Babylon and the Beast This chapter speaks about the adulteress Babylon, and her relationship with the beast: 1- Babylon’s characteristics 1 - 6. 2- The secret of the woman and the beast 7 - 18. 1 - BABYLON’S characteristics “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’”[1]. The Lord brought John to a new vision, when one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came to him. The coming of this angel, in particular, to show him this harlot, is to reveal to us to what extent the heart of the evil man can be cruel, especially the Antichrist and his followers who personify this cruelty. It is appropriate that one of the angels who pour out the seven bowls take this role, so that we might not accuse them of being more violent and severe than others. The characteristics of Babylon are: 1. “The great harlot who sits on many waters.” Because the Lord offers Himself as Bridegroom to the human soul, He asks for the whole heart. And every deviation of the heart, away from the Lord, is considered a conjugal unfaithfulness, and thus called “spiritual adultery.” Therefore, the Holy Bible calls the worshipping of idols and the love of money, adultery. As for her sitting on many waters; we know that water points to the nations. That is to say the spirit of hatred, the spirit of the Antichrist, dominates over many nations. This description was previously used to mark the old Babylon, we read about her who deviated away from the Lord, “O you who dwell by many waters” (Jer.51:13). 2. “With whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication” [2]. Meaning that other countries and kingdoms were her partners in her evil and blasphemy. This will be through the deviation of her kings. By the fall of the kings, the people are lured by their thoughts, and get attracted with them to their blasphemies, without reasoning or thinking, as the drunk. 3. Her sitting on a scarlet beast: “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” [3]. The spirit carried him to her place, “the wilderness,” for she lives in a spiritual aridity and dryness. For the world that embraces her, whatever its wealth and pleasure are, it is still an arid wilderness, which cannot satisfy the hunger, or the thirst of the soul. This woman hides underneath her a beast. It is Satan who works inside her, on which sits all enmity towards God, as a throne that embraces sin and sinners. Ibn-el-Assal thinks, that this beast is the army of the Antichrist, on which he relies 9 in resisting the Church, and who works through the spirit of Satan. As for his color, the scarlet, it points to the shedding of blood. Being full of blasphemous names points to what he thinks of, which is kinds (names) of blasphemy. The seven heads and the ten horns were previously spoken of 1, and will be talked about in this same chapter. 4- Her adornment and beautification: “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” [4]. She is the bride of the beast...how cannot she adorn herself, in order to deceive and draw people to her poisons? She is “adorned with gold,” that is to say, her beauty is not natural, but artificial and deceiving. What a big difference between this bride and the bride of Jesus, the Church who is embellished (Rev. 12)?! The first is adorned with the worldly, to deceive; and heaven embellishes the second, and she is clothed with the sun, the moon under her feet and on her head a crown of twelve stars. The first has in her hand a cup full of abominations, and of filthiness of her fornication. The other one is pregnant, crying with pain and labor to give birth. She is walking in the way of the cross. The first offers all worldly pleasures to her children, the second does not find a place, thus God prepares a place for her to support her (12:6). The first is sitting on Satan’s throne, and the second is the subject of the dragon’s envy, and he aims at devouring her. 5- Her insolence: "And on her forehead a name was written: ‘Mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth’” [5]. Tertullian says, that in the past the adulteresses used to write their names on their doors, so that those who desire them may come in. This woman was so insolent, to the extent that instead of writing her name on her door, she writes it on her forehead, proud of her sin, daring and clinging to her deeds. As for the word “Mystery,” it is not an adjunct to Babylon, but it is a parenthetic word, which means that it has a symbolic meaning, that is, “Babylon” or the opposition to God: It is the lodging of the wicked, who resists God. As the Church is called “Jerusalem,” and “Zion,” because she became consecrated to God, thus the kingdom of the Antichrist is called “Babylon,” the city of Satan, the symbol of the spiritual adultery and obstinacy. 6. Her resistance to the Lord: “And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement” [6]. We wonder that this woman who is adorned and beautified, and who shows gentleness and sweetness, is in reality a shedder of the blood of the innocent saints. She enjoys nothing but the resistance to the Lord Jesus, by killing His martyrs. 1 See the interpretation of Rev. 13:1. 10 2 - THE MYSTERY OF THE WOMAN AND THE BEAST “But the angel said to me, ‘Why did you marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns.’ The beast that you saw was, and is not, and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition”[7-8]. It is obvious that this beast is Satan who was... that is to say who had authority over human beings, accusing and capturing them, ‘and is not,’ because he has no more authority over us, as by the cross, the kingdom of God became within us. Now we enjoy the freedom of the children of God, the conquerors over whom Satan, his soldiers or his works have no authority, therefore the Bible says: “Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, ‘Lord even the demons are subject to us in Your name.’ And He said to them. ‘I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I give you the authority to trample upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you’” (Luke 10:17-19). “Having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us, And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it” (Col. 2:14,15). And as St. Chrysostom says1, [In prayer make the sign of the cross on your forehead, then demons can not approach you, because you are well equipped.] The Holy Bible, the sayings of the Fathers, and the biography of the saints... all are full of what assures the fall down of the authority of Satan over the believers. Thus, the Book of Revelation says about him, “was, and is not,” because his power is destroyed, and we entered through the Lord the millennium kingdom. This is the pledge of the eternal kingdom, which is an extension to the millennium kingdom, not in this world, and not as though they were in a puzzle, but in public eternal glories. As for his saying, “and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition,” it is an announcement of the rise of his authority in the person of the Antichrist as we have seen, but he hastily goes to perdition. Therefore he says, “And those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast that was, and is not, and yet is” [8]. The followers of the Antichrist who are earthly and materialistic in their thinking, will wonder when they see the beast i.e. Satan, who had authority and was stripped of him, came to being. His power was restored to him, and became as though he was invulnerable and his kingdom imperishable. He was generously giving his followers earthly things. “Here is the mind which has wisdom: The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits. There are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come. And when he comes, he must continue a short time. And the beast that was, and is not, is himself also the eighth, and is of the seven, and is going to perdition” [9-11]. Father Hyppolitus thinks, that the five heads who have fallen were five kings, representing great countries who reigned and dominated the world. 1 Homilies on St. Matt., 60. 11 1- Nebuchadnezer, the Chaldean. 2- Cyrus, the Median. 3- Darius, the Persian. 4- Alexander the Greek. 5- The four kings who reigned after him. 6- The Roman Empire, the state which existed during the writing of the book. 7- The kingdom of the Antichrist which will come at the end of ages. And St. Irenaeus thinks that they represent a multitude of unjust kings, who persecuted the believers across the centuries, without being restricted to certain names or a certain number. The one who actually exists (during the writing) is Domitanos the persecutor of the Church, and the one coming is the Antichrist. Satan has dominated over all hearts. As for the eighth or the beast who is one of the seven, he has the same antagonistic spirit, as the previous unjust kings. He mentioned him alone, to show that what he stirred up against the Church is incomparable to all persecutions and troubles that the church had endured from Adam to the coming of the Antichrist. This is what the prophecy reveals to us about the Antichrist, who in his wickedness, will surpass all evils which were stirred up against God, since the creation of mankind. “And the ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority for one hour as kings with the beast. These are of one mind, and they will give their power and authority to the beast. These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those who are with Him are called, chosen and faithful” [12-14]. St. Jerome, in his interpretation of Daniel, chapter seven says the same as Ibn-el- Assal does, that ten kings will submit to the Antichrist, who will deliver to him all their capabilities and energies, to wage war against the Lamb. Out of those ten, seven will accept him, while the other three will resist him at first, and he will torture them, thus the Antichrist dominates over them all. The amazing thing is that the Lamb does not leave them thus, but He conquers them, not for His sake but for the sake of those who are with Him, for they “are called, chosen and faithful,” and He does not forsake them till the end. How does the Lamb conquer? The Apostle says: “And the ten horns which you saw on the beast, these will hate the harlot, make her desolate and naked, eat her flesh and burn her with fire. For God has put it into their hearts to fulfill His purpose, to be of one mind, and to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled. And the woman whom you saw is that great city which reigns over the kings of the earth” [16-18]. This is the beginning of the Victory of the Lamb over the Antichrist and his followers. He lets evil corrupt itself by itself, and we do not know what will happen. Probably the ten kings will turn to hate Babylon, the harlot, which is the work center of the satanic beast. Or, the two powers will split up, the earthly and the spiritual (the satanic), of the Antichrist and his followers. Therefore the kings will rise against her and ‘will make her desolate,’ that is to say they will strip her of her vitality, so the human beings will not bear to look at her, and will 12 not accept her. ‘And naked,’ she will be in shame and disgrace because those who supported her, became her enemies. And ‘will eat her flesh;’ here he reveals how they madly assaulted on her. And will ‘burn her up with fire,’ until no trace will be left of her. This was the habit of kings when they conquer great cities. And all they do is done unwillingly, on account of the Kingdom of God. Even if the real motive is personal. God has put it into their hearts to fulfill His purpose, that is, the satanic hosts of wickedness planning for evil are in violent opposition, that they finally destroy one another.
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