So in Chapter 17 of Revelation John gets whisked away in the Spirit and he comes upon this woman sitting on a scarlet beast. From the description of the beast we know who it is already, but what or who is this new woman we are introduced to?
Imagine the most beautiful, seductive woman you could ever see, adorned in the most expensive clothes and jewels. She’s drunk and holds in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality – the ultimate temptress.
But once she had you under her spell, once you gave into her seduction, you would see her inner ugliness, she would transform into something disgusting, and she would kill you like a black widow. I personally find nothing uglier than a staggering drunk woman, no matter how she looks.
Chapters 17 and 18 provide us with a little sideline here as John describes this world system known as the great prostitute Babylon, and its relation to the beast and Satan. I want to begin by looking at the Desolation of the Harlot.
The first thing we hear is that she is seated on many waters. This is simply telling us that Babylon rules over many nations. There is pretty much no nation or race that is immune to the prostitute, and her seduction.
Verse 2 is very interesting, because I think it accurately identifies the effect that spiritual adultery has. It is again equated with sexual fidelity, and it talks about dealings with Babylon causing the earth dwellers to be drunk. We all know the power of sex in this culture. It’s right up there with money and drugs and alcohol in terms of influencing our emotions and behaviour, and especially our judgment. The Bible often tells us to be sober-minded.
This state of being drunk in scripture is very similar to our usage of the word, and it refers to an altered state of consciousness where judgment is greatly affected, and it’s typically a very pleasant state that people pursue, especially when their regular state of mind or body is not very comfortable.
In essence this verse is saying that Babylon, the world, all that we choose instead of God, intoxicates us and makes us desire it over God, probably mostly because it gives us immediate gratification.
Now in these ancient times prostitutes usually wore a headband with their name on it to identify their profession. We see in this passage that this woman has a headband calling her Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations. And it says she is drunk with the blood of the martyred saints.
This woman has existed as long as mankind and she basically rides on the beast, she is controlled, carried by the beast, and she represents everything in the world that is desirable to the flesh but opposed to God and his desires.
She is the little devil that sits on your shoulder. She’s what sort of lives in our flesh to make us want something over God. She is the mother of all things sinful, and all things that cause us to worship the world rather than God. Many see this woman as the religious system of the beast that entices us away from worshipping the true God. Since the tower of Babel which was the beginning of the Babylonian false religious system, people have worshipped self and their creations over God.
The word used here for prostitute or harlot is “porneo” where we get pornography from. Clearly access to pornography has increased in my lifetime, and it has taken over many men, and women’s lives. But the bible doesn’t limit the term to this, it is much more the unfaithfulness to God, but obviously today pornography is one of those things that draws us away from living as God would approve of.
John is asked why he marvels at this image? A rhetorical question, any man would marvel at this incredible woman riding a beast. But follow carefully here. The angel says this beast was and is not, and is about to rise from the bottomless pit and go to destruction.
This beast, it says was a scarlet color, who was (who existed before Christ was resurrected), is not now because it has been defeated through Christ’s resurrection, has a mortal wound on its head, and is restrained in the bottomless pit, but will eventually rise again for a short time only to be destroyed forever. This is a foreshadow of what we will see happen to Satan and his beasts in later chapters.
The seven heads are then explained as seven mountains on which the woman is seated, this refers to Rome as we know already. Babylon was a code word for Rome amoung the first century Jews, so that they wouldn’t get in trouble when they bad mouthed Rome. But these heads are also seven kings, five of who have fallen, a sixth that is currently reigning, and one that is yet to come. Then it says the beast is an eighth, but it belongs to the seven.
What on earth does all that mean? It says it requires a mind with wisdom. Most likely the five that have fallen would be the past empires of Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, and Greece. The one that is would be Rome, and the one to come would be the beast’s kingdom. The beast though has been defeated by Christ and is temporarily out of command, but will fully reign again for little while and therefore is the eighth that is part of the seven.
The ten horns or kings that have not received power yet are most likely the ten nations that will come against Jesus when the beast rounds them all up for Armageddon, and it says they will receive authority for one hour, (for a short time) and the Lamb will quickly conquer them.
There’s no use in speculating on who these ten nations might be. I think they represent a full number or all the nations on earth. The readers at this time probably only knew of about ten nations or kingdoms. Most of them were empires that included many of the nations we would see today. It is a united world nation against Christ.
We already know what the waters represent and it’s mentioned again here, the nations. But what is this about the ten coming kings and the beast hating the prostitute at the end? Aren’t they all on the same team? They will hate the prostitute and destroy her, why?
Because God puts it into their hearts to carry out his purpose. Another reminder of our sovereign God in the midst of all this nonsense. In the second part of the tribulation the religious system of the antichrist will be destroyed by him, because it no longer serves his purpose. He uses it to get what he wants, to lure people into believing he has a good heart, then discards it when it interferes with the worship of only himself. This is one of the main reasons church and state need to remain separate.
