Words in italic type have been added for clarity. They are not found in the original Hebrew or Aramaic.

Revelation 17

• Blue Arrow – You Are Here

What should I learn from this chapter?

• The harlot is the city “Jerusalem”, ruled over by the Antichrist during the last half of the Seven-Year Tribulation. The Antichrist desecrates the Holy of Holies by setting himself up as “god”. (Daniel 9:27)
• Jerusalem is called Egypt for her worldliness, Sodom for her debauchery, and Babylon for her idolatry, globalism, usury, and her one world religion. All “religions” can trace their beginnings back to the Tower of Babel. http://www.allabouthistory.org/ancient-babylon.htm
• Only the 7th head has all 10 horns (as the fourth beast in Daniel 7:20).
• The 7 heads are 7 kingdoms, the last head with 10 horns is the last kingdom before Jesus’ return. It is the kingdom of the Antichrist. See Revelation 17 {2 of 4}
• The 10 horns are ten kings who give their power to the Antichrist for one hour.
• The 10 horns hate Jerusalem and burn her with military fire.

The Scarlet Woman and the Scarlet Beast

Revelation 17:1 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and talked with me, saying to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters (a sea of people),

• The beast is a “sea monster”, it comes out of a sea of people. A sea monster is called “Leviathan”. Scripture tells us the Leviathan is Satan.

Revelation 17:2 with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and the inhabitants (societies) of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication (harlotry).”

Revelation 17:3 So he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness. And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.

Revelation 17:4 The woman was arrayed in purple (royalty) and scarlet (shame), and adorned with gold (purity) and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication.

• The harlot is rich in blessings. She wears purple like royalty, like the rich man of “The Rich man and Lazarus”. (Luke 16:19) She, like the rich man, illustrates the Jews who are rich in the blessings of God: the covenant, the land, the kings, the prophets, the Word, the Messiah, and all the prophecies. But, in spite of it – she is a harlot for worshiping so called worthless “gods”.
  
• She is Like Satan who was once the highest archangel in heaven, both are debased when the Antichrist rules in Jerusalem indwelt by Satan..

• The harlot is a great city: Jerusalem committing fornication with the gentile kings of the earth. She has worshiped their idols (anti-God agendas) and relied on them for protection instead of God.

• Isaiah 1:21 How the faithful city has become a harlot!
  It was full of justice; Righteousness lodged in it, but now murderers.

Wherever “that great city” is used in Revelation it is speaking of Jerusalem which has been taken over by a profane world system, enforced by the Antichrist (a governmental world ruler), and the False Prophet (a religious figure.) It will become the center of the world.

• Revelation 11:8 And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.
  
• Revelation 11:13 In the same hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. In the earthquake seven thousand people were killed, and the rest were afraid and gave glory to the God of heaven.
  
• Revelation 14:8 And another angel followed, saying, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.”
  
• Revelation 16:19 Now the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. And great Babylon was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath.
  
• Revelation 17:18 And the woman whom you saw is that great city which reigns over the (ten) kings of the earth.”
  
• Revelation 18:10 standing at a distance for fear of her torment, saying, ‘Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! For in one hour your judgment has come.’
  
• Revelation 18:16 and saying, ‘Alas, alas, that great city that was clothed in fine linen, purple, and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls!
  
• Revelation 18:18 and cried out when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, ‘What is like this great city?’
  
• Revelation 18:19 “They threw dust on their heads and cried out, weeping and wailing, and saying, ‘Alas, alas, that great city, in which all who had ships on the sea became rich by her wealth! For in one hour she is made desolate.’
  
• Revelation 18:21 Then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, “Thus with violence the great city Babylon (Jerusalem) shall be thrown down, and shall not be found anymore (there will only be a “New Jerusalem”).
  
• Revelation 21:10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,

• She is called Babylon for her idolatry, Sodom for her debauchery, and Egypt for her worldliness. She is controlled by a one world government and a one world religion, the Antichrist and the False Prophet, both called “Beasts”. One beast rose from the sea of people (politics), and one beast rose from the earth, an unholy man-made institution.

• Jeremiah 3:3 Therefore the showers have been withheld, And there has been no latter rain. You have had a harlot’s forehead; You refuse to be ashamed.

