Revelation 19:11-21
English Standard Version

The Rider on a White Horse
11 Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. 12 His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. 13 He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. 14 And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. 15 From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. 16 On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.

17 Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and with a loud voice he called to all the birds that fly directly overhead, “Come, gather for the great supper of God, 18 to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great.” 19 And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his army. 20 And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur. 21 And the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse, and all the birds were gorged with their flesh.

John sees a rider on a white horse.  Unlike the one he saw in Revelation 6, this one is the true Christ, the King of Kings and Lord of Lord.  His Name is "Faithful and True."  His eyes are like a flaming fire, ready to make war and execute judgment on the world.  On His head are many crowns (remember that Antichrist only wore one crown on his head).  Somewhere, He has a name written that no one knows besides Himself.

He is clothed in a robe that has been dipped in blood (a tradition of warriors back in the day, but I think we are to remember His blood that was shed for us).  He is called The Word of God.  He commands the armies of heaven (I believe these are angelic warriors, as we see the saints come down from heaven later) who are dressed in fine, while linen.  Out of His mouth comes a sharp sword so that by His very words that spoke the world into existence, He will slay His enemies and the enemies of His people.  He will save the people that belong to Him who live on the earth at that time for all their enemies in a miraculous was that can only be compared to a new Passover and Exodus.  It will not be just the firstborn of Egypt that will die, but all of the wicked will die in this judgment.

He will tread out the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God that we talked about in Revelation 14:17-20 (I think we are to remember this river of blood too when we think of His robes dipped in blood, for He is the one pressing the grapes--only it is blood and not grape juice that stains His garments).  He is truly King of Kings and Lord of Lords--the name written on His robe and on His thigh.

Then, there is another supper--not the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, but the carrion-eating birds are all invited to a "supper" prepared for them of the bodies of all the dead, wicked people of the world who died in the plagues and in this final battle.  They will all alike die whether king or pauper, rich or poor, young or old, or great or small in the eyes of the world.  They will be led into war by the beast, that is the Antichrist, and the armies of this world will attempt to make war with Jesus to try to keep Him from establishing His Kingdom and against His army (the saints) to keep them from inheriting that Kingdom.  That is not going to go well for them.

The beast, that is the Antichrist, is captured along with the False Prophet and they are thrown into the Lake of Fire alive.  The other people of the world will have their souls cast into the Lake of Fire after The Great White Throne Judgment, but their bodies are destroyed here and now.  We'll also see all the demons (and eventually the Devil) also cast into the Lake of Fire which was prepared for them.  Everyone other than the Antichrist and False Prophet who belonged to the kingdom of Antichrists died by the sword the came out from Jesus' mouth (His spoken Word), and the carrion-eating birds were gorged with the flesh of the armies of the wicked

This is still a pretty dreadful picture and there will be a lot of cleanup and other work to do to try to restore everything to its intended condition (note that the place that Jesus prepared for His people does not come out of heaven at this time).  This is the Messianic, Millennial Kingdom of Christ that was promised to the Jews where Jesus will rule from the throne of David in Jerusalem, and is a huge part of the prophecies of the Old Testament.  I know  Amillennials will disagree with me here because they do not believe that Israel will have an inheritance separate from that which belongs to the Church, but it is important to note that this earthly Kingdom is not eternal, as it is still part of the earth that is corrupted by sin.  What matters for today's passage is that Jesus Himself wins the battle to save HIs people once again with help from no one else--the battle belongs to the Lord!

We'll talk more of the Thousand-year reign of Christ next time.  Again, this is where I know I differ from many other friends of mine, but believe this is a literal 1,000 years--we still have sun, moon, and stars to tell the passage of time here as opposed to when the New Heavens and the New Earth are created and there will be no more Sun, Moon, or stars because we will no longer need to tell the passage of time (their purpose given in Genesis 1).  Satan will only be bound, but not truly 100% gone at this point.  There will be one more final rebellion before this heaven and earth will pass away.  We'll talk about that and the final battle and The Great White Throne Judgment in Chapter 20 before we get to the New Creation and the New Jerusalem in Chapter 21 and the epilogue and invitation of Chapter 22.

