The Harlot Sits on the Beast with seven heads
Part 9 of the Harlot of Babylon Series
Time to get back to the beast with seven heads that carries the harlot. We talked about these seven heads briefly in chapter four.
Rev 17:3 And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness; and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast, full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns.
4 The woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a gold cup full of abominations and of the unclean things of her immorality, 5 and on her forehead a name was written, a mystery, “BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.” 6 And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus. When I saw her, I wondered greatly.
7 And the angel said to me, “Why do you wonder? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns.
8 “The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to come up out of the abyss and go to destruction. And those who dwell on the earth, whose name has not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, will wonder when they see the beast, that he was and is not and will come. 9 Here is the mind which has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits, 10 and they are seven kings; five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; and when he comes, he must remain a little while. 11 The beast which was and is not, is himself also an eighth and is one of the seven, and he goes to destruction. 12 The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but they receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour. 13 These have one purpose, and they give their power and authority to the beast.
Much has been written about the woman sitting on a scarlet beast having seven heads and ten horns. Most of the Bible prophecy teachers say the woman is Rome or the Catholic Church. They say the seven kings are seven Roman emperors or seven popes. Historians and theologians have been trying to make this scenario fit with the Roman Empire or the Catholic church since the dark ages. There is no way to make the ‘five have fallen, one now is, and the other has not yet come’ fit with the history of the Roman Empire or the Catholic church. It just does not work.
The seven heads are seven mountains, and they are seven kings. Some recent prophecy teachers say that the mountains and kings represent kingdoms. They teach that the seven heads are the Egyptian, Assyrian, Medi-Persian, Babylonian, Greek, Roman, and Ottoman Empires. These are the seven kingdoms that have ruled over the Middle East throughout history. I taught this for many years because it seemed to work. However, a few years ago, the Lord began to show me a couple of problems with this teaching. The biggest problem is the seventh head being the Ottoman Empire.
Rev 17:10 …the other has not yet come; and when he comes, he must remain a little while.
He must remain a little while. The Ottoman Empire ruled the Middle East for more than six centuries! Far longer than any of the other empires. Six centuries is not a little while! This invalidates the seven empires teaching.
The second problem with the seven kings being seven kingdoms teaching is the eighth head. The teaching says it is the revived Ottoman Empire. The eighth head is the antichrist. It is the beast who comes up out of the abyss and kills the overcomers at the end of the tribulation. The antichrist is a man, not a kingdom. John, when writing of the antichrist in chapter thirteen, says he is a man.
Rev 13:18 Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six.
When did we switch between kingdoms and men? This also invalidates the seven kingdoms teaching.
The proper interpretation of the seven kings is that they are seven kings! They are seven of the most evil, demonic, blasphemous men who have fought directly against the plan of God since the tower of Babel up to this day. These seven have carried the harlot, one after the other, throughout history. They are satanic kings.
John does not tell us who the kings are in the book of Revelation. However, the Bible and world history do tell us who the most important ones are. Especially important is the eighth king. The king who comes twice. The eighth king is the antichrist.
The first king in the Bible after the flood was Nimrod.
Gen 10:8 Now Cush became the father of Nimrod; he became a mighty one on the earth. 9 He was a mighty hunter before the Lord; therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the Lord.” 10 The beginning of his kingdom was Babel and Erech and Accad and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. 11 From that land he went forth into Assyria, and built Nineveh and Rehoboth-Ir and Calah, 12 and Resen between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city.
As we discussed earlier, Nimrod built the city and tower of Babel. Babel was the first harlot, the mother. After God dispersed the wicked people of Babel, Nimrod traveled north and built Nineveh, the capital of Assyria. Assyria, not surprisingly, became the most wicked kingdom in the ancient days. Nimrod carried Babel and he carried Assyria. He is the first of Satan’s seven kings. He is the first of the seven heads that carry the harlot of Babylon.
John wrote Revelation around 68 AD. When he is writing he says the first five kings have fallen. This means that Nimrod and the next four kings after him had already lived and died. Five have fallen. The next four kings after Nimrod are unknown, but we have no doubt read about them in the Bible.
One is the wicked king, Pharoah, who tried to kill all the Hebrews to stop the plan of God. Jews and Christians all over the world celebrate Passover every year to remember how God delivered the Hebrews from Pharoah’s evil.
Another obvious choice is Antiochus Epiphanes. He set up the abomination of desolation in the temple in Jerusalem. He called himself, God Manifest. The miracle of Hanukkah celebrates how God gave the Maccabees the victory over the armies of Antiochus.
We also know who the sixth king is. When John is writing Revelation around 68 AD, he says one of Satan’s kings is alive now.
Rev 17:10 …and they are seven kings; five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; and when he comes, he must remain a little while.
Roman Emperor Nero was ruling Rome when John was writing Revelation. Nero is the king who exiled John to the isle of Patmos where he wrote Revelation. Nero was absolutely one with Satan. He murdered his mother and wife and unborn baby. He blasphemed God and persecuted Christians. He ordered the first organized persecution of the church. His hatred of Christians was put on display for all of Rome to see. He held parties in his gardens with the torture of Christians as entertainment.
Nero dispatched Vespasian to Jerusalem to put down a Jewish revolt in 67 AD. This revolt eventually led to the destruction of the Holy Temple. Jerusalem was destroyed and most of the Jews were killed or sold into slavery in 70 AD. Many of the temple artifacts were paraded through Rome, along with hundreds of Jews in chains. Nero committed suicide in 68 AD.
Nero is the ‘one now is’ king. He is the sixth of Satan’s kings who carries the harlot.
Now for the seventh king, the one that comes after and remains for a little while.
Rev 17:10 …and they are seven kings; five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; and when he comes, he must remain a little while.
History tells us who the seventh of Satan’s kings is. This king needs little comment. He was obsessed with the occult, blasphemed God, hated the Jews, and killed all those who opposed him. He is responsible for the deaths of millions of people on several continents. His final solution that murdered six million Jews was Satan’s greatest attempt to stop the plan of God. The seventh king is Adolf Hitler.
I have taught for years that the holocaust is a foreshadow of the tribulation and Hitler is a foreshadow of the antichrist. Did we really think that an end time prophecy pertaining to Satanic kings throughout history would not include Hitler?
John says he must remain a little while. The rise and fall of the Third Reich lasted little more than a decade. Hitler is the seventh of Satan’s kings before the coming of the antichrist.
For more detail on the probable identity of the seven kings, you can check out Peter D. Goodgame’s book, The Second Coming of the Antichrist.