Going further one can see how she is adorned: gold, jewels, pearls and drinking from a golden cup. Material wealth is a thing that humanity readily falls for. We may chafe at the personality facets of Donald Trump, but like it or not his wealth still shines through somehow. Babylon as displayed here is fabulously wealthy and ruling in both a political and religious sense. She has all the world has to offer.
In the golden cup are the deeds of her anti-God stance.
She, too, has a name on her forehead which is less blasphemous and more a statement. Babylon has been the origin of great, world-wide sin, cosmic abomination.
Topping off her picture is her demeanor. She is drunk, not in control and the object of her intoxication is the destruction of those whom God died for. The representation of God himself: Jesus Christ, who had died that all might be able to be freed from wicked intoxication is mocked by her behavior. The beast sports blasphemous names. The human representative sports blasphemous deeds. They are two peas in a pod, but they are very, very bad peas.
A couple of Solomon quotes
This is the way of an adulteress: she eats and wipes her mouth and says, “I have done no wrong.” (Proverbs 30:20–ESV)
In Proverbs 7 Solomon tells of the prostitute elaborating upon her crafty intent. He speaks of her brazen face and her seduction. She leads the young man away and Solomon concludes that chapter by saying her house is a highway to the grave. It leads down to the chambers of death.
In Revelation it is the same thing, but on a global scale. Sure sexual promiscuity is part of Babylon’s bag of tricks, its duffel of deceit, but in Revelation the course to the grave is a highway of much darker activities than just some illicit bedtime action.
As an aside my family has always taken to reading a Proverb each night as dinner concludes. That 25 year habit has stretched through the lives of each of our kids and marked our marriage. I don’t think I would have known of the above quotes had it not been for that habit. It is a good one. I’d urge you to do the same…even if the kids are grown. The ways of the Lord are a safeguard for us.
Uh, oh, John…
6b When I saw her, I marveled greatly. 7a But the angel said to me, “Why do you marvel? (Revelation 17:6b-7a–ESV)
It seems that in some manner this mother of evil put even John the Apostle into a surprised funk. Look back at the second half of verse 6. He marveled at this woman. This word means he wondered at her.
Marveled is a word used in many places in the New Testament. In Matthew 8:27 the disciples marveled at how the Sea of Galilee responded to Jesus. The crowds marveled in Matthew 9:33 when they saw the mute person begin to speak. Do you remember how Jesus cursed that fig tree near Jerusalem? Well, the disciples remembered the curse and marveled when upon seeing it again later in the day found it wilted. That’s from Matthew 21:20. Near the close of Matthew back in chapter 27 verse 14 Jesus did not respond to the charges leveled against him and Pilate marveled.
During the ministry years of Jesus did he marvel? Yes. It is in Matthew 8:10. In that chapter the Roman centurion had come to Jesus seeking healing of his paralyzed servant. When Jesus said he would come, the centurion demurred considering himself unworthy that Jesus would come. That centurion’s perspective was that Jesus merely needed to say the word and the deed would be done. The centurion did not doubt. He was not wondering “if it would work.” He simply accepted that it would. That was a response of faith that excelled all Jesus had to that point witnessed in Israel. That is what he marveled over.
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