Rome never truly died.

  • The Babylonian Empire was decapitated and The Persians took control.
  • The Medo-Persian Empire was spread thin and conquered by the Greeks.
  • The Macedonian Empire was divided and absorbed into the Roman Republic.

But when the stone cut by no human hand hit the feet of a divided Roman Empire…

  • It decayed…
  • It crumbled… war and military strength giving way to the Peace of Christ
  • It transformed… Emperors replaced by Popes… Popes replaced by Nations
  • To dust… The Reformation stripping the unrighteous Power from the Church as nations scrapped for control of that power.

Power shifted to Nation states to America  (who retained the democratic republic of Rome, retained the govt structure, even the national bird…)

  • And we are now that divided kingdom….

Nebuchadnezzar, King of the Babylonian Empire, had a dream and Daniel said,

You saw, O king, and behold, a great image. This image, mighty and of exceeding brightness, stood before you, and its appearance was frightening. The head of this image was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its middle and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. As you looked, a stone was cut out by no human hand, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold, all together were broken in pieces, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.”  (Daniel 2:31-35)

As Saint Bebe said, “When Rome falls, so will the world.

  • And what will that be like when the chaff is carried away?

The Apostle John was given a glimpse to share with us. He wrote,

And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality. And on her forehead was written a name of mystery: ‘Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth's abominations.’”  (Revelation 17:3-5)

This woman wearing purple, scarlet and jewelry and pearls…  Who is she?

  • First, I suggest no woman wear purple and scarlet… and then add pearls…
  • Second, it’s a trick question… it is not a she… but a what.
  • Babylon the Great, not to be confused with Babylon the Empire, is a Religion
    • Purple is a royal color, gold and jewels represent wealth
    • The cup of abominations and sexual immorality is False Religion
    • It is ‘She’ who causes the faithful to commit spiritual adultery

And of course, the rich, false religion, John was talking about… is Rome and everybody knows it. Peter writing from Rome says at the end of his first letter, “She who is at Babylon, who is likewise chosen, sends you greetings”  (1 Peter 5:13)

  • It was understood by the first believers that Rome was a representation of Babylon, Paganism was the woman arrayed in Purple and according to Jewish numerology (Gematria), the Hebrew transliteration of Emperor Nero's name ("Neron Caesar") adds up to the number 666.

And they were wrong.  We are still here. The chaff not yet carried away.

Listen further, “Then I saw another angel flying directly overhead, with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth… And he said with a loud voice, ‘Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come…’ Another angel, a second, followed, saying, ‘Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who made all nations drink the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality.’ And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, ‘If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink the wine of God's wrath… tormented with fire and sulfur… in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever…’ … And I heard a voice from heaven saying, ‘Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’”  (Revelation 14:6-13)

Wealthy, powerful, false religion denying the true gospel…  killing the saints…

By the 1700’s, many Reformers, Protestants and other non-Catholics would be talking about the Holy Roman Church as Babylon the Great from Revelation.

  • John Wesley himself wrote in his journals about how the Antichrist was the Papacy. It seemed to fit the description as far as Protestants were concerned
  • And they were wrong. We are still here. The chaff not yet carried away.

John continues to speak in Revelation 15 and 16 about the seven bowl judgments

The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple, from the throne, saying, “It is done!” And there were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, and a great earthquake such as there had never been since man was on the earth, so great was that earthquake. … and God remembered Babylon the great, to make her drain the cup of the wine of the fury of his wrath. And every island fled away, and no mountains were to be found. And great hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, fell from heaven on people; and they cursed God for the plague of the hail, because the plague was so severe.”  (Revelation 16:17-21)

I have seen a post on facebook that Kamala Harris took the oath as Vice-President and is now campaigning… wearing a purple pant-suit with a pearl necklace…

  • But Babylon the Great… is NOT a person.
  • Those attempting to demonize a political opponent are still wrong.
  • We are still here. The chaff not yet carried away.

We have not seen the fleeing islands and mountains or 100lb hailstones.

