At this point, where John’s vision and this chapter’s placement in the Apocalypse are concerned, Babylon—of whatever denomination, on whatever the front—is no more.  That is, the last of the bowl judgments has brought us to within moments of the closing of history with, or where man has been at the helm, and the soon return, when the Lord of all history, God Almighty in human flesh Himself will take the helm for one thousand years.  As such, this chapter is merely an “inset”, introductory, you might say, presenting several key actors in part of God’s list of end times cast of characters.  Its purpose is to provide us with a few particulars that contribute toward a positive ID in terms of the ‘who’ of two of the chief players during the last days of the greatest, most turbulent time of tribulation men on earth will ever know—namely, the great whore, and the dangerous wild animal…aka, the beast.  Furthermore, one should perhaps be aware throughout this chapter that all the events herein, together with those of chap. 13, revolve around these two central, symbolic characters, the one having, two objects, or, fulfillments.   While the chap. 17 narrative grinds rapidly through several plot twists or themes from beginning to end, the chief objective through it all is to spotlight and identify the main actor, the Great Whore.

What Or, “Who” is She?