the world and forcing it into the book of the Revelation. But when you think of the ten future kings that would come, and incidentally, Daniel two, we s- we saw a great empire, an image of a man. The image of the man would naturally have ten toes. Daniel seven shows that they would come out of the fourth great empire of Daniel, that's the Roman Empire, that ten horns would arise, and we're told that those are ten kings of the future. So that parallels with this here, you see. And then you would wonder, this great movement in a Europe, this thing that we know of as the common market. Now don't say to me there's twelve countries there presently and four more wanting to join. I know that, and it must be ten. But you would wonder, because incidentally, the common market started with a treaty of Rome, and Rome is a great city that's in view here, you see. Started with the Treaty of Rome, didn't it, in nineteen fifty seven. Now you say, well, what about the twelve countries? I was reading somebody writing on the common market just a few days ago, and they were saying that it's very likely that in the immediate future that the common market won't be a con- a a Commonwealth of countries or nations as we know it, but a Commonwealth of regions. In other words, they start redefining the boundaries. You have time, you count the languages, in other words, the peoples that are represented by the common market. I think you'll find there's ten. But in any event, ten kings would arise in a coming day. Now, verse... verse eleven tells us this. The beast that was and is not, he's the eighth and he's of the seven and he goes into perdition. This beast is linked with the dragon. The beast was mentioned in chapter eleven, you see, wars against the prophets. He's mentioned in chapter twelve against Israel. The dragon and the beast, you can hardly tell the difference one from the other. But watch this, please, that the ten countries of a, of a coming day will form a block, and then out of them will emerge the eighth. that's called here. And I've mentioned to you already, try to understand, the Bible makes it plain that these ten will give their power to the beast. In other words, he doesn't literally by force take it. If you know chapter six, the red and the white horse, a crown was given him. And so the ten will have a leader that's over them, and the indications are that this man will go into power, likely by what we would call peaceable means, whether he left it or whatever, I don't know, but he'll go in what we would call peaceably. But he will transform that system, that confederation of the ten. He will transform it into a different kind of a kingdom altogether. That's why the eighth is mentioned. Incidentally, eighth is the number of a new beginning in the Bible, so this will again be in, in contrast, you see, or if you like, another imitation of the person of Christ and the work of Christ, because the number of Christ is eight eight eight, which is a new beginning. But in any event, this beast will take over and transform that into a total dictatorship, breaking his covenant with Israel. So we have the beast then. As we think of this great city, going back now to the first few verses, the woman comes in arrayed in purple scarlet gold and pearls and so on, wealthy. And again, just let me say in connection with that, isn't it a tragedy? Isn't it a tragedy that we go back and we look at the early church of the Bible. I can't help but think of the Lord Jesus saying one day, you know, show me a pen. Show me a pen. What did the early church have? And there's no point in my even throwing out numbers at you today as to the estimated wealth of the great systems that we call Christendom. Buildings worth millions. And in our so-called Christian world, you know, so-called Christian churches have invested money in hotels, railways, you name it, and the money is there. How did we ever get to such a mess? Please understand. The day will come when the Lord Jesus, out of this world, will take all of the truly saved ones, and Christendom as we know it, with all of its wealth and poverty and everything else. And you know the great ecumenical movement that we see in our world is all shaping up there, will tie its hands with the great political power of that day, and together they'll run into this seven-year period. We notice that in verse six, the woman is drunken with the blood of saints. I think most of you'd understand. We can go back to the Old Testament, we can trace the persecutions of Babylon. We can come to the Middle Ages, and we could trace the persecution of the Catholic system against any that deviated from. We could come into the seventeen hundreds and trace the persecution of the so-called established Protestant churches in Europe, and their persecution of any that deviated from their pathway. Organized religion as such has been a terrible thing in that way. It's the trademark of history, drunken with the blood of saints. Verse six tells us at the end, I wonder with great admiration. You know, you try to think. In John the Apostle. John that company with the Lord Jesus. John that walked with the little band. John that saw the gospel and preached the gospel and saw assemblies formed. John knew New Testament conditions. Now he sees this. To John, what is it? It's so hard to understand. He wonders at this great system. The angel says, wherefore didst thou mark? Now, it's been estimated, you know, over the centuries that as many as fifty million have been put to death by persecution from religious sources. I mean, put persecuted because