Revelation Chapters 13-18 The Second Enemy Rome/ Greg Bahnsen {Part 32 of 63}

This morning, the reminder that it gives us of the beauty of our Savior Jesus Christ. We thank you that your mercies are renewed to us every morning. We can remember your faithfulness to your covenant, your goodness to us. Despite our sin, you're preserving our lives and redeeming our souls from destruction. We pray, Father, that you would make us truly grateful to you this day, that we might have hearts able to worship you in spirit and in truth. We ask you, Father, that truth might be driven home to our hearts as we look at your Word in this hour. We ask that the Spirit would open our eyes and our ears, that we might receive those things that you have intended for us. Father, we'd be given obedient lives, that you'd strengthen us in our Christian walk and our witness in this world. This would go down to the glory of our Savior Jesus Christ, and that it would advance his kingdom in this world. For it's in his name that we pray. Amen. Well, this morning will be the last morning that I'll use for trying to summarize the Book of Revelation. Here in the midst of our exposition. We've taken now three Sundays to try to give you an overview of the entire book and to set the stage for the exposition of the most controversial portion of the book. And my thinking has been, well, I guess really twofold the purpose for this. We've been going almost a year now in the exposition of the Book of Revelation. And some people, a good number of the class, have joined us in the midst of the exposition. And I thought it would be good to back up and redo the introductory portion of the book so that we'd all be on the same wavelength that way. And then also beginning at chapter eight, as I've said, we begin the most controversial section, trying to interpret the prophetic portion of the book and what historical events are being predicted. And I think it's good at this point to inform you of the line that I'm going to be taking the outlook that I have, or perspective I have on this portion of the book, so that as we get now into the details, we won't lose you. We're going to be looking at all the individual trees, but I want you to know the shape of the forest, too, so it all makes some sense. And we've been doing that for two weeks. And today we'll come to what I consider one of the most fascinating elements of the interpretation of the book. And that's the enemy of the second section of the book. But perhaps we, before we do that, Exactly. We ought to do a little bit of review of what we said in the last two weeks. Briefly, we began by saying that the Book of Revelation ought to be studied because God doesn't give us useless gifts. He doesn't give his servants useless gifts. And therefore it is ungrateful of us and it's wasteful of us if we just shelve the Book of Revelation and never take a look at it. In fact, the Book of Revelation wants to show us something so that we won't be blind in our actions, attitudes toward the world and toward history and toward the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. It not only shows us something, it requires obedience of us, and not only shows us something and requires obedience of us, but it promises a blessing to those who will read it. And so there's reason upon reason upon reason why we ought to be paying attention to the Book of Revelation. However, it's probably true in most of your lives that in mine as well, that we haven't paid sufficient attention to this book. And I guess there's through the back door. We can put it this way, that by default we've given over the book and its interpretation to those who are probably least likely to interpret it correctly, those who are approaching it in a manner in which it doesn't prescribe, in a manner which is not appropriate to the type of literature it is. And we get some very enthusiastic but wild eyed schemes as to what the Book of Revelation is saying. And because those happen to be so popular today, Reformed Christians more and more neglect the book and just give it over by default to the opposition. But there's every reason to think that the Book of Revelation is profitable to us and ought to be studied for doctrine and for reproof and correction and righteousness, that men of God may be perfectly furnished unto every good work. The difficulty of the Book, which is often pleaded as a reason for not getting into it, remember that that difficulty is the difficulty of our own hearts and minds. It's not the difficulty of the Book, per. For the book is an unveiling or a revelation of the truth. It's not an obscuring of the truth. I've been saying that now for three weeks. I hope that you'll never use that reason again, that you'll always remember that the book is entitled Revelation, not obscuring at the truth the revelation of Jesus Christ, those things he wished to tell to God's servants. The book itself provides its own interpretation at the crucial junctures. Chapter one, chapter 10 and chapter 17. And so it's quite clear that God intends for us to understand it. And overall, what we should understand is the theme of the Book of Revelation is the triumph of Christianity over all opposition, whether that be internal opposition or external opposition, unbelieving opposition, satanic opposition, cultural opposition, religious opposition, the triumphs of Christianity over all opposition. The latter 60s of the first century A.D. john wrote while on Patmos island and his persecution. His being banished to Patmos probably corresponds to the execution of Peter and Paul corresponds to their martyrdom in Rome under the time of Nero. Internal evidence in the book, as we've seen already, points to the fact that the Jerusalem Temple was still standing while Revelation was written and that the sixth emperor of Rome was presently ruling. And we're going to come to the meaning of all that in just a moment here. Finally, let's review the basic outlooks on the Book of Revelation that have been offered to us through Church history. Four basic positions have been taken about the Book of Revelation. The idealist says the book doesn't tell us history at all, but only gives us axioms or principles, ideals by which God operates in history. The futurist says that the book refers to events in the distant future from John, and by the way, it's still in the future to us, because the events of the book have to do with the final tribulation and the establishment of an earthly millennium by Jesus. The historicist approach to the book thirdly says that the book is dealing with the events of history from John's day up to the final end of history, that Revelation is dealing with every age of the Church successively. And then finally, the preterist approach to the Book of Revelation says that the main prophecies of the book have already taken place and been fulfilled, that they were intended to be fulfilled in the general age in which John himself lived, the age of the ancient Church. And I've argued that the internal evidence of the book is very strong, that the preterist interpretation ought to be preferred, because the book begins and ends with very clear declarations that the time is at hand and that the things detailed in the prophecy are shortly to take place. Okay, and then we looked at the outline of the Book of Revelation, and I trust you all still have your outlines and follow it. Basically, the three major portions of the Book of Revelation are what I'd like somebody to give an answer to that that's not rhetorical very easily. Now, the Book of Revelation falls into three sections, and those three sections are. I talked about longer this morning so everybody could wake up and warm up to all this. Now it's time for you to talk the three sections.

