Monday, February 16, 2015

Revelation 17 - Ecclesiastical Babylon

First, review Babylon - The Harlot by Ken Cayce: www.discoverrevelation.com/9.html


Above image from www.truthnet.org/Christianity/revelation/Revelation17/


"In this chapter, we see Satan’s method to subdue and seduce the kings of the earth and how God plans to destroy these satanic institutions. Chapters 17 and 18 of Revelation deal with the “New Babylon”. Chapter 17 deals with the religious system and 18 with the political system. The timing of the 17th chapter is parenthetical and actually takes place at the beginning of the second half of the tribulation period.

"The Antichrist at the start of the tribulation period comes to power in the guise of peace. One method of his peace is the establishment of a religious system. The system will unify a world at war. The Beast and the false prophet will unify kingdoms of the world under a religious and economic system. Islam and apostate Christianity, along with other religions will be united, following the rapture. The world will look for answers, and they will be ripe for spiritual deception.

"During the Midpoint, changes in the spiritual realms will cause changes to the “Religious system”. The Beast and his image will become the focus of worship. Satan, who will inhabit the body of the Antichrist, will want direct worship from the world. The False Prophet who helped unify the earth into one world religion will now turn the world to worship the Beast and his image. With worship of the Beast and his image as the focus, there will no longer be a need for a unified world religion. The Beast will now be the focus; the kings in the Beast’s kingdom will now turn on the religious system and destroy it. By destroying the religious system, they will accomplish God’s will."

Above paragraphs excerpted from www.truthnet.org/Christianity/revelation/Revelation17/

"The woman is a great city: "... this woman ... represents the great city that rules over the kings of the earth " (verse 18). Many have taken this to mean that the woman represents the capital city of Antichrist's kingdom, but this cannot be, for Antichrist himself rules over the kings of the earth.

"If, then, the woman is not the Antichrist, what other possible explanation can we have for such unanimous world dominance? The only answer is the one system before which all kings, dictators, and nations have been forced to bow down throughout history, that is, the Babylonian religion of idolatry. One cannot go anywhere in the world without being confronted with some semblance of the idolatry.

"No system in the world's history has enslaved more people than this awful religion. It should not take us by surprise that this prostitute woman, the religious system, is referred to as a city. When used symbolically, a woman is always intended throughout the Scripture to signify a spiritual or religious movement. If a good woman, it is "Jehovah's wife" or "the bride of Christ". If an evil woman, such as "a prostitute," it represents the evil religious system of idolatry.

"Even before we come to the angel's interpretation of this vision, it is clear that we are not dealing with a mere human being, for no one woman can commit fornication with the kings of the earth, nor can a woman be "drunk with the blood of God's holy people who were witnesses for Jesus.""

Above paragraphs excerpted from www.discoverrevelation.com/Rev_17.html

Chapters 17 & 18 fill in some details from previous chapters. We are now going back in time from the events of Chapter 16. Revelation 14:8 gave a one-line prediction about the fall of Babylon: Then another angel followed him through the skies, shouting, "Babylon is fallen -- that great city is fallen -- because she seduced the nations of the world and made them drink the wine of her passionate immorality." One of the judgments in Chapter 16 focused on its destruction. Chapters 17-18 are disclosing more details about Babylon's destruction.

Revelation 16:17-20: Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air. And a mighty shout came from the throne of the Temple in heaven, saying, " It is finished!" Then the thunder crashed and rolled, and lightning flashed. And there was an earthquake greater than ever before in human history. The great city of Babylon split into three pieces, and cities around the world fell into heaps of rubble. And so God remembered all of Babylon's sins, and he made her drink the cup that was filled with the wine of his fierce wrath. And every island disappeared, and all the mountains were leveled.

(1) One of the seven angels who had poured out the seven bowls came over and spoke to me. "Come with me." he said, "and I will show you the judgment that is going to come on the great prostitute, who sits on many waters.

