In Revelation 16, we studied the 7 bowl judgments that will one day complete the wrath of God. In Revelation 17-18, John has a vision about the judgment of Babylon, described as a woman sitting on a scarlet beast. This week, we’ll closely examine the woman, the city she personifies, and her idolatrous influence on mankind throughout history.
“Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and talked with me, saying to me, ‘Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication.”
Revelation 17:1-2 (NKJV)
We can glean several observations from the woman’s description in chapter 17. “The waters upon which she sits are the waters from which the first Beast arose (Rev. 13:1; 17:1)” (PreceptAustin, Rev. 17). These waters represent the sea of mankind. She is seen sitting on the beast from the sea – a scarlet beast with 7 heads and 10 horns. The scarlet beast is the Antichrist, and his kingdom is seen in the 10 horns. The seven heads are 7 mountains (or kingdoms) and 7 kings (Rev. 17:9-11). Five of these kingdoms ruled before John’s time. These are the kingdoms of Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medes/Persians, and Greece. The 6th kingdom, Rome, was in power at the time of John’s writing. The last kingdom, prophesied to rule for a short time, is the Antichrist’s kingdom yet to come.
The woman has an intoxicating influence over the kings of the earth, who committed fornication with her. She also holds earth dwellers in her trance as they were made drunk with the wine of her intoxication (see Rev. 17:2). “As went the leaders, so went the people. Not only kings but an entire global populace was influenced by her” (PreceptAustin, Rev. 17). Her harlotry and fornication show the idolatrous nature of her character. Her idolatry is further illustrated in her clothing and the cup of abominations in her hand. “The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication” (Rev. 17:4).
“And on her forehead a name was written: MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement.”
REVELATION 17:5-6 (NKJV)
This great harlot is identified in verse 18 as “that great city which reigns over the kings of the earth” (NKJV). I believe the “great city” is a reference to Babylon. “This is evident from numerous close parallels between what is said of the Harlot in this chapter and the city of Babylon in the next chapter. The primary piece of evidence that “the great city,” in this instance, is to be taken to describe Babylon is the earlier name which was seen written upon the Harlot and clearly associates her with Babylon (Rev. 17:5)” (PreceptAustin Rev. 17). We will see that she is much more than a city, but also a demonic system originating in Babylon that has ruled mankind’s heart since the beginning of time.
There are many arguments for and against a literal Babylon by respected commentators. Dr. Andy Woods does a great job explaining the evidence for a futuristic rebuilt Babylon in his book, Babylon: The Bookends of Prophetic History. He bases his conclusion on two prophetic scriptures in the Old Testament. These scriptures are Isaiah 13-14 and Jeremiah 50-51. Woods says, “Although Babylon fell to the Medo-Persian Empire (Dan. 5:31) in 539 B.C., Babylon’s historic fall does not match the cataclysmic language found in either Isaiah 13-14 or Jeremiah 50-51. The details of these texts were never satisfied in the historic fall of Babylon. In other words, the biblical information regarding Babylon’s fall does not fit the known facts of history” (Woods, Babylon: The Bookends of Prophetic History, kindle p. 17). I believe the harlot manifests the idolatry and power of the ancient city of Babylon. The picture of her sitting on many waters shows the extent of her seduction in the world. Her harlotry has existed since the beginning of time and will one day be fully revealed when the city of Babylon is rebuilt.
“God’s end-time program for Babylon has its roots in the historical account of the Tower of Babel found in Genesis 10-11. This section of Scripture is significant in that it records humanity’s first worldwide rebellion against God, and specifically against God’s command to scatter throughout the face of the earth following the flood (Gen. 9:1,7)“ (Woods, kindle p. 10). The man who led this rebellion was Nimrod, a “mighty hunter” and grandson of Ham. He is described in Genesis 10:8-10, “Cush begot Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one on the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord; therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord.” And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar” (NKJV).
Josephus, a first-century historian, had this to say about Nimrod and the attempt to build the Tower of Babel: “He persuaded them to attribute their prosperity not to God but to their own valor, and little by little transformed the state of affairs into tyranny, holding that the only way to detach men from the fear of God was by making them continuously dependent upon his power [instead of God’s]. He threatened to have his revenge on God if He wished to inundate the earth again; for he would build a tower higher than the water could reach and avenge the destruction of their forefathers” (Woods, kindle p. 10; Josephus Antiquities 1.4.2).
“Thus, Nimrod was seeking to build a city and a system that was impervious to God’s judgment and intervention. Nimrod sought to build a new world order or a one-world system of politics, economics, and religion that excluded a knowledge of the true God. Under the leadership of Nimrod (Gen. 10:8-12), mankind gathered in the land of Shinar (Gen. 11:2) for the purpose of building a city and tower to reach into heaven (Gen. 11:4). Shinar, which was located in Babylonia and is also known as Mesopotamia, which is the area between the Tigris and the Euphrates. Today, this area is modern-day Iraq” (Woods, kindle, p. 10). Dr. Woods quotes Hitchcock in his explanation of the “religious dimension of this rebellion” (Woods, kindle, p. 10). “Because of the desire to make a name for themselves (Gen. 11:4), ‘Babylon is the city where mankind first began to worship himself in an organized manner” (Hitchcock, The Second Coming of Babylon, p. 106).
