Drunk with Blood.
One of the seven angels who had poured out the seven bowls came over and spoke to me. “Come with me,” he said, “and I will show you the judgment that is going to come on the great prostitute, who rules over many waters…. And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus. When I saw her, I wondered greatly. And the angel said to me, “Why do you wonder? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns. –Revelation 17:1 and 7.
Revelation has four points that will clarify the identity of this Bad woman, or church, that the Bible is describing: Firstly, it has to be a worldwide power (17:2), secondly, It leads the world astray from Gods word (v:3), Thirdly it unites church and state (v3) and finally it is a persecuting power. You cannot be looking for a church off in a corner somewhere. This has to be a church that has been involved in world politics, for she has been in bed with the ‘Kings’ of the earth.
Also, her teachings do not square up with the sacred scriptures, and all the world is drunk with the wine of her beliefs, such as the natural immortality of the soul, eternal torment, and worshipping on Sunday in place of the seventh-day Sabbath of the fourth commandment. The coming end-time Babylon is a system made up of paganism, Catholicism, and apostate Protestantism that holds all these beliefs in common.
Jeremiah 51:13 shows that the “many waters” upon which Babylon sits is the river Euphrates. According to Revelation 17:15, these waters symbolize the nations and peoples of the world over which the harlot has control. Again indicating her international reach.
As we have noted, a woman in the Bible is a symbol for God’s people.
In Revelation, God’s true Christian church is portrayed as a pure woman (Rev.12:1, Rev.22:17). A harlot, as shown here in vision to John, represents false apostate Christianity. In Revelation 17:5, this harlot is identified as Babylon the Great. Just as ancient Babylon depended on the Euphrates River for its existence, so will end-time Babylon rely on the support of the masses to enforce her plans.
According to Rev.17:2 along with Rev.14:8 and Rev.18:2-3. We find 2 groups that will give their support to the harlot. The first group is the kings of the earth, the governing political powers. They are portrayed as being engaged in an adulterous relationship with the harlot Babylon. Why do world leaders even need to go to the Vatican? In the Old Testament, the language of fornication is used frequently to describe how apostate Israel turned away from God to false religions (Isa.1:21, Jer.3:1-10).
The adulterous relationship between the kings of the earth and the harlot symbolizes an illicit union between end-time Babylon and the governing political powers – a union of church and state. This is as it was during the medieval period with the system identified as “the beast.”
The second group in an illicit relationship with the harlot Babylon is the inhabitants of the earth, the governed masses. These are made spiritually drunk with the wine of Babylon’s fornication. In contrast to the governing political powers, the general populace is intoxicated by Babylon’s false teachings and practices, deceived into thinking that she can protect them. When people are drunk, they do not think clearly and are controlled easily (Isa.28:7). The whole world, with the exception of a faithful remnant, (the third group) will be led astray by Babylon. This is the group (symbolically identified as the 144,000 in Revelation 14:1-5) that have not defiled themselves with women – false churches.
History has shown that the majority is rarely right and that there are dangers in following popular sentiments – no matter how popular.