Scarlet Woman and the Scarlet Beast - Part 1

Welcome to God First with Brian C. Thomas, a program committed to encouraging you to put God first while viewing life through the window of the Bible. Now, in honor of the one and only true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, let's join Brian C. Thomas for today's message. Welcome to the program.

My name is Brian Thomas. I greet you in the name of our great Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And folks, it is always a joy and honor. Every time I get behind this microphone to share God's holy word with you, it is always a joy and honor and a privilege. And it's so humbling that when we think about our great God, the Supreme Being, the creator of all things, and yet He uses us, mere mortals, human beings, to carry forth the Great Commission, to make disciples, to further and increase His kingdom.

And I do not take it lightly. It is truly an honor to be a servant of our great Lord. And we just give Him all the honor. We give Him all the glory and we give Him all the praise for the great God that He is. Well, we're going to continue our series this week in the book of Revelation, chapter 17. But before we get into the message, let us look to our Lord for a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord, for this day. We thank you for this time. We thank you, Lord, for your great and holy word. It is my prayer, Lord, that all things that are spoken, that it be nothing but sound doctrine. And may you be honored and glorified in all things in your name, Jesus.

Amen. I want to take today a little trip down memory lane. I'm going to get into my way back machine and I'm going to go about 20 years ago to a time when I met this young woman. And she expressed a romantic interest in me. And I was single at the time. This was before I got married. And so we decided to go out on a date. I don't recall whether I asked her or she asked me, but we ended up going on a date. And when I went to pick her up.

When I got there and she opened the door. And when I saw her, I was floored. I mean, absolutely flabbergasted.

And I don't mean in a good way. Because this woman was dressed in such a provocative way, in such a revealing way. That I actually was, was puzzled. I was puzzled thinking to myself, how is it possible that she actually got her body into those clothes?

It was really just, just, just that extreme. And we, we went on the date and I think we had a dinner and a movie scheduled and we, we went to the dinner. And as we were walking through the mall, this was probably about an hour and a half into the date from the time that I had picked her up. And again, folks, as we're going through this date, I'm actually, I'm seriously wondering to myself, you know, is she truly wearing clothes or is it, is it body paint?

You know, how was it possible that, that she got her body into that, that fabric? I was just, I was blown away by it. And so as we're walking through the mall to go to the theater, I mean, people are just gawking at her.

It was just something that you could not, not notice. And people were gawking at her and it was shameful. It was truly shameful. It was truly embarrassing.

I was honestly ashamed to be out in public with this woman. And as we were walking though, she turned to me and she said, you haven't said anything yet about my outfit. And so I, you know, caught off guard at the moment and trying to think what to say. I definitely was not going to lie and say that I liked it. And I sort of talked around it.

I think I said something along the line of, you know, where did you get the material from or something? You know, I talked my way around it without actually saying that, that I liked it because I did not. It was it was, again, just very shameful.

It was very embarrassing. But we continued on with the date. I just really wanted to get it over with. And so we we went to the movie and we went home and that was that.

And I had no plans of ever going out with her again, of course. Now, someone may ask the question to me. Was it appealing in what she was wearing? Because you've heard me say it was shameful. It was embarrassing. Was it appealing to the eyes, into the flesh?

Of course. I'm not going to stand here and say that it was not. But it was repulsive to my spirit.

And, you know, for me and out there and again, I was a born again believer in Christ at the time. And I know sometimes there are people who try to say, well, they don't notice that kind of thing. But but let me be honest. Any man that says seeing a woman's body parts, if he doesn't call some thoughts to flash into his mind, either he's lying or he's gay. I just have to be honest with you, because we are wired for certain things to be triggers. Now, the thing about it is you must not dwell on those thoughts that come into your mind. The Bible says to take every thought captive.

And so that is what we do. We take those thoughts captive and you don't dwell on it, but it is going to call something to come into your mind when you see that. So, yes, it was appealing to the flesh, but it was repulsive to my spirit. And in the days following, she did contact me and expressed interest in seeing me again. Again, I had no interest in doing so, but but trying to to let it down easily, I did allow her to come over to my home.

And again, another big mistake because she came dressed the same way and she expressed a desire to go to bed with me. And nothing inappropriate took place. There were no lines crossed, but I wasn't having that.

