Tag Archives: Rev 17

What I Think I Know About Rev 17: 7) While Daniel 7 plays a strong role in the background of Revelation 17, the major Old Testament background is the fall of Babylon motif.

Leave a reply

The fall of Babylon motif is signaled by Revelation 16:12 and 17:1, as noted earlier. The mention of the Euphrates River (Rev 16:12) and the “many waters” (Rev 17:1) are clear allusions to ancient Babylon and its fall to the armies of Cyrus, King of Persia. To understand this relationship, it is helpful to visit the fall of Babylon texts in Jeremiah and Isaiah. A good beginning point is Jeremiah 50:33-34 (NIV): “This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘The people of Israel are oppressed, and the people of Judah as well. All their captors hold them fast, refusing to let them go. Yet their Redeemer is strong; the LORD Almighty is his name. He will vigorously defend their cause so that he may bring rest to their land, but unrest to those who live in Babylon.’” This text makes it clear that Babylon’s fall was not an accident. It was part of the direct purpose of God on account of Babylon’s oppression of God’s people.

God continues His indictment of the Babylonians in Jeremiah 50:35-36: “’A sword against the Babylonians!’ declares the LORD—‘against those who live in Babylon and against her officials and wise men! A sword against her false prophets! They will become fools. A sword against her warriors! They will be filled with terror.’” Yahweh’s attack against the Babylonians specifically targets Babylon’s officials, her wise men, her false prophets and her warriors. This is a listing of the people who made Babylon strong; her administrators, her thinkers, her religious leaders and her military personnel.

The prophecy continues in verse 37: “A sword against her horses and chariots and all the foreigners in her ranks! They will become women. A sword against her treasures! They will be plundered.” The previous verses talk about officials, wise men and warriors. Now this verse talks about horses and chariots, mercenary troops and treasures. Again this is a listing of the resources that make Babylon strong! But there is one more resource that has not yet been listed (Jer 50:38 [NIV]): “A drought on her waters! They will dry up. For it is a land of idols, idols that will go mad with terror.” What are the waters being dried up here? The waters of Babylon, the Euphrates River!
You see, the Euphrates River was part of the defenses of ancient Babylon. It provided a moat around the city that made an attack against the walls almost impossible to carry out. But the Euphrates River was even more than this in Jer 50:38. It had become a symbol of all the resources that supported ancient Babylon, including the warriors and officials and treasures that made Babylon strong. When Revelation 17:15 interprets the Euphrates River as a symbol of the civil and secular powers of this world in support of end-time Babylon, it is using the Euphrates River in a way consistent with its usage in the Old Testament. The drying up of the Euphrates symbolizes the loss of Babylon’s strength to defend herself. This theme is repeated in Jeremiah 51:36-37 and Isaiah 44:24-28, with the inclusion of Cyrus as a key player in the drama of drying up the Euphrates (Isa 45:1-4).

With this in mind, let’s summarize the fall of Babylon, as narrated in the Old Testament, in a sequence of five events. Cyrus, king of Persia (a “king from the east”—Rev 16:12), dried up the literal Euphrates River, conquered the city of Babylon, permitted Israel to go free, and arranged for the rebuilding of Jerusalem. This five-part narrative clearly sets the foundation for the last portion of the Book of Revelation (chapter 15-22). In the Book of Revelation an end-time Cyrus (the “kings from the rising of the sun”—Rev 16:12), dries up the end-time Euphrates River (Rev 16:12, cf. 17:15), delivers end-time Israel (Rev 18:20 – 19:1-5), leading to a New Jerusalem (Revelation 21-22). In other words, the fundamental narrative substructure of the Revelation 16-22 is grounded in the Old Testament story of Cyrus and Babylon’s fall. The conquest of Cyrus is, so to speak, a subtext for everything that happens in Revelation 16-22.

What I Think I Know About Rev 17: 6) While Revelation 17 takes a global approach to the end-times, The Great Controversy approaches the same events from a local perspective.

Leave a reply


Revelation’s global (world-wide) approach to the final events of earth’s history is evident in the description of the major players. The secular/political entity of Revelation 17 involves “the kings of the earth” and “the inhabitants of the earth” (Rev 17:2), and “the kings of the whole inhabited world” (Rev 16:14). When “the cities of the nations fell” every mountain and island was affected, also a very global picture. The beast is venerated by “those who live on the earth” (Rev 17:8). The waters of 17:1 are “peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and languages” (Rev 17:15).

