Revelation Chapter 17

The Fall of Religious Babylon

A. The Concept of Babylon

1. Revelation 16:19 and Revelation 14:8 have already declared Babylon’s fall. In Revelation 17 and 18, the fall of Babylon is carefully detailed.

Revelation 16:19, “And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.”

Revelation 14:8, “And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.”

The fall of Babylon has already been announced before Revelation 17 begins. Revelation 14:8 gives the prophetic declaration, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen,” showing that her destruction is certain before the final details are revealed. Revelation 16:19 then places Babylon’s judgment within the seventh bowl, when the final outpouring of God’s wrath reaches its conclusion. By the time John comes to Revelation 17 and 18, he is not introducing a new subject disconnected from the earlier judgments. He is expanding and explaining what has already been announced. The Holy Spirit first declares the certainty of Babylon’s fall, then later gives the detailed explanation of her character, her influence, her corruption, and her destruction.

Babylon in Revelation is more than a single ancient city from the Old Testament. It represents a system of organized rebellion against God. From Genesis onward, Babylon is associated with man’s attempt to build civilization apart from God, exalt human pride, corrupt worship, and unite mankind in defiance of divine authority. The roots of Babylon reach back to Babel, where men said in Genesis 11:4, “Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven, and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.” That spirit remains the essence of Babylon. It is man centered religion, man centered power, man centered culture, and man centered glory.

Revelation 17 and 18 carefully detail the fall of Babylon because Babylon has both a religious and commercial or political aspect. Revelation 17 focuses especially on religious Babylon, the corrupt religious system pictured as a harlot. Revelation 18 focuses more directly on commercial and political Babylon, the world system of wealth, luxury, trade, and power that has deceived the nations. These two chapters should be read together, but they also must be distinguished. One shows the spiritual corruption of false religion, while the other shows the collapse of the world’s final economic and political order under divine judgment.

Religious Babylon is pictured as a harlot because false religion is spiritual fornication. In Scripture, unfaithfulness to God is often described in terms of adultery or harlotry. True worship belongs to the Lord alone, but false religion takes the language, symbols, and impulses of worship and redirects them toward idols, men, demons, political power, and self exaltation. Babylon is not merely irreligion. Babylon is religion without truth, worship without submission to God, spirituality without biblical authority, unity without holiness, and influence without repentance.

The statement in Revelation 14:8 that Babylon “made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication” shows that her corruption is global. This is not a small, isolated religious error. It is a worldwide system of deception. The nations are intoxicated by her. They are not merely informed by her ideas, they are made drunk by them. The picture is one of moral confusion, spiritual blindness, and willing participation in rebellion. Babylon makes sin appear attractive, false worship appear enlightened, compromise appear sophisticated, and rebellion appear civilized.

Revelation 16:19 says that “great Babylon came in remembrance before God.” This does not mean that God had forgotten Babylon and then suddenly remembered her. It means that the time appointed for judgment had arrived. God had allowed Babylon’s influence to continue for a season, but not because He approved of it. His patience is not weakness. His delay is not indifference. When Babylon comes in remembrance before God, her full record of guilt is brought into judgment, and she receives “the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.”

This is important because Revelation 17 and 18 show that God’s judgment is not random, emotional, or unjust. Babylon falls because Babylon is guilty. Her fall is not merely the collapse of a civilization, it is the righteous judgment of God upon a system that has corrupted worship, deceived the nations, persecuted the saints, and defied the Lord. The world will mourn Babylon’s fall because the world loved her wealth, influence, power, and pleasures. Heaven will rejoice because her judgment vindicates the holiness of God and the blood of His servants.

From a literal, premillennial, pretribulational perspective, Revelation 17 and 18 describe end time realities that come to full expression during the Tribulation period. The church has already been removed before the seventieth week of Daniel reaches its full course, and the world religious system that remains will become increasingly apostate, political, and anti God. Religious Babylon will provide spiritual cover for the beast system, but eventually the beast and his allied kings will turn against the harlot and destroy her. False religion will be useful to the Antichrist for a time, but once he demands direct worship of himself, even the religious system that helped prepare the world for him will be discarded.

This section therefore introduces one of the most important themes in the final chapters of Revelation. God is not only judging individual sinners, He is judging the systems that have organized human rebellion throughout history. Babylon represents the religious, political, economic, and cultural structure of the world in opposition to God. Revelation 17 and 18 pull back the curtain and show what Babylon really is. She is glamorous on the outside, but filthy before God. She is powerful among the nations, but doomed under divine wrath. She appears wealthy, influential, and secure, but her fall has already been decreed by heaven.

2. Babylon is mentioned 287 times in the Scriptures, more than any other city except Jerusalem.

The fact that Babylon is mentioned so frequently in Scripture shows that it is not a minor biblical theme. Jerusalem represents the city of God’s covenant purpose, the place associated with His throne, His temple, His King, and His redemptive plan through Israel and ultimately through the Messiah. Babylon, by contrast, represents the city of man in rebellion against God. If Jerusalem is tied to worship, covenant, kingdom, and divine rule, Babylon is tied to idolatry, pride, persecution, false religion, and organized human defiance. This contrast runs from Genesis to Revelation. The Bible does not treat Babylon merely as an ancient location, but as a recurring symbol and system of spiritual rebellion.

a. Babylon was a literal city on the Euphrates River. Genesis 11:1 to 10 shows that right after the flood, Babylon “was the seat of the civilization that expressed organized hostility to God.”

Genesis 11:1, “And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.”

Genesis 11:2, “And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there.”

Genesis 11:3, “And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter.”

Genesis 11:4, “And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven, and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.”

Genesis 11:5, “And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.”

Genesis 11:6, “And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language, and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.”

Genesis 11:7, “Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.”

Genesis 11:8, “So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.”

Genesis 11:9, “Therefore is the name of it called Babel, because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.”

Genesis 11:10, “These are the generations of Shem: Shem was an hundred years old, and begat Arphaxad two years after the flood.”

Babylon began as a literal city in the land of Shinar, located in Mesopotamia along the Euphrates River. Its earliest biblical identity is connected to Babel in Genesis 11. This is significant because the first great organized civilization after the Flood is not presented as a humble society seeking the Lord, but as a unified human project built in defiance of God’s revealed will. After the Flood, God had commanded mankind to fill the earth. Yet the builders of Babel said, “lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.” Their city was therefore an act of resistance against the divine command. They wanted centralization instead of obedience, human glory instead of God’s glory, and security apart from submission to the Lord.

The tower of Babel was not merely an architectural project. It was religious, cultural, and political rebellion combined into one system. The words, “let us make us a name,” reveal the heart of Babylon from the beginning. Babylon is man trying to make himself great without God. It is civilization organized around human pride. It is technology, labor, unity, religion, and government harnessed for self exaltation. That is why Babylon becomes such a powerful biblical symbol. It is not simply that the people built a city. The sin was that they built a civilization on rebellion, pride, false security, and refusal to obey the Lord.

The Lord’s response in Genesis 11 shows that organized rebellion is not harmless. God came down, judged the project, confounded their language, and scattered them across the earth. This judgment was both punitive and restraining. It punished their pride, but it also restrained the full development of unified evil. When mankind unites apart from God, that unity does not produce righteousness. It produces greater rebellion. Babel proves that human unity without truth becomes organized hostility against God. That same principle appears again in Revelation, where the final Babylon becomes the last great expression of world unity against the Lord.

This is why Tenney’s statement is theologically accurate when he describes Babylon as “the seat of the civilization that expressed organized hostility to God.” Babylon was not simply a pagan city. It was the early headquarters of a worldview. Its spirit was anti God from the beginning. It exalted man, resisted God’s command, and sought heaven on human terms. In that sense, Babylon is the counterfeit city. It is man’s attempt to build a kingdom without the King.

b. Babylon was later the capital of the empire that cruelly conquered Judah. “Babylon, to them, the Jews, was the essence of all evil, the embodiment of cruelty, the foe of God’s people, and the lasting type of sin, carnality, lust and greed.”

Babylon later became the capital of the empire that conquered Judah, destroyed Jerusalem, burned the temple, carried away the vessels of the house of God, and took the Jewish people into exile. This made Babylon more than a memory of ancient rebellion at Babel. To Israel, Babylon became the historical instrument of national humiliation and judgment. God used Babylon as a rod of chastening against Judah because of Judah’s idolatry and covenant unfaithfulness, but Babylon itself remained guilty for its pride, cruelty, idolatry, and arrogance against the Lord.

2 Kings 25:8, “And in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, which is the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, unto Jerusalem:”

2 Kings 25:9, “And he burnt the house of the LORD, and the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem, and every great man’s house burnt he with fire.”

2 Kings 25:10, “And all the army of the Chaldees, that were with the captain of the guard, brake down the walls of Jerusalem round about.”

2 Kings 25:11, “Now the rest of the people that were left in the city, and the fugitives that fell away to the king of Babylon, with the remnant of the multitude, did Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carry away.”

These verses explain why Babylon became such a hated and weighty name in Jewish memory. Babylon was the empire that burned the house of the Lord. Babylon shattered the walls of Jerusalem. Babylon carried away the people of Judah. Babylon represented the bitter consequence of apostasy, but also the cruelty of Gentile dominion over God’s covenant people. To the Jewish mind, Babylon became a name associated with desolation, captivity, arrogance, and desecration.

2 Chronicles 36:17, “Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldees, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man, or him that stooped for age: he gave them all into his hand.”

2 Chronicles 36:18, “And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king, and of his princes; all these he brought to Babylon.”

2 Chronicles 36:19, “And they burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof.”

2 Chronicles 36:20, “And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon; where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia:”

This is the historical background behind the emotional and theological force of Babylon in Revelation. Babylon is not a neutral name. It carries the memory of violence against Jerusalem, contempt toward the temple, and bondage for the people of God. Tenney’s description captures this well. To the Jews, Babylon was “the essence of all evil, the embodiment of cruelty, the foe of God’s people, and the lasting type of sin, carnality, lust and greed.” That does not mean Babylon was evil in some abstract or mythological sense. It means Babylon became the great biblical example of a proud world power that God used temporarily, judged severely, and exposed as morally corrupt.

Babylon was also marked by luxury, idolatry, occult religion, political pride, and sensual excess. Daniel’s account of Babylon shows a kingdom drunk on its own greatness. Nebuchadnezzar boasted in the glory of Babylon as though his power had established it independently of God.

Daniel 4:30, “The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?”

This verse gives the heart language of Babylon. It is the voice of man saying, “my power,” “my majesty,” “my kingdom,” and “my glory.” Babylon always speaks this way. Whether at Babel in Genesis 11, imperial Babylon in Daniel, or the final Babylon in Revelation, the spirit is the same. It is man enthroning himself and refusing to bow before God.

c. To those familiar with the Old Testament, the name Babylon is associated with organized idolatry, blasphemy, and the persecution of God’s people.

To anyone steeped in the Old Testament, Babylon immediately brings to mind idolatry. Babylon was a religious system filled with false gods, occult practices, astrology, divination, and image worship. Daniel 3 shows the king of Babylon commanding worship before a golden image, with death threatened against those who refused. This is one of the clearest Old Testament pictures of the relationship between political power and false worship.

Daniel 3:4, “Then an herald cried aloud, To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages,”

Daniel 3:5, “That at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up:”

Daniel 3:6, “And whoso falleth not down and worshippeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.”

This passage shows the Babylonian spirit clearly. Babylon demands worship. It does not tolerate exclusive allegiance to the true God. It uses music, spectacle, state authority, public pressure, and the threat of death to enforce religious conformity. This pattern is important because Revelation will later reveal another image, another demand for worship, another world ruler, and another death penalty for those who refuse.

Revelation 13:15, “And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.”

The connection is unmistakable. Daniel 3 gives the historical pattern, Revelation 13 gives the final prophetic fulfillment. Babylon’s religious spirit does not disappear. It develops. It matures. It finds its final expression in the beast system during the Tribulation. The same hostility toward faithful worship appears again, only on a global scale.

Babylon is also associated with blasphemy. In Daniel 5, Belshazzar desecrated the vessels taken from the temple in Jerusalem. He used holy things in a drunken pagan feast and praised false gods while handling the vessels of the Lord’s house.

Daniel 5:2, “Belshazzar, whiles he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem; that the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, might drink therein.”

Daniel 5:3, “Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God which was at Jerusalem; and the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, drank in them.”

Daniel 5:4, “They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone.”

This was not merely poor judgment. It was blasphemous contempt. Babylon took what belonged to God and used it in the service of drunkenness and idolatry. That is the essence of false religion. It steals holy language, holy symbols, holy categories, and holy longings, then corrupts them for idolatrous purposes. Religious Babylon in Revelation does the same thing. She appears religious, impressive, wealthy, and influential, but she is unclean before God.

Babylon is also associated with the persecution of God’s people. Daniel’s companions were threatened with death for refusing idolatrous worship. Daniel himself was later thrown into the lions’ den under the Medo Persian administration, but the pattern remains part of Gentile imperial hostility toward faithful servants of God. Revelation 17 presents religious Babylon as drunk with the blood of the saints.

Revelation 17:6, “And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.”

This verse shows that religious Babylon is not merely mistaken. She is murderous. False religion always becomes persecuting religion when it gains enough power. It may speak the language of tolerance when weak, but when strong it demands submission and punishes dissent. Babylon persecutes because truth exposes her. The saints must be silenced because their faithfulness testifies against her corruption.

i. “In John’s day Rome epitomized all the antagonism and opposition to the Christian faith.” In some ways, the city of Rome was the clearest fulfillment of the Babylon attitude. If we had to pick one city today that most exemplifies the world system, perhaps we would say that Los Angeles is the Babylon of today.

In John’s day, Rome was the dominant imperial power and the clearest visible expression of the Babylonian attitude. Rome was wealthy, powerful, sensual, idolatrous, politically arrogant, and hostile to the Christian faith. It presented itself as the center of civilization, law, culture, military might, and religious authority. To the early Christians, Rome was not merely a government. It was the empire that demanded loyalty, tolerated paganism, exalted Caesar, and persecuted believers who confessed Jesus Christ as Lord.

Mounce’s observation is correct, “In John’s day Rome epitomized all the antagonism and opposition to the Christian faith.” Rome functioned as a contemporary manifestation of Babylon because it embodied the same spirit, organized power in opposition to God. This does not mean that Revelation 17 and 18 are exhausted by first century Rome. Rome was an expression of the Babylonian system, but not the final expression. In a premillennial and futurist reading of Revelation, Rome may serve as a historical type, but the final Babylon of Revelation reaches beyond Rome into the end time world system that will dominate the Tribulation period.

This distinction is important. Babylon can be expressed through different cities and empires throughout history, but the underlying spirit remains the same. Babel expressed it after the Flood. Ancient Babylon expressed it in its empire and exile of Judah. Rome expressed it in John’s day through imperial power and persecution of Christians. The final Babylon will express it completely during the Tribulation through false religion, political domination, economic seduction, and hostility toward the people of God.

The note that Los Angeles may be viewed as a modern example of the Babylon attitude should be understood carefully. This does not mean that Los Angeles is literally Revelation’s Babylon, nor does it mean that every person in that city is personally guilty of everything Babylon represents. Rather, the comparison points to a visible concentration of cultural influence, moral confusion, entertainment driven sensuality, wealth, celebrity worship, anti biblical messaging, spiritual experimentation, and global cultural export. In that sense, a city like Los Angeles can serve as a modern illustration of the Babylonian spirit, a world shaping system that normalizes rebellion, glamorizes sin, mocks righteousness, and packages moral corruption as sophistication.

Babylon’s influence is not limited to one city in the modern world. It can be seen wherever human culture exalts itself against God, wherever false religion replaces biblical truth, wherever wealth becomes an idol, wherever immorality is celebrated, wherever political power demands ultimate loyalty, and wherever the people of God are pressured to compromise. The Babylon system is bigger than geography. It is spiritual, cultural, religious, political, and economic. Revelation 17 and 18 will show its final concentration and destruction.

The lesson is that Babylon is both historical and prophetic. Historically, it was a literal city and empire. Symbolically, it represents the world system in rebellion against God. Prophetically, it points to the final religious and commercial order that will dominate the earth before the return of Jesus Christ. The name Babylon therefore carries enormous biblical weight. It is the city of man against the city of God. It is false worship against true worship. It is self exaltation against divine glory. It is persecution against the saints. It is temporary splendor under certain judgment.

3. The concept of Babylon is greater than Revelation 17 and Revelation 18 and the Antichrist’s reign. Babylon was present in John’s day, typified by Rome, in our day, and throughout history, as the world system. But under the Antichrist, Babylon, in both its religious and commercial aspects, will have influence over the earth as never before.

The concept of Babylon is larger than the two chapters that describe her final judgment. Revelation 17 and Revelation 18 give the most concentrated prophetic description of Babylon’s last form, but Babylon itself did not begin in Revelation, and it does not exist only during the Antichrist’s future reign. Babylon is a biblical theme that stretches across the whole sweep of Scripture. It begins in Genesis with Babel, develops through the historical empire of Babylon, appears in the pride and persecution of Gentile world powers, and reaches its final expression in the Tribulation system that will dominate the earth before the return of Jesus Christ.

Genesis 11:4, “And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven, and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.”

This verse gives the root spirit of Babylon. Babylon is mankind attempting to build a unified civilization without submission to God. The builders of Babel wanted a city, a tower, a name, and a centralized identity that would keep them from being scattered. Their project was not merely architectural. It was theological rebellion. They were rejecting God’s command, exalting man’s name, and trying to establish security apart from the Lord. That same spirit runs through every form of Babylon in history.

Babylon is therefore more than one location. It is a world system. It is man’s organized rebellion against God expressed through false religion, corrupt politics, economic pride, moral sensuality, and cultural seduction. It is the system that tells man he can have meaning without God, morality without Scripture, worship without truth, unity without holiness, wealth without accountability, and power without righteousness. That is why Babylon can be present in different forms across different ages. The name remains tied to a literal city and future prophetic judgment, but the spirit of Babylon has operated throughout human history.

