HILLSIDE SEVENTH DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH

92
12
Judgment on Babylon
Sabbath Afternoon
Read for This Week’s Study: Revelation 17, Jer. 51:13, Exod. 28:36–38, Rev. 13:1–8, Rev. 13:18, Rev. 16:2–12.
Memory Text: “And I heard another voice from heaven saying,
‘Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues. For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities’ ” (Revelation 18:4, 5, NKJV).
The sixth plague causes the symbolic drying up of the Euphrates, as the disillusioned people of the world withdraw their popular support from end-time Babylon. As we saw in last week’s lesson, the shattering of her power will be preceeded by extensive demonic activities counterfeiting the work of God (Rev. 16:13, 14). The demonic activity will be successful in uniting the wicked in preparation for the battle of Armageddon.
At the outset of the final battle, a great earthquake occurs as part of the seventh plague. The earthquake shatters the unity of Babylon and splits it into three parts (Rev. 16:18, 19). End-time Babylon is portrayed as a city, signifying the short-term union of the political and religious powers of the world in opposition to God’s people. This unity is shattered, causing the breakup of end-time Babylon.
We must keep in mind that Revelation 16:19 only anounces the political collapse of end-time Babylon. Chapters 17 and 18 tell us how this collapse actually will happen. Before describing the demise of end-time Babylon and the reasons for its fall (Rev. 17:12–18:24), Revelation 17 describes this end-time apostate religious system, this time in terms of a harlot riding a scarlet beast. In association with her daughters, the harlot Babylon, riding the scarlet beast, seduces the world against God (Rev. 17:1–11).
* Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, March 23.
*March 16–22
Lesson
93
March 17
The Harlot Babylon
Read Revelation 17:1. Jeremiah 51:13 shows that the “many waters”
upon which Babylon sits are the river Euphrates. According to
Revelation 17:15, what do many waters symbolize?
_________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
A woman in the Bible is a symbol for God’s people. In Revelation,
God’s true church is portrayed as a pure woman (Rev. 12:1, 22:17).
A harlot thus represents a false apostate church. In Revelation 17:5,
this harlot is identified as Babylon the Great. Just as ancient Babylon
depended on the Euphrates River for its existence, so will end-time
Babylon rely on the support of the masses to enforce her plans.
Read Revelation 17:2 along with Revelation 14:8 and Revelation
18:2, 3. What two groups of people are specified as being involved
in an illicit relationship with, and being seduced by, end-time
Babylon?
_________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
The first group is the kings of the earth, the governing political powers.
They are portrayed as being engaged in an adulterous relationship
with the harlot Babylon. In the Old Testament, the language of fornication
is used frequently to describe how apostate Israel turned away
from God to false religions (Isa. 1:21, Jer. 3:1–10). The adulterous
relationship between the kings of the earth and the harlot symbolizes
an illicit union between end-time Babylon and the governing political
powers—a union of church and state.
The second group in an illicit relationship with the harlot Babylon
is the inhabitants of the earth, the governed masses. These are made
spiritually drunk with the wine of Babylon’s fornication. In contrast to
the governing political powers, the general populace is intoxicated by
Babylon’s false teachings and practices, deceived into thinking that she
can protect them. When people are drunk, they do not think clearly and
are controlled easily (see Isa. 28:7). The whole world, with the exception
of a faithful remnant, will be led astray by Babylon.
In the very end, as today, and as has always been the case, the masses
of the people get it wrong. What should this tell us about the dangers
of following popular sentiment, no matter how popular?
Sunday
94
March 18
The Harlot Riding on the Scarlet Beast
Read Revelation 17:3. One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls
filled with the seven last plagues offers to show John the judgment of
the harlot who sat on many waters. When John sees her, she is riding the
scarlet beast. In what ways do the symbols of water and beast suitably
describe the supporters of Babylon?
As John is carried in vision into the wilderness, he sees a woman on
a scarlet beast. While the harlot represents a religious entity, the beast
symbolizes a political power. The picture of religion riding the secular
and political powers points to two separate entities, something that was
not the case in the past, when religion and politics were integrated. The
prophecy shows, however, that these two entities will join together at the
end time. The concept of riding a beast denotes dominance; as the rider of
the scarlet beast, this end-time religious system will dominate the secular
and political powers.