of faith. It's such a tragic thing, isn't it? And you know that it's so unchristian, so uncharacteristic of the very teachings of Christ and that which ought to mark Christian people. But in any event, this great system will be linked with the beast in a coming day. We read at the end of the chapter, the woman which thou sawest is that great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth. Now there's some differences of thoughts as what city is in view. The city of Rome is the system definitely at that time that reigned over the kings of the earth. And again, don't worry about this, but some would believe that Rome is in view both as the, you know, the great headquarters of all merged Christianity, or Christendom as we know it in a coming day, be that as it may, possibly in view in the commercial sense, you see, with the kings of the earth with their headquarters there, because that's the way it would have been in the days of John and the Roman Empire. Others believe that it'll be Rome in the first three and a half years and literal Babylon. Remember, Saddam Hussein put twenty five million into the rebuilding of it, and so others believe that literal Babylon will come back. Well, you're entitled to your views. It really doesn't matter there. The point is that this great king that will arrive will be centered in a city and associated with a great religious system, and linked with it then is a great wealthy commercial system. Now, just quickly for some thoughts in chapter eighteen. I'd like you to notice that as we look at this chapter, you're going to read three times over, I believe, voices from heaven. Three times in this chapter, you're going to read the voices from earth. The voices from heaven will be rejoicing because Babylon is gone. The voices of earth will be weeping because Babylon has been destroyed. You'll notice that the voices from earth will include, it says here, the kings of the earth. Verse, I'm looking at verse nine. Verse eleven tells us it's the merchants of the earth, and verse seventeen tells us it's the shipmasters of the earth. Commercial aspects in view. You want an easy w- Verse eleven tells us it's the merchants of the earth, and verse seventeen tells us it's the shipmasters of the earth. Commercial aspects in view. You want an easy way to remember them, you have the monarchs, and then the merchants, and then the mariners. But all of them will be weeping at the crushing of this great commercial system. Religiously, I've said to you, stripped by the ten kids, but not the city and not the system. God destroys that, as we see. Now, you can't miss, and I referred to it, the allusions to Jeremiah. Jeremiah in the Old Testament foretold and spoke of the doom of ancient Babylon. The millstone in the sea here takes us back, of course, to Jeremiah's vision of the millstone cast into the river. Thus, with violence shall great Babylon be destroyed. I'm going to ask you to notice a couple of things more in connection with this. First of all, verses twelve or eleven, I should say, to the end of verse thirteen, we have a listing of twenty items. And again, when you get things like this in the Bible, you ask yourself, what? They fall into seven categories, and seven is the number of this book, but why would they be listed? Well, because we're talking about a system that's been trading in just about everything you can think of. And of course, you can't read them without noticing the last thing mentioned. Amidst all the pearls and gold and precious stones and silk and everything else, what is the last thing that this system is trading? The end of verse thirteen says, the souls of men. You know, again, as you stop and think, God in the Bible has given us the essence and the lovely truth of salvation. You would please remember, Acts four twelve says, neither is there salvation in any other, none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. That's speaking of the Lord Jesus. John fourteen and six, the Lord Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. There is but one way to know peace with God, one way to be saved, one savior, one mediator, Paul wrote to Timothy, between God and man. That is the man Christ Jesus. One savior, one salvation. God provided it when he gave his son to die at Calvary. You know, the tragedy is that so many miss the savior, caught up with various systems and misunderstandings, thinking that church or religion is such. And if you don't understand what I mean by this, please talk to me after. But if you miss Christ, you've missed everything. Religion as such is not the answer. With all of the commercialism of this picture, the souls of men are being traded. I can't help but think of how many people there are who are counting on the fact that they were born in a particular place or system, or that they've been baptized in a particular system. Now, we believe in baptism. It's a scriptural thing. That's not what I'm saying. But how many people who think my church will get me to heaven? Or any of those so-called things, if you miss Christ, you've missed everything. There's this great system, missed everything else, trading in the souls of... Tragic to think, you know, that multitudes will be lost in heaven. Not because they didn't go to church. Not because they didn't believe the Bible. Not because they didn't know there was a God. Not because they didn't give to the poor and do all those wonderful good things. But simply because they never came to know Christ and the work of of the Christ and rest upon that for each other. The souls of men. I'll ask you to notice something. Verse four, one of the voices from heaven. Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sin. Ye receive not of her blood. Now the word church as used in the New Testament means a called out people. You would understand, would you not, that going back, we're talking about Babylon here, religious Babylon. You'd understand that back in the Old Testament, God called Abraham out from Babylon. You'll understand when you go down to the latter part of the Old Testament. God was taking men like Ezra and Nehemiah, Haggai and Zechariah and so on, back from Babylon. You go to the New Testament. The church is a called out people. Called out of ideas of man's religion, called to the person of Christ. Hebrews thirteen, that most of you would know, is a beautiful passage with regard to the New Testament, Christians, and the system of Judaism. Let us go forth, therefore, unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach, called to the outside place. You would understand if you were to read second Corinthians two, Paul writing to Gentile people now. Wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord, touch not the unclean thing. Hebrews thirteen was a call to New Testament believers to leave the system of the temple and the tabernacle and the altar and the priesthood, leave Judaism as such, come to Christ. Second Corinthians six and six is a passage which tells us for Gentiles, leave paganism, come to Christ. Revelation eighteen is a call to leave that which speaks of organized religion, of Christendom as such. Leave that which is wrong and which is heading up for this great system. Christ is the answer. All the way through, God presents his son. Now, those who come to Christ, those who are saved, remember, we looked at those washed in the blood of the Lamb. You'll see them identified with the bride in purity in chapter nineteen, Not part of this great filthy wicked system. If there's anybody here tonight and you're not saved, let me just finish by saying that it's not the church, it's not religion, it is Christ and the word of Calvary alone that brings peace with God, salvation. That's it. So we urge you, trust that. Because when the shape is given, as First Thessalonians four tells us, then all true believers will go to be with the Lord Jesus. The whole mess that's left behind will converge together to form this great system. Don't be shocked at it. Even this building will likely end up as being part of the system in the coming day. But thank God the Savior will be back. It's important that you know that you're saved. So... I thank you for coming. Nice to see a good number. We'd just like to mention to you, tomorrow night, Lord willing, we'll continue with the subject. Tomorrow night's subject will be chapter twenty of the book of the Revelation, and then Friday night will be the last meeting on this series, and that'll be looking at chapters twenty one and twenty two, the New Jerusalem, New Heaven, and New Earth. We beg you to come back. Of course, on Sunday will be the regular meeting for remembrance of the Lord Jesus. That will be for the breaking of bread in the morning at ten o'clock, and that's followed around noon by the Sunday school, and then at seven o'clock, not seven thirty, but seven o'clock will be the gospel meeting in the evening. We're all invited out for these meetings. I'll ask you to turn tonight, please, to Matthew's gospel first of all. Before we go into the book of Revelation, I'd like to read a little Matthew's Gospel, chapter three. I do appreciate your coming, and I'm very conscious of something, and that is that there's an awful lot of things that we're flipping over. A lot of passages of the Bible that bear on this subject that just there isn't time to get into them. So much that could be looked at. And I said to you earlier, if there's any way we can help anyone with questions or anything that you're concerned with, keeping in mind that a lot of the details we don't know and won't know, but the principles are what we watch out for, what is taught. Now we're going to read in Matthew four, Just before I do, we'll look at the chart closely. I'm going to go from here over to the book of Revelation and look at chapter nineteen. And just quickly, the chart that's behind me, the twenty is 22 chapters in the book of Revelation, and this chart shows them going from chapter one on the left to chapter twenty two on the, on the right over here. And you notice that alpha is written up there, and omega is on the end, and that's because the Lord Jesus referred to himself as Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, and Alpha plus is the first letter of the Greek alphabet, I think that's written in Greek, and Omega would be the last letter of the Greek alphabet. In the chapters of the book of the Revelation, the first three chapters concern, uh, letters to the church. John sees the Lord in glory, and at that point, remember, John was the last of the apostles before this final book of the Bible was given. And again, let me just say that the book of the Revelation brings together in one picture the end time events that are foretold in a variety of places in the Bible. Many passages speak of what will happen in the last days. The book of the Revelation brings it again. Again, let me repeat the importance that when you see signs and symbols in the biblical revelation, see that they're already mentioned elsewhere in the Bible. That's a very important principle to understanding this book. So we have three chapters that show the Lord in glory and seven letters to the