Revelation 19

A WEDNESDAY NIGHT BOOK STUDY
EDGEMONT BIBLE CHURCH
FALL 2009- SPRING 2010
APRIL 21, 2010
THE SEVENTH TRUMPET, A PARENTHESIS - Part 14
REVELATION CHAPTER 19:1-21
THE MARRIAGE SUPPER OF THE IAMB AND
THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST

I. A LOUD MULTITUDE PRAISES GOD FOR HIS RIGHTEOUS
JUDGMENTS AND THE END OF THE OLD ORDER (vv. i-6)
A. John hears the sound of a loud voice (singular) of a great multitude, perhaps comprised of angels. This group is so much in one accord that their voices have become as one. The subject of their praise is God and the reason for their praise is the final destruction of the wicked harlot, who deceived the whole earth including its wise men and kings, even Babylon. It is her destruction that elicited so much unified, great praise from this vast multitude. Does this not reveal to us the powerful foe she has been to man and God? Her destruction is celebrated!
B. The multitude is 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." Rev 19:1,2 (NKJV)
C. They also say:
"Alleluia! Her smoke rises up forever and ever!" Rev 19:3 (NKJV) This statement is a difficult one as it uses the phrase "forever and ever Will this smoke be rising up during the millennium? Will it still be seen during the eternal state?
D. The twenty-four elders and the four living creatures respond in earnest agreement, giving praise to God
E. A voice from the throne calls on all to join the praise saying
"Praise our God, all you His servants and those who fear Him, both small and great!" Re 19:5 (NKJV)
F. Another great multitude sounding like many waters and mighty thunderings responds to this call to worship saying
"Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns!" Rev 19:6 (NKJV)
II. THE MARRIAGE SUPPER OF THE LAMB (vv. 7-10)
A. Announcement of the Supper and a call to rejoice because of it by the great multitude who had been urged to praise God by the voice from the Throne in verse 5. This multitude of both great and small must be the gathered church in heaven?! There are 6 "stages" in a Jewish wedding
...... 1. Betrothal or engagement in which an agreement was made by the parents that particular one was to be the spouse of another particular one. This betrothal was done before the foundations of the earth. Eph 1:4; 1 Pet 1:2; Titus 1:2
...... 2. Preparation in which both prepared themselves for the other. The groom prepared a good income and a home for her which they would share. In our case the groom also prepares the bride and her garments for Himself John 14:1-7 Jesus has gone now to prepare a place for us.
...... 3. Presentation in which the bride and groom both don their finest apparel in preparation for the ceremony. This is the time at which the groom comes for his bride with his entourage. In the case of the church and Christ, this is the rapture. Christ will be donning His robes as king of kings and the church will be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright. Since the bride's garments are given her after the judgment seat of Christ we can assume that this judgment prepares her for the ceremony.
......4. Ceremony in which the participants speak their vows to one another
......5. Supper in which the Father throws a community-wide celebration for the bride and groom at which all the wedding guests attend. This is the event to which Jesus was referring to in Mark 14:25
......6. Consummation in which marital intimacy is finally accomplished with the pure groom and bride. Here they will live together the rest of their lives.
B. Attention drawn to the Bride, His Wife, the Church He purchased with His own blood.
...... 1. She has made herself ready - His judgment seat has been completed
......2. It has been granted to her to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright. The fine linen is described as the righteous acts of the saints.
...... 3. Passages which speak of the church as the bride of Christ are these: Eph 5:25-27; 2 Cor 11:2;
C. Blessing the guests at the wedding. The speaker must by the voice from the Throne again
...... 1. Who are the guests?
......2. How do they get to come to the wedding?
D. The voice then affirms that what John has heard is absolute Truth coming from God.
E. John is so overwhelmed with the truth and the magnitude of the worship that he falls down to worship the person behind the voice. This person refuses the worship, identifying himself as a fellow servant of John. We can see from this refusal that at least this voice coming out of the throne was not divine.

III. THE FULFILLMENT OF THE PRONOUNCEMENT OF THE THIRD ANGEL OF THE 7th TRUMPET (14:14) - THE SECOND COMING AND THE BATTLE OF THE
BEAST, THE PROPHET AND THE ARMIES OF THE WORLD (vv. 11-21)
A. John witnesses the appearance of the Rider on the White Horse
......1. Heaven is opened to reveal a rider on a White Horse
......2. He is called Faithful and True (Rev 3:14; John 14:6), in righteousness He judges and makes war (Is 11:4)
......3. His eyes were like a flame of fire (Rev 1:14) and on His head were many crowns (Rev 11:15)
......4. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself
......5. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood (Is 63:1-6; Rev 14:17-20)
......6. His name is called the Word of God (John 1:1, 14)
......7. He commanded the armies in heaven, clothed in white linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses
......8. Out of His mouth (Is 11:4) goes a sharp sword (Heb 4:12) that with it He should strike the nations and rule them with a rod of iron (Ps 2: 8,9). He Himself treads the winepress of God's fierce wrath.
......9. He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS
B. John now witnesses an angel standing in the sun and using a loud voice calling all the birds that fly in heaven to come dine on the blood and bodies of those who are about to die. A battlefield of massive proportions of death perhaps never known before is about to appear. The birds will eat their fill (Rev 19:21b).
C. John now sees the beast, the kings of the earth and their armies
gathered to make war against the white horse rider.
D. The beast is captured along with the false prophet and they are cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone.
E. The rest of the armies, the human beings arrayed against God, are killed with the sword which came out of the mouth of the
King of Kings and Lord of Lords!