The very name “Babel” means “a gateway unto God Himself,” and the city had demonic spiritual roots in the idolatrous “mother-child cult” of Nimrod’s wife, Semiramis and her son Tammuz. Legend says she had a son “through an alleged miraculous conception,” who later was killed and “restored to life” (Woods, kindle p. 11-12). When the people of Babel were scattered, they adapted and incorporated forms of this cult into their different people and language groups. “Hitchcock explains the global influence of this mother-child cult that began in Babel: ‘The legend of Semiramis and Tammuz spread around the world. Their names were changed in different places, but the basic story remained the same. In Assyria, the mother was Ishtar, the son was Tammuz. In Phoenicia, the mother was Astarte and the son was Baal. In Egypt, she was Isis and her son was Osiris, or Horus. In Greece she was Aphrodite and her son was Eros. For the Romans, the mother was Venus and the son was Cupid” (Woods, kindle p. 12; Hitchcock, The Second Coming of Babylon, p. 42).
One could easily say that the first organized anti-God, economic, and religious system began in Babel thousands of years ago. But spiritual darkness in the location of Babel points further back than the Tower of Babel.
Larkin says, “The river Euphrates, on which the city of Babylon was built, was one of the four branches into which the river that flowed through the Garden of Eden was divided, and Satan doubtless chose the site of Babylon as his headquarters from which to sally forth to tempt Adam and Eve. It was doubtless here that the Antediluvian apostasy had its source that ended in the Flood. To this center the ‘forces of Evil’ gravitated after the Flood, and ‘Babel’ was the result. This was the origin of the nations, but the nations were not scattered abroad over the earth until Satan had implanted in them the ‘Virus’ of a doctrine that has been the source of every false religion the world has ever known” (The Book of Revelation, p. 151).
Woods explains that “Satan’s capacity to lead humanity away from the truth is enhanced if only one government exists and this single government happens to fall into the hands of anti-God forces” (Woods, kindle p. 14). God thwarted Satan’s plan at Babel and divided the people into nations and languages to provide a “balance of powers” among men, thus restraining one government from ruling over all. “One of Satan’s purposes throughout history is to subvert this divine ordering of nations. His desire is instead to bring the world back together so that he once again can have unlimited control over it through one man. Thus, Satan’s ambition has always been “to bring man back to Babylon under his rule. This will finally happen according to Revelation 17-18” (Woods, kindle p. 15/ Hitchcock, The Second Coming of Babylon, p. 43).
This virus that started in the Garden of Eden manifested itself in the Tower of Babel with its attempt at a one-world government. It is striking that the Garden of Eden, the Tower of Babel, and the area of ancient Babylon in Shinar are all located where the four demons are “bound at the great river Euphrates” (Rev. 9:14). “The fact that human rebellion will one day cycle back to where it all began comes as no surprise to diligent Bible students due to numerous parallel themes or common denominators running through both the books of Genesis and Revelation” (Woods, kindle, p. 15).
What is the root of the harlot’s idolatrous system? Look no further than the virus that originated in the serpent of old. That virus is the virus of sin, whose root is self-worship. The harlot’s intoxicating influence on the sea of mankind can be traced throughout human history. Her idolatrous nature was seen in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve traded God’s truth for the lies of the serpent. She was there when Cain killed Abel. In the days of Noah, it was her mindset that led the crowds to blaspheme God while Noah tried to warn them. She showed up at the Tower of Babel as men sought to “make a name for themselves” (Gen. 11:4). She influenced Israel in the time of the Judges when “every man did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6, Goossen, The Beast, the Woman, and the Sea, p. 12-15). Her wisdom is earthly, natural, and demonic. She embodies a religion of self that is fueled by Satan. I believe this mindset will be the primary characteristic of the future One World Religion. Will it be organized? I’m not sure, but one thing is certain. Whatever it looks like, we can be certain the worship of self is at its core.
Revelation tells us that both the city and its religion centered on self will be destroyed once and for all. Chapter 17 explains that God will put it in the hearts of the kings to fulfill His purpose and destroy the harlot ” until the words of God are fulfilled” (Rev. 17:17). These kings are part of the 10 kings that give their power and authority to the beast (Rev. 17:13, 17).
“These will make war with the Lamb, and 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.”
Revelation 17:14
I want to thank my friend Emray Goossen, whose insight into the false religion of the Harlot being rooted in self-worship, was a great help to me in my understanding of Revelation 17. He also gave me permission to use his diagram of the Woman Riding the Beast seen at the top of this post.
Week 7: Homework Reflections
- Read Genesis 10-11. What do insights do you have about the Tower of Babel?
- Read Judges 21:25; Proverbs 3:7; 12:15; 14:12; 21:2; 26:12; Isaiah 5:21; Jeremiah 11:8; Deut. 29:18-19. What do you learn about being wise in your own eyes? In what ways do you see the spirit of the Harlot portrayed in these verses?
- Read Revelation 17:3. Where was John carried away to when he saw the woman? Read Jeremiah 17:5-7. What do you learn about the wilderness, and what insights do you see compared to Revelation 17:3?
- Read James 3:13-18 and compare earthly/demonic wisdom with heavenly wisdom.
- Take some time before Friday to read Revelation 17. Sometimes I like to read passages in different versions of the Bible to give me a better understanding of what it’s saying.
Simply Persuaded 