THE GREAT WHORE

Revelation 17:1-6

  1. Intro.
    1. what is meant by "Babylon"
      1. when John wrote Revelation, Babylon was still a viable city
      2. it would be confusing to the 1st century readers, as well as future generation, if John really meant Rome when he wrote Babylon
      3. all the apostles, including John, wrote plainly and scathingly about false teachers and false doctrines in the church and would not need to hide their teaching by symbolism
      4. Revelation means "unveiling" not "veiling"
      5. in the absence of any statement in the context to the contrary, we must assume that the term Babylon applies to the real city of Babylon
    2. the fact that Babylon would eventually fall into almost complete disuse would hardly take God by surprise
      1. divine omniscience can also foresee a time when Babylon would again exhibit its former eminence
      2. even at this time the Iraqi government is busily attempting to rebuild the great city
  2. one of the seven angel wants to show John the judgment of the great whore – Revelation 17:1
    1. John had just been told that Babylon would undergo some special judgments that would be appropriate for her wickedness – Revelation 16:19
      1. because Babylon had made all nations drink her wine of fornication, God would give Babylon His wine of fierce wrath
      2. John is given a special invitation to observe this judgment
    2. the angel calls it "the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters
      1. this picture is used here for the first time
      2. it is used in such a way as to imply that John was already aware of her character and influence
      3. Babylon had been the enemy of God’s people for centuries, and her idolatries had infected many nations
    3. John may have been reminded of passages in Isaiah and Jeremiah – Isa. 47:5 & Jer. 51:7
      1. the prophecies of Isaiah and Jeremiah concerning Babylon was primarily for their day
      2. those prophecies had been fulfilled
      3. now John learns that these prophecies, like many OT prophecies, have both a near and a distant fulfillment
      4. the first being a type and forerunner of the last
      5. Babylon may have seemed weak and impotent in John’s day, but she was not dead
      6. her idolatrous ways had survived through the other nations she had contaminated
    4. the word "whore" does not only refer to a woman that sells her body, but to any that commit fornication
      1. in the OT, physical fornication and adultery were considered symbolic of spiritual fornication
      2. spiritual fornication is the serving and loving of other gods rather than the true Creator
      3. this is undoubtedly the meaning here
      4. Babylon as a nation could not commit physical fornication, but she did lead many nations away from God
  3. the influence of the great whore – Revelation 17:2
    1. how could Babylon make the kings and inhabitants of the earth "drunk with the wine of her fornication"
      1. Nebuchadnezzer and his Babylonian empire were the greatest of his day, but they were both long gone in John’s day
      2. other nations had never heard of Babylon, such as the Far East and the Americas, so how could he have infected them
      3. to understand this situation, we must remember that Nebuchadnezzer’s Babylon was not the original Babylon
        1. Nebuchadnezzer was concerned with the restoration of Babylon’s earlier culture and religion
        2. he rebuilt temples and reinstituted the ancient worship of the older Babylons
      4. the Babylon of Nebuchadnezzer was not the Babylon that made all nations drunk with the wine of her spiritual fornication
        1. the Babylon of Nebuchadnezzer had little cultural influence on the nations that came after them
        2. the many similarities between the idolatrous worship in Babylon and of peoples far removed from Babylon could not have come from Nebuchadnezzer’s kingdom
        3. the first Babylon was founded by Nimrod – Genesis 10:8-10
          1. the remains of a great step tower in a suburb of Babylon is called "Birs-nimrud" (tower or Nimrod)
          2. Nimrod thought that he could make his own way to heaven
          3. with the confusion of tongues at the first Babel, the religious system was carried by the scattered tribes into all the world
    2. this is the reason that the religions of all peoples , past and present, are evolutionary in belief
      1. all except those based on Genesis 1 & 2 (Christianity, Judaism, Islam)
      2. pantheism is a belief that God and the universe are identical
      3. polytheism is a belief that there are many gods
      4. evolution is a belief that the forces of nature can somehow generate higher and higher forms of life
      5. spiritism is a belief that natural objects have indwelling spirits
      6. animalism is a belief that there is no fundamental difference between man and animals
      7. astrology is a belief that the stars and planets have a influence on human affairs
      8. idolatry is the belief that some image made by human hands is a god
    3. all religions and philosophies, except those founded on a special creation, worship and serve the creation more than the Creator
    4. all the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk by the wine of Babel’s fornication, as Nimrod chose Satan rather that God
  4. what John saw – Revelation 17:3-6
    1. the beast is symbolic of the historical succession of world governments, which raise up and empower Satan
    2. after the flood, God instituted the principle of human government
      1. God purposely did not institute a one-world government
      2. His specific command was to scatter over all the world
      3. Satan raised up Nimrod to conquer all others, and to establish a one world government centered at the first Babylon
    3. this beast represents a world government that is energized by Satan
