Everyone likes a good mystery. Some of the greatest mysteries in the world are found in the last book of the Bible, the book of Revelation. Perhaps the greatest of these mysteries is found in the book of Revelation, chapters 17 and 18.

Most mysteries are intended for relaxation and enjoyment, but this mystery is presented as a warning. It is a warning with some very dire consequences for those that do not understand it and heed it. Failure to obey its warning will have the most serious results.

In chapter 17, John, the apostle, is shown a vision of a woman. In verse 5 we see that: “on her forehead was a name written, a mystery, ‘BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.’”

Who or what is this mystery? What does she represent? And most of all, why is this mystery of any importance to us?

Before we begin to consider who or what this woman represents, let’s lay the groundwork for this discussion by examining why understanding this mystery is so important. To do this, we need to turn to chapter 18 of the book of Revelation and look at verse 2.

Here an angel has come down from heaven and is crying out saying: “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the Great!” You might have noticed that this is the same name as appeared on the woman’s forehead, “Babylon the Great.” So, we see that this is the same woman of mystery from chapter 17.

This declaration is immediately followed by a warning, in verse 4, from: “another voice from heaven, saying, ‘Come out of her my people, that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues.’” Whatever is represented by “Babylon the Great,” God clearly and solemnly warns his people to come out of her.

Here lies the importance of understanding this mystery. God’s warning here is to His people. He is warning them of the urgent necessity for all of them to come out of this “Babylon the Great” lest they be judged with her and suffer the plagues that He is about to bring upon her.

The problem is that unless we, as God’s people, understand what is meant by this mysterious woman, “Babylon the Great,” we will not know how to come out of her. How can we obey Him and be saved from her plagues if we don’t know who she is? It is essential, therefore, that we gain an understanding of the meaning of this “mystery.”

Let’s begin our quest for understanding of the mystery by returning to chapter 17, verse 1 of the book of Revelation. Here we see this woman described as “the great harlot who sits on many waters.” Verse 15 says, “The waters which you saw where the harlot sits, are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues.” This woman’s presence is evidently spread throughout the whole earth.

Verse 3 describes this woman as: “sitting on a scarlet beast, full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns.” Then verse 4 says: “The woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a gold cup full of abominations and of the unclean things of her immorality.”

This sounds almost impossible to understand, a harlot riding on a beast that has seven heads and ten horns. How can anyone understand what this strange picture represents? Yet, we know that God wants us to understand it, because He says in verse seven: “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.”

We need to be encouraged by this, knowing that God wants us to understand the mystery. In fact, to be obedient to Him, we must understand this mystery.

In verses 8-18, the angel explains the meaning of each of these things. The seven heads are seven mountains. These mountains represent seven kings. The beast was one of these seven, and is not, and will be the eighth, and will go into destruction. The ten horns are ten kings that will receive power for one hour with the beast. These ten kings will hate the woman and attack her and destroy her because God will put it in their heart to do it. Then the ten kings will give their authority to the beast until the words of God should be fulfilled. The woman is that great city or community that rules over the kings of the earth.

The Greek word "polis" is usually translated as city. However, then verse 18 would be translated, "The woman that you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth." Many have used this translation to conclude that the woman is Rome, because of the power that it wields over the kings of the earth via the Catholic church. However, the Catholic church has little or no influence over the vast majority of the world that is not Catholic, and especially not Christian. Rome has virtually no influence over the Muslims, the Hindus, the Buddhists, and so on.

Being there is no individual city that I am aware of that rules over the kings of the earth, I have chosen to accept an alternate but very similar meaning of "polis." I have chosen to consider that the woman represents some sort of community that rules over the kings of the earth, rather than a particular city. Then verse 18 would be translated, "The woman that you saw is that great community that rules over the kings of the earth."

We need to seek God for understanding, that we might come to know the identity of this great community that is represented by this woman of mystery. This is a community that has ruled over the kings of the earth throughout the ages. Yet, in the last days this community will be destroyed by the ten kings, who will give their authority over to the beast. Identifying this community is essential, because if we cannot identify it, we cannot come out of it, as God has commanded us to do.

In solving a mystery, the trick is to discern between the clues that lead to a proper conclusion based on the facts, and those that simply distract our focus from our objective. Remember, our objective is to determine the identity of the woman who has been referred to as “Babylon the Great” and the community that she represents.

Down through the ages, much time and effort have been spent trying to determine what the beast, the seven heads and the ten horns mean. I believe that consideration of these clues may simply prove to be a distraction from our objective. Instead of following these clues, let’s attempt to determine the identity of this woman of mystery, Babylon the Great, by examining what Babylon represented in the Scriptures of the Old Testament.