For YEARS… I have heard the Antichrist could be:

  • Nero, Hitler, or Napoleon…   We are still here.
  • Henry Kissinger, Mikhail Gorbachev, Bill Gates… We are still here
  • FDR, JFK, Reagan, Clinton, Obama, and Trump have all been suspect of being the Antichrist by some group or another. All Wrong…

Soon, however…  we wont be wrong.  No matter how many times Chicken Little claims the sky is falling, it does NOT mean it never will.

  • I don’t believe ‘every’ *sign*… but I number all my sermons… this is 666…

I don’t know when… exactly…  But I know how…  EXACTLY.  And so do you.

a stone was cut out by no human hand, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. … the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.

Isaiah tells us, “And he will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many shall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken. Bind up the testimony; seal the teaching among my disciples.”  (Isaiah 8:14-16)

 

 A Stone of Offense       -      A Rock of Stumbling    - A Trap and A Snare

Many Shall Stumble      -        Fall and be broken       - Snared and Taken

Three things this stone is said to do as it becomes a great mountain.

  • Cause offense, cause stumbling and Trap & snare

 

A Stone of Offense

We KNOW He is coming soon… So listen to this parable Jesus tells about Himself.

A man planted a vineyard and let it out to tenants and went into another country for a long while. When the time came, he sent a servant to the tenants, so that they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed.  (Luke 20:9-10)

They were offended – and stumbled

  • How easy is it to become offended when someone wants to take what is yours.
  • The Eternal Gospel: Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come…

Babylon the Great is not some… other… religion.

  • Was it Rome? Yes   Was it the Roman Catholic Church?  Yes
  • Is it Mainstream American Christianity today? …   …  
  • Babylon the Great IS FALLING! (What Am I saying?)

Prosperity Gospel says get what you want.  Eternal says give God what He wants

  • Each tree is known by its own fruit (Luke 6:44)

 

 

A Rock of Stumbling

And he sent another servant. But they also beat and treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed. And he sent yet a third. This one also they wounded and cast out.  (Luke 20:11-12)

They Stumbled – and fell

  • The problem with sin is that it keeps tempting us and we MUST KEEP fighting
  • Stumbling and falling is NOT our problem… Failing to acknowledge the stone is

Paul wrote to the Roman church saying, “Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, as it is written, ‘Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.’”  (Romans 9:31-33)

Is the stumbling a good thing?   Or a bad thing?   For the one who stumbles?

  • How does that one respond to the fall? THAT is what makes it a trap or snare

 

 

A Trap & A Snare

Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.’ But when the tenants saw him, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Let us kill him, so that the inheritance may be ours.’ And they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.  (Luke 20:13-15a)

They fell – into a… what?  A trap? Or a snare?

  • They felt justified to by their Adultery with Babylon the Great… a snare
  • They felt guilt and sorrow for their adultery and sin… It’s a trap!

The terms ‘trap’ and ‘snare’ are often used interchangeably, but they have distinct meanings, especially in the context of hunting…

  • A trap captures animals, typically without harming them.
  • A snare is a specific, more lethal, type of trap used to neutralize a threat.

Think of it like this:  God means to trap us, to make us His.

  • If we refuse to be trapped, if we fight it… the trap is a snare, choking us off.
  • Peter was trapped in a 3x denial of Jesus… broken, he fell before the resurrected Jesus and repented. Growing closer to Jesus in the process.
  • Judas Iscariot was trapped in turning Jesus in for money…. He hung himself

Jesus was speaking about the Jews in this parable, but let’s expand it. I am the reason Jesus died.  You are the reason Jesus died.  After He explained it to us…

Don’t we all say, “let Him be killed… so that the inheritance may be ours?

 

 

On the Solid Rock

What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others. When they heard this, they said, ‘Surely not!’ But he looked directly at them and said, What then is this that is written: “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone”? Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.  (Luke 20:15b-18)

You can’t *stumble* over something that ‘falls on you’…

  • The trap was the cornerstone SO THAT WE WOULD STUMBLE.. and

The Last words of the Old Testament are:

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”  (Malachi 4:5-6)

  • God told us He was coming to destroy any who wouldn’t repent.
  • Jesus said the owner was coming to destroy… and give it to those who repent

So I ask you to Stumble….  BE broken…   so He does not crush you!

 

Everyone who comes to [Jesus] and hears [His] words and does them, I will show you what he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock.  (Luke 6:47-48)

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