Revelation 19:6-10
English Standard Version

The Marriage Supper of the Lamb
6 Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out,

“Hallelujah!
For the Lord our God
    the Almighty reigns.
7 Let us rejoice and exult
    and give him the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
    and his Bride has made herself ready;
8 it was granted her to clothe herself
    with fine linen, bright and pure”--

for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

9 And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.” 10 Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.” For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

It would seem from the description that all of heaven  joins together in the worship of the one who is to be the Conquering King.  

“Hallelujah!
For the Lord our God
    the Almighty reigns.
7 Let us rejoice and exult
    and give him the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
    and his Bride has made herself ready;
8 it was granted her to clothe herself
    with fine linen, bright and pure”--

for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

What is this "Marriage of the Lamb" they speak of?  We are about to find out.  We know the Lamb is Christ, and He is also called the Bridegroom.  We know He went away to prepare a place for His people we call the Church who is also called the Bride of Christ.  We know He promised that one day He would return for them so that where He is, there they may be also, and we know that He left the Holy Spirit as a down payment (sort of like an engagement right) as a promise of this very event that was coming and all the good things that He has in store for us.  This is also the conclusion of the Last Supper, which He left unfinished.  Remember how He said to his disciples that evening, 

26 Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” 27 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, 28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29 I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom.” (Matthew 26:26-29)

See the promise for Him to share this meal with them again when He promises He will again drink the cup [the fourth cup of the meal, the Cup of Praise] when they drink it together in His Father's Kingdom (that would be heaven, where we see this taking place, and would put this event He is promising before His coronation and He receives the Kingdom--that happens right after this event).

Intermixed with The Last Supper, we not only have soundings of the beginning of the story of Redemption with remembering the Passover of Egypt, and we clearly see the bread and wine pointing to what was currently going on with Jesus as He was about to become their Passover Lamb and the bread and wine represented the New Covenant that was made with His sinless body and blood, but it also had overtones of a Jewish marriage proposal and how the potential groom offered a cup of wine to the one He wanted to be his bride and if she took it and drank of it, they entered into a covenant of betrothal.  He would go and prepare a place for her and return for her, and when he did, there would be a magnificent party limited only by the amount of money the groom's family had to spend on it.  Sometimes these marriage feasts would go on for weeks or longer with extremely wealthy families.  The party was over as soon as the wine ran out (refer back to Jesus' first miracle) and it was quite an embarrassing thing for the groom to be unprepared in his preparations and to run out of food or wine.

Now imagine how great this Marriage Supper of the Lamb will be with God the Father throwing this party for His beloved Son and the Bride that His Son died for, whom He he has already adopted as His own.  The Father who has unlimited time and resources and has literally been preparing for this day before the foundations of the world.  This is going to be a great party that will only be cut short because there will be business to attend to--Jesus will need to be crowed as King of Kings and Lord of Lords and will need to conquer the remaining rebellious peoples of the world and bring judgment to them.  He will then establish a Messianic Kingdom on earth (we'll talk about that over the next couple of passages), but it will only last for 1,000 years before Satan is released from his imprisonment and he will stir up the hearts of those born and raised during this Millennial Kingdom to once again rebel against Jesus, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  There will be a final judgment and all of the first creation will pass away as Jesus promised when He said "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my Word will never pass away."  (That is not to say that the place He has made for us will be destroyed.)  Then there will be a New Heavens and a New Earth and a New Jerusalem that will be both a place and people that come down from heaven and Father, and Son, and His People will live forever in perfect peace.  There will be no more sin, no more curse, and no more temptation to sin.  Satan and his demons will no longer bother us, nor will the wicked people who belonged to his kingdom of darkness.  Darkness will be no more, there will no longer be any separation between God and Man.  It will be as it was intended to be in the Garden of Eden.

