Who is the Woman Riding the Beast in Rev. 17?

So, brethren, we're here to do some homework in the sense of studying God's Word. Especially today, we're going to be covering a subject that usually doesn't get too much excitement about, but it has to do with prophecy and history, what's happening, what's going to happen in the future as best as we understand it. And that's part of what God's Church has done through the centuries. It's not just about what they call feel-good religion and just talking about platitudes of helping others and whatever. That's very important, but we know we're here because we love God's truths, and we're here to defend them, and also, as it's the principle in the Bible, you love the person, but you hate the sin. And we have to understand what all that entails. I already gave part one about who is the woman writing the Beast in Revelation 17. Basically, a lot of background information we covered, but this time around, we're going to get into a little more of the specifics of three of the seven characteristics of this woman that there in Revelation, toward the end of the Bible, God reveals something very important that has to do with history and prophecy. And can we be pretty certain about things, or is this all just speculation? Well, you find out that God reveals things with quite detail. If we let the Bible interpret itself, we will understand more of what this is all about. The last time we covered in part one, I gave you a graph. It's called the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and this world's false religions. They all have basic roots to it, based on the five great questions. What is God? How is he adored? When is he adored? What is man? And what is his destiny? And most of this world's religions have some very similar answer to each one of those.

And so as we cover this subject, let's go to Matthew 24. In verse 24, Christ gave us this prophecy. As the end time comes upon us, he said, verse 24, for false Christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive. If possible, even the elect, even the saints, those that have God's Spirit, he says if God would allow it, it would be so powerful, so convincing it would even deceive the very people of God. But it says if possible, which shows that God is going to intervene.

Now this is still in the future. It's not happening right now, but we have to be aware of what is coming, and God is going to allow this. He has his timetable. We see situation in the world deteriorating so fast. Therein the latest paper had kind of one of the big headlines, was that, well, they elected the first gay senator now to Congress, and like this is a great congratulations and ceremony that we should applaud. Well, I don't think so according to God's Word.

And again, you love the person, but you hate the sin. And so let's go to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, because it does talk here about that powerful deception that will happen in the future, where people will believe the lie. And what is the lie? Have you ever asked yourself there in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, what exactly is the lie that Paul is talking about? 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 7. And of course, the first verse, just to get into the context, it says, now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to him.

So he's talking about the coming of Christ and the resurrection of the saints at that time. And he reveals what is going to happen before that coming of Christ. Verse 7, it says, for the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. So there is a counterfeit religion that Paul even had to face in those days. Satan was very active at that time. Christianity was developing, growing, but Satan would have his counterfeit. And it's called the mystery of lawlessness, which is this type of a church that would have all kinds of occult things behind them, this mystery, and then lawlessness, which is kind of the first big abomination, but they would take the law of God and turn it into a license.

We'll cover that, God willing, in the following part three. But right now we see that God had already revealed this to Paul and to the apostles, warning them of these that were going to be creeping unawares and come into the church, and they would turn grace into licentiousness. That's over in Jude verse three and four. And notice what it says, and that's all the mystery of lawlessness is already at work.

Only he who now restrains will do so until he's taken out of the way. Well, God is the one that's restraining. He's got his angels. They limit what Satan can do until a certain moment, and God is going to remove that restraint. And then the lawless one will be revealed. This is one that hates God's laws, that is a counterfeit to God's laws. He teaches other laws that he says are from God. This is the counterfeit religion.

He says, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of his mouth and destroy with the brightness of his coming. So Jesus Christ is coming, and this will be the one that will be destroyed at that time. Verse nine, it says the coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan. He's behind all of this with all power, signs, and lying wonders.

So here we have identification that this lawless one can do miracles to deceive people, to worship the beast, as we'll see, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish. And why were they deceived? Because they did not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved. So first you have to receive that love of the truth. I think those that are in the church received not only the truth, but the love of the truth. You love it.

It is part of you. It's something embedded in one. It's something that we cherish. It's not just some knowledge from the Bible. No, this is something intimate. That's why we keep the Sabbath day. That's part of the love of the truth. We could be doing many other things. But no, the love of the truth means you're going to love that fourth commandment.

You're going to want to keep it above everything else, above all the needs and daily shores we have. And he says that they might be saved if they had that. And for this reason, God will send them strong delusion, talking about those that are deceived, that they should believe the lie.

Have you ever asked yourself, what was that lie? If you look at the context, he's talking about this man of sin being the representative of God on the earth. Of following this representative, because of the lying wonders and all the things that are going to happen, they are going to completely overwhelm people's doubts. It's going to be so clear. It's going to be something that is so real that people say, we have to follow it. So the lie is to believe in this Antichrist and the false prophet along with him that are true representatives of God.

