I'm going to start off by reading Revelation 17. It's a strange chapter, but it's actually rather easy to understand. And one of the seven angels who had the seven bulls came and spoke with me, saying, come here. I shall show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth committed acts of immorality, and those who dwell on the earth were made drunk with the wine of her immorality. And she carried me away. or he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast full of blasphemous names having seven heads and 10 horns. And the woman was clothed in purple and scarlet and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a gold cup full of abominations and of the unclean things of her immorality. And upon her forehead a name was written, a mystery, Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth. And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus. And when I saw her, I wondered greatly. And the angel said to me, why do you wonder? I shall tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the 10 horns. The beast that you saw was and is not and is about to come up out of the abyss and to go to destruction. And those who dwell on the earth will wonder whose name has not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world when they see the beast and he was and is not and will come. Here is the mind which has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits, and they are seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come. And when he comes, he must remain a little while. And the beast, which was and is not, is himself also an eight, and is one of the seven, and he goes to destruction. And the 10 horns which you saw are 10 kings, who have not yet received a kingdom, but they receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour. These have one purpose, and they give their power and authority to the beast. These will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, because He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those who are with Him are the called and chosen and faithful. And He said to me, The waters which you saw, where the harlot sits, are peoples. and multitudes, and nations, and tongues, and the ten horns which you saw, and the beast, these will hate the harlot, and will make her desolate and naked, and will eat her flesh, and will burn her up with fire. For God has put it in their hearts to execute His purpose by having a common purpose, and by giving their kingdom to the beast until the words of God should be fulfilled. And a woman whom you saw is a great city which reigns over the kings of the earth. So here we have the chapter that we need to understand. Chapters 17 and 18 both deal with this entity known as Babylon. But in this chapter, it lays out for us something that is actually very startling and huge in its reach. It reaches all the way back to the beginning of creation and all the way forward to the end of creation, and it gives an explanation as to what is happening even today in our world. One of the greatest challenges any of us will ever face is just learning how to properly interpret our life. All of us are making interpretation. We're trying to make sense of what things are happening to us and why. And for Christians, especially, this is common because they're aware of the fact that God is at work somehow in their life, but they're oftentimes confused. What is God trying to teach me? What is God trying to do here? How is it that we interpret? How do we rightly interpret? I'm going to give you three quick suggestions that I think are critical if we'll ever learn to interpret life. The first one is that we have to have this right relationship with God. And we're going to see this in some of the passages we'll look at together today. Until you have a right understanding of who God is and you're in a right relationship with God, then a lot of things simply don't make sense. the Bible makes it clear that he is creator and he is the sustainer of this world and so we have to be rightly related to him as our sustainer and our maker or we will fail in our interpreting of this world he made this world so we need to know him so that we might understand this world Many times in my sermons I have told you about situations and why they are the way they are and I explain that God is just simply hardwired creation to function in that way and no amount of your efforts will change it. At the very beginning or the basic reality of that relationship is what the Old Testament would call a fear of the Lord. The Bible says repeatedly that the fear of the Lord is the beginning. It's not the end, but the beginning of wisdom. And when we talk about wisdom in the Bible, we are talking about being rightly related to God and His Word, where we not only acquire knowledge about His Word, but that we learn how to apply that Word properly in life. So a wise man or wise woman is one who is well-versed in the Word, and also knows how to use it as they go through life, interpreting what's going on around them, whether it be how they interact as a couple, or as a parent, or as an employee, or as a servant of the people in government. It doesn't matter. The Word of God would be at constant work in their life as they order themselves under it, and they use it skillfully. So if we're gonna interpret this world we live in well, we have to have a right relationship with God and we need to fear God and then grow in our wisdom. The second thing is to grasp is that this world is fallen and under the curse of sin. Now, this church has been well taught on that, but I think that you and I forget it more often than you want to admit. Sin is simply that which is contrary to the