03.09 Seventh Division.
Seventh Division.
The Great Harlot Babylon and her Judgment.
Chapters 17-18
Chapter 17.
1. The Description of the Woman.Revelation 17:1-6. Babylon was mentioned for the first time in this book in Revelation 14:8; her fall was then anticipated. In two chapters we have a description of her and the details of her overthrow and complete destruction. Babylon is seen as a great, worlds-wide ecclesiastical, political and commercial system, and her dwelling place, from where she exercises authority is a great city, which is the seven-hilled city Rome. There are many who believe that the literal Babylon is in view here in these two chapters. It is claimed that literal Babylon on the banks of the Euphrates is to become once more a large city and the seat of government during the end of this age. This interpretation is wrong and the best evidences against it are the contents of the two chapters. Literal Babylon never was a part of the Roman Empire and as the Babylon of Revelation xvii and xviii is seen in closest identification with the Empire and for a time at least is its center and capital, the Babylon in Asia is ruled out at once. Rome was the great center of the Roman Empire and Rome will once more become the seat where the woman pictured in this chapter will exercise her authority. We fully believe, however, that ancient Babylon will also be rebuilt. One only needs to turn to Isaiah 13:19-20 to find the proof of that. Such a destruction of literal Babylon has never been. Babylon at the present time is quite an influential town and constantly growing. Great irrigation schemes and railroads are planned for Mesopotamia. When Euphrates comes into prominence, as we have seen under the sixth trumpet and sixth vial, and the invasion from the Far East, from the “sun-rise” takes place, there must needs arise on the banks of the Euphrates the ancient city and become a city of prominence once more. Then after that her final destruction will come. See Jeremiah 51. All this is clear and cannot be denied. But it is equally clear that the Babylon described in these two chapters in Revelation is not the literal Babylon. In the first part of this chapter we have a description of the great harlot Babylon. Who then is this woman, branded a harlot, which one of the seven angels who poured out the vials showed to John? She represents the Papal system in its final power and control in the world. We shall see how this assertion is fully confirmed by the words of this chapter. We saw in the church-message to Thyatira, which stands for the Papacy and its great corruption, that Rome is pictured as the woman Jezebel, corresponding to the woman in the parable of the leaven. And of Thyatira it is said “she repents not.” This shows that Rome will continue in her corrupt ways to the end, till judgment overtakes her. She is to be cast into great tribulation (Revelation 2:22). When the true Church is caught up the Papal system, as we call it, the Roman Catholic “church” will see a great revival. For a time she has been stripped of the power she once had, but it will be restored to her. Along with the revival of the Roman Empire there will be a revival of Papal Rome, indications of this are numerous at the present time. While we see the possible European Confederacy looming up, culminating in the resurrected Empire, we see also that Rome will soon see her revival. Many voices are heard in Protestantism suggesting a union with Rome, thus producing a great “world-church,” a strange and significant term. This present war must end someday and we should not at all be surprised if the man, who claims to be “the head of the church on earth” will play an important part when peace is made. The negotiations for peace may be made in the city of Rome. But we must look very briefly at some of the descriptions of this woman, the harlot. “She sitteth upon many waters.” We find the interpretation in Revelation 17:15. “The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth are peoples, and multitudes, and nations and tongues.” Rome even now can boast of her children among all nations. She gets her support from the whole world. And when she gets her revival she will have a still greater dominion. The kings of the earth then yield once more to her spiritual fornication. Then John saw the woman upon a scarlet colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. Who is the Beast she rides? It is the first Beast of Revelation 13 : the revived Roman Empire. She becomes identified with that Empire! Her attire is in purple, scarlet and she is decked with gold and precious stones and pearls. The Pope and his Cardinals wear these colors. Purple and scarlet are the leading colors displayed in great Romish celebrations. And gold, precious stones and pearls describe her enormous wealth and dazzling glory, so attractive to the natural man. And in her hand was a golden cup full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication. How clearly this describes Papal Rome. Her service, called worship, her rituals, her splendid edifices, etc., all is fair to behold and pleasing to the eye, like a golden cup. But inside we find her filthiness in doctrine and in practices. She encourages sin by her indulgences. With the celibacy there is also filth connected. And then the vileness and abomination of the confessional. Her shameless character is written upon her forehead. The true Church is to have His name upon the forehead and the great harlot-system bears also an inscription. “Mystery” is the first word. It has been well put by another:
