This is our Father's world. The wrong does seem often to be very strong, but we remember that God is the ruler yet, and that the battle is not done, but Jesus who died will indeed be satisfied. Earth and heaven shall be one. That's what the book of Revelation details for us. That's the big idea throughout the book and will again be our theme this morning. As we get into Revelation chapter 17 and consider the downfall of Babylon, the city of the world, the capital city of this world, we are getting into how God is going to take the kingdom and the power and the glory and the authority of all of the kingdoms on earth. and give them to his son Jesus Christ and to the saints of the Most High as we read in Daniel chapter 7. I'm not sure why some people would surmise that if this book is future prophecy that it would only be relevant to the future generation that's going to live through it. There's much relevance to all of the story and history that is in the Bible. The historical account of God's victory over Pharaoh in Egypt is an encouragement to us today and so we are also encouraged and edified by God's future victory over the beast as he's described here in Revelation 17. God has predestined the end of this age. We know how this world is going to end. So let's get into Revelation chapter 17. Last week we looked at the first six verses in particular. I also tied it into verse 18 where we saw that the woman Babylon, this great prostitute as she is described in verse 1, is the great city in verse 18. You see the identification? The great city that has dominion over the kings of the earth. And we'll have two chapters that are on this subject, on this theme, but today we're going to move our attention away from the woman herself to the beast that she is riding. You see in Revelation 17 verse 3 that John in the Spirit is able to see a vision of a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names and it had seven heads and ten horns. So we see that the identity of the woman is connected, it's tied, it's bound up together with the identity of this scarlet beast. And so John is going to record the angel's interpretation of this beast that John saw in the vision here in chapter 17, verses 7 through 17. That will be our focus. Look at the end of the first paragraph there in chapter 17, verse 6. You see, after John notices and takes in this picture of the woman and concluding with that final description that she is drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus, John's response is, when I saw her, I marveled greatly. This is a strong statement of perplexity, of astonishment, wonderment. The vision is somewhat overwhelming, and John is now going to get the details of what he saw concerning the woman, and in particular, the beast that she is riding. Now, it's sad in some respect for us that the interpretation, the explanation that the angel gives quite confusing. This is perhaps one of the most difficult parts of the book of Revelation to interpret. Many people think Revelation 17 and 18 are the most challenging chapters in the book, and the section that we're looking at particularly this morning on the Crimson Beast in Revelation 17, 7-17 is definitely a doozy. This was a challenge for me as I studied it this week and I'll do my best to make it as clear as I can for you this morning. But there's our outline. We're going to take a look at the Crimson Beast. First, noticing the seven heads and the ten horns. and then taking a closer look at the eighth head that is described in the passage, and then looking at the battles, the wars that the beast fights that are described in verses 14 and 16. Let's have a word of prayer and then we'll read the text together. Father, we thank you that we can gather together to be built up in our faith by what you have revealed concerning your victory over the beast. Lord, we want to learn about your enemy so that we can rejoice and exult in your triumph. And that's what we've gathered to do today. So Lord, fill us with the spirit of love for you, fill us with the spirit of anticipation, that this world that we live in where Satan and the flesh and the world system are so evil and so opposed to you that you have a time appointed when you will allow the evil to reach its end and Satan will have his wish and he will have his man. but that you will quickly bring Satan and his beast to an ignominious end. We thank you, Lord, for this joy that we can have as we anticipate your final victory in Jesus Christ, your Son and our Lord. Amen. All right, so pick it up there in verse 7, Revelation 17. We'll read verse 7 down to verse 17. But the angel said to me, why do you marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast with seven heads and 10 horns that carries her. The beast that you saw was and is not and is about to rise from the bottomless pit and go to destruction. And the dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel to see the beast because it was and is not and is to come. This calls for a mind with wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated. They are also seven kings, five of whom have fallen. One is, the other has not yet come. And when he comes, he must remain only a little while. As for the beast that was and is not, it is an eighth, but it belongs to the seven, and it goes to destruction. And the ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have not yet received royal power, but they are to receive authority as kings for one hour, together with the beast. These are of one mind, and they hand over their power and authority to the beast. They will make war on the lamb, and the lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful. And the angel said to me, the waters that you saw, where the prostitute is