Ted.

Things that have been, but exactly. Past, present, and future. I mean, if you want to put it in, you know, very easy, pedestrian language. Things which have been seen, things which are now the case, things which shall be shortly hereafter. All right, what has already been seen when the outline of the Book of Revelation is given at the end of chapter one? Well, chapter one has already been seen stands the reason. And what did John see in chapter one? What was the vision of? What's the opening theme of the Book of Revelation, if you will, in that first vision?

A little bit louder.

I can't hear you. That's right. Christ in the midst the of the candle stands, which is reiteration of Jesus, promise to be with his church to the end of the age. Christ, who is the victor, who is almighty, who has all power and authority in heaven and earth, walks in the midst of the churches, and he holds the pastors of the churches in his right hand. So Christ is the Lord of the church, and he's with his church. All right, then, the things which are presently the case. Chapters two and three give us what, what, what contents in the second and third chapters of Revelation? The letters to the seven churches. And so now the Lord, who is present with the church, addresses the church. And while there's a great diversity of content in these letters, to be sure, we spent a good deal of time just going through those two chapters. What is the persistent theme, the theme that John keeps coming back to as he writes these letters to the seven churches? The theme of victory to the one who overcomes, or to the one who is victorious in the Greek, to the one who triumphs. And then chapter four begins. The things which shall be hereafter. Now, the things which shall be hereafter are detailed to us by means of two literary devices. What are those two literary devices? That is, what is the organizing model or the motif for giving the two separate prophecies of the book? First of all we see was that. That's right. A scroll which is sealed with seven seals. And then the second portion of the book is organized under the motif of what? Of a little book.

That's right.

