The Villain of Revelation - Revelation 17:1-7
Revelation 17:1-7
One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits by many waters. 2 With her the kings of the earth committed adultery, and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries.”
3 Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns. 4 The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls. She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries. 5 The name written on her forehead was a mystery:
Babylon the great
the mother of prostitutes
and of the abominations of the earth.
6 I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of God’s holy people, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus. When I saw her, I was greatly astonished. 7 Then the angel said to me: “Why are you astonished? I will explain to you the mystery of the woman and of the beast she rides, which has the seven heads and ten horns.
The Wilderness
John is taken to the wilderness to meet the beast—the place of wandering for 40 years and being tempted for 40 days. The place where the sun kills, the viper bites, the lion prowls, and no safe shelter is found. This is where Babylon meets the people of God repeatedly in the Bible, and his offer is always the same. Babylon promises safety, protection, wealth, and power. And “All this I will give you if you will bow down and worship me” (Matt 4).
The Israelite relationship with the wilderness was unique. At the beginning of their story, Cain, the first murderer, is banished to the wilderness as a wanderer under God’s protection. But instead of relying on God's protection, he defiantly builds a city to provide for himself what was intended to come from God: security, provision, belonging, identity, etc. In this way, cities became a symbol of idolatry to the Israelites, and the wilderness became the place where the temptation to forsake the guiding hand of God for the security of walls, weapons, and wealth.
The Bible begins in the wilderness, with Abraham rejecting the empire's security and heading off in faith to follow God through the wilderness (Genesis 12).
The Bible centers on the wilderness… it is where prophets live, where God meets them at Sinai, where they receive manna and living water.
The Bible also ends in the wilderness, here in Revelation 17 where we confront the beast, the great saboteur of humanity.
Johns readers are in that wilderness, and they are facing the same ancient temptation once again: do they worship the emperor and drink from the cup of the empire, or do they choose to take up their cross of suffering and remain allegiant to Christ?
And in this way Abraham's choice must be remade by every generation that follows, including our own.
Seven Horns & Ten Heads
The beast that meets them in the wilderness is the spirit of Babylon. Since the time of Nimrod, Babylon stands for the human propensity to turn from the path of Jesus, the path of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Babylon promises the peace and happiness, not through the means of the gospel and the cross, but through militarism, separation and oppression, and through violence and coercion.
The people of God find themselves lusting after the lifestyle of the surrounding nations with their palaces and kings, their thriving economies centered on greed, opulence living, and exploiting bodies through slave labor and the sex-trade. In this way they build empires to the sky, towers of Babel that tamp down the perceived need for Jesus and his church.
Babylon, like the beast of Revelation 17, seduces the kings of earth, those in the seats of power. The Spirit of Babylon is present in every nation, every organization, every seat of power and honor. There has always been spiritual darkness in high places (Eph 6:12). The Seven Horns of verse 3 are the seven kings of Rome, and the Ten Heads are the kings not yet crowned. The prostitute holds “a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries” (V4). And she is drunk with them (v2), meaning that she has been very successful at drawing the wealthy and powerful of the world to go along with her schemes in exchange for “gold, precious stones and pearls” (v4).
Discussion Questions:
Has there been a time in your life when you have found yourself in the wilderness?
Was there a temptation to turn from Christ-likeness and to compromise your faithfulness in order to provide the way out?
What happened?Where do you see Babylon working in our day?
Who is falling for it?Tell a story where someone remained faithful despite impending doom, but God miraculously provided.
What would you say to someone amid wilderness temptation by the spirit of Babylon?