Revelation 17:6

And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I wondered with a great wonder.

And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints ... with the blood of the martyrs ...

Who invented the Inquisition? Who invented the torture chamber and the rack? Who burned at the stake the uncounted thousands and millions of God's servants? Who? This scarlet whore, dressed in purple, decked in gold, riding in control of the governments of the world. It has been estimated that she has slain fifty millions of the servants of Jesus Christ.[29]

I wondered with a great wonder ... In some versions, this is wondered "with a great admiration." "This does not mean admiration in our modern sense."[30] Despite Carpenter's opinion, however, we are inclined to think that it does mean "admiration" in our modern sense; it was a startled, astonished kind of admiration, mingled with wonder. Now there is no way that John could have wondered if the woman had symbolized pagan Rome. Prophetic descriptions from the Old Testament were plentiful and well known to John which portrayed ancient Babylon, a pagan city, in exactly this same graphic terminology, even complete with the "golden cup" (Jeremiah 51:7). This verse therefore proves that literal Babylon, or literal Rome, cannot be meant. John could never have "wondered" at a description already thoroughly familiar to him. No! The wonder here is in the application of this description to this whore which was once the true church of God! See "Admiration of the Harlot," introduction, chapter 18.

[29] W. A. Criswell, op. cit., p. 186.

[30] W. Boyd Carpenter, op. cit., p. 612.