The Woman named Mystery, Babylon the Great, in Revelation 17 and 18, is identified as the great harlot, representing Jerusalem and all Israel. She is depicted as sitting on many waters, a scarlet Beast full of blasphemous names with seven heads and ten horns, and seven mountains, symbolizing her authority and wide-ranging influence over peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues. This harlot's power is immense, holding the Beast in check and making it do her bidding until God's appointed time for Israel to be humbled. Despite her political, economic, and military greatness, controlling a significant portion of the world's wealth, her power is tainted by whoredoms, religious confusion, and deviance from her responsibility to God. God acknowledges her as great, but her faithlessness and departure from Him are unparalleled, marking her as the preeminent harlot of the Bible. Unlike the Beast, which is composed of diverse peoples unable to unite fully, the Woman is seen as one powerful and influential entity, capable of guiding and persuading on a global scale through the misuse of God's gifts.

The Woman of Revelation 17 bears the title MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH on her forehead. This designation identifies her as the source from which other entities displaying the same harlot characteristics arise. The term harlots functions collectively, encompassing both males and females among her inhabitants who exhibit the traits of spiritual unfaithfulness, just as biblical usage of daughters, sons, and children routinely includes entire populations without regard to gender. This collective sense appears in passages such as Ezekiel 16, where Jerusalem and her daughters represent the nation of Israel in its corrupt state, and in Hosea, where the wife and her children of harlotry symbolize the whole people of Israel turning from God. The same pattern holds in Lamentations, where feminine pronouns applied to Jerusalem extend to all its residents. Consequently, the harlots descending from the Mother are not restricted to religious denominations but denote the broader population of the city-nation she embodies. The Mother of Harlots therefore stands as a distinct political, economic, and military power within the larger Babylonish system. She rides and controls the Beast of Revelation 13 and 17, exercising external influence over it rather than operating as an internal religious force. Her character—marked by pride, luxurious living, and self-assured avoidance of suffering—mirrors the description of ancient Jerusalem in Ezekiel 16, yet she functions as a separate entity from both Israel and the Beast itself. This portrayal connects directly to the revelation of Israel's identity elsewhere in the book, underscoring that the Mother of Harlots represents another influential collection of nations whose actions shape end-time events.

The vision on Patmos presents the Mother of Harlots as a vile woman seated on a scarlet beast, arrayed in royal purple and scarlet garments and decked with gold, precious stones, and pearls while holding a golden cup of filthiness and abominations. She is drunk with the blood of the saints and bears the title Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and of the Abominations of the Earth. This figure encapsulates the entire history of the great false church, standing in direct contrast to the pure woman of Revelation 12 who represents the true church of God. The biblical symbolism of a woman consistently depicts a religious system or church, yet this particular woman is defined by her dominant characteristic of fornication, which the prophets equate with idolatry and alliances with foreign powers. Her religion consists of a syncretistic blend of Christianity and paganism that produces an intoxicating mixture drawing the nations into spiritual harlotry. This description identifies her as the Roman Catholic Church, the only organization that has so thoroughly incorporated heathen elements such as crosses, steeples, saint veneration, Easter sunrise services, and Christmas observances into its worship. The elevation of Mary to near-divine status further confirms the identification, as she receives titles and functions belonging only to God the Father and His Son, including the role of Queen of Heaven and the attributes of the Holy Spirit. The purple and scarlet colors worn by her clergy on official occasions match the royal garments of pagan and Christian Rome, underscoring the continuity of idolatrous practice from ancient times into the present ecclesiastical structure.