Revelation 17:1-3
"And there came one of the seven angels that had
the seven bowls, and spake with me, saying, Come
hither, I will show thee the judgment of the great
harlot that sitteth upon many waters; 2 with whom
the kings of the earth committed fornication, and
they that dwell in the earth were made drunken with
the wine of her fornication."
Chapter 17 opens with one of
the angels bearing God's bowls of wrath coming near
to John with the intention of showing him the "judgment
of the great harlot that sitteth on many waters."
The King James version refers to this woman as a "whore."
There is some dispute in the religious world today
as to who is to be the recipient of God's wrath as
pictured in the Revelation. When looking at the
characteristics of this woman and comparing her to
what we know of the Roman Empire, there can be
little doubt as to who this infamous woman
represents. The angel goes to great lengths to
identify her throughout the chapter. In verse 18,
the angel removes all doubt as to who this woman
is.
Revelation 17:18
"And the woman whom
thou sawest is the great city, which reigneth over
the kings of the earth."
There was only one city on
earth in the time of John's letter that fit that
description. The woman can only be the city of
Rome. So with this in mind, we will look at the
characteristics of this woman and examine just how
closely she really resembles the imperial city.
She is introduced as a
"harlot" in verse 1. In verse 5 she is labeled on
her forehead as the "Mother of the harlots." Being
the mother of harlots means being responsible
for the procreation of harlots. Harlotry in this
case being descriptive of spiritual fornication or
unfaithfulness to the Lord (Ezekiel
16,
Jeremiah 2:1,
Hosea 1:1). Imperial Rome compelled the
conquered kings to enter into fornication with her
in the form of emperor worship and she tried to
force it upon her citizenry. Thus we have the
imagery of a woman who by her actions spawned
spiritual harlots who worshipped the emperor instead
of Jehovah.
The "many waters" upon which
the scarlet woman sits is explained in verse 15: "And
he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest,
where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and
multitudes, and nations, and tongues." This
leads right into verse 2 where the angel says "with
whom the kings of the earth have committed
fornication." The key words being "with
whom." The imagery here is that the rulers of
the people represented by the "many waters"
were guilty of fornication with the "mother of
harlots" and they were specifically mentioned by
the angel, signifying this was coming from the
highest levels of government. The spiritual
fornication in view here was mandated from the
leadership of the people down to the citizenry.
Revelation 17:3
"And he carried me away in the Spirit into a
wilderness: and I saw a woman sitting upon a
scarlet-colored beast, full of names of blasphemy,
having seven heads and ten horns."
In the vision, the angel removes John from where he
was and takes him into a wilderness where he sees "a
woman." The question immediately arises, is
this the same woman previously mentioned? A closer
examination of her characteristics reveals that she
is bedecked with those items signifying royalty.
Verse 4 describes her in terms of being "arrayed
in purple (meaning royalty) and scarlet
(meaning deadly), and decked with gold and
precious stone and pearls." This is most
certainly an image of the top of the hierarchy of
Roman authority. The woman in view here is
representative of none other than the Roman emperor
himself.
"...[S]itting upon a
scarlet colored beast...." This beast bears a
striking resemblance to the beast mentioned in
Revelation 13:1. The scarlet color would
indicate that the beast was deadly and wicked. Like
the previous beast, this one has seven heads and ten
horns. The seven heads are later described in
Revelation 17:9-10, "Here is the mind that hath
wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on
which the woman sitteth: and they are seven
kings...." We don't need to speculate any on
what this means. It obviously refers to the
emperors of the Roman Empire.
The "ten horns" are
explained in verse 12: "And the ten horns which
thou sawest are ten kings." The Roman Empire as
a republic was organized as a provincial
government. Each province was ruled by a governor
appointed by the Emperor. There were many more than
just ten provinces in the Roman Empire, and there
were not exactly seven emperors at the time of
John's letter. A figurative view of the imagery
would be that the beast had 7 (perfect) heads and 10
(complete) horns (authority). The imagery will be
something that is easily pictured in the
imaginations the first readers. It is likely the
complete sum of all the Roman provinces were
represented by the number ten with the seven
mountains which were also kings being the Emperors
reigning over the kings of the provinces. The
discussion of the ten horns is taken up in more
detail later in this study.