So you have a scroll and then a little book. Now, as we come to the scroll, we're first introduced to the throne room of God. His sovereignty and creation seems to be the theme of chapter four. And then chapter five, his sovereignty and redemption, where we see that the Lamb of God is the only one who has overcome. Interestingly, the same word overcome, who has triumphed and is able to open the scroll of history and to detail history for us all Right now, as the scroll is being opened, what do you have to do to open that scroll? You have to break the seals. That's right. And so as each one of the seals is broken, we have a little glimpse of a portion of the contents of the scroll. Something of a preview. It's kind of like when you buy a book, you know, and it has a fly leaf and you can read the fly leaf. It either gives you the table of contents or somebody's description of the contents or a short summary by the author of the contents. Well, the breaking of the seals in a real sense serves the same function. It's to the same end. And so we have these seals broken. Now, the breaking of the sixth seal takes the longest time. When we see the breaking of the sixth seal, we see the fall of Jerusalem and then the sealing of God's saints. And the sealing of the saints is described under the metaphor of 144,000. And the hundred and forty four thousand are the tribes of Israel. And yet John goes on to say that the same group of people can be described as a vast innumerable multitude out of every nation on earth. And that's a very dramatic way, and I think a very forceful way of saying that the new Israel of God, the new people of God, it's the church of Jesus Christ, and that's an international body. In fact, it's going to be a huge body, an innumerable number of people. And so if you want, it'll help, I think, and it's helped me anyway. It'll help you to remember the contents there of chapter seven, to remember that John is talking about the innumerable 144,000, which in itself course is flatly a contradiction. If it's 144,000, they've been numbered. But John says they are innumerable. The 144,000 stresses that this is the new Israel, the new tribes of God. And the innumerable number of them stresses how international and how large the group is. Then chapters 8, 9, 10, and 11 detail for us the fall of Jerusalem. This is what we were talking about last week in our class. We looked at the enemy of the first section. And just quickly to review that, notice how when seals 2, 3 and 4 of that scroll were broken, the contents of those seals correspond very nicely to what we read In Matthew, the 24th chapter, verse seven things which are going to precede the fall of Jerusalem. The fifth seal. Okay, so we've seen two, three, and four, in a sense, anticipate the fall of Jerusalem. The fifth seal does the same thing, Matthew 24:9. And then the sixth seal, which I've discussed already this morning, parallels Matthew 24:29 and Luke 23, verses 27 to 31. So every one of those first six seals, minus the first one, or if you will, seals two through six, all have corresponding words in the Gospel account of the Olivet discourse, which talks about the fall of Jerusalem itself. By the way, the first seal is excluded in that because the first seal is the rider on the white horse who is Jesus Christ going forth, conquering, and to conquer, the same word that's given to the Church, that the Church should overcome, should conquer in his name. All right, so the seals give us an anticipation of the fall of Jerusalem. And in chapter nine, we read of the Roman invasion of Jerusalem, where an army of horsemen are dispatched from the Euphrates River. And my resident historian had checked me out last week and found out that, in fact, secular history is confirmed. That's precisely what happened. And I felt much better to find out that the internal evidence of the book was confirmed by external evidence from history. But we all know that to be true. The Roman army was dispatched from the Euphrates, and that's exactly what John said would happen. In chapter 11, verse 1, we read that the temple in Jerusalem is still standing. It's standing there because John can measure it. And we know that the city that is going to fall, the first enemy of the first section of Revelation, the city that's going to fall is the city wherein Christ was crucified. Chapter 11, verse 8. So again, John has told us over and over and over again, it seems to me, by these literary allusions to the Gospel account of the Olivet discourse, to the fact that the Roman army is coming from the Euphrates river, from the fact that the temple is still standing, from the fact that this is the city where Christ was crucified. John has told us over and over again that it's Jerusalem that he's talking about. And then one final piece of review. Notice that at chapter 10, verse 7, God gives the theological significance of the seventh trumpet. Now, what are the trumpets? When the seven seals are broken, then the scroll of history is unrolled, and then the seven trumpets start blaring the trumpets of God's judgment as it falls upon this city, this first enemy of God's people. And I've said, that's Jerusalem. And so when the seventh trumpet sounds, that is, at the end of God's judgment on Jerusalem. What is the theological significance? Well, let's. Let's look at that and then we'll pick up our lesson, the new material at chapter 10, verse 7. But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then is finished the mystery of God according to the good tidings which he declared to his servants, the prophets. That's only one verse. But, boy, it's a highly significant verse because John is referring to that mystery of the prophets. What is the mystery that is revealed in these days? Well, if you look at Ephesians the third chapter, or Colossians, the first chapter, we see that the mystery to be revealed in this day is that the Gentiles should enter the church on an equal footing with the Jews, that God all along intended for his kingdom to be an international kingdom, and that the Jews have no special racial superiority, that they are in the kingdom just as the Gentiles are in the kingdom by God's grace. That's the mystery that was unknown in previous days, but now is being declared. And so what John is saying is when the seventh trumpet sounds, which is to say when Jerusalem falls, then will be finished the mystery of God. How's that so? Well, what a dramatic historical indication that the Jews have no special place in God's kingdom. The destruction of Jerusalem was in fact God's vengeance upon Jerusalem for crucifying his son. Jesus came to his own, and his own received him not. Jesus said that he came to Jerusalem and would gather the Jews under his wings as a hen would gather her chicks. But now Jerusalem is left unto the Jews a desolate house. And so the abomination of desolation comes upon Jerusalem, according to the prophecy of the Olivet discourse and Daniel's prophecy, when the temple of God is destroyed by pagan Gentile army, and so God no longer gives special place to the Jews and the Gentiles and the Jews are in the church, in the kingdom of God, on equal footing. Well, that by way of review. The reason I take so long to review in these three weeks is because I'm trying to, you know, little by little, give you more because I want you to have the whole picture in front of you. But the question has been asked. Well, if the Book of Revelation is this simple, and by simple, we don't mean that you don't have to do your homework to figure out all these things. What I mean, it falls into a nice, you know, pretty easy package. Things which have been seen. Things which are now the case. Things which shall be hereafter. What shall be hereafter? The fall of the first enemy under the image of the scroll. The fall of the second enemy under the image of the little book, and the destruction of Satan, and then the great white throne judgment. In a real sense, the book of Revelation is not all that difficult if you just get the main points in mind. But if that's true, I may ask, why does John belabor all this complicated imagery? I mean, if this is what he wants to say, and it's certainly significant, nobody would say, oh, is that all he's saying? Obviously, that's an awful lot to say, and it's very important. But why does he labor the point? Why this severe imagery, and why the complicated symbolism and all this figurative language and strange visions? What's the reason for that? I'd like you as a class, to kind of figure that out. Now, let's kind of think about that. Let me give you a hint. Where is John writing from? Anybody? Patmos Island. How did he get to Patmos Island? A little bit louder. I can't hear all the way up here. You people all sit back there. Exile to Patmos. So he was there against his will. How do you figure he got the Book of Revelation to the church? Put the proposition code on it and drop it in the mailbox.

Right.

