A Woman Rides the Beast
A Woman Rides the Beast
Is an exposé of Revelation 17 which describes a woman controlling a coalition of powers. The woman has the attributes of the mystery religion of Babylon, and entices the world to follow her precepts. A thorough exegesis is presented comparing the general views on this chapter with the realities of our present day. The chapter sets the stage for the final events in the conflict between good and evil.
17: 1-2 ~ The Judgment of the Harlot of Babylon: Chapters 17, 18 and part of 19 deal with the judgment of Babylon the Great. In Revelation 17:1-6 The crimes for which God executes judgment upon the harlot, the Roman Papal system, are enumerated; in 17:7-18 her punishment and the means by which it will come to pass is pronounced.
She is called “The Great Whore.” According to Ephesians 5, Jesus is the spiritual husband of the church; therefore if a church unites with or receives favors of one who is not her husband, she commits spiritual adultery. The “kings of the earth” represent civil powers. When churches lose the power of the gospel to transform hearts and lives they turn to the power of the state to support their doctrines and thus they commit spiritual fornication. The “many waters” are the countless people (vs. 15) she has deceived and “made drunk” with her doctrines.
17: 3-6 ~ The main difference between the beast of Revelation 13 and the combined power represented by the beast and the woman here is that a distinction is made between the religious and political aspects of Papal power. The “scarlet colored beast” represents the governments. The woman—the apostate church—rides upon the beast, symbolizing the church controlling the state. In contrast to the pure church of Revelation 12 this woman is “arrayed in purple and scarlet…with gold” and jewelry.
She is a part of “Babylon,” the great city that Satan has set up in opposition to the New Jerusalem of God. The Roman Catholic Church has proudly styled herself as “The Mother Church,” but here she is called “The Mother of Harlots.” From the mother have come the various Protestant denominations which profess to be clean and pure, vehemently rejecting the corruptions of the Catholic Church. But these churches have shown a distressing tendency to follow their mother’s example of sacrificing truth and the approval of God and to seek the power of the state to enforce doctrine, and thus they choose to become harlots with their mother.
She is truly “drunk with the blood of the saints.” History records the deeds of the papacy as it used the state to persecute and kill millions of faithful Christians during the Dark Ages. The Catholic Church has disguised herself with humble apologies for these actions, but she has not changed. The same spirit of persecution with again be exhibited against God’s faithful children who will not drink the wine of her corruption just before the second coming of Christ.
17: 7-11 ~ The beast has “seven heads and ten horns.” The seven heads are said to be “seven mountains on which the woman sitteth” (vs. 9) and “seven kings” (vs.10). These heads are the same as the ones on the dragon of Revelation 12 and the beast of Revelation 13. They represent the great world empires which Satan uses to persecute God’s people. Five of these powers which have been noted in the books of Daniel and Revelation are Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Pagan Rome and Papal Rome. At the end of time, the power of Papal Rome is greater than ever, her deadly wound is healed and she again strongly persecutes God’s people as in former years. The revived Roman Catholic Church unites with apostate Protestants and spiritists to form a religious-political entity that is supported by the governments of the world.
The historic center of Rome was built on seven hills and has been known since ancient times as the “City of Seven Hills.” The phrase “seven mountains on which the woman sitteth” also serves to link the “woman” with the city of Rome establishing her once again as the Roman Catholic Church.
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