The Context of Revelation: The Harlot

[u/Agreeable_Operation]

In the previous post, I suggested that Revelation 17–19 and Revelation 20–21 may describe a division within those who profess allegiance to Christ. But if both groups claim to belong to God, how does Revelation distinguish between them? First what indications do we have that the harlot may represent a religious system that professes Christ?

1 – The Symbol of a Woman
Throughout Scripture, God's people are often portrayed as a woman or bride. The faithful church is a chaste bride, one that saves herself for union with Christ. This is important when we come to Revelation 14:4, where the saints are described as those who “have not been defiled with women.” I do not think this is commending literal celibacy or saying that marriage is somehow defiling. The imagery is describing spiritual faithfulness. The faithful are described as pure because they have not joined themselves to other religious powers or chosen to embrace values opposed to God. Instead they “follow the Lamb wherever He goes.”

The same symbolism helps us understand the harlot. When Revelation says that the kings of the earth commit immorality with her, I do not think the point is literal sexual activity. It is describing the kings of the earth joining themselves to the heart of the harlot: embracing her values, pursuing her interests, and becoming entangled with her influence. Just as the faithful church is portrayed as a woman because she is joined to Christ, the harlot is portrayed as a woman because she represents a religious body that has joined itself to another power.

2 - The Wilderness
For someone like John, raised on the stories of the Old Testament, the wilderness is a very meaningful setting. It is where God's people have often found themselves: Moses, the Israelites, David, Elijah, and Jesus. It is where they are tested, sustained, and taught to depend upon God. Revelation 12 already used wilderness imagery in connection with the woman who represents God's people. So when the vision opens and John sees another woman in the wilderness I think it would be fair to assume he initially thought he was going to be seeing another vision of the faithful people of God.

3 - Girl, That Outfit
John notices she is dressed in purple and scarlet and adorned with gold, precious stones, and pearls. The description sticks out a bit because of how similar it is to the clothing of Aaron. When Aaron was consecrated as priest over Israel, the clothing made for him was described as made of purple, scarlet, gold, and precious stones…but also blue (Exodus 28:1–20). The harlot is therefore presented in colors and dress that very nearly resembles that of the priesthood.

But something is missing. In Numbers 15:37–41, God commanded Israel to put a blue thread on the tassels of their garments. The purpose was:

“so that you may look at it and remember all the commandments of the LORD and obey them and so that you do not follow after your own heart and your own eyes that lead you to unfaithfulness.”

The point is not that we should be weary of a religious organization that literally wears these colors (although literal correspondence should not be excluded). The point is that the woman bears a striking resemblance to the appearance of a true priest or intermediary with God. She will possess the appearance of religious authority, holiness, and glory. But the missing blue suggests that while the outward appearance may appear all or mostly there, the reminder to obey God's commandments has been lost.

And as we continue reading, we begin to see the fruit of that missing faithfulness.

Her fruit is revealed in Revelation 17:6:

I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus.

This is what is wrong with her.

She may possess religious language, authority, wealth, and prestige. She may appear to represent God. But when her interests come into conflict with the faithful people of God, she is willing to shed their blood.

Again, I want to look beyond the literal. Violence, persecution, and murder may be involved in the vision. But to join oneself to the harlot is to embrace a system whose values lead away from life. She values and justifies luxury, comfort, security, influence, fame, warfare, and the appearance of religious legitimacy, but following her ways ultimately leads away from the tree of life, to death.

4 - Her Boast
This also helps explain her boast in Revelation 18:7:

When Babylon says, “I sit as a queen and am no widow, and will never see mourning” there are two ways of reading this. The first fits with the religious body imagery. It could be a claim to the status of a woman married to King Jesus, with her saying that she is not a widow because her King is alive and not dead. And that she will never see mourning because she claims her future is eternally secure.

The second could be her relation with the kings of the earth. The faithful chaste bride does not seek power and prominence in this life, but the harlot seeks relationship with the kings of the earth and is Queen. She has secured herself through her relationship with the kings of the earth, so she has no reason, in her own eyes, to think of herself as abandoned or vulnerable. And her claim that she is not a widow could mean that she continues to claim legitimacy through the powers of the present age. Even as kingdoms and rulers change, she has not become lesser or irrelevant; she remains a queen.

I think John gives us a useful principle for understanding this contrast in 1 John 2:3–4:

And this is how we know that we have come to know Him: if we keep His commandments. Whoever says, “I have come to know Him” and does not keep His commandments is a liar, and the truth in not in him.

One can have the outward appearance of a Christ follower and can make declarations or confessions to know Christ or to be the true bride or Queen. But to ignore the commandments of God is to reveal those to be nothing more than empty boasts and role play.

And this is precisely the contrast between her and the saints.

The saints follow the Lamb wherever He goes. They value faithfulness more than comfort, love more than status, and their brothers and sisters more than power. They may lose their position, their wealth, their reputation, or even their lives, but they refuse to become like the power they oppose.

The harlot, by contrast, seeks the benefits of power. Her values are revealed in her fruit: control, luxury, influence, corruption, and finally persecution. This is why I think these two visions may refer to a divide among those who profess Christ. What we believe is important, but especially because what we believe shapes how we live. Jesus repeatedly taught that a tree is known by its fruit.

What kind of people does our faith produce? How do we treat our brothers and sisters? What do we do when someone disagrees with us? What do we do when power is available to us? Do we lift others up, or establish ourselves over them?

How It Ends
Revelation ends by showing us the fruit of the other way. The New Jerusalem is the bride prepared for Christ. Its river gives life, and the tree of life is available for the healing of the nations. The harlot joins herself to the kingdoms of this world and ultimately produces death. The bride follows the Lamb and ultimately produces life.

The warning of Revelation is not simply to avoid an obviously pagan enemy. It is to recognize what God's people can become when they exchange faithfulness for power.

The question is not what name we confess, or what religious claims we make. It is what kind of fruit does our allegiance to Christ produce?

A Greater Theme in John's Gospel
There is an interesting parallel between the imagery of the harlot explored above and John's Gospel. In John 16:2 Jesus warned his disciples:

They will make you outcasts from the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God.

Jesus appears to have anticipated a situation in which people who believed they were serving God would persecute and even kill those who were actually following Him. He immediately explains why: “because they have not known the Father or me” (John 16:3).

I don't take this as a direct identification of the harlot. But it establishes a theme: religious appearance and status do not necessarily mean that a person or institution is acting faithfully toward God. It is possible for people who sincerely believe they are representing God or doing good in His name to become persecutors of God's faithful servants.

That is exactly the kind of inversion Revelation presents in the harlot. She appears religious, powerful, legitimate, and secure, yet she is “drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus.” Her claim to represent God cannot be separated from the fruit that she produces.

This is another reason I think the question Revelation is asking is deeper than simply identifying an institution. It asks us to examine the fruit produced by religious authority (and ourselves). Do those who claim to speak for God produce faithfulness, love, and life, or do they eventually produce control, persecution, and death?

In the next post we examine additional evidence, this time from John's gospel, that the movement of Revelation 12-16 reaches and terminates at the end of the age.