Revelation Chapter 17
Brief introduction...
In the next two chapters we see the judgement of two Babylons.
In chapter 17, we have the religious Babylon of the Great Tribulation.
In chapter 18 we see the commercial Babylon.
Many issues are brought to crisis point in the Great Tribulation that are difficult to keep them separated.
Many fine Bible expositors disagree on the details.
Many of these details will not be made clear until the world actually enters the Great Tribulation Period.
Questions to consider about the two Babylons:
• Are there two Babylons, and are they in two different geographical locations?
• Are they representative of two systems?
• Are they two literal cities, or are they the same?
It appears at the present time, that two distinct cities are in view.
Here in chapter 17 it is mystery Babylon... the "cosmic church"... the apostate "church."
The church of Thyatira, in Revelation 2:18-29, which allowed Jezebel to teach, will become the apostate "church" of the Great Tribulation.
It will attain the goal of the present-day apostates of all the great systems of the world... Romanism, Protestantism, Islam, pagan religions, cults and other "isms." [Check out "One World Church" on the Net.]
Even in our so-called independent Bible churches there will be those who are not believers, and during the Tribulation they will join this great organization that may call itself a church but is not.
The Bible calls it a "harlot."
This is the one-world church... man's style.
The location of this system could be Rome.
Rome, the city built on seven hills, is probably the city in consideration here.
It is called mystery Babylon because of its origin.
It goes right back to the tower of Babel where man attempted to rally against God.
Under Nimrod, Babylon became the origin of all false religion.
Nimrod's dream will be realized in the first half of the Great Tribulation Period, because this "cosmic church" dominates the wild Beast.
The church that should have been the bride of Christ is a harlot here.
This church is guilty of spiritual fornication, selling itself for hire.
Have you noticed how the modern church has become a business.
To be a successful business it has to sell itself?
This is the church that says, "I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing."
Jesus says differently. ☆ Revelation 3:17...
On the other hand, the church in Philadelphia represented the church that would be Raptured before the time of the Tribulation Period.
Jesus said to that church, "I also will keep you from the hour of temptation." ☆ Revelation 3:10...
That "hour" is the Great Tribulation... a seven year "hour".
I emphasise again... the true church will not go through the Great Tribulation... it will be Raptured before the Tribulation begins.
So who exactly will be Raptured?
It's not going to be certain denominations and not just individual churches.
It will be His Church, a collective term meaning all true believers... those who are in Christ.
The rest of the lukewarm, apostate believers will be left behind and face the Great Tribulation. Ouch!
These are not true believers.
They are not part of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. He never calls them His church... He calls it a harlot!
It is a pseudo-religious system (not genuine), which controls the wild Beast during the first half of the Great Tribulation... and yet it is hated by him.
During the last half of the Tribulation, the Beast destroys the harlot in order to set up his own religion... so that he may be the sole object of false worship as he claims to be God.
Timeline of the two Babylon's rise and demise...
Babylon is to be rebuilt, as we have seen in Isaiah and Jeremiah, and here in chapters 17–18 we see it destroyed.
□ Religious Babylon is destroyed by the wild Beast.
○ Commercial Babylon is destroyed by the return of Christ.
□ Religious Babylon is hated by the Beast.
○ Commercial Babylon is loved by the world.
□ Religious Babylon is destroyed about mid point the of the Great Tribulation.
○ Commercial Babylon is destroyed at the end of the Great Tribulation...
☆ Revelation 17:1-2...
"And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come over here; I will show unto you the judgement of the Great Whore that sits upon many waters.
With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication."
One of the 7 angels who poured out the bowls of God's wrath upon the earth, came and spoke to the Apostle John... and to show him further things related to judgement.
"the Great Whore"... aka the Harlot... aka Prostitute... is part of the church that is left behind after the Rapture of the true Church.
This group includes those that never really trusted Christ and have never really been part of the body of Christ.
These lukewarm apostates go into the Tribulation.
We are told a few things about this harlot.
"She sits upon many waters"... the "waters" refer to great masses of people and nations. This Harlot will pretty much control the world.
