Babylon the great, Mother of harlots. Revelation 17:3

 I am jumping off my commentary on the Gospel of John to point something out.

One of the so-called “watchmen” that goes by “generation 2434” went on a bit of a rant, saying.

“I, 100%, stand against the teaching that “Mystery Babylon” could be Jerusalem because it goes against God’s word.”

He went on to say,

“There are many scriptures that prove this… but here is the short and firm answer.”

“Mystery Babylon is destroyed and will NEVER be a city again.”

If you search for the phrase “mystery Babylon,” you will NOT find it. The closest thing we have to mystery Babylon is Revelation 17:5. Here is the KJV.

(I have intentionally broken up the passage so that aspects could be emphasized.)

“Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me, saying, “Come here, I will show you the judgment.”

(Judgment is that which originates from God and, in general, would be deemed “the great tribulation”; once again, this is an inappropriate term.)

“of the great harlot”

(Momentarily, we will see that BABYLON, THE GREAT, and THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS are the same thing, and Jerusalem is included.

Here is a huge assumption: If there is a great harlot, can there be lesser harlots?

Since we know that Babylon is one and Jerusalem is another, there is the possibility of others.)

“who sits on many waters,”

(Waters is representative of the nations.
Telling us that this “great harlot sits on many waters indicates that “she” has influence over multiple locations simultaneously.
If this were a human, this kind of influence could only be accomplished by having others fulfill their wishes; this conversation fuels the idea that this being is demonic.

Remember that Satan took a third of the angels, an uncountable number, to earth in his rebellion. It is the reason that Satan can have such an influence. )

“with whom the kings of the earth committed acts of immorality,”

(Perhaps it is best to think of this harlot as wickedness, evil, transgressions, and general darkness.

The question to ask yourself is, against whom?

The answer is that these acts of evil are generally perpetrated against the masses who can do little to defend themselves.)

“and those who dwell on the earth were made drunk with the wine of her immorality.”

(God is showing John, and subsequently us, the punishment of the harlot and who she has had an impact upon; this is an aspect of God’s wrath. It is important to recognize that by the time we read this, the collapse of their empires and national relationships because of the immoralities associated with the harlot will just about be complete.)

Consider what Revelation 17:3 tells us.

“And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness;”

(When God showed Abram how committed He was to this covenant that He was asking Abram to follow, the entirety of the dream, although it sounded like reality. What the Apostle John passes on to us is no less vivid and real. In Acts chapter 8, we see the disciple, Philip, run and catch up with an Ethiopian eunuch, who is riding in a chariot while attempting to read the scroll of Isaiah. I have so many questions about this scenario. Having, a few moments later, baptized the Eunuch in some standing water, Philip is translated; perhaps we can say he was carried away in the Spirit.

Did this happen to John? I cannot say, however, that it sounds like John’s experience was more like Abram’s.)

(Wilderness should be a familiar term as we saw Jesus driven into the wilderness – Matthew 4 - to commune with the Father and to be tested by Satan. The wilderness is typically bleak, foreboding, and lacking water.)

“and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast, full of blasphemous names,”

(If I saw anyone riding on a “beast,” I would assume they believed they were in control of that animal. I had an opportunity to ride a horse when I went to Oklahoma. That horse, for the majority of the time, did what it wanted to do. Finally, as the horse was standing in about a foot of muddy water, a man led some young riders out by me and told them clearly to let their horses know who was in control and told them how to do that. Unfortunately, I don’t remember how to do that, but I applied my momentary education to the situation, got the horse out of the muddy lake, and got the horse to run on a sprint. By the way, this is when the ride smoothed out, but the thought occurred to me that this horse could run in front of an oncoming vehicle.)  

(It is the woman’s head that is full of blasphemous names, and she is riding the scarlet beast, and the beast is speaking blasphemies.

Let’s focus on the blasphemous names for a moment.

