Revelation 17:1 Commentary and Bible Study

Chapters 17 and 18 of the Book of Revelation describe the fall of Babylon. They are linked to chapter 16 for the angel who shows the great whore to John is one of those having the seven bowls. Who is this harlot, and why is she singled out for judgment? This is the first time that she has been mentioned in the book, but we learn in Revelation 17:5 that she is in fact the same Babylon that has already featured, and whose end has been announced on account of her fornication (Revelation 14:8). Then in Revelation 16:19 Babylon’s fall is described as part of the seventh plague. That fall is now expanded upon in the next two chapters because of her significance. In spite of so much being said about her, it has not been easy for commentators to identify her, as is evident from the number of different conclusions they reach. To do so we must keep in mind all that is said about her in these two chapters. This includes the following: she is a harlot who takes men and women away from God; she derives her name from ancient Babel or Babylon – rebellion against God including a religious element; she is contemporaneous with all seven heads of the beast and therefore spans Old Testament and New Testament times; she affects all nations and she sits on many waters, representing many different peoples, multitudes, nations and tongues; she makes the beast to serve her for a time, and therefore influences governments and earthly authorities; she is responsible for polluting the world with her fornications, and successfully enticing mankind to participate in her sinful pleasures; she is the source of many forms of harlotry both literal and spiritual in the earth; she is a persecutor of the true people of God and their blood is found within her; the final head of the beast is responsible for her destruction which takes place before the very end of the world, and is the means by which the ten horns, in league with the antichrist, attempt to advance themselves and him; she is connected with commerce across the earth, so that her downfall causes the merchants of the earth to mourn; she trades not only in earthly goods but in the bodies and even the souls of men; she deceives all nations by practicing sorcery; God’s people are given a serious warning to come out of her; her downfall in Revelation 17 is at the hands of other agents of the beast, but her downfall in Revelation 18 is at the hands of God; the final stage of her destruction will come suddenly; after her destruction she becomes a dwelling place for demons; her judgment lasts forever.Given all this, she cannot be any literal city in any particular time or place, such as the ancient city of Rome. Similarly, Roman Catholicism is one of the harlots which this mother of harlots foists on the world, but she is not the only one. Romanism has not penetrated every land or influenced every king or kingdom, even during those periods when it has been in ascendancy, yet here, every single believer is warned to come out of her. Roman Catholicism will not become a dwelling place for demons. The downfall of Romanism will not bring about a total end to world trade. Neither is the false church in general a significant enough entity to justify this image. Even the totality of false religion does not fit. False religion is certainly a part of the harlot, but not the whole of her. She has elements of the world in her which go beyond false religion. She has a religious face, but she also has a secular face. She is a mystery which is not easy to fathom. Behind her is the strategy of the devil to deceive mankind and to bring them to worship him. Nor can it be that such a dangerous enemy could only be identified in this book and nowhere else in Scripture. The Bible’s warnings are expressed according to the type of literature in which they are found. We do not expect to see the sort of allegorical language of Revelation in didactic passages, but we see more plain warnings. What do we find? We find no mention of the Roman Catholic Church, but we do find warnings against apostasy and against nominal religion and idolatry. We are warned of false teachers coming among believers. We are warned of extreme forms of lawlessness in which men and women break all the commandments of God and even invent new forms of evil. We are also warned, especially in John’s writings, not to love this world. We are told that the world is a kingdom ruled by Satan and set up in opposition to God. She is called a harlot because she is that great rival to the Lord for the hearts of human beings, to lure them away from their proper devotion to God. Like a harlot, she cares nothing about the harm she causes. She uses any and every means to entrap and ensnare her victims. She has no real love for those she lures away, but discards them as worthless after she has ruined them. Her great preoccupation is with herself and the souls of those she destroys are counted as of very small value.She sits on many waters. This phrase describes the extent of her influence and power. There is no nation which she does not affect and count as her own. Whether they are educated or uneducated, part of western culture or not, they are under her sway. She trades with nations around the world and feels at home upon the seas of the world by which her trading ships reach the farthest corners of human habitation. She makes herself rich with their produce, she confidently counts their luxuries and dainties as her own.