A Tale Of Two Cities

Take your Bibles this morning and let's turn to Revelation chapter 17. As we proceed through this book, I hope that you have, as this book promises, I hope that you have been blessed by the reading of it and God has given you more understanding and given you more hope in the triumph of the Lamb. As we begin reading, pray that God would give us insight into His Word this morning that we again would gain hope and understand and take the warning that is here for us.

Revelation 17. Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, Come, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality, and with the wine of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk. And he carried me away in the spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns.

The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality. And on her forehead was written a name of mystery, Babylon the Great, mother of prostitutes and of earth's abominations. And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. when I saw her I marveled greatly but the angel said to me why do you marvel I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast with seven heads and ten horns that carries her the beast that you saw was and is not and is about to rise from the bottomless pit and go to destruction and the dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel to see the beast because it was and is not and is to come This calls for a mind with wisdom. have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come.

And when he does come, he must remain only a little while. As for the beast that was and is not, it is an eighth, but it belongs to the seven and it goes to destruction. And the 10 horns that you saw are 10 kings who have not yet received royal power, but they are to receive authority as kings for one hour together with the beast. These are of one mind and they hand over their power and authority to the beast.

They will make war on the lamb and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful. And the angel said to me, The waters that you saw, where the prostitute is seated, are the peoples and multitudes and nations and languages. And the ten horns that you saw, they and the beast will hate the prostitute.

They will make her desolate and naked and devour her flesh and burn her up with fire. for God has put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose by being of one mind and handing over their royal power to the beast until the words of God are fulfilled. And the woman that you saw is the great city that has dominion over the kings of the earth. Let's pray.

Father, please give us insight and give us hope. And also, Father, give us fear that we would heed the warning of the judgment of this Babylon. give us insight now we pray father you've intended this book to meant be meant for us today that your people would have hope that they would be blessed that they would gain heaven's perspective on the events that surround them that in order that that getting that perspective they would persevere in the great seduction and persecution that is ours in this age god help us now we pray we desperately need a word from you give that to us this morning we pray in jesus name amen When Belle arrives at that mysterious castle, she eventually meets its owner, the Beast. He has a repugnant appearance and he's gruff and harsh in his manners.

And you recall that the Beast was once a human prince, handsome on the outside, but twisted by selfish arrogance on the inside. and the enchantment that turned him into a beast had merely translated the ugliness hidden in his heart into the abomination that everyone could see of course the moral of that story is appearances can be deceiving And that is why Jesus gives us this vision of Babylon Because Jesus knows that his churches can be gullible. That they can be deceived by appearances. We can be wowed by the desirability of a prosperous economy.

We can be enticed by the attractiveness of a luxurious society. We can be seduced by the alluring beauty of opulence. God does not want his churches deceived by the beautiful appearances of this whore that he calls Babylon. Now the first century Christians looked around at their Babylon, which was Rome, and wondered, how can Rome be so bad when it looks so good? look at the prosperity, look at the success of her economy, which helps us all.

And who can resist her? She is so strong. She will never fall. 21st century Christians looking around at a culture confident in its technology and affluence ask, well, what's wrong with making money? What's wrong with making a few bucks here and there? What's wrong with making money and enjoying the good things of life?

There are many today saying, give us liberty so that we can pursue our economic dreams freely. Get all this intrusion of the government out of the way so we can achieve our economic dreams. Or, possibly on the other side, if we want prosperity, we need the government stimulus package. It doesn't make any difference. Both of them want the same thing. The luxury, the prosperity, and the comfort that all of this good stuff can bring.

And because we can be so gullible, Jesus reveals the true nature of Babylon. She is a whore who can allure his people away from him by her superficial attractiveness. You see, we're getting heaven's perspective on this. because we are so easily trapped by stuff and by economic security and by all the things that can be offered us And we need heaven perspective if we not going to be seduced Jesus first shows you here the ugliness under the cosmetics and the accessories of this woman.

