Revelation

The Whore of Babylon

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Prerequisite/Law

Lesson: 22-30

Genre: Talk

Track: 190

Dictation Name: RR129L22

Location/Venue:

Year: 1960’s-1970’s

Revelation 17, The Whore of Babylon.

“17 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:

2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.

3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.

4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:

5 And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon The Great, The Mother Of Harlots And Abominations Of The Earth.

6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.

7 And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.

8 The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.

9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.

10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.

11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.

12 And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.

13 These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.

14 These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.

15 And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.

16 And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.

17 For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.

18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.”

Since Revelation gives us so vivid a picture of the man centered, one world civil government or state in revolt against God, it is important for us to understand the Biblical doctrine of government, and what it involves; so that we may both recognize Babylon in our midst, and also know the meaning of the true kingdom of God.

Before the fall, man was created to live in paradise, to live in community, and to realize in Eden the kingdom of God, the perfect government. The function of that government in the kingdom of God in paradise, in that original society of man was first of all to exercise dominion under God. Man was created in the image of God, and ordained to exercise dominion over the earth, to subdue it, to bring the entire earth into subjection to himself, under God.

The psalmist in psalm 8:6 declares: “Thou madest him,” (man) “To have dominion over the works of Thy hands, Thou hast put all things under his feet.” Now man forfeited this dominion by his sin, but this dominion the second Adam, Jesus Christ, possesses. And this is repeatedly affirmed in scripture, as in 1st Corinthians 15:22, and in Ephesians 1:22. Christ, because of His perfect obedience, and as the representative of the new humanity, is the re-creator of paradise. He is the federal head of the new humanity.

There are two humanities, the fallen, old humanity which is born of Adam; and second, the new humanity, the new race which is born of Jesus Christ. The command to exercise dominion means to extend authority, the ministerial authority of man over every area of life; in science, in art, in agriculture, in music, in every area. This is man’s cultural task, to fulfill the kingdom requirement of dominion.

Now this was what man was called to do at the beginning of creation, to create a civilization in terms of the sovereignty of God, and to recognize and extend the jurisdiction of Gods government over every area. This then is the first aspect of the kingdom of God, to exercise dominion under God and in the name of God.

Second, man was created in the image of God, which means he was created in knowledge, righteousness, holiness, and with dominion. Man therefore has the obligation to work out the implications of the image of God; to apply its meaning in his personal life, as a member of a family, as a member of society, and in relationship to the world of nature. Therefore to fulfill the second aspect of the kingdom, to work out the meaning of the implications of the image of God, in knowledge first of all; to know all things in terms of God and His word. In terms of righteousness to apply the law of God in every area; In terms of holiness to separate himself unto the service and calling of God in every area of life; and dominion as we have seen to exercise the authority of God in every area.

Third, government, in the Biblical sense in terms of the kingdom of God, means that man was created with the declaration that it is not good for him to live alone. Marriage and the family were divinely established and ordained. The primary function of marriage and the family is not children but fellowship, community in the service of God. So that the primary function of marriage is not the children as much as it is the relationship of the man and the woman together in the service of God. The man fulfilling his calling under God, and the woman his helpmeet in the discharge of that responsibility and their communion, their community of life, in terms of this. To develop life in community and communion with the family as the basic institution was a part of man’s task in establishing the kingdom of God, the perfect government.

Fourth, man was required to live in obedience to God and to recognize His absolute sovereignty, even when the reason for a commandment is not apparent to man; so that the government, the ideal government which is the kingdom of God, requires also faith. We obey not merely when it meets the dictates of our reason, but we obey because we are required by God to obey. The essence of faith and worship is obedience and submission, and man was required to render this to God in paradise, and he is required to render it unto God today.

The basic reference of government therefore, in the Biblical sense, is to God; not to the state. The obedience we are called upon to render unto the state by scripture is always under God. The state cannot require of us anything that is contrary to the word of God. We must obey God rather than men.

But man rebelled against God, and submitted to the temptation to be as God himself, and to know for himself, that is to determine for himself what is right and wrong. This is man’s original sin: “Ye shall be as God, knowing” (That is, determining for yourself) “what is good and evil.” As a result, man fell and sin and death entered into the world; and all of man’s institutions and man himself are sin-ridden, totally depraved. There is no order of life today which can claim to be the kingdom of God.

As a result, the church cannot say: “We are the kingdom of God” nor can the state claim itself to be the kingdom, nor can the family. Everything is a part of the fall. Everything as it is redeemed by Christ is now a part of Christ’s world, but still has aspects of the old world, of the fallen Adam in it, and therefore is not fully a part of the kingdom, even though it is now reclaimed territory.

