On the Other Hand

Heads and Horns

The seven heads are seven hills on which the woman sits. They are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; but when he does come, he must remain for a little while.—Revelation 17:9,10, NIV

David Rice

Appearing in the November/December .2004 issue of The Herald of ..Christ’s Kingdom was an article titled “Seven Heads, Ten Horns.” It presented a detailed treatment of Revelation chapter 17. There are differences among the present editors about the interpretation of that chapter. For this reason it was agreed, in the spirit of open and reasonable dialogue, to run two further articles, one each on the two views of this chapter.

The preceding article, “A Foundation for Understanding Prophecy,” is the first of these. It presents the view that the seven heads of Revelation 17 are the same as the seven heads in Daniel chapter 7, and the “eighth” represents Papal Rome. This article supports the original one and holds that the seven heads of Revelation 17 represent seven kingdoms during the Gospel age.

A Point of Agreement

The preceding article contains an appealing application of the seven heads and ten horns of Daniel chapter seven. The critical student who is deeply interested in that chapter should not too quickly pass by the many engaging details found there. Take time to notice the specific ten Germanic tribes applied to the ten horns of Daniel 7:8. Enumerating ten specific horns has engaged Christian expositors for centuries, including Isaac Newton and a long retinue of distinguished writers.

The list of many of the tribes is shared by various writers, as would be expected. But the specific combination in the previous article—Herules, Ostrogoths, Lombards, Vandals, Sueves, Visigoths, Franks, Burgundians, Allemans and Anglo-Saxons—is unique. The coins of each of these powers specifically identify the ruler with the diadem: “Each of [them] gained the East Roman Emperor’s permission to display the diadem.” This is highly interesting and is a sensible gauge for judging which powers constitute the ten segments of the Roman power after it moved from Rome to the East.

The seven heads of Daniel chapter seven are clearly Babylon, Medo-Persia, the four divisions of the Grecian Empire, and Rome. On this there is general consensus among most brethren. Babylon was a unified kingdom (one head), Medo-Persian was a unified kingdom (one head), but the Grecian empire ruled in four independent parts following the death of Alexander. Thus the Grecian empire is shown with four heads. About two centuries later, when Rome’s empire grew eastward, it subsumed one after another of these fragments and replaced them all as the seventh head of Daniel.

Revelation 13

In Revelation 13, when the Papal beast emerges from the sea, it is described in ways directly drawn from Daniel chapter seven. Probably this is to show that Papacy was the heir to the accumulated empires that preceded it. It had ten horns like Rome, a leopard body like Greece, feet of a bear like Medo-Persia, and a mouth as a lion like Babylon. The sequence of these symbols in Revelation 13 is the reverse of their sequence in Daniel. Perhaps this is to show Papacy grew out of the accumulated powers from Rome back to Babylon.

Verse 3 says one of its heads was “wounded to death” but his deadly wound was healed, to the amazement of the on-looking world. Probably this means the Roman head. Rome was wounded when it was overcome by others after Constantine moved the seat of empire to the east. But Rome revived as a world authority with Papacy.

The remainder of chapter 13 shows Papacy ruled for “42 months.” This was the 1,260 years from 539 to 1799. During this period another similar system rose, the Church of England, whose power spread everywhere the British Empire spread. This is the two-horned beast rising from the Christian earth in verse 11. Through these systems, one Roman Catholic, the other nominally Protestant, there was a great effort to associate all “Christian” people into one or another of the sects which share the spirit of the great mother church, Papacy. This is referred to through the remainder of chapter 13.

Chapter 14 begins with a vision of those who remain faithful to the Lord, receiving the name of God and Jesus in their foreheads (see Revelation 14:1, NASB). The judgment of the false systems is then described. These judgments are detailed in chapters 15 and 16 with the seven last plagues which traverse the harvest.

Chapter 17

Then chapter 17 presents another view of the judgment ending this age: “One of the seven angels which had the seven vials [said] … I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore [Papacy] that sitteth upon many waters” (verse 1).

The prophecy opens with John transported into the wilderness. Elijah was also in the wilderness during the 3½ year drought. Both mentions of the wilderness are a picture of the church in a “wilderness” condition during Papacy’s reign of 1,260 years.

In this chapter Papacy appears as a woman riding on a scarlet beast with the same number of heads and horns as in chapter 13. But this beast, though closely related, is not the same beast which appeared in chapter 13. It is no longer described as a leopard, or bear, or lion, and its color is unlike any description in chapter 13.

