The Collapsing Empire

Good morning everyone. How are you doing Chapel family?

- Good.

- Good, great. Good to be with you today. We're gonna be in the Book of Revelation, so if you wanna grab a copy of the scripture and just go to the back and then turn left, that'd probably be easier to find your place. We're gonna be in chapter 17, and as you're getting there, if you have any experience or exposure to this book, this apocalyptic Book of Revelation, then... Or maybe if you've just been journeying with us the first couple weeks in this series, then you understand that there are images in the Book of Revelation, that can be confusing at times, maybe even troubling, or perhaps even all the way to disturbing, if we're honest. Because you know, we're humans. We're reading this book and we're limited in our understanding, and maybe if we're honest, sometimes reading and interpreting Revelation can feel a bit like trying to interpret the lyrics to a Beatles song. Not like early Beatles. Not like, "I wanna hold your hand," Beatles, I'm talking late Beatles, all right? Like "Sergeant Pepper," okay? "White Album." I mean, have you ever actually read the lyrics to "Come together?" They're weird, I'll be honest. Like maybe you could finish this one. "He wear no shoe shine, he got toe-jam football." Anybody? Did you guys have an extra hour of sleep or not? I'm just confused. All right, I mean, have you listened to "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds?" And I don't need you to tell me what that stands for later, like after the service, okay? But what in the world are tangerine trees and marmalade skies? And maybe a bigger concerning question is, who is the girl with kaleidoscope eyes? That sounds like a medical condition. I'm not sure, like what's happening. Did anybody check in on them? Like are they okay? I blame Yoko. I mean, let's just leave it there, right? But that's neither here nor there, because misinterpreting the lyrics to a Beatles song, the consequences of that are far different than the consequences of missing the purpose of the Book of Revelation. And sometimes when we encounter things that are confusing or troubling or maybe disturbing, sometimes maybe a few people like really pressing, have to figure it out, get the commentary, look it up online. Some people just consider it or maybe turn it into Christian entertainment. So there's books and movies that can tell the story, right? But I think a lot of people probably just may sometimes feel like they give up, and maybe avoid revelation as much as biblically allowable, because maybe we'll just turn to the Psalms for some encouragement instead of trying to figure out what this means. But it's important that we don't just pass on Revelation, because even in the beginning of the book, look what Revelation 1:3 one says, "Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed there are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near." So there's encouragement, there's blessing here, there's something for us here, and we will miss that if we just move on to the easier parts of the Bible, if I could say it that way. So today, as we get into our text, as we get to Revelation 17, we're gonna talk about the collapsing empire. And as we're in this series and looking at how this truth applies to our lives today, that's what we'll find here. We're gonna plumb deep, okay? So we're gonna get in our "Yellow Submarine" and we're gonna go very deep, if you're still with me, all right? We're gonna go deep into this image, this very, at times alarming image, in Revelation 17 and 18. But when we come up for air, we're gonna see that this has relevance for our lives today. So stay with me here, okay? Let's look at our text in Revelation 17, beginning in verse one, it says this, "One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, 'Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits by many waters. With her the kings of the earth committed adultery, and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries.' Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and 10 horns. The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls. She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries. The name written on her forehead was a mystery: Babylon the great, the mother of prostitutes and of the abominations of the earth. I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of God's holy people, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus." So right away in this passage we're introduced to three figures, an angel, a woman, and a beast. The angel is identified as one who was connected to the seven bowls of judgment that had just been laid out in the previous chapters. So this is one of those angels, and essentially what this angel does for John, is say, "Come, I'm gonna show you the great punishment, the punishment of the great prostitute. I'm gonna give you some behind the scenes backstage access to how these judgments play out. What's the effect of this judgment?" And so we're introduced to the woman. Now, the woman we're told is a prostitute, and John says that very clearly. The angel says that through John very clearly. What else we know? This woman is powerful, because of her affiliation with the kings of the earth. That they're in league with her. We also know that she's wealthy because of how she's dressed, purple, scarlet, gold, precious jewels, all the rest. And we know that she's murderous, because it says that she's intoxicated with the blood of the saints, the blood of the faithful. So this is a blood thirsty, cutthroat, wealthy, powerful prostitute and whose name is Babylon. That's how this woman is introduced. We're gonna get more details later, but that's the opening picture. As I said, this could be