Chapter 17: The Woman of Babylon the Great

Chapters 17 and 18 are another inset describing the great Roman system that is destroyed at the end of chapter 16. These chapters give a somewhat more detailed picture of the large universal church. The picture includes her harlot “daughters” (17:5), which have helped to deceive all nations (17:1-2; 18:3).

Many end-time prophecies use terms like heads, horns, toes, kings, etc. Several whole chapters must be studied to make their meaning clear. They clarify the different revivals of the same Roman system.

Again, by comparing Daniel 7 with Revelation 13 and 17, it becomes clear that there are seven revivals of the Holy Roman Empire. Six have come and gone—and the last is now forming! This revival will last at least three and a half years, coinciding with the Tribulation (Matt. 24:21-22) and God’s Wrath.

Understand another important connection to these resurrections of the Roman system. Revelation describes each as having “a woman sit[ting] upon [the] scarlet coloured BEAST, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns” (vs. 3). The seven heads are seven separate revivals, with a ten-horn (composed of ten kings) final revival. It is this woman who spreads the “mystery of iniquity” spoken of by Paul in II Thessalonians 2:7.

Of this woman, verses 5-6 state, “And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.”Verse 1 calls her a “great whore that sits upon many waters…” Let’s pause and ask: What are the “many waters”?

This is a classic example of allowing the Bible to interpret itself. Fourteen verses later, the term is explained: “And he said unto me, The waters which you saw, where the whore sits, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues” (vs. 15). This shows that the whore’s influence encompasses the earth. In this case, the term was not immediately explained, but simply continuing to read on revealed what it means. The Bible interpreted itself!

Verses 5-6 are a graphic description of a great Gentile church that is a modern-day descendant of Babylon. She is a “mother” of many “harlot” daughters, who came out of her in protest because they disagreed with a few of her abominations. This is not a small church, but rather a “great” church ruling many peoples. Verse 2 speaks of her “fornication” with the “kings of the earth.” And verse 18 speaks of the woman as “that great city, which reigns over the kings of the earth.” This is a huge church that has sought to influence nations and world events. Only one city fits this description.

A very different woman, as we saw described in Revelation 12 as God’s Church, has been persecuted by this great false church for almost 2,000 years (17:6). It is her ministers that have “crept into” God’s Church (Jude 3-4) as “wolves” speaking “perverse things” (Acts 20:29-30) and seeking to pull people back into the “mystery” of false Christianity. Daniel 7:19-20 sheds more light on what happens when the saints return with Christ. Their first responsibility is to replace what Daniel calls the “fourth beast” (the final world-ruling empire), which rules with the assistance of a “little horn.” This little horn is a religious kingdom and is the same as the woman who rides the beast of Revelation 17. This religious kingdom has ruled over all of the previous resurrections, or revivals, of the Holy Roman Empire. The saints will have endured tremendous persecution at the hands of this “little horn”—the woman. But eventually the faithful saints will be rewarded in an incredible way: “I beheld, and the same horn [the Babylonish system of Rev. 17:5-6] made war with the saints, and prevailed against them; Until the Ancient of Days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom” (vs. 21-22).

Chapters 17 and 18 reveal that God will destroy this whore and her harlot daughters, once and for all, by turning the beast she rides against her (Rev. 17:16). But first she must “ride” the final resurrection of the Babylonian Holy Roman Empire!

Little time remains before this last revival appears, with the wonderful kingdom of God to appear soon after (Rev. 19:11-16).

Chapter 18: Babylon’s Judgement

This chapter describes the final judgment and actual destruction of Babylon. Verse 17 shows that her collapse comes quickly. The merchants of the world are aghast at how this powerful economic system could so suddenly come to such complete ruin.

The modern nations of Israel are deceived and part of this babylonish system! (Jeremiah 50:4-8, 13-15; 51:6-9 and Isaiah 47:1, 5, 7-9, 11; 48:1, 12, 17-20 describe it.) Ancient Israel was in Egypt when God poured out His plagues. Like Israel, God calls us out of this world’s “Egypt.”

Understand this basic instruction about the Christian calling. God’s people are not of this world or its systems (John 17:14-16). Regarding the religious and political systems of this Babylon, God instructs, “Come out of her, MY PEOPLE, that you be not partakers of her sins” (Rev. 18:4). Babylon means confusion. The true servants of God have come out of this world, its governments and its confusion (I Cor. 14:33). Because they are separate from it, they shall also be separated and spared from its plagues.

Chapter 19: The Wedding Supper and Another Supper

The setting of chapter 19 is in heaven. Many angels surround God’s throne (vs. 1-2), describing His “righteous...judgments” on the great whore.

Now that she is gone, and Christ has returned, what happens next? “I heard…the voice of a great multitude...saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigns. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to Him: for the MARRIAGE of the Lamb is come, and His WIFE has made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And He said…Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the MARRIAGE SUPPER of the Lamb...” (vs. 6-9)

The New Testament identifies the Church as Christ’s BRIDE. Several passages reveal this (Matt. 25:1-10; Eph. 5:23). At His Return, in one of the most awesome events in all history, Christ will marry His Church! Revelation 19:11-13 describes Christ, and verse 14 describes “armies” of angels joining Him from heaven. Verses 17-18 show that a vast flock of birds of prey eat the flesh of the dead armies, slain in chapter 16. This other “supper” is referred to as the “supper of the great God.”

The chapter concludes with a description of the execution of the beast and false prophet in a localized lake of fire.

Next Part Chapter 20: The Three Resurrections