And then he reveals Babylon's ultimate demise at the hands of her lovers. He does this in a vision that begins in chapter 17, verse 1, which we have just read. He does this by giving us this vision that goes from chapter 17, verse 1, all the way to 19, verse 10. There's this big, long treatment of this Babylon that we've all been hearing about periodically as we've gone through the book.

Now he's going to tell us about her. And he's going to give us heaven's perspective on her. We have hints of Babylon's destruction as we've read through the book. You recall in chapter 14, just one verse, Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great. Now as we come here to chapter 16, the sixth bowl and the seventh bowl are poured out and Babylon is destroyed. Now in this vision, from chapter 17 verse 1 to chapter 19 verse 10, we see what happens when those bowls are poured out. we see then the destruction of Babylon.

Why does God devote so much time to this issue? Why is this here? Remember, that's the most important question to ask as you study the Bible. You want to find out, why is this here? Why did God give us this text? What is the purpose of this text?

Okay? We see a hint of it in chapter 18. Let's turn to chapter 18. Let's look ahead for a moment. Chapter 18, verse 4. Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues, for her sins are heaped high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.

There's a hint. Why has God given us this vision? He's given us this vision because he wants to motivate his churches to get out of Babylon, to flee from the Babylon in which they live by portraying His judgment on her. And He wants us to get out of Babylon so we are not participants with her in her. her judgment. So we begin with the introduction to this vision, verses 1-6, where Jesus first introduces us to Babylon, and then after that starts revealing who she is and what she's about, what's going to happen to her, and what we need to do in light of that.

Let's read those first six verses again. Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, Come, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality, and with the wine of those whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk. And he carried me away in the spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns.

The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality. And on her forehead was written a name of mystery, Babylon the Great, mother of prostitutes and of earth's abominations. And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.

If our church would come out of Babylon and escape her judgment, then you need to see the prostitute for who she is. You need to see the prostitute for who she is. She is an attractive temptress. That's the first thing. She's an attractive temptress. One of the angels who pours out a bowl of God's wrath identifies her as a prostitute.

Do we need to define a prostitute? Okay. Then I won't. No, we don't. We know what a prostitute is, don't we? And we know how she operates. she knows how she we know how she operates she works hard at portraying herself in a beautiful way for the purpose of seducing and alluring men and she symbolizes the system that attempts to draw people away to seduce people away from their loyalty to jesus she sits on many waters we know later that the many waters are the people multitudes and nations We see that later as the vision is interpreted for us But she sits there Sit there is this word that used throughout the book about the lamb sitting on the throne God sitting on his throne she sitting on these It has the idea of sovereignty She controls the nations by her seductive ways And like all prostitutes, she dresses herself for the purpose of catching your eye.

Verse 4. Notice how she's dressed in verse 4. She's arrayed in purple and scarlet. She's adorned with gold and jewels and pearls. She drapes herself in expensive and attractive clothing. She adorns herself with necklaces and bracelets of gold and jewels and pearls.

And she uses that cosmetic beauty to seduce the kings and the dwellers on the earth to sexual immorality. Now we know that term dwellers on the earth and kings of the earth are used of those people who are earthbound. All the way through this book, we've seen that phrase, use of people who are earthbound. As we saw later in this chapter, these are the folks who do not have their names written in the Lamb's Book of Life.

Their horizons don't go beyond the horizon of the earth. They're earthbound, rooted in this age, not caring for God, not caring for his Christ. They live for now. And they're involved in sexual immorality with this prostitute, the kings and the dwellers on the earth. Now, this is not literal immorality. This is not literal immorality.

This is a biblical metaphor that symbolizes the spiritual infidelity of idolatry. It's a common word. It's a common metaphor, a common picture, a figure of speech used in the Old Testament to talk about departing from God and becoming an adulterer by connecting yourself with another God. For example, look at Ezekiel 16. Here's a good example of this. And boy, I tell you, if you read Ezekiel 16, it's horrifying.

