A Deep Pit

Series on Revelation

II The Viewpoint

E Cycle Five, Seven Messages of Judgment on Babylon

1 The Mystery

Text: 17:1-6

Introduction

Here we enter a visionary account of the prostitute, Babylon, and we read in verse 1, One 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. This takes up the entirety of this chapter and the next. Chapter 17 is primarily concerned with a description of the whore while chapter 18 describes her destruction. This seducer of mankind is pictured as a woman, not because women are responsible for sexual sin and seduction any more than men, but because she is contrasted to the virgin bride of Christ, the church, His people. Incidentally, in the overall picture, it is one of these seven angels who had the seven bowls who also instructs John about the bride, the wife of the Lamb in 21:9. Indeed the angel relates a tale of two women, one holy and one profane. The holy one will have Christ as her husband; the profane one has no husband—she is the great prostitute. Any attempt to confine “Babylon” to that ancient city or to any other single city such as Rome is foolhardy. The city sits on many waters which means essentially that it is the city of man, the universal city, and indeed we are explicitly told that later in verse 15, Then the angel said to me, “The waters you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations and languages. This city is every social structure that has been conceived by man and all the idolatry that has been fostered through human civilization. It began right after the fall of man into sin in Eden and Cain murdered his brother Abel and we read in Genesis 4:17, Cain made love to his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Cain was then building a city, and he named it after his son Enoch. Thus the city of man has continued through the centuries and she speaks like he foolish woman in Proverbs 9:16-18, “Let all who are simple come to my house!” To those who have no sense she says, “Stolen water is sweet; food eaten in secret is delicious!” But little do they know that the dead are there, that her guests are deep in the realm of the dead. Today we look at he harlot, Babylon and we see her collusion, her corruption, and her cruelty.

I Her Collusion

We read in verse 2, With her the kings of the earth committed adultery and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries. In verse 3 we learn that the harlot is riding on the beast who represents all the kings of the earth and governmental authorities in the city of man. In other words the idolatrous prostitute is in collusion with the civil authorities who command that they be worshiped and threaten severe material penalties if they are not. We read about this in chapter 13: 16 and 17, where the beast “forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name.” Another name for Babylon is the world, meaning the world system. The world will be organized by the antichrist and the false prophet according to their own insight. They will be guided not by the Spirit of Christ, but by the spirit of Satan, the spirit of hostility toward the living God. The antichrist and the false prophet, however, want something completely different than God. Without God mankind will seek itself. At first every individual supposedly must offer himself up for the glory of mankind as a whole, but man can do that only under the delusion of that pretended glory. In the final analysis all men will seek themselves and in so doing will recognize no laws or restraints. Then iniquity on earth will be multiplied and man will make life hell for himself and the other. Such a world Scriptures calls “Babylon the Great.” Selfishness will be man’s only guide. Even natural love—the love of parents for their children and of children for their parents, the love of brothers and sisters and, further, all natural ties—will weaken and vanish. Men will be like wolves tearing their fellow men to pieces. Such is life when the antichrist incites man to abandon God. Isn’t it much like that already? People will exploit each other. The so-called great, the rich and the prominent, will capitalize on this trend at the expense of their fellow man. All of this is predicted in the words of Psalm 2, Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One. “Let us break their chains,” they say, “and throw off their fetters.” The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. Then he rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, “I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill.” I will proclaim the decree of the Lord: He said to me, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. You will rule them with an iron scepter; you will dash them to pieces like pottery.” Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you be destroyed in your way, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him. Here in Psalm 2 we already see the fall of Babylon coming and the false claim of the government to be our Messiah.

II Her Corruption

The prostitute’s corruption is seen in verse 3-5, 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. The 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. This title was written on her forehead: MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. First of all this scarlet beast has seven heads and ten horns; the same as the dragon in chapter 12 and the beast in 13. The seven heads and ten horns indicate complete and full power, so this is a universal phenomenon like the beasts of chapter 13. Her purple and red clothing indicates reigning evil and demonic pomp and power. Her adornments point to her deceptive luring of men. Her golden cup promises something delicious, but it is full of filth. While the beast from the sea had blasphemous names written on each of its heads, this woman is “covered” with blasphemous names that ridicule God, his Word, people, church, and kingdom. She scorns God in the most open and flagrant way. In the midst of these blasphemous names, on her forehead is the denomination “MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.” Why is it a mystery? In the New Testament mystery denotes something which, being outside the range of unassisted natural apprehension, can be made known only by Divine revelation, and is made known in a manner and at a time appointed by God, and to those only who are illumined by His Spirit. In the ordinary sense a mystery implies knowledge withheld; its Scriptural significance is truth revealed. And what is revealed is the deception of the world order. We must remember that the worldview of the Apocalypse is a cosmic struggle between opposing forces. The forces of evil are being revealed as spiritual not material. They are being shown to be the pawns of the Devil. They are pitted against the forces of righteousness, embattled, but ultimately victorious. This is the world we currently live in. The antichrist and the prostitute are here. The world, that is the world order, is not our home, it is our enemy, the betrayer of all that is good. Finally we must not forget as previously mentioned that the woman rides on the back of the scarlet beast or antichrist. The government, once mistakenly viewed as serving God’s purposes, has become an agent of evil. It has degenerated, devolved as governments always do into a manifest enemy of God, legalizing abortion; banning school prayer; protecting homosexuality, pornography, and the teaching of evolution; and preparing for the Antichrist rule by dominating the personal lives of its citizens. This is your life.

III Her Cruelty

Not surprisingly the harlot is not content with leading men into hell, she must also inflict pain and suffering. Her disregard for human life is absolute, and so we read in verse 6, I 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. Simon Kistemaker comments, “John is astounded when he sees the woman’s unquenchable thirst for the blood of the saints. And certainly, in the twentieth century more blood of Christians has been shed than in any previous century. John had expected to see the fall of Babylon. Instead of Babylon’s demise he witnesses a gorgeously arrayed woman drunk with the blood of the saints. This vision takes him by complete surprise; instead of victory for the saints he sees their physical death and destruction. Instead of Babylon’s demise, he looks at a beautifully adorned woman who is riding high on a beast. He is mystified.” Revelation is written for first century Christians who were suffering. In 2:3 Jesus says to the church at Ephesus, You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. In 2:10 he says to the church at Smyrna, Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor’s crown. In 2:13 He says to the church at Pergamum, I know where you live—where Satan has his throne. Yet you remain true to my name. You did not renounce your faith in me, not even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was put to death in your city—where Satan lives. And in 3:10 Jesus says to the church at Philadelphia, Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth. Trials and martyrdom were part of the everyday experience of these Christians in the Roman empire. They are being reminded here that the Lord is aware of their suffering and as we read into Revelation 18 we, like they, will see the destruction of these perpetrators of evil and death. In our own time we see a disregard for human life which is disguised as something else. Wars are always struggles for freedom. Abortion is always protecting women’s health, termination of pregnancy, or family planning. Murdering the sick and infirm is always euthanasia or a “good death” or a “mercy killing.” Genocide is always ethnic cleansing or purification. We could go on giving “newspeak” synonyms for the devaluing of human life, but it is all around us. Thank God the day is coming when the harlot will be cast into hell along with the devil, the beast and the false prophet, for a prostitute is a deep pit. (Proverbs 23:27) in the meantime let us remember that Jesus Christ paid special attention to the poor, the despised and those whom the rest of society considered insignificant.