Revelation 17
The Whore of Babylon
- The woman is called “Babylon” which is John’s name for Rome (14:8, 16:19).
- Tim LaHaye identifies the “whore” as the Roman Catholic Church due to its use of tradition and rosaries.
- Painted as luxuriant, ostentatious, gaudy. She is dressed in scarlet and purple, colors depicting high status and wealth. She has extravagant jewels. She sees herself as all powerful, rich and attractive. No wonder she has enticed the world to follow her!
- The scene is an unmasking of the true identity of Rome in which the description of the great whore serves as a parody of Dea Roma, the patron goddess of Rome. Instead of greatness, John reveals what Rome is really like – a gaudy, drunken whore who persecutes and slaughters the people of God.
- The angel describes the beast as one “who was, and is not, and is about to ascend from the bottomless pit and go to destruction.” This beast comes from hell and will return there. There is no life in it.
- Note how this is very different from the description of God, the one “who is and who was and who is to come” (1:4, 8; 4:8; 11:17; 16:5).
- John wants us to be certain of where our allegiance lies, Is it with the one true God and the Lamb or is it with Rome or whatever else seeks to steal our loyalty?
Connections…
- John is concerned as their pastor that the people do not understand the true nature of the emperor and empire that so easily seduces the culture. Some are thinking they can be involved with Rome and its activities without any compromise to their faith. John says, “no way.” We must make a choice – we are either loyal to the Lamb or to the beast. We cannot serve both.
- Eugene Boring writes, “It is arrogant human empire as such that is here condemned, not just its embodiment in Rome in John’s time.” This makes this story timeless. We are being summoned by John to see with the same eyes he is seeing with. To use our imaginations. We must ask where in our modern world is seductive “Babylon” present?
Revelation 18
COME OUT!!!
- The call to “come out” is more figurative than literal. Just as Jesus prayed in John 17 that we not be taken “out of the world” but be kept from becoming “of it,” John calls his churches to separate themselves from the lifestyle of greed, indulgence and idolatry that surrounds them.
- God “remembers” the sins of Rome. It is not that he forgot them but that God is always mindful of someone or something and acts accordingly. John assures his readers that God takes notice of Rome’s many sins and that justice will be served. This is a strong note of encouragement and reassurance that God will not ignore evil but will act to stop it and bring healing to a hurting world.
- The destruction to Rome will come swiftly (“in a single day”) and be complete. Evil will not get the last say. This is inconceivable in this day and age (and in ours?) because the attitude toward Rome in John’s day was the exact opposite of Revelation. Here is what Aelius Aristitdes wrote in 109 AD about Rome:
- “Let all the gods and the children of the gods be invoked to grant that this empire and this city flourish forever and never cease until the stones float upon the sea and the trees cease to put forth shoots in spring, and that the great governor and his sons be preserved and obtain blessings for all.”
- John devotes more time to describing the reactions of the merchants of Rome than he does the kings. The merchants are those who profited from Rome’s super-power status in the world and the exploitation of others. They are brought to tears at Rome’s destruction not for Rome’s sake but because their own welfare is now at stake.
CONNECTIONS….
- For modern readers it is hard to read John’s description of Rome and not think of the situation today in which so-called first world countries dominate global politics and economics. America, along with other Western nations, enjoys a standard of living far greater than the majority of the world. We spend more, consume more, waste more, and exploit more. What we often consider “necessities” the rest of the world sees as luxuries.
- Our “merchants” seek more profits and cheaper ways to make and market their goods. Factories are built in developing countries where labor is cheaper (slave labor?) and health and safety standards are not necessary. The natural environment is exploited and abused in order to reap more profits. Far too often, the controlling criterion for world economics is not what is best for all the world, and certainly not for the poor and disenfranchised, but what is best for the few who already possess and control the most.
- If we hear the message of Revelation clearly, we are forced at times to admit, to paraphrase the comic strip character Pogo, “We have met the beast, and he is us.”
Coming Out…
Reddish writes,
“We ‘come out of the city’ when we do not allow consumerism and greed to control our lives. We ‘come out of the city’ when we donate our money and our time to God’s causes, partially as a demonstration that we still control our money and our time rather than allowing them to control us. We ‘come out of the city’ when we refuse to accept the belief that coercion and violence are acceptable means of achieving our goals. We ‘come out of the city’ when we refuse to succumb to the idea that the ultimate meaning in life is found in materialism. We ‘come out of the city’ when we adopt a similar lifestyle in which we do not consume a disproportionate share of the earth’s resources.”
What might we be called to “come out” from?
Filed under: Book of Revelation, Uncategorized
