The Beast and the Harlot

Revelation 17.

Babylon refers to the entire worldwide political, economic, and religious kingdom of the Antichrist. The original city of Babylon was the epicenter of idolatry. This is where the tower of Babel, a monument to rebellion and false religion, was constructed. The idolatry spread from there when God confused the languages of the people, and they spread across the globe as a result. So the Antichrist’s kingdom will be referred to as Babylon due to its idolatry towards God.

The sexual immorality is not that of a physical nature, but that of a spiritual one. The Antichrist has take the world by a spiritual choke hold. “Serve me, or die.” and we know that this is not going to sit too well with out God, it cannot. So God destroys the system.

Blasphemous = sacrilegious against God or sacred things.

Sacrilege = violation or misuse of what is regarded as sacred.

Using God’s name in vain, acting inappropriately in church, saying things unholy in His house (by the way, where is the temple of God? It is your body. Think differently the next time you think that your actions do not mean anything. Your body is the temple of the living God. Your life should reflect that.)

Blasphemous names refers to the Antichrist calling himself God. This is clear blasphemy because there is only one true God, and the Antichrist is not it.

Seven heads, seven mountains, are the world powers. At the time of John writing Revelation, 5 kingdoms had come and gone, one existed, and 2 more where yet to come. Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, and Greece had all fallen, the Roman’s were still at large, and the Antichrist’s kingdom was yet to come. (A second kingdom is referred after the antichrist is “resurrected.

10 horns: These 10 horns represent future kings of the final world government. They will be leaders of the world that form a coalition together, the antichrist being in their midst, and the antichrist will rise to control the coalition as well as the world.

So putting it all together, the beast that everything is riding on is the antichrist. The heads are the world powers who have always ridden on the powers of the anti-God forces of the devil, and the 10 horns are future powers who will follow the antichrist and give him power over the world.

The lady riding on the beast is the harlot of religion. Harlot is a prostitute, it is used here to describe the fact that the world has turned it’s back on God and chased after many other gods. Thus, she is called a harlot because of the vast amounts of suitors of false religions across time. She represents all false religion, and at the time of the tribulation all peoples will be unified in a religion not of God, which she represents and embodies now. The final false religion, being drunk on the blood of the saints that were killed in the name of “religion.” The waters represents all of the nations of the world, and the fact that she is sitting over them shows that the false religion has spread into every nation across the globe.

Finally, the beast and his followers destroy the harlot. Why? Because the antichrist is going to channel all of the religious focus onto himself. He goes from worshipping a god, to being the god. By the end, no one can live without giving their allegiance and devotion to him. But by this point, the bitter end before Christ returns, I do not believe there will be anyone who wants it any other way. Even though God is rolling out punishments left and right to offer the world one more shot at redemption.

The end is very near, and the antichrist is about to be over run.