The long history of Babylon stretches back at least to the Tower of Babel (Gen. 11:1–9). Humanity tried to challenge God by building a tower that would reach to heaven. God stepped in and multiplied their languages in order to halt the project. From Babel to the Babylonian Empire and beyond, the name “Babylon” has symbolized power and pride.

The same is true of the woman in today’s reading. She’s the “great city that rules over the kings of the earth” (v. 18). The “many waters” by which she sits symbolize all the peoples of the world (vv. 1, 15). She’s a prostitute, engaged in spiritual adultery (vv. 2–6). She’s sitting on a “scarlet beast” that is the first beast from Revelation 13 (vv. 7–8). The beast is covered with blasphemous names and has seven heads and ten horns. The woman is also wearing luxurious clothes and jewelry and holding a cup filled with the “filth of her adulteries.” She’s “drunk with the blood of God’s holy people.”

An angel explains (vv. 9–14): The seven heads are kings or nations. Five are past, one is present (presumably the Roman Empire), and one is future. The beast is the eighth and of the same sort as the previous seven. The ten horns are also kings or nations, all future. They’re in alliance with the beast, whom we also know as the Antichrist. All these enemies of God are destined for defeat and destruction. “The Lamb will triumph over them.”

As so often happens when evil forces try to cooperate, there will be dissension and conflict (vv. 16–17). The beast and ten horns will hate the woman and will “bring her to ruin.” As they always do, God’s purposes prevail over His enemies’ best efforts.