Verse 1: “And there came one of the seven angels who had the seven vials , and talked with me saying unto me, come hither; and I will show unto thee the judgement of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters.”
In chronological order this event occurs at the tail end of the 30-day Reclamation Period of the kingdom prior to the battle of Armageddon. We have already pointed out that after God Almighty reclaimed His rule over the Earth, the mystery of God finished and the surviving remnant of Israel sent to Azel, there remaineth but twenty and four days to the end of the 30-day Reclamation Period of the kingdom. We have also pointed out that the Greek word translated vial in the KJV which is a narrow-throated vessel is better rendered bowl which is a shallow saucer, the contents of which can be easily emptied; unlike a narrow-throated vial, the kind used in medicine, the content of which is not easily emptied because the narrow throat constitutes an impediment to the flow of the liquid content. The idea here is that these judgments are carried out rather swiftly.
Here an invite is extended to John the revelator by one of the seven last bowl-carrying avenging angels, in order that he, the angel might show him the judgement of the great harlot that sitteth upon many waters. We are not told which of the seven last bowl-carrying avenging angels it was. Inasmuch as it is the seventh bowl that is in view, it may be appropriate to assume that it was the seventh bowl-carrying avenging angel that was given this responsibility of interpreting that bowl. Therefore the judgement of the great harlot is a continuation of the truncated seventh bowl judgement of Rev.16:17ff. The great whore may have been judged in the past, but now the judgement is final, consummative and eschatological. The question is who is this great whore and what does she represent. Some biblical scholars and interpreters teach that for a woman to qualify as an adulteress, she must be legally married to a husband. She then engages in sexual union with another man. This theory many not hold water in every case. If a woman who is not married commits sexual immortality, is she therefore exonerated because she is not married. I hope not. She is considered to be under the titulage of her father and therefore guilty. Sexual immorality involves sexual union between two unmarried people of opposite sex whether before or after wedlock.
There are any number of cities depicted as harlots in the Bible. In Is.1:21, Jerusalem is called a harlot. Is.23:13-17 depicts Tyre as a harlot. Nahum 3:4 declares the ancient city of Nineveh a harlot. The prophets of Israel repeatedly accused Israel of harlotry(Jer.3:6-10; Eze.16:15-22; Hos. 4:12,13). These references apply to cities and nations. In the biblical sense, Israel and Jerusalem qualify as harlots because they have broken their vow of faithfulness to the one true God. When God sent the prophet Jonah to Nineveh, the city and the king repented in sackcloth and ashes. One hundred years later the prophet Nahum pronounced Nineveh a harlot because the city and the King had gone back to worship idols. It is probable that Tyre had knowledge of God through Huram the king of Tyre whose mother was of the tribe of Dan(2 Chron.2:11-16). Huram had dealings with Solomon who was the wisest of the Kings of Israel which might have rendered him liable. Later Tyre was personalized as Satan in Is.14 and Eze.28. Any city that strays into idolatry is a harlot because in the first instance the nations of the world and their cities belong to God primarily. God is the possessor of the heavens and the Earth(Gen.14:19).
Applying this principle in the strictest sense would build an a priori case for the city of Jerusalem and perhaps the nation of Israel as the great whore. Some biblical scholars have identified Jerusalem as such. Israel and its capital city Jerusalem will definitely commit whoredom in the 70th seven of Daniel’s 70 weeks prophecy by signing a seven-year peace treaty with the sea-beast(Dan.9:27). This would be idolatry at the national scale because it is contracted by the representatives of the people in government; just as the Emperor of Japan enters into sexual union with the gods of Japan on behalf of the nation in the ceremony of the Daijosi. But the people of Israel and those in power shall repudiate this covenant when the Sea-beast makes his debut at the rebuilt Jewish temple in Jerusalem, proclaims himself to be God and demands worship of all mortals. The sea-beast shall erect a statue of himself in the Holy of Holies of the rebuilt Jewish temple on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem. The enforcer, the second beast shall demand citizens to make images of the Beast-antiChrist of various materials, of gold, silver, bronze, iron, clay, stone or wood, every one as he can afford, to worship. “And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.”(Rev.13:14).
