Sermon on Revelation 17
As we get towards the end of Revelation, we are introduced to two contrasting women: the prostitute and the bride. The prostitute and her demise are described in chapters 17 and 18. We must wait until the later chapters to see the glory of the bride of Christ.
17:1 One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits by many waters. 2 With her the kings of the earth committed adultery, and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries.” (Rev. 17:1-2 NIV)
Chapters 17 and 18 come after the completion of the bowl plagues but give us a closer view of final bowl plague because these chapters expand upon the judgment of Babylon. We know the events of chapter 17 are connected to the bowl plagues because it is announced and narrated by one of the angels who had the bowl plagues. The rest of the book goes into detail about the final judgment of the wicked and the wonderful reward of the saints. We have seen these things on several occasions so far in the book, but the closer we get to the end the more these become centre-stage. In these chapters we see one part of the judgment. Later chapters describe the judgment of the beast, the dragon and the false prophet, then the judgment of all the living and the dead.
The central character being judged here is the great prostitute, which we later are told is Babylon. Babylon appears in various guises throughout the Bible. It was a great enemy of Israel and carried Judah off into captivity. But it appears first as Babel in Genesis 11 in a story we are probably familiar with. The people of the earth built a tower to heaven at Babel. There they wanted to “make a name for themselves” (Gen 11:4). This is the central problem with Babylon as we will see as we move through Rev 17 & 18, that Babylon is concerned primarily with its own glory and not at all with the glory of God. Humans as sinners all live out the desire of those who built the tower of Babel, to exalt themselves to heaven, to make themselves glorious, to effectively be god. Thus there are many nations in the Bible on which the Babylon of Revelation is based: Babylon, Tyre, Sodom and rebellious Israel.
In Revelation Babylon is called the great prostitute, who sits on many waters. The title of prostitute is associated in the Bible with idol worship. The waters are explained later in the chapter, but we have already seen that the sea represents evil. We can assume then that Babylon is going to be judged because of her active association with idolatry and evil. The kings of the earth have allied themselves with the prostitute. This is described as committing adultery with her. In effect they engaged in idol worship with Babylon. The inhabitants of the earth, as we know, are unbelievers. They are drunk on Babylon’s wine, the wine that lets people believe that idols are genuinely worth worshipping, and indeed that people can bring glory to themselves and live life as if they themselves are god.
3 Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns. 4 The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls. She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries. 5 The name written on her forehead was a mystery: BABYLON THE GREAT THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. 6 I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of God’s holy people, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus. (Rev. 17:3-6a NIV)
The scarlet beast that the woman sits on has seven heads and ten horns. This is how the red dragon is described in 12:3 and how the beast is described in 13:1. The beast has blasphemous names just as the beast in 13:1 has. The seven heads and the ten horns represent the fullness of the power that evil kingdoms have over God’s people and the blasphemous names indicate their false claim to be sovereign over the world. The woman sits on this evil beast, implying that the woman is not the beast or the dragon but is closely associated with it. She is involved in the same evil as the dragon and the beast. We see her evil described in the verses which follow.
The way she is dressed signifies her great wealth. Purple was an extremely expensive dye and associated with those in power, such as kings and emperors. The purple dye was made from snails and required many thousands of snails to get a small amount of dye. Often togas of the elite were only trimmed with purple. An entirely purple toga was worn by statues of deities and emperors. Only a very high class prostitute would have worn purple and only then if a client purchased it for her. Anyone who wore a garment that was completely purple would have been insanely rich. The other aspects of her attire add to the impression of vast wealth – the scarlet cloth, gold, precious stones and pearls. The city-bride in chapter 21 is also adorned with gold, pearls and precious stones. The bride of Christ is given eternal glory, but the glory of the prostitute is only for this world and will be taken away from her.
The beauty of the woman’s clothing is marred by the golden cup in her hand filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries. The “abominable things” refers to idols and idolatry (see Deut 29:17; 2 Kings 23:24; 2 Chron 34:33; Jer 16:18) as does her adulteries (Hosea 1:2). These things are abhorrent to God. He hates idolatry because he alone is God and he will not share his glory with another (Isa 42:8). From a human perspective, worshipping idols is abominable because we were made to know the true and living God. The devil is behind all idols and he does not deliver on his promises. Therefore, the worship of idols only undermines our true humanness.
Now we find out who the woman is. She has a name on her forehead, indicating her character. BABYLON THE GREAT THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. She is a prostitute because she has sold herself to the dragon and the beast for great wealth. She is the mother of prostitutes because hers is a central role in directing and enticing the world into idolatry and false religion. She is clearly opposed to the church—the bride of Christ—and is drunk with the blood of the saints. The church’s testimony of Jesus continually exposes her idolatry and this makes Babylon angry. The saints will not participate in Babylon’s demands to submit to her religious practices and her economic demands. Thus, they are persecuted in various ways: exile (1:9); imprisonment (2:10) and death (2:10, 13). In our situation this might mean loss of jobs or ridicule, ostracism, etc. Around the world, Christians experience this to various degrees.
