The Great Harlot and Her Beast Text: Revelation 17:1-6
Introduction: Identifying the Harlot
The book of Revelation was written to reveal, not to conceal. But to our modern ears, accustomed as we are to flat, journalistic prose, the apocalyptic imagery can seem like an impenetrable code. But John's first-century readers, steeped as they were in the Old Testament Scriptures, would have recognized these symbols immediately. They were not scratching their heads, wondering about helicopters or the European Union. They knew exactly who John was talking about.
In this seventeenth chapter, we are introduced to one of the central villains of the book: Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots. And if we are to understand this book, we must identify her correctly. The entire drama of Revelation revolves around the tale of two cities, two women. One is the harlot, Babylon, who is judged and destroyed. The other is the bride, the New Jerusalem, who is vindicated and glorified. This is the story of God divorcing His unfaithful wife and marrying a new one.
So who is this harlot? For centuries, many Protestants have identified her as the Roman Catholic Church. And while Rome has certainly had its share of harlotries, this identification does not fit the text. Others, particularly in our day, want to see her as some future, revived Babylon in Mesopotamia. This requires us to ignore the fact that John says these things must "shortly take place." The answer is much closer to home for the original audience. The great harlot, Babylon the great, is first-century, apostate Jerusalem. She is the covenant people who broke the covenant. She is the wife who became a whore.
This identification is not arbitrary. Throughout the Old Testament, when Israel went after other gods and formed unholy alliances with pagan nations, the prophets consistently condemned her as a harlot (Is. 1:21; Jer. 2:20; Ezek. 16). Harlotry, in biblical terms, presupposes a marriage covenant that has been violated. Rome could not be a harlot in this sense because Rome was never married to Jehovah. Jerusalem was. And the central charge against this woman is that she is drunk with the blood of the prophets and saints (Rev. 17:6; 18:24). Jesus Himself laid this charge squarely at Jerusalem's feet: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it!" (Matt. 23:37). This vision, then, is the divine sentence of divorce and execution upon the city that had rejected her husband and king.
The Text
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, 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.” 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. 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, and on her forehead a name was written, a mystery, “BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.” 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.
(Revelation 17:1-6 LSB)
The Seduction of the Nations (v. 1-2)
The vision begins with an invitation from one of the plague-angels to witness the judgment of this infamous woman.
"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, 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.'" (Revelation 17:1-2)
The harlot sits on "many waters." The angel later tells us that these waters are "peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues" (v. 15). Israel was called to be a light to the Gentiles, a city on a hill that would draw the nations to the worship of the true God. But apostate Jerusalem had inverted her calling. Instead of making the nations worshipers of Yahweh, she had become a spiritual seductress, exporting her idolatries and spiritual fornication. She led the kings of the earth astray.
How did she do this? By rejecting her Messiah, she became the chief persecutor of His church. The initial persecution of Christians was not Roman, but Jewish. The Jewish leadership agitated against the church throughout the empire, stirring up trouble for Paul and the other apostles everywhere they went. They formed an unholy alliance with pagan Rome to crush the nascent church. This is the spiritual immorality being described. The result was that the inhabitants of the earth, the land of Judea, were made "drunk" with her intoxicating rebellion. Drunkenness is a state of irrationality and stupor, and this was the spiritual condition of the nation that had rejected its own king and cried out, "We have no king but Caesar."
The Woman and the Beast (v. 3)
John is then taken into the wilderness to get a clearer view of this corrupt partnership.
"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." (Revelation 17:3 LSB)
The setting in the wilderness is fitting. The wilderness is a place of judgment and desolation, a place for owls and jackals. This is not a heavenly vision, but an earthly one, showing the sordid state of affairs on the ground. And there John sees the central image: the woman riding the beast.
The woman is distinct from the beast, but she is supported by it. She directs it, but she is also dependent upon its power. As we have established, the woman is apostate Jerusalem. The beast, described with seven heads and ten horns, is the same beast from chapter 13, which is the Roman Empire. The seven heads are identified as both the seven hills of Rome and a succession of seven kings, or Caesars (v. 9-10). The scarlet color signifies both luxury and bloodshed. The beast is covered in blasphemous names, a clear reference to the Roman emperor cult, where the Caesars claimed for themselves titles of deity like "son of god," "lord," and "savior."