In John’s day, Babylon was typified by Rome. Rome was not ancient Babylon geographically, but it carried the Babylonian attitude. It was the dominant world power. It boasted in its military strength, political order, wealth, architecture, culture, and imperial authority. It was full of idolatry, emperor worship, sensuality, and hostility toward the Christian faith. Rome demanded ultimate allegiance, and when believers confessed Jesus Christ as Lord, they challenged the spiritual and political pride of the empire. In that sense, Rome functioned as the Babylon of John’s immediate historical setting.

1 Peter 5:13, “The church that is at Babylon, elected together with you, saluteth you; and so doth Marcus my son.”

Many interpreters understand Peter’s reference to Babylon here as a veiled reference to Rome. Whether one takes that identification directly or cautiously, the association is theologically understandable. Rome had become the contemporary embodiment of the same old Babylonian hostility against God’s people. The empire represented power, idolatry, persecution, and worldliness. It stood as a visible reminder that Babylon’s spirit did not die when the ancient city declined.

Babylon is also present in our day. It is seen wherever the world system organizes life apart from God and against His Word. It appears in false religion that borrows spiritual language while rejecting biblical truth. It appears in entertainment and culture that glamorize sin and mock righteousness. It appears in political movements that demand moral surrender and punish dissent. It appears in economic systems that measure human worth by wealth, luxury, influence, and consumption. It appears in education, media, technology, and public life whenever man’s wisdom is exalted above the revelation of God.

1 John 2:15, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”

1 John 2:16, “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world.”

1 John 2:17, “And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.”

These verses explain the moral structure of the Babylonian world system. The world operates through the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Those three categories are visible in Babel, in ancient Babylon, in Rome, and in the final Babylon of Revelation. The lust of the flesh is the pursuit of sinful pleasure. The lust of the eyes is the craving for what is seen, possessed, displayed, and admired. The pride of life is man’s arrogant confidence in himself, his status, his achievements, his power, and his independence from God. Babylon is the world system organized around these things.

This also explains why Babylon has both religious and commercial aspects. The religious side of Babylon corrupts worship. It offers spiritual experience without truth, unity without repentance, and devotion without obedience to the living God. The commercial side of Babylon corrupts desire. It intoxicates the nations with wealth, luxury, trade, pleasure, and material security. One side deceives the soul through false worship, the other enslaves the heart through worldly desire. Together, they form a complete anti God civilization.

James 4:4, “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that friendship of the world is enmity with God, whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.”

James uses the language of spiritual adultery because worldliness is not innocent. Friendship with the world is not merely poor judgment. It is enmity with God. This fits the imagery of Revelation 17, where religious Babylon is pictured as a harlot. False religion is spiritual unfaithfulness. It gives to the world what belongs to God. It dresses rebellion in religious clothing and calls compromise wisdom. Babylon is seductive precisely because it offers the appearance of life, beauty, wealth, influence, and spirituality while hiding its hatred of God’s authority.

Revelation 17:1, “And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither, I will show unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:”

Revelation 17:2, “With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.”

The religious aspect of Babylon is global in its influence. She sits upon many waters, which later in Revelation 17:15 are identified as peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues. Her corruption reaches kings and common people alike. The rulers of the earth commit fornication with her, meaning that political power and false religion become entangled. The inhabitants of the earth are made drunk with the wine of her fornication, meaning that the masses are intoxicated by her deception. This is religion weaponized by the world system.

Revelation 17:15, “And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.”

This confirms the worldwide reach of religious Babylon in the Tribulation. Her influence is not local or regional. She exercises sway over peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues. The final religious Babylon will likely gather the old impulses of paganism, apostate religion, mystical spirituality, political ecumenism, and anti biblical unity into one final counterfeit system. It will look impressive to the world, but before God it is harlotry.

The commercial aspect is especially emphasized in Revelation 18. This is Babylon as the economic, political, and material system of the final world order. It is the world drunk on luxury, trade, wealth, and power. It is not simply commerce in the ordinary sense, because honest trade is not evil in itself. The evil is commerce joined to idolatry, greed, exploitation, pride, sensuality, and rebellion against God.

Revelation 18:3, “For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.”

This verse shows the threefold influence of commercial Babylon. The nations are corrupted by her. The kings of the earth are entangled with her. The merchants of the earth become rich through her luxury. Babylon is not merely a religious deception. It is also an economic machine. It enriches those who serve it. It rewards compromise. It creates a marketplace where moral corruption becomes profitable. It makes rebellion lucrative.

Revelation 18:11, “And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more:”

Revelation 18:12, “The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble,”

Revelation 18:13, “And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men.”

These verses reveal the material breadth and moral corruption of Babylon’s commerce. Her economy includes luxury goods, precious materials, food, animals, transportation, slaves, and even the souls of men. The final phrase is devastating. Babylon does not merely trade in products. It traffics in humanity. It treats people as commodities. This is the inevitable end of a world system that rejects the image of God in man and measures everything by power, pleasure, and profit.

Under the Antichrist, Babylon’s religious and commercial aspects will have influence over the earth as never before. Throughout history, Babylon has appeared in partial forms. Babel was an early expression. Ancient Babylon was a major imperial expression. Rome was a powerful first century expression. Modern global culture displays many Babylonian traits. But under the Antichrist, this system will be concentrated, intensified, and globalized in a way the world has never seen.

2 Thessalonians 2:3, “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;”

2 Thessalonians 2:4, “Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.”

The Antichrist will not merely be a political ruler. He will be a blasphemous religious figure who demands worship. He will oppose and exalt himself above all that is called God. This is the climax of the Babylonian spirit. Babel said, “let us make us a name.” Nebuchadnezzar said, “Is not this great Babylon, that I have built.” The Antichrist will go further and present himself as God. Babylon’s old pride reaches its final satanic expression in him.

Revelation 13:7, “And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.”

Revelation 13:8, “And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”

These verses show the global reach of the Antichrist’s kingdom. Power is given to him over all kindreds, tongues, and nations. All who dwell upon the earth, whose names are not written in the book of life, will worship him. This is the final unification of political authority and false worship. The Babylonian desire for one world unity apart from God will be realized for a brief time under satanic leadership.

Revelation 13:16, “And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:”

Revelation 13:17, “And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.”

These verses show that the Antichrist’s system will also control commerce. The ability to buy and sell will be tied to allegiance to the beast. This is where Babylon’s commercial aspect becomes directly connected to worship and obedience to the Antichrist. Economic participation becomes a religious test. Commerce becomes a mechanism of spiritual coercion. The world system will no longer merely seduce men through wealth and pleasure. It will demand open allegiance.

This is why Babylon in Revelation must be understood as both larger than the Antichrist and also brought to its fullest expression under him. Babylon predates the Antichrist because the spirit of Babylon has existed since Genesis. Babylon was present in John’s day through Rome. Babylon is present in our day through the world system. Yet the final Antichrist kingdom will gather these streams into one last organized rebellion. Religious deception, political power, economic control, and satanic worship will converge.

The believer must therefore read Revelation 17 and Revelation 18 with discernment. These chapters do not merely describe a future evil that has no relevance now. They expose the nature of the world system in every age. The final Babylon will be judged at the end of the Tribulation, but the spirit of Babylon is already at work wherever the world pressures believers to compromise truth, worship success, embrace false unity, fear man, love luxury, and soften the offense of biblical faithfulness.

Romans 12:2, “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

The command not to be conformed to this world is directly relevant to the study of Babylon. Babylon works by conformity. It pressures men to think alike, worship alike, spend alike, desire alike, and bow alike. The Christian is called to resist that pressure through the renewing of the mind. This means that the believer must interpret the world through Scripture, not Scripture through the world. Babylon wants to disciple the imagination, desires, loyalties, and fears of mankind. The Word of God trains the believer to see Babylon for what it is.

Philippians 3:20, “For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:”

The believer’s citizenship is in heaven. That does not mean Christians are careless about earthly responsibilities. It means their ultimate loyalty is not to Babylon, Rome, any modern cultural center, or any political order. The Christian belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ. This heavenly citizenship gives the believer the ability to live faithfully in the world without being owned by the world.

The final point is that Babylon’s influence under the Antichrist will be unprecedented, but its doom is already certain. The world system may appear powerful, wealthy, sophisticated, and unstoppable, but Revelation reveals its end before it arrives. Babylon rises, seduces, persecutes, enriches, deceives, and dominates, but she does not endure. God permits her for a season, then judges her in righteousness.

Revelation 18:2, “And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.”

The fall of Babylon is declared with certainty. The great city, the great system, the great harlot, the great economic power, the great spiritual counterfeit, all of it comes down under the hand of God. What began at Babel in defiance ends in Revelation under judgment. Man’s city falls. God’s kingdom remains.

B. The Great Harlot, Religious Babylon, Is Described

1. Revelation 17:1 to 2, Described by the Angel

Revelation 17:1, “And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither, I will show unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:”

Revelation 17:2, “With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.”

One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls now speaks directly to John and introduces the judgment of the great harlot. This connects Revelation 17 with the bowl judgments of Revelation 16. The same heavenly messengers involved in pouring out the wrath of God now show John more detail concerning Babylon’s fall. This means Revelation 17 is not a disconnected vision. It is an enlargement and explanation of the judgment already announced in Revelation 14:8 and Revelation 16:19.

The angel does not merely say, “I will show you the harlot.” He says, “I will show unto thee the judgment of the great whore.” Her judgment is placed at the front of the vision. Before John is shown her beauty, influence, wealth, seduction, or global reach, he is told her end. This is important. God wants the reader to understand from the beginning that Babylon is doomed. She may appear powerful. She may influence kings. She may intoxicate the nations. She may dress herself in wealth and religious splendor. But her judgment is already settled in the court of heaven.

The word “harlot” or “whore” is used because religious Babylon is spiritually unfaithful. In Scripture, harlotry is often used to describe idolatry, apostasy, and spiritual corruption. True worship belongs to the Lord alone. When men take worship, devotion, religious affection, sacred symbols, and spiritual longing and redirect them toward idols, false gods, human power, political systems, or man made religion, God calls it spiritual fornication. Religious Babylon is not atheism in its purest form. It is false religion. It is worship without truth. It is spirituality without submission to God. It is organized religion detached from divine revelation.

The angel says she sits upon many waters. Revelation later explains what these waters represent.

Revelation 17:15, “And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.”

The many waters represent peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues. Therefore, religious Babylon is not local, tribal, or regional. She is international. She has a universal character. She presides over many nations and exercises influence over the masses of humanity. This is a religious system with global reach, global influence, and global deception.

The kings of the earth commit fornication with her. This shows the union of corrupt religion and political power. False religion is rarely content merely to deceive individuals. It seeks influence over rulers, governments, systems, and nations. Kings are drawn to religious Babylon because she gives spiritual cover to political ambition. Religious Babylon is drawn to kings because political power gives false religion protection, wealth, legitimacy, and enforcement. This relationship is spiritual adultery because both religion and government depart from their proper limits and become joined in rebellion against God.

The inhabitants of the earth are made drunk with the wine of her fornication. This shows that the masses are not merely persuaded intellectually. They are intoxicated. Drunkenness in Scripture often pictures loss of discernment, moral confusion, weakened judgment, and surrender to sinful appetite. Religious Babylon intoxicates the world with false worship, emotionalism, ceremony, mysticism, moral compromise, and counterfeit spirituality. She makes deception feel sacred. She makes rebellion feel enlightened. She makes idolatry feel beautiful. She makes compromise feel loving and sophisticated.

a. “I will show you the judgment of the great harlot.” Her judgment is assured at the outset. There is never any doubt regarding the fate and ultimate failure of Babylon.

The angel’s opening statement emphasizes judgment before description. This is God’s way of teaching the believer not to be impressed by Babylon’s temporary power. The world is impressed by outward grandeur. God sees the end from the beginning. Babylon may influence kings, seduce nations, and dominate culture, but she cannot escape the judgment of God.

Revelation 14:8, “And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.”

Revelation 16:19, “And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.”

These earlier passages already declared Babylon’s fall. Revelation 17 now explains the religious character of that system and why its judgment is righteous. Babylon’s fate is not uncertain. The Lord does not negotiate with her. He does not reform her. He judges her. False religion may flourish for a season, but it does not inherit the kingdom of God.

This is a necessary reminder because false religion often appears successful. It gains followers. It gathers wealth. It influences governments. It speaks with confidence. It borrows spiritual vocabulary. It may appear compassionate, beautiful, ancient, mystical, and powerful. Yet God calls it a harlot because it betrays true worship. The outward beauty does not change the inward corruption.

i. As a religious system, Babylon came into being long before Christianity, but in Satanic imitation it anticipated the coming true Messiah.

As a religious system, Babylon predates Christianity by many centuries. Its roots reach back to Babel and the early post Flood world. The traditional and legendary account that Babylonian religion was founded by the wife of Nimrod, a great grandson of Noah, named Semiramis. According to this religious tradition, Semiramis was regarded as a high priestess of idol worship. She was said to have given birth to a son whom she claimed was miraculously conceived. That son, Tammuz, was regarded as a savior figure. Ancient religious imagery often presented the motif of a mother holding a divine or savior child, and some of these images predate Christianity.

This material should be handled carefully. The Bible clearly identifies Nimrod and Babel, and it clearly condemns Babylonian idolatry. However, some of the details about Semiramis and Tammuz come through religious history, legend, and later interpretive tradition rather than direct biblical narrative. The theological point remains important. Satan is a counterfeiter. He does not create truth. He imitates, distorts, and corrupts what belongs to God. False religion often anticipates or imitates biblical categories in a twisted form, such as a counterfeit savior, counterfeit resurrection, counterfeit mother and child imagery, counterfeit priesthood, counterfeit worship, and counterfeit promises of life.

Genesis 10:8, “And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth.”

Genesis 10:9, “He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD.”

Genesis 10:10, “And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.”

Nimrod is directly connected with Babel, and Babel is directly connected with the beginning of organized human rebellion after the Flood. The text says the beginning of his kingdom was Babel. This matters because false religion and rebellious civilization are intertwined from the beginning. Babel was not merely a city. It was the beginning of a kingdom system. That kingdom system was built in defiance of God.

Genesis 11:4, “And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven, and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.”

The language of Genesis 11:4 shows the spirit behind Babylonian religion. It is man reaching upward by his own system rather than receiving revelation from God. It is man making a name for himself rather than glorifying the name of the Lord. It is man seeking unity apart from obedience. False religion always follows that pattern. It offers a way up without repentance, a way to heaven without the true God, and a sense of spiritual achievement without submission to divine truth.

Tammuz was said to have been killed by a wild beast and then miraculously brought back to life, and that Baal was the local Canaanite name connected with the Babylonian Tammuz tradition. Again, the precise historical reconstruction must be treated as religious tradition, but the broader biblical reality is clear. The ancient world was saturated with fertility cults, dying and rising deity motifs, mother goddess imagery, Baal worship, and idolatrous systems that offered counterfeit life apart from the God of Israel.

Satan’s counterfeit does not prove that Christianity borrowed from paganism. It proves that Satan anticipated, imitated, and corrupted truth. The true Messiah was not copied from pagan myths. Rather, pagan religion reflects mankind’s fallen tendency to distort the promises, longings, and categories that only find their true fulfillment in Jesus Christ. The virgin birth, the incarnation, the death of Christ, and His bodily resurrection are historical realities rooted in prophecy, fulfilled in time, and witnessed by the apostles. Babylonian religion is a counterfeit shadow. Christ is the true substance.

Isaiah 7:14, “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign, Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”

Matthew 1:22, “Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,”

Matthew 1:23, “Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.”

1 Corinthians 15:3, “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;”

1 Corinthians 15:4, “And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:”

The true Messiah was not one savior myth among many. He is the promised Seed, the Son of David, the Son of God, the Lamb of God, and the risen Lord. Religious Babylon offers counterfeits. Scripture reveals Christ.

ii. The Bible makes specific mention of some of the features of the classic religion of Babylon.

The Bible specifically mentions practices connected with pagan religion that fit the pattern of Babylonian idolatry. These include weeping for Tammuz, making cakes for the queen of heaven, and offering incense to the queen of heaven. These details show that Babylonian style religion was not merely abstract false teaching. It had rituals, ceremonies, devotional practices, symbolic foods, emotional observances, and feminine deity worship. It was organized, attractive, and deeply rooted in popular devotion.

Ezekiel protests against the ceremony of weeping for Tammuz.

Ezekiel 8:14, “Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the LORD’S house which was toward the north, and, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz.”

This verse is striking because the women are weeping for Tammuz at the gate of the Lord’s house. This was not pagan worship far away in Babylon only. It had entered the religious life of Judah. The abomination was not merely that Tammuz was worshiped. The deeper horror is that this pagan ritual was being practiced in connection with the temple precincts. False religion had invaded the place associated with the worship of the living God.

Weeping for Tammuz likely involved mourning rites connected with a fertility deity associated with death and seasonal renewal. Whatever the exact form of the ceremony, God viewed it as an abomination. It was emotional, religious, and ceremonial, but it was false. This is one of the great warnings of religious Babylon. Not everything emotional is spiritual. Not everything ancient is true. Not everything ceremonial is holy. Not everything that moves the human heart comes from God.

Ezekiel 8 presents a devastating picture of religious corruption among God’s covenant people. The people had mixed the worship of the Lord with pagan abominations. This is the same spirit that later appears in Revelation 17. Religious Babylon is mixture. It takes elements of worship, beauty, symbolism, and devotion, then corrupts them through idolatry and spiritual adultery.

Jeremiah mentions the heathen practice of making cakes for the queen of heaven.

Jeremiah 7:18, “The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.”

Jeremiah 7:18 shows an entire household involved in idolatry. The children gather wood. The fathers kindle the fire. The women knead dough. The family unit is united, but united in false worship. They make cakes to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to other gods. This is religious devotion, but it is devotion directed toward idols. God says it provokes Him to anger.

The phrase “queen of heaven” refers to a pagan goddess figure worshiped in the ancient Near East. The practice involved food offerings and drink offerings, showing that idolatry had become domestic, communal, and familiar. It was not limited to temples or professional priests. It had entered ordinary family life. That is how false religion works. It becomes normalized through households, customs, traditions, festivals, and inherited practice. Over time, people can treat abomination as heritage.

