Revelation 17-18 — Babylon the Great

Last week we finished chapter 16 and the seven bowls of God's wrath — all very physical in nature. But the seventh bowl said, "God remembered Babylon the great, to make her drain the cup of the wine of the fury of his wrath" (Revelation 16:19). God isn't just cleansing the physical manifestations of sin; he is dealing with the spiritual root of it all. He is exposing "the earth and the works that are done on it" (2 Peter 3:10; Hebrews 4:12-13). As we go into chapters 17-18, John is taken in the Spirit to be shown that spiritual truth.¶

The great prostitute¶

And on her forehead was written a name of mystery: "Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth's abominations."

Revelation 17:5 (ESV)¶

This angel takes John and says, "Come, I will show you" — God wants us to see the spiritual reality behind the powers, authorities, and motives on earth. Will we have eyes to see? We are introduced to the great prostitute, sitting on the same beast from chapter 13. Prostitution in Scripture represents immorality and idolatry — and the body sold as a product to be consumed. The kings of the world are led astray and intoxicated by her; they have all benefited from her. Many interpreters see her as a religious system that has a hold on the world; some have thought her the Roman Catholic Church (the purple, scarlet, and golden cup). But the last verse of chapter 17 says she is "the great city that has dominion over the kings of the earth." She is most likely a spiritual representation of an actual city or nation — but it is not necessary to identify who she is, because the purpose of the text is to identify what Babylon is.¶

She represents the overall spirit and power in the world: self-worship and idolatry; the worship of pleasure, entertainment, money, and power. (The Greek word for prostitute is pornē — the root of a familiar word.)¶

And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn for her, since no one buys their cargo anymore, cargo of gold, silver, jewels... cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, and slaves, that is, human souls.

Revelation 18:11-13 (ESV)¶

Money, clothing, building materials, medicine, food, weapons, and people — all the things Babylon sells. The entertainment industry has turned people into products to be consumed; social media has turned the user into the product ("when something is free, you are the product"); the food industry engineers foods to hijack the senses God gave us. Buy more, eat more, scroll more, watch more. We have all in some way been captured by these.¶

"Come out of her, my people"¶

Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, "Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues;"

Revelation 18:4 (ESV)¶

This warning is for those who come to faith in these last days, and a reminder to us now. Are we going to keep holding tightly to all our vices, all the things that pull our affections from Christ and keep us weak and controlled? Or will we let the Holy Spirit open our eyes to the schemes of the enemy and the ways of the world? We all find excuses for why our thing is okay. But we should be like John, allowing ourselves to be shown in the Spirit where we have let Babylon influence us. Scripture warns of this again and again (Romans 13:11-14; Hebrews 12:1; Ephesians 5:8-16): cast off the works of darkness, lay aside every weight, take no part, look carefully how you walk, be self-controlled and sober-minded. There is a spirit at work in this world, and God has exposed it and taken away its power for the believer — and he is soon going to wipe it out completely.¶