But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days: 2 Timothy 3:1.
Revelation: Greek ἀποκάλυψις - Apokalypsis - to uncover or unveil.
Revelation presents a series of events which occur before the second coming of Christ Jesus. This time period is most often referred to as: the 7-year tribulation, the time of Jacob's trouble, the 70th week, the last days, the latter days, the end of days or the end times.
The end of days will be a time of great tribulation, unlike anything the world has ever seen: a conversion of war, famine, pestilence, natural catastrophes, cosmic disturbances, plagues and divine judgements. The end of days also includes the construction of the third temple, making Jerusalem a cup of drunken trembling for the nations: Zechariah 12:2-3, and, two witnesses will rise to prophesize for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth. But, these are only a few of the things, that mark the time of the end.
Knowledge of these future events, help to identify these end time markers as they become visible. The most compelling future event is the prophecy found in Revelation 13 - the rise of the beast out of the sea - the tribulation kingdom of antichrist. The beast out of the sea is a vicious and brutal kingdom which has seven heads (seven kingdoms) and ten horns (ten kings): R 13:1-4. There is also a second beast which rises from the earth: R 13:11, which has two horns 'like a lamb' and speaks the words of the red dragon. This Beast out of the earth (clay) is the religious system of the first beast - the beast out of the sea (iron).
A few chapters later we discover that the beast kingdom is seen again, adjoined to a antichrist-tribulation city, metaphorically depicted as a woman, which is also a merchant port: R 18. The seven-headed, ten-horned beast and his companion, the great city are located in the wilderness, a barren and desolate area: an erēmos - Greek for desert. This great city, dressed in scarlet and purple, adorned with the riches of the world, sits upon the seven heads of the beast who is now scarlet: R 17:3,7,9. In her hands is a golden cup, filled with vile things: R 17:4,18. This woman who sits upon the seven heads of the beast, rules over the kings of the earth in the latter days; and, like most women, she is misunderstood.
The woman has a name of mystery written upon her forehead: Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth. The location of the name, upon her forehead indicates she wears a name of blasphemy, the mark of the beast, the name of the beast: R 13:16,17. The seven heads, upon which she sits, are seven mountains and seven kings: R 17:9,10, indicating seven world kingdoms who also wear the name of blasphemy, the mark of the beast, his name or the number of the name of it: R 13:1b which comes as no surprise as the entire beast kingdom is filled with the names of blasphemy: R 17:3. Blasphemy rules the roost where the woman and the beast kingdom are located.... in a vast and desolate wilderness.
She is the same Babylon woman who faces God's judgement from the cup of wine filled with the fierceness of God's wrath: R 16:19b; 14:8; 17:1; 18:2,3,10. She is cleverly concealed in plain sight and camouflaged, not because she is hidden, but because she is right there - smack dab in the midst of the tribulation, reigning over the kings of the earth in the last days. And, she is not supposed to be there! Have you seen the desolation that Babylon had become due to God's divine judgement?
So, in order for a future tribulation judgement and destruction to come, there needs to be a beast kingdom of ten horns and, a great city who rules over the kings of the earth in the latter days.
This is where we reach a dilemma.
Interpretive speculation is sharply divided when it comes to the identity and location of this brazen woman who will rule over the kings of the earth, in the latter days, Interpretation varies between speculation in relation to world views and, what is literally documented by scripture - which is viewed as controversial, conflicting with traditional teachings that have been taught for centuries. But one thing is certain, her identity has intrigued multitudes of Bible students for nearly two-thousand years; and perhaps, this is the intent, to keep us involved, watching the world around us while studying the prophetic intent of scripture.
Some claim that the woman represents the United States or, one of her cities such as Washington D.C. or New York, the global hub of finance. Others claim that the 2000-year mystery of the future tribulation-antichrist city was solved eons ago, and that the Roman empire which rose 2,000 years ago, will 'revive' to seize world power in the end of days. This view is intensely focused on the religious system found in the Catholic church which will lead a global army of religious fanatics, who persecute the saints, and those who have the testimony of Christ Jesus: R 12:17.
This is often backed by a theory which suggests that the religion in the Catholic church evolved from a 'mystery mother-child religious system' that allegedly began in Babel and spread outwards, into the world, until it made its home in the Catholic church 3000 years later. Even though the current religious system of the middle east where Babel was located is not a mother-child religion, but one that rose from the ancient city of UR, and spread into Arabia. This political and religious system is currently focused on conquest and conversion, as it patiently and methodically fights to seize world power.
Then there are those who suggest that the woman is a city located in the middle east, the focus of bible prophecy: Jerusalem, Mecca, Tyre, Abu Dhabi, Istanbul or, a new Babylonian city that will rise in the end of days to fulfill a literal interpretation of prophecy. In light of prophecy, the Babylonian woman is the antichrist-tribulation city who rises in unison with the beast kingdom of ten horns, just prior to the return of Christ Jesus, to seize world power.