Babylon is likewise global in scope. It is “the great city that rules over the kings of the earth”. It rides the beast, which represents the people and kings of the earth. So the interaction between Babylon and the beast, including Babylon’s destruction by the ten kings, is portrayed in world-wide, global terms. The experience of the saints at this time, therefore, is also seen in terms of the world-wide situation (Rev 17:6).

In the final crisis of earth’s history (as portrayed in Revelation 17) Babylon, which represents a worldwide alliance of religious institutions, controls the beast, which represents a worldwide alliance of secular, political, military institutions. Like the papacy in the Middle Ages, Babylon dominates “the kings of the earth” for a short time. But when the kings of the earth realize that in joining Babylon they have ended up on the losing side (Rev 17:14), they take out their frustration on the religious alliance that led them astray (Rev 17:16).

In sharp contrast, Ellen White, in the book The Great Controversy, approaches the same events from a local perspective. She begins her account of the final events with the close of probation, which she describes as “Christ ceasing His intercession in the sanctuary” (GC 627.3—this parallels Revelation 15:5-8). On page 628 of GC, she then describes the first four plagues of Revelation 16 with appropriate citations. She then pauses to describe the physical and emotional trauma that both God’s people and their opponents will experience during the plagues (GC 628-634). She also describes God’s efforts to help and encourage the saints during that time when some are in prison cells, and others are hidden in solitary retreats in the forests and the mountains (GC 635). She sees companies of armed men approaching these solitary groups to execute the death decree (Rev 13:15—GC 640). To human sight it appears that they are about to die (GC 630).

She then resumes her midrash on the seven bowl-plagues on page 636. God intervenes with a dense blackness, deeper than the darkness of the night (corresponding to the fifth bowl-plague (Rev 16:10-11). God then stops the angry multitudes in their tracks with a shining token of His approval of the huddled and praying saints. The angry mobs realize they have been deceived. This corresponds to the sixth bowl-plague, with its drying up of the Euphrates and its elaboration in 17:14-16. She then quotes portions of the seventh bowl-plague to describe the terror of the unsaved at many heavenly and earthly signs (GC 636-640).

Ellen White then returns to the forest scene where God’s people were suddenly delivered from the angry mobs (GC 640). She notes that the enemies of God’s law include from the ministers (religious leaders) down to the least among them (the followers). They find out “they have been fighting against God. Religious teachers have led souls to perdition while professing to guide them to the gates of Paradise” (still GC 640). Local religious leaders are the equivalent of Babylon in Revelation 17. The people who follow the religious leaders are the local equivalent of the beast and its ten horns. The angry mobs’ change of heart (GC 640) is the local equivalent of the drying up of the Euphrates. And the focus of God’s regard in this whole account is groups of faithful ones in prison or in hiding. These are the equivalent of the “saints” in Revelation 17:6. So while Revelation 17 takes a global approach to the end-times, The Great Controversy approaches the same events from a local perspective.

What I Think I Know About Rev 17: 5) The vision of Babylon in Revelation 17:1 to 19:10 is strongly parallel to the vision of the New Jerusalem in 21:9 – 22:5.

Leave a reply


In the latter part of the book of Revelation, the New Jerusalem as the bride of the Lamb is set off in contrast to Babylon the prostitute. This parallel is tipped off by the opening lines of 17:1 and 21:9. Each verse begins with “One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me” (Greek of 17:1: kai ēlthen eis ek tōn hepta angelōn tōn echontōn tas hepta phialas kai elalēsen met emou; Greek of 21:9: kai ēlthen eis ek tōn hepta angelōn tōn echontōn tas hepta phialas . . . kai elalēsen met emou). The Greek of the two verses is identical with the exception that in 21:9 there is an explanatory insertion “which are filled with the seven last plagues” (Greek: tōn gemontōn tōn hepta plēgōn tōn eschatōn). This is way too many words in common to be an accident. The bowl angel of chapter 17 and the bowl angel of chapter 21 are one and the same.

