Hello everybody and welcome in to episode #355 of the Bible 2021 podcast. We are reading Revelation 17 today and our focus is on Who is the Whore of Babylon? Who is the Great Harlot? Who is Babylon the Great? Who is the Great Prostitute? We are a daily 10ish minute podcast, where we will dig in to the truth of the Word of God by reading one Bible chapter a day and discussing it. Welcome to new listeners in Our goal is to encourage DAILY Bible reading, so you can jump in at any time and join with us. We want to invite as many people as possible to join us in daily Bible reading, so help spread the word and share the podcast! Don’t forget about our web-page, Bible2021.com – contact page, show notes, transcript and more– Click here for our Bible 2021 reading plan\
Revelation 17. Wow. Where in the world do we start with this chapter? This one is most certainly a puzzler. Today we will begin discussing the mystery of the whore of Babylon, and in a couple of days, when we reach Revelation 18, we will dive even deeper, seeking to answer the question: Is the Whore of Babylon the exisiting institutional church, as many have alleged in the 21st century.
Let’s say this upfront: I do know that the word “whore” is somewhat offensive, and the CSB Bible instead of whore uses the term prostitute. This passage is not talking about a literal person that sells themselves intimately for money, but something much deeper than that, and thus the use of the words whore or prostitute are metaphorical – for many years, up until fairly recently, nearly all Bibles used the word “whore” to refer to this entity in the book of Revelation, so that is why we’ve mentioned it up until now – but from here on out, I’ll use the P word instead. As noted the last few days, we are now in the deeper and more obscure waters of Revelation – the parts that are less clear and more symbolic than the earlier and latter portions of the book. Let’s begin by reading chapter 17, and as we do, make a mental note that this chapter begins a pretty significant discussion of the prostitute of Babylon that will unfold over the next three chapters.
So – this entity, the prostitute of Babylon, is an important figure in the book of Revelation, and like the other important characters, her identity is highly debated. I am referring to her as an entity simply because there exists the strong possibility that ‘she’ is not a person, but an institution of sorts. I’m not sure we’re going to be able to solve the mystery of the identity of the P.O.B. today, but I do believe that we can find some significant clues in the Bible’s text, and we can discuss the major theories. First things first: The word that is often translated as prostitute (or the ‘wh’ word, or the ‘h’ word, to invoke our current vernacular), is the Greek word, ‘πόρνη pórnē, por’-nay’ and is itself derived from a Greek word that means fornicator, and it is derived from a word that means to sell. Our modern word ‘pornography’ is also derived from these words. The King James version usually translates the word as ‘harlot,’ as in the well known Old Testament figure (who was saved), Rahab the harlot.
Second, we need to consider the location of Babylon. It must be remembered that the Jewish people of the first century had no love lost for Babylon, as this was a kingdom that had sacked Judah and carried away many of their people into captivity around 550-600 years before the birth of Jesus. However, most scholars don’t believe that the prostitute of Babylon is literally from the city of Babylon, primarily because of passages like this Revelation 11:8, which is obviously NOT talking about Sodom, or Egypt, but is all about Jerusalem, and John is using figurative language. Likely, he is using figurative language in this instance too, but the geographic location being referred to is more difficult to determine. The most popular interpretation of Babylon has been that it referred to Rome – the city with seven hills, which corresponds to the seven heads/seven mountains on which this woman is seated. This view dates back at least to the Slovenian bishop Victorinus who wrote in the 200s AD. Many of the early Protestants (Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Knox, etc) also held to this view, associating the prostitute of Babylon with the Roman Catholic church. Our old friend Charles Spurgeon is a good representative of this view:
In his commentary on Revelation 17, Spurgeon says, ” (Rome stands literally as well as spiritually in a wilderness.)…(Names of blasphemy are abundant in that church whose head dares to call himself INFALLIBLE.)… (Dr. Wordsworth remarks that in the description of the Pope’s official dress mention is made of scarlet robes, a vest covered with pearls, and a mitre adorned with gold and precious stones.) and, in commenting on vs. 5,, ” And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. Spurgeon says “These words are like a photograph of the Papacy, no portrait could be more accurate.”
