We are going to look at Revelation 17 verses one and two which say this: “Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, ‘Come, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality, and with the wine of those whose sexul immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk.” What I want to do is break those two verses down into a series of observations; remember, when reading and studying Scripture, small observations of the text lead to big applications.
Observation 1: I think we need to begin with the first word of our text, the word “then”.
That is the very first word in this verse according to how the ESV translated verse 1, which is the version I use, and I think most of your translations do too, unless you’re using the NIV. But the word “then” implies that Revelation 17:1 immediately follows Revelation 16:21. Why is that important?
It’s important because it tells us there is no lapse in time between the two verses. That means we are still within the confines of the seventh bowl judgment. What we are going to begin discussing today is, as one commentator put it, “an extended vision elaborating on the fall of Babylon, previously announced by an angel in Revelation 14:8 and portrayed in the seventh bowl in Revelation 16:18-19.” Recall back in Revelation 14:8 we read about an angel proclaiming to the world, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who made all nations drink the wine of the passion of her sexually immorality.” This comes to fulfillment in Revelation 16:18-19, which we read last week, when God specifically targeted New Babylon with the great earthquake. And we need to keep in mind that Revelation 17 through Revelation 19:10 is an extended vision elaborating on both Revelation 14:8 and Revelation 16:18-19.
The second thing we need to keep in mind is that Revelation 17 is the eighth parenthetical passage in Revelation. What is a parenthetical passage? In general, it’s a passage meant to explain in greater detail, if you will, things that have already been revealed. So, in regards to Revelation 17, Revelation 17 is a passage meant to provide us with details regarding what has already been revealed in Revelation 14:8 and Revelation 16:18-19 in regards to the rise and fall of New Babylon.
Observation 2: The next thing we see is one of the seven angels who had poured out one of the seven bowls approaching John.
Can you imagine being in John’s position at that moment? You just witnessed seven angels pour out seven bowls, which was the outpouring of God’s wrath on humanity, and now one of those seven angels is approaching you. I’m sure John was pretty astonished by all that he had witnessed.
Now what we do not know is which of the seven angels this is, likely because that is not essential here. What you must know is that while angels serve in different capacities, angels are generally messengers of God; or, you could think of them as delegates of God. We see in the Scriptures that angels are often sent from God to men in order to proclaim a certain message on God’s behalf. Which brings me to my next observation.
Observation 3: This angel is not so much proclaiming a specific message as much as he is wanting to show something to John.
If you look at verse 1 the angel says to John, “Come, I will show you…”. The word “show” here implies that the angel has been sent by God to make something known to John. In other words, there was something God wanted this angel to point out to John. And that brings us to our next observation of the text.
Observation 4: What God was having this angel show John is concerning judgment.
In verse 1 the Bible says that “one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, ‘Come, I will show you the judgment…” This word “judgment” is very telling. In our vocabulary today we define judgment as the ability to judge, make a decision, or form an objective opinion. That is not how this angel uses this word.
The word judgment here has one implication to it: it emphasizes a result; it emphasizes the conclusion of something; it emphasizes the outcome of something; it emphasizes how something will come to an end. It implies that there will be reward or punishment at the conclusion of what this angel is showing John, and in this case – as you will see – it is in regards to punishment. The question now is what or who is this judgment concerning?
Observation 5: This judgment or outcome is pertaining to “the great prostitute”.
Now notice, this is not pertaining to a great prostitute but “the great prostitute”, which tells us we are talking about a singular thing. The word “prostitute” here tells us we’re dealing with a harlot; someone who has used their life abilities in an unworthy and unlawful and idolatrous way. And the fact that John uses the word “great” here tells us the level of prostitution committed is extremely intense. But who is this “great prostitute”?
The “great prostitute” the angel is showing John is not a someone; it’s a something. It’s none other than New Babylon. We know this because of what the Bible says in verse 5, “And on her forehead was written a name of mystery: ‘Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations.” Notice the different names Scripture has for New Babylon: “the great prostitute”, “Bablylon the great”, “mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations”. All these titles are references to the fact that Babylon will be the source to the rise of a godless and rebellious civilization as the world as we know it comes to an end.
So what John is being shown then, and what Revelation 17 is about, is judgment concerning New Babylon. The very Babylon that is being rebuilt today. But that brings up a question for me: Why is New Babylon referred to as “the great prostitute”?
Observation 6: Notice in verse 1 that John is told “the great prostitute” – New Babylon – “is seated on many waters”.
