Revelation 17

Throughout the centuries of the existence of the church of Jesus Christ, there have always been great temptations to choose the glory of the powers of the earth that we can see above the glory of heaven promised to us by our Lord. The world wears plenty of make-up. She makes herself attractive to the church, and many are deceived. Our lives here below are brief and confusing. When the church is brought face to face with the judgment of God, or when a man finishes his brief time in his mortal body, he must face his Maker. How attractive is the face of the alluring world on that day?

The system of living for today's wealth, pleasure, and fame is pictured as a great prostitute who seems to have power over a very tumultuous earth. Kings have been enticed by her, and have lost their way. Regular people who dwell here below have become drunk on her wine. Now they are gone. What would they say to us today if we could talk to these victims of her seduction from previous generations?

There is no rural hamlet where the charms of this prostitute are unknown, yet she seems to thrive especially with the rich and the famous. The capital of the empire is just the place for her. She is that city. Everything that she sells is there within a very short reach. Is she religious? She might be if she needs to be. She rides the beast that is full of blasphemous names. But she knows nothing of the true power of the cross. Her specialty is lust, though she may whisper words of sacred love.

She is the great city of man, and she wants to be your mother, your lover, your friend, and your supplier. Watch what she does with those chains in her hands. She makes slaves of those she kisses, and she will not be finished with you until she sees you dead.

Watch out for her beautiful clothing. Stay far away from her gold and her jewels. Never drink her wine. It is more than you can handle. Better a simple life with a Friend who is closer than a brother than spending eternity with this prostitute.

She is Babylon in the sixth century BC and Rome in the first century AD. What city shall we call her today? She is full of secret knowledge that you will do well to ignore. Wherever she goes she makes sin look sophisticated and holiness look ignorant. She hides it well, but you can catch the slurring of her words. She is drunk on the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. Her pathway is a road of death. She murders.

She is something to look at though. Even John marveled when he saw her. But the angel tells the apostle that there is no need to be impressed by any supposed mysteries connected with who she is, or who she is with, or what she represents, or what will become of her. She has been in league with the same beast that was seen earlier, the one who was, was not, but who would be again, the masquerade messiah who deceives so many, and who is only an expression of the demonic realm of the old serpent, the dragon.

Keep this in mind: There are those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life, and there are those who will face the judgment of the dragon, the beast, and the prostitute. There is only one thing beyond this simple fact of the difference between the righteous and the wicked that you need to know: Jesus is the One who has secured that life for us which is life indeed. He is the Lamb. He has eternal blessing in His hands. The book where our names are written is His book. Stay far away from every alluring imposter who is always ready to sell herself to you. Ignore the makeup, and see the cosmic prostitute for what she is: a demonic deathtrap where fools are led off to their appointed end.

She has the power of Rome, and the mystery of Babylon, but she is nothing more than evil. She will be expressed in as many regimes as God sees fit, but her judgment is coming. When some great nation or people serve on her team, they are given their hour in a divine drama. But the story is ultimately God's story, and it will soon come to an end.

This prostitute may seem inseparable from the dragon and the beast, but eventually they turn against her. Until that day, they all agree on this: They hate the Lamb who gave Himself for those whose names are written in His book of life. They are not in that book, and they make war on our Captain. But that Lamb will conquer them. All the imposters, the kings that love the prostitute, the prostitute herself, the beast, the dragon, the crowds of the world that insist on something other than Jesus Christ, the Son of God, all of these will be conquered by the one Savior of sinners. All of their power, wealth, and glory, can be swept away in a moment. The true Lord of lords is the real Man of Power. The true King of kings has the authentic title to all authority in heaven and on earth. Did we think that He would lose? He won on the cross for us. He won when He rose from the grave. He won when He ascended into heaven and sat at the right hand of glory. He will win again when He comes to judge the living and the dead.

Eventually the waters of the nations of the world, the kings of many polluted regimes, and the beast itself turn against the prostitute. They always will. They will destroy the city of man themselves. They will hate the Babylon they thought they loved. They will be the end of Rome, her empire, all her successors, and all her idolatry. Everything must give way to the final beast. Then his awful, oppressive, murderous kingdom will be destroyed in a moment by the One who alone is sovereign and true. Who is the victor after all? The prostitute? The beast? No, Jesus is the final King, the King who knows how to judge evil, and who is full of kind compassion for His suffering children.