Now right now you think, oh that would never happen. We can see through all of this, but just notice what happened in World War II in Germany, where the German people in 1936, after Hitler had been elected in 1933, in 1936 they had a vote. And over 98% of the Germans voted for Adolf Hitler. Now he had done a lot of great things at that time. He had gotten the economy going. He had all these works going on and all of these programs, and people just thought this was the best thing.

So they were deceived by a man who wanted to conquer the world. And people thought that, no, he's just going to be a good leader for us, and we're going to live in prosperity, and we're going to be able to do so many wonderful things. Well, guess what? Three years later, World War II started and over 50 million people perished because of this dream and ideal that this man in particular had. So it's happened before, and believe me, when the restraints are removed, Satan's going to be able to do much more than he did with Hitler.

And so this is what Paul is warning about, and he says here that for this reason God will send them strong delusion that they should believe the lie. God is permitting this, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. And if you look at the book of Revelation, it constantly talks about those that worshiped the beast and had the mark of the beast on them and followed them, just constantly talking about that, because those were the people that were deceived. And God's people cannot be part of that group. They cannot believe that great lie.

Hitler was the one that coined this, that if you tell a little lie, people might not believe it, but tell a lie big enough and enough times, and they'll eventually come around to believe it. And that happens. And so verse 13, he says, but we are bound to give things to God always for you, brethren, beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. So God's Spirit and God's truth are the great weapons that we have against the falsehoods. He says, to which he called you by our gospel for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions. And here there's a translation from the Good News Bible that says here, it says, hold on to those truths which we taught you. So you're saying, hold on to these things. Don't get tired of listening to it. Don't water down the truth. We need to stand fast and protect ourselves today and for the rest of our lives because we're getting bombarded all the time. We have no idea how subtle all of this system is to just go along. Don't make waves. Just follow the current of society. It's so easy to do. And then you end up in the wrong place being marked and following and being deceived. Do we ever want to be in that group? No, we don't.

And so the purpose of the message is to focus on who is that woman riding the beast in Revelation 17. And so we're going to go over three of the seven characteristics of that woman as the Bible reveals it. Now, it's not my opinion. It's not my ideas. It's not my speculation because there's enough identifying signs that you can see it and why it is that way. So let's start in Revelation 17, verse 1. I don't know if you've ever heard a sermon on just this subject, but it's very vital. It affects us. In Revelation chapter 17, it says, then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and talked with me saying to me, Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters. So this is the first characteristic we want to focus on.

What is who is this harlot that is writing? And we'll see that in a minute. But the great harlot who sits on many waters. So first of all, the great harlot in the Greek, it comes from two words, mega, which means large or great. And then from the term porneia, it's porneus, which is the woman that is immoral and sells her body for power or for money. She sells her body in this way. So very unscrupulous. Now she can be very attractive. She can be very alluring. But the term has to do with a prostitute who sells herself for power and money. Now Jerusalem and the Old Testament is pictured as such when that city started mixing with the pagan countries around her and started accepting much of the religious teachings. Notice in Isaiah chapter 1 because when John saw this, he knew his Bible, the Old Testament at time. He knew in Isaiah chapter 1 verse 21, it says, how the faithful city, talking about Jerusalem, has become a harlot. It was full of justice, righteousness lodged in it. But now, murderers, your silver has become dross, your wine mixed with water, your princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves. Everyone loves bribes and follows after rewards. They do not defend the fatherless, nor does the cause of their widow before them. And he goes on to talk about the idolatry going on. It says verse 6 of chapter 2, because you have forsaken your people, the house of Jacob, because they are filled with Eastern ways. They are soothsayers like the Philistines. They are pleased with the children of foreigners. The land is also so full of silver and gold, and there's no end to their treasures. It's very similar to what we see today, and the land is also full of horses. And of course, now it's the cars. Verse 8, their land is also full of idols. They worship the work of their own hands. And so it gives us this idea that a harlot talking about not a person, but someone that represents a nation and a city, and who is now mixing the politics with religion and bringing in false teachings, that that is all involved in this great harlot. You can jot down Ezekiel 16 and 23. You can read there where it talks about Judah and about Samaria and how God was heartbroken to see them, reject him, and start accepting all of these false teachings from the nations around them. The religious prostitution with pagan nations.