troubling, this is maybe even confusing, but stay with me. We also meet this beast, that she's riding on a scarlet beast. That scarlet is the connection to the woman, dressed in purple and scarlet. Well, this beast is scarlet as well, covered in blasphemous names, and then there are the seven heads and 10 horns. There's a lot of numbers in revelation, aren't there? There's a lot of sevens, there's a lot of tens, there's lots of twelves, there's a lot going on. But what this tells us, if we've been paying attention in the Book of Revelation, what this tells us is that this description is identical to the description given to the great dragon in Revelation 12, and the same description to the beast that comes out of the sea in Revelation 13. So John's connecting the dots, and whether or not these are separate or distinct incarnations of the enemy, the takeaway is clear. This image is the ultimate expression of evil. And that's how this vision, this particular vision within Revelation begins. This is the ultimate expression of evil. Now, what we might miss and what maybe seems perplexing to us would be less perplexing to John's original audience. Remember, he writes this to seven churches. That's how the book begins. He's a pastor, he cares for these seven congregations and he's writing to give them encouragement. Well, they would've understood, because their scripture, like ours, the Old Testament, their scripture contained these images of prophetic judgment that they were familiar with. And what they would've recognized, as they see or read what John has said, they would've recognized that this vision is pulling from many famous Old Testament passages of prophetic judgment on the evil empires of the world. So in mind would've been passages like Ezekiel 28 and Jeremiah 50 and Isaiah 23, among many others. And what they would've recognized and what we need to recognize, is that John is essentially documenting this vision that is converging all of the Old Testament judgment passages into one singular scene. In other words, all of this was pointing forward to the moment when God would judge evil for good. Because this is an old battle of these empires that oppose God, and God will deal with them and he sometimes deals with them in the moment, but at the very least, what we take away is that he will deal with it ultimately and totally in the end. So they would've recognized that this was converging all into one vision. We'll look how our text continues in the second half of verse six. John says, "When I saw her," that is the prostitute, Babylon. "When I saw her, I was greatly astonished." The language literally is, "I marveled a great marvel." "I was greatly astonished. Then the angel said to me, 'Why are you astonished? I'll explain to you the mystery of the woman and of the beast she rides, which has the seven heads and 10 horns. The beast, which you saw, once was, now is not, and yet will come up out of the Abyss and go to its 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 it once was, now is not, and yet will come. 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, and one has not yet come; but when he does come, he must remain for only a little while. The beast who once was, and now is not, is an eighth king. He belongs to the seven and is going to his destruction.'" So stay with me here. The first thing that maybe stands out to me the most from what we just read is John's reaction to that very troubling vision. John is not horrified, he's astonished. In fact, some scholars even comment on the fact that it's as though John is fixated on what he sees. I mean you read it like I read it, right? This terrible description of this woman who's wealthy and powerful and murderous, called Babylon, but the text and John's reaction seem to indicate that he's almost, for a moment, under a spell. Like drawn in. "I marveled a great marvel" is, like I said, the text says. He was greatly astonished. Now maybe let's pause for a second. Can I take you to high school literature English class? I know those maybe are memories you've tried to block out, but maybe you're like, "At a time like this, that sounds great." Remember Homer's "Odyssey?" And Odysseus was sailing with his friends and they were making their way past the group of sirens. Those women who had that alluring call and the sailors were always captivated by the call of the sirens, do you remember this? And if you followed that song, if you went to them, you'd be destroyed. It was so beautiful and compelling and alluring, and yet anyone who followed it would be destroyed. That's what I think of when I see John's reaction to the woman, because she's a woman of power and influence, and money and status and perhaps even beauty. And it's almost like for a moment, even John starts to get pulled in just a little bit, to what he sees. And the angel says, "Why are you astonished?" Essentially like, "Wake up!" And then he says, "Let me peel back the curtain and give you a little bit more insight into who you are looking at." And so what he goes on to describe, it's clear, obviously the word is Babylon, but the conclusion that we draw from all of the descriptors is that Babylon is a code word for Rome. Babylon is the code for Rome, but not code like to be secretive. Like how parents of young small children talk in front of their young small children. Like, "Do we have any more C-O-O-K-I-E-S?" Right? Like that kind of? That's not what I mean. The code wasn't to be secretive, it was to be associative. In other words, what this word meant was, Rome is just like Babylon. It was actually a slam. It was actually a diss. It was actually a negative. And all by the way, Babylon was destroyed, Rome was in power. So this was a political statement as much as anything else, like Rome