Mystical Babylon, Rev. 17:1-18 (Parenthetical, Rev. 17:1-18) “And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: And upon her forehead was a name written, mystery, babylon the great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns” (Rev. 17:1-7). Rev. 17 is the eighth parenthetical passage and is an account in some detail of Ecclesiastical Babylon, her identification, character, power, wickedness, judgment and destruction by the Antichrist and the ten kings, as well as an explanation of the beast and its seven heads and ten horns. We believe this passage is parenthetical for the following reasons: 1. It is dislocated from its proper place as to fulfillment and is inserted here as explanatory matter between the fact of the destruction of Literal Babylon of the seventh vial (Rev. 16:17-21), and the complete description of that destruction in Rev. 18:1-24. The placing of it here is to show the contrast between Mystical Babylon and Literal Babylon, rather than to show its sequence of fulfillment. Its fulfillment is not contained in the vials, and therefore, is not a part of them. The seven vials, and, in fact, all of the events of the last three and one-half years will be fulfilled after the destruction of Mystical Babylon. The doom of Mystical Babylon by the Antichrist and the ten kings will transpire in the middle of the Week that the beast and his image may be the only objects of worship for the last three and one-half years, Dan. 9:27; Mt. 24:15; 2 Thess. 2:4; Rev. 13:1-18; 14:9-11. 2. If this chapter is not parenthetical and its Babylon is the same as that which is destroyed under the seventh vial and as described in Rev. 18, and if both are the continuation of the seventh vial, then this Babylon cannot be destroyed by the beast and the ten kings in the middle of the Week. But the Babylon of Rev. 17 must be destroyed in the middle of the Week according to Rev. 17:14-17. The ten kings will give their kingdoms to Antichrist for the purpose of destroying her at this time, while the destruction of the Babylon of Rev. 18 is supernatural, according to Rev. 16:17-21 and 18:1-24. This destruction will be through the means of an earthquake. Surely earthquakes will not be in the power of the ten kings and the Antichrist. If, on the other hand, there will be two Babylons, and the one of Rev. 17 is to be destroyed by the beast and the ten kings as in 17:14-17, and this takes place in the middle of the Week when the ten kings give their kingdoms to the beast as in Rev. 13:1-10, then she will not be destroyed three and one-half years later by the earthquake under the seventh vial. Therefore she cannot be the same as the Babylon of Rev. 18:1-24. 3. This Mystical Babylon will dominate the ten kings and even the beast himself for the first three and one-half years until they together will receive power sufficient to destroy her. They will burn her with fire in the middle of the Week. The Antichrist will have all power during the last three and one-half years. Such could not be if he were to be dominated by her during his entire reign. The Babylon of Rev. 17 will dominate the same kings in the first three and one-half years that the beast dominates during the last three and one-half years. Certainly both cannot be dominant or be the supreme objects of worship at the same time. This then proves that Rev. 17:1-18 is parenthetical and that this judgment of the whore will take place in the middle of the Week when Antichrist will come into power over the ten kings in her stead. It further proves that this event will happen before the vial judgments which fall upon the beast and his kingdom, rather than on the great whore. 4. Her identity is entirely different from the Babylon of Rev. 18 as is proven below in a comparison of the two chapters. Rev. 18 is the continuation of the seventh vial. Rev. 17 breaks into the message of the seventh vial at Rev. 16:21. In Rev. 18 the Babylon that is destroyed under the seventh vial (Rev. 16:17-21) is taken up in detail as to her destruction. If Rev. 17 were removed from this place and put in its proper place as to fulfillment with Rev. 10-13, which deal with the middle of the Week, Rev. 18 would be a continuation of the seventh vial of Rev. 16:21, showing just how and why Literal Babylon is destroyed. However, this would complicate the understanding of the two Babylons for some, more than ever. 5. Rev. 17, as can readily be seen, is foreign in its subject matter to the destruction of the Babylon in Rev. 16:17-21 and 18:1-24, and is thus recognized as an alien passage, inserted between the two passages, and used to describe Mystical Babylon and “the beast that carrieth her.” In Rev. 13:1 we see the beast coming up out of the sea. Rev. 17 must be parenthetical because no revelation concerning the beast could be given before the rise of the beast, nor could the woman ride upon the beast until it appeared. In other words, the beast and the great whore both will have existed before the rise of the beast out of the sea. The revelation of the beast in this new form of seven heads and ten horns could not be given to be fulfilled before the middle of the Week, because the beast will not be given power over the seven heads and ten horns until then. Therefore, no revelation of the woman could be given in connection with the beast and its seven heads and ten horns until it appeared, so this chapter must be parenthetical in order to show the revelation of both. If the woman were to be revealed in the middle of the Week when the sun-clothed woman is to be revealed, much confusion might arise over the two women, but, as it is, there need be none, because the time of the fulfillment of Rev. 17 is very clear as taking place in the middle of the Week when the beast comes to power over the ten kings, Rev. 13:1-7; 17:12-17; Dan. 7:23, 24. 