Please turn with me for the reading of God's Word to the book of the Revelation. We're going to read Revelation 14, verses 6 through 12, and then Revelation 17, verses 1 through 6. The book of the Revelation of John, beginning our reading at Revelation chapter 14, verse 6. Let us hear God's own word. Then I saw another angel flying directly overhead with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people. And he said with a loud voice, fear God and give him glory because the hour of his judgment has come and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water. Another angel, a second, followed, saying, Fallen, fallen, is Babylon the great, she who made all nations drink the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality. And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, He also will drink the wine of God's wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name. Here is a call for the endurance of the saints. those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. And then turning over to chapter 17, where the subject of Babylon is taken up again. Revelation 17 at verse 1. 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. So far, the reading of God's word. The past few weeks, Pastor Gordon has been preaching to us in the morning from the Psalms and has been taking us to look how intimately the Lord cares for each of us individually. How personally the word of God can speak to us and to our individual struggles and distress in life. And it's been a great comfort and a great help. And as I thought what I might preach on tonight, of course, I thought I'd preach on a song. But then I thought, well, he's doing that so well, he doesn't need any help with that. And I thought maybe it is a moment, an appropriate moment to step back and look at one of those scripture passages that is not so immediately directed to us in our intimate personal relationship with God, but one of those passages of scripture that calls us to look up and think about the big picture of what God is doing in the world and how we are related to that. And so I thought of the book of the Revelation, because the book of the Revelation is not given simply to mystify us or to give us material for speculation about what may happen in the far distant future. But the book of the Revelation is given to strengthen us and encourage us in light of what God is doing around the world. And we see that clearly, don't we, in verse 12 here of chapter 14. Having talked about the message of three angels, whose loud voice, whose great voice is heard throughout the earth, then John explains the relevance of this. Here is a call for the endurance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. Now, it's sort of intriguing that in these few verses, there are several issues of translation that don't fundamentally affect the interpretation of the text, but do shade it slightly. And here in verse 12, we have one of those issues of translation. The word call is not actually in the Greek. What it says is, here is the endurance of the saints. Or we could also translate that, here is the patience of the saints. Or this is a word earlier in this book, three or four times it's translated, here is the patient endurance of the saints. And indeed, that is what the Lord calls us to, that we might be a people, as he's doing his great work throughout history and around the world, who endure, who are patient. The great ending of Psalm 27 that we heard this morning, wait for the Lord. That's what we're to do. We're to wait with faith. We're to wait with confidence. We're to wait when things look glorious and when things look grim. And I think we're given these verses in Revelation 14 not just as a call to patience and endurance, but as reasons for patience and endurance. Why do we have to be patient? I used to think I was a very patient person. I think the older I get, the less patient I've become. At least my wife has told me that. And I know she's always right. I don't know whether because you get old, the time's getting shorter, Or, you've just lived longer with all the silliness that surrounds you. And patience becomes harder. But the Lord says to all of us, we need to be patient because he has things to do. And we have three angels presented to us that are giving us the reasons for patience in light of what the Lord still has to do. The first angel reminds us that we need to be patient and enduring because there's still a gospel to be preached. There's still a gospel to be preached. I saw an angel flying directly overhead. Some of you who know the old translation may know it said midheaven. That word midheaven probably means flying right over our heads. So he's there in splendid glory at the zenith of where we might look up. And it's as if, as our Lord said to his disciples, we're being told, look up, your redemption draweth nigh. And there's this angel in midheaven, and he has a gospel to proclaim. An eternal gospel. Literally, we might translate it, an eternal gospel to gospel. Eternal good news to good news. We've got to get it out. The good news has to get out there. And that's part of why you have to be impatient and endure. There's a gospel to be proclaimed. If you'd like a historical footnote, and I know you're all longing for one, this was the text, one of the texts preached at Luther's funeral. And Johannes Bugenhagen said, Luther was the angel flying in midheaven