Revelation 16-19: “Babylon,” Bowls of Wrath, Parousía
1. BABYLON THE PROSTITUTE
Revelation chapters 17 and 18 focus on a powerful, global “Prostitute” who was “seated on many waters” and “with whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality” (Rev. 17:1-2). An angel told John that this “woman” was riding “on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names” (Rev. 17:3), the same beast that “was and is not and is to come” (Rev. 17:8), i.e. both Beasts from the Sea and Earth. It also describes her as “Babylon the Great,” which had become “a dwelling place for demons, a haunt for every unclean spirit…” (Rev. 18:2), “…the great city that has dominion over the kings of the earth” (Rev. 17:18). Many have speculated as to what she represents, but I understand that the Prostitute represents the historical Roman Catholic Vatican religious/political system in Rome that was established after it broke off from the Eastern Byzantine Church. It began to develop socio-political control over many people and nations around the same time that Islam was beginning to take over the larger eastern regions. Even though we can credit the Catholic Empire for deterring the spread of Islam towards the west, it established supreme political power in Europe and spread false Christian doctrine during the Middle Ages (AD 500 to 1500) through its authoritarian ecclesiastical system.
The formal Ecclesiastical system possibly began when Constantine declared Christianity as the official Roman religion in AD 313, structuring its governance to follow the Roman Empire’s format. Later emperors imposed a Christianity according to what was determined as correct theological “orthodoxy” at the various religious Councils. In AD 551, at the Council of Chalcedon, it was determined that the eastern portion of the Church should be independently governed by a Pope in Constantinople, equal in authority as the Pope in Rome. “This effectively was the start of the division of the church into the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic branches.”[1] The western portion of the Roman Empire fell to the Goths in the 5th century, but the Catholic Church survived the political struggles through various leaders. In AD 590, Pope Gregory I actively engaged in converting the northern Anglo-Saxon nations to Catholicism, and established the modern Roman Catholic Church almost as we know it today. When Charlemagne became “Emperor of the Romans” in AD 800, he was crowned by Pope Leo III, thus becoming the first “Holy Roman Emperor” under the authority of the Roman Catholic Church. Thus, the Church took political, as well as spiritual, control of all the western European governments of the time.
By the early 10th century, at the same time that the Turkish Ottoman Empire was being formed, the Roman Catholic Church was taken over by a powerful and corrupt aristocratic family of Tusculum, Italy, beginning with Theophylact and his wife Theodora.[2] They controlled the placing of many consecutive popes that descended illicitly from their daughter Marozia.[3] This period between the 10th and 12th centuries was later dubbed the “Dark Age,” and also sometimes described as the “rule by harlots.”[4] The next several centuries were also known for the frequent power struggles and wars in Europe between popes, antipopes, and emperors. Any person who contradicted its teaching and taught a more biblical perspective, or simply different, was classified as a heretic and killed, often burned at the stake. Many Jews were killed in their wide-reaching and violent inquisitions.
At the same time, the Roman Catholic Church prospered from the riches of the New World during their conquests and exploitations (15th to 16th centuries), as they claimed to be spreading the Gospel. The Pope became one of the most important government rulers in Western Europe, as well as head of the western Church, ruling from the independent city-state of the Vatican in Rome.
In this manner, the Roman Catholic Church began to control many “peoples, multitudes, nations, and languages” (Rev. 17:15) through a near dictatorship similar and parallel to the Muslim Ottoman Empire. It might even be seen as having collaborated with the Ottoman Empire and prospered commercially because of its trade with the countries in the Far East. Though nowadays the Roman Catholic Church may not have as strong a hold on governments and kings as in the past (the power of the Church and State has been officially “separated” in various countries), it still holds great sway over many Western governments in Europe and South America. The powerful Protestant government-churches of the 16th to 20th centuries following the Protestant Reformation of the 1500s were not much better than the Catholic Church in many regards. In spite of some efforts from within the Catholic Church to reform its centuries-old Biblical heresies, it still controls the lives of millions of sincere Christians around the world by keeping them in bondage under many false “Christian” doctrines. Some of the unbiblical theologies that the Roman Catholic Church promotes include the following:
b) Adult Membership and Baptism
c) Veneration of Mary and the “Saints
d) Papal Authority and Infallibility
e) Celibacy of the cleric
f) Amillennialism
g) Replacement of Israel
Even though the Roman Catholic Church was persecuted and weakened by Islam during the early centuries of Muslim propagation during the 7th to 10th centuries and later, history evidences that many Catholic leaders became corrupt and also persecuted many Jewish saints and true Christians. Thus, it was “drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus” (Rev. 17:6), and prostituted many kings of the earth with her abominations (Rev. 17:2-3) and immorality (Rev. 18:9). Revelation 18:23-24 says that all nations were deceived by her “sorcery,” and “…in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all who have been slain on earth.” The Vatican even controlled a walled Jewish ghetto in Rome between 1555 and 1870, a three-hectare area near the Tiber River, where Jews were locked in at night. Originally it contained roughly 3,500 Jews living in inhumane conditions, and later it was enlarged.[1]
The apostate Roman Catholic Church also abused of its power during many countries’ exploration and conquering of the New World (whether Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, French, etc.), and acquired enormous riches and land while killing most of the indigenous people. England, Holland, Denmark, and Sweden also tried to get their share of the plunder, and were just as interested in colonizing and spreading their brand of Christianity, but were generally not as cruel as the Catholic Church. The state churches of Spain and England competed in establishing their own empires globally, but England resulted more effective. The German Lutheran “church,” with its own version of Christianity, jumped into the fray in the 18th century and tried to dominate the Middle East. Germany joined the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century, but lost its power after World War I. It again intended to control the world with its apostate “Christian” Nazi ideology, leading up to World War II. Hitler carried out his evil plan against the Jews based in part upon the words of Martin Luther and other anti-Semitic teachings and actions by the early Church Fathers and Councils. Over 20 anti-Jewish measures that were instituted to exterminate the Jews by the Nazis were derived from Roman Catholic canonical law.
