1. "False gods promise freedom and deliver slavery. False gods promise power and deliver weakness. False gods promise pleasure but deliver everlasting suffering."

2. "The lament here in verses 16 and 17—not John's lament, it's not heaven's lament, it's the merchant's lament. They're mourning the loss of their own wealth. They're not sad over the loss of life. They're not sad over the loss of history or culture. They're lamenting the loss of present and future wealth."

3. "Sexual immorality seeks pleasure without promise. It wants closeness without commitment. It treats the other person as a body without a soul."

4. "Don't judge ultimate destinies by present appearances. Don't pin your ultimate hopes on any earthly nation or ruler or leader or policy or plan."

5. "The worship of wealth turns human beings into objects. The worship of wealth turns human beings into commodities to be bought and sold like spices and cloth."

6. "What you think of as freedom is doing whatever you want, living by your own law, pursuing your own ends, free to choose whatever kind of lifestyle you want. John is showing that ultimately to be an idolater, to make yourself your own God, to live for your own pleasure as your highest good, isn't freedom, it's slavery."

7. "Let your conscience draw clear, bright red lines that you will not cross, even if it costs you your job. Decide in advance that wherever your conscience draws the line, you'll obey it at any cost."

8. "Unlike the ill gotten luxuries that Rome is clothed with, the people of Christ are clothed in clean, pure linen. This represents our righteousness works. These righteous works don't earn our way to heaven, but they demonstrate our faith."

9. "Jesus is saying, I'm not going to celebrate again until you're there with me. Like he did at the wedding of Cana, Jesus is saving his best for last, and he's saving it for you."

10. "If you trust in Christ, one day Jesus is going to tell you where to sit. He sent you the invitation, and he has written your name on a place card. This is the promise he holds out to you. He won't feast until you feast with him."

Observation Questions

1. Read Revelation 17:1-6. What specific details are given about the woman's appearance and behavior? How does John react to seeing her?

2. Look at Revelation 17:9-14. What do we learn about the beast's seven heads and ten horns? What is their relationship to the woman?

3. In Revelation 18:11-13, what types of goods are listed in the merchants' cargo? What is significant about the final item in the list?

4. Examine Revelation 18:21-24. What specific activities will cease in Babylon? What does this tell us about city life?

5. Study Revelation 19:7-8. How is the bride described? What is the meaning of her clothing?

6. Consider Revelation 19:10. Why does John try to worship the angel? How does the angel respond?

Interpretation Questions

1. Why does John use the imagery of a prostitute to represent Rome? How does this metaphor help us understand the relationship between economics and idolatry?

2. The text describes God's judgment as surprising, complete, just, instant, and permanent. How do these characteristics relate to Rome's claims about itself?

3. What does the contrast between the prostitute's clothing and the bride's clothing tell us about true versus false glory?

4. How does the merchants' lament over Babylon's fall reveal their true values? What spiritual principles can we draw from their response?

5. What does Jesus's promise not to drink wine until the kingdom comes teach us about His relationship with His people?

Application Questions

1. When was the last time you found yourself attracted to one of the five false promises mentioned in the sermon (power will protect you, wealth will fulfill you, pleasure will satisfy you, injustice will benefit you, idolatry will empower you)?

2. Think about a recent purchase or financial decision. How did you weigh your desires against God's priorities? What would you do differently next time?

3. Where in your life have you drawn a "bright red line" that you won't cross, even if it costs you something? What other areas of your life need similar boundaries?

4. When did you last experience pressure to compromise your values for economic gain? How did you respond, and what did you learn from that experience?

5. How does the promise of the wedding feast of the Lamb change how you view earthly celebrations and pleasures? Name a specific way this affects your choices.

Additional Bible Reading

1. Isaiah 47:1-15 - This passage describes ancient Babylon's downfall, using similar imagery of a queen becoming a slave, highlighting God's consistent judgment of prideful nations.

2. Hosea 2:14-23 - God promises to restore His relationship with His people using marriage imagery, providing background for Revelation's wedding feast imagery.

3. Matthew 22:1-14 - Jesus's parable of the wedding feast illustrates both the invitation to God's kingdom and the proper response required from those invited.

4. 1 John 2:15-17 - This passage explains why we shouldn't love the world or its promises, connecting directly to the sermon's warnings about false gods.

Sermon Main Topics

The Challenge of Spotting Fraud in Human Stories

God's Judgment of Counterfeit Gods and Their False Promises

The Exposure of Deceptive Visions of the Good Life

The Eternal Joy Found in Christ’s Triumph

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Detailed Sermon Outline

- The story of James Acaster and Mick illustrates how humor and absurdity can mask truth.

- Holmes’ fraudulent claims about blood testing expose the allure of wealth and innovation without integrity.

- The woman represents Rome’s economic exploitation, while the beast symbolizes its political/military power (Revelation 17:3–4).

- Rome inherits Babylon’s legacy of idolatry and oppression (Revelation 17:5, 18).

  - Rome’s apparent invincibility is overturned unexpectedly.

  - Babylon’s desolation leaves no trace of former glory.

  - Judgment matches the measure of evil committed.

  - Destruction arrives swiftly, with no time for repentance.

