The End of Babylon the Harlot (17:1-18)
AS WE HAVE ALREADY seen in the last study, we reach the end of the Tribulation with the conclusion of chapter 16. We have repeatedly seen that chapters 6, 8 and 9, and 16 give the chronological order of events of the Tribulation. Moreover, the chapters interlarded between those just named give the stage setting in order that we might see and understand the significance of the judgments that are mentioned in those chapters. Thus far in our study of the Book of Revelation we have an orderly development of the events of the Tribulation set forth. In other words, we have studied the outline of some of the principal events as they will occur during the Tribulation.
The Apostle John, as was true of many of the prophets, followed what is known as the law of recurrence. What is this law? In a word, it is the principle that was followed by the prophets when, after they had given a summary or a survey of a certain situation, they would go back and add details to the picture that they had already drawn in outline. As an illustration, let me call attention to the practice of the artist who, when he paints the portrait of someone, does what is usually called "blocking out" the portrait. At subsequent sittings, he adds details that were not put in at the first and develops more and more the features of the person whose picture is being painted. With this illustration in mind, we shall say that John has blocked out his portrait by the time he reaches Revelation, chapter 16. Following the law of recurrence, in chapter 17 the Apostle gives us the reign and overthrow of Babylon the harlot. In chapter 18 he gives the data concerning the power and influence and final overthrow of Babylon the city. Then, in chapter 19, he gives us more details about the second coming of Christ and the events connected therewith.
From all the data which we have, we know that Babylon the harlot, the great ecclesiastical system that will develop in the end time, is destroyed in the middle of the Tribulation--immediately before the pouring out of the bowls of God's wrath. On the other hand, Babylon the city--the literal, rebuilt Babylon of the end time is destroyed at the end of the Tribulation. Thus there are three and a half years that intervene between the overthrow of the ecclesiastical octopus and the destruction of the literal city of Babylon. The facts that are given us in chapters 17, 18, and 19 are absolutely essential for our filling out the picture concerning those momentous events that take place at that time.
Prophetic Pictures of Babylon the Harlot
There is nothing new in the Book of Revelation, in the first twenty chapters. Only chapters 21 and 22 give us new material--material not found in the Old Testament. We learn of Babylon the harlot in two places of the Old Testament, Isaiah 57:3ff., and Nahum 3:4.
In Isaiah, chapters 56 and 57, we have a vision of Israel of the end time. In 57:1,2 appears a prediction concerning the rapture of the saints out of the world before the Tribulation begins. After this, in verse 3, we have this language: "3 But draw near hither, ye sons of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer and the harlot." The reader should study carefully this verse and read through verse 8 in order to understand what the prophet is talking about. This prophecy follows immediately that which foretells the snatching away of merciful and good men out of the earth in order to take them "away from the evil to come"--that is, the judgments of the Tribulation.
There are certain ones who are called in verse 3 "sons of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer and the harlot." A reading of this passage shows that the prophet was not talking about literal children and their parents, but is talking about certain ones whom he designates as the sorceress and her consort, "the adulterer." This sorceress is called "the harlot." Who is this sorceress, this harlot, and who is the adulterer, since they are not a literal man and his paramour?
Let us turn to Nahum 3:4: "... because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the well-favored harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts." When the Book of Nahum is studied properly, it becomes quite evident that the prophet is talking about the destruction of Nineveh in the end time. Nineveh will rise out of the dust of the past and become a dominant factor in the end time--just as Babylon will likewise rise out of oblivion and become the capital of the world in the end time. There will at that time be the one who is called "the well-favored harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts." It becomes immediately apparent that this well-favored harlot who sells nations through her whoredoms and families through her witchcrafts is none other than the sorceress, the harlot, who is mentioned by Isaiah.
The Vision of Babylon the Harlot, the Mother of Harlots
and Abominations of the Earth
In Revelation 17:1ff. we read: ". . . Come hither, I will show thee the judgment of the great harlot that sitteth upon many waters; 2 with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and they that dwell in the earth were made drunken with the wine of her fornication. 3 And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness: and I saw a woman sitting upon a scarlet-colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. 4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and decked with gold and precious stone and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations, even the unclean things of her fornication, 5 and upon her forehead a name written, MYSTERY, BABYlON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF THE HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. 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 a great wonder" (Rev. 17:1-6).
When this passage is read along with those in Isaiah, chapter 57, and Nahum, chapter 3, it becomes apparent that the three prophets of God were speaking about the same thing: an ecclesiastical system that is supported by the civil government of the end time.
