1. Marriage vs Prostitution
What is the difference between a man going to a prostitute and a couple in a marriage relationship?
Both have union of sexual intimacy. Both have pleasure and excitement of that union.
But one is the sexual expression that God has given mankind to be expressed within the framework of marriage - the good gift of God. The other is the cheap distortion of God's good gift!
In marriage, a man loves the woman and courts her, patiently waiting for the wedding day and wedding night, celebrates with friends and family the joys of the wedding feast. They promise to stay together for better or for worse, till death. On the other hand, a man pays some cash to a complete stranger, whom he will never see again, for a night of excitement.
The image of a prostitute is what we read of in today's text.
2. The Great Prostitute
a. Her seduction & passion
17:4 - The prostitute is very attractive. She is beautiful to look at, being clothed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls. She is not a cheap prostitute - she is a 'high class' prostitute, an escort girl. Yet, even though she is externally alluring, she is full of abomination on the inside. From the outside the cup is golden, but on the inside it is full of abominations and impurities. It spells seduction. It looks attractive on the outside, but it leads a person to abomination, to evil, to turn away from God.
18:3 - Not only is she seductive, she is passionate as well. She gives passionate wine. Those involved with her get drunk. They get confident. They think they can do everything. But in fact, when drunk they aren't conscious of what they are doing. They lose all sense of good judgment.
b. Her clients
17:1 - She sits over many waters. What are these waters?
17:15 - The waters are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages.
They are both the rich and powerful (17:2), and the poor as well, from the term 'dwellers on earth' - anyone whose names are not written in the book of life (17:8)
c. Her pride
18:7 - She glorifies herself. She lives in luxury. She says, "I am on top of the world. There'll never be a day that makes me cry or mourn."
d. Her beast
17:3 - She also sits over the beast. She has a close association with the beast, whom she rides. The beast is scarlet, an expensive colour. It matches her clothing. The beast has 7 heads and 10 horns.
17:7-13 describes the beast. The 7 heads are like 7 hills, like 7 kings. Rome was said to be built on 7 hills. It is a beast that represent authority, government authority, rulers of the world. 17:12 - the 10 horns are 10 kings.
17:10, 13 - The kings come and go. It is a bit like Nero back at that time, who was said to have faked his own death, only to reappear, feigning resurrection. These kings have great authority. The beast is the picture of all the authorities of the world. Just like Japan, Germany, who at some points in history were down and out, e.g. after WWII, they later returned as the great economies of the world with great influence over global policies.
e. Her identity
Who then is this prostitute? There's a lot in the name. A name is supposed to tell a lot about a person's character. What characterizes the prostitute?
17:5 - Her name is Babylon the Great.
What's so special about Babylon? Babylon is a city. The first city that was built at Babylon was built way before 1800 BC. It was the city of Babel. It was where all the people of the world came together and wanted to build not only a great city, but a great tower that reaches to the heavens, to make a name for themselves. They wanted not to be scattered all over the world. They wanted security for themselves. It was the alternative to God, where man could make safety, security and a name for himself (Genesis 11).
Throughout history, man has always been obsessed with tall buildings. Cities with tall buildings are a picture of pride, glamour, riches and luxury. That is Babylon as well.
Later on in the Old Testament, around 1660 BC, Babylon grew to be the greatest nation, greatest civilisation, the greatest military power of that time. It was later overtaken by the Persians, then the Greeks and finally by the Romans. At the time of writing, Rome was the new Babylon. John the writer could have been referring to Rome as he wrote about Babylon in the book of Revelation. Yet, Babylon does not just referring to that particular great civilisation. Babylon is a symbol of all civilizations where mankind wants to get together in luxury, glamour, security and in riches.
The great prostitute and her sexual immorality is unlikely literal sexual immorality. It is a symbol for man's love for riches and money and the security they can give us. Yet, money is not inherently wrong. Just like sex is not wrong, it is God's good gift to man. It is the distortion of money to our own ends, the running after, the worshipping of the glamour, luxury and the security that money gives, which is the sexual immorality of the prostitute.
It is materialism.
18:3 - The merchants of the earth will grow rich from the power of the prostitute's luxurious living.
18:11-12 - The nations of the world will weep when they can't sell their expensive cargo.