We know from verse 15 that the “many waters” here is a reference to “peoples and multitudes and nations and languages.” That implies just how great Babylon will one day be. In the Old Testament, Babylon was once one of the greatest empires in the world; Scripture is telling us it will again rise to that same level of greatness again and more so. As you know the Babylon of old is being rebuilt today; again, you’re seeing Scripture unfold before your eyes. One day it will be the greatest city on our planet. It will be the world’s epicenter for government and commerce. Every nation on earth, with the exception of three according to Daniel’s prophecy in Daniel 7, will willingly come under New Bablyon’s government and commercial system. And that is what John is witnessing here.
Observation 7: Also notice in verse 2 John is told that Babylon will commit the sin of sexual immorality with the kings of the earth.
Verse 2 says it this way, “with whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality…” This is why Babylon is called the great prostitute in Scripture. Traditionally we define sexual immorality as a sexual relationship with someone outside the boundaries of a biblically defined marriage. But that is not what John is being shown here because we are not talking about people, we are talking about a city.
The phrase “the kings of the earth” is a reference to the political world powers whom Babylon will one day do business with. But this verse implies something else: it implies that there is a spiritual component. When the angel says to John that Babylon “committed sexual immorality” with them, according to scholars he is making a reference to spiritual infedility or spiritual fornication. That means through means of immoralism and seduction, the Babylon that is being rebuilt today will one day be the world’s headquarters for not only government and commerce, but also for religion. In other words, the leadership at New Babylon will seduce the world to worship no one else but the Antichrist.
This also means that one day the world’s government and religious system will be united and the epicenter for all this will be at the New Babylon in present day Iraq. As we have already learned and is now being expanded on, one day someone will rise up from among the religious leaders of the world as a false prophet, and through fake signs and wonders, seduce the world to declare that the Antichrist is God.
And they will be successful. Scripture says in verse 2, “and with the wine of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk.” What that means is that the religious influence will be on many of the inhabitants of earth from kings to their subjects. The rulers of nations will subject themselves to New Babylons governmental power as well as New Babylons one world system of religion, thereby causing the nations they rule to do the same, misleading many from the one true Christ whose name is Jesus. And this will give rise to what we call the apostate church.
What do I mean by the apostate church?
Point 1: The apostate church is not anything new, it is something that has been prophesied about from ages past.
The prophet Jeremiah said in Jeremiah 51:7, “Babylon was a golden cup in the Lord’s hand, making all the earth drunken; the nations drank of her wine; therefore the nations went mad.” That is a prophecy concerning the coming apostate church which will rise to great power during the latter days of the Tribulation. Jesus said in Matthew 24:24, after the Antichrist rises, that “false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.” Again, a statement concerning the rise of the apostate church after the Antichrist rises to power. Paul said to Timothy, “Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons” (1 Tim. 4:1). In Paul’s second letter to Timothy he said, “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths” (2 Tim. 4:3-4). Again, Paul is speaking about the rise of the apostate church in latter days when the world will be seduced by the teachings coming out of New Babylon, led by the false prophet, to lead people astray, especially those who will become followers of Jesus during that time.
Point 2: An apostate is someone who has once believed and followed Jesus, but then intentionally abandons and renounces their faith, and rejects the truth of God; so an apostate church is a body of people who have accepted and embraced false doctrines.
According to Paul’s letters to Timothy, an apostate church is made up of a body of people who once believed but will depart from and reject the truth of God; Paul put it like this: “in later times some will depart from the faith”. So instead of accepting the truth of God, they will no longer want to hear truth according to the Word of God, they will no longer want to hear sound biblical teaching, they will no longer want to hear sound doctrine, and instead they will find themselves a teacher who will teach them what they want to hear; or again, as Paul put it: “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths”. And they will get that from the false prophet, because the religious system that will one day come to this world is a religious system that is based on evil and wickedness and sin and passionate lusts and mythicism, which will be very appealing to people in this world, and in turn, will lead to a godless and lawless society.
Point 3: An apostate church, according to Paul’s letters to Timothy, is one that is led by the teachings of deceitful spirits and demons.
He said it like this, “Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons” (1 Tim. 4:1). Also remember, according to Jesus in Matthew 24:24, after the Antichrist rises to power, as well as the false prophet, the world will be full of false teachers that are agents of Satan disguising themselves as servants of Christ attempting to persuade people from the teachings of Jesus; and Revelation 17 tells us they will be successful; even Jesus himself said, “if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved” (Matt. 24:22). So the apostasy of those last days will be great, leading to the rise of an entire global congregation of people throughout the world that have been influenced by teachings that will one day come out of New Babylon. That’s what John is witnessing here; and again, you’re seeing in your lifetime that New Babylon being rebuilt.
But how does any of this apply to us today?
Answer 1: Everything that Paul said to Timothy in his two letters about apostasy is just as applicable today as they have ever been and will be even after the rapture.
