Friday, October 15, 2010

The Whore of Babylon

Rev. 17:1-6 (ESV)
Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, "Come, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters, [2] with whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality, and with the wine of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk." [3] And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns. [4] The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality. [5] And on her forehead was written a name of mystery: "Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth's abominations." [6] And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.
When I saw her, I marveled greatly.

The Harlot is described, Babylon the great, the traditional enemy of Israel. She entices the rulers of the world with her life of luxury. They sustain this life of luxury by killing the saints, so that she may be drunk with their blood. The kings lust for her power and her riches, they worship anything, they do anything to gain a nights pleasure with her.

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