The most important character to identify in Revelation is the prostitute. The prostitute was the “great city,” apostate Jerusalem of the first century. More specifically, the prostitute was the unbelieving Jews that crucified Jesus and were loyal to Rome.
The Great City: Jerusalem
Revelation 17:18 (BLB) And the woman whom you saw is the great city, having kingship over the kings of the earth.
The angel earlier identified the “great city” as the place where Jesus was crucified. This could only be one city, first century Jerusalem.
Revelation 11:8 (BLB) And their body will be upon the street of the great city, which is called spiritually Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.
Jerusalem as “Sodom and Egypt”
The great city was symbolically called “Sodom and Egypt” (Revelation 11:8). The Song of Moses prophesied that Israel would be like Sodom in the last days (Deuteronomy 32:15,20-21,29,32). Paul confirmed that the Song of Moses concerned first-century Israel (Romans 10:19).
Why Was Jerusalem a Prostitute?
Why was Jerusalem a prostitute? Because she was having an adulterous affair with Rome. She crucified Jesus, her true king, and declared Caesar her ruler (John 19:15-16).
John 19:15-16 (BSB) At this, they shouted, “Away with Him! Away with Him! Crucify Him!”
“Shall I crucify your King?” Pilate asked.
“We have no king but Caesar,” replied the chief priests.
Revelation 17:1-5 (WEB) One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me, saying, “Come here. I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who sits on many waters, 2 with whom the kings of the earth committed sexual immorality. Those who dwell in the earth were made drunken with the wine of her sexual immorality.” 3 He carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness. I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet-colored beast, full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns. 4 The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of the sexual immorality of the earth. 5 And on her forehead a name was written, “MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF THE PROSTITUTES AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.”
Drunk with the Blood of the Saints
The prostitute was drunk with the blood of the martyrs and saints.
Revelation 17:6 (BLB) And I saw the woman being drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus. And having seen her, I marveled with great wonder.
Jesus told the Pharisees that they would be held responsible for all the blood of the martyrs and saints, when he said to them:
Matthew 23:34-37 (WEB) Therefore, behold, I send to you prophets, wise men, and scribes. Some of them you will kill and crucify; and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, 35 that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zachariah son of Barachiah, whom you killed between the sanctuary and the altar. 36 Most certainly I tell you, all these things will come upon this generation.
37 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I would have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you would not!
See also Luke 11:46-51.
Old Covenant Enemies Reimagined
In the Old Covenant, Babylon, Sodom, and Egypt were enemies of God’s people and persecuted Israel. In the first century, unbelieving Jerusalem acted as an enemy to New Covenant Israel when they crucified Christ (Acts 4:10) and persecuted believers (Matthew 10:17-23; Luke 11:46-51; Romans 9:27; Galatians 4:29; 1 Thessalonians 2:14-16; Revelation 2:9; 3:9).
1 Thessalonians 2:14-16 (WEB) For you, brothers, became imitators of the assemblies of God which are in Judea in Christ Jesus; for you also suffered the same things from your own countrymen, even as they did from the Jews 15 who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and drove us out, and don’t please God, and are contrary to all men, 16 forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved, to fill up their sins always. But wrath has come on them to the uttermost.
Hence, Revelation refers to unbelieving Jerusalem as Babylon, Sodom, and Egypt (Matthew 23:30-38; Revelation 11:8; 18:21,24).
Who is New Covenant Israel?
In Revelation, ethnic but faithless Jews were never defined as God’s people. That title was reserved for those who had faith in Christ. The verse below shows that in Revelation the “saints” are those who “keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.”
Revelation 14:12 (BSB) Here is a call for the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.
Throughout the Old Covenant, God chose to work almost exclusively with ethnic Jews, to be their God (Exodus 19:5-6; Amos 3:2). When he established the New Covenant, the Gentiles were invited into God’s people, “Israel.” Those who rejected Christ were removed from being God’s people, even if they were ethnic Jews (Matthew 3:9; 8:5-11; 21:43; 22:1-10; 24:14; Acts 3:21-26; Romans 4:11-12; 9:6-8,27; 11:17-18; Galatians 3:29; 4:21-31; Ephesians 2:11-22; Colossians 1:26-27).
Romans 11:17-18 (WEB) But if some of the branches were broken off [unbelieving Jews], and you [believing Gentiles], being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the root and of the richness of the olive tree, 18 don’t boast over the branches. But if you boast, it is not you who support the root, but the root supports you.
This olive tree analogy illustrates how Jews who rejected faith in Christ as their Messiah were “broken off” from God’s people, Israel, while Gentiles who came to faith were “grafted in.” To be Abraham’s descendant and part of God’s people, one must be his child through faith, not blood.
Romans 9:6-8 (BSB) It is not as though God’s word has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. 7 Nor because they are Abraham’s descendants are they all his children. On the contrary, “Through Isaac your offspring will be reckoned.” 8 So it is not the children of the flesh who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as offspring.
Matthew 3:9 (BSB) And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.
Galatians 3:29 (WEB) If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring and heirs according to promise.
The Two Covenants: Hagar and Sarah
Just like Ishmael was cast out from Abraham’s people when he persecuted Isaac, the unbelieving Jews were cast out of the kingdom, and only the children of promise were considered the true children of Abraham.
Matthew 21:43 (BSB) Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you [the chief priests and elders of the people] and given to a people who will produce its fruit.
Paul compares Hagar and Sarah to the two covenants. The Old Covenant (Hagar) bears children by physical descent while the New Covenant (Sarah) bears children by faith.
Galatians 4:21-31 (WEB) Tell me, you that desire to be under the law, don’t you listen to the law? 22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the servant, and one by the free woman. 23 However, the son by the servant was born according to the flesh, but the son by the free woman was born through promise. 24 These things contain an allegory, for these are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children to bondage, which is Hagar. 25 For this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answers to the Jerusalem that exists now, for she is in bondage with her children. 26 But the Jerusalem that is above is free, which is the mother of us all. 27 For it is written,
“Rejoice, you barren who don’t bear. Break out and shout, you who don’t travail. For the desolate have more children than her who has a husband.” Isaiah 54:1
28 Now we, brothers, as Isaac was, are children of promise. 29 But as then, he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now. 30 However what does the Scripture say? “Throw out the servant and her son, for the son of the servant will not inherit with the son of the free woman.”Genesis 21:10 31 So then, brothers, we are not children of a servant, but of the free woman.
As shown, God cast out the unbelieving Jews of the Old Covenant.
Salvation for All Through Faith
Today, Jews and Gentiles are invited into the kingdom through faith in Jesus Christ; God shows no favoritism to one group or the other (Galatians 3:28).
The Beast and the Prostitute
Now that the prostitute is identified as apostate Jerusalem, on what beast did she ride?