  • Come with me:
    • Notice the deliberate contrast of the prostitute with the bride in 17:1 and 21:9 using the phrase"Come with me." This is the first of many clues that the New Jerusalem (21:9-22:5) is the divine counterpart of the Babylonian religious system.
    • Revelation 21:9: Then one of the seven angels who held the seven bowls containing the seven last plagues came and said to me, "Come with me! I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb."
  • The judgment:
    • Revelation 19:2: His judgments are just and true. He has punished the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality, and he has avenged the murder of his servants."
  • Great prostitute (Greek pornes tes megales):
    • The great prostitute is the final form of religious apostasy, ending in a one-world super-church. It is the final form of the woman Jezebel cast into the Great Tribulation (Revelation 2:20-22) and united with the Laodicean Church. This is the counterfeit bride of messiah, presented as a prostitute, in contrast with the true Bride of Messiah, presented as a pure virgin:
      • God often helps us understand the Word by presenting contrasts or opposites. Remember in chapter 12 the pregnant woman whose child (obviously Jesus) the dragon was ready to devour? Additionally, we read that the dragon tried to drown her and she flew to a safe place in the wilderness for 3 1/2 years. Then, the dragon declared war on the rest of the woman's children. As we discussed in that chapter, the pregnant woman encompasses Israel, Mary and Eve but most especially the people of Israel. Israel in the Old Testament is often referred to as God's wife. Now, we find here the opposite - a "prostitute" subverting the world with her false religion. When Israel was unfaithful, God referred to her as a committing adultery.
      • Isaiah 1:21:  See how Jerusalem, once so faithful, has become a prostitute. Once the home of justice and righteousness, she is now filled with murderers.
      • 2 Corinthians 11:2: I am jealous for you with the jealousy of God himself. For I promised you as a pure bride to one husband, Christ.
      • Ephesians 5:25-27: And you husbands must love your wives with the same love Christ showed the church. He gave up his life for her to make her holy and clean, washed by baptism and God's word. He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault.
      • Revelation 19:6-8: Then I heard again what sounded like the shout of a huge crowd, or the roar of mighty ocean waves, or the crash of loud thunder: "Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns. Let us be glad and rejoice and honor him. For the time has come for the wedding feast of the Lamb, and his bride has prepared herself. She is permitted to wear the finest white linen." (Fine linen represents the good deeds done by the people of God.)
    • The modern ecumenical movement will eventually amalgamate with all other world religions, especially after the departure of true Christians in the rapture. The false prophet will most likely emerge as the head of this universal religion.
    • “Evangelicals and Catholics Together: The Christian Mission in the 3rd Millennium” is a 25-page document attempting to foster ecumenical unity. It was originated by Chuck Colson and Catholic social critic Richard John Neuhaus, was signed by 40 noted evangelical and Catholic leaders including Pat Robertson, heads of Home Mission Board and Christian Life Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, Bill Bright (founder of Campus Crusade for Christ), Mark Noll of Wheaton University, Jesse Miranda (Assemblies of God), Richard Mauw (President, Fuller Seminary), J.I. Packer (noted author) and Herbert Schlossberg (Anglican leader).
    • Seiss: "She is the symbol for a system that reaches back to the tower of Babel (Genesis 10:9-10; Genesis 11:1-9) and extends into the future when it will peak under the regime of the beast."
    • Guzik: “In addressing a prayer gathering of Christians, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists and others, Pope John Paul II told participants that their efforts were "unleashing profound spiritual energies in the world and bringing about a new climate of peace"; the Pope pledged that "the Catholic Church intends to 'share in and promote' such ecumenical and inter-religious cooperation. The Catholic Review commented on this and said, "The unity of religion promoted by the Holy Father Pope John Paul II and approved by His Holiness the Dalai Lama is not a goal to be achieved immediately, but a day may come when the love and compassion which both Buddha and Christ preached so eloquently will unite the world in a common effort to save humanity from senseless destruction, and leading toward the light in which we all believe."
    • Eugene Peterson: "Whoredom is sex connected with money. Worship under the aspect of the Great Whore is the commercialization of our great need and deep desire for meaning, love and salvation. The promise of success, ecstasy and meaning that we can get for a price is Whore-worship. It is the diabolical inversion of "You are bought with a price," to, "I can get it for you wholesale."
    • This religious system started in Babylon, spread to Egypt, Greece, the Roman Empire and finally the Roman church itself:
      • "Saints" replaced "gods" and god-men,
      • Nuns replaced "vestal virgins",
      • Celibate priesthood,
      • Prayer beads,
      • Purgatory,
      • Prayers for the dead (not instituted until 300 AD),
      • Extreme unction (last rites),
      • Mother/child worship,
      • Sign of the Cross,
      • The Pontifex Maximus title (the most important position in the ancient Roman religion, first established by the second King of Rome Numa Pompilius around 720 B.C.). In the days of Julius Caesar the emperor became the high priest of the Babylonian cult and wore on his crown the name "Pontifex Maximus." "Pontifex" means "the bridge maker" i.e., between God and man. "Maximus" means the "greatest." So this became the title of the high priest of mystery Babylon. Today, the Pope wears the same title and calls himself the sovereign pontiff of the College of Pontiffs and the successor of Peter. However, the truth is he is the successor of Babylonian high priests. He is not the successor of the Apostle Peter, but the direct successor of the high priests of the Babylonian mystery cult, the servant of the fish god, Dagon, whose ring (the fish ring) he wears just as did his successors. Even the keys he wears which he claims came from Peter, came instead from the heathen Babylonian gods of Janus and Cybele who bore keys in ancient Babylonianism. Not until 431 A.D. did Roman Catholicism publicly lay claim to the possession of Peter's keys (Matthew 16:19).
      • Assumption (Annunciation) of Mary to heaven declared by Pope Pius XII on November 1, 1950 as the "queen of heaven" (title given to a number of ancient sky goddesses in the ancient Mediterranean and Near East, in particular Anat, Isis, Innana, Astarte, Hera and Asherah by the prophet Jeremiah and by the Roman church to Mary), and so on.
        • Jeremiah 7:18: No wonder I am so angry! Watch how the children gather wood and the fathers build sacrificial fires. See how the women knead dough and make cakes to offer to the Queen of Heaven. And they give drink offerings to their other idol gods!
      • Just read "The Two Babylons" by Alexander Hislop for illumination!

      • John Paul II kissed the blasphemous Koran, praised Islam and its leaders countless times and when he attended a mosque. Above image of the Pope John Paul II kissing the Koran from www.mostholyfamilymonastery.com/catholicchurch/vatican-ii-council/
      • On November 13, 2014, with newly re-elected Speaker of the House John Boehner presiding AND BOWING HIS HEAD, the Imam for the Islamic Center of Central Jersey praised Islam’s Allah from the House floor as the God who reigns supreme:

        Imam Hamad Ahmad Chebli didn’t just appear at the House floor; he also joined Islamic prayers at the National Cathedral which was prepared for Muslim prayers with rugs.
      • From www.discoverrevelation.com/12.html: "The inquisition, called the "Holy Office", was instituted by Innocent III, and perfected under the second following Pope, Gregory IX. It was the Church Court for the detection and punishment of heretics. Under it every one was required to inform against heretics. Anyone suspected was liable to torture, without knowing the name of his accuser. The proceedings were secret. The Inquisitor pronounced sentence, and the victim was turned over to the civil authorities to be imprisoned for life or to be burned. The victim's property was confiscated and divided between the Church and the State. In the period immediately following Innocent III the Inquisition did its most deadly work in Southern France , but claimed vast multitudes of victims in Spain, Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands. Later on the Inquisition was the main agency in the Papacy's effort to crush the Reformation. It is stated that in the 30 years between 1540 and 1570 no fewer than 900,000 Protestants were put to death, in the Pope's war for the extermination of the Waldenses. Think of  monks and priests directing, with heartless cruelty and inhuman brutality, the work of torturing and burning alive innocent men and women; and doing it in the name of Christ, by the direct order of the "Vicar of Christ." The Inquisition is the MOST INFAMOUS THING in history. It was devised by the Popes, and used by them for 500 years to maintain their power. ... In the Netherlands, under Charles V and Phillip II, more that 100,000 were massacred with unbelievable brutality. Some were chained to a stake near the fire and slowly roasted to death; some were thrown into dungeons, scourged, tortured on the rack, before being burned. Women were buried alive, pressed into coffins too small, trampled down with the feet of the executioner. ... On the night of Aug. 24, 1572, 70,000 Huguenots, including most of their leaders, were massacred. In Bohemia, by 1600, in a population of 4,000,000, eighty percent was Protestant. When the Hapsburgs and Jesuits had done their work, 800,000 were left, all Catholics. In Spain, Torquemada (1420-98), a Dominican monk, arch inquisitor, in 18 years burned 10,200 and condemned to perpetual imprisonment 97,000. Victims were usually burned alive in the public square; made the occasion of religious festivities. From 1481 to 1808 there were at least 100,000 martyrs and 1,500,000 banished. In the 16th and 17th centuries the Inquisition extinguished the literary life of Spain, and put the nation almost outside the circle of European civilization. When the Reformation began Spain was the most powerful country in the world. Its present negligible standing among the nations shows what the Papacy can do for a country."
      • During the 600 or so years in which the Inquisition existed in one form or another, millions of “heretics” were killed, many of whom were Jews and faithful believers.
      • Halley's Bible Handbook estimates that in the 30 years between 1540-1570 AD no fewer than 900,000 Protestants were put to death in the Pope’s attempt to exterminate the Waldenses.
      • More information on persecution and killing of Christians, especially by the Roman church, is available in Fox's Book Of Martyrs at www.prophecyforum.com/fox/index.html - if your stomach can handle reading the horrors that the Roman church joyfully inflicted on Protestants.
      • In his 1964 Easter message, Pope Paul VI declared: "Every religion is the daybreak of faith, and we are waiting for the dawn to become brighter and brighter, until it reaches the brilliant splendour of Christian wisdom."
      • From www.khouse.org/articles/1995/79/: "On May 21, 1995, ... to a crowd of less than 100,000, Pope John Paul II asked forgiveness for the wrongs committed by the Catholic Church against Protestants and people of other faiths.
        "Today, I, the Pope of the Church of Rome, in the name of all Catholics, ask forgiveness for the wrongs inflicted on non-Catholics during the turbulent history of these peoples," he said. "At the same time, I pledge the Catholic Church's forgiveness for whatever harm her sons and daughters have suffered."
        The solemn language and its special formulation made this the strongest of recent papal statements examining the role and responsibility of the church for crimes committed and permitted in its name throughout the centuries. In light of the tenacious doctrine of Infallibility, this is an amazing statement. In one sweeping admission, the tens of millions of Christians tortured to death throughout the past 1,500 years is now "swept behind us." Remarkable. But why? In another letter issued this month (July 1995), the Pope made new overtures to the Eastern Orthodox churches, emphasizing the beliefs that bind the eastern and western churches despite their historic split. His goal, he has repeatedly said, is to promote unity among the world's Christians "in anticipation of the Millennium." The conspicuous priorities of the Vatican to assume leadership of the worldwide ecumenical movement have increasingly been made manifest--even to the pursuit of the administration of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem--and this remarkable change in posture of the Vatican towards Protestants would appear to be a giant step toward removing the obstacle of the bloody testimony of history."
  • Sits on many waters:
    • Verse 15 tells us the "many waters" represent masses of people of every nation and language and are the waters from which the first Beast arose (Revelation 13:1).

(2) The rulers of the world have had immoral relations with her and the people who belong to this world have been made drunk by the wine of her immorality."

  • Immoral relations (fornication in the KJV) :
    • Throughout history, this religious system in its many forms has wielded powerful influence over various rulers of nations beyond Babylon.
    • In the Old Testament, God defined false religion - worship of other gods as adultery:
      • Isaiah 57:7-8: You have committed adultery on the mountaintops by worshiping idols there, and so you have been unfaithful to me. Behind closed doors, you have set up your idols and worship them instead of me. This is adultery, for you are loving these idols instead of loving me. You have climbed right into bed with these detestable gods.
    • Pink, Antichrist and Babylon: "To prostitute something is to take that which has a proper use and to turn it into an improper use. A prostitute takes sex, which has a proper use, and perverts it with an improper use, turning it into something illicit, causing fornication. In this case, the harlot (prostitute) represents “religion,” which has a proper use (James 1:26-27), but here has been prostituted for improper use. Rather than serving, it rules. The false use of religion causes spiritual fornication. The word fornication is used both of physical unfaithfulness and also of spiritual unfaithfulness, as in Hosea 1-2; Jeremiah 2:20; 3:1-9; Ezekiel 16:15-41; 23:5-44, etc. It is with this woman that the kings of the earth commit fornication, showing this to be a unity of religion and state."
  • Drunk:
    • Religious Babylon intoxicates kings and peoples. Karl Marx was partly right when he said, "Religion is the opiate of the masses." He was partly right because empty religion is the opium of the masses.

(3) So the angel took me in spirit into the wilderness. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that had seven heads and ten horns, written all over with blasphemies against God.

