The Great Harlot - Part 2 - Revelation 17:1-18
INTRODUCTION:
Last Sunday we began looking at a new vision in Revelation, beginning in chapter 17 and going through chapter 18 this new vision introduces a parenthesis in the book of Revelation where John is taken aside to see the judgment of Babylon as viewed by God. First Babylon is presented as a great harlot and she represents the apostate church or the world false religion that sweeps over the earth after the rapture of the true church before the tribulation begins. In chapter 18 John sees Babylon as the economic and political center of the Antichrist’s one world government.
Last Sunday we looked at the first seven verses of chapter 17 where the great harlot was described as seated on a scarlet beast covered with blasphemous names and having seven heads and ten horns. The angel that was showing this vision to John had given John reassurance that he would explain to John what he was seeing. That is where we ended last Sunday, this morning we will begin in verse 8 and look at the explanation of the angel to John. Let’s pray and then get into our passage of Scripture for this morning.
--PRAY--
Please turn in your Bible to Revelation 17. We are going to read the whole chapter this morning again. Please stand if you are able in honor of the reading of God’s Word. Follow along as I read.
Revelation 17:1-18,
“Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me, saying, ‘Come here, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth committed acts of immorality, and those who dwell on the earth were made drunk with the wine of her immorality.’ And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness; and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast, full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns. The woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a gold cup full of abominations and of the unclean things of her immorality, and on her forehead a name was written, a mystery, ‘BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.’ And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus. When I saw her, I wondered greatly. And the angel said to me, ‘Why do you wonder? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns. The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to come up out of the abyss and go to destruction. And those who dwell on the earth, whose name has not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, will wonder when they see the beast, that he was and is not and will come. Here is the mind which has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits, and they are seven kings; five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; and when he comes, he must remain a little while. The beast which was and is not, is himself also an eighth and is one of the seven, and he goes to destruction. The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but they receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour. These have one purpose, and they give their power and authority to the beast. These will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, because He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those who are with Him are the called and chosen and faithful.’ And he said to me, ‘The waters which you saw where the harlot sits, are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues. And the ten horns which you saw, and the beast, these will hate the harlot and will make her desolate and naked, and will eat her flesh and will burn her up with fire. For God has put it in their hearts to execute His purpose by having a common purpose, and by giving their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God will be fulfilled. The woman whom you saw is the great city, which reigns over the kings of the earth.’” (Revelation 17:1–18, NASB95)[1]
THE BEAST AND THE HARLOT EXPLAINED (Revelation 17:8-13)
In verse seven the angel said to John, “I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns.” (Revelation 17:7b, NASB95)[2] Then beginning in verse 8 the angel gives to John a lengthy explanation of the beast. He is explaining to John the relationship between the harlot and the beast. The angel first began by giving John some additional information about the beast. Like I said last week this beast was not new to John, but the beast that had come up out of the sea in chapter 13 and represented the revived Roman empire in character and the Antichrist in person. The Antichrist is the satanic ruler of the last and most powerful empire in human history. The purpose of the Antichrist is to be Satan’s instrument to attack Israel, to persecute believers, to conquer and rule the world for Satan, and ultimately to oppose Christ and seek to stop Him from returning to the earth to claim what is rightfully His from the usurper Satan.
The angel begins by describing the Antichrist as the one who “…was, and is not, and is about to come up out of the abyss…” (Revelation 17:8b, NASB95)[3] This phrase refers to the supposed fatal wound that the Antichrist receives and his remarkable resurrection from the dead. This was already described to us in chapter 13. Up until this point and his apparent resurrection, the Antichrist’s empire will co-exist with the false religious system as they work together to unite the world under one government and one religion. But after the apparent resurrection of the Antichrist, he will turn on the false religious system and destroy it and set himself up as god and he will tolerate only one religion, the worship of himself.
The angel says that those who dwell on the earth, the unbelievers who had embraced this one world false religion, and who had embraced the Antichrist as a world leader will wonder, will be shocked when they see the Antichrist killed and then raised to life and they will abandon the one world religious system and follow after the Antichrist and worship him as god. The Antichrist only uses the false religious system to unite the world. Only those who have had their names written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will recognize the deception of the Antichrist, the rest of the world will turn to him as their savior and worship him as their god. He must be god if he can return to life after receiving an apparently fatal wound.
The angel then says to John, “Here is the mind which has wisdom.” (Revelation 17:9a, NASB95)[4] This phrase should cause us to pay special attention to what the angel is about to say. This phrase introduces a difficult and complex aspect of this vision. It may not be fully understood until the time of the end when it is fulfilled.
