Apocalypse Revealed # 723
723. And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemy. This symbolizes the Roman Catholic religion resting on the Word that the people profaned.
The woman symbolizes the Roman Catholic or Babel-like religion, for we are told in a following verse that "on her forehead a name was written: Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of the Whoredoms and Abominations of the Earth." That a woman symbolizes the church by virtue of its affection for truth may be seen in no. 434; here it is the Roman Catholic religion, which is impelled by the opposite affection. The scarlet beast symbolizes the Word, as will be seen presently; and its being full of names of blasphemy symbolizes the Word's being utterly profaned. For blasphemy symbolizes a denial of the Lord's Divinity in His humanity, and an adulteration of the Word (nos. 571, 582, 692, 715), thus its profanation. For someone who fails to acknowledge the Lord's Divinity in His humanity and falsifies the Word, but not intentionally, does indeed commit profanation, but lightly. But people who claim for themselves all the power of the Lord's Divine humanity, and for that reason deny His Divinity, and who apply everything in the Word to acquiring dominion for themselves over the sanctities of the church and heaven, and for that reason adulterate the Word - those people commit serious profanation.
It can be seen from this that the woman John saw sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemy symbolizes the aforesaid religion resting on the Word that it profaned. The color scarlet symbolize the Word's truth from a celestial origin.
[2] The idea that the scarlet beast symbolizes the Word as to celestial Divine truth appears at first as far-fetched and foreign, indeed as absurd, because it is called a beast. But that a beast in the spiritual sense symbolizes a natural affection, and that it is used to symbolize the Word, the church and mankind, may be seen in nos. 239, 405, 567 above; that the four living creatures, one of which was a lion, the second a calf, and the fourth an eagle, symbolize the Word, and in Ezekiel are also called beasts, nos. 239, 275, 286, 672; and that a horse, which is also a beast, symbolizes an understanding of the Word (no. 298).
People know that the Lamb symbolizes the Lord, that sheep symbolize the people in a church, and that a flock symbolizes the church itself.
We cite these points lest anyone be surprised that the scarlet beast symbolizes the Word.
Moreover, because the Roman Catholic religion founds its might and its grandeur on the Word, therefore John saw the woman sitting on the scarlet beast, as before she sat on many waters (verse 1), the waters symbolizing the Word's truths adulterated and profaned (no. 719 above).
That the beast here symbolizes the Word is clearly apparent from what is said about it in the verses of this chapter that follow. As in verse 8:
The beast that you saw was, and is not... And those who dwell on the earth will marvel..., when they see the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.
In verse 11:
The beast that was, and is not, is itself the eighth (king), and is of the seven, and is going to destruction.
The ten horns... are ten kings..., (who) will give their power and authority to the beast.
In verse 17:
...God has put it into their hearts to... give their kingdom to the beast....
Statements like these could be made only in reference to the Word.
Job 38
1
Then Yahweh answered Job out of the whirlwind,
2
"Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
3
Brace yourself like a man, for I will question you, then you answer me!
4
"Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if you have understanding.
5
Who determined its measures, if you know? Or who stretched the line on it?
6
Whereupon were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone,
7
when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
8
"Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it broke forth from the womb,
9
when I made clouds its garment, and wrapped it in thick darkness,
10
marked out for it my bound, set bars and doors,
11
and said, 'Here you may come, but no further. Here your proud waves shall be stayed?'
12
"Have you commanded the morning in your days, and caused the dawn to know its place;
13
that it might take hold of the ends of the earth, and shake the wicked out of it?
14
It is changed as clay under the seal, and stands forth as a garment.
15
From the wicked, their light is withheld. The high arm is broken.
16
"Have you entered into the springs of the sea? Or have you walked in the recesses of the deep?
17
Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?
18
Have you comprehended the earth in its breadth? Declare, if you know it all.
19
"What is the way to the dwelling of light? As for darkness, where is its place,
20
that you should take it to its bound, that you should discern the paths to its house?
21
Surely you know, for you were born then, and the number of your days is great!
22
Have you entered the treasuries of the snow, or have you seen the treasures of the hail,
23
which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war?
24
By what way is the lightning distributed, or the east wind scattered on the earth?
25
Who has cut a channel for the flood water, or the path for the thunderstorm;
26
To cause it to rain on a land where no man is; on the wilderness, in which there is no man;
27
to satisfy the waste and desolate ground, to cause the tender grass to spring forth?
28
Does the rain have a father? Or who fathers the drops of dew?
29
Out of whose womb came the ice? The gray frost of the sky, who has given birth to it?
30
The waters become hard like stone, when the surface of the deep is frozen.
31
"Can you bind the cluster of the Pleiades, or loosen the cords of Orion?
32
Can you lead forth the constellations in their season? Or can you guide the Bear with her cubs?
33
Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you establish its dominion over the earth?
34
"Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, That abundance of waters may cover you?
35
Can you send forth lightnings, that they may go? Do they report to you, 'Here we are?'
36
Who has put wisdom in the inward parts? Or who has given understanding to the mind?
37
Who can number the clouds by wisdom? Or who can pour out the bottles of the sky,
38
when the dust runs into a mass, and the clods of earth stick together?
39
"Can you hunt the prey for the lioness, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,
40
when they crouch in their dens, and lie in wait in the thicket?
41
Who provides for the raven his prey, when his young ones cry to God, and wander for lack of food?
