Revelation
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Revelation Chapter 17
Who is this great whore?
This system is not secular but a system that pretends to be spiritual. Whoredom has always been associated with idolatry and false worship of something or someone other than the true God. This could be a religion that even professes to be representing the true God but in reality is not. She dominates all the nations by religion until she is destroyed by the antichrist who uses her to get power but then turns on her because he wants all power and allegiance to be given to him. Other kings of the earth will also turn against this religious system. All throughout history, some governments have used religion to control the people and religion has used the government in the same way. This is why that until the Lord returns we have to have freedom of religion that never uses force. I know this sounds bad in a sense. If God's people can't rule the earth, who can? Yet until Jesus comes, the false and the real are mixed so much so that only God knows the difference. To give any religion power will mean suppressing and harming innocent people. It has happened in the past and will happen again. History repeats itself. True religion that really is "Of God" never uses force because they know that only God can convert a sinner into a born again child of God. It is the work of the Holy Spirit that cannot be forced by man's religion. We are to preach the gospel, teach the word of Jesus our Lord but God changes the inner person by the power of the Holy Spirit. Religion alone can never do that. Since this religious system is called Babylon whoever this great whore is, the religion will be similar to the great religious system in the past that rebelled against God. Although Nimrod mentioned in Genesis united the people and was a mighty hunter who was against the Lord, his wife Semiramis is probably the one who developed the religious part of Babylon. Under Nimrod and perhaps his father Cush they became mighty hunters and heroes to the people taking control and ruling from cities like Nineveh and Babel. After the flood in Noah’s time, God commanded men to spread out and develop colonies. They were not to assemble in one place. The first rebellion against God after the flood was that they wanted to stay in one place make a big name for themselves and choose another god. Nimrod is said to have protected the people from wild beasts that would multiply a lot after the flood if people didn't spread out but stayed in one place. They probably considered him a great warrior or hero and probably their god. It is believed that they built a tower to defy God and attempt to set up a symbol of unity and power. Josephus (A Jewish historian), gives us other reasons for building the tower like escaping another flood in case God sent one. It was also an object of worship in an attempt to replace God with a god that allows men to control or dominate the world. Had Nimrod believed God's word he would have known that God promised never to destroy the world with a flood. After the tragic death of Nimrod, his wife wanted to retain her power. Tammuz was conceived after the death of Nimrod and to make sure she retained her power she convinced people that Tammuz was Nimrod reborn. They may have known of the prophecy given to Eve and she may have attempted to convince people her son was the one to be born the Messiah. Satan may have used this to counterfeit the coming Messiah. He has always tried to thwart the plan of God. However, we know them by their fruits and nothing that came from Babylon even remotely resembles the real Messiah. She wanted people to think Tammuz was Nimrod reborn or reincarnated so that she could retain her power over the people. She started a great religious system with priests and rites similar to what some religions have today. Babylon was the origin of all false religious systems throughout the world. Babel means gateway to the gods. It will be judged severely by God because it is the first and will be the last religious rebellion against the real God. False religion will have just enough of similarities to true religion to make it believable. Notice that Cain and Abel did sacrifices to God. The law of Moses required priests, so the Babylonian religion had some similarities to the real way to God. We can find in the bible though that it developed into very much evil. Temple prostitution and child sacrifices became the norm. Semiramis was also called the Queen of Heaven. When the people were scattered and their languages changed naturally the names of their gods were changed and taken with them wherever they settled. The Babylonian religion had its headquarters in Pergamos after the conquest of old Babylon. From there it spread to Rome where it later mixed with some sects of Christianity. Never the true spirit filled believers. God always has those that remain faithful. In Jeremiah we see this queen of heaven mentioned:
This queen of heaven so called was worshipped in the days of Jeremiah. This is from Babylon. Tammuz was mentioned in Ezekiel as an abomination in worship.
