Vision of Revelation 17-18
Jerusalem, the Harlot, and the Dragon
TL;DR
Revelation 17-18 bring a lot of detail to several pivotal characters in prophecy. While symbolized in fantastic imagery, we are actually given a lot of key insights into the interpretation and connecting points with other visions. We are beginning with these chapters because they have the widest scope of the Dragon’s relationship with Israel represented by her habitation of God’s city on His holy mountain.
The goal of these studies is to examine each vision, or part of a vision in the case of Revelation, in their own context prior to making connections to other visions to see how they stand on their own before making connections elsewhere. This still requires defining aspects of these characters from elsewhere in scripture, but for the most part we will be refraining from connecting to other visions of Daniel until after each has been examined on their own. This allows each vision to speak for itself while building the insights that will help us determine how they are, or are not, connected.
Since the characters of the prophetic narrative are central to the actions they take at the time of the end, the focus will be on defining as much as we can about the woman riding the beast, the beast himself, and other defining characteristics about them that can be used when finding solid connections elsewhere to these same characters described in different ways.
There is also an interesting gap of time that is present in many of these prophecies that isn’t typically called out but highlights the kingdom of heaven that was established at Yeshua’s first parousia. The Spirit of God dwelling in the terrestrial body of Christ will transition to the celestial at the return and continued presence of the King, as the ultimate fulfillment of the kingdom of God is brought about by the events at the end of the age.
Prophetic Scope
This prophecy has the widest scope of them all, stretching from the time soon after the temple was built on Mount Zion around three millennia ago to the future kingdom of the false messiah just prior to the Messianic Kingdom at Yeshua’s return to Armageddon (Har Mo’ed) to defeat the gathered armies and establish His rule from Jerusalem. As such it has peripheral connections to the other prophecies we will examine later in that each of the heads cover various points in history.
Prophetic Characters
As you read through Revelation 17-18, there are many characters mentioned, but the focus is surrounding the beast, the harlot woman riding the beast, and her ultimate judgement resulting from her worship of the beast. It is in this telling of her destruction that we get many very helpful symbolic references and their interpretations. Some are more clearly stated and some can be logically extracted from the text.
The previous chapter, Revelation 16, depicted the bowls being poured out and completing the wrath of God. Now one of those seven angels reveals to us, through John, the judgement of the harlot that follows the fulfillment of the words of God regarding His wrath. I will summarize the defining characteristics given directly from the text first before delving deeper into some insights we can get from scripture on them.
- Harlot Woman Riding the Beast
- She is interpreted for us as that great city that reigns over the kings of the earth.
- A mystery is written on her forehead, tied to her in being given the name Babylon, mother of harlots, and abominations of the earth.
- She is wearing purple and scarlet clothes, decked with gold, precious stones, and pearls.
- She has a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication. This cup contains the blood of the saints and martyrs of Yeshua on which she is drunk. And so her fornication is tied to the blood of the saints and the blood of prophets, saints, and all the slain on the earth are found in her.
- Through sorcery all the nations are deceived by her.
- The kings of the earth have committed fornication with her.
- She is sitting on many waters, interpreted for us as peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues and the inhabitants of the earth are likewise made drunk with the wine of the fierceness of her fornication.
- She is also sitting on the 7 heads/mountains as she is riding the beast.
- She considers herself to be a queen and not a widow, and thus expects to see no sorrow.
- Her destruction will come in one day and one hour when she will be utterly burned with fire in God’s judgement of her.
- The merchants of the earth are made rich from this harlot city’s abundant delicacies and mourn her destruction greatly because in her destruction, people don’t buy their merchandise anymore. They sell gold, silver, precious stones, pearls, fine purple and scarlet silken linen, thyine wood, vessels of ivory, precious wood, brass, iron, and marble. They also sell cinnamon, odors, ointments, frankincense, oil, wine, fine flour, wheat, beasts, sheep, horses, chariots, slaves, souls of men, and fruits.
- Those that ship all the goods of the merchants will likewise mourn her destruction because there are no goods to ship there in her destruction and desolation.
- The great city Babylon will be thrown down with violence and found no more at all. No music will be heard in her, no craftsman, no sound of the millstone, no light of the candle, no voice of the bridegroom and the bride.
- The Beast
- The scarlet colored beast is full of names of blasphemy.
- The whole world who are not written in the book of life will wonder at this beast
- Has 7 heads that are also the 7 mountains the harlot is sitting on. Of these 7 kings, 5 are fallen, 1 is, and 1 yet to come for a short time. The 7th will transition to an 8th head introduced here.
- The beast was, is not, yet is. This is tied to ascending from the bottomless pit. It is also tied to the 7th head becoming the 8th.
- The beast will end in utter destruction.
- Has 10 horns, which are 10 kings that have no kingdom, yet receive power as kings with the beast, yet they give all their power to the beast. They do this because God puts it in their heart to do so. These also hate the harlot that is riding the beast and will make her desolate, naked, eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. They will also make war against the Lamb.
- The Lamb, who is King of kings and Lord of lords, will defeat the
10 horns. However, He will also have power over them so that they do
His will until the Word of God is fulfilled.
- Those with the Lamb are chosen and faithful.
The Woman Riding the Beast
There is a lot packed in the depiction of this harlot who has power over the kings of the earth. Her identity is wrapped in a mystery tied to Babylon, deception, apostasy, royalty, wealth, and ultimately destruction. What is clear is that the amount of influence over the kingdoms of the world she will have will be unprecedented in history. There were kings that ruled the world as they knew it, but the modern age has revealed all the world and communication and travel throughout the whole of it.
The kind of influence this woman has over kings, nations, peoples, multitudes, and tongues is clearly global in nature, something that seems out of scope for any one city to hold. But the times we are entering into are not like any other time in history, and the Bible lays out a supernatural takeover of the hearts and minds of much of the world that hates God, and this woman who considers herself a queen will gain power over the world through her king she rides and follows wherever he goes.
That Great City
In scripture, cities are depicted as women and the inhabitants are her children, primarily focused on Jerusalem and her children, Judah and Benjamin. However, there is a promise to bring together the whole house of Israel in the last days. Ezekiel 37:15-23 Jerusalem is portrayed as a mother who gives birth to her children.
Isaiah 66:8
Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? [or] shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.
Isaiah 37:21-22
Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent unto Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Whereas thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria: This [is] the word which the LORD hath spoken concerning him; The virgin, the daughter of Zion, hath despised thee, [and] laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee.
In this same context when a woman is desolate, we’re talking about an abandoned city.
Lamentations 1:16-19
For these [things] I weep; mine eye, mine eye runneth down with water, because the comforter that should relieve my soul is far from me: my children are desolate, because the enemy prevailed. Zion spreadeth forth her hands, [and there is] none to comfort her: the LORD hath commanded concerning Jacob, [that] his adversaries [should be] round about him: Jerusalem is as a menstruous woman among them. The LORD is righteous; for I have rebelled against his commandment: hear, I pray you, all people, and behold my sorrow: my virgins and my young men are gone into captivity. I called for my lovers, [but] they deceived me: my priests and mine elders gave up the ghost in the city, while they sought their meat to relieve their souls.
Isaiah 49:14-21, 25
But Zion said, The LORD hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me. Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of [my] hands; thy walls [are] continually before me. Thy children shall make haste; thy destroyers and they that made thee waste shall go forth of thee. Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold: all these gather themselves together, [and] come to thee. [As] I live, saith the LORD, thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all, as with an ornament, and bind them [on thee], as a bride [doeth]. For thy waste and thy desolate places, and the land of thy destruction, shall even now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants, and they that swallowed thee up shall be far away. The children which thou shalt have, after thou hast lost the other, shall say again in thine ears, The place [is] too strait for me: give place to me that I may dwell. Then shalt thou say in thine heart, Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children, and am desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro? and who hath brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where [had] they [been]? … But thus saith the LORD, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children.
We see the promise of the return of the children of Jerusalem to her after their captivity, and an interesting parallel to Revelation 21:2 when New Jerusalem comes out of heaven as a bride adorned for her husband. We see this same idea mentioned in Isaiah 49:18 when Jerusalem is adorned with her children as a bride would adorn herself. This speaks to the inhabitants of the city being the adornment of the city, and in this being God’s chosen abode, speaks to His desire and pleasure in dwelling with His people in relationship with Him.
I wondered how many times is the term “great city” used in scripture, is it a common phrase used of many different cities? It turns out there are six different cities tied to this phrase, the majority relating to mystery Babylon. In the Old Testament, that Hebrew phrase (gâdôwl ʻîyr) is used seven times to refer to Resen, between Nineveh and Calah, Genesis 10:12, Gibeon, Joshua 10:2, Jerusalem, Jeremiah 22:8, and Nineveh, Jonah 1:2, 3:2-3, 4:11. In the New Testament, the Greek phrase (megas polis) is used ten times to refer to Jerusalem, Revelation 11:8, Mystery Babylon, Revelation 14:8, 16:19, 17:18, 18:10, 16, 18-21, and finally New Jerusalem in Revelation 21:10. In looking at the prophetic context, there are three that stand out, Nineveh, Jerusalem, and Mystery Babylon. We’ll be covering the latter in this study, but I think the other two hold an important message.
Nineveh
The story of Jonah and the whale is a popular Bible story for kids that I remember hearing growing up, though the reality of it was likely more morbid than the Pinocchio style imagery of Jonah hanging out inside the whale. As with many Bible stories, there is not typically any connections made across these stories and it wasn’t until much later in life that the connectivity of scripture became clear in study. There is something deeper there though that I think is important.
