Judging the Infamous Harlot - A Name, A Mystery

 The apostle John is soon to learn that the great harlot has chosen a dangerous beast to ride.  First, though, his attention turns to Babylon te Great herself.  She is richly adorned, but, oh, how repulsive she is!  "And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and was adorned with gold and precious  stone and pearls and had in her hand a golden cup that was full of disgusting  things and the unclean things of her fornication.  And upon her forehead was written a name, a mystery:  'Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and of the disgusting things of the earth.' And I saw that the womanwas drunk with the blood of the holy ones and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus." - REVELATION 17:4-6a.

 As was the custom in ancient Rome, this prostitute is identified by the name on her forehead.  It is a long name:  "Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots ad of the disgusting things of the earrth."  That name is  "a mystery,"  something with hidden meaning.  But in God's' due time, the mystery is to be explained.  In fact,  the angel gives John  enough information to allow Jehovah's servants  today to discern the full significance of this descriptive name.  We recognize Babylon the Great as being of false religion. She is "the mother of harlots"  because all  the individuals false religions in the world, including the many sects in Christendom, are like her daughters, imitating her committng spiritual harlotry. She is also the mother of "disgusting things' in that she has given birth to such revolting offspring as idolatry, spiritism, fortune-telling, astrology, palmistruy,  human sacrifice, temple prostitution, drunkeness in honor of false gods, and other obscene practices. 

Babylon the Great is dresed in"purple and scarle," of royalty, and is "adorned with gold and precous stone and pearls." How appropriate!  Just reflect on all the magnificient  buildings, rare statues and painting icons, and other religous paraphernalia, as  well as astromical amounts of property and cash, that this world's  religions have accumulated.  Whether at the Vatican, in the TV empire of evangelism centered in the United States, or in the exotic wats and temple of the Orient, Babylon the Great, has amassed-and at times lost-fabulous wealth.

Look now at what the harlot has in her hand.  John must have gasped at the sight of it- a golden cup  "full of disgusting things and the unclean things of her fornication"!  This is the cup containing "the wine of the anger of  her fornication" with which she has made  all the nations drunk  (Revelation  14:8; 17:4)  It looks rich on the outside, but its contents are disgusting, unclean.  (Compare Matthew 23:25, 26.)  It contains all the filthy practices  and lies that great harlot has used to seduce the nations, and bring them under her influence.  Even more revolting, John sees that the  harlot herself h is inebriated, drunkk with the blood of God's serveants!  In fact, we later read that "in her  was found the bloood of the prophets and of holy ones ad of all those who have been slaughtered  on the earth."    (Revelation 18:24)   What massive bloodguilt!

Over the centuries, the world empire o false religion has shed  oceans of blood.  For example, in medieval Japan, temples in Kyoto were transformed  into fortresses, and warrior-monks, invoking  "the holy name of Buddha," battled on another until the streets ran red with blood.  In  the 20th century, the clergy of Christendom marched with the armies of their respective countries, and these slaughter one another, with the loss of at least a hundred million lives,  In October 1987 former U.S. president Nixon said:  "The 20th century has been the bloodiest in history.  More people have been kiled in the wars   of this century than in all  the wars fought before the century began."  The nations of the world are judged adversely by God for their share in all of this:  "Hands that are shedding innocent blood."  (Proverbs 6:16, 17)   Earlier, John heared  a cry from the altar:  "Until when, Sovereign Lord holy and true are you refraining from judging and avenging our blood upon those who dwell on the earth?"  (Revelation 6:10)  Babylon the Great,the mother of the harlots and of the disgusting things of the earth, will deeply involved  whe the time comes to answer that question.

Next time: An Awesome Mystery Solved

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