|
Babylon ~ The
Great Riding Beast
Lesson # 25
Revelation Chapter 17
In Revelation
17 and 18, the apostle John provides a
flashback to the rise of the revived Roman Empire to
world domination. Many of the symbols used in the
book of Daniel, as well as Revelation, are explained
in these chapters.
Verses
1 - 6 |
And
there came one of the seven angels which had the seven
vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither;
I will show unto thee the judgment of the great whore
that sitteth upon many waters: With whom the kings
of the earth have committed fornification, and the
inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the
wine of her fornification. So he carried me away
in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a
woman sit upon a scarlet colored beast, full of names of
blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And
the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color, 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 upon her
forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT,
THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE
EARTH. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood
of saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of
Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great
admiration. |
To
fully understand these next two chapters, we must crack the
code. Many mysterious symbols that are used in both Daniel
and Revelation are clarified. We will begin with the two
central figures, a whore and a seven headed, ten horned beast.
Many
times things that are evil will be both fascinating and
repulsive. That is the way it was with John, he couldn't
take his eyes off this woman who was so evil. She was
clothed in robes of royalty, with beautiful jewels, and a golden
cup, but she was drunk, not from alcohol, but drunk from the
blood of believers. And she was sitting on a weird beast
with seven heads and ten horns with blasphemous names written
all over it. She is said to sit
on many waters.
Verse 15 explains this as People,
and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. But
who or what is this harlot?
The
worst name you can call a woman is to call her a whore, which is
very degrading. In the bible, the terms whore, harlot and
adulterer are frequently used to symbolize a spiritual departure
from God and His truth, by individual, city or nation. In
Isaiah 1:21 ~ How
is the faithful city (Jerusalem)
become
a harlot? And
in the third chapter of Jeremiah there are several such
references, one being in verse 3 ~ thou
hadst a whore's forehead......
Remember,
we who are believers, are the 'Bride of Christ',
II Corinthians 11:2. And if we play around with a false
religion, this is viewed as spiritual adultery.
And
who is this woman? Verse 18 states, And
the women which thou sawest is that great city,
and on her head was written, MYSTERY
BABYLON.
Babylon
was a literal city on the Euphrates river, and it was here that
idol worship began almost immediately after the flood, under
Nimrod, Genesis 10:10. And
the beginning of his kingdom is Babel. And
Nimrod decided to
build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; Genesis
11:4. So the city Babylon was built and adopted a false
religion which included black magic, demon contact, séances,
astrology and witchcraft. The mystery revealed to John was
that religious Babylon would be revived to control the last
world power. It would be an amalgamation of all the
world's religions. For the last three and one half years
of the tribulation period, it will have great power over the
revived Roman Empire.
Verses
7 - 9 |
And
the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou
marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman,
and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven
heads and ten horns. 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 here is the mind which hath wisdom.
The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman
sitteth. |
Who
is this beast the woman is sitting on? First, it is a man.
Rev. 13:18 ~ let
him that hath understanding count the number of the beast:
for it is the number of a man. He
had a former history on earth, He
was. He
was not then at John's time on earth, And
is not. He
is to have a future history, And
shall ascend out of the bottomless pit. But
eventually he will be cast into the lake of fire for all
eternity, Rev. 19:20 ~ And
the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought
miracles, these both were cast into a like of fire burning with
brimstone.
So,
from the above, the beast is a man and not Satan, but Satan's
antichrist. And we shall not know who this man will be
until as told in II Thessalonians 2:3 ~ Let
no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not
come, except there be a falling away first (the
rapture) and
that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.
The
woman, a city, is sitting on seven mountains, and the only city
in the world that is built on seven mountains is the city of
Rome. Can this mean that in the latter days Rome will be
called the New Babylon and be the source and head of the New
World False Religion? The seven mountains on which Rome
sits, all have names: Aventine, Capitaline, Gaelian,
Esquinine, Quirinal, Palatine and Viminal.
Verses
10 -11 |
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. |
And
who are the seven kings? These are seven Roman emperors
because when the angel says,
and one is,
he must have been ruling at John's time. Five
are fallen
could indicate a violent death and the five previous emperors
were:
| Julius
Ceasar |
| Tiberus |
| Caligula |
| Nero |
| Domintian |
The
seventh in John's day
is not yet
come. He
was to come and continue
a short space. This
probably is the revival of the Roman empire.
Now the beast will be the eighth, but will also be one of the
seven, The
beast that WAS and IS NOT, even he is the eighth, and is of the
seven. We
are not told which one of the seven this will be, but he will be
raised out of the abyss for a
short space. And
he will eventually be cast into the lake of fire.
Verses
12 - 14 |
And
the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which
have received no kingdoms 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. |
The
ten horns are mentioned 3 times in the book of Daniel and 7
times in Revelation. They refer to ten kingdoms that will
arise and worship the beast in the latter days. These
kings have received
no kingdoms as yet, but
when the antichrist comes to world power, he will appoint these
kings and they shall worship him who gave them their power for a
short time. And these have but one mind - to follow and
obey the antichrist and support his attempts to destroy all
those who will not accept his mark and are following
Jesus. So they make war against The Lamb and all that are
following Him, but these are called, and chosen, and will remain
faithful to Him who is Lord of Lords and King of Kings.
Verse
15 |
And
he said unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the
whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations
and tongues. |
This
refers back to verse one, explaining what the many waters she
was sitting on was all about.
Verses
16 - 18 |
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 fulfill
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. |
From
previous study, we know the ten horns are ten kingdoms ruled by
ten kings. We also have learned that the whore is a city
that promotes a false religion with blasphemous teachings, and
gains great power. However, these kings will eventually
become so jealous of the power and influenceheld by this false
religion that they will turn against the source of this power,
the whore, and attempt to destroy her. The Lord has put it
in their hearts to fulfill His will. In Proverbs 21:1 ~
The king's
heart is in the hands of the Lord, as the rivers of water:
He turneth it wheresoever He will.
Again, in
verse 18, we are told that the woman John saw was a great city
that promoted a false religion. There are various views as
what and where this "New Babylon" will be, but that is
in the future and no true explanation have I found.
However, Saddam Hussein is attempting to rebuild the old Babylon
on the Euphrates river right now, and is spending vast sums to
duplicate the old city. He is using bricks that bear an
ancient stamp of Nebuchadnezzar along with new bricks bearing
the name of Saddam Hussein.
As
sure as there is a God in heaven who keeps His word, Babylon will
live again as the seat of Satan. It will be a
literal city and be Satan's headquarters for a short time.
Then, after the kings of the earth destroy religious Babylon,
Satan will move his religious headquarters from Rome to Babylon,
setting the stage for the second three and a half year period,
called 'The Great Tribulation'. Even now, in our lifetime,
Babylon is being prepared for its final appearance on the stage
of human history. Reading todays news, seeing the rise of
devil worship and witch craft, it is clear that the ancient
prophecies about Babylon are unfolding before us ~ just like so
many other prophecies of the end times.
We
will continue to look into the mysteries of Babylon, and what is
in store for this wicked city as we get into Chapter 18.
Again,
God bless you all who read these lessons!
Check out our Bible
Study message forum.
Ask a question or leave your comments!
NEXT
BACK
HOME
Visit one of
the other sections of
Our All In All
The
beautiful artwork used for this page is courtesy of
REVELATION
ILLUSTRATED
Used
by permission and copyright 1992 Pat Marvenko Smith
Visit her site to see all of her beautiful artwork.
I
picked up the mix & match backgrounds at
|
