Babylon: The Woman and the Beast

In this article, I will begin with organizing what main characteristics Revelation has to say about the woman, the beast, and Babylon in Revelation 17-18. This is meant for overview along with being utilized for deeper reflection and cross-examination. After that, I will do my best to present the case for various viewpoints: Babylon being a physical vs. spiritual/abstract reality; Is Babylon Israel or the United States? What about Islam or a one-world government or religion? What about technology and AI? Finally, we will explore what the other beasts are to help us better determine what the final beast is.

Descriptions of Babylon the Great, Rev 17:

• “the great harlot” / “the woman” / “the great city, which reigns over the kings of the earth.”

• “who sits on many waters” / These are “peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues”

• “with whom the kings of the earth committed acts of immorality”

• “and those who dwell on the earth were made drunk with the wine of her immorality.”

• Location of the woman is in “a wilderness”

• The woman is riding the beast

• The woman is “clothed in purple and scarlet”

• “adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls”

• In her hand, she carries a golden cup “full of abominations and of the unclean things of her immorality”

• She has a name written on her forehead which is a mystery: “BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.”

• She is “drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus.”

Descriptions of Babylon the Great, Rev 18:

• “a dwelling place of demons and a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird.”

• “all the nations have drunk of the wine of the passion of her immorality”

• “the kings of the earth have committed acts of immorality with her”

• “the merchants of the earth have become rich by the wealth of her sensuality.”

• “Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues” Does “Come out of her” mean to leave a physical location? Or does it mean to stop sinning, and in this way, leave her spiritually?

• “for her sins have piled up as high as heaven”

• “she glorified herself and lived sensuously”

• “she says in her heart, ‘I sit as a queen and I am not a widow, and will never see mourning.’”

• The kings of the earth who committed acts of immorality with her and lived sensuously with her will lament when she is destroyed and when “they see the smoke of her burning.”

• In one hour, the judgement of Babylon the Great will come and its wealth will be laid waste.

• “And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn over her, because no one buys their cargoes any more.” They had made all their riches from her.

• “Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets, because God has pronounced judgment for you against her.” This indicates that Babylon the Great had oppressed the people of God, even as it said in the previous chapter, she martyred Christians. And in this chapter, “in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints and of all who have been slain on the earth.”

• “all the nations were deceived by your sorcery.”

Descriptions of Babylon the Great, Rev 19:

• All the saints in heaven praise God because God executed justice on their behalf and judged “the great harlot who was corrupting the earth with her immorality, and He has avenged the blood of His bond-servants on her.”

• “her smoke rises up forever and ever.”

Descriptions of the Beast, Rev 17:

• The beast appears as scarlet

• It is “full of blasphemous names”

• It has “seven heads” / The beast is composed of “seven kings”

• It has “ten horns” (v. 3) / “ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom” but in the future, they will form a coalition to rule together for a short period of time.

• The beast “was” (past tense) / “five have fallen” (five beast empires have already been destroyed)

• The beast “is not” (does not exist in the present reality in its full form) / “the other has not yet come” (there is another beast empire still to come)

• “One is” (one of the beast empires were in existence during the time this revelation was given to John).

• The beast “is about to come up out of the abyss” (something that will happen in the future. A beast empire will be resurrected from the dead) / “and when he comes, he must remain a little while” (the beast empire will have a short lifespan). Is this speaking of the seventh or eighth empire?

• Then the beast will go to destruction (future event). / “go to destruction,” “goes to destruction.”

• “The beast which was and is not, is himself also an eighth and is one of the seven.”
  There are seven beasts (seven kings, seven heads). These empires have existed throughout history. The final beast empire will be the eighth beast empire, but it will be composed of one of the previous empires (it will be resurrected from the dead). So, not only is the eighth beast empire also one of the seven, it will also be composed of a ten nation/king coalition. From my understanding, the final beast empire will not exist that long, and nor will the ten-nation coalition. It could be something that just rises up overnight with no warning. These nations will agree to be friendly and work with each other, even if they don’t like each other that much, but they will work together to destroy their enemy.