The first aspect is that the seven heads of the beast are to be understood to be seven mountains or hills upon which the woman sits. Some commentators believe these seven hills or mountains refer to the seven hills upon which Rome is built and they believe Babylon was a code name for Rome and that the harlot is the Roman Catholic Church. I believe this view is too narrow when you combine it with the rest of the prophecy, more than just Rome is in view as the Antichrist’s empire is worldwide. Nor can the Roman Catholic Church be the woman, since she is identified as the city of Babylon. Verse 1 tells us that the woman sits on many waters and this must be taken metaphorically since it is interpreted in verse 15. The woman sitting on the beast is also symbolic. So, as I see it from the text the mountains are symbolic as well, they represent kingdoms or empires. For the angel to call for spiritual discernment would have been uncalled for if the seven mountains were an obvious geographical reference to Rome.
We do not need to speculate, because immediately after calling them seven mountains, the angel identifies them as seven kings. Often in the Old Testament mountains were used to represent rule or power. The most common is Mt. Zion. Listen to Isaiah’s words in Isaiah 2:2, “Now it will come about that In the last days The mountain of the house of the Lord Will be established as the chief of the mountains, And will be raised above the hills; And all the nations will stream to it.” (Isaiah 2:2, NASB95)[5] A clear reference to Lord’s kingdom being referred to as a mountain. Here in Revelation 17 they represent seven world empires led by their rulers. The angel goes onto say that five of them have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come. The five Gentile world empires that have fallen are Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, and Greece. The one that existed during the time that John wrote down these visions was Rome. The one that has not yet come is still future and it will be the one world empire ruled by the Antichrist. The angel goes on to explain that when the final one comes, he must remain a little while describing the fact that his reign will be short. Chapter 13 said he will be given authority for 42 months or 3½ years, which is the second half of the seven-year tribulation called the Great Tribulation.
The angel goes on and says that “The beast which was and is not, is himself also an eighth and is one of the seven, and he goes to destruction.” (Revelation 17:11, NASB95)[6] How can the beast (Antichrist) be an eighth king and also one of the seven? The answer to this lies in the phrase, “which was and is not…” The Antichrist will be the seventh king before his supposed fatal wound and his death, and his apparent resurrection, at this point he will be an eighth king, but as one of the seven having supposedly come back from the dead. From here he will go to destruction; eternal damnation in the Lake of Fire. Unlike the first six empires, the Antichrist’s empire will be destroyed by a direct act of God.
The angel then explains to John that the ten horns are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom. Because they have not yet received a kingdom we cannot know who these kings are, they will be a part of the Antichrist’s future empire. The angel says that they will receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour. This seems to imply that the Antichrist’s empire will be divided up into ten administrative regions and each of these kings will be in authority over one region under the rule of the Antichrist. The phrase “for one hour” is a figure of speech which emphasizes the shortness of their rule. These ten kings will have one purpose, they will be of one mind and they will be fully devoted to the Antichrist and give all authority and power to him. All that they say or do will be by the authority and power of the Antichrist, they will administrate his empire his way.
THE VICTORY OF THE LAMB (Revelation 17:14)
The role of these ten kings will be the same as that of Satan’s and the Antichrist’s, they will wage war with the Lamb and try and stop Him from reigning on the earth as her rightful King. This is of course speaking of what we call the battle of Armageddon, or what John described in chapter 16 as the war of the great day of God, the Almighty. The Lamb will overcome them in what could be described as a slaughter. This will be the largest battle in all of history and Christ will completely destroy the opposing forces gathered against Him at His second coming. The angel tells John that these forces cannot defeat the Lamb because He is the Lord of lords and King of kings.
The angel also tells John that when Jesus Christ returns, with Him will be “the called and chosen and faithful.” This is a reference that can only refer to those who were raptured into heaven before the Tribulation began. We as believers were chosen in the Son, Jesus Christ, before the foundation of the world, before God created the earth you were chosen to be one of His children. At the right time in history, God called you to Himself to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ that saves you for eternity. And you are faithful, by demonstrating the true saving faith, the eternal life that endures by the power of the Holy Spirit. You will return if you have repented or agreed with God that you are a sinner helpless to do anything about your sinful state, but you believe that Jesus Christ died in your place, paying the death penalty required for your sins, that He was buried, and three days later rose from the dead proving that His death paid the penalty for sin and death. If you believe this, you will return with the Conquering King of kings and Lord of lords and He will with little effort crushes the greatest armed force ever assembled.
