Shabbat shalom kol beit Yisrael and Mishpachah and welcome to Part LXI (61) of our study of the Book of Revelation. Last week we made an overview study of chapters 17 and 18 and examined a topic that exposes the widest gulf between the various schools of expositors. Today we shall be looking at the first 8 verses of Chapter 17 which, when taken with the rest of chapter 17 and Chapter 18, is the most conspicuous prophecy in the whole of the Book of Revelation. None of the main theories alone are sufficiently consistent or satisfying.

To take but one of these theories as an example, the Preterist, we soon discover that even amongst its proponents there is considerable difference of opinion. Is 'Babylon the Great' the City of Rome or the Church of Rome? - Pagan Rome or Papal Rome? Or both? One thing we can be sure of is that the chapter is divided into two parts, each part of which contains repeating elements:

• 1. The vision; and
• 2. The interpretation.

• 1a. Place: Towards
  • 1b. The Great Harlot
    • 1c. Her seat
      • 1d. Her accomplices
• 2a. Place: The Wilderness
  • 2b. The Woman
    • 2c. Her seat
      • 2d. Herself

This is one of those rare occurences in the book where the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit) does the interpreting for us so there is much we can learn and must not miss regarding the use of apocalyptic symbols. Let's get straight into the text and as promised last week we shall be returning to the New King James Version (NKJV) as our primary version but with the benefit of comparison with dozens of other translations from both Greek and Aramaic sources. If you are listening to this presentatiion rather than reading it, be sure to check up the written one afterwards as I shall not be including all the different ways of rendering this text in our own rich language.

So let's now take a close look at the first 8 verses of Chapter 17:

"1 Then one of the seven malakim (RSTNE) (angels) ('Messengers' - AENT, CLNT, ISRV) (Rev.15:1; 17:3,11) who had ('were holding' - RNAB) the seven bowls ('vials' - KJV, Tischendorf; 'cups' - AENT) (Rev.15:7; 17:8,12) came and talked with me, saying to me, 'Come ['this way' - Berkeley] ('Follow me' - Aram.Pesh.), I will show you the judgment ('doom' - S&G, Berkeley, Amp.V.; 'sentence' - CLNT, Amp.V.; 'sentence of condemnation' - Barclay; 'punishment' - NIV) (Rev.16:19; 12:3) of the great ('notorious' - HCSB) harlot ('prostitute' - MRC, Barclay, NIV; 'idolatress' - S&G, Amp.V.; 'whore' - ISRV, RSTNE, JNT/CJB) (Is.1:21; Jer.2:20; Nah.3:4; Rev.17:5,15ff; 18:10,17,19; 19:2) who sits on (lives near' - RNAB) many waters ('mayim' - RSTNE) (Jer.51:13; Rev.17:15,17), 2 with whom the kings ('sovereigns' - ISRV; 'melechim' - RSTNE; 'rulers' - Amp.V.) of the earth ('olam' - RSTNE) committed fornication ('lewdness' - Berkeley; 'whorring' - ISRV; 'have had intercourse with her' - RNAB; 'have practiced illicit sexuality' - AENT; 'sexual immorality' - ESV; 'joined in prostitution' - Amp.V.; 'have debauched themselves' - JBP) (Rev.2:22; 18:3,9), and the inhabitants of the earth (Rev.3:10; 17:8) were made drunk ('have been made intoxicated' - AENT, S&G, Berkeley, Amp.V., NIV) (Jer.51:7) with the wine of her fornication ('immorality' - NASB, Amp.V.; 'harlotry' - RNAB; 'unchastity' - Berkeley; 'sexual immorality' - HCSB, ESV; 'whorring' - ISRV; 'filthiness' - JBP) (Rev.14:8; 16:14; Jer.51:7).' 3 So he carried me away in the Ruach (RSTNE) (Spirit) ('rapt' - Amp.V; 'in spirit' - RNAB, AENT, CLNT, B.Wilson, JBP; 'spiritually' - Aram.Pesh.; 'in a trance' - S&G, Barclay) (Jn.16:33) into the ('a' - NASB) wilderness ('desert' - B.Wilson, JBP, Barclay, Amp.V., NIV) (1 Tim.6:15). And I saw a woman (Zech.5:5-11; Jer,50:1-51:12) sitting on a scarlet ('red' - AENT, HRV, Aram.Pesh.) ['wild' - CLNT] beast ('of prey' - AENT; 'creature' - Aram.Pesh.; 'animal' - S&G, JBP) (Rev.18:12,16) which was full of ('decked with' - KJV, RSTNE; 'that was covered with' - RNAB, Barclay; 'replete with' - CLNT) names of blasphemy ('blasphemous titles' - S&G, JBP, Berkeley; 'insults to God' - Barclay) (Rev.13:1), having seven heads and ten horns (Rev.12:3). 4 The woman was arrayed ('clothed' - NASB, MRC, CLNT, HRV; 'robed' - Berkeley) in ('wearing' - RNAB) purple and scarlet ['garments' - Aram.Pesh.], and adorned ('gilded' - AENT, HRV, Aram.Pesh., MRC, Berkeley; 'glittered' - S&G, JBP; 'bedecked' - Barclay, Amp.V.) with gold and precious stones and pearls (Ezek.28:13; Rev.18:16), having in her hand a golden cup (Jer.51:2; Rev.18:6) full of ('brimming with' - CLNT) abominations ('pollutions' - AENT, Aram.Pesh.; 'accursed things' - S&G; 'offenses' - Berkeley; 'accursed offenses' - Amp.V.; 'obscenities' - Barclay) and the filthiness ('filth' - Amp.V., Barclay; 'unclean things' - NASB, MRC; 'sordid things' - RNAB; 'impurity' - AENT, S&G; 'impurities' - Berkeley, ESV; 'pollution' - HRV, Aram.Pesh.; 'uncleanesses' - CLNT) of her fornication ('immorality' - NASB; 'harlotry' - RNAB; 'whoredoms of the earth' - AENT; 'lewdness' - Berkeley, Amp.V.; 'prostitution' - CLNT; 'foul impurity' - JBP; 'adulteries' - NIV) (Rev.14:8). 5 And on her forehead ('between her eyes' - HRV) a ['cryptic' - HCSB] name was written ('inscribed' - Berkeley; 'vice' - Amp.V.): ('A' - NASB; 'a name of' - MRC, ESV; 'a name that was symbolic' - S&G, Berkeley; 'a name with a secret meaning' - JBP, Barclay) MYSTERY ('SECRET' - CLNT, ISRV) (Rev.17:7), BABYLON ('BABEL' - Aram.Pesh.; 'BAVEL' - MRC, HRV) THE GREAT (Rev.14:8), THE MOTHER OF ['ALL' - JBP] HARLOTS ('PROSTITUTES' - MRC, CLNT, Amp.V.; 'IDOLATRESSES' - S&G, Amp.V.) (vv.1-2) AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS ('CONTAMINATIONS' - AENT; 'POLLUTIONS' - HRV, Aram.Pesh.; 'ATTROCITIES' - Berkeley, Amp.V.; 'FILTH' - Amp.V.; 'VILE THINGS' - HCSB) OF THE EARTH. 6 I saw ('perceive' - CLNT) the woman, drunk ('intoxicated') with the blood of the qodeshim (saints) ('set-apart believers' - AENT; 'God's people' - S&G; 'God's dedicated people' - Barclay; 'witnesses' - CLNT, 'Yisraelite kidushim' - RSTNE; 'holy ones' - RNAB, Aram.Pesh.; 'set-apart ones' - HRV, ISRV) (Rev.16:6; 18:24) and with ('on' - RNAB) the blood of the martyrs ('witnesses' - NASB, AENT, HRV, ISRV, Aram.Pesh.; 'who witnessed' - Amp.V.; 'who had declared their faith' - Barclay; 'bore testimony' - NIV) of ('for' - Amp.V.; 'in' - Barclay) Yah'shua (Jesus, Yeshua). And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement ('admiration' - KJV) ('wondered with great Wonder' - HRV, B.Wilson; 'wondered greatly' - NASB; 'was utterly amazed' - S&G, Berkeley, Amp.V.; 'was greatly astonished' - HCSB, NIV; 'To me the woman was a most astonishing sight' - Barclay).

