The Previous Section: The First Beast from the Sea
The harlot woman who rides the beast is the apostate church. She is mystery Babylon. Let’s read some characteristics of the woman:
“Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “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.” And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality. And on her forehead was written a name of mystery: “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations.” And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. When I saw her, I marveled greatly. But the angel said to me, “Why do you marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman, and of the beast with seven heads and ten horns that carries her. The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to rise from the bottomless pit and go to destruction. And 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. This calls for a mind with wisdom: the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated; they are also seven kings, five of whom 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, it is an eighth but it belongs to the seven, and it goes to destruction. And the ten horns that you 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. These 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.” And the angel said to me, “The waters that you saw, where the prostitute is seated, are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages. 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. And the woman that you saw is the great city that has dominion over the kings of the earth.”
Revelation 17:1-18 ESV
“After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was made bright with his glory. And he called out with a mighty voice, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place for demons, a haunt for every unclean spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, a haunt for every unclean and detestable beast. For all nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power of her luxurious living.” Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues; for her sins are heaped high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. Pay her back as she herself has paid back others, and repay her double for her deeds; mix a double portion for her in the cup she mixed. As she glorified herself and lived in luxury, so give her a like measure of torment and mourning, since in her heart she says, ‘I sit as a queen, I am no widow, and mourning I shall never see.’ For this reason her plagues will come in a single day, death and mourning and famine, and she will be burned up with fire; for mighty is the Lord God who has judged her.” And the kings of the earth, who committed sexual immorality and lived in luxury with her, will weep and wail over her when they see the smoke of her burning. They will stand far off, in fear of her torment, and say, “Alas! Alas! You great city, you mighty city, Babylon! For in a single hour your judgment has come.” And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn for her, since no one buys their cargo anymore, cargo of gold, silver, jewels, pearls, fine linen, purple cloth, silk, scarlet cloth, all kinds of scented wood, all kinds of articles of ivory, all kinds of articles of costly wood, bronze, iron and marble, cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, frankincense, wine, oil, fine flour, wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, and slaves, that is, human souls. “The fruit for which your soul longed has gone from you, and all your delicacies and your splendors are lost to you, never to be found again!” The merchants of these wares, who gained wealth from her, will stand far off, in fear of her torment, weeping and mourning aloud, “Alas, alas, for the great city that was clothed in fine linen, in purple and scarlet, adorned with gold, with jewels, and with pearls! For in a single hour all this wealth has been laid waste.” And all shipmasters and seafaring men, sailors and all whose trade is on the sea, stood far off and cried out as they saw the smoke of her burning, “What city was like the great city?” And they threw dust on their heads as they wept and mourned, crying out, “Alas, alas, for the great city where all who had ships at sea grew rich by her wealth! For in a single hour she has been laid waste. Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets, for God has given judgment for you against her!” Then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, “So will Babylon the great city be thrown down with violence, and will be found no more; and the sound of harpists and musicians, of flute players and trumpeters, will be heard in you no more, and a craftsman of any craft will be found in you no more, and the sound of the mill will be heard in you no more, and the light of a lamp will shine in you no more, and the voice of bridegroom and bride will be heard in you no more, for your merchants were the great ones of the earth, and all nations were deceived by your sorcery. And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all who have been slain on earth.””
Revelation 18:1-24 ESV
“After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, crying out, “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for his judgments are true and just; for he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality, and has avenged on her the blood of his servants.””
Revelation 19:1-2 ESV
Let’s examine the characteristics of the woman, mystery Babylon:
- Drunken, and arrayed in gold and fine clothes (symbols of prosperity). In Jeremiah, we see God state that the kings who sit on David’s throne will be filled with drunkenness – a reference to intoxication with religion itself. This is the cup that overflows for the drunkard, who stumbles with wine, and cares more about the deed than the heart behind it.
“And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.”