Man is incurably religious, we are told. When the true Church is taken out of the world by the rapture before the Tribulation, all the cults and philosophies and off-color brands of religions, together with all of the idolatrous systems in the world, will be brought together into one great religious system, or symbolic octopus. This great system is represented by the woman who is called MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF THE HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. She will have control of all the religious affairs all over the world, under the Antichrist. That this is true is evident from the name of the woman: "THE MOTHER OF THE HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH." The term "Abominations," means idols. So she will be in control of all idols. Idolatry will, as we learn from many passages, sweep over the world at that time. This harlot, the symbol of the false church, as an impure bride (a pure bride is the symbol of the true Church of Christ) will be supported and carried forward by the political power. The woman rides the beast, the world empire of the Antichrist, during the first half of the Tribulation.
Explanation Concerning the Beast
In our study of Revelation, chapter 13, we investigated the teaching concerning the world empire of the end time. John saw in vision a great and horrible beast, that had seven heads and ten horns. When this description is compared with the fourth beast described in Daniel, chapter 7, it is seen that they are identical. A beast, as we learned in Daniel 7:17, is a symbol of a world government. The beasts of Daniel's visions are kings. According to verse 23, however, a beast also symbolizes the realm over which the king reigns. The fourth beast, or kingdom, referred to in Daniel 7:23, devours the whole earth and becomes a world kingdom. According to verse 24 it collapses, falling into ten different sections. Over each one of these a dictator rises. After this occurs, there arises a little horn in the midst of the ten horns symbolizing the ten kings. This little horn becomes dominant over the ten and reigns along with them (Dan. 7:25). According to the prophetic outlook of Daniel, the world is to be headed up into one great, colossal government, which will collapse under its own terrific weight, falling into ten different kingdoms. Then there arises in each of these segments of the collapsed empire a dictator. After this, there will come a man out of obscurity who will gain the ascendancy among the ten and will reign with an iron hand. Such is the representation of Daniel, chapter 7.
The representation in Revelation, chapter 13, gives a bit of added information to that found in Daniel, chapter 7. This fourth beast, the Roman Empire, which succeeded the Grecian, has seven heads as well as ten horns. In Revelation 17:10 we see that five of those heads (types of government) had already come and gone. One was then in existence, and one, according to John, is yet to come. An examination of the history of the Roman Empire, from its founding in 753 B.C. and onward, shows that there were five distinctive types of administration that had come and had passed on. There was one, the imperial form of government, that was in existence in John's day. There is yet one other form, that will arise in the end time. When it comes, as we have already seen, the world kingdom will include every nation, tribe, tongue and language. Then it will collapse, falling into ten divisions as indicated by the ten horns on the beast. The ten horns are contemporaneous and are on the beast in its final form--during the Tribulation. In Revelation, chapter 13, we see that the beast, in its final form receives a death stroke, from which it recovers. But in chapter 17 we see the extent of this death stroke--that it is a real stroke which brings about his death. The Antichrist, in the middle of the Tribulation, will be slain, literally, and his spirit will descend to Sheol, or Hades. Then he will come back out of Hades, being raised by Satan. From that time on, during the latter half of the Tribulation, he will rule the world with an iron hand.
He is at the head of the empire when it has its seventh head--imperialism, dictatorship, Caesarism. But when he is slain and comes back to life, he will be of the seven, and yet he will be an eighth one. Satan will deliver over to the Antichrist his throne and power. Then the Antichrist will hold high carnival, so far as men are concerned--but not so far as God is concerned!
The Complete Destruction of Babylon the Harlot
The overthrow of Babylon the harlot is shown in Revelation 17:15-18. In Revelation 17:1-6 this harlot is seen riding on the beast. Here the figure is changed, and she is represented as sitting upon many waters, which symbolize peoples--multitudes, nations, and tongues.
In 14:8 we have the announcement that "Babylon the great" is fallen. This is Babylon the harlot, the ecclesiastical system, which is destroyed in the middle of the Tribulation. This is set forth in Revelation 17:15-18.
Babylon the harlot will be supported by the civil government and will have its headquarters at Babylon, the city, which will have been rebuilt. It will be so very closely connected with the civil power and with the capital of the world that its downfall is mentioned in terms of the city of Babylon, which city is actually not literally destroyed until the end of the Tribulation, although the religious system is destroyed in the middle of it.
