Revelation 17:14-18

I don’t think it is exactly a secret that we have been reading about a setup of some kind, but it may not be what you were thinking. I have not mentioned it to this point in context, but the fall of the Whore of Babylon has been God’s plan this whole time. When false religion falls, God is glorified and vindicated, not that He needs vindication. Think about this for a moment. Since when has this been His plan, the dismantling of the false religious system of the beast? I think God, in all of His omniscience, would have known it and set up the plan perfectly to deal with it before the foundation of the world. There is some evidence of that sovereignty in the text this evening, and I will try to remember to say something about it when we get there.

The thing being “set up” here is the prostitute riding the beast. The rule I have been reading about in the news can best be said as, “Fool around, find out.” The whore was fooling around, no pun intended, and she will find out that the real cost of that action is too high to want to pay. The way I envision it happening is very rapidly and completely, though probably messy, but that may in fact be the will of the people.

People think political freedom to do anything you want is freedom, but really it is a very strong form of spiritual enslavement…to yourself and your nature of sin. You were born with it, it is part of every one of us, and there is nothing you can do to get rid of it. Read Romans 7, which is the Apostle Paul discussing his own struggles with sin as a redeemed man! We all know something about this, sadly. Political divisions will not help you succeed spiritually. Liberalism will not save you. Conservatism will not save you. Populism will not save you. The only thing that will save you from yourself is Christ by repentance from your sins and faith in His atoning sacrifice on the cross in your place. Beloved, that was one sentence. I may have to explain some terms, but that took me about 10 seconds to say. It is simple enough for a child of 8 to understand, for the most part. It is the gospel, the power of God, that leads to salvation for all who will turn to Christ in faith.

Last week, we looked at the seven-headed beast that the harlot rode, after looking in some detail of looking at the prostitute riding it the week before. We determined that the seven heads of the beast represented the seven-hilled city, though we were not entirely able to determine where that city is geographically, because the seven hills represent seven kings, and I don’t know about you, but the heads are hills that are kings is an analogy within an analogy within an analogy. Why do I hear Nine Inch Nails? (2013 single from Hesitation Marks titled “Copy of a”). Fortunately, the angel speaking with John was good enough to explain that they were kings. Then the horns in the head were ten kings, but 3 were torn out by the roots. Does this make them the same seven kings? I think so, but I have no textual proof for that, other than that bit in Daniel.

This week, we will explore how the beast’s world system of control originated with two leaders, but the beast, the Antichrist himself, will deal with the false religion. What I came to see while I was studying this part of the text is that this is the pattern and end of all evil. It will always lead to some kind of jealousy or impatience that will cause the stronger and more evil thing to get rid of the weaker part that annoys or obstructs it. This text shows how that plays out.

With all that said as an introductory recap, I broke the text into the following thought units:

KV17: God (and His Children) Will Always Win

17: For God has put it in their hearts to execute His purpose by having a common purpose, and by giving their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God will be fulfilled.

14: The War Against The Lamb

15: The Harlot on Display Globally

16: The Beast will Destroy Her Utterly

17: The Sovereignty of God at Work

18: The Destruction of the Evil World System

Evil always destroys itself, and God will always have the victory. When I was much younger than now, I reached a kind of conclusion, that being that if you’re going to fight against someone or something, you never face them or it on the terms they or it sets. The problem that Lucifer has, besides the huge knowledge and power mismatch he has, is that God set the conditions, the battles, and the rules of contact, and they are all in His own favour. Like Gambling in Las Vegas, the House always wins. What this means in reality is that though he is the Devil and is in command of a terrifying army of angels that chose to side with Him, even though they had to deliberately choose against all the knowledge they were created having, he, Lucifer, is still God’s Devil. He cannot do one thing on His own that God does not already know before Lucifer does it, and more, God will always respond appropriately from His own nature.

Lucifer is therefore unable to surprise God in any way, he is unable to gain any ground he is not given by God, and because God has somehow aligned the actions and desires of Satan temporarily with His own will, Satan cannot do anything God does not want; If Lucifer should try, God will know what he will do and can adjust accordingly. Remember the first chapter of the book of Job here. Satan was already trying to get at God’s servant Job, but stated that he was unable to mess with Job because God had built a hedge of protection around His servant Job. How did Satan know that? Probably because he had already been trying to get at Job and could not until God gave permission, to show all of creation that God’s blessing and protection in his life was not the main point. With that, let’s get into the text.

KV17: God (and His Children) Will Always Win

17: For God has put it in their hearts to execute His purpose by having a common purpose, and by giving their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God will be fulfilled.

