Revelation 17:7-11
This calls for a mind with wisdom. (17:9a)
Before we dive into this passage, I thought I’d share a little bit of my thinking on the rest of this chapter with you. This section is one about which scholars often get into wild speculation, theories and extraneous tangents, and I am going to resist the temptation to do the same. Yes, I have a couple of theories of my own, but I’m not sharing them. No, I’m not trying to be coy; I’m trying to teach Revelation. I’ll give you the basic pattern; the matrix if you prefer, but not the theories because there is no reliable way that I know of to back any of them up with facts. Some of you might be looking for a long dissertation on “The Antichrist” here, after having been disappointed in chapter 13 when I didn’t mention him. If so, you will be disappointed again; I won’t be discussing “The Antichrist” because John didn’t.
I will address the issue of “The Antichrist” right here and now from my point of view: John is the only Biblical author who ever mentions “antichrist” and he only did so four times in first and second John; the word does not appear in Revelation. I think that it is reasonable to say that if John intended us to understand that any of these images is “The Antichrist” he, of all people, would have used his term… but he did not. In fact, when he did use the term, it was not in the context of one big creep at the very end of time, rather it was an ongoing process at work in his day by many people and not just one. Thus, it doesn’t appear to me that the “eighth king” in this chapter is likely to be “The Antichrist” at all, for John never mentions in any of his writings something like “The Antichrist” but instead speaks of the “spirit of antichrist” as being alive in the world, and there “already” being “many antichrists”. With all of that said, you are welcome to insert your own theory into this if you like, or to insert someone else’s if you like, and I will simply remain silent on the issue of theories.
OK, let’s dive in!
To catch the drift of verses 7 and 8, we must read 9 ff. first:
This calls for a mind with wisdom. 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 only a little while. The beast who once was, and now is not, is an eighth king. He belongs to the seven and is going to his destruction. (17:9-11)
The key here is to define what “this” refers to. It is John’s astonishment at seeing the red beast. This red beast is quite interesting for two reasons: First, it has two symbolic meanings, and second, “once was, and now is not and will come”.
The angel tells us the two symbolic meanings: The red beast has seven heads which represent first, seven hills on which the woman sits, and second they represent seven kings. Most commentators agree that the seven hills refer to Rome, the capital of the Roman Empire of John’s day. Rome was the center of the persecuting government of the day, as well as the center of the allurements, so if the woman represents the allurements as we stated last time, and the beast represents kings (empires), then that understanding fits the context.
As for the seven kings, you have two choices here: They can be seven literal empires, five of which had already come and gone (cf. Daniel 7) or they can be the total number (whatever that might be) of Christian persecuting empires of all time, since 7 is the number of completeness. Another option here would be both; Five empires have already come and gone, and seven represents the total number of persecuting empires of all time, without regard to what the literal number of persecuting empires might turn out to be, which is how I read this. If this is correct, than the one that “is” would be the Roman Empire.
The tricky part is the eighth king that is part of the seven. As I see it, the seven kings refer to the complete number of persecuting empires. By John’s time, five had already come and gone, the Roman Empire was persecuting in the present, and more would come in the future. The red beast represents those to come. With this in mind, we can easily see the meaning of the first two verses:
Then the angel said to me: “Why are you astonished? I will explain to you the mystery of the woman and of the beast she rides, which has the seven heads and ten horns. The beast, which you saw, once was, now is not, and yet will come up out of the Abyss and go to its destruction. The inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world will be astonished when they see the beast, because it once was, now is not, and yet will come. (17:7-8)
John was astonished because he came to realize that the history of this present age will keep repeating itself, as any modern historian can tell you it has in so many ways. The non-believing people will be astonished at the same thing, for there is “nothing new under the sun”.
I am something of a history geek. Time and time again, I have been in conversations with people about present day events who are shocked when I tell them about historical events that mirror present day events, for they had no idea that today’s problems are nothing very new. For instance, I can remember a conversation that took place shortly after 9/11. There was much talk about going to war against terrorists at that time, and a leading U.S. Senator had been on the news saying that we can’t declare war against anybody unless it is a country. I pointed out that the very first time that the U.S. had declared war under the Constitution in 1803; we declared war on the Barbary pirates. A modern day terrorist who hijacks an aircraft is called an “air pirate” by the law, thus “terrorist” is the modern term and “pirate” is the old term. The Barbary pirates of 1803 were sea terrorists operating off the coast of North Africa who were Islamic, therefore the very first time that the United States declared war was against Islamic terrorists. That particular senator nearly fell off his chair in astonishment!
Well dear reader, that’s how I read this, but there is more coming up when we get together next time!
