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The Great Prostitute; The First of Seven Messages of

Revelation 17:1-18

The ultimate fate of Rome has already been told in Revelation 14:8 and a

et, we have no details. In chapters 17 and 18, we will see Rome portray

arrogance and cruelty. We will also see her well-earned doom. We will city of Rome is to be punished, not just the Roman Empire.

The first six verses of chapter 17 introduce us to a new sign a great pros

and riding on a scarlet beast. This portrayal of Rome in her power is follmessages of her judgment. The rest of chapter 17 constitutes the first mes

explanation of the symbology used), and chapter 18 contains the remainin

I. Part 1: The prostitute in her power, arrogance and cruelty (17:1-6)

A. Introduction to the prostitute (17:1-2)1. One of the seven angels It is fitting that one of the seven ang

bowls of Gods wrath should explain the details of the prostitu2. I will show you the judgment we will see this judgment begi

going through the end of chapter 18.

3. Great prostitute our first hint at what is to come. ProstituteWell learn more about her in the following verses.

4. Many waters we are given the interpretation of symbols if th

chapter. For now, well simply note their details.

B. The glory and vileness of the prostitute (17:3-6)1. And he carried me away John wasnt physically carried awa

in the Spirit. Compare Revelation 1:10.

2. Into the wilderness, and I saw a woman We havent seen thi

great prostitute, before chapter 17. We are, however, remindein chapter 12 who fled into the wilderness. This woman repre

What a contrast there is between that woman and the woman i3. Sitting on a scarlet beast The beast described here is the sam

chapter 13:1-10. We are given one additional detail about the

(or crimson) color reminiscent of the color of the dragon. Thhorns are explained later in the chapter.

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4. The woman was arrayed Notice the clothing of the woman. Purple and scarlet werecolors that implied richness and royalty. The gold, jewels and pearls complete the

picture of wealth.

5. A golden cup full of abominations We see that the woman wasnt all about riches;

she was also about immorality. In fact, we shall see that she is drunk with it. Andwhatever she will willing to drink, the other nations were willing to drink with her.

6. On her forehead was written a name of mystery

Forehead where everyone could see it. This was the same place where the high

priest was to wear Gods name Mystery Were meant to understand the name, but were not meant to interpret

the name literally.

Babylon the great famous for carrying Gods people captive and its worship of

idols, this ancient world power became the symbol of all who came after her and

did similar things.7. Drunk with the blood of the saints

Drunk not a one-time thing, but a continuous state

The blood of the saints In addition to her idol worship, the woman is vilebecause she persecutes and kills the saints.

8. I marveled greatly John was astonished. Indeed, the whole world marveled. But asChristians, we dont have to marvel because we see the fate of the woman.

II. Part 2: The Judgment of the Prostitute (Message 1 of 7) (17:7-18)A. Having shown the riches and cruelty of the prostitute, the text now turns to her judgment.

There are seven (complete) messages of judgment. The first three are messages of doom

delivered by heavenly messengers (17:7-18, 18:1-3, and 18:4-8). The next three arelaments from those who received financial gain from their association with Rome (18:9-

10, 18:11-17a, and 18:17b-19). The seventh message (18:21-24) tells of the finality andrighteousness of the judgment. We will deal with the first message of judgment this

week.B. I will tell you the mystery At last we are going to get some form of explanation of the

symbols weve seen in the book! Of course, this is apocalyptic literature, so theexplanations cannot be too explicit without endangering both John and those who

possessed copies of the letter.C. This calls for a mind with wisdom John cannot come out and directly say what the

vision is about. We must understand this and interpret wisely.D. Seven heads:

1. Normally, we would interpret 7 to mean perfection or completeness. However, thisis an explanation, not a vision, so we must take it to mean what it says.

2. Seven mountains on which the woman is seated (17:9) Rome w

this time as the city on seven hills. This is a pretty plain clue tha

the woman on the beast. But there is a second meaning to the se3. Seven kings (17:10) these represent the first 7 Roman Emperor

Augustus (27 BC to 14 AD), Tiberius (14 to 37), Caligula (37 to 54), Nero (54 to 68), Vespasian (69 to 79), and Titus (79 to 81).

chapter 7.

Five are fallen through Nero

One now is Vespasian

One to come Titus reigned 2 year 2 months a little whil

The beast, an eighth (17:11) Domitian (81 to 96)

Of the seven The Nero Redivivus legend (Nero come ba

popular belief that the insanely evil Nero would come back tothings. Domitian was so evil that many applied the legend to

Goes to destruction Not as powerful as he thinks. Domitian

(assassinated, September 18, 96).4. Dating the book Revelation is either written during the reign of

written during the reign of Domitian and John throws himself bacommon in the Jewish apocalyptic literature for the prior 300 yea

E. Ten horns (17:12-14)1. The vassal kings of the Roman provinces.

2. These kings were both a strength and a weakness of Rome (see D

3. The Lamb will conquer them. Jesus, not Domitian, is the true KinF. The waters (17:15) the nations over which Rome ruled.G. The ten horns will hate the prostitute (17:16-17) As Rome feared, t

eventually have a part in her downfall.H. The great city (17:18) again a clear indicator that the woman is the

III. Assignment for next week: read Jeremiah 50-51 and Ezekiel 27, noting

language to Revelation 18.