Peter Barnes | Revelation 17-19
SERMON NOTES
The Fall of Babylon
(Revelation 17-19)
1. Judgment on Babylon and the harlot.
– Babylon is described in the same terms as the political beast from the sea (Rev.13:1; 17:3)
– Babylon is surely Rome on the seven hills (despite what Michael Wilcock and Greg Beale say); the Roman emperors claimed to be divine.
– the kings in 17:10-11 probably represent kingdoms: the Neo-Babylonian empire (or perhaps Egypt); Assyria; Babylon; Medo-Persia; Greece. Rome is the sixth kingdom, and the seventh would be the papacy, followed by the antichrist figure (17:11); evil undoes itself (17:15-18), and Babylon perishes (cf. Jer.51:1-2; Dan.5:26). Babylon (Rome) is doomed (18:21-24)
– be separate (18:4) and rejoice (18:20)
2. The marriage supper of the Lamb.
– 17:7-9; Matt.26:29; Isa.25:6-8; Rom.8:29-30; John overdoes his response (19:10)
3. Christ is the victorious divine warrior.
– 19:1-6, 11-21; who is the king of the world?
– two women (the harlot and the bride) and two feasts (17:9, 17-18)