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A Harlot rides the BeastHow the faithful city has become a harlot (Isaiah 1:21).
compiled by Rachel Cory-Kuehl
March 12, 2022
Scripture is from the NKJV unless otherwise noted
Revelation 17:3 “So he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness. And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.”
The harlot sits on “peoples, multitudes, nations and tongues” (Rev 17:15), because she “rides” the Beast who rules “over every race, people, language and nation” (Rev 13:7).
The harlot is a city - a very rich city - “that great city which reigns over the kings of the earth” (Rev 17:18). She is called “Babylon, that mighty city” (Rev 18:10, Rev 19:21).
Revelation 17:5 “On her forehead a name was written: MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.”
This woman was “drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus (Rev 17:6). We remember Jezebel, the wife of King Ahab, who murdered the prophets of God using the power of the state.
When John saw this woman, he “marveled with great amazement” (Rev 17:6). Why would John marvel or be greatly amazed, by a rich pagan city? I don’t think he would be. I believe John was “amazed” because he recognized this woman - this city. It was his own City - Jerusalem.
SEVEN HILLS
Revelation 17:9 “Here is the mind which has wisdom: The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits.”
Both Rome and Jerusalem sit on 7 hills. Rome was certainly guilty of killing both Jews and Christians. Later the Roman Church was guilty of great persecution during the Crusades and the Inquisition. The Roman Church gave birth to “daughters” - those Protestant denominations that “came out of her,” but not all the way “out,” retaining many of her doctrines. Jerusalem at one point sank into idolatry, even offering their sons and daughters as sacrifices. The Jewish rulers persecuted Christ and pressed Pilate for His death. After the resurrection, they persecuted those who proclaimed Him. The apostle Stephen accused the Jewish rulers of Jerusalem, just before they stoned him.
Acts 7:52 “Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers.”
ROME, or JERUSALEM?
Isaiah 1:21 “How the faithful city has become a harlot! It was full of justice; Righteousness lodged in it, But now murderers.
22 Your silver has become dross, Your wine mixed with water. 23 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 the widow come before them.
24 Therefore the Lord says, The LORD of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel, ‘Ah, I will rid Myself of My adversaries, And take vengeance on My enemies. 25 I will turn My hand against you, And thoroughly purge away your dross, And take away all your alloy. 26 I will restore your judges as at the first, And your counselors as at the beginning. Afterward you shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city.’”
- ROME was never a “faithful city,” “full of justice.” -
- ROME will never be called “the city of righteousness” in the Kingdom of Messiah. -
LIKE SODOM AND EGYPT
Revelation 11:8 [Speaking of the Two Witnesses] “Their bodies will lie in the public square of the great city-- which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt-- where also their Lord was crucified.” (NIV)
In the last days Jerusalem will become like Sodom and Egypt, full of idolatry and blasphemy. She will forget Yehovah, and turn to a new “god” - money (power and security). She will sell herself (and perhaps her technology) to the Beast power. She will make a covenant (treaty) with “the prince” who will “take away the daily sacrifices,” and whose forces will later “destroy the city and the sanctuary” (Daniel 9:26).
The “ten horns” of the Beast, will finally “hate the harlot, make her desolate and naked, eat her flesh and burn her with fire (Rev 17:16). Under the Law of Yehovah, the daughter of a priest who became a whore was to die by fire (Lev 21:9).
In Ezekiel Chapter 16, the LORD speaks to Jerusalem.
Ezekiel 16:11 “‘I adorned you with ornaments, put bracelets on your wrists, and a chain on your neck. 12 And I put a jewel in your nose, earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head. 13 Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was of fine linen, silk, and embroidered cloth. You ate pastry of fine flour, honey, and oil. You were exceedingly beautiful, and succeeded to royalty. 14 Your fame went out among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through My splendor which I had bestowed on you,’ says the Lord GOD.
15 ‘But you trusted in your own beauty, played the harlot because of your fame, and poured out your harlotry on everyone passing by who would have it. 16 You took some of your garments and adorned multicolored high places for yourself, and played the harlot on them. Such things should not happen, nor be. 17 You have also taken your beautiful jewelry from My gold and My silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself male images and played the harlot with them. 18 You took your embroidered garments and covered them, and you set My oil and My incense [the Holy oil and incense of the Temple] before them [before the idols]. 19 Also My food [of the Temple] which I gave you-- the pastry of fine flour, oil, and honey which I fed you-- you set it before them [before the idols] as sweet incense; and so it was,’ says the Lord GOD.
20 ‘Moreover you took your sons and your daughters, whom you bore to Me, and these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your acts of harlotry a small matter, 21 that you have slain My children and offered them up to them [the idols] by causing them to pass through the fire?
