Doctrine of Life # 79
79. That to commit adultery in the spiritual sense means to adulterate the Word’s goods and falsify its truths is clear from the following:
Babylon...has made all nations drink of the wine...of her licentiousness. (Revelation 14:8)
(The angel said, ) “...I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth committed whoredom....” (Revelation 17:1-2)
(Babylon made) all nations (drink) of the wine of the wrath of her licentiousness, and the kings of the earth have committed whoredom with her.... (Revelation 18:3)
(God) has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her licentiousness.... (Revelation 19:2) Licentiousness is attributed to Babylon because Babylon means people who arrogate the Lord’s Divine power to themselves and profane the Word by adulterating and falsifying it. Consequently Babylon is also called “the mother of the whoredoms and abominations of the earth” (Revelation 17:5).
[2] Licentiousness also has the same symbolic meaning in the Prophets, as in Jeremiah:
In the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a shocking obstinacy in committing adultery and walking in lies. (Jeremiah 23:14) In Ezekiel:
...two women, the daughters of one mother, ...committed harlotry in Egypt; they committed harlotry in their youth.... (One) played the harlot under Me, and she lusted for her lovers, the neighboring Assyrians.... She committed her harlotries with them.... (Yet) she has never given up her harlotries in Egypt....
(The other) corrupted her love more than she, and her harlotries more than her sister’s harlotries.... She increased her harlotries..., she loved (Chaldeans).... Then the Babylonians came to her, into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their licentiousness. (Ezekiel 23:2-17) The reference here is to the Israelite and Jewish churches, which in this passage are the daughters of one mother. Their harlotries mean adulterations and falsifications of the Word. And because Egypt in the Word symbolizes knowledge, Assyria reasoning, Chaldea the profanation of truth, and Babylon the profanation of good, therefore we are told that they committed harlotry with them.
[3] The same is said in Ezekiel of Jerusalem, which symbolizes the church in respect to doctrine:
(O Jerusalem, ) you trusted in your beauty, and played the harlot because of your fame, so that you poured out your harlotries on everyone passing by.... You committed harlotry with the Egyptians, your neighbors, enormously fat, and increased your harlotry.... You played the harlot with the Assyrians.... When you were not satisfied by those with whom you played the harlot, you increased your harlotry as far as the land of the Chaldean trader.... Adulterous woman, who takes strangers instead of her husband! All men make payment to their harlots, but you made your payments to all your lovers, ...to come to you from all around for your harlotries.... Therefore, O harlot, hear the word of Jehovah! (Ezekiel 16:15, 26, 28-29, 32-33, 35ff.) That Jerusalem means the church may be seen in The Doctrine Regarding the Lord 62-63.
References to licentiousness have the same symbolic meaning in Isaiah 23:17-18, 57:3; in Jeremiah 3:2, 6, 8-9, 5:1, 7, 13:27, 29:23; in Micah 1:7; in Nahum 3:3-4; in Hosea 4:2, 10-11; also in Leviticus 20:5; Numbers 14:33, 15:39; and elsewhere.
For this reason, too, the Lord called the Jewish nation “an adulterous generation” (Matthew 12:39, 16:4, Mark 8:38).
Revelation 17
1
And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
2
With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
3
So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
4
And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
5
And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
6
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.
7
And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.
8
The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.
9
And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.
10
And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.
11
And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.
12
And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
13
These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.
14
These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.
15
And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.
16
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.
17
For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.
18
And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.