is going down, even though they seem unstoppable. And that's exactly the conclusion, right? That we're supposed to draw. Like the seven heads are seven hills on which the woman sits. Well Rome famously is a city on seven hills. It was known for that. And then the angel says, "But those seven hills are also seven kings." Now whether the point was for us to try to pinpoint where in the chronological order of Roman emperors this was, and some have tried to do that like, "Well, was this about Nero or Domitian or Vespasian or what... Where was this in the chronology?" Maybe so, but if you know John and how much he loved the number seven, it's all over his writings, and it stands for completion and totality. So perhaps at the very least, the takeaway is, I know Rome feels like they're unstoppable. Like there's nothing that can penetrate their power. There's nothing that can bring them down but they're Babylon. To see them for what they really are is what the angel wants John to see. Our text continues with further explanation and more imagery and more numbers. Look with me in verse 12, "'The 10 horns 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. They will wage war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will triumph over them because He's Lord of lords and King of kings. And with Him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers.' Then the angel said to me, 'The waters you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations and languages. The beast and the 10 horns you saw will hate the prostitute. They will bring her to ruin and leave her naked. They will eat her flesh and burn her with fire. For God has put it into their hearts to accomplish His purpose by agreeing to hand over to the beast their royal authority, until God's words are fulfilled. The woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth.'" So we see there's a power struggle, though it's not really an even match, is it? These 10 kings have a limited authority, a limited power. They're in alliance with the beast, albeit temporarily. Because they wage war with the beast and the woman, and the Lamb triumphs. Of course, the Lamb triumphs. But when that attempt at a coup and that attempt to take over from the kings and the beast and the woman doesn't work, they all turn on the woman, they dispose of Babylon. Babylon goes down. Because these evil alliances are motivated by self-interest, therefore they are temporary. And so the woman is destroyed, Babylon is disposed of, because whenever a Babylon, a spiritual Babylon, no longer suits the purposes of the beast, it destroys her. So this is the scene. They make war on the Lamb, then they turn on the woman, but the Lamb triumphs. And then in case there was any mystery, we looked at verse 18, "The woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth." Well, certainly in John's time, that was Rome. But it's important that we understand what's happening here in this judgment passage of Revelation 17, is that God is pronouncing judgment over Rome, yes, but more than that. Yes, this applied to a real place and a real time, and real people in a real situation. But this applies to more than just Rome, because Babylon is that code word that stands for a system of oppression. Scott McKnight, one scholar, he said it best, he put it like this, "Babylon was and is a timeless trope," or theme, "For empires and nations and powers that systematize injustices, oppress the people of God, and suppress the truths of liberation." So yes, that absolutely was Rome, especially at John's time. John's writing this in the late part of the first century, give or take around 90 AD. And at that time, Christians in Rome were killed for sport. That they were often sentenced to death in the Colosseum. That they were, as you've heard stories of Nero, lighting the streets by setting Christians ablaze as human torches. I mean this was not a favorable time for Christianity, for disciples of Jesus, in an empire that opposed him, oppressed people and suppressed the truth of liberation in Christ. So yes, it's about Rome, but it's also about more than Rome, because the spirit of Babylon is alive and well. Even though Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian Kingdom is long gone, far off the scene, the spirit of Babylon is alive and well, and this was important for John's early readers, and here's why. Because many of them had a Jewish heritage and in their minds, in their collective consciousness, Babylon had left a mark. Because it was Babylon who had destroyed Solomon's temple. It was Babylon who had upended their entire way of life. It was Babylon that had carried them away into exile. Yes, Assyria had a part in that too, but Babylon left a spiritual scar on the consciousness of the Jewish people. And of course, that's their history, that's their heritage as well. And so for what John is telling these seven churches is that as sure as Babylon fell, so too will Rome. What a shocking statement to make. So he gives us this vision and then in verse... Or excuse me, chapter 18, he continues, and here's kind of this judgment song we'll see. "After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven. He had great authority, and the earth was illuminated by his splendor. With a mighty voice he shouted: 'Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great!' She has become a dwelling for demons, a haunt for every impure spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, a haunt for every unclean and detestable animal." In other words, it's laid waste. "For all the nations have drunk the maddening wine of her adulteries. The kings of the earth committed adultery with her, and the merchants of the earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries." Fallen, "Fallen