Most teachings suggest that the woman with the Babylon name upon her forehead is simply a 'code name' for Rome or, an undisclosed 'mystery' location other than what is documented in scripture. So, over the course of history she was given a new name 'Mystery Babylon,' not by scripture but, by man's world view. And, before too long, we began to loose sight of the convergence of the Revelation 13, 17 and 18 prophecies, which are simply the fulfillment of the fourth kingdom found in Daniel 2 and Daniel 7.
Daniel 2 and 7 foretell the rise of an antichrist-tribulation kingdom - which rises in the end of days, to seize global domination. Daniel documents this kingdom as the fourth beast in his night vision: the beast of ten horns: Daniel 7:7-25 and, his parallel, the feet and (ten) toes of iron and clay from Nebuchadnezzar's dream: Daniel 2:40-44.
Nebuchadnezzar was the head of gold, the head of the Babylon kingdom which ruled the middle east. Sandwiched in between the head of gold and the feet and toes, is a historical timeline of Babylon: Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom. It's been 2,565 years since Babylon fell to the Mede-Persians in 539 B.C., the chest and arms of silver, fulfilling multiple prophecies of the fall of Babylon: Isaiah 13-14; Jeremiah 50-51. Thy kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and the Persians: Daniel 5:28. Darius the Mede took the throne, and ruled over Babylon: Daniel 5:31; 6:28, and the prophetic fall of Babylon had begun.
After the fall of Babylon, Alexander the Great rose to power in 336 B.C.. Alexander the Great conquered Persia 334-330 B.C., and ruled the middle east. He was infatuated with Babylon and made Babylon his homebase, living in the confines of the fallen city, until the time of his death 323 B.C. Alexander the Great was the last king who ruled the middle east while living in Babylon. This if the last kingdom connected to Nebuchadnezzar's dream image which prophesized the future of his kingdom: Daniel 2.
The rule of Alexander is seen as the belly and thighs of brass, the third kingdom in the historic timeline of Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom. After that, Babylon had no king and during the centuries which followed, Babylon continued her decent into ruin and desolation, reflecting God's divine judgement: the fall of Babylon.
As Nebuchadnezzar was the head of the Babylon kingdom, the legs of iron reflect God's divine judgement over Babylon. The legs of iron fill the time period between the third kingdom and the fourth: the feet and toes of iron and clay. The feet and toes reflect the culmination of end time events found in the prophecy of Revelation 13. This is the kingdom that rises just before the second coming of Christ: Daniel 2:44. Following the order and sequence of the kingdoms and their corresponding kings, the fourth king - the little horn aka: antichrist will also reign and rule from Babylon.
But, as of now, the woman is still wrapped in a cloak of mystery as the tribulation is yet future and, her mystery prevails.
Let's review some things that John documents by looking through the lens of Revelation 17:18: And the woman that you saw is that great city, which reigns over the kings of the earth.
John is literally in the midst of the great tribulation, watching as the seventh bowl of judgement is thrown into the air: R 16:17-21, when he is visited by an angel. The angel is one of seven angels who holds one of the seven vials (bowls). When the angel arrives he speaks with John: R 17:1 -2. The angel has arrived to show John why great Babylon was remembered by God: Rev
... Babylon the great was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of His fierce wrath: Revelation 16:19b
Why isn't she called 'Mystery Babylon' if that is her name?
Babylons Judgement:
The angel has arrived to show John the judgement of the great πόρνης - Greek: commercially corrupt one. The English translates this using only the root: πόρνη which depicts a great prostitute, a woman of ill repute, completely missing the meaning behind the Greek word that John had used. In the Greek, this commercially corrupt woman sits on many waters fornicating with the kings of the earth: Rev 17:1-2; 18:3.
Babylon's pending judgement was first announced in Revelation 14:8; And there followed another angel, saying Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
Babylon's judgment is also announced in 16:19b; 17:1,2 and, 18:2,3 after another angel with great authority arrives from the highest realms of heaven, to announce her second time of destruction, which falls at the end of the Great tribulation.
And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. 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. 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.
The first fall of Babylon happened the night of the writing on the wall Daniel 5, when the armies of the Mede-Persians conquered Babylon, and Darius the Mede ruled the kingdom: Daniel 5:31; 6:28. "Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians" Daniel 5:25-28. The fulfillment of the time of judgement - the fall of Babylon - is seen in the statue of Nebuchadnezzar as the legs of iron, an extended time period of Babylon's decline and desolation, when Babylon had no king. This extended period of time falls between the third kingdom of brass and, the fourth kingdom of iron and shard clay, the feet and toes.
