Notes On Revelation Chapter 17 Part 1

I promise I won't do this too often, but when I was continuing my work on writing the REVELATION Bible study for the Tuesday afternoon study group, something came out that I think was one of the best things I have ever written, I'll be posting it today and tomorrow.

17:1-6a

There are some images from the Book of Revelation that strike deep into the popular hearts and minds of the people. Curiously, the image of the Lamb Slain, perhaps the most important image in the Book, is little focused on. It is the imposing figures of the Four Horsemen, and the Beasts, and ultimately the Prostitute of Babylon.

As we’ve discussed before, in the Old Testament the image of Harlotry is very important. Hosea, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel all spoke of Israel as God’s wife. When Israel betrayed God, she was painted as a prostitute or harlot. The image of her adultery against God is almost always graphic, and shocks many of our puritanical sensibilities (see: Ezekiel Chapter 16). But the scandal and the shock is important. It is to communicate to us the pain and disgust God feels at the horror of His beloved people turning against Him and towards other gods. So powerful was this theme that the prophet Hosea was commanded to marry a woman that he knew would cheat on him, so that he could share in God’s pain resulting from the idolatry of Israel.

This is quite a message: the sinfulness of man pains God. God is hurt by our betrayal as a devoted husband is hurt by his wife’s adultery. God knows pain, and that pain is the pain that results from the loss of love. It is this message and this imagery in mind that we must bring to bare on the image of the Prostitute of Babylon. Whatever City Babylon is, it embodies or symbolizes the entire reality of mankind’s sins against God. It is the source of the Pain of God, and is a place that exists as the betrayal of the Lord. It is betrayal of God incarnate. Whatever else is true of these passages, Christians must keep this message in mind: to sin is to betray God, and betrayal of God hurts God. God loves us as a spouse, as an intimate partner. To sin is to literally commit adultery against God. That is a supreme cost for the Lord, and that can be no small things to us, ever.

The first thing one is going to notice about chapter 17 is that same scandalous message. It is, and this is not to overstate the matter, almost pornographic in its presentation. Some say the Harlot of Babylon is nothing more or less than the cultural manifestation of the evils of all societies. Every political-religious order that is based on control, every nation of power and might, supports a culture that is rife with sin. Sexual sin is one of the easiest for a society to fall into. It is so easy to see sex as an unambiguous good, especially in a godless society. In a godless society hedonism reigns. This was no abstraction in John’s day, hedonism was an organize Greek philosophy that permeated much of Roman society. In hedonism, what feels good, is good. Sex, because it feels good, is sanctified in all it’s forms. But quickly it becomes nothing more than a drug, removed from the love relationship it was intended to be connected to. People act like animals, and we all have seen the effects of this.

This is important in the context of the juxtaposition of the beast and the Lamb. Rome and all great nations like it, make a pretense to divinity. They pretend not only to be a great kingdom, but indeed God’s kingdom. But so much of society is so sick and twisted. Freedom is quickly misused and becomes nothing more than anarchy. Sexual sin is found in every nation and every culture. A nation whose power is used to buoy up and indirectly protect such animalistic behavior betrays its true nation. No country is God, for a country is made up of people, and people are apt to act more like animals than like God.

Of course futurists are quick to point out that sexual mores are terrible today. The legalization of pornography, the prevalence of plural marriage, and similar practices betray the fact that the harlot is arising all around us. Preterists will be just as quick to point out that as bad as sexual behavior is today, it was worse in Rome. Sex was completely commoditized and even made sacred. Orgies accompanied many religious services in the Roman Empire, and they were done publicly for all to see. Idealists will emphasize the fact that all societies everywhere and at all times hide terrible sexual sins.

But the sexual imagery, powerful and important as it is, in facts represents a totally different ever-present sin: greed. The kings’ sex with the harlot represents absolute economic reliance upon her. The clue to this is verse four, which emphasizes her great treasures. Other kingdoms seek out this nation and do her bidding so that they can share in her riches. But whereas on the surface this brings success, whereas they can only focus on the beauty of the ‘woman’ that they see, underneath they are really having sex with a tool of the devil. The woman rides upon the beast, which is an extension of the devil’s power (verse 3). Underneath she is terrible to behold. This city, this nation, is to the world is a beautiful thing. But underneath, John sees her as she really is: a prostitute of demons, and the very incarnation of all betrayal of God. This is betrayal of God made manifest as a spiritual being, that then becomes incarnate in an actual place. What’s more this woman drinks the blood of those faithful to God and to Jesus Christ.

The message here is twofold: the first is to any nation that would do business or become economically reliant on this evil nation. They are participating in the slaughter of the people of God, and they will pay for their connection to this incarnation of sin. It would also serve as a powerful reminder to any church that seeks to give lip service to Caesar worship while retaining belief in Christ alone. To involve yourself with Rome for economic gain is to take part in her terrible deeds, which includes the murder of your brothers and sisters. If you sacrifice to Caesar, you are having sex with a monstrous demon!