The Fate Of The Prostitute
THE FATE OF THE PROSTITUTE
REVELATION 17:7-18
In the midst of all the talk of worldly power, be encouraged in your stand for truth and uprightness (see 17:14).
John tells us that when he saw the prostitute, “I was greatly astonished” (17:6, NIV). If it were not that we are so familiar with the existence of an official church, we should probably be so, too. At the time the Roman empire was turning itself into a god; it ignored religious faiths unless such a faith claimed first place above Rome, and then Rome persecuted it. So in that sense the beast “is not” (17:8). From the time of Constantine the new alliance began. Wherever European civilization has become dominant, in one way or another there has been an alliance between church and State. Even in the United States of America, where established religion is barred by the constitution, Christian churches still enjoy some privileges and respect.
Though Rome is not the only city to have been built on seven hills—the same is asserted of Jerusalem—there can be no doubt that it looms large in the picture, and we need not be surprised that for the Reformers the identification of the prostitute with the Roman Catholic Church was almost an article of faith. This is the more natural, if we remember that Constantinople (as later Moscow) had claimed to be the heir of Rome. In so symbolic a book we may, however, question an interpretation that may deflect attention from one’s own denomination. We have met seven before, and the hills are the symbol of stability. At all times the established church has been the chief supporter of the establishment. The identification of the prostitute with organized society is seen in her being called “the great city” (17:18).
There is a tendency in some circles to link certain modern church groupings with the prostitute. All church groupings that aim at or exercise power fall into her orbit. So do the organizations set up to fight them. Every church organization seeking power and setting its own claims for loyalty has been so drawn.
In the end the beast tires of the prostitute and destroys her. This is a process that began with the French Revolution, if not earlier. It has been greatly advanced by the rise of Marxism and totalitarianism. Already politicians have little time for the pronouncements of church circles. The final overthrow of the prostitute, when the world will appear unmasked as unashamedly anti-God, will show that the end is very near.