Tonight I want to talk with you about a harlot.
I guess this is not a subject that comes up in conversation very often. They call it the world’s oldest profession, but it’s not one mentioned in polite company. Church is probably the last place you expect the preacher to mention a harlot, but I have some important reasons.
First of all, this harlot is one of the main characters in the passage we’ll be looking at in Rev. 17. But I also want to talk about this harlot because she is extremely dangerous. She’s a well known woman on the prowl, shamelessly looking for any soul to seduce with her charms. She is a lover who doesn’t love, a lady with no grace, a beauty who is as deadly as a black widow.
What’s more, this harlot is after you. Every day she prances before your eyes and mine, tempting us to ignore our inhibitions and enter her warm embrace. Every day we have to look beyond her appearance and see the ugly truth that this woman is no lady, but a tramp.
I want us to look at this “beauty” whom the Bible pictures riding on a beast. I want to especially see how you and I can safeguard our hearts from both the beauty and the beast. We’ll do this by looking in Rev. 17:1-6.
John begins by describing his vision in vs. 1-6, and then recording the interpretation in vs. 7-18.
Just after he sees the last bowl of God’s wrath poured out on the earth, one of the angels who was involved comes over and invites John to get a closer look at: …the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters who lures the people of the earth into fornication.
It’s significant that John is carried away by the Spirit into the wilderness=desert. He is removed away from the “civilized world” to be able to see this vision more clearly.
First let’s focus on the woman. She sits on a red beast, dressed in expensive clothes (only the rich in John’s day could afford clothes dyed in these colors.) She’s decked out in expensive gold, pearls, and jewelry---all of which you would expect to see on a harlot. In her hand she holds a cold cup full of obscenities and filthiness. Many Roman prostitutes wore kind of a crown around their heads which would have a nameplate on it, identifying the woman. This harlot has an unusual one that identifies her as Mystery Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and the Abominations of the Earth. (v. 5). What does this mean?
The word mystery refers to the fact this woman symbolizes something other than what she appears to be. In other words, she is not merely a specific individual, but a symbol of something else.
The word Babylon connects her not only with the city of Babylon, but with all in rebellion against God. Babylon is identified throughout the Bible as the center of the anti-God world.
The Mother of Harlots and Abominations signifies she is the source, the center of all prostitution and gross offenses against God.
This title is filled out by the description in vs. 6. This evil woman is drunk, not on wine, but on the blood of God’s people, those who have died for their faith. She sits on waters, which vs. 15 symbolize a crowd of people, multitudes, nations, and tongues.
Who is this harlot? John gives us some more clues in vs. 9 and vs. 18. There would be no doubt in the minds of anybody who read these words in the 1st century what city built on 7 hills John refers to: Rome. In the NT Babylon was often a code name for Rome. Rome was a city of wealth and luxury, a city that led many into idolatry (or spiritual fornication.) Rome was full of every sexual perversion you could think of. The Roman persecution of Christians is legendary.
And yet John’s vision is about more than just one corrupt city. This harlot is bigger than that. One scholar explains it this way:
The ancient Babylon…is a trans-historical reality including idolatrous kingdoms as diverse as Sodom, Gomorrah, Egypt, Babylon, Tyre, Nineveh, and Rome…It may be said that Babylon[Rome] represents the total culture of the world apart from God…
Now I think we can identify this harlot in line with words John wrote many years before in
1 Jn 2:15-16 15Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.
Jas 4:4-5 4Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”?
I find it striking that this image of love for the world in John and adultery in James echoes the image of this harlot. This is why I believe the harlot here represents the world.
They’re not talking about the physical world, or even the people of the world, but the total culture of the world at war with God. John’s vision personalizes this culture, this way of thinking and living, as a prostitute because the people involved have sold out the love they should have for God in exchange for love of themselves, love of pleasure, wealth---anything but God.
This explains why the Spirit take John out into the wilderness for this vision—to give him a better perspective on this harlot city and world. We may need to do the same thing sometime---by taking time periodically to separate ourselves from the influence of the world and focus on the things of the Spirit—prayer, the Bible, church.
Another important point here is that the world in this sense is no friend to Christ or His people. She dresses to allure us, to tempt us, to draw us away from our true love, through our lust for pleasure, our lust for what we see, our pride. But as both John and James remind us, you cannot love God and the world, for they are enemies of one another. You cannot love God and love the harlot, because the Holy Spirit is a jealous lover.
Can you feel the draw of the world on your life? Probably stronger now than any other time of year. Look back at that list in
1 Jn 2:16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.
Lust of the flesh Nothing wrong with healthy appetites for God’s good gifts, but the harlot loves to twist those appetites, to lure your heart away to satisfy your appetites in a way God condemns. She will lead you to fall in love with pleasure and forget about loving God.
