<<<Do you have a feel for what God says who these nations are? What do you see in the meaning of the seven heads?>>>
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<<<The interpretation of "the ten horns"
"Having ten horns and seven heads." This monstrous representation portrays the nature of the end time kingdom, the final worldwide political system. It may refer to the king in one verse and the kingdom in the next, or vice versa. Verses 1 and 2 look more at the kingdom, the empire; verse 3 includes both, and verses 4 and following refer more to the individual, the satanically controlled or possessed dictator. So "the beast" may refer to the end time kingdom, the empire, or to the dictator or both.
"The ten horns" is a reference to the ten nation confederation of the future which will form the nucleus of this end time kingdom due to the following reasons:
1.According to Daniel chapters 2 and 7, it will be a revived form of the old Roman empire since these ten nations will come out of the fourth nation which would arise after Daniel's time, historically we know this was Rome (Daniel 7:7, 24).
2.Revelation 17:12 also states that "the ten horns which you saw are ten kings." These are ten kings who rule over ten nations, fragments of the old Roman empire.
After the fall of the empire, Rome was divided up into many separate kingdoms which became the European nations of modern times. But in the end times, these nations, at least ten of them, will confederate together as one, forming what is in reality a revived Roman empire. Since the fall of Rome, these fragments of the old empire have continued to exist, but in the future, they will be brought together in a revived Roman empire. Please note the recent development in the European Common Market (previous), European Union (now), and European Currency to be implemented in 1999 (future).
Rome will undoubtedly become the headquarters of the new empire, both politically and religiously at least during the first half of the Tribulation (cf. Revelation 17:7, 18 which shows the close affiliation of the political part with the religious part in the first half). However, there is good reason to believe, as we shall see later, that this relationship will be broken by the beast who will then move his headquarters to Babylon which will be rebuilt in the last days (cf. Revelation 17:16-18; 18:16-19). We will look at the rebuilding of Babylon in a later study.
The interpretation of "the seven heads"
This system of the beast also has "seven heads." This is explained for us in 17:9-10. "The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits and they are seven kings . . . " The seven heads are seven mountains and seven kings. Possible interpretations are as follows:
1.This as a reference first to the seven hill city of Rome, and then to seven dynasties or rulers of the old Roman empire, as kings, consuls, dictators, decemvirs, military tribunes and emperors, or as seven successive emperors of Imperial Rome, as Nero (A.D. 54-68), Galba (A.D. 68), Otho (A.D. 69), Vitellius (A.D. 69), Vespasian (A.D. 69-79), Titus (A.D. 79-81), and Domitian (A.D. 81-91) under whom great persecution of the church occurred. So it would thus refer to the city and to those who ruled in Rome. However, it is quite clear that the beast is not only a kingdom or an empire, but also a man (cf. 2 Thessalonians 2:8-9; Daniel 9:27; 11:36; 7:24-25).
2.The better interpretation of "the seven heads" is that the seven heads represent seven phases of Gentile powers or nations which find their culmination in the beast. The ten horns look at the future history of the beast and the seven heads, the past history. The seven heads are mountains, seven successive historic Gentile kingdoms, who are represented by seven kings or rulers. This is supported by the following:
(a) Revelation 17:10 tells us the seven mountains are kings. This could indicate that the mountains are symbolical for the kingdoms these seven kings represent.
(b) Rome is known as the city of seven hills, but the hills of Rome are not mountains.
(c) The term mountain is commonly used in Scripture as an image of a kingdom (Psalm 30:7; Isaiah 2:3; Daniel 2:35, 45).
(d) But more importantly, chapter 17 deals with the harlot system of Babylon which goes all the way back to the time of Nimrod and all these Gentile world powers have been her lovers and supporters, not Rome alone (cf. 17:1-2, 15). It is more likely that the seven mountains refer to seven successive Gentile kingdoms which go way back, far beyond Rome.
The interpretation of "the seven nations"
The nations refer to the major world empires up to the time of Rome and which also were connected with the nation of Israel and her enslavements. These were:
1.Egypt: This was the first great world empire and the cause of Israel's enslavement before entrance into the land.
2.Assyria: Historically this was the next great empire which took the northern kingdom of Israel into captivity in 722 B.C.
3.Babylon or the Chaldean empire: This is where Daniel's prophecies begin and where we have the captivity of Judah, the southern kingdom. In Daniel's prophecies he does not list the three preceding Gentile powers because his prophecies look forward only from his time in history to the final Gentile power and the return of the Lord. But Revelation 13 and 17 both look back (the seven heads) and forward (the ten kings).
4.Medo-Persia: This Gentile power followed Babylon and was the kingdom under which a remnant of Israel were allowed to return to the land to rebuild the city and the temple (cf. Ezra and Nehemiah).
5.Greece: This was the kingdom of Alexander and his successors who likewise ruled over the land of Palestine.
6.Rome: The Roman Empire of New Testament times was the empire of the emperors who reigned from before Christ: Augustus (30 B.C. - A.D. 14), to Domitian when Revelation was written (A.D. 81-96), and afterwards. During this time, Jerusalem was destroyed and the Jews dispersed world wide (A.D. 70 - A.D. 135). Later the Roman empire divided into the eastern and western divisions (the two legs of the image in Daniel 2) and finally fell, becoming fragmented into many nations.
7.Revived Roman Empire (i.e. European Union?): What about the seventh head? Revelation 17:10-11 explains the seventh head. It is really a future kingdom though it has historical roots in the sixth kingdom. Revelation 17:10 says "five are fallen." These five are Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia and Greece. "One is," which is the sixth, the Roman empire of John's day. "And the other is not yet come," this is the revived Roman empire, the ten nation confederation or the ten horns under the leadership of the white horse rider in the first half of the Tribulation.
Compare 17:11 with 17:8, "The beast which you saw was (refers to his past history, old Rome), and is not (does not presently exist; from John's standpoint it would soon pass from the scene, i.e., the fall of Rome), and is about to come up (refers to the revived Roman empire)." Now in 17:11, this beast, the Roman empire represented by its king, becomes an eighth kingdom while at the same time being one of the seven, specifically, the seventh. The eighth refers to the imperial form of the revived Roman empire in the last half of the Tribulation under the power of the dictator, the man of lawlessness or the antichrist who is also called the beast.
The interpretation of "the ten diadems"
The "ten diadems" refer to a form of self government and control. When the end time system first begins to rise up out of the sea of nations from the old Roman empire, it will be made up of ten independent nations each with their own king, though under the leadership of the beast. Later, in the middle of the Tribulation they give their power and authority to the beast (Revelation 17:13). However, as the system develops, three rebel and are conquered so that in the last half of the Tribulation there will only be seven crowns or nations (cf. 12:3b with Daniel 7:7-8, 20-22).>>>
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