It's almost R-rated with the explicit details it goes in to show how God looks at people who leave Him and give their allegiance to someone else, to another God. Ezekiel 16 let's start reading in verse 15 now he's talking about his people here but you trusted in your beauty and played the whore because of your renown and lavished your whorings on any passerby your beauty became his you took some of your garments and made for yourselves colorful shrines and on them played the whore The like has never been nor ever shall be You also took your beautiful jewels of my gold and of my silver this is God talking, which I had given you, and made for yourself images of men, and with them played the whore. And you took your embroidered garments to cover them, and set my oil and my incense before them, also my bread that I gave you.

I fed you with fine flour and oil and honey. You set before them for a pleasing aroma. And so it was, declares the Lord God. And you took your sons and your daughters whom you had borne to me, and these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your whorings so small a matter that you slaughtered my children and delivered them up as an offering by fire to them?

In all your abominations and your whorings, you did not remember the days of your youth when you were naked and bare, wallowing in your blood and after all your wickedness woe woe to you declares the lord god you built yourself a vaulted chamber and made yourself a lofty place in every square the head of every street you built your lofty place and made your beauty an abomination offering yourself to any passerby and multiplying your whoring you also played the whore with the egyptians your lustful neighbors multiplying your whoring to provoke me to anger behold therefore i stretch out my hand against you and diminished your allotted portion and delivered you to the greed of your enemies, the daughters of the Philistines who were ashamed of your lewd behavior. You played the whore also with the Assyrians because you were not satisfied. Yes, you played the whore with them and still you were not satisfied.

You multiplied your whoring also with the trading land of Chaldea and even with this you were not satisfied. You get the picture. This is what God says. This immorality, this adultery, this prostitution is this metaphor of when people are lured away from God and become involved in idolatry. It's carried over into the New Testament. We all know that familiar passage in James chapter 4 where James writes the church and says, you adulterous people, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God.

He puts it in the picturesque language of adultery, you see. And notice that the cup she gives them in verse 5 or verse 4 she holds in her hand this golden cup that what Full of abominations Another term from the Old Testament for idolatry She giving this cup to the nations that are drunk on her wine And it involves this prostituting of self to idolatry. And so God clearly says, beware.

Flee Babylon. because she is a prostitute seeking to lure you away from your pure love to Jesus. You know, we fear persecution. But God is making the point, fear this woman. She doesn't come at you to beat you up. She comes to seduce you. I don't know about you, when someone's coming to beat me up, my defenses are up.

But seduction is another thing altogether, isn't it? Beware of this woman. She is an attractive temptress. But what is it that ensnares her victims? What is the method of her seduction? This is important for us to see.

She is an affluent temptress. Hers is the seduction of prosperity, opulence, luxury, comfort, economic security. That is how she seduces you. It is an economic seduction. Now you say, why do you say that? Why do you keep talking about this?

Why do you keep talking about this all about luxury and opulence and so forth? Because it becomes clear when you read the angel's declaration and the laments of Babylon's lovers as we proceed through this. All right? There's one reason. Here's one reason why it has to do with economics and possessions and stuff and luxury and comfort. Look at chapter 18.

Now, you follow with me. Notice how these things are stated. Verse 3. This is the angel speaking. One of the angels, one of the bull angels speaking. Why? offers them luxurious living, you see.

Now we see a lament, the laments of her lovers. Verse 9, And the kings of the earth who committed sexual immorality and lived in, what? Lived in luxury with her, will weep and wail over her when they see the smoke of her burning. They will weep. The kings that lived with her in luxury are now going to cry because that's all gone now. Alright?

Look over at verse 11. And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn for her since no one buys their cargo anymore. Cargo of gold, silver, jewels, pearls, fine linen, purple cloth, silk, scarlet cloth, all kinds of scented wood, all kinds of articles of ivory, all kinds of articles of costly wood, bronze, iron, and marble, cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, frankincense, wine, oil, fine flour, Weep cattle and sheep, horses and chariots and slaves, that is, human souls.

Here's what they say. Then they go on and they mourn. Look at verse 14. They're mourning the loss of what? The delicacies and your splendors. They're mourning the loss of these things from their mistress.