Lust of the eyes Nothing wrong with enjoying the sights of Christmas, but the harlot wants you to fall in love with appearances instead of reality. God says this is not something I want you to have and the harlot convinces you this is something I must have. The harlot likes to tempt you to be covetous and greedy—especially at Christmas.
Pride of life Nothing wrong with a healthy self-respect, but when you will clashes with God’s will, something has to give. This is when the harlot whispers why not have it your way?
John Piper says that sin (lust for example) "gets its power by persuading me to believe that I will be more happy if I follow it. The power of all temptation is the prospect that it will make me happier."
Nathan Horwitt, a mushroom expert, has said that a mushroom which is properly known as AMANITA PHALLOIDES, is the deadliest of all mushrooms. It is also possibly the tastiest, says Horwitt. Asked how he knows this, he explains that the poison is slow-acting and that often the first symptom of poisoning is comes when the victim remarks, "Last night I ate the most delicious mushroom of my life."
This is the promise of the prostitute: pleasure for a price. How do you say no? Not just by willpower, but with God’s power.
1 Co 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.
Watch out for the seduction of the harlot.
Now let’s go back and look at this beast the woman rides on in vs. 7-17. What do we know?
He’s a scarlet (red) beast, covered with blasphemous names, having 7 heads and 10 horns. This should remind us of John’s vision in
Re 12:3 And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads.
This dragon, of course, is Satan, and he is also the beast in these verses. But things get a little more confusing in vs. 8 where this beast is described as the beast who was, and is not, and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition…John’s vision seems to identify Satan with the human being he calls the beast who will recover from his fatal wound (Rev. 13:3) Perhaps he is describing demon possession, or else the beast is so connected to Satan that whatever happens to one happens to the other.
Either way, this beast isn’t the only puppet of the devil. John says the 7 heads are 7 kings, with 5 having already been deposed, 1 still in power, and 1 yet to come. Many scholars connect these kings with Roman Emperors, which certainly fits the pattern of how Satan used the Roman government to persecute Christians.
But John also foresees 10 more kings who will unite with the Beast and the Devil to wage war against the Lamb—Christ--- and His followers—those who are called, chosen, and faithful (v. 14). The evil army will be no match for the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. In utter frustration, the beast and his followers will turn on the harlot—the world— strip her naked, eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. Evil always eats its wounded.
But there’s a passing comment along the way John makes in vs. 17. He reminds us that God is still in control, even of the devil, the beast, and the harlot. Nothing they do surprises Him, nothing they do can thwart His purposes, or His plan for the final redemption of the earth.
There are some important principles to glean from this vision of the beast.
First of all, the harlot depends on the beast for her power. If you trace back all of the rebellion and rejection of God found in this world, Satan will be at the bottom of it all. The love of the world is not only wrong; it is evil. Without the devil there would be no harlot.
Second of all, the devil uses people to do his dirty work. He will use anybody and everybody, from kings and politicians to ordinary people just like you and me. He will even use Christians, if they let him. (cf. Ananias and Sapphira, both believers to whom Peter says in Acts 5:3 why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit…?) But don’t forget that when he gets all he can out of you, he will always turn on you. Remember it is to Christians Peter writes:
1 Pe 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
Finally, never forget Who wins this war. It’s easy to let all of this talk about the beast and the devil scare you. And of course, the battle is never easy or pain-free—that’s why they call it war. On the other hand, let’s not forget Who is on the winning side:
Re 17:14 ….the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful.
Who are the called, the chosen, the faithful? He calls us to come to Christ, chooses to save us by His grace and our faith, gives us strength to remain faithful to Him. We will share His victory over the beast.
On the other hand, if we choose to follow the devil….
Bruce Larson writes about a friend of his who is an avid eagle-watcher. On his most recent trip, he witnessed a strange incident. He had his binoculars fixed on a large old eagle he had given the name "Boss" because he seemed to be the biggest bird in the valley. Boss was doing lazy rolls and wheeling effortlessly in the sun. Suddenly, the bird dove straight down, his eyes on a target invisible to Rick. But when the eagle reached the floor of the valley and began to ascend once more, it was obvious that he had gained the prize he was after. A large animal was gripped in his talons. Rick continued to watch, first with fascination, then with growing apprehension. Boss began to fly crazily and erratically, still gripping his prize. Finally, he wheeled abruptly, crashed headlong into a nearby cliff, and plummeted to the valley floor.
Rick was stunned but determined to find out what had happened. He marked the place where he had last seen Boss fall and then began to climb down into the valley to see if he could find him. Rick searched over an hour before he came upon the eagle with his dead prey still in his grip. Boss’s prize was a badger, one of the meanest and most ferocious animals alive. Boss got his prize, but the badger retaliated by gnawing away the stomach of the eagle. Boss’s prize was his undoing.
The harlot wants to seduce us, the beast wants to devour us, but Jesus wants to save us and give us the victory over the world and the devil. With His help, and a watchful eye, we don’t have to fall for either trap-the beauty or the beast.
