Revelation Chapter 17 - John Karmelich

1. This lesson is called "Know Thy Enemy".

a) This is a saying used in warfare. It is also used in sporting competition. In order to compete against somebody or some team, one needs to know as much as possible about them in order to compete against them.

b) It applies in Christianity as well:

i) If we are to avoid sin, we have to know what is sinful.

ii) If we are to avoid demonic forces, we have to understand their tactics.

iii) This does not mean we have to indulge in sin. The issue is to recognize it and recognize the forces behind that sin.

c) Chapters 17-18 describe the ultimate end of the demonic forces that oppose God.

i) The good news is this is the last of the judgment chapters.

ii) If you've survived these Revelation lessons so far, you can handle the last two. ☺

2. Let me summarize where we left off in Revelation and how it applies to this chapter:

a) In the last two chapters, God was busy judging the earth. ☺

b) We get the impression that the "saved" were already taken off the earth at this time.

c) Understand that the judgments were specific. It was not a big cluster of bombs. ☺

i) The judgments were designed to teach the inhabitants of the world that God is in charge. For example, water was turned to blood color as punishment for murdering those who believed in Jesus. (Reference Revelation 16:3-4).

ii) One gets the impression some people do survive this judgment period, only because in Chapter 20 we read of Jesus ruling on earth. Jesus has to rule over "somebody", and therefore, I'll argue that some do survive through this period.

d) This leads to Chapters 17-18: The destruction of "Babylon".

i) These two chapters fill in some details from previous chapters.

ii) We are now going back in time from the events of Chapter 16.

iii) Revelation 14:8 gave a one-line prediction about the fall of Babylon. One of the judgments in Chapter 16 focused on its destruction. (Ref.: Rev. 16:19).

iv) Chapters 17-18 are disclosing more details about Babylon's destruction.

3. OK, what is Babylon, why is it destroyed and why should I care? ☺

a) Babylon was an ancient city that was the capital of the Babylonian Empire. The city existed for centuries, even after the fall of the Babylonian Empire. It is located in modern Iraq. Part of the city has been excavated and it is now inhabited, although it is no longer either a capital or even a significant city.

b) The term "Babylon" has its roots in Genesis. The "Tower of Babel" is in that location. That story in Genesis 11. It was about a mighty hunter (of men) named Nimrod (Genesis 10:9) who organized the first rebellion against God.

i) The term "Babylon" does refer to a literal city, but it can also refer to any and all organized rebellion against the God of the Bible.

ii) The Babylonian religion had multiple gods. When the Persians conquered the Babylonians, their priests moved to the Persian Empire, which then adapted many of the same pagan gods. When the Greeks conquered much of the Persian territory, the same pagan system influenced the Greek Empire. The Roman society also adopted the multiple god philosophy that had its roots in Babylon.

iii) The point is even though the Babylonian city and empire fell a long time ago, its influence, especially on pagan gods, was still around at the time of John's writings.

iv) Babylon is a literal location. It is also a symbol term for any religious system that opposes the God of the Bible.

c) One has to understand that it is not a matter of worshipping little statues. Those statues represented what one really worshipped. Some gods represented pleasure. Some gods represented fame and fortune. It is the same "gods" we have today, only at that time, there were individual gods to focus what one really wants in life.

d) The final question: Why should we care? This gets back to the title "Know thy enemy".

i) In this lesson, I'll talk a lot about what Babylon represents. In summary, the word-picture is about any and all organized efforts to oppose the God of the bible.

ii) These two chapters focus on the destruction of Babylon. Understand that this will definitely happen one day.

iii) Revelation is written to Christians. Revelation 1:4 said that this book is written to the seven churches in Asia. The idea is not for the Babylonians to understand this prediction, but Christian believers. We are to understand the ultimate judgment and destruction of the organized effort to oppose God.

iv) A point of this chapter is that the destruction of Babylon is not just the destruction of an organized government that opposes God, but an organized religious system as well. Remember there is a "false trinity" that is involved. Besides Satan and the antichrist, Chapter 13 spoke of a false worship leader during this scenario.

v) Let me change the perspective: We as Christians are to avoid sin. What we are going to read in these two chapters is the ultimate consequence of giving one self over to that sin. I'll argue that as long as one believes Jesus paid the price for your sins, you cannot lose your salvation. At the same time, Satan can make you an ineffective witness for God by getting you and me to focus our time and energy on "things" other than God. This includes false religious beliefs.

vi) This "organized rebellion" against God is not just to attract unbelievers, but believers as well. (Remember Chapter 17 is "back dated" from Chapter 16 and covers the entire Great Tribulation era.) My point here is to recognize Satan's tactics in this rebellion. We'll develop this idea more as we go.