The speech that follows in each case opens in the same way. “Come, I will show you” (Greek: deuro, deixō soi). In 17:1 the angel shows John the judgment of the great prostitute. In 21:9 the angel shows John the bride, the wife of the lamb, which is the New Jerusalem (21:9-11). The comparison between Babylon and the New Jerusalem could not be any clearer. The New Jerusalem comes down from heaven and settles on the ruins of Babylon (Robert Badenas, “New Jerusalem—The Holy City”, in Symposium on Revelation—Book II, edited by Frank B. Holbrook [Silver Spring, MD: Biblical Research Institute, 1992], 255-257).

There are numerous parallels that flow from this double introduction. In each case John is carried away in the Spirit (17:3; 21:10). He sees the great city Babylon (17:5, 18) and the holy city Jerusalem (21:10). The prostitute sits on many waters and the beast (17:1, 3), the New Jerusalem comes down out of heaven from God (21:10). Both “women” are covered with previous jewels (17:4; 21:11). One city is the dwelling place of demons (18:2), the other is the dwelling place of God and His people (21:3). One is filled with unclean spirits, the other is empty of anything unclean (18:2; 21:27). The inhabitants of Babylon do not have their names written in the Book of Life (17:8), the inhabitants of Jerusalem do (21:27). The kings of the earth give their power to the beast (17:12-15), they bring glory and honor into the New Jerusalem (21:24).

The fates of the two cities are also in strong comparison and contrast. The fate of both cities is introduced with “It is done” (16:17; 21:6). Babylon receives the wine of God’s wrath (16:19), Jerusalem is for those who desire the water of life (21:6). The plagues of Babylon result in death (18:8), the New Jerusalem is a place where there is no more death (21:4). In Babylon the lamps go dark (18:23), in the New Jerusalem, the Lamb is its lamp, it is brightly lit (21:23, 25, 22:5). Babylon is thrown down with violence (18:23), the inhabitants of the New Jerusalem reign forever and ever (22:5). Underlying this whole contrast is the imagery of a prostitute (unfaithfulness to God) and the image of a bride (faithfulness to God). Human beings get to decide which city to live in and which fate will be theirs. So I think I know that the Babylon of Revelation 17 is strongly parallel to the New Jerusalem of 21-22.

What I Think I Know About Rev 17: 4) Revelation 17 divides into two main parts, a vision (17:3-6a) and an angelic explanation of the vision (17:7-18).

This distinction has important implications for interpreting the heads of the beast in this chapter. Like Daniel 2 and 7, Revelation 17 contains a clearly defined contrast between vision and explanation. The first two verses of the chapter are an extension of the vision in chapter 16. They serve duodirectionally, looking back to the bowl-plagues and looking forward to the vision of the woman riding on the beast (Rev 17:3-6a). The prophet’s reaction to the vision is given at the end of verse six (Revelation 17:6b). The rest of the chapter (Rev 17:7-18) involves an angel interpreting the audition and vision of the first six verses to John. In the vision, John is carried to the time of the seven last plagues. In the explanation, he is addressed in terms of his own time and place.

This means that in assessing Revelation 17, distinction must be made between the time of the vision and the time of its interpretation. Within a vision, the prophet can travel from earth to heaven and range back and forth from time past to the end of time. Apocalyptic visions are not necessarily located in the prophet’s time and place. But when a vision is explained to the prophet afterward, the explanation always comes in the time, place and circumstances of the visionary.

For example, in Daniel 2 the vision of the statue carries Nebuchadnezzar down a sequence of time to end of earth’s history (Dan 2:31-35). The explanation of the vision by Daniel, however, is firmly grounded in the time and place of Nebuchadnezzar. The interpretation begins with a straightforward, unambiguous assertion, “You are that head of gold (Dan 2:38).” Nebuchadnezzar is then told that the series of kingdoms that follow are “after you” (2:39) in point of time.

As was the case with Daniel 2, the apocalyptic prophecy of Dan 7 is divided into two parts; a description of the vision, in which the prophet is transported through time and space (Dan 7:2-14), and an explanation of the vision, given in the language, time and place of the prophet (Dan 7:15-27). So whenever vision moves to interpretation, the principle of “God meets people where they are” must be applied to the explanations given. This has profound implications for the interpretation of difficult apocalyptic texts like Rev 17:7-11.