Revelation 17:4-6 KJV
“then say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Behold I am about to fill all the inhabitants of this land—the kings that sit for David on his throne, the priests, the prophets and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem—with drunkenness! I will dash them against each other, both the fathers and the sons together,” declares the Lord. “I will not show pity nor be sorry nor have compassion so as not to destroy them.” ’ ””
Jeremiah 13:13-14 NASB1995
“Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double.”
Revelation 18:6 KJV
Note that while the harlot is arrayed in purple and scarlet and jewels from the world, God counsels the lukewarm church of Laodicea to try his gold refined by fire, and try on His white garments:
“I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see.”
Revelation 3:18 ESV
- We also note that the harlot is seated on many waters. We see that the waters are many peoples. If the apostate church is the harlot, then indeed she would be widespread among the people of the world.
”And the angel said to me, “The waters that you saw, where the prostitute is seated, are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages.“
Revelation 17:15 ESV
Just as the UN body of the Beast is comprised of many nations, so too is the apostate church. And she comprises numerous apostasies, including the prosperity gospel, name it and claim, that we are little gods, and that the true gospel is about love at all costs, even affirmation of sin. She is not just comprised of apostasies within Christianity, but Judaism as well, including those of Kabbalah (see 2nd Beast form the earth)
- The apostate Church has commerce with the beast system and drives its wealth, just as the common Church today:
“And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn for her, since no one buys their cargo anymore, cargo of gold, silver, jewels, pearls, fine linen, purple cloth, silk, scarlet cloth, all kinds of scented wood, all kinds of articles of ivory, all kinds of articles of costly wood, bronze, iron and marble, cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, frankincense, wine, oil, fine flour, wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, and slaves, that is, human souls. The merchants of these wares, who gained wealth from her, will stand far off, in fear of her torment, weeping and mourning aloud, “Alas, alas, for the great city that was clothed in fine linen, in purple and scarlet, adorned with gold, with jewels, and with pearls! For in a single hour all this wealth has been laid waste.” And all shipmasters and seafaring men, sailors and all whose trade is on the sea, stood far off and cried out as they saw the smoke of her burning, “What city was like the great city?””
Revelation 18:11-13, 15-18 ESV
- Like Mystery Babylon, the apostate Church is hated by the Beast despite her allegiance to it. God also hates the whore, for she plays both sides, turning her back on God, but not her face. In Jeremiah, God proclaims her deeds to those in Jerusalem, and in Ezekiel, God states that the two houses will be hated by those she previously turned away from, but now sit in allegiance with.
”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,“
Revelation 17:16 ESV
“The word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, Thus says the Lord, “I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me in the wilderness, in a land not sown. “For long ago I broke your yoke and burst your bonds; but you said, ‘I will not serve.’ Yes, on every high hill and under every green tree you bowed down like a whore. Yet I planted you a choice vine, wholly of pure seed. How then have you turned degenerate and become a wild vine? How can you say, ‘I am not unclean, I have not gone after the Baals’? Look at your way in the valley; know what you have done— a restless young camel running here and there, a wild donkey used to the wilderness, in her heat sniffing the wind! Who can restrain her lust? None who seek her need weary themselves; in her month they will find her. who say to a tree, ‘You are my father,’ and to a stone, ‘You gave me birth.’ For they have turned their back to me, and not their face. But in the time of their trouble they say, ‘Arise and save us!’ Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet my people have forgotten me days without number. “How well you direct your course to seek love! So that even to wicked women you have taught your ways.”
Jeremiah 2:1-2, 20-21, 23-24, 27, 32-33 ESV
‘At the noise of horseman and archer every city takes to flight; they enter thickets; they climb among rocks; all the cities are forsaken, and no man dwells in them. And you, O desolate one, what do you mean that you dress in scarlet, that you adorn yourself with ornaments of gold, that you enlarge your eyes with paint? In vain you beautify yourself. Your lovers despise you; they seek your life. For I heard a cry as of a woman in labor, anguish as of one giving birth to her first child, the cry of the daughter of Zion gasping for breath, stretching out her hands, “Woe is me! I am fainting before murderers.””
