Mm. With its account of a woman on a scarlet beast, the 17th chapter of Revelation has caused its share of confusion and conjecture through the years. Today, on Turning Point, Dr. David Jeremiah peels away the mystery and misunderstanding to explain what it means and how it fits into the prophetic timeline. From Escape the Coming Night, here's David to introduce his message, the end of world religion.
Nothing so gripped me as the first time I read this from the book of Revelation. How God Almighty is going to bring an end to. to all of the craziness of the religion of the world. By the way, friends, if you haven't noticed, Christianity is not a religion, it's a relationship. But the religions that try to please God or measure up to God or reach up to God will all be shown for what they are and how miserly they are in their attempt to get anyone in relationship with God.
On that day in the future, according to Revelation 17, it will all be over and it's given to us in such descriptive terms. That you just have to watch and listen to it. And we'll do that in just a moment as we open our Bibles to the end of world religion, part one. Hey, don't forget, and this month we're making available our very first ever fiction book called Vanished, 368 Pages, A Story. That will capture you.
It is kind of a page turner, and it reminds you of the fact that the world is in trouble, but so are many of the people of the world. The man who is the featured personality in this fiction book. Is a guy named John Haggerty. He's the leader of a specific military unit charged with stopping potential pandemics before they spread. based upon the Lord's discussion on the mountain.
And while all this is going on in the outside part of his world, on the inside part of the world, he's going through all kinds of trauma, a failed marriage, and God is tugging at his heartstrings. Through the book, you will see all of this, and it's a new attempt to reach people with the message because we know many people read only fiction. Ask for your copy of Vanished when you send your gift to Turning Point today. Here is part one of the end of world religion. Throughout the Bible, there is a consistent repetition of the word Babylon.
It is found some 290 times in the scripture. And obviously, it has very little to do with the Babylonian culture that carried the Jews into captivity under Nebuchadnezzar. The term itself goes all the way back to the book of Genesis, and we'll take a look at that in a few moments. But the term Babylon is a very interesting word because it represents in Scripture. the false systems of religion, that have grown up.
In our world, since the inception of religion in the tenth chapter of the book of Genesis. A British author by the name of Alexander Hislop wrote a book that was published in 1858. The book is called The Two Babylons. The book, which contains quotations from some 275 authors. Has never been refuted, and it stands today as the one great masterpiece on the subject of Babylon and what it means to all of us today.
Most of us here probably are unaware of the fact that we are touched by the Babylonian system. We are touched by the system. By That which started with Nimrod. We are touched by it, and we don't even understand how we are touched by it. In his book, Reverend Hislop, traces the history of Babylon from its inception to modern times.
Keep in mind that when we say the word Babylon, we are not just talking about a city, but we're talking about a system of thinking that grew up out of that city. It goes beyond the actual history of the system. It goes into the very warp and woof of religious practices from the time beginning.
Now, there is a summary of Hislop's analysis that I would like to share with you. I have worked diligently to condense it so that it won't take very long. But I want you to listen carefully to what he says about the false religious system that is referred to in the scripture under the term the mystery Babylon. The term Babylon is found, he said, 290 times in the Bible, but her history dates back to Genesis 10. and the man Nimrod, who founded Babel.
The word Babel, as you know, is a word which means the gate to glory. The word L is the word for God, the gate to God. But when the men got together to build that tower into heaven and God saw it for what it was, He changed it to the word confusion, and that's where the language were confused. According to the record of the religion of Babel, The wife of Nimrod was a woman by the name of Semaramis, In Assyria and in Nineveh, Nimrod's wife was called Astarte. In Egypt, she was called Issus.
Among the Greeks she was called Aphrodite. Among the Latins and the Romans, she was called Venus. This woman, by whatever name, in whatever culture, whose life originated in the Babylonian religion, was the first high priestess of idolatry known to the world. When Semaramis gave birth to a son, She said that he was conceived miraculously by a sunbeam. And she offered her son as the promised deliverer of the earth.
