The Book of Revelation: Lesson 38 – Chapter 17:1-8

A prostitute is a woman who grants sexual favors for money. This chapter is about “the great prostitute.” Her clothes and jewelry are expensive, but this doesn’t hide the fact that she is both intoxicated and wicked.

Did you notice what she has been drinking? It’s the blood of those who love Jesus!

Before concluding that our subject is a sinful woman, however, remember that Revelation is full of symbolism. My caution is justified because verse 18 reads, “The woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth.”To the early Church, this had to mean Rome!

But was Revelation given exclusively for that early generation of believers experiencing persecution under the powerful Roman Empire? Could it be this is a prophecy that’s also relevant for our modern times?

Were you aware that what’s about to happen and what’s a long way off are often mixed together by the biblical prophets? Even Jesus did this. In the Olivet Discourse, our Lord spoke about the near future, when the city of Jerusalem would be destroyed by the Romans, and events associated with the end of the age. At the time He spoke, everything He mentioned was future. However, Jesus didn’t differentiate between what was close and what was far off.

This pattern is consistent with other scriptural prophets. So I have a feeling that this “great city that rules over the kings of the earth” might have both a past and a future fulfillment. Re-said, the early Church’s interpretation may differ from our own, and both renderings could be right!

It is also true that prophecies sometimes have early partial fulfillment’s and then later complete fulfillment’s.

To confuse things even more, in this chapter another city is named that we need to take into consideration. We find it in the title written on the great prostitute’s head.

We will continue this discussion in the next blog post.

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