In exploring the prophecies of Revelation, a critical figure emerges as Mystery, Babylon the Great, described in chapters 17 and 18. This Woman, identified as a great harlot, does not merely represent a religious entity but embodies a city or nation with vast political, economic, and military influence, deeply involved in global merchandising, shipping, and manufacturing. Her economic power is so immense that her downfall would halt worldwide trade, causing panic among businessmen. Revelation 18 offers no direct tie to religion, focusing instead on her role in globalism. The Woman, representing Jerusalem and all Israel, is shown in a covenant relationship with God, akin to marriage, where faithfulness was expected. Despite the extraordinary gifts and revelations bestowed upon her by God, Israel's faithlessness and deviance from her responsibilities are profound, marking her as the preeminent harlot in biblical narrative. Her worldly greatness, achieved through the misuse of God's gifts, positions her as a dominant force, controlling a significant portion of the world's wealth and exerting unparalleled influence. Revelation 17 further illustrates her authority, depicting her as sitting on many waters, a scarlet Beast with seven heads and ten horns, and seven mountains, symbolizing nations. The waters represent peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues, indicating the wide scope of her influence over diverse populations. Sitting, in this context, symbolizes her power and control, as though she commands and is served by these entities. Unlike the Beast, composed of varied and uncoordinated peoples, the Woman is portrayed as a singular, powerful unit, capable of holding the Beast in check and directing its actions until the time appointed by God for her humbling.

Babylon the Great, as described in Revelation 17-18, is identified as a literal nation and city existing at the end time, characterized by immense power and influence. This nation, epitomized by modern Israel led by the Joseph tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, embodies the spirit of Babylon through its broken covenant with God, earning the title of the Great Harlot due to its unfaithfulness to the exclusive union with Him. Israel alone, of all nations, entered into a binding marriage covenant with God, receiving His intimate revelation, yet proved unfaithful to that relationship. Babylon the Great is not merely a religious system or organization but a political and economic powerhouse, dominating global trade, craftsmanship, manufacturing, and entertainment. Its destruction causes kings and businessmen worldwide to lament, as they suffer significant loss due to its inability to consume their products. Described as sitting upon many waters, this end-time Babylon rules over vast peoples and literal waters, with access to numerous sea gates, great rivers, and freshwater lakes, highlighting its geographic and economic dominance. Revelation 18 emphasizes Babylon's wealth and the influence of its merchants, who are called the great men of the earth, underscoring its role as the economic nerve-center of world trade. Jeremiah 50:23 refers to Babylon as the hammer of the whole earth, symbolizing its cultural and political influence to effect change in other nations through economic, military, and entertainment means. Additionally, Revelation 18:2 portrays Babylon the Great as a habitation of demons and a prison for foul spirits, indicating modern Israel's deep involvement in the occult and spiritism, even at high political levels. Through the principle of duality, prophecies concerning ancient Babylon also apply to this modern, end-time nation, showing parallel conduct, attitudes, and actions. God describes this Babylon as a consuming and trading nation of enormous wealth, currently at the peak of its glorious yet idolatrous and immoral power, temporarily holding back the rise of the Beast, but destined to be cut down and burned with fire in preparation for meeting the true God and learning its true destiny.

The global scourge of slavery is the essence of the Babylonian slavery system that the prophet Jeremiah warned about. Babylon's perversion, audacity, and pride represent the height of direct defiance against Almighty God. This humanly devised governmental, religious, educational, and economic system controlling the world originates from satan's initial rebellion against God. As God's hammer, Babylon was strong, and as His cup of gold, she was rich and beautiful, but neither saves her from ruin. Jeremiah sees the material splendor of Babylon, but the wine she makes the nations of the earth drink will result in God's wrath coming down upon them. The merchants, who gained wealth and perverse pleasures from this world's system of religion and commerce, cry and lament because it satiated their greed for materialistic acquisition and their lust for self-pleasure. As the Babylonian system incorporates every expression of corrupt government, so its prostitution includes every corrupt economic system and idolatry. Even human beings are reduced to cargo, traded as slaves to drive the engines of production, prosperity, and sinful pleasures. God commands His people to flee for their lives from Babylon the Great to avoid being lured into sin by her evil ways and caught in her looming destruction.