Remember, at this time those who have not the mark of the beast shall not survive in the city. “And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.”(Rev.13:15-18). So Jerusalem shall be given to idolatry. There is a sense in which Jerusalem is a whore at this time. So also every other city. For the whole earth shall be given to idolatry.
But idol worship began in Babylon, a city founded by Nimrod, the great hunter of the souls of men(Gen.10:8-12). He it was who instituted mother-child worship. Herein lies the origin of false religion. When God confused and confounded the language of the people at Babel because of their disobedience to build a tower that reacheth to the heavens, the people carried their religion to all parts of the globe. There are not yet a people who have no form of mother-child worship. In Nnewi, it is Edo and Ezemewi. In my town in Imo state, it is Afor and Oparukwu. Among the Muslims, they are identified as Semiramis and Osiris. In Roman Catholicism, they are Mary, the perpetual virgin, and Jesus, the perpetual boy-god, Jupiter-peor. In the light of all these, which city is the great whore and what does it represent?
Babylon was never destroyed as prophesied in Is.13. When Seleucia was built up north on the Euphrates, Babylon simply faded into the desert sand. It was abandoned. It was later replaced by Pergamon in Asia Minor which became the seat of Mother-Child Worship from which it moved to its present abode in Rome.
Babylon was rebuilt at its ancient location, in modern Iraq by Saddam Hussein who was obsessed with the restoration of the glories of the Neobabylonian Empire as shown by Charles Dyer in his works. The Roman Catholics and the New Age Movement have a programme of babylonization by which they hope to transfer their headquarters to Babylon.
Iraq is a rich nation, second only to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in oil production amongst the OPEC nations. With peace restored, Babylon as a city may come into commercial prominence in the future. In the light of this concise analysis, it is therefore likely that Babylon may once again regain its supremacy in commerce and religion. But Babylon as an Empire will never be restored. It is the city that was rebuilt as proven by Dan Hayden in his writings which are some of the best on Babylon.
Babylon is a global ideal and the symbol of man’s insubordination to God. As an independent Empire, it will never be rebuilt. But the spirit of Babylon lived on in the Roman Empire and Nazi Germany, and shall be finally destroyed in the Eighth And Final Beast Empire of Satan. When the stone cut out without hands hit the image in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream at its foot, the whole image crumbled. The destruction of the Eight Beast Empire is the destruction of the whole humanistic system introduced by Satan throughout Nimrod which goes to prove that the life of the seven previous Beast Empires are in the Eight Beast Empire. As a global ideal, it is pervasive in commerce, religion and education. Nevertheless in the last days, it shall be epitomized in a city as the centre of commerce and religion but never the seat of government. Therefore those who portray Babylon as the antiChrist’s seat of government are wrong; it will never be. It may regain its prominence as the commercial hub of the world and the centre of one world religion but not the seat of one world government. Why? Because the seat of world power has moved over to the Japhethic peoples. It may even be that the antiChrist shall relocate his headquarters to Babylon from the land of Magog before the final transfer to Jerusalem; but that is in the realm of speculation. It is not a biblically revealed truth.
The first empire in history was Egypt which was Hamitc in origin. Although the foundations of the cities of Babylon and Nineveh are Hamitic in origin, because Nimrod founded the city of Babylon, and Ashur the city of Nineveh and Calah in Mesopotamia, the empires of Assyria and Babylon are Semitic. The Sumerians, Akkadians, and Assyrians are Semitic peoples. The Sumero-Akkadians founded the Babylonian empire, and the Assyrians founded the Assyrian empire. The Medes and the Persians who founded the Medopersian empire are Indo-European peoples and therefore Japhethic in their ancestry. The Greeks are Japhethic in their ancestry, so also are the Romans. The patrician families that founded Rome in the plain of Latium are of Germanic descent. So the Roman Empire was Germanic in origin, and also Adolph Hitler’s Third Reich. The Eighth And Final Beast Empire is the seventh beast empire revived. It shall be Germanic in origin, and therefore Japhethic in its ancestry. The three power base nations, Magog, Meshech and Tuval are Japhethic in ancestry. Gog, the ruler of Magog, Meshech and Tuval is a magogite. Gog is the sea-beast, and therefore the Emperor of the Eighth And final Beast Empire of Satan. What am trying to show here is that there is a movement of power from the Hamitic peoples to the Semitc peoples and then the Japhetic peoples in which it rests till the end of human history as we know it.
