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And one of the seven angels having the 7 bowls1 came and spoke to me, saying: “Come here, I shall show you the judgment2 on the Great Harlot,3 the one sitting upon many waters,4 [Jeremiah 51:13]
| 1 | 7 bowls: May it be assumed this is sequentially after the pouring out of the 7 bowls? Or, is there an overlapping of the 7th bowl with the vision that follows in chapters 17, 18? |
| 2 | I shall show you the judgment: That judgment the martyred Saints were told to wait for in Revelation 6:9-11. |
| 3 | The Great Harlot: This Woman, or Harlot, as been referenced already in Revelation 9:14; 11:8; 14:8; 16:12, 19. All things considered, including that description in chapter 18, the Great Harlot, Babylon the Great, is a religious empire with her roots in Shinar and that first kingdom of Nimrod. Some would limit this to the Roman Catholic Church and thus it would be part of that “man of lawlessness” of 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. Others would expand it to include all those religions traceable back to the Indus Valley and the Tower of Babel along the Euphrates River. Thus, the Harlot is “Religion.” See notes on Revelation 11:8 and the suggestion the Great City is apostate Christianity. |
| 4 | Many waters: These are explained in Revelation 16:15 as international crowds. These are the same people mentioned in Revelation 13:7, 16. The expression HYDRATON POLLON is found in the LXX at Jeremiah 51:13 and is an illusion to the protective flow of the Euphrates around and through Babylon. |
Dear Friends of the Nazarene,
We choose Revelation 17:1 as the theme verse of chapter seventeen – A Hated Mistress and a Victorious King. One of the seven angels shows John the judgment on Babylon. [1, 2] The Great Harlot has caused kings and their subjects to become drunk with her prostitution. John is transported into a wilderness to see unclean and disgusting Babylon riding upon a wild beast. The Woman was drunk with the blood of the martyrs. The wild beast’s seven heads and ten horns are described. [7-11] This wild beast – likely in its seventh mode – has experienced death and then a resurrection out of the Abyss. The seven heads are seven kings. Five are in the historical past while one is contemporaneous with John. The seventh – likely the one who experiences the revivification – is yet in the future. The seventh will only have a short existence before it morphs into the eighth and final world power.
Next the ten horns are described as those who will battle the Lamb. [12-14] These have authority one hour with the 8th political mode of the wild beast. They will war with the Lamb and the Saints but be conquered. Before their destruction God will use these ten kings – possibly associated with the earth beast of chapter thirteen – will ravish and destroy the Harlot. [15-18] Thus God’s Word will be completed.
Abba our Father bless those invited, chosen and faithful.
[1 October 2002]