All the things she gave them. Verse 15, the merchants of these wares who gained what? wealth from her will stand far off in fear of her torment, weeping and mourning aloud. Alas, alas for the great city that was clothed in fine linen and purple and scarlet, adorned with gold with jewels and with pearls. For a single hour all this wealth has been laid waste.

If that's not enough, he talks about the shipmasters and the sailors and all those whose trade on the sea. They also cry. Right? What city was like the great city? Alas, verse 19, alas for the great city where all who had ships at sea grew rich by her wealth. You see?

You see? This is all about the attractive attire of the prostitute. And all the things that she has. And then notice, if that's not enough, in chapter 17, verse 4, what is she clothed in? Right? Right Those are all the things that are listed in that manifest of the merchants Right Those are all listed there Those are all the things that they had Not only that but this evil woman is pictured as draped with these products to identify her with a prosperous trading system.

She is the symbol of a culture that maintains the prosperity of commercial success, the expensive and attractive clothing that the whores use to seduce others, is here the seduction of economic attractiveness. This is why she's so dangerous. Who doesn't want stuff? Who doesn't want luxury? Who doesn't want comfort? I don't want to get beat up. but comfort's another thing, isn't it?

Isn't it? Sure it is. And notice this. So we get the picture. Look at verse 2. Look at verse 2.

They have become drunk with this. The kings, the merchants, the sailors, the dwellers on the earth, all of them are drunk with the wine of this prosperous, luxurious idolatry. Once they taste the wine, once they experience the pleasure of their mistress's opulence, they lose all sense. See, the nation's cooperation with Babylon of that day ensured their material security.

Without that cooperation, their security would be removed. The promise of earthly security is an intoxicating wine. the security. Think about this. When do you feel most secure? When you've got lots of money in your bank account? Isn't that when you feel most secure?

I joke in my family, okay? We tend to not go to the store until the refrigerator's empty. It's just the way we operate, okay? It's funny. People in Marion probably think we're crazy. You know, we're a bunch of hillbillies because we talk about, well, we're going to town, which means going to Marion, all right?

And I say every once in a while I drop something off when can you pick it up And I say to somebody well let see I went to the dry cleaners for example I be back in town Saturday I sure they think I crazy I a hick So we tend not to get food until we run out We don't want to waste gas going to town when we don't have to. And I always joke with my wife when I open the refrigerator, she says, there is nothing more secure than a full refrigerator. Because, you know, when it's getting near the end of the month, you're looking in the refrigerator and you've got a cottage cheese.

Now, she can do marvelous things with that. But I'm sitting there thinking, man, we're going to starve. And we don't, obviously. But you know that security that comes from that money and the fact that I know I've got a job tomorrow and all that, it's like a wine that can intoxicate you, you see. And that earthly security. And once imbibed, the intoxicating influence of prosperity and comfort removes all desire to resist Babylon's destructive influences.

You see, it blinds you to the insecurity of earthly prosperity because your riches can disappear in a moment and you end up hopeless. If you put your hope in that, when it's gone, you're hopeless. Right? But it blinds you to that. It numbs you to the fear of coming judgment. we're talking idolatry here right? the idolatry of wealth is a slippery slope to God's judgment the intoxicating wine of economic prosperity sends you in a drunken stupor to the very pit and terrors of hell isn't that what we saw in chapter 14? isn't that what we saw? look at it chapter 14 Another angel, a second followed.

Verse 8, saying, Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who made all nations drink the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality. And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a voice, If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his head, he also will drink the wine of God's wrath poured full strength into the cup of his anger. And he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels, and the presence of the Lamb and the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever.

That wine will send you drunk into the terrors of hell That is the problem Now the question we going to ask now is this What is this Babylon? For the seven churches to whom this was addressed, that's simple. It was Rome. Rome with all its worldwide economic prosperity, reaping the riches of the world. Rome with all its military forces that secured the peace that made all those things possible.