Revelation 18

A WEDNESDAY NIGHT BOOK STUDY
EDGEMONT BIBLE CHURCH
FALL 2009- SPRING 2010
APRIL 21, 2010
THE SEVENTH TRUMPET, A PARENTHESIS - Part 13
REVELATION CHAPTER 18:1-24
BABYLON, THE CITY, DESCRIBED, EXPLAINED, AND
DESTROYED
(Catching up on History)

I. ANGELS SPEAK WITH JOHN ABOUT THE FULFILLMENT OF THE
PRONOUNCEMENT OF THE SECOND ANGEL OF THE 7Th TRUMPET (14:8)
A. Another angel of the same kind he has been seeing and hearing from
descends out of heaven.
1. This angel is going to show John what had taken place after the second angel of the 7th Trumpet had made his proclamation regarding the fall of Babylon, the great (14:8) This fall takes place before any of the bowl judgments had occurred. Here we are having the details of what had taken place prior to the bowl judgments.
2. John says "After these things..." He is telling us that after he saw the destruction of Babylon, the mystery, by the 10 horns, he saw the destruction of Babylon, the great city.
B. This angel is one having great authority. This means he is a high-ranking angel of principality level or above. No name is given for him as has been the case for most of the others. Remember the angelic hierarchy? This helps us see the great importance of both his announcement and of the subject of that announcement, Babylon!
C. So brilliant is his glory (the light appearing around him) that it illuminates the earth as he gets closer to it.
1. What must this look like on earth? Think back on the Fourth Trumpet and the increased darkness there had already been on the earth (8:12,13).
2. How does an angel with a body emit light from it? Is there another set of rules in operation of which we know nothing?
3. This may look like a meteor descending to the earth. Angels and stars are often seen as synonymous in the scriptures.
4. You will recall too that at the time the second angel had made his proclamation of Babylon's fall two other angels had also made loud proclamations - one presenting the everlasting gospel and the other proclaiming the judgments that will fall on all who worship the beast and have his mark. This angel is even louder with his proclamation. The people on earth had been fairly warned by supernatural warnings as well as by the two witnesses and the 144,000 witnesses as well. How did those dwelling on earth and worshipping the beast miss this? How hard must their hearts be to ignore all these obvious and plain supernatural events and not see them as the hand of God?
D. He announces the fall of the great city of Babylon. Whereas the last chapter, 17, had spoken of the one world united religion that had been in operation from shortly after the flood, this time he speaks of the physical manifestation of the religion by mankind in the building of a commercial and cultural center and capital of the world. You will recall it was the beast and the horns that destroyed mystery Babylon. Here it is God destroying the manifestation of that wicked, religious system as a commercial center.
1. He announces her condition
a. The habitation of demons - Recall that 4 major angels had been bound at the Euphrates River and were released in the 6th trumpet (9:14,15). With their release came the release of 200 million demons (9:16)! They are all in the Babylon area. So it is true with the demons released from the bottomless pit in the 5th trumpet (9:1-12). Satan had already sent down 1/3 of the angels before the birth of Christ (12:4). All of his army had been cast down from heaven during the war with Michael (12:9) Babylon has become their new home and center of operations.
b. A prison for every foul spirit - a parallelism to the previous statement. This gives a description of the kind of spirits they were: Unclean.
c. A cage for every unclean and hated bird - These all gather from the smell of death, ready to devour and indulge in a great gluttonous feast of flesh. It may even picture yet another parallelism to the demons and foul spirits. Birds, especially carrion birds, are seen as those assisting the devil in his work. This may picture the behavior of the demons and foul spirits occupying the place; like vultures waiting for the victim to finally die so they can devour it.
2. He announces the cause of this condition
a. All the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication
b. The kings of the earth have committed fornication with her
c. The merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury
E. Another voice comes from heaven speaking this time to the inhabitants of Babylon, specifically to those who belong to God living in this wealthy, debauched place.
1. The voice commands the Lord's people to get out of Babylon
a. Lest they share in the sins of Babylon - sooner or later whatever one is around, one also begins to participate in its habitual behavior. Righteous Lot vexed his soul every day in Sodom and ultimately lost his entire family to its lusts or in its destruction!
b. Lest they receive her plagues - God is no respecter of persons. Whenever any community, regardless of population or geographical boundaries, continues unrepentant in sinful behavior, when God judges, the whole community and its residents, saved and unsaved, suffer the consequences. Here God warns his people to get out of sinful Babylon before He carries out His judgment.
APPPLICATION: Should not believers consider God's judgment on this gross city and begin to make our independent separation from this style of living now? Understanding that this is to be a tribulation judgment, does it not yet reveal to us God's standard of judgment on what is pleasing and displeasing to him? Should we not consider our need to separate ourselves from her sins?
2. The voice states again the justice and retribution due Babylon and reveals the just cause
a. Her sins have reached to heaven. The sins of Babylon were so numerous and so inseparably connected they were "piled up" or "stuck together" that, like bricks and mortar in the tower of Babel in the first place, they had reached heaven.
b. God was remembering their iniquities (perversions of the truth) God does not forget anything but He often doesn't choose to remember them. But know this, He is just and will remember them when His longsuffering has come to its terminal point. The blessedness of every believer is that God does not call to his memory their iniquities. Here the God of mercy has now brought to His mind the quantity and devastation of Babylon's iniquities. God's mercy and longsuffering have come to an end. Judgment has fallen.
c. The voice states the strength of the judgment against her
*She has to have rendered to her what she had rendered to others
*She was to be repaid double according to her works. This is right out of the "Mosaic" law: vs 6ff
*In the cup she mixed (her cup of ini4uities) she is to receive double (wrath)
*Make her punishment (torment and sorrow) as strong as her lust for her own glory and luxury. This too is from the Mosaic law in a principle called lex talionis, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth!
*This would come because she arrogantly said she was as relaxed as a queen on her throne and so secure that she could not be harmed. She was not a widow but the wife of many and she would see no sorrow, as she would not have her children die before her. She would always be taken care of. Compare this with Isaiah 47:5-11
*Her plagues were going to come in one day and would include death, mourning and famine.
*She will also be burned with fire for the LORD who judges her is so powerful He cannot be resisted nor stopped

