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🎵Piano music plays🎵 Good evening, we're continuing in Isaiah chapter 46, and the Bible reads, Bell bowed down, Nebo stoopid. Their idols were upon the beasts, and upon the cattle. Their carriages were heavy-loaded. They are a burden to the weary beast. They stoop. They bow down together. They could not deliver the burden, but themselves are gone into captivity. Harken unto me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, which are borne by me from the belly, which are carried from the womb. And even to your old age I am he, and even to horror errors will I carry you. I have made, and I will bear, even I will carry and will deliver you. To whom will you liken me, and make me equal, and compare me that we may be like? They lavish gold out of the bag, and waste silver in the balance and hire a goldsmith, and he maketh it a god. They fall down, yea, they worship. They bear him upon the shoulder, they carry him, and set him in his place, and he standeth. From his place shall he not remove, yea, one shall cry unto him, yet can he not answer, nor save him out of his trouble. Remember this, and show yourselves men. Bring it again to mind, O ye transgressors. Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is none else. I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure, calling Goraevna's bird from the east, the man that executed my counsel from a far country. Yea, I have spoken it. I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it. I will also do it. Harken unto me, ye stout-hearted, that are far from righteousness. I will bring near my righteousness. It shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry, and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel and my glory. Father God, we thank you, dear Lord, for our salvation. Dear Lord, we thank you for the King James Bible. Thank you for being ever present with us, dear Lord, in this church. We thank you for our pastor. Please bless him tonight as he preaches your word unto us. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Amen. Okay, we're in Isaiah chapter 46 this evening, and tonight I'm actually going to cover two chapters due to the fact that this is a very short chapter, and so is chapter 47. Both of them are approximately around 13 to 15 verses, and so by way of introduction I'm going to cover chapter 46, and I'm not going to spend too much time on 46 because of the fact that a lot of what we see in this particular chapter is very repetitive, and you actually see a lot of those concepts in the previous chapters. I am going to go over some of the verses here because I think it's important to just mention some of the details and information that's being given here, but I want to spend more time on chapter 47 dealing with Babylon. Okay, so the subject of Babylon is coming up once again. Now, in chapter 45, if you remember from last week, you have King Cyrus, right? Cyrus the Great, who is essentially the anointed of God who's being selected to overtake Babylon and essentially succeed that world superpower at that time. And King Cyrus would be likened symbolically representing the Lord Jesus Christ because of the fact that during this time you have God's people in Babylonian captivity. They were taken from Judah, they were taken from Israel, and they were taken to Babylon. Okay, so they've been there by this time for at least 70 years. And of course the reason for that was because of the fact that they worship other gods, they disobeyed the Lord, they essentially made a breach of the covenant that they made with God, and so God is punishing his people by allowing Nebuchadnezzar to come and essentially take them captive, destroy them, and keep them there for 70 years. Well, what goes around comes around, right? Because now Babylon is actually going to get theirs, they're going to be severely punished, and God is selecting a new king to succeed them, to destroy them, and so that is what happened in chapter 45 with the prophecy of King Cyrus. And so these next two chapters is really focusing on the punishment of Babylon, and we're going to see more of that in chapter 47. So in this particular chapter in 46, we're going to look at three specific things, the fate of the idols, the powerlessness of those idols, and the warning of God. Look at verse 1, it says here, Bell boweth down, Nebo stoopeth, their idols were upon the beasts and upon the cattle, your carriages were heavy loaded, they are a burden to the weary beasts, they stoop, they bow down together, they could not deliver the burden, but themselves are gone into captivity. Now obviously it's being facetious here because the prophet is essentially saying that not only are the Babylonians going to be destroyed, but even their gods are being taken into captivity. When he talks about Baal and Nebo, he's actually referring to these Sumerian false gods, right? These false gods that the Babylonians worship, and it's essentially giving us their faith. This is what Bell means when he's addressing them here. It's referring to, Bell is essentially the Aramaic way of talking about Baal, as in B-A-A-L, that is what Bell is referring to, and it simply means Lord, okay? And so anytime you see that in the Old Testament, Baal, as in B-A-A-L, it's referring to that false god, the Sumerian false god, that Babylonian false god, and he's saying that he bows down, in other words that false god is being humbled, and then he also talks about Nebo, and when you think about Nebo, that's another false god of the Babylonians, and you think of the name Nebuchadnezzar, that kind of has that little name there in his name, and it's also referring to a false god, and it's actually referring to a false deity of learning, writing, and science, that's what it's talking about, and so that is what those are referring to there. So when Cyrus takes over Babylon, the gods of the Babylonians are actually taking captive as well. We went over that last week, how essentially King Cyrus went and he took all the false gods, he took all, even the accoutrements and instruments of the temple of God, and he returned them back to the house of God, right? So he brought them back to their rightful place, but in like manner, he also took some of the idols of the surrounding nations, and he essentially took them out of Babylon and allowed the people who worshipped those false gods to once again worship them after the conquest there. So he's essentially showing here, or highlighting the frailty and the vulnerability of these Sumerian gods. He's embarrassing them, he's shaming them. Look at verse 3. It says, So what is this talking about? Well, in the first two verses, we see that these false gods need someone to bear them, right? They're being taken into captivity, they're being carried away, and the contrast that we see here in verse 3 and 4 is that God is saying, I carry you. You know, these Babylonians need to carry their false gods, whereas I'm the one who actually bears you. And he's saying here that God is essentially faithful, right? He has borne God's people from the belly, carried from the womb, he says, and I love what it says in verse number 4, What is he saying there? He's essentially referring to the fact that God will always be there for God's people. And he's saying like, hey, you can trust me to take care of you because I've carried you