Untitled Sermon

The NIV Grace and Truth Study Bible Chapter 17

Rome was known throughout the ancient world as the city on seven hills, Babylon should probably be equated with Rome.

Revelation 17:5-6

5 And on her forehead was written a name of mystery: “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations.” 6 And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.

When I saw her, I marveled greatly.1

1 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Re 17:5–6.

John combines symbols—his Beast is swift as leopard, trampling as bear, fierce as lion (2). In Daniel, 4 beasts were 4 empires. We have here the Roman Empire seen collectively (for the heads, or horns, are emperors who will reign successively). 2b. Satan hands this Empire to his delegate—irony of the Dragon ‘cast down’ yet giving his throne to the Beast: but recall his offer to our Lord: ‘To thee will I give all this power and the glory thereof, for to me they are handed over, and to whom I will, I give them’ (Lk 4:6). One would say that this Fallen Angel had indeed been originally entrusted with the ‘princedom’ of this our world, and that his perverted intelligence makes him imagine that it still is his—and indeed, he exercises great power within it.§ c 5f. ‘Blasphemous titles’: certain emperors (e.g. Domitian) called themselves ‘Lord God’; all were treated as divine: Rome was a goddess (Dea Roma: cf. 2 Thess 2:4 ff.). The11 C. C. Martindale, “The Apocalypse,” in A Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture, ed. Bernard Orchard and Edmund F. Sutcliffe (Toronto; New York; Edinburgh: Thomas Nelson, 1953), 1203.

§ j Further explanation of 17:1 ff.—The Harlot is the City Rome (18):the Beast is the Empire on which the City is seated (3b ff.):the ‘waters’ (15) the medley of nations composing it. The 7 Heads are the 7 Hills of Rome (9); the domini colles (‘Hence’, i.e. from the Janiculum, ‘may you see the seven lordly hills—Hence may you reckon up the whole of Rome’: Martial): purple and scarlet’ (4), its flamboyant ostentation, contrasted with the ‘white’ of the Bride of the Lamb, below and passim: ‘gilded’; bedizened with gold, or possibly alluding to prostitutes who actually gilded themselves. ‘Pearls’: contemporary Roman women were quite mad about them: ‘The name on her forehead (5)’: perhaps not merely symbolical; prostitutes used to write their names over their doors. 10 ff. But the 7 heads are also 7 kings: John explicitly states that a symbol may have more than one meaning. Of these, one as it were incarnated the Beast itself. ‘It was, and is not, and is to have its advent’ (11). Supreme parody of the Lamb! Can we be more explicit? Not with absolute certainty. § k The Beast undoubtedly represents the total Roman Empire and indeed the world-enduring succession of such Powers as would be self-sufficient. 11 C. C. Martindale, “The Apocalypse,” in A Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture, ed. Bernard Orchard and Edmund F. Sutcliffe (Toronto; New York; Edinburgh: Thomas Nelson, 1953), 1205.

  X. BOB’S KEYS TO INTERPRETATION

A. We need to take into account the Jewish background

1. OT apocalyptic genre is a highly symbolic literary type

2. Numerous allusions are drawn from the OT (of 404 verses 275 include allusions to OT texts); the meaning of these symbols have been reinterpreted in light of the first-century Roman situation.

3. Prophetic foreshadowing takes current events to foreshadow eschatological events. Often these first- century historical fulfillments point to ultimate end-time historical fulfillments.

B. The overall structure of the book helps us to see the author’s purpose

1. The seals, trumpets, and bowls cover the same period of time. Revelation is a drama in sequential acts.

2. The temporal Messianic reign is preliminary to the eternal reign of the Father (cf. 1 Cor. 15:26–28). The Heavenly Kingdom supercedes the earthly one.

C. The historical context must be taken into account in any interpretation of the book

1. The presence of Emperor worship

2. Local persecution in the Eastern Provinces

3. The Bible cannot mean what it never meant. The interpretation of Revelation must be related to John’s day first. It may have multiple fulfillments or applications, but they must be grounded in the text and time of the first century.

D. The meaning of some of the cryptic terms has been lost to us due to our cultural, linguistic and existential setting. Possibly the end-time events themselves will shed light on the proper interpretation of these symbols. Be careful not to push all of the details of this apocalyptic prophecy. Modern interpreters must seek the major truth in each of these visions.

E. Let me summarize some of the key interpretive elements

1. The historical origins of the symbolism

a. OT themes

b. OT allusions

c. Intertestamental apocalyptic literature

d. Greco-Roman first century setting

2. The author’s ways of defining his symbolism

a. Conversations with angelic guides

b. The hymn of heavenly choirs

c. Author himself states the meaning

3. The structure of the book (especially the parallel between the seals, trumpets, and bowls)1

1 Robert James Utley, New Testament Survey: Matthew–Revelation (Marshall, Texas: Bible Lessons International, 2000), 182–183.