Keep in mind that the dream image of Nebuchadnezzar depicts an historical timeline of Babylon, pin-pointing the various middle eastern kingdoms which followed King Nebuchadnezzar as the head of gold. Nebuchadnezzar, the prideful king, had a dream which prophesized the future of his kingdom. And as the self-centered, prideful king, this dream wasn't about Egypt, Assyria, or Europe; the dream centered on his kingdom, and its future role in the latter days. Daniel 2:28-29. Revelation 13; 17 and 18, is the fulfillment of Nebuchadnezzar's prophetic dream.
The first angel propels John by the spirit into the wilderness (Greek: ἔρημος, erēmos a desolate, barren wasteland - a desert) and shows him a gruesome sight: Rev 17:3.
John sees the very epitome of wickedness in the form of a woman ceremoniously flaunting the filth of her impurity, while carried upon seven heads of a scarlet beast, who reeks of the stench of blasphemy. The seven heads (seven world kingdoms) and ten horns (ten kings) indicate that this is the same beast that rose from the sea: R 13:1-4; making the beast from the sea, the tribulation kingdom of Antichrist. And, as we know, the tribulation is a seven year period of time, that is yet future.
The woman and the beast are together in the barren wasteland of a desert. rising to seize world power in the latter days. The woman is not afraid of this beast, but seems rather content, and quite pleased with her royal position having kingship (βασιλεύς basileus, sovereign power) over the kings of the earth.
The woman is a symbolic metaphor for a commercially corrupt city. The Babylon city is similar to Nineveh who was the mistress of witchcraft and well-favored harlot who sells nations by her harlotries and families by her sorceries. Nahum 3.
Not only is the woman of Revelation 17 referred to as a city (Greek: πολις polis) of extreme commercial corruption and spiritual harlotry, she is described as a μεγάλη, a great city, a megas, a megalē city, a city of enormous physical size and importance, the mother city of many: a supercity – a megacity; also similar to ancient Nineveh.
We are further told (verse 9) that the woman sits upon a seven-headed beast with ten horns. The heads belong to the beast, not the woman, she is merely sitting upon them, carried by the beast (verse 7b). John is instructed by the angel to use wisdom when deciphering the meaning of the seven heads which are seven mountains (Greek ὄρη, όρος, óros), and seven kings - verse 10. This tells us that the mountains are not literal, but symbolic and we are to use wisdom in order to decode the meaning of the seven heads. A mountain, when used in prophetic text, is a symbolic reference to a kingdom: Isaiah 2:2; Daniel 2:35b; Ezekiel 28:16; Jeremiah 51:25. And, kings rule over kingdoms.
By her position, the great commercially corrupt one, the great city sits upon seven world kingdoms that belong to, and are aligned with the scarlet beast.
We know from Daniel 7:23,24 that the beast represents the kingdom of ten horns or ten kings. This is the kingdom from where the little horn or antichrist, will rise. The coming of the lawless one, propels the red dragon to raise a head with a mortal wound, up from the depths of the bottomless pit; creating an eighth world kingdom. Rev 13:3; 17: 8,11
The Greek word John uses for woman in verse 3 and 6 is γυναῖκα meaning woman, wife, spouse; while γυνη - woman, is used elsewhere. This suggests that she is intimately connected to the beast kingdom; an evil city for an evil kingdom and his king. This is in contrast to New Jerusalem who is the bride or wife of the Lamb: Rev 21:2, 9b, 10. Both are cities, one is righteous and holy, while the other is a demonic imitation seeped in immoral worldly desires, wickedness, sin and bloodlust.
The woman is arrayed in scarlet, the same color as the beast, suggesting they are connected by immorality, sin and bloodshed. The purple she wears, suggests a pretense of religious royalty presides over the city, while the city itself represents carnal desires, luxury and lavishness. She is also beautifully adorned, decked in gold, precious stones and pearls; laden by wealth, greed and worldly riches.
But in his estate (home, dominion) shall he honor the god of forces: and a god whom his father knew not shall he honor with gold, and silver, and with precious stones and pleasant things. Daniel 11:38
She carries a golden cup in her hand as a measure of her wickedness. The cup overflows with her abominations and the filthiness of her spiritual and commercial impurity - religious and economic harlotry as she drinks from a den of devils.
You cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: you cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils… I Corinthians 10:21
By scriptural position, she will be the world headquarters of the new world system. She is the commercial port city that regulates the beast system of the buying and selling that is religiously bias, controlling all nations, people, multitudes and tongues. She becomes the great mega city that rules over the kings of the earth, issuing decrees of lawless moral codes, human trafficking, ritual murders, sorceries aka: pharmakeia, idolatry and demon worship.
