A coming judgment and the command to "Flee Babylon" (By Pastor Ray)

Noted below is a teaching which profiles what Scripture says about  the rise of three evil entities, the promised judgment on one of these entities (the wWoman Who Rides The Beast / Mystery Babylon),and the Scriptural command to “Flee Babylon.”

In the past, many have thought the Woman That Rides The Beast  will be a revived Roman Empire, or Babylon, or perhaps the Catholic Church—but more and more individuals are having dreams, prophetic discernment and special insights, and are sharing that the  Woman That Rides The Beast  may in fact be America.  Read through the notes below and see if the whole of Scripture indicates that America has fallen into apostasy and becoming this evil entity.  (below) conclude with a few verses and thoughts regarding the question: Should believers “flee Babylon” in advance of a coming judgment?

 This teaching is presented by Restoration Church.  Pastor Ray serves as pastor–he is a Church Planter with the Northwest Baptist Convention in the Pacific Northwest. Your prayers and support are appreciated.

For additional information visit the church website at: www.RestorationChurchCamano.com

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Scripture points to three great End-Time evil entitites:

REVELAION CHAPTER 13

Evil Entity #1 (The Antichrist)

The dragon stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on its horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. ² The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority. ³ One of the heads  of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was filled with wonder and followed the beast. ⁴ People worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, “Who is like the beast? Who can wage war against it?” ⁵ The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise its authority for forty-two months…. ⁷ It was given power to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And it was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. ⁸ All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world. ⁹ Whoever has ears, let them hear.    ¹⁰ “If anyone is to go into captivity,    into captivity they will go. If anyone is to be killed^[ with the sword,    with the sword they will be killed.”  This calls for … faithfulness on the part of God’s people.

Evil Entity #2  (the Beast)

¹¹ Then I saw a second beast, coming out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon. ¹² It exercised the authority of the first beast on its behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. ¹³ And it performed great signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to the earth in full view of the people. ¹⁴ Because of the signs it was given power to perform on behalf of the first beast, it deceived the inhabitants of earth….¹⁶ It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, ¹⁷ so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name. ¹⁸ This calls   for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is 666.

REVELATION CHAPTER 17

Evil entity #3 (The Woman on the Beast)

One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits by many waters. ² With her the kings of the earth committed adultery, and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries.”    ³ … I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns.⁴ The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls. She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries. ⁵ The name written on her forehead was a mystery:   babylon the great    the mother of prostitutes    and of the abominations of the earth. ¹⁵ Then the angel said to me, “The waters you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations and languages. ¹⁶ The beast and the ten horns you saw will hate the prostitute.  They will bring her to ruin and leave her naked; they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire. ¹⁷ For God has put it into their hearts to accomplish his purpose….¹⁸ The woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth.”

What the text reveals about the Antichrist and the Beast:

• There will be an Antichrist
• The Antichrist will be empowered by Satan
• The Antichrist will apparently have a fatal wound to the head, but will recover
• The Antichrist will be supported in his work by ‘the Beast’
• The woman is not the Beast or the Antichrist
• The Antichrist and Beast will oversee a kind of empire represented by 10 horns, which come out of one or more of the empires Daniel prophetically noted in his visions (Babylon, Persia/Media, Greece or Rome)

What the text reveals about the Woman Who Rides The Beast:

• The woman is unfaithful to God, and is in partnership with Satan
• The woman is rich, powerful and full of sin
• The woman leads (or possibly forces) others to sin
• The woman influences (or possibly controls) many people, many nations, and ‘sits on many waters’
• The woman is responsible for the ‘blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus’ 
• The woman is called ‘mystery Babylon’
• The woman will be hated by the empire of the Beast
• The woman will be attacked and destroyed by the empire of the Beast—the world will mourn

What else does the Bible say about mystery Babylon/this woman?

• She would be noted for its architecture, buildings and skyline (Isaiah 13:22)
• She is the lone super power of the world (Isaiah 47:5,8)
• She will be respected and envied around the world,  and yet at the same time, hated by the world. (Isaiah 18:2)
• She has a unique and remarkable beginning  (Isaiah 18:2)
• She will be QUEEN AMONG THE NATIONS (Isa 47:5,7;  Rev 17,18; Isa 13:6)
• She will be called a lady, and has the symbol of the Lady (Isa  47:7-9)
• She will be a land quartered by mighty rivers (Isa 18:2)
• She destroys her own land, with pollution and waste (Isa 14:20, 18:2, 7)
• She will be a REPUBLIC or a DEMOCRACY, it is ruled by many counsels (Isa 47:13)
• Her governmental system will break down (Isa 47:13)
• She will be  a nation of religious confusion (Isa 47:12-13)
• She will be a VIRGIN NATION, her lands untouched by major war (Isa 47:1)
• Her enemies  lie on the opposite side of the world, over the poles (Isa 13:5)
• She will think her people are God’s elect and eternal (Isa 47:7-8)
• She will dwell/act carelessly before the Lord (Isa 47:8)
• She will be proud, haughty, and does not consider her end (Isa 47:7-8)
• She will be the youngest and greatest of the end time nations (Jer 50:12)
• She will the most powerful nation in the world (Isa 47, Jer 50, 51, Rev 18)
• The strength of her armies will make her the HAMMER OF THE WHOLE EARTH (Jer 50:23; Rev 18:23)
• She will be a land rich in minerals (Jer. 51:13) and agriculture (Jer 50:16,26-27,51; Rev 18)
• She will  be a leading exporting/ importing nation in the world (Jer 51:13, 51; Rev 18)
• She will sit upon MANY WATERS (Jer 51:13)
• She will be a SINGULAR NATION founded upon OUT OF MANY, ONE (Isa 13, 47, Jer 50, 51, Hab 1)
• She will turn upon its heritage and destroys it all in the end (Jer 50:11-12)
• Her Christian leaders will lead their flock astray   (Jer 50:6; implied Rev 18:2)

