Revelation Chapter 17
VERSES 6 AND 7 “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. 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.”
VERSE 6 -- AND I SAW:
John “saw” this woman back in Verse 3. As is traditional to the form of Revelation, John uses these three words (“And I saw”) as a section divider and focus changer. This verse brings us back to the Gospel Age Harvest when John “sees” in the sense of understanding. The angel has shown John things not clearly seen before the harvest. When the John Class “sees,” (comprehends) his (their) understanding results in his (their) great wonder or astonishment as is stated later in this verse.
THE WOMAN: The John Class finally fully understands the historical and prophetic import of this harlot -- the Roman Catholic Church. It is important to note that the younger harlots ARE an important part of the story, but the MOTHER is singled out by the Lord and should be also in our minds.
“The time frame of the woman seen by John in regal robes riding the beast is in the midst of the 1260-year wilderness period, conceived by many as the grandest epoch of medieval papal history. This corresponds in point of time to “that woman Jezebel [of Thyatira], which calls herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols” (Rev 2:20).
The historic or literal woman (the prototype of the symbolic one) was a Phoenician princess (Jezebel) in whose hands her husband, King Ahab, became a mere puppet (1 Kings 21:25). She soon influenced the establishment of Phoenician worship on a grand scale in the king’s court. At her table were supported no less than 450 prophets of Baal and 400 of Astarte (1 Kings 16:31, 32; 18:19). At her orders the prophets of Jehovah were attacked and slain by the sword (1 Kings 18:13; 2 Kings 9:7). On her fell, accordingly, the prophet’s curse (1 Kings 21:23); it was fulfilled literally by Jehu, whose chariot horses trampled out her life (2 Kings 9:30–37).
The identity of this notorious and mysterious female personage of the Apocalypse is the Roman Catholic Church viewed as a woman; that is, solely as an ecclesiastical system or sacerdotal power apart from her husband and lord, the pope of Rome.” (“The Keys of Revelation”, Page 443)
DRUNK WITH THE BLOOD OF THE SAINTS:
Notice that SHE is drunk. Her success in suppressing the true Church has gone to her head. She really thinks she is invincible -- and THAT will probably contribute greatly to her downfall. “Blood of the Saints”, Blood of life. She was not able to take the spiritual lives of the saints, but she was able to take or make miserable their physical lives.
(Please see the next phrase for possible complications from this application.)
AND (EVEN) WITH THE BLOOD OF THE WITNESSES OF JESUS:
This phrase can pose a problem. In the Greek, witnesses = martyrs.
But how do these martyrs differ from the saints?
Is it possible that “saints” refers to the prophets which she misused, Old Testament Saints, -- squeezing the life (blood) out of their testimonies?
The martyrs, then, would be the Gospel Age saints. Then again, the martyrs may refer to actual martyrs (a word the Roman Catholic Church loves) because she built her strength on the testimony of those willing to die for the name of Christ (which name she claims). She usurped (as is her wont) the glory of Christian martyrdom to herself. Compare Rev 12:10, 11 where the Roman Catholic Church does this very thing.
AND WHEN I SAW HER: -- When the John Class eventually understood all that this “church” had done
I WONDERED GREATLY: The John Class could be no less than astonished at the usurpation, abominations, counterfeits, lies, intrigues, conspiracies, secrets, and all other evils perpetuated with impunity on mankind by this harlot. Once Brother Russell assembled the indictments against her, we all looked aghast at the history of the Gospel Age.
We continue with Verse 7 in our next post.