4. Chapter 17, Verse 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 on many waters.

a) Verse 1 is the key to both Chapters 17 and 18. It describes the purpose of these chapters.

b) In these verses, an angel ("one of the seven") tells John, who is writing Revelation to come and see the "punishment of the great prostitute who sits on many waters".

c) Before we discuss this "great prostitute", let's set the scene a little:

i) John spent the last two chapters describing the final judgment on earth.

ii) Chapters 15-16 described seven angels with seven bowls. Each bowl was filled with some sort of "judgment". One at a time, each angel poured his bowl out on earth, and then some judgment happened on earth.

iii) Here in Chapter 17, the seven angels are all done. You get the impression that one of those seven angels, after taking a shower, ☺ walked up to John with a towel around his neck and said in effect, "Hey John, now that it's all over, let me fill in some details about one of those seven specific judgments. You see, there is this great prostitute who sits on many waters. Let me explain what that means".

d) This chapter explains what each word-picture means. Let's start with the "prostitute".

i) Chapter 17, Verse 18 says, "The woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth." That means the prostitute is not a literal woman.

a) Verse 18 says the prostitute is a city. This city is being compared to a prostitute for how the city acts.

b) Remember that Verse 1 says this chapter is about this prostitute being judged. Therefore, this chapter is about the judgment of this city.

ii) If you haven't figured it out yet, the city is "Babylon". More on that coming up.

e) Verse 1 finishes with the fact this prostitute "sits on many waters".

i) Chapter 17, Verse 15 says, "The waters you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations and languages."

ii) The point is this city "sits" on peoples, multitudes, nations and languages. The idea is this city controls and influences a large worldwide empire.

f) This leads us to the speculation of what is "Babylon"?

i) At the time of John's writing, Babylon was an insignificant city.

ii) At the time of John's writing Rome controlled the world. It would make sense that if John is writing about life in his time, the word "Babylon" is a code word for Rome, as the Roman Empire ruled the world.

iii) Personally, I don't worry about whether or not Babylon is literal Babylon or Rome. The point is when the antichrist runs this worldwide empire, there will be a central city that benefits from being the head city of that empire. Some believe it will be Rome. Some believe it will be the City of Babylon resurrected. Some argue it is another city. The important point is not to ponder which city it will be, but to understand that a great organized effort will occur to oppose the God of the Bible, and the "capital" of this great effort will be judged.

5. Verse 2: With her the kings of the earth committed adultery and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries."

a) The key to understanding this sentence is to understand the word-pictures.

b) First, let's start with the word "her". The "her" refers to the prostitute of Verse 1.

i) Again, Verse 18 of this chapter says the prostitute is a city, not a person.

c) Now let's talk about the rest of the sentence.

i) Remember that in the bible, the words adultery and idolatry are synonyms.

a) Adultery is to be unfaithful to one's spouse.

b) Idolatry is to be unfaithful to God.

c) In both cases, one is turning from one's commitment.

ii) This is why the term "adultery" is used as a substitute for "idolatry".

d) If you think about it, one cannot have a literal adulterous relationship with a city.

i) My point is we know this is not meant to be taken literally. It is a word picture.

e) The whole idea of Verse 2 is this city, nicknamed a prostitute, caused the world to turn from God and organizes a "religion" that goes with the antichrist and this final empire. Revelation uses this picture of a prostitute as the city is tempting people to follow along.

f) The verse says the kings of the earth are "intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries".

i) The idea is this city enticed the world to follow the antichrist (and its accompanying religion). It is being compared to the temptation of giving in to adultery. That is why this city is compared to a prostitute.

g) So what does it mean? It means this city is the "center" of idolatrous worship. If people are going to worship "something", there has to be an object of that worship. This city is the headquarters of this worship.