II. BABYLON, THE GREAT CULTURAL CENTER OF THE WORLD,
DESTROYED AND THE WORLDWIDE REACTION TO IT
A. Reactions of the kings of the earth who committed fornication and lived luxuriously with her V 9
1. They wept and lamented for her when they saw the smoke of her burning
2. They stood at a distance because they are afraid of her torment. If they get too close they too will die. These were not in the city in it's hour of destruction. They are not going to reenter the city. There is nothing that can be saved from it.
3. They expressed their loss verbally. The destruction had come so quickly that no one had time to respond to it. If you were in it, you were dead. If you were not in it, you would not attempt to reenter even though they are taking a total loss on their investment. Their future was gone; they had nothing. These are likely the kings who will be going on to Armageddon soon. Funding their political machines of conquest is going to be difficult from now on.
4. This is not atypical for the political bosses to distance themselves from the devastation of the business world when it is expedient for them to do so.

B. Reactions of the merchants who became rich by her
1. They selfishly mourned and wept over her for no one was buying their merchandise anymore. It should be noted that there is no mourning over the loss of human life in this city! The merchandise is described. As you read through the list consider the massive trade network that had been developed to bring all of this exotic merchandise to a center that could not produce or develop it. The harvesting, mining, gathering, production and development were done elsewhere and shipped here.
a. Gold and silver
b. Precious stones and pearls
c. Fine linen and purple
d. Silk and scarlet
e. Every kind of object of citron wood
f. Every kind of object of ivory
g. Every kind of object of most precious wood, bronze, iron and marble
h. Cinnamon and incense
i. Fragrant oil and frankincense
j. Wine and oil
k. Fine flour and wheat
l. Cattle and sheep
m. Horses and chariots - they were engaged in arms sales, weaponry and associated war machinery more than likely to the highest bidder without thought of ideology or purpose of use.
n. Bodies and souls of men! Human trafficking was a prosperous endeavor. Slavery, prostitution, child sexual/physical abuse, bondage and every demeaning, dehumanizing trade was prevalent. Having the souls of men means they were agreeable to being dominated and accepted it as their way of life. This city, because of its unclean spirits, had become sadistic, masochistic and abusive to the maximum it could be done.
o. Any fruit a soul longed for
p. All things rich and splendid - things you did not even think of were available.
2. They stood at a distance from her, weeping and wailing, for fear they would be included in her torment
a. They grieve for her greatness being ruined!
b. They are shocked at the quickness with which she has fallen!
3. The shipmasters, the sailors and those who trade on the sea stood at a distance in the same shock as their fellow profiteers. This is how we know this event happens before the bowl judgments. After the second bowl judgment all the sea has become the coagulated blood of a dead man; sea travel and trade will be impossible at that time. With the mention of these merchants, we see that the 2/3 of the sea which had not become bloody after the Second Trumpet (8:8,9) were still navigable with no stopping the trade.
a. They too expressed their dismay and disappointment when they see the smoke of her burning
* "What is like the great city?"
b. They threw dust on their heads and cried out, weeping and wailing, once again for their own loss
* They bemoan their loss of gain
* They express shocking dismay that' it all happened so quickly!
III. THE VOICE OUT OF HEAVEN ADDRESSES A NEW AUDIENCE AND
DECLARES THE FINALITY OF BABYLON'S JUDGMENT
A. He turns his speech now to heaven and its citizens, the holy apostles and prophets. God has avenged them!
B. A mighty angel took a huge stone and throws it into the sea as an illustration of the violence with which Babylon is overthrown.
C. The voice now finishes his thought about the finality of Babylon's judgment
1. The day the music died (Bye, Bye Miss Babylonian Pie). The sound of harpists, musicians, flutists, and trumpeters will never be heard in her again. Parades- gone; concerts- gone; night clubs-finished; no more mardi gras; music festivals -nevermore