So the picture is this: the apostate Jewish leadership, the Sanhedrin, is in bed with pagan Rome. They derive their authority and power from their alliance with Rome, and they use that power to persecute the true people of God. The harlot is riding the dragon. This was the political reality of the first century. The high priests held their office at the pleasure of the Roman governor. They had a devil's deal, and the target of their joint animosity was the church of Jesus Christ.
The Harlot's Finery (v. 4)
Next, John describes the woman's appearance, which is a picture of corrupt, worldly splendor.
"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," (Revelation 17:4 LSB)
Purple and scarlet are the colors of royalty and wealth. Gold, stones, and pearls speak of immense luxury. This is a picture of the earthly Jerusalem, the temple establishment which had become fabulously wealthy through its corrupt practices. Jesus Himself condemned the Pharisees who were like whitewashed tombs, beautiful on the outside but full of dead men's bones. The same contrast is here. She holds a golden cup, exquisite on the outside, but its contents are foul. It is full of "abominations" and the filth of her fornication.
This imagery is drawn directly from the Old Testament. The prophet Jeremiah warned of Babylon's judgment with similar language: "Babylon was a golden cup in the LORD's hand, that made all the earth drunk" (Jer. 51:7). Here, Jerusalem has become Babylon. She has taken on the character of the world's persecuting empires. She offers the world a drink, but it is a poisonous brew of idolatry and rebellion against God.
The Harlot's Name and Drunkenness (v. 5-6)
Her identity is then written plainly, yet mysteriously, on her forehead, and her defining characteristic is revealed.
"and on her forehead a name was written, a mystery, 'BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.' 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." (Revelation 17:5-6 LSB)
In that culture, prostitutes would sometimes wear a headband with their name on it. This harlot's name is emblazoned for all to see. First, it is a "mystery." How could this be? How could the city of David, the place of God's own temple, the people delivered from Egypt, have fallen to this? This is the great mystery of Israel's apostasy. Paul calls it a mystery in Romans 11. Her name is "BABYLON THE GREAT." This is a spiritual title. Just as the church is the New Jerusalem, the apostate city is the new Babylon, the new oppressor of God's people. She is the "mother of harlots," the source and archetype of all covenant-breaking.
And then we see the true nature of her intoxication. Her golden cup is full of abominations, and what is the abomination she craves most? It is the blood of the saints. She is drunk, not on wine, but on murder. She is intoxicated with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. This is the climax of the description and the central charge. This was not yet true of Rome in the way it was true of Jerusalem. When John wrote this, Rome's persecution under Nero had been fierce but brief. But Jerusalem had been killing God's messengers for centuries.
Jesus said it Himself: "Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town, so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar" (Matt. 23:34-35). The generation to whom Jesus spoke was the generation that would fill up the measure of their fathers' guilt. And they did, by crucifying the Son and persecuting His followers.
When John saw this, he "wondered greatly." He marveled with great astonishment. Why? Because this was the covenant city. This was the people of God. To see her in this state, allied with the pagan dragon, murdering the faithful, was a shocking and terrible sight. It was the mystery of iniquity embodied. It was the bride turned monster. But this is what happens when God's people commit spiritual adultery. The fall is always greatest from the highest place.
Conclusion: Two Women, Two Cities
This vision sets the stage for the great conflict of the book. It is the harlot city versus the bride city. It is earthly, apostate Jerusalem versus the heavenly Jerusalem, which is the church of Jesus Christ, comprised of Jew and Gentile alike. The harlot puts her trust in the beast, in political power, in worldly wealth. She is clothed in the gaudy finery of this age.
The bride, by contrast, is clothed in the fine linen of the righteous acts of the saints (Rev. 19:8). The harlot gets drunk on the blood of the martyrs. The bride partakes of the blood of the Lamb. The harlot is judged and thrown down. The bride is vindicated and brought down from heaven as the glorious dwelling place of God.
The warning for us is plain. The church is the new covenant people of God. And it is possible for the visible church in any age to play the harlot. Whenever the church makes alliances with the beast, when she trusts in political power instead of the Holy Spirit, when she clothes herself in worldly splendor instead of holiness, when she persecutes the true saints of God, she is walking in the footsteps of this great harlot. She is putting on the gaudy dress and picking up the golden cup.
Our calling is to be the faithful bride, not the drunken harlot. We are to be separate from the world, not riding on its back. We are to be intoxicated with the Spirit, not with the blood of men or the wine of this world's approval. The judgment of the great harlot is a settled matter. Let us therefore make sure we are citizens of that other city, the one whose builder and maker is God.