Shem, Ham and Japheth are the three sons of Noah who repopulated the Earth after the flood. When the seat of world power leaves a particular peoples group, it does not return. Noah had these words about his three sons. Of Canaan he said, “cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren”(Gen.9:25). Of Shem he said, “blessed be the Lord God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant”(Gen.9:26). And of Japheth he said, “God shall enlarge Japheth; and he shall dwell in the tent of Shem, and Canaan shall be his servant”(Gen.9:27). Here rulership of the world was given to Japheth, but he will dwell in the tent of Shem. Japheth the elder is the first born of Noah; therefore he has the right of primogeniture which includes, amongst other things, leadership and a double portion of inheritance. The tent of Shem is a spiritual tent. This the theology of election and the theology of the second; He takes away the first that He may establish the second(Rom.9:13). God further narrowed it down to the Jews. In the words of Jesus: “ye worship, ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews”(John 4:22). Whatever that is called religion other than that which came through Jesus, the Jew is false. World power is in the hand of Japheth. Salvation is of the Jews who are Semitic people. The Hamites lost it because Ham viewed the nakedness of his father. What am trying to show here is that political power will never return to Babylon. All efforts to restore the glories of the Neobabylonian empire and the Assyrian empire will end in disaster; so also those of the Persian empire and the Greeks. The seat of world power is with the Magogites who are Germanic. Magog is the first son of Japheth; he has the right of primogeniture. Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins in their novelization of the pretribulation rapture position in the Left Behind series, portrayed Babylon as the seat of government of the Beast-antiChrist before he transfers it to Jerusalem. This view is false and therefore unbiblical. I have no idea where they got that. They were right however in choosing a magogite as the antiChrist. The Left Behind series is good literary work. I enjoyed it all. But it is not biblically accurate. The authors were unable to make a distinction between the wrath of God and the wrath of Satan. The whore is described as sitting upon many waters. We have pointed out previously that waters signified the mass of humanity. This woman sits on the mass of humanity. In other words she controls the mass of humanity.
“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.”
In verse 2, the Kings of the earth are described as having committed immorality with the great whore, and the living wicked earth-dwellers as having been made drunk with the wine of her formication. The kings of the Earth committed fornication with the great whore by practicing false religion. The one world religion introduced by the false prophet, the second Beast, is a false religion. It is humanism. Its god is man, the antiChrist. These living wicked earth-dwellers are the instrument of the death of the martyrs of which the great harlot is the sponsor(Rev. 6:10). The Kings of Earth are depicted as committing sexual immorality with the great harlot. What is in view here is not indecent sexual union but idolatry. On the other hand the inhabitants of the Earth are made drunk with the wine of her fornication. This is a metaphor. The living wicked earth-dwellers are not drunk with ordinary physical wine but the corrupting influence of the inappropriate union between the great harlot and the Kings of the Earth which makes them hostile to the God of Heaven and His people. The actions of the harlot and the Kings of the earth are so powerful that the living earth-dwellers are compelled, carried and swept away by it. The Kings of the Earth willingly join themselves to the great whore but the mass of humanity are compelled by the great harlot through witchcraft, sorcery, and mesmerism.
“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.”
In verse 3, the revelator was carried away by the angel into the wilderness. Where is this wilderness? We are not told. It may be the immediate Judian wilderness. But more probably Babylon, because at that time, Babylon was a wilderness, abandoned. And he saw a woman sit upon a scarlet colored beast, having seven heads and ten horns. This vision invokes the image in a vision by the prophet Zechariah of a woman in an ephah, a holy measure, borne by two women on their wings to her place in the land of Shinar, which is Babylon(Zech.5:11). This woman in a holy measure is wickedness, an abomination. This is false religion headquartered in Shinar which is Babylon.
