This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

This is day four of our look through Revelation 17 and I want to say
congratulations, you made it to day four of walking through this difficult
chapter. It's hard, it's difficult to look at this world as it really is. First
it saddens us because we realize what is happening in the world around us and
the hurt that's going on, but also it convicts us because we realize some of
it's in our own lives.

We've made it through to this point because you want to take an honest look at
what God says. As we get to verse seven of this chapter, we've heard the
description of Babylon. We get to some of the when and where of this place
called Babylon.

We've seen some pictures of what it's like, the materialism that's there, the
selfishness that's there, but now we begin to hear some descriptions of what is
the historical nature of this place. To understand this place called Babylon,
you have to understand what the Bible says about how it was built, why it was
built, the beast that's a part of this city, the woman that's a part of what's
happening in this city, and those descriptions, they begin in verse seven. Let
me read for you verses seven and eight first.

Then the angel said to me, "Why are you astonished? I will explain to you the
mystery of the woman and the beast that she rides, which has the seven heads and
the ten horns. The beast, which you saw, once was, now is not, and will come up
out of the abyss and go to his destruction.

The inhabitants of the earth, whose names have not been written in the book of
life from the creation of the world, will be astonished when they see the beast,
because he once was, now is not, and yet will come. " So we begin through a
description of what is this place called Babylon. You've seen, okay, here's a
description, red, expensive, but now we get into the description of we've got a
beast, we've got horns, we've got kings.

If you're beginning to scratch your head a little bit and wondering what in the
world does all this mean, John knew that you would be feeling that way. The Lord
knew you'd be feeling that way right now, because verse nine, the very next
verse says this, "This calls for a mind with wisdom. The seven heads are seven
hills on which the woman sits.

There are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet
come. And when he does come, he must remain for a little while.

The beast, who once was and now is not, is an eighth king, and he belongs to the
seven and he's going to his destruction. " Now, right now, you are really
scratching your head. Somebody on a research team wrote about this.

It reminds me, this part of the chapter, it reminds me of how I feel when I
watch the show Lost every week. I keep thinking at some point it's going to
click and make sense, but each week the story keeps getting bigger and bigger
and more full and more confusing. And that may be exactly how you feel right
now.

I mean, you've got a beast and you've got kings and you've got horns and you've
got hills and what in the world is going on here? Let's just walk through it. As
we walk through it, I think it will become clear.

First, who is the beast? That answer is the clearest of all. The beast is Satan.

The beast already has been identified as Satan, and this woman, this worldly way
of thinking is riding on the back of Satan. In verse 8, "The beast which you saw
once was, now is not, and will come up out of the abyss and will go to his
destruction. " That's a description of Satan.

Who is the woman? Babylon, the world system, riding on the back of Satan. This
world selfish system, we think we've come up with it ourselves, we're just
riding on the back of the evil one.

He's just carrying us along in his way. People think they're so creative when
they're selfish. We think we're so creative when we sin sometimes.

We are not. We're just riding on the back of Satan. So the beast is Satan and
the woman is this worldly way of thinking, but then we hear there are seven
heads and ten horns.

What do those represent? We get some description because God knew we'd be
thinking about this. The seven heads are seven hills on which the woman sits,
and you think, "Okay, maybe I've got it figured out," immediately you hear, "and
there are also seven kings.

" What is this about? Who are the seven kings? Let me go back to verse 9.

"This calls for a mind with wisdom. " Whenever you hear that phrase in
scripture, it's not talking about you being better at calculus. It's not talking
about you being better at psychology, although it might be good to be better at
those disciplines.

It's talking not about the ability to solve a puzzle. It's talking about
somebody who has the knowledge of God and the heart of God and of his word. So
as you go back to God's word, what does this mean?

Let's focus first of all, just as we walk through this verse by verse, let's
focus first of all on who these seven kings are. And there are different
understandings of these seven kings. Some people, many, write that it is the
seven kings of Rome.

We've got seven hills here, Rome was built on seven hills. Obviously, there's
some picture of Rome here. And Rome, without a shadow of a doubt, we said this
earlier this week, is a picture of the worldly system.

So the thought is maybe this is seven kings of Rome, the Caesars maybe from
Augustus to Domitian. In order to get seven kings of Rome, though, you have to
leave some Caesars out. It's not an exact science, but some people think that
it's just talking about Rome in that day.

And John is picturing for the people in that day the fact that this world
system, this Roman system, it's going to be done away with. Others see it a
little bit more broadly in history. They understand it to mean seven kingdoms,
the kingdoms of Egypt and Assyria and then Babylon and Persia and Greece and
Rome, which is present right now.

And then a last kingdom, maybe the one at the end of time that will be done away
with at one time. Again, that could be true. There's no doubt when you look back
to Daniel that there is some picture of that here.

You do have to subtract some kingdoms, you have to add some in to make this work
well, but there is a possibility that this is a span of history so that people
could see this isn't just Rome, there have been there have been Babylon's before
this, there'll be Babylon's after this. And in all of them, God is going to
work. God is going to work to bring about a new plan, a new place.