2. No craftsman of any sort will ever be there again
3. No mills or bakeries or their goods will be found there. Foodless!
4. No lights will ever shine there again - no night life, no reading or study at night, no dinner celebrations after dark etc.
5. There will never be the joy of marriage, weddings, youthful unions again. Compare with Matthew 24:37-38
6. By their wealth, the merchants had become the great men of earth; now they were ruined
7. By her sorcery (pharmakeia) she deceived the nations. Pharmakeia is the word from which we get our English word pharmacy. It means to mix drugs for medicine. It is called sorcery for it involved those elements mixed together for the rituals practiced in their spiritual ceremonies. Potions, spells, hallucinogens, mind-altering drugs, behavior-modifying drugs helped convince the participants of the altered reality the shaman wanted them to perceive and trust as real. Not all citizens have to be "stoned" for it to have its behavioral and thought modifications. People are sheep-like and can be led, stone-sober into group behavior expected and demanded by trusted leaders. The nations were and are deceived by this sorcery. Compare with pharmaceutical sales in the world today!
8. The voice's final indictment is that in her, Babylon, was found the blood of prophets and saints and of all who were slain on the earth.

This is an actual geographical location somewhere on the earth during the tribulation. It is probably here now and may be more than just a city; it may include an entire nation. As you recall, Babylon was the capital from which the nation of Babylon received its name. It may be rebuilt as the old Babylon or it may be somewhere else. Many hold that it is rebuilt in the former location. Wherever it is, it is real and the judgment of it should sober every believer. It should cause us to examine our lifestyle and if it seems to relate to the Babylonian one we need to carefully consider God's warning and take heed now. Come out of her is a very pointed commandment. Babylon will never rise again after this destruction. Other passages that deal with Babylon's destruction are: Psalm 137:8; Isa 13:19-22; 14:22-23; Jer 50:13-15, 29,39; 51: 24, 29-37, 56

Revelation 17

A WEDNESDAY NIGHT BOOK STUDY
EDGEMONT BIBLE CHURCH
FALL 2009- SPRING 2010
APRIL 14, 2010
THE SEVENTH TRUMPET, A PARENTHESIS - Part 12
REVELATION CHAPTER 17:1-18
THE GREAT HARLOT, BABYLON, DESCRIBED, EXPLAINED,
AND DESTROYED

I. THE GREAT HARLOT, BABYLON, DESCRIBED
Introduction: Chapters 17 and 18 are not in chronological order with the bowl judgments but are an aside to bring John (and therefore us) up to speed on more biblical history and what has created the need for these judgments. This same type of occurrence took place just after the sounding of the 7th trumpet. Between the trumpet's sound and angel's announcement and the bowl judgments had been a parenthesis in chapters 12, 13 and 14 to give us greater detail on the background of the events going on that are important to the judgments. We have been using the illustration of a news station with several video screens going at the same time capturing news from several different parts of the world since they are happening simultaneously.
A. John is called to a desolate place (wilderness) to see the judgment of the great harlot. Babylon of John's day was a ruined place like this area.
1. She sits on many waters
2. The kings of the earth have committed fornication with her
3. The inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication
B. Appearance
1. A woman riding on a beast
a. The beast is scarlet in color (picture of wealth and power as well as metaphorically for sin)
b. The beast is full of the names of blasphemy
c. The beast has seven heads and ten horns
d. (See below for a discussion on his identity)
2. The woman's apparel
a. She is dressed in purple and scarlet
b. Wearing lots of jewelry of gold, precious stones, and pearls
c. Holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication (Jeremiah 51:7)
d. She has a name written on her forehead
MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER
OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF
THE EARTH. (NKJV)

