So at the same time she is the literal city of Babylon she is also the “mystery” reality beyond geography—she is the “mother” of what Satan devised in opposition to God.
Now let’s consider the rest of her.
She is “sitting on a scarlet beast, which is full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.” The beast is the final ruler of the final kingdom of men known to us as the Antichrist (v.8). The fact that she seats upon the beast means the beast is carrying her and implies that she is in control of the beast. And seemingly she shall maintain that control during the first half of the Tribulation into some portion of the second half of the Tribulation until God’s purpose for her is fulfilled and she is destroyed by the kingdom of the beast (v.16-17).
And she “was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of the abominations and the filthiness of her fornication”. This speaks of her as both prominent and influentially wicked. With the prominence of a queen she has openly enticed man to drink from her cup of abominations and filthiness (check—Rev.18:3, 7).
v.6-7 And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement. But the angel said to me, “Why did you marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns.”
John sees the woman “drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus”. When a Godless religious-system cannot subvert truth by infiltration and false teaching, it will seek to destroy it by persecution. Jesus said, “If the world hates you, you know it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you” (John 15:18-19). As a result, many multitudes of true believers have shed their blood through the ages in the cause of Christ, as will so many more during the Tribulation.
“And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement.” It’s uncertain whether John was bewildered by the woman as in dumbfounded by the image itself or merely surprised to see Babylon anywhere in the future—especially in a place of prominence. For though the city existed during the time of John (check—1Peter 5:13) the glory Babylon enjoyed under the reign of Nebuchadnezzar had long since vanished many hundreds of years before the time of John.
In any case the angel asks “Why did you marvel?” and then goes on to tell John in so many words “For I am going to explain it to you”.
v.8 “‘The beast you saw was, and is not, and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition. And those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast that was, and is not, and yet is’.”
The angel begins by identifying the beast.
Okay, but it will help you to understand the images here and elsewhere in this chapter if you follow who this beast signifies. This is the same beast that John saw at the middle of the Tribulation rising out of the sea (Rev.13). In other words, this is not merely the man Antichrist who gains prominence as a political figure during the first half of the Tribulation, but the man Antichrist who “resurrects” as the devil incarnate and rules as a god during the final three and a half years of the Tribulation until his destruction at the Coming of Christ.
This is the beast which “was…and is not…and yet is” (which is implied twice in this passage). So what does that mean?
At the height of his political notoriety Antichrist will be struck down by an assassin, appear to die, and then appear to “miraculously” recover. So the man Antichrist “was” (he does exist during the first half of Tribulation), then “is not” (he appears to die and exist no longer), and “yet is” (he returns to exist again during the second half of Tribulation).