"Full of the names of
blasphemy" would be a
reference to the names the beast called himself.
Domitian, during his reign issued his decrees as
"Lord God Domitianus" and such. Therefore it would
have been unmistakable in the minds of the first
readers of John's letter that he was referring to
the emperor.
Revelation 17:4
"And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet,
and decked with gold and precious stone and pearls,
having in her hand a golden cup full of
abominations, even the unclean things of her
fornication,"
The woman sitting on the beast
is arrayed in royal trappings. This imagery is
descriptive of the Roman leadership. She is
carrying a "golden cup full of abominations".
In verse 6 we see that this woman is "drunken in
the blood of the saints and with the blood of the
martyrs of Jesus" signifying some of the
contents of the golden cup. The "unclean things
of her fornication" would represent all the
evils which have come from her idolatry and
persecution.
Revelation 17:5-6
"And upon her forehead a name written, MYSTERY,
BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF THE HARLOTS AND OF
THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. 6 And I saw the woman
drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the
blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I
wondered with a great wonder."
God is giving this description
as an identification of the scarlet woman. She is
the main harlot of John's Revelation, she is the
main one responsible for idolatry, referred to as
the "mother of the harlots." In Daniel,
Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon made a statue
roughly 90 feet tall and 9 feet wide. He set this
huge statue up in the plain of Dura in the province
of Babylon. Everybody is familiar with the story of
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. They refused to
bow down to Nebuchadnezzar's statue and worship it
and were thrown into the fiery furnace (Daniel 3).
The scarlet woman, this mother of harlots, was named
Babylon the great. What did real Babylon and the
great harlot named Babylon in Revelation 17 share in
common? They both imposed forced worship of an idol
of the king of their country on their citizenry.
Looking back on the lesser land beast described in
Revelation 13, we see in verse 14 that the lesser
beast, which has been identified as the Roman
Imperial cult known as the Concilia, made images, or
statues to the greater beast and required these
statues to be worshipped. They had the power to
cause those who refused to worship the images to be
killed (Revelation 13:15). This is identical to
what happened in Babylon under the reign of king
Nebuchadnezzar. Thus the great whore is identified
with Babylon who forced her people to worship idols.
In Peter's epistle, he made a
reference to Babylon in 1 Peter 5:13. Although
questioned by some who would see this verse as a
reference to Peter's wife, the best view is almost
certainly that the church in Babylon is meant. At
the time of this writing Babylon had been destroyed
never to be rebuilt and was nothing more than an
isolated military outpost at best. There is no
evidence anywhere that Peter was literally in
Babylon at any time. There is evidence that Peter
did travel to Rome and this evidence predates the
apostate church. Tradition places the death of
Peter in Rome by the order of Nero. At the time
Peter wrote this epistle it was necessary to speak
in guarded terms about the city of Rome in view of
the persecution of Nero.
There are a number of reasons
why Peter would refer to Rome as Babylon. Ancient
Babylon was a center of enmity and oppression of
God's people, so Rome had become in the times of the
apostles. Peter referred to his readers as "strangers
and pilgrims" in a foreign land (1 Peter 2:11)
as were the Israelites in Babylon. Babylon was well
known to the Jews as being a nation who worshipped
many false gods as was Rome. All these
considerations taken together have great weight in
indicating that the Peter's meaning was the city of
Rome. It is most significant here in this
examination to recognize the fact that Jerusalem was
never referred to as Babylon in scripture. Peter
almost certainly had Rome in mind when he spoke
allegorically of Babylon. His readership would
have known this which strongly indicates that it was
a well known and commonly understood reference to
the city of Rome among the Jewish Christians which
the Romans would be unable to understand. This well
known reference to the city of Rome certainly
carried over to John's Jewish readership and there
is every reason to believe that when the name of
Babylon was given to the harlot, the city of Rome
came to the minds of the Christians. We must keep
in mind that what Revelation meant to them is what
it must mean to us. It was written specifically to
them, with applications for us.
In addition to being named "BABYLON
THE GREAT", the scarlet woman is called "THE
MOTHER OF THE HARLOTS". A mother is responsible
for producing offspring. She forms a mental image
of someone from whom others come forth.
