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Grace & Peace: Revelation 102

Douglas Wilson on

“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16:11).

“And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, That ye be not partakers of her sins, And that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, And God hath remembered her iniquities. Reward her even as she rewarded you, And double unto her double according to her works: In the cup which she hath filled fill to her double. How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, So much torment and sorrow give her: For she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: For strong is the Lord God who judgeth her” (Rev. 18:4–8).

Another voice speaks from Heaven, and summons all of God’s people to “come out from her.” This is yet another indication that the great harlot is the old and fading Judaic system. As the Judaic system it had served its purpose, and because of the great unfaithfulness and corruption that had grown up among the leadership of the Jews, God was about to visit a great judgment upon her. And, as follows God’s pattern, He calls his faithful ones away from the catastrophe. He did this with Noah, He did it with Lot, and Jesus told His followers when they were supposed to head for the tall grass. “And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh” (Luke 21:20). Then it will be time to flee to the mountains (v. 21). Jesus even goes so far as to say that the demolition of Jerusalem will be the culmination of all things. “For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled” (v. 22).

To remain is to partake of her sins, which means that such ones would also partake of the judgment.

The cry to come out of Babylon was common in the Old Testament, and they are worth quoting in a cluster.

“Go ye forth of Babylon, flee ye from the Chaldeans, With a voice of singing declare ye, tell this, Utter it even to the end of the earth; Say ye, The Lordhath redeemed his servant Jacob” (Is. 48:20). “Remove out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth out of the land of the Chaldeans, And be as the he goats before the flocks” (Jer. 50:8). “Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul: Be not cut off in her iniquity; For this is the time of the Lord’s vengeance; He will render unto her a recompence” (Jer. 51:60). “Deliver thyself, O Zion, that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon” (Zech. 2:7). “Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing; Go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the Lord.” (Isaiah 52:11).

In short, when the visitation of God finally falls upon apostate Israel, that “Babylon” will not be a good place to be. We want to go out of that city, just as Jesus was taken out of it, and the reproach we will bear will be only temporary. “Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach. For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come” (Heb. 13:13–14).

This terrible shakedown of Jerusalem is an indication to us that we are receiving an unshakeable kingdom, and so we should be encouraged.

“See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven: Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire.” (Heb. 12:25–29).

The sins of Jerusalem had mounted up to Heaven, just as the bricks of Babel had sought to rise to Heaven. This ties Jerusalem in with the doomed city of Sodom, another image of judgment from the Old Testament. Jerusalem has already been identified as Sodom (Rev. 11:8), and the fact that her sins have now been noticed is another indication. “I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know” (Gen. 18:21).

The fact that the voice from Heaven says that the great harlot will be paid back double is another identifier. In the prophet Jeremiah, it is Israel that will be paid back double for her sins.

“And first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double; because they have defiled my land, they have filled mine inheritance with the carcases of their detestable and abominable things” (Jer. 16:18). “Let them be confounded that persecute me, but let not me be confounded: let them be dismayed, but let not me be dismayed: bring upon them the day of evil, and destroy them with double destruction” (Jer. 17:18).

As Jerusalem as Babylon plays that role completely. Just as Israel was delivered from the Old Babylon, so also the new Israel will be delivered from the New Babylon.

“And thou saidst, I shall be a lady for ever: So that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart, Neither didst remember the latter end of it. Therefore hear now this, thou that art given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, That sayest in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children: But these two things shall come to thee in a moment in one day, The loss of children, and widowhood: They shall come upon thee in their perfection For the multitude of thy sorceries, and for the great abundance of thine enchantments” (Is. 47:7–9).

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Grace & Peace: Revelation 101

Douglas Wilson on

“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16:11).

“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” (Rev. 18:1–3).

Commentators differ over whether this angel is intended to represent the Lord Jesus, or whether he is simply one of the greater created beings. As there is no explicit reason for identifying him with Christ, it is perhaps best to simply take the description at face value. This is an angel with “great power,” and with the kind of vivid luminosity that lit up the earth. We should perhaps think of the kind of light that He has “great power,” and he cries out “mightily” with a “strong voice.”  The message he declares is one of the great themes of this book—the collapse of the old Babylon, and her replacement by a virgin bride, the new Jerusalem.

