What does it mean that the whore is sitting on the beast in Revelation 17:7?
The whore symbolizes a worldwide religious system that rides upon the beast, meaning it is carried and subsidized by the Antichrist's political power. Later the beast and ten horns hate her, make her desolate and naked, eat her flesh, and burn her with fire, showing that this religion is destroyed.
Les explains that the waters where the whore sits represent peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues, so the whore is a worldwide religious system. Her sitting on the beast means she is riding on the beast's back—that is, she is being subsidized by the beast's power. But verse 16 reveals a change: the ten horns upon the beast will hate the whore, make her desolate and naked, eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. This is symbolic language showing that the Antichrist will destroy this religion, not preserve it.
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.