  • Wilderness:
    • The imagery here portrays the spiritual wasteland characteristic of the woman and the beast upon which she sits. The wilderness is characteristic of the negative world that embraces false doctrine and human viewpoint.
    • In what part of the world did Islam arise? In Arabia!
  • A woman:
    • The woman is the prostitute described in the first two verses. Again, it is not a literal woman, but a "city" as stated in Verse 15 - or a "system".
  • Sitting:
    • In verse 1, she's sitting on many waters, defined in verse 15 as masses of people. In other words, this one-world religion is highly popular and universal.
    • The fact that the woman is riding the beast and is not the beast itself signifies that she represents ecclesiastical power as distinct from the beast which is political power. False religion and bad government go hand in hand.
  • Scarlet beast:
    • Revelation 13:1: And now in my vision I saw a beast rising up out of the sea. It had seven heads and ten horns, with ten crowns on its horns. And written on each head were names that blasphemed God.
  • Seven heads:
    • Revelation 12:3: Suddenly, I witnessed in heaven another significant event. I saw a large red dragon with seven heads and ten horns, with seven crowns on his heads.
    • These same heads and horns were seen upon the great red dragon who empowers the Beast. Verse 9 tells us that the seven heads are seven mountains and seven kings.
  • Ten horns:
    • Jack Kinsella, writing for The Omega Letter, Prophecy Update, 4/23/03, says: "The European Union consists of more than 25 European nations today, but there are only ten full members. The rest are associate members or have observer status. The ten nations of the Western European Alliance have a distinct and separate status from the remaining associates."
      • The ten founding nations are Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and United Kingdom. The Modified Brussels Treaty - 1954.
    • The ten horns are ten kings or rulers - verse 12 and Daniel 7:
      • Revelation 7:12: His ten horns are ten kings who have not yet risen to power; they will be appointed to their kingdoms for one brief moment to reign with the beast.
      • Daniel 7:7, 20, 24: Then in my vision that night, I saw a fourth beast, terrifying, dreadful, and very strong. It devoured and crushed its victims with huge iron teeth and trampled what was left beneath its feet. It was different from any of the other beasts, and it had ten horns. ... I also asked about the ten horns on the fourth beast's head and the little horn that came up afterward and destroyed three of the other horns. This was the horn that seemed greater than the others and had human eyes and a mouth that was boasting arrogantly. ... Its ten horns are ten kings that will rule that empire. Then another king will arise, different from the other ten, who will subdue three of them.

(4) The woman wore purple and scarlet clothing and beautiful jewelry made of gold and precious gems and pearls. She held in her hand a gold goblet full of obscenities and the impurities of her immorality.

  • Purple and scarlet clothing... jewelry:
    • Contrast this woman with the bride of the Lamb, whom John saw adorned with "finest white linen" (Revelation 19:8).
    • Barnhouse: "We find in the course of church history that one of the deadliest marks of ecclesiastical corruption is the lust for temporal power." Purple and scarlet were the colors of rulers, whether economic or political.
    • The Roman Catholic bishops and archbishops wear purple and the cardinals wear scarlet:

      Above image from www.evenatthedoors.org/the-papacy-pt-1/
    • Revelation 18:16-18: "How terrible, how terrible for that great city! She was so beautiful -- like a woman clothed in finest purple and scarlet linens, decked out with gold and precious stones and pearls! And in one single moment all the wealth of the city is gone! "And all the shipowners and captains of the merchant ships and their crews will stand at a distance. They will weep as they watch the smoke ascend, and they will say, "Where in all the world is there another city like this?"
    • Notice the contrast with Jesus when the Romans tortured him:
      • Matthew 27:28-29: They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him. They made a crown of long, sharp thorns and put it on his head, and they placed a stick in his right hand as a scepter. Then they knelt before him in mockery, yelling, "Hail! King of the Jews!"
  • Gold... precious gems:
    • The woman not only practices spiritual prostitution (idolatry), she is also consumed with materialism and wealth.
    • Gold, pearls and precious stones and pearls deck the statues of Mary and the "saints" in the Vatican. The rebuilding of St. Peter’s Basilica in the 16th century involved the genius skill of Michelangelo, Bernini, Raphael and the other great artists of the day. The riches and treasures lavished on the stately buildings of the Roman Catholic Church are beyond description - much gained by selling indulgences in the Middle Ages. The official clothing worn by the Pope on special occasions is richer in gold and jewelry than any earthly crown. The papal tiara on display in the Vatican Museum is valuable beyond comprehension:
    • Time Magazine February 26, 1965: "Bankers' best guesses about the Vatican's wealth put it at $10 billion to $15 billion. Of this wealth, Italian stockholdings alone run to $1.6 billion, 15% of the value of listed shares on the Italian market. The Vatican has big investments in banking, insurance, chemicals, steel, construction, real estate."
    • NBC News - World News February 14, 2013: "Inside the Vatican: The $8 billion global institution where nuns answer the phones. Although the wealth of the church has been on display throughout history, its financial details are not. Paolo Cipriani - director of The Institute for Works of Religion (IOR), often referred to as the ‘Vatican Bank’ - last year pledged to “lift the veil of secrecy” surrounding the organization. The institute manages $8 billion of the church’s worldwide wealth and investments as well as 33,000 accounts for clergy and parishes, held in euros."
    • Moneybox - March 14, 2013 by Matthew Yglesias: "How Rich Is the Catholic Church? Nobody really knows, because religious groups don’t need to follow regular accounting and disclosure rules.... The Catholic Church’s global spending matches the annual revenues of the planet’s largest firms, and its assets—huge amounts of real estate, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Vatican City, some of the world’s greatest art—surely exceed those of any corporation by an order of magnitude."... Our best window into the overall financial picture of American Catholicism comes from a 2012 investigation by the Economist, which offered a rough-and-ready estimate of $170 billion in annual spending, of which almost $150 billion is associated with church-affiliated hospitals and institutions of higher education. The operating budget for ordinary parishes, at around $11 billion a year, is a relatively small share, and Catholic Charities is a smaller share still. Apple and General Motors, by way of comparison, each had revenue of about $150 billion worldwide in Fiscal Year 2012."
    • The Vatican Billions - Two Thousand Years of Wealth Accumulation from Caesar to the Space Age by Avro Manhattan: "Roman Catholicism, which claims to be His church, is the richest of the rich, the wealthiest institution on earth. How come, that such an institution, ruling in the name of this same itinerant preacher, whose want was such that he had not even a pillow upon which to rest his head, is now so top-heavy with riches that she can rival - indeed, that she can put to shame - the combined might of the most redoubtable financial trusts, of the most potent industrial super-giants, and of the most prosperous global corporation of the world? It is a question that has echoed along the somber corridors of history during almost 2,000 years; a question that has puzzled, bewildered and angered in turn untold multitudes from the first centuries to our days. The startling contradiction of the tremendous riches of the Roman Catholic Church with the direct teaching of Christ concerning their unambiguous rejection, is too glaring to be by-passed, tolerated or ignored by even the most indifferent of believers."
  • Gold goblet:

    • Above image from www.cbcpnews.com/cbcpnews/
    • False religion is attractive, but in her hand she holds a cup full of evil. That is what false religions offer. They look great, but in reality they are deadly.
    • Roman church doctrine proclaims under the doctrine of transubstantiation that when one drinks from the cup and eats the round cakes at communion, these elements are literally turned into Christ’s blood and flesh.

(5) A mysterious name was written on her forehead: "Babylon the Great, Mother of All Prostitutes and Obscenities in the World."

  • KJV: "MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH."
  • Mysterious name:
    • The first word in the original is "Mystery". In the original Greek language, that word means, "something not revealed until now".
    • This is not a reference to Babylon the city by the Euphrates because the title "Mystery" indicates something deeper. It is the religion identified with Babylon - idolatry and spiritual adultery. Similarly, in Revelation 8:11, we are find Jerusalem called "Sodom" and "Egypt" because it had become a source of wrongful teaching and corrupt practice.
  • Forehead:
    • The label on her forehead as the mother of prostitutes is to be contrasted with the engraved golden plate on the turban of the high priest which read, “SET APART AS HOLY TO THE LORD” (Exodus 28:36-37). He is set apart to God, she is set against God.
    • In Rome, the prostitutes in the public brothels wore upon their foreheads a frontlet giving their names and were their identification marks.
  • Babylon the Great:
    • Babylon, of course, was the great city on the Euphrates River, an empire which dominated the ancient world. It began as the city of Babel, founded by Nimrod, the great hunter of human souls. It became a source of idolatry for all of the ancient world.
    • Guzik: "The concept of Babylon is greater than Revelation 17-18 and the Antichrist's reign. Babylon was present in John's day (typified by Rome), in our day, and throughout history, as the "world system." But under the Antichrist, Babylon (in both its religious and commercial aspects) will hold sway over the earth as never before."
    • Tenney: "Babylon, to them (the Jews), was the essence of all evil, the embodiment of cruelty, the foe of God's people, and the lasting type of sin, carnality, lust and greed."
    • Isaiah 13:20-22: Babylon will never rise again. Generation after generation will come and go, but the land will never again be lived in. Nomads will refuse to camp there, and shepherds will not allow their sheep to stay overnight. Wild animals of the desert will move into the ruined city. The houses will be haunted by howling creatures. Ostriches will live among the ruins, and wild goats will come there to dance. Hyenas will howl in its fortresses, and jackals will make their dens in its palaces. Babylon's days are numbered; its time of destruction will soon arrive.
    • Isaiah 14:23: I will make Babylon into a desolate land, a place of porcupines, filled with swamps and marshes. I will sweep the land with the broom of destruction. I, the LORD Almighty, have spoken!
      • Pliny (23-79 A.D.) states that while the temple of Bel was still standing "in all other respects the place has gone back to a desert." The Roman historian Dio Cassius describes Trajan's visit to Babylon in which he found only "mounds and stones and ruins."
    • Isaiah 47:5: "O daughter of Babylonia, sit now in darkness and silence. Never again will you be known as the queen of kingdoms
    • Revelation 14:8: Then another angel followed him through the skies, shouting, "Babylon is fallen - - that great city is fallen -- because she seduced the nations of the world and made them drink the wine of her passionate immorality."
    • Revelation 16:19: The great city of Babylon split into three pieces, and cities around the world fell into heaps of rubble. And so God remembered all of Babylon's sins, and he made her drink the cup that was filled with the wine of his fierce wrath.
    • Revelation 18:2: He gave a mighty shout, "Babylon is fallen -- that great city is fallen! She has become the hideout of demons and evil spirits, a nest for filthy buzzards, and a den for dreadful beasts. For all the nations have drunk the wine of her passionate immorality. The rulers of the world have committed adultery with her, and merchants throughout the world have grown rich as a result of her luxurious living."
  • Mother of All Prostitutes:
    • God sees ALL "religions" as evil, drunken prostitutes.
    • Modern readers have heard the term "mother of all battles" -- what Saddam Hussein boasted would happen to the invading armies of the coalition during the first Gulf War. In the Middle East, "mother of..." is an idiom meaning "the epitome of..." rather than "the source of.." something. The "Mother of All Prostitutes" would be recognized by any Middle Eastern person as meaning the epitome of (religious) prostitution.
    • The Bible and history tell us that Babylon was the origin of false religions. So we should not be surprised that this woman is called “Babylon the Great, Mother of All Prostitutes.” She is the mother of idolatry and spiritual immorality. Her origin began at the Tower of Babel, and false religion has spread throughout the world and down through time.

(6) I could see that she was drunk -- drunk with the blood of God's holy people who were witnesses for Jesus. I stared at her completely amazed.

