This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

This is day five of our look together through Revelation chapter 17, and as we
walk through these verses again today, we're going to look back again at this
beast, this source of evil on which the woman called Babylon sits. Remember, the
beast is Satan. The woman, Babylon, is the worldly way of thinking, which can be
in my individual life.

As it's described for us in Revelation 17, this worldly way of thinking makes
its way into our culture, into our civilization. But the worldly way of
thinking, the selfish way of life, is riding on the back of a beast. So to
understand what's happening with our worldly way of thinking, to understand
what's happening with my own selfishness, you have to understand the beast.

You have to understand Satan. You have to understand the source of evil. And
there are three very important understandings spread throughout this chapter.

First understanding. This is a beast that once was, now is not, and yet will
come. We read that yesterday, and you may have wondered what does that mean, but
then we went on to talk about hills and heads and horns and everything that was
going on.

What about this beast that once was, now is not, and yet will come? This is
important. It's said three times for us in verse eight and then also in verse
11.

In verse eight, "The beast which you saw once was, now is not, and will come up
out of the abyss and go to his destruction. " And then at the end of that verse,
"He once was, now is not, and yet will come. " Then verse 11, "The beast who
once was, and now is not, is the eighth king.

He belongs to the seven, and he's going to his destruction. " What is this
about? Satan who once was, now is not, and yet will come.

And if you read the beginning of verse eight, "will come to his destruction. "
Satan once was. He came into this world in the Garden of Eden, he tempted
mankind, and he became what scripture calls the prince of this world or the
ruler of the powers of the air.

He controlled in many ways for a time the thinking of mankind. He controlled
through his temptations, through the temptation to pride, the temptation to
power, the temptation to pleasure, he controlled our thoughts and our ways. And
if you were looking just at history, you might have thought that was the end of
the story.

He once was. But then Jesus came into this world, and on the cross, Jesus Christ
defeated the power of Satan. You can read about it in the book of Colossians.

It's done away with. It's finished. It's over.

Jesus said on the cross, "It is finished. " Not it will be finished, but it is
finished. Satan once was, he was in this world, he now is not.

He is defeated already on Calvary. It's a finished, finished product of the
goodness of God and the power of God and the grace of God that was shown to us
on the cross. But he yet will come, and the book of Revelation is showing that
there will come a great outpouring of evil at the end of time, one last gasp
before his final defeat.

But he will come to his destruction. He comes up out of the abyss, but he goes
to his destruction. He goes from destruction to destruction.

That's the description. And when you understand that, about who Satan is, you
understand that about evil. You get a picture that helps in every temptation
that you face, in every evil circumstance of this life.

It once was, and it may seem to be real now. But when you look at the cross, you
see that that which seems to be real, the cross is more real. That is what's
going to last.

And you realize that he yet will come to his destruction. That is the future of
Satan. This beast, he once was, he now is not, and yet will come, there's a
second description in Revelation 17 of the beast.

The beast will make war against the lamb. Revelation 17 verse 14 says, "They
will make war against the lamb, and the lamb will overcome them because he is
the Lord of lords and the king of kings. And with him will be his called,
chosen, and faithful followers.

" As we said last week, there will be people who battle against God to the end,
motivated by this beast, by Satan, saying, I'm going to give you what you want,
thinking that somehow they can win. It's one of the great mysteries in the world
to me that this will happen, but maybe not so mysterious at all when I see my
own pattern of sin and selfishness. Without Christ, this is where all of us
would be.

But in Christ, I recognize something new, something fresh. He is the Lord of
lords. He's the king of kings.

We've talked about all these kings, ten kings, seven kings. You might be
thinking, I can't figure out all the kings. I don't know what it all means at
this point.

Well, let me help you. You only need to remember one king, Jesus Christ, the
king of kings, and the Lord of lords. And in the end, every knee will bow, every
tongue will confess that he is the Lord of lords.

The seven kings, the seven hills, the seven heads, the ten kings, the eighth
king, the beast, the woman on the beast, all of them, Jesus, you're Lord, Jesus,
you're the king. So if Revelation chapter 17 is a chapter that has confused you
somewhat, all that confusion comes to this point. There is one king that we
follow.

And that king, Jesus Christ, he will defeat all the powers of evil in this
world. He already has on the cross. And we're going to see that victory to the
end.

And that one king, Jesus Christ, he will be honored by all others in the end.
The beast will make war against the lamb, but in the end, he will be worshiping.
Then the beast will be worshiping the lamb, the Lord of lords, the king of
kings.