from the womb, I've carried you from birth, I will carry you into your old age. He says, What is that referring to? You know, the whore hair is referring to the gray-headedness, and he's essentially saying like, I'm always going to be there from beginning to end, I'm always going to be walking with you, I will be there for you, and of course, the stipulation there is that you walk with him, right? That you obey him, that you serve him, but he's essentially expressing his faithfulness to God's people, and we can apply his faithfulness to us, right? God will never leave us nor forsake us, the Bible says. And from a salvation perspective, this could be proven two ways from Sunday, that God will never leave us nor forsake us, we'll never lose our salvation, and in fact, the Bible says that when we got saved, the Holy Spirit of God came to dwell within us, the Bible tells us that he sealed there unto the day of redemption, that he's the earnest of our inheritance unto the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of his glory. It's just a way of proving, hey, I'm never going to leave you, you're never going to lose your salvation, you know, the Bible specifically goes out of its way to talk about the fact that when we are born again, we become children of God, we become sons of God, and nothing can separate that. But even if we were to just apply it from a provisional standpoint, right, from a protective standpoint, you know, as long as we're serving God, as long as we're walking with the Lord, God will always provide for us, he will always protect us, the Bible tells us, seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and these things shall be added unto you. You know, though ten thousand fall at thy right side, it shall not come nigh unto you, the Bible says. And over and over again, we see the faithfulness of God, how God is constantly reiterating the fact that he's always going to be there, and he was there from our womb, when we're in our mom's belly. You know, the prophet David said in Psalm 22, But thou art he that took me out of the womb, thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother's breast, I was cast upon thee from the womb, thou art my God, listen to this, from my mother's belly. He also says in Psalm 139 verse 13, For thou has possessed my reins, thou has covered me in my mother's womb. And so obviously, the Bible is replete with passages where God is constantly trying to reaffirm this and give us the confidence of knowing that he's always there, right? And why does he do that? Because there's always this temptation to believe that he's not, right? Especially when you're going through a hard time, maybe you're low on funds, maybe you're going through a crisis of some sort, some trial or tribulation, we have a tendency to think, Oh man, does God really love me? Does he actually care for me? Is he going to provide for me? Is he there for me emotionally? Is he going to be there for me financially? Is he going to be there for me to protect me? And there's always that question mark when we're going through a tough time. And so this is why it's important for us as God's people to constantly read the Bible. Why? Because when we read the Bible, we're always reminded of the promises of God, that he will be there for us even into our old age. And I find that pretty very comforting. I obviously find that very interesting. And it's one of those things where you think about it as like, man, you know, if I can make it to being an old man, because I'm still young, you know, if I can make it to being a hoary head, it'll be awesome to think that as an old man who, I don't know, who could barely walk and, you know, I'm just right there at the finish line, you know, the Lord who saved me when I was 21 is still there, right? The Lord who saved me when I was a young man, full of strength, full of, you know, energy and full of vitality, you know, he's there when I'm weak and frail. He's going to carry me all the way through. And so we need to be reminded of that constantly. And obviously he's saying this in somewhat of a disrespectful, shameful way to the Babylonians, because of the fact that he's saying like, hey, you're over here bearing your gods, whereas the God of Jacob bears them, right? I carry them while you carry your Sumerian false gods, Baal and Nebo are bowing down, they're stooping down, whereas my people bow down and stoop down before me and I bear them. And so that's what he means there. Now in verses 5 to 7, he kind of goes over the powerlessness of those idols, and I'm not going to spend too much time on that, because we've already covered that in previous sermons. Look at verse number 8, it says, Remember this and show yourselves men, bring it again to mind, O ye transgressors. Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is none else. I am God, and there is none like me. I want you to skip down to verse number 13. He says, I bring near my righteousness, it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry. I will place salvation in Zion for Israel, my glory. And of course, all of this is actually in context of what? Cyrus the Great coming to deliver the children of Israel by the counsel of God. Now with that being said, let's get into chapter 47 here. And chapter 47, really the theme of chapter 47 is the fact that arrogance and a false sense of security can often lead to pride, more pride should I say, and destruction and downfall. And you know, Babylon was just a very prideful nation. I mean, just think of Nebuchadnezzar, one of the most prideful leaders in the Bible. He is simply a reflection of the nation of Babylon, and this is why God essentially destroys them because of their pride. Now, this chapter, though, doesn't address Cyrus. Obviously, we know it also pictures Jesus Christ, Cyrus being that, excuse me, Cyrus pictures Jesus Christ because of the fact that Cyrus is the one that overthrows Babylon, just as Jesus Christ is the one who's going to overthrow the New World Order in the end times, right? He is that king who comes in the end times to deliver his people and destroy that one world government, one world financial system, one world religion. So let's look at the first thing here is the humility and shame of Babylon. It says in verse number one, Come down and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon. Sit on the ground, there is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans. For thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate. Take the millstones and grind meal. Uncover thy locks, make bare the leg, uncover the thigh, pass over the river. So what is the prophet Isaiah talking about here? Well, the imagery that we're getting here is that the daughter of Babylon is being likened to an actual woman, right? And more specifically, it's a woman who has a lofty position, a woman of royalty. Someone who is politically important. They're up there, you know, on their status. Politically, they are a princess of sort. And this person is going to be subjected to the position of a slave. Because he's saying there, sit in the dust, sit on the ground. There's no throne for you to sit on. And he says, Thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate. So in other words, her delicacies are going to be removed. Her tenderness is going to be removed. She's no longer going to be allowed to sit on a throne, but