  • Drunk with the blood:
    • Most members of the leadership of Israel’s religious system were controlled by “the children of your father the Devil” according to Jesus (John 8:44). These satanic leaders of Israel killed the husbandmen of the vineyard (the prophets) and even the Son of the owner of the vineyard (Jesus) so that God would get nothing out of His field (Luke 20).
    • After the Jewish and then the Roman Empire persecutions ended, most of martyrdom was by the hands of satanic leaders that rose to the top of Christian and later Islamic religion. In the future, martyrdom will be by the hands of the World Church. Finally, the prostitute herself eliminated by the Beast once he no longer needs her.
    • The figurative language of being “drunk with blood” is used to denote the reality of killing and death on a large scale:
      • Deuteronomy 32:42:  I will make my arrows drunk with blood, and my sword will devour flesh -- the blood of the slaughtered and the captives, and the heads of the enemy leaders."'
      • Isaiah 49:26: I will feed your enemies with their own flesh. They will be drunk with rivers of their own blood. All the world will know that I, the LORD, am your Savior and Redeemer, the Mighty One of Israel."
  • Amazed:
    • H. B. Swete defined it as sheer surprise: "The Seer had been invited to see the downfall of Babylon; the angel had offered to shew him her sentence executed. He expected to see a city in ruins. But instead of this there had risen before him on the floor of the desert the picture of a woman gilded, jewelled, splendidly attired, mounted on a scarlet monster, drunk with blood. It was a complete surprise. Who was this woman?"
    • John knew all about evil pagan religions and their temple prostitutes as well as the hatred of the Jews toward Christians, but he was astonished by this "prostitute". Here are a few possible reasons he is amazed:
      • John had lived through a variety of persecutions -- from the Pharisees, the Roman government and even some local pagan religious practitioners -- but never had he seen a complete religious system dedicated to the extermination of Jews and Christians.
      • This woman is no ignorant victim of "incorrect" doctrine. This woman is a cold, brutal murderer. She takes drunken delight in the physical death of Jewish people and Christians.
      • John is amazed that such a blatantly violent and corrupt religion could even exist. Why would any rational person willingly join it? Of course, we today are amazed at the brutality of the "Islamic State" and so-called Islamic terrorists.
      • John is amazed that the religion could exercise such power over so many nations. What could this religion have that the nations would want so badly?
      • Doubtless it is a great surprise to him to see that the church he knew in Rome to whom Paul wrote would become a great harlot church, dominating the kings of the earth.

(7) "Why are you so amazed?" the angel asked. "I will tell you the mystery of this woman and of the beast with seven heads and ten horns.

  • Mystery:
    • The Woman is called mystery Babylon because she's not in Babylon. But the Babylonian religion is literally the mother of all the cults and mythologies that have been set up in opposition to the Gospel. Back in Genesis 10, when Nimrod founded Babylon, his wife Semeramis sowed the first seeds of false religion by claiming that her son Tammuz (Baal was the local, Canaanite name for the Babylonian Tammuz) was the supernatural offspring of the Sun God, borrowing from the promise first disclosed in the Garden that the seed of the woman would redeem mankind. According to tradition, when Tammuz was killed in a hunting accident, she went into 40 days of mourning. Near the end of this time, she burned a yule log (yule means child in the Babylonian language) as the Sun slowly died. After the longest night of the year, the winter Solstice, Tammuz came back to life in the world's first counterfeit resurrection. In joy, she decorated an evergreen tree, a symbol of life, and passed out pastries with her son's initial on top to commemorate the event. She memorialized the 40 days of mourning (which we call Lent) by forming a celibate priesthood to lead the people in the worship of her risen son. She declared herself to be the Queen of Heaven, and the mother-child cult was born. Every mythology from that time forward has carried elements of this story. In the Egyptian version she was known as Isis, in neo-Babylon as Ashteroth or Ishtar, in Canaan as Astarte, in Greece as Aphrodite and in Rome as Venus. She's variously called the goddess of love and fertility. Her main objective has always been to usurp God's role as the sole Giver and Sustainer of Life. And now, the Roman church has her as a risen and glorified Mary who supposedly acts as an intermediary between believers and Jesus.

      Above image from http://unsealingrevelationbiblestudy.com/the-ecclesiastical-babylon/
    • Ezekiel protests against the ceremony of weeping for Tammuz:
      • Ezekiel 8:14: He brought me to the north gate of the LORD's Temple, and some women were sitting there, weeping for the god Tammuz.
    • Jeremiah mentions the heathen practice of making cakes for the queen of heaven (Jeremiah 7:18) and offering incense to the queen of heaven (Jeremiah 44:17-19, 44:25):
      • Jeremiah 7:18: No wonder I am so angry! Watch how the children gather wood and the fathers build sacrificial fires. See how the women knead dough and make cakes to offer to the Queen of Heaven. And they give drink offerings to their other idol gods!
      • Jeremiah 44:17-19, 44:25: We will do whatever we want. We will burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and sacrifice to her just as much as we like -- just as we and our ancestors did before us, and as our kings and princes have always done in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For in those days we had plenty to eat, and we were well off and had no troubles! But ever since we quit burning incense to the Queen of Heaven and stopped worshiping her, we have been in great trouble and have suffered the effects of war and famine." And," the women added, "do you suppose that we were worshiping the Queen of Heaven, pouring out drink offerings to her, and making cakes marked with her image, without our husbands knowing it and helping us? Of course not!" ... The LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: You and your wives have said that you will never give up your devotion and sacrifices to the Queen of Heaven, and you have proved it by your actions. Then go ahead and carry out your promises and vows to her!"
  • Beast:
    • The interpreting angel told John who the beast was in the next verse (8) - he is anti-christ.
  • Seven heads ... ten horns:
    • By all historical accounts, the city on seven hills is Rome, current seat of the Babylonian Religion.  It had moved to Pergamum ("the city where that great throne of Satan" - Revelation 2:13) during the reign of the Greeks and then to Rome. Later, in the 4th Century AD, it would be blended into Christianity becoming the Catholic Church.  One more metamorphosis (a merger with Islam?) will make it into the woman who rides the beast.