is Babylon the great." As John recorded these words, he used the aorist tense in Greek, which communicates an action that's already done. It's in the past essentially. From heaven's point of view, Babylon has already fallen, yet at the time it was a future event for John, but from the perspective of heaven, it's as good as done, it's as good as over. And then look what happens in verse five. "Then I heard another voice from heaven say: 'Come out of her, my people,' so that you will not share in her sins, so that you'll not receive any of her plagues; for her sins," Babylons, "Are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes." In other words, judgment is coming. Come out from Babylon, my people, come out, be separate, be distinct, because judgment is coming. So remove yourself from the association with Babylon. Come out and be separate is a theme of the scripture frequently. And then the last part that we'll look at in our text today, in verses six to eight, the same voice from heaven says, "Give back to her as she has given; pay her back double for what she has done. Pour her a double portion from her own cup. Give her as much torment and grief as the glory and luxury she gave herself. In her heart she boasts, 'I sit enthroned as queen. I am not a widow; I will never mourn.' Therefore in one day, in one day, her plagues will overtake her: death, mourning and famine. She will be consumed by fire, for mighty is the Lord God who judges her." And then we don't have time to look at the rest of these verses, and verses nine through 20, but what you would see if you looked at them, and I encourage you to, is that you'd see a threefold song of grief from kings of the earth and merchants and sea traders, who are weeping and mourning over Babylon, but they're not doing that out of compassion, like, "Poor Babylon." They're mourning and weeping because they've been hit in their wallets. This is how they got rich, this is how they got status, this is how they got power, and they're grieving the fact that the golden goose is dead. That's all their grief is, it's self-interested. So with all this talk of Babylon the great and this judgment song in chapter 18, for John, who saw this vision, and for the seven churches that he addressed this to, what did this mean for them? I mean, I told you at the outset that this would have encouragement and blessing. So what would've encouraged them? What would've blessed them? Well, as I said, Rome, the Roman Empire felt unstoppable. Like nothing could stop or interrupt the machine of oppression, and living under the thumb of the empire, as these dissident disciples were trying to do, as they were trying to be faithful witnesses, like we heard about last Sunday, in the midst of an empire that opposed God, they're given access to what's to come. That as I said, as sure as the fall of Babylon was, and it happened just like that, so too will that be for Rome. Now for us, on the other side of history, that feels like, "Well yeah, of course that's like the thing..." The fall of the Roman Empire is the thing that people talk about in study and books have been written about, and apparently a lot of guys think about that on a regular basis. Like, "What's your Roman Empire?" That's like a thing. But it's a thing of history. But for John, this was reality. It was like nothing is gonna change my daily reality. And you know what's interesting? The encouragement was not, "Hey, how can we reform Rome? Maybe how can we ignite a little bit of light here?" No, instead it was disregarding the evil oppression of the empire. How can you remain faithful to the Lamb in the midst of it? So what did this mean for John and the seven churches? It meant that empires come and go, but the kingdom is forever. And it may seem like Rome's singular focus at times is to stamp out the light of the gospel. But guess what, John? They're not gonna be able to do it, because in time, the Roman Empire will be long gone, but the church will remain. The Roman Empire will be a thing of history books, but the church will be alive and well long after that. I know it seems dark and it hopeless right now, but take confidence in that the Lamb has triumphed. So that's what it meant for John and the seven churches. But maybe, here's a question for us. What does this mean for us today? 'Cause here we are. And when we interact with a passage about Babylon the great, this terrible prostitute, we might be thinking, "Does this have any relevance for my life in this time, in this election season, in America, in western New York?" I promise you it does. Here's the first truth for us to hang onto. One, we leave vengeance to the Lord, we leave all vengeance to the Lord. The first thing that comes to mind is, how this passage answers the longings of the human heart. "How long, Lord?" "How long, Lord?" I mean that's a universal question, isn't it? We've all been in that spot where our circumstances feel heavy, and sure, maybe for many of us that doesn't mean loss of life for the gospel. That probably is not the reality for many of us here today. That is the reality or the potential reality for many brothers and sisters around the world. But there's all of us, it's a universal question. "How long, Lord? How long?" And it's also a very old question. 