Other characteristics of the beast, Rev 17:

• “These will wage war against the Lamb” and those with Him (God’s people). That is, all these beast empires have gone to war or will go to war against God’s people and Christianity. The beast empires are characteristically and specifically oppressive to God’s people, and against the One true God.

• The kings and the beast “will hate the harlot and will make her desolate and naked, and will eat her flesh and will burn her up with fire.” This is specifically in reference to the final beast empire.

• The imagery of this chapter conveys a luxurious and immoral woman riding a luxurious beast. But why is she riding the beast? Is it because she has intermixed and intertwined herself in all the characteristics of the beast? It seems so. That is why the beast allows itself to be ridden. But in the end, she finds out that the beast is not friendly or tame. It was just using her. And so, the beast throws her off and devours her.

• Who is this harlot woman, Babylon the Great, “the great city, which rules over the kings of the earth”?

Evidence for a spiritual Babylon:

• Just because certain descriptions appear to be physical like fire, smoke, and destruction, does not mean they are, since the language throughout is symbolic. This is a vision that John saw that relays to us spiritual truths.

• To be the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth means that sinful things originated or were propagated by Babylon. This seems to indicate spreading sin to other people through one’s negative influence. This could be physical but it is mainly a spiritual thing.

• The phrase “Come out of her, my people,” is a phrase most likely used to describe repentance and turning from sin. This is a spiritual coming out of Babylon by not participating in sin. Simply leaving a physical location is not going to accomplish and fulfill this call to repentance. It is inherently spiritual.

• “a dwelling place of demons and a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird” (18:2). This sentence describes a spiritual condition of desolation. It refers to scavenger birds because they accompany death and desolation. The imagery is that there are rotting corpses, literally or figuratively.

• The harlot who sits upon many waters does not necessarily mean a physical location, as the waters are later described as many kinds of people and nations (17:1, 15). So, this is either saying that the physical location has to do with the various ethnicities of people living there, or that Babylon exists all over the world as a spiritual reality.

Evidence for a physical Babylon:

• It will be destroyed by the beast it is riding, and this is God’s judgement against her.

• It is described as a city and its destruction has fire and smoke involved.

• It seems to have a location: upon many waters, like a port city, or a country surrounded by oceans. This is further supported by the fact that there are merchants who were made wealthy by all the things they exported to her. But this also seems to be another clue that Babylon the Great mainly imports merchandise from other countries. What country or city imports so much of the world’s goods that it would be drastically sad and terrible for all the exporting countries if this city/country were destroyed or ruined? It sounds a lot like the United States, right? What would the world do if we didn’t buy all their stuff?

• Babylon has to have a physical form to martyr Christians.

• If the other beast system/empires were physical, then it would make sense that this one is too.

• The name is Babylon, after the Babylonian Empire, which was a physical empire.

• The fifth angel will pour out God’s wrath on “the throne of the beast,” (Rev 16:10) indicating that there will be a physical ruler.

• The great city will be split into three parts from a great earthquake, and it will cause other cities to fall as well (Rev 16:19). The context of this verse speaks of many physical forms of destruction or associated with destruction like lightning, thunder, an earthquake, and giant hailstones. It would be unreasonable to interpret that passage spiritually/symbolically.

• All of this points to Babylon being a physical location. Therefore, I conclude that Babylon is primarily physical and secondarily spiritual.

Is Babylon Israel?

Babylon is specifically mentioned as a city, not as a country, so this would mean Jerusalem.

Babylon martyrs the saints. Does Israel do that? No. The Jews are friendly towards Christians. However, the Jews have certainly had a dark history with imprisoning and murdering Christians in the early days of Christianity. Even before Christ, the Jews killed and stoned the prophets. So, Israel certainly has blood on its hands. They even killed Jesus.

The language of “harlot” and “Immorality” is reminiscent of how the prophet Jeremiah described the state of the Israelite/Jewish people, in how they had turned their backs on God, went after other gods, and in this sense, committed adultery against God.

The term “the great city” is mentioned in Revelation 11:8 which says, “And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.” This is undoubtedly Israel. But this alone does not determine that Babylon is Israel, since in the Old Testament, “great city” refers to both Israel and Ninevah, anywhere where there are a lot of people. However, since the context within Revelation introduces “great city” as Israel, it seems to reason that unless otherwise specified later, it is still referring to Irael.