      1. the first such government was that of Babylon under Nimrod
      2. the spirit of Babylon has motivated other conquering rulers
      3. the last such government will again be centered at Babylon
      4. the primary meaning of the beast in this passage is political Babylon
      5. it will be empowered by Satan for the purpose of maintaining a center of opposition to God
    4. who is the woman riding on the beast
      1. the angel called her "the great whore sitting upon many waters" – 17:1
      2. since she was sitting on the waters, the beast was also on the waters
      3. the waters symbolize the peoples and nations of the world – 17:15
      4. she is also identified as "mystery Babylon the great" – 17:5
      5. Satan empowers the beast, and the beast supports the harlot
        1. the state religion supported by the political power
        2. this woman is the religious antichrist
        3. the woman makes the beast look outwardly beautiful, making it easier for him to attain the power he seeks
      6. the harlot Babylon is a contrasting type of the chaste virgin Jerusalem
    5. the woman’s apparel – 4
      1. she is arrayed like a queen with rich jewelry and magnificent garments
        1. irresistibly attractive to ungodly men
        2. she seduces and tempts them to depart from the true God and to partake of her pleasures
        3. with a golden cup full of sparkling wine, her invitation is accepted
          1. generation after generation, nation after nation
          2. multitudes are deceived and lost because of this – Proverbs 5:3-5
      2. this is the way of false religion
        1. false religions mask the lack of spiritual life by outward pageantry and sensual satisfaction
        2. false religions pander to man’s religious nature, while appealing to his sensual feelings
      3. the cup held out is golden
        1. to the sensual and carnal heart the world's religion is something bright and glorious
        2. the glittering fullness of good and blessing (Laodicean church)
        3. in that shining cup is only abomination and uncleanness-spiritual prostitution
      4. the cup is one
        1. all the varied systems of false faith and false worship which taint our world are received by one, and they are of the same essence
        2. that essence is the harlotry of old Babylon
      5. )multitudes through the ages have partaken of the harlots golden cup and been made drunk
        1. instead of the life giving wine from heaven, this cup contains foolishness and filthiness
        2. all in the name of religion
    6. she had a name written on her forehead – 5
      1. it was a name that properly identified her character
        1. a harlot is one that lives outside of God’s prescribed way of living
        2. a harlot is one that has many lovers
        3. abomination is a word that is specifically associated with idol worship
      2. she is the mother of all harlots
        1. this term is very important in identifying the place that is meant
        2. if Rome is meant, what about all the harlots and abominations that came before her
          1. if Rome was meant, then it would imply that there was no system of harlotry before it
          2. Rome is not "Babylon" in the sense of being "the mother of the harlots and the abominations of the earth."
          3. her place in the chart of time renders that impossible
        3. the biblical record is pointing to one that was the great original of all harlots
          1. many others have sprung from her
          2. all the harlotries of time have her for their mother
          3. the imagery goes back to the beginnings, out of which all false systems, and false worships, and abominations of the earth have come
      3. it is a mistake to suppose that idolatry had a gradual growth among well-intentioned but unenlightened human thinking
        1. its rose up suddenly
        2. it was conceived in intentional rebellion
        3. it was the invention of a proud and tyrannous ambition (Nimrod – means rebellious panther)
        4. it was brought into being to counteract the will and worship of the true and known God
          1. Nimrod’s plan was to defeat God’s plan
          2. the original plan was thwarted by the confusion of tongues
          3. the original plan was never lost
    7. this woman was drunk – 6
      1. not only is Babylon a false and corrupt religion, it is fiercely intolerant
        1. when it cannot destroy by infiltration and false teaching, it will seek to destroy by persecution
        2. persecution of God's people is itself a mark and evidence of spiritual whoredom
        3. it shows alienation from God and His true worship
        4. wherever persecution presents itself, there the great harlot is living
      2. one of the most amazing facts of religious history is the hatred of other religions against Christ and His followers
        1. wherever Christianity has gone, it has been resisted
        2. why is there such an unreasonable animosity against a loving Creator, and His gracious salvation
        3. the only answer is Satan and his enmity against the promised seed of the woman
        4. Satan has energized the political power (the beast) which controls the religious power (the whore), and they do all they can to resist and destroy the work of God
      3. through the ages , many true believers have shed their blood for the cause of Christ
        1. not in wars of aggression, like the Muslims or Communist
        2. they shed their blood to maintain a faithful witness against those that would silence them
      4. the sight of this drunken harlot filled John with "admiration" (amazement)
        1. Perhaps John never realized before the amazing scope of Babylon influence
        2. now John sees and understands, and can only marvel at the amazing revelation