This also shows why Babylonian religion is so dangerous. It is not always presented as open Satanism. Often it is presented as tradition, culture, spirituality, family devotion, and reverence for the feminine divine. Yet if it redirects worship away from the Lord, it is spiritual fornication. God is not honored by sincere idolatry. Sincerity does not cleanse false worship.

Jeremiah also mentions offering incense to the queen of heaven.

Jeremiah 44:17, “But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: for then had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil.”

Jeremiah 44:18, “But since we left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine.”

Jeremiah 44:19, “And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven, and poured out drink offerings unto her, did we make her cakes to worship her, and pour out drink offerings unto her, without our men?”

Jeremiah 44:25, “Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, Ye and your wives have both spoken with your mouths, and fulfilled with your hand, saying, We will surely perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her: ye will surely accomplish your vows, and surely perform your vows.”

These verses reveal the stubbornness of false worship. The people openly declare that they will continue burning incense to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her. They argue that when they practiced this idolatry, they had plenty, were well, and saw no evil. But when they stopped, they suffered want, sword, and famine. In other words, they interpreted their circumstances through pagan superstition rather than through the Word of God.

This is a major feature of Babylonian religion. It confuses providence. It attributes blessing to idols and judgment to the absence of idol worship. The people had so rejected the truth that they credited their survival to false worship and blamed their suffering on neglecting idolatry. That is spiritual drunkenness. They could no longer see reality clearly.

Jeremiah 44:19 also shows that the men were not innocent bystanders. The women ask whether they made cakes and poured out drink offerings without their men. The implication is that this idolatry had household and community approval. Jeremiah 44:25 confirms that husbands and wives were both involved. This was not isolated private sin. It was public, generational, family reinforced apostasy.

This background matters for Revelation 17 because the great harlot is not a new invention. She is the final form of an old religious corruption. The names and ceremonies may change, but the pattern remains. False religion offers counterfeit worship, feminine deity imagery, ritual devotion, emotional intoxication, and the promise of blessing apart from covenant faithfulness to the true God.

b. “Who sits on many waters.” Here, Babylon sits on many waters, that is, she presides over many nations. She has a universal, international character.

The phrase “many waters” is interpreted by Revelation itself.

Revelation 17:15, “And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.”

Religious Babylon sits upon many waters, meaning she exercises influence over peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues. She is international in scope. This is not merely one local cult or one isolated denomination. This is a worldwide religious system that dominates the Tribulation period. Her influence reaches across ethnic, linguistic, national, and cultural boundaries.

The image of sitting suggests position, influence, and presiding power. She does not merely exist among the nations. She sits upon them. She rests on the support of the masses and exercises influence over them. The nations carry her influence, and she uses the nations as the base of her power. This is one reason she is so dangerous. She is popular. She is widespread. She is accepted. She is supported by multitudes.

i. This is the unification of all false, idolatrous religion, with representatives from apostate Catholicism, Protestantism, as well as a smorgasbord of other religions of the world.

Religious Babylon appears to be the final unification of false religion. It is likely to include apostate forms of Christianity, including apostate Catholicism and apostate Protestantism, along with pagan religions, mystical movements, occult spirituality, interfaith systems, and other world religions. The issue is not whether a person uses Christian vocabulary or belongs to a historic institution. The issue is truth. Any religious system that rejects the true Christ, the true gospel, the authority of Scripture, and the necessity of salvation by grace through faith is part of the spirit of Babylon.

Galatians 1:8, “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.”

Galatians 1:9, “As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.”

These verses make clear that false religion is not judged by its beauty, history, size, sincerity, or influence. It is judged by the gospel it proclaims. A false gospel is under divine curse. Religious Babylon will likely present itself as broad, inclusive, peaceful, spiritual, and unifying. But unity built on a false gospel is rebellion against God.

This final false religious system will likely be attractive to the world because it will not demand exclusive loyalty to the biblical Christ. It will offer spirituality without repentance, worship without doctrine, morality without holiness, unity without truth, and peace without the Prince of Peace. It will welcome everything except biblical exclusivity. That is why it will be loved by kings and embraced by the earth dwellers.

John 14:6, “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

The true gospel cannot be absorbed into Babylon’s religious mixture. Jesus Christ is not one path among many. He is the way, the truth, and the life. Religious Babylon must reject or redefine this claim in order to maintain its false unity. Biblical Christianity cannot make peace with a system that denies the exclusivity of Christ.

ii. “The woman pictures false religion that will dominate the world in the tribulation period.” Many people like to identify this great harlot with the Roman Catholic Church, but false religion is not limited to any one church.

The woman pictures false religion that will dominate the world in the Tribulation period. It is common for some interpreters to identify the great harlot exclusively with the Roman Catholic Church because of Rome’s religious history, wealth, political influence, symbolism, and long association with ecclesiastical power. There are certainly elements of Romanism that fit aspects of the Babylonian pattern, especially where tradition is exalted above Scripture, priestly mediation obscures the finished work of Christ, and religious authority is centralized in ways foreign to the New Testament pattern.

However, it is too narrow to say that the great harlot is only the Roman Catholic Church. False religion is bigger than one institution. Religious Babylon includes every apostate system that departs from biblical truth. Apostate Protestantism can be just as Babylonian when it denies the authority of Scripture, rejects the substitutionary atonement, embraces universalism, ordains unbelief, blesses immorality, or replaces the gospel with politics, psychology, social ideology, or empty moralism.

2 Timothy 3:5, “Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.”

This verse describes religion that has an outward form but lacks true spiritual life. That is Babylonian religion. It has form, ceremony, vocabulary, architecture, influence, and appearance, but it denies the power of true godliness. The danger is not always open paganism. Sometimes the danger is an impressive religious shell with no biblical substance.

2 Corinthians 11:13, “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.”

2 Corinthians 11:14, “And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.”

2 Corinthians 11:15, “Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.”

Satan’s ministers do not always look dark, crude, or obviously evil. They can appear as ministers of righteousness. This is why religious Babylon is so deceptive. She will appear spiritual. She will present herself as righteous, compassionate, enlightened, and noble. But if she rejects the truth of God, she is a harlot.

iii. “That Rome and the Romish system are involved, may readily be admitted, but that this is all, and that the sudden fall of Great Babylon is simply the fall of Romanism, or the utter destruction of the city of Rome, must be emphatically denied.”

This statement properly recognizes both truths. Rome and the Roman religious system may be involved in the symbolism and historical development of Babylon, but the prophecy cannot be reduced to Romanism alone. Revelation 17 and 18 speak of something larger, broader, and more global than one church or one city. The great harlot sits on many waters. Her influence extends over peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues. The kings of the earth commit fornication with her. The inhabitants of the earth are made drunk with her wine.

The final Babylon may include Rome, use Roman religious imagery, or be connected with a revived Roman sphere of influence, but the prophetic picture reaches beyond Rome. It describes the final world religious system under the Tribulation order. Therefore, it is better to understand religious Babylon as the global unification of apostate religion rather than as one denomination alone.

This distinction is important for sound interpretation. If a person identifies Babylon only with Rome, he may fail to recognize Babylonian corruption in Protestant liberalism, cults, interfaith compromise, eastern mysticism, occult spirituality, prosperity religion, secular political religion, and every other system that opposes the true gospel. Babylon is bigger than Rome. Babylon is the mother system of false worship.

c. “The inhabitants of the earth were made drunk.” Religious Babylon intoxicates kings and peoples. Karl Marx was partly right when he said, “Religion is the opiate of the masses.” He was partly right because empty religion is the opium of the masses.

The inhabitants of the earth are made drunk by religious Babylon. This means false religion dulls spiritual discernment. It sedates the conscience. It gives emotional satisfaction without reconciliation to God. It gives ritual without regeneration. It gives identity without conversion. It gives community without truth. It gives comfort without forgiveness. It gives man the sensation of spirituality while leaving him dead in sin.

Karl Marx was wrong in his atheistic rejection of God and in his materialistic worldview, but he was partly right when he observed that religion can function like an opiate. Empty religion can numb people to reality. It can keep them passive, deceived, and spiritually asleep. But biblical Christianity is not an opiate. True Christianity awakens the sinner, exposes sin, announces judgment, proclaims Christ crucified and risen, and calls men to repentance and faith. False religion sedates. The gospel resurrects.

Ephesians 5:14, “Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.”

The gospel does not intoxicate men into blindness. It wakes them from death. Religious Babylon does the opposite. She keeps the world drunk. She gives the nations enough religion to feel spiritual, but not enough truth to be saved. She offers ceremony, mystery, beauty, and influence, but not the true gospel of Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 4:3, “But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:”

2 Corinthians 4:4, “In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.”

Religious Babylon participates in this blindness. Satan blinds minds. False religion reinforces that blindness by offering substitutes for Christ. It may speak of God, morality, peace, love, worship, and transcendence, but if it hides the gospel, it leaves men lost.

The phrase “inhabitants of the earth” in Revelation often refers to earth dwellers, those whose settled identity is in this world and who oppose God. They are susceptible to Babylon because they love the world. They do not want the holy God of Scripture. They want a religion that blesses their appetites, validates their rebellion, and gives spiritual language to their sin.

d. “Made drunk with the wine of her fornication.” The idea of fornication often has strong associations throughout the Bible with idolatry. Since this is a well accepted religious system, it is likely to appear as attractive and spiritual, though not necessarily moral.

The wine of her fornication is the intoxicating influence of idolatrous religion. In the Bible, fornication often carries the meaning of spiritual unfaithfulness when applied to nations or religious systems. Israel was repeatedly condemned for going after other gods. The prophets used the language of adultery and harlotry because idolatry is covenant betrayal. God is not merely displeased with false worship. He regards it as spiritual infidelity.

Jeremiah 3:6, “The LORD said also unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done, she is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there hath played the harlot.”

Jeremiah 3:9, “And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and with stocks.”

These verses show that idolatry is spiritual adultery. Israel’s worship of idols is described as harlotry. The phrase “stones and stocks” refers to idols made from created things. Instead of worshiping the Creator, the people worshiped objects made from creation. Religious Babylon continues this same rebellion on a global scale.

Hosea 4:12, “My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declareth unto them: for the spirit of whoredoms hath caused them to err, and they have gone a whoring from under their God.”

Hosea calls idolatry “the spirit of whoredoms.” That language is strong because false religion is not harmless error. It is spiritual seduction. It causes people to err. It draws them away from God. It replaces the Lord’s authority with idols, omens, rituals, mystical practices, and human inventions.

Nahum 3:4, “Because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the wellfavoured harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts.”

Nahum’s language concerning Nineveh also helps explain Revelation 17. The harlot is well favored, meaning outwardly attractive. She is connected with witchcrafts, deception, and the selling of nations. False religion is attractive, seductive, and enslaving. It does not merely deceive individuals. It corrupts nations and families. Revelation 17 uses the same kind of prophetic language to describe the great harlot who corrupts the earth.

Religious Babylon will likely appear attractive and spiritual. It may present itself as peaceful, inclusive, healing, ancient, sacramental, mystical, compassionate, and enlightened. It may be well accepted by rulers, praised by media, funded by wealth, and embraced by the masses. But acceptance does not equal truth. A religion may be popular and still be damned. It may be beautiful and still be filthy before God. It may speak of unity and still be at war with the Lord.

The phrase “though not necessarily moral” is important. Religious Babylon may not even require biblical morality. In fact, false religion often provides spiritual permission for immorality. It separates worship from holiness. It lets people feel religious while remaining unrepentant. It offers spiritual experiences without moral transformation. It allows men to keep their idols while imagining they have peace with God.

Titus 1:16, “They profess that they know God, but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.”

This verse describes the hypocrisy at the heart of false religion. A person may profess to know God while denying Him by works. Religious Babylon will be full of profession, but empty of obedience. It will be filled with religious language, but hostile to biblical truth.

The great danger of religious Babylon is that it is not obviously ugly to the natural man. It is seductive. It intoxicates. It presents false worship in a form that appeals to the flesh, the eyes, and the pride of life. It gives man religion on man’s terms. It is therefore more dangerous than crude irreligion, because it inoculates people against the truth while convincing them that they are spiritual.

2 Thessalonians 2:9, “Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,”

2 Thessalonians 2:10, “And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.”

2 Thessalonians 2:11, “And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:”

2 Thessalonians 2:12, “That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”

These verses fit the final religious climate of the Tribulation. The world will not merely be ignorant. It will reject the love of the truth. It will embrace deception. It will believe the lie. Religious Babylon prepares the world for that final delusion by training people to prefer spiritual experience over biblical truth, unity over holiness, and man centered religion over the gospel of Christ.

From a Baptist, premillennial, pretribulational perspective, Revelation 17 describes the false religious system that will dominate during the Tribulation after the church has been removed. This system will likely help prepare the world to receive the Antichrist. It will gather religious loyalties under a broad global umbrella. Yet eventually the Antichrist will not tolerate even that system as a rival. He will demand worship for himself. Religious Babylon will be used, then judged.

The church today must learn from this vision. The spirit of Babylon is already present wherever churches compromise Scripture, exchange the gospel for religious performance, chase political favor at the expense of truth, blend Christianity with pagan or worldly systems, or present spirituality without repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. The answer is not retreat into ignorance. The answer is biblical discernment, doctrinal fidelity, gospel clarity, and separation from spiritual fornication.

2 Corinthians 6:14, “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness, and what communion hath light with darkness?”

2 Corinthians 6:15, “And what concord hath Christ with Belial, or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?”

2 Corinthians 6:16, “And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols, for ye are the temple of the living God, as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”

2 Corinthians 6:17, “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you,”

2 Corinthians 6:18, “And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.”

This is the proper response to Babylon. God’s people are not called to be intoxicated by her, impressed by her, joined to her, or dependent on her approval. They are called to come out from among false worship and remain faithful to the Lord. Separation does not mean arrogance. It means loyalty to God. It means refusing spiritual adultery. It means recognizing that the harlot’s beauty is temporary, but her judgment is certain.

2. Revelation 17:3 to 6, What John Saw

Revelation 17:3, “So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.”

Revelation 17:4, “And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:”

Revelation 17:5, “And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.”

Revelation 17:6, “And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.”

John is now shown the great harlot in greater detail. Revelation 17:1 to 2 introduced her judgment, her position over many waters, her relationship with the kings of the earth, and her intoxicating influence over the inhabitants of the earth. Revelation 17:3 to 6 now gives the visual description of her character. She is seen in the wilderness, sitting upon a scarlet colored beast, dressed in the colors of wealth, royalty, and political influence, holding a golden cup filled with abominations, bearing a name upon her forehead, and drunk with the blood of the saints and the martyrs of Jesus.

This vision exposes the true nature of religious Babylon. Outwardly, she is impressive. She is beautiful, wealthy, influential, and connected with power. Inwardly, she is filthy, idolatrous, blasphemous, and murderous. This is one of the great themes of Revelation 17. False religion often appears glorious to men, but God reveals what it truly is. It is not merely misguided. It is not merely sincere but mistaken. It is spiritual prostitution, idolatry, blasphemy, and persecution dressed in religious splendor.

a. “He carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness.” John is carried away into the wilderness, the desolate nature of the wilderness is an appropriate setting for a vision of judgment.

John says he was carried away in the Spirit into the wilderness. This indicates that the vision is given under divine control and prophetic inspiration. John is not imagining these things, nor is he merely analyzing political events from a human standpoint. He is being shown heavenly truth concerning earthly and spiritual realities. The Spirit carries him into the wilderness so that he may see Babylon as God sees her.

The wilderness is an appropriate setting because it speaks of desolation, barrenness, and judgment. Babylon appears outwardly rich, beautiful, and full of life, but her true spiritual condition is barren. False religion may be covered with gold and scarlet, but it cannot give life. It may create ceremony, emotion, unity, and awe, but it cannot regenerate the soul. The wilderness setting exposes the contradiction between appearance and reality. Babylon looks luxurious, but spiritually she is desolate.

There is also a strong biblical association between the wilderness and testing, judgment, and exposure. Israel wandered in the wilderness because of unbelief. The wilderness stripped away illusions and revealed the heart. In the same way, John’s wilderness vision strips away the harlot’s external glory and reveals her inner corruption. The world sees magnificence. God shows John desolation.

Deuteronomy 8:2, “And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.”

The wilderness exposes what is in the heart. Religious Babylon, when seen from the wilderness perspective, is exposed as spiritually empty, corrupt, and condemned. She is not the bride of Christ. She is not the people of God. She is not true worship. She is a harlot sitting in a place of spiritual barrenness.

b. “Sitting on a scarlet beast.” The harlot rides the same beast, seven heads and ten horns, that was previously seen in Revelation 13:1, the Antichrist and his dictatorship.

Revelation 13:1, “And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.”

The beast in Revelation 17:3 is clearly connected with the beast of Revelation 13:1. Both have seven heads and ten horns. Both are associated with blasphemy. Revelation 13 introduced the beast as the final Gentile world ruler, the Antichrist, and the political empire through which he exercises authority. Revelation 17 now shows the harlot riding that beast. This means religious Babylon is connected to the Antichrist’s political system.

The image is powerful. The woman is not separate from the beast. She is sitting upon it. This shows that false religion and political power are intertwined in the final world system. Religious Babylon depends upon the beast’s political strength, yet she also appears to influence or direct the beast for a time. The world will likely see this union as a great achievement, a religious and political harmony that brings unity, peace, and global cooperation. But God sees it as a harlot riding a beast full of blasphemy.

The beast is scarlet colored. Scarlet is associated with splendor, wealth, blood, and sin. It fits both the political grandeur of the beast and the blood guilt of the system. The beast is full of names of blasphemy. This means the system is openly insulting to God, usurping divine authority, exalting man, and opposing the true Christ. Blasphemy is not merely foul language. Biblically, it includes arrogating to oneself what belongs to God, slandering the name of God, denying His truth, and exalting false worship.

Revelation 13:5, “And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.”

Revelation 13:6, “And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.”

