Revelation Chapter 17

Rev. 17:1-6.

1 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and talked with me, saying to me, "Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters,

2 "with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication."

3 So he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness. And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.

4 The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication.

5 And on her forehead a name was written: MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

6 I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement.

Verse 1, One of the seven angels talks to John saying "come and see the judgment of the great harlot." The judgment does not take place in this verse or even in this chapter. Here the harlot is shown in her anti christian form, but not until chapter 18 does the judgment occur.

The great harlot represents religious Babylon encompassing all false religions, including apostate Christianity. In the bible prostitution, adultery and fornication, when used figuratively, normally denote religious apostasy and unfaithfulness to God (Is. 1:21; Jer. 3:9; Ez. 16:14-18,32; Jas. 4:4), and signify a people who profess to serve God while actually worshiping and serving other gods.

Concerning this false religion:

(1) the harlot will reject the gospel of Christ and the apostles, the power of godliness and the basic doctrines of Christianity (Matt. 24:24; 2 Tim. 3:5; 4:3).

(2) She will enter into partnership with the philosophy of "Babylon," i.e., the worlds' system of solving problems, disregarding the desire of God which is to depend upon His Spirit for help and direction.

(3) Her leaders will persecute the true followers of Christ (v.6). She will be a melting pot for perverted doctrines and creeds and the beliefs of the denomination(s) will be more important to uphold than the biblical doctrines of scripture. Her chief concern will be fellowship and oneness with her religious system, values and goals. She will become the habitation of devils (18:2; Is. 47:12-13).

(4) All true believers are commanded to come out of her or they will be condemned with her (18:4).

(5) God will cause the Antichrist to destroy her (v.16). Many churches, to one degree or another participate in the things listed above already, it will be easy for them to swallow it even more during the seventieth week of Daniel!

"Who sits upon many waters" (v.15) tells us that this is the peoples, multitudes and nations and tongues, over which the harlot rules.

Verse 2, People will commit spiritual fornication, people will turn away from worshipping the true God to a combining of religion and politics, which in actual fact is worshipping the Antichrist. This false religious system will allow her members to profess to be of God, yet at the same time to commit spiritual fornication. Compromise with political powers and toleration of unrighteousness is her trademark. As a harlot, the apostate church sells her favors to the world at every opportunity.

Verse 3, "So he carried me away in the Spirit," here we have the same idea as in Chapter 1, where John was in the Spirit on the Lord's day. It denotes spiritual ecstasy and here it refers to a change in the spirit of the Seer, and not bodily removable. In spite of her immense popularity and the numbers of people adhering to this false religion, it is nothing but a spiritual wilderness.

The woman sitting upon a scarlet colored beast should be put in contrast with the woman of Chap. 12. Here we have the counterfeit, adulteress woman who comes from Satan. The scarlet colored beast is representative of world political and religious powers united for satanic purposes, specifically to commit blasphemy against the true Christ. The seven heads and ten horns represent a world confederacy of nations that will oppose Christ and truth. The seven heads represent the leaders of the first seven empires, and the ten horns represent the nations (or peoples) that will comprise the eighth empire over which Antichrist will rule.

Verse 4, The idea here is that the woman is adorned with intoxicating, seducing components like a prostitute, to draw the people of the world to her, as the prostitute draws men to herself. The golden cup, beautiful on the outside but inside it serves her to drink the blood of the saints and martyrs. This cup reveals the apostate church that will offer people both God and carnal satisfaction, a perverted Christianity that says, God is the way and He will accept us, but yet, hold to the traditions of men, and man made rules, committing spiritual adultery with the leadership's blessing, rather than obeying the word of God.

Verse 5, Here the woman identifies herself by wearing her name upon her forehead. Notice she is not only a harlot but also the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth. Why the title mystery Babylon the great?

The flood was a major setback for Satan because all on the earth after the flood were righteous and the seed of the woman which was to crush Satan's head and redeem men (Gen 3:15), remained intact in the loins of Noah and his family.