Her name, “MYSTERY BABYLON,” indicates that she is not literal Babylon. The word “mystery” identifies her with the religious rites and mysteries of ancient Babylon1

1 Finis Jennings Dake, The Dake Annotated Reference Bible (Dake Publishing, 1997), Re 17:18

17:5 The first city of Babylon built the Tower of Babel, and Babylon later destroyed the city of Jerusalem in 586 BC. Babylon here is another name for the kingdom of the prostitute, the great enemy of God’s people. See chapter 18 for a reaction to her fall. See also 17:9 and its footnote for another clue. By this time, the first city of Babylon was ruined, but Jews and Christians used Babylon as a cryptic name for Rome (1 Peter 5:13 and note).

17:9 John’s readers would easily recognize the city of seven hills as Rome. 1

1 The Wartburg Project, Holy Bible: Evangelical Heritage Version Study Bible (Midland, MI: Northwestern Publishing House; Wartburg Project, 2019), Re 17:5–9.

REVELATION 17:5

Babylon and Rome

Rome does not exhaust the significance of Babylon, but Rome embodied the spirit of Babylon for the first-century churches in Asia Minor. A number of points make clear this connection with Rome.

First, like the earlier empire of Babylon, Rome destroyed the temple and enslaved many of God’s people. As Israel once experienced exile under the evil empire of Babylon, now they experienced the captivity of a new evil empire in Rome.

Second, and especially for reasons just noted, Jewish thinkers often compared Rome to Babylon. The connection came partly because of the interpretation of Daniel’s prophecies about the four kingdoms (Da 2:36–45; 7:3–14); Babylon was the first of the kingdoms, and first-century Jewish interpreters understood Rome as the last.

Third, the woman sits on seven mountains (Rev 17:9); ancient writers regularly portrayed Rome in this manner.

Fourth, the leader of Babylon may be a new Nero (Rev 17:8–11).

Fifth, this empire rules over the other kings of the earth (Rev 17:18). It rules the nations gathered around the sea because it is a maritime power (Rev 17:15).

Sixth, Rome (and only Rome) traded in the same merchandise noted in Rev 18:12–13.

These factors show that Rome was the Babylon, the oppressive empire, of John’s day; but many also view Revelation’s Babylon as the evil world system that in principle continues beyond Rome’s fall. Romans regarded as subversive those who prophesied Rome’s fall.

It is easy for modern readers to miss John’s audacity: banished to an island, he recounts a funeral dirge over the most powerful empire the Mediterranean world had ever known (Rev 18:2). Rome was close to the height of its power; the church was growing but may have constituted less than 0.1 percent of the empire’s population. Yet because John knew that God’s people had outlived the earlier, powerful empire of Babylon, just as the prophets had predicted, he had every reason for confidence that the same would happen regarding other powerful empires, including the empire that he lived under. Within five centuries a weakened Rome was sacked.

First-century coin depicting Roma seated on seven hills. John uses this ancient reference to Rome in Rev 17:9.

Sestertius of Vespasian depicting Roma seated on seven hills and Capitoline Wolf, AD 71, verso, Roman coins, first century AD/Palazzo Massimo alle Terme, Rome, Italy/De Agostini Picture Library/A. de Gregorio/Bridgeman Images1

1 Craig S. Keener and John H. Walton, eds., NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible: Bringing to Life the Ancient World of Scripture (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2016), p.2255.

17:11 On the beast that was and is not, see note at vv. 7–8. The phrase that the beast is an eighth king yet belongs to the seven1

1 Luter, A. B. (2017). Revelation. In E. A. Blum & T. Wax (Eds.), CSB Study Bible: Notes (pp. 2039–2040). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.

Note: 17:18 infers the woman is a city. 17:9 infers the city of seven hills. Hence, the seven heads are a reference to Rome - the seat of the Roman Empire in John’s day.

Impossible for the seven heads to be kingdoms since the eighth king was of the seven which clearly refers to kings alone.

17:11 On the beast that was and is not, see note at vv. 7–8. The phrase that the beast is an eighth king yet belongs to the seven1

1 Luter, A. B. (2017). Revelation. In E. A. Blum & T. Wax (Eds.), CSB Study Bible: Notes (pp. 2039–2040). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.

A different approach is to take the seven kings as a succession of secular empires. One writer, for instance, lists Egypt, Nineveh, Babylon, Persia, and Greece as the five that have fallen; Rome is the present kingdom; and the one to come is the Christian empire beginning with Constantine.43 Another has a slightly different listing and makes the seventh a “collective title for all antichristian governments between the fall of Rome and the final empire of antichrist.”44 The basic problem with this approach is that the Greek word under consideration is everywhere throughout the NT translated “king,” not “kingdom.”45

Mounce, Robert H. The Book of Revelation. The New International Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1997. p.317

Kingdoms = BAD Hermeneutics! Cp. Martindale, C. C. “The Apocalypse.” In A Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture, 1953 & Utley, Robert James (TEDS Alumni). New Testament Survey: Matthew–Revelation. (p.182-183).

The word in Rv 17:10 is “kings” not “kingdoms.”

935. βασιλεύς basileús; masc. noun. A king, monarch.

(I) Of David (Matt. 1:6; Acts 13:22); of Pharaoh (Acts 7:10, 18; Heb. 11:23, 27); of the Roman emperor (John 19:15);

Zodhiates, Spiros. The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament. Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2000.