character and will of God. We could go longer in it, but that's a clean, simple way of describing sin. Is it something contrary to the character of God? Yes, it is. Well, then it's sin. Is it contrary to what He has declared is His will? Yes. Well, then it's sin. This is the nature of Havel that Matt Miller has taught so well in the book of Ecclesiastes. It is the idea that everything is broken and twisted. So that even when you follow the rules, and you do the right thing, and you expect the end game to be something of a blessing, and instead you find that you're not blessed, and in fact the one who doesn't play the rules properly, and they violate life in so many different ways, they seem to come out ahead. And we say, this isn't fair. Well, of course it's not fair. And if you rightly understand the world you live in, you're not shocked by it. That's why Paul warns each of us in Ephesians 5, he says, therefore be careful how you walk. The question you would ask is how often do you think about that in your life? How often do you just get up, crawl into the shower, get dressed, and head off to whatever you do, and not consider care? Taking great care in how I'm gonna conduct myself that day. He says, be careful how you walk, not as unwise men. Remember what we talked about, that the fear of the Lord is that beginning of wisdom. He says, we don't wanna be unwise men as we walk through life. But he says, but as wise. And then he adds, making the most of your time. And then the reason why, because the days are evil. So if we're gonna rightly interpret life, we are rightly related to God and we also rightly understand how broken this world really is and how it is not designed to remain. It is passing away. Our songs today were great. They captured that idea that God will make all things new. The third thing that you need to be good at interpreting life is that there is a lot more going on in this creation than you realize and that you can easily perceive in your senses. And that's where chapter 17 comes into play, for it's speaking of the influence of Satan and his army of demons over the millennias of human existence. It's describing for us and pulling away the curtain, if you will, of how this world really functions, whether you know it or care about it in any way. Now Paul told us in Ephesians 6, and we know this passage, that our real battle is not with flesh and blood, right? It's not with each other, and it's not with North Korea, and it's not with China or Russia or anybody else. That's not where the real battle is. Not to say that there's not battles there, but that's not the real battle. For the Christian, it is ultimately against these powers and rulers and authorities and principalities that Paul describes. And those terms are terms used of spiritual creatures who have power and authority and they function, but they function outside of the purview, the awareness of you and I. So we're going about our life and all we see is North Korea And we forget, because we're not wise, that behind North Korea is something greater, something more. And the same thing with our companies that we work for and our local governing authorities, that there's something more going on than merely people going about their day trying to make profit and go home, be with their kids, go to sleep and wake up and do it all over again. There's something much bigger happening. the better you understand how Satan works in the world, and how much it's broken by sin, the better you will navigate the world. One of the most common frustrating things I do as a pastor, don't read into this, and there's no complaining here, it's just a frustration, is where I listen to people tell me their plans, and what's devoid in those plans is any real knowledge of God's sovereignty, of biblical wisdom and an awareness that sin and Satan are actively at work in this world. It is no wonder that we are instructed by James, in fact we're rebuked by James when we fail to say Lord willing in whatever we do. We presume upon God and we show a mocking of Him when we go about our life and we just presume that tomorrow is ours to enjoy. Now look at chapter 17, one through six, and I'm not gonna read it again for time's sake. I just want you to see, though, that there's this vision of this woman. And she is called a harlot. She is both powerful in her influence. She is obviously filled with evil. And when John is given this vision in verse six, it says he's filled with this wonder. And the question becomes why? Why is he filled with it? And part of it is he doesn't quite understand what he sees, but on the other side is that he also sees something he never saw before. He is seeing In a sense, a pictorial vision of what is going on since the Garden of Eden, since Satan entered into the picture and sin entered into the world. He is seeing all of these disparate ideas and plans and realities. I mean, just picture, you can almost see it in a theater motion picture idea of somebody who's all of a sudden having all these images slammed together and they all are starting to fit. And it's all making sense, and they thought they were all unrelated, and they thought that they were all just doing their own little thing, and now all of a sudden you realize there's this web, and it's all connected, and it all has a purpose, and it's all there, and you're just blown away. That's what's happening to John. And the angel explains this in the verses that follow. He explains things like the hills and the horns that are seen in the vision, that they represent kingdoms and kings. And this is something that's simply mind-boggling if you let it sink in. Because what is going on in chapter 17, and we'll get