To be in that empire was to live in the luxuries of a worldwide trade. Nations, kings clung to Rome, not only because their legions could suppress any rebellion, but rebellion would bring poverty. To rebel against Rome would mean everything's cut off, you're not rich anymore. It means poverty, it means loss of affluence and comfort. What is Babylon today?

Need we ask the question? we live in a country right now and i'll use this word loosely that has an a worldwide empire of economic proportions or a worldwide economic empire we live in a nation that can give us whatever we want whenever we want it's not just us let's face it it's the whole world today. It's all tied into this economic thing. And what is everybody pushing for above all else?

Economic security. We're living in this Babylon. We're living in it. How does that seduction work? How does it work? It's interesting.

I was coming into this town. that's coming into larue the other day i was listening to a news show it was fascinating there's this um legislative lobbying group primarily represents businesses economic powers pushing for legislation within state legislature legislator layer legislatures and they were doing a story about some recent controversy and how companies who are heavily invested in this group were backing away from that group because of a stand that it had taken. Now, whether the stand was conservative or liberal is not the issue. What's the issue is this.

These companies are backing away from it. Why? Why were they backing away? Because it was taking a stand that would cause them what? Loss of profits, you see. Loss of profits.

Now, it doesn't make any difference whether it's conservative or biblical or liberal or whatever. It doesn't make any difference. The point is, we live in a world that is wired that way. The last thing we want to do, the last thing, is to lose our profits. Right? Recall these original hears.

Remember from chapter 2 and chapter 3? They live in this religious, political, economic stew. Remember, let's say you are a mason who lays bricks, or whatever the case may be, if they had them back then. You'd belong to the mason's guild. And every guild had its patron god. Right?

And they would have their banquets and their feasts, these great immoral feasts, and they would pay homage to their god. And the problem was a Christian mason couldn't go to those immoral banquets. Right? He couldn't go to those things. But you remember the churches in 2 and 3 were starting to compromise. Why?

If you don't go to the banquet, if you aren't part of the immoral activities that go on, what? You lose your job. You see? I cannot lose my job. And so you're slowly seduced by economic security to deny your Lord and to pay homage to another God. Now, it's not that way today, is it?

Not quite like that. But we've got to ask the question, how many churches have compromised their integrity? Compromise obedience to Jesus' commands because of the intoxicating influence of possessions or something. How many Christians, how many Christians buy great houses just to fill them with possessions. And the gospel lies dying because missionaries can get the finances to go overseas Can I tell you something There no reason at all why a missionary can The problem is not that the money isn there The problem is the money is not going to the gospel.

It's going to our toys. And you know what else? We have lawns that are beautiful and manicured. I just talked to somebody the other day who, looking at his lawn, he goes, yeah, it costs $160 a month to mow this. You know, some professional guys come in and, oh, it looked good. $160 a month to have your lawn mowed and make it look really good. And yet there are children who need loving families.

But no one has time for them or resources for them. We can't help people that are desperately in need because we don't have the money. Really. Really. This seduction is pervasive. Are we intoxicated with the wine of Babylon?

She is not just attractive and affluent. She is a dangerous temptress. Look at verse 3. She's sitting on this beast. What is that talking about? It's talking about the fact that this economic thing works in alliance with the beast.

Now, this is the beast that we saw in chapter 13. Remember the beast with the heads and the horns? The only thing that's different here, the only thing that adds to the description, is that here he is scarlet colored, identifying then him with the dragon. And we noticed, as we saw before, that this is the beast, this is the political power, this is the state, this is that which has sovereignty over people in a political way.

And what we see here is this relationship, this symbiotic relationship with the economic and the political powers being together. The hand-in-hand work of them together. and it works closely with the state in persecuting the saints. Look at verse 6 Verse 6 Blood of the martyrs. You see, the economic system and the political system work hand in hand to persecute the Christians.

Recall again, those first century believers. They had to declare, remember? They were given the option. You can declare Caesar is Lord. You don't have to say Jesus is not Lord. You just have to say Caesar is Lord and you're okay.

