Chapters 17, 18 Babylon the Great {Introduction}

The latter chapters of the Book of Revelation bring before us some remarkable instruction in the way of contrast. It seems as if the lines that Satan pursued, and the actings of God, were here put side by side to show the just judgment upon men, the crushing of Satan, and the establishment of the kingdom and glory of God.
We have previously noticed the devil’s power of mimicry, his artful way of having something outwardly resembling what is of God, by which to accomplish his own evil purposes of dishonoring Christ and deceiving the world. These things are very manifest in the closing scenes of this marvelous book, and they help us much to understand things as they now are, as well as to perceive to what they are rapidly hastening.
In the 17th and 18th chapters we have a woman and a city symbolically set before us; and in the following chapters we have also a woman and a city. The one filthy and doomed to eternal destruction; the other holy and having the glory of God. How unspeakably wide the contrast! Both these scenes were shown to John by an angel, perhaps the same angel, as the description is much the same in both instances. (Compare Rev. 17:1, with Rev. 21:9.) In the one he saw
the great whore (Rev. 17:1),
in the other
the Bride, the Lamb’s wife (Rev. 21:9).
To see the false and corrupt one, he had to go into the wilderness
— the place outside God’s presence, her proper sphere; to behold the other, the Bride, “dressed in beauty not her own,” he was carried into a great and high mountain, when he saw her descending out of heaven from God. But in both instances we are told that he was
in the Spirit {Rev. 17:3, 21:10}
in order to see these things. This is an important point to observe; for it teaches us that we need the Holy Ghost to perceive the workings and devices of Satan, as much as we do to discern the ways and purposes of God. How is it that many are in such ignorance of these things, and judge them matters of no importance? How is it that some persons, who are surrounded with corrupt Christianity, and often hear about the standing and glory of the co-heirs of Christ, yet never seem to perceive and grasp either of them as realities? Is it not because they are not shown them by the Holy Ghost? They may try to grasp them intellectually, and fail. Reason and argument are insufficient for apprehending spiritual mysteries. Babylon is called a
mystery {Rev. 17:5};
Christ and the Church
the mystery {see Eph. 5:32}.
Both are now revealed to us, and the revelations are to be received in all simplicity. For this, we need to be
in the Spirit.
These things were shown to John; the angel said,
Come hither; I will shew unto thee {Rev. 17:10}
Let us never forget that the Spirit of truth, who guides into all truth, takes of the things of Christ, and shows them unto us, and that it is by faith alone we receive God’s revelation, whether we can understand it or not.
As we have said, Satan is an imitator, so that we have in the latter chapters of this book similarities as well as contrasts. God has a bride, Satan has a harlot. God’s people are seated in the heavenlies, so we are repeatedly told that the woman sitteth; the former are raised up together, and made to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: the latter sits upon the beast. The harlot is “arrayed” in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold, and precious stones and pearls: but to the bride was granted that she should be “arrayed” in fine linen, clean and white. The harlot holds a golden cup in her hand, to give drink to thirsty souls; but only to deceive and intoxicate — to act upon the senses, having no power effectually to relieve a burdened heart and conscience. It is a bewitching cup. It is full of wine of fornication, making all drunk who take it, and hardens the heart toward Christ. It is brim full of wine of filthiness and abomination. But, thank God, there is another cup which souls may drink — a cup of blessing, full of peace and consolation and joy for troubled, sin-sick souls; it is the cup of the Savior’s blood, full of the love of God to sinners, which draws the heart to God, and keeps the heart for God.
The cup of blessing which we bless {1 Cor. 10:16}
cheers both God and man, fills the soul with joy and gladness, and restores the distrustful heart to happy confidence in God. It is the best wine, which makes the lips to speak (Cant. 7:9); it makes the whole soul to enter into the unutterable sorrows of Jesus on the cross, when
He poured out His soul unto death {see Isa. 53:12},
and separates the affections and desires unto God and Christ in the heavenlies, and therefore from this present evil world. It is
“The balm of life, the cure of woe,
The measure and the pledge of love;
The sinner’s refuge here below,
The angels’ theme in heaven above.”
The harlot’s cup can only gratify the fleshly appetite for a passing moment, and end in wailing and gnashing of teeth; it stands in widest contrast with the
living water {John 4:10; 7:38}
of the gospel, the pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, which proceedeth out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.
The woman’s heart and desires are gratified with the kings of this world; the inhabitants of the earth drink of her intoxicating cup; thus she receives a wide and popular patronage: but those who are with the Lamb are called (let us think of this) and chosen and faithful (Rev. 17:14). Oneness of mind may characterize those who are in league with the harlot, as one mind and one judgment should characterize God’s children now; but her doom shall come, and she shall be utterly burned with fire, while the Bride shall shine in unutterable beauty and uncreated light. In pride and self- esteem, the harlot has long said,
I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow {Rev. 18:7}
[while the saints are mourning the absence of their loving Lord]; yet her judgment and eternal abasement shall quickly come. And while the Church of God now knows tribulation and suffering and rejection for Christ’s sake, the wicked woman prospers in riches, successful commerce, and abundance of delicacies; yet suddenly — in one hour — shall God’s judgment overtake her. Her mirth then will for ever cease, her light be for ever extinguished, and her dainty and goodly things for ever depart from her. Her name is written in her forehead, Mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth {Rev. 17:5},
but is read only by those who are taught of God’s Spirit. Alas! how unlike God’s loved ones! of whom it is said,
They shall see His face, and His name shall be in their foreheads (Rev. 22:4).
