Revelation 17:1-18
Please read your Bible text: Rev 17:1-18
‘A mysterious name was written on her forehead: “Babylon the Great, Mother of All Prostitutes and Obscenities in the World!”’ Rev 17:5
In Rev 17, we have some insights as to what is going to happen prior to the pouring of the seven bowls judgment. You may say, here is a regression before the bowls judgment. John was given a vision of this Religious-Babylon, personified by a woman – who is given the title “Mother of all Prostitutes” – a claim that has prompted biblical commentators to speculate a variety of identities. I believe that this mysterious woman (the Mother of all Prostitutes) is the spirit of ancient Babylon (Rome) – to be revived in the End-times as a religious and economic-political system that would dominate the world.
Here are the insights: while Rev 17 describes this religious system – the next chapter, Rev 18 describes the economic, political system. Both the religious order and the economic-political system (the revived Babylon or Rome) will be short-lived.
Satan’s Counterfeit to Deceive
The deception of the devil comes in the form of counterfeit to allure and deceive the world. The woman dressed in scarlet here is a miserable attempt to counterfeit the true church of the living God. The effort to unify all religions as one may sound noble, but the undercurrent poison of Satan (the devil) is to produce a counterfeit church. God has his Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit – the devil has his antichrist and the false prophet as the unholy spirit. Christ Jesus is coming to rule the world in the coming Millennium kingdom – the Devil is not wasting time to counterfeit the Millennium rule by instigating and influencing by stealth to produce a one-world religion seen here as the harlot in scarlet – the Mother of all Prostitutes. Not only that – the devil induces the superpowers of the world to form a one-world economic-political rule – seen here as the woman in scarlet seating on the beast (the antichrist) and sitting upon ‘many-waters’ (many nations). One day and soon there will be a one-world religion and one world economic-political authority that will govern the world – and the antichrist will be seated on that throne. Today, the New World Order is coined specifically for this purpose. And Satan is behind all these. The antichrist’s rule will be saturated with obscenities and blasphemous cursing against the true and living God. However, this counterfeit church (unified religions) will be short-lived (v.12) for the antichrist himself will eventually destroy it (because even the false church would remind him of the true church of Jesus Christ, and Satan hates it). The unified world regime will be put down (Rev 18) by the Lamb – Jesus Christ who is the Lord of lords and King of kings.
Satan’s Ultimate goal to Destroy
Satan and the world powers that were set up will eventually hate the unified religions (the harlot dressed in scarlet – v.16) and will destroy her. -Once the counterfeit church (unified-religious order) is of no further use – Satan will begin to destroy. This is not surprising for the Devil comes to deceive, steal and kill. The Devil knew his end in Perdition, but he will not go into Perdition alone. He will deceive the world, steal the glory of God, and then bring along with him the deluded people of the world (those whose name is not in the Book of Life) into eternal damnation.
Discerning Spirits needed
The antichrist will be a well-known notorious figure of the past that came back to life, for then the world will be amazed and held in wonder. While Christ comes from above, the antichrist must come from below – from the pit of hell (v.8). He will be vested with superpower and intelligence and will seemingly have all the answers to the chaotic world problems. The world powers or nations will worship him as God, and they will relinquish all powers to this antichrist. Who is the antichrist? Someone from the past, resurrected from the pit – came in a human form – maybe Idi Amin or Adolf Hitler? Some believed to be Nero, the renowned persecutor of Christians in the ancient Roman Empire. Let us not speculate. Instead, we should focus on CHRIST.
We are living in an era where the stage is already set up for the coming of this “woman” set up by Satan for the antichrist that would unite the world towards one-world religion and one-world economic and civil rule. Already ecumenical movements are working in our days, seeking to bring all the religions of the world together. One-world religion may sound good to unify, but the undercurrent is Satan’s deceptive poison. The political tension or conflict, especially with Israel, the Middle East and the superpowers like Russia, China, and the United States will snowball and stalemate. This will set the platform for the antichrist to step in by stealth as the man of peace. The stage is set for the antichrist to rule under the one-world civil authority. What about the economic-financial meltdown of many nations? Would it be possible for a one-world currency set up to bail out the financial crisis? Technology is making this possible. With the advent of the microchip (no bigger than your little finger) one’s personal and financial data could be captured and embedded under your skin. These chips may well be the carrier for the mark of the beast. One-world currency is possible. Today they are talking about ‘Block-Chain’ technology and cryptocurrency among the financial and business sector.
Discerning spirits needed today to discern the times and seasons of the End-times.
Think: Be like the sons of Issachar—discerning the time… (1Chron 12:32)
Prayer: Lord, help us to be watchful and discerning the times and seasons of what is about to come. Above all, keep our eyes fixed on you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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