THE SCRIPTURES:

Revelation 17:1-18

1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.
7 And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.
8 The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.
9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.
10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.
11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.
12 And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
13 These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.
14 These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.
15 And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.
16 And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.
17 For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.
18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

THE SCRIPTURES WITH COMMENTS:

Revelation 17:1-18

1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:

And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials...The number seven agrees with the content of the passage.  Although this judgment will take place in two stages, i.e., the first and second halves of Daniel's 70th Week, prophetically, it is thought of as taking place during ONE prophetic week or seven years. As such, it will be a final and complete judgment of mysterious Babylon the Great

...and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither... Before this judgment will fall, first, the believers will be removed.  Before the first half of Daniel's 70th Week, this will take place with the taking up of the Church for the marriage of the Lamb.  Before the second half, it will be precede the "little season" of Revelation 6:11 and 20:3.

...I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore... The word "whore" emphasizes the fact that the beast's rule will include the spiritual realm.

...that sitteth upon many waters: i.e., the people of many nations.

2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.

With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication... This supports the idea that the beast will be a false Christ that wants to be God.   Apparently, some of the kings of the earth will receive him as he presents himself and will worship him.

...and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.  In turn, there will be people who will follow the lead of these kings and leaders.  Could this language suggest that the devil will be able to reward the followers of the beast would some sort of a delusion and "spiritual high"?

3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.

So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness... This is more Jewish language which introduces Israel as a key player.

...and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast... In the Old Testament the color scarlet was used in the tabernacle where the Jews worshipped.   Eventually, it became the color of royalty and the wealthy.  All of these applications of the color will apply to the end-time beast who will be demanding the worship that belongs to Christ, who will rule a kingdom, and who will have the wealth of several kingdoms at his disposal. 
Also in prophecy, a "woman" represents a religious body:  e.g., Israel is the woman that brought forth the male child and The NT Church is the Bride of Christ.  This "woman" sitting upon a scarlet colored beast will be the devil's church and it will be supported by his government.

...full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.   This expression identifies this beast (i.e., ruler of a world power) as the end-time beast that Daniel saw in his prophecies (See Dan. 7:23-25).  Again, among his blasphemy will be his presenting himself as the Christ / Israel's Messiah, and eventually as God Himself.

4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:

If this is to be a state supported church, then that would explain part of its wealth.   The golden cup should be self-explanatory.

5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

Does this expression give us the name of the "woman"? or the name of the one who is using her--like a "brand" burned on her forehead?

6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.

And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus... This expression should not be viewed as sequential but as a reference for identification purposes.  Since the Church will be absent during the first 1/2 of Daniel's 70th Week, the martyred saints during that time must be the Jews--though the martyrs could also be the Gentile that refuses the mark of the beast.  During the 2nd 1/2 of Daniel's 70th week, we're not sure what kind of Gentile Church there will be--if any; nor its state at the end of the Kingdom Age; nor do we know much about the unbelieving Gentiles going into this period.   But we do know that there will be enough killed for the name of Jesus during the two halves of Daniel's 70th Week to make the "woman" drunk on their blood.  

...and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.  This makes one to wonder just what John was seeing that would make him to "wonder with great admiration" at this blood-thirsty "woman."

Remember, in the language of prophecy, seven=complete; head=authority; ten=responsibility; and horns=power.  For a period during Daniel's 70th Week, the beast will have "complete authority" and the "responsibility that comes with great power."

8 The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.

The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition... Again, we see "things" that identify end-time characters.  The expressions "was," "and is not," and "shall (future) ascend out of the bottomless pit" identifies the beast during the first 1/2 of this set: i.e., "was" speaks of the first 1/2 when he will have his reign--which will end with "and is not" when he will be bound at the end of that period and cast into hell for the duration of the Kingdom Age.  The "shall ascend...and go into perdition," of course, refers to the last 1/2 of Daniel's 70th Week.

...and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world...  These people whose names will not be written in the Book of Life will be everyone except the Gentiles who have a quickened faith and the Hebrews whose names will have been written there by virtue of being kin to Abraham (whose names can be stricken from the book--for a review of names written in the Book of Life, go to our on-line book Mark Them, booklet four).  It will be these whose names are not in the Book of Life that will wonder at the beast and the things that he will be able to do.

...when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.  This is another series of expressions that identify the end-time beast, but this time for the last 1/2 of Daniel's 70th Week: i.e., "that was" and "and is not" labels the beast of the 1st 1/2 of Daniel's 70th Week; while the "and yet is" ID's the beast during the last 1/2.

9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.

It is unfortunate that the speculations of some theologians of the past who tried to define this "woman" of Revelation from what they could see in their day has been adopted as though their speculations were "Scripture."  Such mindset becomes a roadblock to understanding Scripture / prophecy.  For example, respected authors of the past have tried to apply this passage to the Catholic Church with its headquarters located in Vatican City (declared to be an independent state in 1929 with the Pope as its absolute ruler) on seven hills in the city of Rome.  True, the Catholic Church has some gross errors (two of its greatest being their discouraging their rank and file from reading the Scriptures on their own and their praying to a deceased woman who was born with the same fallen nature as every other woman of Adam's seed, and this in preference to praying to God in the name of Jesus as is commanded in the Scriptures), but to call this "woman" of Revelation the Catholic Church can only be done by ignoring the language of prophecy, including Scriptural numerology, and the context.

If we consider this entire passage in its context, then we must remember that the characters in this interlude will all play a part during the Day of the Lord after the Church and the Holy Spirit (dispensationally) has been removed.  How many changes will have taken place in the political and religious realms by this time, only God knows.  

Also, if we use prophetic language and  Scriptural numerology, we can discern the "seven heads" to be the "total rule" of the religious world, and the seven mountains to be the organized churches of the time.  (Granted, the Catholic Church may very well be one of the "seven mountains"; but if this be so, she will be only one of them.)  Assuming this to be so, then the "woman" of this passage could be a "league" or "union" of seven (or all ?) of the major churches of the time.  And that this woman will be "sitting upon the beast" suggests that there will be some sort of a pact between this alliance of churches and the beast.

10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.
11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.

For our study of these two verses, CLICK HERE and go to our study of the nations of prophecy.

12 And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.

This is talking about the ten horns (nations) as per Daniel's prophecies that will form a league with the beast and help to establish him as a world power. (See booklet five, Chapter nineteen of our on-line book CLOCK OF THE AGES.)

13 These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.

This one mind will probably simply be the mind of Satan rather than some goal or ideology.

14 These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.

Whatever the "one mind" that they will have, it's obvious that it will not be a smart one.

15 And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.

This is one of the prophetic "keys" given to the Church for understanding of prophetic terms.

16 And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.

It looks like that after the beast has "used" his alliance of churches, he will throw it to the wolves.

17 For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.

Every now and then we need the reminder that in spite of all of the talk of the beast and the antichrist and Babylon the Great, etc., GOD WILL STILL BE IN CONTROL of His creation during this time--making all things work together for the good of those who love Him and who are called according to His purposes.

18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

Granted, the wording here sure sounds like the Catholic Church of the dark ages (even now, the pope has great influence on the nations of the world).  This brings up the possibility that those of the Catholic Church which will be left behind after the Rapture of the born-again Body of Christ, very well may be the head of the alliance of churches that will "sit on the beast"--the alliance that will  be thrown to the wolves by him.  As to the particulars of this "woman" during the last 1/2 of Daniel's 70th Week, that understanding may be withheld until that time.