These verses show that the beast is not merely politically corrupt. He is spiritually defiant. His kingdom is blasphemous at its core. Therefore, the harlot’s relationship with him reveals her own corruption. True religion cannot be yoked to blasphemous power. Religious Babylon can, because she is false religion.

i. Her position, that of riding the beast, indicates on the one hand that she is supported by the political power of the beast, and on the other that she is in a dominant role and at least outwardly controls and directs the beast.

The image of the harlot riding the beast shows mutual usefulness. The beast supports her, and she gains influence through his power. False religion has often sought political protection, legal privilege, money, enforcement, and cultural legitimacy from rulers. The beast provides these things. He gives her a platform. He gives her global reach. He gives her access to kings and nations.

At the same time, the woman appears to exercise a kind of outward dominance. She rides the beast, which suggests that for a period of time religious Babylon directs, influences, or legitimizes the political system. The Antichrist’s final system will likely use religion as a tool to gather the nations. Before he demands worship of himself, broad false religion may serve as a unifying instrument. The harlot gives spiritual justification to political consolidation.

This is a recurring pattern throughout history. Corrupt political power uses religion to control people, and corrupt religion uses political power to control people. When the two join together apart from God’s truth, persecution follows. The state gains sacred language. False religion gains the sword. Together they become a beast ridden by a harlot.

2 Corinthians 6:14, “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness, and what communion hath light with darkness?”

2 Corinthians 6:15, “And what concord hath Christ with Belial, or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?”

True biblical faith cannot join itself to blasphemous power for the sake of influence. Religious Babylon does exactly that. She is willing to ride the beast because she is not governed by faithfulness to God. She is governed by appetite for influence, luxury, and control.

ii. Her association with blasphemy and the dragon’s beast are clearly seen from God’s perspective. But to the people of the earth she will look quite religious, and have the “faith” everybody wants.

From God’s perspective, the woman is associated with blasphemy and with the dragon’s beast. Revelation makes this plain. The beast is satanically empowered, and the harlot is seated upon him. But the people of the earth will not see it that way. To them, religious Babylon will likely appear beautiful, sophisticated, spiritual, inclusive, and powerful. She will have the kind of faith the world wants, a faith without biblical authority, without repentance, without exclusivity, without holiness, and without the offense of the cross.

Revelation 13:4, “And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast, who is able to make war with him?”

The world’s worship is misdirected. They worship the dragon and the beast, yet they do so under deception. False religion gives that deception a spiritual covering. The earth dwellers will believe they are embracing unity and enlightenment. God reveals that they are worshiping satanic power.

The harlot will have the “faith” everybody wants because fallen man wants religion on his own terms. He wants spirituality that affirms him rather than convicts him. He wants ritual without regeneration. He wants unity without truth. He wants comfort without holiness. He wants religious emotion without submission to Scripture. Religious Babylon gives him exactly that.

2 Timothy 4:3, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;”

2 Timothy 4:4, “And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.”

Religious Babylon is the final global expression of itching ears. It is religion designed for people who will not endure sound doctrine. It is attractive because it tells the world what the world wants to hear. But it is deadly because it turns men away from the truth.

c. “The woman was arrayed.” The woman is clothed with emblems of luxury, purple, gold, precious stones, and pearls, and government, scarlet. Yet she offers idolatry, abominations, and impurity, filthiness of her fornication, in this sumptuous setting.

The woman’s clothing emphasizes outward magnificence. She is arrayed in purple and scarlet and adorned with gold, precious stones, and pearls. Everything about her appearance communicates wealth, rank, power, and religious grandeur. She is not presented as poor, ugly, or obviously repulsive. She is impressive. She has splendor. She has ceremony. She has visible glory.

But the golden cup in her hand reveals the truth. The cup is golden on the outside, but it is full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication. This is one of the clearest pictures of false religion in Scripture. The vessel is beautiful, but the contents are filthy. The outward form is rich, but the inward substance is corrupt. The world judges by the gold. God judges by what fills the cup.

Matthew 23:25, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.”

Matthew 23:26, “Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.”

Jesus condemned religious hypocrisy that cleaned the outside while leaving the inside corrupt. Religious Babylon is the final global version of that hypocrisy. She has a golden cup, but it is full of abominations. She is clothed in splendor, but she is spiritually filthy. She appears holy to the undiscerning, but she is unclean before God.

The word “abominations” is strongly associated with idolatry and detestable practices before God. The filthiness of her fornication refers to the moral and spiritual uncleanness produced by her false worship. Religious Babylon is not merely doctrinally wrong. She is spiritually obscene. She joins religion to idolatry, politics to blasphemy, luxury to persecution, and worship to uncleanness.

i. Purple and scarlet were colors of splendor and magnificence, the dyes to make fabric these colors were rare and costly.

Purple and scarlet were costly colors in the ancient world. They were associated with wealth, royalty, nobility, power, and splendor. Purple dye was expensive and difficult to produce. Scarlet likewise signified wealth and status. By clothing the harlot in these colors, the vision shows that false religion will appear majestic and important. She will carry the visual language of dignity, authority, and grandeur.

This is important because false religion often uses beauty to hide corruption. Architecture, vestments, music, gold, ceremony, and ancient symbols can overwhelm the senses. None of these things prove truth. Beauty can serve true worship when submitted to God, but beauty can also serve idolatry when detached from truth. The harlot is beautiful, but she is damned.

1 Samuel 16:7, “But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature, because I have refused him, for the LORD seeth not as man seeth, for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.”

Men look on outward appearance. God looks on the heart. The world sees purple and scarlet. God sees fornication and abomination. The believer must learn to see by Scripture rather than by spectacle.

ii. “We find in the course of church history that one of the deadliest marks of ecclesiastical corruption is the lust for temporal power.” Purple and scarlet were the colors of rulers, whether economic or political.

One of the deadliest signs of religious corruption is the lust for temporal power. When religious institutions begin craving rule over governments, wealth, legal privilege, military protection, and worldly dominance, they are moving in the direction of Babylon. The church is called to preach the gospel, make disciples, practice holiness, uphold sound doctrine, and serve Christ. It is not called to become a harlot riding the beast of political power.

This does not mean believers should be indifferent to civil life or public righteousness. Scripture teaches that rulers are accountable to God and that believers should live as faithful citizens. But the church corrupts itself when it trades spiritual faithfulness for political control, when it softens truth to gain influence, or when it relies on worldly power to accomplish spiritual work.

John 18:36, “Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world, if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews, but now is my kingdom not from hence.”

Christ’s kingdom is not of this world. It will one day be manifested on earth in righteous rule when He returns, but the church in this age does not advance the kingdom through the methods of the beast. Religious Babylon lusts for temporal power because she does not possess true spiritual power. Where the Spirit of God is absent, religious systems often seek control through politics, wealth, coercion, and spectacle.

Purple and scarlet being colors of rulers fits this theme. The harlot is clothed as one who belongs among rulers. She is not content with spiritual influence. She wants earthly power. She wants the courts of kings, the wealth of merchants, and the obedience of nations. That lust for power marks her as Babylonian.

d. “On her forehead a name was written.” The name on her forehead identifies her in more ways than one. Roman prostitutes frequently wore a headband with their name engraved upon it.

The name on the woman’s forehead identifies her. In the ancient world, Roman prostitutes were known to wear names upon their foreheads or headbands, identifying them openly. This detail fits the harlot imagery. Though she is clothed in luxury, her forehead reveals what she is. She is not the bride. She is not the faithful woman. She is a prostitute, spiritually speaking.

Her forehead inscription also contrasts with the marks and names given to God’s people. In Revelation, the servants of God are sealed in their foreheads, and the name of God is associated with their identity. The beast also marks his followers. The forehead becomes a place of identification and allegiance. The harlot’s forehead identifies her as Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth.

Revelation 7:3, “Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.”

Revelation 14:1, “And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads.”

Revelation 13:16, “And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:”

The forehead imagery shows ownership, identity, and public allegiance. God marks His servants. The beast marks his worshipers. The harlot bears the name that reveals her spiritual identity. She belongs to Babylon. She is the mother system of false worship.

i. “In spite of all her glamour she is nothing but a prostitute.”

This statement captures the essence of Revelation 17. In spite of all her glamour, the woman is nothing but a prostitute. She may be dressed in purple and scarlet. She may be adorned with gold, precious stones, and pearls. She may sit upon a powerful beast. She may hold a golden cup. She may influence kings and multitudes. But God calls her a harlot.

This is a necessary warning because glamour deceives. Religious Babylon will not appear to the world as filthy. She will appear impressive. Her danger is partly in her beauty. She will look like the answer to religious division, global conflict, spiritual longing, and moral uncertainty. Yet beneath the glamour is spiritual prostitution. She has sold herself to power, wealth, idolatry, and blasphemy.

Proverbs 5:3, “For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil:”

Proverbs 5:4, “But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword.”

The harlot of Proverbs is not the same figure as Babylon in Revelation, but the principle is fitting. Seduction often begins sweet and ends bitter. Religious Babylon offers honeyed words, but her end is judgment.

ii. There is a stark contrast between the woman of Revelation 12, representing Israel, God’s people, and this woman, representing idolatrous, false religion.

Revelation presents two very different women. Revelation 12 shows a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars. She gives birth to the male child who is to rule all nations with a rod of iron. In a literal, dispensational understanding, this woman represents Israel, through whom the Messiah came.

Revelation 12:1, “And there appeared a great wonder in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:”

Revelation 12:2, “And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.”

Revelation 12:5, “And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron, and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.”

The woman of Revelation 12 is associated with God’s covenant program, Israel, the Messiah, and divine protection. She is persecuted by the dragon, but preserved by God. She is not a harlot. She is connected to the faithful purposes of God in history.

The woman of Revelation 17 is the opposite. She is clothed in luxury, sits upon the beast, drinks from a cup of abominations, and is drunk with the blood of the saints. She represents idolatrous, false religion. One woman is connected with the Messiah. The other is connected with the beast. One is persecuted by Satan. The other is supported by Satan’s political system. One is tied to God’s covenant faithfulness. The other is tied to spiritual fornication.

The contrast is stark and deliberate. Revelation 12 shows the faithful woman in relation to God’s redemptive plan. Revelation 17 shows the harlot in relation to Satan’s counterfeit system. The two cannot be confused.

iii. These two women, set over against each other as opposites and rivals, must be interpreted in the same way. As Antichrist corresponds to Christ as a rival and antagonist of Christ, so Great Babylon corresponds to the woman that bears the Man child, as her rival and antagonist.

The two women function as prophetic opposites. The woman of Revelation 12 is connected to the true Messiah. The woman of Revelation 17 is connected to the false world system. As the Antichrist stands as a rival and antagonist to Christ, so Great Babylon stands as a rival and antagonist to the faithful woman connected with the birth of the Man child.

This is part of Satan’s counterfeit strategy. Satan cannot create truth, so he imitates and corrupts it. He has a counterfeit christ, the Antichrist. He has a counterfeit prophet, the false prophet. He has a counterfeit religious system, Babylon. He has counterfeit signs and wonders. He has counterfeit unity. He has counterfeit worship. Revelation exposes the counterfeit so the people of God will not be deceived.

2 Thessalonians 2:9, “Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,”

2 Thessalonians 2:10, “And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.”

The Antichrist comes with satanic power, signs, and lying wonders. Religious Babylon provides the atmosphere in which such deception can flourish. The world will be prepared to receive the counterfeit because it has already rejected the truth.

e. “MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT.” This title is not for literal Babylon, but its spiritual, mystery representation, which is the source, mother, of all idolatry, abominations, and spiritual adultery, harlots.

The name written on the woman’s forehead is, “MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.” The word “mystery” indicates that this is not merely the ancient city of Babylon considered in a simple geographical sense. It is Babylon in its deeper spiritual and prophetic significance. It is the mystery form of Babylon, the hidden spiritual system behind false worship across history.

This does not eliminate the possibility of a literal city or geopolitical center being involved in the final fulfillment, but Revelation 17 emphasizes the religious and spiritual identity of Babylon. She is the source, mother, and fountainhead of harlotry and abominations. She is the mother of false religious systems. She gives birth to spiritual adultery. She produces idolatry, blasphemy, impurity, and persecution.

The word “mother” is important. Babylon is not merely one harlot among many. She is the mother of harlots. She is the root system, the originating fountain, the womb of false religion. From Babel onward, the Babylonian spirit has generated religious systems that oppose God while offering counterfeit worship.

Genesis 11:4, “And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven, and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.”

This is where the mother principle first appears. Babel was the fountainhead of organized religious rebellion after the Flood. It sought a way to heaven apart from God’s revelation. It exalted man’s name rather than the Lord’s name. It pursued unity apart from obedience. That spirit becomes the mother of spiritual harlotry.

Jeremiah 51:7, “Babylon hath been a golden cup in the LORD’S hand, that made all the earth drunken, the nations have drunken of her wine, therefore the nations are mad.”

Jeremiah’s language connects strongly with Revelation 17. Babylon is a golden cup that makes the nations drunk. Revelation 17 shows the harlot holding a golden cup full of abominations and filthiness. The nations become intoxicated by her. The Old Testament background shows that Babylon’s influence was already understood as corrupting, intoxicating, and maddening.

i. This harlot must be larger than any one branch of a religious institution. She is the embodiment of Satan’s own ecumenical movement, the religion of the world system.

The great harlot must be larger than any single branch of a religious institution. She cannot be reduced merely to one denomination, one city, one sect, or one organization. She is the embodiment of Satan’s ecumenical movement, the religion of the world system. This does not mean all efforts at cooperation are wicked, but it does mean that unity without truth is one of Satan’s favorite strategies.

Biblical unity is always unity in truth. Jesus prayed for His own, but His prayer was tied to sanctification through the Word of God.

John 17:17, “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.”

John 17:20, “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;”

John 17:21, “That they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.”

True Christian unity is not unity at the expense of truth. It is unity produced by the truth. Religious Babylon offers the opposite. She offers unity by lowering doctrine, blending religions, ignoring sin, redefining Christ, and replacing the gospel with vague spirituality. That is not biblical unity. That is spiritual fornication.

The religion of the world system will be broad enough to include many beliefs, but narrow enough to exclude biblical exclusivity. It will likely tolerate almost everything except the claim that Jesus Christ alone is the way, the truth, and the life. The true gospel will be considered divisive, hateful, intolerant, or dangerous. That is why the harlot becomes drunk with the blood of the saints.

John 14:6, “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

This one verse is enough to make true Christianity incompatible with Babylon’s false unity. Religious Babylon cannot tolerate the exclusive Lordship of Jesus Christ.

ii. Our world, strong with the philosophy that it does not matter what you believe as long as you believe, is prepared for the harlot’s seduction. We see the casual disregard for the truth crippling the church today.

The modern world is already conditioned for the harlot’s seduction. The common philosophy says that it does not really matter what a person believes as long as he believes something sincerely. That idea sounds tolerant, but it is spiritually deadly. Truth matters. The object of faith matters. Sincerity cannot save if the faith is placed in a lie. A man may sincerely drink poison, but sincerity does not make poison life giving.

The casual disregard for truth is already crippling many churches. Doctrine is treated as optional. Biblical authority is softened. The gospel is replaced with self help, social respectability, political activism, emotional experience, or entertainment. Sin is renamed. Repentance is avoided. The exclusivity of Christ is downplayed. The result is religious weakness, not spiritual compassion.

Jude 1:3, “Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.”

The faith was once delivered unto the saints. It is not endlessly adjustable. The church is commanded to contend for it, not revise it to please the age. Religious Babylon thrives when churches stop contending for the faith.

2 Timothy 1:13, “Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.”

Paul commanded Timothy to hold fast the form of sound words. Sound doctrine matters. Precise truth matters. Words matter. A church that loses its grip on sound words becomes vulnerable to the harlot’s seduction.

f. “Drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.” The woman not only persecutes, she also revels in her persecution of the godly as a drunk revels in wine.

The woman is drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. This is one of the most horrifying descriptions in Revelation 17. She does not merely tolerate persecution. She revels in it. She is intoxicated by it. She is pictured as drunk, not with wine, but with blood. This means religious Babylon delights in the destruction of true believers.

False religion always becomes vicious when it gains power. It may speak softly when weak, but when it controls institutions, rulers, courts, money, and public opinion, it persecutes the faithful. The reason is simple. True believers expose false religion. Their loyalty to Christ reveals the harlot’s adultery. Their preaching of the gospel exposes her counterfeit. Their refusal to compromise threatens her unity. Therefore, she hates them.

John 15:18, “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.”

John 15:19, “If ye were of the world, the world would love his own, but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.”

John 15:20, “Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you, if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.”

The world hates true believers because it hated Christ first. Religious Babylon shares that hatred. She may use religious vocabulary, but she hates the true Jesus and those who belong to Him.

The phrase “martyrs of Jesus” emphasizes that these are witnesses who suffer because of their testimony to Christ. The word martyr is connected with witness. They are killed because they bear faithful testimony. During the Tribulation, many will come to faith and refuse the beast’s system. They will pay with their lives. Religious Babylon will be drunk with their blood.

Revelation 6:9, “And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:”

Revelation 6:10, “And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?”

Revelation 6:11, “And white robes were given unto every one of them, and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.”

These martyrs are slain for the Word of God and for the testimony they held. Revelation 17 shows the religious system that rejoices in such persecution. But Revelation also shows that God remembers their blood and will avenge it. Babylon’s drunkenness with blood will become part of the evidence in her judgment.

g. “I marveled with great amazement.” John was amazed because this was not pagan persecution, such as he knew in his day, but religious error and persecution. This is a pseudo church, thirsty for the blood of the saints. “False religion is always the worst enemy of true religion.”

John says he wondered with great admiration, meaning he marveled with great amazement. This does not mean he admired the harlot in a positive moral sense. It means he was astonished, overwhelmed, and struck by what he saw. The vision was shocking because the persecuting power is not merely paganism from the outside. It is religious corruption posing as something spiritual.

John knew pagan persecution in his own day. Rome persecuted Christians. Emperor worship, pagan temples, and imperial power were open enemies of the faith. But Revelation 17 shows something even more deceptive and horrifying, a pseudo church, a false religious system, thirsty for the blood of the saints. It is not irreligion persecuting religion. It is false religion persecuting true religion.

