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Okay, Revelation 18, now look at verse number two it says and he cried mightily with a strong voice saying Babylon the great is fallen. That's the title of the sermon this morning Babylon the great is fallen. Now we actually saw in Revelation 17 you may if you recall that that's when Babylon was destroyed, destroyed by the hands of the Antichrist and the ten kings that gave him his power and the Bible says in Revelation 17 that he destroyed it with a fire in an hour a specific hour that was given to the Antichrist and you know I was describing how this was kind of the final hurdle or the final roadblock to the Antichrist taking full control over the entire earth instead of him sharing his power with the Babylon system he's now got full power for himself he destroys that system but it's a very short-lived time that the Antichrist gets entire the entire power over all the earth because soon after this Christ comes back in Revelation 19 and destroys the Antichrist and his kings and his armies so he has a very short-lived time when he finally takes control over the entire earth but if you can look at Revelation 18 verse number one and after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven having great power and the earth was lighted with his glory and he cried mightily with a strong voice saying Babylon the Great is fallen is fallen and has become the habitation of devils and the holder of every foul spirit and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird now very quickly come back with me to Revelation 14 Revelation 14 and verse number 8 Revelation 14 and verse number 8 now when we go back to Revelation 14 verse number 8 we're going back to close to the midpoint of that seven-year period when the Antichrist rises to power and it is prophesied by an angel in heaven in Revelation 14 verse 8 it says and they followed another angel saying Babylon is fallen is fallen that great city because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication so all I'm showing you there is that it was prophesied in Revelation 14 verse some eight that this would happen and then we wouldn't get to Revelation 18 it does happen okay but remember the events of Revelation 18 have followed the seven trumpets it's followed the seven vials of God's wrath this is the near the final hour of the earth as we know it before Christ comes back on his cloud okay and not on his cloud sorry when Christ comes back on his white horse and we have the Battle of Armageddon and that's when Christ comes and destroys the armies of the Antichrist but what I want to show you here is that when we talk about verse number two Babylon the greatest fallen is fallen become the habitation of Devils so this great city which is the capital city of the great kingdom in this final period of time is known as the habitation of Devils you know it's a place that is full a field of the Devils and it says look and the hold of every foul spirit so you can definitely see in the end times this city is you know populated not just by people of course but it's highly influenced by the spiritual realm okay and then it says and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird now I'm gonna tell you something please please don't go crazy on the end times please don't go crazy I think I've seen some pastors go crazy and they read verse number two I'm not joking here okay so when it says habitation of Devils every foul spirit and a cage of every unclean hateful bird you know I've heard past say well birds are Devils okay so when you think birds flying in the air that's basically just the devil cuz you know the Bible says that the devil is the prince of the power of the air and so you got birds flying in the air and here we've got the birds and I love birds that's a problem like I love birds I had a pet bird growing up a little cockatiel I love that bird and then I heard a past say well the Devils look that's when you go crazy that's when you start going insane you got to slow down a little bit the fact that it says every unclean hateful bird is you know it's going back to the Old Testament ideas of there being clean and unclean animals and when it came to being able to choose what kind of foul bird you could eat of you were not allowed to eat birds of prey like owls and hawks and eagles those were our birds that were considered unclean you know under the old Jewish system okay so when we talk about birds of prey we're talking about birds that basically a scavengers eat their bodies and you know the fact that it's been related to Babylon is because we already saw that Babylon in these end times was the political power that allowed the Antichrist to put people to death okay you know the Antichrist was the one making war the Saints but of course you need to understand that the world just doesn't operate on a dictatorship level it gets the dictatorship level at the end of this okay but he needs to go for the proper political channels to make sure he can actually destroy and kill and murder people especially believers and it's Babylon that's given him that authority that's the political power of the day that gives him the authority to go and murder people and so if there are going to be deaths and murders and Saints being put to death then of course that's going to then attract the vultures you know the birds of prey and so the idea behind that is that Babylon is the one that's feeding the birds of prey okay they're doing the murder they kill the Saints blood is being spilled and so it you know poetically the birds are receiving instruction from Babylon to go and eat those dead bodies on the street so you know don't believe for a moment that birds are unclean spirits or anything like that okay now why is it that this city is being referred to as a habitation of Devils in the hold of every fell spirit is we need to just go back a little bit come back with me to revelation 12 revelation 12 and let me strongly encourage you when you're studying the end times please do your best to follow the narration try to understand look it's not like we're in chapter 12 and it's detached or 18 it's attached in chapter 12 it's all following a chronology of events okay and you need