Compare and contrast -- these are the basic watchwords of the rest of this book. Here we are introduced to the Harlot, Babylon. Recall here the name of that ancient city is synonymous with all the attractions of civilized living apart from God. There is an underlying theme in Hebrew culture in which, while admitting living in a city might be safer and is obviously more comfortable, a true Semite will remain in his tents, living simply and trusting God for protection and comfort. The rustic and pastoral existence, with few of the distractions of urban ferment, is the noble, moral ideal. The image of Babylon is the opposite of all that.
John receives an invitation from one of the angels of the Seven Bowls. Keep your eye on this one, for it is he who provides a contrast later in the book. This time, the invitation is to meet the Harlot of Souls. She sits on "many waters." While this conjures the image of old Babylon sitting astride the Euphrates, it also has the usual meaning of all humanity, whom she rules in one sense. The angel confirms this further describing how the rulers and all mankind have used her, and have been used, and how she has intoxicated the whole human race with her luxury. This is not an indictment of commerce, per se, but against the drive to excess of human convenience and self-indulgence, for it is this which rules the mass of humanity.
We note John is carried away into the wilderness, the spiritual wilderness just as Israel wandered after the Exodus for forty years. It was the same wilderness where Jesus faced temptation and, unlike His native nation, won the victory there. Thus, while the Lady New Testament Israel is safely protected there, the Harlot is under doom. That's because she is there astride the Beast, now described as a red dragon. Thus, luxurious commerce seduces governments, drawing them by her fashionable dress and enticing ways. From her cup, she sips the vintage of "Everything has a Price." Proudly she wears on her forehead the unique mark of the Temptress of Souls, who knows no limits. Her special delight is the power to bring persecution upon Christians who dare to point out her sins.
When John showed puzzlement at this image, the angel explained. This Beast has ruled in the past, but at this point is restrained by Christian witness. In due time, when the Lord is preparing to return, the Beast will arise as never before, but will rule only briefly. The sinners of the world will be amazed by the return of the Beast. The angel further explains the current City of Rome represents a manifestation of the Beast -- the City on Seven Hills (see note below). The Harlot of Souls dominated the Roman Empire in John's time. Yet, in another sense, the seven heads are seven symbolic rulers. However we wish to count empires of the ancient past, the angel says there were five. Rome now is, and one final manifestation will come at The End, an end which will come quickly.
The concept of the Beast itself, representing the longing of mankind to dominate each other, is a problem of its own -- "the eighth, and is of the seven." As we saw before, the ten horns and crowns represent the trends of human government across the sweep of human history. As noted before, the Covenant of Noah figures large in this book. However, here they are portrayed as the final global government of the earth, a union of all human political power behind a single ruling entity, the final manifestation of The Beast during his single hour of reign -- symbolizing a very short time in human terms.
The cause of that quick and sudden end will be the irresistible urge to attack Christian faith. As soon as they have finally marshalled themselves for one last death stroke against that faith, it will be eclipsed by the Lord's Return. Before all that, the angel warns: Even as she reaches the pinnacle of her control over humanity, the Harlot be devoured by the governments she seduced. Again, in case the reader is slow of heart and mind, let no one be fooled into worshipping the Free Market as the answer to all human ills. These governments will embrace this as the way to strip it all away in taxation. They will use her enticements as means to enslaving all property.
The chapter ends with the angel's warnings about the tendency of human government to inevitably turn against Christian faith, regardless how it starts. Further, it is the nature of human government to betray everything it embraces and promotes. In the end, every human government surrenders to the service of the Beast. The primary path to slavery is the insatiable human appetite for comfort, luxury, and hedonism. What seems to be such a fundamental human activity so easily drifts from improving survival to sinful desire. It would be easy to confuse this with primitivism, asceticism, and other silly notions, but the difference is not in what one does, but the motive.
John's fascination with the symbiosis of desire and slavery, of Harlot's enticement braided with the Beast's coercion, of the fundamental fatal flaw of human nature after the Fall, is natural. When we first embrace the spiritual viewpoint and draw back from our own humanity to see what God sees, we too are stunned by the infinite sorrow. Only in Christ do we escape.
Note -- It is doubtful Rome was known by that phrase in John's time, and seems to have arisen in literature much later. However, the significance of the phrase is more about a profane imitation of holiness, mimicking the sacredness of the number seven. In this, Rome is a partaker, claiming a divine birth of sorts.
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Ed Hurst
16 October 2007
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