His name was Tammuz, T-A-M-M-U-Z. According to the legend, When Tammuz was grown into manhood, a wild boar slew him, and after forty days of his mother's weeping, he was raised from the dead. It was in this story of Semaramis and Tammuz that the cultic worship of the mother and child began to be spread throughout all of the earth. In Assyria, the mother is Ishtar and her son Tammuz. In Phoenicia, she was called Astarte and her son was BAAL.
In Egypt she was called Issus, and her son was Osiris or Horus. In Greece she was called Aphrodite, and her son was called Eros. Among the Romans she was called Venus, and her son was called Cupid. As the false religion of mother and child spread throughout all the world, the liturgy of the worship began to be defined. Listen carefully.
The mother was worshipped by the offering of a wafer, a little cake. to her as the queen of heaven. There began to be the forty days of Lent. Memorializing the forty days of weeping over the destruction of Tammuz. At the end of the 40 days, the feast of Ishtar was observed to celebrate the resurrection of Tammuz from the grave.
Part of the celebration of Ishtar was the exchanging of Ishtar eggs, symbolizing new life. Believe it or not, the term Easter comes from the word Ishtar. Our Easter eggs are Ishtar eggs.
Now, the clouded secrecy of the mystery religion was found in priestly ablutions and sacramental rites. It was seen in the dedication of virgins to the gods. In purgatorial fires. It was seen in the sign of the cross. Which, do you know what that means?
The sign of the cross. which originally was nothing more nor less than the pointing out of the letter tau. which stood for Tammuz. And in all of these rituals with which we are somewhat familiar today. There was this commonality of the counterfeit religion that came out of the Babylonian system to counterfeit the true religion which is found in God and in His Son, Jesus Christ.
This is not something that I dug up out of ancient history that has no tangent point with the Word of God. If you have your Bibles, turn to the prophet Jeremiah. And let me point out to you that even as early Or perhaps as late as the writing of the Old Testament scriptures, This false religion, which is found under the system of Babylon, was making its way into the people of Israel and it was being found among the Jews. Jeremiah the prophet wrote to his people concerning it. He was very upset because of their involvement in some of the cultic practices of mystery Babylon religion.
In the 44th chapter of Jeremiah's prophecy, beginning at the 15th verse, we have these words of Jeremiah the prophet, Jeremiah 44:15. Then all the men which knew that their wives had burned incense unto other gods, and all the women that stood by, a great multitude, even all the people that dwelt in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying, As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the Lord, we will not hearken unto thee. But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense, watch it now, unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we and our fathers, our kings, and our princes in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then had we plenty of victuals and were well and saw no evil. But since we left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven and to pour out drink offerings unto her, we have wanted all things and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine.
In other words, as Jeremiah came to speak to his people, they were already involved in this false worship. They were worshiping the queen of heaven. They had gotten involved in this false Babylonian idolatry. Turn over in your Bibles to the book of Ezekiel. Once again, Ezekiel the prophet deals with this same mystery cultic religion that had grown up in his day.
In Ezekiel chapter 8, verses 13 and 14, the Lord is showing his prophet some of the abominations of his time. And we read, beginning at verse 13 of Ezekiel 8, these words. And he said also unto me, Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations than they do. And he brought me to the door of the gate of the Lord's house, which was toward the north. And behold, there sat women weeping for.
Tammoos. Then said he unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations than these. What Ezekiel saw for Folks in the temple were the women of Israel observing the 40 days of Lent for the slaying of the pagan Tammuz. They were weeping.
as if they were observing this pagan Babylonian cult.
Now when the mother-son cult which was started out of the Babylonian system, finally ended up in Rome. There the Roman emperor was elected Pontifex Maximus, the greatest high priest. And he became the high priest over this whole idolatrous system of the Roman Empire. The title given to this system is printed for us in our Bibles in capital letters. If you have your Bibles open back to the book of Revelation in the 17th chapter, you won't have a hard time finding it.
It jumps out at you from the fifth verse: Mystery Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.
