Commentary - Revelation 17:1-6

Bird's-eye view

In this chapter, the apostle John is given a guided tour of the great enemy, a behind-the-scenes look at the nature of the great harlot whose judgment has been announced. This isn't some far-future pagan empire. The entire book of Revelation is about things that must shortly take place, and the central historical event it points to is the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. This great harlot, then, is apostate, first-century Jerusalem. She is the covenant bride who has played the whore with pagan powers. The beast she rides is the Roman Empire, the instrument of her temporary power and, ironically, the instrument of her ultimate destruction. This vision lays bare the unholy alliance between a corrupt religious establishment and a blasphemous secular state. It is a covenant lawsuit, with God revealing to John the deep spiritual realities behind the political turmoil of his day, culminating in the just execution of the unfaithful wife and her replacement by the true bride, the Church.

John is shown a woman drunk on the blood of the saints, decked out in royal and priestly finery, yet full of abominations. Her name is a mystery, "BABYLON THE GREAT," meaning she has taken on the character of the archetypal enemy of God's people. John's profound astonishment at this sight is the key: he wasn't shocked that pagan Rome would kill Christians. He was shocked that Jerusalem, the holy city, had become the mother of harlots, the great persecutor of the saints, and was now ripe for utter destruction.

Outline

Context In Revelation

Revelation 17 does not introduce a new subject but rather provides a detailed explanation of a judgment that has already been announced. In Revelation 14:8, an angel declared, "Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city." In chapter 16, the seventh bowl of God's wrath is poured out, and a voice from the temple says, "It is done!" followed by the great city being split and the fall of "Babylon the great" (Rev 16:19). Chapter 17, therefore, functions as a divine commentary on these events. The angel takes John aside to show him why this judgment is just and who exactly this "Babylon" is. This chapter is the indictment, and chapter 18 will be the funeral dirge. The vision of the harlot on the beast unpacks the spiritual dynamics that led to the destruction of Jerusalem, which was the central theme of Jesus's own Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24).

Key Issues

The Scarlet Woman and Her Ride

The Old Testament prophets consistently used the language of adultery and harlotry to describe Israel's covenant unfaithfulness (Isa 1:21; Jer 3:1-11; Ezek 16). When God's chosen people turned from Him to worship idols or to form faithless alliances with pagan nations, they were described as an adulterous wife. John, steeped in the Old Testament, sees this imagery brought to its terrifying climax. The bride of Yahweh, Jerusalem, has become the great harlot. She has made a deal with the devil, which in this case is the Roman Empire. She rides on the back of the beast, meaning she is propped up by its power and conspires with it. The Jewish establishment, from the Herods to the high priests, had a cozy relationship with Rome, one they were willing to kill the Messiah to protect (John 11:48-50). This vision is the divorce decree. God is publicly shaming and executing His unfaithful wife, just as the Mosaic law required for an adulteress.

Verse by Verse Commentary

1 Then one of the seven angels who have the seven bowls came and spoke with me, saying, “Come here, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters,

The guide for this vision is one of the plague angels, linking this scene directly to the final wrath of the bowl judgments. He is not going to show John the judgment itself, which has already been announced, but rather the nature of the one being judged. He is going to explain the rap sheet. The accused is "the great harlot." This is not a title for a generic sinful city, but a specific charge of covenant infidelity. She was supposed to be the bride, but she became a whore. She "sits on many waters," which the angel later explains means peoples and nations (v. 15). Apostate Jerusalem, through its diaspora and political maneuvering, had influence throughout the Roman world. The phrase also echoes the description of the original Babylon, which sat on the Euphrates, identifying this new harlot with the spirit of the old one.

2 with whom the kings of the earth committed sexual immorality, and those who dwell on the earth were made drunk with the wine of her sexual immorality.”

The charge is specified: spiritual fornication. The "kings of the earth" refers to the political rulers and client kings within the Roman system, particularly those in and around Judea, like the Herodian dynasty, who colluded with the corrupt temple authorities. "Those who dwell on the earth" is better translated as "those who dwell in the land," a common phrase for the inhabitants of Judea. The leadership's apostasy was not a private affair; they exported it, seducing the people into their corrupt system. The people were made "drunk" with this idolatry, meaning they were intoxicated, unable to think clearly, and swept up in the nationalistic, messiah-rejecting fervor that the leadership promoted.