seated, are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages. And the ten horns that you saw, they and the beast will hate the prostitute. They will make her desolate and naked and devour her flesh and burn her up with fire. For God has put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose by being of one mind and handing over their royal power to the beast until the words of God are fulfilled. That's our text for this morning. So in order to understand these chapters about the fall of Babylon, we not only have to understand the woman, as we looked at last week, but to understand the beast that she rides upon, and that is what we will do today, starting with the seven heads and ten horns. We already read verse 3, where we have the first description of the beast with the seven heads and ten horns. It's reiterated in verse 7. We are told the mystery of the beast with seven heads and 10 horns, and that mystery is revealed in particular in verses 9 through 12. Now, before we get to verses nine through 12, take note again of verse three, where it says that the scarlet beast was full of blasphemous names. This goes back to chapter 13, as well as the description of the seven heads and 10 horns. So let's turn back a few pages to Revelation 13, because it is widely believed, and I also believe, that the beast described in Revelation 17 is the same as the beast that is described in Revelation 13. In Revelation 13, we find this. As John sees in a vision, a beast rising out of the sea, this time not in the wilderness, doesn't have a woman riding, but it is, I believe, the same beast in a different setting. With 10 horns and seven heads, just as we see in chapter 17. With 10 diadems on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads. There's the blasphemy again that is noted in chapter 17 as well. One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed, and the whole earth marveled as they followed the beast. And they worshipped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast. And they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it? And the beast was given a mouth, uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for 42 months. It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming His name and His dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven. Also, it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. And authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation, and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain. That is the description of the beast here in chapter 13, the first portrait. Now we have a second portrait of the beast that has many of the same characteristics. Notice the blasphemous names. We took note when we were looking in chapter 13 that blasphemy is one of the hallmarks, one of the perpetual sins of human empires, that human empires are given to statism in the religious sense, that they believe that the state is to be honored and worshiped as if it were God, and that it has absolute power and control, and that the head of the state is a godlike figure. and we must always be on guard against that spirit of the age that views the most powerful man at the head of the most powerful nation as if he was some kind of supernatural, divine figure. This blasphemy is going to be most fully tested in the final kingdom and the final king that is here pictured as this beast. Now, notice that the woman, the prostitute, has the same spiritual heart as the beast. These are in alignment. They are an alliance. That's why the woman rides the beast and that's why the beast carries the woman is because they both have a blasphemous, spiritually adulterous heart. And this idolatry that is characteristic of the woman is the blasphemy of the beast. He presents himself to be God, and the woman is part of that system of directing worship to this false god. And so you see they are in alignment. Now, we see here in Revelation 13, the beast is given the power to make war on the saints in verse 7 and to conquer them. Here's another mark of unity between the immoral woman in chapter 17 and the beast, that they both are persecutors of God's children. The beast is going to create many martyrs and the capital city is drunk with the blood of those martyrs. And this again highlights the identity of the beast as the abomination that causes desolation. He's an abomination because he is a blasphemer. He causes desolation in that he murders the innocent and is a man of bloodshed and war. So the abomination that causes desolation is the way that this beast and his idolatrous image are described in Daniel chapter 9 and also in Matthew chapter 24. Though that term is not used in Revelation, those character qualities are highlighted in both chapter 13 and chapter 17. And then chapter 13 and chapter 17 also both identify this beast as having seven heads and ten horns. Although, exactly what those seven heads and ten horns mean is not unveiled until we get to chapter 17. So let's go back and take a look at the description of the seven heads and ten horns in chapter 17, verses 9 through 12. We are told that the understanding of the beast calls for a mind with wisdom. And may God give us a mind with wisdom today because this is one of those parts of Scripture that is very difficult to agree on and to understand. And there's many different views as to what do the seven heads and the ten horns signify. Good Bible interpreters and preachers will disagree on this subject. But let's take a look at the precise wording. The angel says, and John records, Now it gets confusing because not only are they identified as seven mountains, but they are also identified as seven kings. And so many have thought the seven mountains that the woman is sitting on must be understood as a reference to the seven hills that Rome was built