This Babylonian religion is where we get the name Baal which was probably another name for Tammuz or Nimrod. False religion has a lot of superstition, fortune telling, sorcery or use of mind altering drugs, divination, witchcraft, astrology and other similar things we see revived in the latter days. It didn’t stop there in the days of Babylon and it will return in the future. False religion and rebellion against God leads to other sins even murder. It leads to prostitution, all forms of sexual immorality, child molestation, child sacrifice, virgin sacrifice, murder, and many other demonic activities in the name of religion. This is why God hated for Israel to be involved in this stuff. False religious systems also cause the souls that are deceived into it to be lost for eternity. It brings no eternal life. We see this religious system revived in the latter days so it can be judged by God and destroyed forever. There are also mystery rites and things in other religions so this woman just might be a combination of all into a one world ecumenical religious group. Right now wherever the true gospel shines, this system is suppressed. However, if the true church is taken out of the world or the true church goes into apostasy, one can easily see this religious system gaining ground once again. She will then kill any of the true church that left on the earth when she is here. That is why we see the first set of martyrs in the book of Revelation under the altar. These were probably killed by the great whore of Babylon. Perhaps the second set of martyrs are killed by her as well because the antichrist does not really start his killing until the latter half of the tribulation period. This religion has been toned down greatly but we see from the book of Revelation that it is revived in the latter days. All witchcraft, séances, use of drugs, which is sorcery, fortune telling, astrology, and such, is only a beginning of what is coming back. Jonathan Cohn writes about this return in some of his books. God’s way to eternal life is to repent of sin and keep His commandments. Since mankind has always had trouble keeping the word of God and the blood of animals could not cleanse the sin and give them power over sin, He sent His own Son to live among us in the flesh, yet not sin at any time. When Christ was crucified, He died without deserving the penalty for sin which was death. Jesus didn’t sin so He didn’t deserve to die. If one believes in Jesus and accepts His death as atonement for their own sin, they can be saved from the penalty of sin. There is only one catch, we must be willing to turn away from sin ourselves and give over our lives to Jesus Christ. We are bought with a great price; we are no longer our own master. To whom we yield ourselves to, is to whom we belong. We can choose to yield to God or to the wicked one. The wicked one is Satan who is out to steal, kill and destroy, never to save and grant eternal life. Only faith in Jesus can do that. We can’t live a holy life though without coming to Jesus Christ for remission of sin. He paid the price for us but we must believe in Him and come to Him to receive this gift of eternal life. The animal sacrifices the Jewish people did in the Old Testament period pointed toward the perfect way which was to come. We see the first rebellion after the flood take place in Babel. They wanted to go a different way than God’s way. They knew better. Perhaps they were mad at God for destroying the world and taking away what they had before. Perhaps they missed the old ways and looked back similar to Lot’s wife looking back to Sodom. God saw what they were doing and how the unity they had was leading them in the wrong direction. Unity is not good if we are unified for evil instead of good. God had to bust up that unity. We need to be thankful to God when He decides to bust up false unity. Unity that comes from God will be unity in spirit and in truth. Remember the word truth. Whenever someone or some organization desires unity but in order to have unity, we have to water down the truth of God’s word, watch out. They may have the same spirit that they had at the tower of Babel. I imagine they were going about talking of brotherly love and unity before they even started building the tower of Babel. There are many legends in other sources besides the bible. Some stories are similar coming from different people that were scattered all over the earth. Some of it may not be true. The only real source we can believe is the bible itself that God by His spirit has proved to us to be the truth. Finis Dake believes that this religion is a system that appears after the rapture of the church and is not anything we see now in existence. Since we have seen the rise of the New Age movement in the last few years, he may have a point yet it is hard to forget the religions in the past and existing now that kill its opponents. Perhaps those religions were forerunners of this whore just like the Hitler was a forerunner of the antichrist. Yet if there are harlots proceeding forth from this whore, it would seem that this is something that exists now.
We see here that kings have been under the influence of this religion and have used it to keep their power and also the whore has used them to keep her in power. We have seen this type of government systems in early history as well as the middle Ages.