To interpret Babylon as Israel, one would have to explain how all the nations became rich through selling their merchandise to her. Additionally, one would have to explain how and why she was riding the beast empire but later became destroyed by it. And, one must explain how this destruction is not a complete destruction, since God is supposed to stop that from happening by slaying Israel’s enemies by the breath of His mouth, and all Israel is supposed to be saved in the last days, and the New Jerusalem from heaven is supposed to descend into Israel on the earth. Currently, most of the nations surrounding Israel hate them. The ten-nation coalition will also hate them and seek to destroy them in the end. So, in what way is Israel riding the beast?

Also, does Israel fit this description: “drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus” (17:6)? In John’s day, this was true of the Jewish persecution of the Christians but it was even more true of the Roman persecution of Christians. But does this apply in our day? Is Israel presently bloodthirsty to murder Christians? Which interpretation method do we use here? Do we interpret the application retroactively or presently? Since this is a future prophecy, you would think that the answer would be “presently,” (assuming we are very close to the last days).

Is Babylon the United States?

The word “city” is used instead of “nation,” so it seems unlikely that the United States is Babylon. For this reason, some have suggested that it could be a city within the United States like New York City. There is even a city in New York called “Babylon.” Could that be it?

Babylon could be the United States, since it is surrounded by many waters (Atlantic, Pacific, and Arctic). New York City is also surrounded by water and it is a port city by which merchants can ship their goods there.

The United States is mainly and importer of goods rather than an exporter. If some kind of major destruction came to the United States, it would have devastating consequences throughout the earth because they would have hardly anyone to buy their goods anymore.

Revelation 18:23 says, “and the light of a lamp will not shine in you any longer; and the voice of the bridegroom and bride will not be heard in you any longer; for your merchants were the great men of the earth, because all the nations were deceived by your sorcery.” The Greek word for “sorcery” here is “pharmakeia,” which is where we get the word “pharmaceuticals,” as in the drugs. Some suggest that our drugs are laced with poisons or with substances that will make us more easily controlled, docile, and compliant citizens to whatever the government tells us to do. Since 2005, there has been a plan to remove the “God-gene” through vaccination. That is, remove people’s belief or propensity towards religion or their capacity to feel God so that we can all be unified under whatever future plan that some have for the world. Or maybe so we can all be less “radical.” What about the COVID vaccine? Look at all the deception that came through that initiative. “It’s for your health and safety” people were saying, “it’s mandatory.” They deceived the whole world. What they may have put in the vaccine could have been “sorcery,” or at the very least, using the virus as a coverup to take away all our freedoms, was a form of sorcery and deception to the whole world.

Is Babylon Islam?

In our day, radical Islam governments, nations, and religion best fit this description: “And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus” (17:6). Of course, Islam is not the only force against Christians. There is great persecution and murder that comes from militant groups in Africa, along with the Chinese Communist Party, North Korea, and other places of oppressive governments. I think for Islam though, the thirst for blood goes deeper. Whether or not they kill more Christians, I think they have a deeper inward desire to see Christians and Jews destroyed.

In Revelation 20:4 it says, “And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus…” Is this speaking of the saints who died long ago before guns were invented? Or is it speaking of those who died during the great tribulation? If it is the latter, we must ask ourselves, what group of people does beheadings? Muslims.

Revelation 20:4 also speaks of those who had worshipped the beast and his image, who received a mark on their forehead and on their hand. This could be symbolic in some way. Or it could be something like a tattoo. Or, it could be those who convert to Islam and have a headband around their head that has the mark of the beast written on it—the name of false religion.

Islam would also explain why people will be required to worship the beast and his image or else be killed. This isn’t a coexistence harmony type of existence. No, it is forced worship or death, just like Islam in many countries.

And what “image” could Revelation be referring to? Could this be the Kaaba in Mecca in Saudi Arabia? That large black cubed structure where Muslims make their pilgrimage to?

Or perhaps it will be a different item that the self-proclaimed “Messiah” will force people to worship. Either way, many Christians believe that the antichrist will come from the Islamic world.

Where does Revelation 17:3 say that the location of the woman sitting on the beast is? It is a “wilderness.” That kind of sounds like the Middle East.