• She will establish of detention centers for Jews and Christians   (Jer 50:7, 33; 51:35, 49; Rev 17:6; 18:24)  She has a mother nation that remains in existence from her birth to death (Jer 50: 12) Her mother has the symbol of the LION (Dan7:4; Eze 38:13; Jer 51:38; Psalms 17:12) She has a mother nation that remains in existence from her birth to death (Jer 50: 12)
• Her mother has the symbol of the LION (Dan7:4; Eze 38:13; Jer 51:38; Psalms 17:12)
•  She will turn against its own people and imprison/slays them  (Jer 50:7,33; 51:35; 39; Dan 7:25; Rev 13:7;17:6; 18:24) 
• She will trade with many via  ships all year round (Rev 18:17-18)
   

What judgment is coming to the Woman Who Rides The Beast?

JEREMIAH 50:   This is the word the Lord spoke through Jeremiah… ²‘Babylon will be captured… ³ A nation from the north will attack her and lay waste her land.⁴…“the people of Israel…will go in tears to seek the Lord their God. ⁵ They will ask the way to Zion and turn their faces toward it. ¹⁰ So Babylonia will be plundered; all who plunder her will have their fill…”   ¹⁴ “Take up your positions around Babylon, all you who draw the bow. Shoot at her! Spare no arrows for she has sinned against the Lord. ¹⁵  …She surrenders, her towers fall… ²² The noise of battle is in the land, the noise of great destruction! ²³ How broken and shattered isthe hammer of the whole earth!…  ²⁶ Come against her from afar… ³¹ “See, I am against you, you arrogant one,” declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty, “for your day has come…               JEREMIAH 51:   “See, I will stir up the spirit of a destroyer against Babylon and the people of Leb Kamai (an athbash, a kind of acronym or code based on numbering Hebrew letters. The reference here is the equivalent ofChaldea, which  Jer. 25:26 associates with Babylon)…  ⁷ Babylon was a gold cup in the Lord’s hand…   ⁸ Babylon will suddenly fall and be broken.  Wail over her!  Get balm for her pain; perhaps she can be healed. The Lord will carry out his purpose…¹³ You who live by many waters and are rich in treasures, your end has come… ¹⁴…I will surely fill you with troops…and they will shout in triumph over you… ³³ “Daughter Babylon is like a threshing floor at the time it is trampled…⁴¹ “How Sheshak (an athbash, a kind of acronym or code based on numbering Hebrew letters. The reference here is the equivalent of Babylon)…  will be captured, the boast of the whole earth seized!

Is there a commandment to flee Babylon? Consider the following verses and the summary statements that follow:

• Leave Babylon,  flee from the Babylonians!  Isaiah 48:20
• “Flee from Babylon!     Run for your lives!     Do not be destroyed because of her sins.
  It is time for the Lord’s vengeance;   he will repay her what she deserves.   Jer. 51:6
• “Come! Come! Flee from the land of the north,” declares the Lord,    Zechariah 2:6
• “Flee out of Babylon; leave the land of the Babylonians,  and be like the goats that lead the flock.  Jeremiah 50:8
• “…Babylon…cannot be healed; let us leave her and each go to our own land, for her judgment reaches to the skies,  it rises as high as the heavens.’    Jeremiah  51:9
• “Come out of her, my people!   Run for your lives!  Run from the fierce anger of the Lord.    Jeremiah 51:45
• “‘Come out of her, my people,’ so that you will not share in her sins so that you will not receive any of her plagues;    Rev. 18:4

SUMMARY:

• Three evil entities are associated with the Last Days—these are the Antichrist, the Beast and the Woman Who Rides The Beast/Mystery Babylon/The Whore of Babylon. 
• The first two evil entities are self evident. After reviewing the abundance of Scripture references which describe the nature of the third evil entity (The Woman Who Rides The Beast), it is my opinion that this entity is in fact, the United States.
• It is clear that judgment is coming to the third, evil entity.
• The paragraph above notes a few verses which seem to suggest that God’s people should “flee Babylon” in advance of a coming judgment. I believe:
  • Believers are to be obedient to the leading an prompting of the Spirit. If God impresses upon you the need to move—then you need to move. This principle applies to all aspects of our Christian walk. God leads—we follow.
  • The Old Testament verses regarding ‘fleeing Babylon’ are linked to Revelation 18 in the New Testament. Seeing this is very important for provides a general clue as to WHEN one should flee.  The third evil entity is destroyed (and the commandment to flee is given) late into the tribulation period—in the midst of the ‘Great Tribulation’ period which is after the temple has been rebuilt, after the Antichrist has been revealed, after great persecution has broken-out against God’s people, after the Mark of the Beast has been instituted and, I believe, after a rapture of the church has taken place.  If this is true, then the primary application for the verses regarding fleeing Babylon is for those whobecome believers during the tribulation period.
  • Scripture notes that some believers are provided protection during the ‘Great Tribulation’ period  (see Revelation 12:6). It is likely that those who find safety will be those who heed the prompting of the Holy Spirit and flee the coming judgments of God.   Therefore, the key is not to pray for a rapture of the church, the key is to pray for sensitivity to the leading of God, for when we walk in His will, we will find help and