This is why false religion is often the worst enemy of true religion. Atheism may deny God outright, but false religion uses God language while opposing God’s truth. Paganism may worship idols openly, but apostate religion may carry a Bible, use sacred vocabulary, perform ceremonies, claim authority, and still persecute the true servants of Christ. That is why it is so dangerous.

Matthew 7:15, “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.”

False prophets do not come dressed as wolves. They come in sheep’s clothing. That is exactly the principle of religious Babylon. She appears religious. She appears holy. She appears beautiful. But inwardly she is ravenous.

Matthew 23:29, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,”

Matthew 23:30, “And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.”

Matthew 23:31, “Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.”

Matthew 23:32, “Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.”

Matthew 23:33, “Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?”

Matthew 23:34, “Wherefore, 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:”

Matthew 23:35, “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.”

Jesus Himself exposed the murderous nature of false religion. The religious leaders honored the tombs of the prophets while sharing the spirit of those who killed the prophets. This is the same spirit seen in Revelation 17. False religion may honor dead saints while persecuting living saints. It may decorate tombs while silencing truth. It may claim sacred history while rejecting the God of that history.

i. We should never forget that some of the most vicious persecution conducted against true Christians has been done in the name of the church.

Church history confirms the warning of Revelation 17. Some of the most vicious persecution against true believers has been conducted in the name of religion. This does not mean every person in a corrupt religious system is equally guilty, nor does it mean that all religious institutions have always acted the same way. But it does mean that when religious power becomes apostate and gains the backing of civil authority, it can become brutally hostile to the true gospel.

In the days when the Roman Catholic Queen Mary ruled England, known as Bloody Mary, many Protestants were burned at the stake for their stand for biblical truth. Between 1555 and 1558, approximately 288 Christians were executed by burning. These were not killed by atheists. They were killed in the name of a religious system that claimed to represent Christ. That is why Revelation 17 is so sobering. The harlot is not merely pagan. She is religious and murderous.

One of the first of these martyrs was John Rogers. He had been involved in the work of the English Bible and stood firmly for Protestant truth. As he was chained to the stake and the fire rose around him, he remained calm and courageous. The account says that he rubbed his hands in the flames as though washing them in cold water, then lifted his hands toward heaven and held them high until the fire consumed him. His death was marked by such dignity that the French ambassador reportedly said he went to his death as though walking to his wedding. His courage was so evident that the crowd watching him burst into applause as he walked to the stake.

That account is not included merely for historical emotion. It illustrates the principle of Revelation 17:6. False religion can become drunk with the blood of the saints. It can persecute true Christians while claiming to defend God. It can burn Bible believers while claiming to protect the church. It can murder witnesses of Jesus while pretending to preserve sacred order.

Hebrews 11:35, “Women received their dead raised to life again, and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection:”

Hebrews 11:36, “And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment:”

Hebrews 11:37, “They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword, they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented;”

Hebrews 11:38, “Of whom the world was not worthy, they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.”

The saints who suffer for the truth are precious to God. The world may despise them, false religion may persecute them, and Babylon may drink their blood, but heaven records their faithfulness. They are those of whom the world was not worthy.

The persecution under Bloody Mary is only one example. Across history, true believers have suffered at the hands of pagan governments, Islamic powers, communist regimes, secular tyrannies, and apostate religious authorities. But the specific horror in Revelation 17 is that the harlot represents religious persecution, not merely political or pagan persecution. She is a false religious system that kills the servants of Christ.

This should make the church sober. The greatest danger is not always outside the walls. Sometimes the deadliest enemy is a religious system that retains sacred language while abandoning biblical truth. When doctrine is lost, when the gospel is corrupted, when Scripture is subordinated to tradition, politics, emotion, or institutional survival, the spirit of Babylon is already at work.

2 Timothy 3:12, “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.”

2 Timothy 3:13, “But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.”

The faithful should not be surprised by persecution. Scripture says all who live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Evil men and seducers will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. Religious Babylon is the final organized expression of that deception and persecution.

From a Baptist, premillennial, pretribulational perspective, this vision describes the false religious system that will dominate the Tribulation period after the church has been removed. This system will be supported by and connected to the Antichrist’s political power. It will present itself as global faith, unity, and spiritual authority, but it will be full of blasphemy, idolatry, abominations, and blood guilt. It will likely help prepare the world to receive the beast’s worship system, but eventually the beast will turn against the harlot when she is no longer useful.

The spiritual warning for believers today is clear. Do not be deceived by religious glamour. Do not confuse wealth, antiquity, ceremony, influence, or popularity with truth. Do not accept unity that requires the sacrifice of the gospel. Do not trust a golden cup without examining its contents. Do not forget that the world’s favorite religion is often the one that leaves man unconverted and Christ dishonored.

The true church is not a harlot riding the beast. The true church is the bride of Christ, purchased by His blood, sanctified by His Word, and called to remain faithful until He comes.

Ephesians 5:25, “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;”

Ephesians 5:26, “That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,”

Ephesians 5:27, “That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish.”

This is the contrast. Babylon is a harlot, clothed in splendor but full of filthiness. The church is the bride, cleansed by Christ and destined to be presented holy and without blemish. Babylon rides the beast. The church belongs to the Lamb. Babylon is drunk with blood. The church is redeemed by blood. Babylon is judged. The bride is received.

C. The Great Harlot Is Interpreted

1. Revelation 17:7, The Angel Tells John That the Harlot Will Be Explained to Him

Revelation 17:7, “And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel, I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.”

John had marveled with great amazement when he saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. The angel now responds to John’s amazement by promising to explain the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her. This means that Revelation 17 is not meant to remain permanently hidden, vague, or unknowable. God gives the vision, then God gives the interpretation. The chapter itself provides the key details needed to understand the relationship between the harlot, the beast, the seven heads, and the ten horns.

The angel asks, “Wherefore didst thou marvel?” This question does not rebuke John for being spiritually dull as much as it prepares him to receive divine explanation. John is astonished because the vision is shocking. He sees a religious woman, richly adorned, seated upon a blasphemous beast, drunk with the blood of the saints. The scene is grotesque because it joins religion, power, luxury, idolatry, blasphemy, and persecution into one prophetic image. Yet heaven is not confused by what John sees. The angel makes clear that the mystery will be explained.

The explanation includes both the woman and the beast. The woman represents religious Babylon, the false religious system that intoxicates the nations and persecutes the saints. The beast represents the Antichrist and his final world empire, the political and governmental system empowered by Satan. The woman rides the beast, but the beast carries the woman. That distinction matters. The harlot appears prominent, visible, and influential, but she is dependent upon the beast’s power. She may seem to direct the beast for a time, but the beast is the stronger and more decisive force in the vision.

a. “I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her.” The focus of the explanation is on the beast. It appeared that the harlot ruled, or rode, the Antichrist’s system, but he is the dynamic factor, using her as tyrants have always used religion, as a mere tool to accomplish their purposes.

The angel says he will tell John the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her. Though the vision began with the harlot, the explanation quickly centers on the beast. This is significant because the woman appears to be riding the beast, suggesting influence, control, or dominance. Yet the angel’s interpretation reveals that the beast is the dynamic factor. The Antichrist’s system supports her, carries her, and ultimately uses her.

False religion has often been used by tyrants as a tool. Rulers understand that religion shapes conscience, loyalty, identity, and obedience. A political system that can harness religious authority gains tremendous influence over people. The Antichrist will use religious Babylon in this same way. The harlot will help gather the world under a broad spiritual umbrella, preparing the nations for global submission. She will give a spiritual face to satanic political power.

This relationship is not one of true worship guiding righteous government. It is corrupt religion serving corrupt power. Religious Babylon will provide legitimacy, emotional force, ceremonial beauty, and moral cover for the beast system. The beast will provide political authority, protection, and international structure for the harlot. For a time, they will serve one another. But the beast is not loyal to the woman. He uses her.

This is consistent with how evil power has operated throughout history. Tyrants frequently use religion when it benefits them, then suppress or destroy it when it becomes inconvenient. The Antichrist will do the same. He will tolerate and use religious Babylon while she helps consolidate global worship and loyalty. But when he demands direct worship of himself, he will have no need for a competing religious system.

2 Thessalonians 2:3, “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;”

2 Thessalonians 2:4, “Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.”

The Antichrist will not remain content with using religion as an instrument. He will eventually exalt himself above all that is called God or worshiped. He will present himself as God. This shows why the beast, not the woman, is the final controlling factor. Religious Babylon may be useful to him, but she cannot remain as a rival center of worship once he demands worship for himself.

Revelation 13:4, “And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast, and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast, who is able to make war with him?”

Revelation 13:8, “And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”

These verses show the final direction of the beast’s system. The world will worship the dragon and the beast. This is the end of the road for religious Babylon. The harlot helps intoxicate the nations, but the beast ultimately directs that intoxication toward himself and toward Satan. The false religious system prepares the world for beast worship.

This also explains the danger of religion detached from truth. False religion can become a political instrument very quickly. When a religious system abandons Scripture, rejects the true Christ, softens the gospel, and seeks worldly power, it becomes available for manipulation. The Antichrist’s system will exploit that weakness on a global scale. The harlot thinks she rides the beast, but the beast carries her, and eventually the beast will destroy her.

Revelation 17:16, “And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.”

This later verse confirms the relationship. The beast and his allied kings will eventually hate the harlot and destroy her. That means her apparent control was temporary. She was useful, but not sovereign. She was glamorous, but not secure. She was influential, but not ultimate. The beast used her until she no longer served his purpose.

The believer should learn from this that worldly power is never a safe master for religion. When religion rides the beast, the beast eventually devours the rider. True Christianity does not need the beast’s power. The church belongs to Christ, is governed by Scripture, empowered by the Spirit, and called to faithfulness, not political manipulation or religious empire building.

2. Revelation 17:8, The Beast Carrying the Woman Is Plainly Connected with the Beast of Revelation 13

Revelation 17:8, “The beast that thou sawest was, and is not, and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition, and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.”

The beast carrying the woman is plainly connected with the beast of Revelation 13. Revelation 17:8 describes him in mysterious language, “was, and is not, and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition.” This language points to the strange and deceptive character of the beast’s career. He has a past form, an apparent interruption or absence, a satanic reemergence, and a certain destiny of destruction.

Revelation 13:1, “And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.”

Revelation 13:3, “And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death, and his deadly wound was healed, and all the world wondered after the beast.”

Revelation 13:4, “And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast, and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast, who is able to make war with him?”

The connection with Revelation 13 is clear. Both passages describe a beast with seven heads and ten horns. Both are associated with blasphemy. Both provoke amazement among the earth dwellers. Revelation 13 says the world wonders after the beast because of the healing of the deadly wound. Revelation 17 says the earth dwellers marvel when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.

The phrase “was, and is not, and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit” has been interpreted in different ways, but within a futurist, premillennial framework it is best understood as describing the beast’s satanic revival or reappearance in connection with the Antichrist’s final kingdom. The beast may refer both to the ruler and to the empire, because Revelation often presents the king and his kingdom together. The final world empire will be a revived form of earlier Gentile dominion, and the Antichrist himself will appear to experience a death and counterfeit resurrection or miraculous recovery that causes the world to marvel.

The beast ascends out of the bottomless pit. This points to demonic origin and satanic empowerment. The Antichrist’s kingdom will not be merely political. It will be energized by powers from beneath. The bottomless pit is associated in Revelation with demonic activity and judgment. Therefore, the beast’s rise is not simply the result of diplomacy, economics, military force, or human ambition. It is empowered from the abyss.

Revelation 9:1, “And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth, and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.”

Revelation 9:2, “And he opened the bottomless pit, and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.”

Revelation 9:11, “And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.”

The bottomless pit is not a symbol of ordinary political ambition. It is connected with demonic forces. Therefore, when Revelation 17:8 says the beast shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, it identifies the beast’s system as satanic in origin and empowerment. The political structure of the Tribulation will be animated by spiritual darkness.

The phrase “and go into perdition” is equally important. The beast’s rise is terrifying, but his end is certain. Perdition means destruction. The Antichrist may ascend in power, deceive the nations, dominate the earth, and use religious Babylon for his purposes, but he is already marked for destruction. His origin is hellish, and his destination is judgment.

Revelation 19:20, “And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image, These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.”

The beast goes into perdition. Revelation 19:20 gives the fulfillment. At the return of Jesus Christ, the beast and the false prophet are taken and cast alive into the lake of fire. The Antichrist’s career ends not in victory, but in immediate divine judgment. This is the comfort of prophecy. God shows the beast’s rise, but He also shows his ruin.

Revelation 17:8 also says that those who dwell on the earth will marvel. This phrase again identifies the unbelieving world, those whose hearts are settled in rebellion against God. They are amazed by the beast’s apparent supernatural recovery, satanic power, political genius, and global authority. Their marveling is not worshipful awe of God. It is deceived admiration of the beast.

Revelation 13:8, “And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”

Revelation 17:8 says the same kind of people marvel at the beast, those “whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world.” This distinction is critical. The earth dwellers marvel because they are spiritually deceived and unregenerate. Their names are not written in the book of life. They do not belong to the Lamb. They are impressed by satanic power because they do not know the true God.

The book of life emphasizes God’s sovereign knowledge and the security of those who belong to Him. The unbelieving world follows the beast, but the redeemed belong to the Lamb. The beast may deceive the world, but he cannot erase the names written in the book of life. He may kill the saints physically, but he cannot take eternal life from those who belong to God.

John 10:27, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:”

John 10:28, “And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.”

John 10:29, “My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.”

The beast’s followers marvel because their hearts are bound to the earth. Christ’s sheep hear His voice and follow Him. The difference is not intelligence, wealth, nationality, or religious background. The difference is spiritual life. Those who belong to Christ are kept by Him.

The language “the beast that was, and is not, and yet is” also presents a satanic counterfeit of divine eternality. God is described in Revelation as the One who is, who was, and who is to come. The beast is described in a distorted imitation, he was, is not, and yet is. This is not equality with God. It is counterfeit blasphemy. Satan imitates divine language to deceive the world.

Revelation 1:8, “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.”

God is truly eternal. The beast only mimics divine permanence through satanic deception. The Lord is the Alpha and Omega. The beast is temporary and doomed. The Lord is Almighty. The beast goes into perdition. The Lord reigns forever. The beast has a brief, blasphemous hour.

This verse therefore gives several important truths. The beast is connected to Revelation 13. His system is satanically empowered. His rise will astonish the unbelieving world. His apparent revival or reappearance will deceive earth dwellers. His followers are those whose names are not written in the book of life. His destiny is perdition. He may carry and use the harlot for a time, but he himself is on the road to certain destruction.

From a Baptist, dispensational, premillennial, pretribulational perspective, this fits the future Tribulation framework. The church has been removed before this final system reaches its full manifestation. The Antichrist will arise as the final ruler of Gentile world power. Religious Babylon will help prepare the world for his rule, but the beast will ultimately turn all worship toward himself. The earth dwellers will marvel, but heaven already knows the end, perdition.

3. Revelation 17:9, Seven Mountains Associated with the Beast

Revelation 17:9, “And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.”

The angel now explains part of the symbolism of the beast. The seven heads are identified as seven mountains on which the woman sits. This statement requires wisdom, because the imagery has more than one possible layer of meaning. The angel says, “And here is the mind which hath wisdom,” meaning this is not to be handled carelessly or superficially. The reader must compare Scripture with Scripture and avoid forcing the passage into a single historical association before considering the fuller prophetic context.

The woman, religious Babylon, is seated upon these seven mountains. This shows that her influence is connected to the structure of the beast’s power. She is not floating independently. She is tied to the beast’s historical, political, and governmental foundation. Since the beast has already been connected with the final Antichrist system, these seven mountains must be understood in relation to world power, Gentile dominion, and the final rebellion against God.

a. “The seven heads are seven mountains.” Many quickly associate the seven mountains with Rome and the Papacy, because Rome is well known as the city on seven hills. Yet literally, the Greek word means mountains, not hills.

Many interpreters immediately identify the seven mountains with Rome, because Rome is famously known as the city on seven hills. From that observation, many then connect Revelation 17 directly and exclusively with the Roman Catholic system and the Papacy. There is certainly a historical reason why interpreters have made that connection. Rome was the dominant world power in John’s day. Rome persecuted Christians. Rome was filled with idolatry, emperor worship, wealth, political arrogance, and moral corruption. Later, Rome also became associated with a religious system that claimed universal spiritual authority.

However, the passage says seven mountains, not merely seven hills. That detail should slow the interpreter down. The Greek term points more naturally to mountains, and in Scripture mountains often symbolize kingdoms, governments, or great powers. Therefore, while Rome may be included in the prophetic picture, especially as the empire of John’s day and as a major historical expression of the Babylonian spirit, it is too narrow to say that Revelation 17:9 is exhausted by the city of Rome’s seven hills.

The angel himself continues the interpretation in Revelation 17:10 by speaking of seven kings. This suggests that the seven mountains are closely connected with kings and kingdoms, not merely topographical hills. Scripture uses mountain imagery in this way elsewhere.

Daniel 2:34, “Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces.”

Daniel 2:35, “Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors, and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them, and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.”

In Daniel 2, the great mountain represents the kingdom of God established by divine power after the destruction of Gentile world empires. The stone cut without hands smites the image, crushes the kingdoms of man, and becomes a great mountain filling the whole earth. This shows that mountain imagery can represent dominion and kingdom authority. Therefore, when Revelation 17 speaks of seven mountains, the wiser interpretation is to consider them in relation to kingdoms or ruling powers, especially because Revelation 17:10 immediately speaks of seven kings.

Daniel 2:44, “And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed, and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.”

Daniel 2:44 confirms the governmental meaning. God’s kingdom will break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms. The mountain in Daniel is not merely geography. It is kingdom authority. That background helps interpret Revelation 17:9. The seven mountains are best understood as great seats or forms of world power upon which the woman sits.

i. Many commentators, especially those who see all of Revelation fulfilled in history, regard the seven mountains as an irrefutable connection with Rome.