there in two more Sundays, Lord willing, What will actually tear this passage apart is that what's happening is that he is God is showing the systemic Satanic vile work that goes on behind the scenes He is showing that kings and kingdoms have come and gone But the one common theme through all of those kings and kingdoms is this woman, this one who is portrayed as a woman, this harlot, this one who is full of abominations and vile evil. And he's seeing for the first time that none of these kingdoms were all by themselves. They are all interconnected. And they were all being pushed along by an unseen force that he never understood. And that's what's going on in chapter 17 and 18. What you see here is, remember, the final bowls of wrath have been poured out. We looked at that last week. And God is now preparing to establish the kingdom of his son on earth. And what is happening in these two chapters is God is dismantling the kingdom of Satan. He is showing it for what it is, and then he is systematically destroying it. all with the anticipation of the establishing of Christ's kingdom. And we'll look at that in chapter 20. So how do we teach this? How do I work this through? And I spent a lot more time thinking about it than you may believe. I knew this was coming our way, and I made mention already several times about the name Babylon, and I kept on pushing off. I said, I'll explain it later, I'll explain it later, I'll explain it later, and well, now we're here, and I'm gonna explain it later. I'm gonna push it off for two more weeks, because I want you to get a sense of what's going on. So this week we're gonna do something that some of you are already fairly comfortable with, but I wanna strip away maybe for some of you an area that might be a blind spot for you. Then next week, we will look at the nature of this entity and people and nation known as Babylon. I want to show you how it shows itself up over and over again in the Bible, starting all the way back in Genesis. So I think it will be very interesting for you and will help you appreciate what's going on. We're also, we got this Babylon thing going on here in chapter 17 and 18. What's up with that? So that's what I think is helpful or will be helpful. So we're gonna look at the hidden world of this harlot. We are gonna look at a spiritual dimension that's forgotten and then we'll develop the idea of Babylon and then we'll tear apart these two chapters. One other thing, though, it's worth noting is that chapter 17, though it fits during the time of the bold judgments, this is a unique vision that John is being given, and it doesn't fit into the, the information is not fitting the chronology, because it's not designed to. It's kind of like, again, another interlude where John is pulled away and shown a lot more of what's going on than he ever realized, and we have the privilege of being shown the same thing. Now we have talked about Babylon and in chapter 14 verse 8, Babylon's doom was pronounced. And in chapter 16 verse 19, we saw the results of the seventh bowl being poured out and it said, and Babylon the great was remembered before God to give up or give her the cup of the wine of his fierce wrath. So God is ready to pour out his fierce wrath upon Babylon. Now if you don't know anything about Babylon, it's in Iraq and it's a ruin. So what's up with this? What do we do with this and how do we deal with this? So what I want to do today is help you see the real world, how the whole world, not just the part that you and I see. When you read the Bible, and you read it carefully, which is why you wanna do things like this, through the Bible. And the best thing you can do is when you're reading and you're like, I'm not certain about that, put a little question mark there. And then you come on Tuesdays and you sit down and I say, so anyone have a question? You say, I got one. And you find your question mark and you're like, what's up with that? And then we can talk about it. but as you read your Bible carefully it begins to open up for you and I the glory and mystery of a world of spiritual creatures that are at work behind the scenes and so if you read through the Bible in any regularity you're just going to find weird passages strange ones in fact I got a message requesting help just the other day from a woman whose husband led my father to Christ. And I mean, I don't even know what they look like anymore. It's been so many years. I mean, they're both very old. They love the Lord. And she's my Facebook friend. And so now I'm apparently her pastor too. And so I'm her Bible answer man. And she wanted explanation about one of the passages we're going to look at. Because she had encountered somebody who was saying things she knew was wrong, but she didn't know what to do. It's a weird passage. What do I do with it? And I want you to see that we don't have to be afraid of those passages. We just have to understand what is going on. But if you read and you think about it, Genesis 3 shows you that there's a lot more going on than we realize when we have this serpent who casually strikes up a conversation with Eve, and one thing leads to another, and next thing you know, the all of creation has fallen. And nobody is freaking out that there's a serpent speaking. It's like it's casual, it's normal, it's natural. And already you're starting to see that things are not maybe quite as we think they ought to be. And in the Old Testament, along with all of that, we have these images of both creation and God that are being painted. And one of the key ones to our purposes today and the next couple of weeks is that God is seen as a warrior. Go all the way back to Exodus 15, if you would. Exodus 