(8) The beast you saw was alive but isn't now. And yet he will soon come up out of the bottomless pit and go to eternal destruction. And the people who belong to this world, whose names were not written in the Book of Life from before the world began, will be amazed at the reappearance of this beast who had died."

  • Beast:
    • Based on Verse 11 coming up, most likely it refers to the anti-christ. Per verse 9, the beast who once was, and now is not, is an eighth king. He belongs to the seven and is going to his destruction.
  • Was alive...:
    • The New Jerusalem Bible accurately captures the force of all these phrases with the translation, “The beast you have seen was once alive and is alive no longer; it is yet to come up from the Abyss”.
  • Isn't now:
    • See verse 10 for explanation.
  • Book of Life:
    • Since their names have not been written in the Book of Life, they will eventually be cast into the Lake of Fire because “anyone whose name was not found recorded in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire.” (Revelation 20:15). Only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life find entry into the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:27). Previously, John wrote that their names had not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb (Revelation 13:8). Here, the same book is referred to as simply the Book of Life.
    • By all appearances, there is one scroll called the “book of life” that has two separate registries within. One simply referred to as the book of life that is a recording of all humanity throughout history and the other more specifically defined as the Lamb’s book of life in which only believer’s names are ever recorded. As unbelievers' names are erased with their passing in unbelief, you have two matching registries of only believer’s names and hence one book of life.
    • Revelation 13:8: And all the people who belong to this world worshiped the beast. They are the ones whose names were not written in the Book of Life, which belongs to the Lamb who was killed before the world was made.
    • Revelation 20:15: And anyone whose name was not found recorded in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire.
    • Revelation 21:27: Nothing evil will be allowed to enter -- no one who practices shameful idolatry and dishonesty -- but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life.

(9) "And now understand this: The seven heads of the beast represent the seven hills of the city where this woman rules. They also represent seven kings.

  • Seven heads... seven hills:
    • The Greek word here actually means "mountains" not "hills". The fact that the text says the seven mountains/hills are also kings shows that it is something bigger than the seven hills of Rome. In the Bible, the word "mountain" is often used as a word-picture for government. The Temple Mount is built on Mount Zion. When Jesus comes back, he will rule from that mountain.
    • Per the next verse, the seven heads are seven kings. These seven mountains, together with the eighth (verse 11), will eventually be destroyed by the stone which is Christ, the Messianic King. His kingdom is destined to become “a great mountain” and fill the whole earth - Daniel 2:34-35: But as you watched, a rock was cut from a mountain by supernatural means. It struck the feet of iron and clay, smashing them to bits. The whole statue collapsed into a heap of iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold. The pieces were crushed as small as chaff on a threshing floor, and the wind blew them all away without a trace. But the rock that knocked the statue down became a great mountain that covered the whole earth."

(10) Five kings have already fallen, the sixth now reigns, and the seventh is yet to come, but his reign will be brief.

  • This verse confirms that the seven heads are not just physical mountains.
  • Five kings... fallen:
    • Five empires ruled the known world, and over Israel in particular, in succession before John the Apostle wrote his book of Revelation. The empires of Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Media-Persia and Greece each ruled the known world. The Roman Empire ruled in John’s day and one is still future in John's day. All 7 empires are directly in conflict with the Jews and all 7 are influenced by the mother/son cult.
  • Sixth now reigns:
    • At the time of John's writing Rome ruled over Israel. That was the sixth king (or empire) that is "present tense". There is also a 7th king that is "yet to come".
  • Seventh is yet to come:
    • The resurrection of the Roman Empire is underway today. It started with the EEC and EU experiments and will soon morph into the area of the recently proposed Mediterranean Union. This is referring to the "final king", which would be the antichrist himself. Don't forget the Roman Empire had two legs!
  • Brief:
    • The antichrist is thrown into the lake of fire in Chapter 19. The antichrist is "future", but he does not rule forever.

(11) The scarlet beast that was alive and then died is the eighth king. He is like the other seven, and he, too, will go to his doom.


  • Above image from www.neverthirsty.org/pp/series/REV/REV024/R0244.html
  • Alive and then died:
    • Revelation 13:2,12,14 (speaking about the false prophet): This beast looked like a leopard, but it had bear's feet and a lion's mouth! And the dragon gave him his own power and throne and great authority. ... He exercised all the authority of the first beast. And he required all the earth and those who belong to this world to worship the first beast, whose death-wound had been healed. ... And with all the miracles he was allowed to perform on behalf of the first beast, he deceived all the people who belong to this world. He ordered the people of the world to make a great statue of the first beast, who was fatally wounded and then came back to life.
  • Eighth king:
    • The point of Verse 11 is the antichrist is not himself one of the great empires, but a leader that emerges from this final empire. This empire emerges first, and then the antichrist emerges as the leader. That is why he is the "eighth of seven kings".

(12) His ten horns are ten kings who have not yet risen to power; they will be appointed to their kingdoms for one brief moment to reign with the beast.

  • Ten horns... not yet:
    • These are the same ten horns which Daniel saw in his night vision (Daniel 7) and correspond to the ten toes of Nebuchadnezzar’s image (Daniel 2:40-43). An angel gave Daniel the same interpretation: “Its ten horns are ten kings that will rule that empire. Then another king will arise, different from the other ten, who will subdue three of them.” (Daniel 7:24).

(13) They will all agree to give their power and authority to him.

  • They:
    • "They" refers to the ten kings of the previous verse.