In the Bible, spiritual harlotry is not only defined by the worship of idols or other gods; harlotry also involves the practice of occultic rituals or seeking out practitioners of the dark arts: diviners, witches or those who call upon demons in the form of familiar spirits or the spirits of the deceased.
Upon her forehead she wears a name of blasphemy: Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth, indicating her allegiance and submission to the beast who carries her: Babylon the Great. Her harlots - Greek: πορνων - commercially corrupt ones, are as corrupt as she is, distributing merchandise throughout the earth which requires a mark to buy and sell. Her harlotries, found in chapter 18 are described as her sorceries verse 23, and the souls of men (human lives) verse 13 that are taken into the city as slaves or, sacrifice (17:6; 18:24).
This is done through her many harlots; the kings of the earth, global merchants and other harlot cities under her jurisdiction. They trade with her, delivering merchandise, and the souls of men to the earths inhabitants, by way of her merchandise. (18:13)
Sorcery is defined by the Greek as her pharmakeia, drugs used in connection with ritual sacrifice, the worship of idols, witchcraft, spell binding and enchantments which are distributed to the the world by the merchants of the sea and the merchants of the earth. The world becomes intoxicated, reeling in madness and man has become primal; worshiping devils and demons and idols of gold and silver, brass and stone, committing murders and stealing human lives. Rev 9:20,21
The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons, and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk; and they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their immorality nor of their thefts.
We discover in verse 6 that she will be drunk with the blood of the saints, and the martyrs of Christ Jesus. In her inebriated state, drunk on wickedness, sin and bloodshed, her golden cup overflows with the wine of her fornication, sloshing out, splattering the heads of the beast on which she sits: the kingdoms of the world; poisoning them with her vile and toxic potion. We have read in verse 2, that the kings of the earth willfully commit fornication with her and have made the inhabitants of the earth drunk, with the wine of her fornication. This is also repeated in R18:3a and 18:9a.
In verse 7 the angel tells John that he will tell him the mystery of the woman and, of the beast that carries her that has the seven heads and ten horns. The angel begins a succession of passages that reveal the mystery of the beast kingdom. Rev 17:8,9,10,11,12
John has already revealed much about the woman in verses 1-6 and 9. He doesn't tell John much more about the woman until verse 15, which describes her vast international reach and, verse 18, which details her kingship over the kings of the earth. He also tells John about a conspiracy organized by the ten kings and the plot to destroy her: 17:16,17.
The final clue given to John about the woman dressed in scarlet and purple, is that she is a great city, verse 18, which transitions the narrative into chapter 18.
And the woman that thou saw is that great (mega) city (πολις, polis); which reigns over the kings of the earth.
Revelation is the unveiling of a darkened world, set in a futuristic time, when the wrath of God falls upon the wickedness that rules over mankind. The great city which is also a merchant port, is one of the unveilings of things that will be.
John records these events as they were shown to him while in the spirit. He documents a futuristic city with an ancient name of mystery written upon her forehead: Babylon the Great, a city full of impurity, carnal worldly delights, ritual sacrifice and wickedness. This city is intimately connected to a scarlet beast kingdom; who has seven heads and, ten horns.
The angel lays out clues about the woman and the beast that carries her. The city itself revolves around international trade, spiritual and commercialized corruption, (defined as prostitution in the English translation) tied to the mark of the beast kingdom. She is a mega, megalēs city who rises from the ashes of worldwide destruction, taking full advantage of the fallen world. She uses spiritual lures in the form of buying and selling, sorcery, and wicked enchantments. This is a city defined by haughty arrogance and self-worth. Her power is enormous and she is untouchable.
And, she will remain so, until the end of the great tribulation, when her sins have reached into heaven and God hath remembered her iniquities. R 18:5
The tribulation period will be when God's wrath is poured out upon a wicked, Christ rejecting world. It won't be easy or pretty (in fact it will be quite horrific) and the great city will make sure that those who have the testimony of Christ Jesus, will not enjoy her luxurious hospitality. And for this spiritual wickedness, she faces judgement.
One city, already in existence, which is a 'prototype' of the future Babylon is Istanbul. Istanbul used to be Constantinople, a great city representing Christian Orthodoxy. This city is found in Turkey, home of the seven churches. Constantinople was conquered by the Ottoman empire, an empire driven by Islamic jurisprudence that vehemently denies the divinity of the son of God, his death, and the power of the cross. The conquest of Constantinople turned the Christian stronghold into an Islamic city, literally overnight.
Though Istanbul will be one of the many harlot cities that the Mother of harlots trades with in the end of days, it fits the Revelation 17, 18 criteria for everything except location; which is Babylon, the land of Shinar, telling us that a new Babylon city and merchant port will be built, in the heart of Iraq, fulfilling a literal interpretation of prophecy.
And the woman that thou saw is that great (mega) city (πολις, polis); which reigns over the kings of the earth.
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