*Mystery - heretofore unknown but now revealed that she has been around for a long time, has been universally influential, the source of all such abominations and that she is both the system of unbelief and a city (as seen later)
*Babylon - location of the beginning of idolatry after the Flood Genesis 11:1-9
*Mother - the source of
*Harlots - those who profit from illicit and therefore evil relationships i.e. moving men away from their relationship to God to a relationship with demons, idols, false philosophies and religions. This is both natural and spiritual pornographic activity
*Abominations - blasphemous activities detested by God that bring about judgment and destruction. Abominations are natural things that have been so twisted from their intent as to abuse them, pervert them and change them into something hideous. Abominations is the word used most are poisonous or destructive to natural health. They may even carry their own destruction within themselves
e. She is drunk with the blood of the saints and the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. Her opposition to God has found its venting in the death of those who have loved God and therefore opposed her and her evil ways. It has been her delight to kill as many of these saints (believers in God in spite of the culture they were in) and those who after His coming believed in Jesus. So passionate has she been about this that it is compared to being drunk - a little calls for more!
3. John is stunned with wonder - interpretive possibilities ~
a. At the wonder of the sight itself; a thing not seen before in this way; that such raw, gross wickedness could exist at all given God's perfection
b. Wonder that such a beautiful, wealthy and attractive one could be associated with such a hideous beast; could have such murderous lust as to be drunk on the wine of her fellow believers; could be so foully corrupted. Disgustingly gross and amazing. She is like a ring of gold in a swine's snout. Prov. 11:22
c. Wonder as the announcement had been made by the angel that Babylon is fallen and instead of fallen this is what he sees. Instead of fallen she looks spectacular, wealthy, drunk but exalted!

C. Explanation
1. The angel questions why John is marveling
2. The angel explains this wonder to John
a. The Beast
*Carries the harlot. He is supporting her, aiding her, using her to accomplish his ends. She is the trap he uses as he himself might not be appreciated in his ugliness. He is unattractive and she is appealingly attractive
*He has been around longer than she has and has a mystery
existence: he was and is not now, yet will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition(Hades).
*There are two beings described with this appearance:
*Satan - Rev 12:3
*The Beast that comes up out of the sea. Rev 13:1 This is a powerful demon summoned by Satan out of the bottomless pit (Rev 11:7; 13:1; 17:8) to inhabit or take over the human anti-christ at the middle of the tribulation. This will be the result of a mortal head wound received by the human anti-christ. This new inhabitation by the demon will appear as a resurrection. He is the image of Satan. He has been the spiritual power behind the kingdoms of this world. We are not told why, when or how he was put in the bottomless pit. He is not in power right now but will be when he is summoned out of the bottomless pit.
*Note on the human anti-christ: Daniel pictures the human antichrist in Dan 7:19-25 as one of the horns or kings that arise out of the fourth beast (Roman empire). He is an 11th horn rising after the 10 horns, which are the kings of the fourth beast, dominating 3 of the original 10 horns. His activity during the first half of the tribulation is described for us in Daniel 9:27; 11:36-45. He is not pictured as being a beast until the middle of the tribulation when he is inhabited by the demon out of the bottomless pit apparently after his assassination.
*All the unbelievers will marvel at him
*His seven heads are seven mountains or seven kings upon which the woman sits. Five have fallen, one is and one is yet to come. The last one continues a short time. An eighth head will arise who is of the seven. This is the beast out of the sea who was, is not and will be. The seven heads are seven nations that have had some kind of influence over or against Israel: Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persian, Greece, Rome (the one that now is at the time of the writing) and a seventh which is yet to come. There is an eighth but it is the demonic extension of the seventh one. He is the resurrected 7th one.
*The 10 horns are 10 kings who have not received power as of the writing of Revelation. We believe they are still future. They will reign only a short time. They will give their power and their authority to the beast
*The 10 horns will make war with the Lamb and will lose to Him "Rev 17:14 "... for He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful." (NKJV)
b. The Harlot
*Sits on many waters. Civilizations must have adequate
water to survive. After the tower of Babel, God spread the rebels out across the earth. Taking their languages and their rebellious unbelief with them (the harlot, Babylon) they settled wherever water was adequate. With them unfortunately went their Babylonian abomination. She sits on many waters or she occupies many places of civilization. Where civilization goes, she goes and is relaxed with them
*consequently many religious systems are almost identical in the gods and goddesses they worship, in the darkness of their ceremonies, their magic, their priesthood, their matriarchal makeup
*Traveling along with her system has been the drunkenness of immorality (uninhibited lust-filled sex) as well as sorcery, known in the Scriptures as pharmakeia. It usually involves some form of drink (wine, honey, flour mixed with a stimulant or mind-altering drug) and a ritual in which the altered state of reality allows demonic activity to create a twisted reality and power. He has always controlled people through esoteric experiences, frenzy, fervor, fanaticism, mind altering drugs, confusion, ritual, high-sounding knowledge, asceticism, paranormal and psychic experiences. She is the mother of them all, the tool he has used to control the masses and blind them from God.
*She is identified as that great city which reigns over kings. Kings have used this spiritual power gained from her to dominate others, to produce fear in the hearts of adversary and follower alike, to brutalize, to persuade, to captivate. But she has used them and gets her will done through them. She is a harlot so she too is used by the very beast which carries her! That great city is Babylon itself from where the original perversion came.
*Babylon is that great demonic religious system that has
blinded the world from the days of Nimrod at Babel. Men are made to worship; it is inherent in them. Sin makes men hide from the true God. Hiding from him and finding her they find their satisfaction to worship
met in her intoxication, perversion, ritual, sorcery and power. Babylon will be the world-wide unified religious system the devil will use to bind all people together in controllable spiritual blindness.