Revelation 17:5 And on her forehead a name was written:

MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

• On her forehead: In Biblical times, the head was not regarded as the seat of the mind or the intellect, but rather as the most public part of the body, comparable with the door of a house or city. The head was seen as the seat of individual personality, or rather, a person’s public profile.
  https://www.abarim-publications.com/Dictionary/g/g-l-l.html#.Xz3gJ7B7m1s

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She is riding on ALL SEVEN HEADS (past, present, and future). Jerusalem has been called a harlot by God throughout scripture: However, she has a specific, abominable role during the KINGDOM OF THE ANTICHRIST.

Revelation 17:6 I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement.

• Ref. Verse:
  Rev 18:3
  For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.

• The Blood of the Saints and Prophets
  
  • Matthew 23:34 (Jesus speaking) Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city,
    
  • Matthew 23:37 (Jesus speaking) (Jesus Laments over Jerusalem) “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!
    
• Commentary:

• When society looks for secular answers (a rock or system cut out with human hands) for its spiritual problems; that society is doomed to rot like summer fruit. It collects demonic flies. It releases a putrefying smell that rises to heaven. It cries out for disposal, it reeks with Satanic larvae infestation.
  
• Only God can heal America, not politicians. I’m not referring to going to church, church doctrines, or any religious organization or ritual. I’m not advocating “not voting” or “voting the right or wrong way”.  I’m referring to a personal relationship with God. Trusting God is simple, but not necessarily easy. It heals the human body, heart, relationships, governments, and nations.

• John 3:16-18 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. 18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; BUT he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten (raised from the dead) Son of God.

The Meaning of the Woman and the Beast

Revelation 17:7 But the angel said to me, “Why did you marvel? I will tell you the mystery (hidden truth) of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns.

Revelation 17:8 The beast (Satan indwells the Antichrist and the Antichrist is referred to as the Beast) that you saw was, and is not, and will ascend out of the bottomless pit (mid-trib) and go to perdition (destruction). And those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast that was, and is not, and yet is (shall be present).

• He was, is not, and is again. The Antichrist will be assassinated and will have a (false) resurrection that mimics Jesus. This will be a resurrection using bio-technology. It is man-made resurrection and is an abomination to God.

• This verse refers to the Antichrist controlled (indwelt) by Satan. The people of the earth will be amazed.

Revelation 17:9 “Here is the mind which has wisdom: The seven heads are seven mountains (gentile kingdoms/nations) on which the woman sits.

• Throughout scripture a mountain symbolizes a kingdom:
  • Daniel 2:35b And the stone (Jesus from heaven at His 2nd advent to earth) that struck the image became a great mountain (kingdom) and filled the whole earth (the 1,000 year millennium).

Revelation 17:10 There are also seven kings (one for each head). Five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come. And when he comes, he must continue A SHORT TIME (SPACE).

• BELOW: Gentile nations who – have, are, and will – rule over Israel.
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Revelation 17:11 The beast (Antichrist) that was, and is not, is himself also the eighth (head), and is of the seven (heads), and is going to perdition (destruction).

• The Antichrist is “of the seven” and will go to perdition. But why is he called “the eighth”? Perhaps because after his (false) resurrection, he is called “The Image of the Beast”.

Revelation 17:12 “The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet (they are groups or tribes), but they receive authority for one hour as kings with the beast.

• ONE HOUR is the same word used for ONE HOUR in Revelation 18:10,17,19. While undetermined, it obviously is for a SHORT time. When the martyrs under the altar ask “how much longer?” the angel replies the city has been given to the gentiles for 42 months or 3-1/2 years.

• (Side Note: These ten kings are also the representation of the ten toes on Nebuchadnezzar’s statue Daniel 2:28)

Revelation 17:13 These are of one mind, and they will give their power and authority to the beast.

• To be of one mind is “One in purpose, one in character, and one in agreement” : to eradicate the Jews. Just as Hitler attempted during the Holocaust, only far worse.
  • Mark 13:19 For in those days there will be tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the creation which God created until this time, nor ever shall be.

Revelation 17:14 These will make war with the Lamb (Jesus), and the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful.”

• They will make war with Jesus and the saints at Armageddon.

Revelation 17:15 Then he said to me, “The waters which you saw, where the harlot sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues.

• Note: The Antichrist controls a global government.

Revelation 17:16 And the ten horns (kings) which you saw on the beast, these will hate the harlot (Jerusalem), make her desolate and naked, eat her flesh and burn her with fire.

Revelation 17:17 For God has put it into their hearts (the ten kings) to fulfill His purpose, to be of one mind, and to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled.

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