“Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me: “Come, I will show you the judgment of the notorious prostitute who sits on many waters. The kings of the earth committed sexual immorality with her, and those who live on the earth became drunk on the wine of her sexual immorality.” So he carried me away in the Spirit to a desert. I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and 10 horns. The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, adorned with gold, precious stones, and pearls. She had a gold cup in her hand filled with everything vile and with the impurities of her prostitution. On her forehead a cryptic name was written: BABYLON THE GREAT THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTESAND OF THE VILE THINGS OF THE EARTH. Then I saw that the woman was drunk on the blood of the saints and on the blood of the witnesses to Jesus. When I saw her, I was greatly astonished.” (Revelation 17:1-6 HCSB)
It is really easy to get distracted in life, isn’t it? My family seems to have a genetic predisposition towards attention deficit disorder. It is not a secret; they all know it. It is a bit like the Star Wars classic movie line, “the Force is strong in this one.” I tend to remember childhood advertising jingles better than I remember many other things from my childhood. Part of that is probably the simple nature of advertising, but part of it likely ties back to my tendency to be distracted during the show’s plot scenes and drawn in by the flashy, catchy, enticing advertisements. We have a standing ADD joke around our family: “Oh look, a squirrel.” We often use it just to get a family member back on focus.
John’s ongoing vision is now drawing to a close. We are stepping out of the specific details of each judgment found in the seals, trumpets, and bowls and into a stark comparison of God’s will and His creation’s rebellion. Over the next several weeks, we are going to see these stark comparisons between two women and two cities. You could call this last section of Revelation a Tale of Two Cities and Two Women. Spoiler alert: the two women are the scarlet harlot we will look at this week and next and the bride of Christ; the two cities are Babylon and the new Jerusalem.
One of the seven angels of the bowl judgments comes and speaks with John. The angel commands John to “come here” so he can be shown the judgment the “notorious prostitute who sits on many waters” is going to receive. It is almost like the angel is pointing down at a position next to him when he tells John: “Get over here, so I can show you!” First, the woman is notorious because she has lured the kings of the earth into committing sexual immorality with her. There is no distinction here between earthly kings; they’re all the same, and there’s only One King who is not earthly. Second, while all of that is going on, those who “live on the earth” get drunk on the wine of her immorality. Those who live on the earth is a term used in Revelation to distinguish between those who live here and those who are just visiting. Like the One King who is not earthly, those who follow that King are not of this earth but have their citizenship in God’s kingdom.
“For I have often told you, and now say again with tears, that many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction; their god is their stomach; their glory is in their shame. They are focused on earthly things, but our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 3:18-20 HCSB)
John then is “carried away” in the Spirit to a desert. If you’ll recall, we’ve been in the desert before. We encountered there a woman who gave birth to a Son – who would shepherd all nations with an iron scepter. God uses the desert as a place where people encounter Him, are stripped of their securities, and confronted by their needs. You have to make survival decisions when you’re in the desert. In the desert, you’re forced to face the questions of what is important in life, who can you depend on, and what can you really trust. God took His people out of Egypt, through the sea, and into the desert to force them to recognize their enemies, confront their fears, be honest about their needs, and to voice their hopes and dreams. Then He brought them to the desert mountain to be fully confronted by His power and presence. Would they be willing to discover that He was all they really needed? Jesus was confronted by these same questions in His life when the Spirit led Him into the desert. He demonstrated that God was all He needed.
Will we?
In the desert, John is shown a woman sitting on a scarlet beast. The beast was covered in blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns. That description matches the beast we’ve already encountered, and since the woman sits astride it, that indicates she is clearly aligned with the beast and all it represents. The beast’s blasphemous names are not enumerated here because to do so would be to participate in their blasphemy. The seven heads and ten horns are indications of the beast’s earthly rule/authority and seem to coincide with what is known of the Roman emperors up to and including Domitian. But make no mistake, while the beast’s heads and horns may represent the earthly rule of the Roman emperors, it is only that – earthly rule and authority.
The woman was dressed to emphasize wealth, power, and position. She wears purple and scarlet clothing and is adorned with gold, jewelry, and baubles to emphasize the worldly excess all this represents. In her hand, she holds a gold cup, and it is filled with every vile vice and all the filth associated with them you can possibly imagine. The idea here is that these vile things give off a stench that is so strong any normal person could not miss it or stand it. They are called impure because they are unholy and they flow out of demonic influence and activity. In case you’re missing the point, her appearance is provocative and alluring but only when you’re blind to the truth of her ways and the stench of what she offers.
John tells us that a cryptic or “mystery” name is written on her forehead: “Babylon the Great, the Mother of Prostitutes and of the vile things of the earth.” The mystery of the name is not because it can’t be easily read; it is so his readers will know that the name is symbolic. At the time of John’s writing, Babylon was no longer the threat she was when Daniel and the other prophets wrote their warnings about her. But she is representative of all that stands in the way of God’s people being faithful and obedient. As I’ve stated here before, there always has been and always will be a Babylon in every era of man’s existence. In John’s day, she was Rome and all that empire represented— wealth, power, godlessness, excess, bloodshed, and idolatry. Especially, idolatry.
