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Guest (Male): Who is Jesus? That question can receive some pretty varied answers these days, but the efforts of the world to redefine who Jesus was and is will never change who he really is. Here's Pastor Bill Henry.

This is who Jesus is: He is our friend. He is the friend of sinners. He is our Savior. He is the Lamb of God, but he is also the Lord of lords and King of kings. He is all-powerful. He is all-knowing. He is God. And guess what? If you're a Christian, he's on your side. Nothing can separate you from his love. Nothing is powerful enough to do that.

Guest (Male): Is it possible that the world's religions could unite and become one? It will certainly be necessary if there's to be a one-world government. Hello and welcome to Simple Faith with Pastor Bill Henry.

Bill is the senior pastor here at Simple Faith Calvary Chapel. In Revelation 17, we're introduced to a woman called Mystery Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots. Now who is this? We're going to find out today what's going on here with a fascinating study on the end times with Pastor Bill Henry. Let's join him now in Revelation chapter 17, verses 6 through 18.

Bill Henry: Now it's interesting, I did a search on the internet for the world's most powerful people today. These are men around the world who have these huge amounts of power, which also usually equates to huge amounts of money. And so I think that's what these kings are going to rise up out of—out of all those and others. I think the list was actually 20 that I read online. And so out of those 20 or 30 of the most powerful men and women of the world, 10 will rise up.

And the Antichrist will use them all. He'll use their power, he'll use their money to come into positions of power. And notice here that basically they will come to a point though—notice it says for at least an hour—they will be kings for an hour. So they will be raised up into positions. There will be 10 rulers over the earth. And that's what I think this is happening. But it'll be for a brief time. An hour could mean a month, probably not very long, maybe a year. I don't know. It doesn't give us a specific time. It's just representing something here, but they will have this power, but it will be very brief.

And so look at verse 13. Because these will be of one mind, and they will give their power and authority to the beast. These will make war with the Lamb. So this culmination will come together as they give all of their power—their financial power, their political power, and their military power—over to the beast. And we're going to see that coming up in the chapters to come. They're going to try to make war against the Lamb, against God.

And so it's very crazy to even think that people will be trying to make war with God as he's pouring out his wrath. And they can't stop his wrath, but they think, "Oh, we can go to war against God, against Jesus Christ." Now I've had many people ask me over the years if Satan can read the scriptures, and he probably knows them much better than we do, why does he even try to do this if he knows he will fail? Why does he gather all the nations of the earth together? Why does he do this?

My answer is this: I don't think he does know he will fail. I believe he has read the scriptures and I think he knows them better than any one of us here. But here's the thing: there's a huge and vast difference between knowing the scriptures and believing the scriptures. And so I think that Satan's pride is so great that he will continue to do these things even after a thousand years being bound during the thousand-year reign of Christ, and he's released for a time.

And by the way, he tries to do the exact same thing again. He gets all the nations of the earth to rise against the Lord in battle. And even that's going to be just even quicker than what we're going to see a little bit later. But remember what we read about Satan in Isaiah chapter 14, verses 13 and 14 says this: "For you have said in your heart: 'I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.'" And that's what Satan wants to do. That's his goal.

And so anyways, look at verse 14 as it continues: "And the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful." Amen? I love this. You know, when you read through the book of Revelation, even when you look in Ezekiel and you have the different things, the different scenarios, Jeremiah, you know there will be some wars on earth waged against one another. But when the people of the earth, when Satan tries to come against the Lord, it's—there's no great battle.

There's not going to be this huge and long-lasting—oh, it's been years and Satan is gaining a little victory over the Lord. No. That's like a little ant trying to gain victory over you and I. This morning I had a little thing with a spider as I'm lifting up a little towel and the spider is on there and he's trying to get to me. I could just see it in his eyes. And he thought he could overcome me. He didn't overcome me. I'm not one to put them in a little bottle and throw them outside either. He was smushed.

And that's what's going to happen with all those who go against the Lord—and even greater still so. They'll be smushed. Now remember what we see here, that they will—notice they're going to try to—the Lamb will overcome them. It is the Lamb who will overcome them. How will he overcome them? Why? Because He is the Lord of lords, we're told here. He is the King of kings. He is almighty God. We have forgotten who Jesus Christ is today within the church.

And sadly, what that leads to, even for real believers, it leads to kind of that kind of wimpy Christianity. We forget that the God, the almighty God Jesus Christ, King of kings, Lord of lords, is your Father. He is on your side. He is living within us. What do we have to fear? You see, the Lamb is also the Lord and the King. So many who claim the name of Jesus, that he's their Savior, pretty much ignore the part that he is to be their Lord as well.