rather on the ground and in the dust. This is obviously giving us this imagery that she is going to be humbled. And the woman obviously represents Babylon, okay? God has taken Babylon from royalty and abasing them to poverty. This is what these verses are talking about. And in fact, look at verse 2. He says, Take millstones and grind meal. And what this is saying is that if Babylon represents this woman or this woman represents Babylon, it's like taking this princess who is made of royalty and then she's abased from that throne and now you go do the work of a farmer. Go take a millstone, start grinding grain and doing the work of a farmer. That's essentially shaming her because of the fact that at one point she had a lofty position. He goes on to say there in verse 2, Uncover thy locks, make bare the leg, uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers. Now what is this referring to? Well, just as Babylon took the Israelites into captivity and essentially took them from their homeland, made them walk all the way to Babylon, well, unlike man, the same thing is going to happen to Babylon. And he's basically giving this picture here that this woman is going to have to make bare her legs, uncover her thighs to pass over the river. Like she's going to have to walk that trek all the way to wherever her captors are taking her. And this is essentially teaching us here that God is going to humble and shame Babylon. He is going to abase Babylon and at one point, though they were tender, delicate and powerful, now they're going to be poor and desolate. Look at verse 3. He says, Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen. I will take vengeance and I will not meet thee as a man. Now what is he talking about here? He's talking about the fact that he's not going to show him any mercy. Because when he says, I'm not going to meet you as a man, the implication here is that if a man met this woman, he's going to show her compassion, he's not going to be as vicious, he's not going to be as cruel, he's going to be delicate with the woman. Whereas God is saying, I'm not going to meet you like a man would, I'm just going to completely make you desolate, you're going to be destroyed. And why is he doing that? Because of the fact that he's judging them harshly for their harsh and excessive judgment on Israel. Now obviously Babylon was selected by God to judge Israel, right? But Babylon was excessive about it and therefore God is going to repay them as well. Now hold your place there and go to Revelation chapter 17, if you would, Revelation chapter 17. Because one thing you're going to notice here is that as you're reading through chapter 47, there's a lot of parallels to what we see in Revelation 17 and 18. And I don't have time in this sermon to develop this entire thought, but essentially what we see here in the book of Revelation is that the New World Order will use spiritual Babylon, so to speak, in order to become powerful and create a platform for the Antichrist, okay? And it's referred to in the book of Revelation as Babylon. The reason for that is because God wants us to make a connotation that what he's referring to is the type of power that nations had previous to this, right? And the most obvious one is the Babylonian Empire that has existed since when? Since Genesis chapter 9 with the Tower of Babel. So ever since the book of Genesis with the Tower of Babel and throughout history, there's always been some sort of nation, spirit, you know, some sort of people that not God but Satan has used in order to create this one world type of government. And eventually it succeeds and it apexes to the end times with this spiritual Babylon. This is what Revelation 17 and 18 is referring to here. Look at verse 16 of Revelation 17. He says, And who's the whore? Babylon, right? Babylon the great. It says, And what? So we see that just as God put it in the heart of Cyrus to destroy Babylon, to make her naked, to bring her through the rivers in like manner. It says here that God's going to put it in the hearts of the 10 kings to essentially turn on Mystery Babylon to make her desolate, make her naked, burn her with fire because that is God's will for that to take place. And so what do we see here? We see that ultimately God is the one who moves nations against one another sometimes. And this is something that permeates the Old Testament quite a bit where he will use a particular godless nation to destroy maybe even his people. And then once that work is accomplished, he's like, all right, now it's your turn, right? He doesn't waste the nation. He's like, I'm going to use you to destroy this nation. But now I'm going to turn on you and you're going to get punished for the sins that you've committed and your crimes and your abominations as well. And this is obviously something that takes place in the end times. Hold your place there in Revelation. We're going to come back to that and go back to Isaiah, chapter 47. I don't know if the heater was put on or the AC, but I'm like, I'm dying here. Look at verse four. It says in verse four, for as for our Redeemer, the Lord of Hosts is his name, the Holy One of Israel. Sit thou silent and get thee into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans. For thou shalt no more be called, listen to this, the Lady of Kingdoms. So Babylon, the nation Babylon, was essentially a nation that ruled over many kingdoms, right? And this is why he's referring to that nation as the Lady of Kingdoms. And after the conquest from Cyrus, she shall no be referred to as such, because obviously she's being abased. Now go back to Revelation, if you would, because we're going to keep comparing both. Look at Revelation 17 and verse number nine. It says in verse number nine of Revelation 17, and here is the mine which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sitteth. And there are seven kings, five are fallen, one is, and the other is not yet come. And when he cometh, he must continue a short space. And the beast that was and is not, even he is the eighth and is of the seven and goeth into perdition. What is this referring to? Well, in verse number ten, we essentially see that this is Satan's chronology of superpowers that he's used throughout history that essentially will culminate to the end times Babylon. Because he talks about the fact that there are seven kings, five are fallen, one is. The one is that he's referring to is in John's day, which is what? The Roman Empire. And so when John is writing this in the Isle of Patmos, he's talking about these certain kingdoms, and he says the one that currently exists is obviously referring to the Roman Empire. The five that are fallen are these previous kingdoms that we looked at. Because you have the Assyrian Empire, the Babylonian Empire, the Grecian Empire, and then after the Grecians, you have the Romans. Previous to that, you have the Assyrian Empire. So you have these kingdoms that existed, and they're all essentially passing the baton one to another, right? But he says there one is and the other is not yet come. Now, what is the other that is not yet come? Well, that's referring to that spiritual Babylon of the end times. And he says there when he cometh, he must continue a short space, meaning that this particular kingdom will not exist for a long time, as these other ones did. Verse 11 says, And the beast, referring