h) At the time of John's writing, the key example of this was Pagan-Rome. Rome was not only the center of government, but also the spiritual center. There was a "high-priest" of Rome and it was a government official. The influence of Roman paganism spread through out the Roman Empire.

i) For those of us who see the Great Tribulation as a single, future event, there will be a "religious movement" that goes with this final world empire. The religious aspect is technically separate from the government aspect, but they work hand in hand to gain control over this world-based empire.

i) Remember the purpose of Revelation 17 and 18 are to show the final judgment of this city (called a prostitute). Whatever and wherever this city is, it is condemned by God for organizing this rebellion. We'll read of its destruction by the end of Chapter 18.

6. Verse 3: Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a desert. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns.

a) Just when you thought Revelation was weird enough, it gets worse. ☺ The secret to understanding Revelation is to take it in "bite size chunks" and the pieces all make sense.

b) Let's talk about where John was when he wrote this:

i) He was on an island called Patmos. (Ref.: Rev. 1:9). This was a Roman penal colony where John was sentenced for the crime of Christianity.

ii) John was "taken" up to heaven where he sees all of the visions described so far in this book. (See Rev. 4:1). I picture John being handed a bunch of legal pads and pens so he could write all the things down. Somehow, someway, John was able to record all that he saw.

iii) Here in Chapter 17, Verse 3, we read of John being "carried away by the Spirit into the desert". Why this was done is not is not stated, so we can only speculate.

iv) The most common argument given is the word "desert" is similar to the "wilderness" back when the Exodus occurred. When the Israelites failed to believe God about entering the Promised Land, they were sentenced to wander in the desert (or wilderness) for forty years. (Ref. Numbers 14:33-34).

v) The idea of "wilderness" or "desert" in the bible is a word-picture of separation from God. The word picture is that if one is not drawing close to God, one is "getting away" from God and living in a place of wilderness.

vi) The point of all of this is John is about to describe a "beast". This beast is in a location that is not associated with God to begin with.

c) Onto the rest of the verse: "A woman was sitting on a scarlet beast".

i) Understand that there are two characters in focus: A woman and a beast.

ii) The woman is the same prostitute described in the first two verses. This will become clearer as we go through the rest of this chapter. Again, it is not a literal woman, but a "city" as stated in Verse 15.

iii) The "beast" is a little easier, because it was already described earlier in Revelation.

a) Back in Revelation 13, Verse 1, it said, "And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. He had ten horns and seven heads with ten crowns on his horns, and on each head a blasphemous name."

b) Here in Verse 3 it says, "(A) beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns."

iv) That has to be the same "beast". Back in Chapter 13, this beast is the antichrist.

v) Verses 9 and 10 of this chapter describe the seven heads and ten horns. We'll save that commentary for those verses. For now, just know that it describes the governmental system that is lead by the antichrist.

d) This verse says the woman rides the beast. That means that the woman (again, a city) "benefits" from being on the back of the beast. It also can mean that this woman/city has some control, like a horse rider pulling the reigns.

7. Verse 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.

a) What popped in my head is the old expression, "Never try to teach a pig how to sing. It's a waste of your time and it irritates the pig." ☺ Here is this prostitute all dressed up in purple and scarlet with all sorts of jewelry. She's still a prostitute.

b) I get the impression this prostitute is not dressed up in order to attract customers, but the idea is this prostitute is benefiting from "good business". Remember in Verse 3 this woman "rides the beast", which is the government controlled by the antichrist. Here we read of the financial benefits of partnering with the antichrist and his system.

c) The colors "purple and scarlet" are associated with royalty. This is another sign of this woman (city's) benefit of association with this end time government system.

d) The "gold cup" is a sign of kingly authority and power (See Genesis 44:5). The "cup" here is not meant be literal as the prostitute is not a literal woman. It is another word-picture of the power this woman based on the antichrist and his world's power.

e) Now let's back up and understand the application of these verses:

i) This prostitute becomes rich because she's become dependant upon the government for her power. There is an application to "organization religion" in the danger of becoming dependant upon the government for its survival.

ii) The danger of any church, even a Christian church is when it gets too "chummy" with the government in power. It is tempting to be the official state religion because then all of one's bills are paid for and there is no more passing the plate asking people for money. The danger is one becomes dependant upon the government and compromises one's belief in God. One becomes tempted by the power of being associated with the government and turns away from God.

iii) Don't get me wrong. I'm not claiming Christians are part of this "prostitute city-system". The idea is false teaching will try to pair-up with government in order to gain legitimacy and power. It is also a corrupting influence to the true church.

iv) My title of this lesson is "know thy enemy". It is not the government. The idea is the temptation of the Christian church to say, become dependant upon anything other than God itself.