15. Now I have a lot in my notes. How much I will get to is subject to my editing. But community group leaders, feel free to take note of the things I skip and you guys can go through with the group as you wish. In chapter 15, here is a song. It's a victory song of God who has just destroyed the power that is right now, and that's Egypt. And he's being portrayed as a warrior with this victory over the army. And one of the things that's worth noting Is the consistent use of the word lord and when you have it you you should know this by now But some may not that you'll notice the word lord in like verse one It's all in upper case and when you see that it's yahweh It's his name the name he gave and revealed as his personal name. It's not a title. It's actually the name of god and so This is driving home that Yahweh is the one who did this. Why is that important? Because they have lived for hundreds of years in a land filled with idols and false gods, and now he is pulling them out and rescuing them, and he wants them, through this song, to be reminded, Yahweh did this. Not Ra, not any other kind of god out there that you've heard of, but Yahweh, the true God, is your warrior. He fights for you. And so in verse 4, he's called a warrior because he's hurled the army into the sea. In verse 3, he's the warrior. And verse 4 talks about what he has done. In verse 6, we see him. Literally, it says that he shatters the enemy. In verses 1 and verse 18, you'll see that it's bracketed by a declaration of his kingship, that he is the one who rules and is the one who is sitting on high. He is highly exalted. That's just a statement of kingship. And then in verse 18, The Lord shall reign forever and ever. So this song is designed to establish early on in the hearts and minds of the Israelites that there is one God, Yahweh. He is the one who reigns. He is the one who fights for them. He is their divine protection. And in Him, they find salvation. It even, in verse 17, anticipates the temple that will be built where the people of Israel will be able to come and gather to sing God's praises. Then you see this idea of warrior picked up in the actual songbook of Israel. In Psalm 24, Psalm 24, this one I'll read. I want you to listen to the imagery that's being given here. And this is where the nation of Israel gathers together to sing and declare certain things about God. And the earth is Yahweh's. and all it contains, the world and those who dwell in it. For He has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers. Who may ascend into the hill of Yahweh? Who may stand in His holy presence? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood and has not sworn deceitfully, he shall receive a blessing from Yahweh and the righteousness from the God of his salvation. This is a generation of those who seek him, who seek your face, even Jacob. Lift up your heads, O gates, and be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is the King of glory? Yahweh, strong and mighty, Yahweh, mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O gates, and lift them up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? Yahweh of hosts. He is the King of glory. Here is how they are to enter in to worship God. Who may ascend to His hill? Who may come up to where His temple is? And who may enter in and sing His praises and offer sacrifices to Him? Who is allowed to do that? They are being invited to come and worship and celebrate Yahweh, but they must come with Him or to Him properly. And it starts out by establishing that He is King and Creator. And by doing that, He is established as the absolute ruler over all things. He is not like other gods. There's a passage where they are trying to compare Yahweh with the God, is He the God of the hills or is He the God of the valleys? And the people are confused. They're like, well, I don't know. Is he of the God of the hills or of the valleys? And the answer is both. But they understood that there's various gods, if you will, and we'll explain this in a second, but there's these various gods and that they had control, if you will, over areas. And they're just trying to figure out where does Yahweh fit into all of this menagerie of gods. What God keeps doing is establishing himself and saying I am not like them. I am Yahweh I stand above all of them I am not like them and you shall come and you will worship me as I am not as you wish me to be So in that sense, there's this victory shout going on as it declares Yahweh as king and creator. And then the divine warrior imagery picks up on that in verses seven down to the end of the gates, let the city open its gates wide, let everything be broken open with joy because the king is entering in. And notice the imagery, he is strong and mighty. He is mighty in battle. He is Yahweh of the hosts, which means armies. He is the warrior, and He has come. Let's rejoice. In chapter 46, Psalm 46, we see it again here. The people of Israel declare God as their place of safety. So God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. And therefore we will not fear, though the earth shall change and the mountains slip into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains quake at its swelling pride. There's just this declaration that as bad as it might get, we will not fear because God is our refuge. He is our safety. And so in verses four and five again, he is their true warrior king and he dwells with them in his temple. When he raises his voice, the nations will melt. and fall. What you're seeing in Revelation is him raising his voice and you're gonna watch when he finally brings it to an end, how pitiful, how pitiful the arrayed armies of the world in all of their