Many historicist and preterist leaning commentators have regarded Revelation 17:9 as an unmistakable reference to Rome. Clarke is a good example when he writes, “This verse has been almost universally considered to allude to the seven hills upon which Rome originally stood.” This view is understandable because Rome was indeed famous for its seven hills, and because Rome was the empire ruling during John’s lifetime. Rome also embodied the Babylonian spirit in John’s day through persecution, idolatry, imperial arrogance, and hostility toward the Christian faith.

Yet the fact that Rome fits part of the picture does not mean Rome exhausts the prophecy. Revelation often uses images with historical connections that point beyond the immediate historical setting to a fuller final fulfillment. Rome may be the contemporary expression of Babylon in John’s day, but Revelation 17 looks beyond Rome to the final religious and political system under the Antichrist.

The problem with making Rome the whole meaning is that the woman sits upon many waters, which are peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues, and she is connected with kings and kingdoms on a global scale. The final Babylon is bigger than one city in the first century. It is the religious system of the world, joined to the final beast empire.

Revelation 17:15, “And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.”

This verse makes the scope international. Rome may be involved, but religious Babylon is broader than Rome. She sits over peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues. Her influence is worldwide.

ii. But in the Bible mountains are sometimes a figure of governments, such as in Daniel 2:35, and the city of Rome is built on hills, not mountains.

The stronger biblical approach is to interpret Scripture by Scripture. Since Daniel 2 uses a mountain to symbolize a kingdom, and since Revelation 17:10 immediately connects the seven heads with seven kings, the mountains are best understood as ruling powers or kingdoms rather than merely the physical hills of Rome.

This does not deny that Rome is relevant. Rome was the sixth kingdom in the sequence of Gentile world powers from the standpoint of John’s day. Rome is also historically associated with religious corruption, political power, and persecution. But the text’s own movement takes the reader from seven mountains to seven kings. Therefore, the interpretation should not stop at geography when the angel continues into governmental meaning.

Revelation 17:10, “And there are seven kings, five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come, and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.”

The seven mountains are associated with seven kings. This means Revelation 17:9 and Revelation 17:10 belong together. The mountains symbolize kingdoms or seats of empire, and the kings represent their ruling heads or governmental expressions. The woman sits upon this long history of organized world power in rebellion against God.

b. “The seven heads are seven mountains.” It is probably better to see the seven mountains as representing the seven kings and kingdoms described in Revelation 17:10.

It is better to see the seven mountains as representing the seven kings and kingdoms described in Revelation 17:10. This fits the immediate context and the broader biblical pattern. The beast is not merely a city. The beast is a kingdom system. It has heads and horns. It has kings. It exercises authority. It blasphemes God. It persecutes the saints. It is the final form of Gentile world dominion under the Antichrist.

Religious Babylon sits upon this structure of world power. This means false religion has been tied to the great empires of history. Egypt had its gods and priesthood. Assyria had its gods and imperial brutality. Babylon had its idols, astrology, and occult religion. Medo Persia had its royal decrees and religious manipulation. Greece spread pagan philosophy and Hellenistic religion. Rome practiced emperor worship and persecuted the church. The final revived Roman or beast empire will gather the streams of false religion and political power into one last system.

This interpretation preserves both history and prophecy. It recognizes Rome’s importance without reducing the passage to Rome alone. It acknowledges Roman Catholic elements in religious Babylon without saying that Roman Catholicism is the whole of Babylon. The harlot is larger than any one institution. She is the final global religious system, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.

Many people find the connection between religious Babylon and Roman Catholicism irresistible, and there are reasons for that connection. Roman Catholicism has historically claimed universal authority, centralized spiritual power, priestly mediation, sacramental control, religious wealth, elaborate vestments, political influence, and at times persecution of Bible believers. These features resemble parts of Revelation 17. Yet the prophecy is larger. Religious Babylon will include a strong Roman Catholic element, but it will be much bigger than Roman Catholicism.

False religion is not limited to Rome. Apostate Protestantism, liberal theology, cults, pagan religions, occult spirituality, eastern mysticism, Islam, interfaith movements, prosperity religion, secular spirituality, and every Christ denying system can be gathered into the Babylonian stream. The final system will be broad enough to include many false beliefs, but hostile to the true gospel of Jesus Christ.

Galatians 1:8, “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.”

Galatians 1:9, “As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.”

The issue is the gospel. Any religion that preaches another gospel belongs to the spirit of Babylon, regardless of its name, age, size, architecture, clothing, rituals, or outward respectability. The final harlot is not defined by one label alone. She is defined by spiritual fornication, idolatry, false unity, persecution, and departure from the truth of God.

i. Tendencies for Roman Catholicism’s ultimate partnership with a one world religion were evident in Pope John Paul II’s involvement with and approval of other anti Christian religions.

Some say Pope John Paul II’s involvement with and approval of interreligious cooperation as an example of tendencies that move toward a one world religion. This is not to say that every Roman Catholic individual is knowingly part of Babylon, nor is it to deny that some Roman Catholics may personally trust Christ despite the errors of the system. The point concerns the institutional direction of religious unity apart from biblical truth.

When any religious leader places Christianity alongside anti Christian religions as though all are cooperating in the same spiritual mission, that reflects the spirit of Babylon. Biblical Christianity cannot be blended with religions that deny the deity of Christ, the Trinity, the finished work of the cross, the bodily resurrection, salvation by grace through faith, and the exclusive mediatorship of Christ. Cooperation in civic matters may sometimes occur, but spiritual unity with false religion is forbidden by Scripture.

2 Corinthians 6:14, “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers, for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness, and what communion hath light with darkness?”

2 Corinthians 6:15, “And what concord hath Christ with Belial, or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?”

2 Corinthians 6:16, “And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols, for ye are the temple of the living God, as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”

The command is clear. There can be no spiritual yoking of righteousness with unrighteousness, light with darkness, Christ with Belial, or the temple of God with idols. A one world religious movement built on interfaith cooperation necessarily requires lowering or denying the exclusive claims of Christ. That is Babylonian.

ii. In addressing a “prayer gathering” of Christians, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists and others, Pope John Paul II told participants that their efforts were “unleashing profound spiritual energies in the world and bringing about a new climate of peace.” The Pope pledged that “the Catholic Church intends to ‘share in and promote’ such ecumenical and inter religious cooperation.”

This example illustrates the danger of religious unity detached from truth. A prayer gathering that places Christians, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, and others together as though they are jointly unleashing spiritual energies may sound peaceful and noble to the world, but from a biblical standpoint it is deeply problematic. These religions do not worship the same God in truth. They do not confess the same Christ. They do not preach the same gospel. They do not agree concerning sin, salvation, atonement, Scripture, resurrection, judgment, or eternal life.

The language of “spiritual energies” is also troubling because it is vague enough to be acceptable to nearly any religion. Biblical Christianity does not rest on undefined spiritual energies. It rests on the living God, revealed in Scripture, known through the Lord Jesus Christ, and approached through the blood of His cross.

1 Timothy 2:5, “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;”

1 Timothy 2:6, “Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.”

There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. That statement excludes the entire Babylonian framework of many paths, shared spiritual energies, and interreligious unity. The biblical issue is not whether people can stand in the same room and speak about peace. The issue is whether spiritual fellowship is being claimed where no gospel unity exists.

The promise to “share in and promote” ecumenical and inter religious cooperation reflects a direction that can easily prepare the world for religious Babylon. The final harlot will not likely appear as crude paganism only. She will appear as a global religious solution, a grand spiritual coalition, a movement for peace, unity, and human survival. But if Christ is not confessed in truth, it is not the work of God. It is spiritual fornication.

John 14:6, “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

This verse is non negotiable. Jesus does not say He is one helpful way among many. He is the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father except by Him. Any religious movement that denies or dilutes this is not Christian unity. It is Babylonian compromise.

iii. The Catholic Review commented on this and said, “The unity of religion promoted by the Holy Father Pope John Paul II and approved by His Holiness the Dalai Lama is not a goal to be achieved immediately, but a day may come when the love and compassion which both Buddha and Christ preached so eloquently will unite the world in a common effort to save humanity from senseless destruction, and lead toward the light in which we all believe.”

This statement shows how the language of love, compassion, unity, and light can be used to promote religious synthesis. The problem is not love or compassion themselves. Biblical Christianity commands love and compassion. The problem is the suggestion that Buddha and Christ belong to the same spiritual mission or that all religions share one common light. That is not biblical Christianity. That is religious mixture.

Jesus Christ is not merely one teacher of compassion among many. He is God manifest in the flesh, the only begotten Son, the Lamb of God, the only Savior, the risen Lord, and the coming King. Buddhism does not confess the biblical God, original sin in the biblical sense, substitutionary atonement, resurrection unto eternal life through Christ, or salvation by grace through faith. To merge Christ with Buddha under the banner of shared light is to reduce Christ to a moral teacher and deny His unique glory.

Acts 4:12, “Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”

There is no salvation in any other name. This is why biblical Christianity cannot be absorbed into a world religious movement. The final religious Babylon will likely speak much of peace, compassion, human survival, and shared spiritual values. But if it rejects the exclusive saving name of Jesus Christ, it is a harlot system.

1 John 2:22, “Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ, He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.”

1 John 2:23, “Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father, but he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.”

A system that denies the Son does not have the Father. This is the decisive issue. Religious Babylon will probably speak well of God in broad terms, speak well of spirituality, speak well of moral improvement, and speak well of peace. But if it denies the biblical Son, it does not have the Father. It is antichrist in spirit.

The warning here is not merely against one religious body. The warning is against every attempt to build religious unity by sacrificing biblical truth. Whether that comes through Rome, liberal Protestantism, eastern religion, new age spirituality, Islamic interfaith language, secular global ethics, or any other system, it is the same Babylonian impulse. It seeks unity without Christ, peace without repentance, light without the gospel, and salvation without the cross.

4. Revelation 17:10, Seven Kings and Kingdoms

Revelation 17:10, “And there are seven kings, five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come, and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.”

The angel now adds another layer of interpretation. The seven heads are not only seven mountains, but also seven kings. This confirms that the imagery is governmental and imperial. The beast is tied to a succession of world powers. These kings likely represent kingdoms or empires, because in biblical prophecy a king and his kingdom are often closely identified.

This verse is one of the more difficult passages in Revelation. The language is compressed, and faithful interpreters have offered different explanations. The angel says five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come. This means John is being given a viewpoint from his own day. Some powers were already past, one was present in John’s day, and one was still future.

a. “Five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come.” This is one of the more difficult passages in the Book of Revelation.

This passage is difficult because it requires identifying the seven kings or kingdoms from the standpoint of John’s time. Some have attempted to explain the seven kings as a succession of Roman emperors in John’s era. According to that view, the five fallen, the one present, and the one to come refer to specific emperors of Rome. However, this approach faces many historical problems. Interpreters disagree over where to begin the count, which emperors to include, whether to count brief reigns, whether to include disputed rulers, and how to make the sequence fit the words of the text. Because of these difficulties, the Roman emperor view is not the strongest explanation.

A better interpretation is that the seven kings refer to seven great world empires or kingdoms connected to Satanic opposition against God’s people and God’s program. From John’s standpoint, five had already fallen, one was presently ruling, and one was still future. This fits the broader prophetic structure of Daniel and Revelation, where Gentile world empires are viewed as beasts and kingdoms.

The five fallen kingdoms are best understood as Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo Persia, and Greece. These were the major world powers before John’s day that oppressed or threatened Israel and stood in opposition to God’s covenant people.

Egypt enslaved Israel and opposed God’s command to let His people go.

Exodus 1:13, “And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigour:”

Exodus 1:14, “And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in morter, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field, all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour.”

Assyria conquered the northern kingdom of Israel and carried the people away.

2 Kings 17:6, “In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.”

Babylon conquered Judah, destroyed Jerusalem, burned the temple, and carried the people into exile.

2 Kings 25:8, “And in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, which is the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, unto Jerusalem:”

2 Kings 25:9, “And he burnt the house of the LORD, and the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem, and every great man’s house burnt he with fire.”

Medo Persia ruled after Babylon and is directly represented in Daniel’s visions as part of the succession of Gentile kingdoms.

Daniel 8:20, “The ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia.”

Greece followed Medo Persia and is also identified in Daniel.

Daniel 8:21, “And the rough goat is the king of Grecia, and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king.”

These five had fallen by John’s day. They had already risen and declined as world empires. Each had a place in the history of Gentile dominion and opposition to God’s people.

The phrase “one is” refers to the world empire ruling in John’s day, Rome. Rome was the present empire when John received the Revelation. Rome dominated the Mediterranean world, ruled over Israel, persecuted believers, and embodied imperial pride. It was the sixth kingdom in this prophetic sequence.

Luke 2:1, “And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.”

This verse shows the reach of Roman authority during the time of Christ’s birth. Rome’s political power touched the known world and even became part of the providential setting for the Messiah’s birth in Bethlehem.

John 19:15, “But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King, The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar.”

Rome also stood in the background of Christ’s crucifixion. Jewish leaders rejected their King and appealed to Caesar’s authority. Rome was the ruling Gentile power when the Messiah was rejected.

The phrase “the other is not yet come” refers to a future empire after John’s day. In a futurist, premillennial understanding, this is the final revived form of Roman imperial power, the end time world empire that will become the kingdom of the Antichrist. It is not simply ancient Rome continuing unchanged. It is a future revival, reconfiguration, or final expression of the Roman imperial system described in Daniel and Revelation.

Daniel 2 and Daniel 7 provide the background for this. The fourth kingdom in Daniel’s visions corresponds to Rome, but its final form includes ten toes or ten horns, pointing to a later stage of the same fourth kingdom.

Daniel 2:40, “And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron, forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things, and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise.”

Daniel 2:41, “And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters’ clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided, but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.”

Daniel 2:42, “And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.”

Daniel 2:43, “And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men, but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.”

The iron kingdom is Rome, but the feet and toes show a later divided form. This final stage exists at the time when the stone cut without hands strikes the image and destroys Gentile dominion.

Daniel 2:44, “And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed, and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.”

The kingdom of God destroys this final configuration of Gentile rule. Since Christ did not destroy the Roman Empire and establish the visible Messianic kingdom at His first coming, the final stage must still await future fulfillment. This supports the view that the seventh kingdom is a revived Roman system that will arise before the Antichrist’s final domination.

Daniel 7 also shows the fourth beast with ten horns.

Daniel 7:7, “After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly, and it had great iron teeth, it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it, and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns.”

Daniel 7:8, “I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots, and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.”

The fourth beast corresponds to Rome, but the ten horns and the little horn point to the final form of Roman derived Gentile power and the rise of the Antichrist. Revelation 17 continues this same prophetic structure.

Five have fallen refers to the five world empires before John’s day, Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia, Medo Persia, and Greece.

The five fallen empires represent the historical stream of Gentile world power before John’s day. Egypt enslaved Israel. Assyria destroyed the northern kingdom. Babylon destroyed Jerusalem and the temple. Medo Persia ruled the Jewish people after Babylon. Greece spread Hellenistic influence and was connected to later persecution under Antiochus Epiphanes, a type of the coming Antichrist.

These empires are not chosen randomly. They are connected to the people of Israel and to God’s prophetic program. Revelation is not merely giving a secular history of world empires. It is tracing the satanic and Gentile powers that have opposed God’s covenant purposes and His people.

One is refers to the world empire of John’s day, Rome.

The sixth kingdom is Rome. This was the empire ruling when John wrote. Rome crucified Christ through its governor, persecuted the apostles, exiled John, and demanded imperial allegiance. Rome also becomes prophetically significant because Daniel’s fourth kingdom continues in some final form until the return of Christ.

Rome was not merely another ancient government. It was the iron kingdom of Daniel’s vision. It was strong, brutal, administratively powerful, and far reaching. It became the historical bridge between the first coming of Christ and the future revived empire that will be present before His second coming.

The other has not yet come refers to the one world empire to come, a revival of the Roman Empire.

The seventh kingdom is future from John’s standpoint. It has not yet come. In the futurist interpretation, this refers to a revived Roman Empire, not necessarily Rome in the exact ancient form, but a final world order with continuity to the fourth kingdom of Daniel. It will likely be a confederated global or regional power structure out of which the Antichrist rises.

The revived Roman Empire concept comes from the continuation of Daniel’s fourth kingdom into its ten horn stage. Ancient Rome fell historically, but the prophetic fourth kingdom has a final form that appears in the last days. Revelation 17 shows that this final system is connected with ten kings and then an eighth ruler, the beast himself.

Revelation 17:12, “And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet, but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.”

Revelation 17:13, “These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.”

These verses, though coming later in the chapter, confirm that the final form of the beast’s kingdom involves ten kings who give their power and strength to the beast. This is the end time structure of the Antichrist’s rule.

b. “When he comes, he must continue a short time.” This seventh will quickly be taken over by an eighth, and will become the state of the Antichrist, Revelation 17:11.

The seventh kingdom continues only a short time. This means the final revived Roman or end time confederated system will not last long in its initial form. It will be quickly overtaken or transformed by the rise of the beast himself, who is described in Revelation 17:11 as an eighth.

Revelation 17:11, “And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.”

The seventh kingdom appears to be the final world order or confederation from which the Antichrist emerges. The eighth is the beast himself, who is of the seven, meaning he is connected to the same stream of Gentile world power, but he becomes the final and most blasphemous expression of it. He is not disconnected from the previous kingdoms. He is their culmination.

This explains the phrase “he must continue a short space.” The seventh kingdom will serve as the platform. The eighth ruler, the Antichrist, will become the dominant figure. The final system may begin as a coalition, alliance, revived empire, or global power arrangement, but the beast will take control and centralize authority around himself.

This also fits Revelation 13, where the beast receives global worship and power.

Revelation 13:5, “And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.”

Revelation 13:7, “And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them, and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.”

The beast’s final period of dominant authority is limited. Revelation 13:5 says he continues forty two months. This corresponds to the final three and one half years of the Tribulation, the time often identified with the Great Tribulation. His power is terrifying, but temporary. God limits his duration.

The short time of the seventh kingdom and the limited rule of the beast both show that Satan’s final system is intense but brief. The world will marvel at it. Kings will give power to it. Religious Babylon will ride it for a time. But heaven has already set its boundary.

i. There are problems with this viewpoint as well, so some have taken the seven as symbolic. This plainly is a difficult passage.