to the antichrist, that was and is not, meaning that he was alive and he died, even he is the eighth and is of the seven and goeth into perdition. So ultimately, what this is teaching us here is that the antichrist will use the Babylonian system, this Babylonian nation, the spirit of Babylon, to create what? The New World Order, okay? Now, once that New World Order system is created, meaning that one world financial system, one world government, one world religion, once that's done, guess what happens to Babylon? It's discarded. It's no longer needed. And this is one of the reasons why Revelation 17 refers to Babylon as being a what? As a whore. It gives us that imagery of a whore because of the fact that, unfortunately, whores have that connotation of someone who's used, and once they've been used for their delicacies, once they've been used for their resources or what they have to offer, they're completely discarded. And that's exactly what happens to end times Babylon. The kings turn on Babylon, destroy it, and so forth. And you know what? Even though we can't necessarily match that perfectly with what happened to the Babylonian Empire under Nebuchadnezzar, it's essentially the same thing because what did Babylon do? It was used for a specific purpose, and once it was used, it was just completely discarded, okay? Now it's going to be destroyed. Look at chapter 18, if you would. Chapter 18, the point that I'm making here is that the Babylonian Empire is known as the Lady of Kingdoms because it conquered many kingdoms. The end times Babylon in Revelation 17 can be referred to as the Lady of Kingdoms because it has many kings. It's responsible for many world empires throughout history. Look at Revelation chapter 18 and verse number 3. It says, For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. So obviously, this nation is not a chaste nation that the Bible is referring to here. It's not a nation that is pure. It's not a nation that deals with covenants. No, and in fact, it commits fornication with the kings of the earth, meaning that it has relations with various nations in order for those nations to get something from that particular nation. Basically, they just want to benefit each other without having any covenant at all, right? And of course, it says that the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. So Babylon is pictured as a loose woman, a whorish woman who is simply being used for her resources, delicacies, etc. Now obviously, what is this contrast? What is the contrast of the Whore of Babylon? Well, how about the chaste virgin bride of Christ, right? You know, the bride of Christ is a chaste virgin unto the Lord. This is something, this is a woman, an imagery of a woman that God actually esteems. It's the bride of Christ, and there's many passages that liken believers as being a chaste virgin, a bride of Christ, etc. And so these are the two contrasting images that we get in the book of Revelation. You know, the bride of Christ and of course, the Whore of Babylon. Now go back to Isaiah 47 here. Hold your place there in Revelation. We're going to come back to that. Look at verse 6. So Babylon is referred to as the Lady of Kingdoms because of all of the conquests, all of the fornication that it's committed with different nations. Look at verse 6. It says, So here we see the cruelty of Babylon and the reason Babylon succeeded against Israel. And that's simply because, as I mentioned, God allowed that, right? You know, it wasn't because Nebuchadnezzar was a great general or he had a great army. It wasn't because of his might or his chariots or his armory or any resources he had. Yeah, from a human standpoint, we could say that he was a very powerful king, but he would have not been able to succeed against Israel were it not for God. God ultimately is the one who allowed it because he was wrathful. He was angry with his people, and therefore he wanted to pollute his inheritance. He wanted to punish them, and he gave them into his hand. But it says there, thou didst show them no mercy. You know, essentially showing us that when Babylon took over, they just kind of went crazy on the Israelites, even to the point that it says, upon the ancient hast thou very heavily laid thy yoke. They weren't even merciful to the older elderly people, right? They're very cruel and, you know, they're very cruel and evil towards the children of Israel. They were not respecter of people at all. Now, how does this apply to end times Babylon? Well, end times Babylon is also responsible for persecuting and killing the righteous, right? Look at Revelation 17 in verse number five. There we go, now I feel the AC. Now I could put this away, man, put this bad boy away for another day. I was like, I can't believe I have to bring this out now. Look at verse five, it says, upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth. And 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 wondered with great admiration. And so we see here that end times Babylon is actually responsible for killing Christians, okay? Now, this is one of the reasons why many people believe that when the Bible talks about the whore of Babylon, it's actually referring to what? The Roman Catholic Church, right? And, you know, there is some truth to that, I'll just be honest with you. And it's kind of hard, you know, to look at the Catholic Church and not think of Babylon, right? Not think of it as being a whore, not, you know, think of it as being a persecutor of God's people. Why? Because the papacy has been responsible for murdering millions of Christians, especially throughout the medieval period, right? You know, they have this dirty little secret known as the Spanish Inquisition, where they went about murdering thousands of people, and now with the Internet, you have all these Catholic apologists that try to finagle their way excusing the Spanish Inquisition. Trying to say that it was, oh, no, that didn't really happen, we didn't kill Christians. But let me tell you why they say they didn't kill Christians, because they believe themselves to be Christians. That's why. You know, you're like, you guys killed Christians. It's like, we've never killed Christians because of the fact that they believe themselves to be Christians. And the Inquisition that they want to highlight, the murders they want to talk about, are Jews and, you know, false religions, you know, not just Christians, but any other sect of so-called Christianity, they want to talk about that. But when it comes to actual Bible-believing Christians, they're like, oh, we never stopped you from reading the Bible, we never stopped you from printing the Bible, we never killed Christians, but the Roman Catholic Church is the biggest gaslighting institution that exists, my friends. It's just like, oh, oh, I'm sorry I even said that, yeah, I'm sorry, yeah, I must have been mixed up on my history or something like that. You know, it's just kind of commonly known throughout history that Catholics killed Christians. That's just commonly known. And in fact, you know, when you actually talk to these hardcore, radicalized Catholics, they have no issue telling you that they killed actual Christians. Now, they won't call them Christians, but when you actually talk about who it is that they killed and what their belief system was, it lines up with what we believe. Because they