Revelation 17:3–13

This point of view is very striking. When the angel showed John the bride of the Lamb, he carried him away "to a great, high mountain" (Rev. 21:10). To get into God's thoughts about the true Church, we must be lifted higher. We must be taken above the mists and clouds of this world into the clear air of His own blessed presence. But the seer was carried "into a wilderness" to see the great prostitute! So the Spirit of God reminds us that everything around her is barren, however great her wealth and splendour. Her grand and showy ceremonies may capture and overawe the senses, but they leave the soul unsatisfied and unfed. Ritual is not Christ, and He alone can satisfy the hunger and thirst of the soul.

You can only understand it in the wilderness (v. 3), where you see there is not one green blade for the soul... The Spirit led John into the wilderness, and so he could understand it. Only revelation and the power of God can make a "MYSTERY" clear.

The beast serves the harlot, and John shows it when he says, "I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast." The action shows the full and complete subjection of the civil power. It is a remarkable sight: the woman rules over this vast imperial and apostate power. She sits on, or beside, the nations and peoples inside the prophetic area (v. 1). She also rules the beast, the leading civil and political power on earth in that day.

The strange woman is a distinct system from the beast that carries her, Rev. 17. She stands for the religious system, the beast for the political system. They may go hand in hand, yet they are distinct... The world and the professing church have much in common, but Scripture treats them as distinct systems, and God will deal with each of them separately in judgment.

The scarlet colour stands for earthly glory, and only that: the beast's reign has no link with heaven. It is full of names of blasphemy, not merely words. That means it takes titles that belong to God, and taking them is blasphemy. Of these seven heads, only one exists at a time, as we see by the angel's words. The seven are seen together for identification, not because they exist at the same time.

The beast is the revived political system of Rome. The woman is Rome's religious system, plus whatever else she may have gathered into herself before this vision comes true. She has daughters — other bodies that claim to be Christian, and hardly less evil than their mother.

If the beast means the secular and political power, how do we explain the woman seated on it? What great system do we see seated on the secular power of Europe, and held up by it? Is it not plainly the church power? Is it not the church in alliance with the state, and supported by the state?

It is important to avoid these principles and forms that lead to ruin... A heathen is not in Babylon. He cannot be there. A Christian may be found there. Whatever connects the world with religion is the principle of Babylon. The spirit of Babylon, the spirit of worldliness, is very slippery ground. That is why God warns us. May God keep us!

This is not the bride dressed in fine linen, white and clean. It is the showy splendour of the world, meant to attract the flesh. The colours are clearly royal — yes, imperial — so that her claims as a church rest first of all on a claim to supreme rank... But this woman, who wrongly takes that name, seeks nothing but pleasure for the flesh and worldly importance, all that people naturally want and prize on the earth.

She is dressed in purple and scarlet, because she claims spiritual as well as earthly authority.

She is also decorated with gold, precious stones and pearls. These stand for truths that are truly divine and spiritual. But she uses them only to adorn her outside, and to make the cup of her intoxication more tempting.

Elsewhere gold, precious stones and pearls stand for all that is beautiful and of God. Here she is only "decked," or gilded, with them. It is all surface. These things are excellent in themselves, but she twists them to low uses. Her cup is golden too, as anyone can see from the outside, but inside it is full of filth. The Pharisee's sin was like this, as we see in Luke 11:39, but here it reaches its highest pitch of evil.

These two evils, idolatry and corruption, mark the last phase of the professing Church on earth. "Abominations" refers to idolatry (2 Kings 23:13; Isa. 44:19; Ezek. 16:36), and "fornication" to gross corruption (Rev. 2:21; Rev. 9:21). Idolatry and the worst forms of wickedness are what this woman is known for. Her cup is full of horrible evils. This is the climax. You might expect such things among pagan nations. But Christendom is now the scene of light, grace and truth, and for it to become the very hotbed and cesspool of all that is filthy and vile in religion is truly astonishing.

The golden cup was in the prostitute's hand; she was not herself a golden cup in the Lord's hand. She governed and rode the beast with ten horns. That was her general character for a long time, but not her final one. She became the prey and spoil of the kings who held their power along with the beast.