'Cause you could go back into the Psalms, in places like Psalm 13 or Psalm 74, others that ask that very same question, "How long, Lord?" And in fact, John brings that question into his revelation in chapter six. Look at verses nine through 11A. "When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. They called out in a loud voice, 'How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?' Then each of them was given a white robe and they were told to wait a little longer." just a little longer, saints. Just a little longer. And here we are in Revelation 17 and 18, and the answer to the saint's question, not just of Revelation 6, but of all the saints down through the history, you and me. "How long, Lord?" Just a little bit longer."They called out in a loud voice, 'How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?' Then each of them was given a white robe and they were told to wait a little longer." Just a little longer, saints. Just a little longer. And here we are in Revelation 17 and 18, and the answer to the saint's question, not just of Revelation 6, but of all the saints, down through the history, you and me. "How long, Lord?" Just a little bit longer. See, the thing is, for us, we, our instinct, our flesh, mine at least, and maybe you'll agree, is that sometimes when we are wronged, we want to give back to that person how we feel. We've even got that expression, giving them a taste of their own medicine. I almost wonder if that came from Revelation 18 or however misconstrued, give them a double portion of their own cup, right? But see, here's the problem. We think, or at least I do, sometimes, that we see those wrongs clearly. We think that we see everything perfectly. We think that we have a perfect view of how we are wronged and in what ways and all of the rest. And so we, our inclination is to avenge ourselves, to make them pay, to make them feel what we feel. And the word tells us, leave all vengeance to God, because He alone sees it perfectly and clearly. He alone can judge rightly and accurately, the one who is mighty, for mighty is the Lord God who judges. He's the powerful one. He sees it all perfectly clear. You and I, we just don't. And God, by His grace, invites us to participate in many things with Him. He's so kind to do that. He invites us to participate with Him in His mission. He invites us to participate with Him in evangelism or in discipleship. But one of the things that God does not invite us to participate with Him is vengeance. He says, "Leave it to me. Leave it for me. I'll take care of it." And if Revelation 17 and 18 tells us anything, it's that these spiritual Babylons that oppose God, and wherever that system of oppression and anti-God spirit exists, God will judge it. I still remember being a freshman in college, which was 18 years ago. And one of my professors said, "God's wheels of justice turn slowly, but they grind fine." He doesn't miss anything. He sees everything. Leave vengeance to the Lord. He will take care of it and He will do so perfectly. He will not make any mistakes in His response, it will be perfect. But there's a second idea, don't be seduced by the allure of earthly kingdoms. And these are not disconnected ideas. Don't be seduced by the allure of earthly kingdoms. You know why these are not disconnected? It is because sometimes when we're wronged we may think, "Well, what we should do is try to tip the scales of power in our favor and then we can really let them have it." And so maybe we are even temporarily drawn into the siren call of earthly power, that this will solve it. And we're almost like John, staring at the woman and we're almost drawn in, fixated. And the angel wants to say to us the same thing he said to John, "Why are you astonished? Why are you looking there for the answer?" Don't be seduced by the allure of earthly kingdoms. Because just as it was in John's day, there are spiritual Babylons in our day, embodied in the empires of the world and all systems that reflect that anti-God spirit. And the spiritual Babylons even hold out a cup to us and invite us to drink it, as if this will solve everything. That maybe we get twisted and think that, you know, if I could borrow a line from the line from, "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," that wrongs will be made right when our political candidate is in sight. Don't be seduced by the allure of earthly kingdoms. Don't buy it. And since we're all friends and family, let's just go there together. There's an election on Tuesday. I don't know if you heard. It's okay, we're all good, everything's good. But let me ask you this question, or maybe I'll say it this way. Your hopes cannot be dashed to pieces on Tuesday, no matter what happens. If your eyes are on an eternal kingdom, nothing can steal your joy, nothing. Because joy and despair are not on the ballot. And you and me together, I mean, I'm just speaking as your brother in Christ here. We better wake up on Wednesday and check our spirit, before we check what happened on the night before. We better ground ourselves in the word of God, living forever and true. We better ground ourselves in the word, and if I could actually just... Can I just riff for a second? Could I just give you a challenge that before you check your news outlet of source... Preferred news outlet on Wednesday morning, before you check it, open your Bible. That's just brother to brother, brother to sister, okay? You good? See, I told you we're good. Nothing to worry about. But there's a third truth for us to hang onto, and it's reject the ways of Babylon in your own life. Reject the ways of Babylon in your own life. You know, the theological tribe that I was brought up in, trained in, spent a lot of time talking about identification. Who's the beast? Who's the antichrist? Who's the prostitute, right? The ***** of Babylon, right? Who are all of the... Who's 666, right? A lot of time was spent, many studies in Revelation, I think, are spent on identification. Who is it? Who is it? And who wouldn't wanna crack the code, right? I mean, and there's... But there's been some humorous examples. Like do you know about this one? Ronald Reagan is the antichrist. You didn't know that one? Oh yeah, because his name is Ronald Wilson