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Advent HOPE Sabbath School

Norman McNulty

Revelation 17 - A Review of the Seven Heads

Happy Sabbath, and it's a privilege to be here again before Advent Hope, and I am also thankful to report that my wife Joelle will be back in 2 days.

You get used to being married, and you take for granted the blessing that it is sometimes.

But the Lord has been blessing what she has been doing.

They've already had 5 baptisms in the campaign she's been preaching down in Brazil.

They have another 5 scheduled for tonight and they expect more to follow.

So she's had a great blessing preaching the truth of the Adventist faith to the people down in Brazil, and today is her last day to speak, and I'm speaking here, so by the grace of God we're ministering for God together.

And it's a blessing to have a wife who is committed to the Adventist message.

Before we start, I'd like to have a word of prayer, and we will get started.

Father in heaven, we thank You for this Sabbath day.

We thank you for the opportunity to come before you, and I pray that you would send your spirit in a very special way.

May I be lost sight of, and may this message be clear and compelling.

You know, the fact that my wife is actually down in Brazil giving the truth of the Adventist message to people down there is a testimony to the fact that we have a worldwide message.

Our message is not for just Loma Linda, although it certainly is for Loma Linda, but it's also for every nation, kindred, tongue, and people.

And so I am very thankful to be part of a group of people that has a worldwide message.

And for those of you who may have been paying attention, 2 days ago on Thursday was October 22, 2009, and if you're counting years, that's 165 years since 1844, and it's 4 years since the birth of Adiaverse.

We have a worldwide message, and that prophetic message is of course found in the books of Daniel and Revelation.

And in the book Testimonies to Ministers, page 114, This is a famous statement where Ellen White says, when the books of Daniel and Revelation are better understood, believers will have an entirely different religious experience.

They will be given such glimpses of the open gates of heaven that heart and mind will be impressed with the character that all must develop in order to realize the blessedness which is to be the reward of the pure in heart." Do we really have a glimpse of the open gates of heaven?

Have you thought about what it will be like to walk through the gates into heaven to see Jesus as King of kings and Lord of lords as your Savior?

Or is the only thing you're thinking about is your next day in class or your next day at work.

We as God's people should be studying this prophetic message so that we can catch a glimpse of what heaven will be like, because when we get to heaven, heaven will be our home, and we should feel like we belong there.

But if we're never thinking about our home, we probably wouldn't feel like we belong there.

And so we should be studying and thinking about our home.

We want to catch a glimpse of the glory of heaven and of Jesus Christ who is there, who has made a way possible for us to have that experience.

We have a message that is worldwide in nature, and it will be to the very close of time.

And that message is based on the Word of God.

And so I'm thankful for this Word for which we can base our faith upon.

It guides every decision of our lives and of everything that we believe.

And so today we are going to study from the Word of God our prophetic message.

So, today I felt impressed by the Lord to share on where we are in prophecy based on Revelation 17.

And so we are going to look at Revelation 17.

But it's good for us to get into the meat of God's Word, amen?

So, we're going to look at Revelation 17, and Revelation 17 could in a nutshell be entitled the judgment of Babylon, and so we're going to look at this.

And in Revelation chapter 17, starting in verse 1, it says, And there came 1 of the 7 angels, which had the 7 vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither, I will show unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters, with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication." And then verse 3, so he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness, and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet-colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having 7 heads and 10 horns." Now I'm going to assume that you understand certain symbols, so I'm not going to take time to explain basic symbols.

A woman in the Bible represents a church, and a beast in the Bible represents a kingdom.

So here you have a kingdom, which is a political power, with a woman, which is a religious power.

So here you have union of church and state, a woman and a beast, the woman sitting on the beast.

Now notice, this is described saying this woman sitting upon a beast is full of names of blasphemy, having 7 heads and 10 horns.

Now there are other places in the book of Revelation that describe a similar beast, and in fact in Revelation 13 you will see this.

