Revelation 17

Summary:

In Revelation 17 John sees a harlot woman sitting on a scarlet beast which has seven heads and ten horns. The harlot’s name is: MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. Seven kings are brought to view—five fallen, one who is, and one who is not yet come. Then an eighth appears who is not counted among the seven, who will go into perdition. Ten additional kings unite and give their power and strength unto the beast, and make war with the Lamb who overcomes them. The ten kings eventually hate the whore and eat her flesh and burn her with fire. Revelation 17 is one of the most astonishing chapters in all of Revelation, and perhaps even the entire Bible. With dramatic imagery it carries us forward to the final destruction of Rome—the judgment of the great whore that sits on many waters.