churches of that day, and we have a picture of the raptured round caught in spirit up to heaven. And keep in mind, prior to this great seven-year year period coming, the true believers will be caught up to be dispersed. Now, that will be followed by what is called the judgment seat of Christ, and we find that in the New Testament scriptures. That's from the day, by the way, when Christians, only Christians will prevail, not Christians on those days. They will be rewarded for faith. And then that will be followed by the marriage of the Lamb, so those are events in heaven. Meanwhile, upon earth, then this seven-year period comes in. And we know the steps that the 7 years begins, in Daniel Daniel will tell you that, when the nation of Israel, that's why it's so important that Jews have been taken back. Remember, from AD seventy onwards, the Jews were driven out of the Middle East, and it's only in the middle of this century that we've seen that they've gone back. And so there have to be the Jews back there, and the Bible clearly predicted that they would be back in the land of Israel. Also that they would have the city of Jerusalem back, and so that nation will one day sign an agreement, a defensive agreement, a treaty that protects them from an enemy. They'll sign it for a period of seven years. You know, you think of the various little peace treaties and what's happening between Israel and Jordan, Israel and Syria, Israel and the Palestinians, and so on over there right now. You see, the world is being conditioned and set up for this. So that treaty will start the seven years. There will arise then a great evil dictator that will be over ten countries of the world. He'll sign the agreement with Israel, and then in the middle of the seven years, he'll break that agreement, and the last three and a half years will be the worst time that this world has ever seen. So if we look tonight at chapter nineteen, this will be the coming of the Lord Jesus. Now, actually, what we read tonight will bring the 7 years to the end. We've seen that there are three sequences of judgment, the seal, the trumpets, and the vial. And when we look at the revelation, we, we find that there are four great army systems that will move into the Middle East right at the end of the seven years, come for the awful battle of Armageddon that's mentioned in Revelation chapter sixteen. So we're going to look tonight at this portion of it here, when the Lord Jesus, literally at the end of the seven years, will come, hundreds of prophecies in the Bible speak of this, and he'll come, as the Bible shows us, to the Mount of Olives. Now, what's the importance of the Mount of Olives? Well, on this side is the mountain, or mentioned the mount called Calvary. It's not really a mountain, but nevertheless, the place called Calvary. That's where the Lord Jesus, uh, of course, went to the cross when he was here upon Earth two thousand years ago. Then we know from the Bible that forty days after Calvary, after the Lord was raised on the third day, and at various times he appeared to his disciples in a forty-day period, and then in Acts chapter one, he went, he left the Mount of Olives, and he went back to heaven. Now, the Old Testament shows us he's going to come back to the Mount of Olives, or Mount Oliva, as is sometimes called in the Bible. Somebody asked me why it was Oliva instead of Olives, but it's the same place, just two different renderings of the name. In any event, now let's read in connection with that. Matthew twenty four, the Lord Jesus, when he was here upon earth, gave an outline of some of the things that would lead up to the tribulation period and some of the things that would happen in the tribulation period. Verse fifteen of Matthew twenty four takes us right to the middle of the seven years. When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet stand in the holy place. Now notice in brackets, whoso readeth, let him understand. This is right at the middle, Daniel chapter twelve, you would read of this if you wanted to go back and read it. Right at the middle of the seven years, you see, the e- the great evil dictator will break his agreement with Israel, turn against Israel, and the image or the idol of that man will be set up. Now watch two things just quickly. We know that the kings, the ten kings with this evil person called the beast, will turn against religious Babylon. That means that that man has no longer any use for what's called Christendom at that point. But he'll also turn against Judaism, and his idol will be set up in the temple. So he's no place for Christendom, and he's no place for Judaism, because as Second Thessalonians two tells us, he will set himself up to be acknowledged as God. Now, when, when the Lord Jesus is speaking of this, he's saying to the people of that day, and this chapter, by the way, is spoken from the Mount of Olives, and it's written with Israel in view. You'll see that clearly as you look. When you see then what Daniel warned of, now the abomination of desolation is an idol in what should be God's temple. Then the Lord Jesus said, verse sixteen, then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountain. Now, he didn't say those in Calvary, but those who are in the land of Israel, Judea, at that time, when you see that, the Lord says, flee to the mountains, because you see, the beast has moved in, the image is set off. Now comes this awful, terrible time that the world has never seen the like before, with the plagues and the warfare and the death that will follow. You'll notice that verse seventeen