Scarlet is the colour worn by kings and princes. It would not be frivolous to think that the scarlet colored beast is a king. It has seven heads and ten horns. This is the same composite nondescript beast mentioned in Rev.13:3. Remember that both the Beast and the dragon have the same characteristics. Satan, the great red Dragon is a spirit being. He cannot rule the Earth directly. He must do so through a human representative. When Satan is cast down to the Earth in the midst of the 70th seven of Daniel, he indwells the sea-beast, and gives him his power, seat and great authority(Rev.13:2,3). Hence the similarity in their characteristics. We have established that the seven heads are the seven previous beast empires, and that the ten horns are the ten kings of the Eighth And Final Beast Empire of Satan. We have been told in Rev.13:1 that the ten horns have ten crowns indicating they are reigning kings contemporaneous with the Beast. As in Rev.13:1, the scarlet colored beast is full of names of blasphemy indicating insubordination and defiance to the Almighty God. So this beast is the same as the beast in Rev.13:1, and therefore is the Beast-antiChrist, Satan’s proxy, the absolute ruler of the Eighth And Final Beast Empire. This woman rides the beast. In other words she is dependent on the Beast for her sustenance, support and survival. This woman is the same as the harlot city in verse 1.
“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:”
In verse 4, the woman is arrayed in purple and scarlet colour. In the ancient Near East as in the Roman world, purple has a rich history as in the scriptures as a symbol of status. It is often worn by kings and nobles(Esth.8:15; Lam.4:5; Dan.5:7). Therefore, it is a symbol of royalty. Scarlet is also worn by kings and nobles and suggests wealth(1 Sam.1:24; Prov.31:21; Jer.4:30). The description given here suggests and perhaps indicates the great whore had attained wealth and status which is reflected in her unique position with the scarlet coloured composite nondescript beast. She is decked with gold and precious stones and pearls. These indicate and reflect her wealth. They suggest she has been enriched by her relationship with the beast. She has a golden cup in her hand full of abomination and filthiness of her fornication. The golden cup is symbolic of her wealth. The golden cup is full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication. The woman engages in disgusting immoral acts. Commitment and personal worship are the desires of both the sea-beast and the dragon. The woman engages in disgusting immoral acts by encouraging the kings of the Earth to follow the composite scarlet coloured beast and to worship him. She engages in disgusting acts by her involvement in compelling the living wicked earth-dwellers to worship and support the composite scarlet colored beast through hypnotism and mesmerism.
“And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.”
Verse 5: On her forehead was a name written. Just as God marked the 144,000 with His seal, and the sea-beast marked his followers with 666, the mark of the beast, this woman is marked. This indicates that this woman has submitted herself to the scarlet composite beast. Who marked her is not indicated, but is unlikely she marked herself, neither was she marked by the scarlet coloured composite beast; for her name is derogatory and unflattering. It is likely she does not see herself as a harlot. This name is probably superimposed on the woman by God not to indicate she belongs to God but rather to show who she is to the bond servants of God who shall be living at that time, a stooge of the composite scarlet coloured beast. She is mystery Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the Earth. There are some biblical scholars that teach that because, the name is a mystery indicates it should not be taken literally but be interpreted symbolically. I beg to differ. Biblical mystery does not mean something that is mysterious. It does however mean something that is known only by divine revelation. And Scripture is its own interpreter. This Babylon can be known by divine revelation. That she is the great suggests her lofty status in the scarlet composite beast setup and system. This mystery Babylon is the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth. This suggests origin and the worst kind of idolatry. The secret here is that we can know this Babylon by her being the originator and the worst kind of religion, not by historically speculating whether she is rebuilt Babylon in modern Iraq, Rome, Jerusalem or Pergamon. These cities may at one time have borne, or even now do bear the symbol of Babylon. It is the saints that live close to or enter the 70th seven of Daniel who shall more accurately and appropriately identify this city.
“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.”
In verse 6, this woman is drunken with the blood of the saints and the martyrs or witnesses of Jesus. This woman has murdered so may saints and witnesses of the Lord so much so it is as though she were drunken with their blood. This is metaphorical, just as we speak of a blood thirsty tyrant. He delights in murdering his opponents. He does not necessarily literally drink their blood, some of them do, but he delights in their blood being shed that it were as though he drinks it. This woman pants after the blood of believers as a blood thirsty tyrant does of his opponents. This is not to deny that there are ritualistic cannibals who drink human blood. Human blood is the most nourishing drink to the human body because it contains all the nutrients needful for the body in right proportions, but we are forbidden from drinking it as are those of animals. The life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls(Lev.17:11). Human blood is drunken in witches covens all over the world. It is therefore likely that this woman actually drinks human blood. Today witchcraft has been modernized and made scientific. Older witches and wizards drink the blood of younger witches and wizards or have themselves transfused with the blood of younger witches and wizards. They do not call it witchcraft. It has been given the scientific name parabiosis.
