The Woman Drunk With Blood and Her Beast (Rev 17:6-8)

John's Astonishment in Revelation 17:6

In Revelation 17:6, John saw the Great Whore of false religion and she was drunken with the blood of the saints and the martyrs of Jesus. This alludes to an ancient custom of warriors who drank the blood of their slain enemies as revenge and to excite their passion for bloodlust. This graphic vision made John wonder with "great admiration" (astonishment). The angel noted John's surprise, and asked: "Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her." (Rev 17:7) The Angel's reaction suggests that John was surprised by the vision because he didn't understand how the Great Whore came to be drunk on the blood of saints and martyrs. The angel's explanation begins in Revelation 17:8, saying that all wicked people "that dwell on the earth shall wonder … when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is." (Rev 17:8)

The History of the Drunken Woman (Rev 17:3-5)

The Great Whore drunken with the blood of the saints and martyrs is also called Babylon the Great and the mother of harlots and abominations. (Rev 17:5) John first saw this woman of false religion when she was sitting on a scarlet (blood-red) colored beast in Revelation 17:3. This First Beast represents the Roman Empire that killed thousands of saints and martyrs from the ancient church of Jesus Christ starting no later than 70 AD. (Rev 13:1-10) The woman was the motivating cause of this bloodshed, and she was drunk with blood at that early date. (Rev 13:7)

Constantine the Great made this woman (a paganized and apostate form of Christianity) the state religion of the Roman Empire in 325 AD. She was lavished with gifts, power, and prestige described by John in Revelation 17:4, but her lust for the blood of saints and martyrs continued with the help of the beast that evolved from the Imperial Roman Empire after Rome fell in 476 AD to the Holy Roman Empire. In this way, the beast that was and is not, became the beast that still is. The Holy Roman Empire continued to support the woman and her bloodlust particularly during the Protestant Reformation when tens of thousands of saints died because their form of faith was considered heretical to the doctrines of the Roman Church.

The Drunken Woman of Modern Babylon (Rev 13:11-18)

The history of the drunken woman and the beast that supported her bloodlust foreshadows her drunken state in the modern era. Today, the Great Whore is supported by the Second Beast (Rev 13:11-18), which is a continuation of the beast that yet is. The Holy Roman Empire ceased to exist in 1806, but the mother church of Rome became the mother of many false churches during the reformation and thus became known as "the mother of harlots." (Rev 17:5)

Together, the mother of harlots and the Second Beast (Modern Babylon) will kill the saints and martyrs of the last days primarily during the last 3½ years of the Great Tribulation before the Second Coming. (Cf. Rev 13:15; Jer 46:10; Ezek 39:18-19) Bruce R. McConkie has said: "Thousands who have lived in this dispensation shall find place with 'the martyrs under the altar that John saw.' (D. & C. 135:7)" (MD, 470; and cf. Rev 6:11) Daniel 7:21-22 states that a little horn (i.e., the Second Beast/Babylon the Great) shall "make war with the saints, and prevail against them; Until the Ancient of days came [to the gathering at Adam-ondi-Ahman]."

To learn more about the evolution of the Great Whore of false religion and her beast "that was, and is not, and yet is," check out my podcasts from June 28 and 30, 2026.

June 28, 2026 — Podcast

June 30, 2026 — Podcast