II. THE GREAT HARLOT, BABYLON, DESTROYED
A. Satan's goal has always been to be like the most high. Isaiah 14:12-14
B. He has been willing to keep men from their innate desire to worship the true God by offering them many power substitutes (for which see above)
C. No longer content to be worshipped through the many substitutes he used with the harlot, he prepares to get rid of her. He wants all the worship himself. His methodology has always been to get someone else to do his dirty work. Now that he is done with her he releases the 10 horns who have hated her to finish her off.
1. They are going to violently take away her wardrobe and riches and expose her. She will be seen for what she is: a fraud and no god at all. She was a creation of the devil. She had used people who had used her and the devil gave her a little power for a while. They are removing from this religious system all of its beauty and promises of power.
2. Now that she has been exposed, they begin to pick her apart. She is powerless without the beast's help. Her doctrines are picked apart and "eaten" (destroyed). The belief system is ridiculed. Idols have no power; they are lifeless objects. They will begin to show that her rituals were all just theatrics without the real power behind them. Her ceremonies and visions were the product of another power, not hers
3. Liberating the people from slavery to her, they burn her in the fire. This gets rid of every last vestige of what she plied. They are free now from her fraud and bondage.
D. In this spiritual vacuum, the beast can now introduce his "flock" to the real power, the real mastermind, the real "wizard of Oz" that gave the harlot power, wealth, riches and beauty; his own boss. He gives them the beautiful 7-headed, 10 horned scarlet dragon! The devil himself. No more pretense, no more substitutes; just raw devil! He is worshipped at last!

Revelation 16

A WEDNESDAY NIGHT BOOK STUDY
EDGEMONT BIBLE CHURCH
FALL 20O9 - SPRING 2010
APRIL 07, 2010
THE SEVENTH TRUMPET - Part 11
REVELATION CHAPTER 16:1-21
THE SEVEN BOWLS OF WRATH POURED OUT

IX. THE SEVENTH SEAL IS OPENED (Continued from previous week)
...M. The Seven Bowls of Wrath - A loud voice from the Temple (in heaven) tells the angels with the seven bowls to begin pouring them out. The bowls match what had been done with the trumpets in order but in intensity they are far more intense and more deadly. They are also similar to the plagues of Egypt at the time of the Exodus. The bowls are not deep dished bowls but more like saucers. They are poured out rapidly in succession with little time in between. (Continued from previous weeks)
a. The First Bowl
1. The bowl is poured out on the earth
2. Foul and loathsome sores came upon the men
* who had the mark of the beast and
* on those who worshipped his image
3. The word for sores here indicates they were ulcers, open bleeding or oozing wounds that eats the flesh upon which it rests.
4. Compare this with Zechariah 14:12
Zech 14:12 And this shall be the plague with which the LORD will strike all the people who fought against Jerusalem: Their flesh shall dissolve while they stand on their feet, Their eyes shall dissolve in their sockets, And their tongues shall dissolve in their mouths. (NKJV)

b. The Second Bowl
1. The bowl is poured out on the sea
2. The sea became blood as of a dead man, the solids separating from the liquid; compare the Roman soldier piercing Jesus' side with his spear
3. Every living creature in the sea died; no oxygen to breath
4. Previously, the second trumpet (8:8-9) had brought a volcano-like mountain (perhaps meteor) burning with fire into the sea and 1/3 of the sea had become blood. Here we have the other 2/3's become coagulated blood
5. A much smaller scale fish kill has happened in history off the coast of Florida several times from 1834-1955 in a phenomenon known as the Red Tide. Explosive growths of colonies of a single celled aquatic organism known as Gymnodinium breve produced large quantities of toxins that killed all fish and other aquatic organisms for miles. People eating the effected fish or other marine edibles died from it. The water is turned to a reddish to yellow tint that becomes dark to black as it progresses.