3 And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness; then I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast, full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns.

John is taken "in the Spirit," signifying that this is a divine revelation, not a political analysis. He is taken to a "wilderness," which in Scripture is a place of testing, judgment, and covenant curse. It is the opposite of the promised land. And there he sees the central vision: the harlot riding the beast. She is sitting on it, which indicates a position of temporary prominence and direction, but also one of utter dependence. She is not in control; she is being carried. The beast is scarlet, the color of sin and luxury, and is identified as the Roman Empire. It is full of "blasphemous names", the divine titles the emperors claimed for themselves. The seven heads and ten horns are taken directly from Daniel's prophecies, identifying this beast as the final, climactic pagan empire of that age.

4 And the woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a gold cup full of abominations and of the unclean things of her sexual immorality,

The harlot's appearance is one of grotesque parody. Purple and scarlet are colors of royalty and the priesthood. Gold, stones, and pearls were used to adorn both the temple and the high priest. She has dressed herself up in the symbols of her holy calling, but she is using them in service of her whoredom. She looks rich, powerful, and religious. She holds a golden cup, which appears valuable on the outside, but inside it is filled with filth, the abominations of her idolatry and covenant-breaking. This is a perfect illustration of what Jesus said about the Pharisees: they clean the outside of the cup, but inside are full of greed and wickedness (Matt 23:25).

5 and on her forehead a name was written, a mystery, “BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.”

Roman prostitutes would sometimes wear a headband with their name on it. This harlot is branded on her forehead for all to see. Her name is a "mystery," meaning a spiritual truth that is now being unveiled. Her name is not Jerusalem, but "BABYLON THE GREAT." This is not a geographic label but a character indictment. She has become the new Babylon, the archetypal enemy of God's covenant people. In fact, she is the mother of all such spiritual harlotry. She is the source, the fountainhead of this particular brand of religious apostasy that persecutes the true faith. She is the mother of all the abominations that defile the land.

6 Then I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus. When I saw her, I wondered greatly.

This is the clinching piece of evidence for her identity. She is drunk, not with wine, but with the blood of God's people. Jesus Himself identified Jerusalem as the city that kills the prophets and stones those sent to her (Matt 23:37). He promised that the blood of all the righteous, from Abel to Zechariah, would come upon that generation (Matt 23:35-36). From the stoning of Stephen to the martyrdom of James, the Jerusalem authorities were the primary instigators of the persecution against the early church. John's reaction is telling. He "wondered greatly," or was utterly astonished. Why? It would be no surprise for a pagan empire like Rome to kill Christians. The profound shock was seeing the covenant city, the place of God's own temple, revealed as the bloodthirsty, drunken persecutor of the saints of her own Messiah. It was a horrifying family betrayal.

Application

The story of the great harlot is a perpetual warning to the visible Church. The temptation to commit spiritual adultery is always with us. It is the temptation to trade our heavenly calling for earthly power, to make alliances with the beast of the secular state for the sake of comfort, influence, and wealth. It is the temptation to dress ourselves in the fine clothes of religious activity, purple robes and golden cups, while our hearts are full of the filth of compromise and worldliness.

A church becomes a harlot when she loves the world more than she loves Christ. She becomes a harlot when she trusts in political maneuvering more than in the power of the gospel. She becomes a harlot when she persecutes the true prophets in her midst who call her to repentance, honoring the dead saints while silencing the living ones. Every generation of Christians must examine itself. Are we the faithful bride, waiting eagerly for our husband? Or are we riding the beast, drunk on the world's approval and intoxicated with its power?

The good news is that the harlot is judged. Christ will purify His church. He will not tolerate a rival. He divorced and destroyed that first-century harlot to make way for the true bride, the New Jerusalem. And He will continue to cleanse and discipline His people until the day He returns for a bride who is without spot or wrinkle. Our job is to heed the call to "come out of her," to separate ourselves from all forms of apostate, compromised religion and to cling to Christ alone.