power come up against and then God acts and it's done. It's embarrassing. It's embarrassing and yet it's something that's replayed over and over and over again in the Bible. Now, with all of this, we have these entities, these powers, these authorities that the Bible describes. We won't look at them, but in Ephesians, and we spent so much time in this when we went through the book of Ephesians, the idea of the powers and rulers and principalities and authorities, that's how they're called, but they are simply supernatural beings, if you will. They're not something that Paul just came up with. And they're not unique to the New Testament. They're beings created by God. That's very important for you to keep in mind. They're created by God who were in rebellion against God. And their job was given to them by God to oversee us. Oversee humanity. They were responsible to function in a way that ensured that righteousness and justice prevailed. But instead of doing that, they rebelled. and they drive and they push nations instead to do evil, to do injustice, and to promote chaos. And so what you have is you have all of this chaos going on in our world, and you say, what is wrong with, I can't pronounce his name, but the guy in North Korea, and you're like, the guy's a crazy man. And I'm like, yeah, he's probably a crazy man, but there's something far more going on there than just him. Can you not see the demonic forces at work too? Can you not open your eyes to realize that there's far more going on than just some guy who likes to build nuclear weapons and then threaten the world with them? If you know the evil that's going on in that nation and the incredible persecution of the people, especially the Christians, then you can smell the stench of satanic work easily. Now, it's easy over there, but then let's turn our eyes upon our own nation. And is it not just as easy, if you were really honest and you really began to think about it, to not smell the stench of the demonic things at work in our nation? Watching how twisted we've become in the understanding just something as simple as gender. What is a male and what is a female? All of a sudden, it's like magically, We can't know. It's like, I don't know. And now we're actually having parents taking four-year-old, five-year-old boys or girls and deciding, because of a conversation or two, that that child has got some kind of a messed up understanding of who they are. And so they are actually beginning the processes of giving them sex change operations. And we're like, wow, that's messed up. No, that's satanic. That's just satanic, that's all it is. And you're watching divorces and adulteries and the pornification of our nation. You're watching the slaughter of millions of innocent children through abortion. And now you're watching the advocacy of euthanasia and that the older person doesn't really need to live and we just need to eliminate that as well. And all you see is at work behind all of that, these spiritual beings doing what they're not supposed to be doing, just working their evil. Now we are not given a very clear picture of everything, but we do have a lot of passages that help us get a sense. Go into Deuteronomy 32, Deuteronomy 32, we'll see one of them, and here I'm going to admonish some of you. Don't hate me. Now, I've taken you to this passage before, and I've actually talked to you about the textual issue. In verses eight and nine, it reads this way. Now, if you have the English Standard Version, you're gonna hear something different. I'm using the New American Standard. And it says, and when the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when He separated the sons of man and He set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel, for the Lord's portion is His people. Jacob is the allotment of his inheritance. Now if you have the ESV, it says according to the number of the sons of what? Of God, right. Now if you have your paper Bible, your bound Bible, this Bible, You, hopefully, when I talked to you about this the last time, you crossed out Israel, if you had that, and you put in God, and I'm seeing a nod. Good job, Larry. If you have an electronic one, I bet you you didn't, because you can't easily. So here comes my cheap little admonishment, oh, you workers of electronic Bibles. Yes, they are convenient. Yes, they are, Bruce. I see it over there, all right? Yes. but you cannot easily make changes, and you cannot make key points in the margin where it's quick to notice. Yes, you can maybe make a note, but then the question is how good are you at noticing those and then tapping on them, and I will make my plea once again that yes, there's a time and a place for an electronic Bible, but not in church. It is better for you to have a Bible. It never loses power, and it can mark out things that are so helpful. My Bible is filled with marks. They're invaluable, and there is no way that I could do that in electronic version. All of my work on a sermon is done electronically, but when it comes to reading the Bible and studying the Bible on my own, it's always this. My admonishment is done. What is going on here is a textual issue. the New American Standard, my version, or the NIV, those are the popular ones, reads the sons of Israel. But if you have the ESV, it reads the sons of God, and that's the better choice. It has to do with which Hebrew text will you choose, and there is a difference in certain places. And the ESV, I think, chose the correct one there, where it says the sons of God. One of the things that's going on here is that the sons of God always, always in the Old Testament, always refers to angelic beings, whether they're good or bad. So what we