What a contrast! The prostitute dazzled the eyes of the world with scarlet and purple, with gold and precious stones and pearls. The wife is granted a white robe, the mark of God's approval, to wear when Jesus Christ is revealed. The splendour of the prostitute may be "exalted among men," but it is "an abomination in the sight of God." On the other hand, God owns the very deeds that brought down the scorn, the hatred and the persecution of the world, and gives them to adorn the Lamb's wife for ever.

In Scripture the word "Mystery" does not mean something mysterious. As has been said, it "points to something the natural mind of man cannot discover, a secret that needs the distinct and fresh light of God to unravel." Without this revelation, John would never have imagined that a great system would grow up in the Christian world that professes the name of Christ, claims to be the church, and yet becomes completely corrupt.

There was a great claim to truth — the enemy's masterpiece of counterfeiting the revealed ways of God. God had revealed the mystery of Christ and the church. Now there is the mystery of this anti-church. It is not the mystery of faith and godliness, but of lawlessness — Babylon the great seated on the beast, the terrible opposite of the church, which is subject to Christ. Here she rules the beast.

The old Babylon was great and evil. It enslaved God's people long ago, and its doom can never be reversed. Yet its spiritual counterpart, the great Babylon of Revelation, goes far beyond it. In Babylon the Great we see one vast system gathering up all the evils that have wrecked the church in past times. This is the peak. Every evil that has ever troubled the Christian world comes to a focus here. The last days of the church on earth are her worst.

Every system that copies the ways of the woman and imitates her actions, takes in her doctrines, adopts her forms of worship, and generally borrows from or conforms to the Church of Rome, now or then, counts as her offspring. She is the mother, or source, of every evil religious system.

She also produces "abominations." Now, "abominations" is a well-known scriptural word for "idols," so Rome is a parent of idolatry. Who does not know it? And yet people are willing to be blinded, to listen to her claims of innocence, and to accept her embrace.

The terrible name written on the woman's forehead for all to see stands in contrast to the 144,000 in Revelation 14:1, who have the Father's name on their foreheads, and to the saints of the heavenly city in Revelation 22:4, who have the Lamb's name on their foreheads. Great Babylon advertises herself, not the Lord. "Mystery" tells us how she hides her real character: she keeps her victims ignorant of the Word of God and in bondage to mysterious rituals and man-made teachings.

Her name was written on her forehead. A drunken world does not see it, but a believer should not mistake it. We should judge it from outside it. If we are in our right place, in the Spirit, in the wilderness, we will not mistake it. But if we tamper with it, we have lost the sense of it: if we do not see it for what it is, we have drunk some of her wine.

Babylon means "confusion," and no word could better describe the result. Something that professes the name of Christ has taken up friendship with the world, and the world is at enmity with God. It ends with the outward form of religion used as a cloak to cover "the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life." We are not called to reform it or to overthrow it, but to come out of it, so that we do not share in its sins.

"Drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus" (v. 6) is a graphic picture of how little she feels. She has no sense of the enormous guilt of her persecution of the true saints of God. Like a wild beast that has tasted blood, she has become the more callous and unrelenting. John, in seeing her, wonders with great wonder. Probably it was hard for him to imagine a woman being so exalted and yet so callous. Who could have imagined beforehand that the professing "church" would take on such a grotesque character?

Then the next thing is murder. Satan is a liar, the "father of lies." He is also a "murderer from the beginning." So in the working of Satan we find first idolatry, and then it leads to murder... This is the time of prosperity to her. She is drunk. There are two marks given of those whose blood she is drunk with... The terms saints and martyrs of Jesus, witnesses for Him, describe them. They are not described as people settling down here on earth.

The Greek word is μάρτυς, and is very often translated 'witness'. A martyr is one who dies because of the witness he bears... Christ Himself was the faithful and true witness. So the Lord Jesus was the true Martyr, though His death included much more than dying as a martyr — it was atonement.

He could well understand a religious system becoming corrupt... But that the woman should be drunk with the blood of the saints was what filled even John's mind with great astonishment. Bad as passion is, it is not the worst thing that the heart of man is capable of. In the deceiving power of false religion, Satan displays his direct power. God gave that very thing for light and blessing, to win the heart and to bring people into fellowship with Himself. The enemy twists it to make a man worse than ever.