Nebuchadnezzar's forced idol worship proliferated
and produced idol worshippers out of her citizenry.
The scarlet woman, who is identified by name with
Babylon, was said to have made the inhabitants of
the earth "drunk with the wine of her fornication"
Fornication in this context is representative of
idol worship or the worship of a false god. The
Scarlet Woman, the great harlot, was guilty of
forced idolatry.
Moreover, this woman delights
to drink or partake of the blood of God's saints.
This certainly fits the city of Rome and her severe
oppression of the 1st century Christians. She has
spilled so much blood and partaken of so much
bloodshed that she is intoxicated by it. The blood
of the saints is all over her. The scarlet woman's
identity is further determined by the explanation
given to John by the angel beginning in verse 7.
Revelation 17:7-8
"And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou
wonder? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman,
and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the
seven heads and the ten horns. 8 The beast that thou
sawest was, and is not; and is about to come up out
of the abyss, and to go into perdition. And they
that dwell on the earth shall wonder, (they) whose
name hath not been written in the book of life from
the foundation of the world, when they behold the
beast, how that he was, and is not, and shall come.
"
"and of the beast that
carrieth her"
This imagery is of the scarlet woman being born upon
or supported by the beast. This certainly fits the
relationship between the city of Rome and the
empire.
"The beast that thou sawest
was, and is not; and is about to come up out of the
abyss, and to go into perdition."
The beast that was and is not and is about to come
and then go is probably a reference to the changing
leadership of the Empire. Emperors came and
emperors went. It is obvious that the imagery here
is one of the changing nature of the beast. The
line of evil Roman emperors certainly fits this
description. History records that there was some
controversy around the death of Nero. Many people
doubted that he was really dead from suicide. It
was suspected that he actually fled to Parthia where
he was gathering an army from among them to return
to Rome and unseat whatever emperor was in control
and rule over the Roman Empire again. Domitian
claimed in his early years as emperor to be Nero
returned so it was a common superstition among the
people of the time that Domitian was thought to be
Nero either returned or reincarnated. The allusion
to the "was, and is not; and is about to come"
certainly appears to fit the text. We must keep in
mind the writer is appealing to the imaginations of
his first readers and they would certainly be
familiar with the general superstitions and be able
to understand what was being illustrated here.
"And they that dwell on the
earth shall wonder, (they) whose name hath not been
written in the book of life from the foundation of
the world"
Obviously those who never had
their names written in the book of life is a
reference to the infidels. Their "wonder" may be an
expression of amazement at the beast's vitality and
ability to die or disappear and then return in
another form to continue his deadly designs on the
Christians. Those who do have their names written
in the book of life (the faithful) understand that
as terrible and tenacious as the beast appears to
be, his end is going to be perdition. The Greek
word for perdition here means destruction, utter
ruin and loss of well being. This also fits well
with the superstitions of a returning Nero as
Domitian who would rule again and then disappear
into ruin.
Revelation 17:9-11
"Here is the mind that hath wisdom. The seven
heads are seven mountains, on which the woman
sitteth: 10 and they are seven kings; the five are
fallen, the one is, the other is not yet come; and
when he cometh, he must continue a little while. 11
And the beast that was, and is not, is himself also
an eighth, and is of the seven; and he goeth into
perdition."
The seven heads of the beast
were seven heads of the Roman empire. The first
emperor who was emperor under constitutional law was
Augustus. He was the first one that was elected by
the senate and approved by the military. Election
and military approval were necessary by Roman law.
Julius Caesar was a dictator before Rome was a
republic and was only in office because of popular
demand. He was never legally appointed to his
position under constitutional law. So with this in
mind, we start our counting with the first legally
elected head of the Roman Empire, as a republic,
under the government in force at the time of the
writing of John's revelation.
The first five emperors are
Augustus (26BC-13AD), Tiberius (14AD-37AD), Caligula
(37AD-41AD), Claudius (41AD-64AD) and Nero
(64AD-68AD). Verse 10 says these five are fallen
thus out of the picture. "The one is" in verse 10
would be Vespasian, the sixth king/emperor, who
ruled from 69AD-79AD. The "other is not yet come;
and when he cometh, he must continue a little while"
would be Titus who only reigned from 79AD-81. His
reign was short, only a "little while", and he was
the seventh king. Now we come to the king in verse
11 who is the "eighth". This is the first mention
of this king, who would have been Domitian. He is
the one that "was and is not" which refers back to
Domitian's claim that he was the reincarnation of
Nero. Also the eighth king was "of the seven" which
means that he was related to them. Domitian was the
brother of Titus and the son of Vespasian of the
Flavian dynasty.
