Revelation 17:1

Come, and I will show you. So far five enemies of Christ have been introduced to us: the dragon (Satan); the beast from the sea (anti-christian government); the beast from the earth, who is the false prophet (anti-christian religion and philosophy); the prostitute Babylon (anti-christian seduction); and the men who have the mark of the beast (who are rebels against God). We saw the doom of those who have the mark of the beast in Chapter s 15 & 16. We will see the doom of Babylon in Revelation 18:2; the doom of the sea beast and the false prophet (earth beast) in Revelation 19:20; and the doom of the dragon (Satan) in Revelation 20:10. How the great prostitute is to be punished. Note that she is a prostitute, not an adulteress! She is not an apostate church, but rather the world as it symbolizes LUXURY, VICE, and GLAMOUR (1 John 2:16).