"7 But the malak (angel) ('Messenger' - AENT, CLNT, ISRV) said to me, 'Why did you marvel ('wonder' - NASB, AENT, HRV; 'Why are you amazed?' - RNAB, S&G, Berkeley, JBP; 'astonished' - HCSB, Barclay, NIV)? I will tell you the mystery ('mystic meaning' - Berkeley; 'secret' - CLNT, ISRV; 'secret meaning' - HCSB, Barclay; 'secret symbolic meaning' - Amp.V.) of the woman and of the ['wild' - CLNT] beast ['of prey' - AENT] ('animal' - JBP; 'creature' - Aram.Pesh.) that carries her ('she rides' - ISRV), which has the seven heads and the ten horns. 8 The beast ['of prey' - AENT] ('animal' - JBP) that you saw was ('existed once' - RNAB; 'once' - Amp.V.), and is not ('but now exists no longer' - RNAB), and will ascend out ('is about to come out' - NASB, MRC; 'approaches' - AENT; 'is about to arise' - ESV; 'he is going to come up out of the abyss' - Amp.V.) of ('from' - Berkeley, ESV) the bottomless pit ('abyss' - RNAB, Berkeley, Barclay, NIV, B.Wilson; 'submerged chaos' - CLNT; 'the sea' - HRV) and ['proceed to' - Amp.V.] go to perdition ('destruction' - NASB, RNAB, AENT, HRV, S&G, Berkeley, HCSB, CLNT, ESV, B.Wilson, JBP, NIV; 'utter ruin' - MRC) (Rev.13:10). And those who dwell on the earth (Rev.3:10) will marvel ('wonder' - NASB, HRV; 'be amazed' - RNAB, S&G, Berkeley; 'be utterly astonished' - JBP; 'be astonished' - NIV) (Rev.13:3), whose names ('name' - NASB) are not written in the Book ('Scroll' - MRC, CLNT, B.Wilson, RSTNE; 'roll' - Barclay) of Life ('Chayim' - RSTNE) (Rev.20:12) from the foundation ('foundations' - Aram.Pesh.; 'founding' - Berkeley; 'disruption' - CLNT) of the world ('cosmos' - MRC; 'earth' - Berkeley), when they see ('look at' - MRC, Amp.V.; 'observe' - CLNT) the ['wild' - CLNT] beast ['of prey' - AENT] ('animal' - S&G, JBP) that ['he' - NASB; 'it' - MRC] was ('because it existed once' - RNAB; 'because it was' - MRC; 'because he once was' - Amp.V.), and is not ('but exists no longer' - RNAB), and yet is ('will come' - NASB, RNAB, MRC; 'is coming' - Berkeley; 'approaches' - AENT, HRV, Aram.Pesh.; 'will appear' - Barclay) ['again' - RNAB]" (Rev.17:1-8, NKJV).

¤BIBLE VERSIONS KEY: AENT = Aramaic English New Testament (NT, Gabriel Roth), Amp.V. = Amplified Version (1958 ed.), Aram.Pesh. = Aramaic Peshitta (NT), Barclay = William Barclay New Testament, B.Wilson = Benjamin Wilson's Emphatic Diaglot, Vatican MS 1209 (NT), CLNT = Concordant Literal New Testament, CJB = Complete Jewish Bible (David Stern), HCSB = Holman's Christian Standard Bible, HRV = Hebraic Roots Version (James Trimm), ISRV = Institute for Scripture Research Version ('The Scriptures', 2009 edn.), JB = Jerusalem Bible (1st edn.), JBP = J.B.Philips New Testament, JNT = Jewish New Testament (David Stern), KNT = Kingdom New Testament (N.T.Wright), MRC = Messianic Renewed Covenant (NT), NASB = New American Standard Bible, NEB = New English Bible (1974 edn.), NIV = New International Version (1984 edn.), NKJV = New King James Version, NRSV = New Revised Standard Version (1995 edn.), KJV = King James Version, Moff. = Moffat Translation, NLT = New Living Translation, RNAB = Revised New American Bible, RSTNE = Restoration Scriptures True Name Edition (2005 edn., Moshe Koniuchowsky), RSV = Revised Standard Version (1952 edn.), Tischendorf = Tauchnitz Edition, Vol.1000, 1869 (NT), S&G = Smith & Godspeed

Our first big clue to understanding this passage resides in one word - whore, harlot, hooker or prostitute. This is the primary characteristic of the 'woman' in question. This is later contrasted with the Bride of Christ, a legitimately, covenant-bound married woman. And the two are universes apart. In so many ways they are diametric opposites. To understand this difference we have only to look for illustrations in our own day and age. The harlot (as she's called in the NKJV) can be no better portrayed today than in the victims who are brought in vans and in cars with blackened windows, across the sea, having either been kidnapped or lured with the promise of a better life. They arrive in Western countries knowing no one except their captors and possessing nothing except what little they are given. They are beaten, threatened and raped. Then they are sent out onto the streets of Babylon's cities. They are today's slaves: frightened, shocked, horribly abused, their physical bruises only a pale indication of the mental and emotional bruising building up inside. They are the new prostitutes, the 21st century's new breed of whore. And there are literally millions of them. They have no papers, ID cards or passports. They are a part of the massive sex slave trade. The politicians do little to nothing about their predicament because, if the truth be known, a large proportion of them make use of this 'service' themselves.