with the eternal gospel. I don't think that's quite right. But Luther was a great preacher of the gospel, and so he's part of the fulfillment of this text. And so we need to endure because there's a gospel to be preached. But the second and third angel remind us we also are to endure because there's a judgment to be anticipated. There's good news, but there's also bad news. There's a judgment coming. And that has to be made known. There's a judgment coming, the second angel says, on Babylon. And the third angel says there's a judgment coming on all false worshipers. Tonight I want to just focus on one of those three angels. We'll talk a little bit about the other two, but primarily focus on just one of those two angels. Namely, the second angel, whose message we have in verse 8. Don't get too hopeful that because we're only looking at one verse that things will be short tonight. But I want to focus our attention on this message of the second angel. Another angel, a second, followed saying, Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, who made all nations drink the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality. Why does God think it's important that this verse should be in the Bible and that this verse would in some way help us to be faithful, help us to be enduring, help us to be patient? I think he means that for us. And I think we can see that as we consider Babylon together. Because the first point that's made here is the greatness of Babylon. Babylon the domineering. Babylon the great who made all nations drink from her cup. Here's power, isn't it? Whatever else Babylon is here, it's power. Babylon the great. And if we turn to chapter 17 of Revelation, we find Babylon described as the ruler over the kings of the earth. If we look back into Isaiah and his prophecy of Babylon, we find Babylon called the glory of the kingdoms. Chapter 13, in Isaiah 47, we find that Babylon calls herself the mistress of the kingdoms. Babylon is a picture of power. It's also a bit of a mystery. Revelation 17 says the name Babylon the Great is a mystery. And it's a mystery in part because Babylon had fallen over 500 years earlier, almost 600 years before this book was written. And not only had historic Babylon fallen, but Isaiah had prophesied powerfully that that Babylon would never rise again. She was done. Her little moment in history was completed. And so what is the mystery of this Babylon the Great that Revelation talks about? Well, we see Babylon the Great is political power, but Revelation 17 also tells us Babylon the Great is economic power. She's clothed in purple and scarlet, the colors not only of power but of wealth. She's bedecked in gold and jewels and pearls, and she drinks from a golden cup. Boys and girls, do you have golden cups at home? Some of you may have cups that look like gold, but I'm almost sure they're not real gold. If they are real gold, you should really give it to the preacher. But Babylon holds this cup of real gold, a sign of power, of wealth, of success. Isaiah chapter 47 says of her, you lover of pleasures. This is the picture of Babylon. And so what is this Babylon? This Babylon the Great is a picture of political power and economic power dedicated to self-pleasure in this world, in any period of this world. It's not that there will be a Babylon at the end of time. It's that there's a Babylon all the time. In John's day, he almost certainly had Rome in mind as the picture of power over the world and of great wealth. But wherever you look in the history of God's people, there's a Babylon. A Babylon that seems so great, that seems so powerful, that dominates the Roman Empire. Muslim empires, British empire, American empire. This is a picture of all godless power. This is a picture of power and influence and wealth that is indifferent to God and to the things of God. And it's great. And I would like to suggest tonight that when we look around the world, wherever there is a Babylon, we see the source, the object of the world's largest religion. Now, if you get an atlas and you look up the world's largest religion, I think Christianity still technically qualifies as the world's largest religion. There are other very large religions, but don't look in the atlas because they won't tell you the truth. What's the largest religion in the world? It's going along. That's the technical name. Going along. It's conformity. It's formalism. It's being a Muslim where it's convenient to be a Muslim, being a Christian where it's convenient to be a Christian, being a Buddhist where it's convenient to be a Buddhist, being a Hindu where it's convenient to be a Hindu, being a secularist where it's convenient to be a secularist and not really caring about any of it, but only really caring about power and wealth and pleasure. That's the great religion of this world. That's what is being talked about here. Babylon is great because she has so many devotees. Babylon is great because there are so many in this world who want what she has. Power and wealth and pleasure. And that's all they ever think about. And John here is warning Christians and warning the world. Don't get sucked into being domineered by Babylon. It's so tempting. It's so widespread. It's so easy. It makes so much sense. it's so apparent that this is what makes good sense. I have to smile sometimes as a historian when I think back how vigorously the churches back in the 20s and 