As mentioned previously, using the Turkish Ottoman Empire as a link to the Far East (“riding on its back”), the Catholic Vatican Papal system engaged in luxurious commerce (Rev. 18:7, 12-13) and profited from the Muslim practice of slavery and human trafficking (Rev. 18:13).
But “in a single hour,” this Babylon the Great will be destroyed (Rev. 18:19). The Beast and his associates will hate the Prostitute, make her desolate, devour her, and burn her up with fire, “for God has put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose…until the words of God are fulfilled” (Rev. 17:17). Islam will ultimately conquer the last vestiges of the apostate “Rome” and its false version of “Christianity.”
Because of these coming judgments upon the Prostitute, God has been warning His people, real Christians who might be under the deception of the Vatican and the corrupt Roman Catholic socio-political system, to “come out of her” while they still have the chance (before the resurrection) so that they do not participate in her sins and thus receive her plagues (Rev. 18:4).
God also tells His faithful people to rejoice, because this Prostitute will be judged:
“Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets,
for God has given judgment for you against her!” (Rev. 18:20).
2. BOWLS OF
WRATH
At the appointed time within the Beast’s global Caliphate, God will begin to rain down His judgments upon all those left behind. Revelation 16 describes that the first four Bowls of God’s Wrath will be upon (1) the earth and its inhabitants, (2) the sea, (3) the rivers and springs, and (4) the sun to scorch with fierce heat. People will curse God, but will not repent (Rev. 16:1-9).
Then the Fifth Bowl will be poured upon the throne of the Beast, and its kingdom will be plunged into darkness. But still the people won’t repent (Rev. 16:10-11).
The Sixth Bowl will be poured out upon the Euphrates River, which will dry up and allow the kings from the east to join the Dragon (Satan), the Second Beast from the Earth (the worldwide Islamic Caliphate), and the False Prophet (Muhammad) in their battle against the Lamb. They will assemble at Har Megiddo (Armageddon) in the northern plains of Israel on the Great Day of God Almighty (Rev. 16:12-16).
While the marriage between the Lamb and “those who stayed awake” (Rev. 16:15) is still being celebrated in heaven, there will be a final display of God’s wrath on earth by the outpouring of the Seventh Bowl: “…a loud voice” will come “out of the temple, from the throne, saying, ‘It is done!’” (Rev. 16:17). There will be great lightning and thunder, and such terrible earthquakes as never seen before (v. 18).
The Antichrist’s throne in Jerusalem will be split into three pieces, and the cities of the nations will fall (Rev. 16:19a). God’s “wrath” will also be poured out upon Babylon the Great, or the Roman Catholic Vatican center and its system (Rev. 16:19b). Many islands will disappear and mountains will fall away (Rev. 16:20). Enormous hailstones will fall upon all people, and they will curse God for the hail because they will be so severe (Rev. 16:21).
3. PAROUSÍA AND MESSIANIC AGE
This is when Jesus (Yeshua) will descend with “the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure…following him on white horses” (Rev. 19:14). These armies are a huge gathering of powerful and holy angels (Jude 14). As seen in Revelation 16:12-16, the nations will have assembled for the Battle at Armageddon, and “from his [Jesus’] mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations…He will tread the winepress of the fury [thumós] of the wrath [orgé] of God the Almighty” (Rev. 19:15). Such will be the slaughter that God will call upon all the birds to gather for His great supper of flesh: flesh of kings, captains, and mighty men, as well as that of men, both small and great (Rev. 19:17-18). The Beast and the False Prophet will be captured and thrown alive into the lake of fire and sulfur (Rev. 19:20). This represents the end of Islam and the Antichrist.
“On that day his feet
shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the
east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split
in two from east to west by a very wide valley, so that one half of the
Mount shall move northward, and the other half southward” (Zech. 14:4).