It must be honestly admitted that this is a difficult passage. The view that the seven kings are Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo Persia, Greece, Rome, and a future revived Roman Empire is strong because it fits the broad biblical pattern of Gentile world powers. It also fits Daniel’s prophetic framework and John’s historical standpoint. However, there are still questions about the exact relationship between the seventh and eighth, the precise form of the revived Roman Empire, and how the ten kings function within that final structure.

Because of these difficulties, some interpreters take the seven kings symbolically, viewing the number seven as representing the completeness of world power in rebellion against God. There may be some truth in recognizing the symbolic force of seven, since Revelation often uses numbers meaningfully. Yet Revelation 17:10 gives a sequence, five fallen, one present, one future, which suggests more than a general symbol. It points to a historical progression.

The best approach is to hold the interpretation with firmness where Scripture is clear and humility where details are not fully revealed. The passage clearly teaches that the beast is connected to a succession of world powers. It clearly teaches that some were past in John’s day, one existed in John’s day, and another was future. It clearly teaches that the future system would last a short time and then be overtaken by the beast who goes into perdition. The exact mechanics of the future alignment may not be fully visible yet, but the prophetic outline is clear enough.

The important theological point is that history is not random. Empires rise and fall under the sovereignty of God. Satan works through world powers, but he never escapes divine control. Egypt fell. Assyria fell. Babylon fell. Medo Persia fell. Greece fell. Rome fell in its ancient form. The final beast empire will also fall. The kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ.

Revelation 11:15, “And the seventh angel sounded, and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our LORD, and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.”

This is the final answer to the beast and to Babylon. The kingdoms of this world will not remain in rebellion forever. Christ will reign. Babylon will fall. The beast will go into perdition. The Lord Jesus will establish His kingdom in righteousness.

5. Revelation 17:11, The Beast, the Antichrist, Is Clearly Identified as the Eighth King

Revelation 17:11, “And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.”

The angel now identifies the beast more directly. The beast that was, and is not, is himself also the eighth. This means the beast is not merely one more ordinary ruler in the sequence of world empires. He is the final personal ruler, the Antichrist, who arises out of the long history of Gentile world power and becomes the last great enemy of Christ before the visible return of the Lord. He is connected to the seven, yet he is also distinct as the eighth.

The phrase “the beast that was, and is not” connects back to Revelation 17:8, where the beast is described as one who was, is not, and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit. This language shows that his rise has a mysterious, satanic, and counterfeit quality. He imitates divine permanence, but he is not eternal. He imitates resurrection power, but he is not the Lord of life. He appears to the world as though he cannot be stopped, but Scripture says plainly that he “goeth into perdition.”

a. “Is himself also the eighth.” He is of the seven in the sense that he shares characteristics with all previous world empires, but his fate is clear. Perdition means destruction, and the beast will be destroyed.

The beast is “of the seven” because he arises from the same stream of Gentile world dominion. He carries the character of the previous world empires. Like Egypt, he oppresses the people of God. Like Assyria, he is brutal and arrogant. Like Babylon, he is idolatrous, blasphemous, and proud. Like Medo Persia, he operates through law, decree, and imperial authority. Like Greece, he carries the spirit of human wisdom, philosophy, and cultural conquest. Like Rome, he is strong, political, military, imperial, and persecuting. He is the final embodiment of everything wicked in the empires that came before him.

The Antichrist is therefore not an isolated figure who appears without historical or prophetic connection. He is the climax of the beastly world system. The kingdoms of man have always carried a beastly character when they organize themselves in rebellion against God. The Antichrist will gather that spirit into one final ruler. He will be politically brilliant, religiously blasphemous, militarily powerful, economically controlling, and satanically energized.

Daniel 7:7, “After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly, and it had great iron teeth, it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it, and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns.”

Daniel 7:8, “I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots, and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.”

Daniel’s fourth beast provides the Old Testament background for Revelation 17. The fourth kingdom has ten horns, and from among those horns arises another horn, the little horn, who speaks great things. This corresponds to the rise of the Antichrist out of the final form of Gentile imperial power. Revelation 17:11 identifies him as the eighth, yet of the seven, showing both continuity with the previous empires and distinction as the final ruler.

The phrase “goeth into perdition” is one of the most important statements in the verse. Perdition means destruction. The beast’s rise is terrifying, but his end is certain. He may receive the admiration of the world. He may be worshiped by earth dwellers. He may control commerce. He may persecute the saints. He may gather kings for war against the Lamb. But he is already marked for destruction by God.

2 Thessalonians 2:8, “And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:”

This verse gives the end of the Antichrist. He will be consumed by the Lord and destroyed with the brightness of Christ’s coming. The beast is powerful only by permission. He is terrifying only for a season. He is satanically energized, but he is not sovereign. Christ destroys him by His appearing.

Revelation 19:20, “And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image, These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.”

Revelation 19:20 shows the fulfillment of Revelation 17:11. The beast goes into perdition. He does not merely lose an election, surrender a kingdom, or fade from history. He is seized by divine judgment and cast alive into the lake of fire. This is the final destiny of the Antichrist. His power ends in destruction.

This should keep the believer from being overly impressed by the beast. The world will marvel at him, but Scripture already records his end. He is the eighth, but he goes into perdition. He is of the seven, but he cannot escape the Lord. He gathers the world, but he loses to the Lamb. His kingdom is fierce, but temporary. His doom is fixed.

6. Revelation 17:12 to 15, Ten Kings to Come, Allies of the Antichrist

Revelation 17:12, “And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet, but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.”

Revelation 17:13, “These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.”

Revelation 17:14, “These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them, for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings, and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.”

Revelation 17:15, “And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.”

The angel now explains the ten horns. They are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom at the time John receives the vision, but they will receive authority for a short period with the beast. These kings are future from John’s standpoint. They belong to the final form of the beast’s kingdom. Their power is brief, their unity is deliberate, and their allegiance is clear. They give their power and strength to the beast.

This section gives the political structure that supports the Antichrist. The beast does not operate in isolation. He rules through a confederation of kings who align themselves with him. They are of one mind, meaning they share a common purpose, common policy, and common rebellion. Their unity is not godly unity. It is satanic political agreement against Christ.

Their final action is the most important, “These shall make war with the Lamb.” The end time coalition does not merely oppose Christians, Israel, or biblical truth in an indirect way. It ultimately makes war against Jesus Christ Himself. This is the final insanity of human rebellion. The kings of the earth gather their power against the Lamb of God, and the Lamb overcomes them.

a. “Ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet.” This probably alludes to a ten nation confederation, as in the toes of the Daniel 2:24 to 45 image, but some take ten as a symbolic number.

The ten horns are ten kings. The text says they have received no kingdom as yet, meaning they were future from John’s day. They are not merely the Roman emperors of the first century. They are rulers who will arise in the final stage of the beast system. Their authority is granted for “one hour” with the beast, meaning their rule is brief and belongs to the final crisis of world history before the return of Christ.

This probably alludes to the ten toes in Daniel 2 and the ten horns in Daniel 7. Daniel’s prophecy shows a final form of Gentile world power associated with the fourth kingdom, Rome, in a divided yet united form.

Daniel 2:40, “And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron, forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things, and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise.”

Daniel 2:41, “And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters’ clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided, but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.”

Daniel 2:42, “And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.”

Daniel 2:43, “And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men, but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.”

Daniel 2 describes the final form of Gentile dominion as partly strong and partly broken, like iron mixed with clay. This suggests a confederated system, strong in some respects, unstable in others. The ten toes correspond well with the ten horns of Revelation 17. The final world order will have strength, but also internal weakness. It will unite around the beast, but that unity will be temporary and ultimately judged.

Daniel 7:7, “After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly, and it had great iron teeth, it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it, and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns.”

Daniel 7:24, “And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise, and another shall rise after them, and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.”

Daniel 7:24 is especially important because it plainly interprets the ten horns as ten kings. Revelation 17 does the same thing. The ten horns are ten kings. This confirms that Revelation is building upon Daniel’s prophetic framework. The final beast kingdom includes ten rulers, and then another ruler, the Antichrist, rises in connection with them.

Some interpreters take the number ten symbolically, seeing it as a number of completeness with respect to earthly power. While numbers in Revelation can have symbolic significance, the direct connection to Daniel’s ten horns and Revelation’s own explanation strongly supports a real final confederation of ten rulers or ten kingdoms. At minimum, the passage teaches a definite coalition of rulers aligned with the beast.

The quotation from Alford captures the caution needed. He saw these as ten kingdoms arising out of the fourth great kingdom, ten European powers that in the last time act in concert with and subjugation to the antichristian power, making war against Christ. He also admitted that in the precise number and form indicated, they had not yet arisen. That remains a sober point. We should recognize the prophetic outline without pretending to know every future political detail before it unfolds.

i. “They are ten kingdoms which shall arise out of the fourth great kingdom there: ten European powers, which in the last time, in concert with and subjugation to the antichristian power, shall make war against Christ. In the precise number and form here indicated, they have not yet arisen… What changes in Europe may bring them into the required tale and form, it is not for us to say.”

This statement reflects a futurist understanding that the ten kings arise from the sphere of the fourth kingdom, Rome. Since Daniel’s fourth kingdom is commonly understood as Rome, the final ten king structure is often understood as arising from a revived Roman sphere. Historically, this has led many interpreters to watch Europe, because Europe inherited much of the political, legal, cultural, and religious legacy of Rome.

The important point is not to force current headlines into the prophecy with overconfidence. The exact number and form have not yet clearly arisen. Political borders shift. Alliances change. Nations rise and fall. Institutions reorganize. The final shape may not be fully visible until the Tribulation period itself. The prophecy gives the structure, ten kings allied with the beast, but it does not require the church to identify every detail prematurely.

Still, the broad direction is clear. There will be a final confederation connected to the old Roman sphere of power. These kings will act in concert with the Antichrist. They will give their power to him. They will make war against Christ. Their rebellion will be organized, deliberate, and international.

Psalm 2:1, “Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?”

Psalm 2:2, “The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying,”

Psalm 2:3, “Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.”

Psalm 2 gives the same spirit seen in Revelation 17. The kings of the earth take counsel together against the Lord and against His Anointed. Revelation 17 shows the final form of that counsel. The rulers of the earth align with the beast and make war with the Lamb.

b. “These are of one mind.” Many have seen the European Union, formerly the European Economic Community, as the potential fulfillment of this. Perhaps, but now there are more than ten nations in this revived European power, and more on the way.

The ten kings are of one mind. This means they are united in purpose. Their unity is not necessarily based on affection or long term trust. It is based on shared ambition, shared rebellion, and shared submission to the beast. They agree to give their power and authority to the Antichrist.

Many have seen the European Union, formerly the European Economic Community, as a potential fulfillment or foreshadowing of this prophecy. That interest is understandable because the EU grew out of Europe, the historic territory associated with the Roman Empire, and because it represents a supranational political and economic structure. The Treaty of Rome, signed in 1957, is often noted because it began the process that led toward the present European Union. The location and name naturally draw attention from prophecy students.

However, there are difficulties in identifying the present EU directly with the ten kings of Revelation 17. The European Union has had more than ten member states for a long time, and its structure does not presently match Revelation’s precise ten king confederation. That does not mean Europe is irrelevant. It means caution is needed. The EU may be a precursor, a stage, a shadow, or part of the eventual environment, but Revelation 17 speaks of a final form that has not yet appeared in exact detail.

The phrase “these are of one mind” is more important than speculation about current institutions. The prophecy says a group of rulers will come to united agreement and hand over authority to the beast. Their unity will be the political machinery of the Antichrist’s rise.

i. There is little doubt the EU itself claims to be a successor to the ancient Roman Empire. The EEC started in 1957, when six European nations met to talk about combining their nuclear, coal, and economic resources. They met together in Rome and signed the Treaty of Rome, the beginnings of the present EU. In many places in Europe, the EU flag is just as prominent as any national flag.

The European project has often carried language, symbolism, and ambition that recalls Rome. The European Economic Community began in 1957 when six European nations met and signed the Treaty of Rome. That treaty helped lay the foundation for what later developed into the European Union. The fact that this treaty was signed in Rome is historically and prophetically interesting, especially given Daniel’s fourth kingdom and Revelation’s emphasis on the final beast system.

The growing prominence of the EU flag in many places in Europe also reflects the movement toward supranational identity. National sovereignty is not erased entirely, but it is increasingly shared, pooled, or subordinated to larger institutions. That kind of political development naturally interests students of prophecy because Revelation 17 presents kings who give their power and authority to the beast.

Yet again, careful interpretation is necessary. The present EU is not a perfect match for Revelation 17. It has more than ten nations and lacks the final Antichrist figure as described in Scripture. But it may demonstrate how nations can voluntarily surrender aspects of sovereignty to a larger political structure. That pattern is compatible with the prophetic direction.

ii. We could still say what Alford wrote in 1866: “In the precise number and form here indicated, they have not yet arisen… What changes in Europe may bring them into the required tale and form, it is not for us to say.” But it will happen, and this confederation of nations will emerge as an heir to the ancient Roman Empire.

The caution expressed in 1866 remains useful. The precise number and form have not yet clearly arisen. The final configuration may come through political crisis, economic collapse, war, treaty, security alliance, or some restructuring that is not presently obvious. It is not for us to say exactly what changes in Europe or the Roman sphere will bring the prophecy into its required form. But Scripture says the ten kings will arise, and their rise will align with the beast.

The final confederation will emerge as an heir to the ancient Roman Empire in the prophetic sense. It will represent the last form of Daniel’s fourth kingdom, the final phase of Gentile world dominion before Christ destroys the system and establishes His kingdom.

Daniel 2:44, “And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed, and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.”

The phrase “in the days of these kings” is important. God’s kingdom is established in the days of the final kings. This fits Revelation 17, where the ten kings make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb overcomes them. The final confederation does not endure. It is crushed by the coming King.

c. “These are of one mind, and they will give their power and authority to the beast.” Whatever their exact identity, their actions are clear. They join with the Antichrist in the war against Christ, in the battle alluded to in the sixth and seventh bowls, Revelation 16:12 to 21.

Whatever the exact identity of the ten kings, their actions are clear. They are of one mind. They give their power and authority to the beast. They make war with the Lamb. This is the essential point. Prophecy is not given so the church can speculate endlessly, but so God’s people can understand the direction and end of the world system.

These kings surrender their authority to the beast. This shows the consolidation of political power under the Antichrist. The world may present this as unity, security, peace, or survival. But Scripture reveals it as rebellion against Christ. Human government, when detached from God and concentrated under satanic leadership, becomes beastly.

Their war against the Lamb connects with the final conflict alluded to in the sixth and seventh bowls.

Revelation 16:12, “And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates, and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.”

Revelation 16:13, “And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.”

Revelation 16:14, “For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.”

Revelation 16:15, “Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.”

Revelation 16:16, “And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.”

The kings of the earth are gathered by demonic spirits to the battle of the great day of God Almighty. This is not merely geopolitical conflict. It is demonic mobilization. Revelation 17 shows that the ten kings align with the beast and make war with the Lamb. Revelation 16 shows the broader gathering of the kings of the earth toward Armageddon.

Revelation 16:17, “And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air, and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done.”

Revelation 16:18, “And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings, and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great.”

Revelation 16:19, “And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell, and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.”

Revelation 16:20, “And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.”

Revelation 16:21, “And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent, and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, for the plague thereof was exceeding great.”

The seventh bowl brings the final outpouring of judgment, including the remembrance of great Babylon before God. The rebellion of the kings, the beast, and Babylon all converge in the final judgments. The world system gathers against Christ, and Christ answers in wrath.

Yet Revelation 17:14 gives the outcome before the battle is fully described.

Revelation 17:14, “These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them, for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings, and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.”

The Lamb overcomes them. This is certain. The title “Lamb” reminds us that the One they oppose is the crucified Redeemer. The world makes war against the Lamb, but the Lamb is also “Lord of lords, and King of kings.” His humility does not mean weakness. His sacrifice does not mean defeat. The Lamb who was slain is the sovereign King who conquers all His enemies.

Revelation 19:11, “And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse, and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.”

Revelation 19:12, “His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns, and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.”

Revelation 19:13, “And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood, and his name is called The Word of God.”

Revelation 19:14, “And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.”

Revelation 19:15, “And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.”

Revelation 19:16, “And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”

Revelation 19 gives the visible return of Christ. The same truth stated in Revelation 17:14 is displayed in full. The beast’s coalition makes war against the Lamb, but Christ destroys them. He judges and makes war in righteousness. His title is King of kings and Lord of lords.

The verse also says, “they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.” Those with Christ are identified by divine calling, election, and faithfulness. This likely includes the glorified saints who return with Christ. They do not overcome by their own strength. They are with the Lamb because He has called them, chosen them, and made them faithful.

Revelation 19:14, “And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.”

The armies of heaven follow Christ. They are clothed in fine linen, white and clean. They accompany the King, but Christ Himself wins the victory. The saints are with Him, but the glory belongs to Him.

d. “The waters which you saw, where the harlot sits.” The harlot presides over peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues. This tells us that the harlot’s influence is worldwide, through her connection to the beast. This will be a truly one world religion.

Revelation 17:15 interprets the waters where the harlot sits.

Revelation 17:15, “And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.”

The harlot’s influence is worldwide. She sits over peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues. This means religious Babylon is not confined to one tribe, language, denomination, region, or empire. Her reach is global. She has influence over humanity broadly through her connection to the beast.

This will be a truly one world religion. It will likely gather apostate Christianity, paganism, eastern religion, mysticism, occult spirituality, interfaith movements, and political religion into a broad system of global religious unity. The world will celebrate it as peace, tolerance, cooperation, and spiritual progress. God calls it harlotry.

The phrase “where the whore sitteth” indicates authority, influence, and presiding control. She does not merely exist among the nations. She sits upon them. She shapes their spiritual life, influences their rulers, intoxicates their citizens, and prepares them for the beast.