Jeremiah 4:29-31 ESV
So the whore represents apostate Israel. In other words, false religions within Christianity/Judaism. By the time of Ezekiel, for her transgressions, Israel, had already been carried off by the first 2 heads of the 1st beast from the sea, Egypt and Assyria. So Ezekiel names the members of an apostate family after the various aspects of Israel. The mother is the original bride, the 12 tribes of Israel as represented in Hosea’s prophecy (see chapter 1). She is a pagan Hittite. The father, or husband of the family, isn’t God, but an Amorite. The offspring are the splits that occurred within Israel between the 2 houses and their capital, Jerusalem. So we have the eldest child as the northern house represented in Samaria, the middle child as the capital of both houses in Jerusalem, and the youngest as the southern house represented in Sodom. Collectively, all of these elements comprise the adulterous bride of Israel:
”Again the word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, make known to Jerusalem her abominations, and say, Thus says the Lord God to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth are of the land of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. “When I passed by you again and saw you, behold, you were at the age for love, and I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness; I made my vow to you and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Lord God, and you became mine. You took some of your garments and made for yourself colorful shrines, and on them played the whore. The like has never been, nor ever shall be. You also took your beautiful jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself images of men, and with them played the whore. “And after all your wickedness (woe, woe to you! declares the Lord God), you built yourself a vaulted chamber and made yourself a lofty place in every square. At the head of every street you built your lofty place and made your beauty an abomination, offering yourself to any passerby and multiplying your whoring. You also played the whore with the Egyptians, your lustful neighbors, multiplying your whoring, to provoke me to anger. Behold, therefore, I stretched out my hand against you and diminished your allotted portion and delivered you to the greed of your enemies, the daughters of the Philistines, who were ashamed of your lewd behavior. You played the whore also with the Assyrians, because you were not satisfied; yes, you played the whore with them, and still you were not satisfied. You multiplied your whoring also with the trading land of Chaldea, and even with this you were not satisfied.
[And the beast will hate the whore:]
“Therefore, O prostitute, hear the word of the Lord: Thus says the Lord God, Because your lust was poured out and your nakedness uncovered in your whorings with your lovers, and with all your abominable idols, and because of the blood of your children that you gave to them, therefore, behold, I will gather all your lovers with whom you took pleasure, all those you loved and all those you hated. I will gather them against you from every side and will uncover your nakedness to them, that they may see all your nakedness. And I will judge you as women who commit adultery and shed blood are judged, and bring upon you the blood of wrath and jealousy. And I will give you into their hands, and they shall throw down your vaulted chamber and break down your lofty places. They shall strip you of your clothes and take your beautiful jewels and leave you naked and bare. They shall bring up a crowd against you, and they shall stone you and cut you to pieces with their swords. And they shall burn your houses and execute judgments upon you in the sight of many women. I will make you stop playing the whore, and you shall also give payment no more. “Behold, everyone who uses proverbs will use this proverb about you: ‘Like mother, like daughter.’ You are the daughter of your mother, who loathed her husband and her children; and you are the sister of your sisters, who loathed their husbands and their children. Your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite. And your elder sister is Samaria, who lived with her daughters to the north of you; and your younger sister, who lived to the south of you, is Sodom with her daughters. Not only did you walk in their ways and do according to their abominations; within a very little time you were more corrupt than they in all your ways.“
Ezekiel 16:1-3, 8, 16-17, 23-29, 35-41, 44-47 ESV
And again, we see Ezekiel compare the 2 houses to 2 sisters who are playing a harlot. God hates how they try to sit in both worlds:. The first sister is Oholah, representing the capital city of the north (Samaria), and the second sister Oholibah, representing the capital city of the south (Jerusalem). God states that while the north’s transgressions were severe, the south’s were worse, because they saw what happened to the north, but whored after pagan idols of other nations regardless.