upon. The woman is the city that has dominion over the kings of the earth, as it says in verse 18. And everyone in the ancient world knew about how Rome had originally been founded on seven hills along the Tiber River. And so it's very natural for people to make that connection. These mountains, these hills, it's what the city of Rome sits on. But I don't think that's actually the correct way of understanding it. I can see how many people would think that is the connection that is being made here. But it says that these are seven mountains which are also seven kings. How could the seven hills that Rome is built upon be seven kings? It falls apart there. And so you can't just attach one significance and have a partial match. You need a full match in order to really make the identification. And so mountains is one of those terms that is used in scripture to refer to kingdoms. You could jot down a couple of references if you'd like. Daniel chapter 2 verse 35 refers to God's kingdom as a mountain that comes in and replaces the kingdoms of this world. Daniel 2 35 there. Isaiah chapter 2 verse 2. Also Isaiah chapter 41 verse 15. Jeremiah chapter 51 verse 25 and so on. Many more Old Testament passages where mountains are representing a kingdom. And so the mountains are kingdoms and kings. That fits the full picture here more than mixing together a geographical reference together with some kind of political reference. Much easier to say both references are talking about basically the same things, as there is a constant interchange in Scripture between kings and their kingdoms. In fact, the beast himself, as we see, is not only the final king, who we know as the Antichrist, the beast is also the kingdom over which that king rules. And this is a common interplay also in Daniel chapter 7. The beasts represent kings, but those kings represent kingdoms. The kingdom of Babylon, the kingdom of the Persians, the kingdom of Greece, and the kingdom of the final Antichrist, the fourth beast, as we read in our scripture reading. So I would identify the seven heads not as the seven hills upon which Rome sits, but that these are kingdoms, these are empires. Once we've made that determination, we still have some disagreement and we still have an issue we have to work through because some futurist interpreters of the book of Revelation, I have a futurist interpretation of the book of Revelation, some think that these seven kings are all future. that they are kingdoms that are going to exist in the end time. The Antichrist and his cohorts are going to be ruling over. So they're like the seven kingdoms of the world that then the more localized kingdom of Antichrist that he reigns over them. I don't read it that way. Instead, I think that the text indicates not that these kings are all future, but that some of them are past, One of them was in existence during the time of the writing of this book and that the final empire was yet to come. That's what we see there where it mentions five have fallen. Notice what it says in verse 10. They are seven kings, five of whom have fallen. One is, the other has not yet come. So I can't see how you could fit that together in with the idea that all seven of these kings are unless you come up with some kind of forcing position. We force the text to say that this is a point in time in the final days when five of these world kingdoms will have fallen. I just can't see how it fits with that verse. So there's some good guys who take that position. Tim LaHaye, Tommy Ice, Ryrie, Walvoord, some of the classic dispensationalists. But no, I think this is better to understand it as past empires that were significant and important in their relationship to the nation of Israel. Many futurist interpreters of the book of Revelation do understand it that way. that the five that are fallen would include the kingdoms that were prophesied in Daniel, like Babylon, Persia, Greece. Those three would be the ones that had fallen. But then it also includes other nations because Daniel didn't include all the kingdoms that were important in relationship to Israel, but he only included the ones that were in his time going forward. Daniel lived during the time of Babylon. So this vision takes the kingdoms of the world that are described as four in number in Daniel chapter 7 and adds to it those who were previous to Daniel's time, Assyria and Egypt being the significant kingdoms that oppressed the people of Israel, and then goes forward as well beyond the ancient Roman Empire into the future final empire, which many view as a revived Roman Empire, having these ten kings who are ruling over that future form of the Roman Empire. So that would be the seven. The seven would be Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome, and future revived Roman Empire. That fits well, and while it's nowhere explicitly mentioned in the text, it does seem to be the best connection with Daniel. And I think Daniel is the key to understanding this vision. That's why Daniel 7 was our scripture reading today. Now notice, five have fallen. That's Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, and Greece. At the time of the writing of this book, when the angel is speaking with John, one is. That would be Rome. And then the other, the seventh, is yet to come, and it's still yet to come in our day. We are looking to see how God is going to bring about this final kingdom with 10 rulers that are going to give their power and authority over to the beast. Now we're reminded here that that final kingdom, when he comes, it's going to be just for a little while. It's only going to remain for a little while. That's at the end of verse 10. The other has not yet come, when he does he must remain only a little while. That little while we read about in Revelation 