The Last Reformation

by F. G. Smith

The Apostolic Period	The Medieval Period	Era of Modern Sects	The Last Reformation
DRAGON Rev. 12:3, 4 7-17	LEOPARD BEAST Rev. 13:1-10	TWO-HORNED BEAST Rev. 13:11-18	FALL OF BABYLON Rev. 14:1-9
PURE WOMAN Rev. 12	WOMAN SECLUDED IN THE WILDERNESS Rev. 12:6		144,00 ON MOUNT ZION Rev. 14:1-6
TEMPLE AND TRUE WORSHIP Rev. 11:1	HOLY CITY TRODDEN DOWN Rev. 11:2	TWO WITNESSES SLAIN Rev. 11:7-10	WITNESSES RESURRECTED Rev. 11:11-14
	GREAT BABYLON Rev. 17:1-6	HARLOT DAUGHTERS Rev. 17:5	GOD'S PEOPLE CALLED OUT Rev. 18:1-4
FOURTH BEAST Dan. 9:7, 23, 24	REIGN OF THE "LITTLE HORN" Dan. 7:8, 20-25		CHRIST'S KINGDOM TRIUMPHANT Dan. 7:26, 27; 2:34,35

Great Babylon

A more particular description of the antitypical Babylon is given by the Revelator in the seventeenth chapter, as follows: "And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will show unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: 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. So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet-colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: and upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. And I saw a 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" (verses 1-6).

The careful student will immediately perceive that we have here another representation of the same apostate powers already described under other symbols. The leading figures—a woman and a beast—combine symbols from human life and animal life, thus representing clearly the union of civil and ecclesiastical power. The combination is exactly the same in its essential characteristics as that presented by the first beast of Revelation 13. And since it is the same seven-headed and ten-horned beast, representing the same political power, we conclude that the human characteristics exhibited in this connection symbolize the same religious power—the Church of Rome. In the present vision, however, the ecclesiastical phase is singled out and particularly distinguished and described, thus placing special emphasis on the papal church itself in contradistinction to the temporal power of the empire. The political phase of Rome's history has already been sufficiently described for our present purpose. We shall, therefore, devote our attention to the ecclesiastical phase as developed under this particular symbol of the woman.

The nature of the symbol itself fixes the interpretation. A woman must of necessity symbolize a church, but we must determine by the character of the woman whether or not the true church or a false church is represented. The woman of the vision was splendidly attired and evidently occupied a prominent place; for she is represented as riding on the beast, the political empire, thus directing its course; and she is also represented as sitting upon many waters, interpreted as "peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues" (verse 15), denoting her wide influence over distant nations. She is not simply represented as a prominent person, however, but as a vile character. She is "a great whore," "with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication." It is clear that in Scripture false, idolatrous worship is represented as whoredom (see 1 Chron. 5: 25; Ezekiel 16 and 23). Hence a false church is represented.

Mother and daughters

There is only one church that can fulfil the description, and that is the Church of Rome. Long has she delighted in calling herself the "mother church," but centuries before she made this claim, the pen of inspiration affixed to her indelibly the title of "mother"—"MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH." She bore upon her forehead this inscription, together with the title "Mystery, Babylon the Great." Other false apostate churches there are, but she heads the list and is the mother of them all. No wonder the apostle marveled when he saw this professed church of Jesus Christ defiled by the most abominable wickedness, in league with all the evil powers of earth, and, above all, "drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus." That Rome from the date she became firmly established in power has ever been a constant persecutor of the saints, the pages of all history abundantly attest. Even Rome's ecclesiastical writers and historians themselves admit her use of force in destroying those whom she denominated heretics.

Revelation 17 covers the same period chronologically and ends at the same point of time as did chapter 13. Hence we should naturally suppose that it would also describe in some manner the power symbolized by the two-horned beast—Protestantism—as well as duplicate the description of the ten-horned beast—Catholicism. That the papacy is symbolized in chapter 17 by the corrupt whore sitting on the ten-horned beast, is too plain to need any particular demonstration. The other division of the apostasy is included under the term "harlots," the daughters of the "mother" church. In our interpretation of chapter 14 we showed that the angel clearly applied the term Babylon to the worshipers of the second beast—Protestantism—as well as to those of the first beast. Therefore we must regard Babylon as a general term denoting the whole city of religious confusion, the mother and her harlot daughters being simply specific divisions.

Testimony of commentators