”Oholah was the name of the elder and Oholibah the name of her sister. They became mine, and they bore sons and daughters. As for their names, Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem“
“Therefore, O Oholibah, thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I will stir up against you your lovers from whom you turned in disgust, and I will bring them against you from every side: And I will direct my jealousy against you, that they may deal with you in fury. They shall cut off your nose and your ears, and your survivors shall fall by the sword. They shall seize your sons and your daughters, and your survivors shall be devoured by fire. They shall also strip you of your clothes and take away your beautiful jewels. The Lord said to me: “Son of man, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Declare to them their abominations. For they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands. With their idols they have committed adultery, and they have even offered up to them for food the children whom they had borne to me. Moreover, this they have done to me: they have defiled my sanctuary on the same day and profaned my Sabbaths. For when they had slaughtered their children in sacrifice to their idols, on the same day they came into my sanctuary to profane it. And behold, this is what they did in my house.”
Ezekiel 23: 4,22,25-26,36-39 ESV
- Like Mystery Babylon, the apostate Church is drunk with the blood of saints. Think of Catholic praise for the saints. They are revered as though they are gods themselves:
”And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. When I saw her, I marveled greatly.“
Revelation 17:6 ESV
“For as the loincloth clings to the waist of a man, so I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, declares the Lord, that they might be for me a people, a name, a praise, and a glory, but they would not listen. “You shall speak to them this word: ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, “Every jar shall be filled with wine.”’ And they will say to you, ‘Do we not indeed know that every jar will be filled with wine?’ Then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord: Behold, I will fill with drunkenness all the inhabitants of this land: the kings who sit on David’s throne, the priests, the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And I will dash them one against another, fathers and sons together, declares the Lord. I will not pity or spare or have compassion, that I should not destroy them.’” I have seen your abominations, your adulteries and neighings, your lewd whorings, on the hills in the field. Woe to you, O Jerusalem! How long will it be before you are made clean?””
Jeremiah 13:11-14, 27 ESV
- The apostate city of God is held responsible for martyrs blood:
”And he called out with a mighty voice, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place for demons, a haunt for every unclean spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, a haunt for every unclean and detestable beast. For all nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power of her luxurious living.” And the kings of the earth, who committed sexual immorality and lived in luxury with her, will weep and wail over her when they see the smoke of her burning.“
Revelation 18:2-3, 9 ESV
By not holding to His standards and trying to live in both worlds – Babylon and God’s kingdom, she is judged as a failed watchman for not representing God to the people:
“But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, so that the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any one of them, that person is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at the watchman’s hand.”
Ezekiel 33:6 ESV
““O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you desolate.”
Matthew 23:37-38 ESV
“‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.”
Revelation 3:15-17 ESV
“for his judgments are true and just; for he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality, and has avenged on her the blood of his servants.””
Revelation 19:2 ESV
- Mystery Babylon is represented by a great bloody city divided in 3 parts, where the blood of martyrs is found. This is an apostate Jerusalem, a symbolic Sodom and Egypt, where the Lord was crucified, and is today split in 3 faiths; Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. These 3 faiths proclaim to serve the God of Abraham:
“And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.”
Revelation 16:19 KJV
“And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.”
Revelation 18:24 KJV
“and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that symbolically is called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified.”
Revelation 11:8 ESV
“They cast their silver into the streets, and their gold is like an unclean thing. Their silver and gold are not able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord. They cannot satisfy their hunger or fill their stomachs with it. For it was the stumbling block of their iniquity. His beautiful ornament they used for pride, and they made their abominable images and their detestable things of it. Therefore I make it an unclean thing to them. “Forge a chain! For the land is full of bloody crimes and the city is full of violence.”
Ezekiel 7:19-20, 23 ESV
“And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “And you, son of man, will you judge, will you judge the bloody city? Then declare to her all her abominations. You shall say, Thus says the Lord God: A city that sheds blood in her midst, so that her time may come, and that makes idols to defile herself! You have become guilty by the blood that you have shed, and defiled by the idols that you have made, and you have brought your days near, the appointed time of your years has come. Therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations, and a mockery to all the countries.”