Revelation 18:3 says, “For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the passion of her immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed acts of immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich by the wealth of her sensuality.” In the Old Testament prophets, immorality is a symbolic term for false-religion. “All the nations have drunk.” Isn’t that true? Hasn’t Islam spread to every nation? Hasn’t Islam corrupted cultures and societies? They don’t know how to assimilate with other people groups. That’s not even in their Quran playbook. No, their playbook is Jihad, which is taking over the world through their influence and large numbers (among other things). Their goal is to convert the world to Islam culture and religion. And the rulers of the earth just continue drinking the cup. They try to be more accommodating, more tolerant, more compassionate, and more “politically correct.” And so, they welcome more and more of these people into their own countries and it is destroying their culture, their heritage, and their peaceful living. They are erasing all the diversity that we love and is the reason for why many people travel the world. The whole world is drinking the immorality of Islam. This false religion is spreading like wildfire. Sure, there are some peaceful Muslims out there, but once they reach a majority in the populace, all bets are off the table. They will take away all your freedoms. Force you to cover your hair with a hijab, force you not to eat bacon, force you not to have any pets because dogs are “unclean.” They’re after everything.

Is Babylon a one-world religion or one-world government?

In the last decade, there has certainly been a push for ecumenicalism and coexisting religions. More and more Christians are falsely believing and accepting the idea that anyone can go to heaven, even if they don’t believe in Jesus. But as Michael Heiser would say, that’s going to be a big problem, because that means you’re going to have a bunch of Baal worshippers in heaven. Do you think God would allow that? Did He not consume those people in His anger and destroy them? Not everyone can be right. If everyone is correct and those beliefs contradict each other, then there is no such thing as absolute truth, and therefore, no way of knowing anything for certain. Any thought process you have is self-defeating since nothing can be rationally affirmed at that point. The meaning of life vanishes since no meaning can ever be determined or known.

Politically, our society has been heading towards a political-correctness and tolerance. The aim of this is supposedly to make everyone feel accepted. But that means I can’t “hurt your feelings,” or I have just violated the “love and tolerance policy.” But this would lead to any disagreement never being allowed, to accept people’s irrational beliefs, opinions, and emotional dispositions as “truth,” even if it is not. This political ideology leads to the complete breakdown of society. Those claiming to be “victims” actually become the oppressors, prohibiting everyone from doing whatever “their truth” is. So, in the name of tolerance, they become the most intolerant people.

During Covid-19, we got a taste of this kind of oppression. It didn’t matter what personal beliefs you had, employers would fire you. If you made a Facebook post that dissented, you were censored or imprisoned. If you didn’t wear a mask, police would beat you in the street. And it was all in the name of love, unity, and to protect everyone. But if you have the “right” political ideology, you can do whatever you want: burn buildings, smash cars, steal merchandise, etc. It’s basically a resurgence of tribalism. The government decides the tribe and if you are not part of that tribe or group think, then you are the enemy, and you will face the consequences.

And who are the enforcers? Demonic spirits that receive and exercise their power over the population because of how far society has devolved from their true identities as human beings made in the image of God. They have further devolved, disintegrated, and have fragmented as a result of the path of sin.

That is how a so called “coexisting one-world religion” would work. It’s a political ideology of tribalism inspired and controlled by evil spirits, willing vessels, and deceived individuals who follow feelings instead of facts that are true, who are brain-washed by media propaganda and by all the fake AI videos. Their emotionalism and the outrage emotional response the media plants into their minds, completely bypasses their rational minds. That’s what I mean by brainwashing; and it has been a legitimate thing ever since Operation Mocking Bird, the Monarch program, and MKUltra.

So yes, a one-world religion of “tolerance and coexistence” is a possible future, and it is completely feasible that it will reach the point where people will kill those who don’t fall in line. Some oppressive governments kill those who dissent anyway, even without a ton of propaganda. The mind is not the only way to control people. People can be controlled through fear of retribution, as it has been done for thousands of years. They can also be controlled through poverty. For some people, working for the military or government may be the only way that they can live above poverty level. So, they have a great incentive to carry out their duties, even if they may disagree with them. There are other ways to make people compliant: keep them too busy, induce trauma, teach children propaganda in school and on TV, reward them for not thinking (i.e. using AI all the time and short-form video content), and taint their food supply with unhealthy things to dumb them down. I’m sure some of the richest and most powerful people in the world have envisioned a future world and society of their own design since they have at least in part, the power and means to bring such a world about. They want to bring in the new world order, and even used that phrase during Covid. But the people resisted more than they anticipated and their plan was delayed.

