Who is the Prostituite?

I've recently learned that the identity of the prostitute in Revelation 7 is a matter of no small debate among scholars who study the book of Revelation.  I think most identify her as a symbol of Rome (after all she sits on seven hills).  Others say she is Jerusalem.  (These scholars point out that in the Old Testament prostitutes are only used to symbolize Israel not other nations).  Other see the woman as a type of Rome that symbolizes some future nation that will be identified in time.  (I probably fall in this camp).

Whoever you identify the woman with, I think it is an interesting exercise to ask yourself which nation is most like her today?  Whenever I lead Bible studies on the book of Revelation, I ask the class to identify which 21st Century nation would most likely be symbolized by the harlot today?  I point out the features of the woman.  She is known for her adulteries and sexual immorality.  In future chapters, she carries out trade far and wide across the earth, exporting many of her goods and luxuries.  The other nations of the earth seem to have a love\hate relationship with her.  They love the pleasures and goods that she gives, but they despise her for her crude morals and wanton ways.  When these features of the harlot are identified, participants in Bible studies will almost universally say that in the 21st Century the harlot must represent America.

Now, the representation suffer at points.  America has not participated in the persecution of Christians.  That is a key part of the harlot's identity.  So I am certainly not saying that the answer to John's mystery has been found in twenty-first century America.  But it is clear that our nation would not find a lot of favor in God's eyes.  We have some of the qualities of the symbol of what God despises.  While there is a tendency in our nation to see our country as a moral exemplar to the rest of the world, consideration of Revelation 17 would make us qualify that picture greatly.  Yes, there is much good in America.  But there is also much that might even be labeled evil.  As Christians, we should encourage our nation in what is good.  But we should mourn at the indecencies and materialism that she exports throughout the earth.  Perhaps it is unfair to see that America is the harlot.  But it would also be untrue to see her as Snow White.