have here in this passage is something very interesting. Notice that God has his allotment. He has given himself a people who he oversees. Who are they? In verse nine. It's right there in the English. Say it. Yeah, His people, and who are they? Next line down. Jacob, and who's Jacob? Israel, all right? So who are the people that God has allotted to himself? Israel. But then look upwards in verse eight, and he has set the boundaries of the people and he has separated the sons of, and he's according to the number of the sons of God. So what he has done is all of these people groups and nation and tribes of people have been separated out in the mind of God and he has allotted to each one of them an angelic being whether that is a fallen angel now or not is a separate issue they were all given responsibilities over the nations but he says my allotment my area that I will care for are my people Israel which is a phenomenal one because he's the true God but so it was God then that sets out all of these angelic beings and they are over these various nations That's what happens in Daniel 10. We won't go there, but I will just make mention of it. In chapter 9, Daniel was making a prayer of confession on behalf of Israel. And Gabriel, who's an archangel, came to him in a vision and gave him instruction on what was to come with the Messiah and the end of time. So that's chapter nine of it. Now, three weeks later, while he's still mourning over the vision, he's broken over this vision that he has seen, Gabriel again comes to him, but he says in verses 12 and 13 that he was held back by the Prince of Persia, which is not a video game. that he was literally resisted by this angelic power that is demonic who was trying to prevent Gabriel, Mr. Gabriel, I mean, we're talking archangel guy. And that he literally was on his way to give a message to Daniel and he had to stop for a while because he was in a big fight. And he had to fight his way past the Prince of Persia and finally get himself to Daniel where he could give the message. Get your head around that. Just try to get your head around the fact that you and I are just sitting here, and we're thinking about whatever we're thinking about, and meanwhile, there are guys like Gabriel, the archangel, having a nasty, knock-down, drag-out fight with some other demonic angelic being, and it's all going on without us knowing it. And so what you have in a passage like that is going on all over the world. Angelic powers at war. And then Psalm 82, this was the one that actually the woman asked me about. Psalm 82 shows us a bit more about their responsibilities. God takes his stand in his own congregation. He judges in the midst of the rulers. There's a key word. How long, he says, will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Vindicate the weak and fatherless. Do justice to the afflicted and destitute. Rescue the weak and needy. Deliver them out of the hand of the wicked. They do not know, nor do they understand. They walk about in darkness. All the foundations of the earth are shaken. I said, you are gods, and all of you are sons of the Most High. Nevertheless, you will die like men and fall like any one of the princes. Arise, O God, and judge the earth, for it is thou who does possess all the nations. So they're supposed to be promoting what the Bible would call shalom, true peace and wholeness and well-being. That's their job. They're supposed to be doing all of that, but they don't. They don't go the exact opposite. So verses two through five describes what they really do. They're unjust, impartial, and they don't vindicate the weak and the fathers. They're not making certain that the nations that they're responsible for are functioning the right way. And because of that, God says he would judge them in verses six and seven. But notice, they're being described as gods, and it's not humans that he's talking about here. In fact, he says, because you are gods, because your sons are the most high, nevertheless, you're gonna die like what in the next verse? Like men. You will be destroyed because you're not doing what you were made to do. There's only one true God, Yahweh. But there are these lesser gods, if you will, that the Bible is not ashamed to describe or talk about who are created by God and are referred to as gods. And in the New Testament, they get changed. They get called powers and principalities or rulers. Again, go back to Psalm 29. Ascribe to the Lord, O sons of the mighty. Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Again, the ESV does a better job in the translation here in saying, Ascribe to the Lord, O sons of God. And again, what it is, is the nation of Israel gathering together to sing, and they're calling upon these fallen angels, these demonic rulers, that they don't even see, but they see the effects of them, that they should turn and worship God, who is the true God. David is telling the angelic beings, and both good and bad, do proper worship. Why? Because he alone is the one who is the most high God. He is their creator and sustainer. And you can go on in all of these other passages I list, and you can see it over and over again, that there's this reality of these people or beings called sons of God. Now we come to the New Testament, and we can go to a passage like 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians chapter two. Verses six through eight. Paul writes, yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature, a wisdom, however, not of this age, nor of the rulers of this age who are passing away, but we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom, which God predestined before the ages to our