13 verse five is 42 months. That's a short time period for the final kingdom there underneath Antichrist. Now the 10 horns, let's take a closer look at the 10 horns. This also ties in with Daniel chapter seven. In Daniel seven the fourth beast had 10 horns as described in verse seven and those 10 horns are then interpreted in the book. Here we also have 10 horns, and we are told what the 10 horns are. Look at verse 12. The 10 horns that you saw are 10 kings who have not yet received royal power, okay? So we have these kings or kingdoms that have already come, but now we're not talking about the heads, we're talking about the horns. And the horns represent future kings. So you see how this gets confusing and why it's hard to understand this passage. You've got heads and horns and kings and kingdoms and how does all this play out? Well, we're doing our best to understand it. There is some mystery here. The 10 kings are the power base for the beast. You see that in verse 13. They are united, they are of one mind, as it says, and they hand over their power and authority to the beast. So the beast arises out of these 10, which is exactly how the arising of the little horn, who is the Antichrist, who also is this eighth head, as he's described here, He comes out of the ten. Now in Daniel 7, there was a mention of three of the horns being displaced by the rise of this little horn that was full of blasphemy. Had a big mouth on this little horn. Here in Revelation 17, there's no mention of the three horns being displaced. All we have is the ten horns giving their power and authority over to the beast, the Antichrist. How all that's gonna play out, we'll have to wait and see. How is it that three horns are displaced and yet all 10 horns give their authority and power over to the beast? Well, time will tell when the prophecy is fulfilled. I could see it being fulfilled in multiple ways. Some passages give certain details that aren't repeated in other passages for the sake of brevity and also to make us do our homework. God doesn't give us everything in one place simply, but he makes us dig and study into scripture to try to figure it out. And as we work at it, then we appreciate what we have because we've worked for it. Every father knows about that. Your children don't appreciate what they have unless they work for it, right? So, notice verse 17, where it says, Another reminder here in the book of Revelation that though the wrong seems off so strong, that God is the ruler yet. that though a kingdom that is evil beyond compare with a king who is more blasphemous than any other who has come before him and who wages war against the saints and who makes all the world engage in this idolatry that is so ugly, this is part of the plan. So don't fear the Antichrist. Don't fear what is going to happen. God is working this together for his reason, for his purpose. And it is for his honor and for his glory that he raises up this evil ruler in order to destroy him. And the destruction of this final king is highlighted several times throughout the chapter. So God has put it into their hearts. He outwits all of his opponents. He is doing things that they don't understand. As many people like to say today, he's playing 4D chess and they're functioning on the 2D level. And so he's going below their thinking, he's going above their thinking, and there's no one who can match up against God and his plans. Our second point in our outline today is the eighth head. Let's take a closer look at this eighth head of the beast as described Verses 8 and 11. So go back to verse 8. The beast that you saw was and is not, and is about to rise from the bottomless pit and go to destruction. This is a challenging verse, but it's repeated for us in verse 11. And it says there, much the same, as for the beast that was and is not, it is an eighth, but it belongs to the seven and it goes to destruction. Notice that repetition. In verse eight, it comes from the bottomless pit and goes to destruction. In verse 11, It belongs to the seven and it goes to destruction. Same verb, God is making it clear that he has a short time for this final kingdom. This evil king who is going to destruction, don't doubt it, don't fear that this man is too powerful, don't fear that Satan is going to win. God has declared the end before it even began. So, the eighth beast was and is not. That is a difficult statement right there. The beast that you saw was and is not. That detail being repeated in verse 11 also. The beast that was and is not. What does that mean? Was and is not. Well, this is not talking about the kingdom. This is talking about an individual. The beast here is a king, and that's what's part of the challenge, is that the beast is all of the kingdoms. It's everything from Egypt all the way down to the final, that's why it has seven heads. So it's one beast, but it has seven heads. And there's 10 horns, and then there's this eighth head, and it just, it really is. a confusing amalgamation of imagery. And I suppose it's confusing on purpose. God doesn't make mistakes. God can communicate clearly. But it is very challenging. And God has put together here a changing picture. At one moment you look at the beast and it's all the kingdoms. Another, it's one of the kingdoms. Another, it's one of the heads of one of those kingdoms. And they're all kind of used interchangeably in certain ways. So, when the text says that he was and is not and is about to rise from the bottomless pit, what does that sound like to you? He was, he is not, and he's about to rise from the bottomless pit. Well, that sounds like somebody has died, they're not living at the time of the writing of this book, but that they're going to come up out of the bottomless pit where spirits of evil men are, and he's