The Book of Revelation is full of challenging passages, and none more so than chapter 17. In this portion of the vision, what John hears becomes progressively more prominent than what he sees. The section is dominated by an accompanying angel who explains to John what he is seeing. This pattern will continue through the first part of chapter 19.

In chapter 17, John is returning to the final two bowls of God’s wrath for the purpose of providing greater detail. There he saw the destruction of Babylon (symbolic of all the world’s wicked kingdoms). Once again, John’s first readers would have immediately thought of Rome and, as previously seen, the vision is communicated in such a way as to allow future generations to apply these words to their own situation. Like so many Christians throughout the world, John’s original readers felt small and threatened before the power of mighty Rome. Thus the vision of the Lamb’s triumph was the hope to which they would need to cling, the same hope for every generation of Christians.

Though some of the details are contested, the heart of this passage is a statement that is gloriously clear and comforting for every generation of Christians: “They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful” (vs. 14). The Lamb wins! That is the core word of encouragement throughout the Book of Revelation.