Revelation 17:6-12
The woman and the Beast
As I read through this section my thought was that this reads very much like a riddle. I'm not very good at riddles but lets give it a shot.
It begins with just as simple statement by the angel telling John that he will tell him the mystery of the woman. But again it's very much a riddle.
(John) When I saw her, I marveled greatly. 7 But the angel said to me, “Why do you marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman, and of the beast with seven heads and ten horns that carries her.
8a The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to rise from the bottomless pit and go to destruction.
As far as I understand this is the anti-Christ. There is some mimicking here, as Christ rose from the dead the anti-Christ will rise from the pit.
It takes a lot of power to rise out of this pit. It is an indication of how much evil there is that could makes this happen. The good thing is we see that it says that it will go to destruction.
8b And the dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel to see the beast, because it was and is not and is to come.
These dwellers are obviously unbelievers, and once again they are in awe of evil. They know and want nothing else.
It say these unbelievers names had not been written in the book of life at the foundation of the world.
Question: Can you be saved if your name is not written in the book of life? It says that the names were written at the foundation of the world, so it seems to me at this point or any point after the names had been written until the end times if your name isn't in it salvation cannot happen. It cannot happen because you will never desire it.
9 This calls for a mind with wisdom: the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated; 10 they are also seven kings, five of whom have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come, and when he does come he must remain only a little while.
John says “This calls for a mind with wisdom. I'm not sure that is me or at least not enough wisdom.
The seven mountains it seems is a reference to Rome is famous for it's seven hills, matter of fact it was called by many in the first century “seven-hilled city” because of this.
To confuse things even more these seven heads not only represent seven mountains or hills they represent seven kings as well. Five kings that have fallen, one that is (present tense), and the last has not yet come.
The difficult thing is if you are trying to figure out a timeline of were we are today within these seven kings it is almost impossible.
We do know that the beast will be around throughout the lives of these seven kings. What we don't know is which kings and how long does each king live because that makes a big difference.
Are we at a point of time were the five kings are of past and died already or have we even begun with the first king yet, none of this is clear and there is only speculation.
We could spend months just within these verses and still not be able to come to any firm understanding.
Some speculate that we have gone through six kings and the only one left is the one to come. Some think that king is the king of England that sits on the throne today. All speculation.
11 As for the beast that was and is not, it is an eighth but it belongs to the seven, and it goes to destruction.
After these seven kings there will be an eighth king, the final king, the anti-Christ. He is a part of the seven it says. Some say that there are more than one anti-Christ throughout history or that the anti-Christ comes in differing individuals throughout history.
12 And the ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have not yet received royal power, but they are to receive authority as kings for one hour, together with the beast. 13 These are of one mind, and they hand over their power and authority to the beast.
These seven kings of the seven heads are going to get some help from ten more kings. They will have power for a short time then they will give over their power and authority that they have been given back to the beast.
There are powers working behind the scenes right now throughout the world, and they are all working together for one cause and that is a one world government.
When you watch news stations like MSNBC, CNN and others around the world they all speak the exact same words, all scripted by someone or a group of powerful people.
People have put together videos of hundreds of these news station all saying word for word the exact same thing. Who has this much power that they are working around the world trying to deceive and manipulate us? That is the question.
