Rev 17:1-18 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: (2) 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. (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. (4) 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: (5) And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. (6) 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. (7) And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns. (8) The beast that thou sawest 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. (9) And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. (10) And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. (11) And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition. (12) And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. (13) These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. (14) 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. (15) And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. (16) And the ten horns which thou sawest 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. (17) For God hath 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. (18) And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.
Good morning, dear Reader! I’m hoping that you are receiving a blessing from this series! I love that I have this medium in which to share with you what I have gleaned in this series. One can read after those who speculate what will happen during the Tribulation; there are so many out there. But I exhort you Christians to remember to line it up with the Scriptures, amen? If you don’t study it out for yourself, you will fall for any wind of doctrine. We take what is literal and compare it with Bible prophecy and what Revelation says. What appears to be symbolic, we do the same. Just as Ezekiel and Revelation line up with each other, so must the rest. Remember, this is the Revelation of Jesus Christ, and not the Apostle John’s. Christ is the Word of God and we can trust His Word to be truth! But don’t take my word on it, study it out for yourself! (2Timothy 2:15) (Ephesians 4:14)
Today, we are going to be in Chapter 17, which will introduce a woman on a beast. With each post I write, I attempt to place a graphic at the top of the post that depicts the post’s topic. However, I could not find one graphic where this woman wasn’t scantily dressed. How very sad is that! This particular woman is called a prostitute (a whore), but we see in verse 1, she is referred to as “the great whore.” If you recall, Christians are referred to as the Bride of Christ (Rev 21:9). It stands to reason that the antithesis of a pure chaste bride would be a great whore and that great whore would be used by Satan.
On her forehead (the mind being the seat of knowledge) is written Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth! We thought Jezebel was bad, this woman is far worse. This woman represents spiritual Babylon and comes into the picture riding on the back of the beast. This chapter also teaches us about the rise of the Antichrist and, therefore, must occur at the beginning of the Tribulation. Remember, Revelation is not in chronological order. This will be the “trinity” from the pits of Hell: the Antichrist, the Beast and the False Prophet!
For now, we will cover who that woman is and what she’s all about. This woman represents the False Prophet who will be the “spiritual leader” of the Tribulation. The False Prophet will be hostile toward God’s people, both Jews and Gentiles alike. Even in Jesus’ teachings, He warned us of:
Mat 7:15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
This False Prophet will be like a wolf, though he will be dressed in sheep’s clothing. This is a good analogy of Christ, the Good Shepherd and the antithesis of Satan, the wolf dressed as a good shepherd. From today’s Scriptures, we see in the first five verses just what that great whore is all about:
- Revelation 17:1: She “sitteth upon many waters” – She will influence the entire world.
- Revelation 17:2: “With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication” – Being a religious entity, this false religion will commit fornication; not in the literal sense but in the spiritual sense: adultery against God. Jesus wants His church, His bride, to be chaste and pure, made righteous by the Blood of Christ! Of course, Satan wants to destroy Jesus Christ so his attempts through the False Prophet will be to have a religion which mocks Jesus and leads to destruction, not salvation.
- Revelation 17:3: “a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast” – She rode to prominence on the back (with) of the Antichrist. This beast is scarlet with the blood of martyrs. She also is full of names of blasphemy. These blasphemies will be against the Most High God and will be anything opposite of His Word!
- Revelation 17:4: She is “arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls” – She is associated with wealth and royalty. Some believe that this represents the Roman Catholic Church. Although the Roman Catholic Church is the wealthiest state in the world, I believe we can’t pinpoint this false religion solely to the Roman Catholic Church. There’s no way on God’s green earth that Islam would approve of a Roman Catholic Church leader over them or any religion lifting up Jesus Christ as the Son of God. I personally think it’s much bigger than the Roman Catholic Church. The Roman Catholic Church may be at the root of the one world church’s beginning which will join religions together as the ecumenical movement’s goal is to do just that. It is this effort which will culminate into the one world religion and the False Prophet will rise will be at the head of it all.
- Revelation 17:5: Her title “Mystery, Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.” – As you know, Jezebel is introduced in 1Kings 16:31. She was the Queen to Jewish King Ahab. She is the total opposite of good. She did not worship God but worshipped Baal and ultimately drew her husband to Baal, as well as the citizens. She was raised in this; her father was a priest of Baal. Remember, Babel? This is where Baal worshipping began. Jezebel harassed and killed the prophets of her day and falsely charged and executed Naboth. It is written in God’s Word that she was destroyed in a horrific way. It’s no wonder that she would be mentioned in this manner in Revelation. However, her “spirit” is alive and well, especially in 2022! Today, there are pagans in the world who follow after her. They call her Queen Jezebel and believe her to be a hero of their faith; they claim she clung fiercely to her beliefs and is an empowering role model to modern women and pagans alike. If pagans believe this now, they will be all the more like Jezebel during the Tribulation. Satan will use this “spirit of Jezebel” in the great whore, the ultimate representative of Jezebel.
- Revelation 17:6: She was “drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus:” – She achieves this through promoting violence against believers. Just as Jezebel had God’s prophets killed, the great whore will be in an all out war against prophets, witnesses and Christians, including the 122,000 and the Two Witnesses.
- Revelation 17:9: She sits on seven mountains which are the seven heads. These heads are seven kings of kingdoms associated with a political system. Many believe that this is Rome because it is located on seven hills. However, all along, Babylon has been referred to as an actual city and not figuratively. Therefore, I believe it will not be Rome. The verse states the seven mountains are kings (kings have kingdoms). Remember, she comes in sitting on the Beast. So the Beast is the one in charge of these seven kingdoms. This is where you have to interpret Scripture with Scripture and not just assume that someone’s interpretation is correct. We cannot build a belief around a verse that says she’s clothed in purple and is located on seven hills; even though it seems to “fit” the Rome theory. One must read the whole chapter in context. I tend to think it is actual Babylon. Just as God saw to it that Israel be revived in 1948, I’m sure he can see to it that Babylon (the antithesis of Jerusalem) is revived as well.
- Revelation 17:16-17: The ten horns will hate the whore and bring her to ruin. On a side note, remember what Paul wrote in 2Thessalonians 2:3-4. The Beast will put himself in the Temple in Jerusalem and will demand to be worshipped! Does this mean the one world religion is set aside and he will be the all-in-all of religion? It appears so, but I really don’t know for certain. But one thing I do know is that the Antichrist and the False Prophet will be cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 19:20).
We’re going to stop here for now. The next post will cover who the powers will be during the Tribulation. So with that in mind, I want to be sure that anyone who reads the posts on this blog can know beyond a shadow of a doubt that they are going to Heaven. Have you received Christ as your Saviour? If no, your sins are not covered by His sacrificial offering of Himself. You have not been redeemed by His blood. It is no coincidence that God has placed you here for such a time as this so that you may be saved if you are not already. Please click here and the link will open up in a separate tab to You Can Be Born Again and Know It!
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