Wednesday, June 6
Read the following texts. What do they teach us about Babylon? Jeremiah 51:6, 7, 53, 57; Zechariah 2:7; Revelation 17:5, 6; 18:2, 3.
As we saw yesterday, Babylon has a long history as the capital of false worship; so, it is a fitting symbol of an end-time power that deceives the nations.
Compare the dragon, the sea beast, and the scarlet beast (Revelation 12:3, 13:1-3, 17:3). What are the similarities and differences?
All three beasts have seven heads and ten horns, which represent the sum total of heads and horns of the beasts of Daniel 7. Each successive empire was built upon those that went before. Similarly, the scarlet beast combines elements of the dragon and the sea beast (symbolising pagan and papal Rome respectively), as well as of the land beast (Revelation 13:11-14), grouping “all three powers — all of God’s enemies — into a real coalition”. — Jacques B. Doukhan, Secrets of Revelation, The Apocalypse Through Hebrew Eyes (Hagerstown, Md.: Review and Herald® Publishing Association, 2002), p. 162. An additional element in Revelation 17 is the woman who rides on the scarlet beast, symbolising an illicit union of religious and political powers. This woman contrasts sharply with the pure woman of Revelation 12:
Pure Woman (Revelation 12) | Harlot (Revelation 17)
- - -
In Heaven | On the Waters
Clothed with the Sun | Clothed in Purple and Scarlet
Crown of Twelve Stars | Adorned With Gold, Gems, Pearls
Attacked by the Dragon | Supported by the Dragon
Mother of the Remnant | Mother of Harlots
As “the Mother of Harlots”, Babylon has been busy reproducing itself. The apostate mother church has many apostate daughters. But God does not take ownership of the errors promulgated and atrocities committed by apostate Christianity. His true people, though attacked by Satan, survive through the centuries.
Revelation 14:8 has already warned people of Babylon’s fall or apostasy from the truth, which eventually leads to the final deception issuing in the mark of the beast (Revelation 14:9-11). This warning will be repeated with much greater power, culminating in one last appeal for God’s people still in Babylon to come out of her and unite with God’s end-time remnant church (Revelation 18:1-4).
