In chapter 16, John saw the bowl judgments being poured out on rebellious earth. In chapters 17 and 18, the Apostle will see those judgments from a different perspective – Rome is depicted as a great prostitute riding on the back of a beast illustrated as ten kings. Much like the fable of the frog and the crocodile, the beast will prove to be her demise!
(*Scripture verses are from the NIV unless otherwise noted)
Chapter 17
1 One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits by many waters.
2 With her the kings of the earth committed adultery, and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries.”
3 Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns.
4 The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls. She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries.
5 The name written on her forehead was a mystery: BABYLON THE GREAT THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
6 I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of God’s holy people, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus. When I saw her, I was greatly astonished.
7 Then the angel said to me: “Why are you astonished? I will explain to you the mystery of the woman and of the beast she rides, which has the seven heads and ten horns.
Rev 17:1
One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits by many waters:
As we’ve seen, the Bible uses the metaphor of a marriage covenant to illustrate man’s relationship to God’s love.
Jer 2:2 “Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem: “This is what the LORD says: “ ‘I remember the devotion of your youth, how as a bride you loved me and followed me through the wilderness, through a land not sown.
Isa 62:4 No longer will they call you Deserted, or name your land Desolate. But you will be called Hephzibah, and your land Beulah; for the LORD will take delight in you, and your land will be married.
Isa 62:5 As a young man marries a young woman, so will your Builder marry you; as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you.
Matt 9:15 Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.
In other verses, the unfaithfulness of a spouse illustrates mankind’s betrayal of God’s love:
Ezek 16:28-30 You engaged in prostitution with the Assyrians too, because you were insatiable; and even after that, you still were not satisfied. 29 Then you increased your promiscuity to include Babylonia, a land of merchants, but even with this you were not satisfied. 30 “ ‘I am filled with fury against you, declares the Sovereign LORD, when you do all these things, acting like a brazen prostitute!
Hos 9:1 Do not rejoice, Israel; do not be jubilant like the other nations. For you have been unfaithful to your God; you love the wages of a prostitute at every threshing floor.
John sees a great prostitute who “sits on many waters.” Verse 15 explains that the waters on which the prostitute is seated represent “peoples, multitudes, nations, and languages.” Verse 18 completes the identification by saying the prostitute is “the great city that has dominion over the kings of the earth,” which in John’s time was Rome. But in the timeless way of eternal principles, Rome itself represents the powers and principalities of Satan’s dominion over the hearts of rebellious mankind:
Eph 6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
Rev 17:2
With her the kings of the earth committed adultery:
At one point in the Old Testament, Isaiah prophesies against the coastal city of Tyre. In another, Nahum speaks against the Assyrian Empire, and Jeremiah proclaims Babylon’s downfall. Tyre, one of the oldest cities on the Phoenician coast, was established prior to the Israelites’ arrival in Canaan. Both Tyre and Sidon were infamous for their wickedness and idolatry.
The book of Nahum is a prophecy directed at the nation of Assyria and its capital city Nineveh. Israel has split into two kingdoms: Israel in the north, and Judah in the south. In Nahum’s day, God’s people found themselves under the thumb of Assyria, a brutal foreign power taking over the known world.
Jeremiah was a prophet to the southern kingdom right before Judah ultimately fell to Babylon and was led away into captivity. God sent Jeremiah to warn Judah of the coming conquest – a warning they didn’t heed.
Isa 23:17 17 At the end of seventy years, the LORD will deal with Tyre. She will return to her lucrative prostitution and will ply her trade with all the kingdoms on the face of the earth.
Nah 3:3-4 Charging cavalry, flashing swords and glittering spears! Many casualties, piles of dead, bodies without number, people stumbling over the corpses— 4 all because of the wanton lust of a prostitute, alluring, the mistress of sorceries, who enslaved nations by her prostitution and peoples by her witchcraft.
Jer 3:1 “If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him and marries another man, should he return to her again? Would not the land be completely defiled? But you have lived as a prostitute with many lovers— would you now return to me?” declares the LORD.