Ezekiel 22:1-4 ESV
““Therefore thus says the Lord God: Woe to the bloody city, to the pot whose corrosion is in it, and whose corrosion has not gone out of it! Take out of it piece after piece, without making any choice. Therefore thus says the Lord God: Woe to the bloody city! I also will make the pile great. Heap on the logs, kindle the fire, boil the meat well, mix in the spices, and let the bones be burned up.”
Ezekiel 24:6, 9-10 ESV
Compare these verses which speak of Jerusalem with Mystery Babylon in Revelation:
“for her sins are heaped high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. And the kings of the earth, who committed sexual immorality and lived in luxury with her, will weep and wail over her when they see the smoke of her burning. They will stand far off, in fear of her torment, and say, “Alas! Alas! You great city, you mighty city, Babylon! For in a single hour your judgment has come.” And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn for her, since no one buys their cargo anymore, cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, frankincense, wine, oil, fine flour, wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, and slaves, that is, human souls.”
Revelation 18:5, 9-11, 13 ESV
Nineveh repented near 800BC, some 100 years earlier than when the book of Nahum was written (697BC). The inhabitants were spared, but they fell into apostasy again, and were judged as a bloody city. So we have a city who once proclaimed God, fallen away again, luke-warm, with her shepherds asleep as we read earlier in Ezekiel 33. The same is written for the once Godly city Nineveh after repentance:
“Woe to the bloody city, all full of lies and plunder— no end to the prey! And all for the countless whorings of the prostitute, graceful and of deadly charms, who betrays nations with her whorings, and peoples with her charms. You also will be drunken; you will go into hiding; you will seek a refuge from the enemy. All your fortresses are like fig trees with first-ripe figs— if shaken they fall into the mouth of the eater. Behold, your troops are women in your midst. The gates of your land are wide open to your enemies; fire has devoured your bars. You increased your merchants more than the stars of the heavens. The locust spreads its wings and flies away. Your shepherds are asleep, O king of Assyria; your nobles slumber. Your people are scattered on the mountains with none to gather them.”
Nahum 3:1, 4, 11-13, 16, 18 ESV
A blood guilt is a transgression against God. It is someone who proclaims the name of God in some way, but then profanes it. By analogy, a bloody City, would be a city guilty of transgression against God. A once holy city that defies God:
“Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year. And David sought the face of the Lord. And the Lord said, “There is bloodguilt on Saul and on his house, because he put the Gibeonites to death.””
2 Samuel 21:1 ESV
So a bloodguilt is a transgression. A city or persons who were once obedient, but transgressed God.
We also see that the great (bloody) city reigns WITH the kings of earth, not necessarily ‘over’ as some translations state. It is better translated as being superimposed with the kings of earth, or echoing their reign. Mystery Babylon is she who holds with kings. We can read some more in the translation:
“And G2532 the woman G1135 which G3739 thou sawest G1492 is G2076 that great G3173 city, G4172 which G3588 reigneth G2192 * G932 over G1909 the kings G935 of the earth. G1093.”
Revelation 17:18 ESV
From Strong’s: G2192: Reigneth (she who holds kings)
Greek: ἔχω. Transliteration: echō
Pronunciation: ekh’-o. Definition: A primary verb (including an alternate form σχέω scheō skheh’-o used in certain tenses only); to hold (used in very various applications literally or figuratively direct or remote; such as possession ability 6 contiguity relation or condition): – be (able X hold possessed with) accompany + begin to amend can (+ -not) X conceive count diseased do + eat + enjoy + fear following have hold keep + lack + go to law lie + must needs + of necessity + need next + recover + reign + rest return X sick take for + tremble + uncircumcised use.
From the BLB:
– to have, i.e. to hold, to have (hold) in the hand, in the sense of wearing, to have (hold) possession of the mind (refers to alarm, agitating emotions, etc.), to hold fast keep, to have or comprise or involve, to regard or consider or hold as to have i.e. own, possess external things such as pertain to property or riches or furniture or utensils or goods or food etc.