The ten horns represent the countries of Europe dominated by Papacy during the Christian age. The originally pagan tribes were “converted” and became nominally Christian. The heads, which in chapter 12 represent pagan governments, now represent nominally “Christian” governments in league with Papacy during the age. As there were seven pagan governments in the pre-Christian era, so there are a corresponding seven governments in the Christian age.

An Example of Something Similar

In Revelation 12 there is a vision of twelve stars, the sun, and moon. These picture the twelve apostolic “stars” of Spiritual Israel, the brightness of the gospel, and the typical teaching of the law. It is not a coincidence that the same entities appeared in Joseph’s dream long ago. But there the picture was about natural Israel. Those twelve stars represented the twelve tribal fathers, the sun Jacob, and the moon Leah.

The numbers are the same because natural Israel was a type of spiritual Israel. In a similar way the heads and horns in Revelation 12 match those in Revelation 17, but the first are pagan entities, the latter (nominally) Christian. The former are the powers Satan worked through in pagan times; the latter the corresponding powers Satan works through in Christian times.

“Five are Fallen”

Revelation 17:10 gives a time frame for the position of John in the vision. John represented the church at the end of the age, at the time of the Lord’s return (as intimated in John 21:18-23). Thus verse 10 is telling us that five dominating governments leagued with Papacy have fallen as of the Lord’s return, one exists, another would follow later and rule a “short space” relative to the others. The “short space” fits the Nazi regime which swept Europe in World War II.

The other possible view, of course, is that the “present” of this vision was literally John’s day, the close of the first century A.D. In this view the seventh head to come would be the Byzantine Empire. But this empire ruled for centuries, long outlasting the length of most of the pagan heads. It did not rule a “short space.”

The Eighth

There are only seven heads on the beast. The next power following these is the beast itself, which rises from the bottomless pit of inactivity and overwhelms the whore riding on it. Evidently this refers to the people rising up to overwhelm Papacy after her long reign. Such an uprising is once earlier mentioned, during the sixth trumpet, at the close of the 1,260 years. This applied to the French rising in revolt. This briefly ended Papal authority until it was recognized again just over three years later through concordats with Napoleon. (See Revelation 11:7-11. This revolt against Christianity did not distinguish the true from the false.)

In Revelation 17 the rising of the people from the “bottomless pit” of inactivity leads to the thorough destruction of Papacy, not just a temporary demise: “These shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate … and shall eat her flesh [reminiscent of Jezebel], and burn her with fire” (Revelation 17:16). This final end is also mentioned in the next chapter: “She shall be utterly burned with fire” (Revelation 18:8).

The Tenses

In Revelation 17 this final judgment is expressed in the future tense: “And the ten horns which you saw, and the beast, these will [future tense] hate the harlot and will [future] make her desolate and naked, and will [future] eat her flesh and will [future] burn her up with fire” (Revelation 17:16, NASB).

Chapter 18, however, opens with the present tense: “I saw another angel come down … the earth was lightened … he cried … Babylon the great is fallen … Come out of her, my people …” (verses 1-4). This contrast of tenses is appropriate if John represents the saints at the opening of the harvest. It was then time to leave Babylon. But the destruction of the apostate woman would still be future.

In this case—if the “present” of the vision is the beginning of the harvest—this is the time when five heads had fallen, one was, and the seventh was to follow later. This would be consistent with the heads being Gospel age governments rather than pre-Christian governments.

One Hour

Revelation 17:12 speaks of “one hour” in which the ten horns of this vision receive power as kings with the beast. When is this hour? Revelation 18:10 uses the same term when it says of Babylon, “in one hour is thy judgment come.” This is evidently a brief time in which Papacy meets her end.

Revelation 17:13 says that during this one hour the ten horns united with the beast give their strength and power to the beast. For what purpose? This is clarified in verses 16 and 17. They would “eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. For God hath put in their hearts [of the ten horns] to fulfill his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God [the destruction of Papacy] shall be fulfilled.” The one hour is the time when people and leaders join with common consent against Papacy, for her demise.

As during the French Revolution the people did not distinguish the true from the false, so here the people and leaders will not distinguish, and will oppose both false Christianity, Papacy, and true. Thus, during this hour, they also make “war with the Lamb,” and those with him are the “called, and chosen, and faithful” (verse 14).

By this time the saints will be in glory. The same concept is expressed in Revelation 19. Following the marriage (Revelation 19:7), verse 14 shows the glorified saints as “armies which [are] in heaven” following Jesus on his white horse, smiting the nations and “tread[ing] the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God” (verse 15).