  - Babylon’s fall is irreversible; its influence is erased.

- Earthly alliances ultimately collapse (e.g., kings turning on Rome).

- Merchants mourn material loss, revealing misplaced priorities.

- Sexual immorality and indulgence dehumanize and disappoint.

- The slave trade exemplifies exploitation for temporary gain.

- False worship corrupts and diminishes humanity.

- Believers must reject cultural ideologies opposed to God’s truth.

- The church is clothed in righteous deeds, symbolizing purity through Christ.

- Eternal celebration replaces earthly counterfeit pleasures.

- The angel rebukes John for misplaced worship, redirecting focus to Christ.

- Babylon’s destruction contrasts with the eternal wedding feast.

- Jesus postpones His full joy until believers join Him in glory.

Can you spot a fraud? That's the challenge posed by the British comedy panel TV show, Would I Lie to youo? On the show, there's two teams of three players each, and they have to guess which statements by the opposing team are true and false. For instance, a guest comes onto the set, stands by silently, and the three players on the team each have to say their relationship to the guest. Only one of them is true.

The opposing team has to guess which. Are you ready to try out your skill? During one episode featuring the eccentric English comedian James A. Caster, the guest was a young, smiling boy named Mick, who was a friend of A. Caster's family. A. Caster claims that Mick became his sworn enemy because of a practical joke that got out of hand. Over a period of six months, in many instances, and in an escalating manner, Mick harassed Acastor with cabbages.

He placed cabbages throughout Acastor's room and his house. He sent him cabbages in the mail. Acastor even had to go to the post office one time to pick one up. There's a little note inside of it that said, you, got cabbaged again.

This continued until Acastor retaliated by removing all the articles out of Mick's room and replacing them all with cabbages.

True or false? At the end of the round, young Mick confirmed that he is indeed James' mortal cabbage enemy. How about this one? Spot the fraud. No longer on the game show.

A young woman begins her career in technology by studying chemical engineering at Stanford. In 2003, she comes up with the idea to make blood tests more accessible and easier by using only a tiny drop of blood. The dean of Stanford's School of Engineering backs her idea. She founds a firm, raises almost $100 million in venture capital, and assembles a board that was called the most illustrious board in U.S. corporate history. It included a former Secretary of State.

By 2013, her company announces a partnership with Walgreens to launch in-store blood collection centers. In 2014, Forbes recognizes her as the world's youngest self-made female billionaire, with her company valued at $9 billion. True or false? Real or fraud? Well, true.

But fraud. I'm speaking of Elizabeth Holmes, founder of Theranos. Her company was soon exposed. The whole thing was based on fraudulent, exaggerated claims. Her story is well known.

Her company dissolved. She's now serving 11 and a half years in prison. How about this one? Spot the fraud. If you want to live a good life, seek wealth, power, pleasure, by whatever means you can get them.

True or false, real or fraud? This morning we continue our series in the Book of Revelation with chapter 17, verse one through chapter 19, verse 10. It starts on page 1,037 of the Pew Bibles. Our whole passage trains us to spot a fraud. It shows us a fraudulent vision of the good life.

And it warns us about what happens when it's exposed. More specifically, our passage warns us not to trust counterfeit gods. It shows us that one day God will judge all counterfeit gods and he will expose all their lies. On that day, he and he alone will be the source of real joy. I'll read the whole passage and then we'll study it together.

Revelation 1719-10.

Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, 'Come, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality, and with the wine of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk. And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names. And it had seven heads and ten horns. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality. And on her forehead was written a name of mystery, Babylon the Great, Mother of Prostitutes and of Earth's Abominations.

And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. When I saw her, I marveled greatly. But the angel said to me, why do you marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast with seven heads and ten horns that carries her. The beast that you saw was and is not, and is about to rise from the bottomless pit and go to destruction.

And the dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel to see the beast, because it was and is not and is to come. This calls for a mind with wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated.

There are also seven kings, five of whom have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come, and when he does come he must remain only a little while. As for the beast that was and is not, it is an eighth, but it belongs to the seven, and it goes to destruction. And the ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have not yet received royal power, but they are to receive authority as kings for one hour together with the beast. These are of one mind, and they hand over their power and authority to the beast. They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called, chosen, and faithful.

And the angel said to me, the waters that you saw where the prostitute is seated are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages, and the ten horns that you saw, they and the beast will hate the prostitute. They will make her desolate and naked and devour her flesh and burn her up with fire, for God has put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose by being of one mind and handing over their royal power to the beast until the words of God are fulfilled. And the woman that you saw is the great city that has dominion over the kings of the earth. After this, I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was made bright with his glory. And he called out with a mighty voice, Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great.

She has become a dwelling place for demons, a haunt for every unclean spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, a haunt for every unclean and detestable beast. For all nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed immorality with her. And the merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power of her luxurious living. Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues, for her sins are heaped high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. Pay her back as she herself has paid back others, and repay her double for her deeds, mix a double portion for her, for her in the cup she mixed.

As she glorified herself and lived in luxury, so give her a like measure of torment and mourning, since in her heart she says, 'I sit as a queen, I am no widow, and mourning I shall never see.' For this reason her plagues will come in a single day, death and mourning and famine, and she will be burned up with fire, for mighty is the Lord God.

