What is the whore of Babylon / mystery Babylon?

(V. 5) The terrible character of the Papacy is further set forth by the name that John sees written on the forehead of the woman. The first word "Mystery," as used in Scripture, does not suggest something mysterious, but, as it has been said, it "points to something undiscoverable by the natural mind of man, a secret that requires the distinct and fresh light of God to unravel." Apart from this revelation, John would never have imagined that in Christendom there would develop a great system that professes the name of Christ, and claims to be the church, and yet becomes so utterly corrupt that it is described as "Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth." Of old the literal Babylon, though for a time the greatest city on earth, was the centre and source of idolatry and corruption. In a spiritual sense the Papacy becomes "Babylon the great," for, like the Babylon of old, it is the centre of corruption, luxury, and the glory of this world: and, again, as "the mother of harlots" it becomes the spring and mainstay of all the idolatrous abominations of the earth. Does this not indicate that all the corruptions of Christendom have their origin in the Papal system; and may we not infer that after the church is caught away all that is left on earth that makes any profession of Christianity will be expressed by "Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth" and will come under judgment as such?

"And upon her forehead a name written, Mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of the harlots and of the abominations of the earth" (verse 5). There was great pretension to truth — a masterpiece of the enemy in counterfeiting the revealed ways of God. The mystery of Christ and the church had been revealed; now there is the mystery of this anti-church; not the mystery of faith and godliness, but of lawlessness — Babylon the great seated on the beast, the awful contrast of the church which is subject unto Christ. Here she rules the beast. The holy city, Jerusalem, comes down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, — not "that great city"* but, — the holy city, which is the true way in which God characterizes the bride, the Lamb's wife, the glorified church. This religious system, on the contrary, sprang from the earth (not to say more than that), enticed into its defiling embrace the kings of the earth, and extended its malignant influence far and wide. Such was Babylon, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth. Whatever evil thing was used by Satan for the purpose of ensnaring the affections from Christ, whatever idolatrous object took His place, she is the mother of them all. Babylon is the great parent of all the worldly systems, and of the idolatries used by the enemy to draw away souls entirely from the Lord.

Rev. 17:5. — “Upon her forehead a name written, Mystery, Babylon the Great, the mother of the harlots, and of the abominations of the earth.” The shameless character of Babylon is next shown. Her name is publicly borne, indelibly stamped upon her forehead, so that all may read and understand the true character of this awful system — a travesty of the true Church. Her name is a compound one. First, “Mystery.” The general usage of the word in the New Testament signifies what is now revealed, but had hitherto been a secret (Matt. 13; Eph. 5:32, etc.). The Church is subject to Christ; the woman is subject to none. She usurps Christ’s place of supremacy over the nations. She is indeed a mystery. She should have stood for God and truth, but now she is witnessed as the embodiment of error, and of all that is morally vile and wicked. Second, “Babylon the Great.” It is a huge system of spiritual evil. Great and bad as Babylon was, the enslaver of God’s people of old, so bad that its doom is irrevocable (Jer. 51:64), yet it is exceeded by far in its spiritual counterpart, the great Babylon of the Apocalypse. The former was guilty, but the latter much more so. In Babylon the Great we witness the gathering up in one vast system all the evils which in past times have gone to wreck the Church. This is the culmination. The evils which have ever afflicted Christendom are here focused. The last days of the Church on earth are her worst. Christianity is the combined production of the Godhead, but Christendom is here viewed as the vilest thing on earth. Truly, the woman is entitled to the appellation “Babylon the Great.” That which should be her shame and sin she publicly glories in. Third, “The mother of the harlots, and of the abominations of the earth.” Her offspring are numerous. She is the parent, the source of each and every religious system which courts the world. Religious idolatry of every shape and form, every ensnaring thing and object; in short, systems, things, doctrines, and objects used by Satan to turn men from God are here traced to their source — Great Babylon. The moral features of Babylon are ever the same — unchanged through all the ages. Here she is seen in her worst, because in her last and closing hours, the parent of all that is morally loathsome. This, then, is the character publicly borne by the woman, just as in ancient times it was the practice in certain places for harlots to bear their name and evil reputation on their foreheads. If the admirers of the woman fail to see her true character because intoxicated with her finery and grandeur the spiritual do not.

Before pursuing other features of the "beast," we return now to the "woman" and her relation to it. In verse 3 she is here seen "sitting upon" the beast; that is, what the woman represents, Popery in its full-blown development after the rapture of the saints, is allied with and upheld by the world-power. She is borne up and carried along by all the power of the resuscitated Roman empire. This is the principle of all State "churches," only here it is exemplified in its grossest form because of the character of the "woman." First, her dress is specified: "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." (v. 4.) What a contrast to the bride, the Lamb's wife! To her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white (Rev. 19:8); but this usurper is clad in all the gorgeous beauty of earthly splendour, in the two colours that betoken worldly and imperial glory, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, all of which had their symbolic place in Judaism, in that which since the cross is divinely described as the elements of the world, or "beggarly elements," and which therefore in themselves contain the absolute denial of the church's heavenly origin and character. She has, moreover, a golden cup in her hand, full of the abominations wherewith she seduces and corrupts the nations of the earth.