She has the same territory under her power that will be given over to the antichrist. She is separate from those kings and only influences the religious aspect of the kingdoms. These 10 kingdoms are in the vicinity of the old Roman Empire. The seven horns symbolize the 7 world empires to oppose God's people Israel from old times. The color of scarlet has always been associated with a whore. Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome and latter day Revised Rome under the 10 kings are seven world empires that involve Israel in some way. The antichrist will rule over all them becoming the 8th kingdom before the final coming of Jesus Christ. The 10 kings come from the Roman Empire territory that has been revised in the latter days. Notice it is not revived because it is not longer under one emperor but under ten kings but it is revised. The antichrist will be the 8th kingdom to rule over the earth and revises the old Grecian Empire. Eventually he controls both Roman and Grecian territories.
This is a rich religious system with a headquarters in a great city. Riches and wealth in religion is gained by robbing the people in the name of religion. Devouring widow's houses and for pretense making long prayers. The Roman church did this many times in a practice called indulgences in which one could buy their way out of purgatory.
One of the commandments is dead set against idolatry. To worship any other thing than the real God, is idolatry. God hates it because it separates people from Him and destroys their souls. All false religions deceive people into thinking they are right with God when their sin remains within them. Sin separates us from God. God sent Jesus to die for sin and cleanse us from sin. If we don't let Him come into our lives and change us, we will be lost. False religion shows us another way to supposedly to God or a way that is dependent upon manmade rituals or commandments. In reality they cannot save any soul from hell because the sin remains. Sacraments cannot remove sin. From this religious system came other false religious systems just as wicked. They are called harlots. I don't buy into the teaching of some that Denominations are the harlots. As I’ve stated before not all church splits and divisions are from Satan. As God busted up the unity at the tower of Babel, He had to bust up the Middle Age Roman Church because they had gone completely into apostasy. Denominations are not evil unless they go along with false doctrine and do not preach the true gospel of Jesus Christ. Harlot religions would be offspring of the main one but who continue in the same apostasy with variations. Being born again by God's spirit cannot be forced on people. We have to come willingly as God's spirit draws us. If anyone tries to use force, the religion they represent is false. Harlots are those that teach false doctrine and teach other ways to be saved rather than through the atoning blood of Jesus to cover sins; but if a denomination or non-denomination teaches salvation through Jesus Christ, they are not part of any harlot religion unless they depart from the truth and become apostate. In other words they are not harlots just because they are considered a denomination. Any church can have revival, repent and be true followers of Jesus no matter what they call themselves. Independent or denomination. At the same time any of them can compromise the truth of God's word and become apostate no matter what their name is. Cults, New Age and other false religions that do not teach true salvation through the shed blood of Jesus Christ could be part of this great false religious system. Just be sure to watch and pray that we be counted worthy to escape all these things and stand before Jesus Christ.
We see here that one way we can identify who this whore is. She kills the true servants of Jesus Christ. She is rich and she dominates not only her own people but the kings of the earth. This shows us that big is not necessarily better. She uses idolatry in her worship. True salvation comes by turning away or repenting of sin and being born again by God’s spirit. This happens the moment one truly believes in Jesus Christ and His finished work on the cross. When Constantine came to power, he wanted a united kingdom. Most of Rome was Christian or Pagan so why not combine the two and have complete control over all? Makes sense to many but it was the death of the church in that day except for a few isolated churches who hid from the Church of Rome for survival. God has always had a people I believe. Actually the church was not apostate all at once. Many fought against the mixing of idolatry with the church at first. They even made a creed stating clearly what the church believed. That creed is not what was bad but later rituals crept in like the worship of Mary and other saints that were similar to the old Babylon religions. Because of error that crept into the early church, they over reacted by organizing and putting in place a hierarchy system of church government. They meant it to protect the flock of believers but in reality they began to suppress the people and separate clergy from laity. The clergy stood in place of God and kept the people from having freedom to worship God on their own in spirit and in truth like Jesus wanted them too. This is called Nicolaitism that had started back after the apostles had died. Nico means to conquer or bind and Laos means the common people. No wonder Jesus hated that doctrine. It kept the people from knowing Him as Lord and worshipping Him in spirit and in truth. We are all to worship God and have a part in our church worship services. It is not to be just the paid clergy that does everything. We need God too. Christ would have hated that doctrine of the Nicolaitanes because the clergy was