Jonah 1:1-3
Now the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me. But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.
Jonah 3:1-5
And the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee. So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days’ journey. And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.
It took Jonah’s aquatic fishing adventure to actually obey God, but as with all things God can use it for His purposes. When He did finally go, all the people of Nineveh believed God’s warning through Jonah that they would be destroyed and repented. And so, God did not destroy them, something Jonah was not happy about and so God scolded him.
Jonah 4:11
And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and [also] much cattle?
Here we see a great city, Nineveh, that believed God and repented. In His mercy, God spared the repentant city that lacked discernment, and a lot of cattle. Yeshua used Jonah’s experience when He was asked for a sign from the scribes and Pharisees prior to His death and resurrection.
Matthew 12:38-41
Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee. But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas [is] here.
This will become even more interesting as we examine the beast later on. Yeshua came preaching repentance and the kingdom of God that they so desired to see. But it did not come under the conquering King they desired, to save them from Roman rule, and so they closed their eyes to the Messiah that had brought the kingdom with Him. Not only did He connect the three days and nights Jonah spent in the whale, but the repentance of the whole great city of Nineveh at Jonah’s warning. But even God’s own city would not repent and see and hear the greater Jonah before them.
Jerusalem
The only direct reference to earthly Jerusalem is one reference in the Old Testament and one in the New Testament.
Jeremiah 22:1-9
Thus saith the LORD; Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word, And say, Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, that sittest upon the throne of David, thou, and thy servants, and thy people that enter in by these gates: Thus saith the LORD; Execute ye judgment and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place. For if ye do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in by the gates of this house kings sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants, and his people. But if ye will not hear these words, I swear by myself, saith the LORD, that this house shall become a desolation. For thus saith the LORD unto the king’s house of Judah; Thou [art] Gilead unto me, [and] the head of Lebanon: [yet] surely I will make thee a wilderness, [and] cities [which] are not inhabited. And I will prepare destroyers against thee, every one with his weapons: and they shall cut down thy choice cedars, and cast [them] into the fire. And many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say every man to his neighbour, Wherefore hath the LORD done thus unto this great city? Then they shall answer, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God, and worshipped other gods, and served them.
I find it very interesting that once again in terms of a great city reference, we see a comparison of a city full of righteous judgements leading to safety while a wicked and adulterous city leads to desolation of that city. In this case of Jerusalem being called a great city, it is God’s judgement of her that the surrounding nations notice in her fall. As we will see later, the forsaking of the covenant and idolatry are distinctly tied to harlotry, adultery, and fornication.
In the New Testament, we see in the death and resurrection of the two witnesses, that they are killed in the street of a great city that, while not named, is clearly speaking of Jerusalem.
Revelation 11:3, 7-8
And I will give [power] unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred [and] threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. ... And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. And their dead bodies [shall lie] in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.
It is clear that Yeshua was crucified at Jerusalem, here called a great city, while additionally relating it spiritually to Sodom and Egypt. This is a picture of Jerusalem in a state of unfaithfulness to God, the beast killing the two witnesses and the inhabitants of the city celebrating at his actions. Given the Old Testament’s focus on Israel’s past and the prophetic narrative’s clear focus on Israel in Jerusalem at the end, it seems clear that this spiritually apostate city is likewise tied to its inhabitants, promised to the God of Israel, going after a false god.
Once again we see a resurrection connection here, though likely not the one you’re thinking of. We will refer back to Matthew 12:40 and Revelation 11:7 when we look at the seven heads.
New Jerusalem
Revelation 21:10
And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,
In contrast to the earthly Jerusalem struggling with her faithfulness bound to the Mosaic Covenant at Sinai, Paul associates New Jerusalem as the mother of all the faithful brought out of bondage in the New Covenant made in blood by Yeshua on the cross. Jeremiah 31:27-36
Galatians 4:21-27
Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. But he [who was] of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman [was] by promise. Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written, Rejoice, [thou] barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband.
Genesis 21:8-21 | Isaiah 54:1
Revelation 21:2-3, 22
And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God [is] with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, [and be] their God. ... And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.
And so, the eternal city of Jerusalem in the new heavens and new earth will be the ultimate realization of the redemption of man when the children of God will dwell faithfully in God’s city with God forever.
Her Mystery: Deception & Fornication
Revelation 18:23b-24
… for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived. And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.
In Blindness, Deception, Apostasy, Redemption I laid out why and how I believe deception is the core to understanding why so many people in the world reject God and hate Him and His people in the future. In the Olivet Discourse, Yeshua made it clear that the end would come with great deception surrounding those coming in His authority as anointed and deceive many. We are told that this mystery Babylon is likewise connected to this deception through sorceries, pharmakeía in Greek. This is translated as witchcraft as well in Galatians 5:20 as part of the works of the flesh. Interesting our word pharmacy shares these roots, but the uses in scripture seem more tied to ritual idolatry.
This is a very interesting correlation in terms of a false messiah, a wolf in sheep’s clothing pretending to be the anointed of God and deceiving the blind into believing in him. It is also interesting that the nations are deceived because of this ritual idolatry of the harlot city. Recall that she is sitting on many waters and the inhabitants of the earth are made drunk with the wine of the wrath, or fierceness, of her fornication. This points to a deception so great that much of the city’s inhabitants are deceived into accepting it as true, and in her fervent acceptance the whole world is likewise sucked in to accepting the lie as truth. Once again, we will see later the event that changes the world’s perception of this beast she is riding.
This great harlot city has written on her forehead, “MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.” Being associated to Babylon as a mother of harlots and abominations of the earth is a mystery to be understood. If she was literally Babylon there would be no mystery, but this mystery must be solved from scripture itself.
So what is this mystery surrounding this great city in the end times called Babylon? Going back to the Greek pharmakeía, What I find very interesting is that it is used only five times in scripture. In the New Testament it is found in Galatians 5:20, Revelation 9:21, and Revelation 18:23. In the Septuagint that word is found in one chapter, a very interesting one speaking of the literal city of Babylon and decreeing her destruction.
Isaiah 47:1-48:5
Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground: [there is] no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate. Take the millstones, and grind meal: uncover thy locks, make bare the leg, uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers. Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and I will not meet [thee as] a man. [As for] our redeemer, the LORD of hosts [is] his name, the Holy One of Israel. Sit thou silent, and get thee into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called, The lady of kingdoms. I was wroth with my people, I have polluted mine inheritance, and given them into thine hand: thou didst shew them no mercy; upon the ancient hast thou very heavily laid thy yoke. And thou saidst, I shall be a lady for ever: [so] that thou didst not lay these [things] to thy heart, neither didst remember the latter end of it. Therefore hear now this, [thou that art] given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thine heart, I [am], and none else beside me; I shall not sit [as] a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children: But these two [things] shall come to thee in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood: they shall come upon thee in their perfection for the multitude of thy sorceries, [and] for the great abundance of thine enchantments. For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness: thou hast said, None seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee; and thou hast said in thine heart, I [am], and none else beside me. Therefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shalt not know from whence it riseth: and mischief shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put it off: and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, [which] thou shalt not know. Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth; if so be thou shalt be able to profit, if so be thou mayest prevail. Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from [these things] that shall come upon thee. Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: [there shall] not [be] a coal to warm at, [nor] fire to sit before it. Thus shall they be unto thee with whom thou hast laboured, [even] thy merchants, from thy youth: they shall wander every one to his quarter; none shall save thee. Hear ye this, O house of Jacob, which are called by the name of Israel, and are come forth out of the waters of Judah, which swear by the name of the LORD, and make mention of the God of Israel, [but] not in truth, nor in righteousness. For they call themselves of the holy city, and stay themselves upon the God of Israel; The LORD of hosts [is] his name. I have declared the former things from the beginning; and they went forth out of my mouth, and I shewed them; I did [them] suddenly, and they came to pass. Because I knew that thou [art] obstinate, and thy neck [is] an iron sinew, and thy brow brass; I have even from the beginning declared [it] to thee; before it came to pass I shewed [it] thee: lest thou shouldest say, Mine idol hath done them, and my graven image, and my molten image, hath commanded them.
This prophecy regarding literal Babylon, when it still existed, has several interesting connections made to our future mystery Babylon.
- She glorified herself above all - Revelation 18:7 | Isaiah 47:8,10
- She shows no mercy to God’s people, who were given into her hand - Revelation 17:4,6, 18:24 | Isaiah 47:6
- She is connected to sorceries through which deception comes - Revelation 18:23 | Isaiah 47:9-13
- Her throne removed - Revelation 18:7-8 | Isaiah 47:1,5
- In one day destruction and loss of children and widowhood - Revelation 18:8 | Isaiah 47:9
- She will be made naked and burned with fire - Revelation 17:16 | Isaiah 47:3,14
- Her merchants will look from afar, unable to save her - Revelation 18:11-16 | Isaiah 47:15
- She will no longer be found - Revelation 18:21 | Isaiah 47:5
The mysterious connection of Babylon in Revelation 17-18 is spiritual in nature, similar to Jerusalem’s spiritual connection to Sodom and Egypt in Revelation 11. Even in the promised destruction of Israel’s rulers in Babylon, God makes it clear that He has declared these things that will happen before they do because after all these things, the risk of idolatry is still present to draw His people away from Him.
