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‘Babylon the Great is Destroyed’ / ‘The Woman on the Beast’ / Revelation 17:

Chapter 17 – ‘spiritual/religious’ Babylon destroyed

The Triune God – the Holy Trinity – consists of God, The Holy Spirit and The Lord Jesus Christ – Christ also being the bridegroom – with the church as His bride.  The Tribulation will have the three entities of the Dragon, The Beast and the False Prophet – The Unholy Trinity – with the, aptly named, ‘the Great Whore’ of Revelation Chapter  17 – the false church.

Some people think of spiritual Babylon as being the church of Rome because it developed adulterated new doctrines by combining Biblical truth with pagan beliefs:

“The penetration of the religion of Babylon became so general and well known that Rome was called the New Babylon.” – ‘Faith of our Fathers’ 1917 edition Cardinal Gibbons, page 106.

Revelation 17:1-2 – “One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, ‘Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute [‘spiritual’ Babylon], who sits on many waters. [waters means the masses – Revelation 17:15]  With her the kings of the earth committed adultery (idolatry/wickedness) and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated (excessive indulgence) with the wine (sins) of her adulteries (religious idolatry).’ ”

Click on the link, ‘whore’ metaphor for my commentary on the subject.

Note the phrasing of Revelation 17:1 – “one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls”.  This confirms to me that the seven bowls occurs before the fall of Babylon.  Revelation 15:1 describes the initial scene of the angels with the plagues.

Revelation 18:4-5 – “Then I heard another voice from heaven say: ‘Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues, for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes.”

“Flee from Babylon!  Run for your lives!  Do not be destroyed because of her sins.  It is time for the Lord’s vengeance; He will pay her what she deserves.” – Jeremiah 51:6

“Come out of her, my people!  Run for your lives!  Run from the fierce anger of the Lord.” – Jeremiah 51:45

“Come out of her, My people!”  God is addressing His believers because He calls them ‘My people’.  There are still true believers in Christ left, even after the Great Tribulation, who will be ‘caught up in the air’ with The Lord at His second coming.  1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 – “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.  Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.  Therefore comfort one another with these words.”

The phrase, ‘Come out of her, My people’ is both literal and metaphorical.  God is telling them to come out of the Beast system, out of the secular, world system.  Ephesians 5:6-11 – “Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.  Therefore do not be partakers with them … Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness.”  It’s also referring to the fallen church, the apostate church, the deceiving church.  1 Corinthians 5:11 – “I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler – not even to eat with such a one.”

Revelation 18:6-8 – “Give back to her as she has given; pay her back double for what she has done.  Mix her a double portion from her own cup.  Give her as much torture and grief as the glory and luxury she gave herself.  In her heart she boasts, ‘I sit as queen; I am not a widow, and I will never mourn’.  Therefore in one day her plagues will overtake her: death, mourning and famine.  She will be consumed by fire, for mighty is the Lord God who judges her.”

Revelation 17:3 – “Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a desert.  There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast [the Beast] that was covered with blasphemous names [blaspheming seems to be synonymous with the Beast] and had seven heads and ten horns.”

Revelation 17:5 – “This title was written on her forehead: ‘Mystery Babylon the Great – The Mother of Prostitutes (religious wickedness) and of the Abominations of the Earth.’ ”  ‘The Mother’ reference states she ‘birthed’ all of the subsequent false religions.

Revelation 17:4 – “The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls.  She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries (religious idolatries).”

The forehead reference is quite interesting.  All people are actually marked on their forehead as to who they serve.  In Revelation 9:4 – “They were told not to harm the grass … but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads” – in other words, believers have a symbolic seal on their foreheads.  John 6:27 – ” ‘Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal.’ “  Revelation 7:3 – “Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.” – written about the 144,000 Jews.  Revelation 13:16 – “He also forced everyone … to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead … which is the name of the beast or the number of his name” is about receiving the mark of the anti-christ, the Beast.

A footnote: some specific groups of Jews have the tradition of wearing a tefillin – a little black box – on their forehead. Passages inside their tefillin contain select verses from the Torah.

‘The Mystery explained’ / ‘The Great Whore is Destroyed’:

Revelation 17:6 – “I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus.  When I saw her, I was greatly astonished.” [John is astonished because he sees, what is arguably, the professed Christian Church doing the persecution and killing of God’s people.]

Revelation 17:7 – “Then the angel said to me, ‘Why are you astonished?  I will explain to you the mystery of the woman and of the beast she rides, which has the seven heads and ten horns.’ “

At this point, the angel reviews from the mid-point and goes to the end of the Tribulation.  For example, it reads: ‘now is not’ but the ‘woman’ is presently riding the beast as John looks on – so it’s in past, present, future tenses.

Revelation 17:8 – “ ‘The beast, which you saw, once was, now is not, and will come up out of the abyss and go to his destruction.  The inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world will be astonished when they see the beast, because he once was, now is not, and yet will come.’ ”

The phrase ‘once was, now is not, and will come’ has been repeated, so it is significant.  It’s then repeated a third time a few verses later, in Revelation 17:11.