Others see this just as a picture of the fullness of evil. The number seven and
the number 10 show fullness. They say it's just a picture of the fullness of
evil, but there's something more here.

It doesn't just say seven and 10, there's some exact description here. Five have
fallen, one is and the other is yet to come when it talks about these seven
kings. What is that about?

When you think about the picture here, there is a spiritual picture here,
whether you're talking about Rome, or you're talking about the seven kingdoms of
Egypt, Assyria, or you're talking about kingdoms to the end of the world, there
is a spiritual picture here not to be missed. Five of these evil empires are
defeated. One is almost done in, and there's one other one to come.

That's showing something about evil. Evil is almost done in, five are defeated,
almost done. One we're living in, it's still now, we're having to still live in
it today, that's going to be defeated as well.

And by the way, there's going to be another one at the end of time. And God's
going to defeat that one too. Pretty amazing stuff when you look at how God is
working through human history.

What is God's work in human history? If you want to know where we stand in human
history, because of the cross of Christ, evil has almost been done in. Oh yes,
we're still living with it today.

And yes, it's going to have to be defeated for sure at the end. But it is
certainly done in, and it's almost finished when you look at God's view of human
history. All right, we've got the seven kings figured out.

And just when we feel like, okay, I've got some understanding of that, all of a
sudden he throws in, oh, by the way, there's an eighth king. Who is this eighth
king, all of a sudden? The eighth king, very clearly, is the beast.

He belongs to the seven, and he is also going to his destruction, the Bible
says. Many think that this idea of an eighth king refers to the false Christ and
the false resurrection that we looked at earlier in the book of Revelation.
Remember, Jesus was resurrected on the eighth day, resurrected on the first day
of the week.

But in one sense, that's also the eighth day. It's the day that comes after the
seventh day. So there is a sense here, there's a possibility here, a very
powerful sense, God is helping us to see, there will be a false anti-Christ with
a false resurrection, but he's going to be defeated just as well.

Now, seven kings, an eighth king. But then we have something else to figure out,
because all of a sudden he throws in also, oh, by the way, there are also 10
other kings to be thinking about, 10 horns. In verse 12, 12 and 13, the 10 horns
which you saw are 10 kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but who for one
hour will receive authority as kings along with the beast.

They have one purpose and will give their power and authority to the beast.
There are many who give very exact definition to who these kings might be
towards the end of time, the idea that they'll be rulers who have very short
reigns and who think somehow that they are going to control the entire world.
There are always different ideas of who these might be based on the world system
at the time.

For you and I, it's not identifying exactly who it is, it's identifying exactly
what God is doing. This is a group of people who think they have power, but they
won't rule for but an hour, just a very short time. And the key in these kings,
and they seem to come after the seven kings, they seem to be lesser than the
seven kings, they seem to come at the end of time and be a part of what the
beast is trying to do to control this world.

What these 10 at the end, these 10 who come into power don't understand is
they're just promoting the agenda of Satan. They think they're in power, but
they won't rule for long, and they're just promoting somebody else's agenda. Now
I know there's a lot of numbers in your mind right now.

You've got seven hills, you've got seven heads, you've got seven kings, you've
got an eighth king, you've got 10 kings. All of those represent fullness, sevens
and tens. And all of these pictures represent power, hills and heads and kings.

They represent power. The point is what we're talking about here is world
history. And if you look at these, the first and the last, it's the practical
nature, the practical description about how the kingdoms of this world go, how
the Babylon's of this world end up.

God is picturing for us the fact that kingdoms come and go in this world, but
His plan is what's going to last. Don't miss the truth here, that this spans all
of world history. If you miss the fact that we're talking about every
civilization that set itself up against God from the beginning, you've missed
the point of the book of Revelation.

God's going to deal with that. He has a plan that's above that, and His plan
will last. If you miss that what we're talking about here is focused on the
world that we live in today, the materialism in this world, that you and I have
to live apart from this world, we're in the world but not out of the world,
you've missed the point of the book of Revelation, and that God has a plan
that's going to last, not this world.

And if you miss that there'll be a great final world empire that's going to
exhibit all of these qualities and that God's going to do away with in the end
as He ushers in His kingdom, you've missed the point of the book of Revelation.
It's about all of world history, and it's also about my history and your history
and how we're going to live our lives. Let's take a minute to pray.

Our Father, we thank You that as You outline history for us in simple ways, You
remind us that it's almost over. Evil is almost done in, and that Your plan is
going to prevail in the end. And I pray whatever circumstances we're facing
today, whatever problems we're facing today, whatever evil we might be facing
today, help us to hold on to that hope.

Help us to hold on to the fact that You, our Father, You have a plan that will
certainly come to pass. And Your plan is a plan for goodness, Your plan is a
plan for redemption, Your plan is a plan that instead of the world winning, the
worldly way of thinking, that Your way of thinking will be victorious for all
eternity. Thank You for Your plan.

In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Tomorrow we're going to talk together about the
confidence that God gives us in all this.