Revelation 17:5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
The mystery of iniquity is already working in Paul’s day and is flourishing in our time today. We see the mystery of it in numerous situations today. There is mysteriousness about abortion, homosexuality, among other things. The mystery of iniquity is very prevalent in our land today as we see the hypocrisy that is actually believed by many. We see it in the rioting, looting and complicity of the left and progressives. All these have been present at times since sin entered into the world and the devil has been deceiving people.
The mystery of iniquity is referenced in relation to the one world ruler that will come to power someday (2 Thes 2:8-9). The mystery will be in his ability to control the people of the world and also rule over them. They will accept him as God and he will be accompanied and aided by another individual called the false prophet (Rev 13:11-15). Together these two persons will control the world’s population and rule them (Rev 13:16-17). He will present himself as the long awaited Messiah (Jn 5:43) and along with the miracles by the false prophet the world including the many Jews will accept him and follow him.
A religious system:
The end time religious system is pictured riding upon the back of a beast Rev 17:3 which is similar to the beast that John saw in Rev 13:1. The fact of it being scarlet in color may be referencing Rev 12:3 which is named as the devil, satan etc. Rev 12:9. False religions have their origin in the devil as he has worked thru the ages to draw people away from the true God into worshipping the devil whether it be in his person or thru idols 1 Cor 10:19-20. Presently the world tolerates all religions except Christianity and Judaism because Jesus is the dividing line between true and false religions. Apostate Christianity wants to include all beliefs into a pseudo-Christian belief system in order to accommodate other beliefs and bring about a unifying. Many believe that there are many ways to heaven and Jesus is simply on of them. Mystery Babylon pictured in Rev 17 is a representative of the false belief system that will be present at the time of the tribulation. However, since the anti-Christ desires to be worshipped as God he, along with the other kings at that time, destroy her (the false religious system) and demand that he be worshipped as God Rev 17:16-17.
Babylon was first begun by Nimrod and the tower of Babel Gen 10:9-10; 11:1-2, 8-9. The infection of this rebellious worship was spread throughout the world and still exists today. Babylon came to be associated with false religion and the numerous gods and idols that plagued Israel and the world originated at the tower of Babel and carried on into Canaan and other lands. Babylon is shown in the form of a woman and called the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.
John tells us that there are many anti-Christs in the world already (1 Jn 2:18) and they will attempt to destroy and eliminate true worship of God and replace with a pseudo-worship and belief system. This system will be man-centered and focused upon the world’s ideals and motivations. We see this happening in our time as many who profess to be Christian are working to eliminate true worship and replace it with the false – abortion, sodomy, transgenderism, etc. Their purposes and plans to eliminate true Christianity go right along with what Jesus said (see Matt 24:9 and Jn 16:2). How much of this will occur before the Lord comes for the church we do not know; Jesus simply asked the question: “Will He find faith when He returns” (Lu 18:8).