1One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me, saying, “Come here. I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who sits on many waters, 2with whom the kings of the earth committed sexual immorality. Those who dwell in the earth were made drunken with the wine of her sexual immorality.” 3He carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness. I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet-colored beast, full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns. 4The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of the sexual immorality of the earth. 5And on her forehead a name was written, “MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF THE PROSTITUTES AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.” 6I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. When I saw her, I wondered with great amazement.
7The angel said to me, “Why do you wonder? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns. 8The beast that you saw was, and is not; and is about to come up out of the abyss and to go into destruction. Those who dwell on the earth and whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel when they see that the beast was, and is not, and shall be present.
9Here is the mind that has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits. 10They are seven kings. Five have fallen, the one is, and the other has not yet come. When he comes, he must continue a little while. 11The beast that was, and is not, is himself also an eighth, and is of the seven; and he goes to destruction. 12The ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour. 13These have one mind, and they give their power and authority to the beast. 14These will war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those who are with him are called, chosen, and faithful.” 15He said to me, “The waters which you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and languages. 16The ten horns which you saw, they and the beast will hate the prostitute, will make her desolate, will strip her naked, will eat her flesh, and will burn her utterly with fire. 17For God has put in their hearts to do what he has in mind, to be of one mind, and to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God should be accomplished. 18The woman whom you saw is the great city which reigns over the kings of the earth.”
The waters represent peoples, and the ten kings will destroy the harlot, the false religious system created by the Antichrist and his false prophet in Chapter 13. The “waters” symbolize all the people the religious system, the “woman,” controls. The political system created by the Antichrist, identified here as the ten kings, will destroy the world’s religious system. They are described as “hating” her. This is likely because of the control the world's religion will initially have over the political system. Eating her flesh and burning her with fire symbolizes their destruction of the system as well as stripping it of its wealth. It appears that the Antichrist will destroy the one world religion once it has used up its usefulness. He may also plunder it to help fund his government and armies. This is like the career of Antiochus Epiphanes around 135 b.c., who desecrated the temple, and had a career of plundering temples to use their wealth in raising armies to try to conquer Egypt (Ptolemies). He died of some disease soon after an attempt on one temple. Instead of worshipping the gods, he tried to be worshipped as a god. Here, it appears the antichrist will turn on the one-world religion and abolish it with the aid of his political system. This will happen as the end comes to his kingdom. It may be his attempt to keep his empire intact.
This section ends with a reminder that God sovereignly manipulates these world leaders to accomplish His purpose in destroying the Antichrist’s religious system. As this ends, our attention is drawn to the city itself and its coming destruction.