The woman riding the Beast in Revelation 17 is not the Catholic Church, as previously assumed, but a city and nation: Mystery, Babylon the Great. Scripture predominantly uses a woman to symbolize a city, and through it a nation, as with Jerusalem in Ezekiel 16, Samaria and Jerusalem as Oholah and Oholibah in Ezekiel 23, Babylon in Isaiah 47, and Jerusalem in Lamentations 1. Only the New Testament weakly links a woman to the true church (Galatians 4), and even that image suggests a city and nation. The woman symbol is never used for a false church. Revelation 17:18 settles the matter by calling her "that great city which reigns over the kings of the earth." As "mother of harlots," she is the city whose inhabitants, male and female alike, are collectively her harlot children, just as "daughters" is used collectively in Hosea, Ezekiel, and Lamentations. Revelation 18 describes global commerce, manufacturing, and politics rather than religion. Her traits are pride, extravagant luxury, and a self-confident belief that she will never suffer, which parallel Jerusalem's sins in Ezekiel 16. She rides the Beast and so controls it from outside, while the Catholic Church influences it from within. Woman and Beast are two competing aspects of one Babylonish system, which is why the ten horns eventually turn on her.

The Woman riding the Beast in Revelation 17 is a symbol of a city or nation, not a church, and she is modeled on ancient Babylon, a complete anti-God culture that built, traded, made war, and had its own religions. The end-time Mystery, Babylon the Great, is that same package on a worldwide scale. Her identity is modern Israel, the only people with whom God made a marriage covenant, revealed Himself, and gave His Word. Because Israel received so much, Luke 12:47-48 explains why she is judged more sternly and earns names like Sodom, Egypt, and Babylon. Like a "deceitful bow" (Psalm 78:56-57), she looked faithful but failed under testing, and Ezekiel 16 portrays her as a wife who broke her vows and played the harlot with the nations. She is proud, wealthy, and fickle, and she craves variety and avoids suffering. Her harlotry shows in idolatry, Sabbath breaking, murder, adultery, lying, and coveting, and she exports these through colonization, entertainment, and commerce. She also spreads a syncretic Christianity, Roman and Protestant alike, rooted in pagan Babylon, and with it the "wine" of her fornication. Babylon means confusion, the Bible's code name for the world's organized system opposed to God's way. Revelation 18:4 calls God's people to come out of it by refusing its ways, since its influence surrounds and presses on them constantly.

In the vision shown to the apostle John in the wilderness, a woman astride a great scarlet beast emerged as a powerful symbol of corruption. This woman, depicted as a vile harlot and a mother of harlots, had committed fornication with the kings of the earth through idolatry and foreign alliances, embodying spiritual adultery as illustrated in the Old Testament by prophets like Hosea and Ezekiel. Clothed in scarlet and purple, adorned with gold, precious stones, and pearls, she exuded wickedness, holding a golden cup filled with filthiness and abominations. Drunk on the blood of countless true Christians she had killed over centuries, her identity is tied to a false religion that blends Christianity with paganism, creating an intoxicating and destructive influence that has deceived the world's people. Her attire of purple and scarlet, colors associated with power and authority in both pagan and Christian Rome, further marks her as a figure of corrupt religious authority.

In the exploration of prophetic symbols in Revelation, the Woman named Mystery, Babylon the Great, as described in chapters 17 and 18, emerges as a significant figure. This Woman is not merely a religious entity but represents a city or nation with immense political, economic, and military influence, involved in vast global merchandising, shipping, and manufacturing. Her identification as a mystery suggests a deeper, symbolic meaning beyond a singular institution, pointing to a powerful entity whose collapse would halt worldwide trade and incite panic among businessmen. Revelation 18 portrays this Woman as a symbol of globalism, with no direct ties to religion, though a male religious figure appears elsewhere in Revelation 13. Instead, the focus is on her authority and dominance, as seen in Revelation 17, where she sits upon many waters, a scarlet Beast with seven heads and ten horns, and seven mountains. These elements symbolize her extensive control over peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues, indicating a wide-ranging influence across diverse groups. The act of sitting conveys her position of power and authority, as though she issues commands and is served by those beneath her. In this end-time prophecy, God appears to view the Woman as a singular, united, and powerful people, distinct from the Beast, which comprises a fragmented array of nations and peoples unable to unify against her. Her ability to hold the Beast in check and direct its actions underscores her unparalleled influence, a dominance that persists until God deems it time for her to be humbled. This portrayal emphasizes her as a central force in the prophetic narrative, embodying both worldly greatness and profound deviation from divine responsibility.

