“Revelation 17 and 18 are one unit together; the vision of a woman sitting a scarlet beast with seven heads representing both seven hills and seven rulers. We learned from chapter 17 that the woman represents Rome, the city of seven hills, ruling over the nations as the capital city of the empire; the beast which the woman rides. She is drunk on the blood of the saints and exports her immorality to the provinces. Because she lives lavishly on the backs of the people of the empire, this beast together with local rulers would turn on the prostitute and cause her to suffer the very judgements God had pronounced over her in a majestic show of the sovereignty of God. Now in chapter 18, John records something dangerous and astonishing; a funeral dirge for the great city while it still stands.”
(Originally preached on July 1, 2018)