March 8, 2020
Norwalk First United Methodist Church
Book of Revelation
Second Sunday in Lent
The Fall of Rome Proclaimed
Revelation 17
Once again, as we move into Chapter 17 of the Book of Revelation, the Apostle John describes the situation in which the persecuted find themselves, depicting the persecutor and his destruction. Like Chapters 12 through 14 previously, Chapters 17 through 19 are another historical survey outlining near future events both on the earth and in heaven. Chapter 17 proclaims the fall of Rome. Chapter 18 tells about the funeral and judgment of the Harlot City, called Rome. And Chapter 19 invites us to the Marriage of the Lamb and the destruction of the beast.
The same theme as in many of John’s other visions runs through this chapter as well. The beast, the Emperor Domitian, along with the power of the Roman Empire, continues its persecution of the Christians. Remember, Domitian was thought by many to be the reincarnation of the evil Emperor Nero, but Domitian was even crueler. He was the first of the emperors to make emperor worship compulsory.
Suetonius, a Roman biographer, wrote the following about Domitian at the beginning of his reign: “He used to spend hours in seclusion every day, doing nothing but catch[ing] flies and stab[bing] them with a keenly sharpened stylus.” Hermogenes, the historian, wrote things which Domitian did not like; he was executed, and the scribe who had copied the manuscript was crucified. Domitian also revived the old punishment of having his victims stripped naked, fixed by the neck in a fork of wood and beaten to death with rods. Whenever anyone came into his presence, Domitian was to be addressed as “Our lord and god.” Folks, this emperor was a psychologist’s nightmare.
So, I think you can see why the Christians were filled with hope when John’s letter was read. It encouraged them that Domitian’s persecution would shortly come to an end. Would you pray with me?
PRAYER
As Chapter 17 unfolds, we need to look at the scene before us in verses one through six. The “great harlot” is Rome with its lusting enticements. Many times, in the Old Testament, heathen and disobedient cities or even nations are described as harlots. In the Book of Hosea for example, God describes the nation of Israel as a harlot, because it had turned away from God’s love. You see, God is a lover of the souls of his people and when a nation, a people, or an individual turns his or her back on God, it is not so much a sin against law as it is a sin against love. To other peoples and nations, Rome is an enticer of godlessness and immorality. Rome and its people deliberately persuade others into sin. Our scripture says, “The kings of the earth committed acts of immorality, and those who dwell on the earth were made drunk with the wine of her immorality.”
The woman, Rome, sits on the scarlet beast, full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns. The scarlet beast is the many workings of the Roman Empire, whose rulers before Domitian have grown this beast into a mighty and destructive evil force.
The woman, the harlot, is said to be clothed in purple and scarlet and adorned with all kinds of precious jewels and ornaments. The ingredients and dying required to make purple cloth were very expensive. So, this bedecked woman is symbolic of the luxury and splendor of Rome and of the gaudy and lustful way in which it was used. It is the picture of a wealthy prostitute, decked out in all her finery to seduce men. The golden cup in her hand is a symbol of how Rome could lure kings and wealthy people in as they become drunk on the power of Rome’s riches.
In Rome, the prostitutes in the public brothels wore a frontlet on their foreheads giving their names. Rome, this great corrupting prostitute among the nations, had written on hers, “Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and of the Abominations of the Earth.” It was an apt description of Rome’s immorality and corrupting ways. The writer Tacitus called Rome, “the place into which from all over the world all atrocious and shameful things flow and where they are most popular.” Seneca called her “a filthy sewer.” Do you see the picture here? Christians had to remain unsoiled in this so called, “civilization.”
John concludes this section on the atrocities of Rome with verse six: “I saw the woman [Rome] drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus.” Rome does not simply persecute the Christians as a legal necessity but takes fiendish delight in hounding Christians to death. Rome is slaying the followers of Jesus. Rome is saturated with slaughter and revels in that slaughter as a drunk revels in wine. What a disgusting picture of Rome, but what of the beast?
As the grotesque images of verses 7 through 14 are brought before John’s eyes, an angel explains what he is seeing. Now the whole operational procedure of the beast, that is the Roman Empire, is deception. And so a twist is made on the Christian description of God, “the one who was, and is, and is to come.” In verse eight it reads, “The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to come…” So, let’s unpack this.
The seven heads of the beast are representative of Rome, built on seven hills, but they also represent seven kings. One would have to know the succession of emperors to know what John is writing here and the Christians of that time would certainly have known. The angel is trying to tell John that the persecution will soon end.
Now the Roman Empire began with the rule of Caesar Augustus, the adopted son of Julius Caesar. So, the five that have fallen would be the emperors Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero. The sixth head, the one that is, would be Vespasian who brought stability back to the empire between 69-79 A.D. after the death of Nero. And “the other has not yet come; and when he comes, he must remain a little while,” would be the emperor following Vespasian, Titus, whose reign only lasted two years.
Listen to verse eleven again and then we will pull it apart. “The beast which was and is not, is himself also an eighth and is one of the seven, and he goes to destruction.” The beast, the eighth ruler, would be the Emperor Domitian who ruled after Titus, his older brother. Being one of the seven harkens back to Nero, since Domitian was considered as evil as Nero and a reincarnation of Nero. The angel is telling John that the persecution will soon be over because Domitian, the eighth will be destroyed, and he was. He was assassinated by his court officials in 96 A.D.
As we move to verses 12-14, scripture tells us that the ten horns on the beast are ten kings. The number ten represents inclusiveness, so this would be all the kings in the Roman Empire who align themselves with Rome and the Emperor to wage war against Jesus’ followers. But this will last only a short time, “one hour” it says, because we soon read in verse sixteen that the kings of the Empire will turn against Rome. In this case, evil becomes self-destructing.
The Lamb, Jesus Christ, is victorious and all of God’s chosen and loyal followers share in the victory over the beast. One of the great beliefs of Jewish thought was that the saints and martyrs will aid Christ to win his triumph and share in the glory. It is an affirmation for us too, that after the Cross comes the crown. If we remain loyal and faithful to Jesus Christ, we too will share his crown of glory in heaven.
As the chapter ends, the harlot is destroyed, that is the evil of the Roman Empire, but Rome itself will continue for many more centuries. Scripture says that God put his purposes into the hearts of the kings for the outcome he desired even though the evil powers thought they were working out their own purposes.
Biblical theologian and scholar R. H. Charles once wrote: “Even the wrath of men is made to praise God.” Folks, the truth behind this whole chapter is that God never loses control of human affairs. In the last analysis, God is always working things together for good. He did during John’s time and he still does today.