But Satan would not remain passive in the wake of this major setback. So he set out as soon as possible thereafter to entice men to unrighteousness. He empowered a man by the name of Nimrod. Nimrod was ruler of ancient Babylon. "He was a mighty hunter before the Lord" (Gen. 10:9). This hunting capability does not refer to being skillful in the field as was Esau, "who was a skillful hunter, a man of the field" (Gen. 25:27). Nimrod was a hunter of the souls of men. God commanded that men be spread abroad across the earth (Gen. 9:19). Nimrod in defiance of God, was the prime mover in building the tower of Babel, a presumptuous attempt to "reach unto heaven" (Gen. 11:4). The zodiac and astrology trace their origin to Nimrod and the tower of Babel. It was with Nimrod that the pervasive "mother and son' worship had its origin. History records the fact that Nimrod's wife, Semiramis, came to be called the "Supreme One," the priestess. Early in their religion the legend developed that she was impregnated by a sunbeam and gave birth to a son named Tammuz--clearly an attempt at a counterfeit virgin birth. One day, while out hunting, Tammuz was killed by a wild boar. Semiramis was so bereft that she wept and cried and would not eat for forty days. Tammuz rose from the dead--clearly an attempt at a false resurrection. It was from this forty-day period that Semiramis mourned for her son, that the observance of Lent, with its mourning and self-denial, had its origin--not from the bible. This was the beginning of the systematic "mystery" religion of Babylon. In time the worship of Semiramis, who came to be called "the Queen of Heaven" (see Jer. 7:18; 44:15-30), spread across the civilized world. In Assyria, her name was Ishtar, and her son was Bacchus; in Egypt, she was known as Isis, and her son was Osiris; in India, she was Isi, and her son was Iswara; in Asia, Cybele and her son Deoius; in Greece, Aphrodite and her son Eros; in Rome, Venus and her son Cupid.

The belief in Mary as the perpetual virgin and her co-mediatorship with Christ, her Son, as enunciated by the Roman Catholic Church, is the ultimate perpetuation of the false religious system begun by Nimrod, the great hunter of the souls of men. It is for the express reason that John identified Rome as the "Mother of Harlots" in this verse. She seduces men to commit spiritual adultery with her rather than to experience true spiritual union with the Son of God. At the end time, out of a revived Roman Empire or Western European confederation of nations, will come her most diabolical progeny, the Antichrist. Antichrist will be the ultimate hunter of the souls of men.

Verse 6, Is it any wonder that John saw this woman drunk with the blood of the saints of Jesus? Since its beginning in Babylon, this false religious system has thrived on the blood of saints. This harlot down through the ages has controlled the kings of the nations. In like manner, especially during the seventieth week she will also have the same relationship with the final beast empire of Satan, using her international influence developed in the past to help Antichrist assemble his ten-nation coalition and eventually rule the world. This false religious system will drain the spiritual lifeblood from any and all people who adhere to it. No matter what denomination you belong to, if you refuse to believe and obey the word of God, and instead believe and be obedient to man made rules, regulations and constitutions, then you are supporting this false religious system that had its start in Babylon. The leadership of such churches are turning people away from true Christianity and are drunk with the spiritual-life blood of the saints.

I wonder if John wonders in amazement at the amount of Christian blood shed by men called Christians. Is he amazed that the spiritual lifeblood of the saints is being drained by this false religion? We need to be all aware of a lucrative or fashionable religion. We must avoid the mysteries of iniquity, we must be diligently in the word and in prayer, so that we can know if what comes over the pulpit is truly of God or not. For the more we become like Jesus the less chance of us being deceived by preachers who preach man made doctrines instead of the truth. The more we obey man and denominations who refuse to stand for truth today, the easier it will for us to be deceived during the seventieth week of Daniel. Study to show yourself approved, rightly dividing the word of truth!

Rev. 17:7-18.

7 But the angel said to me, "Why did you marvel? 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.

8 "The beast that you saw was, and is not, and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition. And those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.

9 "Here is the mind which has wisdom: The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits.

10 There are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come. And when he comes, he must continue a short time.

11 "And the beast that was, and is not, is himself also the eighth, and is of the seven, and is going to perdition.

12 "The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority for one hour as kings with the beast.

13 "These are of one mind, and they will give their power and authority to the beast.

14 "These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful."

15 Then he said to me, "The waters which you saw, where the harlot sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues.

16 "And the ten horns which you saw on the beast, these will hate the harlot, make her desolate and naked, eat her flesh and burn her with fire.

17 "For God has put it into their hearts to fulfill His purpose, to be of one mind, and to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled.

18 "And the woman whom you saw is that great city which reigns over the kings of the earth."

Here the angel begins to explain the mystery of the woman, (representing the religious), and the beast who had the seven heads and ten horns, (political representation). The eighth beast empire will be a religious, political system that will be ruled by Antichrist.

