Revelation Day 46 - The Wild Woman on a Dragon

DAY 46
The Wild Woman on a Dragon
Revelation 17:1-6

“Don’t be a quitter!” Many of us have heard that message. But we’re also told plenty of times to be a quitter: quit smoking, quit sitting around, quit leaving the seat up! Sometimes it's a good thing to be a quitter, especially as a Jesus follower, which we see in Revelation 17-18. Here, Pastor John wants us to be a quitter for our own good. 

But first he shows us what the angel showed him: the Babylon Prostitute, who rides a seven-headed dragon-monster. One more time, we have to say: don’t take this vision literally. Don’t look for a weird woman riding a seven-headed monster to usher in the End Times. John’s using code again. 

This time, he’s doing satire - a political cartoon! The Roman Empire was often imagined as the goddess, Roma. Artists visualized her a proud and prosperous mother figure. We’ve done the same when we imagine the USA as Uncle Sam or Great Britain imagined itself as Brittania. Artists recycle those pictures, sometimes to inspire us, sometimes to shame us.

John flips that picture of Roma upside down. From far away, Babylon looks impressive. But close up, she looks like a gussied-up streetwalker. She’s showy, gross, and drunk on violence, especially against tried-and-true Jesus-followers. 

John’s not trying hard to hide who Babylon is. For his churches, Babylon is Rome. Anyone could guess that when reading in v.9 about sitting on seven hills - just like the city of Rome. 

So why not just say, “Babylon is Rome?” 

Because Babylon is and is not Rome. 

Babylon was the evil, anti-God empire in the Old Testament that tore down God’s people. John’s recycling that symbol for his churches. He’s also challenging us to look for Babylon in our time, too. There have been many Babylons and there might be many more before God wraps up this chapter of human history. Nazi Germany was just as much Babylon as Rome.

Once again, Revelation challenges us to look below the surface of everyday life to see what’s really going on. Some of what we celebrate in our world turns out to be empty, unfulfilling, and destructive. Revelation is training us to better see the fakes so we can have real life that lasts.

REFLECT
When have you been tricked into seeing something as different than it really is? Maybe someone played a joke on you or your eyes fooled you.

PRAY
Lord, help me to see what you see. Help me to what looks good but is really empty, unfulfilling, and destructive. Train my spiritual senses. Amen.