Allegory is a literary device in which a story points to a hidden or symbolic parallel meaning. The story is enjoyable and complete in its own right, but it points to something else at the same time: Bunyan’s ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’ and C. S. Lewis’s ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ are examples of this, with the pilgrim representing the Christian and the trials he goes through in life, and Aslan the lion representing Christ.
Stories are one of God’s main ways of communicating with us, perhaps because we all identify so strongly with characters in a story. Jesus often taught using stories (parables); the Parable of the Sower, for example, tells the simple story of a farmer sowing seed on different kinds of soil, but the underlying meaning is about the role of God’s word in our lives and how different our responses to that word can be.
Allegory takes the everyday and the familiar and shows us that life works on different levels. One of the strongest metaphors in the Bible is that of marriage. Marriage, a lifelong commitment between a man and a woman, is not only the foundation of family life, but points to the relationship between Christ and the church. (Eph 5:21-32) The relationship is founded on love, faithfulness, commitment and covenant. Adultery in the Bible is used not only to describe the breakdown of this relationship but to show us how anything less than whole-hearted devotion to Christ will not do. Hosea the prophet marries a prostitute on God’s orders to live out a parable of God’s unconditional love despite the waywardness of His people. Ezekiel and Jeremiah speak frequently on this topic (see Ezekiel 16 & 23, Jeremiah 2), using language that often shocks us. So it is not surprising to find the theme of prostitution and adultery featuring so heavily in Revelation 17. Perhaps what ought to shock us the most is how strange we find this in modern days, largely because we are so inured to sexual immorality – we live in a society which tells us repeatedly that ‘anything goes’ these days. Perhaps that is why God blasts us out of our complacency and indifference with chapters like Revelation 17, reminding us that honour, faithfulness and devotion matter even today.
Babylon, the city representing the godless way of the world, is called ‘the mother of prostitutes’, is clothed in purple and scarlet (symbols of power and immorality) and sits on the scarlet beast (already identified as Satan in earlier parts of Revelation.) Many have interpreted her power not only in terms of false religion but in terms of economic and political influence. Babylon is the antithesis of Jerusalem. The two cities represent all that is worst and best in the world: those who follow the prince of the air and who defy God, believing their own ideas and beliefs are the way to freedom and happiness, and those who follow Christ, living on earth with an awareness of eternity and understanding how different God’s ways and thoughts are from their own. (Is 55:8-9)
The Bible is explicit that ‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the great!’ (Rev 18:2, Rev 14:8) As we head towards the climax of Revelation and await the wedding supper of the Lamb, another allegory/ metaphor reminding us of the joyous banquets associated with weddings (Rev 19:7-9), we need to keep in mind that whilst evil may seem to flourish now, that will not be the case forever. (Rev 17:16-17) God’s plans and purposes are being worked out; He will triumph in the end.
