The Harlot (Ch.17-19)

Who is the Harlot? Revelation leaves the question a little open — deliberately, it seems, so that each reader has to keep checking whether the answer is uncomfortably close to home.

These chapters give the book’s most detailed picture of Satan’s work in the world and the dangers it poses for the church, but they’re also laced with mockery of the Roman Empire, or whatever plays that role today.

At its core, though, the point of the harlot is a warning by contrast: she’s a picture of exactly what the bride of Christ must never become.

Details