THE HARLOT AND THE BEAST

REVELATION 17:1–6

Then 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

(Revelation 17:3).

Throughout the Bible the people of God are pictured as His bride, and when they betray Him, they are pictured as a harlot. Similarly, the nations of the world are pictured as beasts, and when Israel got involved with those nations, it is pictured as spiritual bestiality. The same symbolism is employed in Revelation. The New Jerusalem is the bride, the true church. The counterfeit church is pictured as Jezebel (Revelation 2:20), as the great whore (17:1), and as “Mystery Babylon” (17–18).

The harlot rides on the back of the beast. Similarly, the harlot sits on seven hills. This identifies the beast with the seven hills, and usually this is taken to be Rome. If we interpret Revelation 17 in terms of John’s own day and of the history found in the New Testament, we can understand the principles involved without too much difficulty. Maybe the events pictured here are still in the future, but the basic principles were already operating in the first century, and we can get a fairly clear idea of them if we consult the rest of the New Testament.

It is the Jews and Judaizers—the apostate people of God—who persecute the true church throughout Acts and the Epistles. The New Testament pictures the leaders of Israel as having sold out the Lord for Caesar: “We have no king but Caesar.” Thus, false Jerusalem commits adultery with the kings of the earth (Revelation 17:2). The false bride is arrayed in purple, gold, gems, and pearls, a counterfeit of New Jerusalem (17:4; 21:9ff.). She rides on the beast, manipulating the power of Rome to put Christ to death, and in the book of Acts, to persecute the saints. Because of Jerusalem’s splendor and the wealth of the Jews, she has influence over the kings of the earth for a time (17:18). But there will come a time when Rome will turn against her and destroy her, as happened in a.d. 70 (17:16).

The harlot sets the beast against the church. The beast and his subordinate kings make war on the church, but the Lamb defeats them. Caesar may claim to be king of kings and lord of lords, but he is not (17:14). Eventually the church was victorious over the power of Rome.

CORAM DEO

Zephaniah

Revelation 15

Where is Mystery Babylon today? It may be manifest in the traditional cults, the “name it and claim it” health-and-wealth cults, liberal pseudo-Christianity in the “mainline” churches, and militant secular humanism. In the face of such opposition, take comfort in Revelation’s promises of truth’s ultimate victory.

For further study: Nahum 3:1–6 • Jeremiah 51:6–9 • 2 Thessalonians 2:6–11

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