Political Babylon by Woodrow Kroll

Transcription

1 Political Babylon by Woodrow Kroll Today s Radio Study: Woodrow Kroll: In today s study, we re going to look at Revelation 18 where we re going to see Satan s political power and how he concentrates that power in the city of Rome. The preceding chapter, chapter 17, talks all about the great harlot, Babylon the Great. This probably takes place about the middle of the Tribulation period because, right after the Rapture of the church, Satan begins to gather his momentum. He introduces the Antichrist. The false prophet follows right behind that. And suddenly, everything falls apart in the middle of the great Tribulation period. If the destruction of the ecumenical church occurs in the end of the first half of the Tribulation (right about the middle), then that means that Satan no longer needs him. The Antichrist no longer needs him. So in chapter 18, we re going to focus on the information we have about Babylon the great but it s political, not religious in this case. I think the difference between 17 and 18 is this: In chapter 17, the beast and this 10 nation confederacy that is the church, the one world church they re destroyed but they re destroyed by the Antichrist. In chapter 18, the one world government is destroyed but it s destroyed by God. Now that s the flipside of how both the political and ecclesiastical Babylon comes to meet its end. Let s read chapter 18 the first three verses and then we ll comment on them. After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illuminated with his glory. And he cried mightily with a loud voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become a habitation of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird! For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury. Let me stop there because we have to identify the players. When he talks about the mystery of Babylon the great, the harlot that has fallen, he s talking about the church of the future that Antichrist has used to gain power. Now, this is probably not your church; but this would be the church that denies God. This would be the church that substitutes the worship of mankind for the worship of God. This would be the church that doesn t know the Bible very well. This would be the church of the future where all the churches all the denominations, all the religions get together, and they decide to form a religion of man. So, there is some Christianity in here; there s Judaism in here; there s Islam in here; there s Shintoism in here. You just take all the religions of the world today 1 Political Babylon

2 and dump them together. Antichrist will use all of them to gain power in the world. But, as I said, when he doesn t need them anymore, they re gone. So, when he describes the nations becoming rich by ecclesiastical Babylon, it s because Babylon has given the opportunity for people to become very wealthy. Through the church, people became very wealthy. You know what? In history every time the Church goes astray of its calling from Acts 2, it becomes very wealthy. And everybody associated becomes very wealthy. The same thing happens in history as will happen in the future. So, all the businesses around the world don t want to see the church collapse because they re making money off of the church. But the church does collapse. Now, isn t it interesting, John is constantly talking about the visions that he gets and how another angel comes or another voice comes to him. And all these visions are from God where he s caught up (chapter 4, verse 1) he s caught up, at least spiritually caught up into heaven to receive these visions. He s physically on the isle of Patmos in the Mediterranean. But spiritually he s in heaven. Here s another voice that he hears, chapter 18, verse 4. And I heard another voice from heaven saying, Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues. For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities (Revelation 18:4-5). What is this voice saying? Basically, this voice is warning people of the world not to have anything to do with anything that relates to the Antichrist. Are there people alive in this period of history that might listen? Well, sure there are. There are lots of people who are not going to receive the mark of the Antichrist: the 666 mark. They re not going to bow down to the beast. This voice from heaven warns them not to have anything to do either with political Babylon or with ecclesiastical Babylon. So, men and women of the Tribulation period are now urged by God to steer clear of the false church and the false religious system, as well as the false political system. Look at verse 6. Render to her just as she rendered to you, and repay her double according to her works; in the cup which she has mixed, mix for her double. In the measure that she glorified herself and lived luxuriously, in the same measure give her torment and sorrow; for she says in her heart, I sit as queen, and am no widow, and will not see sorrow (Revelation 18:6-7). Now, he s describing the ecclesiastical church here. Remember that a part of the ecclesiastical church is the church claimed to be the queen of heaven. There are segments of religious movements today where the queen of heaven plays a significant part. Now, I don t think we should say that just because a particular church or a particular organization today speaks about the queen of heaven, they are this ecumenical church of the future. They may be the basis of it. But listen, friend, there is everything in here. Just about everything is in this ecclesiastical church. So, the business leaders are not very happy when the church folds. Why? Because they ve been making a lot of money off this church. Notice in verse 9 it says: The kings of the earth who committed fornication and lived luxuriously with her [that s the false church] will weep and lament for her, when they see the smoke of her burning, standing at a distance for fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! For in one hour your judgment has come (Revelation 18:9-10). Now, apparently, it has taken three and a half years for this church to build its organization, three and a half years to gain its power. And yet the judgment of God comes; and the world recognizes, in just an hour God can destroy His enemies. In fact, it doesn t even take God an hour. Having destroyed the ecclesiastical church (the one world church), those who have been feeding off this one world church those businesses, those commercial enterprises suddenly they re going to feel the pinch of the demise of the church. You see that in verse 11. The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her, for no one 2 Political Babylon