8. Verse 5: This title was written on her forehead: MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES, AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

a) Know that most translations put all of these words in upper case, as to understand that this is a title. The NIV translation also puts this in four separate lines. We'll break it down by each of the four separate lines to understand the meaning.

b) First, understand that in Roman culture, prostitutes would wear a headband with their names on it for identification. Here this woman/prostitute is showing her "headband".

c) The first word is "Mystery". In the original Greek language, that word means, "something not revealed until now". The idea is the mystery is no longer a mystery as the meaning is now revealed to the reader.

d) The next title is "BABYLON THE GREAT".

i) Remember that this woman is a city. That is coming up in Verse 18.

ii) Here we know that this "woman" (city) is "Babylon".

iii) Does it mean the literal city of Babylon or Rome or somewhere else?

a) Scholars have been debating this one for centuries. To me, the important issue is not the "where" but the "what". The idea is when the Great Tribulation occurs, there will be a key city that is the central location for this organized "spiritual" rebellion against God.

e) The third line is, THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES.

i) The key word is "mother". The idea is this woman (city) "gives birth" to this organized rebellion against God.

ii) Again, the word Babylon is also associated with the "Tower of Babel". It is the same root location. That was man's first attempt to organize itself in rebellion against God. This final "Mystery Babylon" is man's final attempt at rebellion. Just as Eve was the "mother" of all living creatures, so Babylon represents the "mother" of all organized attempts to rebel against God.

f) OK, John, I get all of this. What's really going on here?

i) The idea is when this antichrist comes to power, there is an organized, world-religion that is associated with this person. This world religion is a separate entity, but is still associated with this final world government.

ii) Remember this woman "rides" the beast. The idea is that this woman (city) benefits from the rise to power of the antichrist.

iii) Remember that people need to worship something. In order for Satan to turn people from God, he needs to offer a substitute. My personal view of this religious movement is it will include the tag line, "All religions are right and as long as we're nice to each other and help each other, it doesn't matter what is our concept of God". Thus, this "harlot" is the center of some sort of false-religion worship where people are free to worship God however they want with no significant changes to their lifestyle. She "prostitutes" people to accept this religion.

a) You get the impression that the antichrist's rise to power is to incorporate or at least accept a growing one-world religious movement.

g) I should mention here while it is important to teach people about Jesus, we should allow and encourage freedom of religion. State sponsored religion forces people to worship something, and it is not done out of their heart. Christianity is exclusive and does teach that the only way to heaven is to accept Jesus' payment for one's sins. We can't force that message on people. Our job is to change people one heart at a time.

i) At the same time, we need to recognize what is false. That is the idea behind my title, "Know thy enemy". Chapters 17-18 are about the ultimate doom of this false religion and final world rebellion against God. If this system is "going down", we should recognize it when it comes and see it as God sees it: "As a prostitute trying to turn people away from worshipping God.

h) The final phrase is, "AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH".

i) I'm not exactly sure what that means, but it does not sound pleasant. ☺

ii) The idea of an "abomination" is that it is so disgusting you don't even want to think about it. The idea is it is not only a sin, but a very bad sin at that.

iii) Remember that the first of the 10 Commandments is to worship God alone and not have any other false gods. The idea is to avoid idolatry. Here is this false religion that probably accepts anything and everything that is opposed to the God of the bible. It is a great and final rebellion against what the God of the bible stands for.

iv) One thing to catch is that Revelation does not spend a lot of time in this chapter describing the details of the sins. The idea is that God sees this system as some sort of sinful prostitute and the sins are so bad, it is an abomination. The point of this chapter (and the next chapter) is this "Babylon" gets judged and destroyed.

v) To understand the details of the sins, the idea is to study your bible and understand what God requires in terms of obedience.