In this chapter John describes the "beast" (Satan's chosen nations) as "having seven heads and ten horns" (v.3), which is almost exactly the way he described the beast earlier ("a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads" [13:1]). In this context the beast is the final beast empire of Satan which represents all the previous seven beast empires of Satan. Thus the seven heads represent the seven leaders of the first seven empires, and the ten horns represent the ten nations (or peoples) that will comprise the final beast empire over which the Antichrist (the beast) will rule.

From (vv.10 & 11) we learn that the seven heads "are seven kings; five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; and when he comes he must remain a little while. And the beast (Antichrist) which was and is not, is himself also an eighth, and is one of the seven, and he goes to destruction."

It is important to look carefully at these two verses. When Revelation was written at the end of the first century AD we see that five beast empires of Satan had come and gone ("five had fallen"), "one is" (the Roman empire, which is the sixth), one is still to come in the future and would "remain for a little while" which would be the seventh.

Allow me to present for your consideration of who the seventh beast empire might be. Now don't get hung up on this, you can take it or leave it, but let's consider it anyway.

Let's see if we can identify the seventh beast empire. The intervening gap between the 69th and 70th week came about as the result of Israel rejecting Christ as her Messiah and King, thereby delaying the last seven-year period. Because Israel rejected her Messiah, she also suffered God's ultimate curse as foretold by Moses in his warnings to the nation of Israel concerning the blessings and curses--the curse of being scattered to the ends of the earth without access to her holy land, to her holy City, or to her holy Temple.

It now becomes clear why the mysterious seventh beast empire is not depicted in Nebuchadnezzar's dream of the statue in (Dan.2), nor in Daniel's vision of the beast empires in (Dan.7), but only in the book of Revelation, written about AD 95, twenty years after the Diaspora began. If Israel had not rejected her Messiah, the great Diaspora would never have occurred, and the seventieth "week" would have begun without the seventh beast empire ever coming into existence, and the final beast empire would have come directly out of the Roman empire. That is not to say that Christ would still not have died, for this was the very purpose of His first coming. But the seventieth week would have begun sometime shortly after Christ's death and resurrection, since the need to "graft in" the Gentiles to make "Israel jealous" would have been eliminated (see Rom. 11:11-26). Therefore, it would most likely have appeared sometime during the first century AD--" After Messiah" [is] cut off [AD 33]" and the destruction of "the city and the sanctuary {AD 70]" (Dan. 9:26).

The seventh beast empire therefore is radically different from the first six beast empires. Unlike the others, it would brutalize the people of Israel during the intervening gap between the sixty-ninth and seventieth week-- when Israel is out of her land, dispersed among the nations to the ends of the earth. Even the early church did not fully understand the interval, until after the Diaspora actually began with the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in AD 70. Moreover, the first scriptural reference to the seventh beast empire is in the book of Revelation, which was written some twenty years after the Diaspora actually had begun, after the church began to realize that Christ was not going to return soon after His resurrection.

Let's identify the seventh beast empire by looking at its essential characteristics:

(1) It must come after the sixth beast empire (Rome).

(2) It must persecute the Jewish people while they are out of their land, dispersed "from one end of the earth to the other."

(3) It "must remain a little while"

(4) It would be hideously cruel in its persecution and slaughter of the Jewish people as prophesied in the curses recorded in Deuteronomy (see 28:64-67).

(5) It must exist and come to an end before Israel would return to her land.

(6) Since Israel returned to her land in 1948, there is only one thing we can conclude-- the seventh beast empire had to have existed sometime between AD 70 and 1948.

The shocking reality is that only one nation in history fits these criteria--Nazi Germany, the Third Reich. The two overriding ambitions of Hitler were, first, to establish a thousand-year reign over the entire world-- the counterfeit millennium of a demonic messiah; and, second, to totally exterminate all Jews.

Let me share something with you about Adolf Hitler. He came from Romanism, he was studying to be a priest and he was deeply involved in the occult. When he started his Gestapo, a lot of the generals were sent to a castle that he had and were trained in the occult. The dagger they carried was a satanic insignia, the swastika, the lightening bolt that they wore on their uniform was also a satanic insignia. Do you know what he defined the Third Reich as? A thousand year kingdom. This man who could stand up and speak to a nation for hours and influence them into doing what he wanted was demonically controlled. There is still a mystique and wonder about his death no one knows what really happened or where his body really is. His whole life was given over to Satanism and the demonic. Now can you understand why he had such a fanatical hatred for the Jews. When his armies were being defeated, the generals pleaded with him to use the trains and the trucks to get supplies up to the front where the soldiers were fighting for their very lives, he was using the trains and trucks at the last moment to get as many Jews as possible to the death camps. Unexplainable, why had he such a hatred for the Jews, unless,....he was the leader of the seventh beast empire. And look at him, he came on the scene out of nowhere, in 1933; all of a sudden he appears out of nowhere and practically dominates the world for a couple of years. A fleeting empire just as the text says in (v.9), "and when he comes, he must continue for a short time".