There were, of course, plenty like these women and children in the ancient world: lots of boys and girls with no other means of livelihood, enslaved whether literally or virtually. As N.T.Wright notes, the world of vice is like a lobster pot: easy to get into, very difficult to get out of, and all you can do is wait for death. I know. I have ministered to many who were once slaves in this evil system. Let's not, please, fall into the trap that so many self-righteous believers do, who look down condescendingly on these victims and view them as mere riff-raff whose own fault it is for being in this system, as though in the vast majority of cases they chose this 'career' with their eyes fully open and were motivated only by high earnings. That would be a terrible mistake to make. In taking such a disdainful and self-righteous attitude, such believers become part of the problem themselves by ignoring or even colluding with the social realities that have pushed the majority of such people to this level of despair and degradation.

Again, there were then, as there are today, prostitutes of a different kind, and this is the kind John here sees in his vision. There were then, as there are now, young men and women have no need to sell themselves, but who have discovered that it's a quick way to make quite a lot of money, and that if you play your cards right you can maintain a high social status in the Babylonian system, with fancy clothes, glittering jewels and the finest pearls. Throughout history, there have been some who have lived very well (in the world's eyes) by this means, maintaining a discrete clientele among the rich, famous and powerful, a business-and-pleasure arrangement of mutual satisfaction...and mutual destruction.

Everything John now says by way of metaphor - because 'Babylon the Whore' is a metaphor, as we shall see - depends on John's perception, rooted in his Israelite and Christian/Messianic belief on the goodness and divine origin of the created order, that men and women are called either to shorter- or longer-term celibacy or to life-long faithful marriage, and that this is one of the central motifs of the Creator's purposes for His whole world. And that is why, of course, the final great image in the Book of Revelation is the Marriage of the Lamb and His Bride in the Garden City of Paradise, a picture that both echoes as well as transcends the union of Adam and Eve in the original Garden of Eden. We must never lose sight of this contrast. Marriage in a beautiful paradise it what everything is about.

Contrast this with the rich whore who's in it of her own free will, who can dress up fine with expensive clothes and makeup (yes, there's a demon called Cleon, as I've discovered, who drives the whole makeup industry), putting on a great show, and (not least) is able to hold out a wonderful golden goblet as though she's inviting you to a rich banquet. But the eye of faith, and not merely of cynicism, recognises that this goblet is full of urine, faeces and blood, to put it mildly. The text tells us that it's far, far worse than this. Indeed, this is a really hard verse to translate which is why translators struggle for words - the goblet is 'full of, or brimming with, abominations, pollutions, accursed things, offenses, accursed offenses, obscenities and the filthiness, filth, unclean things, sordid things, impurity, impurities, pollution, uncleannesses of her fornication, immorality, harlotry, whoredoms of the earth, lewdness, prostitution, and foul impurity'. These are all words used by the translators. The contents of that goblet are so digusting, so vile, that words fail to do the reality justice. This is what the Babylonian system drinks, this is what the Babylonian system delights in, and it's so disgusting the qodeshim (saints, set-apart ones) are told to GET OUT of Babylon and have NOTHING TO DO with the spirit of this system whatsoever. Each time I have meditated on this verse Yahweh has given me a vision of something like a toilet room where the toilet is no longer flushing and the room is at various depths of sewage. It is foul, obnoxious, something those who are pure of heart would spontaneously flee from.

To live in, or aquiesce to, this system is to wade in that filthiness. I remember one vision Yahweh showed me many years ago of a woman who abandoned her marriage and Christ. In the vision she stripped naked and dove into a swimming pull full of unsaved people (representing the world), the water of which was polluted and foul, the amalgam of all the unclean soul-ties formed between these people, which gave them a kind of perverse 'unity', because of sexual sinning. In spite of the outward appearance of the whore being magnificent, the inner reality is disgusting, stomach-churning filth. So here's the question we have to ask ourselves: why does John use the image of a whore to display Babylon in all its horrible reality? I'd like to suggest four main reasons:

The Purpose of the Image of the Whore
• 1. Firstly, because his whole book is about the Creator, Yahweh-Elohim, and His creation, which reaches its full glory in the coming together of the Lamb and the Bride, the allegorical Husband and Wife, in loyal, loving faithfulness, and what he sees in Babylon is the deepest and darkest parody or feeble imitation, the thing (like the Beast's 666 as opposed to the perfect 777 or the Lamb's 888) which is so near to the truth and yet so far. The best and most successful lies are those that are so like the truth that it only takes a little blink to be deceived;
  Hosea's Vision - Yahweh's Bride, Israel, as a Whore

• 2. Secondly, because one of the greatest images of Israel and Yahweh in the Tanakh (Old Testament) is that of Israel as Yahweh's bride, and one of the saddest prophetic images for when that relationship goes wrong is Hosea's picture, based on his own tragic experience of marriage. Do you remember what Yahweh commanded him to do?