to kind of just see what's happening and then you can kind of understand why is it that this city in particular is filled with so much Devils okay because you may recall there in Revelation 12 verse number seven it says and there was war in heaven Michael and his angels fought against the dragon that's Satan of course and the dragon fought and his angels so the angels of Satan or other devils are fighting this spiritual war in heaven verse number eight and prevailed not neither was their place found any more in heaven so we learned that even today Satan and Devils can go to heaven okay and and and accuse the brethren before God and and whatever havoc they're trying to cause and try to destroy your testimony try to destroy my testimony they're going before God and saying did you see brother or did you say you know us brother so-and-so sister so-and-so go and and commit some wicked sin and of course we have Jesus Christ whose blood speaks of of our salvation of the grace of God of our forgiveness also upon the mercy seat of heaven but then it says in verse number nine then Revelation 12 verse number nine and the great dragon was cast out that old serpent called the devil and Satan which deceived the whole world he was cast out into the earth so not just the devil and his angels were cast out with him so now from from this point forward at the midpoint of the seven-year period the Devils only have one place to operate from that's the earth okay and they've chosen to go to Babylon okay where it's given them it's given the Antichrist the political strength and power to go and murder the Saints and they're located operating out of Babylon okay out of that end times Babylon City now come with me to Jeremiah 51 keep a finger there in Revelation 18 and come with me to Jeremiah 51 Jeremiah 51 and if you're familiar with the book of Jeremiah you know the majority of the book of Jeremiah is God's judgment on the southern kingdom of Judah but then toward the end of Jeremiah several chapters into it God is judging other nations but when you get to Jeremiah 50 and 51 God begins to judge Babylon okay earthly Babylon but and I encourage you in your own time in your own time read through Jeremiah 50 and 51 and just see how many parallels you see with end times Babylon okay I'm just gonna give you a taste of you know some similarities Jeremiah 51 please and verse number 8 Jeremiah 51 verse some 8 it says Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed how for her take balm for her pain if so she be so yeah if so be she may be healed we would have healed Babylon but she is not healed forsake her and let us go everywhere into his own country for her judgment reacheth unto heaven and is lifted up even to the skies so that that proclamation of Babylon is fallen or it says here Babylon is suddenly fallen is also given to you know Babylon in the time of Jeremiah okay on the earth all right not only that we see that you know the instruction is going out it says let us go everyone to his own country you know those instructions flee get out of Babylon okay why because her judgment reacheth unto heaven I want you to remember that okay people are fleeing out of Babylon her judgment reaches unto heaven and is lifted up to the sky so we're gonna see some similarities of this as we keep going through Revelation 18 but please keep a finger there keep a bookmark in Jeremiah 51 I want to show you some other parallels come back with me now to Revelation 18 and verse number 3 Revelation 18 verse number 3 it says for all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her and the merchants of the earth are wax rich through the abundance of her delicacies all right so you can see here that the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication now come back with me to Jeremiah 51 Jeremiah 51 and verse number 7 Jeremiah 51 verse number 7 it says Babylon have been a golden cup in the Lord's hand that made all the earth drunken the nations have drunken of her wine therefore the nations are mad when the Bible says therefore nations are mad it's saying they've gone insane okay not mad as in angry they've gotten the nations have gone insane Babylon is such an influence on the surrounding nations and Anton's Babylon is also going to have that influence of drunkenness you know moral decay decay sorry you know it's a place of of just all kinds of horrible influences you know you might think today like what are the horrible influences today you know you think of the media you might think of you know pornography you might think of the celebrity you know the music industry and the Hollywood industry all these things that promote perversion and deterioration of society Babylon at the end times is going to essentially be doing the same thing to the entire world now come back with me to Revelation 18 keep a finger in Jeremiah 51 look at verse number 4 it says and I heard another voice from heaven saying come out of her who my people that ye be not partakers of her sins that ye and that ye received not her plagues now you say about pass ah how is it that there's still people in Babylon what we raptured God's people were raptured long ago a bit a bit past the midpoint of the seven-year period we're now coming this is near the end of the seven-year period Christ is about to come back on his white horse Babylon's been destroyed and God is telling his people to get out of Babylon I don't know I'm encouraged by this to be honest of you because again it confirms for us that people are still getting saved even after the rapture all right people are still getting saved as God pours out his wrath in fact I just um just on Thursday I was at blessed by the church we're going for the book of Isaiah and I don't know what chapter I'm up to was it Isaiah 18 oh you remember okay I was all right seen and you know it starts with a judgment against Egypt the burden of Egypt it is and then it ends so wonderfully like it's clearly about the end times and it ends so wonderfully that God says about the Egyptians those are my people what you are the people of God are the Egyptians and it's clearly about end times events why because God's people are from every nation of every tribe of every tongue okay and it shows us that