says, let him which is on the housetop not come down. Verse eighteen, neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. Now, all that the Lord is saying here is this. Try to understand the urgency of the situation. When this great event happens, get out, whatever you do. That's what the Lord is saying. There's no time to waste. Woe unto them that are with child, to them that give suck in those days. Now you can picture the mother that's expecting, or the mother with a little child, is at a terrible disadvantage if they have to flee to the mountains. You see, chapter twelve of the book of the Revelation, we read of Israel, the woman fleeing into the wilderness, escaping for her life. That's the picture. You can read Zechariah thirteen in connection with this, if you like, because Jerusalem will be overrun with e- with enemy armies coming. Pray that your flight be not in the winter. Again, they'd be handicapped by winter conditions. Neither on the Sabbath day, again, because the Jewish people were restricted in their travel on the Sabbath. That's why, again, those are of reference to Israel. The Lord says, for them shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. In other words, never seen the light before, except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved. Now that means simply this, not that the seven years will be cut short, but it simply means that if God did not intervene, then there'd be nothing left, you see. Now, again, if we have time, I'll show you what that means, looking at Zechariah fourteen. The armies will move into the Middle East, and if the Lord didn't intervene, his destruction would literally wipe people out. Let us go down to verse twenty seven. For as the lightning cometh out of the east and shineth even unto the west, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. Now, verse twenty nine. immediately, immediately after the tribulation of those days. That simply means when this seven years is over, when this last three and a half year period has come to an end, immediately after that then shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. Now, you know, we read that in Revelation chapter six under the sixth seal. And I mentioned to you, you can read it in Joel chapter two, and it's mentioned by Peter in Acts chapter two. Those signs will mark the literal coming again of the Lord Jesus. Sun dark and moon to blood, and what they would call, of course, stars fall, in other words, shooting stars, likely showered by. Such a terrible day it will be. Now, verse thirty says, and then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. Then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn. They shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. Now, let us turn over to Revelation chapter one. Revelation in chapter one. And we'll just read, read verse one, or rather verse seven. Revelation one verse seven: Behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him, and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, amen. Now he cometh with clouds, every eye shall see him. This is not the rapture. This is this point where the Lord Jesus comes to the Mount of Olives. He'll come when the nations are gathered there. Every eye shall see him. At the rapture, only Christians will see him. It says they also which pierced him, the Jewish nation, the remnant, those are there then will see him. All kindreds shall wail. You remember, please, Amos the prophet in the Old Testament, looking ahead and speaking to the people of that day. Woe unto you, he said, that besought the day of the Lord. The day of the Lord is darkness and not light. This will be a terrible day when the Lord Jesus comes in judgment. Now, chapter nineteen, please. Chapter seventeen and eighteen we looked at last night dealt with the subject of the great religious system that was associated with the beast, both religious and commercial, and in those two chapters we saw the des- the latter chapter particularly, we saw the destruction of it. Chapter nineteen begins then, after these things. You notice John writes, verse one: I heard a vo- great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia, salvation and glory and honor and power unto the Lord our God, for true and righteous are his judgments, for he hath judged the great hall, that's Babylon of the previous two chapters, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. And again they said, Alleluia, and her smoke rose up forever and ever. The four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshiped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen, Alleluia. The voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great. And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia, for the Lord God omnipotent reign. Let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. He saith unto me, Right, blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. He saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God. They fell at his feet to worship him. This is the angel John is speaking of now, and he said unto me, See thou do it not. I am thy fellow servant and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. And I saw heaven open, and behold, a white horse. He that sat on him was called faithful and true and in righteousness. He doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns or many diadems, and he had a name written that no man knew but he himself. He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations, and he should rule them with a rod of iron. And he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. He hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. And I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves unto the supper of the great God, that ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great. And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse and against his army. The beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. The remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth, and all the fowls were filled with their flesh. Now God will bless his word. We'll just take the time that's before us and look down through the chapter. Just ask you to notice, first of all, that the chapter divides into two sections. Now, you'll notice that verses one to ten, we look at a scene in heaven, and then verses eleven to the end of the chapter, we look at a scene upon earth. In heaven, the first ten verses, you'll find it's a scene of celebration, and then the earthly one, as you look at the end of the chapter, it's a scene of terrible destruction. There's rejoicing in heaven. We'll look at some of the voices that are mentioned. There's rejoicing in heaven. Now remember, we've come to the end of things here. And so heaven is rejoicing, both angels, the church is rejoicing, the redeemed of the tribulation period are rejoicing, and all are giving glory to God. It's all over, in other words. Man's day of rebellion against God has come to an end, so heaven rejoices. But then when we look at the last part of the chapter, heaven opens and out comes the great armies, as it were, the armies of the Lord, the Lord himself. And it's a day of regret for Earth. You think of the awful, unparalleled destruction that there's going to be in those days, the day of God's great wrath. John says, I heard a voice, a great voice of much people in heaven. Incidentally, that those two words, much people, is exactly the same words in the original, which, as I said, was the Greek language, as the great multitude given in chapter seven. Do you remember there where John saw a great multitude which no man could number, out of all kindreds, tongues, and peoples, and nations? And we were told that they were the ones who had washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. In other words, they, that we also told they came out of the great tribulation, the great tribulation. We were told they'd hunger and thirst no more, no more pain for them. It was all over. Now, when we come to chapter nineteen, the voice of much people, likely the same ones, the martyred, you see, in heaven, and they're saying, hallelujah, salvation and glory and honor and power unto the Lord our God. You see what they're doing? They're thanking God for salvation, for the glory and power and honor to God. You will notice that they say in verse two, true and righteous are his judgment. And then they say he has judged the great poor, which is Babylon. Then we find that two things about her in verse two. She's corrupted the earth, and she's guilty of the blood of his servants. Now, what does that tell you? It tells you that the Babylon that we looked at last night is guilty, guilty down to the ages of persecution against, you see, the truth. You'd understand that. Be careful with, with this, but you'd understand. But even in the days of the Lord Jesus, it was the, it was the system of the Pharisees. I- I'm not saying anything bad against Judaism, you see, because the principles of that go back to the Old Testament, and, and God gave the law and so on to Moses. But those people at that day, those leaders, they persecuted the Lord Jesus, and you know well, as you go to the book of the Acts, how they persecuted the early Christians. And then there's one great system after the other in Christendom has arisen. The history of Christendom is just filled with persecution. Just watch out for that. I said to you, it's so uncharacteristic, something we all need to be careful with, you know. We need to watch our attitude towards others. Religious pride has been a terrible thing over the years. Now, this great Babylon system, you see, my point, and I made it last night, is that when true believers are taken out of what we call Christian country, then Christendom as such will merge together in one terrible system. With true believers gone, there'll be no restraint. And then those who, those of the tribulation period, this great multitude that won't take the mark of the beast, are going to be persecuted by the beast and persecuted by Babylon itself. She's guilty of the blood of the servants and the people of God. Don't forget what chapter eighteen says, come out of her, my people. So wherever there's doctrinal and religious wrong today, the believer's responsibility, separate from it, stay away from it. Then we find this saying in verse three, Alleluia. uh Four times in this chapter we've got the Alleluia cry going up before God. I hope you know what it means. You find it twenty four times in the Old Testament. Incidentally, the last five Psalms, and there's a lot, lot of relationship to the Psalms in this book. For the last five Psalms, each one of them begins and ends with this very same word. Now, if you have the King James Bible, you go back, it doesn't say Alleluia, it says praise ye the Lord, but that's what hallelujah means, you see. It comes from the Hebrew phrase, which means praise Jehovah, praise ye the Lord. Now, verse five, the voice came out of the throne and says, praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great. And then I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, the voice of many