"With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication... "
This shows an unholy alliance between the church and the state.
In our day the bringing of all religions together certainly falls into the pattern of this false church which is to appear.
Who appears to be spear heading this today?
This movement is more dangerous than is any foreign political system and it is more dangerous than the so-called new morality.
It will bring the world under the influence of the wild Beast out of the sea and the wild Beast out of the earth. They will use the apostate church to control the masses, and the church will yield to this arrangement for political advancement and power.
"the judgement of the great whore"...
God's cup of judgement will be pressed to the lips of the Harlot.
And who is going to destroy her? The Beast himself...
The Antichrist and the False Prophet will not want her around after she has served their purpose.
Antichrist wants to be worshipped, and he doesn't want any competition from the so called church.
☆ Revelation 17:3...
"So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns."
"... he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness"...
Remember that John was on the Isle of Patmos in the Spirit for the vision of the glorified Christ and His message to the churches.
At that time John was caught up to heaven.
From then on the scene shifts from heaven to earth.
However, here we are told again that John was in the Spirit. I believe this shows the calibre of the man. He's a dinkum Christian. He chose to be in the Spirit rather than be in the flesh.
Is the wilderness literal?
Any "place" without God is a wilderness.
Around both Babylon and Rome there is a literal wilderness... a spiritual wilderness.
Babylon is to become a wilderness... read ☆ Isaiah 47, 48 and... ☆ Jeremiah 50, 51.
Outside of Rome the wilderness is called the campagna .
The wilderness mentioned in this verse is literal but also that it is a sign of the chaotic condition of the world brought about by the religious confusion of Babylon.
John sees a Woman "sitting upon a scarlet-colored wild beast." This would have been pretty scary. The wild Beast is Antichrist ruling over the revived Roman Empire.
The Woman is identified for us in verse 18... "And the Woman which you saw is that great city, which reigns over the kings of the earth."
The Woman is a city... the city is Rome... the religious capital of the world. She is religious Rome, which at that time will have "inherited" all the religions of the world.
Can you see where this is possibly going?
The church on earth is totally apostate and rather than being "the bride of Christ," God calls it a Harlot.
The city is "further" identified in verse 9...
"The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sits."
Again... Rome is that city!
The Woman... the Harlot... represents a religious system that will be revealed during the first part of the Great Tribulation Period after the true church has been removed from the earth... the Rapture.
This religious system dominates and rides the Roman Empire at the beginning of the Great Tribulation Period.
"Full of names of blasphemy"... shows how far religion will have departed from the living Christ.
☆ Revelation 17:4-5...
"And the Woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication. And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH."
This Woman, this Harlot, representing the apostate church... is decked out with all sorts of finery. Glitz and glamour... all deceit and lies to seduce the vulnerable and unsuspecting... all outward show.
Clothed in purple?
Interestingly purple is the colour adopted by Roman Imperialism... Scarlet?... the Roman Catholic Church.
"a golden cup in Her hand full of abominations and filthiness of Her fornication"... is the religious intoxication of the anti-church (not Antichrist) and a pseudo-religion, counterfeit Christianity, a fake and false gospel, and a sham and spurious system.
This is the cup which makes the world drunk.
☆ Jeremiah 51:7...
"Babylon has been a golden cup in the LORD'S hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of Her wine; therefore the nations are mad."
"And upon Her forehead was a name written..." is a startling revelation of the character of this Woman. She does not wear a crown but rather the mark of Her profession.
And Her profession? A harlot... a prostitute...
"MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH."
This is a disgraceful title for the "Church" which should belong to Christ as the bride.
"MYSTERY, BABYLON"... The true Church is a mystery in that it was not revealed in the Old Testament ☆ Ephesians 3:1–9...
The anti-church, designated here as a harlot, is a mystery in that it was not revealed until John wrote Revelation 17.
The true Church left the earth at the time of the Rapture.
The phonies, those who were lukewarm, apostate church members, entered the Great Tribulation Period, and the system continued... not as a church, but as a harlot.
What does a harlot do?
Sell herself to trap and snare the unsuspecting.