When Paul says “that in later times some will depart from the faith” we are already seeing this happening all around us. In recent years, there have been many who have publicly renounced their faith. People like Hillsong songwriter – Marty Simpson, author and mega church pastor – Joshua Harris, former megachurch pastor – Dave Gass, former Desiring God writer – Paul Maxwell, and there are more. These are just some of the ones who are high profile, celebrity type people, who decided they would announce their decision to abandon and renounce Christ publicly via social media, thus likely influencing a great many to do the same. And there are many more doing what we call deconstructing from the faith today that we do not know about.
Answer 2: The reason I tell you this is because Jesus said this would happen even prior to him rapturing his church, and therefore, we should not be surprised when we hear of it.
In Matthew 24:10, when Jesus was teaching about signs that let us know we are approaching the end of the age, he said that one of them would be that “many will fall away.” What are they falling away from? The faith. What Jesus is describing is that many will away from the faith by abandoning and renouncing their faith, which is called apostasy, as we approach the rapture of his church. And my friends, this is what you see happening in many churches today.
Answer 3: I believe the reason we see so many abandon and renounce their faith today, is because our churches are being infiltrated by false teachers who are spreading false doctrine.
I believe what Paul said about “in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons” and that “people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears (and) accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths is occurring before our eyes. Per Barna Group, more and more Christians are being influenced by competing non-biblical worldviews like: new spirituality, progressivism, marxism, secularism, pluralism, postmodernism, and are departing away from central teachings of Scripture. The only reason for this could be this: our churches are being infiltrated by the false teaching of demons who disguise themselves as messengers of Christ, which has led to more and more false doctrines being taught and accepted in the church, which has also led to much of the confusion we have in many of our churches and denominations today.
Answer 4: This is also why I think we are seeing the quality of our churches in spiritual decline.
Paul once said concerning apostasy and the church that “in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit; lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God; having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power” (2 Tim. 3:1-5). Again, he is describing the character of the church. This is what the church will grow to look like as we approach the last days, and I think we are seeing some of these qualities in the church now. And the reason we see this happening is because of the growing infiltration we have of false teachers.
Answer 5: But the reason we see more and more false teachers infiltrating our churches, I believe, is because of the spirit of the Antichrist which is now present in the world, according to 1 John 4:3.
Understand that apostasy in the church is not a new thing. People have been committing apostasy ever since the gospel has been preached dating back to the book of Acts; we see evidence of apostasy all through the New Testament. However, I am under the impression that as we draw closer to Jesus rapturing his church, we will see apostasy grow. And I believe that is because as we draw closer to the rapture, you will see the influence of the spirit of the Antichrist become greater in the world and even in our churches.
So what do you do with that information?
Don’t be surprised by it.
Scripture is always fulfilling itself, so the evil we see taking place in our society, and even in our churches, has all been prophesied, and therefore is happening according to the sovereign plan of God, and is simply letting us know things are coming to a conclusion. What I mean is that at some point Scripture, concerning end time prophecies, must come to fruition, and we see signs all around us that they are in some way or another.
Remember, everything happening in our world is leading up to the next big event on God’s timeline – the rapture of his church – and has been that way ever since Jesus ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of Almighty God. So as each year passes by, and we get closer and closer to that event, things are going to happen in our world and in our lifetime that will lead up to events in the tribulation which we have been discussing. Again, whether you wish to accept it or not, you see an end time prophecy in the process of being fulfilled before your very eyes today.
If you’re a Christian, endure till the end.
Dr. David Jeremiah once said “endure to the end and you will win.” He bases that off what Jesus in Matthew 24:13 when he was teaching about the signs of the end of the age, he said, “The one who endures to the end will be saved.” That simply means if you keep your faith in Christ despite all that must happen and will happen, according to the Scriptures, you will receive your salvation and inheritance from God.
If you’re a Christian, stay alert.
Jesus once said, “stay awake” (Matt. 24:42). In other words, dear Christian, always be on the alert for false teachers who are trying to mislead you by false teaching to get you to abandon and renounce your faith in Jesus. As we approach the rapture, this will become greater and greater. By the way, demons are really good at deception; in other words, they are really good at presenting a false doctrine in such a way that sounds true. So, know your Bible. A really good way of picking up false teaching is knowing the Word of God for yourself.
If you’re not saved, get saved.
How do you do that? Get saved by repenting of your sins, believing upon the Lord Jesus Christ, and living your life in total surrender to him. The Bible says in Romans 10:13, “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” That’s a promise folks, and God is faithful to uphold every promise He makes. What that means is if you call on the Lord Jesus to save you, and you are wanting to turn from your sinful ways, and you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead for the forgiveness of your sins, and you are willing to confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, you will be saved.