going to live again. Now that's very strange because the Bible nowhere indicates that there would be a resurrection, so to speak, of an evil man from the past and that he's going to be released from the bottomless pit and come back and be a king on the earth again. It might be the most natural way of understanding the language, but it's theologically difficult. Most people are saying, well, the Bible teaches against reincarnation. You know, it's appointed unto man once to die and then comes the judgment. Whoever this is talking about, it can't be somebody who used to live and now is dead and in punishment and that he's going to be brought up again. Well, I'm not here to say what's possible and what's not possible. Maybe it's possible. I don't know. But whether this is a historical person who is brought back to earth, Or whether it is a fake, as many interpreters of the book of Revelation believe, that this final Antichrist is going to pretend to be the reincarnation of some previous person. Or there's a third option, that the was and is not is not talking about somebody who was in the past at the time of the writing, But this is talking about a future time, and that this prophecy in Revelation, again, would be given, chapter 17, at a very specific viewpoint, be given from a very specific viewpoint, and that the was is still future for us. that this man is going to be born, and he's going to be a king, but then there's going to come a point where he is not, and then a point where he comes back again. And this is connecting Revelation 17 back to chapter 13, which is a good idea, as we've already been doing, because back in chapter 13, you turn back there again, remember what was prophesied concerning the beast in verse three. One of its heads, again, this is corresponding that the beast represents the kingdom but the head represents the king. Now there's some strong parallels here because you see in chapter 17 that the dwellers on earth, a phrase that's also used in chapter 13, whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, well we read that in chapter 13, that they will marvel to see the beast. So the same terminology of marveling at the beast is also used in chapter 17. So this makes a strong connection that chapter 17 might not be talking about some past historical person coming back to life in the future as the Antichrist as some Christians have believed down throughout time. In the early church there was a legend that Nero was going to come back and was going to be the final Antichrist And there are a few who still believe that today. But this passage, as you look and compare it to chapter 13, it could well be that when the angel says the beast was and is not, this is a reference back to chapter 13 where this future king in the future is going to receive a mortal wound and he's going to recover miraculously by Satan's power from that mortal wound, whether he actually dies or is just close to death, we're not sure, but that could be what it means that he was and is not and is about to come from the bottomless pit. You might sense from the way that I presented all this material that I really don't have any idea. Yeah, there are some things in Scripture hard to understand, and I think a mark of intelligence is to be able to say, I don't know, and to not think that you know what you don't know. So we're going to leave it at that. Let's move on then. What else do we know about this eighth head of this beast? Well, the dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel to see the beast. Once again, we have reference to the earth dwellers and it's important to take note of that. Once again, we have reference to the book of life. And we'll make more about those things in our conclusion. Let's get to our third point. We've got to focus on the beast's battles in verses 14 and 16. Now we're going to take these in reverse order. We're going to start with the beast's battle against Babylon in verse 16, so direct your attention there. There you see, strikingly, that the Ten Horns, the power base of the Beast, those who give all of their authority over to the Antichrist to be the world ruler, that they and the Beast, they're united, will hate the prostitute. So the woman was riding the beast, but the mount is going to turn against the rider, and they will make her desolate and naked. They will devour her flesh and burn her up with fire. This is repeated emphatic metaphors that are, again, drawn from Hebrew, Old Testament, and the culture of a city being desolated by an invading army. When a city was desolated by an invaded army, this is exactly the metaphors that were used to describe that, and that ties in with the identification of the woman as the great city. Now, if the great city and the beast are in league, she's been helping with his blasphemous idolatry, and she's been drunk with the blood of the saints, and this is the center of the world's power, Why would the ten kings and the beast turn on their own capital city and destroy it in such a violent manner? I would surmise, perhaps, that maybe at this point, the beast has decided that Jerusalem is going to be his capital, that he's going to make the Holy Land his center of operations, and so he's making a drastic shift in his policy from whatever future city is this great Babylon, and he's now going to pillage that city in order to move everything to his envisioned capital city in Jerusalem. as the ultimate man of sin and blasphemy, taking his seat where God has determined that Jesus will be King of kings and Lord of lords. That's just a guess. I don't know. The text doesn't say why the ten kings and the beast turn against Babylon, but the text does say why God turns their hearts against Babylon. You see, man's will is not what is most significant and what's