After the vision of the woman and the beast in Revelation 17: 3-6a, John’s interpreting angel comes to explain the vision. Among other things, he tells John that the seven heads of beast “are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come. . . .” (Rev 17:10). The crucial question is how to interpret the sequence of the seven heads of the beast (Rev 17:10). When is the time of the “one is,” the head that comes between the five that are fallen and the one that is “not yet come?” Is it the time of John, who received the vision, or is it the time of the vision itself, which is an addendum to the bowl-plagues? In Scripture, visionary explanations like this are always given in the time, place and language of the one receiving the vision.

If the explanation comes in the time and place of John, the five kings that “are fallen” are already in the past when John writes the book of Revelation. These were probably to be understood as the five Old Testament superpowers that oppressed the people of God; Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia and Greece. The one that “is” would be the empire of pagan Rome, which dominated the world of John’s day. The one yet to come would exist between John’s time and the very final events in which the beast becomes an “eighth” (Rev 17:11), which is “of the seven”. In other words, I think I know that the apocalyptic pattern of vision and explanation gives us the key to understanding the sequence of kings represented by the seven heads of the beast.

What I Think I Know About Rev 17: 3) When you apply the previous principle to Revelation 17, it becomes evident that there are three main entities being described in the chapter.

What I Think I Know About Rev 17:
3) When you apply the previous principle to Revelation 17, it becomes evident that there are three main entities being described in the chapter.

The confluence of symbols in Revelation 17 lead me to believe that three main entities are in view. The first entity is Babylon, represented as a woman/prostitute in Revelation 17 and as a great city in Revelation 18. I understand Babylon to be a worldwide alliance of religion that rises and falls in the context of the final events of earth’s history. This alliance is named by many names in Revelation: Babylon (17:5, etc.), the great city (18:9-19), the great prostitute (17:1), and the woman who rides the beast. That Babylon is a religious entity seems evident for a number of reasons. For one thing, the woman appears in the desert (17:3), which recalls the final appearance of the woman of Revelation 12, who clearly represents the people of God (cf. especially 12:14-16). As such Babylon is also parallel to Jezebel in 2:20 and in contrast with the bride of the Lamb, the New Jerusalem (19:7-8; 21:9-10). All the women of Revelation are religious figures, two in relationship with God and two in opposition. Babylon is also a persecuting power that turns the “saints” into the “martyrs of Jesus” (17:6). This suggests a focus on religion.

Many scholars have also noticed that the description of the woman/Babylon in 17:4 is highly reminiscent of Israel’s High Priest. The High Priest’s ephod contained purple, scarlet and gold (Exod 28:5-6). The ephod and breast plate contained precious stones (Exodus 28:9-13 and 17-21). The cup in this case may represent the drink offerings of the sanctuary (Exodus 29:40-41 and 30:9; Leviticus 23:13, 18, and 37); and, the forehead inscription resembles the title HOLY TO THE LORD on the High Priest’s miter (Exodus 28:36-38). If Babylon is the sum total of the unholy trinity of Revelation 13 (cf. Rev 16:13, 19), I think I know that she represents worldwide religious authority in opposition to God and His people.

The second main entity is symbolized by the beast upon which the woman rides (17:3). In Revelation 17:1, prostitute Babylon is sitting on “many waters”. We have noted that the waters of Babylon are the Euphrates River (Rev 16:12) and that these are defined later in the chapter as “peoples and multitudes and nations and languages” (Rev 17:15). The waters of Babylon represent the civil and secular powers of this world that support the end-time religious alliance. They are, therefore, parallel to the “kings of the earth” and “inhabitants of the earth” that commit fornication with the prostitute in verse 2. The scarlet beast of verse 3 reminds us of the sea beast of Revelation 13, a counterfeit of the work of Jesus Christ. But while the scarlet beast wears the names of blasphemy, it primarily represents another way of describing the worldwide political confederacy. This becomes clear from the explanation of the vision offered in Rev 17:7-18. The scarlet beast has seven heads and ten horns. The seven heads represent seven kings (Rev 17:9-10). The ten horns represent ten kings (Rev 17:12). So the beast itself is the sum total of political and military power in the world (Rev 17:12-13). The Euphrates River and the scarlet beast are two different ways of describing the same thing. The blasphemy in which this beast engages occurs as part of its union with the aims and activities of Babylon.

