Revelations - Scarlet Beast

Now, we don’t see in Revelation 16 the end of the Antichrist. There is a reason. Every time, it gets right up to the end and then stops. With the exception of Revelation 14, we have not seen the Lamb return. This is the climax of the book. It isn’t going to say that multiple times. It interweaves all the stories, and then it comes to the end where Jesus returns in Revelation 19. We have from chapters 17-19 a description of the Antichrist’s kingdom and its fall. Then from 20-22 we have the Kingdom of God.

And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:

² With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.

³ So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.

⁴ And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:

⁵ And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon The Great, The Mother Of Harlots And Abominations Of The Earth.

⁶ And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.
Revelation 17:1-6

What about them apples?

⁷ Babylon hath been a golden cup in the Lord's hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad.

⁸ Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed.

⁹ We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her, and let us go every one into his own country: for her judgment reacheth unto heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies.

¹⁰ The Lord hath brought forth our righteousness: come, and let us declare in Zion the work of the Lord our God.

¹¹ Make bright the arrows; gather the shields: the Lord hath raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes: for his device is against Babylon, to destroy it; because it is the vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance of his temple.

¹² Set up the standard upon the walls of Babylon, make the watch strong, set up the watchmen, prepare the ambushes: for the Lord hath both devised and done that which he spake against the inhabitants of Babylon.

¹³ O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end is come, and the measure of thy covetousness.
Jeremiah 51:7-13

⁷ And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.

⁸ The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.

⁹ And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.

¹⁰ And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.

¹¹ And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.
Revelation 17:7-11

We made it. This is the part you’ve been waiting for. What do the 7 heads represent? They are 7 mountains, which are 7 kings. Each king represents a kingdom. Now, this is where we need to understand that the beast is 1 beast, though it has many different kings. Does that make sense? We looked at the statue as 1 statue, though it represents 4 different kingdoms. Here, we have 1 beast that has 7 kingdoms representing it. How do we determine the riddle?

I’ll start you off. God’s people were persecuted by Egypt in Exodus. They were continually enemies of Assyria. Babylon took them captive. That makes 3. Now, we can’t just take anyone that was an enemy of God’s people. A brief look through the prophets will show us that there were at least 10 different nations that were cursed by God. With that said, we can safely assume that these kingdoms are ones that did oppress and torment God’s people. Something like Tyre or Sodom doesn’t fit.

So there are 3 mentioned so far. There is also the Medes/Persians. That makes 4. Then Greece followed them. That makes 5. Then there was Rome. That makes 6. The final one is the last one of the Antichrist. Thus, 5 are fallen (it was written in the time of Rome), 1 is, and the other is yet to come. Today, we would say, “6 are fallen and 1 is yet to come.” In verse 11, we find that the 7^th is also an 8^th.

What does that mean? Well, you can read the text. The beast is called Babylon. Therefore, the 1 that is to come is Babylon. It is something completely new, but at the same time a resurrection of an old empire. Do you see how this all plays out? The last kingdom is called in Daniel a mixture of iron and clay. That symbolizes Rome. But here it is a resurrected Babylon.

And I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and put my sword in his hand: but I will break Pharaoh's arms, and he shall groan before him with the groanings of a deadly wounded man.
Ezekiel 30:24

This was the text I quoted earlier about the wound that the Antichrist had received. It is about a continuation of kingdoms, and a deadly blow had smote the king of Egypt. Does it fit together? I hope this is all starting to make sense now. This is why the 4^th creature in Daniel 7 looks just like the dragon called Satan in Revelation 12, which looks a lot similar to the beast mentioned in Revelation 13, which looks a lot like the dragon mentioned in Revelation 17. This is a representation of Satan and his kingdom.

I won’t get into the woman that rides the beast. Earlier I said that the woman was Israel. I still stick to my guns that a woman typically signifies Israel. I would challenge you to read Ezekiel 16 and find that God calls Judah and Israel whores and sisters of Sodom. Also read Zechariah 5 where it speaks of the woman in the basket, which is the house of Israel.

¹² And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.

¹³ These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.

¹⁴ These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.
Revelation 17:12-14

This is regurgitated information that we learned in Daniel. We also knew this with the beast in Revelation 13. Note that these 10 kings are of the last empire, and thus have not been revealed as of yet.