most important. We shouldn't spend all of our time guessing at, well, what's the beast's motivation? Well, who cares what the beast's motivation is? What about God's motivation? That's what the text focuses on. You notice it says that God has put it into their hearts, in verse 17, to carry out his purpose by being of one mind. So the first battle that is recorded here is a civil war, so to speak, as the kings and the beast himself wage war against Babylon and are the instruments of destruction that God uses against this hated city. I'd like to remind you of a verse we've looked at before in our study of Revelation, Proverbs 21 verse 1. The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord. He turns it wherever he will. the will of God, the determination of God, the plan of God. He's working on a whole nother level and he will use everything that even his enemy is doing in order to accomplish his purposes. That is truly awesome and awe-inspiring. But the beast, he seems to be having success everywhere he goes, everything he wants to do he's accomplishing until Him and his cohorts go up against God's Christ. That's described there in verse 14. So back up from 16 to 14. This is our last verse this morning. You can see why I chose that as our last verse. That's a good place to land here this morning. That is the greatest verse in this chapter. Now, they go to destruction because they go to war against the Lamb. The Lamb, he's called that throughout the book. Such an interesting choice on the Holy Spirit's part. So many titles, so many names that God has given and bestowed upon his son that God would choose this particular name and title for Jesus Christ as the premier title in the book of Revelation is very telling. Meditate, think, why? Why does God call him The Lamb. They make war on the Lamb. The Lamb will conquer them. He is Lord of Lords and King of Kings. And those with him are called and chosen and faithful. The King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, here it's reversed. Lord of Lords, King of Kings. But we know it better in Revelation chapter 19 where it is again, this double title of the Lord Jesus Christ is presented. Go to chapter 19 verse 16 with me. You see there, as Christ comes back on the white horse, so many awesome aspects of the vision. Verse 16 gives this detail. On his robe and on his thigh, he has a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Then I saw an angel standing in the sun and saying with a loud voice, calling out to the birds that fly directly overhead, come, gather together for the great supper of God to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great. And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his army. And the beast was captured, and with it, or with him, the false prophet, who in his presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshipped its image. Those two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur, and the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse, and all the birds were gorged with their flesh. Making war on the lamb is the last mistake that the beast will make. Now, let's tie all this together with a couple of points here in our application. Application number one, Evil destroys itself. Evil leads to civil war. There is no real unity among those who are opposed to God. There is no real love among those who are opposed to God. but instead there is a mutual beneficial relationship until such time that is no longer deemed to be worthwhile. That's the relationship between the beast and the woman. Mutually beneficial relationship until the time when I no longer deem it to be worthwhile. There is no genuine friendship between those who are evil. This is demonstrated in our text. Number two. God is in control and will use the wicked to accomplish his purposes. Notice verse 17, God has put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose by being of one mind and handing over their royal power to the beast until the words of God are fulfilled. The words of God will be fulfilled, they must be fulfilled, and God is in control. Matthew 5, verse 18, Jesus said, And not only the law, but the prophets, not only the law and the prophets, but also all that the apostles have written, everything that is in the book of Revelation, it will all be accomplished. The sovereignty of God is a big theme in this book and in this passage. Notice verse eight. The beast is about to go to destruction and those whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel. When are names written in the book of life? They are written before the world was founded. Verse 10. Another emphasis on the sovereignty of God. When He does come at the end of the verse, He must remain only a little while. He must remain only a little while. That's an implication. That is a subtle reminder of God's control over the times and the epochs. Verse 12, they are to receive authority. They receive authority for one hour. Notice God's giving of the authority, a divine passive here, and God's control over the time period, one hour, a short time. Verse 14, those who are with Christ, who are they? They are those who are called by God, they are those who are chosen by God, and they are those who are faithful to God. Called because of God's choice, and faithful because of God's power in preserving his elect. And then we already noticed verse 17. So time and again, I just couldn't get away from it this week, the emphasis on God is in control. And so what does this all lead to? It leads us right where we started. This is my Father's world. Though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet. And we can rejoice in God's future victory as we read about it even now and know that not one word of this prophecy will fail until it is all accomplished.