Let us begin this examination by going back to the first time this word Babylon is used in the Hebrew Scriptures. We can start by looking up the word "Babylon" in Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance. Here we learn that the Hebrew word is Babel, the same word used in Genesis 10:10 and 11:9, which means “confusion.” This refers to the confusion that resulted from a group of people that came together, as recorded in Genesis chapter 11, with a desire to make a name for themselves. To accomplish this, these people began to build a city with a great tower reaching up to heaven.

This is reminiscent of Cain in Genesis 4, where he desired to worship God in his own way. His efforts were rejected by God and resulted in the murder of his brother. Cain then goes on to build a city that he names after his son, Enoch. This was the result of an individual refusing to worship God in God’s way.

In chapter 11 we see the result of a corporate refusal to worship God in God's way, again culminating in the building of a city with its high tower, with the expressed purpose of reaching up to heaven by their own effort, in their own way. The result of this idolatrous activity was confusion, as God came in and judged their rebellious activity and confounded their languages.

The people were scattered from Babel to the far corners of the earth. Along with them they took this idolatrous spirit that has resulted in every culture developing their own religious system in which they worship God, or gods, in whichever way seems right in their own eyes. It could be said, therefore, that Babel, or Babylon, had become the mother of all the idolatrous cities of the earth.

Both the Greek and the Hebrew words translated as "harlot" also mean idolatry. So, it becomes clear that what is being referred to in each case here is idolatry, the worship of pagan gods or the worship of God in the way in which pagans worship.

God speaks to His people in Deuteronomy 12:1-2 saying: “These are the statutes and the judgments which you shall carefully observe in the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess as long as you live on the earth. You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess serve their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree.”

In verse 4, He continues saying: “You shall not act like this toward the Lord your God. But you shall seek the Lord at the place which the Lord your God will choose from all your tribes, to establish His name there for His dwelling, and there you shall come.” Then in verse 8: “You shall not do at all what we are doing here today, every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes.” And in verse 13: “Be careful you do not offer your burnt offering in every place you see.”

Isaiah 1:21 says the faithful city has become a harlot. Jeremiah 2:2 says: “Go and proclaim in the ears of Jerusalem.” And then continues in verse 20 saying: “For long ago I broke your yoke and tore off your bonds; but you said, ‘I will not serve!’ For on every high hill and under every green tree you have lain down as a harlot.”

In Ezekiel 16 God speaks to Jerusalem about her idolatry saying in verses 24-25: “you built yourself a shrine and made yourself a high place in every square. You built yourself a high place at the top of every street and made your beauty abominable, and you spread your legs to every passer-by to multiply your harlotry.”

The Lord goes on in verses 44-49 saying: “Like mother, like daughter. You are the daughter of your mother who loathed her husband and children. You are also the sister of your sisters, who loathed their husband and children.”

Clearly, what is referred to by the word "harlot" in these passages is idolatry. "Babylon the Great" is the mother of idolatry and of the idols of the world. It becomes obvious that the great community it represents is the religious community to which all the kings of the earth must pay homage. No king can long rule his people unless he embraces their religion.

Revelation 14:6-7 speaks of another angel flying in mid heaven with a gospel to preach to the whole earth proclaiming: “Fear God, and give Him glory.” Then, in verse 8, a second angel declares: “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great.” Here we have one angel preaching the gospel to fear God and worship him and a second angel announcing the end of the world’s idolatrous religious system, the religious Babylon.

This is followed by a third angel, in verses 9-12, warning about an even more dangerous and idolatrous system of worship about to be established by the beast, the forced worship of himself. This will take place after the ten kings have destroyed the world’s religious systems, the woman, “Babylon the Great.” Only after all religions are eliminated will the people be willing to worship the beast.

God is calling His people to come out of the worldly, man-made, religious system, before His judgment falls upon them. He is calling His people to come out of all that is contrary to His pattern of worship found in the Scriptures.

God will not tolerate His people worshipping Him in every high place that they choose. He wants us to come out of the world's religious system and separate ourselves unto Him. He wants His people to worship Him in His way, in His place, according to His pattern. We must obey and come out or we will receive the plagues with which he judges the Harlot, Babylon the Great!

“God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24). This is the worship God wants, not worship in the shadowy emptiness of religious practice. We must worship in spirit and reality. We must hold fast to Christ as our head.

Christ must be our Lord and our life. We must flee the emptiness of religion and enter into the fullness of Christ. “For the entire fullness of God’s nature dwells bodily in Christ, and you have been filled by Him, who is the head over every ruler and authority” (Colossians 2:9-10).

My prayer is that all who know Jesus as Lord will have an ear to hear, and a heart to obey!

Writings By Jon von Ernst

The Lord of All Things Series - A Trilogy of Truth 
Books in this series:
Book 1 - The Gospel of the Kingdom
Book 2- The Victorious Christian
Book 3 - Walking in the Light  -  Following in His Steps

*- Audio of these books are available free of charge at thepureword.net.