Corona Chronicles - Crown of Gold

So here we are again. We're still in Revelation chapter 17 were in the last few verses of Revelation 17, and I'm reading from verse 15. Then the angel said to me, the watchers you saw where the prostitute sits are peoples, multitudes, nations and language. 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 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. What's going on here?

Yeah. Well, as with as we've got to stuff in this chapter, it's difficult to make head or tail of what's going on. But in verse 15, we're returning to consider the fate of this prostitute. Who we were thinking about in the first verses a couple of corona chronicles ago. And we're gonna be learning about her and her fate in in this session.

And 1 of the things that we've seen about her is that she sits by many waters and she has this this global influence. So peoples, multitudes, nations, and languages. She she can influence everybody despite just being described as 1 woman. She she she influences all over the world. And, you know, it's a bit like, you know, the internet has made that possible for people today, hasn't it?

So you think of you know, YouTube, vloggers, they can just be sat in 1 place in their lounge, and yet communicating with hundreds of thousands of people across the world. They have a global influence through the internet. And that's kind of what she's got. She's described as this 1 and yet her her evil and her ways and her authority affects affects every corner of the globe, really. And she's a prostitute, isn't she?

So she's she's selling herself -- Yes. -- to people -- Mhmm. -- to enjoy her as it as it were. So I guess, I mean, I don't think it's only But it I guess there's a there's a lot of sort of lustful immoral, you know, adulterous things going on. And again, if you're taking the internet, I mean, there's more pornography on the internet than anything else.

So it's this influence of this seductive woman that people want to pay for. Right. Yeah. And we're gonna learn what happens to her in verse 16 and so on. So And it's interesting that that kind of up until now or these forces of evil that we've been considering, you know, the beast from the sea, the beast from the land, and the the kings and the powers, they're gathering together.

It's quite a kind of unified picture, isn't it? You know, they seem to have some degree of organization. They're behind the same thing. They're working for the same purpose. And yet actually, we discover now that that's all a bit of a sham.

You know? They're gonna turn upon upon upon themselves. You know, the beast and the 10 horns you saw will hate the prostitute. Well, hold on. I thought they were on the same size.

Yeah. You know, aren't they about the same thing. And there's a sense in which they are, they're Antichrist, so they're united in that. But actually, their selfishness and their sin is curving them in on themselves. Like, those dried leaves, you see in autumn, you know, they're curling in on themselves, aren't they?

And they're destroying themselves, which is what Jesus says in the gospels. You know, a house divided against itself cannot stand. When you start to wage war against the members of your own household, then you are coming down. Yeah. You know, and that's that is what is gonna happen.

And that's why civilizations do come down. Yeah. Because because they're based on self, and self aggrandism and, you know, self ease and self comfort and me. And and that me monster, has to be against your me monster. And although we may join hands to do something together, in the end, it's about me and what it's about you and that we're going to fight exactly.

So you eat yourself. Mhmm. We talk about that, don't we? You know. And that's what happened to Rome.

Mhmm. You know, Rome this superpower. Was was ruling over these people. Mhmm. But the people it ruled over came and destroyed growth.

Mhmm. And then you had the whole of Rome destroyed, you know? Yeah. I think that's right. And I think we see that in modern times as well.

Don't we? And it's a slight sidestep. But you know, if you think about some of the the kind of atheist creation stories that you hear. So here, you know, to believe that God created the world and to believe that God created life and he made life, you know, specifically with a design and then tension and you've formed life forms and, you know, that's dismissed as a stupid fairy tale. And the way that's presented to us, is as if that's That is the unified story that we must all believe.

And if you don't believe it, you're an idiot. And yet, when you pull the curtain back, You see there's quite a lot of infighting and division, even amongst that, but world view. Yeah. Yeah. So it's presented as like this is the fact, if you don't believe that you're an idiot.

But they really disagree with what you're saying. And you disagree with what they're saying. That's that's part of having a mind of wisdom as a Christian. It's just thinking, is this the full story, guys? You know, because I remember reading Bill Bryson's book, on I think it's called The History of Everything.

Yeah. It's a it's a terrific book. And 1 of the things that we we tend to get in the scientific world is that the scientific world is a whole load of harmonious people all working together to discover things that will help humanity. Yeah. But in that book, you can't help but see that actually, it's me and my trying to beat you in yours.

And how dare you get there first? Yeah. Yeah. And and then it's just it's just really it's just really interesting that that the history of science this fraternity that's -- Yeah. -- you know, there's there's infighting.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And and, I mean, you know, this happened to Rome, and and you know, Rome People say 1 of the main reasons Rome fails at from this superpower was the immorality. So this prostitute.

The immorality that was was part of it. Because people were so immoral and so selfish They had nothing bigger to fight for. And so when the barbarians of that rock came, They easily attacked Rome and sacked Rome because there was nothing bigger to fight for them. You know, they just lost the battle. So and it all started with utter and morality -- Yeah.

-- of the Caesars and of the leaders and all of that sort of stuff. Yeah. Absolutely. And, you know, at the end of verse 16, is gonna happen to this prostitute? I mean, you know, goodness.

They will bring her to ruin and leave her naked. And they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire. I mean, that's, you know, that's pretty clear. You know, that's pretty pretty terrible. It's a shameful, isn't it?

The idea of being left naked, not that particularly in this culture to not have a proper burial to be dumped naked is like a very shameful way to end your life. And they're doing it to each other. Yeah. You know, and then this verse 17, you know, God has put it into their hearts to accomplish this. You know, so this that's an amazing insight into the sovereignty of God, isn't it?

That he has not only allowed this to happen as a passive watcher. But he's ordained this self destruction, you know, to to to show that's the evil of Really? And that's what happened to Babbel in the in the story of the tower of Babbel -- Yeah. -- because they were trying to make themselves as God, and in the end, it all fell apart. And it does show us that the only way that man is united -- Mhmm.

-- and are brought into a fraternity. Is is through God. Lord is the 1 that brings all these nations together in what is called His people, the church. And that's where you see God's kingdom as so different to the kingdoms of this world.