You know that that just was not going to happen, but no lines were crossed or else I wouldn't be telling you this. But I made the decision at that point that I had to end this, that I could not carry it any further. And so I expressed to her my my reason. And she said, well, I thought that's what men wanted.

I thought that men desire to have women dressed this way and I and to go to bed with them with within the first few days or weeks of meeting. And I explained to her, no, I am a God fearing me and I am a believer in Jesus Christ. And so, you know, I again, I explain things to her as to why we would not work. And so that was that we did not have any more dates. We did not have any more visits.

That was the end of that relationship. I state all that to say we are coming to Revelation 17. We're going to look at a woman here in Chapter 17 of Revelation. This is a woman that is tied to Babylon, and Babylon is a place in which archaeologists say is the cradle of civilization.

It's located on the banks of the Euphrates River. The the city's ruins have revealed some of the most ancient documents of past generations. And if you recall from the scriptures in the book of Genesis Chapter 10, make a note of that Genesis Chapter 10, verses eight through 10, that there was a rebel by the name of Nimrod. He was a rebel of our Lord, meaning he was a rebel against our Lord. And it was the home of some of the worst evils mankind has ever known. And what we're going to find in Chapter 17 is that two of these evils will be destroyed during the tribulation. It seems as though Satan made his headquarters in the city of Babylon in ancient days. This is where false religion started. This is where mankind's attempt at self-government in defiance to God with the Tower of Babel. And so when we come to this chapter, we are going to see God's judgment upon the false religion that has spiritually enslaved mankind for centuries.

A false religion that the Bible depicts, portrays or depicts as a scarlet woman. So turn your Bibles to Revelation Chapter 17. We're going to begin with verse one. The Bible tells us there, then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and talked with me, saying to me, Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters. Verse two, with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication. Now we saw in the seven bowl judgments in Chapter 16, we saw that God is pouring out his great wrath. And so what we see here is a greater level of detail to the seventh bowl judgment. One of the angels tells John that he is going to show him things concerning this great harlot.

He comes to talk with John. This angel is going to show John the judgment that is coming upon what he calls a great harlot or a prostitute who is sitting on many waters. This is symbolic language. Again, this is a depiction and we will see more of this as we go forward. And what we find here is that the kings, the leaders of the earth, commit fornication with this prostitute. Again, symbolic language here of what our Lord is trying to say to us. Now, the fact that God uses language of fornication, of harlotry, we see that throughout scripture. It shows what he thinks about sex outside of marriage, because what we have to understand is that when we have sex outside of marriage, that is a direct symbolic way of showing you reject Jesus Christ and accept Satan. When we have sex, on the other hand, within marriage between a husband and a wife, a man and a woman, it symbolizes being joined with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, for all of eternity. That is why the Bible calls the church the bride of Christ. And it calls our union with him when we go away in the rapture. It says we will be at the marriage supper because we are having a wedding feast with our Lord. And so the scripture correlates idol worship to harlotry, idol worship to fornication. And I stress to people, you know, we think of of sexual relations with people that we're not married to is something that's innocence.

Just just something to do to fulfill your fleshly desires. And some people may even say, well, you know, there's a love that I have for this person as well. But but we don't take it seriously. And and we should we should cherish those moments. That is something that should be sacred to us that we should save for our spouse within marriage. But we treat it as if it's insignificant.

We treat it as if it's just like having a another meal from day to day. And it is something that God frowns upon, because when he describes in the scriptures, we saw it throughout the Old Testament with the nation of Israel when they went after false gods, when they were worshiping stones and wood and and things of that nature. God would describe it as an adulterous woman who was being unfaithful to her husband. And that is how it makes God feel when we spiritually are going after and worshipping things that are not of him.

It makes him feel just the same as a man who has a wife who goes out and has adulterous relationships, who fornicates with other men. And so that is very, very important that we keep that in mind as we continue to look at this depiction of this scarlet woman. In verse three, we find of Revelation Chapter 17. So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast, which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. This woman is sitting on a beast that has the same description as the beast that we saw in Revelation Chapter 13.

Turn over to Revelation 13, verse one. There the text reads, then I stood on the sand of the sea and I saw a great beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns. And on his horns, ten crowns and on his head, a blasphemous name. So this beast represents kings or kingdoms that oppose God. And we find that this woman, this scarlet woman, is riding on this beast. And this beast is something that we've never seen or heard of anything like it, but it's prophetic language. There is a depiction here of something that is yet to come. So we're going to pause for a brief announcement, but please don't go away.

