Month: February 2024

Hello yet again! Terry took us through the 18th chapter of Revelation last Sunday. To listen to this message, simply click play on the audio player below. I’ve also included the usual notes and links to verses on Bible Gateway. Enjoy!

God Is Coming, pt. 19

Intro: God “putting up with stuff” is Him extending His grace to all. Matthew 24 warns us, “Don’t be deceived!” – deceivers are coming. It will be like the “days of Noah” (Genesis 6). Revelation 17 describes how the false religions will fall/be destroyed. There is a 3-fold blessing for those of us who read/listen to/pay attention to the Word (Revelation 1).

Revelation 18

God’s Judgment on Babylon

• Babylon was a physical city/kingdom – will be revived again
• Is in modern-day Iraq
• Bible speaks of it about 200 times
• Revelation 17:5 – Babylon is a mystery
• 1 John 2:15-16 – the world system is in rebellion against God, running amuck without God
  • the people of God are to live in the world with integrity, stay strong under the temptation to live as the world lives
  • He gives us all we need to live – the people of the world accept it ungratefully
    • the lusts of the flesh are never satisfied

Fall of the Political/Economic Side of Babylon

• v. 1: Another Angel
  • comes from heaven
  • has great authority
  • is so brilliant he lights up the world with his glory
• v. 2: The Angel Cries Out
  • Babylon is fallen!
  • It is now the habitation of:
    • demons
    • unclean spirits
    • unclean/hateful birds
• v. 3: Babylon’s Effect on the World
  • nations – intoxicated by Babylon’s worldly pleasures
  • kings of the earth – their hearts are following Babylon
  • merchants – gave up God to get rich
• v. 4-5: Another Voice
  • calls to God’s people
    • one last offer of grace/mercy
    • don’t get entangled with the things of the world
    • get out of Babylon’s allure to sin or you will receive her plagues
  • why Babylon will be judged
    • her sins have piled all the way to heaven
• v. 6-8: Encouragement to God
  • Pay Babylon back for what she did
  • Justice – double-portion of what she’s meted out
    • the cup that she used to deceive the nations should be poured out on her
    • as she glorified herself, to the same degree give her torment/mourning
  • In One Day
    • plagues
    • pestilence
    • mourning
    • famine
    • burned up with fire
  • Revelation 17:18 says this will be a physical city
    • speculation that it will be Rome, a rebuilt Babylon, New York, no one knows for certain
• v. 9-10: Kings of the Earth
  • they’ve enjoyed following Babylon
  • they will mourn her destruction
    • because they can’t get anything more from her
  • stand at a distance
    • they see her judgment & know exactly what is happening and Who is doing it
• v. 11-13: Merchants
  • weep because they are out of business (sad for the wrong reasons)
  • List the items they deal in:
    • everything is expensive
    • the best of the commodities
    • also the “bodies & souls of men”
      • slave trade
      • human trafficking
      • commercialize humans for the money
• v. 14-15: End of Commercial Trade
  • all “good” things are now gone
    • not just a disruption of trade, but a destruction of the entire system
  • the merchants stand back and watch
    • weep for the loss of their income
  • 2 Timothy 3 – the heart and mindset of the people in the last days
    • conscience has been disengaged from God
• v. 16-19: Merchants Mourn
  • don’t care about people, but merchandise
  • laid waste in one hour
    • maybe not literally
    • all at once, not a slow decline
• v. 20: Heaven’s Response
  • told to rejoice over God’s righteous judgment
    • God has avenged His people
• v. 21: What the Destruction Looks Like
  • Angel takes a huge millstone & throws it into the sea – a symbol of the Babylonian system being thrown down
  • no more commercial system
• v. 22-23: It Is Done
  • no more celebrating
  • no more industry
  • no more electric grid – no light
  • no making merchandise
  • deceived by pharmakeia – mind-altering drugs, sorcery, witchcraft
• v. 24: Why
  • the world system was built on the blood of God’s people

At the end, God moves in vengeance rather than mercy & grace.

Be careful what you’re focusing on – “Come out of her, My people.”

Hello again! Here is the message from the second Sunday in February, where Terry took us on a tour through Revelation 17. To listen to this message, simply click play on the audio player below. I’ve also included some notes and links to verses Terry references on Bible Gateway. Enjoy! 😁

God Is Coming, pt. 18

Intro: Revelation 17 & 18 are God’s explanation of the Babylonian systems (false religion & economic/political systems) and how God will bring them down. Praise God today is the day of salvation. If we turn to Him now, we will not have to face the judgment/punishment reserved for Babylon. 1 John 2 tells us to love not the world – the world system is in opposition to God.