The beast once was, now is not, and yet will come. The beast will make war
against the lamb and will eventually worship the lamb. And a final picture of
the beast.

The beast will ruin Babylon. Listen to this, Revelation chapter 17 verses 15 and
16. Then the angel said to me, "The waters you saw where the prostitute sits are
peoples and multitudes and nations and languages.

The beast and the ten horns that you saw will hate the prostitute. They will
bring her to ruin and leave her naked. They will eat her flesh and they will
burn her with fire.

" Now, first, as we walk through this, you have these waters. What is the
meaning of waters? It represents a multitude, a multitude of people.

We have the sea, which is this multitude of people that are worshiping God at
the beginning of the book of Revelation. And here you have waters that represent
peoples and multitudes and nations and languages. When you hear many voices at
once, if you've ever been in that situation, it sounds like rushing water.

Many people at once, millions spread out like this, they look like an ocean. So
you have all these incredible multitudes of people. And in this, where this
prostitute, this Babylon, this worldly selfish way of thinking sits, in this,
the beast is eventually going to ruin even this worldly way of thinking.

The woman is destroyed by the beast. Now, that is a sign of two things. Number
one, evil is self-destructive.

Evil will eventually consume itself. You can see this today. You can see an evil
person who thinks they have power and thinks they have life, but eventually they
end up consuming themselves, their family, their health, their very life.

Evil eventually turns in on itself and consumes itself. It can do no other
because it's selfish. So because of its selfishness, it consumes itself.

But there's more here than that, much more here than that. In the fact that the
beast ends up being part of what consumes, what condemns Babylon, there is a
sign also of the fact that God is in control. The book of Revelation is
extremely clear about this.

In verse 17, here's what the scripture says. Here's what the scripture says
about the beast. "For God has put it into their hearts to accomplish his purpose
by agreeing to give the beast their power to rule until God's words are
fulfilled.

" So here are these peoples, these multitudes, these nations, these languages
who will give the beast their power to rule, and God's going to use even that.
Now, if you're looking just at history from a human perspective, it would look
like the beast had won everything in this situation. Everyone's following the
beast.

Everyone's given the beast power. But in the end, God knows what will happen.
The evil will turn in on itself.

God knows exactly what will happen. When you see evil in this world, realize God
did not create that world, that world of evil. And God is not making the choice
for that evil to happen.

There are human beings who are making the choice for that evil to happen. But
even in the fact that God did not create that evil, nor did he make the choice
to do that evil, that does not negate the fact that God is in control, even of
what happens out of that evil. And he will use even an evil heart to accomplish
his purposes.

Because his purposes are what will prevail in the end. God put it into their
hearts to accomplish his purpose by agreeing to give the beast their power to
rule. Even in that, God is in control.

So no matter what evil someone's trying to bring against you, no matter what
evil you see in this world, even in that, God is working to bring those to
himself who need to come to himself. And that's all of us. And to bring this
world to himself in the end.

All this talk about Babylon is summed up in verse 18. The woman you saw is the
great city that rules over the kings of the earth. The woman is the great city.

We have both woman and city. And it's Babylon. It's this spirit of selfishness.

And it rules over the kings of this earth. Babylon is both woman and city. We
began this week with the picture of Babylon the woman in chapter 17, and the
woman in chapter 12, who is the people of God, the church of God.

Babylon the woman is the unholy opposite of the bride of Christ. Babylon the
city is the ungodly opposite of the New Jerusalem. You see, God has an answer.

We are all the bride of Christ. We are all going to be in the New Jerusalem. And
all Satan has is a way to twist that answer and offer the world emptiness, offer
the world loss, offer the world what may seem attractive at the beginning, but
is lost in the end.

What's so attractive about Babylon? In Babylon, we seem to get what we want when
we want it. But one day, we'll discover that it's not what we really wanted at
all.

In the New Jerusalem, with the bride of Christ, we get what God wants when he
wants us to. And one day, we'll discover that it's what we really wanted all
along. Our Father, thank you for knowing us.

Thank you for knowing us, even in our confusion and in our selfishness. And
thank you for working in our hearts, in my heart, to bring us to you, to bring
us to holiness, to bring us to Christ, to head us toward this place called the
New Jerusalem, where a new heaven, a new earth, we get to enjoy all of what you
have made for all of eternity. Lord, I ask this in Jesus' name, amen.

Next week in chapter 18, we're going to continue to get God's perspective on
what really lasts and how to build your life on that which lasts.