BE SET APART FROM “BABYLON”! - I

Revelation 17
Bob Bonner
March 26, 2006

Ever since the age of enlightenment and the Protestant Reformation, people have become much more sophisticated in their religious understanding. Whether or not a person denies or believes there is a God, there is one conclusion most have come to believe and that is, that a man cannot be God. Apart from Jesus Christ, no matter how much a person may believe he is God or would have others believe that he was God, nobody nowadays would believe another human being’s declaration that he is God and deserved to be worshiped. We are just too religiously sophisticated to fall for that.

Adding to our sophisticated religious enlightenment, sociologists have declared the church as good as dead and a non-existent agent of change in our culture. If these ideas and feelings about religion are true, one wonders what happens to religion in the world as we come closer to the end times? Will religion play any role in the political economic world of the future?

Our passage of Scripture that we are going to study this morning, Revelation 17, reveals that in the end time, religion will be anything but dead. In fact, false religions will play a major role in the rule of the world in the end times. As the stresses and pressures of life increase, and people discover that they cannot control their world as they use to, in desperation they will look down any avenue to find help and comfort. So, why not religion?

Last week, we looked at Revelation 16, which contains the last set of judgments, called the Bowl judgments found between Revelation 6-19. Revelation 16:17-21 ended with seventh Bowl judgment expressing the wrath of God against Babylon the great and upon the rest of the rebellious human race. That judgment will bring the final destructive act of God upon this planet, forever changing this physical world as we know it today. As a result of this judgment, the planet will take on a whole new look, preparing the stage for the second coming of Christ and the Millennial Kingdom, which is revealed in Revelation 19. 

However, before we get to Revelation 19, we come to our third and last parenthetical section, Revelation 17-18. This parenthetical section gives us a future detailed description of the destruction of “Babylon the great,” that was mentioned in the last Bowl judgment of Revelation 16.  To correctly understand what follows in these next two chapters, one must understand the Bible’s use of the term “Babylon” and what is meant by “Babylon” in these two chapters. 

“Babylon” is mentioned about 300 times in the Bible, more than any other city except Jerusalem. When it is mentioned, sometimes Babylon refers to the capital city of a major political power. At other times, it refers not to an actual city, but rather to a religious or political-economic system. In other words, the term Babylon has three different uses in the Bible. It refers to an actual city. It refers to a religious system. And it refers to a political-economic system. In chapters 17 and 18, it refers to all three, but most predominantly, in these two chapters, it refers to just a religious system and a political-economic system.

For instance: Between chapters 17 and 18, there are two “Babylons” in view. Examine the chart below to see what I mean:

TWO DIFFERENT “BABYLONS”

Chapter 17 Chapter 18 The religious system The political-economic system In Rome In Babylon Controlled/Destroyed by the beast Created by the beast “Mother of spiritual prostitute” gives birth to Political-economic Monster Prophecies fulfilled before the Great Tribulation Prophecies fulfilled at the end of the Tribulation The religious system is judged The political-economic system is judged

There are two different “Babylons” mentioned in each of these two chapters, each involving a different system. In chapter 17, we have the religious system Babylon, whose capital city or base of operation will be in Rome. In chapter 18, we have a political system Babylon, an economic and political system whose base of operation will be in the city of Babylon, which is in modern Iraq. We will see in chapter 17, that the religious Babylon is controlled and subsequently destroyed by the beast; and in chapter 18, the beast will create a second, political-economic Babylon. One doesn’t have to be a rocket scientist to understand why, with all of the oil in Iraq, that the political and economic home base for the beast will be in Iraq.

One should not miss the general observation that the religious Babylon mentioned first in chapter 17 will pave the way for the political Babylon to take over in chapter 18. Hence, the religious Babylon, in chapter 17, is called the “Mother of prostitutes,” who gives birth to the Babylonian political-economic monster in chapter 18.

As we consider the events of chapters 17-18, keep in mind that the events described in these chapters do not follow in chronological order after chapter 16. These two chapters are a part of a parenthetical section that chronologically precedes the Bowl judgments we just studied in chapter 16. Most likely, the events of chapter 17 take place before the beginning of the Great Tribulation, and probably open the door to the “Abomination of Desolation” that actually marks the beginning of the Great Tribulation.