glory, the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood, for if they had understood it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. Here we have that term rulers. He's not talking about the physical rulers. He's talking about the supernatural spiritual rulers that over and over again he warns us about. That there are these powers and principalities and rulers and authorities who are at work. And what he says is these rulers belong to this fallen and sinful age. And as a result, they cannot understand the plan of God. They cannot know the mind of God, because if they actually understood what God was going to do, they would have never actually had Jesus crucified, because that played right into the very plan of God and the purposes of God. But God has hidden it from them, and he says he operates on a different scale with a different type of wisdom, a true wisdom, and they can't see it. And so because of God's wisdom being far greater, they're in ignorance, acted, and were the force behind the people. All of those people screaming out, crucify, crucify him. All the Pharisees who were working their foolish evil. All of the Roman soldiers and the governments involved. All of that. What was going on there? Well, you saw a human battle, but you also saw a spiritual battle. You saw demonic forces at work moving up the people and working in and among the governing authorities to accomplish their evil will which was to have him killed. But beyond that you saw God's sovereign plan, which is why Jesus is not there freaking out. He's at peace because He knows this is for what He came to do. He came to die and this is exactly how it was supposed to be, not because of the demonic rulers, but because of His sovereign Father. Over in chapter 15 in the great description of the coming resurrection in verse 24 and 20 to 26 We'll start in verse 23, but talking about those being made alive, the final resurrection, it says, but each in his own order, Christ, the first fruits, after that, those who are Christ's at his coming, and then comes the end, what does he do? He delivers up the kingdom to God and Father, when he has abolished all rule and all authority and all power. Here's those terms again. where he is abolishing the rule, the power, the authority. These are these demonic forces at work. And it says that he must reign until he has put all of his enemies under his feet, and the last enemy will be death. And so what is happening here, again, is you're watching in the book of Revelation, God just systematically taking these demonic forces and bringing them under his subjection and under his feet, if you will. And what you're seeing in chapter 17 and 18 is him doing that at the most highest level with the kingdom of Satan. Go to Colossians 2, we have enough time. We'll go first to verse eight. He admonishes the people at Colossae, he says, see to it that no one takes you captive through the philosophy and empty deception according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. What I wanted you to see in that is that there is no such thing as a neutral pattern in our social lives. that there are things that are being manipulated, and I would say by these powers, in everything we do. You know, I remember years ago talking about how the television is such a powerful medium for getting these messages across. I mean, have you noticed, I mean, those of you who are older, like myself, remember how the superhero movies used to be? It was very simple. The storyline was very clean. There was a guy, Superman will make him, or Batman. And he wasn't some tortured soul who couldn't quite figure out the source of his struggles and needing a psychologist or anything else. He was the good guy. And he kept his persona hidden because He was also very wealthy. But he went and did battle against the bad guys. In fact, in the old Batman TV show, you always knew you were dealing with a bad guy because the room was crooked and everything was tilted. And so that was good imagery for you. You're like, these are bad guys. They were never good. They never did anything else. They were evil. And it was a simple idea of there is something that is essentially good and evil. You can't have that now. Now, your superheroes are just these conflicted, Weirdos who just can't seem to get off the dime and they somehow vaguely are trying to do good. But since we live now in a postmodern world where good is not a definable thing, what they do is hard to... I mean, every time they have to kill somebody, they're horrified and broken over it. It's like, you know, there's a time and a place to kill people. As a Christian, there's a time and a place to kill people. But we don't have a biblical worldview. Well, that kind of thinking is just constantly bombarding your minds. And the amount of television that you take in and the kinds of things that you listen to, you are being taught. according to the elementary principles of this world. The kind of music you listen to, the kind of schooling that you take part in, the kind of workplace training that you do, everything is at work behind the scenes by demonic forces trying to capture your hearts. And Paul is saying, look, don't become captive to that. Don't become captive to that. You gotta fight against that. Well, we're almost out of time. Let's just look at 13 through 15. And when you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he made you alive together with him, with Christ, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, and which was hostile to us. And he has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. And when he had disarmed, here it is again, the rulers and authorities, he made a public display of them, having triumphed