The relationship between the prostitute and the political confederacy is a central feature of Revelation 17. She commits adultery with the kings of the earth. She intoxicates their citizens with the wine of her adulteries (17:2). The purpose of the union between the prostitute and the kings of the earth is worldwide dominance and control. This union is also illustrated by the image of the woman riding the beast (17:3, 7). There is a short period in the last days where worldwide religious authority dominates the political landscape of the world. Aspects of this relationship are also seen in the sixth and seventh bowl-plagues. The dragon, beast and false prophet (the unholy trinity of Revelation 13 that unites together in the end-time to become Babylon, cf. 13:15, 16:19) send out demonic frogs to gather the kings of the whole inhabited world for the battle of Armageddon (16:14-16). Then, when Babylon splits into three parts, the cities of the nations also fall (16:19). So the two entities, secular and religious, are anticipated in chapter 16. They unite in opposition to the third worldwide alliance in Revelation 17.

There is also a worldwide unity of the “saints” in Revelation. That alliance makes no appearance in Revelation 17:1-3, but it is visible elsewhere in Revelation. It comes into view in verse 6, where Babylon is described as drunk with the blood of the “saints” and of the “martyrs of Jesus”. Those “with the Lamb” are described as the “called, chosen and faithful” in verse 14. In Revelation 16:15, the faithful are called those who keep watch and hang on to their garments. The people of God in Revelation are elsewhere called the 144,000 (Rev 7:4; 14:1), the great multitude (7:9; 19:1), the remnant (12:17), those who follow the Lamb (14:4), and the saints (14:12). These are not discreet titles, but that they are many ways to talk about the one end-time people of God.

So according to Revelation 17, there will be three, great, worldwide alliances in the world at the very End, the alliance of the saints, an alliance of religious institutions, and an alliance of worldwide secular and political power. (1) The confederacy of the saints will probably not be organized in institutional terms. It is likely that any religious institutions which are truly faithful to God will be destroyed in the run-up to the battle of Armageddon. (2) The confederacy of religion is a worldwide alliance of religious authority. While the pope would be the logical choice to head such a confederacy, Babylon will in fact be much bigger than any single religion (Rev 16:13, 19). The union of religious institutions will occur out of a need to co-ordinate spiritual effort in the face of the significant challenges described in the first five plagues (Rev 16:1-11). (3) Events of the end-time will be such that the confederacy of secular and political power will arise and work with Babylon in a fruitless attempt to overcome the environmental and other challenges that the world faces as it approaches the End. For a short time, the worldwide political alliance places its power and resources in the service of the great religious alliance. The final outcome of this grand alliance is addressed in Revelation 17:16. So I think I know that Revelation 17 outlines three worldwide alliances as the human race approaches the End.

What I Think I Know About Rev 17: 2) Multiple symbols can represent the same entity in reality.

This principle is stated explicitly in Revelation 17:9-10, ESV: “. . . the seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman is seated, they are also seven kings. . . .” Revelation 17 can be totally bewildering if each symbol is treated as a unique entity. But the chapter simplifies quite a bit when you realize that the same entity in reality can be represented by more than one symbol in Revelation. For example, Jesus is represented in Revelation as a son of man, a Lamb, as a male child, and as simply Jesus Christ. The end-time people of God are represented by the woman of Revelation 12, the 144,000, the great multitude, the saints, and the remnant.

This principle can be seen at work in the first three verses of Revelation 17. In 17:1 a prostitute sits on many waters. In 17:2 she commits adultery with the kings of the earth. In 17:3 a woman sits on a beast. That woman is called both prostitute and Babylon in verse 5. So it is clear that the prostitute of verses 1 and 2 is the same entity as the woman of verse 3 and Babylon; a worldwide unity of religion in opposition to God and His people. Similarly, the waters of verse 1 (defined as the political powers of the world in verse 15), the kings of the earth in verse 2, and the beast of verse 3 all represent the same entity: The secular, political powers of the world who support Babylon for a time but then destroy her at the End (17:16). So I think I know that multiple symbols in Revelation can represent a single entity in real life. The enemies of God at the End are not multiple in the chapter, they are two in number (more on this later), Babylon and the beast.