The short version of this is a saying from my younger and more sinful card-playing days, which says, “Don’t play cards with folks who can stack the deck.” It’s actually better and far easier not to gamble at all, because luck does not actually exist. What happens after this makes me legitimately wonder if Satan truly understands that. I do not know.

Because God is all-powerful, knows everything, and is everywhere at once, He can fight indefinitely on all fronts and will never lose. Contrast this with the finite father of lies. It really is not a fair fight at all, and the loser provoked it in the first place. People have it in their heads that God does not have the right, but in all cases in creation, He is the offended party that should be demanding justice for Himself. That we are still present and breathing should tell us if nothing else about God’s longsuffering character of Love and infinite patience to wait for the exact right time, which He only knows, because He is God. What He decrees will happen. If it happens a certain way, it was God’s will. That’s what our confession of faith says in chapter 3, which reads, “God hath Decreed in himself from all Eternity, by the most wise and holy Councel of his own will, freely and unchangeably, all things whatsoever comes to passe; yet so as thereby is God neither the author of sin, nor hath fellowship with any therein, nor is violence offered to the will of the Creature…” Yes, there is more to it, but that is the relevant bit. [If you’re reading the notes on BereanNation.com, I apologize for the typos, but it is that way in the text of the document itself.]

How does God do it? Well, I don’t have all night to go through the unique attributes of God, but it has something to do with the fact that He has all the power in the universe, He knows everything, and He is everywhere at once. If I get more than that as a primary cause, I will pass it along, but isn’t that already enough? It is for everyone since the Apostles, and I’m okay with that. Let’s get into the text itself.

14: The War Against The Lamb

This “war against the Lamb,” as our text mentions, has been going on for a very long time, possibly much longer than the 6000 or so years we’ve been around. Personally, I see evidence of it at the very beginning of Scripture, and we have spoken of it before. I know not all of us are old-Earth creationists, so I won’t stir the pot, but I will tell you that there ARE answers in Genesis, if you see what I did there. However, I do feel obligated to tell you that I do not think that the earth began in Genesis 1:1; that was more of a restoration, if you ask me, otherwise, we would not be able to see stars that are more than about 6000 light-years away. Yet, the oldest stars we can see are on the order of billions of years. Even with a variable speed of light (a fact in Physics journals, it has even been published), the planet has been located in its present relative location for much longer than 6000 years. Add all of the destruction that one can see throughout the cosmos everywhere nearby, and it can be dated roughly to between 2 and 3 billion years in our stellar neighbourhood, what I see is that this war with the Lamb has gone on a very long time, and at this point on the calendar (whichever one you follow here), it is about to conclude in one, final, horrific battle, coming in chapter 19. Let’s see what the text tells us.

14: These will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, because He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those who are with Him are the called and chosen and faithful.

