The Great Harlot

Let’s now look at the prophecy of the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth, the scarlet woman in Revelation 17.

Revelation 17:1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:

Spiritual adultery is betraying the true God (Hosea 1:2; Jeremiah 3:6-8). It’s too easy to point to another church and pretend that doing so makes us without sin. Yet, all who profess true religion, but are unfaithful to God and His Word, play the whore. When any of us prioritizes empty human traditions or sinful worldly values over the Word of God, we are committing spiritual adultery.

Revelation 17:2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.

The church is pictured as a woman and Jerusalem above is the mother of us all. This woman may thus be a counterfeit church or even the tares among the wheat within the church. Fornication is another way of saying spiritual adultery. False religion is often used to legitimize corrupt world leaders and crowds become drunk with populist mass hysteria and false ideals.

Revelation 17:3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.

This woman rides the beast that was earlier revealed as an antichristian government (Revelation 13). Now it looks a little different as more details emerge. It is crimson, the color of blood. Riding the beast indicates some kind of mutual relationship between false religion and evil government.

Revelation 17:4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:

She is rich and royal and filthy with sin and carries what looks like a communion cup but full of abominations.

Revelation 17:5 And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon The Great, The Mother Of Harlots And Abominations Of The Earth.

She is identified as associated with the corruption of ancient Babylon and its system of human exploitation and oppression. This is not the mystery of the wisdom of God or godliness (1 Corinthians 2:7; 1 Timothy 3:16). It is the mystery of lawlessness or iniquity (2 Thessalonians 2:6-12).

Revelation 17:6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.

The woman of Revelation 12 is persecuted. This woman persecutes. Christianity is the most persecuted religion in the world, most intensely in over sixty countries from north Africa to Asia. Tens of thousands are killed every year and thousands are imprisoned.

Revelation 17:7 And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.

An angel offers to reveal the mystery.

Revelation 17:8 The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.

The tyrannical antichristian empire that was, and failed, will again rise. Most understand this to be a revival of a murderous, pagan Roman system, which was itself a revival of an even more ancient Babylonian system. Those who have never been written into the book of life will be easily deceived.

Revelation 17:9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.

The seven mountains may refer to the seven hills of ancient Rome or seven kings that rule.

Revelation 17:10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.

Five previous world empires, one at the time of writing was Rome and the other is assumed to be a king not yet in existence.

Revelation 17:11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.

The beast is described here as being “of” the same evil spirit as the seven preceding oppressive dictatorships.

Revelation 17:12 And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.