We have already seen the fall of Babylon referred to both in the 14th and 16th chapters. In the 17th and 18th chapters we have details of her characteristics. She is presented under two symbols, a woman and a city, and they seem both needed; the one to show us her principles, the other the results of her harlotry. We see, in the following chapters, in the Bride and the city, the relationship of affection in which she stands to God and the Lamb, and her subsequent display in glory, having the glory of God.
Babylon means confusion — the cunning union of things Divine and worldly; the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life, trafficking with the things of God. It has therefore both a religious and civil aspect. It is the old sin of Cain, who, with a false religion, murdered his righteous brother, deliberately went out from the presence of God, and obtained a place of ease, luxury, and influence in the earth. We do violence to truth to limit Babylon to Romanism. It abounds in Protestantism, and in every thing and place where the name of Christ is used to sanction worldliness; or where the truth of revelation is used for worldly advancement, instead of for the glory of God. This is unfaithfulness to Christ; it is referred to by the apostle James when he says,
Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever, therefore, will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God (James 4:4).
This is very solemn and searching, and it behoves us to see well to it that we are spiritual, and not carnal, cleaving to the Lord Himself with full purpose of heart, instead of to this present evil world. Paul was very watchful on this point in his care over the saints. He says,
I am jealous over you with godly jealousy; for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ (2 Cor. 11:2, 3).
Babylon of the Apocalypse cannot be a literal city, because we are told that in her was found the blood of all that were slain upon the earth (Rev. 18:24); but it is religious corruption, which, like Babylon of old, often takes God’s people captive. It is a widespread system: man in the flesh taking up and corrupting the things of God, making himself or the world the object, instead of God’s glory; ensnaring the affections from God and Christ, and filling the mind with earthliness. It began very early in the world, and our Lord seemed to refer to it when He said to the Pharisees,
Behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city; that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar (Matt. 23:34, 35).
Oh, beloved in the Lord! let us watch against the spirit of Babylon which surrounds us on almost every hand, for it easily and plausibly insinuates itself. What harm is there, says one or another, in going here and there, and seeing this and that? Can we do it in obedience to our Lord? Is it not a temptation to take a sip out of the harlot’s intoxicating cup? Let us feed upon Christ; for His flesh is meat indeed, and His blood drink indeed: this will strengthen our faith and love, and make us abhor instead of taste the harlot’s cup.
“Redouble your precautions, O ye saints! –
Aware of the destroyer! Stop the gaps
Where, entering silently, he spoils the vines.
Be cautious! for your enemy is strong;
To sleepless malice adds perfected craft,
And spiteful certainty of shortening rule;
To know if ye are Christ’s, your struggling souls
Resist a baffled and defeated foe.
‘Take ye these foes,’ who do contrive the woe
Of God’s Jerusalem! Expose their craft!
Seize your keen weapons, servants of the Lord,
And sword in hand, yea, in your armour, build
Her walls and fences that are broken down;
The weakest is made strong who cleaves to Christ.”
The former part of the seventeenth chapter gives us the principles of the false woman — Babylon the Great; the latter part gives us the interpretation of the symbols.
She is seen sitting upon
many waters {Rev. 17:1}
having seven heads, and ten horns {Rev. 17:3}.
Her raiment is purple and scarlet colour, and she is decked with
gold, and precious stones, and pearls {Rev. 17:4}.
She holds in her hand a golden cup, brim full of abominations and filthiness. Abominations in the Old Testament often mean idolatries. (See Deut. 32:16; 1 Kings 11:5-7.) Her outward appearance is thus symbolized. Her character is, that she is drunken with the blood of the saints, and of the martyrs of Jesus. She plays the harlot with kings, and she has intoxicated the inhabitants of the earth with her wine. Thus is she both corrupt and corrupting. Mystery is written upon her forehead, and her name is,
The mother of harlots and abominations of the earth {Rev. 17:5}.
Her rest is in the world that crucified the Lord of glory. The nations are her support. Her repose is in the bosom of the people. Her evil heart knows no higher range than self-pleasing, walking before men, and the spirit of the world which is energized by Satan. Her display is in the very things which the Scripture enjoins modest women to refuse, namely,
gold, and pearls, and costly array {see 1 Tim. 2:9}.
Her great object is to corrupt others by her intoxicating wine. Her enmity to God is manifested by her thirst for the blood of the saints, and of the martyrs of Jesus. Such are some of the characteristics of this unchaste woman; and let us never forget that the beloved apostle, at Patmos, needed to be in the Spirit to detect her corrupt character and ways, and so do we. The two evils of the flesh, corruption and violence, mentioned in Gen. 6:12, 13, are seen in full growth in the woman and the beast.
The explanation of the symbolic description of the woman, and of the beast which carrieth her, is brought before us in the eighth and following verses.