Page 138 - Eschatology - Masters revised

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belongs to the seven, and it goes to destruction. And the ten horns that you saw are ten kings who
have not yet received royal power, but they are to receive authority as kings for one hour, together with
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the beast. These are of one mind, and they hand over their power and authority to the
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beast. They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords
and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful.”

This passage indicates that the whore of Babylon cannot refer exclusively to Rome. The passage itself
tells us that the seven hills are seven kings, five who have fallen, one persists, and another is yet to come
for a short time. In chapter 13 of Revelation, the beast is identified by a person who has seven heads,
just as the woman of whoredom is identified. Do you suppose they are the one and same individual?

Verse 11 seems to indicate that the whore and the beast are separate persons but are integrally linked
together in a similar cause.

It seems in the balance of the passages of Revelation 17, that the beast and whore rise to power to gain
control over the entire earth. The whore is an ideology of not only arrogance, but also one of hatred
against Christ and His followers. The whore becomes drunk with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. Her
authority allows her to find and kill all who claim the name of Christ. She must represent some kind of
religious movement, perhaps the worship of the Antichrist. Being a whore who fornicates, bringing
intoxication to the kings of the earth, means she has exalted herself in some sort of false worship.

This whore of Babylon has worldwide influence over people and
nations. She has control over the kings of the nations (Rev.
17:18) but at some point, the kings and the Antichrist will turn
on her and destroy her (Revelation 17:16).

Rather than a person, perhaps the whore of Babylon may be an
evil world system, controlled by the Antichrist, during the last
days of the tribulation period, just before Christ’s second return
to earth. She has religious connotations, the spiritual adultery
with the Antichrist being the focus of an ungodly, end-time
religious system. People will be forced to take the mark of the Beast and, in doing so, will be brought to
worship the Antichrist as god. The Whore of Babylon will be the person or evil world system that will
bring the world to their knees before the Beast.

Babylon destroyed Jerusalem and the temple and became a symbol for the enemy of God and His
people. Revelation uses this imagery, so Babylon in Revelation most likely does not refer to a revived
Babylonian Empire but to a national entity that will persecute and destroy in “the spirit of the
Babylonians.” The difference is that ancient Babylon destroyed Jerusalem as God’s judgment for her
unfaithfulness. In the last days, “Babylon” persecutes believers who are being faithful, and it is Babylon
who will be judged.
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