6. There is nothing in the chapter, or elsewhere, to refute our parenthetical claim; contrarily, there are many facts which prove that the woman here will be destroyed in the middle of the Week and that the destruction of Literal Babylon under the seventh vial will take place at the end of the Week. Points of Contrast Between the Two Babylons of Rev. 17 and 18 1. One of the “seven angels” shows John the complete mystery of the woman (Rev. 17:1, 7), while “another angel” begins the other message, Rev. 18:1. 2. The woman and the beast are symbolic in Rev. 17:1-18. Nothing is symbolic in Rev. 18:1-24. 3. Everything is explained in Rev. 17:1-18. Everything is clear in Rev. 18:1-24, and therefore needs no explanation. 4. The woman and the beast are mysteries in Rev. 17:7. Nothing is mysterious in Rev. 18:1-24. 5. In Rev. 17 the angel talks to John, while in Chapter 18 he simply hears various voices announcing certain facts, Rev. 18:1, 2, 4, 10, 16, 18, 21. This would be entirely out of place if the two Babylons were to be the same, for the angel in Rev. 17 promised John this: “I will tell thee the mystery of the woman.” 6. In Rev. 17 only one angel speaks, 17:1, 3, 7, 15. In Rev. 18 both men and angels speak, Rev. 18:1, 2, 4, 10, 16, 18, 20. If the two Babylons are the same why did not the angel of Rev. 17 continue speaking to John in Rev. 18, especially so, when he said, “I will tell thee the mystery of the woman?” 7. The Babylon in Rev. 17 will dominate the nations (Rev. 17:1, 9, 15, 18), while the Babylon of Rev. 18 will not. 8. One is called “the woman”; the “great whore”; etc. The other is not. 9. One is on a scarlet colored beast. The other is not. 10. Names are written on the forehead of one, but not on the other, for one is symbolized by a woman and the other is not. 11. John wonders “with great admiration” over the one (Rev. 17:6, 7), because he has never seen nor heard of her before, while there is no such wonder over the other. (He was well acquainted with the existence of the literal city of Babylon.) 12. There is no announcement in Rev. 17 of the fall of Mystical Babylon, while there is of Literal Babylon in both Testaments, revealing its complete destruction in the latter days, Isa. 13:19-22; 14:4; 21:9; Jer. 50:39-41; 51:6-11, 24-29, 36-57; Rev. 14:8; 16:17-21; 18:1-24. 13. No merchants are to be enriched through the commerce of one, while they are with the other, Rev. 18:3, 9-19. Cf. 17:4. 14. No voice will warn people to come out of one. But a warning will be given of the other, Rev. 18:4. 15. There is no boasting by one, while there is by the other, Rev. 18:7. 16. Plagues, mournings, famine, and fire from God are not to be in one. They are in the other, Rev. 18:8. Cf. 17:16, 17. 17. Men do not stand afar off for fear of the destruction of one, while they do of the other, Rev. 18:8. Cf. Rev. 17:16, 17. 18. Merchandise is not described in one. It is in the other, Rev. 18:11-14. 19. No definite period of destruction is mentioned of one, while it is of the other, Rev. 18:8, 10, 17-19. 20. Man destroys one, Rev. 17:16, 17. God destroys the other, Rev. 18:5-8, 20. 21. God will put it into the hearts of the ten kings to give their kingdoms to the beast for the purpose of destroying Mystical Babylon (Rev. 17:14-17), while this is not true of the other. 22. The beast and the ten kings will rejoice over the destruction of Mystical Babylon, Rev. 17:16, 17. They will mourn over the destruction of the other, Rev. 18:9-19. The woman and the beast are fully explained in Rev. 17 and the revelation of these things is completed before the description of Literal Babylon is begun. In Rev. 18 there is another separate and distinct description of another thing entirely. This is proven by the expression “after these things” clearly referring to the things after the complete revelation of the woman and the beast. This does not mean that Rev. 18 is in immediate fulfillment after “these things,” but that it was received by John in the Revelation after them. (See this phrase and its usage under “The Heavenly Door” in Chapter Nine.) Most of the things that are spoken concerning the woman in Rev. 17 do not and cannot apply to a literal city, and the things spoken of the city in Rev. 18 cannot possibly apply to the same thing that the woman symbolizes. If the two Babylons were one and the same they would be destroyed together, but we have seen above that they are to be destroyed at different times, and by different persons and for different causes. Points of Similarity of the Two Babylons 1. Both commit fornication with kings of the earth; one in a religious way, the other in a commercial way, Rev. 17:2; 18:3, 9; 19:2. 2. Both shed the blood of saints, Rev. 17:6; 18:24. 3. Both have a cup of abominations, Rev. 17:4; 18:6. 4. Both are called a city, Rev. 17:18; 18:10, 16, 18, 19-21. 5. Both are made desolate, Rev. 17:16, 17; 18:19. 6. Both are called “Babylon the Great,” Rev. 17:5; 18:2.
Posted on: Mon, 02 Sep 2013 23:13:14 +0000
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