This passage today kicks off all of that.  Perhaps now you see why everyone was celebrating.  They knew what was coming. The angel told John to write, "Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” Then the angel added, “These are the true words of God.”

John once again finds himself in the position of being overcome by the angel's message and falling down in worship at the feet of the angel, and we again see the angel stop him and say "You must not do that."  True angels do not steal worship from God.  That is one way we are sure that The Angel of the LORD in the Old Testament is God Himself (Jesus in the Old Testament) because He accepts the worship that only God deserves and speaks for God in the first person.  The angel reminds John that angels are only servants of God, much like the Church is, but the Church is better in that it has the testimony of how Christ has redeemed the Church.  We have even more reason to worship Him.  We are told to worship God who did all this for our good and His glory.  Then we are told we know all these things are true because they have been given to us by the spirit of prophecy and God's prophetic word never fails.  If someone claims to speak a prophetic word and that word fails to be true, that word was not spoken from God (see Deuteronomy 18:20-22).  Now the angel's words of “These are the true words of God" make more sense in the context of these being prophetic words that we can be certain of.

Revelation 19:1-5
English Standard Version

Rejoicing in Heaven
19 After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, crying out,

“Hallelujah!
Salvation and glory and power belong to our God,
2     for his judgments are true and just;
for he has judged the great prostitute
    who corrupted the earth with her immorality,
and has avenged on her the blood of his servants.”

3 Once more they cried out,

“Hallelujah!
The smoke from her goes up forever and ever.”

4 And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who was seated on the throne, saying, “Amen. Hallelujah!” 5 And from the throne came a voice saying,

“Praise our God,
    all you his servants,
you who fear him,
    small and great.”

The citizens of heaven (the saints, the angels, and the angelic creatures) all rejoice at the victory that the Lord is having over the enemies of God.  It is clear to them that the kingdom of this world is coming to an end the time for the Kingdom of Christ to be established is almost upon us.  The people sing a new song with the multitude of voices singing in unison:

“Hallelujah!
Salvation and glory and power belong to our God,
2     for his judgments are true and just;
for he has judged the great prostitute
    who corrupted the earth with her immorality,
and has avenged on her the blood of his servants.”

They are celebrating because this is still part of the process of their salvation--this time, they are being saved, not only from their enemies, but from the wickedness of sin that corrupted the earth.  They are not quite there yet, but the finish line is in sight and they know that the battle belongs to the Lord.  This judgment and wrath that has been poured out on the earth has been to avenge many of them.  It is the answer to "How long, O Lord?" that was asked back in Revelation 6:10.  We've been waiting nearly the entire book of Revelation for the answer of "Just a little while longer" to be fulfilled.  Now it seems that everyone sees that the time of waiting is coming to an end, and it is time to celebrate the victory that already has been won and the complete and total victory that is certain.

​The world's system known as Babylon the Great is going into eternal judgment and the smoke of the fire of her burning and destruction will rise forever and ever.  There will be a constant visible reminder of some kind for all eternity that God and everyone He allows to remember will know that the wicked are being eternally punished for their great iniquity they have committed against God and God's people.  

The 24 Elders and the four living creatures join the praise with their own verse: as they call everyone in heaven and on earth who serves Him to join the chorus:

“Praise our God,
    all you his servants,
you who fear him,
    small and great.”

Again, I understand that this may seem out of place in the middle of story of judgment, but this is a war that has been fought against the kingdom of darkness and the Kingdom of Light since Satan rebelled against God and was cast out of heaven along with 1/3 of the angels that rebelled with him.  Every since then, he has been working to kick God off of His throne and keep Jesus from taking the throne as the rightful successor so that Satan could try to take the throne for himself and corrupt everything God made "very good" and, if possible, he even wants to make God Himself sin so that He would become corrupted and wicked just like Satan.  It becomes clear at this point what we should have known from the laws of nature, the light will always overcome the darkness.  Darkness only "reigns" for a brief time between sunset and sunrise (and still it does not reign supreme because the moon reflects the light of the sun and there are many stars in the sky giving adding a little light).  It is obvious to everyone in heaven that the dawn of a new day is coming, and that is something to be excited and joyful about, even though it comes at the cost of destroying the wicked who would not repent and tried their hardest to stop the establishment of God's Kingdom.  The world cannot and will not be victorious.  Our God reigns supreme both now and forevermore and He must be victorious.  It is definitely a cause for celebration (especially when we see what is coming next, which is definitely a cause for celebration).

