Revelation 17:6 Commentary and Bible Study

The macabre image, which now appears, graphically conveys the revolting nature of the world’s persecution of the church. That the world should persecute the church is one thing, but that it should find such pleasure in doing so is another. Yet the image is even stronger still, for this woman is intoxicated with the blood of the saints, with the pleasure of persecution. She has a thirst for blood and she has had so much blood that it has gone to her head. Although in doing so, she deprives them of life itself, she experiences no remorse but rather makes it a cause of celebration. ‘And when I saw her I wondered with great admiration.’ Instead of the word ‘admiration’, read ‘amazement’, which is what is intended. Astonishment that, in any age, she should gain such power. These things are subject to periodicity. In the year early 19th-century an age, for instance, of awakenings, revival, and widespread evangelism, the woman had to go and hide to some extent. She couldn't be so brazen. She couldn't promote her seduction so openly. She still did, but she had to keep it under wraps, and work cunningly and craftily, because there were so many Christians about, and so much preaching, and so much truth; she was for a time subdued. But she made a great comeback.