The judgments already described are identified as
targeting the final world system. great harlot.
See note on 14:8.
Prostitution frequently symbolizes idolatry or religious apostasy (cf. Jer.
3:6–9; Ezek. 16:30ff.; 20:30; Hos. 4:15; 5:3; 6:10; 9:1). Nineveh (Nah.
3:1,4), Tyre (Is. 23:17), and even Jerusalem (Is. 1:21) are also depicted as
harlot cities. sits on many waters.
This picture emphasizes the sovereign power of the harlot. The picture is of
a ruler seated on a throne, ruling the waters, which symbolize the nations
of the world (see v. 15).
17:2 kings … committed fornication.
The harlot will ally herself with the world’s political leaders. Fornication
here does not refer to sexual sin, but to idolatry (see
note on 14:8). All the world rulers will be
absorbed into the empire of Satan’s false christ.
wine of her fornication.
The harlot’s influence will extend beyond the world’s rulers to the rest of
mankind (cf. v. 15; 13:8,14). The imagery does not describe actual wine and
sexual sin, but pictures the world’s people being swept up into the
intoxication and sin of a false system of religion.
14:8 Babylon is fallen.
Lack of response to the first angel’s message causes a second
angel to pronounce this judgment. Babylon refers to the entire worldwide
political, economic, and religious kingdom of Antichrist. (cf. 16:17–19 for
details of this fall.) The original city of Babylon was the birthplace of
idolatry where the residents built the Tower of Babel, a monument to
rebelliousness and false religion. Such idolatry was subsequently spread when
God confounded man’s language and scattered them around the world (cf. Gen.
11:1–9). wine of the wrath of her fornication.
This pictures Babylon causing the world to become
intoxicated with her pleasures and enter an orgy of rebellion, hatred, and
idolatry toward God. Fornication is spiritual prostitution to Antichrist’s false
system, which will fall for such iniquity.
MacArthur, John Jr: The MacArthur
Study Bible. electronic ed. Nashville : Word Pub., 1997, c1997,
S. Re 14:8
GREAT HARLOT
RIDING THE WILD BEAST
I
do not have words to describe how frightful this picture is. The harlot is
the false church, as we have said. And the wild Beast is the restored Roman
Empire, which will be brought back together by Antichrist with the
assistance, I believe, of the false church.
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:
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 [Rev. 17:1–2].
As usual, I’ll give my own literal translation of the
Greek text throughout the chapter.
And there came one of the (7) seven angels that had the
(7) seven bowls, and spake with me, saying, Come hither, I will show thee
the judgment of the great harlot that sitteth upon many waters; with whom
the kings of the earth committed fornication, and they that dwell in the
earth were made drunken with the wine of her fornication.
“The great harlot” is that part of the church that will
remain after the true church has been raptured. It will be composed of those
who have never trusted Christ as Savior; they have never been in the body of
Christ. This is the group that enters the Great Tribulation.
We are told certain things about her. She “sitteth upon
many waters.” According to verse 15, which we will see later, the “waters”
refer to great masses of people and nations. The harlot will pretty much
control the world.
“The kings of the earth committed fornication,” show that
there is an unholy alliance between church and state during that period.
My friend, the movement in our day of bringing all
religions together certainly falls into the pattern of this false church
which is to appear—and Scripture doesn’t even dignify it by the name of
church, although I am sure it will call itself that. I believe that this
movement is more dangerous to our own country than is any foreign political
system and that it is more dangerous than the so-called new morality. I
believe that it is more dangerous than any other movement. It will become a
powerbloc that will dazzle the unthinking mob. It will bring the world under
the influence of the wild Beast out of the sea and the wild Beast out of the
earth. They will use the apostate church to control the masses, and the
church will yield to this arrangement for political preferment and power.
You see, when you reject the genuine, you are wide open
for the spurious. Paul wrote to the Thessalonians that when someone rejects
the love of the truth that they might be saved, they will believe the big
lie.
“The judgment of the great harlot.” God’s cup of judgment
will be pressed to the lips of the harlot. And who is going to destroy her?
The Beast himself will destroy her. You see, the Antichrist and the False
Prophet will not want her around after she has served their purpose.
Antichrist wants to be worshiped, and he doesn’t want any competition from
the church.
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 [Rev. 17:3].
And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness;
and I saw a woman sitting upon a scarlet-colored wild beast, full of names
of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
“He carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness.”
Remember that John was on the Isle of Patmos in the Spirit for the vision of
the glorified Christ and His message to the churches. At that time John was
caught up to heaven. From then on the scene shifts from heaven to earth.
However, here we are told again that John was in the Spirit. Did he need a
fresh anointing of the Spirit for this vision? I rather think so. Is the
wilderness literal? Remember that this chapter is a vision where symbols are
used. Around both Babylon and Rome there is a literal wilderness. This is a
matter of recorded history. Babylon was to become a wilderness, and in this
connection read Isaiah 47–48 and Jeremiah 50–51. Outside of Rome the
wilderness is called the
campagna.
I believe that the wilderness mentioned in this verse is literal but also
that it is a sign of the chaotic condition of the world brought about by the
religious confusion of Babylon.
John saw a woman “sitting upon a scarlet-colored wild
beast.” This is a frightful and frightening scene. The wild Beast has
previously been identified as the Antichrist ruling over the restored Roman
Empire. The woman is identified for us in verse 18: “And the woman which
thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.”
The woman is a city, and the city is Rome, the religious capital of the
world. She is religious Rome, which at that time will have inherited all the
religions of the world. You see, all true believers will have left the world
scene at the time of the Rapture. This includes
all true believers, and I
have discovered that there are many true believers in Romanism and in
liberal churches and even in some very weird religious systems. All genuine
believers, regardless of where they have gone to church, will be raptured.
This will leave a church on earth that is totally apostate. Rather than
being “the bride of Christ,” God calls it a harlot.
The city is further identified in verse 9: “And here is
the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which
the woman sitteth.” Rome was the city set on seven hills and was known as
such to both pagan and Christian writers. Horace wrote, “The gods, who look
with favour on the seven hills….” Ovid added, “But Rome looks around on the
whole globe from her seven mountains, the seat of empire and abode of the
gods.” Augustine wrote, “Babylon is a former Rome, and Rome is a later
Babylon.” In these verses the city of Rome is assuredly in view. The woman,
the harlot represents a religious system that will be revealed during the
first part of the Great Tribulation Period after the true church has been
removed from the earth. And this religious system, as the symbol given to us
indicates, dominates and rides the Roman Empire at the beginning of the
Great Tribulation Period.
“Full of names of blasphemy” reveals how far religion
will have departed from the living Christ.
McGee, J. Vernon: Thru the Bible
Commentary. electronic ed. Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1997,
c1981, S. 5:1030-1032