Study
19 From the Book of Revelation is: Revelation 17
The
people of Christ have another enemy—Babylon. Babylon is the name of a city, and
John uses it to denote the Rome of his day, seated upon her seven hills (verse
9(, and also upon many waters, i.e., upon nations and kingdoms making up the
Empire (verses 1, 15, 18). But, Babylon, like the two beats of chapter 13, is a
symbol; not, like the first beast, a symbol of material power; nor, like the
second beast, of false religion; but rather a symbol of the world’s lust, of
gain, pride and corruption. Wherever these aspects of the worldly spirit find
embodiment there is Babylon, and there, God’s judgment will fall, unless men
repent.
1-
John’s wonder at the woman (verse 6) should lead us to examine
her closely. What does each feature of the picture symbolize? Contrast the
woman and her brood with the woman of chapter 12 and her seed (with 17:14, cf.
12:17). What, in the face of such a foe, is the prospect before those ‘who
follow the Lamb’ (14:4)?
2-
Verses 7-13, as the interpreting angel himself admits, require
for their understanding a mind that has wisdom (verse 9). Observe that two
different meanings are assigned to the heads of the beast. Note carefully also
the difference between the heads and the horns.
The main lesson of the chapter is the certain ‘doom of Babylon. How is this brought about? What does this
illustrate concerning God’s judgments?
Notes
1-
Verse 2. ‘Committed fornication’: to the immoral practices which
kings and rulers committed in response to the seductions of Rome.
2-
Verse 8. It ‘was, and is not, and is to ascend’: the beast is a
satanic counterpart of God Himself. See.
1:4.
3-
Verse 10, 11. The Emperor Nero committed suicide, and the
historian Tacitus says that a rumour spread abroad that he was not dead and
would return. It is commonly thought
that there is an allusion to this belief in verses 8a and 11. This is a satanic counterpart to the death
and resurrection of Christ. Assuming
that the seven kings of verse 10 were Roman emperors, the most probable theory
sees in the five who ‘have fallen’, Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius and
Nero; in the one who ‘is’ Vespasian (AD 69-79), and in the one who ‘has not yet
come’, Titus came Domitian, who would be the ‘eight’ (verse 11), and who
resembled Nero so closely, especially in his persecution of the Christian, that
he might well seem to be Nero come to life again.
4-
Verses 15-17. The harlot city will eventually be brought down by
a united revolt on the part of the provinces and their local rulers
