Notes On Revelation 17 Part 2

17:6b-18

But who or what is this harlot? What nation or city does she represent? John is supposed to give us a clue in the second half of Chapter 17. The first clue we are given is her connection to the beast. The harlot is dependent on the beast. So who the harlot might be, is dependent on who the beast might be.

Some have suggested that the harlot is the modern European Union, or perhaps some part of it like Germany. The European Union is made up of many smaller nations, and so it may make sense of the many heads, which John tells us is vital to understanding is message in 17:9. The countries that make up the Union have become more and more reliant on certain key members like Germany, and so this may be the meaning of 17:2. Some have also suggested China. Think about the world’s growing reliance on China economically. Many have even suggested the United States, which is still the economic center of the world today.

There are some Preterists who think that Jerusalem during Jesus’ time is the correct interpretation. The harlots of the Old Testament were always Israel, after all. And one of Jesus’ biggest complaints was the close association of the Jewish leaders with Rome. On this view, the harlot is Jerusalem riding on the back of the beast, which is Rome. Jerusalem ha strong economic ties with Rome. But Rome eventually turned on Israel and destroyed her, and this is the meaning of the beast’s secret hatred and eventually turning against the harlot. But strong as this argument is, it fails to account for all the positive imagery we have seen regarding the Nation of Israel, and for the lamentation of the fall of the Temple and Jerusalem. Remember the warning about Israel being trampled by the gentiles, the measuring of the Temple (Revelation 11), and the consistent reference to revenge upon Rome for what it did to Israel (e.g. Revelation 6). Israel was called the mother of Jesus in Revelation 12, it is hard to imagine that same woman being associated with the harlot of Revelation 17.

Another Preterist account identifies the harlot as Rome herself. The city of Rome had become great because of the political machinations and religious blasphemies of her leaders. The emperors of Rome were, as we know now, incarnations of satan. John has seen this. But Rome is more than it’s leaders. It is a city of nearly a million  people. And those people enjoy relative safety and security due to the horrible actions of those who lead them. The Romans prided themselves as living in the very city of the gods. Rome itself is named after a goddess, Roma.

God’s message is that this so-called ‘goddess’ which is supposed to be incarnated in the city is actually a witch-demon, a spiritual manifestation of all betrayal of God. Rome is, in fact, a city that sits of seven hills, and was even called the City on Seven Hills in some circles. Preterists who hold this view say verse 9 all but spells it out for us. The horns represent emperors. The ten heads may represent emperors that will come later on, or they may represent nations that are close to Rome but that secretly wish for it’s destruction. The sexual imagery represents all those nations and all people who make peace with Rome for economic reasons. But the leaders which the city of Rome worship are the terrible beasts of satan, and it is only a matter of time before they turn on the city that they lead. Through mismanagement, selfishness, war, and political machinations, they will destroy the city they helped build. God, the real God, loves his creation and lives for that creation. But the beasts only help Rome for their own selfish purposes. They love their creation not at all, and ultimately they will destroy it. It is hard not be impressed by this argument, for this is exactly what ended up happening to Rome.

The Idealist position has already been touched upon. They claim that evil economic structures and cultural sins are always buoyed up by a corrupt political system. But those who get fat or those who find pleasure by the auspices of governments are bound to eventually find themselves hoisted by their own petards. Once the political structure falls, and it always does, those people get their comeuppance. For idealists the harlot is the incarnation of all cultural and economic evils of every society, and the beast is the political and governmental evils that makes them possible.

We will finish with a commentary on both verse 14 and 17. The harlot is involved in the war against the lamb. But as terrible as the harlot is, and as terrible as her demonic cohorts, the beasts, are, it is the lamb, that simple and powerless nearly dead Lamb Almost Slain that will triumph. Again, it may look impossible. These beasts could surely destroy a near-dead lamb. But within the vulnerability and suffering of the Lamb is what is really Ultimate in this picture. The Lamb cannot be defeated. The power structures of our lives are the very web within which all sin and rebellion take place. Sexual sin is about having control over our immediate feelings and about objectifying the other. Greed is all about control. The harlot embodies sins that emanate from the will to power, which is the beast. The only thing that can really blow this process sky high is an awareness that true power is within powerlessness. That vulnerability is what is truly ultimate. And no force on earth can defeat Ultimate Reality...God will always win, no matter how weak the form He takes.

The turning of the beast on the harlot is this ultimate truth. Evil pretends to be ultimate, satan pretends to be god. But underneath, no matter how great these forces may seem, we can see their true weakness, we can see through their lie, if we look with wisdom. For evil is always bound to destroy itself. What is good is positive and creative, what is evil is positive but destructive. Cancer will eventually kill the body it exist within, and thereby kill itself. Evil destroys its own environment and so eventually will lead it its own oblivion. All sin is a form of suicide. If we can see this, we can recognize that the Lamb is that which is truly ultimate. We can start giving up power, and letting go, and thereby find a way to begin fighting against our sins.

That God inspires the beast to hate and eventually destroy the harlot is a sign that even these creatures, in their rebellion, are not completely free of the sovereignty of God. He can still influence them to serve His ultimate purpose. Before God triumphs over the beasts, He triumphs over the harlot, and He does it without lifting a finger: the beast will do it for Him. God, by creating a moral universe, has already created the seeds of the destruction of evil. Sin cannot pretend to be God, because any sane person can see that evil can only exist with a universe that is ultimately good. If it were not ultimately good, it would not exist, because evil is self-destructive by it’s very nature. It cannot reach out in mutuality, in love, and so it cannot form the connections necessary to buoy itself up. The connections it does make, through greed and lust, are ephemeral and will eventually die out. In the end even evil will serve to prove the Goodness and Glory of God. “The one who has wisdom” will be able to see this.