What happensPermalink
An angel shows John the judgment of Babylon, the great prostitute seated on a scarlet beast with seven heads and ten horns. Clothed in luxury and drunk with the saints’ blood, she rides the beast that astonishes the world. The angel explains that ten kings will briefly receive authority with the beast and make war on the Lamb. Yet those allies also turn against Babylon and destroy her, while the Lamb conquers them all.
Why it mattersPermalink
Babylon embodies the seductive cultural and economic order of human rebellion; the beast embodies the coercive political power that supports it. The seven mountains would remind John’s first readers of Rome, but the vision reaches beyond one empire to every civilization organized against God. Evil’s alliances finally collapse from within, and no earthly power can withstand the Lamb, the King of kings.
Key versePermalink
They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful.