Part 5 - The ‘Mystery’ of The Scarlet Harlot:

This Article is part of a multi-part Study Series called The Scarlet Harlot Religion Identified.

“And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY [Gk. musterion, secret], BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. 6 And I saw the 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 [Gk. thauma, wonder]. (Revelation 17:5-6 (KJV)

In his vision of the mysterious, secreted, Scarlet Harlot, the Apostle John sees a title written “upon her forehead.” This informs us that the reality that this MOTHER OF HARLOTS” represents a Biblical “Mystery [a long-kept secret] of the “Mother of Harlot,” which is revealed or arrived at by deducing it in from the books of Daniel and The Revelation. The reality of this ‘Mystery’ is dealing with a true Biblical mystery [secret] proven by the following two important factors.

  1. The word “MYSTERY” is separated from the identity of “BABYLON THE GREAT” by a coma in Rev. 17:5; “MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT.” Some translations such as the RSV and NIV and NET go so far as to use a colon to distinctly separate the wordsMystery [secret]” from Babylon.” Thus, this refers to another Babylon than the ancient one located in today’s Iraq. This ‘Babylon’ was kept secret until the Book of Revelation revealed the details we have been studying.

 

  1. The Angel translating this prophetic vision for John clearly states “BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS,” is indeed the ‘mystery of the woman.”

“And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the ‘mystery’ of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.” (Revelation 17:7 (KJV)

A Biblical mystery in the New Testament is something that had been kept secret, veiled, kept hid, as in the Old Testament, but becomes revealed later, such as we see in The Revelation.

The revealing of a Biblical mystery or secret can come from different sources. For instance, Christ reveals to the Apostle John the Mystery of the Seven Stars and Seven Golden Lampstands” in Revelation 1:20.

“The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches [of the end times]: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.” (Revelation 1:20 (KJV)

In the case of the ‘mystery [secret]’ related to the timing when grace age believers receive their resurrected bodies, the Apostle Paul discloses;

“Behold, I shew you a ‘mystery [a God-planned and God-kept Secret]’; We shall not all sleep [in death], but we shall all be changed, 52  In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the [sleeping] dead shall be raised [resurrected] incorruptible [immortal], and we [who are alive at His coming] shall be changed.” (1 Corinthians 15:51-52 (KJV)

In the case of the mystery behind the MOTHER OF HARLOTS,” the translating angel informs John of important details concerning this “Harlot religion.” What is explained is seen in the following three verses.

  1. “And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are Seven Mountains [Gk. oros, or Hills], on which the Woman [the Harlot] sitteth.” (Revelation 17:9 (KJV)
  2. “And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, Are Peoples, And Multitudes, And Nations, and Tongues. (Revelation 17:15 (KJV)
  3. “And the Woman which thou sawest is That Great City, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.” (Revelation 17:18 (KJV)

So, in these verses we discover these details.

  • In Rev. 17:18, John discovers that “the Harlot” is headquarted in that great city.”
  • In Rev 17:9 John learns the geographical location of the “great city where she sits upon seven hills.
  • Then in Rev. 17:15 we see that the ‘Harlot’ has global reach, that it becomes a religion that is embraced ‘Worldwide’ by multitudes of people in various nations of diverse languages.

“And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.” (Revelation 17:15 (KJV)