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latter stages--now very imminent--is portrayed in Revelation 17.
In this vision given the Apostle John regarding the DAY OF THE LORD
(Rev. 1:10) an angel came to him. It was one of the seven angels
with the vials of the seven last plagues--to be poured out at the
precise time of Christ's Second Coming.
The seventeenth chapter is another inset chapter--one of the
few injected into the main story-flow of the prophetic book of
Revelation. The story-flow, in chapter 16, had come to the very
time for the pouring out of the seven last plagues.
The angel said, "Come hither; I will shew unto thee the
judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters."
This, of course, is symbolically speaking of the great false
church. The many "waters" are (verse 15): several nations speaking
different languages. Historically, it could mean only European
nations--the "Holy Roman Empire" of 554 - 1814 A.D.
This great church (verse 2) has committed fornication
(spiritually) with the kings of Europe. Fornication is illicit
intercourse with an unmarried person. Israel had been married to
Christ (the Lord of the Old Testament). So this is not Israel. It
is identified as Gentile nations. The true Church of God is the
affianced bride of Christ. Christ's death severed the Old Covenant
marriage. But New Testament spiritual Israel (the Church) is
engaged to marry the RESURRECTED CHRIST, upon the resurrection of
the Church.
So, (verse 3) the angel in vision carried John into the
wilderness, where he saw this same great whore as a woman sitting
astride a scarlet-colored "BEAST" (symbolic of civil government).
This "beast" had seven heads and ten horns.
This is a continuation of the "beast" prophecies of Daniel 7
and Revelation 13. But the "beast" revealed to John here is the
very latter part of the whole system, dating from Nebuchadnezzar's
Chaldean empire. But the "seven heads" of this seventeenth chapter
"beast" are the "Holy Roman Empire," dating from 554 A.D.--in other
words the last seven of the ten horns of the thirteenth chapter
"beast."
And the ten horns on this "beast" are the same as the "ten
TOES" of Nebuchadnezzar's dream image (Daniel 2).
This woman (church) was arrayed in purple, the color of
royalty and scarlet, the color of a whore. Also she was decked
with gold and precious stones and pearls.
Now we come to HER NAME (verse 5): "MYSTERY, BABYLON THE
GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH." Her
harlot daughters came out of her in protest. This name identifies
the church as that of the BABYLONIAN MYSTERY religion, now grown
GREAT ruling civil nations.
In other words the Babylonian Mystery religion of the ancient
Chaldean Empire, now grown great in size and power. Indeed she is