Reviews and Views

Book of Revelation – Chapter 17

This chapter forms another pause along with chapter 18. It covers the rise and fall of the universal world church. That church pictured as a harlot or prostitute becomes the theme of this vision given to John.  

In verse 1, one of the seven bowl angels speaks to the apostle John to follow him to see the great whore or prostitute who “sits upon many waters.” This phrase speaks of exercising religious control over most of humanity internationally. Later, in verse 15, this same angel explains that the water where she sat represented peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues. It shows that she has a significant influence over humanity but incorrectly assumes that her influence extends over the rulers of nations.

Verse 2, this harlot (the apostate church) has developed a religious system that holds everyday folks and leaders within its grasp. She will dominate all the unredeemed of the earth. The fornication spoken of includes all its evil connotations and associations. During the Tribulation period, a vast international religious system will create impure alignments with kings, rulers, and presidents never seen before. Humanity will become stunned and astonished as if drugged by the effects of these religious/political alliances.

What is meant by an apostate church?
It is a church composed of people who had once believed, then later totally rejected God’s truth and His Word. Instead, that church embraces false doctrines and believes in deceiving evil spirits leading to their destruction.

Now, John is carried away in the spirit into the wilderness in verse 3. There the harlot is sitting on a scarlet beast with seven heads, ten horns, and full of profanities. We know this beast as the Antichrist, representing the final stage of a Gentile world empire headed by one individual using ten subordinate kings administrating it.

Her sitting on the beast shows that the Antichrist temporarily supports this false religion. The beast uses this false religion to unify and control his kingdom initially. Later we will see a change in that relationship. As John looked, he noted that her attire was in purple and scarlet colors. Scarlet is the color associated with luxury, splendor, and rulership, sometimes associated with sin (refer to Isaiah 1:18) and the shade of blood. She wore expensive jewelry adorned with precious gems, gold, and pearls. All of this gives us a picture of a church composed of high-ranking members of the clergy or leaders elegantly dressed in the colors and attire of emperors, a picture of great wealth. In her grasp was a cup full of all the false, profane worship of the end times.

In verse 5, the harlot’s name of Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the earth, is revealed in the end times. Her prostitution or harlotry symbolizes idolatry, as noted in many places in the Old Testament. A few things to keep in mind:

• The true Church – the bride of Christ – is in heaven (Rev 4:1).
• This false religious system of the Tribulation hour is a complete union of the church and the world. Its members are the leftovers from all denominations. They were either doctrinally or morally wrong or both.
• The mother church has daughters. Her offspring are groups who either rejected the founder of Christendom’s actual teachings or had a counterfeit experience with the Son of God. Among them are cultists, apostates, and unconverted professors of religion. They went through the motions but were never truly converted. 

As we move to verse 6, the woman is drunk with the blood of saints and martyrs of Jesus. John was mystified, shocked, and frightened by what he witnessed. This harlot church has a murderous lust for violence and will kill whoever gets in her way of power. 

Next, in verse 7, the angel speaks again to John, asking why he marvels. Then the angel begins to explain the mystery of the harlot and the beast in the following few verses.

In verse 8, the beast that John saw is the Antichrist, the satanic ruler of the last and most powerful empire in all of human history. The angel describes him as the beast that was and is not and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit and go into perdition (damnation or the lake of fire).

• The beast was an ordinary man who was intelligent, clever, ruthless, and desired to rule.
• But then, he was not – because being killed at the mid-point of the Tribulation, where he went to Hades (the torment side). 
• Satan, who ascended out of the bottomless pit, retrieves the beast’s body and enters that body for the final 42-months of the Tribulation period. Hence, the Antichrist appears resurrected back to life. The world marvels after him and worships him as the messiah, with the false prophet that heads up the worldwide apostate church promoting such worship.
• At the end of the Tribulation hour, he will go into eternal punishment or perdition along with the false prophet in the lake of fire.  

