Revelation Chapter 17
VERSES 4 AND 5 “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, and on her forehead a name was written: MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.”
VERSE 4 -- AND THE WOMAN: She is an integral part of this beast until the very end of the harvest as Verse 16 shows.
WAS CLOTHED IN PURPLE AND SCARLET WITH GOLD AND PRECIOUS STONES AND PEARLS:
These words are also found in Rev 18:16, whether or not each item of apparel is to be analyzed is difficult to say. The total effect of her clothing depicting a wealthy monarch’s clothing may be all that is intended. The point is strong when THIS woman is contrasted to the OTHER woman in the wilderness who is being fed by an eagle.
“The “woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet,” queenly attire, because she was reigning at that time. Purple and scarlet are both symbols of royalty, but the biblical distinction for those found worthy is that red signifies royalty gained through sacrifice. As Christians generally know, scarlet does in some instances signify Jesus’ shed blood and his costly ransom sacrifice on the Cross on behalf of his Church and the world—his blood was shed FOR others, whereas Papacy shed the blood OF others.
Worldly royalty is obtained through heredity (blood lineage) or military (bloodletting) conquest.
Seen as a queen, the woman was “decked with gold and precious stones and pearls.” The KJV margin indicates her dress as gilded with metallic gold. What ornate attire! The false Church, that is, the clergy are vestured with robes of diverse colors consisting of the finest silk or velvet and made with the best workmanship; there are garments for different holy days and various other occasions. Crowns of the leaders contain numerous emeralds, sapphires, rubies, and diamonds. Down through history this Church has been given to much display and ostentation, which exactly fits the picture in Verse 4.
While the false Church is ornately attired, the Master Counsels the true Church to buy white raiment so that she will be clothed and the shame of her nakedness will not appear (Rev 3:18). The Apostle Paul admonishes that “women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shame-facedness and sobriety; NOT WITH braided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array” but with that “which becomes women professing godliness” (1 Tim 2:9, 10) obviously the professing Church missed this particular admonishment of the Apostle.” (“The Keys of Revelation”, Page 440)
HAVING IN HER HAND: The “hand” represents actions or deeds, an item in the hand is a tool of those deeds.
A GOLD CUP: -- usurped from the true temple (even as Belshazzar used the temple vessels in his party the night before actual Babylon fell.) Mystic Babylon “continued” (I. e., in a cup) its nefarious schemes, packaged in the guise of the Lord’s vessels. She USED the Bible, and she USED her historic connection with early Christianity to give poison to those who would drink.
“The “golden cup” represents the Bible. Ostensibly the potion in the cup purports to be the admonition and instruction of Holy Writ, but in reality, it is a stupefying draft or mixture of truth and error. The cup is gold to symbolize her claim of being the sole repository and dispenser of divine truth. In the wilderness era shown here, (that is during the 1260 years from 539-1799), the woman proffered the cup to others to drink, whereas Rev 16:19, a later scenario to occur during the pouring of the seventh plague, shows the situation reversed—the Lord will give her a cup (of retribution) to drink.” (“The Keys of Revelation”, Page 441)
FULL OF ABOMINATIONS: -- the mass being one of the worst of these abominations, but only one in a vast array of abominable lies, hypocrisies, misrepresentations, and blasphemies. Nearly ALL that she taught corrupted human behavior and standards.
AND OF THE UNCLEAN THINGS OF HER IMMORALITY: This phrase and the one just preceding it DIVIDED Babylon‘s sins into two groups:
(1) The religious falsehoods, and
(2) The church-state cooperation for the suppression of liberties and truth.
We will continue with Verse 5 in our next post.