Who has judged her. And the kings of the earth, who committed sexual immorality and lived in luxury with her, will weep and wail over her when they see the smoke of her burning. They will stand far off in fear of her torment, and say, 'Alas, alas, you great city, you mighty city Babylon! For in a single hour your judgment has come!' and the merchants of the earth weep and mourn for her, since no one buys their cargo anymore. Cargo of gold, silver, jewels, pearls, fine linen, purple cloth, silk, scarlet cloth, all kinds of scented wood, all kinds of articles of ivory, all kinds of articles of costly wood, bronze, iron and marble, cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, frankincense, wine, oil, fine flour, wheat, cattle, and sheep, horses and chariots, and slaves, that is, human souls.

The fruit for which your soul longed has gone from you, and all your delicacies and your splendors are lost to you, never to be found again.

The merchants of these wares who gained wealth from her will stand far off in fear of her torment, weeping and mourning aloud. Alas, alas, for the great city that was clothed in fine linen and purple and scarlet, adorned with gold, with jewels, and with pearls. For in a single hour all this wealth has been laid waste.

And all shipmasters and seafaring men, sailors and all whose trade is on the sea, stood far off and cried out as they saw the smoke of her burning, What city was like the great city? And they threw dust on their heads as they wept and mourned, crying out, Alas, alas, for the great city where all who had ships at sea grew rich by her wealth, for in a single hour she has been laid waste. Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets, for God has given judgment for you against her.

Then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, so will Babylon the great city be thrown down with violence, and will be found no more. And the sound of harpists and musicians of flute players and trumpeters will be heard in you no more. And a craftsman of any craft will be found in you no more. And the sound of the mill will be heard in you no more. And the light of a lamp will shine in you no more.

And the voice of bridegroom and bride will be heard in you no more. For your merchants were the great ones of the earth, and all nations were deceived by your sorcery. And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints and of all who have been slain on earth. After this, I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, crying out, Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God.

For his judgments are true and just, for he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality, and has avenged on her the blood of his servants. Once more they cried out, Hallelujah. The smoke from her goes up forever and ever. And the 24 elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who was seated on the throne, saying, Amen.

Hallelujah. And from the throne came a voice saying, Praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, small and great.

Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters, and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. It was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure. For the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

And the angel said to me, Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said to me, these are the true words of God. Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, you, must not do that. I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus, worship God, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. As you have no doubt noticed, this is a long passage.

This is an intricate passage. I'm gonna give us the big picture. I'm gonna give us highlights. I'm gonna give us the main message. There are plenty of details I will not be able to explore in detail.

I'll happily talk to you at the door afterward or anytime throughout the week. Our passage has three main Movements. All of chapter 17 is a vision of a woman riding a beast and an explanation of that vision. In brief, the point is God is going to judge the counterfeit God of Rome. We'll see that in much more detail.

Then chapter 18, verse 1 through chapter 19, verse 5 gives another vision of this woman's downfall along with responses by kings merchants, sailors, and God's people. Those hallelujah choruses in chapter 19, verses one to five are God's people responding to the downfall of this woman who stands for Rome and more than Rome. Then in that last little bit, chapter 19, verses six through 10, we get a vision of the joyful celebration of God's people on the last day when we are united to Christ forever. So chapter 17, verse one through chapter 19, verse five is all focused on God judging this counterfeit God.

The reasons why and the consequences of it. So the question our passage answers is, what will God do about false gods and their promises? Our passage gives three points in reply. Point number one, counterfeit gods judged. Counterfeit gods judged.

Again, we see this throughout almost the whole passage from chapter 17, verse 1 through chapter 19, verse Five. Most of the sermon is going to be the first two points and they each kind of topically look at that whole big chunk. So in this point, we'll first do some work understanding the passage's imagery as a whole and then I'll help us meditate more deeply on God's judgment with a quick series of sub points. Big picture, first obvious question, who is this woman? This prostitute whom God judges?

She represents Rome. And more than Rome. For John's original readers, several details plainly identify this woman as a symbol for Rome. For instance, in the angel's explanation to John in chapter 17 verse 9, he says the beast's seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated. Every ancient hearer would have instantly known that this refers to Rome as a city built on seven Hills.

That was a famous description of Rome, a well-known understanding of its geography. Further, the description of the woman's relationship to Kings and Merchants only fits the city and Empire of Rome. First century Rome had somewhere around a million inhabitants. It was the largest city in the Western world all the way up until 18th century London passed it in population. Meaning not that Rome was populated that heavily that whole time but at its peak.

It was the largest city the Western world had ever seen all the way up until the 18th century. The Catalog of Goods in chapter 18, verses 12 to 13 can only describe the huge amount of luxury items that were shipped into the capital city to be consumed there. Or again, in chapter 17, verse 18, that that phrase, at the very end of the explanation of the vision, the woman that you saw is the great city that has dominion over the kings of the earth. There's only one city in John's day that has dominion over the kings of the earth. That's Rome.

