Rev
17:1-6, 18 (ESV) Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and
said to me, "Come, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute
who is seated on many waters, 2 with
whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality, and with the wine
of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk." 3 And
he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting
on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads
and ten horns. 4 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. 5 And on her forehead
was written a name of mystery: "Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes
and of earth's abominations."
…
18 And
the woman that you saw is the great city that has dominion over the kings of
the earth."
NOTE: Revelation 17
describes figurative Babylon and Rev. 18 describes physical Babylon. Why is
chapter 17 figurative and not literal? One, John is carried away in the Spirit,
suggesting a vision. Two, the description, a woman sitting on a strange scarlet
beast defies common sense. Three, the remaining chapter tells us it is a
vision, and explains in verse 18 that the woman is a city. Typically, a woman
in scripture is referred to as a belief system. Israel and Judah were described
as sisters and prostitutes because of their idol worship. The church is
described as a bride and a woman. I would extend the figure of a woman as a
philosophical view of life, or in other words, a worldview. It can be religious
or decidedly non-religious, but it is still what a person believes whether it
is theistic or not. This worldview is strongly anti-Christian as evidenced by
her drunkenness with the blood of the saints (verse 6). Other verses even
suggest atheistic as seen in the blasphemous words of the Antichrist (earlier
in Revelation).
But why use the
figurative image of a prostitute? A prostitute is a means of enjoying physical
pleasure without a covenantal relationship, that is, there is no commitment or
sense of responsibility, except a payment of cash. A prostitute is a way of
getting around God's law to satisfy one's sexual desire. Additionally, a
prostitute in scripture is often associated with idol worship. An idol is a
physical representation of your god that you can control (as illustrated by the
ability to move or shape as desired) and is not based on scripture. Subtly,
Christians create idols when, in response to a difficult section of scripture,
they say "… well, my god is not like that …." As opposed to accepting
what the scripture says, they create their own version of who God is and what
truth is--they create idols. Anything not based exclusively on the revealed
word of God is just that, an idol. Therefore, the great prostitute is anything
that pulls us away from our commitment to God and his rules of life to pursue
our own satisfaction and control our own destinies.
This has always been
Satan's plan. From the beginning of the rebellion until the end. Satan does not
want God worshiped. Satan offers the world the lie of being your own gods and
controlling your own lives without the interference of God. And up until the
second return of Christ, God has allowed it to go on. We wonder why there is
evil and suffering in a world with a loving God. And yet, that is the only
reminder of the rebellion--the only thing for us to see that life is not as God
intended it in the garden. When will we wake up? How terrible must things get
before we finally repent of our rebellion?
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