God gives us a way to identify the harlot the woman who drinks the blood of Christians the martyrs of Jesus. No Christians were ever martyrs for Jesus during the time of Israel’s captivity in Babylon. Jesus was not even born. It was fleshly Israel who killed his prophets and saints of Jesus. Act 7:52 "Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, 1Thessalonians 2:15 who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they do not please God and are contrary to all men,Revelation 18:24 says that the great city is guilty for having shed the blood of the Hebrew prophets of all who were slain on the earth. Jesus said the same concerning the rulers of Jerusalem, the Pharisees: "Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, "that upon you may fall the guilt of all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar" (Matt. 23:35). The once and faithful city has become a harlot, and murderers!" Isaiah 1:21 How the faithful city has become a harlot! It was full of justice; Righteousness lodged in it, But now murderers.
From Moses through the prophets, Israel is repeatedly characterized as an imperious whore. In more than 80 instances, she is specifically denounced as a harlot or lewd woman. Ezekiel 16:15 Israel you trusted in your beauty and played the harlot because of your fame and poured out your harlotry on every passer-by who might be willing. Fleshly Israel is the same harlot woman we see showcased throughout Holy Scripture.
“On her forehead a name was written: MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT...” Revelation 17:5. Only apostate Israel can be the “mother” of spiritual whoredom with the name MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT has written ON HER FOREHEAD. Long before John wrote the Book of Revelation, Jeremiah said, “You had a “harlot's forehead”, you refused to be ashamed.” (Jeremiah 3:3) As a result, when she became a spiritual whore, she was indelibly marked, “Mother of Harlots.”
John goes on to write, “And the women whom you saw is that great city which reigns over the kings of the earth.” (Revelation 17:18) The title “the great city” is exclusive to Israel. When the two witnesses are killed, their dead bodies lie in the streets of “the great city” (hey polish megaley) Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. (Revelation 11:8). This unmistakably implies to the city of Jerusalem. Jesus was crucified, in the city of Jerusalem. Not Sodom and Egypt. Because apostate Israel has now become an enemy of God and his people, God called “fleshly Israel” by the names of her former enemy’s Babylon, Sodom and Egypt, and Gog and Magog.
The apostle Peter uses the word "Babylon" to describe Jerusalem, in a greeting at the end of his first epistle. 1 Peter 5:13 Salute you both the assembly in Babylon jointly elected, and Markus my son. Peter was in Jerusalem, writing to those in Jerusalem, not Babylon. He is clearly identifying the moral cesspool of antiquity, Babylon, with the city where Christ was killed. At the time Peter wrote 1 Peter, the literal city of Old Babylon was in ruins, and uninhabited. Therefore, "Babylon" was a name for Jerusalem.
The colors of the woman’s adornment matches those of the Temple and the priesthood. The high priest also wore a gold plate on his forehead that was engraved “holiness to Yahweh” (Exodus 28:36-38). In Revelation 17:4 The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a “golden cup” full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication. Daniel 5:3 Then they brought the “golden vessels” that were taken out of the temple of the house of God which was at Jerusalem; and the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, drank in them.
Because of the harlotry and the alliance between Israel and Rome against the Church the women would drink the cup of God wrath. Revelation 14:8 And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. Revelation 14:10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb.
Do the prophets ever mention, Jerusalem receives a cup of wrath during these End Times? You bet they did for instance, Jeremiah 25:15-18, prophecy verses refer to the future, mentions that Jerusalem will drink from the cup of the Lord’s hand (wrath). Jeremiah 25:15-18 For thus saith the LORD God of Israel unto me; Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it. And they shall drink, and be moved, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them. Then took I the cup at the LORD'S hand, and made all the nations to drink, unto whom the LORD had sent me: To wit, Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings thereof, and the princes thereof, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, a hissing, and a curse; as it is this day;
In addition, Isaiah 51:17 Rouse yourself! Rouse yourself! Arise, O Jerusalem, “You who have drunk from the Lord's hand the cup of His anger;” The chalice of reeling you have drained to the dregs.
Some have wrongly concluded that the woman is Rome, however Rome was never in covenant relationship with God and therefore could not have forsaken God and became a spiritual whore. The implications and evidence of scripture that "Jerusalem” is Babylon the Great, Mother of Harlots are endless. If we remain true to the number one rule to let God’s words interpret God’s words. God will open up an endless new way of seeing scripture.
