1Yahweh’s word that came to Hosea the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.
2When Yahweh spoke at first by Hosea, Yahweh said to Hosea, “Go, take for yourself a wife of prostitution and children of unfaithfulness; for the land commits great adultery, forsaking Yahweh.”
3So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; and she conceived, and bore him a son.
4Yahweh said to him, “Call his name Jezreel, for yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel on the house of Jehu, and will cause the kingdom of the house of Israel to cease. 5It will happen in that day that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.”
6She conceived again, and bore a daughter.
Then he said to him, “Call her name Lo-Ruhamah, for I will no longer have mercy on the house of Israel, that I should in any way pardon them. 7But I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and will save them by Yahweh their God, and will not save them by bow, sword, battle, horses, or horsemen.”
8Now when she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, she conceived, and bore a son.
9He said, “Call his name Lo-Ammi, for you are not my people, and I will not be yours. 10Yet the number of the children of Israel will be as the sand of the sea, which can’t be measured or counted; and it will come to pass that, in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’ 11The children of Judah and the children of Israel will be gathered together, and they will appoint themselves one head, and will go up from the land; for great will be the day of Jezreel.
The vision of the great harlot revealed that she had the name of Babylon and had persecuted the saints while committing acts of immorality with the kings of the earth. It is introduced with one of the seven angels who executed the bowl judgments, taking John to see the vision of the “Great Harlot.” Which of the seven is not stated. Which one is unimportant. They are all just servants of God.
“Harlot” refers to false religion throughout the Old Testament, and so here as well (Jer 2:20; 3:6-10; Ezek 16:33; Hosea 1-2; Rev 2:20-22). It was popular in the past to call it an apostate Christendom embodied in the Catholic Church, united with the World Council of Churches. Thus, Babylon is Rome, and the beast is the revived Roman Empire. However, this need not be so. The practice of beheading the saints points more to a Muslim influence. Though those Roman Catholics who are not believers will not be raptured with the church (the same is true for non-believing Protestants as well), all religions of the world will be absorbed into the Antichrist’s system.
Her identity with “many waters” connects back to the Old Testament promise of Babylon’s destruction (Jer 51:12-13). “The kings of the earth” would refer to world rulers. Sexual immorality points to both physical and spiritual immorality involved in idolatrous worship in the Old Testament and in the beast’s kingdom.
Being “carried away in the spirit” indicates a continuation of John’s vision rather than physical relocation. The wilderness is then a part of the vision where John sees its message played out.
The woman John sees is a picture of the false religious system established by the Antichrist and his false prophet in chapter 13. The cloth and colors of her clothing indicate royalty and wealth. Her drinking from the golden cup shows the pleasure this system takes in immoral conduct that is offensive, an abomination, to God.
The name on her forehead begins with “mystery.” This use of “mystery” implies that Babylon has a secret meaning and may not be intended as a reference to ancient and modern Babylon in Iraq. “Mother of Harlots” indicates that a whole system of false religions is centered there (in Mystery Babylon). The same is true for “the abominations of the earth.” These are sourced in and nurtured by this false religious system.
In their world, a person had to drink a lot of wine to get drunk. The reference to this “woman” being drunk with the blood of the martyrs indicates that this religious system will have a vast number of victims who will die violent deaths. In particular, they will be tribulation saints, loyal to Jesus.
This places the occurrence of Babylon’s destruction chronologically within the period of the seven bowls, likely toward the end, particularly as a part of the devastating earthquake of the seventh bowl. Thus, “Mystery Babylon” will be destroyed last of all, and will continue to function until the end of the Antichrist’s reign. The symbolic language describes something literal.