The Hebrew zânâh is found 93 times in 81 verses in and translated as harlot 36 times, go a whoring 19 times, whoredom 15 times, whore 11 times, whorish 3 times, commit fornication 3 times, among others. When used in the spiritual context, the focus is on committing adultery and fornicating with a false god. Israel is God’s chosen people whom He spiritually married Himself to in a covenantal relationship at Sinai and gave them His land and great city Jerusalem for an inheritance.
Deuteronomy 32:8-9
When the most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel. For the LORD’S portion [is] his people; Jacob [is] the lot of his inheritance.
Jeremiah 2:2
Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD; I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land [that was] not sown.
Exodus 24:3, 7-8
And Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD, and all the judgments: and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which the LORD hath said will we do. ... And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the LORD hath said will we do, and be obedient. And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled [it] on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD hath made with you concerning all these words.
Jeremiah 3:6-10
The LORD said also unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen [that] which backsliding Israel hath done? she is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there hath played the harlot. And I said after she had done all these [things], Turn thou unto me. But she returned not. And her treacherous sister Judah saw [it]. And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also. And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and with stocks. And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the LORD.
It is this threat of idolatry that I believe we see return at the end of the age, not of wood and stone, but of flesh and bone. A promise has been made to Israel that God will bring the faithful remnant back to Himself and elevate Israel and Jerusalem under His kingship over the whole world. The prophecies that Yeshua partially fulfilled in His first coming are founded on the same prophecies that those of Israel, who have closed their eyes to Yeshua, expect to yet see fulfilled. In their closed eyes, the Messiah has not yet come even once. God will allow a time before His return for the Dragon to wear sheep’s clothing and attempt to pull off his great deception. A time of testing is coming, a putting to proof, a purging of the dross.
And that is why it is so important to understand before it comes because when it does it will be a convincing deception in the earth that is cloaked in light. I believe it will actually begin with a faithful return of Israel to the One True God, but the wicked shepherd will guide the sheep toward the pit and many will blindly fall into the ditch believing they are serving God.
But Yeshua does not come in the earth, He comes in power and great glory as lightning on the clouds and every eye will see Him. But mystery Babylon will have her king, her false messiah, whom she has given herself over to and rides wherever he goes.
Mother of Harlots
Revelation 17:5
And upon her forehead [was] a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
A city is an inanimate object, what defines her nature are her inhabitants. If you know the Old Testament you understand that a coin that represents Israel has two sides to it, faithful Israel and unfaithful Israel. Deuteronomy 4, 30, and 32, among others, lay out blessings and curses according to the covenant they agreed to at Sinai. They also lay out that God knew Israel would break their covenant before He made it with them, yet He always promised redemption for the repentant and faithful.
Throughout the Old Testament, idolatry and apostasy of Israel was likened to fornication, whoredom, and playing the harlot. This spiritual symbolism was the result of the covenantal relationship Israel agreed to with God at Sinai throughout their generations. Exodus 19:7-9 This covenant is likened to a marriage where both parties agree to remain faithful to each other. While God always remains faithful, Israel waffled back and forth through history as a coin flipping through time.
Lest we get too judgy about this, we should examine our spiritual lives and the beam that may be in our own eye. Have we always remained faithful to God in our own lives? While our individual lives are counted in decades, the spiritual “life” of the children of Israel runs through time counted in generations. Just in the past several generations how much moral decay have we watched unfold? While a time of great deception and apostasy is coming, out of that will come a faithful people, just as we in our lives once lived in apostasy yet I pray have come to the point of faithful relationship with Yeshua.
Isaiah 1:1, 18-21
The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, [and] Hezekiah, kings of Judah. ... Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken [it]. How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.
We see how Jerusalem in apostasy, her children having departed from God, is called a harlot city. This is clarified even further in Hosea 2:1-13 in the condemnation of Israel before the second half of the chapter regarding her restoration.
Hosea 2:4-5
And I will not have mercy upon her children; for they [be] the children of whoredoms. For their mother hath played the harlot: she that conceived them hath done shamefully: for she said, I will go after my lovers, that give [me] my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink.
We see Jerusalem here as the mother who has played the harlot and her children are of whoredoms. In Ezekiel 16 and 23, Jerusalem is depicted as a bride who was given riches by God but turned to prostitution with other nations, representing the city’s idolatry and political alliances as opposed to the command to be holy, set apart, under God.
Ezekiel 16:1-3, 8, 14--22
Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations, And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto Jerusalem; Thy birth and thy nativity [is] of the land of Canaan; thy father [was] an Amorite, and thy mother an Hittite. ... Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time [was] the time of love; and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord GOD, and thou becamest mine. … And thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty: for it [was] perfect through my comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord GOD. But thou didst trust in thine own beauty, and playedst the harlot because of thy renown, and pouredst out thy fornications on every one that passed by; his it was. And of thy garments thou didst take, and deckedst thy high places with divers colours, and playedst the harlot thereupon: [the like things] shall not come, neither shall it be [so]. Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and madest to thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom with them, And tookest thy broidered garments, and coveredst them: and thou hast set mine oil and mine incense before them. My meat also which I gave thee, fine flour, and oil, and honey, [wherewith] I fed thee, thou hast even set it before them for a sweet savour: and [thus] it was, saith the Lord GOD. Moreover thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou hast borne unto me, and these hast thou sacrificed unto them to be devoured. [Is this] of thy whoredoms a small matter, That thou hast slain my children, and delivered them to cause them to pass through [the fire] for them? And in all thine abominations and thy whoredoms thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, when thou wast naked and bare, [and] wast polluted in thy blood.
In this we see not only is Jerusalem scripturally called both a faithful city and a harlot, the two sides of the coin, but she is also a mother of harlots, whose children go after false gods and turn away from the Holy One of Israel with whom they made a covenant. And in their fornication and whoredoms they commit abominations in the eyes of God. At the same time, the harlot city is accused of killing God’s children. This paints a picture of God’s faithful people of Jerusalem being killed by the unfaithful who were not God’s people. They were both of the same people, the same city, but the city in apostasy was stronger and overcame God’s people.
Romans 11:1-5
I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, [of] the tribe of Benjamin. God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. Wot ye not what the scripture saith of Elias? how he maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying, Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life. But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to [the image of] Baal. Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.
The nature of God’s relationship with Israel in prophecy sounds like it’s all or nothing, but we know that many of Israel have come to accept Yeshua as their Messiah individually since He established the kingdom of God on earth at His first coming. The early church was born of Judah and spread to the Gentiles, and our Messiah is a Jew from the line of David. In fact it was this very same time when the church was birthed from His resurrection that the wicked of Israel persecuted and killed God’s people, those who accepted the promised Messiah. The Gospel came to the Jews first and their own persecuted those who accepted Yeshua, just as God’s prophets were persecuted by their own people throughout the history of the nation of Israel. This is written of in their own sacred texts, laying bare their own recognized sins in a focus on redemption.
God’s design was for Him to be King over Israel, but they wanted a human king that is ultimately fulfilled in the Son of man sharing the Spirit of God with His Father. But corporately as a blind kingdom desiring a king, they blindly grope about looking for a different man that will be their anointed king. Through this deception, the faithful of Israel will set themselves apart from the unfaithful of Israel and reject the false idol and accept Yeshua the Messiah of Israel. In this moment their eyes will open as they will see Him coming in glory to save them out of spiritual Egypt on wings of a great eagle into the wilderness to a place prepared for them. Exodus 19:4 | Revelation 12:14
Matthew 23:37-39
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, [thou] that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under [her] wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed [is] he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
While this is true, we will see in the prophetic narrative that before Yeshua establishes His kingdom in a Jerusalem of a much larger scale, Jerusalem of today will eventually go after a false god and play the harlot one last time, returning to the persecution of those they perceive as enemies amongst their people in their fervent and zealous support of their false messiah.
This isn’t the first time, but this time at the end is more intense than any previous time in history because of the great deception that is allowed. Jeremiah 30:4-7 | Daniel 12:1 | Matthew 24:15-22 | Mark 13:14-20 And this is why there is a warning regarding this mysterious Babylon for God’s people to come out of her in Revelation 18:4 so they don’t partake in her judgements. Do not be deceived by an apparent fulfillment of prophecy in a man that comes on the earth, wait for the actual fulfillment in the Son that comes on the clouds of heaven in power and great glory.
Her Royalty
Revelation 18:7-8
How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong [is] the Lord God who judgeth her.
Recall that the heads on which the woman is riding are interpreted for us as a kings, and she considers herself a queen. We see a pride and self-glorification of the city for her place as the queen of a king because she does not consider herself to be a widow. Once again we have an interesting connection that will come to light later on in this study. Why would the idea of a queen being a widow even come to her mind in order to glory in not actually being one? Perhaps it is because at one time she thought her king had died and she was a widow, until that miraculously changed.
This pride, self-glorification, and excess is mixed with wickedness and persecution of God’s people that will result in her throne being removed in one day, echoing the Babylon to which this mystery city is tied.
Isaiah 47:5, 8-9
Sit thou silent, and get thee into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called, The lady of kingdoms. ... Therefore hear now this, [thou that art] given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thine heart, I [am], and none else beside me; I shall not sit [as] a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children: But these two [things] shall come to thee in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood: they shall come upon thee in their perfection for the multitude of thy sorceries, [and] for the great abundance of thine enchantments.