there are going to be people that push against the Babylon system there are going to be people that push against the antichrist and the mark of the beast like these people are going to exist on the earth okay and so of course when it comes to the time of great tribulation even though the majority of the world is taking the mark of the beast there's still going to be a percentage of people ready to receive you know the gospel of Jesus Christ ready to find a solution and answer okay to everything that's happening on the earth and so God is telling you know his people look it's time to get out of the city it's time to get out of Babylon so you don't suffer when God pulls out his plagues upon this city and by the way you know I'm not misspeaking here it's the antichrist that destroys Babylon but it is God's judgment on Babylon God puts it in the heart of the antichrist to go and destroy Babylon okay let's keep going there verse number back to Jeremiah 51 please Jeremiah 51 verse number 45 Jeremiah 51 verse number 45 my people is God speaking about earthly Babylon my people go ye out of the midst of her and deliver ye every man his soul from the fierce anger of the Lord okay so when Babylon was destroyed it was destroyed by the middle Persian Empire God is instructed if there's anyone left in Babylon like most of his people as far as the Jews are concerned they were taken into captivity they would have already gone back into the land all right they would have gone back and taken their inheritance or moved back to Jerusalem whatever city they belong to but there were still some people living in Babylon and God gives this final structure look get out before my anger falls on Babylon okay so you can see and I'm just giving you a taste if you spend time in Jeremiah 50 and 51 you'll find so many similarities between these two it's almost like God judged the head and now God is judging the tail like this whole Babylon system is falling into the judgment of God and it's essentially just playing out again in a very similar way symbolically from the earth but obviously its full fulfillment is happening in the book of Revelation back to Revelation 18 verse number 5 it says for her sins have reached unto heaven and God have remembered her iniquities remember about earthly Babylon it said for her judgment reach her for unto heaven well he had say for her sins have reached unto heaven God have remembered her iniquities reward her even as she rewarded you and double unto her double according to her works in the cup which have filled filled to her double you know what's being said here is that God is going to give a double payment now some of you guys might work a job you might work on a public holiday or the weekend sometimes you might get double pay right right double pay so you know you get your normal pay and then you get double you know well Babylon's gonna have a double pay Babylon's gonna have a double judgment you know for every you know for every murder Babylon has committed God is going to double the deaths in Babylon for every wickedness every judgment every cruel action of Babylon God's going to double its judgment upon that city and so this is essentially God's final blow it's actually not the final blow because we still have the Antichrist but when it comes to the final blow of the great system of Babylon you know God is making sure that it receives more than what it even dished out verse number seven how much she had glorified herself and lived deliciously so much torment and sorrow give her for she saved in her heart I sit a queen and am no widow and shall see no sorrow therefore shall her plagues come in one day in fact it's one hour you since see okay it says here death and morning and famine and she shall be utterly burned with fire for strong is the Lord God to judge of her when it says famine so how can you how can people suffer famine in one day one hour obviously it's talking about not just a city being wiped out but it's surrounding you know farmlands and agriculture whatever it is that's feeding now the people are sorry the people of the city well whatever they're drinking whatever they eating essentially is being wiped out the entire city is being destroyed by the plagues that are going to come upon upon her by the Lord now again this is an entire city been destroyed there in one day it says she shall be utterly burned with fire and you know I have to think like my my thoughts and again my thoughts can be wrong but I think of this as a nuclear annihilation like what can destroy an entire city in one hour I mean fires can be pretty destructive in general but fires need to spread and they take time to spread and to destroy this all gets destroyed within an hour like if you're trapped in the city you know you're trying to make your way out traffic jams you're not going to escape the judgment of God now what's really interesting about this we're going to look at it in a moment in Revelation 17 actually let's go back there let's go to Revelation 17 let's just remember remind ourselves are a few things revelation 17 verse number 12 revelation 17 verse number 12 I want to show you a comparison with the Kings in Revelation 17 and the Kings in Revelation 18 okay in Revelation 17 12 it says and the ten horns which thou saw us are ten kings which have received no kingdom as yet so these King if they don't have a they're not powerful yet that they don't have authority yet it says here but receive power as Kings one hour with the beast all right so this hour with the beast this hour is going to be used to destroy Babylon okay if you just if you follow the narration the Antichrist uses this hour to destroy the Babylon system okay but the ten kings they're going to give the Antichrist this power drop down to verse number 16 and the and the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast look at this shall these shall hate the whore the whore is Babylon okay so again does the Antichrist and do the ten kings love the whore they hate the whore okay they hate the whore and shall make her desolate and naked and shall eat her flesh and burn her with fire so again just confirming that it's the Antichrist and these ten kings that are destroying Babylon but look at verse