believe us to be heretics. You know, they think we're heretics because we left the Mother Church or whatever, and, you know, we reject Mariology and all this Catholic nonsense, but at least they're willing to admit that, you know. And look, it's gotten to a point, especially on Twitter or whatever you want to call it, that you have some radical Catholics out there that are actually calling for the Inquisition once again. Like, oh, you know, the Pope doesn't know how much power he has. If only he could just, you know, green line, let's do the Inquisition once again. I mean, they talk about that stuff. They're like really militant. Now, obviously, it's a smaller group of people. It's like a fringe group within the Catholic Church. But still, you know, they're essentially the conscience of the Roman Catholic Church. They're actually what people in the Roman Catholic Church actually believe, OK? You know, everything that the Roman Catholic Church wants to sweep under the rug, a lot of it they agree with. And so you can see why many people believe that end times Babylon is referring to the Roman Catholic Church because it fits the description, right? When you look at all of the attire of the harlot, you know, how it's decked out with gold and silver, and it's made drunk with the blood of the saints, it's like, oh, yeah, you go to the Vatican, you see how decked out their, you know, cathedrals are and their buildings or whatever, and you look at the history of the Roman Catholic Church and how they killed Christians, that fits the description. So I'm not necessarily against that interpretation. And in fact, you know, I kind of agree with it to a certain degree, because even if the Roman Catholic Church isn't necessarily the whore of Babylon, it definitely applies to them, though. You know, there's certain verses in the Bible where it's just like this one interpretation, many applications, this is one of those cases, right? Where you have end times Babylon, and it probably applies to an actual nation itself, but it can definitely be applied to the Roman Catholic Church because they are responsible for the blood of the saints. They've killed a lot of Christians, okay? Look at chapter 18 and verse 24. It says, In her was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth, the Bible says. And so, here's the thing is that this could apply to the Roman Catholic Church, but it could also apply to a particular nation that maybe does not yet exist but will exist in the end times, that will be responsible for killing Christians. Because when you read the book of Revelation, one thing that is very clear is that the Antichrist does what? He makes war with the saints, and he overcomes them. We know that in Revelation chapter 6, the Apostle John sees under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held, meaning that there's Christians that are being killed in the great tribulation, right? They're being martyred for their faith, they're being martyred for the testimony which they held, and so this could obviously be referring to that particular time period where people are shedding the blood of prophets and of saints. And so, very important there. Now, go back to Isaiah, if you would, and we're going to come back to Revelation just a bit. It says in verse number 7, And thou sayest, I shall be a lady forever, so that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart, neither didst remember the latter end of it. Therefore, hear now this, thou that are given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me. I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children. What do we have here? We have Babylon making these very prideful and presumptuous statements, right? When it says there, I shall be a lady forever, he's basically saying, like, I'm the first lady, no one's going to take me down from my position, my lofty position of a ruler. He's saying that, you know, I'm not going to be a widow, I'm not going to experience the loss of children. Babylon is essentially boasting themselves of tomorrow, right? Boasting themselves of future successes, and essentially saying that no one can take her down. There's no one like her, is what he's saying, okay? Now, look at chapter 18 of Revelation, chapter 18 in Revelation. Look what it says in verse 5 of chapter 18. It says, For her sins have reached them to heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her, double according to her works, and the cup which she hath filled, fill to her double. How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her, for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. Now, if we were to apply this to the Roman Catholic Church, this would apply as well, because the Roman Catholic Church is a very prideful institution, right? It's very arrogant, it's prideful, we've always existed, you know, the church, and just read the history books, just look at history, look at the church fathers. You see, no one can move us, we sit as a queen, we're no widow, we shall see no sorrow. But, you know, this also could apply to a nation, and if we were to make application to a nation, we would just have to look for a nation that feels this much pride in itself. That no one can take them out, they have the best military might, they're the greatest nation on the face of the planet, you know, they glorify themselves, they have a lot of pride in their nation, a lot of pride in their country, they shall see no sorrow. Okay, who's going to take them down? And, you know, I don't know, that sounds pretty familiar, I think, you know, in fact, the more I think about it, the more I think about it, am I a Babylonian? Was I born in Babylon, is this Babylon? Because it would definitely fit the description, and obviously we don't know when the end times are going to take place, we don't know how far we are from that which takes place in the book of Revelation and the events there, but let's just say if it were to happen in our lifetime, the United States of America is definitely a very healthy candidate to be Babylon, right? Because a lot of these descriptions, a lot of these attributes, and in fact, a lot of these attitudes can apply to the United States of America. You know, a lot of people take pride in their nationality, and obviously, you know, we can apply this and we can apply this to where we live today, and what we have going on today or whatever, but you know, at the end of the day, whether you're born here or not, by the way, if you're not, you know, you better watch out, you know? Whether you're born here or not, you know, at the end of the day, if you're saved, you're a citizen of the true Israel, right? I'm not talking about the fake Israel, I'm talking about the true Israel, which is Jerusalem, which is above, right? That heavenly Jerusalem, as the Bible talks about, and so we need to realize that this world is not our home, we're just a passing through, and I'm thankful that I live in the United States of America, I'm thankful that I got my green card, no, I'm just kidding, you know, I'm thankful I got my papers, no, I'm thankful that I get to be in a place where the gospel is permeated, there's churches, the word of God is being thundered forth, and, you know, soul winning isn't illegal, it's definitely a country that's been blessed by God, but you know, Babylon was also blessed by God to a certain degree, and just