“Her name is Mystery, yet it is written on her forehead. Her character is plain, if only you can read it. If you are pure, you may soon know that she is not. If you are true, you may quite easily detect her falsehood. In lands where she bears sway, as represented in this picture, she has managed to divorce morality from religion in such a manner that all the world knows the width of the breach. Her priests are used to convey the sacraments; and one need not look at the hands too closely that do so needful a work. In truth, it is an affair of the hands, with the magic of a little breath by means of which the most sinful of His creatures can create the God that made him, and easily new-create, therefore, another mortal like himself. This is a great mystery, which she herself conceives as “sacrament,” and you may see this clearly on her forehead then. It is the trick of her trade, without which it could not exist. With it, a little oil and water and spittle become of marvelous efficacy (the wafer in the mass) her capital stock indeed, out of which, at the smallest cost, the church can create riches and power, and much that has unquestionable value in her eyes.”[Note: Numerical Bible] And she is “Babylon the Great.” Babylon means confusion; it is the great confusion, all the evils and perversions of the truth of God brought into one powerful organization. And she is the mother of all harlots and abominations on the earth. Every religious system which aims at worldly power and grandeur and which shares more or less her assumptions and false doctrines is an offspring of her. These systems, after the restraining power of the Holy Spirit is gone, will naturally unite with “mother church” and form the great Babylon, [Note: A good part of the “Church of England” is ready to unite with Rome. Leading Protestant preachers have also said that Christendom should soon unite and acknowledge Rome. ] And she was drunken with the blood of the Saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus, so that John wondered with a great wonder. Such were her cruel, wicked, Satanic deeds in the past. The inquisition, the torture-chambers, the countless victims who were burned to death and cruelly tortured, the unspeakable horrors of centuries of violence and murder come to our mind as we read this description. It could never be true of the literal Babylon. Nor does it mean, as Roman expositors of this book claim, pagan Rome, for if it meant the persecutions under the Roman Emperors, John would not have wondered with a great wonder. And the last page of her cruel, horrible, persecutions is not yet written. When she comes in power again, she will do the same thing, enabled, no doubt, by the power of the Beast. Papal Rome, the blood-thirsty, corrupt system is what we see here and Rome is seen in her coming revival.
2. The Interpretation by the Angel.Revelation 17:7-15. The interpreting angel told John who the Beast is, the Beast that was, and is not, and yet is. (Revelation 17:8). It is the Roman empire, as stated before. It was, in an imperial form in John’s day. In the fifth century, A.D., it ceased existing as imperial Rome; it is not. But it is to be again, a revival which is here described as coming out of the pit of the abyss (Chapter 13). Revelation 17:9 shows Rome (seven mountains) [Note: Romans call the seven hills upon which “eternal city” – so-called, is built Montes—mountains.] where the woman sitteth. Therefore Rome speaks of “the See of the Papacy” and “See” is derived from the Latin “Sedes”, which means seat or throne. The seven kings or heads in Revelation 17:10 mean different forms of government of the Roman empire. Five are fallen; these were Kings, Consuls, Dictators, Decemvirs and Military Tribunes. These are past forms of government. But in John’s day the empire had the imperial form of government. This is the meaning of “one is.” The other and final form of the Roman Empire “is not yet come yet.” That is in John’s day it had not yet come. It is the Satanic revival and control of the Empire as we saw it in Revelation 13. And the eighth head, which goeth into perdition, is the man who heads the Empire, the little horn, which Daniel saw on the ten-horned Beast. The ten horns in verses 12-13 are the kings. They correspond to the ten toes on Nebuchadnezzar’s image and the ten horns on the fourth Beast which Daniel saw coming out of the sea. And these ten kings yield their power and strength unto the Beast. In Revelation 17:14, their awful future is seen. We shall see this more fully in Revelation 19:11-21. They are going to make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb, who is Lord of lords and King of kings, will overcome them. With Him are the called, the chosen and the faithful, that is the redeemed, who come with Him and are manifested when He appears.
