This section is more about the judgment that was revealed back in 14:18. The actual description of the judgment is described in chapters 17-18. 

Revelation 17

The Doom of Babylon

 1Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me, saying, "Come here, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters,

 2with whom the kings of the earth committed acts of immorality, and those who dwell on the earth were made drunk with the wine of her immorality."

 3And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness; and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast, full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns.

 4The woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a gold cup full of abominations and of the unclean things of her immorality,

 5and on her forehead a name was written, a mystery, "BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH."

 6And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus. When I saw her, I wondered greatly.

Verses 1-6__In verse 2 she is called the Harlot. I believe that this Harlot is Rome for these reasons:

  1. She sits on 7 hills. 17:9

  2. She ruled the earth in John's day. 17:18

  3. She is a terrible persecutor of the saints. 17:6; 18:20,24

  4. She is the leading commercial power on earth. 18:3, 11ff, 15-19

  5. She is destroyed by her own military power, etc. 17:16,17

One must be careful here with the language. John is using the language of judgment of the literal Babylon as found in Jeremiah 51:13. But as we know, the “real Babylon” was destroyed centuries before John's time. See my article on this The Fall of Babylon.

John uses imagery familiar with the Jewish population. He tries to conjure up images in their minds of former horrors. In our case, John is speaking of “Rome" as being Babylon.

Verse 2______This harlot is the source of sensual gratification for the “kings” of the earth. That is, the kings of the earth made alliances with her and became rich (18:3, 11ff) and became part of her immoral behavior.

Verse 3___John had seen another woman, and she fled into the wilderness. There was quite a difference between the two. This one is supported by the seven headed beast, but the other was sustained by the Lord God. The one woman was the city of the Living God and the other was the “Eternal City” as Rome is still called this day.

Sitting on a scarlet colored beast___This is Rome the civil power.

Verse 4___This woman is rich and royal on the outside but on the inside she is disgusting. A well dressed up tramp.

Verse 5___This is the Queen of vanity fair. The Great Mother of all Harlots. She teaches the little harlots how to do their job. What a title to hold.

Verse 6___When we see a drunk man, it is disgusting and at least to me even more so to see a drunk woman.

 7And the angel said to me, "Why do you wonder? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns.

 8"The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to come up out of the abyss and go to destruction And those who dwell on the earth, whose name has not been written in the book of lifefrom the foundation of the world, will wonder when they see the beast, that he was and is not and will come.

 9"Here is the mind which has wisdom The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits,

 10and they are seven kings; five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; and when he comes, he must remain a little while.

 11"The beast which was and is not, is himself also an eighth and is one of the seven, and he goes to destruction.

 12"The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but they receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour.

 13"These have one purpose, and they give their power and authority to the beast.

Verse 7___Now the angel tells us about the woman and the beast!

Verse 8___The student notices that this imagery comes from Daniel. The vision is interpreted. “The beast" that you saw was, and is not (or does not now exist) and is about to come up out of the abyss, and goes into destruction. Here destruction means to be removed from the presence of God.

ἀπώλεια (apōleia, 684), -ας, ἡ, (fr. ἀπόλλυμι, q. v.);

1. actively, a destroying, utter destruction: as, of vessels, Ro. ix. 22; τοῦ μύρου, waste, Mk. xiv. 4 (in Mt. xxvi. 8 without a gen.), (in Polyb. 6, 59, 5 consumption, opp. to τήρησις); the putting of a man to death, Acts xxv. 10 Rec.; by meton. a destructive thing or opinion: in plur. 2 Pet. ii. 2 Rec.; but the correct reading ἀσελγείαις was long ago adopted here.