6b When I saw her, I was greatly astonished. 7 Then the angel said to me: “Why are you astonished? I will explain to you the mystery of the woman and of the beast she rides, which has the seven heads and ten horns. 8 The beast, which you saw, once was, now is not, and yet will come up out of the Abyss and go to its destruction. The inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world will be astonished when they see the beast, because it once was, now is not, and yet will come. 9 This calls for a mind with wisdom. The seven heads are seven hills on which the woman sits. 10 They are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; but when he does come, he must remain for only a little while. 11 The beast who once was, and now is not, is an eighth king. He belongs to the seven and is going to his destruction.” (Rev. 17:6b-11 NIV)
John was greatly astonished. The word astonished is use of the people of the earth, who are astonished by the beast because it seems to have been healed by a mortal wound (13:3). In this chapter the idea is similar. People are astonished because the beast was, is not and will come (17:8). For the people of the earth, this astonishment leads to worship of the dragon and the beast (13:4). What are we then to make of the fact that John was astonished? Perhaps John the seer was temporarily sucked into the trap of being astonished at the woman in her splendour as if she were someone amazing. The KJV reads, “I wondered with great admiration.” Possibly the angel’s question, “Why are you astonished?” is a rebuke. The woman looks glorious and this glory is something the inhabitants of the earth fall for. They are enticed and captivated by her. Like John, perhaps we are seduced by the spirit of Babylon in our age of excess wealth and indulgence. The false religion sounds appealing and reasonable. It is really easy to fall into this trap. We have to remember what Babylon does to God’s people and how temporary is her glory.
The angel explains the mystery of the woman and the beast. What is said of the beast is very similar to the designation given to God in 1:8 – “‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, ‘who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty’.” The inhabitants of the earth are astonished by the beast “because it once was, now is not, and yet will come”. The beast has been defeated by Christ and yet he looks like he is going to rise again. But the supposed resurrection of the beast is only so that it can go to its destruction. The threefold description of the beast is a mockery of the holy and eternal God and of the resurrection of Christ. It demonstrates that the people of the earth are happy to settle for counterfeits and second-best. They are deceived by the dragon, the beast, the false prophet and Babylon herself because their “names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world.” They don’t want the true God but are happy with the beast and his false religion because he offers them wonderful things right now. But his promises are empty. Genuine life comes from the Lamb and no other.
“This calls for a mind of wisdom.” We were told to have wisdom in 13:18, in regard to the number of the beast. We are again exhorted to have wisdom. Wisdom is found in the Lamb (5:12) and in God (7:12), which implies that it is not found in the prostitute or the beast. But the prostitute and the beast and the false prophet all offer a false kind of wisdom. It is vital that Christians know what is going on with the woman and the beast because it is so easy to be deceived by them. They are wonderful in appearance. The devil masquerades as an angel of light (2 Cor 11:14). Compromise with the world seems like a great idea that won’t really hurt anyone. The lie is that we can be Christians and still be like everyone else in the world. But we cannot be both holy and worldly at the same time (James 4:4; 1 John 2:15).
“The seven heads are seven hills on which the woman sits. 10 They are also seven kings.” There has been much speculation about the seven hills and the seven kings etc. For the readers in the first century, the seven hills would have naturally meant Rome, which famously sits on seven hills. It would, however, be a mistake to limit the power of Babylon and the beast to Rome. The power of Babylon outlasts the Roman empire and goes on throughout the church age. The seven kings are probably also symbolic of oppressive kings and kingdoms throughout history.
“Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; but when he does come, he must remain for only a little while.” Already we have seen a pattern of sevens in this book and we therefore know not to take the numbers literally. The first five kings are already dead and gone. We can take this as a series of kings in history past. The number of kings is not very important, only that these kings are not a problem anymore. “One is” refers to the present tyrant persecuting the people of God. This sixth king represents evil governments throughout the church age. His reign will end. “The other has not yet come; but when he does come, he must remain for only a little while.” The promise is that the final king is not far off and his reign will be short. In Daniel’s vision of four beasts, the beast with the ten horns is the final one. The fourth beast is the last before the kingdom of God crushes all the earthly kingdoms and this kingdom is given to the saints forever (Dan 7). We should take this as an encouragement because no matter where we are in history there are a limited number of tyrants and the reign of the final one is soon. There is not much further to go before the end.