3. The Desolation of the Whore.Revelation 17:16-18. The woman rides the Beast for a short time only. She will not be long successful in her regained power. The ten horns, the ten kingdoms, and the Beast [Note: “And the Beast” is not in the authorized version; it is added a the Revised Version and belongs rightfully into the text.] hate her and turn against the whore. First they were all for her and now they unite in making her desolate and naked and burn her with fire. But more than that “and shall eat her flesh,” just as Jezebel was eaten by the dogs. It is God in His righteous judgment who decreed her desolation in this way. “And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.” The City is none other than Rome.
Chapter 18.
4. The Angelic Announcement.Revelation 18:1-3. Babylon is now seen under another aspect. In the former chapter we have the religious center of Rome and her wicked idolatries, in the present chapter it includes also the whole system of apostate Christendom in its social and commercial aspect, the so-called “Christian civilization” in its final apostate condition and doom. Papal Rome in her short revival becomes the head of apostate Christendom and controls everything till her appointed doom comes upon her. While we saw in the preceding chapter the desolation of the whore by the ten kings and the Beast, here we see how God views her and that He dethrones this system by His judgment. A strong angel comes down to announce her doom and to lay bare her inner and most awful corruption. And the descending Angel [Note: This angel may represent the Lord Himself. If this is correct we have the third manifestation of our Lord in the garb of an angel.Revelation 8:3in His priestly dignity;Revelation 10:1in His royal dignity and here as the herald and executor of the vengeance of God upon Babylon.] whose glory lightened the earth, shows what the boasting thing, she, who bore the blessed name of Christ, has become. She is seen to be the habitation of demons. Even now behind all the denials of the doctrine of Christ and the false doctrines which mark the onward march of the predicted apostasy, demons are the leaders (1 Timothy 4:1). But what will it be when the demons are in full power on the earth and all Christendom has joined itself to the Romish whore! That great “world-church” has become “the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.” The mustard tree parable (Matthew 13) points out this also. The birds which flock into the branches are unclean things, Christendom has been this in the past and is it now, but when at last all is united with Rome and forms one vast ecclesiastical system, then every foul spirit, every unclean and hateful bird will be found in her. And the nations drank eagerly her cup and the kings committed fornication with her. These kings are not the ten kings of the Empire for they are used in the judgment of the whore, while the kings mentioned here bewail her destruction (Revelation 18:9). And with the system there was connected great commerce; merchants through her became rich.
5. The Call to Separate.Revelation 18:4-5. God always calls out His true children from that which is evil. His own must be a separated people. Saints in past centuries have heard this call and left behind the Romish abominations and thousands sealed their testimony with their blood. And in these days in which our lot is cast, days with increasing signs, heralding as never before the approaching end and the home-call of His people to meet Him in the air, in these days God demands the separation of His true children. Christendom is becoming daily more and more the religious camp of apostasy. And therefore He calls “Let us go forth unto Him without the camp bearing His reproach” (Hebrews 13:13). He who remains in that which denies His Name, is partaker of her sins (Revelation 18:4 compare with 2 John 1:10-11). As all drifts back to Rome and the coming political and religious confederacy, this final Babylon looms up, God’s people must hear that call. And what shall we say of certain professional evangelists who instead of sounding this divine call, laud, Rome, speak well of her, so that their supposed “converts” unite with the Romish whore by the hundreds! But there is to be a final call to come out of her, after the true Church is gone. To whom is this call addressed? Undoubtedly to the remnant of God’s ancient people, the believing remnant [Note:Jeremiah 51:6concerns the literal Babylon of the past. Godly Jews were exhorted to flee her.] and also to that large number of Gentiles who hear the final message, the Gospel of the Kingdom.
