Chapter Seventeen

Explanatory vision of the harlot and the beast (1–2); description of the harlot sitting upon the beast in royal attire, with a cup of abominations in hand, drunk with the blood of the saints (3–6); explanation of the symbol of the beast itself, its seven heads and ten horns, which designate kings who are to be the executors of God’s judgment over the beast and the harlot, that is, the great city (7–18).

Revelation 17:1. And one of the seven Angels who had the seven bowls came, and speaking with me said to me: Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot, sitting on many waters; In a new vision, not directly, John gives explanations to the previous visions. One of the seven Angels in whose hands were the bowls of God’s wrath appears before John. In the expression “come” we can see an indication of a change in the direction of John’s thoughts and attention. He must now turn his prophetic sight upon the judgment over the great harlot, sitting upon many waters. By the harlot here we must understand the same city of Babylon, of which mention is made in Rev 14:8; there it is called the great city and characterized as a harlot. Over it judgment was to come, and according to Rev 16:19. The great harlot is undoubtedly a city (Rev 17:18), and a city of the future time, the city of the antichristian kingdom, which may be called Babylon or Rome because of the likeness of its culture and its anti-God corrupting influence upon other peoples.

Revelation 17:2. with whom the kings of the earth committed sexual immorality, and those living on the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her sexual immorality. By immorality we must understand the spreading of immoral customs and anti-God tendencies through hypocritical politics and depraved religion and worship, a general corruption (see Ezek 23:17). But such general corruption, a general decline of religion and spreading of anti-God tendencies can be expected only from the city and state of the future antichristian kingdom.

Revelation 17:3. And he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness; and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast, full of names of blasphemy, with seven heads and ten horns. Revelation 17:4. And the woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, adorned with gold, precious stones, and pearls, and held a golden bowl in her hand, filled with abominations and the uncleanness of her sexual immorality; The remark that “he carried me away in spirit” is an indication that this action took place only in a vision—only in John’s ecstatic spiritual state, not in body was John carried away into the desert. The desert is taken here in a moral-religious sense, in the sense of abandonment, remoteness. The great harlot is in the desert in no other sense than that she, because of her wickedness, is completely abandoned by God and doomed to spiritual death, to moral ruin. Such abandonment is completely deserved for her, since she, by the expression of the Apocalypse, having renounced God and Christian religion, sits upon the beast; she puts all her hope upon it and its powers, not upon God and His help. This beast (Rev 11:7) is the dragon—the devil, who is called scarlet, that is, clothed in royal scarlet, as the ruler of the darkness of this age. As fitting for the devil, for the beast, is the trait of the description that he was full of names of blasphemy: he is an anti-God force. And the woman is also clothed in purple and scarlet, which also indicates royal and proud luxury—the wealth characteristic of a royal city, like Babylon and Rome. The woman, the city of the last time, has taken from the world everything that is considered precious in it. She is depicted holding in her hands a golden cup, filled with the filth and uncleanness of her immorality. This means that the woman, as the city of the antichristian kingdom, is the spreader of godless and immoral culture among the surrounding subjugated peoples.

Revelation 17:5. and on her forehead was written a name: mystery, Babylon the great, mother of harlots and abominations of the earth. About the inner being of the woman speaks the name on her forehead. On her forehead will be reflected her inner spiritual life and strivings. This name is “a mystery,” that is, mysterious, and the name itself, consisting of the designation “great Babylon” must be understood not in a literal sense, but in a figurative and symbolic sense. Babylon is the name and symbol of the future antichristian city, which, because of its corrupting influence on the subjected cities and peoples, will be the true mother of immorality and earthly abominations.

Revelation 17:6. I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints and the blood of the witnesses of Jesus, and seeing her, I marveled with great amazement. Further, John noticed that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints and witnesses of Jesus Christ. This speaks of the fact that the city of Babylon will be guilty of the shedding of blood of the saints, of cruel persecution of the witnesses of Christian faith. And seeing this, John marveled with great amazement. The cause of John’s amazement lies in the mysterious, worthy of wonder combination of the beast and the woman, in their mutual connection, common activity and manifestation in the world. Further, the explanation of this follows.

Revelation 17:7. And the Angel said to me: Why do you marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has seven heads and ten horns. Revelation 17:8. The beast which you saw was, and is not, and will come out of the abyss, and will go to destruction; and those dwelling on the earth will marvel, whose names have not been written in the book of life from the beginning of the world, seeing that the beast was, and is not, and will appear. The beast is the devil, who has manifested in the world in one way or another his dominion and his satanic power. In the past, that is, formerly in the Old Testament, he was the prince of this world and ruled through idolatry and sorcery. But then he was not, there is not and now, that is, in the days when John received the revelation. By reason of the redemptive merits of Christ the Savior, the devil lost his former power of influence (John 12:31) and he was not on earth as an obvious and open ruler of the human race. He is in the abyss, that is, in a state of bondage. But this confinement is not final and complete. The devil will be freed and will come forth from there (Rev 20:7). Only into final destruction, final perdition will the devil go later, in the distant future for John. For the devil as an immortal spirit, perdition cannot mean annihilation, but Gehenna, eternal torments, for which reason he is called a son of perdition (2 Thess 2:3). All those who are not written in the book of life (Rev 13:8) will marvel at the disappearance and appearance of the beast, but others, faithful Christians, will know the true significance of the appearance of the beast-devil in his former power.