Notice in Revelation chapter 14, talks here about the woman again. Revelation 14 verse 8. So the Bible interprets its own symbols. We see Revelation 14.8 it says, and another angel followed, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. So again, this is a very brief description of this city. That's what it's talking about.

A great city, and it has basically given a potion of wine to the nations, and they have become drunk with it. They have all accepted this type of false teachings, and that takes us to the second part of this verse 1, which says, who sits on many waters.

Notice in Revelation 17 verse 15, it describes what is the headquarters of a false church. Revelation 17 verse 5.

Now 15, it says, then he said to me, the waters which you saw where the harlot sits are peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues. And this is a worldwide religion with people from all parts of the world, and yet claiming to be this bride of Christ, a true religion that makes the world drink of its own teachings. And of course, God is upset with this, because this isn't a pure church that Christ established.

So it is a great worldwide religion.

By latest count, there are some 2.3 billion traditional Christians in the world, 2.3 billion, of which 1.3 billion are Roman Catholics. They're the biggest group. And of course, there's others that are branched out from the Catholic Church, which comprise of just about the other 1 billion, the Greek Orthodox Church, the Russian Orthodox Church, Protestant churches, evangelical churches. We would all classify them, because they have the essential same type of roots. Who is God?

Well, he's this Trinity. He is not a father and a son, that are one family, that they're going to bring many children to glory. And it says, what about when he is to be worshipped? Well, they have their own different days of the week that they worship. Now, many of them worship on the first day of the week.

But the Muslims worship on the sixth day of the week, not the seventh. So here we have a system in place with a lot of people. And of those 1.3 billion Roman Catholics, they look to one city in the world. They don't look to Peking or Beijing, or they don't look to some other United States or Moscow. But they look to one city, Rome. Why? Because in Rome is where Vatican City is. And that's the capital of Roman Catholicism. And they have one supreme leader that they are beholden to.

It is the richest organization on earth, much bigger than any other enterprise we can talk about. It has its ambassadors and even a special place in the United Nations. So you have ambassadors from the Vatican City around the world.

Kings and rulers come to pay homage to the Vatican City. President Biden just went a little over a year ago, on October 29, 2021. And he went to Mass, because he's a Roman Catholic, and took communion there. That's the wafer from a grail, as they have. And he did this despite defying the Church's teaching about abortion being a sin. Biden, as you know, is very pro-abortion.

And Pope Francis said he could take communion despite this. And yet, a lot of Catholics that couldn't do that. But he went ahead and sort of gave a dispensation that, yes, he can go and have communion. Shows a double standard. Depends how powerful and influential a person you are in hypocrisy. Because Catholic Church says, look, you've got to follow the Church's rule. These are the teachings to be a good-standing Catholic. This is what you're following. And yet, you see how they bend the rules when it's to their advantage. And notice now Revelation 17 verses 2 and 3. It says, with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication. Now, of course, they can't commit fornication with a city. I'm not talking about a person, but there are these relations, these very ungodly relations. And they have not only the kings of the earth, so you have to find a city where the kings of the earth come and have this religious relationship with this very powerful church. And the inhabitants of the earth, so they're spread all over the world, were made drunk with the wine of her fornication. So here, the Bible explains that this type of teaching is not good, because, of course, if you're drinking alcohol and you become drunk, that's a sin. But this type of relationship, church and state, where they're all backing each other up, scratching each other's backs and helping out, God hates that, because He knows that brings corruption. It brings hypocrisy.

So if you drink this wine, these mystery teachings are such that they make a person not reason. You don't question it. You accept it on the authority of the papacy, and many become fanatical of what the Pope says. So you become allied to this woman religiously and politically to do her will. And she rides a seven-headed beast, which we're going to focus on.

Notice in verse 3, so he carried me away. This is John mentioned the angel told him basically about this woman, but now he actually has them see her, and he says, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast, which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. Now here's another characteristic. It can't just be some religious preacher out there, or some type of a miracle worker that comes from Africa or from China. No, this one has it's been writing this beast throughout this history.

So it's very important. The woman is not just sitting there because it'd be harder to identify. No, she is writing this beast, and this beast was already revealed to the prophet Daniel, and also with the apostle John here in Revelation, it brings him up. And we're just going to look at that because this is the historical anchor that shows us that this can't be some miracle working person that can appear out of nowhere and deceive the world. No, it is a powerful organization, and it's writing this beast. So let's look at that.

In Revelation, in Daniel chapter 7, let's go to Daniel chapter 7 verse 2.

Daniel has this revelation from God. Daniel chapter 7 verse 2.

