REVELATION 17
Read Revelation 17:1-18
This is perhaps the most difficult chapter in Revelation to understand. The language is very peculiar and we have visions and images of strange creatures that are not to be taken literally, but even so, it is hard to unravel the symbolism. It doesn’t help that we get explanations of some of these strange symbols (for example vv15 & 16) which just seem to muddy the waters even more. It is probably best to stand back from the detail and try to fit this chapter into the overall scheme of Revelation.
The setting is Babylon, which we have seen in Revelation before (14:8, 16:9) where the setting is on a cosmic scale. The reference is not to the city of Babylon to which God’s people were exiled, but to the whole ideology of evil as opposed to the divine ideology. The scene is a picture of the eternal conflict between good and evil, between God and Satan. The extreme language gives us a sense of the destructive nature of sin and how it is prevalent in all the world. The woman in v3 is dressed in fine clothes and covered with precious jewels – sin is attractive and lures people into turning away from the Lord and living a life of sin. This distancing from God is also seen in the language of prostitutes and sexual immorality (v5, 15). Unfaithfulness to God is often expressed in the Old Testament in terms of unfaithfulness in marriage; the prophet Hosea marrying a prostitute was a metaphor for the nation of Israel turning away from God and worshipping idols (Hosea Chapters 1-3). There is also the sense that these figures of evil; the woman, the beast she rode and the various other kings are strong. Sin is powerful; it is difficult to escape from and can easily overpower us.
Without being able to nail down exactly what all these strange images mean, we can see that there is a struggle going on between good and evil. And the evil enemy is attractive and strong. No wonder so many people struggle with sin and ultimately reject God. On the face of it, the forces of evil are overpowering but, as we have already seen and will see again soon in Revelation, it is good, it is God, who is triumphant.
And that is a great encouragement for us today as much as it was for those that John wrote the Book of Revelation some two thousand years ago. John and his people lived in difficult times with the dominance of the Roman Empire which put John into exile on the island of Patmos where he wrote Revelation. We, too, live in difficult times where society is dominated by secular humanism and a general rejection of God, and even some within the church reject God and his word and dispute the saving ministry of Christ.
But to those who truly believe, the comfort that we have is that the ungodly will not triumph; God has already triumphed in Jesus on the cross.