Why is John Astonished by what he is Shown?
“I could see that she was drunk—drunk with the blood of God’s holy people who were witnesses for Jesus. I stared at her in complete amazement. “Why are you so amazed?” the angel asked. “I will tell you the mystery of this woman and of the beast with seven heads and ten horns on which she sits. beast you saw was once alive but isn’t now. And yet he will soon come up out of the bottomless pit and go to eternal destruction. And the people who belong to this world, whose names were not written in the Book of Life before the world was made, will be amazed at the reappearance of this beast who had died. – Revelation 17:6-8. NLT
It should be no surprise to us that John is astonished when he sees this woman. The fact that she is in the desert recalls chapter twelve. There, God’s faithful woman fled to the desert to escape the dragon. Here is the next appearance of a woman and she is also in the desert. Her dress, as we saw, is reminiscent of Israel’s High Priest.
Although the woman of Babylon resembles the true woman of Revelation 12 and dresses like Israel’s High Priest, she clearly represents a power that opposes the true people of God. She is the enemy of God’s end-time faithful. This is parallel to the death decree and economic boycott imposed on those who do not worship the beast or his image (Rev 13:15-17). Has the woman of Revelation 12 been transformed? Or is she some sort of new entity? John’s reaction strongly suggests the former. The great end-time opponent of God’s people is a power that at one time was the true people of God. End-time Babylon has a Christian face.
The greatest threat to our security in the final acts of earths history is not secularism, communism, atheism or Islam. It is Christianity in the form of this woman.
The vision ends with verse six and then a series of interpretations begins with verse seven. Riding on the beast portrays a position of dominance. The woman represents a worldwide union of religion. The beast represents worldwide political union. So Revelation predicts that the world will be more united than ever in its history just before the End. At that time, interestingly, religion will be in control of the political agenda, something that has not been true since medieval times.
Not only was John astonished at the prostitute, the End-time inhabitants of the earth were astonished at the beast. If the events that Revelation describes take place in our lifetimes, we will truly be astonished. In today’s world, the world-wide political union is not a reality. The new world order looks a lot more like the new world disorder. But as we give careful attention to the message of Revelation, we will be prepared for future developments.
The storm clouds are gathering. The whole scenario is like an assembled piece of machinery waiting for some event to turn the key. Maybe that event is underway now? Keep awake and watch Jesus said in Matt 24:42 – Matt 25:13.
The harlot Babylon is further described as drunk with the blood of the saints and the martyrs of Jesus who died as a result of their witness to Christ. This blood guiltiness links end-time Babylon to medieval apostate Christianity, which was led by the papacy and responsible for the deaths of millions of Christians who remained faithful to the gospel. During this time the estimate ranges between 50 – 150 million people lost their lives at the hands of the church for wanting to be faithful to God and His revealed word. Considering the population of Europe in those days, we are talking about a considerable amount (percentage) of people.
Revelation 17:3 had described the scarlet beast in terms similar to the sea beast of Revelation 13, which made war with, and overcame, God’s people (Rev. 13:5–7). It was this earlier period of persecution that caused the pure woman to flee into the wilderness during the prophetic period of 1,260 days/years, from A.D. 538 to 1798 (Rev. 12:13, 14). Though living in an age of ecumenism, Protestants would do well to remember the terrible persecution of the past, because, according to prophecy, something similar, but worse, will happen again. But remember, if you are “in Christ” you are in that group “sealed with the Holy Spirit.” (Ephesians 1:13)