Now The Bible tells us, and the reason we're in this 17th chapter now, the Bible tells us that in the tribulation period, listen carefully now. The world dictator, the Antichrist, is going to marry up. With this final form of the Babylonian false cult. And he's going to make a marriage between the political system of his day and the religious system that's still left here on this earth. And so there's going to be a coalition government.
Over here will be the Antichrist, and he will be leading all the political maneuvering. And over here will be the false prophet. He will be at the head of this revived Roman Babylonish. Ecumenical kind of church, and they're going to try to work together to rule the world.
Now, the prophetic word teaches us. What's going to happen? The next two chapters in the book of Revelation tell us in chapter 17 that the Roman system or the Babylonian system is going to be destroyed, and chapter 18 tells us that ultimately the Babylonian city is going to be destroyed.
Now, I want us to take the time to just kind of go through this chapter, and we can't linger long, but with the background that I have given you, you now understand why this is called the destruction of Babylon. It is the destruction of the Babylonian system in the first six verses. We have these words, And there came out of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither, I will show unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters. with whom the kings of the earth hath committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness, and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet-colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand, full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication. And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery Babylon, the great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.
Here we have set before us The development of the Babylonian system, which is both religious and political. In the text, The religious system is symbolized by a scarlet woman. If you have listened carefully in our study of the book of Revelation, you know that on a number of occasions, a woman has been used to illustrate a religious system. You remember back in the second chapter, we were introduced to Jezebel. Jezebel was a representation of the The pagan idolatry of history.
In the 12th chapter, we met the woman clothed with the sun who represented the religion of Israel. In the 19th and 20th chapter, we're going to meet the bride of Christ. That woman is a symbol of the true faith. But here in the 17th chapter, we're introduced. To a woman who is called, in the very plain language of the scripture, a whore.
The word whore in the Greek language is the Greek word porne. Not hard to put that together, is it? It is normally translated in the New Testament by the word harlot. Why would God use such an offensive word to describe a church system? Why would he call any system, any religious church, why would he call it by such an offensive name?
Dr. Walvert, in his commentary on the book of Revelation, has written these words. The picture of the woman as utterly evil signifies spiritual adultery, portraying those who outwardly and religiously seem to be joined to the true God, but who are untrue to this relationship. Please note that the symbolism of spiritual adultery is never used of heathen nations who do not know God, but always of people who outwardly carry the name of God while actually worshiping and serving other gods. In the New Testament, the church is viewed as a virgin destined to be joined to her husband in the future, and she is warned against spiritual adultery.
James 4:4. The harlotry, the reason why this false system of religion is referred to as a whore or as a harlot, the reason the church is a harlot in the last days is because she is going to join together in an alliance with the political system of her day, and in place of God, she is going to rest. Upon the political system of her day. Notice when you begin to read the text in verse 3, you see this woman. Who is seated upon The beast, she is riding upon the beast, she is resting upon the beast.
The woman, which is the church, is depending upon the beast, which is the political system. She has adulterated herself from God. She has now committed herself to the political system of her day. She has committed adultery. As far as the spiritual realm is concerned.
Now as we look at the first part of the 17th chapter, And we try to understand for sure who this woman is. I want to take just a few moments and give you a quick little outline as we go through this. And it's simple. You won't have any trouble getting it down. And we're going to just look at the verses and let the verses speak for themselves.
First of all, I want you to note the universal power of this woman, the universal power of this woman. The scarlet woman in this chapter represents an apostate religious system. This system once professed to be Christian, but it has traded its spiritual power for worldly power, and therefore it has committed spiritual fornication. The identity of this system is not left to question by the text. The interpretation is given to us throughout the chapter.
For instance, The last verse of the chapter tells us exactly who the woman is. And the woman, verse 18, which thou sawest is that great city which reigneth over all the kings of the earth. At the time when John wrote this, There could have been only one possible interpretation of that statement. Rome was the city that reigned over all the earth. John was talking about Rome.
John sees to his great amazement a vast political and religious system that is centered at Rome and is reaching out in all directions to grasp power. The ninth verse of the chapter discloses that the city which the woman symbolizes is situated upon seven hills. Notice, and here is the mind. Which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sitteth.