We're going to come back and talk about more of the scarlet woman and the scarlet beast. You are tuned into the God First program. You are listening to Brian C. Thomas on God First. For more of Brian's teachings, please visit GodFirst.org to browse our extensive library of material. There you will find devotionals, blogs, articles, and audio messages available as MP3 downloads on various topics such as salvation, Bible prophecy, marriage, and the significance of Lesson Israel, just to name a few. You can also sign up for our monthly newsletter and visit our web store, so please visit us at GodFirst.org. Now, let's return to the conclusion of today's message.

Welcome back to the program. Today, we are looking at Revelation chapter 17, the scarlet woman and the scarlet beast. And we are seeing that this woman is something that is not spoken of favorably in the scripture because this woman is representing false religion. This woman is representing something that is repulsive to our Lord. This woman is representing something that is offensive to our Lord. And this woman represents something that is hurtful to our Lord God. And that is because she represents what so many in the world do today. They go after false gods.

They go after the things that are not of the God of the Bible. And so as we come to verse four of chapter 17 of Revelation, it says, The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations in the filthiness of her fornication. This woman, by world standards, is beautifully dressed. We see this purple scarlet in these the jewelry that she's wearing.

And she she's beautifully dressed by the world's standards. But notice that she has in her hand a cup that is full of abominations. And then it says the filthiness of her fornications. There are many people who have made confessions that when they first began to practice fornication that after doing so, they would feel a dirtiness, a filthiness within their spirit, not not physically, but but within their spirit. They said they just just felt dirty, but yet they would still continue to do so. I know people who after watching pornography, they will say following those times they would would feel dirty. And that is because there is a spiritual component to, again, sexual activity. And as I stated, it symbolizes rejection of Jesus when we do acts of that nature outside of the bonds of marriage. And so we see here this woman who says the filthiness of her fornication, it is a filthy thing for a reason, because it symbolizes rejection of our Lord God.

And I shared with you earlier about the woman who I had that date with. And, you know, she's asking me these questions and inquiring with me about saying something about the way she's dressed, because to her, I should have been drawn to her way of dress to her. I should have found it appealing and into her.

I should have liked it because that is what the world says is good for a woman to dress in a provocative way to to turn the heads of men. But, folks, that is not God's way. The world looks upon it as a good thing, but God looks upon it. Shamefully as disgraceful, and that is exactly what we see with this scarlet woman here in Revelation. And then in verse five, it says, and on her forehead, a name was written, Mystery Babylon, the great, the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth. How must it be to carry the title of the mother of harlots? And for anyone who's not familiar with the term harlot, the heart, the word harlot is simply another word for for prostitute. Or in our day, we would say a whore.

And so it's not always referring to someone who's just out doing it for money. But but that is what this woman has written on her forehead and in the abominations of the earth. This is another example of a writing or a mark on a forehead. We saw earlier in Revelation that there will be one hundred and forty four thousand Israelites who will be servants of God. They will be evangelists who will preach the word during the tribulation.

They will be sealed on their foreheads. We also find that believers in Christ are going to be sealed. And then, of course, we know that the worshippers of Antichrist will have his mark of the beast during the seven year tribulation. So let's look at what John continues to tell us in verse six of Revelation 17. I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.

And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement. So what we find is that this woman is responsible for the murder of many who have placed their faith and trust in Jesus Christ. If you go all the way back to the early church from the first century, this woman is responsible for their deaths. For those who were fed to hungry lions, for those who were sold in half. Think about that for a minute, folks, because we're in a time now in which many who claim to be followers of Jesus Christ will not stand up and speak his truth out of fear of what the world is going to say.

Many will not speak the truth out of fear that someone may unfriend them on Facebook. Many will not stand and speak the truth because they are afraid that members of the church will leave or or maybe not give as much in their tides or or or or somehow another cause trouble for them in the church. But we found that the early church, they were so committed and devoted to our Lord that they were willing to be fed to hungry lions. They were willing to be sold in half while alive. They were willing to be burned at the stake.

They were willing to have raw meat tied to their bodies and then allow hungry dogs to be launched into them so that so that they would eat them and eat and kill them, eat them alive. That is their devotion. That was their commitment to our Lord God.