Is Babylon Artificial Intelligence and technology?

For many years, Christians have speculated what the “mark of the beast” is (Rev 13:17). Many think it will be some kind of technological chip that you put in your hand so that you can buy and sell with it like RFID or maybe it could be a tattoo barcode. Elon Musk is also developing Neurolink, and who knows what that will end up being used for in the future… However, the technology already exists for purchasing with a tap like Iphone pay and making payments through your watch. Trackers have already been placed in animals and they are very small. The only thing keeping society from going all out on this is its societal acceptance and implementation. But during the next worldwide crisis, it could very feasibly be implemented, especially if it is during a time of global famine. Which, we know, will come (Rev 6:5-6).

During Covid, many peopled feared that the Covid vaccine might have been the mark of the beast. But I am of the opinion that when the mark of the beast comes, God will make it clearly evident to the Christians. I don’t think we’re going to be duped by the devil and lose our eternal salvation simply because of our ignorance. That does not sound like something God would do. I believe the Holy Spirit will give us discernment and understanding when the time comes.

Additionally, there are several things that must be implemented first before the mark of the beast comes. Revelation 13:16-17 tells us that everyone will be forced to receive the mark of the beast and that this mark will be necessary if anyone wants to buy or sell. In order for this to take place, the antichrist must have authority over the whole world (one world government). The whole world will follow after and worship the antichrist. The antichrist will have made “war with the saints” (v. 7), which is a reference to the fifth seal (Rev. 6:9-11; Mt. 24:9) and the abomination of desolation (Mt. 24:15). The second beast, which is the false prophet, who will serve alongside the antichrist, will perform great signs like making fire come down out of heaven. He will command everyone to worship an idol of the beast and this idol, which is an inanimate object, will be given the ability to speak and to kill. At this time, the mark of the beast will be a requirement to buy and sell. Basically, you don’t need to be concerned about the mark of the beast until you see the abomination of desolation, which is when the antichrist will sit in the new rebuilt temple in Jerusalem, declaring himself to be the Messiah. I’m not saying it’s going to happen exactly like that but that is certainly one interpretation. Perhaps in another article we can examine how interconnected the antichrist will be or will not be with the final beast empire.

What has become a great concern in recent years with all this new AI technology is that it will in the not too distant future become conscious and self-aware and uncontrollable like Skynet. Is it possible that artificial intelligence will govern our lives in the future, make decisions for us, and oppressively control the global population? Perhaps we’re headed for a dystopian sci-fi future where the corporations have all the control and then either force humanity to serve them or else be eliminated. They’ll do this all for “the greater good” and “saving the planet.” Meanwhile, turning a blind eye to all the electricity these data centers use. But we won’t talk about that…

Could internet technology be the beast system that rules the world? It certainly has a great role to play in all the world’s evils we see today. So much of the world’s immorality, hatred, abuse, and theft comes through the vehicle of the internet. People spend so much time on it neglecting God and people, almost as if they worship it and have sold their heart and soul to the system.

Perhaps technology is the beast system not fully formed yet… and a day is coming when every person will have to make a choice: join the system ... or die.

What do we think so far…?

So far, I am not dogmatic on choosing one particular form of a beast empire over another. I see a mixture of spiritual realities and physical realities. I even see a possible global beast empire, which has various functions of control depending upon what country you live in. One country may simply rule their government with an iron-fist from a non-religious stance. Another country may use biochips to buy and sell. Another may use tribalism to get people on board with their program. And another country may use Islam to enforce their global order. Whatever it may be, all governments will pledge allegiance in the same evil spirit to do the devil’s work in destroying all Christians and Jews.