How do letters get from Patmos island to the. To the coast of Asia Minor and then to be distributed among the seven churches? Well, by a runner, by a messenger. All right, and who examines the mail? You know, people who are carrying these messages? Well, who's in charge right now in, you know, this vicinity of the world? The Romans, who are, you know, carrying out their Roman Empire. Exactly. And so now what happens if John writes very plainly that as we're going to see, Nero the emperor is a monster in the eyes of God, that he'll be destroyed, that the Christian church is going to overcome the empire.

Right.

So he just puts it in very direct language like that. And the runner is intercepted as he's taking the letter, let's say, to the church at Ephesus. What's the outcome going to be for the church at Ephesus? Not only won't get the letter, they'll probably get something else. And it's not just a severe rebuke. I mean, I'm talking very down to earth terms. If the Roman Empire knew that there was a conspiracy against it, what would happen to those who were conspiring against it? So for the safety of the hearer, John writes, and highly obtuse language, if you will, that is highly figurative language. That would be difficult for somebody who is not familiar with Old Testament imagery and certain stylistic devices of apocalyptic literature. People who would not be familiar with that would read this and say, another one of these religious fanatics, you know, and then it can be no problem. But if John speaks very plainly, then the Roman Empire is going to persecute the church all the more. And so why is it that John writes in this highly figurative and symbolic way? Well, because of the danger in which he is in. He's got to pass this letter from exile to the churches, and he's got.

To do so in a way that.

Will not jeopardize the life and safety of the Church. But now remember, put yourself in the shoes of the recipients of the letter. They knew the Old Testament very well and they knew this type of literature very well. And we today have been brought up in a different culture with a different mindset, frankly, with different. Different major themes. And what is philosophers called the Zeitgeist or the age spirit, the spirit of one's age. We just, we have. We're not a true attuned to this type of literature and to these images. And frankly, we don't know the Old Testament very well. And so it's hard for us when we look at this to say, well, yeah, it seems to make sense, you know, to put together in this simple outline as you've been doing. But why all these details? Well, the details would not have been so complicated to people in John's day. I really think that they would not have had near the difficulty that we do. In fact, there are things that telling signs in terms of interpretation of the book, telling signs that that was the case. John, for instance, in the 20th chapter speaks of the first resurrection and the second resurrection, but he doesn't give any detail in chapter 20 as to how you're to understand that he speaks of the beast before he gets to chapter 13 where the beast is introduced. He speaks of Babylon as though it were Rome. You say, well, it's quite obvious that when John is writing, either intended to confuse his hearers, which we know is not true from how he introduces and closes the book, or his hearers were already greatly familiar with this sort of talk and this kind of imagery. They had the background of some teaching received by the apostles and background in the Old Testament. It made it possible for them to make greater sense of the book than we do, or at least more readily make sense of the book than we do. Any questions about that, Jack? You see, I don't see that. That's not really a question of either or there. I think John actually did receive these visions. I don't think that he's just staging it, if you will, you know, as a literary device. But it's so happy that the form of the vision is appropriate to what John would have to do to protect the church and make the church understand, but others not understand. And the form of the vision, I think, was geared to John's own day to again, the zeitgeist of his day, to the Old Testament background, to the prevailing cultural images in his day. I don't believe that. See, John was being confused by God, by the Scriptures, but John was being confused, was given a revelation of God and the message of God in a form that was appropriate to his upbringing, to his culture. It so happens that the Romans would not, you know, get a whole lot from that, but those with scriptural background I think would. And I find anyway, the more and more I learn the Old Testament, the easier the book of Revelation gets from me. And so that's not strong evidence, but it's something for me subjectively. It's some confirmation. That's true. The more you know of the Bible, the more the book of Revelation just really starts fitting together. For instance, we looked at chapter 10, verse 7 here. Then it's finished. The mystery of God at the blaring of the seventh trumpet.

Right.

Well, you know, once you do some study of what the apostolic mystery is in the New Testament, and then you know what the seventh trumpet is. That is the end of the final, the end of the first judgment on the first enemy. You know, it just starts spinning together beautifully. You can see, you know, how what.

John has done here is not some.