And yet we have people today here in our nation where we are not facing that type of persecution. The worst we may get is that someone might unfriend us or someone may stop coming to the church. But God is calling us to stand and speak the truth. God is calling us to speak out when it comes to sexual morality. God is calling us to speak up for the lives of the unborn when it comes to abortion. God is calling us to speak out the truth when it comes to what is biblical marriage. And he is calling us to stand true to his word. And he said the day is going to come when he returns. He said, I will give to each according to their works. And I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to the day that the Lord will look at me and he will say, well done, good and faithful servant.

That is what I am striving for. I'm not striving for a claim in this life from man, but I am striving for the acceptance and the words of well done from my almighty Lord as he says, come now, enjoy the fruits of your labor in the presence of your Lord. In verse number seven of Revelation 17, but the angel said to me, why did you marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the 10 horns. So John marvels. He's amazed at the sight of this woman on the beast, even though we've seen the description in Chapter 13.

But John is still amazed. And so the angel proceeds by telling John, he's explaining this woman. And then in verse 80 says, the beast that you saw was and is not and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition. And those who dwell on the earth will marvel whose names are not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world when they see the beast that was and is not and yet is. So this beast, the Bible tells us, will one day come from the bottomless pit, but eventually go into perdition. Perdition is another word for hell or the lake of fire.

It is a state of eternal punishment and damnation into which a sinful and unrepentant person passes after death. And that is why we preached his word, folks, because we don't want you to go into perdition. Let's fast forward to Revelation, Chapter 20, verses seven through 10 speaks of what this scripture is foretelling. It says now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth.

Gog and Magog to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea. They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. The devil who deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

The people on the earth will marvel after the beast. That is those who are not in the book of life. That is the unsaved. But we see this woman who represents false religion, who represents those who go against Jesus Christ. And the Bible tells us that this woman is not something that God looks favorably upon.

Next week, we're going to look more at this beast, but I will go ahead and tell you now this beast is a representation of Satan, as Satan is one day going to come from the bottomless pit that he will be chained in during the 1000 year reign of Christ. But he will be released and then defeated once and for all. He will go into perdition into the lake of fire for all of eternity. And that is where all will spend eternal life for those who have rejected Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. And I really should say to clarify, not eternal life, but eternal death is what you're going to face in the lake of fire.

If you do not do not receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. So that is my plea to come to our Lord today. This this woman, though, it shows us a lot.

There's a deep spiritual meaning to what is taking place here. But I just want to state and reiterate that women today do not use your body to attract a man. Now, if you just want a man, yes, you can get a man by dressing that way, being provocative, being revealing.

If you just want a man who is after the lust of the flesh, you can easily get that. But I can go ahead and tell you now is going to come with a lot of heartache, is going to come with a lot of pain because you are doing things outside of God's way and God's way works. God's way works. We God's way works.

We must trust God to do things the way he says to do it. And I was listening to an interview earlier today of a young lady who was speaking of the fact that she is pro-life in and she's 18 years old. And she says she speaks to young people and tried to get them to understand that you can you can get past the whole abortion issue by simply abstaining from sex until marriage.

And she said that they laugh at her and they look at her as if she's crazy when she says abstain from sex until marriage. But folks, that is the way the world looks at God's word. But God is God's way works because God is the all wise and the all knowing one who has all power in his hands. So we're going to pause there for this week. Again, we're going to come back next week and we will look more at this scarlet woman into what will be her outcome in chapter 17 of Revelation.

And then we will see more of this beast that is carrying this woman. So before we close, let us look to our Lord to give him praise, to give him glory, to give him adoration. We just thank you, Lord God, again for this time.

We thank you for your word. Again, Lord, we pray that you are being honored and glorified by this time together. And we just look forward to that day, Lord, when you will come back to rule and reign from Jerusalem and we will be with you for all of eternity. Until we come back together again next week, Lord, we remember to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Bless God's great nation of Israel and to the only wise God be glory through Jesus Christ forever.

Amen. You've been listening to the Bible teacher, Brian C. Thomas, founder and president of God First. Brian and God First reserve all copyright protection under applicable law. Our copyright policy is available at our website, Godfirst.org. Until next time, remember to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, bless God's great nation of Israel and seek first the kingdom of God.