VISION OF THE GREAT HARLOT (VERSES 1-6)

“Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and talked with me, saying to me, ‘Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, 2 with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication.’ 3 So he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness. And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. 4 The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication. 5 And on her forehead a name was written:

MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND
OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

6 I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement.”

One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls introduces this vision by inviting John to see the judgment of the great harlot [verse 1]. The word translated “judgment” is from the Greek word “krima.” It carries the idea of condemnation, the result of having already been judged by a righteous God.”

Notice that she is called a “harlot” (whore, prostitute), from the Greek, “pornfl”, and never called an adulteress, from the Greek “mojchalas”. She is not a bride and has never been a bride, nor has she ever been the wife of the Lamb. She has never been pledged to the Lamb and cannot be thought of as the apostate church. The word “harlot” is also applied to ancient Nineveh, Nahum 3:4 [“Because of the multitude of harlotries of the seductive harlot, The mistress of sorceries, Who sells nations through her harlotries, And families through her sorceries.”], and to Tyre, Isaiah 23:16-17 [“‘Take a harp, go about the city, You forgotten harlot; Make sweet melody, sing many songs, That you may be remembered.’ 17 And it shall be, at the end of seventy years, that the LORD will deal with Tyre. She will return to her hire, and commit fornication with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth.”], neither of which cities were ever a part of God’s chosen people in the Old Testament. These points would seem to confirm the interpretation of this “whore” or “harlot” as the anti-Christian world.

She is represented as sitting “upon many waters.” This is introduced here, but not interpreted until verse 15, where we learn that this refers to “peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues.” Her sitting refers to her ruling over them. It also alludes to ancient Babylon, located by the waters of the Euphrates amid the canals that interlaced the rich plain, Jeremiah 51:13, and the center of a great ancient empire that carried away the Jews into captivity. [Jeremiah 51:13: “O you who dwell by many waters, Abundant in treasures, Your end has come, The measure of your covetousness.”]

Two things the angel accuses the harlot of doing [verse 2]: (1) committing fornication with the kings of the earth; (2) making the earth dwellers drunk with the wine of her fornication. These “dwellers upon the earth” [“habitants of the earth”] are the ones described in chapter 13, verse 8, as those “whose names are not written in the Book of Life of the Lamb.”

In verse 3, the angel the carries the prophet [John] away in the Spirit into the wilderness, and to his great amazement he sees a woman sitting on a scarlet-colored beast. The beast has seven heads and ten horns and is full of blasphemous names, reminding one of both the dragon in chapter 12 and the beast from the sea in chapter 13. The woman is luxuriously dressed in the royal colors, purple and scarlet, bedecked with gold, precious stones and pearls [verse 4]. She holds a golden cup in her hand that is full of “abominations,” meaning “detestable things” from the Greek “bdelugma”, a word that in the Greek Old Testament frequently meant “moral and ceremonial uncleanness connected with idolatrous worship.”

On her forehead is an identifying name [verse 5], alluding to the custom of prostitutes who, in public brothels of Rome, wore headbands on which their names were placed. The name written on her forehead is: “MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF THE HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.” The meaning of the word “MYSTERY” signifies that it is not to be taken literally, but symbolically. She is the mother city of all the harlots and abominations of the earth. John sees her drunken, not with wine [verse 6], but “with the blood of the saints” (Christians) and “the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.” These martyrs (witnesses) were sealing their witness with their blood. She has not only corrupted herself in her idolatrous and lustful living, but she has crowned all her sin by her persecution of God’s people. She is like a drunkard, wanting more and more blood of the saints. It is no wonder that John sees in her what Jeremiah saw in ancient Babylon, Jeremiah 51:7: “Babylon was a golden cup in the LORD’s hand, That made all the earth drunk. The nations drank her wine; Therefore the nations are deranged.”