Blasphemy is the Greek word blasphēmia and carries meanings of slander, defamation, vilification, and verbal abuse against someone. The WSD conveys that it is the wounding of someone’s reputation by evil reports. We are not given the names, but if you can understand what they are intended to do, you can comprehend the focus of those words – they are meant to demean God and those who represent Him.)

“having seven heads and ten horns.”

(If you search for “seven heads,” you will only find the phrase in the Revelation.)

- Revelation 13:1 TLV  Then I saw a beast rising out of the sea that had ten horns and seven heads. On his horns were ten royal crowns, and upon his heads were slanderous names.

(I am constantly reminding you that our Biblical study is concentrated on Israel and the Mideast; with that in mind, these ten horns and seven heads are defined in Daniel 7 as ten kings. In Daniel 7, he desired an explanation.) The passage that follows is one of those responses.

- Daniel 7:23-24 BSB says ‘The fourth beast is a fourth kingdom that will appear on the earth, different from all the other kingdoms, and it will devour the whole earth, trample it down, and crush it.  24  And the ten horns are ten kings who will rise from this kingdom. After them, another king, different from the earlier ones, will rise and subdue three kings.

(Question: Of the nations in the Middle East, how many are NOT Muslim? Not many.)

The 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,

The description conveys that the participants are motivated by wealth and comfort. Soon, they will be subject to God’s wrath, and their money won’t do anything for them.

And on her forehead, a name was written, a mystery,”

Before we go any further, I want to explore this word mystery. I am NOT an expert in English grammar; I pay dearly to have my work edited by “Grammarly’s” document editor. With that said, I noticed that the word mystery ends with a comma. This indicates that there is a pause worthy of contemplating, in this case, the context of the paragraph. While the implications involved with Babylon are significant, we are not given this information for us to be confused because the name Babylon is a mystery.

The word mystery, as used in Revelation 17:5, is the Greek word mustḗrion, and it carries the implications of a person initiated into sacred mysteries. The word mustḗrion is a derivative of the Greek word muéō (G3453) and means to initiate, learn a secret, or some esoteric knowledge. It also denotes something hidden or not fully manifest.

If you are familiar with the Free Masons or the Illuminati, you are already acquainted with the terminology used to describe being initiated into the sacred mysteries.

The prophet, Daniel, revealed this piece of information, somewhat deflating the mystery.

“But as for you, Daniel, conceal these words and seal up the book until the end of time; many will go back and forth, and knowledge will increase.” Daniel 12:4 NASB

(God has seen fit to open the eyes of those who have an interest in end-times prophecy.)

And this is what was written upon her forehead.

“BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.”
Revelation 17:5 NASB

You do not have to be a rocket scientist to understand that the description seen on the harlot’s forehead is the mystery. It is also an analogy to the centralized system progressively taking over the world.

In an attempt to understand what this mystery is, let’s look at what Revelation 17:18 says.

“And the woman that you saw is the great city exercising kingship over the kings of the earth.” Revelation 17:18 TLV

God calls Babylon the great city, but the problem is that Babylon is no longer there. To add to the confusion, Jerusalem is also called that great city. There are multiple references to the destruction of Babylon in the Old Testament and Revelation. Jeremiah 51:8 is one of our examples.

With all that history, God still has the initiative to use the term suddenly.

“Suddenly Babylon has fallen and been broken; Wail over her! Bring balm for her pain; Perhaps she may be healed.” Jeremiah 51:8 NASB

We find the beginnings of Babylon when we find Nimrod and the tower of Babel. It is from this that Nebuchadnezzar brought about his Babylonian kingdom.

An excerpt from www.worldhistory.org.