¹⁵ And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.

¹⁶ And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.

¹⁷ For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.

¹⁸ And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.
Revelation 17:15-18

The people Israel will suffer persecution. They will drink the cup of God’s wrath upon their sin. When they have suffered, God will release His hand from off of them and turn His vengeance upon the nations that inflicted her and were only too eager to inflict. She will be persecuted and beaten, but not killed or destroyed.

And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.

² And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.

³ For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.

⁴ And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

⁵ For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.

⁶ Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double.
Revelation 18:1-6

The angel calls to Israel to come out from her. Come out from the markets. Come out from the idolatry. Come out from the epicenter of the world. Come out from this great power. Come out from your fallen humanity. Come out unto the Lord and be made holy. Be brought into the priesthood that God has called you to be. Be made new. Find what it means to truly be human.

⁷ How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.

⁸ Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.

⁹ And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning,

¹⁰ Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
Revelation 18:7-10

I would suggest reading Isaiah 47 in relation to verse 7. Nahum had some strong words for this Babylon:

Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and robbery; the prey departeth not;

² The noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the pransing horses, and of the jumping chariots.

³ The horseman lifteth up both the bright sword and the glittering spear: and there is a multitude of slain, and a great number of carcases; and there is none end of their corpses; they stumble upon their corpses:

⁴ Because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the wellfavoured harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts.

⁵ Behold, I am against thee, saith the Lord of hosts; and I will discover thy skirts upon thy face, and I will shew the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame.

⁶ And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile, and will set thee as a gazingstock.

⁷ And it shall come to pass, that all they that look upon thee shall flee from thee, and say, Nineveh is laid waste: who will bemoan her? whence shall I seek comforters for thee?

⁸ Art thou better than populous No, that was situate among the rivers, that had the waters round about it, whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was from the sea?

⁹ Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and it was infinite; Put and Lubim were thy helpers.

¹⁰ Yet was she carried away, she went into captivity: her young children also were dashed in pieces at the top of all the streets: and they cast lots for her honourable men, and all her great men were bound in chains.

¹¹ Thou also shalt be drunken: thou shalt be hid, thou also shalt seek strength because of the enemy.

¹² All thy strong holds shall be like fig trees with the firstripe figs: if they be shaken, they shall even fall into the mouth of the eater.

¹³ Behold, thy people in the midst of thee are women: the gates of thy land shall be set wide open unto thine enemies: the fire shall devour thy bars.

¹⁴ Draw thee waters for the siege, fortify thy strong holds: go into clay, and tread the morter, make strong the brickkiln.

¹⁵ There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off, it shall eat thee up like the cankerworm: make thyself many as the cankerworm, make thyself many as the locusts.

¹⁶ Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven: the cankerworm spoileth, and fleeth away.

¹⁷ Thy crowned are as the locusts, and thy captains as the great grasshoppers, which camp in the hedges in the cold day, but when the sun ariseth they flee away, and their place is not known where they are.

¹⁸ Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria: thy nobles shall dwell in the dust: thy people is scattered upon the mountains, and no man gathereth them.

¹⁹ There is no healing of thy bruise; thy wound is grievous: all that hear the bruit of thee shall clap the hands over thee: for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually?
Nahum 3

¹¹ And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more:

¹² The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble,

¹³ And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men.

¹⁴ And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all.

¹⁵ The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing,

¹⁶ And saying, Alas, alas that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls!

¹⁷ For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,

¹⁸ And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city!

¹⁹ And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.

²⁰ Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her.

²¹ And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.

²² And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee;

²³ And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.

²⁴ And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.
Revelation 18:11-24

¹⁰ Behold the day, behold, it is come: the morning is gone forth; the rod hath blossomed, pride hath budded.

¹¹ Violence is risen up into a rod of wickedness: none of them shall remain, nor of their multitude, nor of any of their's: neither shall there be wailing for them.

¹² The time is come, the day draweth near: let not the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn: for wrath is upon all the multitude thereof.

¹³ For the seller shall not return to that which is sold, although they were yet alive: for the vision is touching the whole multitude thereof, which shall not return; neither shall any strengthen himself in the iniquity of his life.
Ezekiel 7:10-13

⁸ Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed.