22 And in all your abominations and acts of harlotry you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, struggling in your blood. 23 Then it was so, after all your wickedness--`Woe, woe to you!’ says the Lord GOD-- 24 ‘that you also built for yourself a shrine, and made a high place for yourself in every street. 25 You built your high places at the head of every road, and made your beauty to be abhorred. You offered yourself to everyone who passed by, and multiplied your acts of harlotry. 26 You also committed harlotry with the Egyptians, your very fleshly neighbors, and increased your acts of harlotry to provoke Me to anger.
27 Behold, therefore, I stretched out My hand against you, diminished your allotment, and gave you up to the will of those who hate you, the daughters of the Philistines, who were ashamed of your lewd behavior. 28 You also played the harlot with the Assyrians, because you were insatiable; indeed you played the harlot with them and still were not satisfied.
29 Moreover you multiplied your acts of harlotry as far as the land of the trader, Chaldea; and even then you were not satisfied. 30 How degenerate is your heart!’ says the Lord GOD, ‘seeing you do all these things, the deeds of a brazen harlot.’
31 ‘You erected your shrine at the head of every road, and built your high place in every street. Yet you were not like a harlot, because you scorned payment. 32 You are an adulterous wife, who takes strangers instead of her husband.’
33 ‘Men make payment to all harlots, but you made your payments to all your lovers, and hired them to come to you from all around for your harlotry. 34 You are the opposite of other women in your harlotry, because no one solicited you to be a harlot. In that you gave payment but no payment was given you, therefore you are the opposite.’
35 Now then, O harlot, hear the word of the LORD! 36 Thus says the Lord GOD: ‘Because your filthiness was poured out and your nakedness uncovered in your harlotry with your lovers, and with all your abominable idols, and because of the blood of your children which you gave to them, 37 surely, therefore, I will gather all your lovers with whom you took pleasure, all those you loved, and all those you hated; I will gather them from all around against you and will uncover your nakedness to them, that they may see all your nakedness.’
38 ‘And I will judge you as women who break wedlock or shed blood are judged; I will bring blood upon you in fury and jealousy.
The Sinai Covenant was a marriage covenant. “‘Return, O backsliding children,’ says the LORD; ‘for I am married to you.’” (Jer 3:14). “Thus says the LORD: I remember you, the kindness of your youth, the love of your betrothal, when you went after Me in the wilderness.” (Jer 2:1-3). “For your Maker is your husband, The LORD of hosts is His name . . .” (Isa 54:5).
39 I will also give you into their hand, and they shall throw down your shrines and break down your high places. They shall also strip you of your clothes (power and pretense), take your beautiful jewelry, and leave you naked and bare.
40 They shall also bring up an assembly against you (the ten kings of Rev 12 & 16), and they shall stone you with stones and thrust you through with their swords.
Under the 7th plague, great hailstones will fall from heaven, specifically on “the great city” (Rev 16:19-21). “The LORD will cause His glorious voice to be heard, And show the descent of His arm, with the indignation of His anger And the flame of a devouring fire, With scattering, tempest, and hailstones (Isa 30:30). A women who willingly committed fornication or adultery, was to be stoned (Deut 21:22). Idolatry was, and is, called adultery towards God (Jer 3:8 ). Ancient Israel was “married” to the LORD by the Sinai Covenant (Isa 54:5; Jer 3:14; Jer 2:1-3). New Testament believers are “betrothed” to Jesus Christ, who will marry the New Jerusalem (2Cor 11:2, Rev 21:9-22:4).
41 They shall burn your houses with fire, and execute judgments on you in the sight of many women; and I will make you cease playing the harlot, and you shall no longer hire lovers.’”
Ezekiel wrote about the Jerusalem of his day, destroyed by the Babylonians. Revelation speaks to our day. The prophecy can have more than one fulfillment, if Jerusalem once again, turns to “another god”- the Little Horn.
Half way through the 7 year covenant, the evil “prince” will “bring an end to sacrifice and offering” at the restored Temple (Daniel 9:27). The “daily sacrifice” is taken away by the Little Horn (Dan 8:11). He will set himself up as “God” in the Temple of Yehovah. This is “the abomination that will bring desolation” for Jerusalem and for the whole world.
Revelation 19:1-3 “After these things I heard a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, ‘Alleluia! Salvation and glory and honor and power belong to the Lord our God! 2 For true and righteous are His judgments, because He has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her fornication; and He has avenged on her the blood of His servants shed by her.’ 3 Again they said, ‘Alleluia! Her smoke rises up forever and ever!’”
CONCLUSION
This was a sad study to write. I’m sure I will suffer a lot of backlash for it. But I must publish what I believe.
We pray this study will one day prove a blessing.
Please remember us in your prayers.
Prophecy Viewpoint
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