Revelation 17 Footnotes

17:1-6 The next section (17:1–19:6) is a postlude to the bowls of wrath, expanding the reader’s understanding of Babylon the Great, her relationship with the beast, and her just and final judgment. Babylon has essentially the same relationship with the earth dwellers (17:2) as Jezebel did with the sinners in the church at Thyatira (2:20). Babylon also has a close relationship to the beast (17:3; see 13:1). Further, Babylon has the trappings of wealth and royalty (17:4). The wider mystery of Babylon at least partly has to do with her being the source of harlotry and abominations throughout history, including the martyrdom of God’s saints (vv. 5-6).

17:9-13 In the second cryptic wisdom statement in the book (13:18), the identity of the beast is clarified as a king who emerges from a group of rulers, apparently after a number of earlier empires or rulers. While it appears to the world that these rulers are dominant, they have received authority from the Lord only for a short time (“one hour”). This wording has caused some to speculate that perhaps the beast is Nero revived or that the beast will emerge out of a revived Roman Empire or the European Union. The details are not clear enough to determine this, however, and readers must exercise caution and not go beyond what is written (1Co 4:6).

17:14 The battle here takes place at the second coming (note the reversed wording from “KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS,” 19:16). This verse clarifies that the armies following the Lamb in 19:14 are believers, since the terms “called, chosen, and faithful” are not used for angels.

17:18–18:3 The description of Babylon’s destruction now returns to her being pictured as “the great city” (v. 18; see 16:19). While Babylon could include an actual city in the last times, it is more likely the lament in chap. 18 is modeled after Jr 51, which speaks of the wider Babylonian Empire, represented by the city of Babylon, of which it says that it will “never rise again” (Jr 51:64). It is now revealed that Babylon is not only the woman who has caroused with the nations, kings, and merchants of the earth (Rv 18:3), but she is, at core, demonic: the dwelling place of demons and unclean spirits (18:2).