We are looking at Revelation 17. I am not sure that Revelation 17 & 18 progress the chronology at all. It seems to be information that perhaps is being filled in throughout the Tribulation Period, and so it is kind of back tracking a little bit filling in some details that are helpful to us. However, Revelation 17, 18 & 19 are about judgment. It’s about the judgment on the kingdom of Satan and the judgment on the kingdom of the antichrist. In Revelation 17 we are going to look at the judgment on the religious system that the antichrist is part of, and Satan has fostered on the earth. Revelation 18 will be judgment upon the economic system, and the business world that has become part and parcel of the antichrist kingdom and system. Finally, we look at the destruction of the military might of the antichrist. Satan’s army comes out in all its power against Christ Himself as He returns, and they fail miserably. So, judgment on the religious, economic, and military might of the antichrist backed by Satan is where we are going in the next three chapters.
Looking at Revelation 17:1 it says, “Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came.” Remember those are the last judgments that were poured out. The Seven Bowl Judgments. The verse continues, “and spoke with me, saying, “Come here, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters.” We see the judgments that are going to be unfolded for us in this text. In Revelation 17:2 it says, “with whom 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. And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness.”
Before we look at the details of this judgment, or at least the individuals that are part of this judgment, let’s first look at Revelation 17:3 where it says, “he carried me away in the Spirit.” Four different times in the book of Revelation we have this type of rhetoric of being carried away in the Spirit or being in the Spirit. Each of those times that this happens, we have a turning point in the book of Revelation. In Revelation 1:10, in the opening scenes of the book of Revelation, we find that just prior to the messages to the seven churches, John is in the Spirit. It says, “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet.”