“These” draws from the context immediately preceding in verse 13, and is speaking of the 10 kings and perhaps the beast, and as you see in verses 15 and 16, share a common hatred of this one world religion. “Will wage…” is considered by most commentators, and this includes myself, as a kind of summary anticipation of what is coming in Rev. 19:19, which reads, “And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army.” This verse helps us dial in on who the army of the man on the White Warhorse in Rev. 19:19, too.
Before we identify that army, the text tells us who will win this great and terrible battle (well, I’m not sure how terrible it will be from the winner’s perspective). It says here that the Lamb will overcome them. All of the kings of the World system, all of the power and technology and know-how these kings will give to the Antichrist to fight in this battle, will come to precisely nothing in the end. The Lamb of God, our Lord Jesus, our gentle, long-suffering, precious Saviour, will no longer be the Lamb of God, but the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the conquering King coming on the clouds in power and great glory. The text tells us that He is κύριος κυρίων ἐστὶν καὶ βασιλεὺς βασιλέων! Doctor John MacArthur once said that this phrase says so much more than King of kings and Lord of lords; its meaning can be translated that He is Lord of all lording and King of all kinging! He is the number one conqueror, and there is no one else who even comes close!
And His army? Well, if you’ve been following along from the beginning, you already know that those who are here are very familiar because they are men, not angels. The Greek tells us they are κλητοὶ καὶ ἐκλεκτοὶ καὶ πιστοί, that is called, chosen, and faithful. Beloved, these are all those that overcame the world before the event we call the harpazo event, because I hate debating “rapture” stupidly, and just the word brings up the dumb argument that the word “rapture” never appears in the New Testament. Actually, it does, 13 times, and 5 of them are used in this context, but I’m not going to restate the whole argument here. We covered it in the first 6 chapters adequately, and you can go and look at the livestreams in the playlist for Revelation on Rumble if you want that information. These individuals who were called or invited [κλητοὶ] to the marriage supper of the Lamb are the ones who will follow him in that army. Also, these were not just called, they were chosen [ἐκλεκτοὶ]. The word is plural [οὶ ending], and all those He chose throughout the church age will be there. That word “elect” or chosen is a biblical word, and even occurs in the synoptic gospels and Romans in reference to the group of humans that God has chosen. It also says these individuals are faithful. I’m going to detail some Greek grammar for you; it may not mean anything to you, but I think it is important. “They” is a nominative adjective, but because “they” (the noun) are “with Him” (passive voice, it is an action done to them), Vines says that this is used in the sense of “trusty, faithful, or trustworthy.”
Here is why this is important. To get to this place where our Lord considers you trustworthy to ride with Him to battle, you will have to have demonstrated by your lifestyle that you are, in fact, worthy of the position. He must be your Lord; you must live your life for Him to the exclusion of all others! This is nothing other than what is known as “Lordship Salvation.” If He is not your Lord because you do not follow His commands in obedience, it means that He is not your Saviour. Now that sounds a little like a works salvation point, and that is NOT what I mean, so let me try to reword this: If you have made a profession of Salvation in Christ, and your desire is NOT for what He wants but is instead your own selfish desires, it is a potential sign that He has not changed your nature to be like His, meaning He is NOT your Saviour either, and you must repent, that is, change your brain and think differently about your sin. Recognize it for what it is and forsake it! Then go and live differently. For the ones that God has chosen from before the foundation of the world (See Romans 8:29-30), this should be a desire. Now, because you are still in a body of flesh, while we live (and we should want to live), we are not ever free from sin, so repentance becomes a lifestyle for you, as does keeping short accounts with the Lord. You have a lapse and sin, then repent immediately and move on in holiness. Every time it happens, for the rest of your life. Keep turning to Christ. Keep repenting and following. I’ve said it before, but it is appropriate here: Repentance is a lifestyle, not just a theological concept. Apply it. Let’s move on; we still have ground to cover.

15: The Harlot on Display Globally

If you can go back in your memories to two studies back, we spoke in some detail about the great harlot that rides the beast, and we discussed in detail her appearance and what kinds of things we could understand about her nature and character from the metaphorical language that described her. We are not going to rehash that here, but we should notice something from this verse (in case we haven’t already figured it out, though I think we all have) that God mentions twice, meaning it is important to remember.

15: And he *said to me, “The waters which you saw where the harlot sits, are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues.

The angel is conversing with John again, and pointing out a detail about the place of the harlot, that being sitting on “the waters.” He tells us that the waters in this apocalyptic language have meaning. Where the harlot sits represents peoples [λαοὶ, plural of laos, the people, so “peoples” is correct], multitudes [ὄχλοι, a throng, a disorganized crowd], ἔθνη [ethnos is the singular, so this is a reference to racial distinctions], and tongues [γλῶσσαι, languages or language groups]. What I take this to mean is that the whore of Babylon is an international, that is to say, a global belief system of control, a religion in the bad sense. I like how one commentator put it: “The ‘peoples,’ etc., here mark the universality of the spiritual fornication of the Church. The ‘tongues’ remind us of the original Babel, the confusion of tongues, the beginning of Babylon, and the first commencement of idolatrous apostasy after the flood, as the tower was doubtless dedicated to the deified heavens. Thus, Babylon is the appropriate name of the harlot.” (JFB entry on this verse) The practitioners of this belief system are no different than the original practitioners of false religion. All of them worship and revere what is false and downrate imaginary, or worse, the demonically inspired. Both are meant and present here somehow, if you ask me.
Most older commentators reference either the Pope directly or at a minimum, the Roman Catholic organization as the perfect current representative of that religion, and I do understand why, because they claim spiritual authority over all Catholics (and they don’t like to stop there) as well as temporal authority over the world, and no scripture verse anywhere can confirm that. If you ask me, that guy with the funny-looking hat will have to answer the One who has many diadems on His brow. Maybe that’s the reason the harlot will persecute real believers. We will move on.

16: The Beast will Destroy Her Utterly

Here is where the whore meets a bad end. It becomes clear when we look at the text, so we will just get right into it.

16: And the ten horns which you saw, and the beast, these will hate the harlot and will make her desolate and naked, and will eat her flesh and will burn her up with fire.

