REVELATION 17 - Babylon the Great

Chapters 17 and 18 of Revelation serve as sort of a pause in the action from chapter 16. That action will resume again in 19:10. Meanwhile John is shown more “big picture” information, to help him understand why this world was under such judgment.

God hates all sin, this we know. And the sin that tends to cause the most grief for Him is that of idolatry, or spiritual adultery. John sees a woman in this vision, with one of the seven bowl judgment angels as his guide. The NASB refers to the woman as a harlot. She is a harlot with whom the kings of the world have committed “acts of immorality. Her “name” is Bablyon”, and previously Babylon was said to have wine that could be consumed. This is a great play on words, and what a great picture this paints. And verse 2 says the kings of the earth have gotten drunk on this wine. By this time, the world, following its leaders, have completely indulged in what Babylon has to offer, and they are drunk and useless as a result. Babylon can be both the city/region in control of the world, and a phrase to describe the world as a whole.

There is a great deal of imagery throughout this chapter. The woman sits upon a beast, she also sits upon many waters. In short, this woman named “BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH”, has committed fornication with all levels of society. She thrives on spreading her filth and corruption by enticing them to drink from a cup she holds. The cup is beautiful, as is she, and it is completely contaminated. She stands for a worldwide religious system that God will not and does not tolerate. Whether this system is worship of someone else, or the use of “organized religion” to keep people from the true knowledge of God is not clear, but people do and will follow her, because it is easy and enticing to do so.

Not only are her followers “drunk”, she, too is drunk, and drunk with he blood of the saints. It is clear to John that she is directly and actively opposed to God’s people. In verse 7 when John “wonders greatly”, he is astonished, perhaps at the sight of unrestrained wickedness, perhaps that God even allowed this to exist. But his wonder is not the type which entices him to to follow. True believers alive during that time will likely have the same reaction; they may be amazed, but will not want to follow that which is pure evil.

Her seven heads and could be seen as successive world kingdoms, 5 of which perhaps had already been accomplished by the time of John’s writing, and the ten horns is perhaps world kings and/or kingdoms around at the time of the beast. It is clear that there are still some events to be realized, and that Satan will use world powers and entities to accomplish his vast apostasy that John sees here.

If it is of any comfort to John, he hears that the beast will go to destruction. Verse 11 describes him as “which was and is not”. He is “one of the seven” and also “the eighth”, comparing well with what we have learned about antichrist. He will be in power, will suffer a fatal wound, and return fully empowered by Satan, appearing to be resurrected. The world rulers will give their power to him, and they will wage war against the Lamb, or Christ.

We know Christ will win. He is Lord of Lords, He is King of Kings, those with Him are called the faithful. Those following the harlot will end up hating her, and it will be too late. All power in world affairs will be under her control, and those not with Christ will find themselves on the wrong side of the battle. Her false religion will crumble just before it is totally destroyed. She is “the great city”, likely the true Babylon which sits on the Euphrates, the capital of the world at this time, serving as the hub for all things corrupt. When the world eventually becomes so consumed by “her”, they realize she is of no further use to them. She will have accomplished what she set out to do, and that is to steer the masses away from the truth of God.

SO WHAT...?

So, even today, we can certainly enable false religion to survive and thrive. I am thankful to be called one of the faithful, and I realize that places accountability upon me to be just that, faithful to the God of truth.

So, “the Lamb will overcome them”. What a great comfort in the middle of tremendous rebellion against Him. As a believer, I can rest in this knowledge, especially in the middle of my struggles, weaknesses, and trials.