Clearly the text appears by
all points to date the writing of the Revelation
during the reign of Vespasian. This creates a
difficulty in that tradition places John on the
island of Patmos when the letter was written, having
been exiled there by Domitian himself. The
Revelation is believed by the majority of scholars
to have been written toward the end of Domitian's
reign based largely on secular writings. There are
some difficulties with John writing the revelation
at that time, chiefly that one must ask what good it
would do to write the book in 95-96AD, when the
fiercest persecutions were almost over?
Additionally, how much time would it take to copy
and distribute this letter to the churches in Asia
to which the letter was addressed?
Here is a possible
explanation. Secular writing states that
"Revelation was written in the days of Domitian."
It's hard to tell in the original Greek if that
means it was WRITTEN then or SEEN then. John could
have been sent to Patmos by the local authorities
there in Ephesus rather than by Vespasian himself
sometime during his reign. The Gnostics in Ephesus
felt John was causing problems as he was exposing
the error of their thinking. John being on Patmos
during Vespasian’s reign would make the writing of
the book in the late 70’s very possible. John may
have still been there during the reign of Titus and
then allowed back to the mainland around 81 AD. The
book at that point could have been copied and
dispersed to the churches in Asia to be "SEEN in the
days of Domitian." Domitian’s worst persecutions
started later into his reign, so that would have
given the Christians time to read the book and know
what was coming "shortly" and help them get ready
for the intense persecutions to come.
Revelation 17:12-13
"And the ten horns that thou sawest are ten
kings, who have received no kingdom as yet; but they
receive authority as kings, with the beast, for one
hour. 13 These have one mind, and they give their
power and authority unto the beast."
This is an explanation of the
of the ten horns of the beast mentioned back in
verse 3. The ten horns represent the power of the
empire which was concentrated in the provinces and
not in the city of Rome herself. The ten kings who
had not yet received a kingdom were the vassal
kings/leaders who ruled over the provinces and
received authority from Rome, basking in this
authority for a short period of time (one hour).
These vassal kings realizing their power and
authority came directly from Rome were eager to
please those in power in the imperial city. This
would explain why they were so zealous to persecute
Christians. When recruited by Rome to respond to
insurrection they viewed the Christians as easy
targets, thus being able to curry the favor of the
Emperor easily. Leaders of Provinces ruled longer
with the favor of the emperor.
Daniel prophecies of a great
beast in
Daniel 7:23, "Thus he said, The fourth beast
shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall
be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the
whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it
in pieces." The "beast" of Daniel is the
same as the "beast" of Revelation. This is
an unmistakable reference to the Roman Empire. No
other empire fitting this description devoured the
whole earth. Daniel goes on to say that out of this
4th kingdom will arise one who will "speak great
words against the most High, and shall wear out the
saints of the most High, and think to change times
and laws" (Daniel
7:25). This can be no other person but an
emperor of the 4th kingdom; The beast of Daniel; the
beast of Revelation. No other imagery would come to
mind in the imaginations of the first readers of
Revelation.
Revelation 17:14
"These shall war against the Lamb, and the Lamb
shall overcome them, for he is Lord of lords, and
King of kings; and they (also shall overcome) that
are with him, called and chosen and faithful."
The leaders of these provinces
rose up against the Christians to the call of the
Imperial city. However, the faithful Christians,
against all odds will prevail against them and win
in the end. The lamb in this verse is obviously
Jesus who was portrayed in other New Testament as a
lamb (John
1:29;
1:36).
Revelation 17:15
"And he saith unto me, The waters which thou
sawest, where the harlot sitteth, are peoples, and
multitudes, and nations, and tongues."
This was the explanation of
the waters upon which the harlot sat, given to John
by the angel in verse 1. Commentaries on Revelation
are a lot easier when it explains itself from
within. There is little room for error in such
instances.
