Mystery Babylon the Great Mother Harlot
The Sapphire Review Vol. 3 | No. 5 • January 30, 2026
“And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.” (Revelation 17:5, KJV)
OPENING SCENE
Revelation 17 brings before us a most interesting scene from the pages of prophecy. Here we see a woman. She is wearing purple and red clothes. She is adorned with gold, precious stones, and pearls.1 She is responsible for the deaths of many followers of Jesus.2
In her hand is a golden cup which is full of the wine of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication.3
Upon the forehead of the woman is a name which describes her:
MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH
Wow! What a scene! And this is certainly not a desirable name to have placed upon one’s forehead!
It is clear that we are dealing with symbolic language, for the woman is sitting upon a scarlet colored beast with seven heads and ten horns. No such literal beast exists; we must look to Bible symbols for understanding.
BIBLE SYMBOLS
Since symbolic language is being used, we must employ some Biblical definitions to help us better understand what is being described here.
Woman - Represents God’s people or a church.
In a positive sense, a pure woman is a faithful church which is walking in obedience and upholding right doctrines.
“I have likened the daughter of Zion to a comely and delicate woman.” (Jeremiah 6:2, KJV)
“For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 11:2, KJV)
See also Ephesians 5:23-27
In a negative sense, an impure woman is an unfaithful church which is apostate, walking in disobedience, and holding to false doctrines.
“They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man’s, shall he return unto her again? shall not that land be greatly polluted? but thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith the LORD [Jehovah].” (Jeremiah 3:1, KJV)
“Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations,” (Ezekiel 16:2, KJV)
“In that thou buildest thine eminent place in the head of every way, and makest thine high place in every street; and hast not been as an harlot, in that thou scornest hire; But as a wife that committeth adultery, which taketh strangers instead of her husband!” (Ezekiel 16:31–32, KJV)
See also Ezekiel 23:2-21; Hosea 3:1;
Wine - In a negative context, represents doctrines or teachings which are impure and not in alignment with God and His word.
“If a man walking in the spirit and falsehood do lie, saying, I will prophesy unto thee of wine and of strong drink; He shall even be the prophet of this people.” (Micah 2:11, KJV)
“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 14:8, KJV 1900)
See also Revelation 18:2-4 and 1 Timothy 4:1 as it pertains to wine, demonic spirits, and false doctrines. Also, Isaiah 28:7-10 with the error of the priest and prophet through wine being contrasted with the teachings of proper doctrine.
Abominations - Practices which are in defiance to God’s law and the worship of anything other than the only true God4 of the Bible.
“Moreover the workers with familiar spirits, and the wizards, and the images, and the idols, and all the abominations that were spied in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, did Josiah put away, that he might perform the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the LORD [Jehovah].” (2 Kings 23:24, KJV)
Blue - Represents God’s law (in particular the ten commandments), remembering His commands, and obeying them.
“Speak unto the children of Israel, and bid them that they make them fringes in the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put upon the fringe of the borders a ribband of blue: And it shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the LORD, and do them; and that ye seek not after your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to go a whoring:” (Numbers 15:38–39, KJV)
THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS
So here we have a picture of an apostate church system that has spread her false doctrines to all nations on earth.5 Thus, this is an established church with a worldwide presence.
NOTE: This is about a system and not individual people, for God calls His people to come out of this system in Revelation 18:4.
Notice also that this woman is a mother and that her daughters are referred to as harlots. Thus we must look for a very large and singular church system as the mother, and then expect to see many denominations (perhaps thousands) as her daughters. These daughters, though completely independent from the mother, are yet unclean themselves (as harlots) in that they hold to certain doctrines that are rooted in the mother, and have their strongest defenses and definitions built from the words of the mother rather than the words of the Bible.
We also see the word “mystery” being ascribed to her abominations. Thus we should expect to see a higher emphasis on mysteries in her writings and teachings than what we find in the Bible. We should also expect that certain of her doctrines would be “mysterious” from a Biblical standpoint in that the Bible would provide no solid evidence in support of such teachings.
We must also keep in mind that we must look for a church that is Christian by claim, for the Bible does not refer to atheism or paganism as a woman, but rather God’s people - whether faithful or apostate, whether actual or apparent.
BLUE
You might be wondering why I listed blue in the Bible symbols above when blue was not mentioned in any of the verses in Revelation 17.
The significance comes from reading Exodus 28 where we discover that the high priestly garments include gold, precious stones, and the colors of purple, scarlet, and blue. So, the woman’s clothes have all the same features (in a perverted form) except for the blue color.
Using our Bible definition from above, we should expect to see the mother church being one that rejects or distorts God’s ten commandments in some way. The daughters will also follow her lead in some manner.
MORE DETAILED STUDY
Before we continue with this particular writing, it may be helpful to note that a detailed study has already been written in regards to the identity of both this “mother” and the anti-Christ (“in-place-of-Christ”), by using twenty Biblical proofs that only one entity in all of history has been able to fulfill in every point.
QUESTIONS TO IDENTIFY THE MOTHER
Since a more detailed study exists, we will not go through all of the particulars again, but rather let us ask a series of questions from Revelation 17:3-6 as it pertains to the large “mother” church. Remember, we must be looking for something that has a garb of Christianity.
Questions:
Purple: Is there a church where a certain portion of her minsters are arrayed in purple?