Revelation 17:9. Here is the mind that has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits, Revelation 17:10. and seven kings, of whom five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come, and when he comes, he is to remain a short time. Revelation 17:11. And the beast that was and is not, is himself an eighth, and is of the seven, and will go to destruction. Revelation 17:12. And the ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but will receive power with the beast, as kings, for one hour. Revelation 17:13. These have one mind and will give their power and authority to the beast. Revelation 17:14. They will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them; for He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with Him are called and chosen and faithful. “Here is the mind,” that is, special effort of the mind is needed, which is characteristic of a wise person. If the name of the woman and the beast must be taken not in a historical but in a symbolic sense, then the seven mountains also cannot be understood literally, since they form part of the entire symbolic image. If by the woman we must understand the antichristian kingdom, then by the seven heads of the beast-devil we must understand the earthly kingdoms, in the direction and development of which was expressed the power of the devil and his anti-God efforts to corrupt the human race. And since each historical kingdom has its own historical cities, as expressions of its culture, and kings, as bearers of state power, then with the representation of states is inseparably connected the representation of kings. Therefore, in the apocalyptic vision we, under the same image of heads, according to the indication of the Angel, must see seven mountains and seven kings (v. 10). The beast is the world force in its historical development, in the succession of kingdoms one after another. These kingdoms fall one after another, one succeeding another. In this sense it may be said that by the time of John five kingdoms had already fallen (kings), the sixth existed, the seventh will follow it, and after it will arise the last, which will conclude the history of the development of the world’s anti-God force of the devil on earth. About the first five world kingdoms already fallen, one can speak only conjecturally. Such kingdoms may be named: Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, Macedonian, and Syrian—the latter kingdoms are directly indicated by the prophet Daniel. About the sixth kingdom it is said: “one is,” since in the days of John the Roman kingdom was the world kingdom, it is obviously intended as the sixth in the sequence of others. About the seventh kingdom John expresses himself indefinitely. It has not yet come, but when it comes, it will not last long. Since the Roman kingdom has now fallen, the kingdom that succeeded it, or the world of Germanic-Slavic peoples, can be considered the seventh kingdom; it should continue until the time of the arising of the eighth kingdom. This eighth kingdom is called a beast (v. 11), which was mentioned in verse 8 as one that was and is not and belongs to the seven and will go to destruction. The designation as beast prompts us to understand by the eighth king antichrist and his kingdom. The expression “and is not” speaks of the deadly wound that was visible on one of the heads of the beast and which was healed. Since the head of the beast is the same as kingdoms, the healing of one head, the restoration of it to life, can speak of the renewal of one of the seven kingdoms, which in its new form will be the kingdom of antichrist. It will arise from the seven, which means that it will embody the characteristics of the seven preceding kingdoms. This is precisely the kingdom of antichrist, the most anti-God, but also the last. It will fall into perdition, into eternal Gehenna. The kings, designated by horns, are represented as not having independent kingdoms. If they receive royal power, that is, the right to rule and legislate, they do so only together with the beast, as their overlord, and that only for a short time, for one hour. These, thus, are representatives of the peoples and kingdoms of the last time. They are different from the kings, representatives of the world states, who are named the heads of the beast (St. Irenaeus, St. Ephrem the Syrian). Antichrist will use these representatives (horns) of the peoples and kingdoms, their mood and way of thinking, and will unite them together for battle against the Lamb, against Christianity and all that is holy. But the victory in this battle will remain on the side of the Lamb—Jesus Christ, Who will overcome both personally and through His chosen and faithful servants, who struggled on earth in the battle against the devil and against all his hosts.

Revelation 17:15. And he says to me: The waters which you saw, where the harlot sits, are peoples and nations and tribes and tongues. Revelation 17:16. And the ten horns which you saw on the beast, they will hate the harlot, and will destroy her, and will strip her bare, and will eat her flesh, and will burn her with fire; In a mysterious symbolic sense, by the waters, according to the words of the Angel, we must understand the many peoples who stood in relation to the main city as subjected peoples. The ten horns—ten kings of the future antichristian time will hate the harlot (v. 16), that is, the city of the antichristian kingdom. The hatred will be manifested in the destruction of the city. Like wild beasts that tear to pieces and devour their prey, so also will the apocalyptic kings destroy the city; they will subject it to complete destruction by fire and sword and will plunder all its riches. Thus the Divine will will use the kings as obedient instruments of its world governance, in order gradually to bring the history of the world to the predetermined end. The judgment over the city, the capital of the antichristian kingdom, its destruction by the desire of the king himself—antichrist—will be a herald of the end of the world and the coming of God’s judgment. * * * Kliefoth, Lutardt. Ebrard, Hengstenberg and others. Hengstenberg, Kliefoth, Suller, Yakovlev. Hengstenberg, Suller, Ebrard. Lutardt, Ebrard.