‘And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of God's people (the saints) and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus. And when I saw her I wondered with a great wonder.'

The ancient empires from Babel onwards made war on the people of God, just as Rome was now doing and would do, and other great cities of the future would do as well. The people of God are always subject to special attack because of what the woman represents. Whether it was Babylon with its fiery furnaces (Daniel 3:11), Darius the Mede with his den of lions (Daniel 6:7) or Rome with its crucifixions and its amphitheatres, ‘Great Babylon' was responsible for it all. Today large parts of the world are ruled by Babylon, with its commercialism, covetousness which is idolatry, and its anti-God behaviour.

The term saints probably has in mind the Old Testament saints (e.g. Psalms 79:2; Psalms 116:15; Daniel 7:18; Daniel 7:21; Daniel 7:25; Daniel 7:27), with the ‘witnesses of Jesus' representing the New Testament saints. This again testifies to the breadth of the ideas. As John contemplates all the blood she has caused to be shed, blood that has made her drunk as with wine, he can only marvel.

Continues after advertising
Continues after advertising