Drunk with Power

On average, a person’s judgment is impaired even after just one alcoholic drink. In contrast, the harlot has consumed much more than a single cocktail. Not only has she made all the world drunk, but she herself is too, not “with the wine of her fornication” (Revelation 17:2), but “with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.”

As the saying goes, she is drunk with power. This is an obvious reference to the genocide of the Dark Ages. History tells of the sheer carnage caused by the Catholic Church. For instance, in 1572, in Paris, France, the number of Huguenots, French Protestants, killed was so great that the River Seine was said to have run red with their blood.

In fact, the harlot so lusts after this domination that she will repeat this persecution upon God’s people at the close of the earth’s history. Remember, her partner in crime, the second beast, will “cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed” (13:15).

This mass-scale murder is the last of the harlot’s transgressions. Indeed, the third plague is slated as a judgment for that crime. As Revelation 16:6 explains, “For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and You have given them blood to drink. For it is their just due.”

Also of note is John’s reaction to the harlot. The scene shocked him. Interestingly, the prophet Daniel responded in kind to the papal power, depicted in his visions as the fourth beast’s little horn (Daniel 7:8). Daniel was at a loss as to this symbolic figure: “I … was grieved in my spirit within my body, and the visions of my head troubled me” (v. 15).

To these God-fearing men, it must have been obscene to see a power that looked Christian behaving like the devil. It is a grave warning to us: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves” (Matthew 7:15).

Dear Lord, I commit to drinking only the pure water of life given in Your Word, that I may remain sober in the face of such breathtaking intoxication.

For Further Study: Daniel 7:20–25; 8:23–25; Revelation 6:9–11

Key Bible Texts

And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. (Revelation 17:6 KJV)