Then we read: "And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth." (v. 5.) By "mystery" we understand that this had not been revealed before, and that it was something which could not have been understood but for this divine explanation. "Babylon the great" sets forth her corrupting character. In the Old Testament the symbolical significance of Babylon is "corruption in the activity of power," and that activity of power which brought the people of God into bondage, as the consequence of their sins. What we learn here, therefore, is that the professing church on earth, rejected as Laodicea, refused as Christ's light-bearer in the world, will finally concentrate within herself, and in a more intense form, all the evils that marked Babylon of old; and hence it is that she is termed Babylon the great. This wicked "woman" is also a mother, a mother of other systems, as false to Christ as herself. It is thus not only Popery, but all other systems that derive their parentage from her and partake of her character. Are there not such already in existence? "Abominations" also are produced by her. Now, "abominations" is a well-known scriptural word for "idols"; and consequently Rome is a parent of idolatry. Who does not know the fact? And yet people are so willingly blinded as to listen to her protestations of innocence of the charge, and to accept her embrace.*

"And the woman whom thou sawest is the great city which hath kingship over the kings of the earth." None but Rome corresponds. "The woman" is the more general symbol designating her as the great imperial city; "the harlot" is her corrupt religious character, embracing papal Rome but extending to the apostate days of the Beast and the Antichrist.

Attention to the Word will make it plain that under the figure of Babylon we have a presentation of corrupt Christendom as set forth in Papal Rome. In verse 9 the vision is identified with the seven-hilled city of Rome. In verse 15 we have a system which has exercised almost universal sway over "peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues:" again, in verse 18 it is viewed as having reigned "over the kings of the earth." Is it not manifest that only Papal Rome answers to this description?

Babylon was mentioned for the first time in this book in chapter 14:8; her fall was then anticipated. In two chapters we have a description of her and the details of her overthrow and complete destruction. Babylon is seen as a great, world-wide ecclesiastical, political and commercial system, and her dwelling-place, from where she exercises authority, is a great city, which is the seven-hilled city Rome. There are many who believe that the literal Babylon is in view here in these two chapters. It is claimed that literal Babylon on the banks of the Euphrates is to become once more a large city and the seat of government during the end of this age. Literal Babylon never was a part of the Roman empire, and as the Babylon of Revelation 17 and 18 is seen in closest identification with the empire, and for a time at least is at its center and capital, the Babylon in Asia is ruled out at once. Rome was the great center of the Roman empire and Rome will once more become the seat where the woman pictured in this chapter will exercise her authority.

— But the chief subject of judgment is now singled out — one more hateful to God than all others. “Great Babylon was remembered before God to give her the cup of the wine of the fury of His wrath.” Babylon is a name and word of ominous signification. It is the full-blown development of all antichristian elements, of all that is opposed to God. It is the concentration of all mere human religion. The city and tower which men built on the plains of Shinar — the former the civil centre, and the latter the religious centre of gathering apart from God have in the days of the Apocalypse attained the zenith of greatness. Popery is not Babylon, pure and simple, but is part of it. In guilt Babylon towers over all, and hence its judgment is commensurate with its sin. Undoubtedly it is the mystical Babylon that is referred to, and not the great Euphratean city which was doomed to eternal destruction (Jer. 51:62-64). It is the false church, the corruptress of the earth, the mother or source of all that is religiously vile. The very name of Christ which she bears, and the assumption of being His body and bride, intensifies her guilt. Her title, “great Babylon,” points to her vast assumption of religious power. The anger of God burns fiercely on this awful counterfeit and travesty of what should have stood for Him in grace, in holiness, and in testimony to the truth.

It is a religious system essentially of the earth though claiming to be the true Church of God. It is earthly in origin, associations, and character, she is the "mother of harlots and abominations of the earth" (Rev. 17:5), the guilty associate and friend of the "kings of the earth" and "the merchants of the earth" (Rev. 18:9, 11, etc.); she seeks earthly splendor and "reigns over the kings of the earth" (Rev. 17:18), and "corrupts the earth by her fornication" (Rev. 19:2).

To sum it up in a few words, Babylon is a widespread system of religious corruption claiming to be the Church of God. She seeks supremacy over the political system of the world while corrupting and stupefying the masses with her religious ceremonies, thus giving an appearance of godliness while denying the power thereof (2 Tim. 3:5). Under the guise of worshiping God and while giving herself over to worldly splendor and riches, she becomes the fountainhead of a Satan-inspired idolatry that surpasses the idolatry of all past history. She becomes the bloodthirsty persecutor of all the saints who dare to bear witness to Jesus and to the truth of God that exposes her guilt, whether it be the saints of the present Church period or of the Jewish remnant that will bear witness after the rapture of the true Church. "For by thy sorceries (trafficking with Satan) were all nations deceived. And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth" (Rev. 18:23-24).