John was banished on Patmos. Why would he wonder that the heathen world persecuted the saints? But that this same Rome, now professing Christianity, should do it — that would be a marvel indeed... Here, just before her judgment, the apostle pronounces her condemnation. She has never repented of murdering God's saints.

Papal Rome far exceeded pagan Rome in cruelty and bloodshed. She is also far more guilty, because she knew better. She claimed to be the spouse of Christ, and yet murdered at will those redeemed by the blood of the Lamb... What amazed John was not the Beast's persecution (Rev. 13:7), but the woman's — the professed spouse of Christ. Yet it is the Beast, not she, who puts the saints to death. The woman is the power behind.

What a day of reckoning is at hand! The sighs and tears of the helpless and the suffering have gone up to God. He records it all in His book, and the tears are in His bottle. Righteous retribution will yet fall. Babylon will be overthrown and judged, to recover herself no more forever.

Then comes the angel's explanation, and we shall find that it gives fresh information of the most important kind. It is always like this in the interpretations of Scripture. Man's explanations rest only on the thing to be explained. God, out of His fullness, loves to give us more, and of even deeper importance.

But it was no such evil that astounded the prophet. What filled him with astonishment was this. A mysterious form of evil, the enemy's counter-testimony — not antichrist, but antichurch — should appear to be, and be widely accepted as, the holy catholic (that is, universal) church of God. And Christendom, if not Christianity, should at the same time become the bitterest of persecutors. It was more savagely enraged against the witnesses of Jesus and the saints of God than paganism had ever been in any country or in any age.

The angel questions John as to why he marvels (v. 7). Is it so hard to understand that when the best thing on earth (the true Church of God) is corrupted, it becomes the worst corruption?

Then the second part of the chapter explains the "mystery of the woman and of the Beast which carries her." It is a double mystery — the woman and the Beast. It is a mockery of the New Testament mystery "concerning Christ and the Church." In the mystery of our chapter the woman is named first. In the mystery of Ephesians Christ is named first, and rightly so.

For she is a mystery. She is not like the Babylon of old, the plain and open enemy of the people of God. She is a riddle, so hard to read that many of God's people in every age have taken her — prostitute as she is — for the pure bride of the Lamb. Yet here, for all ages, the riddle is solved for those who are close enough to God to understand it.

This is in fact the main subject of the chapter. It describes the woman above all, and her connections with the beast, the Roman empire. For beyond all denial, the woman and the beast are two distinct things. If the beast is the Roman empire, the woman cannot be. She may be seated on the beast, but for that very reason she is not the same thing. And the woman is not only distinct from the beast. Later we find that the beast turns against the woman and takes his part in destroying her.

She sits upon the many waters (see verse 15), and she rides upon the beast. For a time he is under her control. Religion then rules politics and uses them for the expansion of her own power.

The Roman empire was to have three stages. The first is its original imperial form, when John suffered under the last of the Caesars. Next comes its state of non-existence, from about the fifth century, when the Goths and Vandals broke it up. That is its condition now. But then there is a third stage, and it is in that last condition that it is to be found in open opposition to God and the Lamb.

It may be alleged that the Roman empire does not exist in our days. That is one more proof of what we have been saying... It existed; next, it exists no more; then, it will come out of the pit. It will have a really diabolical character; it will be a full expression of the power of Satan.

Even when it rose up against the Son of God, Scripture did not say then that it had come up out of the abyss. When the empire finally reappears, it will wear a still more clearly devilish character than it ever had of old.

Revelation 13 showed us that Satan would support and direct the empire in its revived form. Here we discover that Satan will produce it. And it will enslave the minds of all those false religionists who have dragged the faith of Christ down to a mere religion of earthly things.

There is a time coming when power will cease to be ordained of God. This is the point to which the last phase of the Beast refers. In His providence God did authorize the world-empires of old. That principle continues as long as the church is here below... But the day is at hand when Satan will be allowed to have things his own way. For a short time (what a mercy that it is to be only so!) Satan will bring forth an empire suited to his purposes.