Daniel spoke saying, I saw in my vision by night and beheld the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea. So here's this, the sea here usually has to do with a lot of world events and comals that are going on, and all of a sudden here this power appears. Verse 3.

Okay, now in its mouth between its teeth and said to it, Arise devour much flesh. After this I looked, and there was another like a leopard which had on its back four wings of a bird. The beast also had four heads, and dominion was given to it. After this, I saw in the night vision and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible. So this one doesn't look like any animal on earth. Exceedingly strong, it had huge iron teeth, it was devouring, breaking in pieces, and trampling the residue with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. So here are the four beasts that would arise, different empires, the Babylonian Empire, the Medo-Persian Empire, the Greek Empire, and this fourth one, the Roman Empire. Nobody questions that as they successively conquered the previous one, and Rome absorbed all of these other kingdoms. And then it goes on to say, in verse 7, well I read verse 7, verse 23, where it shows God is revealing the symbolism of this. Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be a fourth kingdom on earth, which shall be different from all other kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, trample it, and break it in pieces. The ten horns are ten kings, who shall arise from this kingdom, and another shall rise after them. He shall be different from the first ones, and shall subdue three kings. He shall speak pompous words against the most high, shall persecute the saints of the most high, and shall intend to change times and laws. Then the saints shall be given into his hand for a time and times and half a time. This is the system that would go all the way to the coming of Christ, and showing how this Roman system would have several revivals throughout its history.

Now, it's not only Daniel 7, but let's go to Revelation 13, because you see here something very similar. Revelation 13, verse 1.

Then I stood on the sand of the sea, again just like Daniel was there, and the beast, these beasts arise, John sees the same thing. And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name.

Now, the beast which I saw was like a leopard. His feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. Remember how these other previous three empires were the lion, and the bear, and the leopard. So here, this the Roman Empire absorbed all of these.

In his mouth, like the mouth of a lion, the dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority.

And I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed. And all the world marveled and followed the beast. So, okay, there it's got these seven heads, and these are different revivals that the Roman Empire would have. And on the seventh one was the one that would be healed.

And so they worshiped the dragon who gave authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him? Again, this is in the future.

When God is going to remove the restrictions, and there's going to be this very strong power Satan will give him.

And he was given a mouth, speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for 42 months. Now, those are the three and a half years that are still awaiting.

In verse 11, it says, then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence. In other words, they are partners here, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast whose deadly wound was healed. So, okay, we understand. Out of those six revivals there in the past, we've got one now that is going to fulfill this, and he says he performs great signs so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. Remember how Revelation, in 2 Thessalonians, talks about all these great signs and wonders, and people will believe the lie. Well, why? Because of this religious deception going on. And he deceived those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast. So, God is allowing this. That's why it says that God permits this. He opens the door for this, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lift. He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. He causes all both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or in their forehead, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark of the name of the beast or the number of his name. And so, here then, is more understanding that we have the two beasts.

One is the one with the seven heads with the wounded seventh head that revives, and then we have a religious beast. And then in Revelation 17, what happens is now it's the second beast mounts the first. See, they are united and they go forward.

Now, how can we be sure that this is about the two persons? That is, again, not somebody that comes out of the woodwork and does miracles. Now, this is a historical anchor. We can understand this. Notice what it tells us in Revelation 19, verse 20. When Christ comes back, it says, Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire, burning with brimstone. So, here we have it that this second beast is led by a false prophet, and that false prophet is the one that's writing the beast. So, the false prophet can ride on this powerful beast because it's not a political rival.

It is a religious partner, so the beast needs that backing, the miracle, and all of these things so that he can be exalted.

In one of the New Testament commentaries, Worsby's New Testament commentary, just gives a summary of this. It says, Babylon is God's name for the world system of the beast, the entire economic and political organization which he rules. That's the beast. The harlot is the religious system that the beast uses to help build his organization.

So, this is where we see the partnership going on. Now, this partnership between church and state, pope and emperor have been going on since the collapse of the Roman Empire.

So, we see this cycle of pope and emperor arising, building up a powerful empire, and then going on to the next ruler. The church historian Jesse Herlbeck, in his book, The Story of the Christian Church, summarizes this. It says, For many, it is well known that through the centuries, during the early history of the empire, there was a strong rivalry and sometimes open war between the emperors and the pokes. Was there anybody else involved here, of a religious and a political figure? That was at the time that the beast of the Roman Empire had arisen. We don't see that. We see these two very powerful personages. One is the political, military ruler. The other one is the religious ruler. It says, There was a strong rivalry and sometimes open war between the emperors and the pokes. Emperors striving to rule the church, popes striving to rule the empire.