because a nation is being blessed by God doesn't mean that they're not going to receive the just recompense for their abominations and their wickedness and their crimes. So sometimes people have this idea that because so much good has happened to this nation, therefore nothing bad can ever happen to it, but folks, let me just remind you that God does not just look away from sin and just turn a blind eye just because it says in God we trust on the dollar bill or something. You know, God's not going to be like, well, they say they're a Christian nation, so we'll just give them the pass or something. You know, every nation will suffer the consequences of their crimes and their wickedness against God. And so don't drive your stakes too deep into this nation, you know, if you're a patriot or whatever, God bless you, but, you know, at the end of the day, we should be patriots of heaven far greater than the patriots of here. And I want to be a law abiding citizen while I'm here, I want to make sure that I obey the word of God in that respect, but, you know, my kingdom is not of this world, though. Right. And so we're not truly citizens. Well, that's spiritual. Well, that's what matters, though. You know, it's funny. It's like we mentioned spiritual things. It's like, yeah, that doesn't really apply. Yes, it does. It always applies. The spiritual is far more superior than anything we got going on here. And in fact, God is just constantly trying to drill the spiritual into our lives because we get we become so temporal minded that after a while, we're just like, well, what's wrong with being a Babylonian? You know. We see here that Babylon glorifies herself, lives deliciously and to the point where she feels like nothing bad will ever happen. And folks, you know, we are blessed as a nation, and in fact, we're blessed just as individuals. But don't let that go to your head. All right. Don't ever let it get to your head. Don't ever let it let you become arrogant and prideful. If God has prospered you financially, if he's blessed you with good health, if he's blessed you with possessions and resources, and he's blessed your job, he's blessed your business, his hand is on you. Just recognize it came from God. And don't become arrogant and prideful because, you know, soon thereafter comes a fall. Right. God will end up taking you down a notch and humbling you, just as he did to the previous nations and specifically the nation of Babylon. Look at verse nine of Isaiah 47. Isaiah Chapter 47, verse nine says, But these two things shall come to thee in a moment in one day, the loss of children and widowhood. So she's saying like, I'm not going to be a widow and I'm not going to experience any loss of children. And God's like, actually, you're going to experience both in one day in a moment. They shall come upon thee in their perfection for the multitude of thy sorceries and for the great abundance of thine enchantments. For thou has trusted in thy wickedness. Thou has said, None seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee. And thou has said in thine heart, I am and none else beside me. I mean, this is prideful. Arrogancy that we see here with the nation of Babylon. You know, they don't think that nothing's going to happen to them. And God is saying judgment is going to come upon you suddenly. And this is the theme when it comes to these nations in the Bible that God often destroys them like in a moment. Just like overnight it happens, right? And he tells them why he's like, the reason this is going to come upon you is because of your sorceries, the abundance of your enchantments. What is he talking about? Witchcraft. And specifically Babylon was responsible for a lot of this stuff, right? You know, they were not a Christian nation. They were not a Godly nation. They were a nation of pagans who practiced witchcraft. They practiced enchantments. You know, they practiced necromancy. They practiced sorcery. These are all evil practices that contradict the Bible. And obviously a lot of that stuff influenced the believers who were taken into captivity. So how do you know? Well, there's something called the Babylonian Talmud. Okay? Which is more Babylonian than Christian, by the way. It's more Babylonian than Bible. He says, I'm going to judge you for these things. Towards the latter end of verse 9, he says, the multitude of thy sorceries and the abundance of thy enchantments. So Babylon was known for its occultic practices. And if we're to apply this to the Roman Catholic Church, so are they. Right? The Roman Catholic Church is known for its occultic practices that's passed off as Christian. So how do you know? Well, how about the fact that they practiced necromancy? What is necromancy? Communicating with the dead. We don't communicate with the dead. You pray to saints. You pray to saints. You pray to Mary. You know, you pray to people who have died already. And literally, they can never point to a passage of scripture of any example of any person doing that. Like, where is that in the Bible? To pray and to marry and pray to the saints. You're like, oh, what's wrong with just talking to saints? Okay, well, go ahead and point me to an example of a believer talking to a saint where God was pleased with that. There's only one example, and they probably have never used this because they don't read the Bible. Someone just throw out his name out there for me. Saul. Right? And why did God ultimately kill him? Because he went to the witch at Endor to bring up the spirit of Saul to talk to him. That's called necromancy. And God, you know, completely condemned that practice. But, you know, the Roman Catholic Church is notorious for that. And, in fact, how many of you were previous Catholics? Raise your hand. Okay, so, you know, I don't know if you've ever been to a Catholic funeral. Baby Marcos is a previous Catholic, apparently. He, like, raised his hand. Brother Marcos, you might want to look into that, you know. Get your house in order, brother. No, I'm just kidding. But, you know, like, I've been to Catholic funerals, and they'll often have what's called, like, a vigil. Where if a person dies, you know, they'll make an altar with the person's picture right there. How many of you know what I'm talking about? And they, I think, if I'm not mistaken, for, like, five days or something, or, like, a week, they will literally pray for that person to get out of purgatory or something. And, but let me just tell you, let me just give you the harsh reality. That person's burning in hell. And there's no, they can't hear any prayers. They can't, all they can feel is fire and torment, and that's it. But they practice necromancy. They practice incantations, known as vain repetition. And, you know, obviously, the Roman Catholic Church is notorious for essentially evolving paganism and amalgamating it with Christianity, and that's basically what they did. You know, people always talk about on social media, they're like, Oh, man, you know, there's the death of paganism when these false gods knew that their era was over and how Christianity took over, but it's the stupidest concept ever. You know, a lot of Christians are like, Yeah, you know, when, you know, these false gods and Zeus just knew it was over for them, and, you know, what's that false god from the Vikings? What's that guy's name? Odin? Yeah. Like, Odin realized that it