“And the woman whom you saw is that great city which reigns over the kings of the earth.”
”City” is an interesting term. It’s the Greek word “polis” which means "a group of people". Physically, a city has a specific location. Also, one may know the character of a city by the way it transacts business.
Jesus referred to the saints as “a city on a hill”. Of course, this is not a city with a specific location. This is a collection of people with the character of Christ. The culture of this city is governed by Christ and she is known, in the world, by this culture.
God's kingdom is like this: it has no specific location or address but, rather, is know by the culture of its inhabitants. In fact, we are told to ignore those who say "Look! Here is the kingdom" or "Look! There is the kingdom". The kingdom of God is in our sphere of influence; in our midst.
So, we come to "the great city" referenced in Revelation 17. We first see her as the woman, robed in scarlet, "drunk with the blood of the saints and martyrs of Jesus". We are actually told of her character before we are told she is "a great city". This is a debauched woman juxtaposed against the Bride of Christ. And, where Christ is for the salvation of perfection of the saints, this wicked creature seeks the opposite: their destruction.
Jesus actually spoke about this creature when He addressed the culture and manner of the Pharisees and Sanhedrin in Matthew 23. They, meaning the Pharisees and the Sanhedrin, were guilty of spilling the blood of all those whom God sent.
"Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ guilt. Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell? Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city..."
Jesus then says this:
"..that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar."
According to Jesus, they are guilty of the death of Abel.
He ends the chapter in this way:
"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!"
We might conclude: Well, he's obviously speaking about Jerusalem. But Jerusalem wasn't founded until 900 years after Abel was murdered. So, He cannot be speaking about a city with an address. He is speaking about the polis, the group of people whose character and culture is opposed to God and His people.
So, when we go forward to Revelation and consider the Harlot, Babylon the Great, the great city, who is "drunk with the blood of the saints and martyrs for Jesus", including the blood of righteous Abel, we cannot conclude He is dealing with a city with a specific location. Neither Jerusalem nor Israel, herself, could have physically killed Abel. No. We are dealing with a system within the kingdom of Darkness, a polis known to the world by her slaughter and destruction of the saints of God; God's people from the beginning of time.
Now, we can certainly see how Israel or Jerusalem fits this description on many levels. But so does Washington D.C., Moscow, San Francisco, Rome, etc. And, since she stands directly opposed to the Bride of Christ whose ways magnify the Lord, the Harlot must be a religious system that opposes the people of God. When we see this we can see her fingerprints, or culture, all throughout the history of men. When men seek legitimacy or power or influence by fornicating with this woman of filth, they are doing the bidding of the Harlot, the great city, which is actually a religious system. She might have the trappings of the wife of Christ but her business is transactional: you do this for me and I'll do this for you. This is a woman who will not submit to a husband. Indeed, she has many husbands and she is is loyal to none of them.
Blessings
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