Now, let's first look at Rev 14:4 4 These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. -- the saints are chaste and have not defiled themselves with women.
Then,
In Revelation 17 the wicked city is described as a harlot - a whore. This is not a new city or a different city than the one judged throughout the book of revelation. This is the same "Great city where the Lord was crucified"
Rev 11:8 8 And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.
Rev 16:19
19 And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.
rev 17:18
zek157 -- This wicked city destined for destruction is Jerusalem before 70 AD
18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.
Yes, Jerusalem before 70 AD -- why?
Let's take them one by one - Rev:11:7-10 has the two witnesses killed and dead bodies not buried like in Psalm 79 O god, the heathen are come into thine inheritance; thy holy temple have they defiled; they have laid Jerusalem on heaps.
2 The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be meat unto the fowls of the heaven, the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth.
Jerusalem is pictured as that city which killed the prophets, rejecting their message. That Jerusalem is called Sodom is a reflection of Isaiah 1:10 10 Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. -- who are these rulers? They are the rulers of JERUSALEM
and note - "the city where their Lord was crucified" and where WAS Christ crucified? In Jerusalem
Rev 16:19 "The great city was split into three parts" -- recall 16:16 "And they assembled them at a place which is called in Hebrew Armageddon" -- this defines that Jerusalem pre-70 AD is the new Babylon, receiving its final catastrophic judgement for crucifying the Lord
What is the split of Jerusalem of 70 AD? Josephus describes what happened
see - split in three parts and NOTE --
The Romans slew some of them, some they carried captive.. there were also found slain there about two thousand persons, partly by their own hands, partly by one another, but chiefly destroyed by the famine
3
the city of Jerusalem in 67 AD was split into
============================================
Now let's look at Chapter 17
====================================================
The Jerusalem of 70 AD = Babylon - which is destroyed by the 7th chalice and is called a harlot
Contrast that to the new Jerusalem, the church - which is the Bride, the wife of the lamb
You may ask why is John's vision of the city "sitting upon the seven hills" - isn't that Rome or Constantinople or Albany, NY or Cincinnati?
Yet we read that the harlot is 18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth. - and note 16 16 And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. -- the beast, the Roman empire, DEVOURS the harlot - so the beast is separate from the harlot.
Furthermore, the harlot "sits" upon the beast 17:3 I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast,
Now let's look at the 7 hills - the 7 hills are the 7 heads of the beast 17:9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.
So we see here Jerusalem - the Sanhedrin SITTING on Roman Imperial Authority (the beaast with seven heads)
In other words, Jerusalem, the Sanhedrin was riding the beast
.
17:1 "Come, I will show you the judgement of the great harlot who is seated upon many waters, with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and with the wine of whose fornication the dwellers on earth have become drunk"
this reflects Jeremiah 51:13 13 O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end is come, and the measure of thy covetousness. which is about Babylon. Note also that "sea" and "waters" represents Gentiles, while "land" and "earth" are for the Jewish authoritiesAnd Zek - you'll see it over and over again, in Hosea, in Jeremiah etc. where Israel is compared to a whore - because she is the unfaithful wife.
The "many waters" that the woman (Jerusalem) sits on is yet another way of showing how the Sanhedrin of Jerusalem had set itself up on Roman Imperial authority
in the first chapter of Isaiah we read concerning Jerusalem 1:21 "21 How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers." - and yuo see the same in Ezekiel 16:15 15 But thou didst trust in thine own beauty, and playedst the harlot because of thy renown, and pouredst out thy fornications on every one that passed by; his it was. and especially in Hosea 4:11-12 11 Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart.
12 My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declareth unto them: for the spirit of whoredoms hath caused them to err, and they have gone a whoring from under their God.
The beast that the harlot (Jerusalem) rides is the Roman Empire - as seen in Revelation 13, which is the fourth beast of Daniel (the empire of Iron and then iron mixed with clay)
Now read 17:4-5 "4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
5 And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon The Great, The Mother Of Harlots And Abominations Of The Earth."
- this reflects Jeremiah 4:30 30 And when thou art spoiled, what wilt thou do? Though thou clothest thyself with crimson, though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, though thou rentest thy face with painting, in vain shalt thou make thyself fair; thy lovers will despise thee, they will seek thy life.
John's description mirrors Jeremiah's words Babylon was a golden cup in the Lord's hand, making all the earth drunken; the nations drank of her wine, therefore the nations went mad" Jer 51:17
The precious jewels and gold as in Ex 28.5 5 And they shall take gold, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen. and Ex 28:15-23
These items were part of the temple's furnishings -- read Ex 25:3-7' 26:1; 26:31
--------------
Once the earthly city of pre-70 AD Jerusalem is destroyed, God's faithful bride, the New Jerusalem - the Church, will be freed - read 21:11 11 Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal;
Similarly -- God's temple in Heaven is opened once the earthly city if judged - Rev 11:19
rev: 17:6 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. -- the Greek word for martyrs here is translated as "witness" everywhere else in John's vision. This is linked to the 2 witnesses who lie dead in the wicked city of jerusalem in revelation 11 --and the wicked city of jersulaem is responsible for hte deaths of the saints as seen in Re 18:24 "And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints" - clearly this describes the prophets and saints killed in Jerusalem
Rev 17:16 And the beast will hate the harlot... it will make her desolate and naked, and devour her flesh and burn her up with fire -- zek157 - the harlot rides the beast (the Roman empire) and the harlot (Jerusalem) is then devoured by the Roman Empire - beast. This is a graphic description of the destruction of Jerusalem for in 70 AD the empire truly DID burn the cityof Jerusalem up with fire
The great city of Jerusalem, that God wanted for Himself, that Jerusalem had turned sinful itself and become a whore -- the whore city, Jerusalem