“Babylon was founded at some point prior to the reign of Sargon of Akkad (the Great, 2334-2279 BCE) and seems to have been a minor port city on the Euphrates River until the rise of Hammurabi (r. 1792-1750 BCE), who made it the capital of his Babylonian Empire. After Hammurabi’s death, his empire quickly fell apart. The city was sacked by the Hittites in 1595 BCE and then taken by the Kassites who renamed it Karanduniash. The earliest mention of the city comes from an inscription from the time of Sargon of Akkad. It was briefly ruled by the Chaldeans (9th century BCE), whose name became synonymous with Babylonians to later Greek writers (notably Herodotus) and biblical scribes, and then was controlled by the Neo-Assyrian Empire (912-612 BCE) before being taken by Nabopolassar (r. 626-605 BCE), who established the Neo-Babylonian Empire. Babylon fell to the Persians under Cyrus II (the Great, r. c. 550-530 BCE) and was a capital of the Achaemenid Empire (550-330 BCE) until it fell to Alexander the Great in 331 BCE. It continued as a trade center under the later Seleucid Empire (312-63 BCE), Parthian Empire (247 BCE to 224 CE), and Sassanian Empire (224-651 CE) but never attained the heights it had known under Hammurabi or the Neo-Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II (r. 605/604-562 BCE). The city declined after the Muslim Arab conquest in the 7th century CE and was finally abandoned.” (https://www.worldhistory.org/babylon/#:~:text=Babylon%20was%20founded,was%20finally%20abandoned.)

Jeremiah 51:37 also speaks to the cessation of Babylon, a place where no one will ever live again, much like the coming prophecy against Damascus.

Not that long ago, I watched an archaeologist as he visited the site of Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon. The foundations that mark the perimeter of Babylon still exist, but no one, to this day, lives within those boundaries.

“Babylon will become a heap of ruins, a haunt of jackals, An object of horror and hissing, without inhabitants.”
Jeremiah 51:37 NASB

Consider this: Babylon, acting on behalf of God, in time, took the majority of Israel captive. It is possible that the prophets Jeremiah, Habakkuk, Ezekiel, and Obadiah were taken captive alongside Daniel.

One of the ways we can look at the original Babylon is to see it as a protective force.

Did everyone obtain untouchable protection?

No, and we see an example of this when we read about King Zedekiah, the King of Judah (the Southern kingdom. Read Jeremiah 39:1-9), but others, such as Daniel and the other three young men that were taken captive, enjoyed God’s protection.

If you read about Daniel, you learn that he was thrown into the lion’s den for maintaining his routine of worship. King Darius, who had been tricked, fought to save Daniel, but his own edict was against him. Daniel came out of this sure death unharmed. Read all this in Daniel, chapter six.

Since we can understand that Babylon is gone, this discussion about Babylon, which is deemed a mystery, has to be more spiritual in nature and in the future. Needless to say, that future is now.

And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.”
Revelation 11:8 NASB

When God talks about the two witnesses who stand in the streets of Jerusalem, He refers to Jerusalem as that great city, merely clouding the issue.

So, when I or anyone else talks about false teachers and how they can lead you astray, someone speaking authoritatively can drag you into confusion by insisting that Babylon must be rebuilt. Clearly, that is not the case. To combat that happening, you must become a student of the Word of God; that means you read and write with the express purpose of gaining insight into how God thinks and feels.

Baylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots. Revelation 17:4,5.

 In the previous post on Revelation 17, I talked about this nondescript woman sitting upon a scarlet-colored beast.

Revelation 17:3 MKJV  And he carried me away into a desert by the Spirit. And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet-colored beast, filled with names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.

This is the only place you will find a reference to a scarlet-colored beast, however, as you attempt to pursue a definition as to who this beast is, you will find: a scarlet beast, a red beast, and a red serpent – an analogy to the beast, and a correlation to Satan, as well as the title of the antichrist.

The woman, on the other hand, has some clear definition, some of which we find in Revelation 17:4; and this is where we begin.

Revelation 17:4 MKJV  And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet. And she was gilded with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication.

So, this nondescript woman is.

• Arrayed in purple and scarlet.

  According to Albert Barnes commentary, robes dyed in that color were commonly worn by persons of rank and wealth. So we know that she is associated with rank and wealth.

• (As the NASB indicates) she is adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls.