It seems like two groups of people are referred to here, the saints and the witnesses or martyrs of Jesus. My understanding is that though majority of the saints will be in hiding during the Great Tribulation, there will be a segment of them that will take it upon themselves to go out and witness, inspite of the danger to their personal lives. This group will certainly be killed by the antiChrist and his enforcer and the enlivened images of the Beast. When John saw this woman, he wondered with great admiration. There are some who take this to mean that John did not recognize her as Babylon. This may well be true. But in the late first century when John saw the vision, Babylon did not exist as a city then. Biblical scholars are agreed that when Peter made reference to The church that is at Babylon saluted thee(1 Pet.5:13), it was a veiled reference to Rome; for Babylon did not exist at that time. In terms of bloodshed, with regards to the saints, both Jerusalem and Rome qualify as harlots, more so Rome, considering the inquisition and history of persecuting noncatholics. Inasmuch as the context is the 70th seven of Daniel, we shall see which city will outdo the other.
“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.”
Verse 7: The revelator is perplexed by the appearance of the woman which is much different from the dragon and the sea-beast. Why do you wonder, says the angel who proceeds to explain to him the mystery of the woman and the beast that carries her. The beast has seven heads and ten horns. Verse 8 says the beast that thou sawest was and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit and go into perdition. The current abode of the beast is in the bottomless pit which incidentally is the abode of the demonic locusts hordes headed by Abaddon or Apollyon, who is the angel of the bottomless pit(Rev.9:11). Here the beast ascends from the abyss whereas in Rev.13:1, he arose out of the sea. We have earlier proven that sea signifies people. That he came out of the bottomless pit also indicates he came out of the sea of the dead, the underworld of the dead. He is, was, and is not. This explains why he came out of the underworld of the dead. He is someone who had lived before, died and came back to life. This explanation agrees with Rev.13:3, which says: “I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.” This man is a dead man brought back to life who would fill the wicked living earth-dwellers with fear and horror so much so that no one would be willing to challenge him. All the world wondered after the Beast. Here those who wondered after him are they whose names were not written in the Lamb’s scroll of life from the foundation of the world. They were fearful of the beast that was and is not. This man will be recognizable as a man who had lived before and ruled over one of the seven previous Beast Empires of Satan, and was fatally wounded with a military weapon in his head. He came back to life. Who would not fear such a person who has not the spirit of Christ?
“And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.”
Verse 9 says herein is the mind who has wisdom. In today’s vernacular, here is the clincher. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sitteth. Some have interpreted this to mean that the city is Rome which was founded on seven hills: Palatine, Aventine, Caelian, Equiline, Viminal, Quirimal and Capitoline on the Tiber river. Later the city expanded to include Janiculum and Pincian. On the other hand, Babylon was founded on a plain. The only mountain in Babylon was artificially created by Nebuchadnezzar on which he built his famous hanging garden of Babylon. By comparison Jerusalem is surrounded by mountains(Ps 125:2). But is the Scripture speaking of physical mountains here? I doubt very much.
“And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he is come, he must continue a short space.”
Verse 10: There is another interpretation which we have to examine here. Mountains also stand for kingdoms. Therefore there are seven mountains and seven kings which equal the seven heads of the dragon, the seven heads of the sea-beast and the scarlet composite beast. These kingdoms are the seven beast empires that have persecuted Israel in exile. These are Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medopersia, Greece, Rome and Nazi Germany. At the time the vision was received, five had fallen. One is, the sixth, that was Rome which was in existence at that time. The other had not yet come; and when he cometh, must continue a short time. Hitler’s Nazi Germany lasted for a short period, a mere 12 years(1933-45), though he planed for it to last a thousand year. In Nazi parlance, it was referred to as the one thousand year Reich. Remember we have established the kings are synonymous with their kingdoms. One may say these empires, like Rome for example had several emperors. Yes, that is true. But remember we are dealing with these empires in relation to their persecution of Israel in the Land of Canaan as well as in exile. So the responsible head of the kingdom is the emperor who persecuted the Israelites the most while they were in exile. Of these, the worst who had no parallel in history is Adolph Hitler of Nazi Germany.
