Babylon Personified
Babylon is personified with two images: 1) a great harlot and 2) a woman sitting on a scarlet beast and
each image conveys different information about Babylon.
1. Babylon is personified as a great harlot who sits on many waters (Rev 17:1)
with whom the kings of the earth committed acts of immorality (Rev 17:2)
and those who dwell on the earth were made drunk with the wine of her immorality (Rev 17:2)
The angel provides an interpretation: "the waters which you saw where the harlot sits, are
peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues" (Rev 17:15). In other
words, what represents Babylon dominates people around the world.
In the Old Testament, a "harlot" was a term God used to refer to His people that were
unfaithful to the Mosaic Covenant by worshiping other gods (Ex 34:14-16;
Lev 20:4-6; Deut 31:15-17). Here
Babylon is portrayed as something more than an individual non-Believer. It is "the great harlot" who leads
others, including kings, to be immoral. It is a lifestyle that attracts all cultures and people and is
intoxicating and pleasurable.
In the New Testament, the theological use of "harlot" is not found except here in the book of
Revelation. With the New Testament focused on introducing the New Covenant, the theological emphasis moves from
the unfaithful "harlot" of the Mosaic Covenant to the faithful "bride" of the New Covenant, and this is seen
towards the end of this interlude:
and the light of a lamp will not shine in you any longer; and the voice of the
bridegroom and bride will not be heard in you any longer; for your merchants were the great men of the
earth, because all the nations were deceived by your sorcery. (Rev 18:23)
Jesus Christ, in reference to the Parable of the Ten Virgins (Matt 25:1-13),
Jesus Christ makes a contrast. Instead of the faithful Believer waiting and listening for His Second Coming,
there isn't any Believer looking for the return of Jesus Christ.
2. Babylon is personified as a woman sitting on a scarlet beast (Rev 17:4)
clothed in purple and scarlet, adorned with gold, precious stones and pearls (Rev 17:4),
and having in her hand a gold cup full of abominations and of unclean things of her immorality
(Rev 17:4). What Babylon represents also dominates the Antichrist.
Written on her forehead, "Babylon the Great, The Mother of Harlots, and Of the Abominations
of the Earth" (Rev 17:5), the woman was drunk with the blood of the
saints, blood of the witnesses of Jesus (Rev 17:5)
The angel provides an interpretation: "the woman whom you saw is the great city, which reigns
over the kings of the earth" (Rev 17:18). Another angel said: "she has
become a dwelling place of demons and a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and
hateful bird. For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the passion of her immorality, and the kings of the
earth have committed acts of immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich by the wealth
of her sensuality" (Rev 18:2-3)
What the angel describes figuratively as "Babylon," the apostle John described elsewhere in
the words of Jesus as "the world," which Satan is the ruler of.
Jesus answered and said, "This voice has not come for My sake, but for your sake.
Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from
the earth, will draw all men to Myself." (John 12:30-32)
Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the
world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and
the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.
The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.
(1 John 2:15-17)
If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If
you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I
chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. (John 15:18-19)
When the apostle hears another voice from heaven (Rev 18:4), it is
Jesus who is calling people to leave the sin of Babylon and come to faith. As Jesus continues to speak, the
angel's personified descriptions become easier to understand. In short, Babylon represents the world, a secular
culture that denies the existence of God and sin. In lieu of God and His imperative to be holy
(Lev 20:26), a life in motivated by pride and power derived by human
achievement.
To the degree that she glorified herself and lived sensuously, to the same degree give
her torment and mourning; for she says in her heart, "I sit as a queen and I am not a widow, and will never see
mourning." (Rev 18:7)