Revelation 18
English Standard Version

The Fall of Babylon
18 After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was made bright with his glory. 2 And he called out with a mighty voice,

“Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great!
    She has become a dwelling place for demons,
a haunt for every unclean spirit,
    a haunt for every unclean bird,
    a haunt for every unclean and detestable beast.
3 For all nations have drunk
    the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality,
and the kings of the earth have committed immorality with her,
    and the merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power of her luxurious living.”

4 Then I heard another voice from heaven saying,

“Come out of her, my people,
    lest you take part in her sins,
lest you share in her plagues;
5 for her sins are heaped high as heaven,
    and God has remembered her iniquities.
6 Pay her back as she herself has paid back others,
    and repay her double for her deeds;
    mix a double portion for her in the cup she mixed.
7 As she glorified herself and lived in luxury,
    so give her a like measure of torment and mourning,
since in her heart she says,
    ‘I sit as a queen,
I am no widow,
    and mourning I shall never see.’
8 For this reason her plagues will come in a single day,
    death and mourning and famine,
and she will be burned up with fire;
    for mighty is the Lord God who has judged her.”

9 And the kings of the earth, who committed sexual immorality and lived in luxury with her, will weep and wail over her when they see the smoke of her burning. 10 They will stand far off, in fear of her torment, and say,

“Alas! Alas! You great city,
    you mighty city, Babylon!
For in a single hour your judgment has come.”

11 And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn for her, since no one buys their cargo anymore, 12 cargo of gold, silver, jewels, pearls, fine linen, purple cloth, silk, scarlet cloth, all kinds of scented wood, all kinds of articles of ivory, all kinds of articles of costly wood, bronze, iron and marble, 13 cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, frankincense, wine, oil, fine flour, wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, and slaves, that is, human souls.

14 “The fruit for which your soul longed
    has gone from you,
and all your delicacies and your splendors
    are lost to you,
    never to be found again!”

15 The merchants of these wares, who gained wealth from her, will stand far off, in fear of her torment, weeping and mourning aloud,

16 “Alas, alas, for the great city
    that was clothed in fine linen,
        in purple and scarlet,
    adorned with gold,
        with jewels, and with pearls!
17 For in a single hour all this wealth has been laid waste.”

And all shipmasters and seafaring men, sailors and all whose trade is on the sea, stood far off 18 and cried out as they saw the smoke of her burning,

“What city was like the great city?”

19 And they threw dust on their heads as they wept and mourned, crying out,

“Alas, alas, for the great city
    where all who had ships at sea
    grew rich by her wealth!
For in a single hour she has been laid waste.
20 Rejoice over her, O heaven,
    and you saints and apostles and prophets,
for God has given judgment for you against her!”

21 Then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying,

“So will Babylon the great city be thrown down with violence,
    and will be found no more;
22 and the sound of harpists and musicians, of flute players and trumpeters,
    will be heard in you no more,
and a craftsman of any craft
    will be found in you no more,
and the sound of the mill
    will be heard in you no more,
23 and the light of a lamp
    will shine in you no more,
and the voice of bridegroom and bride
    will be heard in you no more,
for your merchants were the great ones of the earth,
    and all nations were deceived by your sorcery.
24 And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints,
    and of all who have been slain on earth.”

