Revelation: - Knights of Columbus, Supreme Council

in judgment unexpectedly, like a thief in the night (v. 15) and he will destroy
them utterly (v. 16). The symbolic place of this judgment of God, Armageddon,
is the val ley of Megiddo, the battleground of Palestine. Here Ahaziah the king
of Judah had been slain by Jehu (2 Kings 9:27). Here King Josiah was slain
by Pharaoh Neco (2 Kings 23-29). This battleground was, in effect, already a
symbol of death and punishment.
The seventh bowl, at last, de scribes the end of all (vv. 17-21) in language
that we have already seen (cf. 8:7), and in terms of Exodus 9:23-24. Still in
this per spective of the bowls, in chapter 17 and following, these events are
described in greater detail with much more imagery and imagination.
The Harlot and the Beast
(Revelation 17)
First is the picture of the great harlot Babylon seated upon the beast (17:1-6).
The harlot is the goddess of Rome. She is seated on waters, the symbol of evil
(as is said in almost the same words in Jeremiah 51:13); her description in v. 2
is the description of Tyre in Isaiah 23:15-17. The beast is described here as
scarlet (the color of royalty and with the seven heads and ten horns as before,
which are about to be explained); similarly the woman is given all these
characteristics of the beast (cf. Jeremiah 51:7), as the persecutor of God’s elect.
That she is said to be in a wilderness (v. 3) is probably better to show her
contradiction to the woman of chapter 12, who personi fied the Church which
was protected in the wilderness by God. The Church and the antichrist occupy
the same terrain, this world, and the Church will be safeguarded against the
attacks of evil.
The rest of the chapter is de voted to an explanation of this vision, as is
announced in v. 7. The beast was and is not (v. 8), in opposition to God who is
and who was (1:4, etc.). Yet both the power of God and the power of the beast
are to come – the opposition of these two powers is, in fact, the sum of the
Apocalypse. The seven heads of the beast are seven hills on which the woman is
seated (v. 9), a certain reference to Rome, the city of the seven hills. Here we
see why John has characterized the power of evil as Babylon. Just as Babylon
had represented to the Old Testament Jew all that was wicked and symbolized
persecution (some times other cities were named, but Babylon was the
favorite), so does Rome in John’s time.
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