30s opposed movies. And then when television came along, how vigorously the churches opposed television. And then you go back and you watch what was on television or what was in the movies back then. And it all seems so gentle and so innocent and so relatively harmless. Unless you see Mae West or somebody, but generally speaking. And now you turn on movies or you turn on television. What do you find? The most crass, vulgar, tasteless, not to mention immoral and dehumanizing stuff that's presented as humor. It's Babylon. It's Babylon the Great, who not only domineers, but deceives, you see. And part of her success is that because she is so great, people think she is to be feared. Oh, Babylon, she's great. Watch out for her. Don't cross her. It's not incidental that Revelation 17 says she's drunk with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. She's ruthless. She's to be feared. But this text reminds us as Christians, as we're called to endure in a world where Babylon is so powerful, this text reminds us she's not the one who ought really to be feared. The first angel in this section proclaims the truth about the one who is truly to be feared. And it's very interesting, verse 7 of chapter 14, the angel says with a loud voice, actually literally it says, the angel says with a great voice, there's Babylon the great, but there's also an angel with a great voice who has a great message and a great truth, and that Fear God and give him glory. And here's the great contest of history, you see. Whom do you fear? Do you fear Babylon with all of its apparent success and strength and wealth and influence? Or do you fear God? And we might say in some ways that this gospel proclaimed by the first angel is a strange gospel. Do you know Jesus isn't mentioned in this gospel? This is an eternal gospel, we're told. This is a gospel that's always been around. I think that's the point. And what's the gospel that's always been around? What's the gospel that's always been available? has always been preached through all of history. It's an eternal gospel. It's the gospel of the Creator. Fear God and give him glory. Worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea, and springs of water. Did Babylon make the jewels and the pearls that she wears? Did Babylon create the gold of her cup? Did Babylon create the mountains on which she sits? Did Babylon create the seas on which her ships sail? It's as if this first angel say, did you ever stop and think, did you ever step back and say, what does Babylon really amount to? What does Babylon have that she was not given? Isn't there something greater? Isn't there something more powerful? Isn't there something more important than this Babylon? Fear God. And this is the word that doesn't just mean awe. It means be afraid. If you think Babylon has armies, God has more. If you think Babylon has power, God has more. Fear God and glorify him. That's the truth that needs to be made known in this world. Revelation 14 is reminding us, as well as saying to the world, Isaiah said that Babylon once said of herself, I am, and there is none besides me. And then, of course, that historic Babylonian empire passed away from history 2,500 years ago. It is God alone who can say, I am, and there is none besides me. Babylon may appear to dominate, But the reality is she is drunk with her self-deception. She is drunk and deceives the nations with the cup of her abomination. There's an old Roman proverb. You may have heard it. In vino veritas. I thought we needed to raise the tone of this congregation. A little Latin from the pulpit. It's always a good thing. In vino veritas. In wine truth. now what does that proverb actually mean it probably actually means when you've had a little too much wine you're likely to tell people what you really think of them it doesn't mean that by drinking a little too much wine you actually see more clearly into profound matters of truth that's not the case with wine And Babylon is drunk with wine that has deceived herself and deceived all those who follow her. She who made, verse 8, she who made all nations drink the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality. Now here's another of those translation issues. If you look down at verse 10, we see an almost exact parallel. The wine of God's wrath poured full strength from the cup of his anger. The word passion in verse 8 and the word wrath in verse 10 are the same word in Greek. And they can mean passion or wrath. But I think it's better to translate in verse 8 as well as in verse 10 wrath. the wine of the wrath of her sexual immorality. Babylon is bringing wrath upon herself. Babylon is self-destructive. She's not just carried away by her passions and her deceit. She is destroying herself. And we've seen that with a sad case of those who are in bondage to alcohol, haven't we? They're destroying themselves. That's the picture here. The wine of the wrath of her sexual immorality. And the word there refers to all sorts of corruption, particularly sexual corruption, but is often used in the Bible to talk about spiritual apostasy. What is the greatest immorality? What is the greatest betrayal of faithfulness? It's turning against the God who made you. This is the deception. This is the tragedy. This is the horror of Babylon. And in contrast, we're presented the sober truth by that first angel. Fear God and give him glory because the hour of his judgment