You say Caesar is Lord? Guess what? You don't lose your job. But if you don't, the state will take care of you. You remember those Christians said, we only have one Lord, not two. Jesus is Lord.

By the way, do you notice that phrase starting to pop up now in the book of Revelation? Jesus is what? King of kings and Lord of Lords. Do you know why that's there? Because they had a choice. I declare Caesar as Lord and give my allegiance to another king.

I can't do that. Jesus is Lord. Caesar is not. Jesus is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. See, the state and the economic work together. I think of Azeri believers in Azerbaijan who identified themselves as Christians in a Muslim nation. and thus are looked at as both unpatriotic and lose their jobs or can't get a job.

Take this as opinion. I think I've seen an example of this recently. In the name of economic security for people, churches and their groups were going to be required to buy contraceptives, even though that went against their beliefs. And if you didn you would have to face the coercive power of the state all so that everyone can be economically secure Verse 5, she has a pervasive, long-lasting influence.

She's the mother of prostitutes. She inspires these systems of idolatry. Her wine is passed from generation to generation. This isn't just Rome. This is the Babylon of today. You see, escaping seduction and the resulting judgment means that we persevere in the face of this dangerous temptress.

We don't give in. Even if it means we die. You know what else we see about her? The last thing we see about her? She's a condemned temptress. Verse 1.

Verse 1. The angel on the bowl who pours out the bowls. one of those angels asserts at the very beginning of this vision, so we don't miss the point, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute. What we have beginning then in chapter 17 and going all the way through chapter 19, verse 10, is the story of the judgment, the coming judgment of this great prostitute.

She is going to be judged, and that becomes even evident in verse 3 when John is taken by the Spirit into the desert to see the destruction of Babylon. Now, what is that about? Again, another Old Testament picture. You'll find it in Isaiah 21. Turn back to Isaiah 21. This is the prophet Isaiah speaking.

He says, verse 1, the oracle concerning the wilderness of the sea, there we are in the wilderness, as whirlwoods in the Negev, the desert, sweep on, It comes from the wilderness, from a terrible land. A stern vision is told to me. The traitor betrays and the destroyer destroys. Go up, O Elam. Lay siege, O Media. All the signs she has caused I bring to an end.

Therefore, my loins are filled with anguish. Pangs have seized me like the pangs of a woman in labor. I am bowed down so that I cannot hear. I am dismayed so that I cannot see. My heart staggers. Horror has appalled me.

The twilight I longed for has been turned for me into trembling. They prepared the table. They spread the rugs. they eat, they drink. Arise, O princes, oil the shield. For thus the Lord has said to me, go, set a watchman, let him announce what he sees. When he sees his riders, horsemen and pairs, on donkeys, riders on camels, let them listen diligently, very diligently.

Then he who saw cried out, Upon a watchtower I stand, O Lord, continually by day, and at my post I am stationed whole nights. And behold, here come riders, horsemen in prayers, in pairs. And he answered, Fallen, fallen is Babylon, and all the carved images of her gods he has shattered to the ground. And, O my threshed and winnowed one, what I have heard from the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, I announce to you.

So, Isaiah is taken into the desert for a vision of what? Fallen, fallen is Babylon. Now that should sound familiar to us. Because we've seen it in chapter 14. Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great. We'll see it again in chapter 18.

Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great coming from Isaiah 21. We're in the desert. She is judged. So, desert. John being in the desert symbolizes then her destruction. She will be destroyed.

So the thing is this. If we would escape the judgment of Babylon, we need an accurate picture of what she is. We need heaven's perspective because without it, we will fail. We need an accurate description of what Babylon is. where we live now if we're going to escape her judgment. Now let me make one more point. And I want you to turn to the end of this book.

I want you to turn to Revelation 21. And here's what I want you to see. Because I believe this is absolutely essential. If our church would come out of Babylon, if we will escape her judgment, then we need to see our identity as the Lamb's bride. When we come to the end of this book, we have two cities contrasted. We have the city of Babylon and the city of the New Jerusalem.