The kingdom of God is to be achieved now through Jesus Christ. Its realization is reserved to Christ, its proclamation is made through the church. The business of the state today is declared in Romans 13 to be a ministry; the ministry of justice and social order. God speaks in scripture of two kinds of ministry; the ministry of the word and of the sacrament, the ministry of Grace in other words, which is the church. The other is the ministry of justice, which is the state. Both of these are aspects of the kingdom, neither can claim to be the kingdom itself, or the fullness of the kingdom.

Now of course, this is the great evil that developed in the later middle ages when the church claimed to be the kingdom, and of course subsequently to the present time, the state has claimed to be the kingdom, and everything to be covered within the jurisdiction of the state. This in either case is totalitarianism, and is anti-Christian.

Man is a sinner, and every aspect of human life is subject to the total depravity of sin. And therefore no area of life can be given unchecked sway or authority. We can never say in terms of the Biblical doctrine of government, that obedience to the state is unqualified. We can never say that obedience to the church is unqualified. We can never say that the obedience of wives to their husbands is unqualified. In all things, obedience is subject to the word of God. It is under God, and must administer its authority in faithfulness to His word.

This therefore is true not only of every area, but it is true of the state, civil government; so that we must say, first, the state is under God and must administer justice (this is its ministry) in faithfulness to the word of God.

Second, it cannot assume as its own those areas which are not a part of the ministry of justice. As a result, the state cannot assume jurisdiction over the church; this is not its area. It cannot assume jurisdiction over economics, or over art, or over agriculture, or over education; or over the home. These are not aspects of its ministry, its ministry is justice.

Third, the state cannot, according to scripture, limit the individuals freedom to work out the divine mandate from man as an image bearer. Man must work out the implications of knowledge, righteousness and dominion, under God. And the state has no jurisdiction under God to interfere with man in any of these areas.

Fourth, the authority of the state is at all times ministerial, or delegated from God. There is a difference between ministerial authority and legislative authority. Ministerial authority is according to a higher authority; you administer in terms of a given law, a given word. Legislative authority is what God possesses, He can ordain anything, He can establish laws, He is the source of law. The state can only exercise ministerial authority. It is under God. Its sphere is at all times justice, civil law. Its responsibility is to curb sin, and to deal with civil offenders. The state, when it denies God, tries to be as God; and to usher in paradise, the kingdom of God on earth, by declaring itself to be God and by making itself a source of authority and of law.

Now this dream, this dream of the state to be its own God, to usher in paradise on earth, is an ancient dream. We first have it at the tower of Babel. At the tower of Babel, the builders thereof said: “Go to, let us build us a city which shall reach unto heaven.” Now this was an old idiom to indicate: ‘let us build us a world center which will be heaven on earth, which will function as the creator of heaven on earth.’ So the purpose of the tower of Babel was to be the administrative center for a world government which would create a paradise on earth.

As a result, this dream of a world government creating paradise on earth is called throughout Scripture Babylon. And certainly Assyria revived this dream, and Babylon again under Nebuchadnezzar took it up with great power. Certainly, Alexander the Great echoed this same dream, as did Rome; and as have the Marxists, the Democrats, the Fabian Socialists, virtually every kind of political belief in our day has perpetuated the same dream.

As a result, this grand dream as it culminates, as the dream of all civil governments is called in Revelation: “The Great Whore of Babylon” or, “Babylon the Great.” In Revelation 17 it is so pictured. It is the ideal, the dream, the human lust for a paradise without God and in contempt of God. And all the civil governments of the world in their anti-Christian character are depicted as the beast, and it is on this beast on whom the woman rides; that is, they are the carriers of this dream of the one world order. And this dream is dependent on the beast, that is, the world civil governments. They carry the dream, they support it, they give it strength; and in turn Babylon the great harlot holds the governments with her fornication and her cup of drunkenness.

Now, Babylon by its language here is identified with Tyre, the ancient Phoenician city; with Rome, the seven hilled city; with Jerusalem, and with every other empire throughout history that shares this dream. So that, when we think of Babylon the Great, we are not only to think of ancient Rome and Jerusalem, but we are also to think of Moscow, London, Washington, and every civil order today that dreams this dream of a paradise on earth through the state.

And so she is described in all her power and her seeming omnipotence as the glory of the kingdom, the golden city who exalted her throne above the stars of God, who sat as a lady given to pleasures, and flattering herself that she would see no sorrow; the hammer of the whole earth, the golden cup that made all the earth drunken; a golden cup in the hand of the lord.