over them, through him, through Christ. So this is the father had disarmed the rulers through Christ. And so what you have is this certificate of death is the reality of our existence apart from Jesus Christ. The only thing we have is the reality that we will die, that we're guilty. But he connects the idea of disarming the rulers and authorities by Jesus' death and resurrection. In other words, the way we are gonna resolve the vile plan of Satan is through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That's why it's the centerpiece of the good news. And this is how the battle is won and how the battle is dealt with. You and I are people without Christ. We have the certificate of death. We are doomed. but through the death and burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, he disarms not only our guilty death certificate, but he also disarms the powers that are reigning in us. When you look at your child, when you look at your wife or husband, if they're not in Christ, when you look at your friends and neighbors, what you're looking at are people who are literally being driven along like sheep by demonic forces that they're not even aware of. And it's not just this outside world that you and I see, it's something far bigger. And this is what Revelation 17 is trying to get for you to see, is that here are all of these kings and kingdoms, and they were and aren't anymore, and some are to come and some will be. And yet, all the way through all of those kingdoms is this harlot, this one known as Babylon, the one filled with mysteries and abominations. And that she is corrupting it all. And that that is what you and I live in. So, how do I want to end? Just some simple admonitions. We need to be very wise and aware, so that you don't wander into silly or dangerous speculations about what I just taught. You can get so caught up in this to the point of self-destruction. But here's the bigger admonition. Don't go home and ignore this. Don't pretend that somehow you're exempt from what the whole world is experiencing. Here's a little example. Matt and I have talked about this on a few occasions coming home from our Bible study up in the South Milwaukee County. And just how an important thing is being taught and people didn't come that day. Or because this happened or that happened. Like right now we're still in need of a building. What we thought we were gonna meet in is not gonna work. Now is that just simply something to take note in and say, huh, well, we'll try harder? Or is it not possible that there's genuinely a spiritual battle taking place? How often are you aware that Satan is at work in your home on a Sunday simply because he doesn't want you here? Or do you even believe that? How many times have you and your wife had an argument just trying to get out the door? And by the time you're in the car, you're anything but wanting to sit here. And not stop and say there's a battle. There's a real live battle going on. And it's got nothing to do really with you. It's got everything to do with something far grander and far more horrid. When I watch people as they make their decisions, and I ask them why they're making the decision for this or that, how often are they factoring in the reality that there are these powers and principalities, these sons of God, who are at work, and they're pushing in on you, and they're working with you. And you sit there, and if you ignore them, you ignore them to your peril. They're at work in your home. They're at work in your lives in every way, shape, or form. Understand the Bible doesn't tell us to actively engage the powers. That's not what we're called to do. We're not called to bring down the powers and bring curses. The simplicity of the message is awesome. We fight them by simply conforming ourselves by faith to what God calls us to be. The very fact you came today, and if you sang those songs, and you believed those words, and you prayed with Justin as he prayed, If you, I'm talking to the Sunday school teachers now who will hear this later, if you, by faith, got up and escorted the little ones to your class and taught them the word of God, if all of that came, what you were doing was nothing less than divine rebellion. You were saying, I reject this world. I reject all of it, I reject what it says, and I come here and I reorient myself back to the reality that is. If we do that, we'll do well. Another way that we can do battle against it is by living in this world, and again, Matt Miller's sermons are gonna be very helpful for you as you think through this. Learn how to live in this world and embrace it as a good gift from God that's also filled with Havel, that twisted brokenness. It's okay to enjoy these things as good gifts. It's okay to have barbecue and really enjoy it. In fact, one of the best things you can do in your neighborhood and in your families is show what it looks like to play a game with purity and joy, just for the joy of the game. How to build relationships that are actually true and deep, rather than shallow. How to eat and drink to God's glory, knowing that it's a gift that God has given to you. Learning to think, how can I be a light in this world that is being driven along by these forces of darkness, and how can I just simply show them, no, no, no, no, I'm not a slave to those things. I have the most high God, I have been redeemed. So we need to learn to recognize that these powers exist, but then move in greater faith to the Lord Jesus Christ. Understand they're present, understand they're at work, but more importantly that they are under the sovereign control of God. And therefore you give thanks through Jesus Christ because we have that victory.