The Great Whore

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(Revelation 17:1-6) 1 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: 2 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. 3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. 4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: 5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. 6 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.

Last week we saw the forces of evil gather for a battle called Armageddon. But this week we see the force that is behind all rebellion against God. It is false religion, idolatry, described as “the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus”.

An Angel Of The Bowl Judgment Speaks

Back in chapter 10 an angel spoke directly to John. As this chapter starts we read:

(Revelation 17:1-2) 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: 2 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.

Once more one of the Judgment Angels speaks directly to John. He wanted to show John – and us – why this Judgment was being poured out so severely on the world. The Angel points to “the great whore that SITTETH upon many WATERS”. There is significance in this phrase. If you let Scripture define itself you will find that …

(Revelation 17:15) And he saith unto me, The WATERS which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are PEOPLES, AND MULTITUDES, AND NATIONS, AND TONGUES.

These are people of all nationalities. The Whore is “SITTING” on these people. What is the significance of this? If I am sitting on you my weight is pressing you down, restricting you, keeping you from moving or, if you move, making any movement very difficult. If I am sitting on you I am holding you away from freedom. If you are wounded or need help my sitting on you keeps you from reaching salvation. To sit on you is to hurt you.

The Whore has sat on Kings ans on common people. She impedes their finding of God and salvation in Christ. She convinces those she sits on that good is evil and evil is good. The Prophet said:

Isaiah 5:16-24 (KJV) But the LORD of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and God that is holy shall be sanctified in righteousness. [17] Then shall the lambs feed after their manner, and the waste places of the fat ones shall strangers eat. [18] Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope: … [20] Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! [21] Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight! … [23] Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him! [24] Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

The Bible declares that the Wages of sin is ALWAYS DEATH (Romans 6:23). But Babylon the Prostitute sits on the lap of her victim, whispering in the ear, holding the victim back in sin and destruction. Babylon whispered from the mouths of past presidents who claimed to be saved. Babylon rejects the Word of God, knowing full well that to do so is to bring destruction. But Babylon does not care. She is a prostitute, a whore, a harlot. She does so for temporal profit. She does not care for you, but for your money.

The Power Behind The False Religions

(Revelation 17:3) So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.

Don’t miss the significance of this verse. “He carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness”. After Jesus was baptized we read:

Matthew 4:1 (KJV) Then was Jesus led up of the SPIRIT INTO THE WILDERNESS to be tempted of the devil.

Jesus was led into the wilderness to meet and be tested by the devil. John is led by the Angel “in the Spirit into the wilderness” not to be tempted, but to be instructed. Here he will see the Devil. The Woman – the Prostitute of False religion – is “Sitting upon a SCARLET colored BEAST”. This strange creature is “FULL of names of BLASPHEMY” speaking against God, “having seven heads and ten horns”. We saw this “Beast” before back in:

Revelation 12:3-4 (KJV) And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. [4] And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: …

This “Red Dragon” tried to take over Heaven, and convinced a third of the angels to follow him. This Red Dragon is clearly presented as the Devil or Satan:

Revelation 12:9 (KJV) And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

This woman is RIDING on the back of this Red Dragon.
This Beast also represents the devil’s manifest presence, the anti-Christ.
False religion is powered by Satan and the anti-Christ.
No matter how harmless it might seem it is but a distraction from that which is right, and holy, and true. False religion is Satanic no matter where it comes from.
Babylon the Prostitute is riding on this Dragon.

The woman is wealthy, a well paid prostitute. We read:

(Revelation 17:4) And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand …

False Religion looks GOOD!
Oh how she’s dressed up!
It sounds GREAT!

The Prosperity Gospel sounds great.
The Self Help Gospel sounds wonderful.
The All Roads Lead to Heaven Gospel is very appealing.
The You Can Be Saved And Still Freely Sin Gospel will fill churches.
The Our Church/Denomination Is The Only Way To Christ is so exclusive.
These are all Golden Cups, but what is in them?

