Or, sentence, condemnation.

Great here corresponds with greater in Matt. 13:32.

Harlot here refers to the apostate Roman Catholic Church. A harlot does not have a husband. This indicates that God never admitted having any relationship with the apostate Roman Church.

What the apostate church commits is not adultery, the sin of an unfaithful spouse, but fornication, the sin of a harlot. This is more sinful than adultery. The fornication of the apostate church consists of her having sinful relationships with the kings of the earth for her profit, just as a harlot commits sin for gain. Hers is spiritual fornication. The kings of the earth commit fornication with her directly.

Wine here signifies the heretical doctrines of the apostate church in her fornicating relationships with the governments on the earth. These heretical doctrines confound, as wine does, those who become involved in her religion. This is the wine of her fornication. It is in an indirect manner that those who dwell on the earth are made drunk with this wine.

See note Rev. 1:10^1a.

A wilderness is a desert place. This indicates that the apostate church is in a desert, where there are no springs of water prepared by God. In order to show the apostle John that the apostate church is in such a desolate place, the angel carried him there.

Scarlet is dark red, and red is the color of the great dragon (see note Rev. 12:3^1a). This indicates that Antichrist will be one with Satan in appearance.

The beast here is both the Roman Empire and Antichrist.

Nearly all the Caesars called themselves god. This was sheer blasphemy against God.

See note Rev. 13:1^3c and note Rev. 17:9¹ and note Rev. 17:10¹.

Purple signifies dignity with authority (John 19:2-3). The color purple is a blend of blue and red; it signifies the blending of heavenly things with earthly. This is the appearance of the apostate church.

Scarlet, dark red, is characteristic of the apostate Roman Church. It is found in many places in the Vatican; the most striking use of it is in the garb of the cardinals.

Gold, precious stone, and pearls are the materials with which the New Jerusalem is built (Rev. 21:18-19, 21). But the woman here, the apostate church, is not built in a solid way with these precious things; she is only gilded with these treasures as ornaments for outward display. This is a deception intended to entice people. It is the harlot's false appearance.

The seven kings are seven Caesars of the Roman Empire. The first five "have fallen"; i.e., they died unnaturally (Judg. 3:25; 2 Sam. 1:10, 25, 27). Those five are Julius Caesar, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero, all of whom either were murdered or committed suicide before John wrote this book. The sixth, Domitian, who was also murdered, was living when this book was written; therefore, it is said of him that he "is." "The other," the seventh, is Antichrist; he had "not yet come" at that time. When he comes, he will remain only a short time and then will be slain and will be resuscitated by the spirit of the fifth, who is Nero, to become the eighth.

Antichrist will be the coming seventh Caesar. But he is also the eighth. According to Rev. 13:3, Antichrist will be slain and resuscitated. In that resuscitation the spirit of Nero (the fifth Caesar), which will come up out of the abyss (when Satan is cast down to the earth — Rev. 12:10, 13), will animate and resuscitate the dead body of the seventh Caesar, Antichrist, thereby imitating the resurrection of Christ. This one, composed of the fifth and seventh Caesars, is the eighth. Hence, he is "out of the seven," having the body of the seventh and the spirit of the fifth. Therefore, he will be all the more capable, all the more intelligent, and all the more powerful to charm, deceive, and allure people, capturing those who do not believe in Christ. It is no wonder that people will marvel at the sight of such an extraordinary person and will follow him (v. 8; 13:3).

Ten kings will be raised up in the revived Roman Empire before the great tribulation. They will be one with Antichrist in opposing God and persecuting His people — the Jews and the believers. These ten kings are likened to the ten toes of the great image seen by Nebuchadnezzar in his dream (Dan. 2:42). They will submit themselves and their kingdoms to Antichrist (v. 17).

The city of Rome is built on seven mountains. These are signified by the seven heads of the beast on which the harlot sits.

Lit., scroll.

This indicates that Antichrist will perish, as described in 19:20 and 20:10; that is, he will be thrown into the lake of fire.

The beast, who is Antichrist, "was" in the person of Caesar Nero before John wrote this book. He "is not" at the time of John's writing, because Nero had died by that time. That he "is about to come up out of the abyss" implies that Nero's spirit is now in the abyss and is about to emerge from it to take possession of the body of the slain and resuscitated Antichrist, as indicated in Rev. 13:3.

Or, martyrs. The saints are those who are separated, sanctified, unto God and who live a holy life for God, even unto death. The witnesses are those who are a living testimony of the Lord Jesus and who are faithful unto death. The witnesses of Jesus are also saints; however, the saints may just live a separated and holy life, not complying with the apostate church, and may not come forward to testify against the apostasy of the Roman Church as did witnesses such as Antipas in 2:13.

The Roman Church does not kill the saints directly but does so indirectly through the Roman Empire. She is drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus.

Abominations are idols (Deut. 7:25-26), with which the apostate Roman Church is filled.

Since the mother of the harlots is the apostate church, the harlots, the daughters of the apostate church, must be all the different sects and groups in Christianity that hold to some extent the teaching, practices, and traditions of the apostate Roman Church. The pure church life has no evil that has been transmitted from the apostate church.

Mystery here indicates that Babylon the Great in this chapter is not the material Babylon in ch. 18 but the religious one. The religious Babylon, the apostate church, is truly mysterious in what she is, in what she practices, and in what she teaches.

Or, even.

In figure, gold signifies the divine nature of God. Hence, the golden cup here indicates that in outward appearance the apostate church does have something of God. But within, her "golden cup" is full of abominations and the unclean things of her fornication, full of idolatry, pagan practices, and satanic things in a heretical religious relationship. Therefore, although the apostate Roman Catholic Church has certain holy things, she has mixed in many evil and unclean things.

The mind expressed as opinion.

The war here is the same as that mentioned in Rev. 19:11-21 it is the war at Armageddon (Rev. 16:14, 16).

Chosen is mentioned after called. To be called is to be saved, whereas to be chosen is to be approved by the Lord by virtue of an overcoming life. Today many are called, but in the future few will be chosen (Matt. 22:14).

The harlot's sitting on the waters, which are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues, is fulfilled by the historical fact of the apostate Roman Church's riding on peoples and nations throughout the world.

That the ten horns and the beast will hate the harlot and make her desolate means that Antichrist and the ten kings will persecute the apostate Roman Church. This will take place at the beginning of the great tribulation. (See note Rev. 14:8¹.) They will make the Roman Church "desolate and naked," meaning that they will destroy her, rob her of her riches, and expose her; they will "eat her flesh," meaning that they will kill her members; and they will "burn her utterly with fire," meaning that they will annihilate her altogether. This too indicates that Babylon the Great in this chapter is the religious Babylon.

It is of God that Antichrist and his ten kings destroy the apostate Roman Church. This kind of destruction should not be considered martyrdom but the avenging judgment of God.

See note 13¹.

While the harlot in v. 16 denotes the religious Babylon, signifying the Roman Church, the woman here denotes the material Babylon, signifying the city of Rome. This city is called "the great city, which has a kingdom over the kings of the earth." When John wrote this book, Rome was the city that had a kingdom over the kings of the earth. What Antichrist and his ten kings will hate is the harlot, the Roman Church, not the woman, the city of Rome, where their administration will be based.