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5. The End of the Harlot of Babylon (Revelation 17:15-18)
REVELATION 17:15-18
15 He said to me, “The waters which you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and languages. 16 The ten horns which you saw, and the beast, these will hate the prostitute, and will make her desolate, and will make her naked, and will eat her flesh, and will burn her utterly with fire. 17 For God has put in their hearts to do what he has in mind, and to be of one mind, and to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God should be accomplished. 18 The woman whom you saw is the great city, which reigns over the kings of the earth.”
The interpretation of the vision of John in the wilderness (Revelation 17:3-6) encompasses different periods of time. At first John spoke of the inevitable end of the beast with the seven heads (Revelation 17:7-11). Afterwards he proclaimed the victory of the Lamb of God over the ten kings that had united with the Antichrist (Revelation 17:12-14). Finally, the messenger from heaven revealed the harlot of Babylon's terrible end (Revelation 17:15-18).
The seven heads of the beast from the sea, which symbolize the antichristian rulers appearing at different periods of time, were “possessed” by the harlot of Babylon. Together with the beast, they were lead by her tender hand.
For the “ten horns”, and, in similar fashion, for the “heads”, all representing kings, it appeared that the woman at first was not directly dependent upon the beast. This ten-nation confederacy regarded her critically. The ten kings were not prepared to submit themselves to the para-psychological influence of this religious adviser. Instead, they envied her because of her world-wide influence. Perhaps they had begun to analyze the machinations of this woman, and had seen through her desire for self-enrichment. They caused the eyes of the beast from the sea to be opened to see the actual goals of its rider, which was, to seize all power for herself.
The Harlot Influences Peoples, Nations and Tongues (v 15): The angel further declared to John that the “waters” upon which the harlot sat did not just embrace economic connections and political intrigue in certain places on earth. They were also the envisagement of the expansion of her influence and power into all 1874 known people groups, into all 193 nations and 6528 languages. (Revelation 17:15)
Strangely, in this verse, in contrast to other places in Revelation, where nations and peoples are listed (Revelation 5:9; 7:9; 10:11; 11:9; 13:7; 14:6), the twelve “tribes” of Israel are not mentioned. There is simply the mention of “multitudes”, referring to smaller groups of people in Israel. Have the twelve tribes, themselves, become the Harlot of Babylon, deceiving all the nations, believing only in the power of money and on the Law of Moses, but not in the Gospel of Christ? The Jews who had remained behind in Babel had opened themselves up to the principles and powers of the Babylonian culture. Babel was supposed to represent the “Gate to God”, but had become the backdoor to Satan. Since that time no longer has the Torah alone been taught in most synagogues, but also the Talmud and the Mishna find there way into interpretations. Has post-exile Judaism, by its obscuring of the original Word of God, become the deceiver of the nations, rejecting Jesus, the Word of God incarnate?
Likewise, the Catholic and Orthodox do not just propagate law and gospel, but also the teaching of their church fathers. For centuries priests and nuns forbid their church's faithful to read the Bible individually. Muddy currents of folk-piety, deification of Mary and rigid church laws all served to cut off the members of these churches from the true word of God. Jewish people infected by the Talmud, Christians possessed with the adoration of Mary, and a Protestantism contaminated by rationalism and humanism negatively influence their people and keep them, intentionally or unintentionally, from the pure gospel.
With their coerced confessions and threats of excommunication and drastic punishment, the Catholic Church attempted for centuries to subjugate and rule over emperors and kings, professors and teachers. The emperor, Friedrich I Barbarossa, had to cast himself onto the floor before Pope Alexander III (1159-1181) after the army of the pope had defeated the military force of Friedrich I by Venice. When the humiliated emperor, lying on the ground, requested absolution from the pope, he placed his foot on his neck. The next day the emperor had to kiss the pope's feet.
PRAYER: Our Father in heaven, we thank You because You authorized the apostle Paul and the reformer Martin Luther, in Christ's name, to guide us to the gospel, our original source. Neither priests, nor pastors, nor teachers establish our salvation, or forgive us our sins if we confessed them before them, but only Your strong word saves, comforts and consolidate us in the fullness of Your grace. Amen.
QUESTIONS:
- How were the majority of the Jews and some of the Christians prevented from penetrating deeply into the original, pure word of God?
- What spiritual treasures does the effective, living word of God bring to us?