(14) Together they will wage war against the Lamb. but the Lamb will defeat them because he is Lord over all lords and King over all kings, and his people are the called and chosen and faithful ones."

  • Wage war:
    • When the nations align themselves against Israel, they in turn have openly declared war against the Lamb. Who or what group or what nation has declared war upon Christians and Jews? Islamists, Iran (Persia), neo-nazis. In our own country, what groups want Christ and the Bible removed from all schools and public buildings, in effect declaring war on Christianity?
    • The kings participate in the ultimate fulfillment of Psalm 2:2-3: “The kings of the earth prepare for battle; the rulers plot together against the LORD and against his anointed one. "Let us break their chains," they cry, "and free ourselves from this slavery."”
    •  This is another description of the Battle of Armageddon, covered in more detail in chapters 16 and 19.
    • Revelation 16:16: And they gathered all the rulers and their armies to a place called Armageddon in Hebrew.
    • Revelation 19:19: Then I saw the beast gathering the kings of the earth and their armies in order to fight against the one sitting on the horse and his army.
  • The Lamb will defeat them:
    • Jeremiah 51:6-9: Flee from Babylon! Save yourselves! Don't get trapped in her punishment! It is the LORD's time for vengeance; he will fully repay her. Babylon has been like a golden cup in the LORD's hands, a cup from which he made the whole earth drink and go mad. But now suddenly, Babylon, too, has fallen. Weep for her, and give her medicine. Perhaps she can yet be healed. We would have helped her if we could, but nothing can save her now. Let her go; abandon her. Return now to your own land, for her judgment will be so great it cannot be measured.

(15) And the angel said to me, "The waters where the prostitute is sitting represent masses of people of every nation and language.

  • Waters:
    • Revelation 17:1: One of the seven angels who had poured out the seven bowls came over and spoke to me. "Come with me." he said, "and I will show you the judgment that is going to come on the great prostitute, who sits on many waters.

(16) The scarlet beast and his ten horns -- which represent ten kings who will reign with him -- all hate the prostitute. They will strip her naked, eat her flesh, and burn her remains with fire.

  • Hate the prostitute:
    • Having used the false religious system to help him gain control of the world, Antichrist will discard it. Like most politicians and despots, he will want the world to worship only him. He will also no doubt covet the vast wealth of the false religious system.
  • Eat her flesh:
    • She will have the same fate as Jezebel in the Old Testament whose bones were eaten by dogs.
    • This is the destruction of religious Babylon foretold in Revelation 14:8. Governmental Babylon turns on religious Babylon to destroy it. Notice in verse 17 that it's God Who puts them up to this.
    • During the first half of the Tribulation, she incurs the wrath of the ten kings who see her use the authority of the Antichrist to advance her religious causes. So they plot to kill her. The reason we know this killing of the prostitute of "mystery Babylon" is done in the middle of the Tribulation is twofold:
      1. "The deadly wound" of Antichrist is healed by the indwelling of Satan himself, simulating the resurrection of Christ, in the middle of the Tribulation.
      2. From then on, the world does not worship mystery Babylon but the image of the beast. The False Prophet will do away with all religion except the worship of Antichrist Satan, which he will enforce. That begins in the middle of the Tribulation, that's described in Revelation 13. This is the time when people will have to take the mark of the beast and swear their loyalty to the beast or face death. There will be no middle ground - either worship Jesus or worship the beast.

(17) For God has put a plan into their minds, a plan that will carry out his purposes. They will mutually agree to give their authority to the scarlet beast, and so the words of God will be fulfilled.

  • A plan:
    • God "allows" the anti-christ to rise to power. 

(18) And this woman you saw in your vision represents the great city that rules over the kings of the earth."

  • Woman:
    • This verse says the prostitute is a great city, not a person. She is neither anti-christ nor the false prophet.
  • Great city:
    • When the antichrist runs his worldwide empire, there will be a central city that benefits from being the head city of that empire. Some believe it will be Rome or the Vatican City. Some believe it will be the City of Babylon resurrected. Some argue it is another city such as New York. The important point is not to wonder which city it will be, but to understand that a great organized effort will occur to oppose the God of the Bible, and the "capital" of this great effort will be judged.
    • This is a key passage that tells us the identity of the “woman that rides the beast”. “Mystery Babylon” is the great city that is ruling over the earth. Rome was ruling over the earth in the time of John and fits the bill but Mystery Babylon could not be the city of Rome or the Roman Empire. “The woman rides the beast”, so the woman could not at the same time “be the beast”. The woman could not be the church at Rome at the time of John because the church was not ruling over the earth at that time. The religious system reigning over the earth in the time John wrote this was Babylonian paganism with Caesar worship.
    • Today, the Vatican represents the religion that has the most influence on the earth but Protestantism also has world influence and Islam is rapidly coming to the forefront. All false religion will play a part and complete the fulfillment of the prophecy about the woman who rides the beast.
    • Today, Islam has taken over the role of the chief harlot religion that persecutes the saints and in our time has actively martyred millions of Christians. The end time harlot religious system that John is seeing is headed in Rome in the last days and it was founded in Babylon, but all major organized world religions in the last days that reject true Christianity are part of the harlot. Even Islam in the end will join with this world religion leadership in Rome although it may take demonic deceptions or a great religious war first.
    • Revelation 18 will show us more about this woman:
      • Revelation 18:1-3: After all this I saw another angel come down from heaven with great authority, and the earth grew bright with his splendor. He gave a mighty shout, "Babylon is fallen -- that great city is fallen! She has become the hideout of demons and evil spirits, a nest for filthy buzzards, and a den for dreadful beasts. For all the nations have drunk the wine of her passionate immorality. The rulers of the world have committed adultery with her, and merchants throughout the world have grown rich as a result of her luxurious living."

NOTES:

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