waters. Now, isn't that something? Because Babylon sat upon the waters of earth. Remember, the waters of earth meant the nations of earth. But now here's something different altogether, the voices of great waters, you see. And notice that they're saying, the Lord God omnipotent, all powerful, in other words, reigneth. Please note that we saw the Lord Jesus in chapter five of this book in the midst of the throne, and the Lord Jesus earlier had spoken of sitting down at his father's throne. Now it's the Lord God omnipotent that reigneth at this point, but you see, in a little while, the Lord is going to come, and the Lord Jesus will reign as King of kings and Lord of lords over the earth in that millennial kingdom of a thousand years that we'll look at, uh, tomorrow night. So the Lord God omnipotent, all powerful God reigns, you see. God in heaven is being acknowledged here. Then verse seven says, let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to him. Now we have a different subject. The marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. I want you to think of just a few things in connection with this marriage now. You see on the chart behind me that where the marriage is mentioned. I said to you the rapture will take place, and don't forget, please, the one that is referred to as the bride, and perhaps I should say this quickly, it was mentioned the other night. You understand that in the New Testament, the Lord Jesus is seen as the bridegroom. Remember John the Baptist said, he that hath the bride is the, he that he is the friend of the bridegroom. He that hath the bride is the bridegroom. So John was speaking of the Lord Jesus and referred to himself as a friend of the bridegroom. You could find the same thing, I believe, you go back to Matthew chapter nine. the Lord Jesus spoke of himself as the bridegroom. Now we find picture after picture of that, and I think I've mentioned second Corinthians eleven will reinforce it, that the church is the bride, and of course you have the beautiful passage in Ephesians chapter five. So the church, but the church, don't forget, is that company of people, the saved ones from the day of Pentecost, Acts chapter two, up until the rapture takes place. Now all truly saved people in that time span make up, are members of what is known as the bride. John the Baptist, you see, who was before that, was a friend of the bridegroom, but he's not a member of the bride. The Old Testament Christians are not, they're saved, of course, the righteous ones I'm referring to, but the Old Testament saints, the sa- the saved of that dispensation, are not members of what is called the church or the bride. The tribulation saved ones, again, will not be members of the company known as the bride. Saved, and they'll be in heaven if they die, there's no question of that, soul and spirit goes to heaven, but this is a unique company. Just as Israel, they're God's earthly people, the church is God's heavenly people. So then we have the bride being mentioned here, the marriage. Now, when the rapture takes place, all the saved ones presently living, remember first Corinthians fifteen, we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, and then caught up to meet the Lord in the air, as first Thessalonians four tells us. Then, as I said, the judgment seat follows, and then the marriage. And so we have the bride has made herself ready here, or the wife rather has made herself ready because it's not the original word bride, but rather wife. And then verse nine: blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. Now, just a little point to keep in your mind. When you deal with the Bible, we have to be careful that we understand it in terms of the culture and things of the Bible, and there's a beautiful parallel that runs with the, with the Jewish wedding of the Bible and this lovely picture of the church. Let me just give it to you quickly. In the Old Testament Jewish system, you see, marriages were quite often arranged. They still are in some countries, but it wouldn't be our way in Canada. But marriages were quite often arranged, simply that a father of one family, for example, might arrange the marriage of his son. He might arrange it with the father of the girl, but she might be hundreds of miles away. The young fellow, the girl might never have seen each other, but the two parents would arrange it and then form the necessary contract. In other words, it becomes a legal thing in the Jewish system. You understand the father would arrange that. Then the second step would come later, sometimes quite a bit later, perhaps years later. When the young man, and he would refer, by the way, to that girl as his wife, though he'd never seen her. The young man at some future date would leave his house, and he would go to the house of the bride's father, and he would go there to get the bride. Then, you see, the bride would be taken from there back to this young man's house. That's where the marriage would take place, and then the marriage would be followed by, of course, a great time of feasting and celebration, that's the marriage supper. So just watch it now. Initially arranged by the father, then the bridegroom will go to the bride, take her back, the marriage and the marriage supper. What a parallel, as you think, of the picture of the church. Do you know it was all arranged by the father in heaven, of course I'm saying, when he gave his son, the Lord Jesus, who died at Calvary. The dowry, if you like, careful now, but the price was all paid for. God so loved the world he gave his only begotten