getting in the way. Instead of leading people to God and a relationship with Jesus Christ, they were doing the worship for them. They became dependent upon the priests for salvation because the priests would do the ritualistic services that supposedly granted them salvation. People in the church ceased to become "born again" by God's spirit and just became a religion dependent upon the sacraments, rituals and works of what a priest did on their behalf. This is what is meant when we talk of being saved by grace instead of works. The works implied there is not the works of repenting or turning from sin but trusting in the rituals, ceremonies and sacraments done by the priests in the Old Testament and also by Christian religions that insist on those kinds of religious acts to save the soul instead of repenting of sin and faith in Christ alone to save. Some use the saved vs works scriptures to justify sin. Sorry but part of salvation is repenting of sin as we believe in Christ. That is the reason Jesus died is to save us from sin not in our sin. The Lord’s Supper, going to church, being baptized in water do not save the soul. We are baptized in water because we have been saved and it is an outward sign of obedience as we are literally baptized into the body of Christ. It also represents being dead to sin and raised in the likeness of Christ when we come up out of the water symbolizing His resurrection. We are resurrected in the newness of life. The Lord’s supper is gathering together to remember what He did on our behalf similar to the Jews celebrating Passover in memory of the flight from Egypt when they were saved from being killed by the death angel when the blood of the lamb was applied to the doorposts. This was a preview of the blood of Jesus that saves us from sin. We go to church or join a church because we are already saved and want to fellowship with other believers. That alone never saves the soul. Quoting a person I heard on the Internet a few years ago, "What Jesus died to free us from the Roman Church put back." Israel had priests doing the service of the temple in the Old Testament because Jesus had not yet come and made Himself the final sacrifice that was needed to save mankind from sin. Mankind could not go to God before Christ came without going through a prophet or priest. There were isolated cases where they sought God apart from a priest or prophet but usually they depended upon a priest. That all changed with the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Now all who believe have access to the throne of God. That is the glorious part of becoming a child of God by faith in Jesus Christ. Our sins are forgiven and we are made clean by the shed blood of Jesus. We can now be filled with the spirit of God, (the Baptism of the Holy Spirit). We can talk to God ourselves even if no priest is present. I, John Doe, Jane Smith, a little child or anybody can have access to the throne of God just by believing in the Son of God, Jesus our Christ who came for that purpose to bring us back to God after being separated from Him because of our sins. The Old Testament taught us about God and how severe sin was and how sin separated us from a holy God. The New Testament teaches us how to get to know God not just know about God, how to get our sins washed away and inherit eternal life. There are some who say the Mystery Babylon or Great Whore is the United States. The one thing that is missing though is that the United States is not a city and the United States does not martyr anyone for their religious faith as yet. I know that can change. We will keep the United States in mind as we watch the events that transpire in the future.
Why did John marvel? Could it be he saw something he recognized and was shocked to see what had become of the church? I'm not saying for sure that this whore was the apostate church but it may have been something John recognized. He was familiar with Judaism; Muslims did not yet exist, and he was familiar with pagan religions for they existed in his day, so why would he marvel? Could it be that he was surprised that the church he helped start had grown so apostate that they would beat their fellow servants and kill those that opposed them? It could be that the head of this religion is in Rome and the head of the commercial Babylon is from literal Babylon but that is my speculation. If this great whore is the apostate church, it will not just be Roman Catholics. There are many good Catholics that have been saved by grace and live godly lives. It is not just Protestants for there are many good Protestants that are true believers in Jesus Christ. There is a possibility that on one street corner is a Baptist church full of love and on fire for God and on the next corner, we may see a total apostate church operating under the same Baptist banner. We can't go by a name. This could be true of Pentecostals, Methodists and all organized churches. There are good ones and there may be apostate ones. Until the Lord returns though there is hope for revival so we have to let Him judge individuals. We have to be careful not to uproot the wheat ahead of time. Yet in saying that, we have to warn against false teaching and error but in the spirit of love. The old Babylon religion had priests to do rites, sacrifices and many other practices that were an abomination in the sight of God. Child sacrifices, whoredom, virgin sacrifices, idol worship and many other things occurred. No religion should try to mingle that religion with Christianity. Some of the Roman Church traditions came from the Babylon religion that had spread to the Roman Empire. So we see from chapter 17 that this woman is some kind of false religious system that has united religion and state. Until she is destroyed by the beast, she is in control.