Revelation 17

• v. 1-2: An Angel Speaks to John
  • will show judgment of the “great harlot who sits on many waters”
    • v. 15 – riding on the people of the world
    • committed fornication with the kings of the earth
      • Proverbs 7 – the allure of sin
    • those who are drunk
      • not in their right minds
      • Genesis 3 – the devil can’t force us, but he can distract us
  • an analogy of spiritual adultery against God
    • the world religions
      • all apostate
      • all have their roots in Babylon
      • the devil is behind them all
        • he desires worship (Isaiah 14)
      • Psalm 96:5
      • always attack that which is true
      • use bits & pieces of the truth to deceive
• v. 3: John Carried Away to the Wilderness
  • saw a woman (a harlot)
    • riding on a scarlet beast (Antichrist)
    • full of blasphemy
    • 7 heads & 10 horns
  • False religious system is riding on the Beast world system
• v. 4-6: The Woman Described
  • decked out in colors of royalty
  • gold & precious stones
  • super wealthy
    • as most false religions are – constantly taking money from the people they’ve deceived
  • wealth is full of immorality
  • identification written on her forehead
    • is the “mother” of all false religions
    • drawing people away from God
  • is drunk on the blood of the saints
    • persecutes the true followers of Christ
• v. 7-13: The Angel Explains (the Bible Explains Itself)
  • the Beast
    • Revelation 13
    • appears to die (counterfeiting Jesus Christ)
    • those who are written in the Lamb’s book won’t be deceived, but everyone else will
      • Matthew 24 – even some of the people of God could be deceived
    • empowered by the abyss
  • the 7 heads
    • 7 mountains on which the woman sits
    • 7 kings/kingdoms rule over Israel
      • Daniel 2, Daniel 7
      • Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medes-Persians, Greeks, Romans, Antichrist
      • Babylon – originated at the Tower of Babel & Nimrod (Genesis 10 & 11)
        • the origin of all false religions
  • the 10 horns
    • 10 kings
      • don’t have a kingdom yet
      • will give allegiance to Antichrist
• v. 14: Kings Will Wage War
  • The Battle of Armageddon
    • the Lamb will be victorious
    • those who are with Him are the Church Age saints:
      • called
      • chosen
      • faithful
• v. 15: Waters
  • explains v. 1
• v. 16: Babylonian Religious System Falls
  • the kings will turn against Babylon’s religious system
  • all false religions have to be destroyed so everyone will turn to worship the Antichrist
• v. 17: God Is Completely in Charge
  • God uses the kings to accomplish His will
    • to eliminate false religions
    • until the words of God should be fulfilled
• v. 18: The Woman
  • Babylon = the great city
  • reigns over the kings of the earth
• God calls us to come out of Babylon!

Hello! I’m trying to get caught up (again!), so I will try to post the last few weeks of Terry’s lessons on the overview of Revelation this weekend. God willing! The first week of February, Terry took us to chapter 16. To listen to this message, simply click play on the audio player below. I’ve also included some notes with links to references verses on Bible Gateway. 🙂

God Is Coming, pt. 17

Revelation 16

• v. 1: A Loud Voice from the Temple
  • speaks to the 7 angels
    • Go
    • pour out the 7 bowls (sometimes translated “vials”)
      • bowls are filled with God’s wrath
• v. 2: 1st Bowl
  • loathsome & malignant sores
    • similar to other plagues in the Bible, but far worse
      • plague of boils in Egypt (Exodus 9)
      • sores Job is afflicted with (Job 2)
      • sores that covered the beggar, Lazarus (Luke 16)
    • plague only affects the followers of the Beast
• v. 3: 2nd Bowl
  • is poured into the sea (ALL the oceans)
  • turns the oceans to blood
    • like that of a dead man
    • coagulated, rotten, putrid
  • kills all the sea creatures
• v. 4: 3rd Bowl
  • is poured into the rivers and springs
    • waters turn to blood
    • similar to the plague in Egypt (Exodus 7), but affects water all over the world, not just the water of one nation
• v. 5-7: Doxology
  • angel of the waters speaks
  • judgment on the earth vs. rejoicing in heaven
    • given blood for blood spilled
    • avenging the martyrs (Revelation 6)
  • another voice from the altar continues the rejoicing/praising
• v. 8-9: 4th Bowl
  • poured out on the sun
  • sun is given power to scorch men with fire
  • men who are scorched blaspheme God 😦
    • rather than repenting
    • they know it’s not “climate change” – it’s God
    • shows the heart of man (Jeremiah 17, Matthew 12)
• v. 10-11: 5th Bowl
  • is poured out on the throne of the Beast
  • total darkness over the Beast’s kingdom (not the whole world)
  • followers of the Beast gnaw their tongues because of the pain
  • they continue to blaspheme God 🤦
    • because of their pain/sores
    • apart from God, this is who we are
    • Romans 7
• v. 12: 6th Bowl
  • is poured out on the Euphrates
    • dries up the river
    • Euphrates River was the original eastern boundary line of the Promised Land (Genesis 15)
    • so that the kings of the east can come into the Promised Land
      • mobilize & begin to travel
• v. 13-14: Three Unclean Spirits
  • come out of the mouths of the unholy trinity:
    • Dragon
    • Beast
    • False Prophet
      • possessed by the power of darkness
  • spirits are “like” frogs
  • are the spirits of demons
    • perform signs which go out to the kings of the whole earth
    • gather them for war against God
      • not the war of God & Magog
      • this war is on a much larger scale
      • is the Battle of Armageddon
• v. 15: Warning from Jesus Christ
  • “I come as a thief!” (suddenly & unexpectedly)
  • Blessed is the one who is prepared for His return
    • perseverance
    • patience
• v. 16: Gathering at Armageddon
  • the kings of the earth & their armies gather
• v. 17: 7th Bowl
  • is poured out on the air
  • loud voice from the temple:
    • “It is done.”
  • final judgment
• v. 18-21: Results of the 7th Bowl
  • lightning & thunder
  • earthquake
    • bigger than any ever experienced on earth
    • splits Jerusalem in three parts
      • preparation for the New Jerusalem
  • cities of the nations fall
    • global devastation
  • Babylon the Great is given God’s fierce wrath
    • specifics to come in Revelation 17 & 18
  • all the islands disappear
  • all the mountains disappear
    • preparation for the New Earth
  • hailstones
    • 75-100 pounds each (like a bag of concrete)!
    • fall on men – no place to hide
    • they continue to blaspheme God 😞