Which characteristics of the harlot point to the dragon, the sea beast,
and the beast coming out of the earth in Revelation 12 and 13?
The harlot is pictured as extravagantly arrayed in purple and scarlet
and adorned with ornaments of gold, precious stones, and pearls; such
adornment was a practice of harlots in antiquity to enhance their power
of seduction (Jer. 4:30). As the color of blood, scarlet corresponds to
the oppressive character of this religious system.
The harlot’s dress counterfeits the attire of the high priest in the
Old Testament, attire that included the colors purple, scarlet, and gold
(Exod. 28:5, 6). The blasphemous inscription on the harlot’s forehead
also replaces the priestly inscription, “Holiness to the Lord” on
the miter of the high priest (Exod. 28:36–38). The cup in her hand
reminds us of the vessels of the sanctuary from which Belshazzar,
king of Babylon, and his guests drank wine (Dan. 5:2–4). The cup in
the harlot’s hand uses the appearance of truth to conceal the wine—the
falsehoods of Satan’s end-time religious system—in order to seduce the
world away from God.
The harlot Babylon is further described as drunk with the blood of the
saints and the martyrs of Jesus who died as a result of their witness to
Christ. This bloodguiltiness links end-time Babylon to medieval apostate
Christianity, which was led by the papacy and responsible for the deaths
of millions of Christians who remained faithful to the gospel.
The description of the harlot Babylon reflects the image of
Jezebel in the church of Thyatira (see Rev. 2:20–23). How do the
parallels between these two women elucidate the character of
end-time Babylon?
Monday
95
The Identification of the Scarlet Beast
Revelation 17:3 describes the scarlet beast in terms similar to the
sea beast of Revelation 13, which made war with, and overcame, God’s
people (Rev. 13:5–7). It was this earlier period of persecution that
caused the pure woman to flee into the wilderness during the prophetic
period of 1,260 days/years, from a.d. 538 to 1798 (Rev. 12:13, 14).
Though living in an age of ecumenism, Protestants would do well to
remember the terrible persecution of the past, because, according to
prophecy, something similar, but only worse, will happen again.
Read Revelation 17:8. Compare the wording of this verse with
Revelation 13:8. How does Revelation 13:3 clarify the three phases
of the existence and activities of the beast?
_________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
The scarlet beast is identified as the one that was, and is not, and will
ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition. This tripartite phrase
is, first of all, a counterfeit of the divine name, Yahweh—“who is and who
was and who is to come” (Rev. 1:4, NKJV; see also Rev. 4:8). It also further
points to the three phases of existence through which the beast has passed:
(1) The beast “was.” It existed in the past. Its prior activities lasted for
the prophetic period of 42 months, also known as 1,260 days/years (see
Rev. 13:5 and Lesson 9, Sunday).
(2) “Is not.” With its deadly wound (see Rev. 13:3), the beast went
into its nonexistence phase, at least, as a persecutor, in 1798. It vanished
for some time from the world scene; yet it survived.
(3) Finally, with the healing of the deadly wound, the beast will
regain its power and exert it in full satanic rage.
Revelation 17 describes the beast of Revelation 13:1–8 at the time
of the healing of its deadly wound. Upon this revived beast, the harlot
Babylon sits, as well. Once again there will be a short-lived union of
religion and politics as it existed during the Middle Ages, and persecution
again will take place.
“Let opposition arise, let bigotry and intolerance again bear sway,
let persecution be kindled, and the half-hearted and hypocritical
will waver and yield the faith; but the true Christian will stand
firm as a rock, his faith stronger, his hope brighter, than in days of
prosperity.”—Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 602. What
warning should we take from these words about what our Christian
experience needs to be now, even before final events unfold?
_______________________________________________________
Tuesday March 19
96
March 20
The Seven Heads of the Beast
Read Revelation 17:9–11 along with Revelation 13:18. The requirement
for understanding the seven heads is a mind of wisdom. What
kind of wisdom is in view here? How does one obtain this divinely
imparted wisdom (see James 1:5)?