Literal Babylon was no longer the lady of kingdoms, ruling over the kingdoms of men with her king symbolized by the government of Babylon. Though she lived on as a city under new rulership that returned Israel to the land exactly as God promise, her king, the Chaldees Empire, was killed and she became a widow. Eventually Babylon disappeared into the sands of history until the 1,800s, but has remained a childless widow. Isaiah 13:17-22 | Jeremiah 50:39 | Daniel 2:35,44
Mystery Babylon will have her reign over the kings of the earth removed in one day as well. Not only will God’s wrath bring destruction to the city, but the ten horns that hate her will likewise destroy her with fire. Her utter destruction will likewise be permanent.
We must not forget that the promised Messiah in prophecy is anointed, that’s what Messiah means. Israeli kings were anointed, prophets were anointed, priests were anointed, and even Cyrus was called messiah. But in the context of prophecy we know that the Messiah is God’s anointed King of Israel and will reign forever.
When Israel was brought out of Egypt into the promised land, God was their king and fought their battles and led them. This was always the design, but Israel wanted a human king to go in and out and fight their battles. God let them have their human kings, though they would have been better off trusting in God.
But God works all things for good, and His design for our redemption was tied to His return as both God and King of Israel. And through Israel the world was blessed by the promised seed of the woman that would be bruised by the serpent, but ultimately crush him. And so the Son of God was born out of the kingdom of Israel to be her eternal King.
Isaiah 9:6-7
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of [his] government and peace [there shall be] no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.
Note that Isaiah says this child that is born and son that is given will be called the mighty God, the everlasting Father. Yeshua is that Son of God, the Messiah from the line of David who will take the kingdom and reign forever. But at His first coming, the religious leadership closed their eyes to Him, preferring a king who would destroy her oppressor, Rome, and establish his everlasting kingdom with Israel and Jerusalem at its center. But Yeshua’s kingdom was not of this world, nor visible, because it is a personal relationship where the Spirit of God tabernacles in each of His people in their obedience and they know Him personally.
Luke 17:20-21
And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
And so they have kept their eyes closed to Yeshua while looking for another to fulfill the promise of God to send them a king from among the people, of the line of David, to take the throne and establish Israel and Jerusalem as the center of the kingdom to bring peace in the world and bless the nations. When the prophecies appear to align with this man who will turn the hearts of the people back to God, build the temple, and fight for Israel’s peace and safety, the people will exuberantly crown this man to accomplish the fulfillment of God’s promises in scripture.
Revelation 6:2
And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.
And so the city that once again becomes faithful for a moment thinking the Messiah has arrived, will later enter a new covenant with the false messiah they now idolize and worship. He will not be a leader they cannot see or hear, but he will dwell among them in Jerusalem.
Jeremiah 31:31-34
Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day [that] I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD: But this [shall be] the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
This prophecy was actually fulfilled by Yeshua at His first coming, as laid out in the New Testament, or Covenant, sealed by His blood. But to those who have closed their eyes and reject this, it is not yet fulfilled in their eyes.
So the inhabitants of Jerusalem on Mount Zion will consider themselves in a covenant relationship with a king that dwells amongst them. In the prophetic symbology the woman would be considered a queen to her king. The idea of being a widow is mentioned, but she has her king with her so she is not a widow though it may have seemed so for a moment. She doesn’t believe she will see any sorrow because the promise of God is that when the kingdom is established, it will be eternal.
But the woman doesn’t realize that she is playing the harlot because she still has her eyes closed to the true Messiah, Yeshua. She believes with all her heart that her king is the promised King. He seemingly has all power and authority, all the nations submit to him, and he has arrived with signs and wonders. But the Dragon she is riding hates her, and her children, and is leading her to destruction. But not until he makes full use of them and receives their worship. The serpent may have played into God’s plan and bruised His heel, but the harlot’s king is headed for destruction when the seed of the woman, the true King of Israel, returns to bruise his head.
Genesis 3:15
And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
Her Attire
Revelation 17:4, 18:16
And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: … And saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls!
This city is arrayed in fine linen, purple, and scarlet. This mystery city is a symbolic representation of her population, so where else in scripture do we see this combination of these three elements? If you do a search for “purple scarlet fine linen,” these four words occur together in various combinations 25 times, only two of which are in the New Testament regarding mystery Babylon’s merchandise and apparel. Revelation 18:12,16 The other 23 verses are all found in Exodus 25-28 and 35-39.
Exodus 25:1-9
And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me an offering: of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart ye shall take my offering. And this [is] the offering which ye shall take of them; gold, and silver, and brass, And blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats’ [hair], And rams’ skins dyed red, and badgers’ skins, and shittim wood, Oil for the light, spices for anointing oil, and for sweet incense, Onyx stones, and stones to be set in the ephod, and in the breastplate. And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them. According to all that I shew thee, [after] the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make [it].
These mentions in Exodus are all regarding elements of the sanctuary and the ministry to be performed there in order that God could dwell among them. This city is decked with gold, precious stones, and pearls. Gold is a central part of much of the temple ministry, the tables, the menorah, the clothes, and others. Precious stones were central to the high priest’s breastplate representing the twelve tribes of Israel before God with twelve precious stones.
Exodus 28:5-6, 9-11, 15-22
And they shall take gold, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen. And they shall make the ephod [of] gold, [of] blue, and [of] purple, [of] scarlet, and fine twined linen, with cunning work. ... And thou shalt take two onyx stones, and grave on them the names of the children of Israel: Six of their names on one stone, and [the other] six names of the rest on the other stone, according to their birth. With the work of an engraver in stone, [like] the engravings of a signet, shalt thou engrave the two stones with the names of the children of Israel: thou shalt make them to be set in ouches of gold. ... And thou shalt make the breastplate of judgment with cunning work; after the work of the ephod thou shalt make it; [of] gold, [of] blue, and [of] purple, and [of] scarlet, and [of] fine twined linen, shalt thou make it. Foursquare it shall be [being] doubled; a span [shall be] the length thereof, and a span [shall be] the breadth thereof. And thou shalt set in it settings of stones, [even] four rows of stones: [the first] row [shall be] a sardius, a topaz, and a carbuncle: [this shall be] the first row. And the second row [shall be] an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond. And the third row a ligure, an agate, and an amethyst. And the fourth row a beryl, and an onyx, and a jasper: they shall be set in gold in their inclosings. And the stones shall be with the names of the children of Israel, twelve, according to their names, [like] the engravings of a signet; every one with his name shall they be according to the twelve tribes. And thou shalt make upon the breastplate chains at the ends [of] wreathen work [of] pure gold.
The only element added is the blue and missing are the pearls. If you think about what the harlot is representative of, an apostate city going after other gods. Who is the spiritual leadership of the inhabitants of the city but the priests that minister at the temple of God in their midst and ultimately the high priest. The fact that this woman city is a harlot ties religious faith to how she is represented. So when mystery Babylon is pictured as a harlot with very similar religious attire that ties the twelve tribes of Israel represented by the high priest before God, this seems to speak to an apostate religious leadership that is going along with the apostate people or leading them to apostasy. As we will see, this creates additional limitations on the scale of time in scope for this part of John’s prophecy as well.
One other element that may not appear to be part of her attire is what is written on her forehead. As we’ve seen, this identifies her as an apostate city that has identified herself with a false god and has committed abominations in his name.
Revelation 17:5
And upon her forehead [was] a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
The high priest was also to wear a plate of pure gold on his forehead that identified who he served.
Exodus 39:30-31
And they made the plate of the holy crown [of] pure gold, and wrote upon it a writing, [like to] the engravings of a signet, HOLINESS TO THE LORD. And they tied unto it a lace of blue, to fasten [it] on high upon the mitre; as the LORD commanded Moses.
This woman clothed similarly to the high priest and wearing a name on her forehead symbolizing who she serves would point to the idea that the symbolism is meant to represent the religious leadership of Israel, who are in turn representing the children of Israel before God. In the case of the harlot, they are going after, serving, and worshipping a false god and anointed king.
I would also recommend reading all of Mystery Babylon - When Jerusalem Embraces the Antichrist - An Exposition of Revelation 17 & 18 by Chris White, but chapter 1 covers more detail regarding the associations that point to the woman being tied to the priesthood when going after false gods.
Her Actions
The woman riding the beast has a golden cup in her hand. We see a mention in relation to historical Babylon’s fall where Babylon is seen as a golden cup in the Lord’s hand making the earth drunk.
Jeremiah 51:6-8
Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul: be not cut off in her iniquity; for this [is] the time of the LORD’S vengeance; he will render unto her a recompence. Babylon [hath been] a golden cup in the LORD’S hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad. Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed.
Babylon was the instrument of war that brought nations to heel in their fear of her power and brought judgement to Israel in her disobedience. And we get a further clue as to what this cup symbolizes from Jeremiah’s prophecy of God’s wrath against the nations that drink from the wine cup of His fury.
Jeremiah 25:15-18, 27-30
For thus saith the LORD God of Israel unto me; Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it. And they shall drink, and be moved, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them. Then took I the cup at the LORD’S hand, and made all the nations to drink, unto whom the LORD had sent me: [To wit], Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings thereof, and the princes thereof, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, an hissing, and a curse; as [it is] this day; ... Therefore thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Drink ye, and be drunken, and spue, and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you. And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thine hand to drink, then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Ye shall certainly drink. For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my name, and should ye be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished: for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the LORD of hosts. Therefore prophesy thou against them all these words, and say unto them, The LORD shall roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation; he shall mightily roar upon his habitation; he shall give a shout, as they that tread [the grapes], against all the inhabitants of the earth.