We have seen how Pope Gregory VII, known as Hildebrand, for a time compelled the submission of an emperor. That's Henry IV, a German emperor, in 1076. He made a meal there before him and he left him three days outside of his castle in the wintertime because Henry had tried to disobey the pope. And how Innocent III, the pope Innocent III, set up and put down emperors and kings.

Now, a little more about this pope, Innocent III. He's considered the most powerful pope during the medieval period. Hilde's Bible Handbook says the following. Innocent III, from 1198, till 1216, was the most powerful of all the popes. He claimed to be, quote, vicar of Christ. Vicar means in place of. Also, vicar of God, in place of God.

Quote, supreme sovereign over the church and the world. This is what this pope said.

Has anybody else made these claims? Is it something that some wadai, prophetic guy is going to do someday? No, this is where we get the historical background. He claimed the right to depose kings and princes and that, quote, all things on earth and in heaven and in hell are subject to the vicar of Christ. He brought the church into supreme control of the state. Practically, all the monarchs of Europe obeyed his will. He even brought the Byzantine Empire under his control. Never in history has any one man exerted more power. That was the peak of the papacy. So, is this a woman riding a beast and basically being able to control it at times? Yes. He ordered two crusades, decreed transubstantiation, which is that every time in the Catholic church you take one of those wafers or hosts, the priest goes through a ceremony and actually converts the host into flesh and the wine into the blood of Christ. So, it's not symbolic. They actually say that the priest has these magical powers to turn the wafer into flesh. You are eating Christ and you are drinking Christ with wine. He confirmed a curricular confession, which means that when you confess because the priests also have the power to forgive sin, not God. God has delegated that to the priest. The priest can do that. Declare that Peter's successor, quote, can never in any way depart from the Catholic church so that the poults are infallible. They cannot do anything wrong when they declare church doctrine, what they call ex-cathedra, when he's sitting in his authority and declares certain things. He forbade the reading of the Bible and the Bible, and the Bible, and the word declares certain things. He forbade the reading of the Bible in the vernacular language, which means didn't want people to read the Bible for themselves.

Instituted the Inquisition because he wanted to get rid of everybody that was not a Catholic in Europe. He ordered the massacre of the Albigenses, which are many part of the true Sabbath-keeping Christians at that time, and they massacred them in a crusade. Basically, a hundred thousand of these Albigensens perished. It was completely destroyed. More blood was shed under his direction and that of his immediate successors that in any other period of church history.

And so when it talks about the woman being drunk with the blood of the saints, this is what has happened from approximately 400 AD all the way to about 1800 AD. So it's about 1400 years where the woman rode this beast. That's a period of the Middle Ages. They also call it the Dark Ages, but this is part of history. We cannot ignore it.

You can read up on it. This is not something squirreled away, hidden. He says, one would think that Nero himself, in the form of the beast, had come to life in the name of the Lamb. So it says that it was like having Emperor Nero governing for this long period of time. In Revelation 19 verse 23, we see how this woman is involved in sorcery, all kinds of spells and religious ceremonies. Revelation 19 verse 23. Oh, sorry. No, I don't know. It's 18, 1823. Revelation 1823, it says, the light of a lamp shall not shine in you anymore, and the voice of a bridegroom and bride shall not be heard in you anymore. Talking about Vatican City. For your merchants were the great men of the earth, for by your sorcery all the nations were deceived, and in her was found the blood of prophets and saints and of all who were slain on the earth. So some say, well, the Vatican doesn't look very dangerous now. We're not talking about now. We're talking about a time when Satan is going to be cast down on the earth, is going to have all of these powers, and he's going to use these two henchmen of his to deceive the world. So it's not talking about the present pope who's dragging himself around now, in his last legs, literally. We don't know who the next one is going to be. That's going to be important, but it shows here the saucery involved. It's not talking about a political leader. It's talking about a religious leader. In verses four through six of Revelation 17, as we are about to conclude, it says, The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication. And on her forehead a name was written, Mystery Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth. I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints. So have you ever seen somebody drunk because they've killed people? Yeah, but usually it has to be religious fanatics, right? Like these Islamic terrorists, you know, they behead people and they celebrate. Well, here's one that religiously celebrates. They love to get rid of heretics.

They think they're doing God a favor.

And it says, And with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus, when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement.

So it has to be an extremely rich church because of her colors.

That has taken the colors of the Roman emperors and their chorea, which was their administrative departments. So what does all of this mean?

What's in her name and what are the abominations that nations drink of and like wine, made them drunk? Stay around for the next time.