c. The Third Bowl
1. The bowl is poured out on the rivers and springs of water
2. The rivers became blood; this time the blood seems to be flowing and liquid rather than as that of a dead man; it does not seem conceivable that it could stay that way long without the air coagulating it, but the Scriptures do not elaborate on this point. It would seem that blood being the composition it is of solids and liquids that it would be inadequate for living animals to continue living and breathing in it
3. This outcome from this bowl elicits a spontaneous praise from the angel of the waters
* God is addressed in His eternality recalling His name, I AM, YHWH - The One Who is, Who was and Who is to come!
* His righteousness is declared for His judgment in turning the waters to blood
* The reason given is that those who were refreshed from the waters would now have blood to drink in response to their brutal killing of the saints and prophets. It is their just due.
* NOTE: We have seen angels in charge of the winds (Rev 7:1), angels in charge of prisons on earth (Rev 9:1). Now we see there is an angel is charge of the waters of the earth. What else do you suppose they may be in charge of that is not mentioned in Scripture?
4. John hears from the altar words affirming the praise offered by the angel of the waters in strong terms calling upon God, the Almighty and saying that His judgments are true and righteous.
5. Consider the devastation this plague has just brought
* Those on the earth now have no fresh drinking water; they cannot even purify this "water" for drinking; thirst is going to become critical and deadly
* Those with the mark of the beast have horrible ulcerated sores on their bodies. There is now no clean water with which to clean them in any attempt to be relieved of the horrible pain
* There is no longer any water in which to bathe or clean up.
* All metropolitan sewage and clean water systems are now clogged up beyond all repair. This will back up all the sewage systems and all water delivery Systems and plumbing are now ruined.
* With this composition of the water, the animals within must be dying.
* With the sea and rivers no longer in a water state, evaporation and condensation cannot occur so we can see rain will cease from the earth.
* Disease will have to be abundant, killing even more people and remaining animals
6. Previously, the third trumpet had sent a burning star from heaven to the earth on 1/3 of the rivers and springs of waters turning the waters bitter and deadly, killing many people. Here the totality of fresh water is affected.
d. The Fourth Bowl
1. The fourth bowl is poured out on the sun.
2. The sun is intensified in its heat production
3. The effect is that men are scorched with its great heat
4. It is to be remembered (4th trumpet, Ch 8)
* The winds have been withheld (Rev 7:1)
* Moisture is gone: the sea is blood, the fresh water is blood and there can be no more rain
* 1/3 of the trees and all the green grass is gone (Rev 8:6-7); finding a place to get away from the heat is no longer possible
* War, plague devastation, disease, famine have all worked together to produce an unlivable environment
* Now global warming is a reality! No mention has been made earlier about the frozen water of snows in the mountain elevations and the polar ice caps. Under this intense heat they will be melting but it does not say if they will come as water or as blood.
5. Yet for all of this pain, misery and suffering beyond anything known on earth before, the recipients of these judgments retain their hard-heartedness and impenitence. Instead of repenting and crying out to God for mercy, they blaspheme the God who has power over the plagues. They refuse to turn from their sin and give God glory.
6. At the sounding of the fourth trumpet earlier, the sun had been stricken and reduced by 1/3. The stars and the moon had also been stricken by this same ratio with the result that the earth was darker longer each day. Now what time the sun is out it has intensified dramatically.
e. The Fifth Bowl
1. The fifth bowl is poured out on the throne of the beast
2. The result is that his kingdom is full of darkness; this is reminiscent of the darkness of the ninth plague of Egypt – it was a darkness that could be felt. They could not see one another yet the heat remained intense; their ulcers continued to hurt intensely.
3. You will recall that as it was with the Egyptians during the ninth plague, it was only their kingdom that became darkened. The parts of the world which have not been conquered by him yet are not under this darkness nor does it appear that escaped Israel or the gentile believers in Christ are under this darkness.
4. They continue chewing their tongues for the pain was excruciating
5. Yet with the same tongues they were chewing, they blasphemed God because of the pains and sores and refused to repent.
6. We recall that with the fifth trumpet (Rev 9:1-2) the sun and moon had been darkened by the smoke of the bottomless pit and that locusts of a perverted variety had been released on the earth producing intense pain in those they stung.
f. The Sixth Bowl
1. The sixth bowl is poured out on the great river Euphrates.
2. Recalling that all fresh waters have become blood, it is assumed here that it is the bloody waters which are dried up. Any waters from the melted mountain snows do not matter now as all of the water is completely dried up. The intense, ramped-up heat of the sun is assisting in this dried up condition.
3. The reason the river is dried up is to make a dry land route for the armies of the east to come to Israel where the Beast has established his throne. This is God's plan for bringing all of the armies of the world into one place for the final battle, Armageddon, in the valley of decision, Jezreel
4. To further lure the armies of the east to this final battleground, three unclean spirits, like frogs, come out of the mouth of the dragon, the beast and the prophet.
* These are identified as spirits of demons
* They perform signs
* Their function is to gather the kings of the earth and the whole world to the final battleground of the great day of the Almighty God!
* Compare this to Joel's description of the Great Day of the Lord (Joel 3:9-15)
Joel 3:9 Proclaim this among the nations: "Prepare for war! Wake up the mighty men, Let all the men of war draw near, Let them come up. 10 Beat your plowshares into swords And your pruning hooks into spears; Let the weak say, 'I am strong."' 11 Assemble and come, all you nations, And gather together all around. Cause Your mighty ones to go down there, 0 LORD. 12 "Let the nations be wakened, and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; For there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations. 13 Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, go down; For the winepress is full, The vats overflow-For their wickedness is great." 14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. 15 The sun and moon will grow dark, And the stars will diminish their brightness. (NKJV)