The context of this prophecy is of the judgement of Babylon after the 70 years are accomplished for Israel’s judgement. The wine cup represents fury of wrath and drinking from the cup speaks to the destruction that causes madness, or terror. God’s judgement came to Israel, Jerusalem, and the nations and is set to come again in the end.
Another connection is seen in the contents of the cup. Wine is produced by treading the winepress, which is similarly how God’s wrath in the end is described when Yeshua treads the winepress of the wrath of God alone.
Isaiah 63:1-6
Who [is] this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? this [that is] glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. Wherefore [art thou] red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat? I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people [there was] none with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment. For the day of vengeance [is] in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come. And I looked, and [there was] none to help; and I wondered that [there was] none to uphold: therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto me; and my fury, it upheld me. And I will tread down the people in mine anger, and make them drunk in my fury, and I will bring down their strength to the earth.
Revelation 14:18-20
And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe. And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast [it] into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand [and] six hundred furlongs.
Just as the wine is produced by crushing the grapes in the winepress, we have the symbology of the people as grapes and the resulting blood as the symbolic wine within the cup that people drink. Those who drink the wine are in a kind of terror and awe that I think is best summed up in Revelation 13:4 when all the world says, “Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?” In the prophetic narrative of the end there are two options given to people, join the undefeated king or die. How many without a strong foundation of faith would choose to die?
Revelation 17:2, 4, 6, 18:3
With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. ... And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: ... And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. … For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.
So now we see from scripture the symbolism of the golden cup and the wine in it being the wrath of the Dragon against God’s people as opposed to the wrath of God on the Dragon’s people. The great city Jerusalem is seen as a harlot fornicating with a false god, the inhabitants giving this false god their worship instead of the One True God.
Revelation 14:8
And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
Revelation 18:2-3
And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.
The fact that the kings of the earth are committing fornication with her, while she is committing fornication herself, points to her intense zeal in worshiping a false god infecting the rest of the world that does so as well. Since the harlot Jerusalem is the seat of this false god, their worship is tied to fornication with the apostate city.
The idea that all nations drink the wine of the wrath of her fornication highlights the intensity of this time of apostasy. Thymos is the Greek work translated as wrath, and is paired with another word in the works of the flesh in Galatians 5:19-21, zēlos. Together these speak to a kind of zealous, fierce, passionate indignation, or wrath tied to their fornication, or worship of a false god. This wrath is the same word used of the wrath of God, which is tied to treading the winepress. So we see in the wine of the wrath of her fornication the idea that she so fervently worships a false god that in her passion and zeal for him, she creates the symbolic wine by crushing the grapes. And in her passion doing this, the nations are made drunk by this wine and likewise commit fornication with her, offering their worship and treasure to her.
It is from the king of this city, that is his queen, that the wrath of the Dragon is enforced and the fervent zealous worship of the city to her king and his power and great authority cause the nations that fear him to join in worship and obedience. And because their fornication is what is producing the wine symbolizing the blood of the saints and martyrs of Yeshua, we know that worship is tied to persecution of those who reject the Dragon, those who remain faithful to God. We see this theme throughout prophecy in God allowing His people to be overcome by this wrath of the Dragon. Daniel 7:25 | Revelation 13:5 | Daniel 12:5-11 Part of her judgement is because of her actions against God’s people, and just as a leader is responsible for their actions and the actions of those under them, God holds the symbolic harlot and her king responsible for their actions.
Revelation 18:24
And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.
Echoing in the future, the persecution of God’s faithful people will come in the zealous wrath of a deceived harlot going after her false messiah. This is the same spirit of the mystery of iniquity from those who closed their eyes to the Messiah in the first century and persecuted His followers in the zealous support of their deceived interpretation of the Law.
Matthew 23:29-36
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. [Ye] serpents, [ye] generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and [some] of them ye shall kill and crucify; and [some] of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute [them] from city to city: That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.
This was before those zealous for God’s Law believed they were seeing the anointed king that would bring peace and elevate Israel over all kingdoms in the world. Imagine the zeal when they are sure in their mind the Messiah has come and the time is at hand. What was at one time misguided zeal for protecting God’s name from those of their own who accepted Yeshua the Messiah will later become misguided zeal for protecting their false god’s name in persecuting those of their own that reject him. Finally, a worthy anointed one from among them will be agreed on because he will be presented just how they desire him.
John 5:39-47
Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life. I receive not honour from men. But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you. I am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive. How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that [cometh] from God only? Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is [one] that accuseth you, [even] Moses, in whom ye trust. For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?
As believers I feel it necessary to make the following point after recognizing what the Bible says about the coming persecution and what we are to do about it. There is nothing we can do, it is written and it will be done. We are to watch and pray regarding coming prophetic fulfillment, and watching is not doing. What we are to do is spread the Gospel in faithfulness and obedience to Yeshua. While we cannot change what will ultimately happen, we have been commanded by our King to take these actions in the face of persecution and not hold hate in our hearts for anyone for what they do.
Matthew 5:43-45
Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
And so if you’re reading this and holding animosity in your heart for what will be done, remember your place and from where you came. Saul persecuted Yeshua’s followers, but he was redeemed through much persecution of his own and Paul became one of the great teachers of the church. Vengeance belongs to the Lord, we are to love those who may kill us. We don’t know if they are yet to have their names figuratively changed from Saul to Paul. Remember also that the blind are deceived by the common enemy of all mankind. Let us ensure our eternal frame of reference is properly set.
Romans 11:27-32
For this [is] my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. As concerning the gospel, [they are] enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, [they are] beloved for the fathers’ sakes. For the gifts and calling of God [are] without repentance. For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief: Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy. For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.
Her Wealth
Revelation 17:4a, 18:3b, 7, 11-14, 16
And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls … and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. ... How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. ... And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more: The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble, And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men. And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all. … And saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls!
That merchants become rich from this harlot city’s delicacies would seem to imply that the inhabitants of this city are spending a lot of money. We see also that the wealth of the world that is making the merchants rich is likewise making the shipping companies rich, meaning that this city is not the source of the wealth, but its destination.
Revelation 18:17-19
For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off, And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What [city is] like unto this great city! And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.
But there is prophecy about Jerusalem that makes some sense of this, because it isn’t so much about the city spending wealth to buy costly things, but also gifts sent from the nations to her because of her status as the lady of nations and queen of her king.
Isaiah 60:1-17
Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: all they gather themselves together, they come to thee: thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at [thy] side. Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee. The multitude of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; all they from Sheba shall come: they shall bring gold and incense; and they shall shew forth the praises of the LORD. All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together unto thee, the rams of Nebaioth shall minister unto thee: they shall come up with acceptance on mine altar, and I will glorify the house of my glory. Who [are] these [that] fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows? Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the LORD thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because he hath glorified thee. And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee: for in my wrath I smote thee, but in my favour have I had mercy on thee. Therefore thy gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night; that [men] may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles, and [that] their kings [may be] brought. For the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; yea, [those] nations shall be utterly wasted. The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir tree, the pine tree, and the box together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary; and I will make the place of my feet glorious. The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet; and they shall call thee, The city of the LORD, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel. Whereas thou hast been forsaken and hated, so that no man went through [thee], I will make thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations. Thou shalt also suck the milk of the Gentiles, and shalt suck the breast of kings: and thou shalt know that I the LORD [am] thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob. For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver, and for wood brass, and for stones iron: I will also make thy officers peace, and thine exactors righteousness.
Isaiah 49:22-23
Thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people: and they shall bring thy sons in [their] arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon [their] shoulders. And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers: they shall bow down to thee with [their] face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet; and thou shalt know that I [am] the LORD: for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me.
Jeremiah 3:17-19
At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the LORD; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart. In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers. But I said, How shall I put thee among the children, and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of nations? and I said, Thou shalt call me, My father; and shalt not turn away from me.
Isaiah 9:6-7
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of [his] government and peace [there shall be] no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.
Psalm 2:1-12
Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, [saying], Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou [art] my Son; this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give [thee] the heathen [for] thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth [for] thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel. Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish [from] the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed [are] all they that put their trust in him.
Zechariah 14:9, 16-19
And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one. … And it shall come to pass, [that] every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. And it shall be, [that] whoso will not come up of [all] the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain. And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that [have] no [rain]; there shall be the plague, wherewith the LORD will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.
Yes these are all prophecies about Yeshua reigning from Jerusalem during the Messianic Kingdom. But He also said a time of great deception regarding those coming in His name, or authority, would precede His coming. If a man from the line of David can turn Israel back to God, build the temple, and defeat her enemies, is it possible that an age of peace and security might be simulated when the queen harlot riding her king will be decked in the treasures of the earth, brought in worship to her king? If they believe they are dwelling in the prophesied kingdom and all the nations are coming and bowing before them and their king after the millennia of hatred, will the harlot be lifted up with the same pride of her king?
Proverbs 16:18-19
Pride [goeth] before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. Better [it is to be] of an humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud.
Hosea 5:3-5
I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me: for now, O Ephraim, thou committest whoredom, [and] Israel is defiled. They will not frame their doings to turn unto their God: for the spirit of whoredoms [is] in the midst of them, and they have not known the LORD. And the pride of Israel doth testify to his face: therefore shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their iniquity; Judah also shall fall with them.
Her Destruction
Revelation 18:4-8
And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double. How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong [is] the Lord God who judgeth her.