Babylon is the fountainhead for all false religion... therefore She is "THE MOTHER OF THE HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH." This is, by far, Scripture's more expressive and vivid picture of awful and abominable sin.
Notice that this "MYSTERY BABYLON" is called the "MOTHER OF THE HARLOTS." The mother of Harlots... not singular but plural.
The ecumenical church (promoting or relating to unity among the world's Christian Churches) has faced many problems.
It seems that they have recognized psychological differences in people and that it is impossible to water down theologies and practices to suit everyone. So each group will come into this great world ecumenical system but retain some of its own pecularities and differences.
This is going to be one huge organisation of compromise... more compromise... much compromise!
[Check out the Internet... One World Religion.]
There is going to be more than just the mother Harlot... there will be a whole lot of harlots.
☆ Revelation 17:6-7...
"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 the angel said unto me, Why did you marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the Woman, and of the Beast that carries Her, which has the seven heads and ten horns."
"drunken with the blood of the saints..."
This Woman, this Harlot, was intoxicated by Her acts of persecution... and murder (blood of the saints)...
The "saints" probably refers to Old Testament saints, and "the martyrs of Jesus" refers to New Testament saints.
I must make mention here of the Inquisition back in the dark ages.
The Inquisition was a powerful office set up within the Catholic Church to root out and punish heresy throughout Europe and the Americas. Beginning in the 12th century and continuing for hundreds of years, the Inquisition is infamous for the severity of its tortures, murder and its persecution of Christians, Jews and Muslims.
Although the true Church will not go through the Great Tribulation, as we near the end of this age of grace (the Church age), believers can expect some sort of tribulation.
It is already happening, big time!
[Note the subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) Anti-Christian bills and laws passed or trying to be pased by governments with regards to Christians, Churches, proselytising, conversions, teaching, discipline, political correctness etc etc.]
"BABYLON" is more than just Romanism. It's a mishmash of all religions. (I believe it will be spearhead by the Roman Catholic church).
Babylon is a composite religious system which includes Protestantism, Romanism, cults, New Age, Satanism.
It is confusion compounded and is the fountainhead of all religious error and idolatry.
When John saw the vision of the Woman, he says that he "wondered with a great admiration."
This is the first time his mind was boggled by what he saw. "Admiration"... is actually marvelled... amazed.
The angel tells John that he will explain all that he is seeing.
☆ Revelation 17:8-10...
"The Beast that you saw was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the Beast that was, and is not, and yet is.
And here is the mind which has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the Woman sits.
And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he comes, he must continue a short space."
Now things get really interesting.
The Beast that "was"... speaks of the past history of the Roman Empire.
The "is not"... refers to the present condition of the fragmented Roman Empire.
The Roman Empire is not dead. It has fallen apart into the nations of Europe today.
"and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit (abyss)"... speaks of the revival of the Roman Empire by Satan.
Many have tried to restore the Roman Empire back to its former glory but have failed.
The Beast, the Antichrist is the one who will succeed.
"and go into perdition"... speaks of the destruction of the revived Roman Empire by the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The reappearance of the Roman Empire in its great power will win the admiration of the peoples of the world who are not redeemed. They will respect and worship the Antichrist for his brilliant coup d'etat.
"And there are seven kings..." could refer to the seven leaders of seven great empires which were controlled by false religions.
"five are fallen"... five of the Empires were fallen during John's day... they are Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, and Greece.
"and one is"... refers to the Roman Empire, which was in existence during John's day, and could, therefore, be spoken of in the present tense.
"and the other is not yet come"... refers to the revived Roman Empire (some call it a ten nation confederacy), symbolized by the ten horns, which in John's day had not yet come, and, in fact, has not come even yet.
"and when he comes, he must continue a short space." ... refers to the revived Roman Empire (which will be satanic in form) that will arise and last only a short time...
The Antichrist rules over this reactivated Roman Empire.
☆ Revelation 17:11-14...
"And the Beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goes into perdition.
And the ten horns which you saw are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the Beast.
These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the Beast.
These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for He is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with Him are called, and chosen, and faithful."
"the Beast that was"... refers to the past history of the Roman Empire under the emperors.