And Ezekiel gives us a description of it in Ezek 39:17-20
Ezek 39:17 "And as for you, son of man, thus says the Lord GOD, 'Speak to every sort of bird and to every beast of the field: "Assemble yourselves and come; Gather together from all sides to My sacrificial meal Which I am sacrificing for you, A great sacrificial meal on the mountains of Israel, That you may eat flesh and drink blood.
18 You shall eat the flesh of the mighty, Drink the blood of the princes of the earth, Of rams and lambs, Of goats and bulls, All of them fatlings of Bashan. 19 You shall eat fat till you are full, And drink blood till you are drunk, At My sacrificial meal Which I am sacrificing for you. 20 You shall be filled at My table With horses and riders, With mighty men And with all the men of war," says the Lord GOD. (NKJV)

Compare to Rev 19:17-21
Re 19:17 Then I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven, "Come and gather together for the supper of the great God, 18 "that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, both small and great." 19 And I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. 20 Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone. 21 And the rest were killed with the sword which proceeded from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse. And all the birds were filled with their flesh. (NKJV)
5. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself now speaks and gives a sobering warning to all His own.
Re 16:15 "Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame." (NKJV)
g. The Seventh Bowl
1. The seventh bowl is poured out into the air.
2. A great (loud) voice speaks out of the temple of heaven, from the throne "It is done!" (Not the same word that Jesus used on the cross in "It is finished!". The word used here is in the same tense, perfect, as the "cross word" so it means completed action with abiding results. The word here is from a word which means "to become" and speaks of the completion of a previous condition with a new and abiding one having begun. It is my opinion that God is saying here "The old order is judged and finished and the new order has begun!")
3. Because this bowl is poured out in the air, it is the air which responds with noises and thunder and lightning. The earth responds with another massive earthquake, the largest that has ever been.
4. Apparently the great earthquake splits Jerusalem into three parts. I think this is the first work of her becoming the capitol of the millennial kingdom. She has already been judged and she must now be remodeled %as the new capitol. We know (Zech 14:4-10) that when Messiah touches earth at His second coming He will split the Mount of Olives and a valley running east to west will go to the Mediterranean Sea. A spring of water will come up from there that will run year round. Jerusalem will be further elevated and the surrounding ground will be lowered.
5. The cities of the nations fell. There is no major city left standing and undamaged from this quake. This is the beginning of the cleansing of the earth for the millennium.
6. Great Babylon is also "remembered". She is not destroyed in this earthquake for God has a special remembrance for her, since she has been the harlot for the whole world from early on in human history. She will be receiving from Him the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath
7. Every island (these are the land masses in the sea and outside of Israel. You live on one of them!) was leveled back into the sea that surrounded it. You will remember they had all been surrounded by the coagulated blood of the seas. They had already been left without supplies to be shipped in to them for sea traffic is non-existent. They had been surrounded by the death that had occurred from the sea turning to blood.
8. The earthquake levels all the world's mountain ranges
9. It seems miraculous that any humans are left alive but they are! Yet many of those left living will be perishing in one of the worst hailstorms ever – 75lb hail! Still men blaspheme God because of the plague of the hail.

This ends the pouring out of the bowls of wrath but not the final judgments! Still to come is the harlot's destruction, the actual city of Babylon's destruction, Armageddon, judgments on Satan, the beast and the prophet, and the establishing of the long awaited Kingdom of God!
These should be sober warnings and encouragements to us to follow the
Lord Jesus Christ, seeking first His kingdom and its righteousness and to not be drawn into the world with its deceit. Are you trusting Jesus as Lord and Savior, today?