Malevolent Obsession: Daily Thoughts from Revelation (Revelation 17)

When Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness he offered to give him all the nations of the world if only Jesus would worship him. Satan can only think in terms of power for himself and subjugation for all others. Through his surrogates he has constantly sought to establish his rule over earth, and has infected the minds of men with his malevolent obsession.

Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality, and with the wine of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk.” And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality. And on her forehead was written a name of mystery: “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations.” And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.

   When I saw her, I marveled greatly. But the angel said to me, “Why do you marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman, and of the beast with seven heads and ten horns that carries her. The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to rise from the bottomless pit and go to destruction. And the dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel to see the beast, because it was and is not and is to come. This calls for a mind with wisdom: the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated; they are also seven kings, five of whom have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come, and when he does come he must remain only a little while. As for the beast that was and is not, it is an eighth but it belongs to the seven, and it goes to destruction. And the ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have not yet received royal power, but they are to receive authority as kings for one hour, together with the beast. These are of one mind, and they hand over their power and authority to the beast. They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful.”

   And the angel said to me, “The waters that you saw, where the prostitute is seated, are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages. And the ten horns that you saw, they and the beast will hate the prostitute. They will make her desolate and naked, and devour her flesh and burn her up with fire, for God has put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose by being of one mind and handing over their royal power to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled. And the woman that you saw is the great city that has dominion over the kings of the earth.”   (Revelation 17 ESV)

Who or what is Babylon?  There was a city called Babylon that today is in Iraq. It is not a power of any kind, but more ruins than glory.  So it is possible Babylon represents some other great city like the Babylon of Genesis 11 whose nation has dominance (Rome has often been so identified but Babylon does not sit on seven hills but seven mountains, a symbolic picture).  Something could happen to make the current Babylon become such a power, but it doesn’t seem likely at this point. 

What is most important to see about Babylon, whatever city it is, is that she rides on the beast, the antichrist of chapter 13.  This means she has dominion over him.  His lustful goal, empowered by Satan, is to have world dominion, though for a time he must submit to Babylon’s power.  But God is about to change all that.

Babylon is described to John as the mother of prostitutes and earth’s abominations.  In chapter 18 we will see that she is a great source of wealth and commerce.  The remark of the ESV Study Bible note is apt: “the prostitute symbolizes the seductive appeal of a worldly economic system driven by the quest of affluence and pleasure.”  And she gets high on killing believers in Jesus.

She has power over an alliance the beast has made with several nations.  He has gained some influence, no doubt, because of some deadly experience he has been revived from, and has built a coalition with him at the head.  The city of Babylon also has an alliance with these nations but they will all agree that they want to overthrow her in allegiance to the beast.  God has given them this unity for the purpose of judging the great prostitute city.  He will use the evil antichrist to do His work.  This brings to remembrance how He used ancient Babylon to judge Israel (see Habbakuk).

We are given a little preview that these united nations will end up making war on Jesus, who will then defeat them (see ch. 19).

Since the beginning (Genesis 11) some people have banded together and sought to grow strong enough to conquer the world and so, in their minds, solidify their wealth and safety. But as with Babylon of old, He will not suffer them to succeed. Empire building belongs only to God. Human empires will always be destructive to human life and are not safe after all. Only God makes safe.

Randall Johnson

About the Author

Randall Johnson

A full-time pastor since 1979, Randall originally graduated from Dallas Theological Seminary (ThM) in 1979 and from Reformed Theological Seminary (DMin) in 1998. He is married with four grown children and a pile of epic grandchildren.

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