Revelation 17:15-18; Judgment of the Great Harlot

Revelation 17:15-18  And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. 16 And 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. 17 For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. 18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth. 

The judgment of the great harlot is given here. The angel now leaves his detailed discussion of the beast to tell how the harlot will meet her end.

In changing the subject slightly, the angel reverts to v1 to explain the meaning of “the waters”.

Revelation 17:1  And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: 

Usually “water” in Revelation means literal water. This is an exceptional case, occasioning a special explanation of the water’s figurative meaning (Walvoord). In the Old Testament, water is a common symbol for people (Psalm 18:4, 16; 124:4; Isaiah 8:7; Jeremiah 47:2) (Lee, Beckwith).

Psalm 18:4  The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid. 

Psalm 18:16  He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of many waters. 

Psalm 124:4  Then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul: 

Isaiah 8:7  Now therefore, behold, the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river, strong and many, even the king of Assyria, and all his glory: and he shall come up over all his channels, and go over all his banks: 

Jeremiah 47:2  Thus saith the LORD; Behold, waters rise up out of the north, and shall be an overflowing flood, and shall overflow the land, and all that is therein; the city, and them that dwell therein: then the men shall cry, and all the inhabitants of the land shall howl. 

The reference, of course, is to Revelation 17:1 which earlier mentioned the harlot’s position atop the waters. She controls the lifestyle of the mixed populations of the world through their voluntary submission to her.

[Robert L. Thomas, Revelation 8-22 – An Exegetical Commentary, Moody, 1995, 303]

Two ways of life are ever before us:

One way serves the Lamb, the other the beast.

One way fellowships with the church, the Lamb’s pure bride; the other sells its soul to the world, the beast’s foul whore.

One way lives for what will last forever, the other for what will look good for a short while before being destroyed.

One way pleases God through obedience; the other carries out his purpose by filling up the measure of transgression on which he will display his wrath.

One way leads to the new Jerusalem, the other to Hell.
We need to be convinced that it is better to live for the Lamb than for the beast, with the pure bride than with the nasty whore, for eternal things rather than the temporary, to please God and not enrage him, to enter his city rather than being thrown into the lake of fire.

Live for the Lamb and his pure bride, not for the beast and his whore. [James Hamilton’s Revelation: The Spirit Speaks to the Churches]