Revelation 17

CHAPTER 17

The Woman on the Beast (17:1-18)

1 In John’s vision, the great prostitute is Rome. She sits on many waters—that is, she exercises authority over peoples, multitudes, nations and languages (verse 15). But the prostitute doesn’t represent only Rome; she also represents all corrupt and evil powers and authorities of every age and every generation (Isaiah 23:17; Nahum 3:1-7).

2 All kings and people who share in the evil and immorality of a kingdom like the Roman Empire are like men who commit adultery with a prostitute.

3 Here John was carried away in the Spirit (Revelation 1:10), and he saw the great prostitute sitting on a scarlet beast. The scarlet beast is the same as the first beast mentioned in Revelation Chapter 13 (see Revelation 13:1-2,7 and comment).

4-6 Here we can understand that the prostitute is Babylon the Great, that is, Rome (see Revelation 16:19 and comment). According to the title on her forehead, she had given birth to other prostitutes and to all kinds of abominations, and she had spread these abominations all over the earth (verse 5). She was drunk with the blood of the saints; that is, she had murdered Christians, those who bore testimony to Jesus (verse 6).

7-8 Then an angel explained to John the meaning of the scarlet beast: “The beast, which you saw, once was, now is not.” That is, one of the beast’s heads had received a fatal wound (see Revelation 13:3 and comment). But the beast did not die; it recovered. And it will come up out of the Abyss (see Revelation 9:1; 11:7 and comments). Men of the world whose names are not written in the book of life (Revelation 3:5) will fear the beast; because even though the beast has received a fatal wound, it keeps coming back to life again. That beast is a sign of all the evil empires of the world—such as Babylon, Rome, Hitler’s Germany, etc. As each of these evil empires falls one by one, another rises to take its place. The beast is like that.

9-11 Just as the prostitute was a symbol of Rome, so in John’s mind the beast was a symbol of the Roman Empire. The seven heads of the beast represent seven hills on which the woman sits³⁹ (verse 9). Its heads also represent seven kings. These seven kings can refer to seven Roman emperors or to seven kingdoms. That beast itself is an eighth king (verse 11), who in some way belongs to the seven other kings. Many Bible scholars believe that this “eighth king” is the lawless one or the antichrist mentioned elsewhere by Paul and John (see 2 Thessalonians 2:7-10; 1 John 2:18; 4:3 and comments).

Therefore, we can see that this beast represents two different things. First, it represents all evil empires and authorities in the world; and second, it represents the “eighth king,” or antichrist. These two things are really the same, because every evil emperor or authority is, in a sense, an antichrist. The main antichrist is a powerful evil spirit, who is Satan’s chief helper. But there are also many lesser antichrists who serve Satan⁴⁰ (see 1 John 2:18).

12-13 The ten horns of the beast represent ten kings. It is possible that these ten kings are the same as the kings from the East mentioned in Revelation 16:12. Or they might be the kings who give their power and authority to the beast—that is, who make themselves servants of the beast (verse 13). The reign of these kings will be very short—only one hour!

14 These kings who have given their authority to the beast will make war against Christ the Lamb. But Christ and His followers will overcome them (Revelation 2:2627).

15-16 The prostitute, Rome, sits on many waters (verse 1); that is, she rules over many peoples and nations. But the beast with its ten horns (kings) will begin to despise the prostitute, and in the end it will destroy her. This is an amazing thing, because at first the beast and the prostitute had been partners (see verse 3). From this we can see that evil people and evil powers turn against each other in the end and destroy each other. This has happened many times in the history of the world.

17 God is the one who will cause the ten kings to give their power and authority to the beast (verse 13). God will also cause the beast and its ten kings to turn against the prostitute and destroy her. All power and authority ultimately belongs to God. God uses even evil spirits and evil powers to accomplish His purposes.

18 See verse 1 and comment.