In Lesson 49 we looked at the description of the great whore, “Mystery, Babylon the Great, The Mother Of Harlots And Abominations Of The Earth” in Revelation 17:1-7. Now as promised, we’ll look at the identity of the great whore and her destruction at the end of chapter 17.
“Then the angel said to me, The waters you saw, where the whore is sitting, are different races, multitudes, nations and languages.” (Verse 15) This is a reference back to 17:1, where the angel tells John, “Come and I will show you the judgment of the great whore who sits on many waters”. This, along with the statement in verse 3, saying the whore was riding a beast with “seven heads and ten horns” (explained in lesson 50) tells us, again, that this involves the Revised Roman Empire, the countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. So, from this we can conclude that the great whore (Mystery Babylon) is the religious system that is dominating the countries that make up the Revised Roman Empire during the first half of the tribulation.
This brings us to verses 16-17, “And the beast, along with the ten horns that you saw, will hate the whore. They will make her desolate, will strip her naked, eat her flesh and burn her with fire. Because God has put it into their hearts to accomplish His purpose by surrendering their power to the beast so the Word of God can be fulfilled.” So, here we see the destruction of the great whore (the religious system) by the Antichrist and the ten leaders of the countries that make up the Revised Roman Empire at the middle of the tribulation. And there are two questions that arise at this point. What, specifically is this religious system that dominates these countries and why is it destroyed?
Let’s try to deal with the first question. Which religious system is verse 16 talking about? And, keep in mind here that in Lesson 49 I gave a brief history on the origin of religion. Religion is religion, it’s all the same thing under a different name. So, regardless of how we might identify the whore that is destroyed during the tribulation, it will be a continuation of what was started back in Genesis 4:25-26.
First, it would be easy to say; given the current trends that it is Islam. Islamic influence is growing rapidly today in Europe, where tolerance of Muslim culture and open acceptance of Muslim immigration has been the norm for many years now. It is not uncommon to see Muslims living in those countries openly governing themselves by their own laws in direct opposition to established national standards. And, it is not surprising that ignorant, corrupt, non-Muslim religious leaders in these countries defend the rights of Muslims to ignore national laws and live according to their own religious laws. This, along with the fact that Islam already dominates the Middle East and Northern Africa, would make it evident that the great whore must be Islam.
But, when you take into account some other information; that probably is not the case. We’ve talked a little in the past about Islamic prophecy concerning the 12th Imam, who is supposed to come and purify Islam to prepare it for world domination. Of course we can discount this prophecy so far as what we believe about the future and who will really dominate the world. It will not be a religion; it will be Christ Himself. I do believe, however, that the prophecy is relevant, as it talks about a great bloodbath and the disposal of all who would oppose this movement. But, I do not believe that this so-called purification of Islam will produce a dominant Islamic religion. It appears that what the radical Muslims see as a future purification of Islam and a preparation for world domination is actually the destruction of the religion, as they know it.
As is usually the case, we need to look to the Scriptures. Jesus tells us in Matthew 24:24 (the context is the coming tribulation) that false Christs and false prophets will come demonstrating many signs and miracles specifically designed to deceive. Then Paul predicted the Antichrist would come with all power, signs and lying wonders, all enabled through the power of Satan in II Thessalonians 2:8-12. John says the same in Revelation 13:1-8. From this we know that this area involving the tribulation, though probably dominated by Islam in the beginning, will come to be dominated by the Antichrist, the false prophet, Satan and fallen angels as we have already seen in Revelation 12:7-9 and all of Revelation 13.
To this we can add that Islam in its core doctrine is not specifically an anti-God religion. It may well be characterized as an anti-Christ religion with a perverted view of God, but there is a difference. What you see in all the Scriptural depictions of the Antichrist’s kingdom (whether it’s OT prophets or NT Gospels, Paul’s epistles or John’s revelation) is that it is blatantly anti-God. So, we can safely conclude that the internal turmoil, the wars, the bloodletting and everything else that goes on during the first half of the tribulation drastically changes the religious landscape in this area of the world. Islam no longer dominates; something else has taken its place. As, as you might imagine, given the religious fervor of Islamists, it will require a potent combination of killing and satanic deception to destroy it.
We must also consider that the Babylon mentioned prominently in the Old Testament is a reference to the literal city. The Book of Isaiah has a lot to say about future Babylon, its false gods, abominations and coming destruction. Chapters 40-66 deal primarily with predictions of the tribulation, the destruction of Babylon, the 2nd advent and Millennium. Chapter 47 talks about the destruction of Babylon and describes it as a combination of evil spirits (sorceries) and the casting of evil spells (enchantments) in verse 9, immorality (wickedness) in verse 10, offerings to false gods in verse 11, and the wrong counsel of astrologers, stargazers and those who attempt to interpret omens (prognosticators) in verse 13. But it must be noted that the description of the literal city in the Old Testament is very comparable to the description of the religious system in the New.
This brings us to the other question, why is this religious system destroyed? To answer this we simply have to put this all in the context of time. This takes place coincidentally with the ten leaders giving their support to the Antichrist (Revelation 17:12, 17). As previously explained, this also signals the demise of the 7th empire (the Revised Roman Empire), so the 8th (the Revised Grecian Empire) under the complete control of the Antichrist can come to dominate the last half of the tribulation. So why is this obviously evil, corrupt, perverted religious system destroyed? To make way for an even more evil, corrupt, perverted system to take its place. One that is so much more oppressive and destructive that it cannot coexist with anything else – the beast worship of Revelation 13:14-18!
And while I’m talking about this, let me remind you at the beginning of Lesson 48 I talked about the destruction of literal Babylon with the 7th bowl judgment in Revelation 16:17-21. Then in Lesson 49 I talked about the difference between literal Babylon and Mystery Babylon. The first is a city whose destruction is detailed in Revelation 18. We’ll get to that in the next lesson. We’ve been talking about Mystery Babylon, the great whore, and a religious system. The two are different, but directly connected (clearly understood when you consider the passage from Isaiah 47 above). One is a literal place; the other is an evil religious system that dominates it. This is the last verse (18) in Revelation 17, “And the woman that you saw is the very embodiment of that great city that dominates the leaders of the earth”.
And, just so there’s no confusion here, Revelation 17 with the great whore and the beast out of the abyss, the seven kingdoms, the coming of the eighth, the ten kings that unite with the Antichrist and the destruction of the great whore is a parenthetical passage that describes events that take place as the second half of the tribulation begins. However, the destruction of literal Babylon, the city, takes place at the end of the tribulation with the 7th bowl judgment (Revelation 16:19; the announcement of the 2nd angel in Revelation 14:8; described in detail in Revelation 18; and predicted in Isaiah 47).
Next: the destruction of Babylon, the city - with explanation why it is a literal city.