Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Revelation. Tonight is study #13 of Revelation, chapter 17, and we are going to be reading Revelation 17: 16-17:
And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.
I will stop reading there. We have been going through Revelation, chapter 17, as well as the entire Book of Revelation, verse by verse. We have seen that the beast with ten horns is a figure of Satan and the ten horns and the term beast especially point to that “one hour” of the Great Tribulation.
In the previous verse God gave us the image of a harlot that is called the “whore” and she sat upon the waters and He explained that the “waters” represent “peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.” It is four groups and the number “four” in the Bible points to something that is worldwide or universal in scope. Likewise, we are told in verse 16 that the “ten horns” hate the whore and shall:
These are “four” terrible things that Satan does to the “whore” that represents Babylon, the kingdom of Satan, comprised of the unsaved people of the earth. The number “four” indicates that this is a worldwide condemnation that comes to pass upon all the unsaved people of the world, both inside the churches and outside the churches. They are hated by the “ten horns” or Satan and he makes them desolate and naked and eats their flesh and burns them with fire. When we think of this, all we can do is see what an evil ruler Satan is, as He seeks to be like God and wants the power and glory of God and, yet, Satan is a despot, a tyrant and the worst dictator that can be imagined; he has no good intention toward those he rules over. He does not rule for their good or for their benefit. It is always for their harm and for their destruction.
Before we talk about these things, let us just look at one more thing about Satan hating the “whore” or the “harlot” and look at how God views hatred, as we try to understand how it is that Satan hates those he rules over. We know that Satan is the father of lies. We read in Proverbs 26:28:
A lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it; and a flattering mouth worketh ruin.
A lying tongue hates those afflicted by it; those that hear the lies are hated by the one speaking the lies. All we have to do is go back to the Garden of Eden. There was a beautiful and wonderful new creation, a perfect place with no sin of any kind. Mankind was happy and content and Adam and Eve were sinless and all they did was good. The animals were perfect and the entire creation was perfect and pure, as God had created all things “good.” Then Satan came as the serpent who had somehow managed to fall into sin and become the deceiver. Of course, that was by allowance of God in order that His plan for this world could be carried out. Satan came in the form of a serpent and he began to speak his lies, telling Eve that she would not die if she ate of the forbidden fruit: “Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” Then Eve ate the fruit. Since Satan had a lying tongue, let us ask the question: Did he hate the woman he had afflicted with his lie? Of course, he did. It was the most horrible thing anyone could have done. For Satan to lie in a world where there were no lies and where there was only the truth of God. To introduce a lie was an ugly, filthy and dirty thing and it intended no good for the hearer. We see that when Eve and Adam believed the lie, there were terrible consequences that happened because on that very day they died in their soul existence. As soon as they ate of the fruit, they realized they were “naked.” There we see the lie of Satan in those he was afflicting by it. He hates the “whore” Babylon, the kingdom of Satan. He hates mankind that was created in the image of God. Right away the man and woman realized they were naked and when God came to them, they hid themselves because they were naked.
So the “ten horns,” a figure of Satan, hate the “whore.” Satan hates this world and this hate is demonstrated through his lies, as he is the father of lies. Lies come forth from Satan. We are very familiar with the lies in the churches and congregations. God had given them His pure and Holy Word in an uncorrupted form; it is absolute perfection in the original Hebrew and Greek. God delivered that Word to Israel of old and God delivered that Word to the New Testament churches and congregations in a complete form when the Bible was finished. And what did Satan want to do with that Word? He wanted to do exactly what he did in the Garden of Eden when the creation was pure and holy and good – he had to pervert it and distort it and introduce “the lie” into it, which brought destruction and the spiritual nakedness upon mankind. Mankind was brought to self destruction, as if man was being consumed by his own sins and iniquities which will result in the wrath of God and the burning with fire.
Satan brought this evil into the world and afflicted mankind with his lying tongue and man has suffered ever since. He assaulted the churches and congregations, as he came against that pure and good Word of God to pervert it. That is what “another gospel” is, as the true Gospel is changed or altered with just a “little twisting” of the Scripture and a little violence done to the Law of God. That is all Satan wants to do – he introduces just a little element of deceitfulness into the declaration of the Gospel. That is all it takes to turn “Eden” into a corruptible habitation. It turns that which is perfect into our present world. If you want to see the damage a false gospel can do, just look at the world and see what a “little lie” spoken by the serpent in the Garden of Eden has wrought – the murder, the cheating, the backstabbing, the gossiping, the lying and the hating of one another. It is all a result of the lie that was introduced into the perfect Eden.