So the woman stands for Rome and especially the city of Rome, this concentrated capital city of a million people. That helps us understand her relationship to the beast. Earlier in chapter 13, the image of a beast stood for Rome. But here in chapter 17 verse 3, the woman is riding on a beast. So what's going on here?

I think the woman represents Rome, specifically the city of Rome, and specifically the city of Rome's economic power. The kingdoms that Rome conquered paid tributes, they made deals, they were taxed, they paid for the privilege of Rome's protection. They paid Rome to be included in Rome's trading network. Like clients pay a prostitute for her favors. You hear throughout the passage this accent on Rome's economic exploitation and how those who partner with her and benefit from it grow rich off the deal.

So in this vision, the city of Rome's economic relationship to its empire is fundamental. That's why he refers to the many waters that she sits on. It's her trading throughout the Mediterranean. And it's why he describes her ornate clothes. Chapter 17, verse 4.

She's arrayed in purple and scarlet, adorned with gold and jewels and pearls. That stands for all of her wealth, her luxury. So throughout our passage, the city of Rome's prostitution is fundamentally her economic exploitation of the territories she conquered. That prostitution is inseparable from injustice and idolatry, as we'll see. But it's important to understand that this repeated graphic metaphor of sex for hire is fundamentally an economic critique.

So then the prostitute relates to the beast as follows. Here's how New Testament scholar Richard Bauckham put it. Rome's economic power, the harlot, rides on the back of her military and political power. The beast. The woman is the city.

The beast is her imperial power, her political and military might, which serves the city's ravenous appetites until in the end it doesn't. As the angel explains in chapter 17 and toward the end of the chapter, the beast itself turns on the woman and destroys her. The image is one of evil ultimately undermining and undoing itself. Evil enacts the judgment of God on evil. We see at the end of chapter 17 that once the beast destroys the woman, the beast and all its allies is in turn destroyed by Christ's final judgment.

So there's a sense here of leading up to and concluding in Christ's final victory and final triumph. Looking at verse 5, really a key verse for the chapter. Chapter 17 verse 5, On her forehead was written a name of mystery, Babylon the Great, Mother of Prostitutes and Averts Abominations. What is this mystery and why is she called Babylon. The mystery is that the ancient city of Babylon lives on in the city of Rome and in all the cities of the world that embody idolatry and injustice.

It's every city that lives for the glory of self at the expense of others and the disregard of God. Rome resembled Babylon in being a proud, idolatrous, oppressive empire. It also Babylon in being the chief power that conquered and oppressed the people of God. Rome became the heir of Babylon by setting its face against God, his people and his ways. For readers who knew their Old Testament, they would know that Babylon was the ancient empire in what's modern day Iraq and they were the ones who carted off Israel into exile.

They were the ones who oppressed them, destroyed their temple, cast them down, took them away. So John is naming the modern power. With the name of the ancient power to help the readers understand the deep spiritual significance of the times they're living in. Rome set herself against God and even set herself up as a god. Some ancient Romans worshiped a deified version of the city called Roma.

And our passage shows Rome viewing itself in God-like terms. Look at chapter 17 verse 8. The beast that you saw was and is not and is about to rise from the bottomless pit and go to destruction. And the dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world will marvel to see the beast, because it was and is not and is to come. That language of was and is not and is to come is a parody of Christ, the one who was and is and is to come.

And Christ even in a sense was not through his death and then came back through his resurrection and will come. In his second coming. So what's going on here is that these details of the beast's career refer to myths and rumors that circulated after the death of Nero, that somehow he would return and reclaim power. Nero was a counterfeit Christ. Nero was a counterfeit God, which explains why the people marvel at the beast.

This is false worship offered to a false God. Similarly, chapter 18, verse 7, Here's what the woman says about herself. As she glorified herself and lived in luxury, so give her a like measure of torment and mourning, since in her heart she says, I sit as a queen, I am no widow, and mourning I shall never see. She glorified herself and proclaimed that she would live and prosper forever. Rome called itself the eternal city.

That's why in the liturgies of mourning that follow God's judgment of Rome, people say in chapter 18, verse 18, what city Rome was like the great city. This is the language of incomparability. It's as if they're saying, who is like you, O Rome? No one was like her. None could compare with her.

That's the kind of language that rightly belongs only to God. So Rome itself is a counterfeit God. And she offered her worshipers power, prestige, wealth, security, luxury, and abundance. She promised the good life to all those who pledged allegiance to her. And a necessary part of that whole package, that whole buy-in, was false worship.

Deifying emperors, offering sacrifices to Rome's traditional gods, participating in idolatry as a normal part of civic life. To get Rome's benefits, you had to worship Rome's gods. And that ultimately is why God promised to judge her. Now for the what. Notice how the text describes the actual event of judgment.

It does so several times in several ways. Back in chapter 16 verse 19, at the very close of last week's passage, we hear that Babylon, AKA Rome, fell through a massive earthquake. By the way, just to link up this passage with the last one, that last part in the end of chapter 16 was the seventh bowl. Then we have one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls revealing this further description of Babylon's judgment. It's just double clicking on that last part.

It's just giving us more detail on the last judgment we heard about last time. So that was 1619. Rome falls through an earthquake. But then in 1716, The beast devours the woman. It's a picture of Rome being devoured by those who were its allies.