The verse ends with the remarkable expression, "Behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is." This shows that the Roman Empire does not exist right now, yet all the elements for its revival are at hand. It exists potentially.

Divine grace is that alone which makes any to differ; and of this we are reminded here. The power at work in the revival of the beast is clearly beyond the power of man. And how many today seem to assume that any power greater than man's must be divine! This is the essence of the "strong delusion" which God sends upon those who have not received the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

The elect had their names written in the book of life from the foundation of the world. Ah! these future times were all thought of and provided for in the foresight of God... We read of another book of life in Revelation 3:5. There it is the book of Christian profession, true and false. So some names will be erased and others will stand. But in our chapter the book, or register of life, is the book of reality. So no name can be blotted out.

"Goes into destruction," or perdition. This happens at the start of the millennial reign, and Revelation 19:17-21 describes it vividly... The two great chiefs — the head of the secular power and the head of the religious power — are thrown alive into the lake of fire.

Here is the mind that has wisdom, the divine secret for an understanding heart. There need not be much doubt about what the seven mountains point to, and in general there has not been. That Rome was the seven-hilled city is familiar to every schoolboy... In this way God points out what He is speaking of here, in a way plain even to unspiritual souls, if that can be. He has even, if one may say so, gone out of His way to give a needed plain mark of identification. So His saints may know whose blood this system would shed, and who would need the comfort of knowing that He was against this "mother and mistress of the churches."

This is a material point, though simple. It is a local mark, intended to show the wise mind where this woman has her seat. There ought not to be the least doubt that it is a reference to Rome. It is true that the name "Babylon" had been used for it, just as Revelation 11 uses Sodom and Egypt as figures for Jerusalem. But the Chaldean capital had nothing to do with the city of Revelation 17. That city had long since passed away as an imperial city, while verse 18 says of this Babylon that it has dominion over the kings of the earth. More than this, the literal Babylon in Chaldea stood on the plain of Shinar. Here the woman sits on seven mountains, and all the world knows that this is the well-known mark of Rome.

The seven heads have a double application: first they are seven mountains, on which the woman sits. We may learn here how, while giving much more light as to facts, a symbol cannot be taken literally. The woman was sitting on the beast. So Rome is seated on seven hills, as well as on the Roman empire by its influence. But, besides this, the heads of the beast were seven forms of power which characterised it.

The seven-hilled city is everywhere recognised as Rome. This identifies the beast with the Roman Empire. But the heads are also the "seven mountains on which the woman is seated." So this is not a mere general link between the empire and this religious apostasy. It is a local link between the religion and the city... As "the mother of harlots," she may have children who walk in her own evil ways but have no direct link with Rome. The principles of idolatry, and of worldly trade unfit for the bride of Christ, have eaten into a large part of Christendom that does not call itself Roman Catholic.

It is hard to doubt that these heads or kings refer to the various forms of power which followed each other in Rome. Other beasts were simply said to have one head. But in Rome we hear of seven heads, and the interpreter's words show that these came one after another, not side by side. The figure covers the complete variety of political power that should mark that empire. "Five," it is said, "have fallen." These were the earlier kinds of power in Rome. One head was ruling at that time — the sixth. So the five fallen heads pointed to kings, consuls, decemvirs, military tribunes, dictators, or the like, which had been in Rome before but had now yielded to the emperor.

There might have been some ground for calling these emperors "horns," but "heads" they cannot be. They each and all represent one head or form of government, namely, the imperial.

"There are seven kings," says the Spirit of God: "five of whom have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come." It is hard to doubt that these heads or kings refer to the various forms of power which followed each other in Rome. Other beasts were simply said to have one head. The Macedonian empire might become four heads, and these were clearly at the same time, not one after another. But in Rome we hear of seven heads. From the language of the interpreter, these are not at the same time but in succession. The figure refers to the complete variety of political power that would mark that empire.

"Five have fallen." These are Kings, Consuls, Dictators, Decemvirs, and Military Tribunes.

Some have applied the five fallen heads to the successive kingdoms of Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia, Greece, and Persia. Others think the reference is to Rome's first five emperors — Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero. The first idea cannot be right, for it is the Beast, that is, the Roman empire, that is before us in the prophecy. Nor can the second theory be right, for the heads are different forms of government. There might have been some ground for calling these emperors "horns," but "heads" they cannot be.