Let me finish John’s description, so we have it all together before we talk about what it all means. He finally sees that she’s drunk on the blood of the saints and witnesses to Jesus. To be intoxicated or drunk means that the person is under the influence of a substance that impairs judgment and response. In this instance, she is under the influence of the blood of the saints and witnesses to Jesus. Their deaths and blood are intoxicating, clouding her judgment and influencing her behavior. That may sound odd, at first, but she is working for the glory of the dragon and the beast. We often become intoxicated by those things that drive us and offer to reward us with what we deem important, the treasure of our dreams.
I alluded above to the stark contrast between this woman and another that will appear a little later in our study. We need to keep this at the forefront of our minds as we look at the remaining chapters of John’s Revelation. This woman is identified as a prostitute and, yet, she is dressed in fine clothing, wears expensive jewelry, and attracts a lot of attention. But, by contrast, she’s not a woman a man would take home to meet his mother. The woman she will be contrasted with is the bride of Christ, the church. I wanted you to have that picture in your mind, the image of these two starkly different women, when I introduced John’s next statement: ”When I saw her, I was greatly astonished.”
The word translated “astonished” in John’s response to seeing the scarlet harlot is also translated “amazed” in Revelation 13:3 regarding how people saw the beast (Gr: thaumazo). This also happens to be the same word used to describe how the disciples viewed Jesus after He calmed the storm (amazed, see Matt. 8:27) and how the crowds viewed Him after He took the paralyzed man’s hand and told him to get up and walk and the man got up and went home (awestruck, see Matt. 9:7). It may not seem significant that the same Greek word is used in each of these passages, but notice the sense of awe it conveys: “What kind of man is this? – even the winds and seas obey Him!” When John saw that woman, his mouth fell open, his eyes opened very wide, it caused him to catch his breath and possibly mutter under his breath: “Wow!”
A few weeks back, my wife and I celebrated our 48th wedding anniversary. As you would expect, one way we try to celebrate the event is by exchanging gifts with each other. One year, we actually bought each other the same gift without knowing that we were doing it. Imagine our surprise, and laughter, when we both unwrapped the exact same gift. This year, I bought her a pair of hand carved wooden hearts that are intertwined with her name on one and my name on the other. Sweet, right?
But I also made one more purchase, and it didn’t turn out quite like I hoped. I ordered a large canvas print of her wedding photo. When she opened it, she looked at me and said: “Are you sure this is for me and not you?” Sometimes, I am a bit dense. But when you get hit with a sledge hammer even dense heads give way to the blow and I realized my mistake. Unfortunately, I realized it just a little too late. In case you’re not catching the point to my story, my wife was pointing out that my gift was more about me and what I might enjoy than it was about her and what she would enjoy.
In John’s story, we can easily miss the point too, if we’re not careful. It may be subtle, but it is there: “When I saw her, I was GREATLY astonished.” She is not what he expected and when we encounter her she won’t be anything like what we expect, either. Wait – we might encounter her? Trust me, you already have met her and you will meet her, again. She doesn’t always appear in the form of a woman but she will appear, again and again. She is whatever intoxicating allurement is needed to get you distracted from the truth and listening to her lies.
You and I were made for one purpose, to love, obey and worship God. Like the anniversary gift for my wife, sometimes we make all of life about ourselves more than we make it about God. If we were created by Him and for Him, then our lives should be about Him. We should be focused on Him but we always seem to make it about ourselves. Even during worship, we often make it more about ourselves than we do about God. We want to enjoy worship, we want the environment to be comfortable, we want the message to be encouraging and uplifting. Worship is not about our enjoyment or else it isn’t truly worship. Don’t misread that, I didn’t say worship CAN’T be enjoyable I said it isn’t about our enjoyment. My gift for my wife really was more about what I liked and would enjoy than it was about what she liked and would enjoy. Don’t make your worship gift to God all about yourself, make it fit the recipient and not the giver. Give Him what He desires, not what you desire.
I think John was caught off guard by the beauty and allure of the harlot. For just a brief moment, John gasped in astonishment and was inexplicably drawn to her beauty and desire for her. Let me remind you of those blasphemous names on the beast she was riding. They are blasphemous because they are attributed to the beast when they belong to God, alone! Now, let me blow your mind. We often give glory, honor, and worship to those who don’t deserve it when it should only be offered up to God. Anytime we give someone or something God’s position of prominence in our life, we’re guilty. Anytime we desire someone or something more than we desire Him, we’re guilty. Anytime we love someone or something more than we love God, we’re guilty. And anytime we trust someone or something more than we trust Him, we’re guilty.
One last thought, the cup she holds in her hand can be seen two ways. First, it can be seen as the cup she offers to those who are drawn to her. They drink and become drunk on the wine of her sexual immorality. Second, it can be seen as the cup from which she drinks because she too was drunk. John says, “she was drunk on the blood of the saints and the witnesses to Jesus.” Ultimately, I think the cup represents what she offers to those who are drawn to her and enticed by her beauty. John says the cup was filled with “everything vile and with the impurities of her prostitution.”
John is pulling back the curtain to show us why we must not be caught off guard, like he was. Her beauty and allure may be surprising and enticing, but when you look closely and take a sniff you’ll discover her cup is filled with the stench and impurities that cause ruined lives. It’s a cup full of poison that you’ll regret drinking. Pay attention, she really is the scarlet harlot and not someone you want to take home.
Leave a Reply