But then in chapter 18, verses 8 to 9, we learn that in a single day, God brings upon her the plagues, disease, famine, and fire all at once. This is a kaleidoscope of images. We're not meant to somehow slot them into a sequence or a timeline or blend them into one. Each one of these images shows us something of the severity of God's judgment, something of its completeness, its finality, its rightness. And of course, the point of warning about Rome's judgment is to warn that every power like it will be judged.

Every ruler who demands worship, every empire that enriches the few at the expense of the many. Every earthly power that treats itself as a god and treats humans as objects for its use. In other words, this kaleidoscope of images for the judgment of this one power points to God's final judgment of every power, all powers that oppose him. The point here is not so much that what God will do to this one city, but what he'll do to every city, every power, every person that resists his rule. Now, let's meditate a little more deeply on the character, the quality of God's judgment on these false gods.

Five brief sub points that answer the question, how will God judge counterfeit gods? Number one, surprisingly, surprisingly. In one sense, that's the main point of all of chapter 17. In verse 6, John marvels at the woman because she's so beautiful and luxurious and powerful. First century Rome was a marvel of power and pleasure.

There are first century Roman coins that picture Rome as a woman reclining tranquilly on the seven hills, her foot casually resting on the river Tiber. It's a symbol of power so complete it appears effortless. Rome called itself the eternal city and it looked like an eternal power. God's judgment of her is surprising. It reverses appearances and expectations.

In John's day, you could not have seen it coming. Don't judge ultimate destinies by present appearances. Don't pin your ultimate hopes on any earthly nation or ruler or leader or policy or plan. Don't treat any human political power as if it will last forever. Subpoint number two, completely.

God will judge counterfeit gods completely. Chapter 18, verse 2 tells us that God's judgment will leave Rome utterly desolate. No people will live there, only birds and animals and demons. And then in chapter 18, verses 20 to 24, an angel takes up a huge millstone. It would have been a massive object and chucks it into the sea to symbolize how completely Rome will be destroyed.

No more music, no lights, no crafts, no making food, no weddings. Life itself will cease.

Number three, justly. God judges counterfeit gods justly. This is one of the main points of our sermon last week on chapters 15 and 16. If you weren't here, I'd encourage you to listen to it. But several points of our passage also point to the justice of God's judgment.

Its rightness, its fairness, its fittingness. Look at chapter 18, verses 6 and 7.

Pay her back as she herself has paid back others and repay her double for her deeds. Mix a double portion for her in the cup she mixed. As she glorified herself and lived in luxury, so give her a like measure of torment and mourning. The phrase double here doesn't mean twice as much as she deserves. Instead, it means an exact match, something perfectly proportionate, a punishment that matches which is the measure of the wrongs committed.

And it is in that sense it's double, it's equivalent. God's judgments are true and just. That's what we see in chapter 19, verses one to two, where we hear heaven's response to God's judgment of the earth. Hallelujah, salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for his judgments are true and just. For he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality and has avenged on her the blood of his servants.

God's judgments rightly respond to reality. They are deserved. God's judgment is proper and perfect. God's judgment completely removes and repays evil. How you respond to the prospect of that judgment depends in part on who you identify with more.

Oppressor or oppressed. Not that those are the only two categories of human beings. Not that those two categories are mutually exclusive, but they are categories that a whole lot of people have some experience of. This week, Caleb sent me a historical anecdote of slaves in the 19th century facing a thunderstorm. Recounted by the historian Milton Cernett.

The slaves believed that there would be a day of judgment when those who had oppressed them would receive due recompense for their evil deeds. Moses Grandy remembered how during violent thunderstorms, whites hid between their featherbeds, but the slaves would go outside and lifting up their hands.

Thank God that Judgment Day was coming at last. Subpoint number four, instantly. God will judge counterfeit gods instantly. Look at chapter 18, verse 10. They will stand far off in fear of her torment and say, 'Alas, alas, you great city, you mighty city Babylon, for in a single hour your judgment has come.

God's judgment will come swiftly, unpredictably, all at once. You will not have time to cram for that final exam. You will not have the opportunity to negotiate your bill down before you have to pay it. You will have no chance to hire an expensive lawyer and prepare the best defense of yourself. That you can.

When God's judgment comes, it will happen instantly, but it will not be over instantly. Subpoint number five, permanently. God will judge false gods permanently. That's the point of chapter 18, verses 21 to 24. Then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, so will Babylon the great city be thrown down with violence, and will be found no more.

And the sound of harpists and musicians, of flute players and trumpeters, will be heard in you no more. And a craftsman of any craft will be found in you no more. And the sound of the mill will be heard in you no more, and the light of a lamp will shine in you no more, and the voice of bridegroom and bride will be heard in you no more. For your merchants were the great ones of the earth, and all nations were deceived by your sorcery. And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints and of all who have been slain on earth.

When God's judgment overthrows the city, it will never be rebuilt. God's work of judgment will be permanent. It'll be irreversible. Not only that, it'll be eternal. Look at chapter 19, verse 3.

Once more they cried out, Hallelujah. The smoke from her goes up forever.