has come and worship him who made the heaven and the earth, the sea, and the springs of water. Now, I don't know, preachers are sometimes at risk of reading too much into a text, but I think that little phrase that God not only made, the heaven, the earth, and the sea, that we're accustomed to hearing, but that little added phrase, and made the springs of water, is important. Babylon holds a cup of wine that is self-destructive and immoral. And God holds a cup drawn from the springs of water. God holds a cup and says out to the world, Oh, everyone that thirsts, come to me, and I will give you to drink. It was Jesus who stood up and said, If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. There's a water of life that flows in this world. A water of life that flows from the heart of God. A water of life that flows from the cross of Calvary. A water of life that shows the love of God for this creation. It brings not drunkenness and death, but brings life and hope and health. And that's why John says this is so important for us as Christians. This is all about who we are. This is all about how we will patiently endure in the service of God, how we will patiently endure as saints. Those set apart. Those set apart from the world, those set apart from Babylon. Those set apart by the mark of God. We saw that mark of God this morning. The beast has his mark, we're told in the book of the Revelation. But God has his mark as well. And we saw two little ones set apart this morning as saints for God by the mark of baptism. And Revelation is saying to us, whose mark do you bear? For whom are you set apart? For God or for Babylon? The saints set apart for God are those who keep the commandments of God. And keep, here another translation problem, and keep the faith of Jesus. You notice the footnote in the ESV? I sort of have to laugh about this. I suppose this is a seminary professor's joke. You read the footnote, and the footnote says, the Greek says, the faith of Jesus. Now, I thought the function of translators was to tell you what the Greeks said. If they know what the Greeks says, why didn't they put it in the text? It's a nice thought that we're to keep faith in Jesus, and the Bible abundantly tells us we're to keep faith in Jesus in many places. But here we're told to keep the faith of Jesus, the faith Jesus taught us, the truth Jesus taught us. That's our calling, as those set apart. We're called not to make up religion for ourselves. We're called to keep the faith Jesus revealed to us in his word. And that's the water of life for us. That's the spring of water that flows from the throne of God. And so John is appealing by the power of the Holy Spirit to the church in every age. Don't let Babylon dominate you. Don't get drunk with Babylon because Babylon is doomed. Revelation 14.8 is the first time in the book of the Revelation that Babylon is mentioned. And for all of her power and for all of her influence, what is the first thing we are told about Babylon? What is the number one thing God wants us to know about Babylon? It's that she's fallen Fallen Ruined Ruined Destroyed Destroyed Is Babylon the Great Now we may not see it yet But that's the most important Truth to know about Babylon She has no future she has no future and this should really encourage us she may flourish for a moment but she has no future whereas our God abides forever our God will provide an everlasting home for his people There is nothing but eternal destruction that awaits the servants of Babylon. And there's nothing but eternal life and joy that awaits the children of God. And that's why, in so many ways, we should feel so sad for this world. This world that so frenetically pursues a foolish fear and a fading glory and a false worship. When it is surrounded by testimonies to the true God who should be feared. To the true glory that is to be found in him. And to the true worship to which he calls us. We need to endure. We need to be patient. We need to wait. But we wait as those with hope, with confidence. Because as we see all the foolishness that may surround us in human history and in our own time, we know the word of Jesus on that history. Fallen, fallen, is Babylon the great. And the word of Jesus for his own is what we find in verse 13 of chapter 14. And I heard a voice from heaven saying, write this. Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. Blessed indeed, says the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them. Babylon may be drunk on the blood of the martyrs, but the martyrs are blessed and live forever in the eternal Sabbath of God. May that be the hope, the confidence, the blessing of each one of us. Amen. Let us pray. Oh, Lord, there is so much that goes on in history and in our time that we are mystified by. And there's so much that distresses us. And we pray that we might have the comfort of your word as it calls us to patient endurance. That you are accomplishing in history all things according to the counsel of your will. that you will glorify yourself, that you will gather your elect, that you will build your church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. And we pray, O Lord, in a world that reels drunkenly, that we may delight in drinking from the river of life and having the promise of Jesus for us that because of his death and his life we will live forever in him. Fill us with that hope in believing we pray in Jesus' name, amen.