After the Seventh Bowl judgment and after John received the visions we talked about last time, another angel of heaven appeared to give light to the entire earth and to declare victory over Babylon the Great and to call out God's people to a place of safety before the time of final judgment comes upon the people of the world.  It would appear from things said later in the text that this proclamation comes before the Bowl judgments (as it speaks in the future tense about how all the plagues that will befall Babylon the Great will come upon her in a single day).  Even before these final plagues, she has already become the dwelling place of demons and a haunt for every kind of unclean spirit, a haunt for every kind of unclean bird, and a haunt for every kind of unclean beast and creature that creeps along the ground. 

She has been the source of many various kinds of evil that has defiled all kinds of people from around the world of various backgrounds.  Some wanted sexual pleasure, others wanted to chase after other gods, still others wanted to make themselves rich with what the world had to offer.  All of these people exchanged the eternally incorruptible and good things God has in store for His people for the perishable and temporary things of this world.

Any of God's people who are left on the earth at this point are called out from living among the people of the world so that they will not be caught up in its final judgment.  This could be the Rapture of the Church so that the believers are snatched away and protected in heaven, or it could be a physical place of protection that has been prepared for them here on earth as we know God has done that in the past (Goshen in Egypt, Zoar with Sodom and Gomorrah, Rahab's house in Jericho, and the Ark in the Flood, just to name a few).

Those who are far off who survive the plagues of the Seven Bowls will see her destruction and weep for that great city and its many people because they loved the world and the things of the world and they probably know this means judgment is coming upon them and their house as well.  If Babylon the Great could fall so quickly and easily to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, then who can withstand His fury and wrath when He returns to make war with all of His enemies? (That's not going to keep them from trying though).

The merchants will no longer have customers to buy their wares because of the number of people destroyed in a single day.  Though they put their whole lives into becoming rich, it will all be taken away from them in a single day because what good is it to have all the wealth in the world and have nothing left to buy with it and worse, what will it profit a man to gain the whole world, but lose his soul?

The captains of the seafaring vessels will also cry out because there will be no more need for their services and because such a great city (in their minds) was destroyed in what seems like a single hour.  They tell the citizens of heaven to rejoice at the destruction of the one who persecuted the saints and the prophets, and God's judgment on the wicked is certain and absolute.

Then, the mighty angel that John has seen in this vision hurls a rock the size of giant millstone into the sea as if it were nothing.  The angels says this is the way that Babylon the Great will be thrown down and destroyed (though they think they are big and powerful and immoveable, they are nothing to God--just look at what one of His angels did to that huge millstone).  No more will they make music nor will their craftsmen build and manufacture goods to sell.  No more will people grind the mill to make food nor will they have any need of any lamp (we'll see why that is later, but for now it is just a sign that everyone of the world and the kingdom of Antichrist is going to perish and there will be no more need of any of these things).  No more will people marry or be given in marriage.  No more will we need international shipping and commerce.  No more will people be deceived by the sorceries of Babylon the Great, and no longer will her deeds of killing the saints and the prophets go unpunished.  No more will she be able to threated the people and kingdom of God every again!

Revelation 17
English Standard Version

The Great Prostitute and the Beast
17 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, 2 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.” 3 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. 4 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. 5 And on her forehead was written a name of mystery: “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth's abominations.” 6 And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.

When I saw her, I marveled greatly. 7 But the angel said to me, “Why do you marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman, and of the beast with seven heads and ten horns that carries her. 8 The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to rise from the bottomless pit and go to destruction. And the dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel to see the beast, because it was and is not and is to come. 9 This calls for a mind with wisdom: the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated; 10 they are also seven kings, five of whom have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come, and when he does come he must remain only a little while. 11 As for the beast that was and is not, it is an eighth but it belongs to the seven, and it goes to destruction. 12 And the ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have not yet received royal power, but they are to receive authority as kings for one hour, together with the beast. 13 These are of one mind, and they hand over their power and authority to the beast. 14 They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful.”

15 And the angel said to me, “The waters that you saw, where the prostitute is seated, are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages. 16 And the ten horns that you saw, they and the beast will hate the prostitute. They will make her desolate and naked, and devour her flesh and burn her up with fire, 17 for God has put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose by being of one mind and handing over their royal power to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled. 18 And the woman that you saw is the great city that has dominion over the kings of the earth.”