“And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.”
Verse 11 specifically identifies the the beast that was and is not as the head of one of the seven previous beast empires. He is the eighth and also goeth into perdition. This head is revived. If the King is a dead man come back to life the kingdom also must be revived, as it were, a dead kingdom come back to life. Therefore the Eighth And Final Beast Empire is the revived seventh kingdom and its King, but the kingdom is expanded by the incorporation of the clay into the iron. This may be difficult for some to swallow but this is the only logical conclusion. Besides, none of the Kings of the six previous beast empires would be recognizable if brought back to life today or in the future. This guy, the king of the seventh beast empire is the most popular and recognizable face on television today. And there is no evidence his record will be challenged in the future, neither is he willing to give up his position.
“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.”
Verse12: The Eighth And Final Beast Empire shall consist of ten Kings contemporaneous with the sea-beast. Neither the beast nor the ten horns are anywhere in sight at the moment. These ten nations are identified in the Scriptures: they are Magog, Meshech, Tuval[Rome], Arphachad(Babylon or Iraq), Tiras(Persia), Javan(Greece), Cush(Sudan), Put or Phut (Libya), Gomer and Togamar[Turkey, Azerbaijan] (Ez.38:1-8; Rev.13:2). It was the Medes who started the Medopersian Empire before the Persians joined about 550 BC. But once the Persians joined, they dominated it. It is interesting and politically intriguing to note here that the Medes are not part of the coalition in the Eighth And Final Beast Empire. These Medes are the Kurds of today who are persecuted and marginalized in Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey. It is this same Kurdish people who are persecuted today, who shall be the first to attack Babylon in the last days as revealed in Isaiah 13. If the harlot city is identified as Jerusalem, why would the Medes attack her? We shall revisit and develop this historical fact later in our discourse on Rev.17.
“These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.”
Verse 13: At the time of the Eighth and Final Beast Empire, the kings of these nations shall give allegiance to the sea-beast. In the case of the kings of the ten-nation confederation, the responsible heads are contemporaneous with the Beast-antiChrist. Apart from four of these nations which are in Europe, Magog, Meshech, Tuval and Javan, the other six are middle eastern, Arab and Islamic nations which are hostile to Israel. Am inclined to believe that Javan is Greek Syria which is also in the Middle East; for the Greek Empire extended to Africa and Asia. Gomer and Togamar are the son and grandson of Japheth. Though they are Japhethic in ancestry, they are Islamic in religion. I have rendered Cush as Sudan rather than Ethiopia. This is more biblically accurate because in ancient times Cush refers to the region which we call Sudan today. Meshech and Tuval are within the Russian federation, that is white Russia. These too are hostile to Israel, though of late the hostility seems to be tailing off under Vladimir Putin. But we must be wary not to interpret biblical prophecy in the light of current affairs which are subject to a great deal of change, swing, and variation from time to time. Rather current affairs should be interpreted in the light of biblical prophecy. The magogites who are the Germanic people were the driving power behind the Roman Empire and Hitler’s Third Reich. Magog, Meshech and Tuval are the three power base nations. They are, as it were, the iron in the ten toes of Nebuchadnezzar’s image alongside Javan(Dan.2). The ten toes of Daniel 2 are the same as the tens kings of Rev. 17:12.
“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.”