And ever. Rome is not eternal, but God's judgment is. One day God will judge all counterfeit gods. And when He does, He will expose all their lies. All of their promises will be seen to be lies.

Point number two, false promises exposed. False promises exposed. Again, this is another key theme of basically the whole passage from chapter 17, verse one all the way through 19, verse five. What's unique about this passage is the way it characterizes the appeal of Rome's prosperity, her luxury. Why were so many people taken in?

Why were they enticed? Well, there's all this luxury, this beauty, this pleasure, this wealth. So what's going on here is that John is showing us how people got taken in, why they got taken in, what were these false promises by which Rome bewitched the world? Here come five of them, five false promises that God's judgment will expose. Number one, power will protect you.

Rome tried to shore up its own power by incorporating other client kings and regional powers into her empire. And those client kings and other rulers thought that by getting Rome on their side they'd be good. But the vision of chapter 17 shows us that those kings turned against Rome and destroyed her and ultimately Christ judges those kings. It is never safe to put your ultimate confidence in worldly power whether your own or or the power you're trying to cozy up to for their protection. Chapter 17, verse 16, They will make her desolate and naked, and devour her flesh, and burn her up with fire.

That's why the kings of the earth lament in chapter 18, verses 9 and 10, the kings of the earth lament, alas, alas, you great city, you mighty city, Babylon. They were powerful and they took refuge in her power. They were powerful and they wanted more power by cozying up to her power. Are you ever tempted to treat earthly power as a replacement for God? Are there any human institutions that you're tempted to commit yourself to absolutely?

Power can deceive you into thinking you only want it for noble reasons. You only want it to serve others. There's nothing selfish in your desire for it. It's natural to want power, right?

Power is a subtle drug and a strong drug. It's easy to get hooked. False promise number two, wealth will fulfill you. Wealth will fulfill you. Now we turn back to chapter 18, verses 11 to 17, where all these merchants mourn the loss of their chief buyer.

Look again to chapter 18, verses 11 to 17. And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn for her, since no one buys their cargo anymore. Cargo of gold, silver, jewels, pearls, fine linen, purple cloth, silk, scarlet cloth, all kinds of scented wood, all kinds of articles of ivory, all kinds of articles of costly wood, bronze, iron, and marble, spice, incense, myrrh, frankincense, wine, oil, fine flour, wheat, cattle, and sheep, horses and chariots and slaves, that is human souls. The fruit for which your soul longed has gone from you, and all your delicacies and your splendors are lost to you, never to be found again. The merchants of these wares who gained wealth from her will stand far off in fear of her torment, weeping and mourning aloud.

Alas, alas, for the great city that was clothed in fine linen and purple and scarlet, adorned with gold, with jewels, and with pearls.

For in a single hour all this wealth has been laid waste.

Verses 12 and 13 are a list of 28 goods that were imported into Rome from the farthest reaches of its empire and beyond, as far away as India and China. The number 28 is symbolic. Revelation's full of symbolic numbers. This one is 28 times 4, 7 for completeness, for for the earth. It's as if Rome tried to satisfy every appetite possible by getting every good possible from every region of the world possible.

The point of the catalog is to highlight Rome's insatiable appetite for wealth and luxury. Rome was a culture marked by conspicuous consumption. John's list is a historically accurate catalog of the most expensive luxuries that the refined tastes of the Roman elite demanded. It also includes items on which the regular life of the whole city depended like oil, wine, and wheat. The lament here in verses 16 and 17 is not John's lament.

It's not heaven's lament. It's the merchants' lament. They're mourning the loss of their own wealth. They're not sad over the loss of life. They're not sad over the loss of history or culture.

They're lamenting the loss of present and future wealth. They're lamenting, as it were, the loss of all their present and future paychecks, their investment accounts, their 401ks, their real estate equity. All of it has gone up in smoke in an instant. The point of John's report of this lament is to set a trap. When you picture this great cataclysmic bonfire in which the wealth of an empire goes up in smoke in an instant, what do you lament?

What's your attention drawn to? If there's any part of you that thinks, Man, what a pity, all that good stuff gone instantly, that shows you some of the danger lurking in your own heart. It shows you that in some ways your heart may be more given to wealth than to God. Kids and teens in the congregation, what messages do people around you tell you or imply or model by how they live about what the good life is and the role that money and wealth play in it? Could be your teachers, extended family members, your friends, their families.

You want to learn to think critically from a young age about what other people around you promote as a vision of the good life. Everyone around you has some vision of what will bring you joy and satisfaction. So one question to ask is, what role do they say money and wealth play in it? Can money fill your heart?

God's judgment warns that it can't. The only safe way to have any amount of wealth is to love God more than you love money and to love others in how you use your money. Wealth is only good if it leads to both thankfulness and generosity. Wealth can't fulfill you, but it can spiritually kill you. That's the message of these verses.

The only safe way to have any wealth is to be willing to lose all of it in order to keep God. False promise number three, pleasure will satisfy you. Pleasure will satisfy you. Look again at chapter 18, verse 14. The fruit for which your soul longed has gone from you and all your delicacies and your splendors are lost to you, never to be found again.

Found again. This verse highlights the promise of pleasure. It highlights its allure, the allure that says, get enough of me and you'll be satisfied. Have enough of me and you'll be filled. But no earthly pleasure can fully or finally satisfy you.