After all the mighty works of God that were the heritage of Israel, the promised people still fell to worshiping the gods of the Canaanites, built pagan shrines on the hills and in their homes (2 Kings 17:29), and even sacrificed their children to dead images of stone and wood (Lev. 20:4, Jer 19:5, Ezek. 16:20). In the first century, at the very moment that the “bridegroom,” Jesus, arrived, the “bride”, Israel, chose to continue her illicit affair with pagan Rome:
John 19:15 But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!” “Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked. “We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered.
Now, in the same way, John is seeing a prophecy unfold against pagan Rome and her allied “kings of the earth.” Christians believe that anyone, regardless of their race or culture, who accepts Christ is grafted into the promised people and shares in a new covenant with God1. This belief is an eternal principle that requires believers to reflect on the consequences facing modern cultures that reject God’s redemption offered through Jesus Christ.
Rev 17:2
The inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries:
A good, strong drink of alcohol may seem to make a person a little bit more talkative, calmer, and more relaxed. However, as more is consumed—and it doesn’t take much more—the enzymes that break down the alcohol get saturated, and the alcohol builds up quickly2. This results in poor muscle coordination and slurred speech, memory, and processing issues, and eventually can lead to a blackout, loss of consciousness, coma, or even death3.
In comparison, the lust for power and wealth eventually impairs a person or a society spiritually and morally. The effects build up. The seduction of material gain can lead to poor decisions, lies, selective memory, and eventually total blindness to the effects one’s actions have on others.
Isa 29:9 Be stunned and amazed, blind yourselves and be sightless; be drunk, but not from wine, stagger, but not from beer.
Jer 51:7 Babylon was a gold cup in the LORD’s hand; she made the whole earth drunk. The nations drank her wine; therefore they have now gone mad.
Rev 17:3
Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns:
Once again, note the similarity between the dragon and beasts John is seeing:
| Rev 11: 7 – Beast from the abyss | Rev 12:3 – Great red dragon | Rev 13:1 – Beast from sea | Rev 17: 3 – Scarlet beast |
| Arises from the bottomless pit | 7 heads | 7 heads | 7 heads |
| Makes war on the witnesses | 10 horns | 10 horns | 10 horns |
| Kills the witnesses | 7 crowns | 10 crowns | |
| Seeks to devour Christ and the Church | Covered with blasphemous names | Covered with blasphemous names. |
Just as with the seals, trumpets, and bowls, John is most likely seeing the same scenario of destruction played out using different illustrations each time – Satan’s war against Christ and his Church.
The Jewish leaders who opposed Jesus believed they were dependent on Rome for their national existence and their own personal power. They chose to “stay in bed” with their assumed benefactor to the extent that they killed the very one who was their true deliverer and supported the murderous pursuit of Jesus’ followers. Rome wasn’t concerned with religious questions. They simply believed the lies concerning this new Jewish sect and wanted to stamp out any vestige of sedition that threatened the peace of the Empire.
Note the contrast:
- The throne of God, supported by the living creatures who are full of eyes and praise God day and night (Rev 4:6-8; Ezek. 10:12),
- The prostitute whose throne is supported by a beast who is covered with blasphemous names.
Rev 17:4
The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones, and pearls:
The richness of the prostitute’s garments is a caricature of the royal trappings originally intended for the righteous bride, God’s people:
Ezek 16:11 I adorned you with jewelry: I put bracelets on your arms and a necklace around your neck, 12 and I put a ring on your nose, earrings on your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. 13 So you were adorned with gold and silver; your clothes were of fine linen and costly fabric and embroidered cloth. Your food was honey, olive oil and the finest flour. You became very beautiful and rose to be a queen.
Rev 17:4
She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries:
John has been shown this cup twice before, a cup filled with God’s anger at the world’s sins.
Rev 14:10 they, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath…
Rev 16:19 …God remembered Babylon the Great and gave her the cup filled with the wine of the fury of his wrath.
Rev 17:5
The name written on her forehead was a mystery – “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of the abominations of the earth”:
This has become a familiar image—a demonic contrast between the followers of the beast and the sealing on the foreheads of the saints of God (Rev 3:12; 7:3; and 14:1). The woman John sees is the sum total of all humankind’s sins.
Rev 17:6
I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of God’s holy people, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus:
Jewish leaders were angry at Jesus for three primary reasons:
They were jealous of Jesus’ popularity and influence.