Revelation 17 as a whole is an elaboration of the sixth and seventh bowl-plagues (Rev 16:12-21)

This connection (between Rev 17 and 16:12-21) is signaled in the very first verse of chapter 17, ESV: “Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me. . . .” This is a clear connection between chapter 17 and the content of chapter 16. But the question remains: Which of the seven bowl angels is interacting the Seer of Patmos here? A clue to the answer lies in the fact that the angel’s message has something to do with water: “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute, who is seated on many waters” (Rev 17:1, ESV). Three of the bowl-plagues have something to do with water. The second bowl falls on the sea (Rev 16:3), the third bowl falls on the rivers and springs (Rev 16:4-7), and the sixth bowl falls on the Euphrates River (16:12). Which of the three bowl-angels is the one we encounter in Revelation 17? Since the waters of verse 1 are associated with the great prostitute, and she is later defined as Babylon the great (Rev 17:5), the angel of the sixth bowl (the one associated with the drying up of the Euphrates River) is the one in view when you get to 17:1.

This makes sense in light of the Old Testament background to Revelation 17. The “many waters” is a striking verbal parallel to Jeremiah 51:13. There, Babylon is addressed as “you who dwell by many waters”. Ancient Babylon was a twin city located in the midst of an extremely dry desert. Its “many waters”, therefore, can only be a reference to the mighty Euphrates River, that passed through the very center of the ancient city (cf. Jer 50:33-38; 51:36). So I think I know that Revelation 17 is closely related to the sixth bowl-plague, in which the Euphrates River is dried up.

The parallel with Revelation 16 is also extend to the seventh bowl plague (Rev 16:17-21). The immediate introduction to the Babylon visions of chapters 17 and 18 is in 16:19: “God remembered Babylon the Great.” The details of what happens when God “remembers” Babylon are found in Revelation 17 and 18. In addition, the battle of Armageddon in 16:16 finds its counterpart in Revelation 17:14, where the ten horns, the counterpart to the “kings of the whole world” (Rev 16:14, ESV), make war with the Lamb. So I think I know that Revelation 17 is an elaboration of the sixth and seventh bowl-plagues in chapter 16.

What I Think I Know About Rev 17

Revelation 17 is one of the most difficult parts of the Bible to interpret, particularly verses 7-11. When I was teaching at Andrews University, therefore, I decided to make Revelation 17:7-11 the topic of a PhD seminar class. Five PhD students signed up for the class. For the first fifteen hours of class time, I offered guidance from my experience in handling difficult Bible texts, and a basic overview of Revelation 15-18. I also led the students through the Greek of Revelation 17, word by word and sentence by sentence. The five doctoral students then selected topics related to portions of Revelation 17:7-11, after which they researched and wrote 40-60 page papers on their respective portions of the passage. Each student then took a three-hour segment of the class to share their paper and lead out in the discussion on that topic. The last class session we debriefed on what we had all learned from our intensive engagement with the passage. We all concluded that we were less certain about the meaning of Revelation 17:7-11 than we had been when the class began.

I take some implications from that experience: 1) My definition of a “problem text” is one where it is ten times easier to shoot down someone else’s interpretation of the passage than to create a compelling one yourself. 2) The more time you spend on Revelation 17 the more challenges you see in the text. 3) If the result of group study on a passage results in a total lack of consensus on the meaning of the chapter, that group has probably done their work well.

But let’s not linger on that negative note. I thought it might be helpful to point to several things in this chapter that can be stated with some confidence. Hence the title: What I Think I Know About Revelation 17. I share this as a culmination of more than 40 years of specialized study.

One More Witness

A second example. Let’s look at a specific Old Testament geographical term which is used in in Revelation 16:12: “The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the East.” Should we interpret the river Euphrates literally or geographically? Or does it have a spiritual, worldwide meaning like Revelation 1:7? We are not left to guess. The meaning of the Euphrates River in Revelation 16 is provided in Revelation 17. This becomes evident when we look at 17:1: “Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, ‘Come, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters. . . .’”