number 17 for God have put in their hearts to fulfill his will and to agree and give their kingdom unto the beast until the words of God shall be fulfilled okay so this is known I make I don't know if it's known I'm making it known this is this is what I call the Antichrist hour of power okay so he wants to wipe out Babylon his his Kings his power base they hate the whore like I'm saying the Antichrist wants complete power for himself he doesn't want to share it with some other system that's in the world he wants to bring in a new system you know the the new world order whatever it is right people look whenever there's a Babylon is a new world order essentially whenever there's a change of Babylon there's a new world order but he wants his own world order where he is essentially the dictator of the earth there's no one to answer to there's no one to get permission from there's no political games that he has to play to get his way he wants his say to be the only say and so it goes and destroys Babylon but I want to show you these King this power base they hate the whole they're not part of the old system they use the system they use her as a whole for their purposes but now they want to get rid of the whole okay now when you go back to Revelation 18 and verse number 9 it says here and the kings of the earth now you guys you're going to see that these are not the same as the ten kings and the kings of the earth who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her shall be way with her and laments for her when they shall see the smoke of her burning standing afar off for the fear of her torment saying alas alas that great city Babylon that mighty city for in one hour is thy judgment come so when we talk about the Kings in verse number nine are they the same Kings as the ten kings no okay these kings were part of the old Babylon system okay they were under the authority and power and prestige of the old Babylon system but now we have a new system the system of the Antichrist they hate the whole but the old system the old kings they loved the whole okay it's what made them rich it's what made them powerful but the Antichrist wants power for himself and himself only okay I think it's important to just highlight that there is a power struggle even deep into the 70th week okay you know the reason I say this is because a lot of conversations I have people have this idea that Babylon is just going to rule the entire earth you know for seven years or he's going to rule it for three and a half years from the midpoint onwards look he's got a lot of power he obviously he increases in power as time goes on he's got to work the system he's got to raise himself up he's going to he's got a bring people to his table and eventually he gets these ten kings and we saw how the crowns change from seven heads talking about the old system to ten horns being the ten kings and then those ten kings give their power to the Antichrist but the Antichrist power like his success is one hour long and a lot of people don't understand this they think he's going to rule over the whole period you know he's just you know the what he says just goes and everyone's just going to go with him no there is turmoil people are not there's going to be people that are not buying into the system of the Antichrist okay and of course if these kings are lamenting the destruction of Babylon they're not on the side of the Antichrist they're probably I'm just assuming they're probably saying what have we done who have we allowed to take power over the entire earth like they loved Babylon but the Antichrist and his ten kings they hate Babylon and this is what I love about the Bible you know sometimes you know again people have this idea oh man the Saints are just gonna have this or the Antichrist is just gonna be like have this great success in the end times it's his success is one hour it's one hour and then Christ comes back on his wife like I told you the devil is a loser he always loses when he's up when he it seems like he's about to achieve his you know get to the climax of his power and it's gonna take over everything is when Christ comes back and just wipes him out I mean I like that I like that idea I mean I can see in the scriptures here I pretty much prefer that than to say that the Antichrist has this just global power from the very beginning or even from the midpoint I don't see that because that's not how even that's not even how you know politics works today now there's you know if you want to rise in power you're gonna have to rub shoulders with people you're gonna have to win votes you're going to have to whatever you know have generals and armies that want to get behind you you have to grow in power you're gonna have to try to bribe people you know you're gonna have to try to you know a smile and in someone's face and then backstab them later on you know to rise in the political system and so it takes time for the Antichrist to do this you know but when he finally does it's one hour long and we're not gonna be here anyway we've been we've been raptured long ago but I just want to show you look the whole world is not just going with the Antichrist these Kings going what have we done like what have we allowed who have we allowed to rise in power they've been deceived even by the Antichrist verse 11 Revelation 18 verse 11 and the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her for no man buy off their merchandise any more this is important okay so again this is only one hour so it's not like it's not like they're going a long time where people aren't buying their merchandise it's just like Babylon was our primary buyer you know everything we had what kind of merchandise first of all the merchandise of gold and silver and precious stones and of pearls and fine linen so you know gold and silver representing what they mind the values you know other costly things it says here purple silk and scarlet and all fine wood and all manner of vessels of ivory so these are all very wealthy rich items and all manner of vessels of most precious wood and of brass and iron and marble and cinnamon and odors and ointments and frankincense and wine and oil and fine flour and wheats and beasts and sheep and horses