  The NLT translation tells us she wore beautiful jewelry made of gold and precious gems and pearls.

• Having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication.

  A golden cup from the Pulpit commentary - “Babylon, as the instrument used by God for his judicial purposes, is likened to a wine cup, which "made all the earth drunken" (comp. Jer_25:15-17,).

  “For thus the LORD, the God of Israel, says to me, "Take this cup of the wine of wrath from My hand and cause all the nations to whom I send you to drink it. "They will drink and stagger and go mad because of the sword that I will send among them." Then I took the cup from the LORD'S hand and made all the nations to whom the LORD sent me drink it:” (Jeremiah 25:15-17 NASB)

  Abominations is the Greek word bdélugma and means according to the Word Study Dictionary, to emit a foul odor, to turn away through loathing or disgust, abhor. Generally, that which is detestable to God, and, in the Jewish tradition, it is that which was unclean and especially of impure idol worship; hence, idolatry, licentiousness, abominable impurity.

  An obvious problem with our understanding of these abominations is that those who are partaking in this cup cannot perceive the foul odor and see nothing wrong with the idea that what they are doing is idol worship.

  The other word used in reference to this woman is fornication. Fornication is the Greek word porneía and means to commit fornication or any sexual sin. Fornication, lewdness, or any sexual sin.

  If I say names like Jeffrey Epstein or Ghislane Maxwell, do you not believe we are neck-deep in porneia?

Revelation 17:5 NASB and on her forehead a name was written, a mystery, "BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH."

As we have traversed through Revelation, chapter thirteen has used the same language.

“And the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore. Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten diadems, and on his heads were blasphemous names.” (Revelation 13:1 NASB)

Here, the dragon is Satan; and, almost like a coach standing on the sideline, he watches his play being put into action. The beast here in Revelation 13, IS NOT the antichrist at this point. So the beast coming out of the sea is the global heads, princes, and kings, that though they may continue to fight, have a goal of unified global world leadership under one man.

Do you not see that this scheme has been actively played out before us, for possibly a thousand years or more?

Babylon – Isaiah tells us that the nations will gather together against Babylon. Nations may not be organized government; I know that is hard to visualize seeing that the majority of the “nations” are following the idea of global governance.

Isaiah 13:1-6 NASB The oracle concerning Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw. (2) Lift up a standard on the bare hill, Raise your voice to them, Wave the hand that they may enter the doors of the nobles. (3) I have commanded My consecrated ones, I have even called My mighty warriors, My proudly exulting ones, To execute My anger. (4) A sound of tumult on the mountains, Like that of many people! A sound of the uproar of kingdoms, Of nations gathered together! The LORD of hosts is mustering the army for battle. (5) They are coming from a far country, From the farthest horizons, The LORD and His instruments of indignation, To destroy the whole land. (6) Wail, for the day of the LORD, is near! It will come as destruction from the Almighty.

If we recognize that Babylon, at this point, is not a singular entity, but a way of life that idolizes wealth instead of God, then this may be easier to understand. We, in America, are slowly being enslaved, in opposition to the constitution upon which this nation was founded, by people that wish to enslave us. At some point in time, during the time of wrath, God will burn their thrones to the ground.

And it will be in the day when the LORD gives you rest from your pain and turmoil and harsh service in which you have been enslaved, that you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon, and say, "How the oppressor has ceased, And how fury has ceased! "The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked, The scepter of rulers (Isaiah 14:3-5 NASB)

The prophet Jeremiah declares what your heart already knows about Babylon but may not have been able to define.

Because the whole land is filled with idols, and the people are madly in love with them. (Jeremiah 50:38b. NLT)

Consider that Babylon is the mother of all harlots. Nimrod, on the plains of Shinar, established idolatrous worship that for us, that is not defined in scripture. We have to pursue a historical path to find this information.