At this point, we should be paying close attention to what follows. Exercise as much spiritual insight as needed to understand. The same angel says (in verse 9) something that seems a little off-hand, “here is the mind which has wisdom.” The angel states, ‘The seven heads (of the scarlet beast) are seven mountains on which the woman sits. Some say that the associated seven mountains are Rome because the city sits on seven hills and identifies the woman with the Roman Catholic Church. In John MacArthur’s book, Because The Time Is Near, he disagrees (see page 268). He explains that since so much of chapter 17 is symbolic, this description of the seven heads is also symbolic. Therefore, MacArthur believes that verse 10 describes the seven mountains or heads. He states that the term ‘mountains’ can represent rule or power in the Old Testament. So, which view is correct?

Personal Comment:
I believe that the Bible is to be understood literally and not symbolically unless you see the use of words “as a” or “like a” when describing something. As the Scripture states, my choice is to go with the seven heads are seven mountains, leaving us with Rome as the center of this worldwide religious system. Regardless of what form this religious system takes, it will be a significant operation with worldwide influence at its core. Many denominations with various beliefs join to form this single apostate church movement.

Verse 10 states that there are seven kings or empires. Five of these are fallen. Those five were Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, and Greece. And one is (meaning Rome) when John was writing the Book of Revelation, making six. And the other is not yet come, meaning the Antichrist’s worldwide empire (lasting 42-months), which makes seven. 

Is there more confusion in verse 11? “And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth (king), and is of the seven, and goes into perdition.” Who is the 8th king if there are only seven kings in the first place? Number 8 is number 7 resurrected. The beast (Antichrist) that was before his assassination and is not because of his untimely death; even he is because of his resurrection. King number seven and king number eight are one and the same person. I hope that makes it a little clearer. 

From verse 12, the ten horns are ten kings that will soon control the world, the same 10-toe western alliance in Daniel’s statue. Keep in mind that their power will be for a brief moment. Even now, we can see the world governments moving in this direction. Check out this development as part of the UN’s Agenda 21, where the world gets divided into ten regional groupings. If you want to know more, please research; the information is online.

Verse 13 reveals that this final ten-nation western federation becomes unified. Under the federation’s unification, all possessions are placed under the Antichrist’s control, including economic and military assets. They will do so whole-heartedly, giving their endorsement of the Antichrist as the supreme head of the federation. See Daniel 7:8, 24.

In verse 14, the picture is about an idiotic plan, a war to oppose the return of Christ to earth physically. How many guns, planes, and tanks would be necessary to stop the Lord Jesus Christ from setting up His kingdom? But these nations shall make war against Him upon His return to earth and those with Him. Those that come with Jesus are the called, chosen, and faithful, composed of the believers (the true Church or Bride of Christ) raptured out of the world in chapter 4, verse 1.

Verse 15 tells us that the waters are peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues, representing the world church with religious control over all humanity.

This plan was placed in the hearts of these ten rulers by God Almighty! In verse 16, the ten-king federation of nations led by the Antichrist will eventually betray his religious followers, turning against the world apostate church. They will use extreme violence to obliterate the false religious system. The false world church will be hated and stripped of all her vast possessions and wealth, including lands, buildings, gold, precious stones, and all items of value of verse 4, and utterly destroying her by fire. Nothing will be left at all.

In verse 17, God’s plan always comes to pass. He sets up and knocks down world rulers at will (see Psalm 75:7). They are but pawns in the game of life (see Proverbs 21:1). God’s will prevails regardless of what humans attempt to do. 

From verse 18, this wonderful end-time city is located within the European Union. It proves that the political and religious power brokers exist together simultaneously. These elites care more for themselves than the people they oversee. They enrich themselves and rob the poor. We see this around us today. 

Today we hear about a New World Order and a one-world unified government sought for so long by humanists. Shortly, they will have their dream, but few realize it is a nightmare instead. All one-world government plans get destroyed in one great act of divine judgment.

Inevitable Truism from John Phillips commentary, page 210:
When anyone turns their back upon the truth, they automatically embrace a lie. This principle holds good whether the fact involved is a mathematical truth, a medical science truth, a biological truth, or a spiritual truth. We have witnessed this in practice over the last few years. More than ever, it’s vitally important to pay careful attention to what you believe.

March 13, 2024 - Posted by Bill Wyler | Bible, Last Days, Revelation, Security & Safety | Bible, Future, GOD, Truth