Revelation 17:7: And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.

John was astonished in Revelation 17:6, when he saw the Great Whore drunken with the blood of martyred saints in the last days.¹ In Revelation 17:7, John's angelic guide asked him why he marveled?² The question implies that John should not be surprised by the murder of saints in the latter days since he witnessed the murder of many saints of the church in his day.³ Furthermore, in Revelation 13:7, John saw the First Beast make war upon the ancient saints until they were entirely overcome.⁴ He also saw the Second Beast kill people who refused to worship the image of the beast in Revelation 13:15.⁵ Nevertheless, since John was surprised by the image of the Great Whore in Revelation chapter 17, the angel explained to him the meaning of the related images from Revelation chapters 13 and 17,⁶ saying: "I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her."⁷

The angelic explanation begins in Revelation 17:8-9, where John came to understand that the seven heads and ten horns of the scarlet-colored beast were all attributes of the Roman Empire which carried, supported, and sustained the woman of false religion.⁸ In Revelation 17:10-11, the angel gives the context for the image of that woman. He told John that the woman on the scarlet beast was one part of Satan's seven earthly kingdoms before the Second Coming.⁹ Revelation 17:12-14 then describes the evolution of Satan's power in the Roman Empire represented by the First Beast in Revelation 13:1-11 until the time of Satan's latter-day power in the modern nations of the world represented by the Second Beast in Revelation 13:12-18.¹⁰

In Revelation 17:15-18, the angel explains that the latter-day image of the Great Whore represents false religion in the modern nations.¹¹ The Great Whore of false religion spiritually fornicates with the ten kings of the latter days who represent political and secular power in the modern world.¹² The ten kings are symbolically synonymous with one of the two horns of power on the Second Beast from Revelation 13:11. The Great Whore is symbolically synonymous with the second horn of false religion on the Second Beast.¹³ Together, the two horns of church and state on the Second Beast are Babylon the Great of the latter days.¹⁴

The angelic explanation in Revelation 17:8-18 confirms that the woman of false religion, who once sat on the scarlet coloured beast, symbolizes the bloody Roman Empire in Revelation 17:3.¹⁵ The woman then matures and evolves over centuries of time¹⁶ to become the great whore [of false religion] that sitteth upon many waters in the last days according to Revelation 17:1.¹⁷