The Future According to GodSample

REVELATION 17: The Prostitute and the Beast

Revelation 17 is the continuation of the wrath of God poured out on the earth. Are you caught up in the ways of the world or the ways of the Word? Please read or listen to Revelation 17.

COMMENTS

Revelation 17 was hard to understand. Let's see what my journals reflect about it. What was my insight at forty years old, in 1995? I wrote, "Judgment of great harlot. I don't understand. The beast was, is not, and is to come? Seven kings, five gone, one is, one is to come. Are these eras of history? Beast is an eighth, yet he is one of the seven. Does that mean again that he once was, is not, but will be again, so one of seven reigns twice? Doesn’t much matter because when the beast wages war with the Lamb, since ‘the Lamb will overcome them, because He is the Lord of lords and King of kings, and those who are with Him are the called and chosen and faithful’ (Rev 17:14 NASB).” Then I wrote, “Woman, this great city that reigns over the earth?” You can see, even then, I struggled with trying to understand Revelation 17.

Surely, when I was fifty-three years old in 2008, I had a better understanding. Let's see. "There are many images of evil in Revelation: Dragon, beast, false prophet, great harlot. Satan manifests himself in diverse ways with the same results: destruction of people by pulling them away from God and Jesus Christ. They also have the same destiny, defeat at the hands of Jesus. God puts His purpose in the hearts of men and demons to execute His purpose until the words of God are fulfilled." I am not sure that clarifies much of Revelation 17, but it does give us a different perspective.

Let’s go on to when I was fifty-eight years old in 2013. I was still in Mobile, Alabama, so I am sure that will give me a new perspective. I wrote, "The judgment of the great prostitute, Babylon, the symbol of evil, power, immorality, that engulfs people, even killing saints and martyrs of Jesus. Those not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will experience the great prostitute. Kings, leaders, will turn over their power to the beast and make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them all. The beast and prostitute fight each other because everyone, everything carries out God's purpose, even evil, that God's Word is fulfilled." I am not sure, even over the years of reading this chapter and journaling it, I understand it any better today.

DIGGING DEEPER

As we look at Revelation 17, the overriding question is, who is the great prostitute? What does she symbolize? To gain some insight, I turn to those much wiser than I, those who wrote the footnotes in my English Standard Version Study Bible:

The “great prostitute” and “Babylon the great” are synonymous, both depicting the empire of the beast. (She) represents the lust of godless societies for sensual pleasure and their rejection of all restraints. Her becoming drunk on the blood of the saints, and the beast on which she sits, reveals that, in cultures that defy God, an insidious conspiracy unites the relentless pursuit of wealth and pleasure and the ruthless exercise of political and coercive power (ESV Study Bible, Crossway Bibles 2008, 2486).

So there you have it. Now we understand. Or do we? We can look at a few opening verses to get a better description of this “great prostitute” from the Word of God itself: “The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality. And on her forehead was written a name of mystery: ‘Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations’” (Rev 17:4-5 ESV).

What I see out of those verses is the earth’s system opposed to the system of God. It is the coerciveness of the way of the world that is taking people away from the way of the Word. This system, this great prostitute, always has been and always will be until this day of judgment. Have you fallen to the great prostitute? Have you followed the ways of the world rather than the ways of the Word?

I wrote in one of my journals that whether I understand this chapter or not really does not matter. What matters is, “These are of one mind, and they hand over their power and authority to the beast. 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” (Rev 17:13-14 ESV). Whether it is the great prostitute, or the beast she rides on, or any of these beasts, they will all lose in battle to the Lord of lords, the King of kings. To that we should shout the hallelujah!

PRAYER

Father, we are reading about the judgment of the "great prostitute," but in our day, it still exists. It is pulling people away from you all the time, each and every day. Strengthen us, Lord, help us not to be caught up in the system of the world, but give our hearts over to the system of Your Word. Holy Spirit, keep us from falling into temptation; the ways of the world versus the ways of the Word. May You find us chosen and faithful. In Jesus' name, amen.