3 buys their merchandise anymore: merchandise of gold and silver, precious stones and pearls, fine linen and purple, silk and scarlet, every kind of citron wood, every kind of object of ivory, every kind of object of most precious wood, bronze, iron, and marble; and cinnamon and incense, fragrant oil and frankincense, wine and oil, fine flour and wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, and bodies and souls of men (Revelation 18:11-13). How evil must a society have become that they trade in every conceivable commodity even the bodies and souls of people! We re talking about the slave trade here, slave trade in the future, probably not slave trade with regard to any ethnicity, just people who are sold into slavery because they ve essentially sold their souls to this one world church that was controlled by Antichrist. So what s going to happen to world trade once this one world church is gone and it s now destroyed? Well, you see what happens in verse 15. The merchants of these things, who became rich by her, will stand at a distance for fear of her torment, weeping and wailing, and saying, Alas, alas, that great city that was clothed in fine linen, purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls! For in one hour such great riches came to nothing. And every shipmaster, all who travel by ship, sailors, and as many as trade on the sea, stood at a distance and cried out when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What is like this great city? They threw dust on their heads and cried out, weeping and wailing, and saying, Alas, alas, that great city, in which all who had ships on the sea became rich by her wealth! For in one hour she is made desolate (Revelation 18:15-19). Well, I think the picture here is pretty clear. Antichrist is going to bring an end to the false religious system because he doesn t need it anymore. He does need all this trade, though. He does need all these businesses. And God says, You don t get them. God brings an end to the political power, the economic power of the Antichrist because God is not going to put up with the kind of blasphemy that the Antichrist offers. In Revelation 18, starting at verse 20, there s a sudden and significant change in tone. Instead of weeping and wailing over the fall of ecclesiastical and political Babylon, suddenly we hear rejoicing and great praise. Look at this, verse 20. Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you holy apostles and prophets, for God has avenged you on her! Then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence the great city Babylon shall be thrown down, and shall not be found anymore (Revelation 18:20-21). Isn t it interesting, the tone goes from somber to jubilant? The tone switches from the Antichrist and his henchmen on earth bemoaning the loss of all this political capital and all this economic trade, to heaven and being grateful that God has brought about the demise of political Babylon and the Antichrist. And this angel, just to show dramatically and graphically how quickly all this occurred, he picks up this huge stone, like a great millstone; and he throws it into the sea. And that is to say, That s how quickly God can deal with His enemies. Let me read just the last couple of verses. There are in verse 22 the sound of harpists, musicians, flutists. There is in verse 23 a lamp: The light of a lamp shall not shine in you anymore. And the voice of the bridegroom and bride shall not be heard in you anymore. See, the merchants of the earth have had their day. They sided with the Antichrist, and they picked the wrong side. And now God has destroyed everything Antichrist has worked for. Now, this was always in the plan of God. And I m sure Satan knew it, but he couldn t help himself. He just takes every opportunity he can to try to destroy the program of God. He has been trying it since before the foundation of the world. And here we are in the last book of the Bible, and he s still trying it. And, by the way, he isn t done. Before the end of the week, we re going to see God will swallow him up for a thousand years. And at the end of a thousand years, he s back at it again. 3 Political Babylon

