My Sheep Hear My Voice- Rev. 17:1

My Sheep Hear My Voice- Rev. 17:1

Before Jesus was crucified He told the disciples to watch and pray, something so simple, but they let their physical bodies take over and they fell back asleep. In these last hours of time you need to hear His voice. When He tells you something, it is very important, but most ignore my voice or just discuss it and go on with what they were doing. You will see many things start to happen shortly and if you do not hear and obey His voice,... it will mean death for some of you....Jesus has only your best interest in mind. Christ knows you heart, and if you are truly His you will hear His voice. He awakes many of you at 3am on the dot, but most will roll over and go back to sleep. There are a few who will get up and pray. Your day is filled with so many things and Jesus is the last thing many of you give your time to. But Christ needs to talk to you,... to fellowship with you and only when you are still and quite (3am) can you hear Him,... the rest of your day is so busy you do not have time for Him,... but you need to make time, for time is short and the Lord has instructions for you.

Revelation 17

Mystical Babylon
(Parenthetical, Rev. 17:1-18)
The Great Prostitute and the Beast

Revelation 17 is the eighth parenthetical passage and is an account in some detail of Ecclesiastical Babylon, her identification, character, power, wickedness, judgment and destruction by the Antichrist and the ten kings, as well as an explanation of the beast and its seven heads and ten horns. This passage is parenthetical for the following reasons:

It is dislocated from its proper place as to fulfillment and is inserted here as explanatory matter between the act of the destruction of Literal Babylon of the seventh vial (Rev. 16:17-21), and the complete description of that destruction in Rev. 18:1-24. The placing of it here is to show the contrast between Mystical Babylon and Literal Babylon, rather than show its sequence of fulfillment. Its fulfillment is not contained in the vials, and therefore, is not a part of them. The seven vials, and, in fact, all of the events of the last three and one-half years will be fulfilled after the destruction of Mystical Babylon. The doom of Mystical Babylon by the Antichrist and the ten kings will transpire in the middle of the Week that the beast and his image may be the only objects of worship for the last three and one-half years, Dan. 9:27; Mt. 24:15; 2 Thess. 2:4; Rev. 13:1-18; 14:9-11.


This Mystical Babylon will dominate the ten kings and even the beast himself for the first three and one-half years until they together will receive power sufficient to destroy her. They will burn her with fire in the middle of the Week. The Antichrist will have all power in the last three and one-half years because of her destruction. This event will happen before the vial judgments which fall upon the beast and his kingdom, rather than upon the great whore.


Rev. 17 must be parenthetical because no revelation concerning the beast could be given before the rise of the beast, nor could the woman ride upon the beast until it appeared.

“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: Rev. 17:1

And there came... This breaks between the message about the fact of the destruction of literal Babylon (Rev. 17:17-21) and the description of this destruction (Rev. 18:1-24), both of which are under the 7th vial. The parenthetical portion is inserted between these two passages to show the contrast between mystical and literal Babylons. It is an alien passage in subject matter and must be recognized as parenthetical in that it explains the mystery of the great whore and the beast that carries her (Rev. 17:1-18). The time of the fulfillment is in the middle of Daniel’s 70th week, as is clear from the fact that the 10 kings give their power to the beast at this time and they turn on the great whore to destroy her so that the beast worship of Rev. 13:1-18 may be established (Rev. 17:8-17).

Come hither; I... The speaker (angel of Rev. 1:1) was clearly a redeemed man, for when he had ended showing the Revelation, John fell down before him to worship and was told that he was a prophet and a fellow brother (cp. Rev. 17:1, 17:7; 19:10; 21:9; 22:8-9).

The reference to these angels’ links chapters 17 and 18 with the vial (bowl), judgments (chapter 16), which extend to the second coming of Christ. Chapters 17 and 18 focus on one aspect of those vial judgments, the judgment of Babylon. The judgments already described are identified as targeting the final world system.

great whore that... (see14:8). Prostitution frequently symbolizes idolatry or religious apostasy (compare Jer. 3:6-9; Ezek. 16:30ff; 20:30; Hosea 4:15; 5:3; 6:10; 9:1). Nineveh (Nahum 3:1, 4), Tyre (Isa. 23:17), and even Jerusalem (Isa. 1:21), are also depicted as harlot cities.
sitteth on many... This picture emphasizes the sovereign power of the harlot. The picture of a ruler seated on a throne, ruling the waters, which symbolize the nations of the world (see verse 15).
This "whore" here is not a literal woman. In Hosea, his wife (who was a whore), was speaking of Israel. Here, this "whore" is speaking of the idolatrous church.
This statement sitteth upon many waters, speaks of large groups of people. This is not the true church. This is the apostate church. God calls it the harlot church; the church that is not faithful to God, the church that is worldly. This church, while claiming to be Christian, finds many reasons to conform to the beast and the evil world system. This will be the one world religion which will appear after the church (Christians).
This, without question, is the part of the church that has compromised with the world and is no longer a chaste virgin in the sight of God. I truly believe that a large portion of the church falls into this category today. Worldliness has crept into our churches. The sad thing is that if she would repent, God would take her back, but she will not repent.
The Bride of Christ is called a city, and that is the portion of the church which has not compromised. The other (opposite), side of that is the harlot. It is also called a city but is evil because of compromise. This is not only the apostate church of Rome, but the apostate in many other churches in the world, as well. Again, the waters let us know that this apostate church is throughout the masses of people.

The fall of Babylon (chaps. 17-18)

Babylon — the source of so many heathen and pagan religions which have opposed the faith of Israel as well as the faith of the church — is here seen in its final judgment. These chapters do not fall chronologically within the scheme of the seals, trumpets, and bowls of the wrath of God, and expositors have had difficulty in determining precisely the meaning of the revelation in these chapters as they are parenthetical.

In general, however, in Rev. 17:1-18 Babylon is seen in its religious character climaxing in a world religion which seems to fit the first half of the last seven years preceding Christ’s second coming. Rev. 17:1-18 also records the destruction of Babylon by the 10 kings (Rev. 17:16).

Religious Babylon Destroyed (Rev. 17:1-18)

One of the seven angels (in Rev. 16:1-21) who had one of the seven bowls invited John to witness the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits on many waters. This evil woman symbolizes the religious system of Babylon, and the waters symbolize “peoples, multitudes, nations, and languages” (Rev. 17:15).