Chaotic mess, but really is very nicely and well balanced and integrated message to the church that I think would have been understood in that day. You know, fairly relevant. It fits in well with my interpretation of the olive at this point. The difficulty, of course, is in trying to get into the minds of those who receive the book. What we get basically are second century at earliest second century. And whether it's late second century, then interpretations or eschatological hints, you know, in certain writers. And at that point, if somebody had missed the fulfillment of the book or was in the midst of the fulfillment of the book but didn't realize it, you can hardly consider that evidence, very good evidence. I suppose what I really want to say is the way the church has understood the book is not the criterion by which we are to interpret the book. Jack, That's a good illustration of what I was just saying, that the Church's understanding was not necessarily the Spirit's understanding. And what we're trying to get here, of course, with the Spirit. Although I don't doubt that the people to whom the book is written, you know, lived through these experiences and saw in their minds, you see, their minds understood that to be the fulfillment of God's word. Well, let's get to the second section of the book and I'll try to get out my basic interpretation of it. We looked at the enemy of the first section and it concluded that it was Jerusalem, Apostate Jerusalem. Now the enemy of the second section is called the monster, or if you will, the beast. And let's see what we can learn about this enemy of the second section which John hears about under the image of the little book. The little book is introduced in chapter 10 and John is told that he'll have to prophesy again over many peoples and tribes and tongues. And then after chapter 12, which tells us about the downfall of Satan as the explanation for God's kingdom being established, chapter 13 begins that the, well, the great dragon that has been spoken of at the end of chapter 12 stood upon the sand, the sea. And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns ten diadems, and upon his head names of blasphemy and so forth. Okay, so now we have the beast. It's interesting that in the first section of the book, you first of all get, if you will, the main characters of the drama. Alright, in chapters four and five, John introduces the characters in the drama. Let's review that for a second. We see the heavenly court. Alright, and what's the heavenly court? Well, you see the throne of God and you see the seven spirits of God, and you see the angels about the throne, and you see the cherubim that are holding the throne, all this. And then chapter five shows us the Lamb of God in the heavenly court as well. So there you have the, the setting and the main characters. And then John goes on to give the prophecy. And now chapter 13 begins the same way. John says, and I saw a beast on the seashore. How does chapter 14 begin? And I saw and behold the Lamb standing on Mount Zion. And if you get lost in the trees, you won't see the beauty of what John's doing. John's saying, I saw the beast across the sea. And on Mount Zion. I saw the Lamb of God. And so there you have. And then the battle is going to take place, you see. But he wants to introduce you to the characters. And who is the beast? Well, we know this much from chapter 13, verses 1 through 5. Well, let's read those verses and then I'll tell you what I think we learned from them. And he stood upon the sand of the sea. I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns, seven heads, and on the horns ten diadems. And upon his head names of blasphemies. And the beast which I saw was likened to a leopard. And his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth is the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his power and his throne in great authority. Who's the dragon, by the way? All interpreters agree on that, as far as I know. Who's the dragon? Satan. Right, the serpent. And I saw one of his heads as though it had been smitten unto death. And his death threat stroke was healed. And the whole earth wondered after the beast. And they worshiped the dragon because he gave his authority into the beast. And they worshiped the beast, saying, who is like unto the beast? Who is able to war with him? And there was given to him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies. And there was given to him authority.

To continue 40 and two months.

Well, we learned that the beast apparently is an empire which rules from across the sea and demands blasphemous worship. I don't think that's all you learn here, but you learn at least that much that it's a great empire. The dragon has given to the beast great authority over all these people. And he rules from across the sea. What sea? The Atlantic Ocean. Pacific ocean. What sea in John's mind, with the beast be ruling from across? From the Mediterranean. What was on the other side of the Mediterranean Sea?

From Jerusalem?

Rome, so he says. And I saw a beast ruling under the. The authority being given to him from Satan, ruling over all these people and demanding blasphemous worship. All right, let's turn to chapter 16. We'll learn a little bit more about this empire from across the sea. The empire apparently has a seat.

Chapter 16, verse 10.

And the fifth poured out his bowl or his vial of wrath upon the throne of the beast. And his kingdom was darkened. And so the beast has a throne as the seat of the empire. And what is the seat of that empire? Chapter 16, verse 19. And the great city was divided into three parts and the cities of the nations fell, and Babylon the great was remembered in the sight of God to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. All right, the beast is an empire which rules from across the sea and demands blasphemous worship. And the seat of that empire is a great city which falls. All right, what are the heads of this beast? Chapter 17, verse 10. Well, verse nine says the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits. And then John gives another way of putting it. I mean, he's making another point. It's a double image, actually. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits, and they are seven kings. The five are fallen, the one is, the other is not yet come. And when he comes, he will continue only a little while. And so the heads of the beast, and the beast is the empire are the heads of the empire. And who are the heads of the empire? They're kings. Or why does John say king instead of emperor, do you suppose? Well, because there's not much difference. I mean, you choose the title king, you choose the title emperor. But if you use the title emperor, it's clear to everybody, isn't it? So he says, all right, there's seven kings. They're the emperors of Rome. And he says specifically, the sixth emperor is presently ruling in John, day 17:10. And there, and they are seven kings. The five are fallen, the one now is, the other is not yet come, and when he comes, he'll last only a short while. Well, who is the sixth emperor of Rome then? Becomes very easy to do. The difficulty, of course, is that people will argue as to where you begin counting the emperors. And it's interesting to see 20th century and 19th century, you know, scholars get very technical about this sort of thing and forget the practicality. In John's own day, you'll see this debate going on. But who was first called, quote, unquote, emperor? Well, Augustus. But now my question is, what difference does that make to the people who were ruled by the Roman Empire? Julius Caesar was the first ruler of the empire. He was the conscious. And in John's day, there's no doubt in my mind that they would have considered Caesar in the same line, Julius Caesar. So if you count from Julius Caesar, most of you who know your Roman history come down to the sixth emperor. Who do you get? Nero. Exactly. Now, this is interesting. John doesn't leave it to any, I don't think, speculation, because he says the sixth is now ruling. Is John expecting a rebuilt Roman Empire? So this can be fulfilled. He says the sixth emperor is ruling right now. And then he goes on to say, and the seventh, the other is not yet come, the seventh is not yet come. And when he comes, he will continue a little while. All right, you Roman historians who ruled after Nero Galba, and he ruled for how long? Seven months. Exactly right, you're the ballpark. The point is he didn't even last a year. John says the sixth emperor is now ruling Nero and when the next one comes, his is going to be a very short reign. Seven months, six months, whatever you want to say. And so it's interesting also, I mean, at chapter 13, verses 5B and 7, the end of chapter, I mean at the end of verse five and chapter 13, and there was given to him authority to continue 42 months. How long was 42 months?