The prophet Zephaniah also described this day of wrath, distress, and battle against those who have sinned against God:
“The great day of the LORD is near, near and hastening fast; the sound of the day of the LORD is bitter; the mighty man cries aloud there. A day of wrath is that day, a day of distress and anguish...a day of trumpet blast and battle cry against the fortified cities and against the lofty battlements. I will bring distress on mankind, so that they shall walk like the blind, because they have sinned against the LORD; their blood shall be poured out like dust, and their flesh like dung” (Zeph. 1:14-17).
The Battle of Armageddon in Revelation 19 is very similar to Ezekiel 39 in describing the birds that are invited to eat the flesh of kings, termed the “great supper of God” (Rev. 19:17), which occurs at the end of the Battle at Armageddon, before the Messianic Reign:
“As for you, son of man, thus says the Lord GOD: Speak to the birds of every sort and to all beasts of the field: ‘Assemble and come, gather from all around to the sacrificial feast that I am preparing for you, a great sacrificial feast on the mountains of Israel, and you shall eat flesh and drink blood” (Ezek. 39:17).
It is very important that we distinguish between the two different wars described in Ezekiel 38 and 39. This Battle of Armageddon (in Ezekiel 39) may get confused with the Battle of Gog and Magog (in Ezekiel 38). Based on Revelation 16:16 and 19:11-21, I understand that Armageddon will occur after the resurrection of the saints and when Yeshua returns with them to establish His Kingdom for the Messianic Age (Millennium). Israel and the Jews will then dwell in their land securely, and not before, as described below. The Battle of Gog and Magog will occur after the Messianic Age (Rev. 20:7-10).
“Now I will restore the
fortunes of Jacob and have mercy on the whole house of Israel, and I
will be jealous for my holy name. They shall forget their shame and all
the treachery they have practiced against me, when they dwell securely in
their land with none to make them afraid, when I have brought them back from the peoples and
gathered them from their enemies' lands…I will leave none of them remaining
among the nations anymore. And I will not hide my face
anymore from them, when I pour out my Spirit upon the house of Israel, declares
the Lord GOD” (Ezek. 39:25-29).
As clarified above, Battle of Gog and Magog will not happen until after the Messianic reign. At the end of that millennial reign, Gog (probably Russia) will say: “I will fall upon the quiet people who dwell securely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having no bars or gates…” (Ezek. 38:11). That later battle is parallel to what is described in Revelation 20:7-10, where it clearly establishes that it will not occur until after Jesus’ thousand-year reign. It seems like Ezekiel’s future battles are not presented in chronological order, as they are in Revelation, but the later description clearly places them in the correct order.
Another important difference between the battles of Armageddon (in Rev. 19 and Ezekiel 39) and of Gog and Magog (in Rev. 20 and Ezekiel 38) is that the Second Beast from the Earth (Islamic Caliphate) and False Prophet (Muhammad) will receive their punishment in the lake of fire before the Millennium. The Devil will be bound for 1,000 years in the bottomless pit (Rev. 20:1-3), and will be allowed to again spread his hatred and unite the nations against the Messiah after the Millennium for the Battle of Gog and Magog (Rev. 3:3, 7-10). He will then be thrown into the same eternal lake of fire (Rev. 20:10).
After God’s victory in the Battle of Gog and Magog, the surviving people who never participated in the first resurrection, the unbelievers, will rise in a second resurrection, will be judged according to their evil works and for their rejection of Jesus or Yeshua the Messiah, and will then suffer a second death in the lake of fire. But this will be an unending death without relief, where they will be tormented day and night forever (Rev. 20:10). Thus, Jesus the Messiah “…must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death” (1 Cor. 15:25-26).
Now comes what Jesus was referring to when He told the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares in Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 (the ESV uses the term “weeds” rather than “tares”). Jesus said that the tares or weeds are going to be gathered by the reapers before the wheat itself is gathered: “Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn” (Matt. 13:29-30).
Jesus explained that this harvest is at the end of the age:
“The Son of
Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of
sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that
place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous
will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears,
let him hear” (Matt. 13:41-42).
“Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power” (1 Cor. 15:24). This will be the fulfillment of all of God’s eternal plans for a new earth and new heaven. We will finally enjoy living in God’s presence forever, without Satan’s interference anymore, Jews and Christians together as one new man, “built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit!” (Eph. 2:15-22).
“Then I saw a new
heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed
away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem,
coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her
husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He
will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with
them as their God” (Rev. 21:1-3)
[1]
Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Ghetto, accessed Dec. 15, 2022.
[1]
Learn Religions, https://www.learnreligions.com/roman-catholic-church-history-700528,
accessed Jan. 26, 2024.
[2]
Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theophylact_I,_Count_of_Tusculum,
accessed Dec. 15, 2023.
[3]
Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marozia, accessed March 11, 2025.
[4]
Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papal_States, accessed Dec. 15, 2022.
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