Acts 5:17 Then the high priest and all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy.
Acts 13:45 When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy. They began to contradict what Paul was saying and heaped abuse on him.
They were afraid of Rome
They worried that the crowds gathering around Jesus would arouse Roman suspicion and retribution, threatening the Jewish leaders’ political standing.
John 11:50 You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.”
They were angry because Jesus exposed their hypocrisy.
Matt 23:23 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.
In one respect, the leaders of Jerusalem were correct. Rome was generally tolerant of the religions of her subject nations. They traditionally had allowed the Jews great latitude in their worship practices and customs4. Rome’s attitude toward the new Christian sect would probably have been the same, but salacious allegations against the followers of the Way caused agitation and sometimes even riots (Acts 19:23-41). The one thing the Empire would not tolerate was civil unrest. At the very hint of insurrection, the Roman forces would move in to protect the Roman peace.
Ironically, the false accusations against Jesus led to the very thing the Pharisees, Scribes, and Sadducees feared. As a result of these and other conflicts that arose, Rome ultimately became the primary adversary of the Jews and the saints, eventually leading to the slaughter of thousands.
Rev 17:6
When I saw her, I was greatly astonished:
The temptation to sin can be very attractive. But, “All that glitters is not gold.”
Gen 3:6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
2 Cor 11:13 For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. 15 It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.
When John first stared at the image of the great prostitute, he was filled with amazement and fascinated by her beauty. The same Greek word for marvel, thaumazo (thav-ma’-zō, to wonder, be amazed)5, is used in Rev 13:3 when John sees that “The whole world was filled with wonder and followed the beast.”
Rev 17:7
Then the angel said to me: “Why are you astonished?”
Once again, John hears the same verb, thaumazo. In rebuke, the angel asks John why he’s admiring her! The false bride has impressive attributes, but she’s still faithless and deceptive! These cautions apply to the Church in every age. God is not impressed by the wealth or size of a group of believers:
Isa 1:23 Your rulers are rebels, partners with thieves; they all love bribes and chase after gifts. They do not defend the cause of the fatherless; the widow’s case does not come before them.
Satan has and will continue to send false teachers and leaders into the body of the Church. Some of these simply misunderstand the Scriptures. But others seek wealth and prestige, purposefully deceiving those who follow them. The enemy constantly sends false teachings from the abyss to lead us away from true faith in Christ.
The Gospel is not about gaining material prosperity by praying over checkbooks and bank accounts:
Eccl 2:26 To the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
Prov 11:4 Wealth is worthless in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death.
Jesus’ message has nothing to do with erecting prestigious buildings and growing a socially elite following;
Ezek 26:12 They will plunder your wealth and loot your merchandise; they will break down your walls and demolish your fine houses and throw your stones, timber and rubble into the sea.
The Good News is far more than displaying a form of obedience by simply showing up for Sunday services, yet disregarding the most important things:
Eph 4:31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.
The Gospel is about depending on God for His kind provision as we do our best to rely on His will and plans for our lives;
Jer 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Matt 6:31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Jesus taught his followers to give generously to ease the suffering of others;
Luke 11:41 But now as for what is inside you—be generous to the poor, and everything will be clean for you.
God calls all who will hear to worship Him by serving and loving others:
John 4:23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
Jas 1:27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
Footnotes
- Rom 11:17-24. ↩︎
- Cleveland Clinic: How Does Alcohol Affect Your Brain? February 21, 2024, https://health.clevelandclinic.org/how-does-alcohol-affect-the-brain, retrieved May 13, 2024. ↩︎
- Ibid. ↩︎
- Jews had lived in Rome since the second century BC. Julius Caesar and Augustus supported laws that allowed Jews protection to worship as they chose. Synagogues were classified as colleges to get around Roman laws banning secret societies and the temples were allowed to collect the yearly tax paid by all Jewish men for temple maintenance. There had been upsets: Jews had been banished from Rome in 139 BC, again in 19 AD and during the reign of Claudius. However, they were soon allowed to return and continue their independent existence under Roman law. (Jews in Roman Times, PBS.org.) ↩︎
- Strong’s G2296. ↩︎
*All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.comThe “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™