Reagan, six, six, six, six letters in each of his names, right? I'm not propagating these ideas, these are not my... These are not my ideas, just to be clear. But look, everybody under the sun has said, this president or this prime minister or this so-and-so, or Martin Luther had some really interesting ideas about who the antichrist was. And all of them, interestingly enough, have come and gone. And like the guy who wrote the book, this is real, "88 Reasons why Jesus is Returning in 1988." Well, either he was wrong or we missed it, so I'm not sure. But look, look, look, here's the point. We can either read Revelation for identification, or speculation, or we can read it for reflection. Where is Babylon in my life? Come out of Babylon, my people. And what God also wants to do is take Babylon out of you and me. So there's markers that we could look for and I'm gonna fly pretty quick, but there's the deceitfulness of earthly riches. That's a marker of spiritual Babylon, believing that money is for my own consumption, and money is for my own satisfaction, and money will actually cure my aching soul. That's a marker of Babylon. Or the exploitation of other people for my personal gain. I mean, we didn't look at it, but one of the things that Babylon is judged for is selling human beings as slaves. That's the exploitation of people. And even though salvation... Or excuse me, even though slavery has been eradicated from our country a long time ago, it still exists around the world. But that's not the only way it manifests, because I can exploit people, and we could do this, can't we? We can exploit people around us to make ourselves look good. We can twist some things that happen at work to really turn the credit to ourselves. We can use people for our own interests. And by the way, we can also vote that way for our own personal gain. Because maybe you liked how your retirement account looked when one party was in office, but not so much the other. But is that really gonna decide it? That's Babylon. Or arrogance, that I'm invincible, that I just build my own empire and I don't even need God and then when stuff goes wrong, I'm mad at God. But this is all an arrogant Babylon spirit. There's more, but asking God to remove and reject the ways of Babylon in your own life, my own life, is a good place to begin. And then fourthly and finally, remember that the Lamb will triumph. This is such good news. This is so good, we have to go back to it. Revelation 17:14, it says this in our text. It's okay, I have it here too. Revelation 17:14, thank you. "They will wage war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will triumph." But the Lamb will triumph, but the Lamb will triumph. There is no empire that can take down the Lamb. Empires come and go, the Lamb and his kingdom stand forever. And no matter what you're going through, no matter what you walked in carrying, and I dunno what that could be, I wanna remind you, and really this is the point, the Lamb will triumph. Even when they thought they could take down the Lamb. 'Cause on Friday, it looked like the Lamb had lost. But on Sunday the Lamb triumphed, He is and will and forever, always will be the king above every king and the Lord over every Lord, and every earthly kingdom will bow its knee to Him, and that's really good news. So we can live settled, we can just live at peace. Do we have preferences about how these things should go? Sure. Are there some things that align with the values of scripture and the gospel? Yeah, those things are... Of course. But no matter what happens, no matter what may come, no matter what the outcome of a presidential election in America will yield, changes nothing about Revelation 17:14. "The Lamb will triumph." And don't believe the lie that if this person or that person gets elected, that the world's going down, don't believe it. Because the world will come to its consummation when the Lamb says it's time, not when anybody else says so. I'm just excited talking about it, but let me end where we began. Revelation 1:3, "Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, blessed are those who hear it," that's us. "And take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near." Let's do that church. We're gonna respond in worship, in song and in the Lord's supper in just a moment. But before we get to that, let's take time right now and just would you bow your heads and close your eyes with me. Let's just reflect and I wanna give space even now for us to call out to the Lord, just in the quietness of our own hearts in this moment. Maybe just ask, God. God, would you expose all the ways that Babylon shows up in my own life? Maybe secondly, Lord, would you just reveal the times, the ways I've taken my eyes off the Lamb? Maybe finally just confess. Father, would you forgive me for ever thinking my hope is in an earthly kingdom. Lamb of God, king of kings, we bow before you. We do, Lord, repent of the spirit of Babylon in our own hearts, and how so easily we can be caught up in the allure of the temporary and lose sight, lose priority. I pray, Lord, that Revelation 17 and 18 would be a recalibrating for us, to readjusting our perspective. Thank you for the many, many blessings that you've poured out on us, particularly in this country. We don't take that for granted. And we know that our citizenship is in heaven, a part of your eternal kingdom. So help us to live in this country as foreigners and sojourners, representing the kingdom of God wherever we go. Thank you that you are so gracious to us, you are so kind to us, you're so patient with us that you just... You bring us truth when we need it, and you correct us and you realign us. God, thank you. Pray that our worship would be pleasing and acceptable to you in your name, amen.