Throughout this passage, John uses sexual immorality and specifically prostitution as a metaphor for the whole complex of injustice, idolatry, and indulgence that characterized life in the Roman Empire. He's saying that in a certain sense, prostitution is a way of life. It's a way of false worship. It's a web of false promises. He uses sexual immorality as a metaphor for economic treachery and false religion.

But the choice of metaphor is telling. In our culture, sexual pleasure divorced from marital commitment is one of the most prominent and dominant idols. It is one of the most powerful false gods reigning in our society. And the pleasure that so many seek through it is a lie. Sexual immorality lies about life.

Sexual immorality seeks pleasure without promise. It wants closeness without commitment. It treats the other person as a body without a soul. Sexual immorality seeks to use someone for your pleasure rather than be united with them for both of your good. Sexual immorality treats the other person as a tool for enjoyment.

Rather than a person to be honored. Sexual immorality seeks the most pleasure with the least consequences. That dehumanizes both you and the other person. False promise number four, injustice will benefit you. Injustice will benefit you.

Look again at the end of the list in verse I imagine it probably already stood out to you. Fine flour, wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, and slaves, that is, human souls. This is a precisely worded critique of the slave trade. Anybody reading their Bibles in any portion of the world where a slave trade was or, frankly, is up and running should be able to read this and say, the Bible condemns the trading of slaves. The Bible condemns the purchasing of human souls.

I said it's a precisely worded critique. That's because the word translated slaves is literally bodies. In the Greek language, as it was spoken in the world of the New Testament, that was one way people described slaves as bodies that were bought and sold. There's even a slave trader whose gravestone has survived and is, you know, preserved in a museum. And it has his job title inscribed on his gravestone, literally a body seller.

That was the term. But then John adds, that is human souls. Selling human beings reduces them to bodies. But John says, don't forget their souls. The worship of wealth turns human beings into objects.

The worship of wealth turns human beings into commodities to be bought and sold like spices and cloth. Injustice promises benefit. If I pay you less than you deserve or say nothing at all, I keep more for me. But John's vision shows us that the short-term gain of injustice is a false promise. It's a bad deal.

It's a terrible trade. Don't pursue short-term gain at the cost of long-term judgment. Don't pursue short-term wealth at the cost of losing your soul forever.

False promise number five, idolatry will empower you. A fifth false promise, idolatry will empower you.

Rome's economic and political promise was one of power. Link up with me and you'll be good. Link up with me and you'll be safe. Link up with me and you'll be rich. Link up with me and you'll plug into this whole vast trade network that stretches throughout the empire.

The idolatry that came with it was a means to an end of desired empowerment. But false gods promise freedom and deliver slavery. False gods promise power and deliver weakness. False gods promise pleasure but deliver everlasting suffering. Idolatry will not empower you; it will diminish and dehumanize you.

Look again at chapter 19 verse 2: For his judgments are true and just; for he has judged the great prostitute who, corrupted the earth with her immorality. The word corrupted is moral but it's also more than moral. It refers to how the harlot's web of idolatry and immorality and injustice degrades those who are caught in it, how it diminishes them. It perverts them. It wears them down.

It keeps them from living the lives of justice and peace and flourishing that God ordains.

Idolatry is dehumanizing and self-destructive. If you're not a believer in Jesus, do you hear this list of five false promises?

Do they help you see any ways that what you think of as freedom might actually be becoming enslaved to desire? It's one of the great messages here. It's one of the great themes in this whole chapter. What you think of as freedom is doing whatever you want. Living by your own law, pursuing your own ends, free to choose whatever kind of lifestyle you want.

John is showing that ultimately, to be an idolater, to make yourself your own God, to live for your own pleasure as your highest good isn't freedom.

It's slavery. There's one verse that really tells us the practical thrust of this whole thing. All these warnings, the whole passage, look at chapter 18, verse 4.

Chapter 18, verse 4 is really the practical thrust of the whole thing. Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues. Now, John's hearers don't literally live in Babylon. Babylon itself doesn't literally exist anymore. But he's saying the departure that he's exhorting them to is not physical, it's moral, it's relational.

He's calling all Christians to dissociate from the dominant ideology and practices of our culture. He's saying, don't get in bed with Babylon. Instead, run away. Don't give the world your loyalty. Don't give the world your allegiance.

Don't give the world your friendship. As James 4:4 says, whoever would be a friend of the world is at enmity with God. Don't give the world your love. Direct your attention and affection to better things. Don't find your value and worth in the things that the world promises.

Don't find your security in the world.

Let your conscience draw clear, bright, red lines that you will not cross even if it costs you your job. Decide in advance that wherever your conscience draws the line, you'll obey it at any cost, and you'll trust the Lord to more than make up for whatever loss you incur. One day soon, God will judge all counterfeit gods. When he does, all their false promises will be exposed. So don't buy any of them now.

Instead, and our passage shows us an alternative, give your heart to the only one who offers you sure hope of real joy. Point three, real joy arrives. Real joy arrives. Just a few verses to cover. I'll be brief.

