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A Verse-by-verse Study of Revelation 17 Seven Heads, Ten Horns The
ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom
George Tabac In the book of Revelation the apostle John represents the church class which is instructed by various means: in 1:17-20 by Jesus, in 4:1,3 by a voice from heaven, in 5:5 by an elder, in 10:9 by an angel, and in 19:5,9,10 by a voice from the throne. In chapter 17 we read, “Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me, saying, Come here, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters” (Revelation 17:1, NASB). This opening verse of Revelation 17 helps us to see the time setting is the beginning of the harvest. We believe this angel, “one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls,” refers to the seventh messenger to the church: Bro. Russell. This angel first speaks in chapter 17 and continues to instruct John all the way to the end of the book. As we trace the teachings of this angel to John from chapter 17 forward, we see they all are things we learned from the ministry of Bro. Russell. In this first verse, he shows us the judgment to come of the great harlot. Who but Bro. Russell identified for us the casting off and final judgment of Babylon? In 17:3 he takes us back to the 1,260-year wilderness period. Bro. Russell explained the 1,260 days of Daniel, the development and reign of the Man of Sin. He explained who the bride class is and how they will bless all the families of the earth (Revelation 21:9). In Revelation 22:2,3 the angel brought to light the doctrines of ransom and restitution that were hidden for centuries. In Revelation 22:10 the angel gives us words that were used in the title of the second volume of Studies in the Scriptures: “The Time Is At Hand.” In Revelation 19:6,9,10 he explains the doctrine of the Great Company which had not been seen since the days of the apostles. In Revelation 19:10 the angel tells us to not worship him for he was one of our brethren, and repeats it again in 22:8,9.The angel admonishes us as Bro. Russell himself did, that we are not to prove things by what he wrote, but by a “Thus saith the Lord.” As the angel said, we are to “Worship God,” not his messenger. Incidentally, having seen that one of the seven angels who have the seven vials to pour out the plagues is the seventh messenger, it would follow that the other six angels are the other six messengers to the church. Since they were raised in 1878 as divine spirit beings, together with all the other sleeping saints, they would thus be in a position to pour out the plagues at God’s appointed times. But why would the seven messengers be the ones to pour out the vials of plagues? Perhaps because no other seven individuals have a more comprehensive view of the persecutions done by the Antichrist system. These persecutions occurred through the age and these seven messengers experienced and witnessed them as God’s spokesmen at each stage of the church. So now it is their responsibility to oversee the carrying out of God’s retributive justice. The Judgment of Babylon—Revelation 17:1-5
There came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. Revelation 17 deals with the judgment of Babylon, the false church, considered a harlot because instead of being a virgin espoused to Christ, she unites with the kings or governments. The strong language describes the false church, not any single individual or devoted, consecrated, sincere people in it; rather it describes symbolically the system overall and its actions and persecutions throughout the ages. So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns” (verse 3). John is here given a vision of the 1,260-year period of the true church being in the wilderness condition, from 539 to 1799. The false church is pictured by a woman, sitting on a scarlet colored beast. This beast is scarlet colored. Two other beasts mentioned in Revelation are different. Chapter 12 refers to a red dragon and chapter 13 to a leopard-like beast. Both differ from the scarlet colored beast of chapter 17. When we speak of the beast in Revelation, we most often think of the leopard-like beast of chapter 13 which pictured Papacy; it had power forty-two months to persecute the saints, had the number 666, etc. But the scarlet colored beast of chapter 17 is not Papacy. It pictures the common people who supported the false church. In verse 1 the harlot sits upon many waters, a picture of people. In verse 3 the woman sits on a scarlet colored beast. This is the angel’s way of telling us that the many waters and the beast are the same. The beast, in other words, pictures the many common people who in one form or another help support the false system. She sits on the beast and the beast supports her. Just as a rider who sits on a horse controls the horse with the reins, in like manner the system controls the common people. Then in verse 3 we are told the beast had seven heads and ten horns. The four elements of the vision thus far picture the following:
And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: and upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth” (verses 4, 5). The false church woman is pictured in royal robes as a queen because she was united with the kings of the earth and sat as a queen. She had a golden cup claiming to be the sole dispenser of biblical divine truths, but in reality the cup was full of religious falsehoods. The woman rider is given a name: Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots. This implies there are other harlots who followed her example. Other religious protestant systems, like the mother, also united with the kings of the earth. Things to Come—Revelation 17:6-15 (NASB)