“The beast who once was, and now is not, is an eighth king. He belongs to the seven and is going to his destruction.” Interpreting this is difficult. There are two ways of looking at this. He belongs to the seven, so his return is a parody of the return of Christ. As such this would be Satan’s last-ditch attempt to set up his kingdom on earth. On the other hand, “he belongs to the seven” could mean that he is like the seven or descended from the seven. But this one is different to the previous ones in that he is the embodiment of evil and his reign is the final reign of history. This reign of the beast will lead to his destruction. This is good news and something we must hold tight to because when the antichrist comes, he will be a great tyrant against the church, doing his best to destroy the church utterly. It will surely be a horrible time. The final chapter of Daniel describes these last days. “At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then” (Dan. 12:1a NIV). But Paul told the Thessalonians that the man of lawlessness, who is the antichrist, must arise just before the return of Christ (1 Thess 2:3). As dreadful as this time will be, when this happens, we know the return of Christ is the next point in history. We are assured of this from Daniel as well as Paul, because what is described next in Dan 12:1b-2 is the deliverance of God’s people and the resurrection of the dead.
12 The ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but who for one hour will receive authority as kings along with the beast. 13 They have one purpose and will give their power and authority to the beast. 14 They will wage war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will triumph over them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings– and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers. (Rev. 17:12-14 NIV)
We have seen these kings in an earlier chapter. The frog spirits in ch 16 gathered together the kings from the East to fight a battle against God. Here there are ten such kings, whose only purpose is to join forces with the beast in order to wage war against the Lamb. For one hour they will receive authority. One hour is a figurative period of time and in Revelation it is used of a time of judgment. This short time is one that precedes the final judgment of the kings, the beast, the false prophet and the dragon. It will be the final days of history. Their efforts to wage war against the Lamb will be fruitless because the Lamb will triumph over them. The Lamb is the answer to the question of 13:4 – “Who is like the beast? Who can wage war against it?” The Lamb can wage war against the beast because he is the Lord of lords and the King of kings. The king of Babylon in the OT was called the king of kings (Ezra 7:12; Ezek 26:7; Dan 2:37) and the beast in Revelation, powered by the devil, imagines himself the king of kings. He is vain and arrogant and proud. The idea that a human being could triumph over the Lamb is foolish and ridiculous. The Lamb conquers the beast and the rulers of the earth and shares his victory with his called, chosen and faithful followers. They have endured all kinds of defeat from the beast, but they also know that the Lamb has won the battle in advance because of his death and resurrection.
15 Then the angel said to me, “The waters you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations and languages. 16 The beast and the ten horns you saw will hate the prostitute. They will bring her to ruin and leave her naked; they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire. 17 For God has put it into their hearts to accomplish his purpose by agreeing to hand over to the beast their royal authority, until God’s words are fulfilled. 18 The woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth.” (Rev. 17:15-18 NIV)
Here the waters on which the prostitute sits are explained. They are peoples, multitudes, nations and languages. We have seen a phrase similar to this before. People from every tribe, language, people and nation have been ransomed by the Lamb and sing his praises (5:9; 7:9). But equally, other people from every people, tribe, language and nation are opposed to God and kill the two witnesses (11:9). The beast is given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation (13:7). All these people, who accept the beast and worship him, are the ones who have made possible Babylon’s trade and economic security. They have done this willingly and happily. The woman rules over the kings of the earth and consequently, the beast and the prostitute need one another to keep up their deception of the peoples of the earth.
However, at the end, the peoples, multitudes, nations and languages will no longer cooperate with the prostitute, but rather turn against her. The beast and the ten kings will hate the prostitute. People of the earth are all utterly self-interested, and have no loyalty to the woman when she is no longer of value to them. The beast and his ten allies won’t support the prostitute anymore and she will fall. “They will bring her to ruin and leave her naked; they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire.” Stripping bare and burning with fire were OT punishments for immorality and idolatry (Gen 38:24; Lev 20:14; 21:9; Ezek 16:37, 39; 23:26). What the literal country Babylon did to Israel is now going to be done to Babylon (Ezek 23:25-29). As Jesus said, “A kingdom divided against itself will be ruined” (Matt 12:25). The fall of Babylon is the beginning of the end for the beast, false prophet, the dragon and the kings of the earth. Their kingdom will come to ruin.
The description of that fall is the subject of chapter 18. For now, we only need to know that this was God’s doing all along. “For God has put it into their hearts to accomplish his purpose by agreeing to hand over to the beast their royal authority, until God’s words are fulfilled.” Nothing that happens in history, good or evil is outside the control of the sovereign God. The final punishment of the wicked is not an exception to this rule. God is sovereign over the evil plans of the beast and the prostitute and their allies. He uses the evil of one to punish the evil of another. There is real precedent for this in the history of Israel. He used wicked nations to punish apostate Israel (2 Kings 17:5-8; 1 Chron 9:11) and to punish other nations (Isa 10:5-15; Jer 51:11). Even now, whatever evil might be going on in the world, God’s plans are being fulfilled and his final judgment upon the wicked is even now working towards its conclusion. He is not caught off guard.
The takeaway from chapter 17 is that Babylon’s days are numbered. This woman who looks so glorious and successful is actually a whore. She is going to fall and to lose everything. There is nothing eternal about Babylon. We should not be fooled by her. Nor should we fear that the persecution will go on forever. Despite the fact that the kings of the earth try to end the church, they will fail. The Lamb will triumph. God has all of this within his sovereign plan.