Revelation 17:1, Great harlot. This seems to be referring to a system that is larger than the Roman Catholic church and her Protestant daughters, or even a revived Islamic state or caliphate. How about a merging of the two: Chrislam? The Catholic Church has been making ecumenical overtures to Islam for years. The only way for the New World Order to achieve world peace may be to unite the world’s major religions at some level (how about the United Nations of Religions, which the Roman Catholic Church is now considering?). If Catholicism and Islam can unite in some bizarre way, then, no doubt, the Hindus and Buddahists (and the other smaller major world religions) will want to join in on the game as well. The great harlot “sits on many waters” or peoples, and so this religious system involves many nations of the world.
Revelation 17:3, Seven heads and ten horns. The political and economic beast system that the religious system rides has seven heads and ten horns, which represent its political and economic power base. The beast the woman sits astride is devoted to devil worship (or Luciferianism, Rev 13:2, 4).
Revelation 17:6, Saints…martyrs of Yeshua. Are these two different groups of people? The set-apart ones (those who keep YHVH’s commandments and have the testimony of Yeshus (or love Yeshua by keeping his commandments) as opposed to those who just “believe in Jesus” (your standard cultural Christian)?
Revelation 17:9, Seven mountains. Since Rome is built on seven hills, some have speculated that this is a reference to the Roman Catholic Church. There are also seven continents. Additionally, there are seven main economic powers on earth according to the International Monetary Fund called the G-7 (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States).These are the world’s wealthiest nations that represent 63 percent of the world’s net global wealth. Or, from a historical perspective, these seven hills could be referring to the seven manifestations of world-ruling Babylonian system (Babylon one, Egypt, Babylon two, Persia, Greece, Rome, the end times Babylon the Great New World Order). The latter interpretation makes the most sense in light of what John says in the latter part of this verse. From his perspective, five of these kingdoms were past and the Roman Empire presently was ruling, and one was yet to come (v. 10).
Revelation 17:10, Five have fallen, one is. When John wrote this, Babylon one, Egypt, Babylon two, Persia, Greece had fallen, Rome was in power, and the one worldwide end times system was yet to come.
Revelation 17:12, Ten horns…ten kings. This appears to be referring to ten global regional kingdoms into which the New World Order Babylon the Great system is subdivided. These ten kingdoms will last for a very short time (“one hour”) before they, along the Babylon the Great beast system to which they swear allegiance is destroyed at Yeshua’s second coming (v. 14).
Revelation 17:16, These will hate the harlot. The ten horns will hate the whore. This is likely since the goals of religious leaders are different and thus conflict with those of the global business and political leaders. The religious goals of the former will likely tend to obstruct the business interests of the latter. The political and economic leaders owe their power and allegiance to the devil, as do the religious leaders (although they may fail to realize this). This may be what causes the ten horns of the political system to hate the harlot. This verse says the ten horns (not the beast that she rides) will hate the harlot. The harlot is likely tied into the beast spiritually, politically and economically at the highest levels, but, perhaps, the ten regional global governments will, out of jealousy, see the woman as a threat to them because of her power and influence in their respective regions resulting in their opposing her. Perhaps this explains the unstable mixture of clay and iron of the ten toes of the Babylon the Great, antichrist New World Order system that Daniel saw in his vision of the great image of the man, which Yeshua, the uncut stone from heaven (a metaphor for the Torah-word of Elohim) destroys at his coming (Dan 2:31–35).