However, since the tribulation is mostly a time about “Jacob’s trouble,” it does seem reasonable to believe that the suffering in the Middle East will be more severe since Israel is the main focus of the tribulation. For example, the fourth seal of the tribulation only mentions a fourth of the earth being affected by that one rather than the entire earth (Rev 6:8). Regardless, those who choose to worship the beast, are those who deny and renounce their faith in Jesus because of the hardship or who never believed in Jesus to begin with. The Bible mentions that the “cowardly” will not make it into eternal life (Rev 21:8). The early church fathers also echoed that same sentiment as they spoke of their imminent martyrdom. It is those who are faithful to the end who will be saved.

I don’t think it is absolutely necessary to spend the time to figure out all the details about the final beast empire and Babylon the Great. However, I do think it is profitable to keep our minds open to various possibilities, just in case our interpretation could be wrong. We don’t want to be caught off guard. Prophecy by nature is mysterious and there are many unknowns. At the time, the Pharisees thought their interpretation of the Scriptures were solid about who the Messiah would be, but their pride blinded them to the Messiah Jesus standing right in front of their own eyes.

Who are the other beast empires?

Perhaps if we figure out who the other beast empires were, we can discover what the eighth beast empire is, since we know that the eighth is also one of the seven, according to Revelation 17:11. We have already established that one of the criteria for a beast empire is that it oppresses the covenant people of God. When John received the revelation from God, he was told that one of the beast empires was a present reality in his day (17:10). This is none other than the Roman empire, which persecuted Christians and destroyed the Jewish Temple in 70AD. So, Rome was the 6th beast. The one before that was Greece. I won’t get into all the reasons and explanations why I think the others are beasts, but I will simply list them in order:

(1) Egyptian, (2) Assyrian, (3) Babylonian, (4) Medo-Persian, (5) Greek, (6) Roman, (7) Nazi Germany, (8) the last beast, which is also one of the seven which comes back to life.

[Some say that the seventh was the Ottoman Empire. But I do not recall them persecuting Israel, so I'm not too sure about that one].

From here, we need to ask ourselves: Which one of these empires comes back to life?

It could be Babylon, since Babylon is mentioned as this empire in Revelation as “Babylon the Great.” Babylonia consisted of modern-day Iraq and parts of Syria (Turkey, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon).

Some have suggested Rome as being revived, which basically makes it western civilization, the western nations that will be against Israel. Some have even suggested some kind of shadow government in Rome like the Vatican, which secretly controls the whole world without everyone actually knowing it. Other people are in favor of King Charles as being the antichrist and ruling the world without everyone’s knowledge of all the wealth and power the king actually has.

Or it could be Persia, which would largely represent Islam and the Middle Eastern countries coming up against Israel. Persia today largely consists of Iran, Egypt, Turkey, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. Babylon was also included in the Persian empire. Personally, I think it is the Medo-Persian empire that gets revived while they have the backing of Russia. It is the Iron mixed with clay (Daniel 2).

Revelation 13:3 says, “I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain, and his fatal wound was healed. And the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast;” Many interpret this as the antichrist dying by some mortal wound and then resurrecting back to life, and then many people follow after him once they see this miracle. While I think that is possible, I don’t think that is the main interpretation of this verse. I think that the beast is primarily in reference to the beast empire which gets revived, not an actual person. Though it is possible that both may happen. But I strongly think only the empire will be revived.

From here, we would have to thoroughly study Daniel 2; 7; Ezekiel 38; Revelation 13:1-3; 17:8-13 to put more of the pieces together to understand this ten-nation confederation in the last days as the eighth beast. Robert Van Kampen explains this more in his book, The Sign, and says that Babylon is the lion, Medo-Persia the bear, and Greece, the leopard (pg. 135). Then of course, there is Magog (Rosh), Meshech, and Tubal (all basically Roman lineage which is now Russia). Russia composes the three power-base nations, while Iraq, Iran, Syria, Ethiopia, eastern Sudan, Libya, Ukraine and/or western Russia, and Turkey and/or south-western Russia are the seven secondary nations of the final ten-nation confederation. Van Kempen’s interpretation of the confederation mainly has to do with lineage rather than geography. I will include some images of the book at the end of this article.