Notice two things about this text. First, one of the bowl-angels of chapter 16 has come to explain something, and, second, that something has to do with “many waters.” So which of the seven bowl angels is this? Which of the seven bowls have anything to do with water? There are three possible candidates; the second bowl (Rev 16:3– falls on the sea), the third (16:4-7– rivers and springs), and the sixth (16:12– Euphrates River). Which of these three bowl-angels is the angel of Revelation 17? The answer is clarified in verse 5: “This title was written on her forehead: MYSTERY BABYLON THE GREAT THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH” (Rev 17:5). Babylon was an ancient city located on the Euphrates River. So when you talk about a woman who sits on many waters (17:1) and whose name is Babylon (17:5), there is no question exactly what the waters of Revelation 17:1 are, they are the Euphrates River, which is also described as “many waters” in Jeremiah 51:13. The angel who comes to John in Revelation 17 is the sixth bowl angel. He has come to explain something about the Euphrates River.

What the angel has come to explain is found in Revelation 17:15: “The waters you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations and languages.” What are these “waters you saw?” They are the waters of Rev 17:1, the waters of the Euphrates River. What does the Euphrates River represent? It represents “peoples, multitudes, nations and languages.” The Euphrates River is a symbol of many nations– the political, secular, and economic powers of this world. In the Old Testament, the Euphrates River was a literal and local river. But in the book of Revelation it is a symbol of a world-wide spiritual, concept, those people in the world who oppose Jesus Christ, not primarily on religious grounds, but as a threat to their political, secular and economic goals. In re-defining the Israel of the Old Testament, Jesus also re-defined how God looks at the earthly “enemy.” Differences between nations that have no impact on the larger issues in the cosmic conflict are of little or no importance to Bible prophecy. What counts is how people relate to Jesus Christ.

Two or Three Witnesses

Continuing our look at Hans LaRondelle’s understanding of Israel and the nations in the New Testament.

There is a memorable saying in the Old Testament: “A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses” (Deut 19:15). We have seen in the “light . . . to the Gentiles” theme how the promise to Abraham (Gen 12:3) and the charge to Israel (Exod 19:5-6) were seen in the New Testament as fulfilled in Christ (Luke 2:32), and through Him the church (Acts 13:46-47). Israel was re-defined in spiritual and worldwide terms. This is confirmed in the way the early church applied Psalm 2 to the crucifixion (Acts 4:24-28). Before closing this book, I want to further confirm this approach to biblical interpretation with two more examples as additional witnesses.

Let’s compare Revelation 1:7 with Zechariah 12. “Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen” (Rev 1:7). Who is this talking about in Revelation? This is talking about Jesus, the one who brings the vision to John (Rev 1:1-6). So the verse is saying, “Look, he [Jesus] is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him [Jesus].” When Jesus comes every eye, in other words, the whole world, will see Him. It is a universal coming. Everyone will see Him, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him.

The author of Revelation did not invent these words. He is alluding to a passage in his Bible, the Old Testament, Zechariah 12:10-12: “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son. On that day the weeping in Jerusalem will be great. . . . The land will mourn, each clan by itself. . . .” In Zechariah 12 it is not Jesus speaking. Rather it is Yahweh who is speaking (Zech 12:1-9), it is Yahweh who comes, it is Yahweh who is to be pierced. In Zechariah it is the inhabitants of Jerusalem who mourn. So the actions and reactions in Zechariah 12 are limited in a literal and local sense.

In Revelation 1:7, however, John takes this Old Testament Yahweh text and applies it to Jesus and the situation of the world at the Second Coming. It is Jesus who comes, it is Jesus who was pierced. This is a spiritual re-definition of what happens in Zechariah 12. Likewise, it is the tribes of the whole earth who mourn, not just the tribes around Jerusalem. So Revelation 1 takes the literal and local things of Zechariah in a spiritual and worldwide sense. Like Acts 4, the inhabitants of Jerusalem are no longer the good guys, they are now classed with the enemies of Israel. To read Zechariah without reference to Jesus’ re-definition of Israel would be to misunderstand the Revelation of Jesus Christ. Those in relationship with Jesus are Israel. Those in opposition to Jesus are classed with the enemies of Israel, such as Sodom, Egypt and Babylon (Rev 11:8; 14:8—this attitude is consistent with Deuteronomy 13:12-17). To take Old Testament end-time prophecies as applying to literal and local nations in the Middle East today is to ignore Jesus’ own Christ-centered, typological hermeneutic.