Verse 8, This verse is referring to a man who will be the leader of the eight-beast empire (Antichrist). That this is a man is clearly seen in John's careful choice of words stating that "the beast [Antichrist]...is himself also an eighth [head or king], and is one of the seven [heads of kings]" (v.11). "Himself" is obviously a reference to Antichrist as a man. The other startling truth about this passage is the fact that this eighth king (Antichrist) will be one of the previous seven kings "who was and is not" -- in other words, he has already died. Which one of the previous seven it will be is not revealed to us in this critical passage--only that he will be one of the previous seven leaders who has ruled over one of the first seven beast empires and has since died. Therefore in order for this dead ruler to reign over the final beast empire, he will have to be a dead man brought back to life.

It will be the fact that Antichrist has come back to life that will bring the world to submission. In Rev. 13:3, John says that he saw one of the heads of the beast "as if it had been slain, and his fatal wound was healed. And the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast." Notice in particular that the whole world follows after the beast because they are "amazed" --and the cause of their amazement clearly is the fact that Antichrist is a dead man whose "fatal wound [is] healed." The same cause and effect is stated here in (v.8). "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 will wonder, whose name has not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast, that he was and is not and will come."

When the Antichrist is revealed at the midpoint of the seventieth week, people will be amazed--both at who he actually is and that he is a dead man come back to life. This shocking reality will cause most of the world to give their allegiance to him.

So the facts are that Antichrist is:

(1) A man who will claim to be God incarnate (Dan. 11:36; 2 Thess. 2:3&4).

(2) A man who will be an extremely powerful and ungodly military leader (Ez. 38:4,8,9; Dan. 11:38.

(3) A man who will be empowered by Satan himself (Rev. 13:12; 2 Thess. 2:9).

(4) A man who is the dead leader of one of the seven previous beast empires of Satan (Rev. 17:11).

(5) A man who was killed by a fatal wound to the head (Rev. 13:3) with a military weapon or "sword" (Rev. 13:14).

(6) A dead man who will come back to life to rule the final beast empire of Satan (Rev. 13:3,12; 17:8,11).

(7) A man who will receive allegiance and worship of the world when they realize that he is a dead man brought back to life (Rev. 13:12; 17:8; 2 Thess. 2:3,4).

(8) A man who is from the ancestral line of Magog (Ez. 38:2).

(9) A man whose soul comes up out of Hades (Rev. 11:7).

These facts cause those whose names are not written in the Book of Life to marvel.

Verses 9,10, The reference to wisdom means enlightenment from above; spiritual discernment is needed in order to understand prophecy. We will never understand prophecy if we try to interpret it in light of what we believe. We must allow scripture to formulate what we believe about prophecy.

May I also say that there is no one human that has all the wisdom needed to understand all of prophecy. God reveals His word by progressive revelation. This means that, if God reveals something to me in His word I must be obedient to what is revealed in order to receive further revelation on the subject. If I refuse to become obedient to what I know (that which is already revealed) then God is under no further obligation to reveal anything else to me. If I chose to abide by the traditions of men or the theology of denominations that is not biblically sound, then I have a closed mind and no man, and yes, not even the Holy Spirit can teach me anything. To understand prophecy we must have an open mind and be willing to cast down preconceived ideas when the scriptures are in clear opposition to these ideas.

The angel states, "The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sitteth, and they are seven kings." The seven heads here symbolize seven mountains, which are kingdoms or kings. The word kings and kingdoms are sometimes used interchangeably (Dan. 2:37-38 with 2:39 and 7:3, 23, and 24 with 7:17). The seven kings must be an interpretation of the seven heads or else they would be completely out of place.

Then it goes on to say that five of the seven kings have fallen. The five that have fallen which are all a part of the beast empire (the false religious and political system that has gone on down throughout the centuries): Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia and Greece. The sixth kingdom, the one that is at the time that John wrote the book is the Rome of John's day. The other, from John's era, which was the first century, the seventh was not known and when it comes it is to continue for only a short time. I have suggested that it may have been the Third Reich that persecuted the Jews severely, and only lasted a short time. The eighth will be the one ruled by Antichrist during the seventieth week.