C. H. Spurgeon, The Interpreter: Spurgeon’s Devotional Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1964), 769.
Spurgeon elsewhere says, “modern Rome, too, hath an awful doom yet to come; she, above all other cities, hath a fearful future before her; she, that is wrapt in scarlet, and sitteth on the seven hills, the whore of Babylon, drunk with the blood of the saints, shall yet meet the doom foretold in the Revelation. Lo! God hath said it; she shall be rent in pieces, she shall be burnt with, fire and utterly consumed”
C. H. Spurgeon, “Our Heavenly Father’s Pity,” in The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, vol. 45 (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1899), 438–439.
The imminent church historian Eusebius, writing in the 300s AD, agrees with Rome being Babylon, and offers an interesting argument, “And Peter makes mention of Mark in his first epistle which they say that he wrote in Rome itself, as is indicated by him, when he calls the city, by a figure, Babylon, as he does in the following words: «The church that is at Babylon, elected together with you, salutes you; and so does Marcus my son.»(1 Peter 5:13)”
The Greek Bishop Oecumenius, writing in the 500s-600s, also held the view that Rome was the Babylon of Revelation, and thought it self evident, because no other city that he was aware of sat on seven hills:
“The seven heads are seven mountains,” it says, “on which the woman is seated.” From this it is clearly evident that the passage refers to Rome, for it and no other city is reported to be on seven hills.
William C. Weinrich, ed., Revelation, Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2005), 276.
I should note, however, that there are other cities of antiquity associated with 7 hills. Istanbul is one, in Turkey, and Toledo, Spain is another.
Writing around the same time, Andrew of Caesarea disagreed, however, noting that Rome was no longer the world power that it once was, which doesn’t seem to fit the other descriptions of Babylon in Revelation:
Or perhaps the seven mountains are those most excellent and powerful kingdoms that have succeeded themselves from the Assyrians in Nineveh to the royal power of new Rome, which is favorable to Christ…
Since what is to be interpreted is spiritual, there is need, it says, for a spiritual wisdom, not a worldly wisdom to understand what is being said.… We believe that the seven heads and the seven mountains are to be interpreted as seven places that excel the rest in excellence and worldly power….
Some consider this harlot to be old Rome, since she sits on seven hills, and the seven heads of the beast that carries [the harlot] to be the more ungodly kings from Domitian to Diocletian who persecuted the church. However, we are guided as much as possible by the sequence of events and think that she is either the earthly kingdom generally, depicted as in one body, or that city that is ruled until the arrival of the antichrist. For old Rome lost the power of dominion a long time ago, and we do not suppose that the ancient status will again return to it. But should we grant this, the power that governs today will have been destroyed beforehand. For the Revelation says, “The woman that you saw is the great city that has dominion over the kings of the earth.
William C. Weinrich, ed., Revelation, Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2005), 276.
As for me, much as I love Spurgeon and respect the early opinion of Eusebius and the others, I am unconvinced that the prostitute of Babylon represents Rome and the Roman Catholic church. Yes, the Roman Catholic church has perpetuated great evil and corruption in the earth at times. Yes, the Roman Catholic church has persecuted and killed reformers and others who called on the name of Jesus. Yes, I disagree strongly with Roman Catholic theology. That said, I do not believe that the Roman Catholic church of today kills and persecutes the people of God nearly the way that Revelation 17-19 portrays the prostitute of Babylon doing, nor does the R.C. church have that kind of influence – the kind of influence that is referred to in Revelation 18:
“‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great!’
She has become a dwelling for demons
and a haunt for every impure spirit,
a haunt for every unclean bird,
a haunt for every unclean and detestable animal.
3 For all the nations have drunk
the maddening wine of her adulteries.
The kings of the earth committed adultery with her,
and the merchants of the earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries.”Revelation 18:2-3
As such, I believe that the prostitute of Babylon likely refers to a future nation/organization/network/coalition that will have extreme power, will be a perversion of the church and have some form of religiosity attached to it, and will persecute and kill true Christians. I simply do not see such an organization active on the earth at the current time, so I assume that such an organization will become prominent in the future.
Now- that was a shallow dip into the topic – after two days of time in the Proverbs, we’ll jump back into Revelation on Friday, Christmas Eve, and discuss the Prostitute of Babylon in more detail.
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Bible Memory passage for the month of December: Revelation 5:12, “They said with a loud voice: Worthy is the Lamb who was slaughtered to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing!”
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