 Hence, one last contrast between chapters 17 and 18, concerning the two “Babylons,” would be that the events of chapter 17 will be fulfilled by the midpoint of the seven years, whereas the events of chapter 18 will be fulfilled at the end of the seven years, immediately before the second coming of Christ.

In chapter 17, the religious system is judged; in chapter 18 the political and economic system is judged. 

In every age since the flood, there has been a religious “harlot” seducing others away from worshiping the one true God. In the last days, a worldwide apostate religious system, will likewise try to seduce people away from genuinely worshiping and following after Jesus Christ.

Likewise, in every age there has also been a political-economic system that has sought to entrap, control and distract Christians from following after Jesus Christ. Each generation of Christians must keep itself pure from the pollution of both the spiritual “harlot” and the political-economic monster of “Babylon.”

This week, we only have time to look at chapter 17, at the development and destruction of religious Babylon and I will show you how we reached the conclusions presented in the chart above. We will look at chapter 18 next week, provided Jesus doesn’t come before then or take me home in another manner! 

Chapter 17 breaks down neatly into two parts: First, in verses 1-6, we have “The Vision.” This vision concerns the identity of the Beast, and the “woman” or “mother of prostitutes.”  Upon first seeing this vision, the Apostle John is confused. Therefore, in verses 7-18, the angel does John and us a favor by explaining the vision to him and to us. In these verses, we are given “The Spirit of God’s interpretation of the vision.”

In verses 7-18, the angel first discloses to us who the beast is, in great detail, something we have already looked at when we studied Revelation 13. And then, the angel further discloses information about this “woman” and the subsequent action taken against her by the beast. Let’s first read through the entire chapter, then take a brief second look at “the beast” and then a real close look at “the woman.”

Let’s begin with reading chapter 17. “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.”

Some English translations have a different wording than, “When I saw her, I wondered greatly.” But the New American Standard (NASB) is correct here. The idea is not one of admiration, it is one of being forced to stop, consider and try to figure out something that is puzzling or astonishing. Because John is struggling to grasp what he has just seen, the angel, beginning with verse 7, explains the interpretation of the vision, beginning with explaining who the beast is and then his relationship to the harlot. We read, 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.”

Back on Feb. 5, 2006, when we studied Rev. 13, we spent quite a bit of time deciphering who this beast represents. To do so, we had to jump ahead to this chapter, Rev. 17 as well as look back and Daniel 7 to look at the many clues that help us identify who this beast is. At that time, we noted that Revelation 17 is a particularly interesting chapter, in that it holds the interpretive key to understanding both Daniel 7 and Revelation 13. In the interest of time, I’m not going to rebuild the case that explains all of the conclusions we came to when we studied Revelation 13. Instead, I’m going to quickly review by just giving you the conclusions from that study. If you want more information about how we came to those conclusions, I encourage you to get the sermon and look it over.

As a result of our previous study, we determined that the term “beast,” as used here in Revelation 17, refers to a human being, as can be shown by the use of personal pronouns used in this passage that define the beast as a person. 

This human being will be charismatic and highly respected throughout the world, pushing him toward becoming a powerful world ruler. That which eventually pushes him into prominence is his apparent sudden death, caused by a mortal wound, and then his subsequent miraculous resurrection. After his apparent resurrection, a major portion of the people in the world will believe that there is something very special about him and they will throw their support behind him. 

The descriptive term “scarlet” typically is a color associated with luxury, splendor and royalty (2 Samuel 1:24), sin (Isaiah 1:18) and blood. Hence, this “scarlet” beast will be a very influential, royal, sinful, bloodthirsty person.

Being “full of blasphemous names” tells us that this beast stands against GOD and God’s purposes on earth, and anything that smacks of Jesus Christ.

The “seven heads” represent seven different forms of rule in Rome. The last form of rule will be established by the beast, but only for a short time. He will ultimately lose his right to rule being defeated by Jesus Christ at the final battle on the earth and in the end will be damned to hell forever.