The heads are also seven kings. They rule one after another, not at the same time. Five had already fallen, one was, and another was yet to come, only to exist for a short time. The beast himself is the final one. Imperial Rome was clearly what existed in the apostle's day. "One is" we must take as applying to the apostle's day. At the time of the vision the beast itself "is not." The only other present time would be the time the apostle lived in.

"The other has not yet come." So between the breakup of the empire and its future devilish reappearance many centuries have passed. "When he comes he must remain only a little while." This is the seventh head. It is the rise of the fallen empire under new conditions, as presented in chapter 13:1.

Here again we find this last ruler, whose duration is so brief, has been by some attributed to the papacy. That seems unreasonable. A system which has existed for so many centuries should not be taken as the one that only continues for "a little while," especially when this king is put in connection with five other kings which had passed away.

It is quite true that events often foreshadow the fulfilment of a prophecy. The first Napoleon passed across the stage of the world. By his energy and speed of conquest he was an undoubted shadow of the final head of the Roman Empire, if not the seventh head himself. But it is a mistake to think that striking agreements with the thing predicted mean you have found the complete fulfilment.

To understand the prophetic word you do not require history. Suppose the simple Christian believes that the five forms of power fell before the existing imperial one — what of importance can history add? He is assured on the word of God that there were five, though he may not know their histories or their characters. Further details are of no importance to the believer.

It "was." The Beast existed as one huge united empire under a long line of emperors. "Is not." It has no political existence now. The countries and lands once inside it are still there, of course, but the empire itself came to a shameful end in A.D. 476. That ancient empire, famous and vast, has not existed for many centuries.

The Beast in its last and worst state comes up out of the abyss. That is different from how it first rose, and different from its future revival by human hands. So it stands as a complete picture on its own, and that earns it the name an "eighth." Satan revives it, and that devilish character is why it is given this number. Revelation 13 shows the empire coming back by human means; Revelation 17 shows its revival from hell.

EIGHT. A new start outside the order of creation, yet linked to it: so it stands for resurrection. Circumcision came on the eighth day, when a new fellowship began. Eight people were saved in the ark, to start a new world… The new form of the future Roman empire will be the eighth.

When he has risen, he will be the "eighth" — that is, under his eighth "head," or form of government. Still he "is of the seven," because although he has only just risen to power, it is only an old, earlier form of power brought back. In the kind of power, it is one of the seven brought into being again; but in the way it actually appears, it is an "eighth," or new headship over the empire.

The eighth head is one individual ruler, yet he bears the name of the beast, or the empire, because in character he is the empire. He stands at the top, directing all its authority. He is of the seven, because some earlier form of power will carry on, or be taken up again. But he will be the eighth, because something about him will be so unusual that it deserves a name of its own.

Some see the beast (the empire) and its last head as one, and so have even argued for the literal resurrection of a person here. That is only a wild fancy. Real resurrection could only come from God, and the beast in its last form is completely under Satan's power. So the rising up out of the abyss is figurative, just as the beast itself is.

He himself will receive a deadly wound… So he falls as the seventh head, but rises by Satan's power as the eighth head.

The seventh head continues for a short time only. We may take him to be a person of importance, in control when the empire first reappears. Then the "little horn" — Satan's own choice — takes his place. That horn rises up looking "greater than its companions," and three kings fall before him.

The two great leaders, heads of the political power and of the religious power, are thrown alive into the lake of fire; those under them and their armies perish forever. The first five heads fell one after another. Then the sixth came to a violent end. The seventh merges into the eighth, and the eighth suffers a judgment more terrible than anything in history. This head and the Beast are one, so if the head is destroyed the whole Beast must go into utter ruin.

These horns refer to royal persons. The word "horn" stands for power in general, but as used here it refers to kings. So the ten horns stand for that many separate royal persons or their kingdoms. Another writer has put it well: "The ten kingdoms will exist at the same time, unlike the seven heads, which came one after another."