It is …

(Revelation 17:4) …. full of ABOMINATIONS and FILTHINESS of her fornication:

The Bowl Angel carried a golden cup filled with plagues
intended to punish mankind for rejecting God.
False Religion carries a golden cup that is supposed to bless mankind
but it is filled with hideousness and filthiness.

Tim Keller writes in his book “The Reason For God”:

“Everybody has to live for something. Whatever that something is becomes ‘Lord of your life’, whether you think of it that way or not. Jesus is the only Lord Who, if you receive Him, will fulfill you completely, and, if you fail Him, will forgive you eternally.”

It is so sad that so many Churches are trying to compromise with False Religion. I have heard people say “Well, let’s just say it’s ok. After all, God is love”. But friend, God is also JUST. The Cross proves that.

The Three Names Of False Religion

The Bible makes much over names. This whorish woman is named with three names:

(Revelation 17:5) And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

Mystery
Babylon The Great
The Mother Of Harlots & Abominations

She is called “Mystery” or the Greek μυστήριον mystērion. This word was used in the New Testament by Jesus and the Apostles to speak of our faith. The disciples – those who follow Christ – came to Him with a question one day:

Matthew 13:10-11 (KJV) …. Why speakest thou unto them in parables? [11] He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries (mystērion) of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.

When we say “Yes, Lord” to Jesus He gives us the power to understand the deeper things of God, things which the world considers “mystērion”. The change that Christ brings in us is a mystērion. The fact that the Spirit of God can indwell we who are still sinful creatures is mystērion. In fact, there are so many mysterious and wonderful truths to our faith – miraculous things – that the Apostle said:

1 Corinthians 2:6-12 (KJV) Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought: [7] But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: [8] Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. [9] But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. [10] But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. [11] For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. [12] Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

The “mystērion” or mystery of our faith is not revealed to the world nor to the godless but to those who are surrendered to Christ. So why is “mystērion” one of the names given false religion? Because false religion imitates Christianity. It was false religion that founded this country. When a “Catholic” was in power in Old England that king ordered the death and persecution of the “Protestants”. When a “Protestant” was in power in Old England that king ordered the death and persecution of the “Catholics”.

When did Christ order we kill our enemies? Did He not command:

Matthew 5:44-46 (KJV) But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; [45] That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. [46] For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?

The fighting in Northern Ireland between Catholic and Protestant is not godly, but Satanic. False religion cloaked as a form of Christianity – whether Protestant or Catholic – ignored Christ’s Word and made killing acceptable in the name of God. It was not in God’s name they killed, but in falseness. The Pilgrims came to America to escape persecution in England and founded this nation to follow after Christ. False religion cloaked as Christianity twists Christ’s words, pretends to be “mystērion”, but is not. It is a travesty.

She is called “Babylon The Great” because the first organized rejection of God and His Word came from ancient Babylon. Babylon was founded by a mighty hunter called Nimrod (Genesis 10:9-10). Nimrod was the grandson of Noah, his father was Cush. Nimrod’s hunting business was so good that he founded not just Babylon, but three other cities. Nimrod’s four city metropolis was hugely successful, and people flooded into the area. And this was a problem.

When Noah and his family left the Ark God gave humanity a simple command:

Genesis 9:1 (KJV) … Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.

“Be fruitful” is something only man and woman can do, so God endorsed one man one woman marriage. “Multiply” means that God endorses marital sex, not the horrendous perversion that has gripped America and most of the world. And “replenish the earth” meant to spread out, to populate not just one area, but all of earth.

Nimrod may not have been there when Cush heard this command, but his father share it with him. God’s order was for mankind to spread out over the face of the earth. But instead of spreading out and doing as God said mankind revolted against God. They went to Shinar and while in that place said:

Genesis 11:3-4 (KJV) And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. [4] And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.

The people chose to reject the Word of God, so God scrambled their word. The Bible says that all the earth was of one language up to this point. But God said:

Genesis 11:6-9 (KJV) And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. [7] Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech. [8] So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. [9] Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

The Triune LORD God said “Let US go down and confound their language”. They rejected God’s Word, so He confused theirs.