Babylon therefore is the symbol of this world dream. Babylon mimics the kingdom of God. It is imitative at all times, it proposes world order, world justice, world peace; but apart from God; and therefore, because of this temptation to mimic God, it must try to destroy the real thing so that the counterfeit may prevail. And so she destroys the work of Christ and is spoken of as drunken with the blood of the saints. The purpose of Chapters 17-18 is to show us the judgement of the great whore that sitteth on many waters. In verse 15 we have an interpretation of these waters: the entire world of men. “The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.”

Attention is then turned by Revelation to the beast. The beast was and is not, he was destroyed by Christ at His coming, because Christ inflicted a death blow on the beast. The government of man was shown to be futile, and Christ ushered in the kingdom of God, the crucifixion and resurrection were the death blow upon Babylon, but the beast still continues. And John is told that he is going to come up out of the abyss, but he is going to be destroyed. In other words, the beast comes back into power through the powers of hell, but he shall be destroyed finally. The beast has seven heads; and there are seven hills upon which the woman is seated. In other words, Rome and all civil governments are typified here, seven be the number of totality. There are also seven kings, five have fallen and one are on the throne.

The Old Testament era saw the destruction of five of the seven kingdoms, seven being the number of fullness. The sixth we are told, now is in Johns day; in other words, Rome. But the seventh is still to come, and the seventh power is portrayed as having ten horns, which is again a symbol of totality, so that the seventh including totality, and the seventh being yet to come, includes all those nations, powers, empires from Johns day to the end of the world which take up this dream of Babylon.

And so we are told in verse 13: “These have one mind,” (speaking of the ten horns which have received no kingdom as yet, which have not come into being as yet) “These have one mind,” (and mind can be translated here ‘policy’) “These have one ‘policy’ and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.”

But the lamb will conquer them. The Lamb shall overcome them because He is Lord of Lords and king of kings.

The whore, we are told, is seated upon the waters, but her place of residence in verse 3 is described as the wilderness; the waters are the peoples of the world we are told, the wilderness stands for the world as it is since the fall. The world was established to be a paradise for man, but man by his sin turned the world into a wilderness. Christ our second Adam was tempted in the wilderness, but by His victory began the restoration of paradise, and at the conclusion of his temptation, he was with the wild beasts even as Adam was with paradise, and they harmed Him not because He had reestablished in Himself the perfection that God had originally given to creation.

The restoration which our Lord achieved was both present and future. In Himself it was in totality, so that He began a new kingdom in His perfect person. In us it is in part; the fullness will come in the new creation. But even as the first Adam destroyed paradise by his sin, the second Adam by His coming began the destruction of the counterfeit paradise by His righteousness.

In chapter 18 therefore, John gives us the nature of the destruction of this counterfeit paradise. One of the most important chapters of all scripture. But the message of Revelation in every chapter is clear, the book is written for the comfort of the saints, to give them assurance in every age that as they suffer tribulation their calling is not simply to tribulation but it is to victory. This is the victory which overcometh the world; even our faith. The kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever. The lamb shall overcome. This is the word of Revelation. Let us pray.

Our Lord and our God we give thanks unto Thee that Thou shalt overcome, that the powers of darkness shall be overthrown, that the empires of this world as they dream their vain dreams shall be punished, shall be brought low, shall be leveled to the ground and pulverized; and Thy people shall stand in Thy righteousness. Establish us oh Lord therefore on Thy word and by Thy grace, enable us day by day to work out the implications of our calling. To work out the implications of Thine image within us, to fulfill the mandate of the kingdom of God on earth, to submit ourselves to Thy word and Thy authority in all things, and in all things to praise Thee and to magnify Thy holy name. Bless us to this purpose in Jesus name, amen.

Are there any questions now, first of all with respect to the lesson?

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] A good question, how should a Christian dictionary be written? This is an important point, because of course our most recent Webster unabridged dictionary is if anything, anti-Christian. It denies that there is any real meaning in the world. Meaning is a mere convention, therefore it in effect denies that there are any laws of grammar or any laws of speech or communication. And so, it deliberately has worked to break down good usage, because it will make no distinction between good usage and bad usage.

Now, a Christian dictionary will first of all believe that there is an ultimate meaning, an absolute meaning in the universe; that God is the source of this meaning. Then it will work to establish true meaning with respect to words. For example, all you have to do to understand how much meaning has been perverted is to go back to the original Webster and look up certain words like Constitution, and Federal, and similar words; and you realize how over the years the meaning has been destroyed.