– used of those joined to any one by the bonds of natural blood or marriage or friendship or duty or law etc, of attendance or companionship
– to hold one’s self or find one’s self so and so, to be in such or such a condition
– to hold one’s self to a thing, to lay hold of a thing, to adhere or cling to
– to be closely joined to a person or a thing
So ‘reigneth’ in this verse means to hold or put on/wear something. Mystery Babylon, in essence, wears her Kings or has fellowship with them, just as G2192 echo is translated as fellowship in 1 John 1:3. We also see that elsewhere in the NT, it means to ‘have’ something. So Mystery Babylon is the city which has fellowship with or embraces/holds kings.
The next word in Rev 17:18, is G1909 Over. It is better interpreted as superimposed or upon or on. In essence, Mystery Babylon is she who holds fellowship with,superimposed with, holds upon, or holds on to, the kings of earth.
G1909 – Over
Greek: ἐπί, Transliteration: epi, Pronunciation: ep-ee’
Definition: A primary preposition properly meaning superimposition (of time place order etc.) as a relation of distribution [with the genitive case] that is over 6 upon etc.; of rest (with the dative case) at on etc.; of direction (with the accusative case) towards upon etc.: – about (the times) above after against among as long as (touching) at beside X have charge of (be- [where-]) fore in (a place as much as the time of -to) (because) of (up-) on (behalf of) over (by for) the space of through (-out) (un-) to (-ward) with. In compounds it retains essentially the same import at 6 upon etc. (literally or figuratively
God gave himself in death to be in new covenant with Israel. Yet Mystery Babylon (the apostate church/Israel), desired kings to rule WITH her as her husband. She was not a widow of YHWH (through Christ’s sacrifice), and believed she sat a queen with her kings, holding fellowship with them.
Interestingly, in Hosea 13, we see God allow judgement in the form of a Lion, Bear, and Leopard. These are the same aspects of the great Beast of Revelation, which hate the whore and devours her in judgement. God states that the people believe He is like the Beast, and so if they are not going to trust in His ways, He grants them their judgment by the very image that they made him out to be:
“It was I who knew you in the wilderness, in the land of drought; but when they had grazed, they became full, they were filled, and their heart was lifted up; therefore they forgot me. So I am to them like a lion; like a leopard I will lurk beside the way. I will fall upon them like a bear robbed of her cubs; I will tear open their breast, and there I will devour them like a lion, as a wild beast would rip them open. He destroys you, O Israel, for you are against me, against your helper. Where now is your king, to save you in all your cities? Where are all your rulers— those of whom you said, “Give me a king and princes”?”
Hosea 13:5-10 ESV
The Lion/Leopard/Bear/Beast of Daniel/Revelation is used by God to devour the earth and usher in His millennial reign.
We also see that the 7 Kings of the 1st Beast of Revelation are 7 mountains with whom Mystery Babylon commits fornication. These are the kingdoms that have been allowed to conquer and rule the promised land in judgement of God’s people:
“This calls for a mind with wisdom: the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated; they are also seven kings, five of whom 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, it is an eighth but it belongs to the seven, and it goes to destruction.”
Revelation 17:9-11 ESV
These mountains represent the high places that the apostate believers would sacrifice to false gods:
“They shall eat, but not be satisfied; they shall play the whore, but not multiply, because they have forsaken the Lord to cherish They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains and burn offerings on the hills, under oak, poplar, and terebinth, because their shade is good. Therefore your daughters play the whore, and your brides commit adultery.”
Hosea 4:10, 13 ESV
““Return, O faithless sons; I will heal your faithlessness.” “Behold, we come to you, for you are the Lord our God. Truly the hills are a delusion, the orgies on the mountains. Truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel.”
Jeremiah 3:22-23 ESV
Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever. 2 As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people, from this time forth and forevermore. 3 For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest on the land allotted to the righteous, lest the righteous stretch out their hands to do wrong 4Do good, O Lord, to those who are good, and to those who are upright in their hearts! 5 But those who turn aside to their crooked ways the Lord will lead away with evildoers! Peace be upon Israel!