These five nations had one thing in common. They were all severe persecutors of Israel. Egypt, remember that the children of Israel, during a time of famine, went down to Egypt under Joseph. For a time they prospered in this foreign nation because of Joseph's relationship with the kings and pharaohs. After the passing of time, there was a king who arose who knew not or even remembered Joseph. He began to persecute the Jews so severely, he even wanted to annihilate the nation by killing the male children. God had to send Moses down and direct plagues on Egypt.

Assyria, they came against Israel in 722 BC and they took the ten northern tribes of Israel into captivity and they never come back into the land as ten tribes.

Babylon, remember Nebuchadnezzar, who came up and destroyed the temple, took the objects of worship out of the temple and desecrated them and took the Jews into Babylonian captivity putting them under much oppression.

Medo-Persia, the Persian Empire took over from the Babylonian Empire and if you read the book of Esther you will see that it is the account of the Persian Empire under wicked Hamen who tries to destroy the Jewish nation.

Greece, the great leader of Greece was Alexander the Great, even though he was not a persecutor of the Jewish people, out of his Grecian empire there arose an individual whose name was Antiochus Epiphanes, who became a great persecutor of the Jewish nation recorded in the book of Daniel.

Rome, we all know was a persecutor of Israel. John when writing this book is a prisoner of Rome because of his belief in Jesus Christ.

If the seventh one was the Third Reich then all of us are aware of how that empire under Adolf Hitler persecuted the Jews.

The Roman, General Titus came against Jerusalem in 70 AD and during a four month siege thoroughly destroyed the city and the temple, killing one million Jews and taking 100,000 captive. Thousands had also been killed prior to this.

They all had one thing in common, persecution of the Jews. Remember the Jew, the woman, was the one to give birth to the male child who would bring redemption to mankind and wound the serpent's head with a deadly wound.

These nations are all referred to as beast nations, all a part of the satanic empire throughout the course of history. So John says that there are five of them that are past, one is, one is to come and remain a little while; then the eighth and final beast empire ruled by Antichrist himself.

Satan used false religions and political power all through history to bring persecution on the Jews.

Verse 11, Here we are told that the Antichrist was; is not; he will come out of the seven and he will be the eighth and he will go into perdition. What is this saying? He was one of the seven leaders of the other seven beast empires, He was killed, he will come back to rule the final eighth beast empire, (a raising up from the dead), but he will not fall as the others did, he will be destroyed by God Himself.

Verses 12,13, The ten horns represent kings of nations that will rule with the eighth beast empire. But as of yet, (the time that John is writing this), they have no kingdom. But for one hour (a brief period of time) they will rule with the beast. These are of one mind, they have one purpose and that is to give their sovereignty and allegiance to the beast. They will have great political power and authority and will give it to the Antichrist. They will make up a world confederacy of ten nations with one man, (Antichrist) with absolute authority over these nations.

Verse 14, "These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them...", this is referring to the Battle of Armageddon where the Antichrist and his forces are overthrown, defeated and done away with. "Those that are with Him are called chosen and faithful." The Greek word for chosen is EKLEKTOS, it comes from ek, out of, and lego, to pick, gather. The word designates one picked out from among the larger group for special service or privileges. It describes Christ as the chosen Messiah of God (Luke 23:35), angels as messengers from heaven (1 Tim. 5:21), and believers as recipients of God's favor (Matt. 24:22; Rom. 8;33; Col. 3:12).

Verse 15, This verse is telling us that the waters on which the harlot sits are peoples, multitudes, nations and tongues. This indicates that there will be one ecumenical, universal, apostate religious system during the first half of the seventieth week, which of course will be destroyed by Antichrist when he sets himself up as God in the middle of the week and demands the worship of the world.

Verses 16,17, In a dramatic turn of events, the harlot's allies turn on her and destroy her. This is how evil operates, it discards its own adherents when they cease to serve its purposes. Once Antichrist sets himself up as God, even this false religious system, and those representative of her false system, must and will be destroyed since Antichrist will allow nothing to compete with him for the world's worship and absolute allegiance. He and his ungodly coalition of ten nations will, "hate the harlot and make her desolate and naked, and will eat her flesh and will burn her up with fire." Thinking they are acting freely out of their own self will, they will be in fact be fulfilling the will of God. "For God has put it in their hearts to execute His purposes."

Verse 18, This verse tells us that a one world-government is coming that will rule over virtually all people.

So we have seen this chapter has dealt with the destruction of Babylon with regard to its religious entity. The false religious system that has enticed people away from the true God by a works system in contrast to a grace system has been destroyed.