and chariots notice the next phrase and slaves and souls of men so the slave trade is back you know in these end times okay again I don't know who these like you know we kind of just have to take a guess who these slaves are okay and souls of men I mean this could be the trafficking system you know child trafficking and what kind of things are going on but Babylon is known for being the world's number one purchaser of items like you know so what this tells me like if the people that are making merchandises trying to sell if they're like boy Babylon's destroyed who's gonna buy our things now it tells me a few things about Babylon okay and again I'm not gonna see you know as I explained a few things I'm not trying to tell you who Babylon is I don't know I'll be honest with you I don't know because I know I know the geopolitical world changes so rapidly you know in my own life how old was I ten years old when the Soviet Union collapsed you know and it changed you know the look of you of Europe you know and and borders change and powers rise and powers fall and we live in such a small sliver of history you know when we start to look at hundreds of years and thousands of years things can be completely different you know Australia might be new China in the end times as I'm not at all you know I mean things can rapidly change and you know again I think the big mistake we often make and I'm gonna make the same mistake but it's more to get you thinking okay but the big mistake I think a lot of people make is they just look at the sliver of history you know I'm 40 years old so I look at my 40 years and now I'm interpreting the book of Revelation in my 40 years of experience and what I see the world and how I see the nation's and how I see the cities you know we can do that but anyway the point I'm trying to drive here is that obviously Babylon is the world's number one purchaser of items the city of Babylon must be a heavily populated city would you not agree with that like you know there must be a large city with a great populace of people now just for the sake of this experiment okay just to give you some thoughts make you think I'm not trying to tell you what to think okay but when I looked at the 10 largest cities on the earth into you know in our day in 2020 or actually the numbers are from 2018 but the number one largest city on the earth does anyone know what it might be sorry Tokyo so we're gonna say Bangkok Tokyo has in Japan has 37 million people I mean if you wiped out a city of 37 that's more than all of Australia's population that's crazy right I mean that's gonna be a large consumer of your goods right Delhi India is number two 28 million Shanghai China 25 million fourth place Sao Paulo in Brazil 21 million fifth place Mexico City Mexico 21 million Cairo in Egypt 20 million number six number seven Mumbai India with 19 oh actually all these have 19 millions but the order is number seven Mumbai India number 8 Beijing China number 9 Dhaka Bangladesh Osaka Japan with 19 million now that's number 10 but I wanted to include number 11 here number 11 is New York City in the USA with 18 million people like these are major cities okay now of course if we're going through the tribulation at this point in time and we saw and and these this is what the numbers of the cities I'll be like it could be one of these one of these in the least potentially based on on the great popular again we don't know what's going to happen in the end times we already know there's going to be a great warfare you know quarter the population is going to die then God pulls out his wrath and a third of what's left gets destroyed by the by the wrath of God with a you know the chariot the horsemen and was again the the the angels that come out of the river Euphrates and they lead that army and they wipe out a third of the population so again things can change so dramatically okay so I'm not trying to say that it's one of these cities okay but I want to show you just by looking at this it must be a great populace you know it must be a city with so many people that by losing that city people are like well who's gonna buy our things now as we went through that list though would you say that all of those cities are known as very rich wealthy cities purchasing the goods of the world probably not you know when you're gonna start we're gonna look at like obviously not only is it a city with a great populace but it's got to be a city of great wealth in case we keep going for this so come back with me to verse on us 14 revelation 18 verse number 14 it says and the fruits that by soul lusted after are departed from thee and all things which are dainty and goodly are departed from thee and thou shalt find them no more at all the merchants of these things which were made rich by her shall stand afar off for the fear of her torments weeping and wailing and saying alas alas that great city that was clothed in fine linen and purple and scarlets and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls so we see here that this city is a very wealthy city okay very wealthy city whatever the city whatever people the city want whatever they lust for they get they get the best of the best not only is it a wealthy city but it's making other people wealthy as well okay those are of course are selling their merchandise into the city so what I get out of these verses like I said to you not only is this a large city but it must be a wealthy city okay and so I looked up what are the 10 most wealthiest cities on the earth today again don't go with what I'm saying today things can change very much I'm not trying to and in fact I expect things to change but I say this just to get you thinking okay does anyone want to guess what the wealthiest city on the earth is today Dubai a lot of young people might think that but Dubai also has a lot of poverty okay so what you think New York City yeah New York City is the wealthiest city on the earth that's number one number two is Tokyo okay number three they call it the Bay Area that's San Francisco and the tech Silicon Valley you know where all the IT and tech you know Google and all that kind of exists number four is London number five is Singapore number six is Los Angeles number