It is very clear that this is still future. Never in the past did the Roman empire consist of ten kingdoms welded together, as this prophecy plainly describes. In ancient times Rome's vast lands were under one government. But in the future ten separate kingdoms will be welded firmly together. Each will keep its own ruler, yet all will follow the general leadership of one head.

Anyone who has carefully read Daniel's explanation of the statue that King Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream, and Daniel's own vision of the fourth beast with the angel's explanation, will be ready to understand the ten horns or kings of this chapter. Put these scriptures together, and it is very plain. The final form of the restored western Roman Empire will be ten kingdoms, all of them joined in one alliance under a single imperial head — the beast.

The grammar here, like the word "at," supposes the same starting point for the beast and the ten horns. But it adds the other and main piece of information: they receive authority as kings for one hour with the beast. This is not the Roman empire as it once was, without the kings. Nor is it the kings as they were afterwards, without the empire. It is both together — the revived empire in its place, the kings in theirs, lasting for the same span, until they all perish together at the appearing of Jesus.

These kings may not be new rulers. The authority they receive may refer only to this present league. So we need not think they became kings at this time. But they are given power now for one special object, for a very brief term, only "for one hour." Yet that is long enough to carry out their dreadful purpose of making war with the Lamb.

"One hour with the beast" — mark this. It is the clear evidence that this had not been going on since the fall of the Roman Empire, when the northern nations invaded. Those nations broke it up and, for the time, destroyed the beast — gave it its deadly wound. These receive power one hour with the beast: therefore the beast must come up again. It existed at first without these kings. Then these kings existed without it, and you have the ten kings without the beast. At the end you get the ten kings with the beast.

In the Middle Ages there may have been ten kings. That was the reverse of the ancient state, where the Beast ruled without them. But there was no Beast, no imperial system with lesser chiefs or vassal kings under it. This is what drove men to the idea of making the pope the Beast. But that idea is wholly unable to cover or meet the word of God.

Here we have kingdoms that still exist. Without ceasing to be kingdoms, they have given their power to one head, who leads them all as a whole. "They 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."

The ten nations are not forced into alliance with the Beast by military conquest. Rather, they have one mind and give their power and strength to the Beast. Of course these nations want the advantage of a strong leader. They also want mutual protection and economic advantage. This "one mind" therefore is one purpose, not really unity of heart and soul.

The whole mind and purpose of these ten sovereigns is to yield themselves entirely to the will and service of the Beast (v. 13).

"They have one mind, and give their own power and authority to the beast." So far history has shown the reverse of this. The horns have constantly opposed each other, and sometimes even the pope. Since then the world has not seen an imperial power to which all bow. Have we not all heard of the balance of power? Nations have worked at this constantly, in case any one power should become the beast. If a few join on one side, others are sure to help the other. They are jealous of any one power gaining such overwhelming authority and power as to govern the rest. But in the time really in view here all this political manoeuvring will be over.

The ten kings "shall give their strength and power to the beast." There will be an imperial head — an emperor — and ten kings who will give him their power. The kingdoms will continue to exist, but it will be a confederation of them. As an illustration, we may point to the kingdoms of Spain, Holland, Westphalia, and others under Napoleon. There has been the beast. There may have been ten kings. But there have never yet been ten kings giving their power to the beast who was not, and who then came into existence again.

And now note the character and actions of these ten kings. "They have one mind and give their power and strength to the beast." They are lesser kings. They are distinct from the beast, and yet entirely and willingly subject to him.

How does this come about? The answer comes a little later. "God has put it into their hearts to fulfil His will." It is not their own will. A nation that values its independence would refuse to stoop like that. Is there anything a kingdom would be more ashamed of than being nothing but the servant of a harsh, driving power? But here they submit completely.

The ten kings are the beast's willing servants. They back his Satanic schemes, even to the point of madness in making war with the Lamb. Men are going to become so puffed up in mind, so self-confident and so arrogant that they will throw themselves against the mighty power of God. Borrowing the language of 1 Corinthians 8:5, we may say this. However many lords and kings there may be in heaven and on earth, the Lamb is Lord and King of them all. The beast and his followers are included.

The ten kings give their authority to the beast, and join him in his opposition to Christ. God uses them to do His will in executing His judgment on the false church before they come in for judgment at Armageddon.