Revelation 17:17 - Printer Friendly

ESV: for God has put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose by being of one mind and handing over their royal power to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled.

NIV: For God has put it into their hearts to accomplish his purpose by agreeing to hand over to the beast their royal authority, until God’s words are fulfilled.

NASB: For God has put it in their hearts to execute His purpose by having a common purpose, and by giving their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God will be fulfilled.

CSB: For God has put it into their hearts to carry out his plan by having one purpose and to give their kingdom to the beast until the words of God are fulfilled.

NLT: For God has put a plan into their minds, a plan that will carry out his purposes. They will agree to give their authority to the scarlet beast, and so the words of God will be fulfilled.

KJV: For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.

NKJV: For God has put it into their hearts to fulfill His purpose, to be of one mind, and to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled.

Unwittingly, the beast (Revelation 17:3) and the ten kings (Revelation 17:12) destroy religious Babylon by an act of God's will. God puts it into their hearts to fulfill His purpose. Further, the ten kings unintentionally fulfill God's will by turning their power over to the beast. However, it is God's purpose to draw the political leaders into judgment.

In the time of Moses, God brought the evil Pharaoh and the Egyptians into judgment. They worshiped false gods, but God punished them. First, God responded to Pharaoh's stubborn heart by sending further hardening, so the ruler would not allow the Hebrews to leave Egypt. Then God drowned the Egyptians in the Red Sea. He declared in Exodus 14:17 "I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them [the children of Israel into the Red Sea], and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen."

We may not understand why God delays His judgment, but we can be certain that He will not delay forever. Further, God works in mysterious ways to fulfill His purposes. He used Pharaoh to display His power and glory at the Red Sea, and He will use the ten kings and the beast to display His power and glory when He judges both them and religious Babylon.

Revelation 17:15–18 continues the angel's explanation of John's symbolic vision, seen in verses 1 through 6. This section focuses on religious Babylon—pictured as a sexually immoral woman—and her judgment. Other Scriptures proclaim the judgment that God eventually brings on apostate religion. A few are Psalm 9:17; 73:27; Isaiah 1:25; 3:11; 34:1–10; Jeremiah 23:9–40; Zechariah 11:17; Luke 12:1–5 Jude; and Revelation 18:1–8.

Revelation 17 zeroes in on God's judgment of Babylon as the center of religious corruption in the tribulation. The target of this wrath seems to be an eclectic form of all apostate religions. This might be a concrete, single religion. Or, it might be a near-religious blending or equalizing of all spiritual beliefs. God views religious Babylon as ''the great prostitute'' that has support from heads of state. This system is both extremely rich and murderous, guilty of martyring saints. It has a past and a renewed existence as a religious-political system. Together, the political heads of state and religious Babylon battle Jesus, the Lamb, but He defeats them. The end of religious Babylon comes when the ten kings turn against her and ruin her. They destroy religious Babylon because God puts it in the hearts to do so.

Chapter 16 resumed explaining God's pattern of end times wrath, this time describing the seven bowl judgments. As the last bowl is poured out, John is called to see a vision, which seems to incorporate events occurring throughout the tribulation. This chapter focuses on the fall of religious Babylon. Revelation 14:8 and 16:19 mention Babylon's collapse under the wrath of God in the tribulation. Babylon's ultimate fall may actually occur before the bowl judgments, anytime during the second half of the tribulation. Isaiah 13 and Jeremiah 50 and 51 predict the fall of Babylon. Revelation 18 also speaks of the ruin of Babylon, but from a political and economic perspective.

The word ''revelation'' means ''an unveiling or disclosure.'' This writing unveils future events such as the rapture, three series of judgments that will fall on the earth during the tribulation, the emergence of the Antichrist, the persecution of Israel and her amazing revival, as well as Jesus' second coming with His saints to the earth, the judgment of Satan and his followers, and finally, the eternal state. This content, combined with the original Greek term apokalypsis, is why we now refer to an end-of-the-world scenario as ''an apocalypse.''