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The Term "Babylon" is used 300 times in the Bible. It is symbolic of great evil, the dwelling place of Satan, the enemy of God and of Satan himself. Here it refers to the Kingdom of Satan.
A parallel is made here between a "harlot" and Satan's evil kingdom. The Greek word translated harlot or prostitute is described as:
Here, one of the seven Angels that had just poured out a bowl of God's wrath upon the earth, invites John to come and see the "judgment" that is to come upon the great harlot.
Notice how she is described.
She encompasses all that entices us in this world. Everything that is attractive to a worldly mind.
Notice where she resided. She was setting on a beast that had 7 heads and 10 horns. This is probably the beast of Chapter 13 verses 1 thru 4, 7 heads denoting complete power and 10 horns denoting complete authority over the 10 major areas of the earth.
Now as to her name, she had a name of "mystery", written on her forehead. It was customary in those days for prostitutes to write on themselves somewhere their name so their customers could identify them. It was usually a name that only their customers would know. To help us solve the mystery of this name, 3 clues are given:
She was as Babylon was, one that was guilty of great sin and disobedience. One that not only practiced sin but also breed it, as a mother breeds a child to prostitution, training them in the business.
Her diet was the "blood" of the saints and martyrs of Jesus Christ. She "drained" them with such greediness that she became "intoxicated". Like an alcoholic she could no longer tell when she had enough.
What could this horrible vision be symbolic of? This will be the world in the "end
times". The "state church", the Anti-christ, Satan's Kingdom. Sin will abound,
permissiveness will be the goal of most people and "rights" will overshadow
"responsibilities". An Angel attempts to explain this to John in the next vision.
The Mystery of the Woman
["Click here for Revelation 17:7-18"]
It would appear that John marveled at what he saw but did not understand it. So an Angel attempts to explain it to him.
Notice how the Beast is described:
A good example was Rome in the 4th. century. It began the century as pagan. By decree from Constantine the Great, ruler of Rome, Christianity became the state religion. But the nation as a hole only appeared to become Christian, continuing to worship the same old idols but merely changing their names.
The Beast is further described as having 7 heads and 10 horns. We said that this denotes complete "power and authority over the 10 major areas of the earth. Here the 7 appears to be symbolic of 7 hills, Rome was built on 7 Hills. There were 7 rulers of Rome. Five had preceded John's time. One was ruler at the time of John and one was to come. All were pagans and their reign grew steadily shorter. The eighth that would come and set up idolatry is believed by many to be the Pope. I try not to make these comparisons but the parallel is so remarkable that we need to at least consider it. I believe there will be a similar development in the last days only much more evil and deceiving, 10 nations combining to have complete and total dominance over the earth eventually giving over their power to Satan. Their efforts will be against the Christ and His Church.
Ultimately Christ will conquer them by turning them against one another, the Beast will hate the Harlot. God will put immunity in their hearts until His words are fulfilled.
The most important thing to remember about these visions is their description of the church in the end times. It will be a state supported church completely devoid of any Christian merit.
There are many attempts to translate this vision and they all differ in some respect but most believe that this is a description of the evil that will abound on earth when Satan is allowed to set up his kingdom here on earth.
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