Now. All of us, if we've had any history at all growing up in school, are aware of the fact that Rome was built upon seven hills. In fact, I'm so old that when I was in school, we had to memorize the names of the hills. And I didn't realize that until I dug up their names and realized I'd seen them before. I memorized them.
I didn't know what I was memorizing, but just in case you've forgotten, the seven hills of Rome are Aventine, Kalion, Capitoline, Esquiline, Palatine, Quorinol, and Viminol.
Now, don't forget that. You might be asked that someday. The seven hills of Rome.
Now, just clearly understand, we're not trying to make this say anything that it doesn't say. The scripture says that the woman is the city which ruled over all the earth. That's Rome. The scripture says the woman is resting upon seven hills.
Now, the vastness and the universality of this woman's power is mentioned in the very first verse. Here we are told that she sitteth upon many waters. And we wonder what that means until we read the 15th verse. And we read, and the waters which thou sawest. where the horse sitteth are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues.
In other words, this woman has a vast outreach into the whole world. This is a universal dominion which has come to her.
Someone has mentioned that Rome is the logical place for a concentration of power. It was from Rome that the Caesars reached out to all the world. It was from Rome that the church reached out to all the world. Let's notice, secondly, the unique position of the woman. It says in verse 3: I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet-colored beast, full of the names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
Now, I mentioned to you at the beginning that the woman is in partnership with the political system of the beast. They have committed themselves to aid one another in their pursuits, and they have agreed to combine their powers and take over the West. The seven heads and the ten horns speak of the political organization that the beast has set up during the tribulation period. Notice, thirdly, the unlimited prosperity of the woman. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold, and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand.
So the Scripture says, This woman is bedecked. Notice how she is described, arrayed in purple and scarlet color, decked with gold, precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand, full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication. Notice, fourthly, the unholy passions of the woman. The Bible says she has a golden cup in her hand. And the cup is full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication, and upon her forehead was written Mystery Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.
This woman is called Mystery Babylon, and we are reminded that all idolatry began in Babylon way back in the beginning of history in the building of the Tower of Babel. The system of idolatry, which began in Genesis chapter 10, has continued unto this day, and it is generally believed that it has been centered in Rome since the day when Julius Caesar was elected Pontifex Maximus. The title was held by each of the Roman Caesars down to Gratian, and when Constantine professed to become a Christian, the ancient Babylonian mysteries were simply transferred completely into the professing Christian church, and the entire pagan system was incorporated into Christianity.
Well, it's an interesting place to stop, but we have to put our period there for today and our bookmark, and we'll be back tomorrow with part two of the end of world religion from the 17th chapter of Revelation. By the way, did you know we have study guides for the entire book of Revelation? There are four of them. Four 120-page study guides to take you through this book, verse by verse. A book that most people say is hard to understand is easily understood if we read it carefully.
And we've given you the notes and outlines, quotes. and illustrations to help you understand the book. You can get the four study guides from our website, which is DavidJeremiah.org. You can order them and have them sent to your home. And during this month, our special resource is the book Vanished.
It's a fiction book that I wrote with my friend Sam O'Neill, and we did this together to tell the story of the coming of Jesus Christ in modern-day terms to get your attention and help you get the attention of the friends you know who don't know Jesus. Ask for your copy when you send your gift today. See you tomorrow. For more information on Dr. Jeremiah's series Escape the Coming Night, please visit our website where we also offer two free ways to help you stay connected.
Our monthly Turning Points magazine and our daily email devotional. Sign up today at davidjeremiah.org slash radio. That's davidjeremiah.org slash radio or call us at 800-947-1993. Ask for your copy of David's exciting new novel, Set in the End Times. Vanished.
It's yours for a gift of any amount. You can also purchase the Jeremiah Study Bible in the English Standard, New International and New King James Versions, available in several handsome and resilient cover options. Get all the details when you visit our website davidjeremiah.org slash radio. That's davidjeremiah.org slash radio. This is David Michael Jeremiah.
Join us tomorrow as we continue the series Escape the Coming Night on Turning Point with Dr. David Jeremiah.
