Series: Biblical Cities- Babylon [#11]
BABYLON- THE WOMAN ON THE BEAST
Psalm 137:1
Introduction:
We are continuing in our study of Babylon. The city is the 2nd on the list of most mentions. Babylon is mentioned 286 times in the Bible. It means “the gate of god(s). Over the last few weeks, we have looked at Babylon during the time of Daniel. The Book of Daniel gives a picture of how things were in Babylon.
Psalm 137:1
As we are getting closer to the end of our study of Babylon, we are going to look at the One World Religion of the 1st 3½ years of the Tribulation, its destruction by the Antichrist; and the fall of Babylon, the Antichrist’s world system of control.
Revelation 17:1-18
We are going to look at the woman on the beast.
1. The vision of the woman.
“The great prostitute.” This is speaking of something that will cause people to not follow God. Something that leads people to destruction- False religion.
“Who sits on many waters”. Verse 15 tells us that the waters are the people of the earth.
“With her the kings of the earth committed adultery”. The supposed leaders of the world (the 10 kings who answer to the Antichrist) will encourage their people to worship and be a part of this One World Religion. This religion is a do whatever you want to religion.
“The inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries”. Most of the world will be blinded by this “new religion” and will follow it.
“A woman sitting on a scarlet beast”. This shows how powerful this religion will be.
“Dressed in purple and scarlet”. The Romans dressed Jesus in scarlet to mock Him as the king. The color purple was the color of Roman kings.
“Glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls.” This religion will look legitimate and very appealing. Notice that it is glittering with gold meaning this will be a false religion that has some truths sprinkled in to make it look good.
“She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries.” Any religion that is not centered upon Jesus Christ as the only means of salvation is false. There is no other way.
“On her forehead: MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.”
“Drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus”. There will be one thing that this religion of tolerance will not tolerate and that is Christians spreading the truth about Jesus.
2. The vision of the beast.
“Blasphemous names”. Everything about the Antichrist blasphemes the name of Jesus.
“Had seven heads”. Verse 9-10 tells us that there are 2 meanings. I believe verse 9 is referring to the 7 hills of Rome. Verse 10 tells us that they are also 7 kings. I believe that this represents 5 kings of the Roman Empire through John’s lifetime; the existing king, Domitian was the 6th, the 7th will be the Antichrist who will be killed and resurrected as the 8th king whom will be destroyed.
“And the horns”. This is the 10 kings of the world that will answer to the Antichrist.
“[The prostitute] rides [it]”. The One World Religion will be the religion for the first 3½ years of the Tribulation. The Antichrist will not be the center of worship until the last 3 ½ years of the Tribulation.
“The beast… was, now is not, and will come up out of the Abyss and go to his destruction”. The Antichrist is from Hell and will be sent back to Hell for eternity.
3. The identity of the prostitute?
I want to be very clear at this point. I am not saying that all Catholics are lost or that I am anti-Catholic; but I am going to point out some things people may not want to know.
The city of Babel found in Genesis 11 is also translated Babylon. Nimrod was the leader of Babylon. Ancient folk lore tells us that the wife of Nimrod was Semiramis the First whom was the first high-priestess of idolatry. Building upon the promise of the woman’s Seed who was to come, Semiramis bore a son whom she declared was miraculously conceived and when she presented him to the people, he was hailed as the promise deliverer. His name was Tammuz. During the days of the Israelite’s captivity in Babylon, Ezekiel protested the worship of Tammuz. Introduced with the worship of Tammuz was the worship of the mother of the child. With this worship came many other rituals.
All the outstanding festivals of the Roman Catholic Church are of Babylonian origin. Easter is not a Christian name. It means “Ishtar”, 1 of the titles of the Babylonian Queen of Heaven, whose worship by the Children of Israel was an abomination to God. The “Rosary” comes from the mystic “Tau” of the Chaldeans and Egyptians. The “Rosary” was first used in the Babylonian Religion. How about the worship of Mary? As I said earlier, I am not saying that all Roman Catholics are going to Hell. If a person believes in Jesus Christ as his personal Savior, he is saved; but it is plain to see that Roman Catholicism is a mixture of Babylonian paganism and Christianity and that is scary. This could very well be the origin of the Prostitute.
We find in verses 16-18 that the Antichrist and 10 kings will destroy the prostitute. This will happen once the Antichrist is resurrected with Satan living within him and will proclaim himself as god. At this time the people will be required to worship the Antichrist or be put to death.
I believe that the actual city of Babylon will be rebuilt and will become the capital city of the world. By the way, many people thing that Babylon was destroyed during the Old Testament but that is not true. Peter wrote Peter from Babylon (1 Peter 5:13). The name of Babylon was changed to Hillah during 12th century and in 1900 had 10,000 residents.
In the last several years Saddam Hussein has spent over 1 billion dollars on the rebuilding of Babylon. The first structure that was rebuilt was temple to the sun. The focus of chapter 18 is that this powerful city will be once and all destroyed along with its ruler the Antichrist.
Conclusion:
God will be victorious and destroy evil once and for all. Regardless of how good other religions look, Jesus Christ is your only way to Heaven. Don’t be fooled.