seven Hong Kong number eights Beijing number nine Shanghai and number ten is Sydney okay so when we look at those lists we look at the list of you know cities with great populations but then a city of excessive wealth you know the wealthiest cities in on the earth and look again maybe in five years time these cities will change a little bit someone might become off the list and some will be added to the list who knows okay but when I look at both those lists these are the cities that appear on both okay Tokyo Japan Shanghai China Beijing China and New York City okay so he's one of those Babylon pasta I'm not saying I'm not saying it is okay but when I think of the United States I do think of the United States as a Babylon as a Babylon you know it has the spirit of Babylon today okay it's it's been involved in so many wars it's got its it's got its foot in so many nations even in Australia there are several military bases where the United States if they have to go to war they can you know have their troops and have their bases in Australia and you know they're all over the place so they are in very in many ways a spiritual Babylon and if if New York City is is the wealthiest city and with a great populace it's also where the United Nations reside it's where they meet you know the United Nations building is found in New York City and so I'm not saying that it is New York City again things can change so dramatically but it's something that I want to be thinking about of course you know if we are happen to be that final generation that goes through the end times even though we're not going to see Babylon destroyed but when we start to see a city with all these hallmarks you know then you can be pretty sure look that must be that mystery Babylon that God prophesied in the book of Revelation all right now come back with me to Revelation 17 verse number 10 Revelation 17 verse number 10 something else that I want to think about when it comes to the city just in case just in case you take what I just explained to you too far where you're like okay pastor Kevin said I'm looking for the wealthiest in 2024 and I'm looking for the city with the greatest population and I'm looking for the city that's got child trafficking and all kinds of slave trade happening well just a reminder in Revelation 17 verse number 10 it says and there are seven kings five are fallen one is and the other is not yet come and when he cometh this is important he must continue a short space okay then verse number 11 and the beast that was and is not he even he is the eighth and is of the seven and goeth into perdition so we know that the eighth king or kingdom of the earth is the beast is the Antichrist but we know before the Antichrist takes power there's the seventh but but the seventh it says in verse number 10 it says he must continue a short space so again I take this to mean I could be wrong but I take this to mean that we are not going to know who that Babylon is until we get into that final seven year period because it's a it's a kingdom that only continues for a short space a short period of time okay and then of that seven comes the Antichrist comes the beast he destroys number seven as it were and he takes power for himself but he even continues even shorter only one hour his rule of the whole earth is only an hour long and then it says in verse number 12 and the and the ten horns which are sort of ten kings which have received no kingdom as he already read these but receive powers kings one hour with the beast so again the the final kingdom of the Antichrist lasts one hour okay and we're gonna see what he does with that hour back to Revelation 18 verse number 17 Revelation 18 verse number 17 for in one hour so great riches are come to naught naught is nothing okay and every ship master and all the company in ships and sailors and as many as trade by sea stood afar off and cried when they saw the smoke of her burning saying what city is like unto this great city they're mourning about all the wasted riches and wealth and destruction that's happening in that city but remember it says therefore in one hour in fact the Bible repeats this several times in this chapter to get it in our heads that the Antichrist has his rule for one hour and in that hour he destroys Babylon it's a sudden destruction of this great city now just to sidetrack a little bit I want to take something application for us today can you come with me to first Timothy chapter 6 first Timothy chapter 6 and verse number 9 first Timothy chapter 6 and verse number 9 look we're talking about an ungodly world and what is their reaction to the destruction of great wealth they're weeping they're so saddened the sorrowing who's gonna make us rich look that is the way of the world okay sorrowing weeping over wasted riches all right now when we look at first Timothy chapter 6 verse number 9 the Bible says but they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition say pastor I want destruction and perdition that's damnation I want my life to be damned and I want my life to be destroyed pastor what do I do no one's ever asked me that question but my answer would be will then desire to be rich you know don't say God's will your will is make riches your will then should be make as much money as you can because that's what people think if I make as much as I can my life is going to be a breeze no God says you're gonna have all of these destruction you're gonna have but you're gonna be drowned drowned men has anyone ever like I remember when I was learning to swim I felt like I almost drowned and you swallow water and panic and you know you don't know am I gonna get out of here or what that's what riches does the more riches the more possessions the more you have it's true the more you have the more you have to worry because now you're worried about losing those things look that's how the world is reacting to the loss of their trade and their riches the loss of this great city for everyone we ought not to be like that right the Bible says in verse number 10 then verse number 10 first Timothy 6 10 for the love of money is the root of all evil you know if you love money it can cause you to do get into in all like it can get you to get