The Women And The Scarlet Beast

INTRO

Chapter 17 began with the image of a woman sitting on a scarlet beast. There were seven years of tribulation. In those seven years, there were seven seals, seven trumpets, seven bowls of God’s wrath. Even in the middle of all of that, God still wanted the people to repent. At this point in the revelation, the battle of Armageddon has not happened yet. The book of Revelation is not always in chronological order. Christ has not come back yet at this point.

TEACHING

Revelation 17:1-18: One of the seven angels who had one of the seven bowls had a conversation with John. Revelation 17 was about a Babylonian system—both the religious perspective of the harlot system and the Babylonian system that would include the Antichrist and Satan. Chapter 18 will cover Babylon’s economic and political systems. In chapter 19, Christ comes and cleans everything up.

This chapter describes how the Babylonian system was not in step with how the city of God is conducted. There was always tension between the Babylonians and God. The image the angel showed John was the system of the prostitute who sat over the many waters.

Verse 2 states the kings of the world had committed sexual immorality with the prostitute. The kings of the earth were participating with the harlot’s invitation. MacArthur explains, “The harlot will ally herself with the world’s political leaders. Fornication here does not refer to sexual sin, but to idolatry. All the world rulers will be absorbed into the empire of Satan’s false Christ.”¹

In the vision, the angel took John from an island and, in the Spirit, to a desert (v. 3). John saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and that had seven heads and ten horns. This woman was known both as a harlot and as Babylon. Babylon was symbolic of a system against God, a system that was run by the Antichrist.

Next, John described the appearance of the woman who wore purple and scarlet. She wore gold, precious stones, and pearls. She had a gold cup in her hand that was filled with everything vile. She assumed she was in control and was engaging herself with the nations and the leaders of the world. She became very wealthy in the process. The religious harlot was trying to lure people toward her.

Nelson’s Commentary states, “The woman, Babylon, is dressed like a queen (18:7), wearing purple, scarlet, gold and pearls. Though the appearance of ‘the great harlot’ (vv. 1, 5) is regal, her royal golden cup is full of abominations . . . and filthiness, speaking of idolatry and unclean acts that disgust God.”² This was an opposite picture of the Garden in Genesis. There was a cryptic name on her forehead, Babylon the Great, the mother of prostitutes and of the vile things of the earth. MacArthur explains, “It was customary for Roman prostitutes to wear a headband with their name on it (cf. Jeremiah 3:3), parading their wretchedness for all to see.”³ The golden cup was used to lead the nations into spiritual fornication. The goal was to get the nations to follow her. This Babylon the Great was distinctive from the geographical, historical city of Babylon.

From the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11 to Revelation 14:8, there were Babylons and representations of Babylons. The point of the Tower of Babel was for the people to make themselves equal to God. Everything else in Scripture extends from that picture of the Tower of Babel.

What we see at the end was the mother of all harlots in the cities and at the center of the power of all the systems. There was a domino effect as these cities fell over time. John’s account was the end of these systems.

In verse 6, the system was assumed to be a success because they had killed those who followed Christ. MacArthur explains the phrase “the blood of the saints . . . martyrs of Jesus”: “Some see the first group as Old Testament saints, and the second as New Testament saints—an unimportant distinction since this pictures the martyrs of the Tribulation.”⁴

Constable had a perspective that “this system had destroyed true believers and rejoiced in their deaths. This revelation amazed John (‘I wondered greatly’). A system purporting to honor God was killing His faithful followers!”⁵

In verse 7, the angel explained the secret meaning of the image of the beast and the seven heads and ten horns. Verse 8 identifies the Beast as the Antichrist, and the system was the woman who sat on the Antichrist. The system was poured on, poured in, and poured through the Antichrist. The woman was against Christ.

The Antichrist was one who was, is, and will come again. The Antichrist would have a false resurrection. At the middle of the Great Tribulation, it seems the Antichrist will die and appear to come back to life. Those who do not have faith in Christ will be astonished. In Revelation 13:3–4 one of the heads for the Antichrist had a fatal wound from a sword, but it was healed. In Revelation 13:12–13, the false prophet encouraged people to worship the Antichrist because he had not died.

In verse 9 the seven heads are described as seven mountains. The woman was seated on the mountains. There were seven kings, and five had already fallen. There are numerous theories about the seven mountains. One theory is that the seven mountains represent the seven hills on which Rome was built. Another theory is that there were seven kingdoms and their kings. Out of the seven kings they may have represented: Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, and the last would be the Antichrist. John made a case that these systems were not of the Lord.

The Antichrist represents kingdoms seven and eight because of his death and resurrection. In verse 12, the ten horns represent the kingdoms under the Antichrist. They had authority from the Antichrist for just a period of time. The one hour that was referenced could represent three years during which they gave their power and authority to the Beast. These ten make war against the Lord of Lords and King of Kings. Verse 14 is about the Battle of Armageddon.

Verse 15 states the woman had authority over the people, the multitudes, the nations, and the languages. There would be one world religious system. Eventually, the Beast and all of the ten nations would hate the system. They would burn up the woman in fire. The Beast and the ten nations would be doing the Lord’s will. Satan’s own kingdom was divided against itself.

CLOSING

A kingdom divided against itself cannot stand. Mark 3:23-26 talked about the division of a kingdom in its own camp.