son. In the reckoning of God, it was all settled when Christ died at the cross. What's the next step? Well, the bridegroom must come from the father's house to get the bride. John fourteen, the Lord Jesus said to his disciples, in my father's house are many mansions. I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also. Now you see, the Lord Jesus has gone to the Father's house with the work of the cross finished. He'll come back for the bride. That's why Matthew twenty five gives us a picture. Behold, the bridegroom cometh, speaking of the coming of Christ. So he'll come for the bride, and he'll take the bride to the father's house. The marriage will follow, and then the marriage supper, however long it is, that dependent upon the family. I made the suggestion the other night, but in this case, the great celebration will likely go on through the thousand years of the millennial kingdom, but in any event, likely be celebrating on through all of eternity to come. But you see, that's for those who are saved to be with Christ. The wife has made herself ready. Now, blessed are they which are called onto the marriage supper of the Lamb. Let me suggest to you that those who are called to the marriage supper, that's a different company than the bride herself. They'd be the invited guests, wouldn't they? Just like any wedding, you have the bride and the bridegroom, and you have those invited. So you see, at this wedding, there will be the bridegroom who's seen as the Lord Jesus in type, and the bride is the church, and they who are called then would include the, the saved of the Old Testament times, as well as the saved of the, of the tribulation period. They'll be there as well as the guests at the wedding. Then he said unto me, these are the true sayings of God. So blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. We'll all be there. Now John paused to worship the angel in verses ten, verse ten. You notice we're going to see this again in chapter twenty two. The angel said, see, thou do it not. I don't want to get into this, but just quickly learn a lesson that the Bible clearly teaches against the worship of angels. There's a lot in our culture that's going in for that. We have a number of references in the Bible where this is not to be done. You know, we're not to worship angels, we're not to worship saints either. The angel said, worship God. The idea, you see, is to mean worship only God. God is to be worshipped. So not the angel. The angel wouldn't accept it and won't accept it when we get to chapter twenty two. Now, as we look at the latter part of verse ten, the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy, just quickly. And it's lovely to think, you know, that the whole subject of prophecy from beginning to end, the first prophecy in the Bible, I mentioned this, Genesis three fifteen, concerns the person of Christ, the spirit of prophecy. Throughout the Bible, the subject is Christ all the way through. You remember when the Lord Jesus spoke to the two on the road to Emmaus? He says, ought not to have, ought not Christ to have suffered these things, Luke twenty four, and to enter into his glory. You see, beginning at Moses, that's going back to the book of Genesis, he expounded unto them the things in all the scriptures concerning himself. The scripture is filled with the subject of Christ. The Lord said when he was going back to heaven that he would send the Spirit, and the Lord Jesus said of the Holy Spirit, he shall testify of me. So we find that the s- the testimony of Jesus is a spirit of prophecy. Everything points up, you see, to the coming of the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, verse eleven: I saw heaven open and the white horse. Now you remember, would you please, that the seven years started with a rider on a white horse. This section, the beginning of chapter six, when the Lord Jesus took a book with the seven seals. When the first seal was opened right here, there came out a rider on a white horse, and I said to you at that time that that rider on the white horse was the great deceiving person, the evil one that would come. You see, he comes at the beginning, the great covenant. People are deluded and deceived by it. Now at the end comes another rider on a white horse. All the way through, you have a contrast between the true Christ that comes at the end and the false that comes at the beginning. Please remember that deceiver and deluder at the beginning becomes the destroyer of individuals, destroyer of souls. I said to you, he's linked with the false Babylon, the wicked woman. The Lord Jesus coming, you see, at the end is the great savior of sinners. This old, the one at the beginning is the deceiver that will cause multitudes, you see, to be lost in eternity. Of course, now we read of the savior that redeems souls and will be in heaven as a result of that. The rider on a white horse, then, you'll notice now, he that sat on was called faithful and true. There's two names given to us, one in verse eleven and one in verse twelve— or verse thirteen rather, so you don't have any problem as to who this person is. Think of the Lord Jesus. Faithful and true, by the way, has come up at least three times already in this book. He spoke of himself as being faithful and true, you remember, in chapter three to the church at Laodicea. You see, they were false. He's faithful and true. Think of the Lord Jesus as faithful in, in what he was when he was upon earth. Think of him as being true in what he is within himself, faithful in all the things of God. And when you think