6. Her Pride and Righteous Destruction.Revelation 18:6-8. The language of righteous retribution used in the sixth verse reminds of Psalms 137:8. “0 daughter of Babylon, thou shalt be destroyed; happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us.” It is the language not of Christians, who are exhorted not to recompense evil for evil, but it is the expression of the remnant of Israel. Like ancient Babylon, the whole apostate system, Rome and all her offspring, was filled with pride. She was lifted up in all her earthly glory and now God breaks her completely. “She shall be utterly burned with fire.” As her smoke is to arise forever and ever (Revelation 19:3) it is possible that the proud city, Rome, the center of the system of apostasy and commerce will be destroyed by volcanic action and where the seven-hilled city once stood there’ may be instead an immense crater, testifying throughout the millennium of Cod’s righteous retribution. In view of the volcanic conditions on the Italian peninsula this is more than possible. Rome means “strong,” but her strength will be broken when the strong Lord God judgeth her.
7. The Universal Lamentation Over Her.Revelation 18:9-19. And now follows the great and universal lamentation over the destruction of the great world system. There is weeping and wailing when at last this Anti-christian civilization, all Christendom united with Rome, and for a time controlling the commerce of the world, is wiped out by the hand of God. The kings, the merchants, the shipmasters, the company in ships and sailors, all are seen mourning, weeping and wailing. The destruction of the system and of its proud city affects them all. They bewail their great loss. Notice twenty-eight things are mentioned by them. The first is gold and the last the souls of men. How this describes Rome! She is the trafficker in souls and the destroyer of souls as well. And in studying the articles of the commerce of apostate Christendom we notice that these are nearly all articles of luxury. The greatest panic has then come and there will be no recovery of the market. The rich men will weep and howl for their misery is come upon them (James 5:1). See also Zephaniah 1:11; Zephaniah 1:18.
8. The Rejoicing Heavens.Revelation 18:20. Heaven is called to rejoice over her and three classes are mentioned (Revised Version) Saints, Apostles and Prophets. “For God hath judged your judgment on her.” This is the better rendering. The judgment which the saints pronounced on her is now executed. However, the next chapter shows us more fully the rejoicing heavens.
9. Her Utter and Everlasting Destruction.Revelation 18:21-23. In Jeremiah 51:60-64 we read that Seraiah was commissioned by Jeremiah to attach a stone to the book containing the prophet’s words and to cast it into the Euphrates. “And thou shalt say, thus shall Babylon sink and shall not rise from the evil that I will bring upon her and they shall be weary.” Here an angel took up a millstone and cast it into the sea showing by this action the complete and final destruction of the wicked system and the equally wicked city. And what revelation there is in the statement “for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.” In Revelation 20 we read that the old Serpent deceives the nations. Sorceries, wicked spirits, demon-powers blinded the eyes of the nations to follow Rome’s seductive lure. And thus it is with a life-less, spirit-less Protestantism and its blood-less Gospel. The sorceries of Rome, the demons underneath it all, attract apostate Christendom so that all will be united in the great, final Babylon.
10. The Blood of the Saints Found in Her.Revelation 18:24. So that we may not err that both chapters refer to Rome, though the entire Apostate Christendom is also in view, her blood-guiltiness is mentioned once more. Revelation 17:6. [Note: Alas! she has erected the prisons, and prepared the rack, and lighted the fires of what she calls the holy office of the Inquisition in Italy, Spain, America, and India. She lauds one of her canonized Popes, Pius the Fifth, in her Breviary, as an inflexible inquisitor. She has engraven the massacre of St. Bartholomew’s Day on her Papal coins, and there represents it as a work done by an angel from heaven. And the Roman Pontiff of that day went publicly to Church to return thanks to God for that savage and treacherous deed.— Wordsworth.]