  "Go, take for yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking Yahweh" (Hos.1:3, NRSV).

  'Once Israel, Always Israel'?

  Hosea married a prostitute called Gomer and had a son whom he was commanded to name Jezreel (meaning 'El/God sows') and later a daughter whom he was told to name Lo-ruhamah (meaning 'not pitied') because of the wickedness of the house of King Jehu on whom Yahweh would no longer have pity. The whore had a third child called Lo-ammi (meaning 'not My people') to graphically indicate that when Israel turns to evil she is no longer called Israel because she reverts to her unsanctified 'Jacob' state. That's why I keep warning you about zionism because it effectively teaches that 'Once Israel, Always Israel' which is absolutely false (compare with the false 'Once Saved, Always Saved' doctrine). True Torah-obedient believers are 'Israel' but once they turn to spiritual harlotry through habitual disobedience to the mitzvot (commandments), they cease to be Israel. That is as true now as it was anciently. We are NOT saved, or are Yahweh's people, by our genes, yet millions of evangelicals and messianics remain mesmerised by the lie that 'once the apple of God's eye, always the apple of God's eye'. No. Deep down we all know this to be untrue but many have been seduced by a counterfeit look-alike that imitates the ordinances and uses godly language but whose inward parts are full of filth...like Babylon herself.

  Zionism: Once Israel, Always Israel
  Babylon is Idolatrous to the Core

  So, Hosea's imagery is almost certainly the root of John's particular vision here. The point about Babylon is that it has worshipped idols: the quick-fix pseudo-divinities that promise the earth - whether it be communism, secular capitalism, occultism, or whatever - Babylon takes all that you have to give and then leaves you with nothing. Babylon, in fact, like the State, has become such a pseudo-divinity itself;

  Babylon Thrives on Sexual Irregularity, and Social & Economic Enslavement

• 3. Thirdly, like all great imperial systems ever recorded, the Roman world which John knew thrived on sexual irregularity. Whoredom was not simply a metaphor for Rome's idolatry and social and economic oppression, but also metonymy [1]; thus Babylon = Rome = idolatry, oppression, sexual immorality and sin generally. Illicit or ungodly sex was a further symptom of the problem. When people get money and power, then one of the greatest temptations is to ignore or overturn all the moral boundaries of the Creator. John, like Paul, and like Yah'shua (Jesus) Himself in Mark 7 and 10, sees this behaviour, and the corruption of Elohim's (God's) ideal (the marriage of a man to one or more women) as an accurate tell-tale sign of the corruption of the human heart which, springing from the worship of idols, can only be cured by the heart-changing operation which results in worshipping the true Elohim (God); and
  Whoredom as a Metaphor for Oppression

• 4. Fourthy, and finally, John uses the image of whoredom as an appropriate metaphor for Babylon's oppression because there is something uncannily like prostitution going on when the rich empire lures others into its den, rather like today's European Union seducing poor countries into its fold through the offer of wealth. Here, says the great empire, is wealth beyond your wildest dreams! Here all your fantasies can be fulfilled! You don't have to work hard for them, you don't have to organise your own country wisely, justly or humanely to achieve them all; all you have to do is come to me, and I'll share them with you! Oh yes, of course, there's a price to pay, but you won't mind paying that, will you?
  
  Satanic 'Utopia' for the Slave Class

  Does that sound familiar? What utopian ideals have the élites through the WEF (Word Economic Forum) been promising lately? A guaranteed minimum wage for everyone, for both the employed and unemployed, provided they give up all personal possessions and own nothing. You'll get free this, free that, you'll all live in cramped pods in the metropolis and eat processed insects. But, they say, you'll be happy - guaranteed - and you won't have to worry about a thing. You'll even get free health care incentivised by the pharmaceutical industry and the new priesthood of psychiatrists to make sure you adjust to whatever the élites consider to be the best 'norm' to suit their own interests at any one moment of time.

  Once Taken, You Must Drink From the Golden Goblet

  None of this is particularly appealing to the freedom-loving majority of ordinary men and women right now (though their numbers are shrinking as more and more fall for the Babylonian illusion) but guess what? The world rulers, captains, merchant bankers, eminent men of letters (e.g. academics), distinguished civil servants, chairpersons of many committees, industrial lords and petty contractors, not to mention the current King of England (Charles III), are all queuing up eagerly, not realising that they are marching into deep darkness. By the time the folly is exposed for what it is, it will be too late for those seduced. Once you take the golden cup offered by Babylon, you have to drink it.