In the context of Isaiah 47, we saw in one day the throne was removed from Babylon in 539 BC when Cyrus the Great diverted the Euphrates River entering the city through the riverbed during a festival. Daniel 5 depicts this event following the temple vessels from God’s temple being used during the festival celebrations. In speaking of historical Babylon’s destruction, we see a similar call to flee Babylon.
Jeremiah 51:5-9
For Israel [hath] not [been] forsaken, nor Judah of his God, of the LORD of hosts; though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel. Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul: be not cut off in her iniquity; for this [is] the time of the LORD’S vengeance; he will render unto her a recompence. Babylon [hath been] a golden cup in the LORD’S hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad. Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed. We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her, and let us go every one into his own country: for her judgment reacheth unto heaven, and is lifted up [even] to the skies.
At the seventh bowl, the wrath of God is fulfilled and a great voice out of the temple in heaven says, “It is done.” The great city is divided in three parts during an earthquake greater than any time in the history of mankind. This fulfillment of the words of God regarding the judgements releases the ten horns from their agreement to give their kingdom to the beast. And in one day and hour, mystery Babylon becomes desolate, naked, and burned with fire by the ten horns. All the glory and wealth of the harlot queen will go up in smoke and she will no more be a city.
Revelation 16:19
And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.
Revelation 17:16-17
And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.
Revelation 18:9-10
And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning, Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
Revelation 18:21-23
And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast [it] into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all. And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft [he be], shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee; And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.
I believe it is clear from the context of scripture with what is presented here, that the harlot woman riding the beast is Jerusalem. She is represented as the mother of harlots because her children, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, will one day be deceived in their blindness to worship a false god. So convincing will the deception be to those that desire the power and glory promised in scripture, that even with the righteous judgement of God against them they will still not repent of their deeds because they will believe with their whole hearts that the false god is the promised Messiah, though he is not.
You might say, how could this be Jerusalem if Yeshua will rule from there and her destruction so violently throws her down that it will never be found again, that no music or craftsmen or light or joy will be found in her? I think the answer is in the fact that this is decreed for mystery Babylon, not Jerusalem. What’s the difference?
Throughout the three millennia of Israel’s history dwelling in Jerusalem, she has waffled from faithfulness to unfaithfulness. The city is just a city, represented as a mother who is sometimes faithful and sometimes unfaithful. What changes is after this final destruction, Jerusalem will never again be unfaithful. The spirit of apostasy and unfaithfulness represented by the harlot woman will be utterly thrown down.
Micah 4:7
And I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast far off a strong nation: and the LORD shall reign over them in mount Zion from henceforth, even for ever.
Psalm 125:1-2
[[A Song of degrees.]] They that trust in the LORD [shall be] as mount Zion, [which] cannot be removed, [but] abideth for ever. As the mountains [are] round about Jerusalem, so the LORD [is] round about his people from henceforth even for ever.
Joel 3:15-17
The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining. The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD [will be] the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel. So shall ye know that I [am] the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more.
Jerusalem on Mount Zion will be glorified after her destruction and never again fall away and in the new heavens and new earth, a new Jerusalem will forever be inhabited by God with no need for a temple.
We can also see in Ezekiel 40-48, a temple larger than any previous temple will exist when Yeshua is ruling from a new Jerusalem built over the ashes of mystery Babylon. We see after the wrath of God that in the Messianic Kingdom there will be some terraforming taking place, completely changing Jerusalem as we know it today.
Zechariah 14:9-11
And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one. All the land shall be turned as a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem: and it shall be lifted up, and inhabited in her place, from Benjamin’s gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, and [from] the tower of Hananeel unto the king’s winepresses. And [men] shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more utter destruction; but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited.
So, the complete destruction of mystery Babylon is physical, but in that destruction the spiritual nature of mystery Babylon is forever ended in the destruction of all that is wicked out of the land even though the physical location of Mount Zion will forever be inhabited as long as it exists.
The Scarlet Beast
Revelation 17:3
So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
The other main character is the scarlet, or red, beast, it’s seven heads and ten horns a connective identifying feature we’ll see in future studies. But in Revelation 17, we are not given much detail about this red beast except that it seems to have a kind of dual identity because it is depicted as a beast with seven heads and ten horns that carries the harlot, but it is also depicted as the eighth head alone, which we’ll get into later.
So while the red beast with seven heads and ten horns appears to be the overall picture of the beast through time, which we’ll touch on momentarily, it is also the label given the individual head at the very end of time. It is this future head that the ten horns will, with one mind, give their power and strength to. Other than that, we’re not given much information about the scarlet beast, that will be expounded on in later studies.
The Seven Heads, Mountains, Kings
Revelation 17:9-11
And here [is] the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, [and] the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.
The language surrounding the seven heads equates them to seven mountains and to seven kings. The beast is shown with seven heads, but the eighth head is also called the beast and is of the seven. The heads being kings make sense because in the symbology of this beast the heads are attached to, a head directs where the body goes, it leads. But only the incorporated beast with seven heads and the beast that is the eighth head are beasts. This indicates that the body behind the seven heads takes a dual role of being the body and the eighth head, like the body of the beast takes control in the eighth iteration more than it had with the seven before it.
We can see the temporal nature of the seven kings in that five are fallen, one is, and one is yet to come. John was writing this around 95 AD when he had his vision and prophecy. Rome had just destroyed Jerusalem and the temple on Mount Zion 25 years earlier as Yeshua foretold at the triumphal entry in 30 AD. Luke 19:41-44 That sixth head representing Rome was still present, though as we will see in the next vision of Nebuchadnezzar, it wasn’t long for this world.
We are told that the seven mountains are what the woman is sitting on. There have been many theories trying to find a city on seven hills, from Rome to Jerusalem. This makes sense because mountains are static, physical things that exist in space. However, we must not forget that the mountains are equated to the heads and those are temporal in nature, not spatial, since at John’s writing five are fallen, one is, and the seventh is not yet come.
The seven mountains are likewise represented temporally, a single mountain through time coinciding with these kings of the Dragon that ruled over them. So instead of a location with seven mountains upon which the woman is sitting, we are looking at one mountain at seven points in time. This brings a single harlot city atop a single mountain that through time has had seven kings rule over them during that time of harlotry.
Daniel 9:16
O Lord, according to all thy righteousness, I beseech thee, let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain: because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people [are become] a reproach to all [that are] about us.
Recall that Israel was God’s portion from among the nations and several places in scripture the ruler of this world is contrasted with God. John 12:31 | John 14:30 | Ephesians 2:2 | John 16:11 | 2 Corinthians 4:4 So there is one mountain at seven points through history that this great city will be sitting on as the kingdoms of men, influenced by the ruler of this world, rule over her in some way. There is only one Mount Zion where Jerusalem sits. It was at one time called Salem, and one place where God chose to dwell, and one place where the Dragon desires the worship meant for God to be like the most High. Through his proxy head, he will receive that worship as he pulls his followers down into the bottomless pit with him.
Isaiah 14:12-15
How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! [how] art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
Joel 3:17
So shall ye know that I [am] the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more.
Five Have Fallen, and One Is
I’ve historically leaned toward the traditional view of the 6 historical heads representing Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome, though I still have some unanswered questions that point me to a different view that I think actually explains the premise of False Christ | Will the Antichrist Claim to Be the Jewish Messiah? by Chris White. My own journey of studying prophecy has led me to the same basic conclusion.
The way the harlot is dressed and apparent connection to the religious leadership, the mountains on which she sits, and the heads through time would all limit the scope of this vision of the Dragon to a time when Israel was in Jerusalem ministering at the temple on Mount Zion. It wasn’t until after Israel captured Jerusalem that David set up the tabernacle of David in Jerusalem and moved the Ark of the Covenant there, leaving the tabernacle of Moses in Gibeon. And it wasn’t until his son Solomon completed the physical temple that a permanent tabernacle of God on Mount Zion existed and temple ministry began there around 972 BC. So the scope of this prophecy, including all the elements would be from around 972 BC to 70 AD and then at some point in the future a third temple will be dedicated and ministry resumed at which point the final week of years we will cover later can be completed.
While kings are associated to the heads, in reality the scope of the prophecy would lead me to really translate them as kingdoms that have many kings through their lifetimes rather than individual kings. With the vagueness of the prophecy related to these kings, ten people could have ten interpretations of which individual kings might be represented. I don’t think the prophecy was meant to be so detailed as to define individual kings, though there are some stand outs.
However, the image of this city being a harlot and going after other gods when tied with these seven kings ruling over her, there are some pieces that don’t quite feel as solid as others. As we will see, knowing the precision of these is not what’s important, but I will share my thoughts anyway because I do believe it highlights a point that many who study prophecy don’t recognize that affects the perception of the final heads of the beast.