Click on, Once was, now is not, for my commentary on this verse.  The Beast had ‘come up out of the abyss’ at the mid-point of the Tribulation, in Revelation 9:11.  The phrase, ‘go to his destruction’ is when he is thrown alive into the lake of fire at Armageddon, Revelation 19:20.

Revelation 17:9-11 – “ ‘This calls for a mind with wisdom.  The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits [rules].  They are also seven kings [seven empires], five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; but when he does come, he must remain for a little while [3 1/2 years].  The beast who once was, and now is not, is an eighth king and is going to his destruction.’ ”

The seven empires: Egyptian, Assyrian, Babylonian, Medo-Persian, Greek, Roman and the last, to be determined.  (My opinion is that it will be the Islamic Empire, however that would require an extensive study.  Suffice it to say The Throne of Satan is located in present-day Turkey.  Currently the population of Turkey is over 83 million, with 98% of them Muslim.)

The seven mountains/hills are ‘The seven spheres, or mountains, of societal influence’.

They are: government, media, business, family, education, religion; arts and entertainment.  The ‘woman’ who rides the Beast, the same ‘woman’ who rules the seven societal influences, is the ‘spiritual/religious’ Babylon.  This ‘spiritual/religious’ Babylon actually controls the Beast, who hates her.  Revelation 17:16 – “The beast and the ten horns you saw will hate the prostitute.”  So even though the Beast does reign in the second half of the Tribulation, the ‘woman’ has ultimate control over the world, because ‘she’ rides the beast, ‘sits on’ the seven mountains – all sectors of human life-  and rules the ‘seven kings’ and ‘ten horns’.  What has such global power and influence in international and religious affairs?

“The Catholic Church is the only religious institution that can enter into diplomatic relations and that interests itself in international rights, acting through the Holy See, an international sovereign subject of singular characteristics.” – Monsignor Pietro Parolin, Undersecretary for Relations with States http://www.zenit.org/en/articles/holy-see-insists-that-it-has-right-to-speak, November 28, 2007.

A few paragraphs later in the same article, Monsignor Parolin continued to write:

‘The Holy See currently has diplomatic relations with 176 states. It has a presence at the United Nations as an observer state, membership in seven organizations or agencies within the U.N. system, and is an observer in another eight. The Holy See also has observer status in five regional organizations.’

Revelation 17:11 finishes by saying the Beast is called ‘an eighth king’.  In Revelation 9:11 – at the 5th trumpet, it is written, “they have as king over them, the angel of the Abyss.”  The Dragon also gave the Beast his throne.  Revelation 13:2 – “The dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority.”

Revelation 17:12-13 – ” ‘The ten horns [ten regions of power in the one world government] you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but who for one hour will receive authority as kings along with the beast.  They have one purpose and will give their power and authority to the beast.’ “

The same phrase, “power and authority” was also used when the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority to the Beast in Revelation 13:2.

Revelation 17:17 – ” ‘For God has put it into their hearts to accomplish His purpose by agreeing to give the beast their power to rule, until God’s words are fulfilled.’ “

Revelation 17:18 – “ ‘The woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth.’ ”

Revelation 17:15 – “Then the angel said to me, ‘The waters you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations and languages.’ “

Revelation 17:16 – ” ‘The beast and the ten horns you saw will hate the prostitute.  They will bring her to ruin and leave her naked [a metaphor for exposed]; they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire [sacrifice].’ “

‘Victory for the Lamb’

Revelation 17:14 – “ ‘They will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them because He is Lord of Lords and King of Kings – and with Him will be His called, chosen and faithful followers.’ ”

Following the fall of the Beast’s kingdom in Chapter 18, the Beast and the ten powers instigate the fall of spiritual/religious Babylon, the Great Whore, in Chapter 17.

In Egypt, after the devastation of the kingdom by the death of all firstborn, Pharaoh pursued the Israelites.  Here in the End Times, after the destruction of the Beast kingdom in Revelation 18, the Beast attacks ‘The Woman on the Beast’ “to accomplish God’s purpose”.

Readers, keep in mind these are all just my personal theories.  I’m attempting to present ideas for your consideration.  Be sure you discern for yourselves.

Revelation 11:13 – “And in that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city collapsed.  Seven thousand were killed in the quake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.”

‘Rejoicing in heaven’ / The two-fold hallelujah:

Revelation 19:1-3 – “After this I heard what sounded like the roar of a great multitude in heaven shouting: ‘Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for true and just are his judgments.  He has condemned the great prostitute [same phrase as in Revelation 17:1] who corrupted the earth by her adulteries.  He has avenged on her the blood of His servants.’ [His purpose]  And again they shouted: ‘Hallelujah!  The smoke from her goes up for ever and ever.’ “

Heaven had also rejoiced over the Fall of Babylon in Revelation 18:20.

Note the passage: ‘The smoke from her goes up for ever and ever.’  That is eerily similar to Revelation 14:11 – ‘The smoke of their torment goes up for ever and ever.’  That passage is from the warning of the third angel for people not to take the mark of the Beast.  Hell is forever.

scripture only: The Great Prostitute – Revelation 17

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