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. And the angel said … Why do you wonder? I shall tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns. The scene changes now to the harvest time when the true church was given the correct understanding of the false church during her 1,260-year reign. It caused the harvest church to look with utter astonishment at the history of the Gospel age abominations done in the name of Christ. Then beginning in verse 7 we are told the scene is going to change. Rather than being told the history of the harlot woman, the angel is going to tell us the prophecy of her future, as well as the future of “the beast that carries her,” that is, what is in store for the common people who support that system. The prophecies of verses 8 through 13 are quite complex. We will first discuss verses 9 and 10, then we will return to verse 8. The time of these verses is the beginning of the harvest when the seventh messenger speaks to the church. Here is the mind which has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits. 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” (verses 9, 10). Note carefully what is depicted. It is somewhat a recap of verse 3. The woman is the false church. She sits on a beast, which pictures the common people who support the system. This beast has seven heads, now called mountains, picturing seven successive forms of government through the age that did the thinking for the common people. In verse 10 the symbology changes. The seven heads of verse 9 become seven kings in verse 10. About these seven heads or kings we are told, “Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; and when he comes, he must remain a little while.” In other words, at the beginning of the harvest when the seventh messenger speaks, five of these kings or heads have fallen, they are gone, in the past. One was in existence, and one was yet to come. Thus in Bro. Russell’s day the sixth head or king was in existence. The seventh head would come later and remain but a short time. Who are these seven heads now called seven kings? “The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits” implies she has control of the heads. Since the woman rode both the beast and its seven heads, she controlled both the beast and the heads. Thus the first of these seven heads would be a rulership that existed when the false church first came into existence and would in turn be able to control. The Seven Heads of the Beast 1. Justinian’s Rome, which first gave the Bishop of Rome the title Pontifex Maximus, or Chief Priest over all the others. 2. Charlemagne’s Empire, which first allowed the Papacy to crown the emperor. 3. The Holy Roman Empire (962 A.D. to the “Peace of Westphalia” in 1648). In 962 A.D. Otto the Great became Emperor and named the empire “The Holy Roman Empire.” This third head continued until, as Revelation 13:3 [NASB] puts it, “I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain, and his fatal wound was healed.” This wound began with the great schism, when two and eventually three popes fought a forty-year war against each other for control of the church. It continued with the Reformation upheaval by Martin Luther which divided the empire into nations favoring Catholicism against those favoring Protestantism. A thirty-year war resulted, ending in 1648 with the “Peace of Westphalia.” The Roman Church reorganized and the fourth head came into being. The head “that was wounded as if slain” was healed when a new fourth head appeared. 4. The Rejuvenated Holy Roman Empire after the Peace of Westphalia, to 1806. 5. Napoleonic Empire (1806) when Napoleon overthrew “The Holy Roman Empire.” At the time of the harvest message these “five heads had fallen” or were in the past. 6. The Victor Emmanuel Dynasty began in 1870. This is the one described as “one [head] is,” that is, was in existence during the time of the seventh messenger and lasted until 1929. (Victor Emmanuel conquered all of Italy, took away the Papal States, but made Roman Catholicism the state religion, and gave other guarantees to the Vatican.) 7. The Nazi-Fascist Empire, from 1929 to 1945. In the time of the seventh messenger this head was “yet to come.” It began when Mussolini signed the Lateran Treaty with the Vatican in 1929. In return for the surrender of papal claims to Italian territory, the treaty granted the pope a large sum of money and complete sovereignty over Vatican City. The Catholic religion was given a privileged status and became the state religion. Other treaties were later signed between the Vatican and Hitler’s political party, paving the way for Hitler coming to power. The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to come up out of the abyss and to go to destruction. And those who dwell on the earth will wonder, whose name has not been written in the book of life … when they see the beast, that he was and is not and will come” (verse 8). The phrase, “the beast that you saw was, and is not,” is not referring to the entire beast, but only a portion of it. The entire beast never went out of existence. It is referring to an anarchistic portion of the beast that rose up against the Roman Catholic Church during the French Revolution. That anarchistic phase of the beast is what is meant by “it was,” that is, it rose up during the French Revolution, and then it “was not” when the anarchy ended. The anarchistic phase ceased when Napoleon quelled the insurrection and reestablished the woman or Roman Catholic Church as the official religion of France once again. Thus at the time of the angel’s writing (Bro. Russell’s day), this anarchistic portion of the beast was not, but will rise again as “The Lord’s Great Army.” After Napoleon overthrew “The Holy Roman Empire” in 1806, the next head of the beast came into existence. The Napoleonic Empire became the fifth head when Napoleon worked with the Papacy to reestablish Roman Catholicism