was over for him, and, you know, Christianity is now taking over, and Jesus Christ and all this, but let me explain to you where they're getting this stupid story from. Because God has always been the truth. The religion of the Bible has always existed. It didn't just come into flourishing in the first century A.D. It's always existed. Salvation has always been there. You know, in fact, let me just break it to you. It's the first religion that has ever existed, right? What they're referring to is what took place, you know, in probably, what is it, the third century, fourth century, where you have, essentially, Catholics, the Roman Catholicism, being born. Because what they did is they took over these temples of these pagans, and instead of destroying their statutes, they just renamed them, right? You know, they got these false gods there, and they're just like, Well, this is actually Saint whatever. Because they wanted to keep those elaborate buildings, which is where they get those concepts from. You're like, Are you sure about that? Well, let me just say this, and let's see if it clicks with you. Roman Catholic Church. What the heck is the Roman doing in there? Why is Roman in that name? I'll tell you why. Because the Roman Catholic Church has pagan roots. That's where it comes from. They took paganism, and they mixed it in with Christianity, and they're like, Oh, yeah, this is true Christianity here. It's an apostate religion, my friends. And you know why? You can go to the history books, and they claim the Catholics are Christian. I'll tell you why. Because they're the ones who wrote the history. That's why. And any document that talked about the real believers, the real Christian, they either killed or burned their books. And as far as I know, Bible-believing Christians weren't necessarily interested in writing documents or books. Because they're so busy preaching the Word of God and so many. And so, you know, the Roman Catholic Church is filled with sorceries. I mean, didn't they just have recently, at the beginning of the year, this big thing at the Vatican where the Pope was going to open the door of Peter or something like that? It was supposed to be this big supernatural occurrence that was going to, like, nothing happened. Talk about superstition. Anyways, but here's the thing, like, the sorcery that he's referring to, obviously, is Babylon, is those occult practices that we could apply to the Roman Catholic Church. But let's just apply those sorceries to the United States of America. Okay, go to Revelation again, Chapter 18. Because, you know, you could say, well, there you're off, Pastor, because, you know, are there really sorcerers here and witches here? Well, obviously, there probably is. But I don't think they're as influential as they would be in other parts of the world. But I just think that the sorcerers, the sorceries of end times would be what we see in Verse 22. Look what it says. And the voice of harpers and musicians and of pipers and trumpeters shall be heard no more at all in thee, and no craftsman of whatsoever craft he be shall be found any more in thee, and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee, and the light of the candle shall shine no more at all in thee, and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee. For the merchants were the great men of the earth, for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived. So who are the sorcerers in end times Babylon? Probably the musicians. The pipers of Babylon. And if you think of the United States of America, you know, some of the most influential people, unfortunately, is Kendrick Lamar, Taylor Swift. These are the pipers of Babylon who can influence the masses to vote for Kamala or whatever, right? I mean, isn't it crazy how much people look to these people for just wisdom and counsel? Some Hollywood star could literally get on their Instagram and just talk about social issues, and people think like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. They're an actor! These people are musicians and actors. Why are they even being looked for or looked towards for any type of wisdom or knowledge? Yeah, but he just made a good point. Because they're actors! Their job is to be fake. All they do for a living is act like people that they're not. That's what they are. These are the pipers of Babylon. These are the actors of Babylon. So even though sorcery in the sense of witchcraft doesn't necessarily permeate society today, they're kind of like the sorcerers and the enchanters of yesteryear in the sense that they're able to enchant people with their music, with their philosophies. You go to their social media platform and people just follow them off a cliff. Not because they're smart, not because they're godly, not because they possess any form of wisdom, just because they're a Swifty. Just because, oh, he sung at the Super Bowl or whatever. Like, who cares? And look, folks, I didn't even know the Super Bowl was this past Sunday until the end of the day. I was like, what do people keep talking about? I'm like, oh, and I was like, was today the Super Bowl? And it didn't even say yes. It just said, like, whoever won or whatever. I'm like, oh, I guess it was the Super Bowl. And people were like, oh, the message, Kendrick Lamar's message was just so on point, just key, just like, what message? All he's doing is rapping. One message. But everyone's just like, oh, man, they're being enchanted by the pipers of Babylon. And so by thy sorceries were all nations deceived. Look at verse 11 of Isaiah 47. Brother Ruben, you can turn that off now. Please. Verse 11 says, Therefore shall evil come upon thee. Thou shall not know from whence it riseth, and mischief shall fall upon thee. Thou shall not be able to put it off, and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shall not know. Of course, he's talking about that sudden desolation. Look at Revelation 18, and we're going to see how the sudden desolation comes upon end times Babylon. It says in verse number eight of Revelation 18, Therefore shall her place come in one day, death and mourning and famine, and she shall be utterly burned with fire. For strong is the Lord God who judgeth her. And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and live deliciously with her, shall bewail her and lament for her when they shall see the smoke of her burning. Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city, for in one hour is thy judgment come. And so, obviously, we see here that something happens to this particular nation, this system, that a destruction that comes so suddenly, so quickly, that in one hour is just destroyed. And we don't necessarily know what this is going to look like. It could be like an atomic bomb. It could be a comet, right? There aren't people talking about comets now. The comet's going to hit Earth soon or something. It could be something that just comes and just destroys it by supernatural means. We don't necessarily know, but it's a complete and utter destruction. It's a sudden desolation where it just happens overnight. Not even overnight, just in one hour. Look at verse 12 of Isaiah 47. He says in verse 12, Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries wherein thou hast labored from thy youth, if so be thou shalt be able to profit, if so be thou mayest prevail. Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee. And what is God doing here? He's basically showing the futility of their spiritual leaders. He's like, oh, if your religion is so good, if it's so profitable, if it's so powerful, then go ahead, collect your astrologers, your stargazers, your monthly prognosticators, and let them help you, let them try to figure out how to deliver you from my hand. It's not going to happen. And you would think Babylon would already know this, because they have a long history of filling political positions with people who don't know what they're doing. I'm talking about Babylon here, not currently, though it applies currently, right? Because in this Babylon, you have Nebuchadnezzar dreaming, and what does Nebuchadnezzar do? He's just like, oh, I need to figure out the interpretation of this. Let me bring the stargazers, the prognosticators, let me bring all of the wise men, and not a single person can interpret what the dream was. And in fact, they couldn't even tell him what the dream was. And Nebuchadnezzar was being very difficult. At least Pharaoh, Pharaoh's explaining the dream, right? He's like, this is what I dreamt about. Nebuchadnezzar was like, I want you to tell me what I dreamed, and then I want you to give me the interpretation of the dream. And if you don't do it, then I'm going to make your house a dunghill. No pressure. Basically, he's like, if you don't make this interpretation, I'm killing you, your whole family, and your house is going to be a pile of crap. And I don't know, if I was a prognosticator, I'd just make something up. Because it's like, this is just not going to happen. This means you're going to be the most powerful person in the whole world. Because there's no winning with Nebuchadnezzar. I've got to give the interpretation. But even then, you wouldn't make it, because you'd have to tell them what the dream was. And you would think, after the failure and the futility of those stargazers, that Nebuchadnezzar and those leaders would immediately just fire all the politicians, because they don't really know what they're doing. The Pacific Palisades mayor or whatever don't know what they're doing. These political leaders don't know what they're doing, and so he's telling them, go to them, see if they can help you out. They're not going to be able to deliver you from the time to come. And of course, this is specifically referring to those stargazers, people who look at the stars, and they try to foretell the future based upon the alignment of the stars and what's going to happen. But you know, the Bible tells us in Jeremiah chapter 10 that we should not be dismayed at the signs of heaven, for the heathen are dismayed at them. Oh, man, there's an eclipse. There's something really bad that's going to happen. Yeah, but we knew that the eclipse was going to take place like years ago. The stars are essentially, you know, they're already mapped out. We can tell you what's going to happen like in five years, where the stars are in five years. And in fact, you could go back in time and basically say what constellation, what heavenly bodies were visible at that time. It doesn't do anything. You know, when the Bible says in Genesis chapter one that they're made for signs, it means like the way we use street signs today. That's what it meant. And it's not meant for like, oh, am I going to be rich? Am I going to die? What's going to happen? Signs meaning that God put those heavenly bodies in the sky for us so people can navigate throughout the world through ships or whatever. That's what it was for. It was God's built in GPS is what it was. Not the signs like, oh, an eclipse, you know, I don't know. There's going to be a famine or something like that. Can someone tell that to the Mayans in the Aztecs, please? Oh, too late. They already destroyed. He says in verse 14, behold, they shall be a stubble. The fire shall burn them. They shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame. There shall not be a coal to warm at nor fire to sit before it. Thus shall they be unto thee with whom thou has labored. Even thy merchants from thy youth. They shall wander everyone to his quarter. None shall save thee. And obviously he's referring to the fact that these spiritual leaders, so to speak, these prognosticators are not saved. They're going to burn in hell. That's what it's talking about, right? When it says that the fire shall burn them, they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame, referring to the fact that these guys are reprobate and they're going to be destroyed. God will judge them. They can't escape the judgment of God. So what is essentially the teaching here regarding the virgin daughter of Babylon? As powerful, as lofty, as delicate, as wonderful as the earthly people thought that she was, God's going to abase that nation. And you know what? Don't take too much pride in a particular powerful nation because even that nation can be abased by God. Even that nation can be taken from being tender and delicate and lofty and no sorrow. They shall see no sorrow. They shall not be a widow. And God can say, I'm going to take you to the rivers, expose your nakedness. You're going to be grinding meal. You're going to be destroyed. And go ahead and look to your politicians to deliver you and see if they can. Look to your, and you know, Trump, I think he, didn't he just make an office for religious things? And it's like some woman who's like over it? What's that office called? The religious section of the White House or something? Paula White? Yeah, like a faith advisor. That's what it was. That's what it was. She's the faith advisor. But once God judges America, go to Paula White and see what she's going to do. This is what she's going to tell you. Holla, holla, holla, holla, holla, holla, blah, blah. Because that's all she ever does. And you know what? That would apply to her actually, wouldn't it? This would apply to her. Because it's, you know, addressing a woman here. You know, God is basically saying, don't put your faith in nations. Don't put your faith in politicians. Don't put your faith in the stargazers of this world. Make sure you know that at the end of the day, no matter how lofty a nation is, it can be knocked off its high horse and humbled and abased by God himself. And so that's it. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your word and thank you for the warnings, God. And we're so thankful that we do live in this nation. It's a great nation. And we're thankful that you've blessed it, Lord. But we understand that realistically speaking, every nation needs to pay for their crimes, Lord. And may we not be so attached to a particular nation that we can't come to terms with that. And I feel like a lot of people have a hard time reconciling that in their mind because they just believe our nation is the greatest nation on the face of the planet. Why would God judge it? But if we were to just judge nations based off of the clear teachings of the word of God, no nation on the face of the planet will escape the judgment that's to come, Lord. And I pray that, Lord, you'd help us to realize that and help us to dig down our stakes nice and deep into the new Jerusalem, into heaven, into that which is spiritual and eternal, and help us to get as much work down here as possible. We love you. Thank you. Pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.