Biblically we have evidence against Israel, from the prophets.

then I Myself will set My face against that man and against his family, and I will cut off from among their people both him and all those who play the harlot after him, by playing the harlot after Molech. (Leviticus 20:5 NASB)

Molech is the idol that God's people, (who had only days before been rescued from Egypt,) had Aaron build for them when Moses stayed on the mountain for over forty days (a time frame that goes against human logic because people typically die when they do this.) Again, we do not have a definition of Molech until Stephen, in the book of Acts, is brought before the Jewish council. Here, he reiterates that Israel did this detestable thing, and NO one challenged what he said.

When you read about Numbers 25:1 you see this.

While Israel remained at Shittim, the people began to play the harlot with the daughters of Moab. (Numbers 25:1 NASB)

Immediately, I thought of Balaam. Back yourself up to chapter 24 and you find Balaam. When king Balak propositioned Balaam to curse Israel he would not do it. Balaam is difficult to understand because all the fingers point to the possibility that he was like a hitman for hire. I say this because we do not see a recognition of his relationship to God like we do with all the other legitimate prophets.

Balaam apparently tried to petition God (as though he had a right,) and was told by God, don't even think about it. So what Balaam did tell Balak was to bring the cute girls in from the other nations and they will seduce Israel with their idols and destroy Israel from the inside. That is exactly what you see here. If you do not make a decision to follow after God, you will fall for any stupid thing that comes along.

Since this all emanates from Babylon, perhaps we should look at how and who started this ideology and is driving the madmen who are trying to reduce the population to a few million so that they can live like the kings they think they are – free from God.

Now Cush became the father of Nimrod; he became a mighty one on the earth.
(Genesis 10:8 NASB)

Before I move forward with the obvious, I want to touch on this idea of Nimrod being a mighty man.

Mighty is the Hebrew word gibbôr and means he became a powerful man; and by implication, a warrior, tyrant; and, includes the term giant.

Standard religious commentaries will try to make you believe that he was simply a great man of business. To help dispel this idea, the book of Numbers shows us the Jewish spies going into Canaan and then reporting back, was that there were giants in the land. These men weren't trying to describe them as great men of business, they were massive humans, and the Hebrew word used to identify them as giants is gibbôr.

Based on this information what was Nimrod?

A gibbôr, a giant.

Associate this word with a warrior tyrant and you get a better feel for how he dominated.

All this prompts a question. If the giants of generation six were gibbôrs how did this guy get to be a giant?

If you study Genesis six you will see this.

There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown. (Genesis 6:4 KJV)

The sons of Noah were Shem, Ham, and Japeth. Ham looked upon his father's nakedness and was cursed for what he did. Ham had a son named Cush and he had a son named Nimrod.

If Noah's family was allowed on the Ark because they were "perfect in his generations" then how did the demonic influence of the fallen angels, which created the giants upon the land, infect the lineage of Noah to create Nimrod?

I will tell you this, we make huge assumptions, and one that causes a great rift in our beliefs is that the generations of our families cannot or will not move away from the God that you once served. Nimrod neither walked in the ways of Noah nor did he want to; he moved in the opposite direction.

The Smith's Bible Dictionary has this to say about Nimrod.

Nim'rod. (rebellion; or the valiant). A son of Cush and grandson of Ham.

The events of his life are recorded in Gen_10:8; ff., from which we learn

1. that he was a Cushite;

2. that he established an empire in Shinar, (the classical Babylonia), the chief towns being Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh; and

3. that he extended this empire northward, along the course of the Tigris over Assyria, where he founded a second group of capitals, Nineveh, Rehoboth, Calah, and Resen.

If you remember your bible stories, then you know the story of Jonah. God told Jonah to go to Nineveh and proclaim a horrendous judgment against them. These people were the hated enemies of Israel and Jonah refused by catching a ship toward Spain. The ship got caught up in a deadly storm and Jonah effectively committed suicide by having the crew throw him into waters that sink ships. He did this because he knew that God would relent when the people of Nineveh repented, which they did, and showed them mercy. You will find this in great detail in the Jonah named after him.