Consider the bishops of the Roman Catholic Church:
Scarlet / Red: Is there a church where a certain portion of her ministers are arrayed in red?
Consider the cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church:
Golden Cup: Is there a church where a golden cup is often used in her religious ceremonies, particularly in a manner that is not backed by a Biblical precedent?
Consider the golden chalice which is lifted up during the holy mass of the Roman Catholic Church during which the unbiblical claim is made of the wine literally becoming the blood of Jesus.
Martyrs: Is there a church that has been responsible for actually killing followers of Jesus simply because they would not embrace her unbiblical doctrines or because they tried to distribute Bibles to the common people?
Consider that historians have estimated more than 50 million people were slaughtered under the claim of heresy by the Roman Catholic Church during the dark ages when papal power was at its peak.
The following is an excerpt from John Dowling’s History of Romanism in 1845:
Mysteries: Is there a church whose teachings and writings have a higher emphasis upon the mysterious than that of the Bible?
Consider that the Bible mentions “mystery” or “mysteries” 27 times across nearly 800k words while the Roman Catholic Catechism mentions the same over 300 times across approximately 200k words.
That’s over 10 times the mentions in about a quarter of the words.
Perhaps the most significant of the mentions in the Catholic Catechism is one that the Bible says nothing about:
Blue / Ten Commandments: Is there a church that has rejected or distorted any of the ten commandments in some way?
Consider that the Roman Catholic Church has a modified form of the ten commandments, in which the second commandment (pertaining to idol worship) is removed, the tenth commandment has been split in two (to account for the removal of the second), and the fourth commandment regarding the Sabbath has been changed from Saturday to Sunday (their “Lord’s day,” not the Biblical one).
When considering just these few points, and not even touching on the other 15+ that are described in the Bible regarding this same system, it is really no mystery at all who the mystery woman is of Revelation 17. I will leave it to the reader now to ponder who the many daughters are that hold to various doctrines of the mother that cannot be supported by scripture.
FOREHEAD
Mother
Lastly, I would like us to explore the forehead and the inscription that is found there.
“And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.” (Revelation 17:5, KJV)
High Priest
Contrast this with what we find in the book of Exodus concerning Aaron, the high priest, who was merely a type and shadow pointing forward to Jesus, who is now ministering in the temple in heaven as our Great High Priest:6
“And thou shalt make a plate of pure gold, and grave upon it, like the engravings of a signet, HOLINESS TO THE LORD. And thou shalt put it on a blue lace, that it may be upon the mitre; upon the forefront of the mitre it shall be. And it shall be upon Aaron’s forehead, that Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy things, which the children of Israel shall hallow in all their holy gifts; and it shall be always upon his forehead, that they may be accepted before the LORD.” (Exodus 28:36–38, KJV)
So, the name which Aaron bore upon his forehead, and thus Jesus now as our high priest in heaven (for the earthly things were merely a type derived from the pattern of the heavenly7) is:
HOLINESS TO THE LORD
Blue
Of no little significance is the blue lace which attached the engraved signet/nameplate to the mitre upon Aaron’s head.
Remember that blue is representative of the law, and more specifically the ten commandments which were under the mercy seat of the ark in the tabernacle where Aaron ministered. (The great original, where Christ ministers today, was seen by John in heaven, as described by Revelation 11:19)
So “Holiness to Jehovah”8 is intertwined with His law of the ten commandments, of which Paul wrote of as holy, just, and good.9
Uzziah
Next, consider King Uzziah who attempted to burn incense in the temple, something only the priests were allowed to do:
“Then Uzziah was wroth, and had a censer in his hand to burn incense: and while he was wroth with the priests, the leprosy even rose up in his forehead before the priests in the house of the LORD [Jehovah], from beside the incense altar. And Azariah the chief priest, and all the priests, looked upon him, and, behold, he was leprous in his forehead, and they thrust him out from thence; yea, himself hasted also to go out, because the LORD [Jehovah] had smitten him.” (2 Chronicles 26:19–20, KJV)
So, when a king tried to act as a priest, Jehovah struck him with leprosy upon his forehead of all places. Thus it is considered a sinful and unholy thing when a sovereign ruler takes it upon himself to conduct holy services in the name of the Most High when God never ordained him to do so.
As Uzziah was marked in his forehead for all to see and remember his transgression, so also “the mother” has been openly marked as in transgression by plain teachings of the Bible, as well as by the supporting historical evidences.
A Whore’s Forehead
When God’s people had apostatized, Jeremiah wrote of God speaking of her as having a whore’s forehead in that they were not ashamed of their transgressions.10 In like manner, the mother and her daughters neglect the ten commandments of God and have no shame in doing so, nor in holding to other unbiblical teachings and practices.
CLOSING
Lastly, consider that in the end there will only be two classes of people left on earth. Those who receive the mark of the beast (the mother) on their forehead (or hand),11 and those who receive the seal (mark) of God on their forehead.12
The one is described as being part of a false system of worship, connected with the spiritual leprosy of unbiblical doctrines and the neglect of God’s law. The other is described as keeping the commandments of God, having the faith of Jesus, and the testimony of Jesus13 (spirit of prophecy),14 and thus is connected in a way with the blue lace on the high priestly mitre.
Let us study to show ourselves approved unto God15 and come out of every system that is connected with the fountainhead of “the mother” and her doctrines, and join with those who seek to keep the pure doctrines of the Bible in the worship of the only true God.16
God Bless,
Charles