Verses six to ten of chapter 19. This is kind of a brief coda That just concludes our passage and it introduces themes that will be picked up much more in chapters 21 and 22. The downfall of Babylon makes room for the coming of a kingdom that cannot be shaken. The judgment of false gods and false promises gives way to a vision of true and endless joy for all who trust in Christ. Look with me at verses 6 to 10 of chapter 19.

Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters, and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure. For the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me, 'Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.' and he said to me, 'These are the true words of God.' Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, 'You must not do that.

I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus, worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. At the very end of this passage, verses 9 and 10, the angel solemnly underscores the blessing for all those who come to this feast. This is real joy. This is real happiness.

This is no fraud, no counterfeit, no false promise. This is joy at last and joy forever. To come to this supper is to be perfectly and permanently happy. Our passage creates a striking contrast between the prostitute Rome and the people of Christ who are a pure bride. Unlike the ill-gotten luxuries that Rome is clothed with, the people of Christ are clothed in clean, pure linen.

This represents our righteous works. These righteous works don't earn our way to heaven. But they demonstrate our faith. They prove who the people of Christ really are. Now, the news John hears at the end is so good, so overwhelming, that he kind of loses his mind for a second.

He starts worshiping the angel. The angel rebukes him. Nope, no, no, no, don't worship me. Let's go over and do that one again, you know. Only God is to be worshiped.

The angel is only a messenger. He's a witness like John. And his point about the testimony of Jesus and the spirit of prophecy is that witness to Christ and the witness Christ himself bore is the substance of this book. It's the inspired teaching of God's own spirit. Now, the main point of these verses, you see especially in verses 6 to 8, is that God has judged his enemies and now he rewards his saints.

This glorious day is pictured as a wedding. Throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament, God presents himself as the husband of his people. He is loyal and loving. He provides and delivers. He always keeps his promises.

And in this present age, those who trust in Christ are betrothed to him. We're engaged. We've solemnly pledged ourselves to him. But the wedding hasn't yet come. The time when we're united to him forever.

One day it will. And that will be the greatest of all wedding feasts. It'll be a wedding party greater than anyone ever thrown on earth and it will never end. That, in a nutshell, is the whole story of Scripture. And it's the whole story of this universe.

God created us to know Him, to love Him, to enjoy Him, and ultimately to be satisfied in His presence forever. By refusing Him, as even our very first parents, Adam and Eve, did, we've refused our own satisfaction. We've refused our own fulfillment, we've refused our own joy, and in doing so, we've scorned God. We've earned instead the opposite of joy, everlasting shame, everlasting contempt, everlasting suffering. But God has had a rescue mission to redeem his people and unite them to himself in perfect joy that he's been about since the very beginning.

Christ coming to us, coming to earth in the flesh is the key decisive event there. That's why he's referred to here as the Lamb. He came to sacrifice himself to pay the penalty for all of our sins of those who had turned from sin and trust in him. That's what he was doing on the cross, becoming the perfect sacrifice for all of our sins. God's judgment against these false gods, God's judgment against these false promises, it's what we all deserve.

It's what is coming to all of us unless you repent and trust in Christ. And if you do, this is your future. If you do, this is your final destination, not judgment but joy and glory in union with Christ forever. I've had the privilege of leading the Lord's Supper here a couple of times in the past few weeks. Always love to do it.

Once on Good Friday, once last Sunday night. Some of you may have noticed that I tend to choke up at a certain point right before the end. In fact, I think some of you in the West Hall may even have kind of gone on and taken the cup before I did. That's okay. Sorry.

Gabe Grob asked me about this on Sunday night. He's not the first member to ask. It's fine to ask.

The time when I get choked up is right before I read this verse from Luke 22:18.

I tell you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.

The reason I lose it when I read that verse is because Jesus is pledging to each of us, to each of you, that this meal in the Lord's Supper is an appetizer for the feast he's going to sit at you, sit with, what's my prepositions here? What's my pronouns? The feast he's going to throw for you. The feast he's going to be at with you. This is an appetizer.

This is what's coming next. This is what you have to look forward to. And he's not going to participate in any parties until you're there. He's not going to drink again of this fruit of the vine until everybody's gathered around that table.

Jesus is saying, I'm not going to celebrate again.

Until you're there with me, like he did at the wedding of Cana, by turning the water into the best wine. Jesus is saving his best for last, and he's saving it for you. Blessed are those who are invited. I don't know how you feel when you get a wedding invitation, a save the date, but this one is all blessing. If you trust in Christ, you have a personal invitation to this wedding feast.

In Matthew's version of this same saying of Jesus, he says in Matthew 26:29, I tell you, I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom. In his marvelous book, the Supper of the Lamb, Robert Farrar Capon says, I always take it as a compliment when a good man tells me where to sit.

If you trust in Christ, one day Jesus is going to tell you where to sit. He sent you the invitation and he has written your name on a place card. This is the promise he holds out to you. He won't feast until you feast with him. That's when real joy arrives.

Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this sobering warning of the coming judgment of counterfeit gods, the coming exposure of false promises, and we thank you for the hope that through faith in Christ, all of us in Him will be with you and rejoice in you forever. We pray you'd keep us faithful to that hope until the end. In Jesus' name, amen.