So, you see, Babylon, in every sense, both ancient and modern, gets her power from the beast or monster on which she sits - the beast which we recognise from chapter 13 as the one who has come up out of the sea. Let me remind you of that:

"And I saw a beast (monster) coming out of the sea. He had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on his horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon (Satan) gave the beast (Antichrist) his power and his throne and great authority. One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was astonished and followed the beast. Men worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, 'Who is like the beast? Who can make war against him?'

"The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise his authority for forty-two months (3½ years). He opened his mouth to blaspheme Elohim (God), and to slander His Name (Yahweh) and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. He was given power to make war against the qodeshim (saints, set-apart ones) and to conquer them. And he was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast - all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world" (Rev.13:1-8, NIV).

The beast still amazes people with its new lease on life after its apparent demise (its fatal wound). John sees that the Beast (the inhuman, idolatrous empire) sustains and supports the particular system he presently sees in Rome, whose golden goblet of economic and military power hides so much misery, squalor and suffering. The Beast, well capable of luring the whole world with its deceits, is for the moment content to have the world running after the whore. That suits its purposes just fine. The only thing in its way is those wretched people who will not worship it, and insist on worshipping this new, crazy god, the one they know as Yah'shua (Jesus), and so she turns on them with murderous intent. Hence Babylon the whore is drunk with the blood of Yahweh's people. Witness to Yah'shua (Jesus), and Babylon knows what to do to silence you permanently. The whore can turn violent when necessary. John's readers knew that well. Some would come to know it better. We are seeing more and more of this happening here in the West though full scale persecution is still a little way off for now (2023). But the time gap is shrinking and some of you reading or listening to his presentation some years down the line, will find that the heat may already be fully on for those still not yet gathered. So 'come out of her' and gather! Start thinking about it and praying for directions now! You're going to need all the time you can get to make preparations.

So this terrifying, multi-layered denunciation of the outwardly delightful and inwardly deceitful city, ought to give pause for serious thought, especially all those of us who live within today's glossy Western culture and to all others who look on and see our glitzy word from afar and who are now pouring into Europe, the United States and throughout the West as both legal and illegal immigrants, seduced by the promise of this great wealth, now being offered to them for free and without the need for honest toil, thus appealing to all the fallen, carnal, Adamic base instincts of men lost in, and being daily devoured by, sin. Is it not obvious to anyone with any common sense that this will lead to disaster? Well, from the demonic perspective, that's the goal anyway, for Satan wishes the human race, which daily reminds him of his adversary in the Person of our Heavenly Father, to destroy itself. Babylon wasn't designed by him to 'succeed' - it was designed by the powers of evil to implode and self-destruct, taking humanity down with it. That is the enemy's goal in persuading us to sin - those lured into sin by him with their anti-Christian philosophies and religions who find themselves vainly trying to stabilise their ill-gotten gains, and failing. I repeat, Satan did not design Babylon to succeed beyond the short term (just enough time to deceive and entrap) - it was always intended as a suicide venture for much hated humanity. That is why there is no hope - and can never be any hope - in the Babylonian system. Once you drink the golden cup's contents neat - undiluted - it's over for you.

And so the judgment of Babylon is inevitable; and even if Yahweh were not to bring it to judgment Himself, it would be its own judgment. Without the vessel of righteousness to house it, the human spirit can only ultimately fail, like water being spilled from a glass onto the ground. It is an anti-life system, constructed around the illusion of unconstrained wealth and pleasure. Self-love is by definition destructive. The only force that can make a community of human beings prosper is the sacrificial love that regards the brethren as more important then self-desire. And when everyone is of that mind, recognising and adoring the Creator who specifically designed them for such community, Zion is born and can then prosper. It's really a very simple recipe and it's summarised in the commandment to love, which is defined by the Two Great Commandments:

"'Love the Yahweh your Elohim (God) with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbour as yourself'" (Luke 10:27, NIV; cp. Dt.6:5; Lev.19:18).

Babylon is the complete inversion of this, atomising the human spirit into competitive units of self-interest submitted to no one and no thing but to self; and as the impulse to self-rule stems originally from the desire to rebel which was first initiated by Satan, the love of self to the exclusion of all else is basically Satan-worship in all its many forms and concoctions. For self to be in charge, power must be sought to rule over other 'selves' seeking the same, which is how satanic hierarchies or 'pecking orders' evolve...and mutate in order to remain concealed from rival 'selves'. To do this, deception must be employed, etc.. You get the picture. The only environment in which self-love can 'work' is in complete isolation because then there are no power struggles to dominate other selves; but isolation leads to loneliness because we were not designed to be alone. And though some say, 'all you need is God', that's not true, for Adam walked daily in the Garden of Eden with his Heavenly Father. Yahweh created with in him the need for companionship of his own kind too, which is why Eve was eventually created to aleviate his loneliness.