Revelation chapter 13 verse 1 says, and I stood upon the sand of the sea and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having 7 heads and 10 horns, and upon his horns 10 crowns and upon his heads the name of blasphemy." Okay?

Revelation 17, a woman on a beast that has 7 heads, 10 horns, full of names of blasphemy.

Revelation 13, you have a beast that has 7 heads and 10 horns with the names of blasphemy.

So, if you look at Revelation 17, the way to understand Revelation 17 is to connect it to Revelation 13.

Revelation 13, you have a beast with 7 heads and 10 horns that has names of blasphemy.

Revelation 17, you have a beast with 7 heads, 10 horns with the names of blasphemy.

So… and based on the fact that you have a woman sitting on the beast, this describes a picture of a union of church and state.

And in verse 2 it talks about how the kings of the earth have committed fornication with this power.

That, of course, is unlawful spiritual union with this power.

In verse 4, it's interesting, you look at the description of this woman.

I'm not going to read the verse, but everything, the clothing and everything, the 1 thing it's interesting, if you look in the Old Testament, the description of the priestly garments, the colors and the descriptions are similar.

The priestly garment has the color of blue, but this power is lacking that.

And it's interesting, in the book of Numbers 15, verses 38 and 39, God tells His people that the color of blue on their garments was to point them to the law of God.

So this entity, the beast that has 7 heads and 10 horns, full of the name of blasphemy, a woman riding a beast, or a union of church and state, a religious power with a political power is lacking in the law of God.

So I'm moving quickly here, and as we move along, we see in verse 5 that the name of this entity in verse 5 says, And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.

Revelation 17 and the first beast of Revelation 13 are describing Babylon.

And what is so bad about Babylon that she would be the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth?

Verse 6 tells us, I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus, and when I saw her I wandered with great admiration.

So this power, Babylon, is drunken with the blood of the saints.

So that's obviously a persecuting power against God's people.

And in verse 7, the angel tells John, why did you marvel?

I'm going to tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast.

And in verse 18, he tells him what the woman is.

It's the great city which reigns over the kings of the earth.

And if you look in Revelation 17, there's only 1 city that's named, and that's the city of Babylon.

So the woman is Babylon in its religious aspect.

And verses 8 through 17 describe the political arm of Babylon, and we're going to look at this.

So Starting in verse 8, the beast that thou sawest was and is not and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit and go into perdition, and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world when they behold the beast that was and is not and yet is." Now if you study Revelation carefully, you will see that there is similar language in Revelation 13 as in Revelation 17 verse 8.

Notice it talks about the beast that you saw was and is not.

That means it used to be, and right now it's not.

But it's going to come back, it will go into perdition, and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder." Do you remember a verse in Revelation 13 that sounds very similar to that?

Revelation 13 verse 3 says, speaking of this beast that has 7 heads and 10 horns, that's the same beast in Revelation 17, it says, and I saw 1 of his heads as it were wounded to death, and his deadly wound was healed, and all the world wondered after the beast.

Now, Revelation 17, 8 says, they that dwell on the earth shall wander towards this beast.

Revelation 13 says, all the world shall wander after the beast.

And in verse 8 it says, chapter 13, and all that dwell upon the earth shall worship Him whose names are not written in the book of life of the land slain from the foundation of the world." So there you have similar language to, they that dwell on the earth in Revelation 17 shall wander whose names were not written in the book of life.

So Revelation 13 describes the beast with 7 heads, 10 horns with the names of blasphemy that receives a deadly wound.

The deadly wound is healed, and then all the world wonders after the beast, and those whose names are not written in the book of life will worship this beast." Revelation 17, 8 says, this beast was, is not, and when it comes back, all those who dwell on the earth shall wonder those whose names are not written in the book of life." We're talking about the same power here.

So Revelation 13 and Revelation 17 are talking about the same power.

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Revelation 17 - A Review of the Seven Heads

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