Now, constitution as it was originally defined had reference to an absolute law, that there is a law order in the universe, and that Constitutions seek to embody something of the right order for human government. Constitution therefore was originally a word that said: “There is an order which approximates what we believe to be ultimate order, and therefore we incorporate it in a document.” There is a law therefore that governs men. The idea of a constitution, briefly, has reference to a higher law.

Now, over the years the idea of a constitution has been redefined, so that a constitution now is simply a document agreed by men to provide a framework of government. So you see here in one important area we have destroyed entirely the original idea of constitution, that a constitution was an attempt by man to incorporate into a body of laws a framework of government which would be that which God desires for men; and a constitution provided for amendment because it recognized that its attempt to realize Gods order was always subject to its own frailty and sin, and imperfect therefore.

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] Yes…

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] Not necessarily. The dictionary need not quote scripture to be Biblical; in other words, if it accepts the basic framework of God and His absolute law, then it doesn’t have to cite scripture you see. That is unnecessary as long as its method of definition is accurate. A dictionary you see, if it doesn’t have a concept of absolute law governing will ultimately reflect prejudices. Samuel Johnsons dictionary is a very telling example of this, it is a delight to read because it is so funny in many respects; because one of the things that- one of a thousand and one things- that Johnson was prejudiced against was Scotchmen. And this appears very often in his definition, for example, when he defines oats he says: “It is a grain eaten by horses, cows, and Scotchmen.”

Yes?

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] Yes. I do believe that in terms of the Old Testament prophecies, and in terms of the New Testament Scriptures, that history will culminate in a godly order that will exist for a long, long time; that we shall see Christian law and order covering the face of the earth. This will not mean that everybody will be good, but it will mean that there will be Godly law and order governing everyone.

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] Not necessarily. Not necessarily. We are certainly in evil times now, but history does move rapidly. Yes?

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] I couldn’t quite hear you…

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] No, he could have a good life, but paradise of course existed at the beginning, and we are told that the world shall again become a glorious thing; not a perfect paradise, but a wonderful thing before the end. But a man can have a good life here, under God.

Yes?

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] Well, first of all I don’t believe this story. There are so many similar stories manufactured all the time, and stories like that used to appear with regard to Lenin, and with regard to Stalin’s words; this is a part of the propaganda that comes out from behind the Iron Curtain regularly, and the words of Marx to cure-all everything and anything. So I think we should take all such stories with a grain of salt, if McIntyre believes it I feel sorry for him. Yes?

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] Yes.

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] Well, I am glad that he didn’t believe in it, because those stories have been commonplace for the last generation. Yes?

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] Oh yes, by picking jurors they could very well do so if the district attorney went along with this, you see. In other words if the district attorney allowed such people on the jury he would in effect abolish the death penalty. As a matter of fact, the death penalty is not really operative today, we have any number of people on death row in San Quentin, and only one of them has been executed since our governor took office, and any number of them have been due for executions, but somehow or other the whole matter is dropped out of sight; and it is as with Governor Brown, they continue there indefinitely.

Which is in effect an abolition of the death penalty, because it is not being enforced.

Our time is almost over, but there is a little item from this week’s paper that I think is of interest, it concerns the situation in Nigeria. As you know Nigeria has been in the throes of a rebellion for some time now, and this report says: “Nigeria did business with new money today, following a currency changeover ordered by the government to smash the secessionist eastern region economically as well as militarily. Under a decree issued January 1st, old Nigerian banknotes became as worthless as U.S. Confederate money this week, including 84 million in the hands of the Eastern Regime.” And so on, and goes on to say that the order was put into effect yesterday, this was a January the 24th 1968, so it went into effect at the close of banking on January 23rd, and one man who left Africa and took a plane from Africa to Paris, carried bank notes amounting to 552 thousand, but the money became worthless because he was not able to get it changed in time.

Now, this of course is something that we will read about more and more, it has happened a number of times in various countries since WW2, it will happen with increasing rapidity in the next few years. This is paper money, it is counterfeit money in effect, it has value only in so far as the state decrees it has value. It can be abolished over night without any warning, and this has been repeatedly done, and people asked to line up to get new paper at a rate of say, 10-1 or a 100-1 at their bank the next day. So we will see more and more of this as economically we begin to fall apart; and I pass this on to you not only as a good commentary on the world today, but in a sense in preparation for Revelation 18, which has some very interesting things to say.

Well, with that our time is up and we stand dismissed.