involved in all manners of evil all manners of harmful things when I was driving back from Sydney I was driving from Brisbane Airport my brother Michaels on here anyway brother Michael said to me you know is your crawler still a money box and I said no no it's been working well anyway just on Thursday on Friday when I was driving back my car broke down on Bruce Highway it's just the alternator it's nothing too massive I think hopefully all right and anyway so the tow truck picks me up and the guys telling me oh man we had this this guy who just recently just just today crashed his Lamborghini okay some guy did a Utah in front of him he crashed his Lamborghini and it's like oh man like can you imagine like what would he be going through and I'd be like yeah I guess it'd be distraught and worried and he goes yeah but you know what he said he goes oh don't worry I'll drive my other Lamborghini like like this guy like you get to a point where you have so much wealth that one Lamborghini is not enough just in case I crash it I've got Plan B I've got Lamborghini Plan B in my garage now obviously when you get to a point where you just don't know what to do with your wealth you start spending it on all kinds of toys and gadgets you know that's going to cause a lot of heartache a lot of problem like concerns about this and that and maintain my wealth making sure that I leave a legacy and a name for myself look it doesn't say money is a root of all evil we all need money to function there's nothing wrong with it in of itself but love in money you know we ought to love God and I do love riches but those riches in heaven that's where I want my heart to be okay we have to function we need to you know keep a budget and keep a spreadsheet if you have to and and spend within your means we should be responsible alright and be generous when we can and things like that but at the end of day we don't want to be like these end time kings and merchants weeping over wasted wealth you know our wealth will never be lost whatever we do for Jesus Christ the trees that we lay up in heaven Jesus Christ says that thieves cannot break in and still muffs cannot come in and corrupt those riches those riches in heaven are eternal and look at verse 11 person with you 611 but thou O man of God Lee these things and follow after righteousness godliness faith love patience meekness look these are the real riches of life if you have these qualities you're gonna live a satisfied content life even if your bank account shows zero okay but if you've added righteousness godless faith love patience meekness boy those that's what God looks down and says that person is rich that person is rich in spirit back to Revelation 18 verse number 19 but what if what if what if you lost everything today everything you worked for whatever your possessions are and you just lose it all maybe those that don't have much of like well who cares it's not much but those that have a lot obviously it's gonna hurt a lot more I think of job the story of job man what a wealthy man you know what a great man of God and he God took it all away and he's still rejoicing he's still worshiping he's still praising God you know would that be you if God took everything away from you would you still be praising God and I think it's it's good to just stop and analyze where your heart is again pastor you're saying possessions and wealth are ungodly no no no but the love of those things is where the problem lies okay these kings of the earth they love Babylon they love her riches they love us you know selling and making wealth making profit for themselves that's where their heart lies and that's why you see look at verse number 19 Revelation 18 verse number 19 and they cast dust on their heads and cried weeping and wailing and saying alas alas that great city we're in were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness for in one hour is she made desolate but that's the world but then we're in heaven are we we're already been raptured if our Lord Jesus Christ how should we respond verse number 20 rejoice over her thou heaven and ye holy apostles and prophets for God have avenged you on her so the earth is mourning weep you know so sad Babylon's destroyed in heaven we're having a party praise God you know this wicked city has been destroyed this wicked cities that's been killing the people of God through the Great Tribulation now God has finally avenged the apostles and prophets who have died by the hands of Babylon that's why in Revelation 6 10 and they cried with a loud voice saying how long Oh Lord holy and true does thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth those are the martyrs that died during the Great Tribulation and now God is saying hey rejoice now is the time to rejoice God has avenged you on her verse number 21 and a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and cast it into the sea saying thus we violence shall that that great city Babylon be thrown down and shall be found no more at all okay so once Babylon's destroyed it's it's never going to recover it's it's wiped out okay it says shout and shall not be found no more at all okay when this place gets completely annihilated okay there's nothing left of this city it's never going to be rebuilt it's never going to be inhabited again and if you couldn't come back with me to Jeremiah I don't know if you kept a finger there come back with me to Jeremiah 50 please Jeremiah 50 and verse number 39 Jeremiah chapter 50 and verse number 39 talking about the destruction of you know the the first Babylon it says there in Jeremiah 50 verse number 39 therefore the wild beasts of the desert and the wild beasts of the islands shall dwell there and the owls shall dwell therein and it shall be no more inhabited forever neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation so again God is just you know fulfilling what is symbolic about the first Babylon and it's complete judgment of the whole system of Babylon the spiritual system of Babylon if you want to call it that is wiped out that city is destroyed it will never be found again you'll never be inhabited again okay it's good for animals to walk around and whatever they need to do but it's not going to be ever