We ask our readers to give close attention to Rev. 17 as showing clearly the end of apostasy.
The Apostle John in his apocalyptic vision tells how one of the seven angels with the seven last vials talked with him, saying:- "Come hither; I will show unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters " (Rev. 17:1). The utmost abhorrence of the Divine mind is shown in that Romanism is described as "The Great Whore." Just as a whore is a pestilent member of society, debasing womanhood, and degrading the idea of marriage, so the Spirit of God uses this departure from chastity and morality to symbolize His utter detestation of spiritual adultery, which Rome so markedly stands for in Christendom, that is the Church and the ungodly world consummating complete union.
We have only to read the description of "The Great Whore" in Rev. 17 to see how closely it fits in with the history of Roman Catholicism, and with no other religious body in the world. Just as a photograph resembles the person photographed, so the symbolism of Rev. 17 answers to the sad and strange story of the religious and political pride of the Romish religion. On her forehead is plainly written her name. It is written in the history of the dark ages up to the present time. Here it is:- "MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH " (Rev. 17:5).
It is well known that in the fourth century the Emperor Constantine decreed that his empire should profess Christianity. The practical result was that pagan Rome was still pagan Rome with only a thin veneer of Christianity imposed upon it. The temples dedicated to heathen deities were given Christian names. The turnover was mechanical with no change of spirit. Pagan rites and customs still appeared under Christian names. Thus it will be easy when total apostasy takes place to remove the thin veneer of Christian profession and revert to paganism. So aptly does Rev. 17 use the term, " Babylon the Great."
Sir George Sinclair, author of Letters to Protestants of Scotland, wrote:- "Romanism is a refined system of Christianized heathenism, and chiefly differs from its prototype in being more treacherous, more cruel, more dangerous, more intolerant." (First Series, p. 121) We get a description of the display of wealth and splendor that Rome so well knows how to set forth with so much pomp and ritual. "And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication... (Rev. 17:4). We all know how elaborate and ornate the vast cathedral of St. Peter at Rome is, as well as in the lesser degree countless Cathedrals and Churches in many lands, how we may see images decked with gold and blazing with jewels, how Rome's pope, cardinals, and priests are decked with gorgeous robes of purple and scarlet.
The story is well told of the Pope in the Middle Ages showing St. Thomas Aquinas the splendors of the Vatican, including immense displays of gold, silver and precious stones. Said the Pope with a courtly smile, "You see, Thomas, the Church cannot now say what it said in early times, 'Silver and gold have I none.'" Back came the quick and pointed retort, "No, nor can it say, 'Rise up and walk,'" implying the lack of spiritual power in a worldly Church.
Further we read, "And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration " (Rev. 17:6). This points most clearly to Rome. Rome has been the only great persecuting Church professing the Christian religion. Think of the massacre on St. Bartholomew's Day (August 21St, 1572), when ten thousand Huguenots, men, women and children, were put to death, simply because they were true believers on the Lord Jesus Christ, and had committed the crime of possessing Bibles. When the news of this awful massacre reached Rome, the city was illuminated, the cannon of St. Angelo were fired in celebration, whilst the Pope Gregory XIII went in procession to all the churches, and offered thanksgiving at the shrine of every saint. Think of the bloody and cruel work of the Inquisition, and the fagot and the flames of Smithfield, of Ridley and Latimer (1555), of Cranmer (1556) burned at the stake in Oxford.
We are told in this striking Chapter that the woman rides on a scarlet-colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, and that it had seven heads and ten horns. The seven heads and ten horns designate Imperial Rome-see Rev. 13:1-10, where the beast is seen as the fourth great world power-having in it the characteristics of the former great world, powers; of Babylon, having the mouth of the lion; of Medo-Persia, having the feet of the bear; of Greece, having the appearance of a leopard.
Here we see indicated the connection between Imperial Rome and Religious Rome, asserting itself with fresh ostentation in the last times. The likeness is very complete. We are told that the seven heads set forth seven mountains on which the woman sitteth. Rome is well-known as the city of the seven hills.
Of Imperial Rome the Chapter tells us there had been five kings up to the time that the Apostle John wrote. A sixth was one the throne when he wrote. Prophecy as to the last times is arrested whilst the Church is on this earth-described as we have seen in "the things that are" (Rev. 2 and 3), whilst the last things come before us after the Church is raptured to glory (Rev. 4 and on). The seventh king that is to come is to continue but a short space, and then the eighth, who will go into perdition, will be the Political and Military Head of the Revived Roman Empire in the last days, working in conjunction with the second beast, the Antichrist, as seen in Rev. 13.
Surely in all this we have the setting for the drama of the last days. This huge apostate religious profession will in the very end be destroyed by Imperial Rome. We read that the ten kings of that Empire will hate "the whore," be so infuriated by her blasphemous pretensions and her attempt to dominate the world, that they will rise in anger against her. Her assumption will be her ruin.
The ten kings will make her desolate and naked, eating her flesh and burning her with fire-eating her flesh, pointing to the confiscation of her palaces, wealth, endowments and property; burning her with fire, to the complete destruction of her system. Thus following total apostasy will succeed total destruction.
Do we not get a foreshadowing of this in Nazi Germany? First she became largely apostate, put hundreds of pastors in prison, and sought to obliterate every vestige of Christianity in the country. Now she lies stricken, bleeding, helpless, in the complete power of those, who have risen against this evil thing. Never has such a defeat been seen in all the history of the world, and it may well stand as an example of what will happen in the last days on a far larger scale.
In Rev. 17:14 we find the Battle of Armageddon indicated, the final triumph of the Lord Jesus, spoken of as the Lamb, and yet the Lord of lords and the King of kings. The full details of this battle are found in Rev. 19:11-21.
The task we set ourselves is finished. We can only commit what has been written to the Lord, and seek His favor that it may be used to the enlightenment and help of His beloved people.
God will triumph. All His ways vindicated. His counsels and plans brought to fruition. His name glorified forever and forever. Amen and amen.