And I think the book is set up on purpose that way so that we actually see when we compare the beauty, the so-called beauty of this whore with the beauty of a bride. You see? And if we going to escape the seductions of that cosmetically attractive prostitute we must see the pure beauty of the Lamb bride You follow along as I read. Chapter 21, we'll begin reading in verse 11.

Now, verse 9. like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. It had a great high wall with 12 gates, and at the gates 12 angels, and on the gates the names of the 12 tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed. On the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, on the west three gates. And the wall of the city had 12 foundations, and on them were the 12 names of the 12 apostles of the Lamb.

And the one who spoke with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls. The city lies four square, its length the same as its width, and he measured the city with his rod, 12,000 stadia. Its length and width and height are equal. He also measured its wall, 144 cubits by human measurement, which is also an angel's measurement.

The wall was built of jasper, while the city was of pure gold, clear as glass. The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of jewel. The first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth barrel, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst.

And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, transparent as glass. And I saw no temple in the city, for the temple is the Lord, the Almighty, and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine in it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.

By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. And its gates will never be shut by day, and there will be no night there. They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations, but nothing unclean will ever enter it nor anyone who does what is detestable or false but only those who are written in the Lamb book of life Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life bright as crystal flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city.

Also on either side of the river, the tree of life, with its twelve kinds of fruit yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. This is who we are. We are the bride. We are the new Jerusalem, not yet fully revealed. But when it's revealed, this is what we need to see.

We need to see not just how bad Babylon is and what to avoid, but we need to see where we're headed. If I'm going to leave something, I want to know where I'm going. And this is what he does. He shows us the new Jerusalem, the lamb of the bride, The chaste bride, the wife of the Lamb, not the harlot with whom the kings of the earth fornicate. Our splendor will be the glory of God rather than the cosmetic beauty of luxury.

We will possess genuine eternal beauty rather than the fading fake beauty of economic surplus and prosperity. uncleanness, abomination and falsehood are excluded in opposition to Babylon's abominations, impurities and deceptions we will have the water of life and the tree of life for the healing of the nations rather than Babylon's wine which makes the nations drunk you see the contrast the nations will come into her there will be the healing of the nations and the water of life. And we will experience life and healing rather than the blood of slaughter. You see, our only hope in escaping the seduction and thus the judgment of Babylon is in the Lamb who died to purchase for himself a pure bride. that is our only hope and we must resist Babylon but you can only resist if you look to Jesus and remember who you are in him when Babylon starts seeking to seduce you to become part of her you remember this, I am part of the bride of the Lamb.

And with that in mind, you can fight, you can resist, you can be sober, you can prepare your minds for action. And so we can say with the scripture, as the Apostle Paul said, you wait for the revealing of your Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

That is the only way that you will ever be able to resist the seductions of Babylon. We must come out of Babylon. We must resist the temptation to drink the intoxicating wine of our prosperous culture. I don't know how much clearer I can say it. We must resist drinking the intoxicating wine of prosperity. Someone might say, is it wrong to be prosperous?

No, it's not. but what do you do with it? And do you live for that? And do you find comfort in stuff? Do you find security in what you have? Or do you find security in Christ who's promised to meet all your needs? As we look to Jesus and His death to make us a pure bride, then we can resist.

Father, Father, having preached Your Word, I tremble to think of how easily I am seduced. Lord God, give us eyes to see that we have bought into Babylon's lies way more often than we think we have. give us eyes to see that too often we make excuses for all the stuff we possess. Oh God, help us to see that the beauty of the pure bride of Christ is to be desired more than the fleeting pleasures of loving that prostitute.

Oh God help us Help us to get heaven perspective on what we take for granted Help us to get heaven's perspective on the things that we so easily accept. Help us to get heaven's perspective on the things that too easily drive us. give us a vision of Jesus who died to make us pure. And give us hope in the fact that He does not fail in His endeavor because His redemption will accomplish the purity of His bride.

Help us, we pray, for Your glory. Amen. Thank you.