Verse 14: Because the ten kings have given their allegiance to the sea-beast, they shall commit all their whole military might and power, and their armies to the control and authority of the beast. Therefore they shall be part and parcel of the armies of the sea-beast at the war of Armageddon. They shall make war with the Lamb and the Lamb shall overcome they: for He is Lord of lords, and King of kings. The Lamb shall overcome them primarily because there is no rebellion in His camp. They that are with Him are called and chosen and faithful. They are the called(eklecktos) and chosen(kletos). There are other reasons why the Lamb shall overcome them. The hosts or armies of heaven who shall accompany the Lamb at Armageddon are not men in their natural physical bodies but angels and resurrected saints in their supernatural glorified eternal and immortal resurrection bodies. They have conquered death. They are beyond death. They cannot die any more. They are indestructible, and eternal. They are locked in righteousness. But the armies of the Beast-antiChrist are fickle men in their natural mortal bodies although indwelt by demons. Their bodies are death doomed. They must die. And they will die. Because they are mortal, they are also fearful. But there is no fear in the camp of the Lamb. The angels of God who are with the Lamb are locked in righteousness, having chosen to follow God and did not side with Satan in the great rebellion against God in eternity past. The resurrected saints are totally free from sin, and also locked in righteousness like the angels, having been washed pure by the blood of the Lamb and have attained consummative sanctification or glorification at the resurrection. While the armies of the beast possess physical weapons, the latest in modern military technology, the weapons of the armies of the Lamb are not made of physical material; their weapons are not carnal. The armies of the Beast are limited in number and capacity but the hosts of heaven are innumerable. Everything else in creation will fight in their courses against the Beast and his armies of wicked living mortals earth-dwellers. The almighty factor however is that the Lamb Himself shall lead His armies, the hosts of heaven. He shall be there Himself in person, at the forefront. The generals and field marshals amongst human armies, lead and command their armies from the rear. But with the lamb, it is not so. Besides He has the title deed to the Earth, therefore Satan and his minions, the Sea-beast and the enforcer, the second beast and false prophet, his hordes of fallen angelic beings, the demons, and his fickle human followers must be evicted from the earth’s premesis. There is a legal side to this battle; whoever has the Tittle Deed to the earth prevails.
“And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.”
Verse 15: The beast came out of the sea, but the great Harlot sits upon many waters. There is no confusion about her identity, she is not a human person, but a fallen angelic being masquerading as a universal ideal, an ideology, a religion. By her despicable acts of immorality, her whoredoms, which she pours upon the living wicked earth-dwellers, she compels the mass of humanity to worship the Dragon and the Beast. So this one world religion has followers amongst all peoples, nations and tongues. So the influence of this religion is worldwide. Because she has worldwide influence which is beneficial to the beast, the woman has a high position in antiChrist’s setup which she uses to her advantage to garner a lot of wealth.
“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.”
This logically leads us to verse 16, when the ten horns upon the beast shall hate the whore, because of her unusual influence amongst their citizenry which she has used to her advantage to enrich herself and impoverish them. Remember that ab initio, the kings willingly committed immorality with the great harlot. That was fine as far as it ingratiated them to the Beast-antiChrist. But when they saw she was reaping them off of their wealth and riches, they hated her. Up until this time, the ten Kings have not been able to persuade the Sea-Beast to get rid of her because her position with the beast is advantageous to the beast in compelling the fickle, wicked living earth-dwellers to worship the beast, which he, the beast cherishes so much. That was alright with the beast so far as his kingdom is not threatened. But now the Lamb of God has descended from the heavens with the Title Deed of Earth. He has reclaimed God’s rule over the Earth at the blowing of the seventh trumpet. He is about to reclaim physical possession of the Earth at Armageddon. Therefore the Beast’s throne is under threat from external heavenly aggression. He cannot deal with internal earthly aggression at the same time. Rather than face division within his camp, he gives in to the wishes of the ten kings to get rid of the Great Harlot. The great harlot is a religious movement pervading the whole earth, amongst all peoples , multitudes, nations, and tongues. As with all religions, it is also headquartered in a city, called Babylon. If the religion is to be destroyed, its headquarters must also be destroyed.
These ten kings who had been eyeing the wealth of the woman because it garnered it from their citizenries, shall hate the whore and make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh and burn her with fire. Eat her flesh is a metaphor, meaning they shall violate her. They shall enter the precincts of her temples and houses of worship to the beast and loot her ill-gotten wealth and riches. There shall be utter devastation and spoilation. Obviously they need this wealth and riches to fund and equip their armies, to render them combat ready to fight at Armageddon. Finally the eyes of the sea-beast is opened, he sees the need to get rid of the great whore, to spoil her wealth to fund his armies in the face of a huge external heavenly aggression. After all it is a marriage of convenience. The great whore has served her purpose. There is a greater need now than to compel the fickle wicked living earth-dwellers to worship the sea-beast. Besides, this goal has already been achieved. The higher need now is to compel the citizens of the empire to fight and defeat the external heavenly aggression and aggressor. Besides, God has put it in their heart to do so though they do not see themselves as serving the God of Heaven. It is imperative in God’s scheme of things to do away with this false and humanistic religion before Jesus our Lord regains physical possession of the Earth. There are two groups of fickle living wicked earth-dweller, the false religionists and the armies of the beast. God uses the ten kings to get red of the false religionists, while Jesus our Lord does away with the Beast and his armies at Armageddon. Our God is omnipotent; He works in mysterious ways His wonders to perform.