Remember that the horns represent the 10 kings, or 7 kings, whatever; they had no kingdom as of the writing of Daniel, and they only rose to prominence with the beast by giving him their power, so the Antichrist himself is included here in the list of the people that hate the whore. They may have reason to hate her. An analogy here to me is perhaps the way I hate climate alarmists. I find them annoying and ignorant of the facts, as well as being unwilling to engage in educational dialogue so as to learn the science they think they are quoting, or are quoting incorrectly or falsely. The text here tells us that they will hate her.
If only it had stopped there, like my distaste for climate doomsayers. Hey, global warming people who said Florida would be underwater by 2008! Is Florida still there? YES! In fact, the water hasn’t moved an inch up on the waterline. Sorry, biology degree there. That’s where it stops for me. I just try to ignore them and go on with my life. These kings, in partnership with the Antichrist, will go very far past this point. It says they will make her “desolate” and “naked.” The Greek word for “desolate” means to lay waste to something, or to make lonely. For all of her relational religion, she will be left wrecked and alone with nothing and no one. That’s bad enough at times, but it doesn’t end there. The word “naked” means bare, and in this usage, according to Mounce (Mounce’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words), it means left naked and exposed without spiritual clothing. So, after the supposed intimate companion of God turns away from Him and to other lovers, she finds nothing but dry sand left to her, and she will be left to rot in that place of prostitution and spiritual idolatry all alone and bereft of companions and comfort. And it gets worse.
These kings and the Antichrist will eat her flesh. Here is where I believe we can see the true nature of evil and all of its horror. This is nothing more than what I learned in biology in university is called “the survival of the fittest.” There is more to it, but it is a helpful model to explain this. The harlot is clearly at a predatory disadvantage. She has been thrown from her mount and is prone on the ground, lacking any resource of her own because of her actual idolatry, bereft of any true protector or companion. She is alone. There are at least eight of them arrayed against her, and they are hungry. She has become a target of opportunity for them, and they turn on her whom they have hated, secretly at first, now openly, and they tear her to pieces. Evolutionists would cheer them on in their meal. They will rend her flesh from her bones while she is still alive if it follows this model, killing her in the process of eating her.
These are the “kings of the earth” that are described as going up to her bed and partaking of her delights.. In verse 2 of this chapter, it says it like this: “with whom the kings of the earth committed acts of immorality, and those who dwell on the earth were made drunk with the wine of her immorality.” The one they took pleasure in has outlived her usefulness to them and therefore must be discarded and devoured. Ironically, the horror of her demise parallels the penalty in the Old Testament for prostitution (Leviticus 21:9), the end of the wicked queen Jezebel (2 Kings 9:30-37), and the fate of the allegorical Oholibah, who represented the apostate Israelites in Ezekiel’s prophecy (Ezekiel 23:11-35). We won’t look at those texts, but I give you the references in case you want to do more study on your own.
It also says that they will burn her up with fire. You know, I once read a book by some lady with the last name of something like (Julie?) Ferwerda, who debated and denied the existence of a literal Hell. Although I realize this is figurative language, her (the whore) horrible judgment here speaks for itself. Ms. Ferwerda’s thesis was that all of the references in Scripture tell us that the word “pur” (Greek for “fire”) was used only in the sense of cleansing things or purifying things. I find that to be a common error, mixing languages, assuming that words with common roots mean the same or similar things in other languages. They can, but it happens less than you think. Here it says, in that terrible list of horrible things they do to the unbelieving false religion personified, that they burn her with fire [πυρί, the singular, dative, neuter noun of πυρ]. This does not sound to me like purification or cleansing. It sounds to me like divine judgment upon a spiritual adulteress, an idolater, very deserving of judgment for her crimes against God. In this verse, the harlot is presented before us as ripe for judgment. The eighteenth chapter details that judgment, and we will begin to look at that in our next study. For now, we will move on to the next verse.

17: The Sovereignty of God at Work

This is where we encounter the sovereignty of God at work, and the angel explains it to John. I love to read things like this in Scripture itself, and especially when we get to see and understand more about the attributes of God. I want to know God. I want to know Him personally, I want to know all about Him, and I know He wants everyone to know Him like that. Let’s look at what the text says.

17: For God has put it in their hearts to execute His purpose by having a common purpose, and by giving their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God will be fulfilled.

