Revelation 17:1-6: a reflection

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 on 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.

In this vision, John is shown a figure meant to represent a great worldly system opposed to God, pictured as a woman of seductive splendor. She is dressed in purple and scarlet, adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, outwardly dazzling. But in her hand she holds a golden cup full of corruption, and beneath the glittering surface she is set against God and his people. What appears magnificent to the eye is, in truth, corrupt at the core.

Notice the contrast between the surface and the substance. Outwardly, the figure is decked in finery, glittering with gold and jewels, alluring to look upon. But the golden cup in her hand is full of corruption, and her splendor is a seduction, drawing the world away from God. The vision exposes the gap between how a worldly, God-opposing system appears and what it actually is: dazzling on the outside, corrupt within.

That is a warning worth heeding. The world can present its God-opposing ways in glittering, attractive dress, adorned with wealth and splendor and everything that draws the eye, so that they appear magnificent and desirable. But we are to look beneath the surface. What glitters is not always good; the outwardly splendid can be inwardly corrupt, and the very allure can be a seduction away from God. Do not be dazzled by the glittering surface of what is opposed to God. Look beneath the finery to the cup it holds; see what a thing actually is, not only how it appears. The wisdom of this vision is to refuse the seduction of outward splendor and to discern the corruption it may hide.

Lord, in this vision John was shown a worldly system opposed to you, pictured as a figure of seductive splendor, decked in gold and jewels yet holding a cup full of corruption, dazzling on the outside but corrupt within. Give me eyes to see beneath the surface. The world can dress its ways opposed to you in glittering, attractive garb, adorned with wealth and splendor and everything that draws the eye, so that they appear magnificent and desirable. Help me look beneath the finery to what a thing actually is. Keep me from being dazzled by the glittering surface of what is opposed to you, and from mistaking outward splendor for goodness. Help me discern the corruption that allure may hide, and refuse the seduction of what glitters but is set against you. Give me wisdom to see what things truly are, not only how they appear, and to love you above all that dazzles the eye.