<p>17:1 <i>And there came one of the seven angels that had the seven bowls and spoke with me, saying: Come here, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute that sits upon many waters- </i>Babylon is another form of the beast which arose out of the sea (13:1). The same Angel which had just poured out the final judgment upon Babylon at the end of chapter 16 now gives more detail about this &quot;Babylon&quot; entity. The waters represent nations and peoples; but I suggested on 13:1 that if the earth refers to the land promised to Abraham, then the sea would be the territories immediately adjacent to it- areas we now know as Egypt, Iran and Turkey. But &quot;Babylon&quot; has influence upon many such waters. Historically, Babylon's &quot;sea&quot;, i.e. the nations local to Israel whom she had power over, dried up from her - i.e. she no longer controlled them (Jer. 51:36; Rev. 17:1,15), &quot;the sea&quot; (those same peoples which were once her power base) will then come up against Babylon to destroy it (Jer. 51:42). This all looks forward to such support for the beast system of the last day. There may be a difference between the whore and the beast she rides; or within the genre of apocalyptic, we could simply take her as symbolic and representative of it. It could be that &quot;Babylon&quot; the whore speaks of some charismatic individual who will control the beast system- the personal anti-Christ which so many scriptures hint at, the chief prince of Ezekiel 38, the king of the north of Daniel 11, the man of sin of 2 Thess. 2 etc. This individual sits upon &quot;many waters&quot; (= peoples, :15), upon the beast (:3), upon the seven heads of the beast (:9). The beast is therefore a coalition of peoples, with seven heads- perhaps a succession of leaders, or seven leading elements all contemporary with each other. But upon all these, the whore sits; she is supported by them. She &quot;sits&quot; as a queen over them (18:7).</p><p>Daniel's fourth beast with the ten horns equates with the legs or iron and ten toes of the image of Daniel 2. This entity will be in existence at the time of Christ's return, because it is to be destroyed by His coming. And we have that same picture in Revelation. Historically, the legs of iron represent Rome, but the beast is not a historical entity, it exists in the last days. So although there are parallels and outline similarities between the metals of the image and the beasts, this is not to say that they are all one and the same. The final beast has elements of all the previous beasts, it is a composite entity including all the elements of the previous systems which have dominated the land and people of Israel. Just as the image stands complete in the last days, so the final beast stands complete. The whore sits on many waters, representing various languages and peoples; and yet she sits upon the beast (Rev. 17:1,3,15). The latter day beast is therefore not one nation but an amalgam of peoples.</p>