God put it in their hearts. Oh my. Of course He did. He put it into Pharaoh’s heart to mess with the sons of Israel. He put it into Ahab’s heart (through his wife Jezebel) to steal a vineyard by false accusations and a false execution (murder). He put it into Manasseh’s heart to have the great prophet Isaiah sawn in two lengthwise. He put it into the heart of Jeconiah to cut out the parts of His book that Jeconiah didn’t like with a pen knife. He put it into the heart of Jeconiah’s cousin Jehoiakim (Zedekiah) to try to flee from Nebuchadnezzar. (He did not escape.) He put it into the heart of Pontius Pilate to have Jesus whipped before crucifying Him. The principle is stated in Proverbs 21:1, which says, “The king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of the LORD; He turns it wherever He wishes.”
We should also consider verse 2 of that, and it says, “Every man’s way is right in his own eyes, But the LORD weighs the hearts.” This is the other side of that. Each of these examples thought he was doing right for himself and maybe his kingdom. None of them really were, nor did they surprise God. Why is that? Well, let’s see verses 3 and 4 of that, which say, “To do righteousness and justice Is desired by the LORD more than sacrifice. Haughty eyes and a proud heart, The lamp of the wicked, is sin.” The Lord God has a standard of what is right. He desires His will to be done above sacrifices to atone for not doing His will, whatever form that can take. However, man, because of his separation owing to sin and its ingrained nature within all humans, will not walk in His way but rather their own. So God does what He wants through people who want the exact opposite of what He does by making a common goal with Himself.
This is all to say that not one of these kings, nor the Antichrist himself, will do anything that God does not want them to do. They cannot help but be who they are, and that is just what God needs them to be at the time they are being themselves. They are completely and demonically evil, and evil eats the weak. One of the devotionals I found in my commentaries said this: “What do we mean by this expression “the sovereignty of God”? We mean the supremacy of God, the kingship of God, the godhood of God. To say that God is sovereign is to declare that God is God. He is the Most High, doing according to his will, so that none can stay his hand, defeat his counsels, or thwart his purpose.” That’s a quote from theologian A. W. Pink. I’m certain that Arthur Pink would agree that God is all-powerful and that it would be a simple thing for Him to align all of these creatures, even with all their sophisticated technology or whatever, into doing what He wants to happen. Here, it is to destroy the false religion, represented by the prostitute. God will bring about the destruction of the great prostitute in verse 16 by allowing the evil to run its course. It will not be pretty. However, it will be over quickly, and I think that because here, it is confined to one verse.
How long will God do this? From the text of the verse, “until the words of God will be fulfilled.” That’s a finite period of time if you think about it. It works like this. When they no longer have a common purpose with God, I think we can assume that God is done with that arrangement because He has gotten what He wanted, and He is now free to do the next thing He pleases. All of these events are completely under God’s control. He may be the Antichrist himself, but get this: He is God’s Antichrist, just as the Devil is God’s Devil. Our sovereign God will use beings that are diametrically opposed to His will to accomplish His will perfectly. This is a case of that. Moving on to the next verse.

18: The Destruction of the World System

The angel that is informing John gives one last little tidbit. The woman represents the Great City. This does not invalidate anything we have looked at, but it does show that there is metaphor in Scripture and all of it has meaning. Ultimately, the false religion is located in a “great city,” of which I don’t think we can foretell the destination. That city is likely the seat of Antichrist’s kingdom, and he will at one point sit in the Temple of God in His very seat, and declare himself to be God instead of YHVH. Because the third temple will be in Jerusalem, that’s a strong indicator, but I can be wrong, so I won’t say. Wink, wink. Ultimately, God will destroy not only the first part of the world system, the false religion that will help Antichrist to control the world through deceit, and He will also destroy the political kingdom of the Antichrist that controls the world through fear, intimidation, and force. That is his very next action, but that will occur in chapter 19. Let’s look at the text.

18: The woman whom you saw is the great city, which reigns over the kings of the earth.”

The verse tells us that the great city is essentially the capital city of the kingdom of the Antichrist. This city will be gleefully dismantled, and every last vestige of its religious tradition will be devoured and perverted. Into something other than religion. Evil cannot help itself. It must devour and destroy what is weaker than itself until only one is left. At this point, God will step and show evil itself who is stronger than everyone, Himself. Evil will see this and attempt to devour God. God will simply not allow it, and evil will destroy itself by the will of God. Not just the false religion or its headquarters. These kings that were hills? The ten kings without kingdoms? The Antichrist himself? All of them, as a part of that system, will be exposed to God’s final wrath working itself out into the world that God Himself created. Babylon and Rome were forerunners of what will be far bigger and more horrible than anything John or his readers could have imagined.

That’s what I saw in the text.

Next time, we will look at Revelation 18:1-8. I know, that’s a lot of text at the speed we’re going, but I can only really break it up that way, unless you want just the first three verses, which to be fair, feels like half of a study.