Double-Crossed

This is a fascinating admission given the horns’ previous relationship with the harlot. All ten horns, without exception, will turn on the one with whom they were once so enamored. All of those nations who led their multitudes of people into fornicating with this woman will finally realize how badly she has deceived them. How will they know?

At the start of the seventh plague, just as Armageddon is about to begin, the Lord cries out with “a loud voice, … ‘It is done!’” (Revelation 16:17). The Scriptures make clear that “the Lord … will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts” (1 Corinthians 4:5); “God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil” (Ecclesiastes 12:14).

And when even the great harlot will not be able to save herself from the wrath of God’s seven plagues, her most villainous of end-time deceptions will be laid bare (Revelation 13:14; 16:14; 18:23). Finally, all that the harlot has led people to believe about God and, conversely, about herself will be seen for what they are: lies.

When someone realizes that he has been lied to, he gets angry. But what would be his reaction if what he had been lied to about were the most important choice in the world: eternal life or eternal death? In today’s verse is a graphic description of what “the ten horns” will do. To “eat her flesh and burn her with fire” is symbolic language, denoting a complete destruction of the harlot—there will be nothing left after they are done with her.

All of what she was once revered for they will take from her, leaving “her desolate and naked.” She will be seen for what she really is: her wealth nothing but greed, her pomp nothing but pride, her seduction nothing but hatred. Her shame will be an open book; her mystery will hence be revealed. There is more truth to this poor state of the harlot than she has ever before shown.

Dear Jesus, thank You for these promises that truth will be victorious, that evil will not prevail, and that justice will be served.

For Further Study: Jeremiah 4:30; Ezekiel 16:37–44; Revelation 16:15

Key Bible Texts

And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. (Revelation 17:16 KJV)