Revelation 17

John moves on from a very general judgement on the entire world to now moving on to the end of Revelation, with the fall of Babylon

The Prostitute (Rev. 17:1-6)

Revelation contrasts two different cities. Jerusalem is the bride (Rev. 21:2) and Babylon is the prostitute (Rev. 17:5)

It was incredibly common to personify nations or powers as women. We even do it today (lady liberty, the statue of liberty, etc.)

The woman is on a beast that is identified with the dragon in Rev. 12:3 and is loosely identified with Rome as well (Rev. 13:1)

She was on “many waters” probably points to a lot of people following her. (Rev. 17:15)

The woman also drags other people/nations into immorality. (Rev. 17:2)

The clothing that the prostitute was wearing indicates that she is incredibly wealthy.

It is significant that she is drunk with blood. It both signifies the horror of the situation, but it also shows that the prostitute/Babylon hates Christianity (Rev. 17:6)

The woman acts as a kind of prototype for the concept of prostitution, a metaphor for rebellion against God. (Rev. 17:5)

The Seven Heads: Rev. 17: 7-11.

Rome was regularly portrayed as the kingdom that was on 7 mountains

Within Rome’s kingdom, there were 7 main mountains that the Roman Empire used as a point of pride.

The setup of the kings probably pulls from the Roman emperors, although that is usually attributed to just be symbolic. There were enough emperors to make the math work out, and Nero (who acts as the archetype for evil) was in that number, and is probably the fifth king.

Some argue that the beast that was and is not and is about to come is actually Nero (or Nero as the archetype for the beast), which would follow along with Rev. 13.

The phrasing is a play on words to what is said of God in Revelation 4:8 “And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within; and day and night they do not cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come.””

The number 7 with the kings is probably symbolic because of the significance of the number seven, although it’s not entirely impossible that there are 7 kings in John’s scheme.

The seven kings was also probably pulled from Daniel 7, so that would follow along with the theme of Revelation.

Or, as another commentator puts it, seven is one of John’s symbolic numbers, “and they would remain seven no matter how long the actual list happened to be.

The Ten Horns: Rev. 17:12-18.

A lot of this imagery is pulled from Daniel 7.

No one is quite sure who these kings are. There are a variety of different opinions on this, some argue that they are actually the ‘Kings of the East” referenced in Rev. 16:12, but overall, we know that they are supposed to signify some power in the world that eventually allies itself with the woman.

They get to rule for one hour (Rev. 17:12) as a way to show that they will not be in power for very long.

They try to fight God, but, as with everyone who fights God, they’re going to lose incredibly fast.

The alliance that the 10 kings have with the prostitute is only temporary, and they eventually come to hate each other and attempt to destroy one another, but especially they want to destroy the prostitute.

“The prostitute’s stripping (Rev. 17: 16) may allude to the way one may disgrace oneself after having drunk too much (Lam. 4:21), especially if she were an evil empire who had made others drink (Hab. 2:15–16). Stripping was also standard practice before scourging or execution; most relevant here, it signifies a standard ancient penalty for sexual unfaithfulness

“Perhaps the most striking statement about God’s great rule is the fact that he is sovereign even in their evil, using it for his own long-range purposes (Rev. 17:17)

Application

Who is Babylon/Rome/Prostitute?

“The spirit of Babylon and Rome (which John calls a new “Babylon”) outlasts both individual empires to represent evil empires as the world in its most tyrannical form.

“As noted in our introduction, we should examine the Bible on its own terms and not read modern events into it. We should apply it to the events of our day, but—unless we have clear biblical indication that our time is somehow special (which usually comes only in retrospect)—we should apply it as we would to the events of every generation and to our own lives.

Morality

We need to be people that fight against evil in our society.

The US is not like the total image of evil that we see in Rome or something like the Soviet Union or Nazi Germany. However, the US is the biggest exporter of immorality, very similarly to Rome/Babylon/Prostitute

Our media has been constantly pumping us full of terrible things.

“By the age of sixteen the average child raised in the United States has witnessed “26,000 overt sex acts and as many as 400,000 sexual references and innuendos, as well as 200,000 portrayals of violence, including 33,000 murders, on television and in movies.

“Early Christians refused to go into theaters to be “entertained” by watching other people suffer. It is said that in the fourth century an Asian monk named Telemachus visited Rome and was horrified by a gladiatorial fight in the Colosseum. Hurling himself between the gladiators he sought to prevent either of them from being killed, until he was killed instead. As he lay still on the ground, one spectator got up in disgust, followed by others, until everyone had gone. This marked the end of gladiatorial contests in Rome’s Coliseum.

Beyond that, every empire in history has eventually collapsed, so we shouldn’t put our trust or our faith into a system that we can guarantee will eventually collapse. Our faith can only be put in God and His Kingdom, because everything else is going to fail.

Questions

How can we be people that still live in the world/culture, but avoid getting “seduced by immorality”

Why do you think John calls the woman the “mother of prostitutes” in Revelation 17:5?

Why do you think the woman and the beast/kings eventually turn on each other? What is the significance of that?