Three and a half years.

Exactly. Yes. How long did Nero persecute the church? According to history, three and a half years. And the name of this emperor is given at chapter 13, verse 18.

And notice how.

Now this is where John makes it very clear that he's been not playing a game in the light hearted way. But I mean, he's been playing a game so that nobody else understand except those that God intends to understand. The book, he says, here is wisdom.

So now put on your, you know.

Your thinking caps, here's wisdom. He that hath understanding, all right, let him count the number of the beast. Count the number of the beast. What on earth did that mean? Everybody knows how to count. And why would a beast have a number? Well, because in that day it turns out that numerals were written in terms of letters of the Alphabet. Okay, so you have olive and bait and gimmel and all that sort of thing being numbers as well as letters. And so now let's count the number of the beast. Let's count the name of the beast. For it is the number of a man. The number of a man. It's going to be the name of a man and his number will turn out to be 666. Well, it just so happens that Neron Kaiseron, which would have been the formal title for Nero in his day. And by the way, archaeologists have uncovered in fact inscriptions that say exactly that. That was what Nero was called. The equivalent, the numerical equivalent of that name is, you guessed it, 666. Now I realize that at any particular point, if a person wants to be stubborn, he does not have to buy an interpretation of the book of Revelation. I mean, there's enough here, enough symbolism in figurative language. You can go, you know, you can force it to say whatever you want it to say, probably, and you can certainly make, you know, something of it other than what I'm making of it. But it strikes me that it's, you know, just overwhelming. When John says one, you have an empty, and the seat of the empire is a great city, and that city will fall. And he says that you have these emperors who are ruling, and the sixth one is now ruling, which we would take to be Nero. And this man is going to persecute the church 42 months. And history says he did that 42 months. And the seventh emperor to come will last only a short while.

And he only lasted a short while.

And the number of this fella is going to be 666. And that fits Nero as well. I would maintain that the beast is the empire ruling from across the sea, and the heads of the beast are the emperors, and the one ruling in John's day is Nero. Well, then, let's go on to another main character. We've looked at the beast and the heads of the beast. Who is the Harlot? Well, chapter 17, verse 5. And the parable forehead, a name written mystery. Babylon the Great, the mother of the harlots and of the abominations of the earth. You have no doubt in your mind that John was slandering this woman when it is mother of the harlots of the earth and that she is the abomination of the earth. Who would and what, what would deserve that kind of nasty language?

Well, we have a hint.

This is Babylon. Well, who's Babylon? To the early Christians? Who is Babylon? Well, look at first Peter 5, verse 13. Before I. Before I go on, let me make it clear that while not everybody buys this, virtually all New Testament scholars in this day realize that the book of First Peter was written from Rome. As Peter was imprisoned, or at least about to imprison, the fiery trial was on the horizon. As Peter wrote, he either was in prison, seeing the fiery trial for the church, or was in Rome to be imprisoned, knowing the fiery trial for himself was ahead. But anyway, 1st Peter 5, verse 13 says very end of the Book, she that is in Babylon elect, together with you, saluteth you, and so doth Mark my son salute one another with a kiss of love. Peter rising, says, the woman who is here in Babylon salutes you. The elect woman, the church here in Babylon. Where was he, though? In Rome. Is it appropriate that Rome should be considered Babylon by the early Christians? What was the symbol of Babylon in the Old Testament, the empire that just took over, Right. Jerusalem falls to Babylon.

And so now Peter says jerusalem's in captivity again, in a sense. I mean, what is the kingdom ruling over the nations? Well, in a sense, it's Babylon, of course. It's literally Rome. Now, in Revelation 17, John says that the harlot is Babylon, the great.

Meaning Rome.

And if you want some confirmation of that, notice how he says in chapter 17, verse 9, here's the mind that hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits. And so there is a city set on seven hills. And that's the woman.

For all of you who know ancient.

History, know that Rome has always been called the city set on seven hills. And John refers to that. Although, you know, again, somebody who intercepts.

This message would not catch that point.