_________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
The angel explains that the seven heads are seven mountains. Some
translators think that these mountains allude to the seven hills upon
which the city of Rome is situated, and for this reason, they translate the
Greek word oroi (“mountains”) as “hills.” There are seven kings, too,
who are symbolized by the seven mountains. Also, these mountains are
successive, not simultaneous.
These mountains do not symbolize individual kings, because
Revelation does not deal with individual persons but with systems.
In the Bible, mountains often symbolize world powers or empires
(Jer. 51:25; Ezek. 35:2, 3). In biblical prophecy “kings” represent
kingdoms (see Dan. 2:37–39, Dan. 7:17). Thus, the seven mountains
symbolize seven great successive empires that dominated the
world throughout history, through which Satan opposed God and
harmed God’s people.
From John’s time perspective, five of these empires have fallen, one
is, and the other has not yet come. While no single view has been agreed
upon by all Adventist interpreters, many hold that the five that have fallen
are the great kingdoms that in Old Testament times dominated and (on
occasion) harmed God’s people: Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Media-Persia,
and Greece. The “one is” kingdom was the Roman Empire of John’s time.
The seventh kingdom that “has not yet come” is the sea beast of
Revelation 13—the papacy, which dominated and harmed God’s
people—that was to come after the time of John and after the fall of
the pagan Roman Empire. History has powerfully attested to the truth
of this prophecy, written many centuries before the events unfolded.
John is further told that the scarlet beast is an eighth world power,
although it is one of the seven heads (world powers). Which of the
seven? Because these heads are sequential in time, the eighth must be
the seventh head that received the deadly wound. It is at the time of this
eighth world power that the scarlet beast appears, carrying and advancing
the goals of the harlot Babylon. Today, we live at the time of the
healing of the deadly wound. This eighth world power will appear on
the scene right before the end and will go to perdition.
Wednesday
97
The Judgment of Babylon
Read Revelation 17:12–15 along with Revelation 16:14–16. What do
you learn from these texts about the “ten kings”?
_________________________________________________________
Different interpretations have been offered regarding the identities
of the ten kings. However, Revelation does not tell us who they are.
All we can derive from the text is that they are a short-lived political
confederacy appearing right before the end and supporting the harlot.
Their number signifies that the world powers will render total, unwavering
allegiance to the beast.
Revelation 17:13, 14 reiterates in a nutshell the battle of
Armageddon—introduced in Revelation 16:12–16. Induced by miracle-
working demonic powers in conjunction with the dragon, the sea
beast, and the false prophet, the worldwide political confederacy will
make war with the Lamb. In other words, the battle of Armageddon
is not a military battle in the Middle East but the final conflict of the
Second Coming in which Satan and his confederacy fight against
Christ and His angelic host.
Read Revelation 17:16–18. From what we saw in Revelation 16:2–12,
what lies behind the ten kings’ change of attitude toward Babylon?
Who is behind what happens to Babylon?
_________________________________________________________
Filled with hatred, the ten horns, which are the successor powers to the
divided nations of Europe, suddenly turn against the harlot Babylon (the
end-time manifestation of the papacy), making her desolate and naked;
they symbolically will eat her flesh and burn her with fire. In writing
about what will happen to the harlot Babylon, John employs language
similar to what God said would happen to adulterous Jerusalem (Jer.
4:30). Burning by fire was the punishment for a priest’s daughter who
was involved in sexual immorality (Lev. 21:9). The deceived political
powers have become disillusioned because of the inability of Babylon to
protect them from the plagues. They feel deceived and, in hostility, attack
her. This end-time apostate religious system, together with all those who
choose to identify themselves with it, experiences the fullness of divine
judgment.
A lot of questions about end-time events still remain unanswered
and, thus, can seem confusing to us now. What specific promise
is given in Revelation 17:14, and what should this promise mean
to us?