THE GREAT HARLOT JUDGED (Revelation 17:15-18)
The angel then returns to the great harlot and what must take place before the Lamb, Jesus Christ, returns to crush His enemies. First, the angel explains to us the waters upon which the harlot was described as sitting in verse one of this chapter. The angel explained that these waters represent the peoples, the multitudes, the nations, and the language groups (the tongues) of the world. These are those who dwell on the earth whom the great harlot has united together under one world church, by her seduction and lies supported by the one world government and the Antichrist she has united the world. Her role was to unite the people, get them to unite around a common belief, get them to unite around a one world government. The great harlot as the one world religion had accomplished her purpose, she was no longer needed.
The angel tells John that the ten horns, the kings under the Antichrist, and the Antichrist hated the harlot. Now that she had accomplished her role she was hated and in very graphic terms we read of her destruction at the hands of the ten kings and the Antichrist. They first stripped her of her power and her wealth, then in very graphic language of extreme violence it is made clear that the Antichrist and his kings will completely destroy the false religious system and the Antichrist will set himself up as god and demand that all worship him and him alone. It is the destruction of this one world false religion that will give rise to the false prophet and the setting up of the image of the Antichrist and the demand that all worship the Antichrist and his image and all receive the mark of the beast on their right hand or their forehead. This will be the beginning of the Great Tribulation.
But notice what the angel says about the destruction of the harlot in verse 17, though they destroy her it is an action of God, it is His judgment upon this one world religion that opposes Him, that denies the truth of God’s Word. Verse 17 says that God has put it in their hearts to execute His purpose. His purpose was to judge and destroy this one world apostate church and He used the evil world government to do it, they thought that their common purpose was their own, but really it was from God. Has God ever used the evil world system to judge before? In the Old Testament He used Assyria and then Babylon to judge first the northern kingdom of Israel and then the southern kingdom of Judah for their turning from what they knew to be true to believing and worshipping false gods. God called their idolatry adultery because they had forsaken their God, they had broken the covenant, and God used the evil world empires of Assyria and Babylon to judge them.
Here in Revelation 17 God has used the evil world empire of the Antichrist to destroy the apostate church, and these 10 kings again show their devotion to the Antichrist by again giving their kingdom to him, they hail him as the supreme world ruler and they worship him as their god. This common purpose and this devotion to the Antichrist continues until the Words of God will be fulfilled. This satanic one world government will be judged by God Himself when He returns as King of kings and Lord of lords.
Then setting us up for the next chapter the angel tells John that this woman whom you saw is the great city which reigns over the kings of the earth. Here we learn that this woman does not just represent the false world religion that began in Babylon, but she also represents the city itself. Some say that this is Rome, but I believe it is rebuilt Babylon on the Euphrates river and it is the economic and political capital of the Antichrist’s one world government. What better place to set yourself up as god, then the place where all false religion began. The worship of the Antichrist as god is the worship of Satan because Satan is the one who gave the Antichrist his authority. Remember back in chapter 13:3-4 it says, “I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain, and his fatal wound was healed. And the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast; they worshiped the dragon because he gave his authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, ‘Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him?’” (Revelation 13:3–4, NASB95)[7] The apparent resurrection of the Antichrist will turn the world away from the one world religion and unite them to the Antichrist and their worship of him will be the worship of Satan, the power and influence behind this man. In two Sundays we will begin to look at the judgment of the economic and political Babylon.
CONCLUSION:
There are some wonderful truths hidden in the chapter that we can take as our own. First, when the Lamb returns to reclaim the earth that was usurped from Him by Satan there will be none who can stand against Him or oppose Him. He will return as Lord of lords and King of kings. If you have put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ by agreeing with God that you are a sinner and that you can do nothing about your sin, but you believe by faith that Jesus Christ died as your sacrificial Lamb, taking the punishment for sin that you deserved on Himself and that He was buried and three days later rose from the dead proving that sin and death were paid for in full then you will return with Jesus Christ as the called and chosen and faithful. What a privilege to know that you were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, that you were called by God at just the right time in history that brought repentance and faith in Christ, and that you remained faithful to God by the power of the Holy Spirit working in you. What a God we have that loves us so much that He was willing to die and take upon Himself the punishment for sin, to pay the penalty required for sin, such a price paid should put the desire in the heart of those saved by His grace to be faithful, to be obedient to His will and His Word.
Second, what comfort and peace there is in knowing that God is in control. He is the sovereign Lord of the universe and even when everything seems to be out of control and in confusion God is working to bring about His perfect will, His words will be fulfilled. Paul speaks of the fullness of time when God’s words will be fulfilled in Ephesians 1:7-10, “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.” (Ephesians 1:7–10, ESV)[8] The time is swiftly approaching when according to His purpose God through Christ will unite all things in Him, things in heaven and the things on earth. Praise God that He is in control!
[1]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[2]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[3]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[4]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[5]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[6]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[7]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[8]The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.