He says, here you have a woman, which we know to be a city, Babylon, sitting on seven hills. That is to say, Rome, the city set on seven hills. And this city which is set on seven hills is said to be ruling over many nations. Chapter 17, verse 15. And he saith unto me, the waters which thou sawest, where the harlot sitteth are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues. And at this point, it's just. I hope it's getting just impossible for you to see anything other than what John is saying. He's saying you have a city set on seven hills, ruling over many nations. It's a Roman Empire. Obviously, the city, the capital of the Roman Empire, is the harlot, which is Rome. Chapter 18, by the way, if you read through that which we don't have time to do Now, Chapter 18 will support the idea that the harlot is the city of Rome.

You have the merchants and the seamen.

And all that coming to the city.

To do their trading.

So we know who the beast is now. It's the empire. We know who the heads of the beast are, the emperors.

We know who the harlot is.

Is the city set on seven hills, or if you will, the center of the empire, the city of Rome itself. And then the second beast. We need to identify the second beast. Chapter 13, verse 11. And I saw another beast coming up out of the earth. And he had two horns like unto a lamb, and he spoke as a dragon. Well, the second beast arises on the earth rather than across the sea. And the earth here would be Asia Minor, the soil of Asia Minor. And he arises upon the earth. Chapter 16, verse 13, says, As a false prophet, and I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits. Here, when John is talking about the dragon and the beast and the second beast, he says, dragon, beast and false prophet. And so clearly the second beast is a false prophet. And he's a false prophet because he makes people worship the emperor upon pain of economic discrimination and death. Chapter 13, verses 12 through 17. And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his sight, and he makes the earth and them that dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose death throat was healed. And he doeth great signs that he should even make fire come down out of heaven upon the earth in the sight of men. And he deceives them that dwell on the earth by reason of the signs which it was given him to do in the sight of the beast, saying to them that dwell on the earth that they should make an image to the beast who hath the stroke of the sword and live. And it was given unto him to give breath to it, even to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause that as many as should not worship the image of the beast, that they be killed. And he causes all the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, the free, and the bond that there be given them a mark on their right hand and upon their forehead, that no man should be able to buy or sell, save he that hath to mark even the name of the beast or the number of his name. The second beast is a false prophet that requires men to worship the first beast, the emperor. And if they don't, there'll be economic discrimination. There'll be no doubt in your mind, if you know early Church history, what that was. It was emperor worship. And when the Christians wouldn't worship the emperor, what happened? They were either put to death or they were excluded from the marketplace. And so it was a really rough time for Christians and to decide whether they'd offer this incense to the emperor. And so you have the emperor called to rising in Asia Minor, forcing men on earth to worship as God, the Roman emperor. And so that exactly corresponds, I think, to the emperor cult that persecuted the.

Church in the ancient church age.

The only other figure here in the second portion of the Book of Revelation that needs an interpretation then is the ten kings. We've seen the beast, the heads of the beast, the Harlot, and the second beast. And finally we have ten kings introduced to us in chapter 17, verses 12 and 16. And we read there, and the ten horns that thou sawest the ten horns on the beast, the ten horns that thou sawest are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour, for a short time. These 10 kings who are not now ruling, are going to rule eventually. And what will they do when they rule? Verse 16. And the ten horns which thou sawest and the beast, these shall hate the harlot and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh and shall burn her utterly with fire. Who's the harlot? The city of Rome. There are going to be provincial kings who are going to do what to.

The city of Rome?

Burn it with fire and turn against it. What does secular history tell you happened? The provincial kings.

Those who at one.

Time depended upon the Roman Empire, turned on the Roman Empire and sacked it continually and burned it and led to its final downfall. So very quickly here, before time runs out. The beast is the empire. The heads of the beast are the emperors. The harlot is the city, the capital city of the empire, the city of Rome. The second beast is the emperor cult. And the ten kings will be finally those provincial kings that turn on the Roman Empire in its era of weakness and burn it to the ground. There are only one figure Persona here.

In the drama that we haven't talked about so far.

