Revelation 17 – Babylon the Great, The Mother of Harlots
One more interruption in the narrative occurs as John is taken to receive specific enlightenment concerning the destruction of Babylon. People can try to spiritualize it all they want, but I believe this is in reference to the actual city of Babylon from which Satan’s attack on mankind originated after the flood.
John’s guide is one of the angels that poured out the vial judgments. He is very clear that he is taking John to observe the judgment of “the great whore that sitteth 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.”
Jer. 51:7 Babylon hath 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.
Jer. 51:13 O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end is come, and the measure of thy covetousness.
Rev. 14:8 And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
Scripture clearly identifies the whore as the city of Babylon.
John then sees a woman sitting upon a scarlet colored beast that is full of names of blasphemy and has 7 heads and 10 horns. This description connects directly to the Dragon as described in 12:3-4 and the beast from the sea, the Antichrist in 13:1. The woman is dressed in purple and scarlet and wearing jewelry of gold, precious stones and pearls and holding a golden cup. The cup is described as being filled with abominations and filthiness that she used to seduce men. I believe the adultery being referenced is spiritual adultery in reference to turning men to worship false gods and away from the worship of YHWH, the self-existing One true God of creation.
This woman has a name written on her forehead: “Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth.”
I think the mystery is possibly in reference to the fact that she represents false religion as well as the actual city of Babylon. It could also be referencing how she has endured throughout history in the form of the many false religions that she has spawned in her rebellion against God. It is the land of Shinar where Nimrod led the people in rebellion against God as they attempted to build the tower of Babel and establish a growing city in direct disobedience to His instruction to go out and populate planet earth. The title “Mother of Harlots” is a reference to the fact that she gave birth to all false religions and the evil deeds that are part and parcel of the practice of these religions.
John saw her as drunk with the blood of the saints and the martyrs of Jesus. He was amazed at her public display of evil. His companion asks John why he is so amazed. He then goes on to explain the relationship of the woman to the Antichrist and Satan. I learned in my studies that only two people are identified in scripture as the “son of perdition”—Judas Iscariot and the Antichrist. I believe that these are the only two men that Satan has personally chosen to possess or indwell.
The 7 heads are described as 7 mountains (kings/kingdoms) which the woman has ruled in her quest to destroy Israel. I think this is a valid deduction since the whole of the Bible revolves around God’s plan for Israel and the Messiah, Jesus Christ. There have been many world empires to come and go that are not referenced in scripture; and I believe that is because they had no direct impact on Israel during its existence or they existed during the time that Israel was without a nation during the diaspora.
John is told that five of the kings have fallen, one is now, and one is not yet come (at the time John lived). Point is made that the one yet to come will only be allowed a short reign. The beast is described as the one “that was, and is not, even he is the 8th, and is one of the seven, and goeth into perdition.” I believe the seven kingdoms are Egypt (from which Israel emerged as a nation), Assyria (that conquered the Northern Kingdom), Babylon (that conquered the Southern Kingdom), Medo-Persia, and Greece (the successive ruling powers in Israel). The existing kingdom during John’s lifetime was Rome. I would assume the kings being referenced would be the Pharaoh from which the Israelites were freed, Sargon (the Assyrian conqueror that sent the Northern Kingdom into captivity), Nebuchadnezzar (the Babylonian king that conquered the Southern Kingdom), Darius/Cyrus and Alexander the Great (the rulers of the succeeding empires), and either Caesar (as representative of the Roman rulers) or Domitian (the emperor who had banished John to Patmos). The seventh kingdom of Antichrist is the one yet to come. I think the reason for the description “he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into peridition” is a reference to Satan as the eighth but indwelling Antichrist, the seventh, who will meet his end in perdition (eternal torment).
The ten horns are identified as kings yet to come to power but will be part of the Antichrist’s ruling circle and giving him their full allegiance. These kings will form the core leaders of the Antichrist’s forces that will go out to engage the returning Jesus and his saints in war. That is just so hard for me to imagine.
The waters upon which the whore sits are identified as the peoples of the nations.
It’s interesting to note that the ten kings who will form the core of the Antichrist’s ruling circle hate the whore. Then the woman is identified as the city of Babylon. This tells me that the hatred that the kings have of the whore is rooted in jealousy of her position of wealth and power. I’m firmly convinced that the LORD is referencing the real city of Babylon, although I do see why people want to compare the United States to Babylon. We have certainly established ourselves in wealth and power and in leading the nations into spiritual adultery and rejection of God. We have thrown God out of our schools, our judiciary, and our governments. We produce and export “entertainment” that can only be described as violent and immoral. We embrace all false religions and false teachers and then want to turn around and blame God for everything that happens that we consider “bad.” We want to hold Him accountable for everything without being accountable to Him for anything.
Revelation 18 – The Physical Annihilation of Babylon
In this chapter John witnesses the destruction of Babylon. It is described as a city where devils dwell along with every kind of evil spirit. She is very wealthy, and many nations are dependent upon their trade with her. I believe she is the financial center of the Antichrist’s kingdom. A worldwide base of wicked business practices could not have described the Babylon of Zechariah’s day. With today’s technology, Babylon would not have to be a huge metropolis to be the designated financial center for the kingdom of Antichrist.
John hears a voice from heaven warning believers to leave so they won’t have to suffer her plagues because God is about to judge her.
John records that Babylon considers her position of wealth and power as invincible. Verse 8 indicates that her destruction will come in one day. It will be so sudden and thorough that it will cause the nations to fear and those who did business with her and rode the coattails of her power to mourn.
In heaven, however, there will be great rejoicing when they see that God has avenged her treatment of God and His followers. Her destruction is pictured as a great millstone being tossed into the sea. In other words it will be swallowed up quickly, sinking never to rise again. Emphasis is made that no human being will ever live there again. The prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah echo this truth.
Isaiah 13:19-20 And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there.
Jeremiah 50:13 Because of the wrath of the LORD it shall not be inhabited, but it shall be wholly desolate….
Jeremiah 50:40 As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour cities thereof, saith the LORD; so shall no man abide there, neither shall any son of man dwell therein.
Jeremiah 51:63-64 And it shall be, when thou hast made an end of reading this book, that thou shalt bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of Euphrates: And thou shalt say, Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise from the evil that I will bring upon her….
In verse 23 the reason for her destruction is again identified: “for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived. And in her were found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.”
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