Once their language was confused they scattered, doing as God commanded they do in the first place.

Therefore it was named BABEL
Babel eventually became known as Babylon.

King Hammurabi made Babylon a religious power again in 1600 BC by making Marduk god of the city of Babylon and head of the 1300 gods and goddesses worshiped there. The first fake christ came from Babylon. The goddess Semiramus gave birth to a son name Tammuz, supposed to be the savior prophesied in Genesis 3:15. False religion would steal the glory from God and from His Son if it could. That is why it is called “Babylon”.

False religion is called “The Mother of Harlots and of the Abominations of the Earth” because this is her true face. She is both a Whore and a producer of Whores. A Whore or a Harlot is someone who sells her body and its use for profit. God gave us our bodies. He created us in His image and in His likeness (Genesis 1:26). The Bible says:

1 Corinthians 6:20 (KJV) For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

The prostitute worships money and things rather than the God Who made us. False religion does not care what God has said about a thing. It only cares about promoting self, while demoting God. The Beast is carried by Satan and the Anti-Christ. We read:

(Revelation 17:7, 8) 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. 8 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^admire, 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.

False Religion is carried by anti-Christ, and empowered by Satan. This is why the text says that the Beast is “full of the names (plural) of blasphemies”. The anti-Christ, like his father Satan, hates Jesus and hates the Father.

There Is No Compromise Between Light And Darkness

The true face of false religion is found in what it does. We read:

(Revelation 17:6) 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.^{θαῦμα thauma}^{means “wonder”}

There is NO COMPROMISE between false religion and Christianity. I recently read that the United Methodist Church is considering changing it’s statutes to endorse abortion as a good thing. Abortion is an evil – it kills a child. But the United Methodists began a dark descent from the Word of Christ long ago, departing for the honorable Wesley and Whitefield who founded them. Yet this is true among many “denominations” and “non-denominations” even today. Even among Baptists there have been slips where well meaning people and soft hearted pastors have pushed compromise with the darkness. But there can be no compromise between light and darkness. The Apostle said:

2 Corinthians 6:14-18 (KJV) Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? [15] And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? [16] And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. [17] Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, [18] And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

There can be no compromise between the devil and the Kingdom of God. We must choose. We can love the world, and love it by sharing the unvarnished Gospel of the Kingdom. But we must not believe – even for a moment – that there is any possible compromise. Those who have compromised with darkness have found themselves sitting in darkness. The Whore of False Religion will drink the blood of saints, martyring the Children of God. The devil desires your damnation and, failing that, your death. If he can get your faith to die then all the better.

Some Final Considerations

Revelation 17:9-13 (KJV) And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. [10] 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. [11] And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition. [12] 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. [13] These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.

The “Seven Mountains” are the seven hills of Rome. The Harlot would rule from Rome. Some have taken this to mean that the Catholic Church will be the root of the Harlot. That is possible, though not stated in the text. I believe the text plainly taken means that the Capital of this False Religion empowered by Satan and endorsed by the anti-Christ will be in Rome. We do not know who the seven kings are, though they are somehow connected to Rome. The ten kings are mentioned in Daniel’s prophecies:

Daniel 7:24 (KJV) And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.

These ten kings or nations will rise up and bind with the devil and the anti-Christ, but they will only be in power for a set time (one hour). It may be for 3 ½ years but in comparison to God’s reckoning of time it is but for a short time.

Revelation 17:13-14 (KJV) These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. [14] 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.

Though these ten nations are in collusion with one another, with the anti-Christ, and with Satan, they shall still lose to the Lamb of God. There is a lesson in this for us all. God is always triumphant. His Word is always right. Regardless as to what we “feel” or “think” what God has said will stand. No matter what flight of fantasy a denomination shall fly, God ultimately wins. Jesus Christ has the victory, and His people shall stand triumphant!

Revelation 17:17 (KJV) For God hath put in their hearts to fulfill his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.

God is in control! He is always in control!

Blessed be the Name of the Lord!