Revelation 17 - What is Going on?
Judgement of Great Prostitute One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls went to John. He showed him the judgement of the great prostitute. Prostitute in the Greek is πόρνη which in this case indicates the designation of a government that is hostile to God and His people. This prostitute is seated on many waters where the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality. Sexual immorality (πορνεύω) in this case involves the engagement in polytheistic cults and the practice of idolatry. It is with the wine of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk. This wine is an imagery of punishments that God has inflicted on the wicked. John in Wilderness Saw Woman The angel carried John away in the Spirit into the wilderness (ἔρημος-uninhabited region). He saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast (θηρίον-animal-like being of transcendent kind). Characteristics of this woman include the following: - full of blasphemous names, - had seven heads and ten horns, - was