That he is the one who is their King. And within Christianity today, again, there's this terrible tendency, as I said a moment ago, to sissify not only Christians but also Jesus. It's interesting because so many today will say, "Oh, Jesus is the meek and mild Lamb of God. He's only full of grace and mercy and love." You see, and these are what they'll say. They'll say, "Well, the Jewish people in the Old Testament didn't really understand God when they wrote about him." I've heard pastors teaching this heresy from the pulpits, even some Calvary Chapel guys. Not true.

Yes, Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, and I praise him because he is grace and he is love and he is mercy incarnate. Yet he is also justice and righteousness and holiness incarnate. He is power almighty incarnate. Yes, he is the Lamb, but he is also, as we see within our text, he is the Lord of lords and the King of kings. Turn with me please to 1 Timothy chapter 6. We don't hear too many talk like that in the New Testament. Oh, of course it does. People just ignore it. 1 Timothy chapter 6, verses 14 through 16:

"To keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he will display at the proper time. He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see, to him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen." I love this. Again, this is who Jesus is: He is our friend. He is the friend of sinners. He is our Savior. He is the Lamb of God, but he is also the Lord of lords and King of kings.

He is all-powerful. He is all-knowing. He is God. And guess what? If you're a Christian, he's on your side. Nothing can separate you from his love. Nothing is powerful enough to do that. In his book called *The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe*, C.S. Lewis wrote this allegory about Jesus. In the midst of this book, if you haven't read it, there's a lion and he's called Aslan, and it's basically representing Jesus in the allegory that he writes.

Now there—I have some disagreements, I have to say this, with C.S. Lewis theologically, but I think some of his writings are just masterful from the Lord. So in the midst of this book, we come in and this one girl named Susan, one of the main characters, says, "Who is Aslan?" asked Susan. "Aslan?" said Mr. Beaver. "Why, don't you know? He's the King. It is he, not you, that will save Mr. Tumnus." "Is he a man?" asked Lucy. "Aslan a man?" said Mr. Beaver sternly. "Certainly not. I tell you, he is the King of the wood and the son of the great Emperor-beyond-the-Sea. Don't you know who is the King of beasts? Aslan is a lion—the Lion, the great Lion."

"Oh," said Susan. "I thought he was a man. Is he quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion." "That you will, dearie, and make no mistake," said Mrs. Beaver. "If there's ever anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they're either braver than most or just silly." "Then he isn't safe?" said Lucy. "Safe?" said Mr. Beaver. "Don't you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? Of course he isn't safe, but he's good. He's the King, I tell you."

See, sometimes we think of God as Jesus just as that Lamb and not the King of kings and Lord of lords. Is he safe? Of course he isn't safe, but he's good. He's all-powerful, but he's good. He's love. Everything he does is perfect. Anyway, so back to our chapter 17, verse 14. At the end it says, "And those who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful." Then he said to me, "The waters which you saw were the harlot sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations and tongues."

Now because this woman sits on many waters, we're told earlier. We are now told by this angel that this represents the peoples, the multitudes, the nations, and tongues on the earth. Now this would indicate that she has full authority over all the people of the world. This is the one-world religion. If you remember when we looked back at the first part of this chapter, that's what this woman riding the beast represents—the one-world religion. And so one commentator says this indicates that there will be one ecumenical world religious system embracing all nations and languages.

It'll be, you know, the whole world will have that "Coexist" sticker on their bumper stickers on their cars, right? You know, if you remember back in verse 2 of this chapter, 17, it says the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication. Now while this does—as we looked at the language in the Greek—it does include sexual fornication, it's mainly talking about spiritual fornication, a false worship. As all the religions of the world will come together basically and form this grotesque thing that they call God or gods and the whole world will worship this woman.

And it's been happening for many, many years now, even within the Christian church. You may remember probably, what, 10 years ago, eight years ago or so, Rick Warren telling his people that Muslims and Christians pray to the same God. The current Pope has made similar remarks and met with Buddhists and Taoists and Hindus and all these other—"Oh, we all pray to the same gods," they say, "the same God." And we see as the great falling away happening before our eyes now.

Those who are leading this will say that they love Jesus. Matter of fact, they say the ones who don't love Jesus are us here today who actually believe the Bible is the word of God. "Oh, you're too judgmental. You're not tolerant enough," they say in their intolerance and their judgmentalism. You know, it's interesting, they don't love the Jesus of the Bible. It's more they love the Jesus of the Babel, if you will, the Tower of Babel, the one that they've made up. And so many have made up their own Jesuses today. Ecumenicalism is, you know, this at its height.

Jesus in his great High Prayer in John chapter 17, he talks about how he wants all of his people to be one. He's praying that. That is one of his main hearts of his prayer. But he also said how they could be one. And I'm paraphrasing, but he said, "Father, I have given them your word. Thy word is truth." And that is where we meet as the children of God: under the word of God. Under the word of God, not above it or equal to it, which all the faiths sadly that are going off are doing.