The first thing the angel says is that Babylon “the great” has fallen utterly. The first set of descriptions show the greatness of her calamity—and also helps to identify her as the city under judgment, the city of Jerusalem. First, she has become the “habitation of devils” and a stronghold of “every foul spirit.” This is precisely what happened to the military defenders of that desolate city, and exactly what Jesus had predicted.

“When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation” (Matt. 12:43–45).

Jesus was using a cleansed demoniac as an illustration—but what he was actually talking about is what would happen to that unrepentant nation after His ministry of casting out demons. He spent three years casting them out, and yet the rulers of Israel rejected their Messiah. The end result was a revolt against Rome that was literally a pandemonium, a frenzy, a warp spasm of iniquity.

The Lord had said this about Jerusalem—it was going to be flattened.

“And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down” (Matt. 24:2).

When this kind of complete destruction comes upon a city, the next residents will be the foul and unclean birds. This had been expressly declared as the future of Babylon.

“But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; And their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; And owls shall dwell there, And satyrs shall dance there. And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, And dragons in their pleasant palaces: And her time is near to come, And her days shall not be prolonged” (Is. 13:21–22).

Some question the identification of Babylon here with Jerusalem—was Jerusalem really that great a merchant power, such that the merchants of the earth would weep and lament her fall? I believe that this is the point that John is making—while perhaps he is keying more off the descriptions of an unfaithful and luxury-loving Jerusalem in the Old Testament than he is saying something about the GDP of Jerusalem in the first century. But even here we should be careful—there is no reason for assuming that it was not an economic power.

“Thou hast played the whore also with the Assyrians, because thou wast unsatiable; yea, thou hast played the harlot with them, and yet couldest not be satisfied. Thou hast moreover multiplied thy fornication in the land of Canaan unto Chaldea; and yet thou wast not satisfied herewith. How weak is thine heart, saith the Lord God, seeing thou doest all these things, the work of an imperious whorish woman;” (Ezekiel 16:28–30, cf. 14-15, 26; 23:12-21)

After all, when we read these words with the assumption that the Old Testament is our primary context, the identification seems sure.

“Babylon hath been a golden cup in the Lord’s hand, That made all the earth drunken: The nations have drunken of her wine; Therefore the nations are mad” (Jer. 51:7).

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Grace & Peace: Revelation 100

Douglas Wilson on

“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16:11).

“And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful. And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.” (Revelation 17:12–18).

We turn from the seven heads as seven kings to the question of the ten horns. These ten horns are obviously subordinate to the heads, but they are in some manner kings. They have real authority, but it is a lesser authority than that of the seven kings. As it happens, the empire of Rome did have ten imperial provinces, and it is possible that this is what is intended. It could also be that the number ten is symbolic here, simply representing the complete number of subordinate governors and kings. Scripture itself uses the term king with some latitude—for example, Herod would be an example of this kind of lesser ruler. His technical position was that of a tetrarch (which is the term Luke prefers, e.g. Luke  3:1), but he is also called a king elsewhere (Matt. 2:1).

The basic set up is this. The waters here are many peoples, nations, tribes, etc. The beast arises from these waters, and the great harlot sits upon the beast. The harlot thus sits upon the many waters, ruling over them by means of her dalliance with the beast. The ten horns first make war on the Lamb, doing so by persecuting His followers. But the whole thing culminates when Rome turns on the woman who rides upon its back, thus destroying her. That said, we can dig into some specifics.

These ten rulers make war on the Lamb and on His followers ineffectually. They do not succeed because the Lord is King of kings and Lord of lords. They inhabit the realm of lower case kings and lords, and thus they are making war on their omnipotent sovereign. It is very specific—“the Lamb shall overcome them.” These kings will lose. And those who are with the Lamb are also identified by their calling and character—they are “called, chosen, and faithful.” They too are necessarily victorious.

Unable to defeat the Lamb or His people, the kings settle for an entity they can defeat—the harlot. They hate her, and when given the opportunity, they wipe her out. They leave Jerusalem desolate, and naked. They devour her, the ways beasts would eat a carcass, and then burn her with fire. This passage may intend for us to think of Jezebel, eaten at the last by dogs. This is the kind of terrible end that Ezekiel predicted for Israel, and it is now coming to pass.