Egypt
While Egypt is where Israel came out of into the promised land, it wasn’t until Israel was out from under the rule of Egypt that the covenant relationship with God was even established at Sinai. And it wasn’t until generations after that Israel was in Jerusalem with the temple built by Solomon. There is one period where in the divided Northern kingdom of Israel, Jeroboam stopped the priests from performing their duties and set up false priests and worshiped idols forcing those faithful to the Lord into Jerusalem. During the reign of Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, Judah was also playing the harlot and going after false gods. In the fifth year of Rehoboam’s reign, Shishak, the king of Egypt, came against Jerusalem and took the treasures of the king’s house and the temple as depicted in 1 Kings 14:21-27 and 2 Chronicles 12:1-8. But this isn’t really ruling over Israel, as suggested by the head representing a king, as much as it is an event involving Egypt that smells of domination by Egypt. There were still kings of Israel ruling over their own divided kingdom. So while the traditional view of Egypt could be connected, the king(s) in view here represented by the head would seem to point not to Egypt, but kings of Israel ruling over at least a partially apostate city, either encouraging it or failing to stop it as a good king should and did at other times. Egypt would appear as a kind of judgement to come against Jerusalem, but unlike later Gentile kingdoms they did not take political control over Israel and Jerusalem. In this case it would seem to point more toward a king representing political leadership of Israel at some point.
Assyria
Assyria was responsible for the diaspora of the Northern ten tribes of Israel to this day, but when it comes to Jerusalem they never took control of it. Judah paid tribute to Assyria, but kept their autonomy until they rebelled under Hezekiah and stopped serving the king of Assyria. In the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah and in 701 BC Sennacherib came to Jerusalem and despite Hezekiah’s attempts to pay him, he defies the Lord regarding His protection of Jerusalem. Isaiah tells the king that God will cause Sennacherib to return to his own land and fall by the sword there. The Lord kept His word and the angel of the Lord killed 185,000 of the Assyrians and the rest fled back to Nineveh where Sennacherib was killed by his sons. 2 Kings 18-19 The time before Hezekiah was a time of the worship of idols, but that changed in Judah when he became king as he did what was right. So the tie into the second head, or king, over Jerusalem at a time of apostasy could somewhat be seen as Assyria in the sense of their tribute, but the kings of Israel still ruled over Jerusalem in the Southern kingdom. What might separate the first two heads if they are indeed pointing to Israeli leadership, or is tribute paid to other kingdoms significant in light of this prophecy?
Babylon
Babylon is the first clear case of a Gentile kingdom eliminating the kings of Israel as the head of Israel and replacing it with its own rule after some initial vassal kings. We also see in Jeremiah and Isaiah the warning of judgement because of Israel turning from God and Jerusalem becoming a harlot. Isaiah 1:21-28 This is where Daniel is taken to Babylon after the first siege in 597 BC. It is from Babylon Daniel is used by God to reveal His plans for Israel and Jerusalem going forward. In 587 BC Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed, effectively eliminating the city and symbolically causing her to be desolate of her children for the prophesied seventy years.
Medo-Persia
Medo-Persia ruled over Israel upon taking the kingdom of Babylon that destroyed her. Jeremiah prophesied that after seventy years God would return Israel to the land, Jeremiah 25:11-12; 29:10 and 2 Chronicles 36:19-21, and Cyrus the Great facilitated that as foretold in Isaiah 45:1-6 about 150 years before he conquered Babylon. During this time there were things like intermarriage with the surrounding people, which was forbidden by God, failing to support the temple and other failures to follow Torah off and on.
Greece
Greece ruled over Israel following Alexander the Great’s conquest of the Middle East, taking the reign from the Medo-Persian Empire. The notorious Antiochus IV would come to power in part of that kingdom and be responsible for causing the daily sacrifice to stop and polluting the temple with abominations that caused desolation. Of all the heads of the dragon, he is the closest linked to the future man of sin who will perform his own abomination of desolation. However, it was this act that caused the zealous for God to rise up and establish self-rulership for a short time before the next Gentile kingdom would control Israel politically.
Rome
Rome is the clearest of the seven because it was the final kingdom that had control over Jerusalem and Israel before her second destruction at their hands. John says the sixth head is, meaning that at the time of his writing in 95 AD, the kingdom headed by a king was still present. While Jerusalem and the temple had been destroyed and Judah no longer lived there as a nation, it did exist on Mount Zion during the Roman reign and that kingdom extended on for the next several hundred years before falling itself. This highlights the point that while called kings, the heads are more representative of their kingdoms that have many kings over their lifetimes. If harlot has been destroyed 25 years prior to the sixth head being present, it would seem that the kings aren’t always intended to be individual people at those points in time when it comes to the historical six heads.
So while I still hold to the general time frames of the traditional list of historical kingdoms, I’ve come to recognize that these heads of the Dragon may not be exclusively Gentile kingdoms. The kings in view for the first two heads fit more as kings of Israel, or periods of the kingdom at different times. In the case of the first two, perhaps before and after the dividing of the kingdom. Ultimately, we know that Rome fits best for the sixth kingdom of John’s day and the ones prior to that are not all that critical in looking to the future aside from the possibility presented that not all the heads of the Dragon may represent Gentile kings of kingdoms.
Seventh Head Yet To Come
If you read the accounts of the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21, there is a distinct warning regarding the end times of deception regarding those who claim the authority, or name, of Christ or Mashiach, that is the expected anointed of God who will rule Israel and bring peace. In Matthew 7, Yeshua likewise warned of “false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.” We see this interestingly in the future false prophet from Revelation 13 who has “two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.” Revelation 13:11
The rise of the kingdom of the false messiah would be the seventh head. He has not yet come and when he does it will be for just a short time. As we will see, the seventh head is tied to an eighth head that comes after it, but is still the same person. So while there are eight heads, it seems there are still really just seven kingdoms with kings tied to the Dragon’s body upon whom the harlot city is riding.
The seven heads combined with the ten horns are a common connective element in John’s vision, connecting Revelation 12, 13 and 17 in identifying it as the Devil, Satan, the accuser. And so the heads, including the final seventh and eighth, represent his proxies in the world at various points through history leading his kingdoms.
But while historically these kingdoms would seem to be Gentile kingdoms in the world, that is not what defines the Dragon’s authority. The heads are not Jew or Gentile in nature, they are simply subservient to the Dragon and represent him as kings over which he has control. I imagine this control like manipulation of the proud and sinful that show the works of the flesh, the mystery of iniquity being the spirit of the Dragon controlling these heads. And so, the specific warning of Yeshua that prior to His return there would be those claiming his anointing falsely attempting to deceive those expecting a Messiah to come highlights the distinct possibility that the seventh head will come into the flock dressed as a sheep in his rise to power but speaking as a Dragon.
The Eighth Head
Revelation 17:8, 11
The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. ... And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.
While John sees this vision from outside of time in describing this eight-headed Dragon, we must also keep in mind that at any one point in time there is only one head on the Dragon, the other six heads have fallen. The “beast” is therefore the description given to the king while he is representative of the spirit of the Dragon at that point in time. The beast is also the eighth head of the Dragon, receiving his power from the Dragon and leading the Dragon and the woman that rides him wherever they go. In this way we see a king of a kingdom, ruling over the woman and guiding her as she has given herself over to him and is drunk on the wine of her fornication.
The seventh head is said to come sometime after the sixth and exist for a short time. After this we see his death and resurrection in the phrasing that he was, is not, and ascends out of the bottomless pit. While this is not the only place a death and resurrection are hinted at regarding the beast, this is the one place where the seven heads are said to actually be eight heads. What happened to the seven heads and why is this one place in all the visions talking of an eighth?
Recall from the depiction of the seven heads that they represent kings through time. At the time of John’s vision, five had fallen, one was (Rome), and the seventh was yet to come for a short time. The Dragon throughout scripture only has seven heads consistently. So what this points to is that the seventh and eighth heads are not different kings, but the same king before and after his death and resurrection. It’s a way of declaring a change of how he will rule as king from being the seventh head to being the eighth head. And unlike the previous seven heads that sat atop the beast’s body, the eighth head is likewise called the beast, indicating a kind of indwelling of the beast in the final king.
This death and resurrection is confirmed in the statements that the beast was, is not, yet is, which is echoed in other prophecies about this beast we will address in later posts. This is a distinctive element of this beast. There is another idiom presented here that further confirms the idea of a death and resurrection. The word translated “bottomless pit” is the Greek word abyssos, also translated as the deep.
What is the one place on earth that no matter what direction you go, you’re going South? In the globe of the earth then, what is the one place where no matter what direction you go, you’re going up?
Luke 8:30-31
And Jesus asked him, saying, What is thy name? And he said, Legion: because many devils were entered into him. And they besought him that he would not command them to go out into the deep. [abyssos]
The deep, abyssos, or bottomless pit is the place of the dead, the heart of the earth. At Christ’s coming the dead in Christ will rise first. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 I think this is termed raising the dead for a reason because in death we return to the dust physically, and spiritually the heart of the earth in the euphemistic “sleep” of death. Just as we see the beast who was, is not, and ascends from the bottomless pit, we have an example of the same terminology used regarding Yeshua’s death and resurrection. Recall the repentance of that great city Nineveh.
Matthew 12:38-40
Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee. But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
This doesn’t use the term bottomless pit, but it evokes the same idea. Just as Yeshua speaks of His death being spent in the heart of the earth, Paul associated descending into the abyss as bringing Christ up from the dead.
Romans 10:6-7
But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down [from above]:) Or, Who shall descend into the deep? [abyssos] (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.)
And so we see why there are only seven heads on the Dragon, yet an eighth also mentioned. They are the same person heading the Dragon, just before and after their resurrection from the dead. It is this event that seems to be the transition point of the world worshipping the beast.
Revelation 13:2b-4
…the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who [is] like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?
This idea seems to be mirrored in the depiction of the two witnesses and the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit to kill them in Jerusalem. This resurrected beast killing them also points to the timing of their death being after the abomination of desolation that follows the beast’s death and resurrection.
Revelation 11:7
And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.
