Revelation of John 17 · The Lantern

The Woman on the Beast

And one of the seven angels having the seven bowls came and spoke with me, saying, “Come here, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute who is sitting upon many waters,

That a woman ought not to be adorned in a worldly fashion. In the Apocalypse: "And there came one of the seven angels having vials, and approached me, saying, Come, I will show thee the condemnation of the great whore, who sitteth upon many waters, with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication. And I saw a woman who sate upon a beast.

Isaiah speaks of the devil in a similar manner when he foretells the fall [of the devil] under the figure of the leader of Babylon.

Come, I will show you the judgment of the harlot who sits upon many waters, etc., up to the blood of the prophets and the saints and all the slain upon the earth—In all the things that are said above, he indicates the torture and particular harms that will come upon Babylon in the end, on the part of the tyrants who will be then.

with whom the kings of the earth committed sexual immorality, and those dwelling on the earth were made drunk with the wine of her sexual immorality.”

And he carried me away into a wilderness in the Spirit. And I saw a woman sitting upon a scarlet beast being full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.

And the woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and with precious stone and with pearls, holding a golden cup in her hand being full of abominations and the unclean things of her sexual immorality.

And upon her forehead a name written, a mystery: BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF THE PROSTITUTES AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

Nor does he want to openly say that the Roman empire must be destroyed, which those who rule it regard as eternal. Therefore, according to the Apocalypse of John, on the forehead of the purple-clad prostitute, the name of blasphemy is written, that is, the eternal Rome.

The writing on the forehead indicates the shamelessness of the fullness of sins and of the confusion of the heart. She is mother because for those cities ruled by her she is the teacher of their spiritual fornication, giving birth to transgressions that are loathsome to God.

And on her forehead was a name written, Mystery, etc. This corruption is immediately shown on the very face to be the nurse of vices, but because it is discerned only by prudent reasoning, being most ornately adorned, it is indicated to be a mystical name.

The Mystery Explained

And I saw the woman being drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus. And I marveled, having seen her, with great wonder.

When great Babylon likewise is represented as drunk with the blood of the saints, doubtless the supplies needful for her drunkenness are furnished by the cups of martyrdoms; and what suffering the fear of martyrdoms will entail, is in like manner shown.

For the prostitute not only was full with the "blood" of the saints, but she was also "drunk." The kings who reigned over her had such different natures.

And I wondered when I saw her, with great admiration. And the angel said to me: Why do you marvel? etc. That is, the devil once ruled in the world, who, after the Lord was crucified, was cast out; but at the end of the world, he is released from the prison of his confinement and will perish forever by the spirit of the Lord's mouth (2 Thess. 2).

And the angel said to me, “Why did you marvel? I myself will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast who is carrying her, who is having the seven heads and the ten horns.

The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to come up out of the abyss and go into destruction. And those dwelling on the earth will be astonished, whose name has not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, seeing the beast, that it was and is not and yet it will exist.

We understand this to mean that an evil people is born out of an evil people. And so we can say the beast comes out of the beast and the abyss out of the abyss. And what does it mean that the beast comes out of the beast, unless an evil people is born out of an evil people?

He is referring to those very same people from whose members the body destined to damnation is built up. And should the names make for some ambiguity, in his epistle [John] has spoken of the same thing in the singular: "As you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now there are many antichrists." And shortly thereafter he says, "They went out from us, but they were not of us…

The beast is the devil who is always seeking someone to devour. He was killed by the cross of Christ, but, it is said, he will live again at the end, effecting the denial of salvation through the deceit of the antichrist in signs and wonders.

Here is the mind which is having wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, where the woman sits on them.

And there are seven kings: the five are fallen, the one is, the other has not yet come; and when he may have come, it behooves him to remain a little while.

For as the times are noted from the foundation of the world, and reckoned from Adam, they set clearly before us the matter with which our inquiry deals. For the first appearance of our Lord in the flesh took place in Bethlehem, under Augustus, in the year 5500; and He suffered in the thirty-third year.

As we have said frequently, in each member of a species the whole genus is indicated. Hence when we indicate what the whole beast is, there are the seven heads, and again the heads are called seven mountains and seven kings. That is to say, they are the entire reality of wicked people, which consists in the leaders as well as in kings and their subjects.