And this is what our world is seduced by. All of us in Asia ultimately look to the great nation that in America. We all want to imitate America. We all want to work in a big firm in New York. We all want to study at Harvard just for the prestige of it. We all want to be someone in this world, and have the power and pleasure.
f. Her destruction
17:1, 18:2, 18:8, 18:10 - As Babel fell within a day, Babylon fell within a year (539 BC). It took very long to build Rome up, but it is said it fell overnight as well. Here is the judgment of God on the prostitute, on all the world holds dear. All that we have achieved, all our degrees, all our possessions will all go. It will all go.
Jesus: "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money." (Matt 6:19-24)
The Apostle John: "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world--the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions--is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever." (1 John 2:15-17)
The prostitute thinks she will never fall, but she will.
3. The Marriage of the Lamb
There is another relationship spoken of in this text as well.
a. Long awaited
19:6-8 - The Lamb as we have seen in the past few chapters, refers to Jesus. Here is the marriage that is long awaited,. It is long awaited because God had planned it all along since the beginning.
As Paul writes Ephesians 5:31-32, he quotes Genesis 2:24. He is saying that when God created Adam and Eve, he wasn't really thinking about human marriage, he was really thinking about Christ and the Church. That was what God was heading His whole plan towards.
We as Christians are now engaged to Jesus.
2 Cor 11:2 - Paul says he has bethrothed the Corinthian church to one husband, as a pure virgin to Christ. We as Christians are not to chase after false Christs. We are not married yet.
One day, i.e. Rev 19, when Jesus comes again, the long awaited wedding day will come.
b. Finally arrived
19:17 - The day is described here. The Lamb is not just Jesus who died, He is also the one who wins the victory.
17:14 - The Lamb is the one who conquered. The kings with the beast will make war with the Lamb, but the Lamb will conquer them.
Jesus is risen. He has won the victory. He will come back and rule. That is why we rejoice. This wedding day finally comes, because the bride is ready.
c. Bride
Prettying themselves up - that is what brides do.
As the bride, we Christians are to make ourselves ready. We are to dress in fine linen, white and pure (19:8), a contrast the the scarlet and expensive purple of the beast and prostitute. The fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints (19:8). It is not saying we need to do righteous things to get to heaven. Jesus engages us despite our ugliness. Now that we are promised to Jesus, we are to get ready and grow in godliness and righteousness.
Sometimes, the brides of this world spend more time getting ready than we as Christians get ready to meet Jesus. We are often lackadaisical with regards to our righteousness.
But the bride here 'has been made ready' (19:7).
d. Dinner guests
19:9 - Not only is there a picture of the bride, in Revelation we are seen also as dinner guests. We are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. This rich supper is contrasted against the alchohol of the prostitute that she uses to make the nations drunk.
We are those invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. What a great privilege!
4. The Call
There are 2 great calls to Christians.
a. Come out!
The whole world has gone after materialism. The kings of the world have gone after materialism. Almost every government in the world is concerned about making their citizens rich. Our whole world has become drunk with materialism.
18:4 - We are to come out of her, lest we take part in her sins and share in her plagues.
It is so easy to participate in the materialism of the world. It is all around us. It is what our friends and relatives are like. There are so many expectations of our parents and friends. Where we will work, what car we drive, what sort of house we will own.
Yet, we are to be different.
b. Practical implications
What are our God-given resources? Time, abilities and assets? Some abilities are inherited, some are practised. Some assets are inherited, some are earned. But ultimately all are from God. How would we use these resources differently living for the prostitute, compared to if we live for Jesus and the marriage supper of the lamb?
c. Rejoice!?
19:1-6 - There is another call - a call to rejoice at the fall of the prostitute. Isn't it weird to be happy that the world system is going? We should be happy because that is the world system that is in rebellion against God.
18:11, 15 - The dwellers of the earth mourn because that was all they lived for. The more we hold onto the prostitute, the more we will mourn when it falls. It is how we see life. Do we actually believe that this world system will be destroyed at the second coming of Jesus?
19:9 - These are the true words of God.
19:10 - The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. All Christians are prophets in that we predict that Jesus is coming back to judge the world. We are all prophets about the one thing that actually matters. Do we actually believe this will happen? Is it really our life reference point?
It is so hard because it is what our relatives, our friends also want. It is what they expect of us. We feel so secure in having the money, status and power of this world. But if we know that the world system is going to collapse, we owe it to God, to ourselves and to our family and friends to 'get out!' Even though the world tells us to just continue on with 'life', climbing up the career ladder, we need to get out! We need to make different decisions in life, and influence our family and friends as well to 'get out' as well.
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