Revelation 17:16
"And the ten horns which thou sawest, and the
beast, these shall hate the harlot, and shall make
her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and
shall burn her utterly with fire."
The kings of the provinces
will ultimately turn against Rome. One of Rome's
greatest fears was insurrection and turmoil in the
provinces. History records that is precisely what
happened to the Roman Empire. She was defeated from
within by her own subjects.
Revelation 17:17
"For God did put in their hearts to do his mind,
and to come to one mind, and to give their kingdom
unto the beast, until the words of God should be
accomplished."
This was John's
way of saying, "God's will be done." To ask how God
did this is but an exercise in futility. Throughout
history God used men and nations to carry out His
purpose. He could turn a nation to fighting within
itself, as in the case of Midian during the time of
Gideon (Judges
7:22), and of the Philistines in the days of
Saul (1
Samuel 14:20). In the battle of Moab and Ammon
against Mount Sier, God gave victory to king
Jehoshaphat without the army of Judah lifting a
sword (2
Chronicles 20:23). God's objective of putting
in the hearts of the kings in Revelation 17 to do
his mind is merely an example of His divine guidance
in everything. God is in charge and His will shall
be accomplished. Not one word shall fail, all will
come to pass.
Revelation 17:18
"And the woman whom thou sawest is the great
city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth."
If one shred of doubt remains
as to the identity of this woman, it should here be
solved once and for all. This verse was mentioned
at the onset of the study on chapter 17 in order to
give a positive identification to her identity for
the purpose of firmly establishing who she was in
our minds as we work through the text. The woman is
here identified for us as the "city that reigneth
over the kings of the earth." Rome ruled her empire
through a government system made up of several
geographic territories called provinces. Each
province fell under the control of a provincial
governor. The governors of these provinces were
completely at the whim of the Emperor and could
serve from 1 to 5 years. There were about 28
imperial provinces at the height of the empire. All
of these provinces were subject to Roman rule.
There is some thinking in the
brotherhood that names the Jewish nation as the
identity of the great whore and the recipients of
God's wrath in the revelation pertains to the
destruction of Jerusalem in AD70. Jerusalem did not
reign over the kings of the earth. Jerusalem was
not forcing anybody to worship a false god. They
were worshipping the one true and living God
falsely. The Jews were in God's disfavor from
their rejection of Christ and His Gospel message and
found themselves under Roman authority. They were
not ruling over the kings of the earth, rather they
were vassal nation within and under the subjection
of the Roman Empire and they were crushed because of
their revolt against Roman authority.
In addition to this, the
Revelation was written in symbolic language which
Jews would have been able to understand. God always
expressed His will in this manner when His people
were in distress. This was the way God used to
communicate to His people without placing them in
danger from their enemies. God's will was revealed
to His faithful children in ways only they would be
able to understand while keeping it concealed from
their enemies. The immediate problem with Jerusalem
being the Harlot is that the Jews still worshipping
under the Mosaic Law would have been perfectly well
able to understand all the symbols used in the
Revelation. God's purpose for using Apocalyptic
language would have been self defeating if the
Harlot was the city of Jerusalem.
God's judgment was coming on
the "great harlot that sitteth on many waters"
(Revelation
17:1); "BABYLON THE GREAT" who forced
idol worship on her citizens on pain of death, just
like the real Babylon did. There can be no doubt
this is referring to the Imperial City of Rome. She
with "whom the kings of the earth committed
fornication" (17:2);
She who was "drunken with the blood of the saints"
(17:6);
and who sits "upon a scarlet colored beast"
(17:3); She who was the "Mother of the Harlots"
(17:5);
and she who is "the city, which reigneth over the
kings of the earth" (Revelation
17:18).
The Downfall of Imperial Rome
Such great significance has
been attached to Imperial Rome as the center of the
persecuting power toward Christianity in the latter
half of the first century, that three chapters of
the Revelation are given to portray her downfall.
Chapter 17 appears to be intent on identifying Rome
as the recipient of God's judgment and portraying
just how evil an adversary she is to the saints.
Verse 14 reassures the Christians that God will be
victorious in the end. Those who are "called and
chosen and faithful" will overcome and emerge
victorious.