We've discussed the hundred and forty four thousand. We've discussed the enemy of the first section, the beast, the heads, the harlot, the second beast, ten kings, and that's Satan. When all is said and done, Satan is the figure behind the scenes, you see. And John at two particular places wants us to know what the position and status of Satan is when all these things are happening. Chapters 12 and 20. So let me conclude by saying that according to the book of Revelation, you know this much about Satan. He attempted to have Christ killed. Chapter 12, verse 4. And his tail draws the third part of the stars of heaven and then cast him to the earth and the dragons and standeth before the woman that is about to be delivered, and when she is delivered, that he may devour her child. Matthew 2, verse 16 tells us that Herod the Great tried to kill Jesus at the time of his birth. So there was Satan already trying to destroy the true king over the nations. But we read that Satan was cast down from power by the power of Jesus Christ. Chapter 12, 9. And the Great Dragon was cast down, the old serpent, he that is called the devil. And Satan, the deceiver of the whole world, he was cast down to the earth. And his angels were cast down with him. His power was overthrown. Look at Luke 10, verses 17 and 18. And the 70 returned with joy, saying, lord, even the demons are subject unto us in thy name. Here are the 70 preachers that Jesus sends out, and they find out they can perform exorcisms and the demons are subject to them. And Jesus explains that in verse 18 by saying, I beheld Satan fallen as lightning from heaven. And so the coming of Jesus Christ, the fact that Satan didn't destroy him at his birth, led to the power of exorcism and the establishment of God's kingdom. And that is explained by saying that the power of Satan has been grounded out, like lightning grounded out into the earth. Satan has fallen from heaven. And so, knowing that his time is limited, knowing that his time is set, Satan persecutes followers of Jesus Christ. Revelation 12, verse 12. Therefore rejoice, O heavens, ye that are, dwell in them. Woe for the earth and for the sea, because the devil has gone down unto you, having great wrath, knowing that he hath but a short time. So because Satan is a short time, he's trying to Destroy believers. Matthew 8, verse 29. Here, this instance of an exorcism there in the Gadarenes, verse 28 says, and when he had come to the other side in the country of the Gadarenes, there met him two possessed with demons coming forth from the tombs, exceeding fierce, that no man could pass by the way. And behold, they cried out, saying, what have we to do with thee, thou son of God? Art thou come hither to torment us before the time? See, the demons get very agitated when they start thinking about that time approaching when they are going to be destroyed. And first Peter 5 tells us that Satan now is like a prowling, roaring lion. See, this has a short time, and he's trying to destroy whoever he can. Well, that's what Revelation 12 tells us as well. But when Christ first came to earth, chapter 20 now, verse one, and I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. The angel that has the key, according to Revelation chapter one, is Jesus Christ. So when Christ first came to earth, he bound Satan, According to Revelation 20, Matthew 12, 28, and 29. In the Gospels, Jesus uses the same language describing his relationship to Satan when he says, but if I by the spirit of God, cast out demons, then is the kingdom of God come upon you. For how can one enter into the house of the strong man, spoil his goods except he first bind the strong man and then he will destroy his house. Jesus says, the kingdom of God's come upon you because I'm destroying Satan.

And you know the only way that.

I can destroy Satan as if I first bound him. Well, Revelation 20 says that Jesus, the.

Angel with the key of the abyss.

Comes to earth and binds the strong man. Precisely what the Gospels tell us and the purpose of binding the strong man is that the great commission should be accomplished in Christ's resurrection power. Revelation 20, verse 3 and cast him into the abyss and shut it and sealed it over him, in order that he should deceive the nations, which no more until the thousand years should be finished.

Jesus in the Great Commission of course.

Says that all power and authority is his. He has bound Satan by his resurrection power. And therefore the church is to disciple the nations. Satan cannot deceive the nations, and the power of the Gospel will scatter the darkness of men's minds if we'll but be faithful to that task. Remember also that a demon can be bound in one respect of his power and still be quite active in the world in other respects. Second Peter 2, 4 will be an example of that truth. In 2 Peter 2 we read at verse 4. For if God spared not angels when they sinned, but cast them down to hell and committed them, committed them to chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgment. What are we told there?

That when the.

That when the angels fell, became demons, that they were committed to chains of darkness reserved unto judgment right then and there. But we know that at the time of Jesus Christ they were active in the world. Does that mean they escaped from their chains? No, it means that the image of a chain serves one purpose. They are bound in one respect there. They are bound unto judgment and they can't escape from that. And so the fact that we are told in Revelation 20 that Satan is bound doesn't mean that Satan is not active in the world. It just means that he is restricted and one respect of his power. And what does that one respect? That he should deceive the nations no longer. And so over Satan's domain we are told Christ has set up his new kingdom. Christ has cast Satan down from a position of power. Christ has bound Satan. And now those who are with Christ shall rule over the domain of Satan. Chapter 20, verse 4. And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and those for the word of God, and those who worshiped not the beast nor his image, those who received not the mark upon their forehead and upon their hand. And they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. So what's the message of the book of Revelation? The triumph of Christianity over all opposition. The Church is told to triumph over its internal problems. The Church is told that pagan Jerusalem, apostate Jerusalem is going to be overthrown. The Church is told that the Roman Empire is going to be overthrown and that Satan himself is to going overthrown. And that in its place the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the kingdom of.

God will rule and that believers will.

Exercise the dominant sway in history. Well, that's something that's pretty hard to.

Believe if you lived in John's day.

After all, John wrote this in exile. Probably the position for a place who ruled for a person who rules on the throne with Jesus Christ. But the victory of the Gospel was prophesied and we see it more and more in history.

And I think that's the encouragement of the book. The encouragement to John's day was that.

God is doing these things and the time is shortly at hand. And to us, we look back upon God's fulfillment of the prophecy, the fall of Jerusalem and the fall of Rome, and we see what has taken place. The dominant force of history has been Christianity and the Christian Gospel.