Now I want to remind you that Babylon is known in the Bible as a city, a woman, and a system of the beast. I want to share some interesting ideas from David Jeremiah about the possibility of a rebuilt city of Babylon in the end times.
The ancient city of Babylon was one of the seven wonders of the world. A paradise along the great rivers of the Bible, the great hanging gardens and so on. Sadam Hussein planned to rebuild Babylon as it is centered in modern day Iraq just west of Baghdad along the Euphrates River. I don’t think it would be impossible that Hussein is the antichrist, the one who was and was mortally wounded only to come back from apparent death to rule again. Not out of the question.
David Jeremiah says it’s possible with the wealth that comes from oil in the middle east, that the rich of the world may come to build this Babylon where they can bask in the luxuries from the oil. We look at a place like Dubai, and it’s not impossible to believe that under the power of the antichrist all the resources of the world could come together to quickly create a new literal fabulous Babylon where the rich would bask, and the poor would be their slaves. People’s rights will be completely out the window at this time.
Could it be that all the kings and nations come together here in this renewed Babylon to make war against God coming across the Euphrates from the east? It’s only about 500 hundred miles from Jerusalem, not much more than here to Regina. An easy half day with modern transportation.
Interesting theory, but I am not sure the Bible supports this idea of a rebuilt Babylon.
Moving into Chapter 18 we witness the Destruction of Babylon. This is an amazing narrative that so sounds like our world that it makes you wonder how far off this really is. It starts with an angel coming down from heaven with the Voice of Condemnation and announcing (read 18:2-3).
My translation says a “haunt” for these demons, birds and beasts, but a better word may be cage or prison, similar to the Greek word used for pit or abyss by the way. Those unclean things and people that lived in the system of Babylon will be trapped with her forever, something we will hear more about in chapters 21 and 22.
Let’s stop here for minute. I want you to notice that at the beginning of this chapter and the next, John uses the term after this, or after these things. This is when we know he is speaking chronologically. The rest of the time he uses and or then, which does not necessarily mean the events happen in sequence, it just means also. Don’t assume sequence when you read and or then. You’ll see this through all of Revelation.
The next Voice of Separation tells the people of God to come out of her lest we share in her destruction. I don’t think we should gloss over this. Coming out of her will be very difficult. The church has become very intertwined with Babylon, and it goes on to say that we will have to pay her back. We are going to have to release ourselves from the attachment to this world and literally go to war against the beast’s system. Remember this book is written to the churches in John’s day.
This is also a call for us today. What are the three sins that the Harlot is being judged for? It tells us very clearly in these first 8 verses. Seducing people with idolatry of all kinds, mostly possessions and sexual immorality, which is basically worshipping something other than God here.
I heard of a church this week that has a restaurant, hair salon and fitness centre in their facility. This church is set up so they never have to relate to non-christians ever. That is not what is meant by being separate. It is to be different, against the grain of what the world holds as important, ultimately living primarily for the next life using this one for that purpose. A church that spends all of its tithes on itself is a idolatrous church.
The Harlot will also be judged for pride, it says “she glorified herself”, seeing herself as a queen who couldn’t be dethroned. Finally she was judged for her greed and desire for luxury, “she lived in luxury”. Are any of those sins present in the church today?
This doesn’t just mean she had lots of stuff, but that she proudly lived in luxury while other went without. This is the lust of the flesh. God commands us to separate ourselves from this evil system without delay.
We must get out of idolatry and coveting, we must get out of pride, and we must get out of greed and the excessive desire for comfort while others suffer. Today two percent of the world’s population owns 51% of all the world’s household wealth, and that trend shows no signs of reversing.
Are we prepared for the entire economic system to collapse? There will also be a time when internet porn will not be available, people will be in great withdrawal, because all the things of the world that made them drunk will be gone when Babylon the great is destroyed. And we will all be struck with this stark new reality.
We read that the world as we know it is going to quickly succumb to death, mourning, and famine, and will eventually be burned up with fire or judgment, completely destroyed. If any of the seven churches was corrupted by the wealth and sexual immorality of Babylon it was the Laodicean church, the church of the last days, the church on earth today.
Revelation makes it abundantly clear that all these great man made institutions and advancements, and achievements that were not in God’s plan, even though they may seem great, will be destroyed. Are we overly attached to them? Do we value them more than God? We will tolerate these things being taken away? Those are the questions he has asked since he created humanity.
Look at the last and most disturbing thing on the list of things that were being bought and sold in Babylon. Slaves, that is human souls. Is slavery over? Not by a long shot. Here are some statistics… Globally:
• In 2005 the International Labour Organization (ILO) estimated that human trafficking had annual profits of approximately US$31.6 billion.
• The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development says that human trafficking is the third largest grossing sector of organized crime after drugs and arms.
• United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime's Global Report on Trafficking in Persons (2009) reveals that the majority of trafficking victims identified by states are women and children who make up 88% of all victims.
