Sunday, March 17
Read Revelation 17:1. Jeremiah 51:13 shows that the “many waters” upon which Babylon sits are the river Euphrates. According to Revelation 17:15, what do many waters symbolize?
A woman in the Bible is a symbol for God’s people. In Revelation, God’s true church is portrayed as a pure woman (Revelation 12:1, Revelation 22:17). A harlot thus represents a false apostate church. In Revelation 17:5, this harlot is identified as Babylon the Great. Just as ancient Babylon depended on the Euphrates River for its existence, so will end-time Babylon rely on the support of the masses to enforce her plans.
Read Revelation 17:2 along with Revelation 14:8 and Revelation 18:2-3. What two groups of people are specified as being involved in an illicit relationship with, and being seduced by, end-time Babylon?
The first group is the kings of the earth, the governing political powers. They are portrayed as being engaged in an adulterous relationship with the harlot Babylon. In the Old Testament, the language of fornication is used frequently to describe how apostate Israel turned away from God to false religions (Isaiah 1:21, Jeremiah 3:1-10). The adulterous relationship between the kings of the earth and the harlot symbolizes an illicit union between end-time Babylon and the governing political powers - a union of church and state.
The second group in an illicit relationship with the harlot Babylon is the inhabitants of the earth, the governed masses. These are made spiritually drunk with the wine of Babylon’s fornication. In contrast to the governing political powers, the general populace is intoxicated by Babylon’s false teachings and practices, deceived into thinking that she can protect them. When people are drunk, they do not think clearly and are controlled easily (Isaiah 28:7). The whole world, with the exception of a faithful remnant, will be led astray by Babylon.
In the very end, as today, and as has always been the case, the masses of the people get it wrong. What should this tell us about the dangers of following popular sentiment, no matter how popular?