2. passively, a perishing, ruin, destruction;

a. in general: τὸ ἀργύριόν σου σύν σοι εἴη εἰς ἀπ. let thy money perish with thee, Acts viii. 20; βυθίζειν τινὰ εἰς ὄλεθρον κ. ἀπώλειαν, with the included idea of misery, 1 Tim. vi. 9; αἱρέσεις ἀπωλείας destructive opinions, 2 Pet. ii. 1; ἐπάγειν ἑαυτοῖς ἀπώλειαν, ibid. cf. vs. 3.

b. in particular, the destruction which consists in the loss of eternal life, eternal misery, perdition, the lot of those excluded from the kingdom of God: Rev. xvii. 8, 11, cf. xix. 20; Phil. iii. 19; 2 Pet. iii. 16; opp. to ἡ περιποίησις τῆς ψυχῆς, Heb. x. 39; to ἡ ζωή, Mt. vii. 13; to σωτηρία, Phil. i. 28. ὁ υἱὸς τῆς ἀπωλείας, a man doomed to eternal misery (a Hebraism, see υἱός, 2): 2 Th. ii. 3 (of Antichrist); Jn. xvii. 12 (of Judas, the traitor); ἡμέρα κρίσεως κ. ἀπωλείας τῶν ἀσεβῶν, 2 Pet. iii. 7. (In prof. auth. fr. Polyb. u. s. [but see Aristot. probl. 17, 3, 2, vol. ii. p. 916a, 26; 29, 14, 10 ibid. 952b, 26; Nicom. eth. 4, 1 ibid. 1120a, 2, etc.]; often in the Sept. and Ο. Τ. Apocr.) [This definition cites every instance of this word in the Greek NT.]

The Beast that was and is not and is yet to come is called the Nero redivivus myth. There was a common myth at the time that Nero was to be reincarnated. In this case, Nero came back as Domition.

Verse 9___We learn what all this means! The “seven heads” are seven mountains (Rome) where the woman sits. There are other cities in the world that are surrounded by mountains but only Rome fits the context.

Verse 10___"And there are seven kings; five fell, One is (one was reigning at the time John had this vision) and other not yet come but when he comes he will reign for a little while." The one reigning for a little while is Titus. 

Verse 11___"The beast who was and is not, even he is the eighth, and is out of the seven, and goes to destruction."

What this says is there are 7 kings and there is to be an eighth king. This eighth king is out of the seven. Here are the seven

See Our Chart on this Kings and More Kings
1. Augustus was the “first Roman Emperor”

  1. Tiberius 14-37 AD

  2. Caligula 37-41 AD

  3. Claudius, 41-54

  4. Nero, 54-68

  5. Vespasian 69-79

  6. Titus 79-81 AD

  7. Domitian 81-96 AD (The reincarnated Nero) meaning he persecuted Christians as Nero did.

There was three Barrack Emperors: Galba, Otho, Vitellus but they did not reign long enough to be counted.

Verse 12___The “ten horns” are now identified as “ten kings.” These kings have not yet come to power. Christianity will be persecuted by future kings. The “Treaty of Milan” was signed in 313 AD.

Verse 13___These future servants of the “beast” all be of the same mind. Here we are told that the “Dragon” gave both his power and authority to the beast.

Victory for the Lamb

14"These will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, because He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those who are with Him are the called and chosen and faithful."

 15And he said to me, "The waters which you saw where the harlot sits, are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues.

 16"And the ten horns which you saw, and the beast, these will hate the harlot and will make her desolate and naked, and will eat her flesh and will burn her up with fire.

 17"For God has put it in their hearts to execute His purpose by having a common purpose, and by giving their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God will be fulfilled.

 18"The woman whom you saw is the great city, which reigns over the kings of the earth."




Verse 14___These forces of evil now make war with the lamb but it is fruitless. The “Lamb will overcome.”

Verse 15___ The greatest danger to any nation is what do they do with the conquered people? That was also Rome's problem.

Verse 16___ The Ones who revelled in the Roman way of life will now turn on Rome. The “ten horns” are those kings who have not yet come to power. The empire will fall. It will be pillaged, sacked and burned. As those of John's day knew it, Rome will cease to be.

Verse 17___God has permitted men to be enthralled with evil. When God has a purpose that is in common with these people, there are things He will allow.

Verse 18___ Now we have an identification. The Woman, is a “great city” who reigns over the kings of the earth. This can only be Rome.

by Lane Rogers