The Great Prostitute is the kingdom of Antichrist that we call Babylon the Great.  That kingdom will seduce and delude many, and will be given influence and power over the Gentile nations (the "many waters" that she sits over, for the hearts of the Gentiles are fluid like water, easily tossed to and fro and easily molded into whatever image you would like to make them into).  Even the world leaders have committed spiritual immorality (idolatry with her) and possibly physical immorality as well as this will be the most perverse and wicked generation.  We are not surprised when we read that those who wield political power and influence are engaged in all kinds of immoral activity, in fact, most of us have come to expect it from rich and powerful people, especially politicians.  They are "drunk" on their immorality and idolatry so that they cannot think straight.  This makes them easier for the Antichrist and the devil to control and manipulate.

Then John is taken into the wilderness and he sees a woman (perhaps the same woman) on a scarlet beast (a red dragon).  That red dragon was full of blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns.  We have seen this beast already--it is Satan.  The kingdom of this world really is the kingdom of Satan.  The woman was clothed and dressed like royalty--in all kinds of fine clothes dyed in purple and scarlet and adorned with gold, jewels and pearls of all kinds.  The world may be wealthy according to its own systems of measure, but at what price does that come?  "For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, but lose his soul?" The people represented in this woman have traded their souls and their purity for self-gratification that lasts but a moment, the search for power and wealth that they will not be able to hold onto and the foolish hope that if they are rich enough, powerful enough, and so on that they will be able to tell God that they have no need of Him or His Law.  If we weren't sure this woman riding on the scarlet beast was the same women we saw in the first vision, we are certain now when John reveals what is written on her forehead (her identity), "Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth's abominations."

You may ask how Babylon is the "mother" of such wickedness if this kingdom of the Antichrist has only been around for seven years.  As I think I've pointed out as we've been studying the Bible together for several years now, we see the roots of this evil empire all the way back in Genesis 11 with the Tower of Babel (where the name Babylon comes from) and Nimrod, the first anitchrist that we see in the Bible that (there is one Antichrist here in the end times, but Satan and the world have always bean against Christ and has world leaders in power ready to fulfill the role of Antichrist whenever that time came, because Satan is not omniscient and could not possibly know when the right time was other than by studying the signs of the times and understanding when his time is coming to an end).

The woman on the dragon was holding a goblet that was filled with the blood of the saints that wee killed over the generations as the world opposed God, His kingdom and His people, but specifically, we are to think of the Tribulation saints here.  She is drunk on their blood, thinking that if she can kill the people who are the people of God on earth, that she can stop the promises of God from being fulfilled and make the kingdom of God cease to exist.  No such campaign against the people of God will be successful, but even if it was, they can only kill the body, but not the soul.  The world would just be releasing the saints from this world and our souls would be with Jesus in heaven, and we would be one of those voices asking, "How long, O Lord?" until the judgment of the Lamb and the establishment of His Kingdom comes?  We know that we are finally at that point in the text after the Seven Bowl Judgments, but we need to retell the story of the rise and fall of the evil empire.

John seemed puzzled when he saw the woman on the beast which took the angel he was with (one of the seven angels with the seven plagues that were in the seven bowls) by surprise, but the angel promised to explain the mystery of this woman to John (and us).  The angel tells John that he has seen this beast before, and he has already seen its destruction (we will see that very shortly in the following chapters, it would seem the perhaps John saw those visions before this one but chose to write them out of order, which is his prerogative).  The angel claims that at this point John knows that Satan has been bound in the bottomless pit for 1,000 years and is about to be released in order to lead a final rebellion.  There will be a new generation of lost people whose names are not written in The Lamb's Book of Life that will once again be taken with and deceived by this seductive serpent from the Garden who is also the red dragon of the book of Revelation.  Part of what will be attractive to them is that he is ancient, and he was gone for a period of time, but no he has come back and it would seem that his kingdom might be the one that would be victorious if he was able to escape from the prison that God put him in (he did not escape, he was set free by the one who holds the keys).

