Revelation 17:16; And Burn With Fire

Revelation 17:16  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. 

The city’s ultimate fate at the hands of her former lovers is to be burned up with fire. The wording of this destiny comes from a legal formula condemning those who had committed detestable fornications (cf. Leviticus 20:14; 21:9; Joshua 7:15, 25). (Alford, Swete)

Leviticus 20:14  And if a man take a wife and her mother, it is wickedness: they shall be burnt with fire, both he and they; that there be no wickedness among you. 

Leviticus 21:9  And the daughter of any priest, if she profane herself by playing the whore, she profaneth her father: she shall be burnt with fire. 

Joshua 7:15  And it shall be, that he that is taken with the accursed thing shall be burnt with fire, he and all that he hath: because he hath transgressed the covenant of the LORD, and because he hath wrought folly in Israel. 

Joshua 7:25  And Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us? the LORD shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones. 

It speaks the utter destruction of a system of false religion that will have reached its peak in the days just before its destruction.

[Robert L. Thomas, Revelation 8-22 – An Exegetical Commentary, Moody, 1995, 304]

Herbert Lockyer observed well, “What abject desolation awaits the apostate church! Determined to rid himself and his empire of the subtle and impoverishing influences of the harlot, the beast now turns and removes the harlot from her exalted seat. The rulers of the federal empire strip the harlot of all her seductive, gaudy ornaments. The combined nations, with their masterful head, combine in hatred of the whore. The downfall of the great whore comes because of a sudden change in the enslaved people. Not only is there loathing for the harlot and plunder of all her wealth and finery, but her flesh is eaten. “Flesh” is plural signifies masses of flesh – earthly possessions, the fullness of carnality. But the beast and the ten kings, once the harlot’s admirers and slaves, are now her bitter foes, and they gorge themselves on the gathered possessions of the harlot.

Then the harlot is burned with fire. In this step of graduated punishment, there may be a reference to the legal punishment of abominable fornication. In ancient times, harlots sometimes were burned. God’s permissive will comes into focus in the perfect agreement between the ten kings and the beast. At the back of the alliance of nations and their union with the beast – and the final overthrow of the harlot – is the will of God. He has decreed the destruction of the Gentile dominion and apostate Christendom, and God will triumph. God can even use evil men to accomplish His purposes (Genesis 50:20). The wrath of man can be made to praise Him.”

Walter Scott wrote:

God works unseen, but not the less truly, in all the political changes of the day. The astute statesman, the clever diplomacy, is simply an agent in the Lord’s hands. He knows it not. Self-will and motives of policy may influence to action, but God is steadily working toward an end – to exhibit the heavenly and earthly glories of His Son. Thus, instead of kings and statesmen thwarting God’s purpose, they unconsciously forward it. God is not indifferent, but is behind the scenes of human action. The doings of the future ten kings in relation to Babylon and the Beast – the ecclesiastical and secular powers – are not only under the direct control of God, but all is done in fulfilment of His words.

At a critical time like this, we must keep our eyes open for evidences of God’s overruling hand among the nations.

[Herbert Lockyer, Revelation – Drama of the Ages, Whitaker House, 2012, 274-275]