NOTES for Rev 17:1-18
Chapter seventeen tells us about the fate of an empire. Before us pass images portraying the world state of that time, the Roman Empire. This is precisely what is suggested by the words about the woman who sits on seven hills: this is seven-hilled Rome. A mixture of languages and coercive power unite the multinational kingdom. The vassals of the Roman emperor participate in the imperial cult and are implicated in Rome’s sins. Before us is an empire of those who oppose God and oppress others, stained by idolatry and the murder of the faithful. The empire will fall under the onslaught of other kings like its own. But their kingdom, too, will be short-lived. The empire of evil will be destroyed—“the Lamb will conquer them.”