Author: barbourjohn
Posted Jun 30 2009 04:42:39pm
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Let me state the obvious: Jesus is the Bridegroom and we His people are His bride, His city. The story line in Revelation is all about this drama. We have been purchased by His blood (Rev. 1: 5). We are represented before God in heaven by 24 elders who continually worship God (Rev.4) and by the martyrs who are under the altar crying out to God for vengeance (Rev. 6) and hopefully are among those who overcome (Rev. 2-3). Jesus is the first begotten from the dead and His apostles and first century Christians are His firstfruits (Rev. 7 & 14 - See my articled on the 144,000-Itâs also interesting to notice that the city already mentioned has dimensions of 12,000 stadia). We are also represented as a âgreat multitude which no man can number of all nationsâ¦â (Rev. 7: 9) and as those who got victory over the image and sing the song of the Lamb (15: 2-4). Finally we emerge as the Bride at the wedding decked out in jewels (Rev. 19). But before Godâs true people can take their place at the wedding feast, another woman must be judged and removed. This woman is called the Great Whore. She is an adulterous woman and is perceived by the world as Godâs wife but she is not. She is a hypocrite and an imposter and she is drunk on the blood of Godâs true saints. She must be removed so Christ can reveal His true bride; those which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ (Rev. 12:17; see also 1:2, 9; 6:9; 12:11; and 19:10).
The Great Whore
For some strange reason, many Christians think that Revelation is all about the Beast (what they call the Anti-Christ) with a supporting cast of plagues, famine, war, locusts, and a million man army. Some even include nuclear bombs and other modern marvels. But emphasizing the beast in this story is like concentrating on the donkey when we celebrate Palm Sunday. The Beast is merely the vehicle that brings the villain into the story and that villain is the Great Whore. Of the three main characters in the story, she is the least clear but to the well trained eye who has studied the Old Testament law and prophets and the four gospels of Christ; she also is crystal clear.
The first time she shows up clearly is in chapter 17. Here she appears upon many waters (17: 1, 15) and upon the back of a scarlet colored beast (17: 4, 7). Like the Bride, she also is decked out with gold and precious stones but the golden cup she holds is not to give a toast to the groom; but instead is filled with abominations and filthiness (17: 4). This represents her fornications. She is not a virgin bride fit for the King of Kings. She has committed adultery with all the kings of the earth (18: 3). Like Israel of old she has a Whoreâs forehead (Jer. 3: 20) with a specific inscription; âMystery Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earthâ.
I hope you can see that like the bride, she also is a city but she is not the New Jerusalem that comes from God but Babylon the Mother of Harlots. The beast that she relies on is not that hard to recognize, it is Rome, a city on seven hills (17: 9). It is a city riding upon a city. In other words, this Harlot depends upon Rome to get her places. This is soon coming to an end, however, because Rome, the beast, will soon turn on her and hate her and make her desolate⦠and burn her with fire (17: 16)â. This we find out is how God judges her and hurls her down (Rev. 14: 8 and Rev. 18). âTrue and righteous are His judgments: for He has judged the great whore, which did corrupt the land with her fornications, and has avenged the blood of His servants at her handâ (Rev.19: 2).
Like the Lamb and the bride this image of a great whore or harlot should remind us of many things in the Bible. Starting from the beginning, this reminds me of the Jewish Torah, which not only forbade adultery but told the people to not go a-whoring after other gods or devils (Lev. 17: 7; see also Deut. 31: 16). If they did this, which often involved abominations such as offering your children to the god Molech, then they would be cut off from Godâs presence and the presence of the community (Lev. 20: 5, 6). As the story goes, thatâs exactly what the people of God did (Judges 2: 17; 1 Chron. 5: 25; 2 Chron. 21: 11-13; Psalm 106: 39, 40; Jer. 2:20). They went a-whoring.
By the time we get to the prophets, we see that the Holy City of Jerusalem, itself has become a harlot (Isaiah 1:21). So much so, that she is called Sodom (1:10; see also Rev. 11:8). Ezekiel 16 and 23 have the most extensive discourses on Jerusalem as the Great Whore.
Ezekiel 16: 2 says, âSon of man; cause Jerusalem to know her abominations, and say; Thus says the Lord God unto Jerusalemâ¦â Ezekiel then describes how God chose Israel when she was a discarded fetus thrown on the side of the road and âwhen I passed by you and saw you polluted in your own blood; I said, â Live!ââ (16: 6). He washes her. Later, after she is grown, God takes her as a wife by marriage covenant (16: 8). He clothes her in fine linen and decks her out with jewels and makes her look beautiful (16: 9-14). Sound familiar? But, verse 15 says, âYou trusted in your beauty and played the harlotâ. The rest of the chapter discusses in length how Jerusalem played the harlot with the Egyptians, the Assyrians, and the Chaldeans (Babylonians).
In this discourse, Jerusalem is described as worse than Sodom (16: 48). âWherefore, O Harlot, hear the word of the Lord! (16: 35). In verse 37; we see the lovers turning on her just like the beast turns on her in Revelation 18. Notice the âloversâ are nations. Rome was a nation. Israel had a tendency to go after the gods of the nations around her and trust in those super powers to protect her instead of YHWH.
In Chapter 23, Samaria and Jerusalem are allegorized as two sisters Aholah and Aholibah. Slang for âwomen of the tentâ- euphemisms for a prostitute. Ezekiel 23 says things like this; âAholibah (Jerusalem) lusted after the Assyrians and her rulersâ Does this sound like Revelation 17: 2 and 18:3 and 9; âthe kings of the earth have committed fornication with herâ? Again we see her lovers turning on her (23:22). In fact, the Lord says âI will raise up your lovers against you.â God uses the very nations and kings they committed spiritual adultery with to punish them.
Letâs go back to Revelation 17 and 18 and look at this great whore in more detail. In 17: 6 she is described as âa woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.â They do an autopsy on her in Rev. 18: 24 and find that âin her was found the blood of the prophets, and of the saints, and of all those slain upon the landâ. This sounds like Jesus in Matthew 23: 33- 38. âYe serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can you escape the damnation of hell? I send to you prophets⦠some of them you kill and crucify⦠that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the land, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zacharias⦠whom you slew between the temple and the altar (Rev.6:9). Truly I say to you all these things shall come upon this generation. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem you who kill the prophets, and stone those which are sent to youâ¦â Can it get any clearer? Later at the lynching of Jesus, the Jews cried out, âHis blood be upon us and upon our children!â (Matt. 27:25).
In case there is doubt that the Jews relied on the Romans for power, consider John 11:46 when the Sanhedrin ask themselves, âWhat do we do? â¦If we let him alone all men will believe on him (because of the miracles) and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nationâ. And then, at the Roman trial of Jesus, when Pilate says to the Jews, âShall I crucify your king?â and they reply, âWe have no king but Caesarâ (John 19:15).
To summarize: The Great Whore is none other than Jerusalem herself, represented by her leaders. These are the very leaders that crucified Jesus their true king and chose Caesar as their king instead. They rely upon this beast. They have taken his mark rather than the mark of Jesus. These unbelieving Jews are not the true Israel, the true Bride of Christ. They have made the earthly Jerusalem look more like Babylon than a holy city. They are drunk with the blood of the holy prophets and martyrs. God will use the very empire that they rely upon to destroy them just like He used the Babylonians before in 586 B.C. When this happens the saints will rejoice and the true Bride will be safe to come to her wedding. In order to do this she must get out of Jerusalem (Luke 21: 20, 21). âCome out of her my people.â (Rev. 18: 4) This happened in the 3Â year period between 66 and 70 A.D.
The contrast is between two cities: The Old Jerusalem and the New Jerusalem and between two women; the Great Whore and the Bride of Christ. It is a contrast between the Lamb and his Bride and the dragon/beast and their whore. It is the Revelation of Jesus Christ and Judgment (vengeance) upon His enemies. It is a warning for his followers to come out from Babylon, the false religion of apostate pharisaical Judaism and an invitation to follow the Lamb â to overcome as He overcame. It is an encouragement to the saints that their prayers will be answered. They were told, âBlessed is he who heeds the words of the prophecy of this book for the time is near." (Rev.1: 3; 22: 7) Indeed it was. |
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