Psalms 125:1-5 ESV
- Mystery Babylon sits with Kings as a queen, and denies she is a widow of God. She denies she was married to God as His church, the bride. She proclaims there is no wrong-doing, just as we see in today’s apostate Church, and she desires her kings to protect her. The fact that she was once married and forgets she is a widow, implies she was once married to God. Mystery Babylon is not Rome, but apostate Jerusalem as the capital of an apostate Israel:
Zephaniah describes Jerusalem as the oppressive city that accepts no correction and does not draw near to God.
“This is the exultant city that lived securely, that said in her heart, “I am, and there is no one else.” What a desolation she has become, a lair for wild beasts! Everyone who passes by her hisses and shakes his fist.”
Zephaniah 2:15 ESV
Compare with Mystery Babylon:
“As she glorified herself and lived in luxury, so give her a like measure of torment and mourning, since in her heart she says, ‘I sit as a queen, I am no widow, and mourning I shall never see.’”
Revelation 18:7 ESV
We see in Jeremiah that in the last days, the fallen watchmen of God’s people in Jerusalem will follow after their own hearts and be told that their sins are ok with God. They are affirmed and accepted just as they are, and there is no need to change. Many so called christian’s today state sin is subjective, and many believe there is no hell. We see this apostasy widespread today with the acceptance of homosexuality and transgenderism within the church. But God says, this worldly apostasy is not of Him, and we know Christ states that many will claim to be in Him, but He will deny them in the end.
13 In the prophets of Samaria I saw an unsavory thing: they prophesied by Baal and led my people Israel astray. 14 But in the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing:
they commit adultery and walk in lies; they strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns from his evil; all of them have become like Sodom to me, and its inhabitants like Gomorrah.” 15 Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets:
“Behold, I will feed them with bitter food and give them poisoned water to drink, for from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has gone out into all the land.” 16 Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord. 17 They say continually to those who despise the word of the Lord, ‘It shall be well with you’; and to everyone who stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, ‘No disaster shall come upon you.’” 20 The anger of the Lord will not turn back until he has executed and accomplished the intents of his heart. In the latter days you will understand it clearly.
Jeremiah 23:13-17,20 ESV
““Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”
Matthew 7:21-23 ESV
- The voice of the bridegroom is no longer heard in her, which implies that the voice of God was heard in her at one point, but she turned away. Again, mystery babylon is the apostate Jerusalem, capital of apostate Israel, an apostate church. Compare with other scriptures that condemn an apostate Israel in Jeremiah and Hosea.
“and the light of a lamp will shine in you no more, and the voice of bridegroom and bride will be heard in you no more, for your merchants were the great ones of the earth, and all nations were deceived by your sorcery.”
Revelation 18:23 ESV
““For the sons of Judah have done evil in my sight, declares the Lord. They have set their detestable things in the house that is called by my name, to defile it. Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when it will no more be called Topheth, or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter; for they will bury in Topheth, because there is no room elsewhere. And the dead bodies of this people will be food for the birds of the air, and for the beasts of the earth, and none will frighten them away. And I will silence in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, for the land shall become a waste.”
Jeremiah 7:30, 32-34 ESV
“For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will silence in this place, before your eyes and in your days, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride. Therefore I will hurl you out of this land into a land that neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you shall serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no favor.’ “Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when it shall no longer be said, ‘As the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ but ‘As the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them.’ For I will bring them back to their own land that I gave to their fathers. But first I will doubly repay their iniquity and their sin, because they have polluted my land with the carcasses of their detestable idols, and have filled my inheritance with their abominations.” O Lord, my strength and my stronghold, my refuge in the day of trouble, to you shall the nations come from the ends of the earth and say: “Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies, worthless things in which there is no profit. Can man make for himself gods? Such are not gods!””
Jeremiah 16:9, 13-15, 18-20 ESV
““Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: Because you have not obeyed my words, behold, I will send for all the tribes of the north, declares the Lord, and for Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants, and against all these surrounding nations. I will devote them to destruction, and make them a horror, a hissing, and an everlasting desolation. Moreover, I will banish from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the grinding of the millstones and the light of the lamp. This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.”