“Behold, therefore I will gather all thy lovers, with whom thou hast taken pleasure, and all them that thou hast loved, with all them that thou hast hated; I will even gather them round about against thee, and will discover thy nakedness unto them, that they may see all thy nakedness. And I will judge thee, as women that break wedlock and shed blood are judged; and I will give thee blood in fury and jealousy. And I will also give thee into their hand, and they shall throw down thine eminent place, and shall break down thy high places: they shall strip thee also of thy clothes, and shall take thy fair jewels, and leave thee naked and bare. They shall also bring up a company against thee, and they shall stone thee with stones, and thrust thee through with their swords. And they shall burn thine houses with fire, and execute judgments upon thee in the sight of many women: and I will cause thee to cease from playing the harlot, and thou also shalt give no hire any more” (Eze. 16:37–41).

These kings are manifestly wicked, and we also see a plain statement of God’s absolute control of all such iniquitous rulers. They cannot prevail over the Lord’s people, and they will only prevail over their other enemies to the extent that God has determined for them to do so. The text here is as plain as an exegetical pikestaff. “For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will . . .” Like the ancient Assyrians, they were simply an axe in the hand of a sovereign God (Is. 10:15). They boasted in their prowess, but they had nothing to do but fulfill the will of God, and then be condemned for their wickedness in doing so. It was the same as with Herod, Pilate, and Judas, who fell under condemnation for the way that they fulfilled the will of God perfectly (Acts 4:26-28).

The woman was that “great city,” who rules over the kings of the earth—until she is destroyed by the kings of the earth. The power of Israel was not a political power. The beast was the political power, and the woman rode on the beast. Her authority, whether corrupt or righteous, was indirect.

There were Jews all over the Roman Empire, and they would all congregate in Jerusalem at the times of festival. “And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven” (Acts 2:5). The Jews were God’s chosen people, which did not necessarily mean that they were His favorite people. When they trusted and obeyed God, the whole earth was blessed. “And all the earth sought to Solomon, to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart” (1 Kings 10:24; cf. Ezra 1:4-7). When they were disobedient, when they fell into unfaithfulness, the Gentile world was stumbled into blasphemy.

“Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God, And knowest his will, and approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law; And art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness, An instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hast the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law. Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal? Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God? For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written” (Rom. 2:17–24).

The Jews were appointed to show the world what blessing for covenantal faithfulness looked like. This meant also, necessarily, that they were appointed to show the world what fierce anger and indignation looks like when poured out on a virgin bride who became a wanton harlot. This image of harlotry, taken from the Old Testament, overwhelmingly refers to covenantal apostasy.

So the harlot Jerusalem rode on the back of Rome, but her position was entirely precarious.

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Grace & Peace: Revelation 99

Douglas Wilson on

“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16:11).

“And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns. The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition” (Rev. 17:7–11).

So the angel had shown John a vision of the great harlot, riding on the back of the beast. I believe the simplest way to understand this, as previously explained, is to see the harlot as apostate Judaism and the beast as the Roman Empire. Some additional reasons for taking it this way will unfold as we proceed.

John was amazed at the vision, and the angel asked him why. The mystery of the woman, and the beast carrying her, will be fully explained. The beast in question is the same one that was shown to us earlier in the book—he has seven heads and ten horns. The beast was at one time, is not now, and will ascend out of the Abyss on its way to perdition. On its way to perdition, it will make an impressive display—enough to make all the reprobate on earth wonder. If their names were not written down in the book of life (from before the foundation of the world), then they will be the kind of people who are impressed with this kind of thing. The cryptic expression about Rome’s reality (was, is not, etc.) is then repeated again, but this time it concludes with a statement about a contrary appearance. The second time John says the beast “was, and is not, and yet is.” The beast is finished in principle, but is somehow managing to keep up appearances. And yet is.

John then poses us a riddle, using a similar expression to what he used in Chapter 13 when introducing the mystery of 666. There he said here is wisdom, and here he says here is a mind with wisdom. It all amounts to the same thing, and is considering the same object.

Just as New York is the Big Apple, and New Orleans the Big Easy, and Chicago the Windy City, so also to the ancients Rome was the City of Seven Hills. The beast is identified here two ways—the seven heads of the beast represent seven mountains, and the seven heads of the beast also represent seven kings. The first places the identification as Rome geographically, and the second places it in a particular period of Roman history—the times of the caesars.

Out of the seven kings, five were already in the history books at the time this vision was given. They were Julius, Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, and Claudius (“five have fallen”). When John saw this vision, Nero was on the throne (“one is”), and we should also remember that his name can be extracted from John’s 666 riddle. The emperor who came after Nero was Galba, and he reigned for only seven months (“continue a short space”). Alternatively, because the time after Nero’s death was so tumultuous—a year with three emperors—it could be possible to read the one who continues a very short time as the scramble of all three contenders (Galba, Otho, Vitellius), none of whom were actually firmly established.