⁹ We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her, and let us go every one into his own country: for her judgment reacheth unto heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies.
Jeremiah 51:8-9

There are also many prophecies in the Old Testament about Tyre and its destruction. They seem to allude to the people of the world weeping over its fall. I think there are parallels in it. Many times the prophetic Scriptures are patterns and types. They seek an ultimate fulfillment with the destruction of the kingdom of darkness. Now, I would like to bring your attention to something. I haven’t mentioned Gog and Magog.

If you know eschatology, then you know that the final battle of Armageddon is sometimes considered the battle of Gog and Magog. I haven’t gotten to the return of Christ, but since we’re about to enter Revelation 19, I wanted to brief you. It says that the battle after the Millennial Kingdom in Revelation 20 is Gog and Magog, therefore anything that mentions Gog or Magog, I have instantly questioned whether or not it fits into the script here or there. For the simple sake of easiness, I refer to Gog and Magog as Satan’s army in Revelation 20, not the Antichrist’s army in Revelation 19. However, there is a mystery happening here.

Gog and Magog is the symbol for the kingdom of darkness (magog) and that one who leads the army (whether Satan or the Antichrist). The mystery is better understood when we consider in Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28 how the king of Tyre and the king of Babylon are being spoken about, and then there is this strange passage that seems like it is Satan being addressed. Gog is a symbol for that king that comes against Jerusalem at the end – typified by both the Antichrist and Satan. So Gog in Ezekiel 39 is the Antichrist, but in Revelation 20 is Satan.

It is very important when you read through the prophetic texts to try and figure out where on the timeline it fits. An example is Zechariah 12-14. Chapter 12 starts with a battle that seems to fit more in the battle of Gog and Magog (Revelation 20) than Armageddon. Chapter 14 has a battle that seems to fit more with Armageddon than Gog and Magog. Thus, I take Zechariah 12-14 as being the very last battle, then backing up to show how it got to that point (in chapter 12:10 onward). You will have to take similar liberties when reading on your own.

¹And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God:

² For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.

³ And again they said, Alleluia And her smoke rose up for ever and ever.

⁴ And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia.

⁵ And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great.

⁶ And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
Revelation 19:1-6

We read at the end of chapter 18 that all of the earth mourns for the destruction of Babylon. But heaven rejoices! We can match this up with some other verses in Revelation. At Revelation 11:15, we saw that angels started declaring the end of Babylon and the beginning of the Kingdom of God. We find in Revelation 14 that the angels declare once again the fall of Babylon and the establishment of the Kingdom of God. Is it possible that Revelation 19 fits in this time span?

That would mean that we’re somewhere around the 6^th trumpet and the 6^th bowl of God’s wrath. Some parallel passages would be as follows:

⁷ How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!

⁸ Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion.

⁹ Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem: for the Lord hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem.

¹⁰ The Lord hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.
Isaiah 52:7-10

⁸ Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me.

⁹ I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him, until he plead my cause, and execute judgment for me: he will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his righteousness.

¹⁰ Then she that is mine enemy shall see it, and shame shall cover her which said unto me, Where is the Lordthy God? mine eyes shall behold her: now shall she be trodden down as the mire of the streets.
Micah 7:8-10

 Now, in Revelation 14, we find the marriage of the Lamb (144,000) at the beginning of the chapter. Then comes the declaration of the angels. In Revelation 19, we continue and we see the marriage of the Lamb comes:

⁷ Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.

⁸ And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.

⁹ And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.

¹⁰ And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
Revelation 19:7-10

In both cases, the marriage of the Lamb happens before the second coming. We find the marriage, and then we find Jesus’ return. When we find ourselves in Revelation 21, we will find that the New Jerusalem that comes down out of heaven is the bride adorned for the bridegroom. It would seem as though the marriage takes place after the judgment. So what is happening here?

I think that it is important to understand what the marriage represents. Marriage is about becoming one flesh. We being married to Christ is about us becoming like Him. I have no problem with seeing it either way: we are married to Him before His coming or some are married before His coming (first resurrection) and the rest are married after the judgment. Either way we perceive it, the point is that we are made like Him.

I personally think that what is happening is we are transformed “in the twinkling of an eye” into His likeness when He returns. Thus, there aren’t any details given before Jesus returns. It is when He returns – simultaneously.