Beautiful Woman--Babylon
She looks so good, yet so evil

Revelation pictures Babylon as a beautiful woman in chapter seventeen. The beautiful woman represents every form of evil and spiritual corruption to Christians in the world today. The beautiful woman of Babylon tries to draw people away from the principles and goodness of God.

Thorns on Cactus

As a child, I played on the rolling prairie of western South Dakota. Small patches of cactus grew on the grassland. Each of the cactus plants measured one to four inches across, and they had long sharp spines. If a child ran through the grass and fell on a patch of cactus, he instantly recognized his blunder. The hard sharp spines pierced unprotected skin. The cactus plants looked beautiful, but you didn’t hug them.

The beautiful woman, symbolizing Babylon, adorned in gold and precious gems appears similar to a cactus plant. She looks beautiful and loves to embrace the people of the earth. Nevertheless, when someone hugs her, she may pierce him or her with her deadly thorns.

The Importance of Babylon

Our Lord uses more than two chapters to explain the woman Babylon. This indicates that she plays an important part in the Revelation of Jesus Christ. Christians hold several different views of what the beautiful woman riding the beast represents.

The different views on Babylon and Revelation should not break fellowship. Salvation demands a relationship with Jesus Christ. It doesn’t demand a particular view of the Revelation of Jesus Christ. The Father loves each of his children and their different explanations of Revelation.

I am simply a sinner saved by God’s grace. I don’t have a theological degree. I only have an official Certificate of Salvation issued by Jesus Christ and signed with his shed blood from the cross. I shall try to explain what I believe Babylon represents as the Lord has led me. The Lord gave us a detailed description of the great prostitute that points to the kingdom of darkness and Satan.

¹One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits on many waters. ²With her the kings of the earth committed adultery and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries.” ³Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a desert. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns. ⁴The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls. She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries. (Rev. 17:1–4, NIV).

Hear the Spirit

An angel carried John … away in the Spirit. John used the phrase “in the Spirit” only four times in the Revelation of Jesus Christ. John was in the Spirit when Jesus began his Revelation. John wrote that he was in the Spirit before God revealed his Throne in Heaven, and when an angel disclosed the Holy City, Jerusalem (Rev. 1:10, 4:2, 21:10). Jesus reminds us throughout his Revelation to hear what the Spirit says to us. He says that we should use a mind of wisdom to understand (Rev. 17:9).

The phrase “in the Spirit” always indicates a view into the spiritual realms. Therefore, we must view the beautiful woman in the wilderness as a spiritual force and not a physical event or place. This beautiful woman of Babylon gives us a picture of a type of spiritual evil.

The angel carried John away … into a desert. The temptation of Jesus, after his Baptism by John, used similar words to describe the desert or wilderness. The Spirit sent Jesus into the desert, and he was with the wild beasts (Mark 1:13). The Bible used the same Greek words for desert and for beast in these examples. The Devil has continued to send wild beasts to harass Christians throughout the Gospel Age.

Beautiful woman Babylon loves to pierce people with evil

Beautiful Woman Babylon will pierce you if you Hug her

The … scarlet beast that the beautiful woman sat on pointed to the beast out of the sea in chapter 13. Many Christians believe that the beast out of the sea represented Rome. John probably thought this true. Rome was the major power persecuting the Christian Church. Yet, the Lord said that all who read Revelation would be blessed (Rev. 1:3). The woman and the beast must have symbolized more than just the powers of Rome. What did Babylon represent then and today?

Five Levels of Darkness

Revelation shows us five levels of Satan’s kingdom. The different levels represent: the Dragon, the fallen angels, the beast out of the sea, the beast out of the earth, and the people of the world. Each of these five parts takes an active part throughout the Gospel Age.

The Dragon, the serpent, or the Devil always indicates Satan as the head of the kingdom of darkness.

The fallen angels and the powers that work in the kingdom of darkness take several different forms. The fallen angels persecute the people on earth in spiritual and physical ways. The demons of darkness give us one of the keys to understanding the different visions in Revelation.

The beast out of the sea represents government and business powers in the world.

The beast out of the earth represents the false prophet and the apostate or wayward Christian Church.

The people of the world symbolize people who refuse a relationship with Jesus Christ. They live in darkness and carry the mark of the beast.

Beautiful Woman Called Babylon

Jesus introduced us to Babylon in the second trumpet (Rev. 8:8). We saw Babylon as the burning mountain thrown into the sea of people. Babylon caused the spiritual death of billions of people around the world.

OT Babylon represented every form of evil and corruption to the Israelite nation. NT Babylon has represented every form of evil and darkness; only she exercises her duties in the spiritual realm.

Babylon, pictured as a beautiful woman, symbolizes the spiritual forces of evil and darkness in Satan’s kingdom. She’s the reflection of Satan himself. I believe that the principalities, powers, rulers of darkness, and demons make up the spiritual Babylon (Eph. 6:12). The fallen angels that rebelled against God form the ingredients for the powers of evil.

The Spirits of Babylon hate the children of God. Satan uses his system of evil angels to fuel the thoughts and powers of people who control government and business. The beautiful woman Babylon rides the beast of the sea and encourages governments to persecute the Christian Church. Powers that control people don’t bother other forms of worship such as the eastern religions. Babylon only attacks people who worship our Savior Jesus Christ.

Babylon mimics Satan’s thoughts, desires, and attitudes toward God. The forces that make up the beautiful woman seem bigger than any nation, any church, or any time in history. Satan, as the boss, controls the evil spirits. They answer only to him except for the Almighty God. The power of God by our prayers controls Satan, his power Babylon, and his influences in the world.

Text of, Beautiful Woman Babylon, from pages 243-245 of "Walking Through Revelation With a Common Man"
Beautiful Woman Info Book on Revelation