Mother of Prostitutes

“There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names…The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls. She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries…The title was written on her forehead: the Mother of Prostitutes.” Rev. 17:4-5

This woman described in Revelation is the seductress of evil that attempts to woo us, intoxicate us and steal our moral foundation. Her tempting fragrance rides in on evil hoping to collect our valuable worth set aside for Christ. She tries to steal and rob the precious commodities of our spirit that God intends us to offer to Him for His glory alone. She makes her grand entrance in what appears at first as power, beauty and prosperity only for us to discover the sacrifice we made and the high price we paid.

To understand the significance of the manner in which she was dressed we must look at the Old Testament when Moses was instructing God’s chosen people in offering valuable items to build the tabernacle where God would speak to them.

“Moses said to the whole Israelite community, ‘This is what the Lord commanded: From what you have, take an offering for the Lord, an offering of gold…blue, purple and scarlet yarn…and onyx stones and other gems to be mounted…” Exodus 35:4-9.

God has given each of us valuable worth to be offered back to Him and His service. We have within us the valuable items of God that are merely loaned to us with the free will to give them to whomever. Will we present our royal garments of purple and scarlet through holy living back to the Lord in reverence to Him? Will we gladly sacrifice precious stones of time and service back to His kingdom? Will we drink from His golden cup of righteousness or from the prostitute’s offering?

We only have to look to Exodus to see what our Lord commands of us. Exodus represents our journey out of captivity into the pursuit of following God. The woman of Revelation is a counterfeit and by following the scarlet beast we will hand over the precious worth of our lives by falling for her intoxicating ways.

Let us recognize and follow the Real Thing!