The woman sits on a beast that existed before John's day but was fallen and will exist again. The supernatural spirit from the Abyss that was behind the Grecian Empire will rise again to control this beast. Daniel mentions this Empire when he tells of one who is like the antichrist who tried to destroy the holy people in that day, a forerunner of the antichrist. His name was Antiochus Epiphanies. We see that the main territory of this system is also the Old Roman Empire territory. Two religious systems control that area today but there are others. That can change as I've said before, it could be a combination of all religions or a new one yet to come. We know it will have idolatry (image or icon worship), kill true believers In Jesus, kill the Jewish people, practice sorcery, demand unity, be rich and controls the rulers of the earth. Notice that the ones deceived by this woman and the beast are those that do not have their names written in the book of life.
This is the main reason so many think that this woman is the Roman Church because Rome is upon seven mountains. I am not closed minded to that explanation but if the mountains represents kingdoms which the next verse seems to indicate then the apostate unity of all religions would make more sense as to being the whore. That would include any other religion that tries to take the place of Jesus Christ and impose its own self into the place of Jesus or in case of non-Christian religions in place of God. Misrepresenting God has always been a problem in the past and in the present. That is why God hates idolatry. We cannot make anything or anyone to represent God. Jesus is the only mediator between God and man. There is no other that could open the little book we saw in previous chapters. There is no other way of salvation as we read in the gospel of John. Anything but the simple gospel of Jesus Christ is just a religion that tries to imitate God or replace God but it does not do the job. God cannot be replaced. The religions I mention by name don’t mean every individual or leader in that religion. There is always a remnant of a few true believers in every religion that stays true to God. In the days of the holocaust both Catholics and Protestants either sided with Hitler against the Jews or kept silent. At the same time there were individual church leaders or common people who secretly helped the Jews both Catholic, Protestant and secular. So we should warn against any religious system that is apostate and has allowed the use of force, persecution, and intimidation against innocent people or those who are in total apostasy. It is evil systems with the religion/state mixture that is dangerous no matter whether it is Protestant, Catholic, Jewish or Muslim. God always has His people everywhere so everyone in these systems are not evil. When it comes to the conscience we all have to decide in our own hearts what to believe. It must not be forced upon us. If we don't allow freedom of choice in Christianity for instance, we will only have wet baptized sinners and not born again believers. Jesus only can change the inward soul of man. No one else has the power to change one from a sinner to a saint. Dake states that the 7 kings, 7 mountains and 7 heads are all the same. He does not consider the seven hills of Rome to be any significance.
Here it is clearer that this is not literal mountains but kings. Who is fallen? Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Perisa, and Greece. The one that "is" in John's day would have been the Roman Empire. The other one will be the revised Roman Empire according to many bible theologians and the antichrist revises the old Grecian Empire. Yet we know that the mountains can represent both those on which Rome sits and kingdoms. Many times there is more than one interpretation of scripture. Sometimes one prophecy is the pattern to the same prophecy being fulfilled in latter days.
It appears that this beast is revived Grecia from which comes with the antichrist. It existed in the past, was not present in John's day and is to come along after the revised Roman Empire of ten toes pictured in the image of Daniel chapter 2. It can be said that Babylon was, and is not and yet is, this could be indicating a latter day rebuilding of literal Babylon in Iraq. Remembering though that the Roman church resembles old Babylonian rituals, we can still see how they might play a huge part in this latter day false religious system. Since the Pope of Rome is looked upon as a great spiritual leader by some of the United States presidents and other men of fame, I will not rule out a future pope as being a leader of this false religious system. To be fair, I have here Matthew Henry's explanation for this vision of the woman: "Here we have the mystery of this vision explained. The apostle wonders at the sight of this woman: the angel undertakes to open this vision to him, it being the key of the former visions; and he tells the apostle what was meant by the beast on which the woman sat; but it is so explained as still to need further explanation. 1. This beast was, and is not, and yet
is; that is, it was a seat of idolatry and persecution; and is not,
that is, not in the ancient form, which was pagan; and yet it is, it
is truly the seat of idolatry and tyranny, though of another sort
and form. It ascends out of the bottomless pit (idolatry and cruelty
are the issue and product of hell), and it shall return thither and
go into perdition. I make references to Finis Dake and Matthew Henry because their explanations are total opposites. I have respect to both opinions though and I like to consider both versions. When I mention names I will make it clear that everything I say may not be what they fully believe but I will always try never to misrepresent them in any way.
