Christian Unity

Rev 17:1  One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits on many waters.
Rev 17:2  With her the kings of the earth committed adultery and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries.”
Rev 17:3  Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a desert. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns.
Rev 17:4  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.
Rev 17:5  This title was written on her forehead: MYSTERY BABYLON THE GREAT THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

In chapter 6, the souls of the martyrs had asked “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?” Now the angel would explain to them how their blood would be avenged.
We previously identified the ten-horned beast as the Roman empire, and the woman riding on the beast as the city of Rome. She sat on seven hills, and she was drunk on the blood of the saints. She was the great city that rules over the kings of the earth. Her name in this symbolic apocalyptic story was Babylon the Great, but her real name was Rome. She was defeated, and would be repaid for all the blood she had shed.

Rev 18:4 Then I heard another voice from heaven say: “Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues;
Rev 18:5 for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes.
Rev 18:6 Give back to her as she has given; pay her back double for what she has done. Mix her a double portion from her own cup.
Rev 18:7 Give her as much torture and grief as the glory and luxury she gave herself. In her heart she boasts, “I sit as queen; I am not a widow, and I will never mourn.’
Rev 18:8 Therefore in one day her plagues will overtake her: death, mourning and famine. She will be consumed by fire, for mighty is the Lord God who judges her.
Rev 18:9 “When the kings of the earth who committed adultery with her and shared her luxury see the smoke of her burning, they will weep and mourn over her.
Rev 18:10 Terrified at her torment, they will stand far off and cry: “‘Woe! Woe, O great city, O Babylon, city of power! In one hour your doom has come!’
Rev 18:11 “The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her because no one buys their cargoes any more—
Rev 18:12 cargoes of gold, silver, precious stones and pearls; fine linen, purple, silk and scarlet cloth; every sort of citron wood, and articles of every kind made of ivory, costly wood, bronze, iron and marble;
Rev 18:13 cargoes of cinnamon and spice, of incense, myrrh and frankincense, of wine and olive oil, of fine flour and wheat; cattle and sheep; horses and carriages; and bodies and souls of men.
Rev 18:14 “They will say, ‘The fruit you longed for is gone from you. All your riches and splendor have vanished, never to be recovered.’
Rev 18:15 The merchants who sold these things and gained their wealth from her will stand far off, terrified at her torment. They will weep and mourn
Rev 18:16 and cry out: “‘Woe! Woe, O great city, dressed in fine linen, purple and scarlet, and glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls!
Rev 18:17 In one hour such great wealth has been brought to ruin!’ “Every sea captain, and all who travel by ship, the sailors, and all who earn their living from the sea, will stand far off.
Rev 18:18 When they see the smoke of her burning, they will exclaim, ‘Was there ever a city like this great city?’
Rev 18:19 They will throw dust on their heads, and with weeping and mourning cry out: “‘Woe! Woe, O great city, where all who had ships on the sea became rich through her wealth! In one hour she has been brought to ruin!
Rev 18:20 Rejoice over her, O heaven! Rejoice, saints and apostles and prophets! God has judged her for the way she treated you.'”
Rev 18:21 Then a mighty angel picked up a boulder the size of a large millstone and threw it into the sea, and said: “With such violence the great city of Babylon will be thrown down, never to be found again.
Rev 18:22 The music of harpists and musicians, flute players and trumpeters, will never be heard in you again. No workman of any trade will ever be found in you again. The sound of a millstone will never be heard in you again.
Rev 18:23 The light of a lamp will never shine in you again. The voice of bridegroom and bride will never be heard in you again. Your merchants were the world’s great men. By your magic spell all the nations were led astray.
Rev 18:24 In her was found the blood of prophets and of the saints, and of all who have been killed on the earth.”

Thus God would judge the enemy who had shed the blood of the martyrs, and thus God would avenge that blood. And God urged the saints, apostles, and prophets to rejoice over the judgment of their enemy.

The Roman Empire would fall. Rome would become a ruin. The martyrs would be avenged.