Jeremiah 25:8-11 ESV
In Hosea, we see Hosea’s wife, the mother of the children of harlotry, as a prostitute. She represents all tribes of backslidden Israel. As we saw earlier in staggered judgements, her children represent a series of events. First a warning to be scattered (I will scatter), then the scattering of the northern tribes (No Mercy), and finally, judgement upon the south (Not My People). Hosea’s wife, representing all of backslidden Israel, just as Mystery Babylon in Revelation, is decked with fine clothes and jewelry from God. We see she uses them to play the harlot with other nations. She is warned that she will be stripped of her finery, just as the backslidden Church of Laodicea in Rev 3:17 and Mystery Babylon in Rev 17:16. We see that she pursues her lovers, but they reject her, just as in Ezekiel 16:37, Ezekiel 23:25-26, Rev 17:16. God takes away her goods (grain, wool, flax, wine, vineyards, and festivals/feasts). Her mirth (or joy), is no longer in her (compare with previous verses in Jeremiah 7,16,25, and Rev 18 above).
“Say to your brothers, “You are my people,” and to your sisters, “You have received mercy.” 2 “Plead with your mother, plead—for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband— that she put away her whoring from her face, and her adultery from between her breasts; 3 lest I strip her naked and make her as in the day she was born, and make her like a wilderness, and make her like a parched land, and kill her with thirst. 4Upon her children also I will have no mercy, because they are children of whoredom. 5 For their mother has played the whore; she who conceived them has acted shamefully. For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’ 6 Therefore I will hedge up her[d] way with thorns, and I will build a wall against her, so that she cannot find her paths. 7 She shall pursue her lovers but not overtake them, and she shall seek them but shall not find them. Then she shall say, ‘I will go and return to my first husband, for it was better for me then than now.’ 8And she did not know that it was I who gave her the grain, the wine, and the oil, and who lavished on her silver and gold, which they used for Baal. 9 Therefore I will take back my grain in its time, and my wine in its season, and I will take away my wool and my flax, which were to cover her nakedness. 10 Now I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and no one shall rescue her out of my hand. 11 And I will put an end to all her mirth, her feasts, her new moons, her Sabbaths, and all her appointed feasts. 12 And I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees, of which she said, ‘These are my wages, which my lovers have given me.’ I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall devour them. 13 And I will punish her for the feast days of the Baals when she burned offerings to them and adorned herself with her ring and jewelry, and went after her lovers and forgot me, declares the Lord.”
Hosea 2:1-13 ESV
- We see Mystery Babylon is paid back double, similar to earlier OT punishments metered out against apostate Israel. And we see her as the place where the carcasses are, just as in Matt 24:28 and Isaiah 5:25:
“I will first doubly repay their iniquity and their sin, because they have polluted My land; they have filled My inheritance with the carcasses of their detestable idols and with their abominations.””
Jeremiah 16:18 NASB1995
“Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double.”
Revelation 18:6 KJV
“For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.”
Matthew 24:27-28 KJV
“Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! On this account the anger of the Lord has burned against His people, And He has stretched out His hand against them and struck them down. And the mountains quaked, and their corpses lay like refuse in the middle of the streets. For all this His anger is not spent, But His hand is still stretched out.”
Isaiah 5:20, 25 NASB1995
Summary
Mystery Babylon is the apostate, backslidden church. She decked herself in prosperity and forgot God. She believes there is no wrongdoing and that she sits a queen denying God’s sacrifice. While once married to God who sacrificed Himself through Christ, she believes she is no widow. She now gives her allegiance to the Beast system and holds fellowship with the kings within it, but the Beast system hates her. She is judged double for her iniquity against God, and the voice of the Bridegroom and Bride is heard in her no longer. She is stripped of her finery and laid desolate. God desired a steadfast watchmen, but the watchmen failed to call out evil when it came, and there is blood on her hands. She is the bloody city, an apostate peoples. Such apostasy gives rise to the 2nd beast system of the land of Israel.
Next Section: The 2nd Beast form the Land