utilized by human beings ever again back to Revelation 18 verse number 22 and the voices and the voice of harpers and musicians and of pipers and trumpeters shall be heard no more at all in thee and no cross and of course what we're about to read here are just things that people use for entertainment and fun okay and you might say you know one reason why people think it's the Babylon the United States is because again when it comes to the you know the the music that you know celebrities what do you call them stars musics pop stars you know largely that music is coming from the United States and so some people think well because see the harpers musicians pipers trumpeters aren't gonna be heard ever again so this might be a reference to United some I don't know but if we keep going it's just talking about like just the fun and enjoyment the the average things that people do day-to-day it says a no craftsman and what sort of craft he be shall be found any more Indian the sound of a millstone shall not be heard any more at all in these so it those people aren't using the city anymore there's no one's residing the city they've been wiped out it says and the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee so no more weddings no one's gonna be living there no one's getting married on time families for thy merchants were the great men of the earth and for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived and in her was found the blood of prophets and of Saints and of all that was slain upon the earth now again when you look at verse number 24 you can either apply it to the direct context which of course was the Great Tribulation the persecution the war against the Saints or you might want to expand this down that all of set you know all of human history anyone that's been martyred for the name of Christ that destruction may very well be falling you know on this end times Babylon I'm not sure how you decide to read that but again I usually just try to keep it within the framework of what we're looking at and I believe what it's talking about here is the blood of prophets and Saints being the Great Tribulation the war against the Saints that the Antichrist started with the use of Babylon as her power so revelation 18 Babylon the great is fallen okay now I don't know how you feel about that like you know the Bible says we ought to rejoice over that and I think it's it's good to learn on what I love about this church and not so much because I'm the pastor because so many other people are on board with this is that in many Baptist churches we're not really instructed or not really given clear guidance of how we can rejoice over the destruction of the wicked okay there's almost this idea that if you rejoice of God's judgment and God wiping out the wicked and God sending the wicked to hell there's almost this idea that there's something wrong with you to want that but when it comes to the Bible we need to understand that yes God is a God of love and mercy and long-suffering he's even long suffering with Babylon he gives his people time get out of there right when God was going to destroy Sodom you know he gave lot in his family time to get out of there when God decided to destroy the earth with a flood Noah was years building that arc Noah was a preacher of righteousness God gave people opportunity if they wanted to to get on the arc gave them warning before God destroyed and so we love the love of God and his long suffering and his goodness and his mercy and we ought to you know we ought to speak highly of that God that God of love God is love but we also understand that God is a just God you know he's a judge and if he decides that a city like Babylon the needs double its judgments then God is right all the time if God decides I'm going to destroy a city with fire and people are just going to burn to death then we ought to say hey God that's righteous that's good I'm going to rejoice in you and if God says these people deserve to go to hell in particular those that have taken the mark of the beast and have worshiped the dragon and the image you know then yes God you're doing what is right and we have to be able to rejoice in the judgment of God it's almost like a lot of churches or pastors are afraid of being called hateful because God hates we're gonna look at that actually this afternoon okay but no look we need we need to know the God of the Bible you know sometimes people say have you heard people say I don't like the God of the Old Testament it's too rough there's too much judgment there's too many wars I like the God of the New Testament well we're on the last book of the New Testament and this is the real God of the Bible and from cover to cover this is the God that we worship you know when I talk about having a fear of God yeah we ought to have a fear like it ought to cause some terror to think that there is a perfect God without sin a perfect God without sin who loved the world so much that he gave his only begotten son to die on the cross wow what if you reject him what if you reject him not only did you offend him by sinning against him but what if you reject him by rejecting his son the sacrifice of death the blood of his son you know it's it's it's helpful to understand the God that we worship is a just God and he hates sin and sometimes yes he hates the sinner that's stupid statement God hates sin but not the sinner it's not even in the Bible can someone tell me where that comes from again Gandhi not even our faith not even our religion New Age movement and it's been quoted across churches God loves a sinner but hates the sin or God can hate the sinner as well okay and that is found numerous times in the world I don't know how people don't see it anyway I'm getting sidetracked Babylon the great is fallen you know we ought to learn not to be afraid and oh God maybe you're getting too carried away no we need to learn to go well Lord if that's this strike if that's a judgment Lord then I'm gonna rejoice in your judgment but until you destroy the surf Lord I can see that you're merciful I can see that you're slow to anger okay then I'm gonna use that time to win as many souls that I can for you so they don't have to face the wrath of God okay let's pray