Revelation 17:5, commentary and pictures

The name on her forehead identifies a fallen church, for a woman stands for a church and Babylon from Babel means confusion for false and apostate religion, and the great Babylon here is Rome the corrupt papal power in unlawful alliance with the world.
The word MYSTERY marks the errors of the papacy as the mystery of iniquity that figures largely in the winding up of this earth's history.
Mother of harlots means Rome has daughters in religious bodies once pure but now corrupt by clinging to her doctrines and traditions and sacrificing truth to seek the favor of the world.
She pretends to be divine, claiming authority reaching to heaven and unfailing wisdom and boasting that she has never erred and never can err.
Drunk with the blood of the saints, she describes persecution of Christ's followers, especially through the Inquisition established in the thirteenth century in which millions of martyrs were killed.
The title belongs to the prophecies of Revelation 12 to 18 now being fulfilled in the last message of warning, exposing inward corruption and deceiving wickedness under outward pomp by which she deceives all nations, and foretelling the destruction of the papal power and of all churches corrupted by drinking the wine of her fornication.

Name and Symbols

In Revelation 17 the woman is a church, with a virtuous woman standing for a pure church and a vile woman standing for an apostate church that has turned from God.
The name Babylon comes from Babel and signifies confusion, and in this verse it denotes false or apostate religion.

The word MYSTERY written with her name marks the errors of the papacy.
It is the mystery of iniquity that figures largely in the winding up of this earth's history and must be carefully searched out with wisdom, and knowledge of these mysteries gives power and greater force to testimony against her.

As mother of harlots, Rome has daughters, religious bodies that were once pure but became corrupt by clinging to her doctrines and traditions and following her example of sacrificing truth and God's approval to form an unlawful alliance with the world.
They seek the favor and support of worldly leaders and abandon their loyalty and vows to God, while their profession of religion conceals worldly ambition and unrighteousness and their pursuit of popularity corrupts faithfulness to the King of Heaven.
The name Babylon as confusion also fits divided churches that profess to take the Bible as their source yet split into many groups with conflicting creeds and teachings and beliefs.

Babylon and Her Daughters

Babylon the Great is Rome, the apostate papal power and corrupt church opposed to God's truth, charged with spiritual unfaithfulness through unlawful alliance with worldly powers. The name mother of harlots expresses that charge and points to her corrupting influence, while her outward pomp and gorgeous display cover deep inward corruption and deceiving wickedness by which she deceives the nations. The adjoining picture of her drunk with the blood of the saints describes her persecution of Christ's followers, whose blood makes her guilty. That persecution was especially carried out through the Inquisition established in the thirteenth century, under which millions of martyrs were killed.

She is portrayed as a religious power that pretends to be divine, claiming authority reaching to heaven and wisdom that cannot fail. She boasts of infallibility and of immortal wisdom, falsely claiming that she has never erred and never can. That claim to supremacy is condemned as a false tyrannical rival to God's church, and her priests keep their ascendency by keeping the people in ignorance of God's will.

The mother is separate and distinct from her daughters: the mother is the Catholic church, whose day is past and who is declining in power, while her daughters are the Protestant sects, who are growing and will soon exercise the power once manifested by the mother. The daughters will act out the same persecuting mind the mother had when she persecuted the saints, working as their mother worked before them to destroy the saints. Nominal churches will betray Sabbathkeepers to the Catholics to obtain their influence against them, reporting them as those who disregard the pope's institution by keeping the Sabbath and disregarding Sunday. The Catholics will bid the Protestants to go forward and issue a decree that all who will not observe the first day of the week instead of the seventh shall be slain, standing by the Protestants in large numbers and giving their power to the image of the beast. Before their decrees bring forth fruit, the saints will be delivered by the voice of God.

The portrayal belongs to that of union of church and state, which united become a deadly force crushing those who oppose them. Its scarlet woman has been invoked as a symbol for the infant baptism practiced by pedo-Baptists.

Prophecy Fulfillment and Warning

The verse belongs to the prophecies of Revelation 12 to 18 that are being fulfilled, and its place is in the last message of warning that all are to hear. That warning is given now just before the very last call to the churches in Revelation 18. It stands just before the casting of the beast and false prophet into the lake of fire, the binding of the dragon for a thousand years, the resurrection of the wicked and final destruction of Satan and all the wicked, and the final triumph and reign of Christ on this earth.

It is part of God's warning of the perils before His people in the last days, to be read with Revelation 12:17, Revelation 13, and Revelation 14:10-12. It reveals things that will be in the last days, a people working counter to God. It shows a company who have been deceived because they rejected truth and the light of God departed from them.

The name on her forehead exposes deep inward corruption and deceiving wickedness covered by outward attraction, gorgeous display, pomp, and elaborate signs of power. With all deceivableness of unrighteousness she deceives all nations, promising, as Satan promised the first parents, all good to those who receive her mark and all harm to those who oppose her fallacies. She foretells the destruction of the papal power and of all the churches that corrupt themselves by idolatrous devotion to serving the papacy and drinking the wine of her fornication. Her kingdom is given to her by Protestantism, a power professing the temper and spirit of a lamb and alliance to heaven while speaking with the voice of a dragon, moved by a power from beneath.

The mystery presents the detestable works of the inhabitants of the ruling powers of the world who bind themselves into secret societies and confederacies and do not honor God's law. Near the close of time there is greater and still greater outward display of heathen power, with heathen deities manifesting signal power before the cities of the world, and this delineation has already begun to be fulfilled. It is given so that those who have the light of truth will keep clear of these evils, for there are only two parties, those who keep God's commandments and those who war against His holy law, and all false religionists of the world will more and more manifest their evil doings.

The verse shows a vast, countless multitude bowing before Satan as he works to make himself as God and to destroy all who oppose him. His followers yield to his miracle-working power worked through every object in earth and air and water, and become alive with intense activity, influencing and stimulating one another to confirm the greatness and glory of his kingdom. Their restless surging determination is to take and occupy the place of the throne of God, with eagerness and rage in religious enthusiasm and defiant rebellion written in their countenances, in warfare against their Creator and Redeemer, thinking themselves mighty in their numbers. They do not see that a cloud of judicial wrath hangs over them containing the elements that destroyed Sodom.

MYSTERY in the church of Rome and her hereditary religion with its boast of infallibility and power is a horror to all who know the secrets of the mystery of iniquity. The priests of this church keep their ascendency by keeping the people in ignorance of the will of God. As the kingdom of Babylon passed away because in prosperity her rulers forgot God and ascribed her honor and glory to human achievement, and as Medo-Persia and Rome deteriorated and crumbled through casting off God and trampling His law, so religion deteriorates morally and spiritually in proportion as God is forgotten.