Our deepest need is for Elohim (God) and for companions moviated by the same interests, the most intimate, and therefore foundational on a human level, being family love. This is why all prophetic imagery, whether here in the Book of Revelation or throughout the whole Bible, centres around holy echad marriage. Fail at that and inevitably you fail at everything else. We were designed to need and love home life, which is why Satan attacks it the most vigorously and viciously [2]. And the ultimate home is the Husband Image represented allegorically by a combination of Yahweh and Israel, and Yah'shua (Jesus) and the Messianic Community (Church). That's why the Book of Revelation finds its end, goal or consummation, in a Marriage Supper. And that is why no success in life can ever compensate for failure in the home. Elohim (God) is our ultimate home, our glorious origin and our glorious future...as human families in His Great Family.

Babylon is vehemently against all of that which is why Babylon has now manifested her true face today as being anti-family and anti-God. Just look around at the system that governs us today and it is glaringly obvious. Hedonism destroys family and religion, and ultimately humanity itself. What is the self-confessed, long-term goal of the élites which they are coming ever closer to realising day by day? The robotisation of man, the combination of man and machine or trans-humanism. This is what Satan wants us to 'evolve' into - robotic android slaves. He wants to turn those of us he hasn't killed into images of himself so that he can utterly enslave a remnant of humanity after he has killed off all the rest, the very opposite image of those individuals who freely love and serve Elohim (God) and each other as they were created to do.

Communism and its twin, Fascism, are Satan's grotesque parodies of this in which Satan and the 'State' (the Êlites posing as highly evolved 'gods') rule supreme. Both, incidentally, are creations of the Roman imperial system, communism beginning in the West (France) and becoming its most potent form in the East (Russia), with fascism arising and manifesting the West (Italy and Germany), with the twins fusing in modern China that outwardly pretends still to be communist. The problem is that Satan is terribly flawed (because he's evil) as also is the 'State' (which imitates him) which is motivated by human self-interest, both of which will in the end turn against each other, just as the Beast turns against the Whore. The Élites and their slaves need to realise that they are but Satan's useful idiots who has bribed them with the promise of their becoming virtual gods. They have been lied to just as they are lying to us, as the Judgment will demonstrate to them by which time it's too late. So if there's a flicker of decency in any of them, now is the time for them to repent by surrendering to the winning side.

Before we conclude today's study, I need to quickly make one comment on verse 8 (which we'll be taking up again next week) and which is hugely controversial for the simple fact that there are both manuscript variants of it and it is worded in the form of a riddle. Merging these variants and a number of different translations together we get something like this:

"The beast of prey (animal) that you saw was (existed once), and is not (but now exists no longer), and will ascend out (is about to come out, approaches, is about to arise) of (from) the bottomless pit (abyss, submerged chaos, the sea) and [proceed to] go to perdition (destruction, utter ruin). And those who dwell on the earth will marvel (wonder, be amazed, be [utterly] astonished), whose names are not written in the Book (Scroll, roll) of Life (Chayim) from the foundation (disruption) of the world (cosmos, earth), when they see (look at, observe') the [wild] beast [of prey] (animal) that [he, it] was (because it existed once, because it was, because he once was), and is not (but exists no longer), and yet is (will come, is coming, approaches, will appear) [again]" (Rev.17:8, NKJV).

The 'was, is and is yet to come' motif is such an important key for the understanding both of the cyclical (more properly, spiral) nature of time and of the way prophecy works on multiple levels. It's also given to serve as a warning to us not to view these things over-simplistically. The Book of Revelation has hopefully served to bring these matters into sharp focus for the Bible student attempting to understand the Davar Elohim (Word of God). A life successfully lived requires some effort. Yahweh has not made these things easy for us, in part because He wishes certain matters to remain hidden from Satan and his cohorts but also because things that we have to work hard for have a better sanctifying influence on us as well as reminding us that we are mortals and so not to be complacent. There are huge risks being down here in this sphere and only the most diligent seekers are able to make enough sense of it to exploit it for their salvation.

If we put ourselves in the place of the first century Judeans I think this passage becomes clearer very quickly. As there is a reference here to the past ('once was' or 'existed') we need look no further back than to Aniochus IV 'Epiphanes' who would still have been relatively fresh in the folk memory, especially as there is now a very large consensus of opinion that Daniel's prophecy (Dan.7:23-27) was fulfilled in 168-164 BC by this Seleucid king who changed times and laws, even causing pigs to be sacrificed to idols in place of the daily temple sacrifice, an abomination which desolated the Jerusalem Temple (Dan.9:27; 11:31; 12:11) for 3½ years ('a season, seasons, and half a season') until the Maccabees recaptured and rededicated it. But since, as we know, Yah'shua (Jesus) renewed the prophecy 200 years later in today's segment, there must be a later fulfilment as well and therefore another, primary layer to it. So almost certainly Antiochus Epiphanes is intimated as a shadow of the final Antichrist (as was Nimrod before him), and is he who 'once was' or 'existed once before' as verse 8 here tells us.

Now consider this also. Since the beast or Anti-Messiah pretends to be in the position of Elohim (God) Himself, John, like Paul at times, here speaks sarcastically, describing this imposter in language similar to that used to describe Elohim (God) in Revelation chapter 1, verse 4:

"Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come..." (Rev.1:4, NKJV).

There were, to be sure, plenty of Roman Emperors who could have fitted the Anti-Messiah bill in the first century (the 'now' or 'present' of the Book of Revelation) and we have already discussed these, foremost of which is undoubtedly Nero with the equally insane psychopath Calligula as perhaps a close runner-up, at least in terms of the capacity to do evil. As far as the parody of the Divine Title is concerned, it is very possible that Nero is in view, at least on one level, as the popular belief of the time was that this wicked Emperor would return from the dead at the head of a Parthian army. Many early believers interpreted the slain beast-with-the-fatal-wound who returned to life as being Nero, or at least a Neronic-type figure. Modern dispensationalists, assuming this is Rome or the Vatican, believe the EU to be the revived Roman Empire 'recovering from a fatal wound' which we've already discussed at some length and shown to be highly unlikely in any primary sense.

Verse 8 certainly has Satan in view too. Remember, that in our 'end of the end times' Satan (the dragon) will arise out the Pit or Abyss, only to be thrown down back into it when Christ returns along with all his fallen malakim (angels) or demons, to be released one last time at the end of the Millennium to test those born during that æon (age). But we shall probably talk more of this in next week's segment.

So with that we'll end today's study. Next week we'll look at the rest of chapter 17 (vv.9-24). Until then, and as you keep one eye focussed on current unfolding events that are shadow fulfilments of many of the things we are talking about currently, may Yahweh bless you and keep you is my prayer in Yah'shua's (Jesus') Name. Amen.

Endnotes

[1] The substitution of the name of an attribute for that of the thing meant (e.g. crown = king, or turf = horse-racing)
[2] With feminism spearheading this attack
Acknowledgements

[1] Tom Wright, Revelation for Everyone - The New Testament for Everyone Commentary Series, Vol.19 (SPCK, London: 2011)
[2] E.W.Bullinger*, Commentary on Revelation (Kregel Classics, Grand Rapids, Michigan: 1984)
[3] David H. Stern, Jewish New Testament Commentary (JNT Publications, Clarksville, Maryland: 1992)
[4] ESV Study Bible (Crossway, Wheaton, Illinois: 2011)
[5] The NIV Study Bible (Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan: 1995)
[6] Ed. J.R.Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (MacMillan, London: 1909)
[7] David Pawson, Unlocking the Bible: A Unique Overview of the Whole Bible (Collins, London: 2007)

*E.W.Bullinger was a brilliant Anglican clergyman and scholar whose works merit careful study by serious students of the Bible. He was, however, seriously in error in at least three main areas, namely, (1) he believed the 'Church' has been raptured before the Book of Revelation opens, (2) he believed that the 7 churches in Revelation 2-3 are 7, literal Jewish churches or assemblies yet to come, and (3) he believed in a pre-tribulation, pre-millennial rapture.

• 1. White horse - military aggression
• 2. Red horse - bloodshed
• 3. Black horse - famine
• 4. Pale Green/Blanched/Pallid/Sickly-looking horse - disease, epidemics

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• 5. Persecution & prayer
• 6. Tremour & terror

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  INTERLUDE I (Ch.7)
  (The 144,000 Redeemed)

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• 7. Silence in heaven, listening to prayers which are then answered in a final catastrophe: a severe earthquake I

• 1. Scorched earth
• 2. Polluted sea
• 3. Contaminated water
• 4. Reduced sunlight

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• 5. Insects and plague (for five months) (1st Woe)
• 6. Oriental invasion (200 million army) (2nd Woe)

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  INTERLUDE II (Ch.10-11)
  (The Malak with the Little Scroll)
  (The Two Witnesses)

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• 7. The Kingdom comes, the world is taken over by Yahweh & Yah'shua (Jesus) after a severe earthquake II (3rd Woe)

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  INTERLUDE III (Ch.13-14)
  (The First & Second Beasts)
  (The Lamb & the 144,000)
  (The Messages of the Three Malakim)

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