Revelation  17:1-5

“Then one of the seven angels … said to me,   ‘Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who is seated upon many waters … and on her forehead was written a name of mystery: “Babylon the great, mother of harlots and of earth’s abominations’ ”

Why does John use the metaphor “many waters?” What does it mean ?

It is a common mistake to read into the Book of Revelation modern perceptions. 

To see what John meant we need to look at it from John’s perspective, a first century Jewish Christian. 

This map below of Jerusalem is found in the Jewish Encyclopedia. 

It is not a geographical map about worldly perspectives.  It is a spiritual or theological map of Jerusalem. 

Another mistake is to look at this book from a worldly perspective, a book about power, military and political might.  John is more concerned about spiritual truths than worldly ideas.  It is a book more about spiritual holiness and its opposite sin, than about worldly power, dominance, and subjection.  John is a spiritual not worldly writer.  He is an evangelist who is more concerned about the things of God, than about worldly things.

The many waters represents all the nations.  The Jews rightly understood themselves as God’s chosen people.  It is through them, through Jerusalem, the mother city, that God’s graces flow out to  all mankind.   All the nations were dependent on God’s chosen people.

Zechariah 14:8-9

“On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea; it shall continue in summer as in winter.

And the Lord will become king over all the earth”

Jerusalem, from a Jewish perspective, was called to spread the wisdom and graces that came from God.  The Israelites were chosen by God to bring the good news to the world, that Yahweh is the One True God.

The area around Jerusalem was just as arid as any desert.  On a daily basis the Israelites realized their dependence on God and water.  So, it was natural for the writers of Sacred Scripture to use water to represent the blessings and life that flow from God.

Jerusalem as the theological center of the earth from which God would bless all nations.

Jerusalem is the “center of the world.”  It is the capital of God’s chosen nation.  The waters of grace and life flow form God through Jerusalem to the rest of the world. 

Revelation 21:2-5
“And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband … “Behold, I make all things new.”

The Book of Revelation presents the New Jerusalem, the pure spotless Bride of Christ  which gleamed with the splendor of God (verse 11.)  It was washed clean by Jesus’ grace and blood.  And John contrasts this spotless Bride with the Whore of Babylon.  He contrasts the holiness of this new city with the wretchedness and evil of the Whore of Babylon. 

Biblical context shows that the Whore of Babylon in Revelation is the group of Apostate Jewish leaders in first century.  Because the Israelites are God’s chosen people, from them is the greatest and the worst.  Heavenly Jerusalem, the Bride of Christ - the good Jews who acknowledged their Jewish Messiah vs. the Jewish leaders in first century, the bad Jews, who were the Whore of Babylon.

We expect those outside of the Church to oppose her.  However, a greater evil is when those who were called by God to spread his mercy and grace follow Satan and oppress God’s people, His adopted family.  And so, John contrasts this heavenly Jerusalem, the Bride of Christ, with its opposite.   And that is the Whore of Babylon which represents those apostate Jewish leaders in the first century which persecuted the Church, the faithful Jewish Christians.

According to Scott Hahn, one of the main theme of the Book of Revelation is the Liturgy. See

You Tube video of Scott Hahn’s commentary.

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Book of Revelation and the Whore of Babylon