So we see in John’s vision there are many places that speak to the beast at the end dying and coming back to life to the amazement of the inhabitants of the world who don’t know prophecy and who he really is. Those who believe in God, trust His Word, and pay attention to prophecy about the end have been warned in no uncertain terms.
It should also be noted that it is right after this death and resurrection is mentioned that those who dwell on the earth who are not in the book of life will wonder at this death and resurrection. We see elsewhere this is also confirmed when speaking of the beast.
Revelation 13:1, 3-4, 8
And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. ... And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who [is] like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? ... And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
This beast likewise has seven head and ten horns and one of those seven heads is wounded to death, but is healed, or in other words it was, is not, and yet is. Further tying the beast of Revelation 13 and 17 together is the wonder the world has when they see this death and resurrection.
Revelation 18:7
How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.
Before the death and resurrection of the seventh head, there will no doubt be many in Israel convinced of their king being the promised Messiah. However, this time before the miraculous resurrection would seem to be a time of faithfulness to the Mosaic Covenant as the man of sin has not yet been allowed to reveal himself.
2 Thessalonians 2:1-12
Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and [by] our gathering together unto him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for [that day shall not come], except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth [will let], until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: [Even him], whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
Indeed it is the pivot point of the change of power in the world, the point where the man of sin is no longer restrained from declaring himself to be God in God’s temple. This is the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet that Yeshua warned about in Judea. Those who reject this king’s declaration of divinity will be purged by the deceived. The faithful city becomes a harlot and the world is drunk on the wine of the fierceness of her fornication as they join her in worshipping the beast and the Dragon that gives him his power and great authority and become drunk on the blood of the saints.
We also see that when the times of testing are finished, it is the bottomless pit that the Dragon will be locked away in for one thousand years.
Revelation 20:1-2
And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
This is interesting in looking at the motivation of the Devil and his acolyte’s desire for worship as God and their ultimate end.
Isaiah 14:12-15
How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! [how] art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
The mount of the congregation in the sides of the north is an idiom for the appointed place of the temple in Jerusalem on Mount Zion. We see the influence of the Dragon on the beast in declaring himself God in that very place as a central shift of the end times into the great tribulation. Yet his ultimate end will be locked away in the bottomless pit until his ultimate destruction in the lake of fire.
This man of sin whose coming is after the working of Satan with power, signs, lying wonders, and all deceivableness is declaring himself to be God in the temple of God, that is his great revealing. This lie regarding his divinity will be hard for many to reject because he just died and rose from the dead. It would seem that he would take this opportunity to present his own new covenant of Jeremiah 31:31 to those who accept him and gain their worship.
But it is God who sends a strong delusion that those desiring this false god would believe a lie. And this is why I believe the eighth head is the result of God raising this false messiah from the dead so that he can become the false god to the deceived that have no love for the truth and choose the lie of death over the truth of life.
God is testing His people, and the world, with a lie the Dragon is allowed to spread. This harlot queen would mention being a widow, but then rejects that because her king is raised from the dead. She doesn’t expect to see any sorrow from that point forward because the prophecy they are being deceived about is that when the Messiah comes He will bring in everlasting peace. But this man of sin is not the Messiah, he is a ravenous wolf in sheep’s clothing leading the blind to destruction. He has stolen the true death of the Messiah in 30 AD for the sins of mankind and taken the opportunity to lay claim to prophecies like Isaiah 53 that God’s people closed their eyes to long ago.
Many people today don’t believe Yeshua died and rose from the dead, where’s the proof, a bunch of hearsay? Well imagine the faith people will have when they see it happen with their own eyes and know the Old Testament but closed their eyes to the New Testament. When he is unstoppable, even appearing to have defeated death, will they accept him over a two thousand year old story passed through the generations? As a Christian, do you think you would be able to convince them of the truth after that point? Perhaps this is partly why many times he is said to overpower the saints. And perhaps this is why we see that even through so much of God’s wrath they refuse to repent of their wickedness, because they have been so deceived. Even in God’s judgement they have faith in their false messiah.
John 5:41-44
I receive not honour from men. But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you. I am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive. How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that [cometh] from God only?
The Ten Horns
Revelation 17:12-14, 16-18
And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him [are] called, and chosen, and faithful. ... And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.
We have defined for us that the horns are equated to kings. As we saw with the seven heads that are also kings, it also represents their kingdom. With the seven heads the kingdoms they appear to represent had many different kings through their history, and it could also be the case for these ten horns that while they are kings, those kings are representative of their kingdoms.
Some attempt to try and divide the ten horns to apply across all seven heads somehow. However, the temporal nature described in Revelation 17 does not fit this model because in reality all eight heads do not coexist with each other at any one point in time and the ten horns are part of the events at the end of the age, not through history. It is these final two heads, the seventh and eighth, on which the ten horns sit. And really the seventh and eighth heads are the same head, just symbolically separated to make the point of the death and resurrection. All ten horns are upon the head of the beast, he bears them and not the other way around. This visually shows the subservience of the horns to the beast in confirmation of the statement made.
The definition of these 10 end time kings tells us something very important. While they get their power with the beast, the final king, they have no love for him or his harlot queen riding him. The only reason they agree and give their power to the beast is because God puts it on their hearts to fulfill His will until His words are fulfilled. We see this after the seventh bowl when God says, “it is done” regarding His wrath. That’s where the work of the ten horns is seen in Revelation 18 when the harlot is destroyed with fire in one day.
The Gap
There is an interesting theme I want to point out in several of these studies on the visions of Daniel and John that will be addressed in the final article as well bringing them all together. It began with noticing a gap in time in one prophecy and as I began to study more with that in mind I began to see it in many places. I realized that same gap, generally covering the same period of time, was in many more visions and prophecies than I had previously noticed.
In the case of Revelation 17-18, this gap is tied to the seven heads. For the first six heads there did not appear to be any clear gap in the heads control over Jerusalem when looking at them as kingdoms generally. It flows from the time of kings of Israel after Jerusalem became the capital of Israel through successive kingdoms that controlled her.
However, something changes after the sixth because the seventh has still not yet come almost two millennia later. Similar to the more than seventy year gap implicit in the destruction and desolation of Jerusalem, she became desolate of her children and burned with fire in 70 AD and until the last century Jerusalem remained a city desolate of her people as a nation.
Just as that gap took time to form from the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD to the fall of the Western Roman Empire around four hundred years later, we have seen the slow blossoming of the land of Israel as her people began to move back in the early twentieth century to the nation being born in one day after the end of World War II into modern times as the strength of Israel grows as does the worlds outspoken hatred of her, for now.
This gap of time from the end of the sixth head will soon come to an end with the rise of the seventh head and with the rise of the king we will see the rise of his kingdom. And though the king will die, he will yet live, a changed man from one of strength, power, and authority to a proud man of sin who perhaps believes the Dragon’s lie the most after his miraculous resurrection, that he is God. And so the eighth head will be born from the death of the seventh and his kingdom will be enamored and zealous for him and cause the world to become drunk on the wine of the fierceness of her fornication. And so this simulated lie that prophecy is being fulfilled by this false messiah will mislead many and drag them to the pit and eternal destruction right where the Dragon wants them.
Conclusion
There are a lot of little details packed in these short chapters that begin to paint a picture through history of primarily two characters, the unfaithful woman representative of Jerusalem and her children at a time of apostasy, and the Dragon obsessed with the place that God chose to dwell receiving worship from God’s chosen people and the world. Through history we see the various heads of the Dragon hold some kind of political control as kings over this city chosen by God. And the city representative of the religious leadership of the city’s children failing to remain faithful to their God as her children play the harlot and go after other gods.
It reveals a history of this coin of Israel with a faithful side and an unfaithful side move through time with the generations flipping between obedience and rebellion, reaping the blessings and curses they agreed to when the covenantal relationship was established in the wilderness at Mount Sinai.
Ultimately we will see this relationship between the Dragon and Israel in light of the faithful woman as well who come out of mystery Babylon, eyes open to the deception and through great tribulation primed to have their eyes opened when their true Messiah returns in glory to save His people from the deceived of the world.
But God has never held back His righteous judgement, even of the city on His holy mountain and her children. God has allowed the curses agreed to at Sinai to befall His people in their disobedience and at the end of the age of the rule of men He will judge her harshly for her wicked persecution of His faithful people who are obedient to Him. The deception and judgement of the harlot will be great and final, followed shortly by the judgement of the deceivers who pulled off this great deception.
Revelation 18:4
And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
And this is why it is important to watch and understand the warnings God has given us from scripture. How do we come out of mystery Babylon? We must have a relationship with the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We must trust His Word. We must be obedient and love God and each other selflessly. We must recognize deceit by knowing the truth and flee from the lies toward the reality. If you don’t know what the truth looks like, how can you spot a fake?
In the case of the coming great deception it’s even more critical because the fake will not come as an obvious enemy, but as a subtle cloaking of deception in truth, a ravenous wolf in sheep’s clothing. The blind will fall into deception, and so we must open our eyes and see and expect that we will be hated by the blind. We must continue to love those that call themselves our enemies, they don’t understand.
2 Corinthians 11:13-15
For such [are] false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore [it is] no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.
We must ask the Author for guidance through His Word, and we must trust that Word and rightly divide the Word to discern the truth and see through the lies. We’ve been given the answers, shown the future. We must not close our eyes and sleep as others but watch and warn as the day approaches. †
May God continue to bless you as you remain in Him.
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