4 The theme of rejoicing in chapter 18 continues in chapter 19, verse 1. It s almost a shame that there s a change in the chapter here because there s no change in the loud voices that are being heard in heaven. After these things I heard a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, Alleluia! Salvation and glory and honor and power [belong] to the Lord our God! For true and righteous are His judgments, because He has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her fornication; and He has avenged on her the blood of His servants shed by her. Again they said, Alleluia! And her smoke rises up forever and ever! (Revelation 19:1-3). You ve got a great congregation in heaven a great multitude of people in heaven, perhaps a great multitude of angels in heaven, it doesn t describe who they are here. But whoever it is, there s a bunch of them. And it s a loud voice, so that, I guess, the whole earth can hear the singing that s coming from heaven. That must really rock the Antichrist s socks to hear all this heavenly music and all this rejoicing and all this praise and salvation and honor and glory to God. In verse 4 this great multitude in heaven is joined by the twenty-four elders. They add their voices. The twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sat on the throne, saying, Amen! Alleluia! I can t help but make an observation again. Every time in the Book of Revelation that God is worshiped, every person doing the worshiping is always flat on their face before God. They always every time fall down before God in worship. That s what the twenty-four elders do here. That s what they did back in chapter 5 and chapter 7. Every time you find God being worshiped in the Bible, you find the people worshiping God flat on their faces before Him. How different from the 21st century. Well, look at verse 5. There is a voice that comes out of the throne of God itself. Then a voice came from the throne, saying, Praise our God, all you His servants and those who fear Him, both small and great! Praise to God a voice comes right from the throne of God. Now, it doesn t identify who this voice is. But if it comes from the throne of God, you can pretty well guess it s probably God the Son or God the Holy Spirit. And verse 6, then there s a roaring voice introducing the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. Now, this is an interesting thing because when you and I go to heaven, we are joined with our Bridegroom. We are the Bride of Christ. We are joined by the Bridegroom. And there s this ceremony that takes place, I think, immediately, upon our going to heaven and that s the Judgment Seat of Christ when everything that you and I have done in our lives as believers will be judged as to whether they re appropriate or inappropriate, whether they re reward able or non-reward able. Since everyone will have some praise of God, I m going to guess there are some things that have been done through my life in serving the Lord that He ll find pleasing. And there are some things He will not find pleasing. That s at the beginning of our period in heaven, at the beginning of the Tribulation. Should the Lord come tomorrow and we are caught up to be with Him, I think the Judgment Seat of Christ will occur immediately. But, now, it s almost seven years later before the Marriage Supper of the Lamb takes place. So, while we are betrothed to Christ and caught up to be with Him, there is, first of all, that betrothal period. And then there s a long period before the actual wedding takes place. Well, the long period here seems to be seven years. And John is absolutely overcome by the fact that he is witnessing the marriage of God s Church, the Bride, to the Bridegroom, who is the Lord Jesus. Look at verse 10. He says, And I fell at his feet to worship him. Look where John is. He s at the feet of the angel who is escorting him around and showing him what people are doing in worshiping Jesus. He fell at the feet of this angel, but the angel said to him, See that you do not do that! I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! Do you want to fall at somebody s feet? Don t fall at the feet of your favorite author. Don t fall 4 Political Babylon

5 at the feet of your favorite radio teacher. Don t fall at the feet of your favorite musician. They re just servants like you are. Worship God! It s quite a picture, isn t it? The change in tone in this chapter is absolutely dramatic. And I want to tell you this: As somber as chapter 4 has been all the way to the middle of chapter 18, now that we re in chapter 19 (there are some pretty somber things yet coming), the tone is going to be extremely upbeat. The voices are going to be coming from heaven now and not from earth. Even though the great Battle of Armageddon is coming, the voices of heaven are praising God because everybody knows, I think, including Satan, it s almost over. The whole future battle between God and Satan is almost over. You and I can be glad about that too. Unless otherwise indicated, scripture references are from the New King James Version of the Bible. Copyright 2012 The Good News Broadcasting Association, Inc. All rights reserved. Back to the Bible P.O. Box Lincoln, NE backtothebible.org 5 Political Babylon