In Revelation 17 and 18, the Woman symbolizes end-time Israel, depicted as the Great Harlot Babylon due to her faithless relationship with God. Despite entering into a covenant with Him, Israel has rebelled against her responsibilities, embracing the ways of the world to such an extent that she has outdone the Gentiles in her manner of life. God portrays her in close relationship with the Beast, influencing it, with the Joseph tribes, particularly America and Britain, as her strongest components, showcasing significant influence in the end times. The Woman's elegant clothing, jewelry, and precious metals illustrate her immense wealth and power among nations, a wealth that has grown to control a substantial portion of the world's resources. She sits on many waters, the Beast, and seven mountains, indicating her authority and influence over numerous peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues. This position of prominence allows her to teach, guide, or coerce many nations to do her bidding, demonstrating vast powers even over a formidable entity like the Beast. Israel, primarily through the Joseph tribes, is shown as a unified people in contrast to the diverse, unrelated peoples of the Beast, underlining her unique role and intimate association with it through political, trade, and military agreements. Despite her material greatness, she is spiritually great in immorality, confusion, and deviance from responsibility, using her polluted influence to hold the Beast in check until God's appointed time. Her hypocritical stance as a Christian nation while conducting life immorally marks her as a major player in the biblical record, with the blood of martyrs staining her history and more to come in the future.

In the book of Revelation, the symbol of a woman represents the pervasive and seductive cultural system of Babylon, embodying a way of life that opposes God's will. Revelation 17:5 describes her as "MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH," portraying her as the epitome of God-defying power and the enemy of all that is godly. This woman, a great prostitute, symbolizes a system—not a nation—that influences nations and kings, directing their governance and conduct through a manipulative, anti-God way of life, as seen in Revelation 17:7-9 where she rides a beast with seven heads and ten horns, representing nations and rulers under her sway. Revelation 17:6 further illustrates her destructive nature, depicting her as "drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus," highlighting her role in the persecution of God's people. Though Babylon as a nation ceased to exist long ago, around 539 BC, her characteristics and cultural influence persist through the ages, carried forward by subsequent empires and nations, ultimately dominating the Western world today. Revelation 18:3 underscores her impact, stating that "all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury," pointing to a capitalistic system intertwined with political and corporate corruption. God uses the ancient name Babylon symbolically to warn of this pervasive evil influence surrounding His people, urging them to come out of her spiritually by rejecting her prideful, self-centered ways and idolatrous beliefs, as commanded in Revelation 18:4. This woman, representing the Babylonian system, reigns over the kings of the earth from a great city, influencing the Western world where many Israelitish and Gentile nations unknowingly practice her ways. Her eventual betrayal and destruction by another emerging system, as hinted in Revelation 17:17-18, signal the ongoing spiritual battle and the need for God's people to prepare to flee from her influence when He directs, ensuring they do not partake in her sins or receive her plagues.

The woman in Revelation 17 and 18 symbolizes the enduring spirit of Babylon's way of life rather than any literal nation. She appears as a harlot seated on many waters and riding a scarlet beast full of blasphemy, arrayed in purple and scarlet, adorned with gold, precious stones, and pearls, and holding a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication. Her forehead bears the name MYSTERY BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH, and she is drunk with the blood of the saints and martyrs of Jesus. This figure embodies the carnally attractive cultural system first established by Nimrod and Semiramis, whose foundations were laid in rebellion against God when people journeyed eastward, built a city and tower with manufactured bricks and asphalt, and sought to make a name for themselves apart from divine direction. Although ancient Babylon fell to the Medes and Persians in 539 BC and ceased to exist as a nation, its spirit survived through military conquest, deportations, and cultural absorption, impressing itself first on successive empires and then on the Israelitish people. That same spirit now dominates the Western world through syncretized religion, fractional-reserve banking, representative government, education, entertainment, and commerce, exercising persuasive control over many nations while the beast supplies coercive power wherever persuasion falls short. The woman therefore represents a multinational, anti-God way of life that drugs spiritual perception, promotes fornication and idolatry, and leads citizens into bondage, prompting the repeated divine command to come out of her lest they share her coming plagues.