The “ten horns” refer to a confederacy of 10 kingdoms, who will join the beast as loyal and devoted rulers who will have one purpose: The success of the Antichrist and the appropriation of his will. They will make up the key to his world force that will do battle against Christ, “The Lamb.” In the end, they will be defeated along with the beast.

Now, let’s spend the balance of our time looking at the identity of “the woman.” As we look at this chapter, the Spirit of God gives us eleven specific clues as to what she symbolically represents. Of all of the symbolism given in Revelation, this symbol of the “woman” receives more attention than any other symbol in this book.

First, we note that the term used here is “woman.” This term for woman is also translated “wife” or “bride.” Whenever this word, whether in Hebrew or Greek is used in the Bible in a symbolic way, it typically refers to some sort of religious system. For instance: In the Old Testament, when one was called a “Jezebel,” the name of an unbelieving, idolatrous, religious, woman, you knew that you were talking about someone who was part of a religious system that stood opposed to Yahweh, the one true God. More often than not, when you were talking about a false religious system, you would speak of a woman, but usually in the form of an unclean woman such as an adulteress or prostitute.

On the other hand, when you were speaking of a true believing entity, such as Israel, she was referred to as the wife or woman of God. In the New Testament, the Church is viewed as a woman. Christians are called the bride and the wife of Christ.

Hence, in the sense that this term, translated as “Woman, wife and bride” is used symbolically in Scripture, it always portrays in some form a religious system, either true followers of God or false followers of God. The rest of this chapter leaves no doubt as to the character of this woman or the religious system she represents.

Take for example the first descriptive term used of this woman in this chapter. She is called the “great prostitute.” Just as a prostitute expresses false love in order to seduce one, this religious entity will claim to worship God, but in actuality will not be faithful to Him. This will be a false religious system.

In verse 1, we read that this “great prostitute” will sit on “many waters.” The symbolism of “many waters” of verse 1, is interpreted for us by God, in verse 15. We are told there that the “many waters” are a reference to the many peoples over whom the “great prostitute” will have influence. In other words, this world religion will have a universal influence on all peoples, languages and nations. Many around the world will be drawn to this religion. At this point, we are not speaking about political or economic influence, but rather this religious system will capture the hearts of many people.

Note, this “great prostitute” mentioned in verse 1, is one and the same as the “woman” mentioned in verse 3, who is pictured riding the beast. Her riding this beast signifies that she represents some false religious power that finds its support coming from the beast. In addition, her riding the beast reveals that outwardly it looks like this false religious entity controls or gives direction to the beast, like any rider upon a horse would do. In short, this “great prostitute” will be a false religious system granted temporary support and control over the “beast.”

This false, powerful and controlling religious system will initially give power and prominence to the “beast.” With the help of the false prophet, this religious system will be the basis from which the Antichrist will build his following and authority to take over the world. But, after he has gained prominence and control of the world, the events of verse 16 reveal that this one world religion will be trashed by the beast and his confederacy of ten nations and replaced by the worship of the beast, himself. 

In verse 4, this woman, this prostitute is wearing “Purple, scarlet, gold and jewels.” These are signs that this religious system is obviously wealthy and thus very influential and attractive to the beholder.

This woman is also said to be holding a utensil of service, a “golden cup.” Gold represents purity and holiness. Hence, she disguises herself as being in the holy service of God filled with good works, when in reality, she is filled with those things considered by God to be abominations.

In verse 5, this “woman,” this “great prostitute” is given several other names. First, she is called “the mystery, Babylon the Great.” The word “mystery” is not meant to be part of the title, but rather it is a descriptive reference to the title. A “mystery” indicates something deeper is going on here than first meets the eye. In other words, we are not talking about an actual city of Babylon, but rather something more spiritually significant, and requires discernment, not quick judgment as to what it represents. We are talking about a false religious system that takes after the mystery religions of Babylon, ones deeply rooted in spiritual idolatry. We don’t have time to walk you through a study of this, so allow me to give you a reference to look up, if you wish to find out more about this. Dr. John Walvoord’s commentary, “The Revelation of Jesus Christ,” pp. 246-248.

Next, this woman is called in v. 5, “the Mother of prostitutes and (denominations) abominations of the Earth.” Up to this point, many have concluded that this false religion being portrayed here is nothing but the Catholic Church. However, calling her the “mother of prostitutes” tells us that this religious system is bigger than the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church is not alone in her practice of idolatries and other areas of false religions. But she has other spiritual offspring, as a mother does, many other false representations of true Christianity. I’m personally convinced that many of our liberal churches, our denominational churches and associations, including Baptists, other Bible churches and modern day churches, like Calvary Chapels will fall into this category as well. That’s not to say they are there right now. I’m just saying that we better not become spiritually proud and think it couldn’t, or hasn’t, happened to us. We need to continually seek the face of God as to our own condition. For this clue reveals that this false religious system will be the apostate Christian church.

We see a ninth clue to this false religion in verse 6. There we learn that this false religion will be drunk with the “blood of the saints” which is an image of a group of religious zealots who cannot tolerate opposition from those who would expose her falsehoods. In order to get rid of them, the religious system will become a persecutor of Christians.

Verse 9, points to the “woman who sits on the seven hills” and those mountains, as we discovered in our study of Revelation 13 represents Rome as being the home base for this religious system.  This gives us further evidence that this is not just Catholic, but apostate Christianity being pictured here.

Finally, our last clue as to this woman is given in verse 18, where she is also called “the great city.”  There are several different understandings as to which great city this represents. But if you think about who is recording this vision, there is only one “great city” that existed in his day. It was not Babylon, for at this time in history, Babylon was nothing but a pile of rocks. This “great city” is another reference to Rome, and her political power over the kings of the earth. 

What other present-day religion has much political influence and power over the leaders of foreign countries on the earth? There is only one. The Catholic Church. Now, don’t misunderstand me to be bashing the Catholic Church, for I am not. Within the Catholic Church there are many true believers in Christ. Yet, for centuries, their doctrines have shifted. For centuries they have become less religious and more political and socialistic in their agenda. Preaching the true Gospel has not been its focus for centuries, just as it is true of many Protestant denominations who were birthed from the “mother of prostitutes,” the Catholic Church.

Let’s stop there and ask “What personal application can we draw from this study?” I think these verses are screaming out a warning to all of us: throughout history, political systems have “used” religious bodies to further their political causes. At the same time, church history reveals that religious groups have used politics to achieve their religious purposes. Hence, the marriage of church and state has never been a happy one, and has often spawned children that have created serious problems.

When dictators are friendly with religion, it is usually a sign that they want to make use of religion’s influence and then destroy the religious institution. The church of Jesus Christ has been most influential in the world when it has maintained a separated position from politics. According to 2 Corinthians 11:1-4, it was Paul’s greatest concern that the local churches he founded not be seduced away from their sincere devotion to Christ. Christianity has never been about religious influence on the world, but about an individual’s devotion to Christ...and the individual’s need to know Jesus Christ as one’s personal Lord and Savior. We are to be salt and light such that we draw people to Christ. Once we do, He will change them individually. Nowhere will you find a definitive statement in Scripture that our calling as the Church is to change the world.

In every age, there is the tremendous pressure to conform to “popular religion” and to abandon the fundamentals of the faith and one’s personal devotion to Christ. Politics, whether in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, or the U. S. is not the road to saving a nation. If it were, Jesus would have spoken clearly and a great deal about our need as a church to focus our attention on national politics and democracy. 

That is not to say that a Christian should not go into politics or be salt and light in the political arena. But it is to say that it becomes a work of man, a work of the flesh, when we think and attempt to save this nation, spiritually speaking, or attempt to save our heritage through our political agendas and demanding that the lost live up to our moral standards. As Christians, other than paying attention to our own personal walks with Christ, we have one and only one corporate mission. Preach Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as bond servants to the lost. We are called to preach and live Christ, not democracy or even morality. Preach and live Christ!

We’ve just looked at what false religion looks like. May God protect us from being seduced by the secular, political and false religious leaders of our day. May we not become a part of that religious system that gives rise and support to the religious system that God calls, “the great prostitute.”

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