Revelation Chapter 17
The Great Harlot and the Beast
Chapter 17 reveals
that one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls instructed John and showed
him the judgment that is going to come on the great harlot, who rules over many
waters. The kings of the world have committed adultery with her, and the people
who belong to this world have been made drunk by the wine of her immorality.
John saw a woman sitting on a
scarlet beast. The beast was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and
ten horns. It was the beast from the sea. The woman was
dressed in purple and scarlet, and she was adorned with gold and precious
stones and pearls. They spoke of her extraordinary luxury.
She was holding in her hand a golden cup full of
abominations and the filthiness of her fornication. And on her forehead a name
was written: “MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE
ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH”.
She was drunk with the blood of the saints and with
the blood of martyrs of Jesus. This harlot was not someone physically, but she
was the city of the great Babylon, which was known as the great city that rules
over the kings of the world.
Genesis 10:8-11 records the work of Nimrod, a
descendant of Ham, who built the cities of Babylon. Nimrod represented a
lineage of ungodly people. Genesis 11:1-9 records the process of Nimrod leading
his people in building the Tower of Babel, with the intention of making a name
for themselves and reaching up to heavens. Their act had trespassed the
boundary set by God.
Literally, the Babylonian Empire emerged in the 6th century
BC as a force that went against God. It signified a regime that enslaved God’s
people. It was luxurious, prideful, detestable and evil.
Isaiah 14:12-15 describes Babylon as such, “How you
have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down
to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! You said in your heart, “I
will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I
will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of Mount
Zaphon. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the
Most High. But you are brought down to the realm of the dead, to the depths of
the pit.”
Church tradition has been using the above passage to
describe the fall of Satan! The author of Revelation used Babylon to refer to
the city of Rome in the 1st century.
The scarlet beast was the beast from the sea, and it
denoted the mighty military and authoritarian rule of Rome (hard power). The
appearance of this beast carried with it a sense of blasphemy, recklessness,
arrogance and haughtiness.
The scarlet woman (the harlot), the scarlet beast,
and the great fiery red dragon found in chapter 12 stood in contrast with
Christ and His followers, and obviously, they were in confrontation with God.
The harlot was sitting on a beast, and this represented the luxurious, greedy,
oppressive and corrupted economy, culture and religious worship (soft power) of
the Roman society.
The Romans were able to expand their territory and
mobilize the world with the support of their military and political powers (the
beast of the sea: hard power), and they monopolized, exploited and oppressed
the people of God economically, as well as persecuted them spiritually.
The kings of the earth have committed fornication
with this harlot. They are referred generally to those prestigious leaders on
earth who associated themselves with Rome, and who indulged themselves in
immorality, vanity and riches.
The harlot made men drunk in her promised prosperity
and profits. At the same time, she made people ignorant of God’s judgment and
righteousness (towards fornication and adultery). Some saints forsook their
faith in order to commit fornication with her, yet some chose to be faithful to
the Lord and were thus persecuted and killed by her.
The seven heads on the beast were “seven
mountains/seven kings”, which referred to the Roman regimes. The ten horns of
the beast were the ten kings. Here John is referring to Rome, the city famous
for its seven hills.
The ten in relation to the ten horns/ten kings was
not a summation of some numbers within a certain period of time. It was about
the Rome Empire. It also signified some common powers that had
covenanted themselves in mankind history. They united themselves in resisting
God and fighting with the Lamb.
However, this “fornication” shall be destroyed under
the judgment of God if we were to look from the heavenly perspective, i.e., an
eschatological and eternal perspective. For the Lamb will surely overcome those
who have made their covenants with the beast (v.14).
The waters the harlot was sitting on referred to
earthly powers and masses of people of every nation and language, who had
submitted themselves under the reign of Rome.
As we ponder the identity of the seven kings and the
emergence of the ten kings, we must see John’s theme of worldly power and its
ultimate ineffectiveness against God and his people. Their authority only lasts
“for one brief moment, “symbolizing its brevity and ultimate destruction.
As Christian, have we become infatuated with the worldly
power of movies stars, sports celebrities, political coalitions, and world
economic forces? Are you craving the power and prestige that position, wealth,
and connections offer?
If so, you are an easy target for Satan’s great
deception. Worldly power is Satan’s trap; the desire for it can turn us away
from God. Worship only God and make it your strongest desire to serve him.
However, this alliance of powers (the harlot, the
beast and the waters) was weak in nature because they were a marriage of
convenience. In a dramatic turn of events, the prostitute’s allies turn on her
and destroy her (v.16).
This is how evil operates. Destructive by its very
nature, it discards its own adherents when they cease to serve its purposes.
And unholy alliance is an uneasy alliance because each partner puts its own
interests first.
In fact, God has destined all these. He is the One
who puts such a plan into the hearts of His enemies in order for them to
fulfill His purposes (v. 17). No matter what happens, we must trust that God is
still in charge, that God overrules all the plans and intrigues of the evil
one, and that God’s plans will happen just as he says.
Although God allows evil to permeate this present
world, he even uses evil people as tools to execute his will. God is in
control. We are God’s people, so we all the more are to build for his kingdom
here, until a completely new earth ushered in which never knows sin.
The Babylon or the Roman Empire was an economic,
military and political power that merely sought after its own interest and
cultural hegemony. The prosperity and wealth of Rome were gained through
unrighteous means of oppression, seizure and exploitation, and it also involved
idolatry, witchcraft and violence.
It was greedy, haughty and idolatrous. It would, in
the end, collapse completely under the judgment of God.
Throughout history, people have been killed for
their faith. Over the last century, millions have been killed by oppressive
governments, and many of those victims were believers. The woman’s drunkenness
shows her pleasure in her evil accomplishments and her false feeling of triumph
over the church.
But every martyr who has fallen before her
sword has only served to strengthen the faith of the church.
Persecution is by no means a thing of the past.
Christians in many parts of the world know that faith in Christ amounts to a
death sentence. Believers who live in places free of such persecution must not
forget to pray for their brothers and sisters in Christ in those difficult
parts of the world.
God made vindication for those who suffered, and He
made a judgment on this harlot, causing her to collapse and fall. Once, Rome
was an extreme extravagant government, but she became a desolation because of
her resistance to God and deeds of abomination.
All those powers that were attached to her would end
up wailing and crying because they had lost all their profits and interests.
In contrast to the harlot, Christ’s bride, the church, is pure and obedient (19:6-9). The wicked city of Babylon contrasts with the heavenly city of Jerusalem (21:10-22:5). The original readers probably rather quickly identified Babylon with Rome, but Babylon also symbolizes any system that is hostile to God’s kingdom.
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