Conclusion

Of all the possible interpretations for who the final beast empire is, I think the United States is the least likely candidate, considering that the beast is composed of the nations representing the leopard, the bear, and the lion, all nations that have all previously existed before the United States. The beast empire also has to be one of the seven empires that have already existed. This geographically eliminates the United States. Considering also that the United States is a melting pot of many ethnicities, we cannot track down a particular lineage that corresponds to one of the previous empires.

We also have to eliminate many of the spiritual/abstract understandings of the last beast empire, since the Bible gives us plenty of information to indicate that this empire will be a physical one composed of a particular ethnic and/or geological background. This understanding is further supported by Revelation 17:10-11 which indicates the next empire will be like one that has already been. If the beast were only an abstract reality, then this would contradict Revelation 17. However, the abstract realities can still exist alongside the physical and be outward expressions of the physical, but the abstract does not exist without the physical first existing. What I’m saying here is things like a one-world government, one-world religion, and a technological dystopian future, cannot exist as the beast empire without physical leaders and a confederation of nations bringing the world into all of that.

It also would not make sense for Israel to be the beast empire since all the previous beast empires were persecutors of Israel. So, that would not fit the bill. What would make the most sense is that it will be composed of Middle Eastern Islamic countries that hate and terrorize Israel and Christians. We can throw Russia in there too, as they have an invested interest against Israel and the United States.

From what I read in Revelation 17, it sounds like the woman is not the beast but the woman is Babylon. But isn’t the beast Babylon? So, does that mean the woman and the beast are Babylon? I guess if we were to be more precise, the beast is the geological, governmental, and methodical structure of Babylon while the woman is the people who live inside that Babylonian structure.

The description written on the harlot woman’s head is: “BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH” (17:5). To properly understand this, we must realize that God absolutely hates pride, idolatry, and the oppression of the innocent; and that this description of Babylon encompasses the entire lineage of these people, not just their present sins. They built altars, towers, shrines, and mosques in all their worship to false gods. They persecuted and slaughtered Jews and Christians throughout the millennia. They’ve committed mass genocide, and killed their own children, among other things. This is a worthy title for them that describes their historical approach to life.

What about when the woman is destroyed by the beast? The empire that they serve will reveal in the end that they don’t actually care about their own people or value their lives. Their bloodlust hatred for Israel is so intense that they will expend every resource they have and abuse the people under their jurisdiction in their pursuit of blood. Think of the current state of Iran and the thousands of people that the Iranian regime just recently slaughtered of their own citizens. Also, think about how Iran spent all their resources to built more rockets to launch at Israel and to build up their nuclear and military stockpile instead of building a more utopian vacation society like the United Arab Emirates did. Iran could have been more like the UAE, but they chose violence instead because of their lust for blood and power.

Another distinction between the woman and Babylon that we could make is that Babylon is the governing institution while the woman is all those under that governing institution. That is, not just the people within the ten-nation confederation, but also other nations that bow to the authority of the confederation and become subservient to it, and worship the beast.

In short:

Russia, along with Islamic/terrorist countries in the Middle East, will comprise the final eighth beast empire. This is the iron mixed with clay. They hate Israel and/or will have some “good” reason to pursue the destruction of Israel. They will establish a confederation that will require everyone to be subservient to it, obeying everything they say, and being prohibited from buying or selling unless you join their program. The extent of their governance will be within the ten-nation confederation but will at least have some sway over other countries outside of their jurisdiction. Unless, they manage to spread their religion and government to those other nations as well and in that way, involve everyone. The harlot woman who rides the beast is the people of the earth, specifically those within the ten-nation confederation, and extending outward to all those who submit to the beast empire and are involved with their religion.

The beast is Babylon. The harlot woman are the people within Babylon. Babylon is the resurrection of the anti-Christian, anti-Jew, anti-Jehova, anti-Jesus empire which will be a physical reality as the ten-nation confederation. This physical empire will spread physically and spiritually across the world and will require everyone to follow after the corrupting influence of the beast. If you refuse allegiance, you will certainly die. But if you refuse allegiance and hold fast to your faith in Jesus, though you die, you will keep your life into eternity. Those who worship the beast will forfeit eternal life.

Images taken from: The Sign of Christ's Coming and the End of the Age by Robert Van Kampen, 3rd Ed.