Revelation 17:1-18
The Scarlet Woman and the Scarlet Beast
1 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and talked with me, saying to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, 2 with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication.”
3 So he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness. And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. 4 The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication. 5 And on her forehead a name was written:
MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT,
THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS
AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS
OF THE EARTH.
6 I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement.
The Meaning of the Woman and the Beast
7 But the angel said to me, “Why did you marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns. 8 The beast that you saw was, and is not, and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition. And those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.
9 “Here is the mind which has wisdom: The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits. 10 There are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come. And when he comes, he must continue a short time. 11 The beast that was, and is not, is himself also the eighth, and is of the seven, and is going to perdition.
12 “The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority for one hour as kings with the beast. 13 These are of one mind, and they will give their power and authority to the beast. 14 These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful.”
15 Then he said to me, “The waters which you saw, where the harlot sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues. 16 And the ten horns which you saw on the beast, these will hate the harlot, make her desolate and naked, eat her flesh and burn her with fire. 17 For God has put it into their hearts to fulfill His purpose, to be of one mind, and to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled. 18 And the woman whom you saw is that great city which reigns over the kings of the earth.”
We who are in Christ Jesus sit back and observe the judgment on the symbolic great harlot who seduces the world with the false religion of idolatry and immorality with full assurance that our end is not with those who sit under divine judgment to eternal condemnation. We see that this one selling herself for the price of men’s and women’s souls brings drunken corruption to the souls of those worshippers of anyone and anything other than Jesus Christ who alone is worthy of worship as the one and only Mediator (1 Timothy 2:5, Hebrews 9:15, 12:24, Galatians 3:19-20) between every person and our Creator. The world is intoxicated with false mediators and mediatrices put in front of it by the deceiver as if religiously right and so the beast and dragon continue to sway the people with lies of a false hope found only in Jesus Christ (John 14:6, Acts 4:12, 1 Timothy 2:5-6) instead. This is the war against the gospel which is lost already because the Lord has written the names of we who are and are to be inscribed there and cannot be fooled or led astray from our sure salvation. He has written our names as His children in the Lamb’s Book of Life (Psalm 139:16, Matthew 25:34, Romans 8:29-30, Ephesians 1:4, Revelation 13:8) from when He created the world, before we were ever even born on this earth! We therefore have ears to hear and eyes to see the great harlot sitting on many waters across the globe in control of religious thought and civil control, adorned with riches and rituals at the expense of souls. This evil lady of the night hides in the darkness which we have been set free from (John 12:35, Acts 26:18, 2 Corinthians 4:6, 1 Peter 2:9-10) while claiming the darkness is light and good is evil as Isaiah 5:20 warns us. We marvel with that great amazement of such obvious deception described to John here for us to reflect on. When the beast under the bidding of the dragon fools the world around us we whose spiritual rebirths are recorded in the Book of Life have no need to fear our eternal destination nor of being fooled again as before our eyes and ears were opened. The exact identity of the horns of nations and locations described in these prophetic words may be obscure but we have the hope of seeing the justice and judgment of the Lord triumph over the powers of deception and darkness in the end of time on God’s schedule. When the beast headed to perdition tries to wage war with worldly authority against the Lord, we know without a doubt that the Lamb will easily and assuredly overcome those opposing Him and the gospel (Revelation 12:17) with His divine Sovereign authority as Lord of all lords and King of all kings. We then whom He calls are called, chosen, and faithful to follow in faith past judgment by grace and the atoning sacrificial blood of our Passover Lamb of God! God has blinded His enemies in that time so they single-mindedly fight a battle of futility until the words of God throughout scripture are fulfilled and they are thrown into the lake of fire to suffer forever for their disobedience of disbelief and refusal to submit and worship the only Lord God and His Son, Christ our Lord. The great worldly city holding religious deceptive power over many will be cast down at last as we who are predetermined and called as predestined to be His children join Him after the world is judged in finality and righteousness. We who know these things have trusted God’s written and living word because we have been called in Christ, chosen in Him, and are faithful to follow Him. This is the true God and eternal life (John 17:3, 1 John 5:20-21); may we keep our from the idols of this world disguised as false hope as we trust the only Mediator between us and God. Amen and amen!
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