The Harlot – Part 1
Revelation 17:1-18
1Then one
of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will
show you the judgment of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters, 2with
whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality, and with the wine
of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk.” 3And
he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting
on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads
and ten horns. 4The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and
adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full
of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality. 5And on
her forehead was written a name of mystery: “Babylon the great, mother of
prostitutes and of earth’s abominations.” 6And I saw the woman,
drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. When I
saw her, I marveled greatly. 7But the angel said to me, “Why do you marvel? I will
tell you the mystery of the woman, and of the beast with seven heads and ten
horns that carries her. 8The beast that you saw was, and is not, and
is about to rise from the bottomless pit and go to destruction. And the
dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from
the foundation of the world will marvel to see the beast, because it was and is
not and is to come. 9This calls for a mind with wisdom: the seven
heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated; 10they are
also seven kings, five of whom have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come,
and when he does come he must remain only a little while. 11As for
the beast that was and is not, it is an eighth but it belongs to the seven, and
it goes to destruction. 12And the ten horns that you saw are ten
kings who have not yet received royal power, but they are to receive authority
as kings for one hour, together with the beast. 13These are of one
mind, and they hand over their power and authority to the beast. 14They
will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of
lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and
faithful.” 15And the angel said to me, “The waters that you saw,
where the prostitute is seated, are peoples and multitudes and nations and
languages. 16And the ten horns that you saw, they and the beast will
hate the prostitute. They will make her desolate and naked, and devour her
flesh and burn her up with fire, 17for God has put it into their
hearts to carry out his purpose by being of one mind and handing over their
royal power to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled. 18And
the woman that you saw is the great city that has dominion over the kings of
the earth.”
John has seen the final destruction of the earth. It is now
time to see God’s judgment on the unholy trinity that has plagued His people
since the Fall of Adam. It’s probably easiest just to detail this out so that
all of the images come together and make sense. Now that the seven bowls of God’s
wrath have been poured out (in the last chapter) one of the angels is now sent
to show John what happens to Satan and his two beasts.
“The first beast, which has the seven heads and ten horns,
represents everything of the human sphere (society, government, economics) that
the dragon uses in his warfare against the church. That so-called ‘political’
beast does not evolve but remains the same. In contrast, the lamb-like beast,
which speaks for the dragon represents every spiritual and religious
entity that the dragon deceitfully uses against the true church of Christ. This
so-called ‘religious beast’ evolves and develops until it finally and
especially represents false Christianity and the apostate church. Therefore
what this second beast represents changes
from all false religions and
spirituality in general into the false prophet and the harlot, that is, pseudo-Christianity and the false church, the most deadly form of the
religious beast.”
Brighton, L. A.
©1999. Revelation (p. 436). St. Louis, MO: Concordia Pub. House.
So, the religious beast is now called “the harlot” (and was
called the false prophet in chapter 16) and that harlot is riding on the back
of the political beast. They work as a team and at the bidding of Satan. The
description of this harlot is fascinating. The look of this monster is so
compelling it causes John to “marvel”; whether that marveling is at the beauty
or the audacity of this creature, we don’t know. What is probably the most
disgusting is that she is drunk on the blood of the saints.
”God himself also has his own cup of judgment from which he
makes all the pagan nations drink, the cup of his wrath (Isaiah 51:22; Jeremiah
25:15–16; 49:12; Revelation 16:5–7; 18:4–6). The Lord God also made his own
sinful people to drink from the cup of his wrath. For example, in Jeremiah
25:15–29, Jeremiah is told to make all the nations to whom he is sent drink
from the cup of God’s wrath, starting with Jerusalem and Judah (Jeremiah 25:18;
25:29). This same cup of God’s wrath is the one from which Christ Jesus himself
drank in his passion and vicarious suffering and death to atone for the sin of
the world (Matthew 26:39, 42). Because Jesus drank that cup to the dregs, the
cup he gives in the Lord’s Supper is not a cup of wrath, but instead is the cup
of his blood, shed for the forgiveness of sins (Matthew 26:27–28).”
Brighton, L. A.
(1999). Revelation. St. Louis, MO: Concordia Pub. House.
I just had to share that quote from Dr. Brighton about
Christ drinking the cup of God’s wrath for us. In that concept we again find
Jesus at the center of our study – right where He belongs. Even as God
dispatches this harlot we know that He has reserved a place for us in heaven
because of Jesus. While Satan may think our blood makes a tasty drink God has
already planned his demise and we will be secure in the arms of our Savior. Even
in the ugliness we are saved.
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