Thursday March 21
98
March 22
Further Thought: Before the full moral collapse of Babylon, a voice
from heaven urges God’s people still in Babylon to “ ‘Come out of her,
my people’ ” (Rev. 18:4). There are many worshipers of God who are
still in Babylon for various reasons. God uses His end-time church
to call these people out from this apostate religious system and not
to participate in its sins. They must come out of it in order to escape
its fate. God does not want anyone to perish (2 Pet. 3:9). Revelation
19:1–10 shows that many God-fearing people in Babylon will respond
to the call. Think, then, about the tremendous responsibility that rests
upon us as God’s remnant church. What should this responsibility tell
us about our need of God’s truth in our hearts and the outpouring of the
Holy Spirit in our lives?
Discussion Questions:
 As Revelation 18:4 shows, there are many God-fearing people
in Babylon whom God calls “ ‘my people.’ ” Reflect on the following
statement: “This message must be given, but while it must be
given, we should be careful not to thrust and crowd and condemn
those who have not the light that we have. We should not go out
of our way to make hard thrusts at the Catholics. Among the
Catholics there are many who are most conscientious Christians,
and who walk in all the light that shines upon them, and God
will work in their behalf. Those who have had great privileges
and opportunities, and who have failed to improve their physical,
mental, and moral powers, . . . are in greater danger and in greater
condemnation before God than those who are in error upon doctrinal
points, yet who seek to live to do good to others.”—Ellen G.
White, Evangelism, p. 575. What should this thought tell us about
how to treat others?
 Revelation 17 describes a harlot sitting on a scarlet beast.
While the woman in chapter 12 symbolizes God’s faithful church,
the one in chapter 17 refers to an apostate church seducing the
world away from God. In your view, what are the similarities and
differences between them? More important, what can we learn
from this comparison?
 The texts this week portray a very dismal state of the religious
and political world during the final stages before Christ’s victorious
return. What should this tell us about why it’s so important
right now that we stay faithful, true, and pure to the message that
God has given us? Read Revelation 16:15, an appeal for faithfulness
amid the depiction of worldwide apostasy. How can we apply
this warning to ourselves right now?
Friday
Provided by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission, which uses Sabbath School
mission offerings to spread the gospel worldwide. Read new stories daily at AdventistMission.org. 99
i n s i dSe tory
Rethinking Evolution
By Andrew McChesney, Adventist Mission
Stan Hudson’s world was turned upside down at the age of 19 when his
geology professor at the University of California announced that he believed
in God. The professor turned out to be a theistic evolutionist, a person who
believes that God exists but that the Earth was created through millions of
years of evolution.
The stance struck Stan, a budding scientist, as illogical. How could the
professor put God, if He existed, in a secondary rather than primary position?
Stan also was puzzled with the notion that an all-powerful God could be the
source of death. Theistic evolution teaches that death was part of God’s original
plan. Generations of animals had to die over millions of years to produce
the creatures that inhabit the Earth today.
But Stan was most upset with the realization that scientists were not as
open-minded as he had thought, and any scientist who questioned evolution
would face a major fight. He didn’t want to fight, so he quit the university.
Six months passed. One day, Stan’s roommate, David L. Friend, asked for a
Bible. Stan found one in his room, blew the dust off the cover, and gave it to
David to read. Seeing David reading the Bible impressed Stan, and soon he
began to read it, too.
After a while, Stan decided to pray. He knelt by his bed and said, “Dear God,
it looks like David and I are looking for You. Will You help us?”
The prayer, Stan later said, was probably the most powerful prayer that
heaven has ever heard from him.
Over the next few weeks, God grew bigger and bigger as He answered
small prayers, Stan said. For example, once Stan told David, “Let’s sell our
sofa,” and immediately they heard a knock on the door. Outside, a neighbor
asked, “Excuse me, do you have a sofa for sale?”
“A lot of little things like that delighted us,” Stan said. “We realized God
could see us and was involved in our lives.”
Stan became an Adventist pastor and served for 38 years in California,
Idaho, and Washington State. He never lost his love for science and has
been an outspoken advocate of the biblical six-day Creation week on Hope
Channel and 3ABN. He now directs the North Pacific
Union Conference’s Creation Study Center in Ridgefield,
Washington.
“Adventists are pretty much the last Creation-believing
denomination, and I am proud to be associated with it,”
he said. “It’s our mission specifically to preach about the
God ‘ “who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs
of water.” ’ (Rev. 14:7, NKJV). I like to turn up the volume
on the first angel’s message.”