"and is not"... refers to the end of Imperial Rome with its global empire, which came to an end sometime between the third and fifth centuries.
"even he is the eighth, and is of the seven"... identifies the Antichrist with the return to the imperial form of the restored Roman Empire.
"the ten horns"... are the same as the ten horns of ☆ Daniel 7:7.
These ten kings will reign with the Antichrist but will be subservient to him. They willingly or unwillingly give over their authority to the Antichrist and become his puppets.
And the purpose of the Beast and the ten kings?
To make war with the Lamb.
The Beast does this by all out warfare against Israel.
His intention is to totally wipe out Israel.
But... the Lamb will overcome the Beast and his cohorts...
"... out of Lamb's mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should smite the nations: and He shall rule them with a rod of iron."
Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords. This refers to Christ's second coming... chapters 19:14.
"... and they that are with Him are called, and chosen, and faithful."
Every Saint of God who has ever lived, both Jews and Gentiles, will come back with Christ at the Second Coming.
See ☆ Revelation 19:16 and ☆ Zechariah 14:5.
☆ Revelation 17:15-18...
"And he said unto me, The waters which you saw, where the Whore sits, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.
And the ten horns which you saw 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 has 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.
And the Woman which you saw is that great city, which reigns over the kings of the earth."
"The waters which you saw"... are explained to be the many cultural groups, peoples and the nations of the world. The position of the Harlot reveals that She is ruling over them for only a brief time.
Note: that over the centuries, the Roman Church has had many dealings with and has had a strong and devious influence on governments, kings, and presidents of the nations of the earth. Much more than we are told.
"She" has had her "grotty fingers" in "many pies" so to speak.
Much of it has been evil, clandestine and controlling (Jezebel spirit).
A very interesting and illuminating read is Dave Hunt's book, "A Woman Rides the Beast."
"the ten horns"... are ten kings who rule over the different divisions of the Roman Empire. They in turn give over to the Beast their kingdoms. This strengthens the revived Roman Empire and enables the Beast to lift himself up as a world dictator.
For a time the Beast (Antichrist) is willing to share his place of exaltation with the Harlot, since She has also sought to advance his cause while dividing his glory.
This... the Beast hates, and the ten kings are one with him in this. The Antichrist not only breaks his covenant with Israel, but he also breaks his relationship with the apostate church.
This is what happens to the false church. It has no victory. It never comes into the presence of Christ. It is not Raptured.
Finally it is wiped out by the Antichrist... so fallen and corrupt is She.
By getting rid of the apostate church, the way is cleared for the worship of Antichrist, as promoted by the False Prophet (second beast out of the earth. ☆ Revelation 13:11).
"the Woman"... is a religious system, as we have seen. Also, I believe she is further identified as a city, the city of Rome.
"For God has 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"...
This is a rather interesting verse.
It shows that God is in total control.
"For God has put in their hearts to fulfil His will..."
His will, will be done and that the Beast can only do and go so far as to what God allows him to do.
The dictatorial reign and corrupt religion of Antichrist is the darkest hour earth will know, and yet it is the unavoidable end of the distrust which began in the Garden of Eden when man failed to believe God.
It was given a new boost at the Tower of Babel, which was a rallying place for those against God.
And finally it climaxed in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ when man rejected the One who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
Having rejected the truth, the only alternative left for man is to believe the big lie, the strong delusion.
History will climax with the imminent coming of Christ to this earth, as we shall see in chapter 19.
This is the just retribution of error and evil.
There's a lot to digest in this chapter 17 that we have just covered.
Yes, it is all very interesting, but... don't fret if you don't understand or cannot remember it all.
If you are a dinkum Christian and your faith in Jesus and walk with God is rock solid... then you won't be here when all this is taking place.
You will have been Raptured... snatched away from the earth by the Lord Jesus Christ before the Great Tribulation takes place. ☆ 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.
Jesus coming to Rapture His Bride the Church is the blessed hope of the Church. Hold on to that with all your heart and soul.
And comfort one another with these words.
Remember...
☆ 1 Thessalonians 5:9...
"For God has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ... "
Hallelujah and Selah!