Chapter 17 gives a very special revelation of the judgment of apostate Babylon, and her position as to the restored Roman empire.
Who is this woman? I beg my reader to ponder this question. She sits upon many waters; and the waters are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. She assumes the purple and scarlet. Who is this Mystery, Babylon the Great — mother of abominations — this drunken murderess? John marveled greatly at her; and so may we. Well, the angel gives the explanation: “I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns” (Rev. 17:77And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns. (Revelation 17:7)).
That this is the fourth empire, as described by the prophet Daniel, there can be no doubt; and we know that the fourth empire was the Roman. Its seat of power the seven-hilled city. And as this woman is seen sitting on the beast, she must be where it is. The center then of this dreadfully corrupt system is Rome.
There are several solemn facts made known to us in this chapter. The Roman empire was: it no longer exists. It shall be again — shall ascend out of the bottomless abyss. Its whole future character shall be satanic. The rising up again of this fearful empire shall astonish the world. Five forms of government had passed away: the imperial then was the sixth. The other form of government is not yet come. The seventh will continue only for a very short space; as the eighth, who shall be of the seventh, is the terrible beast.
In this last form of the Roman empire it will be composed of ten kingdoms. These give their power and strength unto the beast. This is certainly all future. The Roman empire was, is not, and thus shall be again. Can it be denied that many centuries after this revelation was given, a false apostate church has had its center at Rome? that this church has become the woman of the world, while professing to be the bride of Christ? Has she not so entirely ignored the heavenly calling of the Church, as to become one with the nations? Is there one mark of this woman that does not literally describe the apostate church? In Revelation 17:1616And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. (Revelation 17:16) we are told of her terrible destruction by the ten kingdoms of the empire. All this, my reader, is surely true.