Greetings! This is the fourth post in an eight-part series on the study of the whore of Babylon. In the first three posts, we went through all the clues that identified Jerusalem as being the whore of Babylon. In this post, we’re going to go back to the beginning and study the vision of the whore atop the scarlet colored beast with the understanding that the whore is the city of Jerusalem. Perhaps at this point, some of you might be experiencing trepidation at the idea that the identity of the whore of Babylon is Jerusalem, and that’s understandable. When I discovered the identity of the whore, I confess that I, too, was upset. I actually didn’t read my Bible for a week! That’s how long it took me to accept it. Hopefully, you will be able to continue with the rest of the study on the vision of the whore of Babylon. It’s important!

Chapter 17: The Whore of Babylon

Fourth in an Eight-Part Series
by Karen Thompson

The Vision of the Whore of Babylon Riding a Scarlet-Colored Beast

Rev. 17:1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: 2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. 3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. 4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: 5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. 6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.

Back to the Beginning of Chapter 17

Now that we have revealed the identity of the whore of Babylon as being Jerusalem, let’s go back to the beginning of chapter 17 and study this chapter with the added knowledge that the whore of Babylon is Jerusalem.

Rev. 17:1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: 2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.

John begins by telling us one of the angels said to him, “Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters.” The whore, meaning Jerusalem, sits on many waters. We already know the term “many waters” means many nations, peoples, and tongues, but I have found that when we know the origin of an idiom like “many waters,” it helps us to more fully understand the verses in which this phrase is used. 

It is in the book of Isaiah where we find the origin for the term “many waters.” Speaking about a multitude of people, the prophet Isaiah said, “Woe to the multitude of many people, which make a noise like the noise of the seas; and to the rushing of nations, that make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters! The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters…” (Isa. 17:12–13). In just those two verses alone, he made three comparisons of a multitude of peoples sounding like water. First, he said the multitude of many people makes a noise like the seas. Secondly, he said nations make a rushing of mighty waters. And, lastly, he said the nations “shall rush like the rushing of many waters.” The Hebrew word translated as “rushing” is sha’own and it means “roar, din, crash, uproar.”⁵ Thus, we discover the reason why the phrase “many waters” is used to denote many nations, peoples, and tongues is because, collectively, the noise that a multitude of people makes is similar to the sound of the “rushing of many waters.”

Let’s look at an example that uses the term “many waters” to mean many nations, peoples, and tongues. In Numbers chapter 24, Balaam used the term “many waters” in a vision he had about God’s future plans for Israel: “How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel! As the valleys are they spread forth, as gardens by the river’s side, as the trees of lign aloes which the Lord hath planted, and as cedar trees beside the waters. He shall pour the water out of his buckets, and his seed shall be in many waters… (Num. 24:5–7). In verse seven, the word “seed” means offspring. So when we read the phrase “his seed shall be in many waters,” we know it to be an expression that means the offspring of Israel will be so numerous they will live in many nations and speak many different languages.

Lastly, verse two tells us what it means when it says the whore, Jerusalem, “sits on many waters”: “With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.” These kings are the “many waters” on whom Jerusalem sits. The kings are her “lovers” with whom she had committed fornication.

The Beast and the Crowns

Rev. 17:3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.

After telling John that he would show him the judgment of the great whore, the angel then carried him away “in the spirit into the wilderness” and showed him the woman that sat upon the beast. John said he saw the woman sitting “upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.” This description of the beast with seven heads and ten horns with names of blasphemy on it is now quite familiar to us. It is the same beast we saw in chapter 13:1, when John said he saw “a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.”

The elements are the same: we have a beast full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns. There is, however, one notable change. The crowns. In this scenario of the beast, there are no crowns in sight. The positioning of the crowns is important, and if we follow them, we can gain insight. There are three times in Revelation where we see these seven heads and ten horns. In each of these three cases, the crowns are in a different position. The first time we saw the crowns, they were on the dragon with seven heads (Rev. 12:3). At that time, the crowns were on the heads.

But then in chapter 13, we saw the beast rising up out of the sea having seven heads and ten horns, but this time the crowns were no longer on the heads. They were on the horns. This change is significant. It tells us the prophesied ten kings had come into play. Their time in history had arrived. The crowns on the horns is a signal that tells us the little horn has formed an alliance with the ten kings, and together they become the ten-toed kingdom prophesied in Daniel chapter two. Signified on Daniel’s metal man as feet made of both iron and clay, the ten-toed kingdom will be a kingdom both strong and broken.

Now here in Revelation chapter 17, we see the same blasphemous red beast with the same seven heads and ten horns. But this time, the crowns are nowhere in sight! What happened to the crowns? The answer to the mystery of the disappearing crowns is in verses 12 and 13. When we get there, we’ll learn why the ten horns/kings no longer have crowns.

In the next post, we’re going to look at what is the “mystery of the beast.” And we’ll also look at something called “the law of double reference.”

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