• The US Department of State’s 2008 Trafficking in Persons Report estimated that there are at least 800,000 people trafficked across borders annually, the majority being women trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation. Approximately 80 per cent of transnational victims are women and girls. This does not account for the estimated millions who are trafficked within their own countries.
• UNICEF estimates that more than one third of victims of human trafficking come from, pass through or end up in South-East Asia.
• In their 2002 report, the ILO states that 1.2 million children are trafficked every year for labour and sexual exploitation.
• UNICEF estimates that 5.7 million children are trapped in forced and bonded labour and that children represent half of forced labourers.
Canadian Statistics:
• Canada is a source, transit, and destination country for human trafficking according to the US Department of State’s 2008 Trafficking in Persons Report.
• The RCMP estimates that 600-800 people are trafficked into Canada annually, predominantly for sexual purposes, and that an additional 1,500-2,200 people are trafficked through Canada into the United States.
• Women, children, and men have been identified as victims of trafficking in Canada according to the US Department of State’s 2006 Trafficking in Persons Report.
• Trafficking victims are predominantly from Eastern Europe, Asia (sub-Mekong region), and Africa, according to the United States Department of State’s 2008
• There is no reliable data on the number of persons trafficked within Canada. Aboriginal women are disproportionately affected according to the 2007 Report of the Standing Committee on the Status of Women, Turning Outrage into Action to Address Trafficking for the Purpose of Sexual Exploitation in Canada.
• Girls as young as 12 are trafficked in Canada for sexual purposes according to Criminal Intelligence Service Canada’s 2008 Strategic Intelligence Brief, Organized Crime and Domestic Trafficking in Persons in Canada.
• There have been five convictions of human trafficking since the Human Trafficking law was enacted in the criminal code in 2005. There are 12 outstanding
That is one of the effects of Babylon today, and this will be even worse in the new Babylon when Satan is no longer restrained and the gap between the rich and poor widens. It is the least of these that Jesus talks about who are being treated like things, not people. Should our loving merciful God not judge this?
I love the descriptions we now see about the reaction of the people. This is the Voice of Lamentation. First we see weeping and wailing from the kings or politicians. Then we see the merchants, the business men weep and mourn because no one will buy their expensive luxurious cargo anymore. The rich will have no one to sell to anymore. No way to keep getting rich at other people’s expense. We see in verse 17 that nothing will be worth anything anymore. It will all be laid waste.
Then we see all the seafaring merchants cry out, and look what they say in verse 20, “Rejoice over her, O Heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets for God has given judgment for you against her!” They aren’t rejoicing, they follow the beast, but they are acknowledging that God has finally done what he said he would. In essence they’re saying, “Well I guess you guys won”.
Finally there is the Voice of Celebration. Then a mighty angel throws a great millstone into the sea, representing the violence that will now completely erase Babylon from the face of the earth. The passage goes on to describe how none of the normal activities of society will be anymore.
No music, no building, no working, no light, no marriage, hell on earth, with nothing enjoyable anymore, because the rich of the earth were the great ones and this greed and sorcery caused the prophets and saints to be killed to maintain this evil system. Payback time. And as she is slaughtered, the blood of the prophets, saints, and all who have been murdered on earth is found in her.
We do not celebrate because sinners are judged, this should break our hearts. But the martyred saints celebrate because they are finally vindicated. All those who have given their lives for God. If we were one of these we may have a different perspective of God’s righteous judgment. And we may yet be one of these.
Love God above all things, and love your neighbour as yourself. Are we beginning to understand what God is going to do? Do we understand that he has given us a simple commandment that everyone of us spits on every day.
Is there one of us in this room who loves God more than anything else in their life, and treats their neighbour, which biblically represents all people on earth, like they treat themselves.
I spent two hours in prayer this week pondering that. What that really means and where I am at with it. I am ashamed. I think I may be close to loving God like that, but when I think that loving God also means loving everyone else, treating everyone else as I treat myself, I can only be appalled.
And I stand here in front of you today, not wanting to bury you or myself for that matter under a mountain of guilt. But could we not do a little better. Could we not give a little more, money, time, forgiveness, attention to others?
One thing he asks of us, after sacrificing his son to give us life when we never deserved it and never will. Let’s think about what our worship is as we celebrate Christ’s coming to earth at Christmas, and his sacrifice at Easter. I would rather you go out on a Sunday morning and feed some poor people, rather than coming here and giving a half hearted worship that costs you nothing. But can we not do both?
Can we not express our love for him through our authentic worship and hearing of his word on Sunday morning, and go and love other people as we love ourselves, the rest of the time? Let’s not be caught in Babylon, but in the New Jerusalem.
Christ came to earth the first time because we needed him to save us from destruction, what an incredible Christmas gift. This second advent candle represents the love that God has for us. Christ will come again to fulfill his promises that he made when he walked the earth. Are we ready?