And this would mean that the indefinite “eighth” would be identified with the Flavian dynasty that followed. Vespasian was the general who was besieging Jerusalem when all this was happening, and he had to turn over military operations to his son Titus in order go back to Rome and establish order. This Flavian line was Vespasian, Titus, and then Domitian. They are distinct from the seven, and yet like them—like enough to be going to perdition also.

So the woman was riding the beast, but as the prophecy of this book establishes, the beast was going to turn on her. Rome was going to destroy the old Jerusalem, making way for the new Jerusalem.

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Grace & Peace: Revelation 98

Douglas Wilson on

“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16:11).

“And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration” (Rev. 17:1–6).

After the last bowl had been poured out, one of the angels who had had one of the bowls came to John and talked to him. He said that he would show him the judgment of the great whore, the woman who sat upon many waters.

To help us keep things straight, I will begin with how I identify the figures in this passage. I take the harlot as the apostate city of Jerusalem, the one under judgment. This has been the great theme of the book of Revelation, and it would be odd to change the subject at this late point. I take the beast that she is sitting on as the beast from the sea, introduced to us in chapter 13. So I believe we are talking about both Rome and Jerusalem, but Jerusalem as riding upon, dependent upon, the imperial city.

Some reasons for identifying this harlot as Jerusalem can be quickly summarized. The central point of Revelation deals with things that will “shortly” take place (Rev. 1:1). The fall of Jerusalem fits this description, while the fall of Rome occurs centuries later. In terms of literary structure, we are being introduced to the contrast between the harlot and the bride. Because the bride, descending out of Heaven, is the New Jerusalem, it stands to reason that the harlot is the Old Jerusalem. Jerusalem is called that “great city” earlier (Rev. 11:8), which is how “Babylon” is described in this section. The use of the word harlot fits with the Old Testament usage by the prophets. Harlotry presupposes a covenant relationship with God that was violated by spiritual adulteries (see Is. 1:21; 57:8; Jer. 2:2, 20). And the central charge made against her was that she was guilty of the blood of the prophets, saints, and apostles ((Rev. 17:6; 18:20, 24). This was not yet true of Rome, but it had been true of Jerusalem for generations (Matt. 23:35-36).

This said, what are we told in this passage? Instead of being a light to the Gentiles, Jerusalem had led the kings of the earth astray, not to mention the inhabitants of the earth. They all had been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. The angel then led John into the wilderness, a fitting place for a revelation of this nature. It was not a heavenly vision, but rather a vision given in a place of owls and jackals. The woman was sitting on a scarlet colored beast. The color given is new, but in every other respect, the beast is same as before (seven heads, ten horns). The woman riding on the beast is distinct from it, and she was arrayed in scarlet and purple. She was decked out with gold, gems, and pearls, clearly given over to ostentatious and luxurious living. She had a golden cup in her hand, exquisite on the outside, and full of filth on the inside (Matt. 23:25).

She was a wanton, and her name was emblazoned on her forehead. The first thing about her name is that she was a mystery. How was it that the people of Israel, delivered by Jehovah so many times, had now come to this? This is the vision that Ezekiel had seen. When God had first seen Israel, she was nothing, polluted in her own blood (Eze. 16:6). But it was not long before she was seduced by her own beauty (Eze. 16:14), which was what led to her becoming seductive to everyone else. She was also identified as Babylon the Great. We have already considered how that epithet readily applied to Jerusalem, in much the same way that the names of other older pagan entities did—e.g. Sodom and Egypt (Rev. 11:8). She is the Mother of Harlots, as well as the Mother of Abominations on the Earth.

When John saw her, he was amazed. The woman was regal, clothed in royal splendor, covered in jewelry, but her behavior was that of a slattern. She was drunk. Not only was she drunk, but what had made her drunk? She was drunk on the blood of the saints, and on the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. A moment before we had been told that her golden cup was filled with abomination and filthiness of her fornication (v. 4), and earlier it had referred to the wine of her fornication (v. 2). Putting all this together, her abominable lusts appeared to focus on the deaths of the saints—which are precious in the sight of the Lord (Ps. 116:15), and prized by this harlot for a completely different reason.

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