Context & Key Themes
Chapter 17 is the extended unveiling of Babylon the great, named explicitly at the close of the seventh bowl. One of the seven angels who had the bowls invites John to come and see the judgment of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters. The vision that follows is highly symbolic and dense with imagery. Babylon appears as a woman seated on a scarlet beast with seven heads and ten horns, intoxicated with the blood of the saints, holding in her hand a golden cup of abominations. The angel then explains the symbolism: the seven heads are seven hills and also seven kings, the ten horns are ten kings yet to come, and the woman is the great city that has dominion over the kings of the earth. The original-audience reference is unmistakable — Rome, the city of seven hills, the empire whose persecution of the saints had reached John’s readers. But the type recurs. Babylon in Scripture is not just a single city; she is the recurring spirit of imperial worldly power that opposes God, intoxicates the nations with her wealth and immorality, and persecutes the saints. The chapter explains the vision and reveals that the beast and the kings will themselves turn on the prostitute and burn her — because God has put it into their hearts to carry out His purpose. Even the destroyer of Babylon serves the will of the One on the throne.
Key Verses
“And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.” — Revelation 17:6
“They will make war on 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.” — Revelation 17:14
Summary
One of the seven angels with the seven bowls comes and says to John, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality, and with the wine of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk.” The image of imperial power as a prostitute is drawn directly from the Old Testament prophets, who used the image of harlotry to describe both unfaithful Israel and the surrounding empires that seduced her into idolatry. Babylon’s sexual immorality is not primarily about literal sexual acts but about the seduction of the nations into spiritual adultery, drawing them into the worship of false gods through wealth, luxury, and political alliance.
The angel carries John away in the Spirit into a wilderness, and he sees a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns. The beast is plainly the same beast from the sea in chapter 13, on which the woman now rides. The woman herself is arrayed in purple and scarlet, adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality. The luxury is breathtaking and is the point. The wealth and finery are not incidental; they are the means of seduction. On her forehead is written a name of mystery: “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations.” And John sees the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. When he sees her, he marvels greatly.
The angel then begins to explain. The beast that John saw was, and is not, and is about to rise from the bottomless pit and go to destruction. The dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel to see the beast, because it was and is not and is to come. The phrase deliberately parodies the description of God as the One “who is and who was and who is to come” — the beast is the counterfeit eternal one, but his pattern is mortal: was, is not, will rise, will go to destruction. The angel says, “This calls for a mind with wisdom” — the same call as in chapter 13 when the number of the beast was named.
The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated. They are also seven kings: five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come, and when he does come he must remain only a little while. As for the beast that was and is not, he is an eighth but belongs to the seven, and he goes to destruction. The seven mountains and seven kings have been variously identified across church history. The most natural original-audience identification is Rome, the city of seven hills, with the kings being a sequence of emperors. The deeper point is the recurring shape: imperial power rising, dominating, persecuting, falling, and being succeeded by another bearing the same character. The ten horns John saw are ten kings who have not yet received royal power, but they are to receive authority as kings for one hour together with the beast. They are of one mind, and they hand over their power and authority to the beast. They will make war on 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.
Then the angel says, “The waters that you saw, where the prostitute is seated, are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages.” Babylon’s reach extends across all the peoples she has seduced. Then comes the most striking turn in the chapter: “And the ten horns that you saw, they and the beast will hate the prostitute. They will make her desolate and naked, and devour her flesh and burn her up with fire, for God has put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose by being of one mind and handing over their royal power to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled.” The kings who served Babylon will turn on her and destroy her. Even the agents of her destruction are unwitting servants of the will of God. “And the woman that you saw is the great city that has dominion over the kings of the earth.”
Reflection
This chapter is one of the most striking demonstrations in the book that history is the working out of God’s purposes through agents who do not know they serve them. Babylon’s wealth, her seduction of the nations, her drunkenness on the blood of the saints — all of this is real and condemned. But the agents of her destruction will be the very kings she has dominated, and behind their action stands the sovereign hand of God. Several things deserve to be carried into the next chapter. First, Babylon is a recurring shape, not a single moment. Rome filled the role for John’s original readers and the chapter’s seven hills make the original reference clear, but the type has reappeared in every age that has organized itself around the wealth, immorality, and persecution that characterize the great prostitute. Every reader is asked to discern the Babylon of their own age. Second, the seduction works through luxury and beauty, not through evident horror. The woman is dressed in purple and scarlet, gold and jewels. Whoever is being seduced is not seeing what John sees; the gold cup looks like gold from a distance, and only the prophet sees the abominations inside. Third, the Lamb wins. The beast and the ten kings will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them — because He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with Him are called and chosen and faithful. The triumph is not theoretical; it is already accomplished, and the chapter that follows will narrate the funeral of the great city.