Likewise, look at the churches. They have Bibles. That Bible is a translation of God’s holy Word. It is rightly called a holy Bible because it is perfect and without error or lies. There are no lies in the Scripture that God had given. God delivered His Word to the churches. Satan entered into the churches and congregations throughout church history, infiltrating the churches with his emissaries and their chief aim was to distort and turn that beautiful Book, the Bible, into something other than the truth. It is turned to a lie so the people within the churches begin to believe “the lie” over the truth, exactly as Eve did at the very beginning when Satan brought doubt into her mind: “Yea, hath God said…in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” Satan goes into the churches and congregations: “Hath God said this is the way of salvation? Does it not say that you can just accept Him? Does it not say all you have to do is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? Has God said there is not to be divorce for any reason? Does it not say in this other verse that there can be divorce?” God has written the Bible in such a way that allows Satan to make these kinds of claims. Of course, we are getting into a whole other area of just why God wrote the Bible this way, but this is the working of Satan when the truth is twisted and perverted.
We see in our verse in Revelation 17:16 that the “ten horns” hate the whore and shall make her desolate and we can see abundant evidence of Satan’s hatred of the churches through the gospels he has brought forth. Sometimes you have to wonder if there is some evil glee and satisfaction he takes in seeing the churches and congregations and people that are called by the name of Christ going after ridiculous and foolish doctrines like “falling over backwards” or “holy laughter.” They believe the lie that God is still communicating through dreams and tongues and visions. When we see the corrupt nature of these churches and how far they have fallen, we can see the hatred of Satan for these poor people within the churches and congregations.
But, what about the world outside of the churches? It is through “lies” that Satan hates those in the churches. For instance, they believe his lie that the church age is still continuing when it has actually ended or they believe that God’s Spirit is still in the churches when He has departed. But what about the world? We have a world that actually believes it is a good thing and a woman’s right to choose to kill the child in her womb. The lie of Satan has so deceived people that a large percentage of mankind think it is a right and a good option to go to an evil doctor and destroy that child. The governments do nothing about it. As a matter of fact, the governments of the world are supporting this evil thing, more and more, because they are likewise deceived into accepting “the lie” from Satan.
So we see in our verse that the ten horns hate the “whore,” which are the unsaved peoples of the world and it even says he makes her desolate and naked and “shall eat their flesh.” Man is consuming himself and killing and destroying his own children, all as a result of believing “the lie.” Likewise, they now believe it is not only a good and moral thing to allow two consenting same gender adults to engage in sexual activity, but to marry and enter into a relationship commitment with the seal of approval of the state. They are also seeking the seal of approval from churches to marry them, in some cases. This is a big lie that Satan has gotten the world to believe and we are getting to the point where a majority of people believe there is nothing wrong with that. It is fine. It does not matter if the Bible says that homosexuality is a sin and God says that the sin of homosexuality is actually an indicator that we are near the end of the world. It does not matter that in all of secular history over thousands of years, homosexuality was forbidden and was not acceptable. That is why they used to speak of “coming out of the closet” when you make it known that you are a homosexual. In all the nations of the world homosexuality was condemned, but now, suddenly, “the lie” is believed and the world is saying, “We have evolved.” I do not know why they would say they have evolved – we have not evolved in any other area. There is de-evolution and there is a return to barbarianism in society for the most part, so why they would call it progress in that area is all a part of “the lie.” Yet, it is very destructive to society and to the individuals involved in those relationships. There cannot be any true happiness.
There cannot be any true goodness involved in anything God says is sin, so Satan is destroying the world with his lies. He is destroying the world with the “lies” of evolution and atheism and abortions and same-sex marriages. There are all kinds of lies in both the world and in the churches. Satan hates “Babylon,” the people of this world, as they are afflicted with his lying tongue. They believe the lie. Let us look at what God says concerning Satan making the world desolate in the Romans, chapter 1. God is the one who loosed Satan, to allow this to come about, as God is the one who is in control of all things. God tells us in Romans 1:24-28:
Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
It continues with a list of horrible sins that are all very self-destructive and that cause injury and sorrow and shame to mankind. They are stirred up by Satan, but allowed by God, as “God gave them over to a reprobate mind.” It also says in 2Thessalonians 2:11-12:
And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
You see, ultimately, God is in control behind the scenes and He is controlling circumstances in the world. The world has not gone crazy and Satan has not somehow usurped the authority of God. Satan has not taken the world to the point that people can do whatever they please and God cannot stop them. It was the Lord Jesus Christ that loosed Satan, knowing exactly what would happen. There would be increased wickedness in the world and increased apostasy in the churches, but it was all part of God’s sovereign will that these things would take place before the end of the world would come. This is why we read in Revelation 17:17:
For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.
All these things we are seeing, including gay marriage and the abortion of millions of babies, is because God gave man up to these things; God sent “strong delusion” to allow them to believe these kinds of things in order to prepare the world for Judgment Day. And, in this time, it is in order to destroy mankind in their iniquity, as God has now brought the Day of Judgment which will lead to the final end, the complete and utter destruction of this sin-cursed world and the sin-cursed people that never found salvation by the grace of God through the Lord Jesus Christ.