So this is what this woman here represents: this false conglomeration of the faith of the world all around the world. Look at verse 16: "And the ten horns which you saw on the beast, these will hate the harlot." So these 10 kings, these 10 people in power, will end up hating the harlot and make her desolate and naked, eat her flesh and burn her with fire. So basically there will be a time—and I believe this is the first three and a half years of the tribulation—that they will—there will be quote-unquote peace and safety. All the religions will be singing Kumbaya as one.

As the temple is being rebuilt, there's been a treaty that's been signed. Jesus talks about this in Matthew 24:15. He says, "Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, whoever reads, let him understand." Daniel 9:27: "The ruler will make a treaty with the people for a period of one set of seven, or for seven years." But after this time, he will put an end to the sacrifices and the offerings.

So for the first three and a half years of the tribulation, there will basically be this treaty, there'll be this period quote-unquote of peace, and they'll be able to worship all these false gods. But he will put an end to the sacrifices and the offerings, and as a climax to all his terrible deeds, he will set up a sacrilegious object that causes desecration until the fate decreed for this defiler is finally poured out on him. So at the three and a half year mark into the tribulation, there will be this woman who rides the beast, this disgusting world religion thing that's going on.

The 10 kings will use it, the Antichrist will use it, but in the middle of it, he's going to break the treaties. He's going to stand in the temple and he's going to demand that the entire world worship him now as God. No more woman. Look at verse 17: "For God has put it into their hearts to fulfill His purpose, to be of one mind, to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled." So again, in verse 16, these 10 horns, they're going to turn on the harlot, that false religion.

And then in verse 17, we're going to see that God has put it into their hearts to fulfill his purpose, to be of one mind, and then they're going to give their kingdom to the beast until the words of God are fulfilled. Notice: Satan doesn't want anybody else ruling and reigning. He doesn't want the false religion. He doesn't want these 10 kings. They now give their power over to the beast. And it's interesting though, but we have to see something. Notice what it says here: you need to underline this, highlight this.

"God has put it into their hearts to fulfill His purpose." Remember, these are people who have already taken the mark. These are people who have already rebelled against God. They're already—there's no turning back because they've declared that the beast is now their God. So now God puts it into their hearts to fulfill his purposes. Guys and girls, we need to remember that God was, God is, and God will always be completely sovereign. He is in control of everything. Now even in the midst of our free will, God works everything together in accordance with his perfect and all-powerful will.

We can't reconcile those two. That's why you have Calvinism on one side—later, gentlemen, Calvinism weighing in at 320 pounds—and on this side, Arminianism at 259 pounds. It's like you have this battle that's continuing even today. Because we can't reconcile the two. And sadly, a lot of us within our pride, we have to reconcile it. I have to know! You're not God, you will not know. God has told us many things in his Bible. He doesn't tell us how he does them or why, but he tells us to believe them.

And it's the same here. God is in control. I like in Ephesians chapter 1, verse 11, it says this: "In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will." Notice, he doesn't say some things, most things—all things. But look at verse 17. It says notice, "Until the words of God are fulfilled." Look, guys and girls, though all men and women be a liar, the words of God will always be fulfilled.

Amen. Remember this. This is so important. Even in the midst of all this bad news, if you will, God is still on the throne. And until the words of God—they will always be fulfilled. Let me just give you some scriptures. Psalm 119:89: "Forever, O Lord, your word is settled in heaven." Psalm 119:152: "Concerning your testimonies, I have known of old that you have founded them forever." Isaiah 40:8: "The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands or endureth forever."

Matthew 5:17 and 18, Jesus said, "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled." Matthew 24:35: "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will by no means pass away." That means we can trust every word written here in the Bible. John 14:29, Jesus said, "And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe."

Let me read this out of the Amplified: "And now I have told you this before it occurs, so that when it does take place you may believe and have faith in and rely in me." So even as we see these things in the future to come, even today we can understand, look, these things will come to pass because God said it will be. Period. And what does that do? It should give us a greater faith in the word of God, even in the everyday things. And even as we face more and more persecution, which I believe we're headed further and further into that road if the Lord tarries.

As we're closing, look at verse 18: "And the woman whom you saw is that great city which reigns over the kings of the earth." Now the last thing here in chapter 17 is this woman that has the false religion over all the earth, the system, this false system, will rule over all the kings of the world for a time, all the people of the earth. But it will do so, as we see, from a city, a great city. Some think this will literally be Babylon, the city rebuilt. Others say this is going to be the ancient city of Rome, even as it stands today. And we'll see in the next chapter that it does mean a literal city. And that much we do know for certain.

Guest (Male): This has been Simple Faith from Simple Faith Calvary Chapel in Vancouver, Washington. Today we brought you a message from Pastor Bill from his new series in the Book of Revelation. If you'd like to hear today's message again or share it with someone, it's available at our website to either watch or listen, and you can actually download an audio MP3. We have a large number of Pastor Bill's messages archived, and you can find them all at simplefaith.org. That's simplefaith.org.

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