There is a reason why I believe that the harlot city is literal Babylon not Rome or Jerusalem, or any other city for that matter. The destruction of Babylon as prophesied in Isaiah has never really been fulfilled. There has not been any time in history when Babylon was destroyed like Sodom and Gomorrah(Is.13:19). Babylon simply faded into the desert sand following its abandonment when the city of Selucia was built on the upper Euphrates in 305 BC. Now it has been rebuilt and is still being rebuilt. In verses 17 & 18 of Isaiah 13, it is written: “Behold I will stir up the Medes against them, who shall not regard silver, and as for gold they shall not delight in it.” The Medes of old are the Kurds of today. They are found in northeastern Syria, southern Turkey, northern Iraq, and northwestern Iran. And there are pockets of them in Armenia and Georgia. The Kurdish Workers Party, the PKK has been fighting the Turkish government for greater autonomy and independent Kurdistan for about three decades now. In Iraq, Saddam Hussein killed a lot of their women and children with poison gas in the late 80s and early 90s. Today in both Iraq and Syria, they suffer the scourge of ISIS. Kurdish women today fight alongside their male tribesmen in the Pershmager and YPG to defend their men, women and children from IS militants. Any little wonder therefore they shall avenge themselves when they have the opportunity and advantage. The Scriptures teach in Isaiah, they shall be the first to attack Babylon. Remember they are not part of the ten-nation coalition. They shall not regard silver nor gold. Why would they attack Babylon when they are not part of the ten-nation coalition and not motivated by greed? Unlike the ten kings, their invasion of Babylon shall not be motivated by greed for wealth and riches or envy but rather vengeance. Would this vengeance be borne out by the evils that have been inflicted on them so far or would it be something far worse in the future?
Besides, if Babylon were Jerusalem, the ten kings would then destroy the headquarters of the Beast-antiChrist. The same would also be true if Babylon were the headquarters of the antiChrist. This however cannot be true. The antiMessiah shall be in possession of Jerusalem until defeated at Armageddon(Rev.19:11-21).
“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.”
Verse17: We have already touched on this verse in a measure. Though these kings do not see themselves as doing God’s will and biddings, they shall however be carrying out the command of the Almighty and doing His biddings. God had put it their hearts to fulfill His will and destroy the great harlot. So they must destroy her. They must carry on in their greed, envy and blind and senseless hatred and foolish demands until the sea-beast gives in and grants their request to destroy the great harlot. Though the Medes shall be the first to attack her, the city, Babylon, and institutionalize false religion, the ten kings shall be the ones who shall utterly destroy her and burn her with fire in order to fulfill the will and purpose of God.
“And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.”
Verse 18 tells us that the woman which thou sawest, is that great city that reigneth over the the kings of the earth. As we have pointed out, this great whore is not just a city but an ideology that eventuates in a humanistic religion, commercialism and a global ideal of one world government that originated with Nimrod and reached its apogee in the ancient world in the rebellion called the Tower of Babel. When God Almighty commanded men to disperse all over the globe, they in defiance to God chose to congregate together in one city Babylon to build a city and a Tower that reacheth up to the heavens. This ideology has flourished throughout history and has been exemplified in Babylon itself, Pergamon, Rome and perhaps Jerusalem to a limited extent. It is global. It is pervasive. It has reigned over the kings of the Earth. Throughout history, kings and nobles have nursed the desire to build a global empire guided by a universal ideology of religion, government, commerce and education. Whether it were a global caliphate of extremist militant Islamists, the Second Reich of Charlemagne or the proposed 1000-year Third Reich of Adolph Hitler, or the Eight And Final Beast Empire of the antiMessiah, the goals, aims, and objectives had been the same, man in glory in defiance to God. These ideals may have been couched in religious ideologies or lofty philosophical concepts or theories of governments, the end had always been the same, man doing his own thing in defiance to God.
Avraham Shallom.
Mt Zion Heritage Ministries 