as the state religion of France. The same anarchistic portion of the beast is repeatedly referred to in this chapter when the common people rise up once again in opposition to the false system: “The beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition” (Revelation 17:11). This is the same uprising portion of the beast referred to, that “was,” and “is not,” but will rise again as an eighth and then be destroyed. The phrase “will rise again as an eighth” cannot mean an eighth head for the beast had only seven heads, controlled by the harlot. Thus the symbology changed from heads to kings. The word kings refers to rulers. When the uprising of the people against the harlot takes place, the people as a body will rise up and be like an eighth ruler, but they will not be controlled by the harlot as were the seven heads. They will be “of the seven” in the sense that this new eighth ruler will be as the uprising people that ruled during the French Revolution phase of the seven heads. This eighth king or ruler, after the uprising, will go into perdition, be destroyed. A Singular Kingdom
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” (verse 12). The Revelator now states what will happen to the ten horns. The ten horns are now called ten kings. Since Napoleon’s time the supporting beast with its ten horns has reduced its support to its head and harlot rider. The Nazi empire tried to increase the beast’s size to include the entire continent of Europe, but it failed. With the defeat of Nazism in 1945, the beast lost its seventh head. Thus these ten kings are no longer horns on a beast because there is no head to this beast to support horns. All seven heads are gone! The ten, however, are still kings, or rulers of nations. We are told these ten kings have not yet received “a” kingdom (singular). It doesn’t say they have not received kingdoms (plural) for they are kingdoms or nations. Verse 17 shows these combined ten kings will receive a singular kingdom, for it says they will give “their kingdom” (singular) to the beast. “For God has put it in their hearts to execute his purpose by having a common purpose, and by giving their kingdom [singular] to the beast, until the words of God will be fulfilled.” This singular kingdom that the ten kings will give to the beast can best be understood if we digress from Revelation to consider what is currently happening in Europe today. Antitypical Ten Horns [Kings] After World War II, the NATO Alliance was formed calling for the United States and European Nations to help one another should there be a future attack on any member nation. The war-weary nations of Europe formed another alliance in 1954 called the Western European Union. It was an alliance formed originally by Great Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg to promote mutual economic benefits. From this Union came what we know as the “Common Market,” an entity that worked to remove trade barriers among themselves. By 1995 this Western European Union grew to ten nations when Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Greece were added. The Western European Union Alliance changed its name to the European Union. The Alliance then formed the European Monetary Union. Its objective was for Europe to develop its own currency to challenge the dominance of the dollar and of the United States’ leadership of the free world. Europe resented the power exercised by the United States through its control of the world’s money. Until recent times virtually all central banks in the world would exchange one currency for another based on the value of the dollar. In January 1999 a new currency came into being called the euro. By June 2002 this one currency was being used by all except two members of the then fifteen European Union member states. (Ten new member states were recently added to the European Union.) These linked economies and dominance should increase since European companies no longer need to exchange their currencies among themselves. Another area of European resentment that has existed for years is that the United States makes virtually all the decisions regarding when and how NATO troops will be engaged. This led to a significant development in November, 2000. The ten symbolic kings of Revelation 17 agreed to go beyond their economic union to form a military alliance. According to the Washington Post, November 21, 2000, the “European Union” defense ministers met together to form an initial military alliance of 60,000 troops. The official name given to it is “European Security and Defense Policy.” The troops will be used as a “Rapid Reaction Force” that could act in crises on the continent when NATO, and in particular the United States, chooses not to engage. European Union Leaders, with delegates from all participating countries, met for seventeen months in Brussels to write a constitution for the nations of Europe. Valery Giscard d’Estaing the former president of France, was its chairman. On July 10, 2003, they submitted a draft treaty establishing a constitution for the nations of Europe that is now being evaluated by all those nations. The “hand writing” seems to be on the wall. The European Union is growing at a rapid pace. It has developed a common market, a common currency, a common military alliance, and now are in the process of adopting a constitution for all member states. Here is a comparison of the European Union with the United States:
Many European leaders are committed to full union: economic, military, and political. They take their inspiration from Emperor Charlemagne, crowned by Pope Leo III in 800 A.D., who had a vision of a United Christian Europe that would return the continent to the glory of ancient Rome. European leaders present an annual Charlemagne Prize to the individual who contributed the most to the concept of European unity in the prior year. In the year 2000 President Bill Clinton became the third American recipient. These developments are causing great concern in Washington. The U. S. wants to maintain superiority and dominance over Western Europe. Senators Helms and Smith recently warned “that it is neither in Europe’s nor America’s interests to undermine our proven national relationships in favor of one with a European super-state whose creation is being driven in part, by anti-American sentiment.” Is the European Union growing into a super-state, or superpower? Yes it is. Individual national language divisions will continue to exist (the ten kings continue on the scene in the prophecy), but a collective cooperative will emerge that will wield a power far in excess of the individual nations. What is developing at an ever-increasing rate is exactly what we should expect according to the prophecy. “The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom” (Revelation 17:12, NASB). The ten horns are the ten kingdoms of Europe which have not yet received or become the single, combined, super-power kingdom, which is, however, knocking at the door. When they receive this kingdom, note what will happen: “They receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour. These have one purpose, and they give their power and authority to the beast … For God has put it in their hearts to execute his purpose by having a common purpose, and by giving their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God will be fulfilled” (Revelation 17:12,13,17, NASB). Thus when the ten kingdoms of Europe achieve this new United Super Kingdom status, they will give or share the kingdom power and authority with the beast, which pictures the uprising common people, in other prophecies referred to as “The Lord’s Great Army.” The power will be given by God for “one hour.” This is the same hour referred to in the next chapter, the hour in which Babylon is destroyed: “Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come” (Revelation 18:10). The result of the cooperation of the ten kings and the beast is given in verse 14: “These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.” The phrase “these shall make war with the Lamb” means the alliance of the kings and the beast will result in war against our Lord, against all our Lord’s kingdom interests including the remaining church members and those of the great company who will no doubt finish their course during the early part of this time. But the Lamb, our glorified Lord as King of kings, will be victorious, together with his glorified saints who will then be with him, those who were called, chosen, and faithful unto death. “And he said to me, The waters which you saw where the harlot sits, are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues” (Revelation 17:15, NASB). The angel reminds us of the main characters in this vision. The harlot is Babylon, primarily the mother, but it includes her daughters. The beast she sits upon and controls are peoples of all nations that supported her. This is an important verse. The King James translation says “And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore,” etc. The King James gives the thought that only the ten horns hate the harlot and in turn destroy her. This is not the thought of the Greek. Both the Sinaitic and Alexandrian manuscripts have “the ten horns and the beast shall hate the harlot.” What will cause them to hate the harlot? This vision does not say, but other Scriptures imply it is because of a worldwide spread of the truth of God’s plan; the people will come to see her teachings as false. This is the thought of the phrase that the ten kings “will make her naked,” that is expose her for what she really is. But in any case, this text says the people who formerly supported the harlot as she rode upon them, controlling their actions, will now rise up as the Lord’s great army in opposition to her, just as they did in the French Revolution. The beast “that was” will rise up again out of the abyss of inactivity, and together with the authority or cooperation of the “United Ten Horns,” will destroy the harlot systems of Babylon. This prophecy is in complete harmony with the type of Jezebel who similarly as this harlot of Revelation, pictured Babylon. It was Jezebel’s own eunuchs, who previously ministered to her every wish, who threw her out the window. Likewise here: those who previously supported her will destroy her as a system. The End—Revelation 17:16-18
And the ten horns which you saw, and the beast, these will hate the harlot and will make her desolate and naked, and will eat her flesh and will burn her up with fire. For God hath put in their hearts to fulfill his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. And the woman which thou sawest is that great city [Babylon] which reigneth over the kings of the earth. God will allow the Lord’s Great Army uprising to continue just long enough, “until”—until it fulfills his purpose of burning the tares and removing the false systems. Then will come the full blessings of the kingdom when all mankind, including the individuals who had part in these systems throughout the age, will be raised from the dead. They will be taught our heavenly Father’s wonderful plan which Satan blinded them from understanding previously. Then the glorified church will give them every opportunity to receive everlasting life. Why did God give us prophecies such as this? This is Paul’s answer: “But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober” (1 Thessalonians 5:4,6). God wants us to soberly watch current events that we might know where we are in the stream of time. He gives us these prophecies to strengthen our faith as we watch for the stately steppings of our Lord fulfilling prophecy. Let us watch, and be sober! |