Revelation 17:1-7

The Woman and the Beast

1One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, "Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits on many waters. 2With her the kings of the earth committed adultery and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries."

3Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a desert. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns. 4The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls. She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries. 5This title was written on her forehead:

MYSTERY

BABYLON THE GREAT

THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES

AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

6I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus.

When I saw her, I was greatly astonished. 7Then the angel said to me: "Why are you astonished? I will explain to you the mystery of the woman and of the beast she rides, which has the seven heads and ten horns.



Dig Deeper

When I was a high school teacher I had one young student who was living in difficult circumstances. She had been kicked out of her house by her mother, despite the fact that she was only 16 years old. She already had one child and had another one on the way. With little other choice, in her mind, she moved in with her 24 year-old boyfriend, a man who was heavily involved in gangs and drugs and was no sort of role model for a young child. When we became aware of all of this, we went about securing her a new place to live. She agreed that she wanted out and away from her dangerous boyfriend. We were able to get her into a shelter in a whole other part of town, one with a private location so that her very possessive boyfriend couldn’t find her. We were all relieved. That is, until about two weeks later when she said she was bored and decided to call her old boyfriend, have him come and get her and moved right back in with him.


There is an old saying that talks of the "dog returning to his vomit." I don’t know why this is so often the case, but John seems very aware of that tendency as he describes the great prostitute in this passage. The prostitute had, at one time, come from noble circumstances but now seems determined time and again to return the practices that took her from her once privileged position. This is sadly such a part of human nature that it should not be all that surprising to us. In fact, perhaps the only thing that might surprise a reader for the first time is the identity of the great prostitute.


17:1-2 - The vision of the seven angels continues in chapter 17. One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came to John and shows him the fall of the great prostitute. John has already told his readers about a harlot-city named Babylon the great (Rev. 14:8; 16:19). The resemblance of the prostitute to the original Babylon is emphasized by the fact that she is sitting on many waters, an image borrowed from Jeremiah’s description of Babylon in his declaration of judgment against the nation (Jer. 51:13). The term ultimately refers to the many blessings that God had given to Babylon, which she had prostituted for her own glory. John will give us further symbolic meaning to this phrase later in verse 15. The prostitute city has committed adultery with the inhabitants of the earth. This wording is taken from Isaiah’s prophecy against Tyre, where it primarily refers to her international commerce (Isa. 23:15-17). There are a few other examples of a pagan nation being accused of prostitution, most often, however, it is a charge leveled against Israel (Isa. 1:21; Jer. 2:20-24, 30-33; 3:1-3; Hos. 9:1).


This theme of harlotry is even more prominent in Ezekiel where Israel is charged with religious-political alliances with powerful Gentile kingdoms (Ezek. 16:26-29). God, through Ezekiel, charges Israel of adultery using language so graphic and shocking that most 21st century pastors wouldn’t dare to preach from these passages. Ezekiel accuses Israel of spreading her legs to ever passerby (Ezek. 16:25). He says that Israel lusts after the Egyptians, whose sex organs are the size of a donkey and who have the ability to produce semen in amounts that rivals horses (Ezek. 16:26; 23:30). She is so eager, says Ezekiel to commit adultery, that she is willing to pay strangers rather than the other way around (Ezek. 16:33-34). This same attitude of adultery was still evident in first-century Israel. The apostasy of Jerusalem led the whole nation into religious and political fornication as the inhabitants of the earth (Israel; see 3:10) were made drunk with the wine of her fornication.


17:3 - Earlier, the woman that represented the Church went into the wilderness, but that was out of necessity and for a short time. In contrast, this woman is sitting in the desert, apparently in her element, as the wilderness is usually a sign of the curse, symbolically the habitation of demons (Matt. 12:43). She would prefer to stay in the wilderness rather than follow the Spirit into the promised land. The wilderness is her destiny (cf. Num. 13-14; Zech. 5:5-11). She is sitting on a scarlet beast that has characteristics of both the Sea Beast, as it is full of blasphemous names (13:1), and the Dragon, as it has seven heads and ten horns (12:3). The most likely solution to this combined imagery is that John meant to depict Israel’s harlotry with both Satan and the Roman Empire. This is further support that the woman, the great harlot-city, is not Rome, because she is seen distinct here from the Beast that represents Rome.


17:4 - The woman is dressed in purple and scarlet, like royalty (Jud. 8:26; 2 Sam. 1:24; Dan. 5:7, 16, 29); She was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls like the glorious city of God (Isa. 54:11-12; 60:5-11; Rev. 21:18-21) and the garments of the high priest (Ex. 28:9-29) and the Throne of God (Rev. 4:3-4). These are not the clothes of a prostitute, these are originally the clothes of a righteous woman who was arrayed in glorious dress (cf. Ex. 3:22; Ezek. 16:11-14; Prov. 31:21-22). She is wearing the clothes of the people of God but has denigrated them with her adulterous behavior. She even takes a communion of sorts from a cup filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries.


17:5 - In a familiar fashion in this book, The prostitute also has a name written on her forehead. She was called to be the true Babylon the Great, the gate of God, but has instead rejected God and become the mother of prostitutes and of the abominations of the earth. That her title begins with Mystery, demonstrates further evidence that she is Jerusalem, the city which formed an integral party of the mystery of salvation which brought together Jews with the Gentiles.


17:6-7 - John tells us what the woman had in the cup: she was drunk with the blood of the saints. This is the ultimate unclean food (Lev. 17:10-14). While Rome did become a great persecutor of the church, we must remember that this came about only at the instigation of the Jews. Jerusalem’s whole history was engaged in persecution of the godly, especially the prophets (Matt. 21:33-44; 23:29-35; Acts 7:51-53). The word "astonished" actually means "wondered with great admiration." The point John is making that is lost in the NIV translation is that John sees that the prostitute is extremely attractive as most prostitutes are. The angel wonders why John, and his readers might be so attracted to this whore. In order that they will not be fooled by her, John will now reveal the true nature of the prostitute and the Beast.



Devotional Thought

John describes the personification of rejection of God as a prostitute that strangely attracts even the apostle John. What is it about the world (the rejection of God) that most attracts you? What are you drawn to that is rebellion against God? What can you do to realize the true nature of the things that tempt you?