And when he comes, he must remain for a short time. Because the Lord looks upon both the proud and the weak, he mercifully says that the days which are particularly evil are shortened. Surely to both terrify the proud with the adversity of time, and to comfort the weak with its brevity.

And the beast which was and is not, he himself also is an eighth, and is of the seven, and goes into destruction.

"And the beast which thou sawest is of the seven." Since before those kings Nero reigned. "And he is the eighth." He says only when this beast shall come, reckon it the eighth place, since in that is the completion. He added:- "And shall go into perdition." For that ten kings received royal power when he shall move from the east, he says.

Lest we should think him of a different kind, it adds that the one whom it calls the eighth is from the seven and goes to perdition. In this way it shows that he is of the same evil genus, and by going beyond the number seven, it indicates that he is even a worse hypocrite.

And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, etc. The Antichrist, who is to rule at the end of the world, because of the unity of the same body of the wicked, of which he is the head, belongs to the number of the kingdoms of the world; but because of the singular power of his wickedness, he is also contained in the order of his own proper place.

And the ten horns which you saw are ten kings, who have not yet received a kingdom, but they receive authority as kings one hour along with the beast.

In a still clearer light has John, in the Apocalypse, indicated to the Lord's disciples what shall happen in the last times, and concerning the ten kings who shall then arise, among whom the empire which now rules [the earth] shall be partitioned.

He is speaking again of every kingdom of the world, which just above he indicated in the kings and their subjects. "The kings receive power with the beast for one hour." Here the hour is to be interpreted as referring to the time from the passion of the Lord, as the apostolic voice says, "It is the last hour." Therefore, until all the future is fulfilled, it says that they have…

And the ten horns which you saw are ten kings, etc. The kingdoms of the world have not yet fully demonstrated their power in persecuting the Church; although they now dominate many, the power of insane glory was fiercer when they deceived many with signs.

These have one mind, and they give up their power and authority to the beast.

He says that "they have one mind, and give their power and authority to the beast." For though the ten kings will be opposed to one another in their opinions, yet in this they will have "one mind": in giving "their power and authority to the beast", that is, to the Antichrist. For they will be defeated by him, and he alone of all will rule over the rest.

Indeed! For "no one can serve two masters." And so those who conspire together with an evil agreement and ally themselves with the antichrist will oppose themselves to Christ. However, the Lamb of God who was slain for us will conquer them.

These have one mind, etc. That is, with equal consent, they fully intend to fight for the devil, which is what it means to receive the kingdom after the beast, by imitating the devil and opposing Christ.

The Victory of the Lamb

These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, because he is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those with him are called and chosen and faithful.”

And he says to me, “The waters that you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues.

And the ten horns that you saw, and the beast — these will hate the prostitute, and they will make her desolated and naked, and they will eat her flesh, and they will burn her with fire.

For God has put into their hearts to do his purpose, and to do one purpose, and to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God will be completed.

"For God", he says, "has put into their hearts to do his purpose." He says that God, granting forgiveness, will persuade those who oppose it and those willing to take it.

What the apostle said, "God gave them up to a base mind to do what they ought not," that is also now said. For God has placed in their hearts to do that which is pleasing to him. Righteousness is pleasing to God, through which we know that retribution is visited upon the impious.

For God has put it into their hearts, etc. God, he says, the just and mighty judge, who is always pleased with righteousness, has permitted the impious to act in such a manner as a punishment for their previous sins, for which he deservedly imposes the end of the entire world, as the Gospels testify happened with Sodom and the flood.

And the woman whom you saw is the great city which is having kingship over the kings of the earth.”

More clearly, concerning the city about which the passage intends to signify, he brings forward that "the woman" "is the great city which has the dominion" over all.

That which continues makes very clear that the woman who was seen is the great city that exercises power over the kings of the earth, and the sufferings of that power that is ruling during those times is prophesied. From these trials the beneficent God will redeem us and enlist us in the heavenly city, namely, in the Jerusalem above.

And the woman whom you saw is the great city, etc. Likewise, later he is commanded to behold the bride of the Lamb, and he saw the holy city descending from heaven. As he describes it: And the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it (Rev. 21). For there are two cities in the world: one arising from the abyss, the other from the heavens.

Revelation of John17

The Woman on the Beast

The Mystery Explained

The Victory of the Lamb