Pastor Barry's  "Chapter & Verse"  Day 305

November 1;   Revelation 17:3;      255/260(IV);      ‘The Great Harlot’

Revelation 17:3 Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a desert. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns.

The woman in verse 3 is the great harlot in verse 1.  The great harlot is Babylon, symbolic of ancient Rome.  Babylon is a type of every idolatrous system which is opposed to Jesus Christ.  ‘Carried me away in the Spirit’ is symbolic language indicating the Holy Spirit enabled John to see the spiritual realities of Babylon and all they represent.  The scarlet beast represents a political-social anti God evil.  The heads and horns represent the power of Babylon supporting the great harlot.  The fact that the woman is sitting on the scarlet beast symbolizes and anti-Christian civilization undergirded by anti-Christian political power. In verse 4, the gaudy adornment of the woman represents her wealth and earthly glory.  The golden cup full of abominations represents the worship of idols.  The woman as a religious and moral harlot endeavors to manipulate government power to her advantage.  In verses   7-18, the woman is destroyed by the beast, the forces of the antichrist.  Why will this happen?  The antichrist is the personification of the devil and his pride, during the final 3.5 years of the tribulation, or the great tribulation he will declare that he is god.  No one else will be allowed to compete with him.  Once again, remember that this is the Revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Everything occurring, though not known by the antichrist and anti-Christian political power is Jesus Christ fulfilling His Word.  The Christ rejecting forces are destined for destruction along with their demonic leaders, by the very one they rejected.