What scriptural connections exist between Revelation 17:18 and other prophetic passages? Text under focus “ And the woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth.” (Revelation 17:18) Why this verse matters • It identifies the mysterious woman of Revelation 17 as a literal “great city.” • It links that city to global political authority (“rules over the kings”). • It ties together a prophetic thread that runs from Genesis to Revelation concerning Babylon and the final world system. Old-Testament roots of the ‘great city’ • Isaiah 47:5-8 — “Sit in silence and go into darkness, O Daughter of the Chaldeans, for you will no longer be called the mistress of kingdoms.” – Same language: “mistress of kingdoms” parallels “great city … rules over the kings.” • Jeremiah 51:7 — “Babylon was a golden cup in the hand of the LORD, making the whole earth drunk.” – Revelation 17:2 repeats the imagery of the nations drunk with her immorality. • Jeremiah 51:13 — “O you who dwell by many waters, rich in treasures, your end has come.” – Matches Revelation 17:1 (“sits on many waters”), explained in 17:15 as peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues. • Genesis 11:4-9 — Tower of Babel: the first organized city opposing God, foreshadowing the final rebellious city. Prophetic pattern of ruling empires • Daniel 2:37-38 — Nebuchadnezzar called “king of kings,” head of gold; Babylon begins the Gentile dominion. • Daniel 2:41-43; 7:7-8, 23-24 — A final empire of ten kings/horns. Revelation 17:12 builds on that same structure. • Daniel 7:4-7 — Four beasts culminate in one dreadful beast; Revelation 13:2 and 17:3 merge those characteristics into the scarlet beast the woman rides, showing continuity between Daniel’s visions and John’s. ‘Woman’ + ‘beast’ = church-state alliance at the end • Revelation 17:3 — The woman rides the beast, meaning the city’s religious/cultural influence guides the political power. • Daniel 11:36-39 — The Antichrist exalts himself and honors a foreign god; Revelation 17:16 shows the beast eventually turning on the woman, fulfilling the same betrayal motif. Repeated ‘great city’ references inside Revelation • 11:8 — Jerusalem symbolically called “the great city.” • 14:8; 16:19; 18:10-21 — Babylon explicitly called “the great city.” – The pattern climaxes at 17:18 where the identity is nailed down: the woman = the city. – Each mention escalates judgment, ending with total destruction in chapter 18, echoing Isaiah 13-14 and Jeremiah 50-51. Echoes of Zechariah 5:5-11 • A woman called “Wickedness” is sealed in an ephah and carried “to build a house in the land of Shinar.” • Shinar = Babylon’s plain (Genesis 11:2). Zechariah foresees the end-time relocation of global wickedness to its prophetic headquarters, matching the picture of Revelation 17. Kings of the earth in both Testaments • Psalm 2:2 — “The kings of the earth take their stand against the LORD.” – Revelation 17:18 portrays a city orchestrating that rebellion. • Revelation 18:9 — “The kings of the earth who committed immorality with her … will weep and wail.” – The same kings depend on the city and suffer at her fall, fulfilling Isaiah 23:8-9 (lament over Tyre) and Ezekiel 27 (lament over commercial Tyre)—types of end-time Babylon. Final downfall foretold • Revelation 18:21 — “A mighty angel picked up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, ‘So will Babylon the great city be thrown down with violence.’” – Direct answer to Jeremiah 51:63-64 where the prophet ties a stone to the scroll of Babylon and casts it into the Euphrates. • Isaiah 13:19 — “Babylon, the jewel of the kingdoms … will be overthrown by God like Sodom and Gomorrah.” – Revelation 17–18 portray that long-awaited judgment. Key takeaways from the connections • Revelation 17:18 gathers centuries of prophecy into one climactic identification: the end-time Babylonian system manifests as a reigning city wielding global influence. • Daniel supplies the political skeleton (beast and ten kings); Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Zechariah supply the moral and religious portrait; Revelation unites them. • The literal accuracy of these passages assures that the same God who judged ancient Babylon will bring the final rebellion to a sudden, decisive end. |
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