The angel the explains some of the symbolism of the heads and the horns on the dragon.  The seven heads are the seven hills (literally mountains) from which this kingdom reigns.  These probably represent seven iterations of evil empires that tried to take over the world and were totally opposed to God and His people.  Five for them already existed and have fallen through the judgment of God by the time John was writing this--Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, and Greece.  One was in power at that time--Rome, though it too would fall.  One would rise up in the end times, the confederacy of "ten toes" of Daniel's vision in Daniel 2 that will last for a very brief period--it will then become the unified kingdom of Antichrist (Babylon the Great), which is an eighth kingdom born out of the seventh.  These ten kings of this one-world government confederacy are also pictured by the ten horns.  I say "kings" because the text clearly says they are no royalty, though they will be given the power of kings (some have imagined these to be technocrats or other wealthy people that will be given power in some sort of governing body to "fix" the world's big problems with technology and their money and influence).  They will be treated as kings briefly before the Antichrist rises up and takes all the power for himself, and they will willingly hand power over to him.

Instead of trying to save and fix the world, these world leaders will no turn their efforts into the killing of God's people and opposition to the Lamb.  They know He is the Lamb who is destined to reign supreme as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, but they want to do everything they can to make their kingdom last a little while longer, so they will not submit and will fight with everything they have, which will prove that God is right and just in his judgments on them.

The "many waters" are the Gentile peoples of the world as I mentioned earlier.  The ten leaders along with the beast (the Antichrist and Satan who is behind them) will eventually hate the prostitute which has been a system of all kinds of false religions of the world in the past that have opposed the Church, but now the Antichrist will want no one to worship anyone other than him and his image.  He will try to put an end to the worship of any other gods.  The leaders of the world will turn on the people of the world and blame them for the judgments of God that are coming upon them.  People will think they are doing the right thing by following Antichrist (many will believe he is the true messiah).  All other kingdoms of the earth will pass away as they are taken over by the kingdom of Anitchrist which will itself pass away very quickly (as we have just seen in the preceding chapters and are going to see more fulling the coming chapters).  "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” (Revelation 11:15--the percolation of the Seventh Trumpet which kicked off the Seven Bowl judgments)

Revelation 16:17-21
English Standard Version

The Seventh Bowl
17 The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple, from the throne, saying, “It is done!” 18 And there were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, and a great earthquake such as there had never been since man was on the earth, so great was that earthquake. 19 The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell, and God remembered Babylon the great, to make her drain the cup of the wine of the fury of his wrath. 20 And every island fled away, and no mountains were to be found. 21 And great hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, fell from heaven on people; and they cursed God for the plague of the hail, because the plague was so severe.

Revelation 16:1-16
English Standard Version

The Seven Bowls of God's Wrath
16 Then I heard a loud voice from the temple telling the seven angels, “Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God.”

2 So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth, and harmful and painful sores came upon the people who bore the mark of the beast and worshiped its image.

3 The second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and it became like the blood of a corpse, and every living thing died that was in the sea.

4 The third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of water, and they became blood. 5 And I heard the angel in charge of the waters say,

“Just are you, O Holy One, who is and who was,
    for you brought these judgments.
6 For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets,
    and you have given them blood to drink.
It is what they deserve!”

7 And I heard the altar saying,

“Yes, Lord God the Almighty,
    true and just are your judgments!”

8 The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was allowed to scorch people with fire. 9 They were scorched by the fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God who had power over these plagues. They did not repent and give him glory.

10 The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in anguish 11 and cursed the God of heaven for their pain and sores. They did not repent of their deeds.

12 The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, to prepare the way for the kings from the east. 13 And I saw, coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs. 14 For they are demonic spirits, performing signs, who go abroad to the kings of the whole world, to assemble them for battle on the great day of God the Almighty. 15 (“Behold, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on, that he may not go about naked and be seen exposed!”) 16 And they assembled them at the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.

Whether or not they know the exact passage, this is usually where the mind of someone of the world goes to when you talk about the "end times," and especially the book of Revelation (many of them don't know that the entire Bible has much to stay about the Last Days and the Day of the LORD).  This passage speaks of God's wrath being poured out on the world like a flood.  The plagues are going to come one after the other after the other with little or no reprieve.

A voice from heaven orders the seven angels to pour out the seven bowls of God's wrath on the world.  The time for the final judgments has come.  When the first bowl was poured out, the people of the world were covered in painful boils and sores (much like the sixth plague in Egypt--in fact, you'll notice that a lot of these plagues seem to be just like the plagues of Egypt, but with worldwide affect).  The boils only affected those who took the mark of the beast and worshiped his image.  Just like in the plagues of Egypt where the Land of Goshen was a safe place for God's people, any remnant which remains during this time will be safe from these plagues.

The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea so that it became like blood, and all the living creatures in the sea died.  This is like the first plague of Egypt, but worse.  There is no way to give distinction between those that belong to the kingdom of this world, and those that belong to the Kingdom of God with this plague--the seas and all sea life are destroyed for everyone.

The third angel poured out his bowl on the fresh waters of the earth and they too turned to blood, and all life in them also died.  Then the angel in charge of the waterways cried out in worship to the Lord and to explain the plague of blood, for the world had shed the blood of Jesus and His saints and prophets.  Therefore, the Lord has given them blood to drink, for this is what they deserve.  Then, the Altar of the Lord responds and declares that the judgments of the Lord are right, and just, and true.  This seems to be the only break in the story.

The fourth bowl is poured out on the sun so that it is allowed to scorch the people of the earth with fire and fierce heat.  They will curse God because they know that He is the One sending the plagues on them, but they will neither repent nor give Him glory.

The fifth angel pours out his bowl on the throne of the beast (the Antichrist) so that his kingdom is plunged into darkness.  The people are in darkness and in anguish because they are still experiencing the pain of the boils from the first bowl judgment.  They gnaw at their tongues because of the pain and curse the God of heaven, but they do not repent of their evil deeds--this darkness, pain, and fiery heat is just a taste of what the Lake of Fire is going to be like for all of these people allied themselves with Antichrist against the real Christ.

The sixth angel pours out his bowl on the mouth of the Euphrates River so that it is dried up to make way for the kings of the East.  John then sees spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon (Satan) and the beast (the Antichrist) and the False Prophet.  These demons will perform all kinds of signs and will gather the kings of the world together with their armies and everything they can muster for one final battle.  The kingdom of darkens knows that Christ is about to return, and they are going to throw everything they can at this final battle to hopefully keep Christ from destroying this kingdom of darkness and establishing the kingdom of His marvelous light.

Jesus reminds John of His words in the gospels that He is coming like a thief (who comes unannounced in the cover of darkness).  Jesus blesses those who remain awake, sober, and vigilant and who keep their clothes on (they are ready to move at a moment's notice).  Some will be caught naked and exposed when the time comes for them to run away because they were not prepared for this day that was coming.  Then, all the armies of the world gathered together in a place called Armageddon or Mount Megiddo or Tel Megiddo (also associated with the Jezreel Valley or Plain of Esdraelon or the Plains of Megiddo where the kings historically went to battle with one another) .  God gathers all the people of the world here for the final judgment, which we already previewed in the Harvest of the Wicked where the winepress of God's wrath was located outside the city and blood flowed very deep over the entire nation of Israel.

We'll talk about the Seventh Bowl Judgment next time.  Just like Jesus cried, "It is finished" from the cross, so it will be here where God will again say, "it is finished" and this world will come to an end.  It is quite a different declaration than the one given from the cross.  Instead, the fate of all mankind has been sealed.  There is no escape for the even greater judgment that is yet to come for all those who hoped against hope that they could rebel against the Lord and escape the coming judgment.