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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 (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.

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.

“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.

And the woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, and gilded with gold, and precious stone and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations, even the unclean things of her fornication, and upon her forehead a name written MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF THE HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

“Clothed in purple and scarlet.” Purple was the predominant color of Roman imperialism. Every senator and consul wore a purple stripe as a badge of his position, and the emperor’s robes were purple. Scarlet is the color adopted by Roman Catholicism.

“Precious stone and pearls!” are pretty cold, though they may be genuine, and are a sordid imitation of genuine heartfelt religion. The Lord Jesus said, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess” (Matt. 23:25).

“A golden cup full of abominations!” is the religious intoxication of the anti-church (not Antichrist) and a pseudoreligion, counterfeit Christianity, a fake and false gospel, and a sham and spurious system. This is the cup which makes the world drunk. “Babylon hath been a golden cup in the Lord’s hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad” (Jer. 51:7).

“Upon her forehead a name written” is a startling revelation of the character of this woman. She does not wear a crown but rather the mark of her profession. It is of interest to see that Seneca, in addressing a wanton priestess, said, “Thy name hung from thy forehead.” “MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF THE HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH” is the disgraceful title for the “church” which should belong to Christ as a bride.

Now I know that we live in a day of changing morality, but I am a little old-fashioned, and I still think that the Word of God is right, in its values. I think that the finest thing in the world is a woman and that God has made her that way. When she marries, she is brought into a relationship in which she can give to a man that which puts him in orbit. It is my firm conviction that the thing our civilization has done for a woman has not been to liberate her but to enslave her so that she has become more of a sex symbol than ever before. Instead of taking her rightful place where she can lift a man to the heights, she is characterized as the one who pulls him down to the depths. And the lowest picture you can have is that of a harlot. You may not like it, but that is how the Word of God sees it.

“MYSTERY BABYLON.” The true church is a mystery in that it was not revealed in the Old Testament (see Eph. 3:1–9). The anti-church, designated here as a harlot, is a mystery in that it was not revealed until John wrote Revelation 17. Let me say again that when the true church left the earth at the time of the Rapture, the phonies, those who were only church members, entered the Great Tribulation Period, and the system continued—not now a church, but a harlot. Paul had written of the mystery of iniquity: “For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now hinders will hinder until he be taken out of the way” (2 Thess. 2:7). The anti-church is the antithesis of the true church, which is the virgin bride of Christ, and it is the consummation of the working of “the mystery of iniquity.” It is “MYSTERY BABYLON” because it is given this designation just as Jerusalem is called Sodom.

Babylon is the fountainhead for all false religion; therefore she is “THE MOTHER OF THE HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.” This is, by far, Scripture’s more expressive and vivid picture of awful and abominable sin. Sex and false religions are related, you may be sure of that. I believe that many young people are really missing it in marriage when they do not stand at the marriage altar in the presence of God presenting themselves to each other, having kept their bodies for the marriage. That was God’s ideal and still is.

Have you noticed that this “MYSTERY BABYLON” is called the “MOTHER OF THE HARLOTS”? The mother of harlots—not singular but plural. In our day the ecumenical church has faced a lot of problems. It seems that they have recognized psychological differences in people and that it is impossible to water down theologies and practices to suit everyone. So each group will come into this great world ecumenical system but retain some of its peculiarities. For example, those who want to immerse will immerse. Those who want to sprinkle will sprinkle. Those who want elaborate ritual will have it, and those who want no ritual will have that. You see, there is going to be more than the mother harlot—there will be a whole lot of harlots, a regular brothel.

McGee, J. Vernon: Thru the Bible Commentary. electronic ed. Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1997, c1981, S. 5:1030-1033