Again we see the one who was bringing this vision to John jumps ahead to show John that all this evil is coming to an end probably so that he and other readers of this prophecy will not get overwhelmed by the seemingly success of this beast. I see throughout Revelation that God reminds us of the good ending before going on to show us the fearful things.
This religious system controls more than one nation. This is true of Roman Catholicism at least in the past and could be in the future. This is true of Islam today. It is no longer true of any Protestants or Jewish religions at this time. Keep an eye on New Age religions at this time. Make sure all of our worship music glorifies the Lord and not people. Nothing unites like music as we saw in the days of Daniel when music was used to get people to worship Nebuchadnezzar’s image. I'm not saying the use of music is wrong, In fact it can be used for good and is good. The bible teaches us to worship Him in hymns and spiritual songs along with the use of instruments. I'm just saying keep one eye open and watch like Jesus told us to do. Don't be quick to accept everything that comes along in the name of being "of the spirit" or "of God." If we get it wrong once in a while at least we are trying to do what Jesus told us to do. Watch and pray. Better to be over cautious than to get into something that is of the Great religious apostate system. Lets stick with "Thus saith the word." We weigh everything by the fruit it produces and whether it draws us to God and not to the worship of a person, image, institution or anything else.
Now we see that the secular political powers do not want to share their power with any religion so they kill and hate the whore, getting rid of all religious systems. Antichrist wants all power and authority. These 10 kings help make this come to pass but it also brings judgment upon the apostate religious system that persecuted and killed God's saints, both Jew and Gentile believers from all over the world.
Babylon use to reign over the kings of the earth but the closest one to do that in the immediate past is Rome. The United States may come close but it is not a city. England use to rule over much of the earth but does not do so now. Their rule was political rather than religious though. The Muslims are trying to increase their territory also. Babylon may literally be revived and rule again before the reign of the antichrist so at this point we watch and keep our spiritual eyes open. Notice the kings of the earth hate this Babylon and destroys it whereas the Babylon of chapter 18 is also destroyed but its destruction is mourned by the world. The world hates one but loves the other indicating more than one or else the religious aspect of Babylon is hated but the commercial riches are mourned. So we see the woman representing a religious system has a headquarters. We can speculate Rome or a literal rebuilt Babylon. I believe the United States has to undergo a lot of changing before she can be considered this mystery Babylon. America fits some description in chapter 18 of commercial Babylon but still they do not as of this date martyr anyone for their religious beliefs. Still there are some that cleave to the America, Mystery Babylon. Here is one: Why did God name America Mystery
Babylon? Still we see that the antichrist rises up out of 10 kingdoms primarily out of the territory that use to comprise the Old Roman Empire. This may indicate that Dake may be right in saying that his rule is not over the entire world since he seems to always be fighting other nations while he is in power. . Most other theologians disagree and believe his rule is worldwide. There is a way to make sure we are not part of this false religious system. Does our assurance of salvation depend on our own personal relationship with Jesus Christ or does it depend upon a priest, pastor, prophet or organized church (or religion)? Is our faith in Christ alone for salvation or in joining the Church of Christ, Methodist, Lutheran etc.? Finally does our religion or church believe that we have the God given right to kill those that do not accept our religious views. If so, run and get out of that religion. If our church, denomination, religion or faith starts beating their fellow servants by persecuting dissenters, run and get out? If our affiliation has a history of killing in the name of Jesus or in the name of someone else, run and get out. Jesus said to be wise as serpents but harmless as doves. DC Revelation 18- Commercial Babylon
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