This global religious influence is made possible through her connection to the beast. The beast gives political structure and power to the religious system. The harlot gives religious legitimacy and spiritual seduction to the beast system. Together they produce the final counterfeit kingdom.

i. The interpretation of the harlot focuses on her relation to the beast, she is utterly connected to the beast and his government. If this sounds unthinkable, remember that throughout history, religion, not true Christianity, has often been the willing servant and supporter of tyrants.

The interpretation of the harlot focuses heavily on her relation to the beast. She rides the beast. The beast carries her. She sits upon many waters. She influences peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues. She is connected to kings. She is intertwined with political power. This means religious Babylon is not merely a private spiritual movement. It is a global religious system joined to government power.

If this sounds unthinkable, history proves otherwise. Religion, not true biblical Christianity, but corrupted religion, has often served tyrants. False religion gives rulers a sacred appearance. It teaches people to obey wicked power as though disobedience would be impiety. It blesses wars, crowns tyrants, justifies persecution, and turns political loyalty into religious duty. This has happened in pagan empires, Islamic regimes, communist cults of personality, apostate churches, state churches, and nationalist religious movements.

True Christianity is different. True Christianity preaches Christ as Lord, Scripture as authority, salvation by grace through faith, and obedience to God above men. Because of that, true Christianity often becomes a threat to tyrants. False religion serves tyrants. True Christianity exposes them.

Acts 5:29, “Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.”

This is why tyrants hate true Christianity. The believer is commanded to respect lawful authority, but he cannot give ultimate obedience to the state. When rulers command what God forbids or forbid what God commands, the Christian must obey God rather than men. Religious Babylon will not do this. She will cooperate with the beast because she is spiritually adulterous.

Romans 13:1, “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers, for there is no power but of God, the powers that be are ordained of God.”

Romans 13:2, “Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God, and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.”

Romans 13:3, “For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil, wilt thou then not be afraid of the power, do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same:”

Romans 13:4, “For he is the minister of God to thee for good, but if thou do that which is evil, be afraid, for he beareth not the sword in vain, for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.”

Government has a legitimate role under God. But the beast system perverts government into blasphemous rebellion. Religious Babylon perverts worship into spiritual support for that rebellion. The issue is not whether civil authority exists by God’s design. It does. The issue is that the final beast government becomes satanically controlled and demands what belongs only to God.

Revelation 13:15, “And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.”

The beast system demands worship and kills those who refuse. That is the final corruption of government and religion. Civil authority becomes idolatrous tyranny. Religion becomes enforcement for blasphemy. The harlot and beast together represent that final union of false worship and wicked power.

The believer must understand that unity is not automatically good. Global unity against God is rebellion. Religious unity without Christ is harlotry. Political unity under the beast is tyranny. The world may call this progress, but Scripture calls it war against the Lamb.

The comfort is that the Lamb overcomes. The ten kings give their power to the beast, but the beast goes into perdition. The harlot sits over many waters, but Babylon falls. The kings make war against Christ, but Christ is Lord of lords and King of kings. Those with Him are called, chosen, and faithful.

D. “until the words of God shall be fulfilled” is crucial. The final authority in history is not the beast, the ten kings, the harlot, or the nations. The final authority is the Word of God. Everything moves until God’s words are fulfilled. Prophecy is not speculation. Prophecy is the declared purpose of the sovereign God.

a. “God has put it into their hearts.” God directed the judgment against religious Babylon. God will sometimes use a wicked group, here, the ten kings, to be an instrument of His judgment against another wicked group, here, religious Babylon.

God directs the judgment against religious Babylon by putting it into the hearts of the ten kings to fulfill His will. This does not mean the ten kings are righteous. They are wicked rulers aligned with the beast. But God often uses wicked powers as instruments of judgment against other wicked powers. He did this throughout the Old Testament. He used Assyria to judge Israel. He used Babylon to judge Judah. He later judged Assyria and Babylon for their own pride and cruelty. God’s use of a wicked instrument does not excuse the instrument.

Isaiah 10:5, “O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation.”

Isaiah 10:6, “I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.”

God called Assyria the rod of His anger. Assyria was used to judge, but Assyria was still wicked. The Assyrians did not act out of love for God’s holiness. They acted out of pride and violence. Yet God used them.

Isaiah 10:12, “Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks.”

After using Assyria as an instrument of judgment, God judged Assyria for its pride. This same principle appears in Revelation 17. God uses the ten kings to judge religious Babylon, but that does not make the ten kings righteous. They too will be judged when they make war against the Lamb.

The same pattern appears with Babylon in the Old Testament.

Jeremiah 25:9, “Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the LORD, and Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and an hissing, and perpetual desolations.”

God called Nebuchadnezzar His servant in the sense that Babylon served God’s judicial purpose. But Babylon was not spiritually righteous.

Jeremiah 25:12, “And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the LORD, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations.”

God used Babylon, then judged Babylon. Revelation 17 follows the same divine logic. God uses wicked kings to judge the harlot, then Christ judges the beast and his kings. The sovereignty of God does not erase human responsibility. It guarantees that even human evil will not escape His control or His judgment.

b. “To be of one mind, and to give their kingdom to the beast.” God will ordain the political support of these ten kings for the Antichrist. God will give the world just what it wants, godless religion and godless rulers.

The ten kings are of one mind and give their kingdom to the beast. This political unity is ordained within God’s sovereign plan. The world wants unity without Christ, religion without truth, government without God, morality without Scripture, peace without repentance, and security without righteousness. God will allow the world to have what it wants. The result will be the beast system.

This is one of the severe judgments of God. Sometimes God judges men by giving them over to their own desires. When people reject truth, God may allow them to embrace deception. When nations reject righteous rule, God may allow them to come under tyrants. When the world rejects Christ, God will allow the world to follow the Antichrist.

Romans 1:24, “Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:”

Romans 1:25, “Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.”

Romans 1:26, “For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections, for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:”

Romans 1:28, “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;”

Romans 1 shows the principle of divine abandonment. When men reject God, God gives them over. Revelation 17 shows this principle on a global prophetic scale. The world will reject the true God and embrace false religion. Then it will receive godless rulers and the beast himself.

2 Thessalonians 2:10, “And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.”

2 Thessalonians 2:11, “And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:”

2 Thessalonians 2:12, “That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”

The final delusion comes because men receive not the love of the truth. They do not merely lack information. They reject truth. Therefore, God sends strong delusion, and they believe the lie. Revelation 17 shows the political side of that delusion. The ten kings give their kingdom to the beast. The religious side is the harlot. The political side is the beast. God allows both until His words are fulfilled.

The phrase “until the words of God shall be fulfilled” also brings comfort. The beast’s power has a limit. The ten kings’ authority has a limit. Religious Babylon’s influence has a limit. Everything continues only until God’s Word is fulfilled. God is never reacting in panic. He is fulfilling what He has spoken.

Isaiah 46:9, “Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is none else, I am God, and there is none like me,”

Isaiah 46:10, “Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:”

God declares the end from the beginning. His counsel shall stand. Revelation 17 is not chaos. It is prophecy. Even the wicked unity of the kings is under the sovereign decree of God.

3. Revelation 17:18, The Great Harlot Is Identified with Rome

Revelation 17:18, “And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.”

The angel now identifies the woman as “that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.” In John’s day, this would naturally point to Rome. Rome was the dominant city of the world. It was the political, economic, military, and religious center of the empire. It ruled over kings and nations. It embodied imperial power and pagan religion. It persecuted Christians and demanded allegiance to Caesar. From John’s earthly standpoint, no city better fit the description than Rome.

Yet the prophetic meaning reaches beyond Rome alone. Rome was the ready personification of Babylon in John’s day, but Babylon is larger than Rome. Babylon is the world system organized in rebellion against God. It may have a geographic center at different times in history, but its spiritual identity is broader than any one city. In Genesis, Babylon begins at Babel. In the Old Testament, Babylon becomes the great empire that destroys Jerusalem. In John’s day, Rome personifies Babylon’s world ruling power. In the future, final Babylon will gather the religious, political, and commercial rebellion of the world into its last form.

a. “That great city.” In John’s day, there was no doubt which city reigns over the kings of the earth. Rome was the political, economic, and religious center of the world of that time.

In John’s day, Rome was the city that reigned over the kings of the earth. It was the seat of imperial authority. Its roads, armies, laws, taxes, rulers, and governors touched the known world. Rome was not merely another city. It was the center of the dominant world empire. The city embodied the power of the beastly system that opposed God and persecuted His people.

Rome was also a religious center. Emperor worship, pagan temples, idolatrous ceremonies, and imperial cult practices gave Rome a religious character. Political loyalty and religious devotion were intertwined. To refuse emperor worship was not merely a private religious disagreement. It was treated as defiance of Rome’s authority. This made Rome a fitting expression of Babylon in John’s day.

1 Peter 5:13, “The church that is at Babylon, elected together with you, saluteth you, and so doth Marcus my son.”

Many interpreters understand Peter’s reference to Babylon as a veiled reference to Rome. This reflects the early Christian awareness that Rome functioned as the Babylon of their day. Rome was the dominant world city, the persecuting power, and the symbol of human empire in opposition to God.

Revelation 14:8, “And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.”

The phrase “that great city” is used of Babylon. Revelation 17:18 connects the woman with the great city reigning over kings. In John’s day, Rome fit that description historically. Prophetically, the final Babylon will fulfill it completely.

i. But Babylon, in the sense of the world system, has always been that great city which reigns over the kings of the earth. The question for Christians is, “Does it reign over me? Or am I the citizen of a better city, the Jerusalem above?”

Babylon, in the larger biblical sense, has always been the great city that seeks to reign over the kings of the earth. It is the city of man in rebellion against God. It is organized power without submission to the Lord. It is false worship, corrupt politics, economic pride, sensual culture, persecution, and human glory. Whether expressed through Babel, ancient Babylon, Rome, or future Babylon, the spirit is the same.

The question for Christians is not merely whether we can identify Babylon prophetically. The personal question is whether Babylon reigns over us. Does the world system govern our desires, values, fears, ambitions, and loyalties? Does Babylon shape the way we think about success, money, power, pleasure, reputation, and compromise? Or do we live as citizens of a better city?

Galatians 4:26, “But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.”

The believer belongs to the Jerusalem above, not Babylon below. The Jerusalem above is free. It is connected to God’s promise, grace, and true spiritual identity. Babylon enslaves through idolatry, lust, pride, and fear. The Jerusalem above is the city of God’s promise and freedom.

Hebrews 11:9, “By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise:”

Hebrews 11:10, “For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.”

Abraham looked for a city whose builder and maker is God. That is the opposite of Babel. Babel was man building a city to make a name for himself. Faith looks for the city God builds. Babylon says, let us make a name. Faith says, let God be glorified.

Hebrews 13:14, “For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.”

This is the Christian posture. We have no continuing city here. Babylon is temporary. Rome fell. Ancient empires fell. The final Babylon will fall. The believer seeks the city to come.

b. “That great city.” Again, the association of this harlot, religious Babylon, with Rome does not mean that the Roman Catholic Church is identical to religious Babylon, though apostate Roman Catholics will definitely be a part of this great harlot.

The association of the harlot with Rome must be handled carefully. Rome is clearly relevant. In John’s day, Rome was the great city reigning over the kings of the earth. Historically, Rome also became associated with a vast religious system claiming universal authority. There is no doubt that apostate Roman Catholicism will be part of the final religious Babylon. Its history of hierarchy, ritualism, tradition over Scripture, priestly mediation, Marian devotion, political influence, and persecution of Bible believers fits many Babylonian patterns.

However, it is not accurate to say that the Roman Catholic Church alone is identical to religious Babylon. Religious Babylon is larger. It is the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth. It includes all false religion, all apostate systems, all Christ denying spiritual movements, and all religious compromise that rejects biblical truth. Apostate Roman Catholicism will be included, but so will apostate Protestantism, false Christianity, liberal theology, cults, pagan religions, Islam, eastern religions, occultism, New Age spirituality, secular moral religion, and every system that denies the true gospel.

Revelation 17:5, “And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.”

The woman is not called one harlot only. She is the mother of harlots. This means she is broader than one institution. She is the source and final gathering place of spiritual adultery and abominations. Every false religion is related to Babylon in spirit because every false religion redirects worship away from the true God and the true Christ.

1 John 2:22, “Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ, He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.”

1 John 2:23, “Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father, but he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.”

The dividing line is Christ. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father. Therefore, every religious system that denies the biblical Son belongs to the antichrist spirit. Religious Babylon gathers that spirit into one final world system.

i. “It is most direct in Paganism, but it is in Mohammedanism, in Papalism, in the degenerate Catholicism of the Eastern churches, and in all the heretical isms, infidelities, and mere goodishness which afflict our Protestant Christianity as well.”

This statement rightly broadens the application beyond Rome alone. The Babylonian spirit is direct in paganism because paganism openly worships false gods, images, nature powers, spirits, ancestors, and created things rather than the Creator. It is present in Mohammedanism, meaning Islam, because Islam denies the deity of Christ, rejects the Sonship of Christ, denies the crucifixion as Scripture teaches it, and presents another path to God apart from the finished work of Christ. It is present in Papalism, meaning the Roman system where it exalts ecclesiastical authority, tradition, sacraments, priestly mediation, and Marian devotion in ways that obscure or contradict the gospel. It is present in degenerate Catholicism within the Eastern churches where ritual, tradition, icons, and ecclesiastical authority replace or obscure biblical truth. It is also present in the heresies, unbelief, and mere moral niceness that afflict Protestant Christianity.

The phrase “mere goodishness” is important. False religion does not always look dark or mystical. Sometimes it looks respectable, polite, charitable, and moral. It speaks about being kind, being spiritual, being inclusive, being decent, and being helpful, but it avoids sin, judgment, repentance, the blood of Christ, the necessity of the new birth, and the authority of Scripture. That is still Babylonian if it replaces the gospel with human goodness.

2 Timothy 3:5, “Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof, from such turn away.”

A form of godliness without the power of true godliness is false religion. It may be Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, liberal, mystical, moralistic, or interfaith. If it denies the truth and power of the gospel, it belongs to the Babylonian stream.

Titus 1:16, “They profess that they know God, but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.”

Profession alone is not enough. Religious Babylon is full of profession. It is full of religious language. But it denies God in truth. A system can claim to know God while opposing Him by doctrine, worship, and works.

Matthew 7:21, “Not every one that saith unto me, LORD, LORD, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.”

Matthew 7:22, “Many will say to me in that day, LORD, LORD, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name have cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works?”

Matthew 7:23, “And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you, depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”

Jesus warns that religious activity in His name does not guarantee salvation. Many will claim religious works, but Christ will say, “I never knew you.” That is why Babylon is so dangerous. It gives men religion without saving knowledge of Christ.

c. “That great city.” Rather, Rome was the ready personification of Babylon, the world in rebellion against God, in John’s day. Today, idolatry is just as strong, but more dispersed. Today, which city in the world is most readily identified with the world system? Hollywood? Wall Street? Washington?

Rome was the ready personification of Babylon in John’s day because Rome embodied the world in rebellion against God. It was powerful, wealthy, idolatrous, sensual, persecuting, and proud. It ruled over kings and nations. It demanded loyalty. It presented itself as the center of civilization and order. It was the visible face of the world system.

Today, idolatry is just as strong, but more dispersed. The world system is not limited to one city in the same obvious way. Its influence is spread through media, finance, politics, technology, entertainment, education, corporations, international institutions, and religious movements. Babylon today is networked. It does not need one tower in Shinar or one imperial capital in the old Roman sense to shape the nations. It spreads through screens, markets, governments, universities, entertainment studios, banks, platforms, and religious coalitions.

Hollywood may represent the cultural and entertainment power of Babylon. It exports immorality, vanity, sensuality, celebrity worship, anti biblical values, and narrative control to the nations. Wall Street may represent the financial and commercial power of Babylon. It shows how wealth, greed, speculation, luxury, and economic influence can shape nations and enslave men’s desires. Washington may represent the political and imperial power of Babylon. It shows how government, bureaucracy, military strength, ideological power, and policy can influence the world. None of these must be identified simplistically as Revelation’s final Babylon by themselves, but each can illustrate the present expression of the Babylonian world system.

1 John 2:15, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”

1 John 2:16, “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.”

1 John 2:17, “And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.”

These verses define the heart of Babylon in every age. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life are the operating principles of the world system. Hollywood, Wall Street, Washington, Rome, ancient Babylon, and final Babylon all matter only insofar as they express that deeper rebellion. The world passes away. The will of God abides.

The believer therefore must not only identify Babylon prophetically, he must reject Babylon spiritually. It is possible to denounce Rome, Hollywood, Wall Street, or Washington while still loving Babylon in the heart. If a man loves the world’s approval, wealth, power, sensuality, and pride, Babylon reigns over him in practice. The issue is not only where Babylon is. The issue is whether Babylon has captured the heart.

Philippians 3:20, “For our conversation is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:”

The believer’s citizenship is in heaven. That does not remove earthly responsibilities, but it establishes ultimate loyalty. The Christian belongs to Christ, not Babylon. His hope is not the beast’s kingdom, the harlot’s religion, the merchant’s wealth, or the politician’s promise. His hope is the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Revelation 18:4, “And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.”

Though this command appears in the next chapter, it summarizes the proper response to Babylon. God’s people must come out of her. They must not share her sins. They must not receive her plagues. Separation from Babylon is not optional for faithful believers. It is a mark of loyalty to God.

Revelation 17 ends by showing that religious Babylon, despite her wealth, beauty, influence, and alliance with power, is judged. She rides the beast for a time, but the beast turns on her. The ten kings hate her and destroy her. Yet behind their violent actions stands the sovereign hand of God. God uses wicked rulers to judge wicked religion. He allows the world to have the godless religion and godless rulers it desires. But He does so only until His words are fulfilled.

The final lesson is plain. Religious Babylon is glamorous but doomed. The beast is powerful but doomed. The ten kings are unified but doomed. Rome was mighty but temporary. The world system is influential but passing away. The only kingdom that will stand is the kingdom of Christ.

Revelation 11:15, “And the seventh angel sounded, and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our LORD, and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.”

The kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ. Babylon will not reign forever. The beast will not reign forever. The harlot will not seduce forever. Christ will reign forever and ever.