Chapter Thirty-Three -Judging the Infamous Harlot

The Harlot Rides a Beast

What more does the prophecy disclose as to the great harlot and her fate?  As John now relates, a further vivid scene comes to view:" "And he [the angel]carried me away in the power of the spirit into a wilderness.  And I caught sight of a woman sitting upon a scarlet-colored wild beast that was full of blasphemous names and that had seven heads and ten horns." -Revelation 17:3.  

Why is John carried into a wilderness?  An earlier pronouncement of doom against ancient Babylon was described as being "against the wilderness of the sea." (Isaiah 21:1, 9)  This gave due warning that, despite all its watery defenses, ancient Babylon would become a lifeless desolation. It is fitting, then, that John should be carried in his vision to a wilderness to see the fate of Babylon the Great. She too much become desolate and waste.  (Revelation 18:19, 22, 23)  John is amazed, though, by what he sees out there. The great harlot is not alone!  She is sitting on a monstrous wild beast!

This wild beast has seven heads and ten horns. Is it, then, the same as the wild beast that John saw earlier, which also has seven heads  and ten horns?  (Revelation 13:1) No, there are differences. This wild beast is scarlet-colored and, unlike the previous  wild beast, is not said to have diadems. Rather than having blasphemous names on its seven heads only, it is "full of blasphemous names." Nevertheless, there must be a relationship  between the new wild beast and the previous one; the similarities between them are too pronounced to be coincidental. 

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From the book of Revelation