Here is the mind that has wisdom The seven heads are seven mountains, whereon the woman sits.
Revelation 17 stops mid-vision to hand the reader a key, and that key calls for a certain kind of mind. The angel says the seven heads mean two things: hills and rulers. Commentators read the hills as God's plain clue to where this woman has her seat.
Understanding here is not automatic. One writer explains why God made the mark so plain:
Here is the mind that has wisdom, the divine secret for an understanding heart. There need not be much doubt about what the seven mountains point to, and in general there has not been. That Rome was the seven-hilled city is familiar to every schoolboy... In this way God points out what He is speaking of here, in a way plain even to unspiritual souls, if that can be. He has even, if one may say so, gone out of His way to give a needed plain mark of identification. So His saints may know whose blood this system would shed, and who would need the comfort of knowing that He was against this "mother and mistress of the churches."
The detail about mountains works as a location clue. It also rules out the old Babylon in Chaldea, which stood on a plain:
This is a material point, though simple. It is a local mark, intended to show the wise mind where this woman has her seat. There ought not to be the least doubt that it is a reference to Rome. It is true that the name "Babylon" had been used for it, just as Revelation 11 uses Sodom and Egypt as figures for Jerusalem. But the Chaldean capital had nothing to do with the city of Revelation 17. That city had long since passed away as an imperial city, while verse 18 says of this Babylon that it has dominion over the kings of the earth. More than this, the literal Babylon in Chaldea stood on the plain of Shinar. Here the woman sits on seven mountains, and all the world knows that this is the well-known mark of Rome.
The same heads carry two meanings at once. That alone shows this is picture-language. The woman rides the beast, and she also sits on hills:
The seven heads have a double application: first they are seven mountains, on which the woman sits. We may learn here how, while giving much more light as to facts, a symbol cannot be taken literally. The woman was sitting on the beast. So Rome is seated on seven hills, as well as on the Roman empire by its influence. But, besides this, the heads of the beast were seven forms of power which characterised it.
Naming hills ties this religious system to one city, not just to an empire. But her title "mother of harlots" widens the picture:
The seven-hilled city is everywhere recognised as Rome. This identifies the beast with the Roman Empire. But the heads are also the "seven mountains on which the woman is seated." So this is not a mere general link between the empire and this religious apostasy. It is a local link between the religion and the city... As "the mother of harlots," she may have children who walk in her own evil ways but have no direct link with Rome. The principles of idolatry, and of worldly trade unfit for the bride of Christ, have eaten into a large part of Christendom that does not call itself Roman Catholic.
The heads carry a second meaning too: government. These forms of rule followed one another in one city:
It is hard to doubt that these heads or kings refer to the various forms of power which followed each other in Rome. Other beasts were simply said to have one head. But in Rome we hear of seven heads, and the interpreter's words show that these came one after another, not side by side. The figure covers the complete variety of political power that should mark that empire. "Five," it is said, "have fallen." These were the earlier kinds of power in Rome. One head was ruling at that time — the sixth. So the five fallen heads pointed to kings, consuls, decemvirs, military tribunes, dictators, or the like, which had been in Rome before but had now yielded to the emperor.
Commentators differ over what the five fallen heads were. One writer rejects the view that they were the first five Roman emperors:
There might have been some ground for calling these emperors "horns," but "heads" they cannot be. They each and all represent one head or form of government, namely, the imperial.
- Wisdom — The verse calls for an understanding heart. God gives the clue so His people can know this system and take comfort that He stands against it.
- Mark — Seven mountains is a plain mark of place. It rules out the old Babylon in Chaldea, which stood on flat ground.
- Symbol — The heads mean two things at once: hills and rulers. So the vision speaks in pictures, not in flat facts.
- Reach — Her seat is one city. But as "mother of harlots" her principles have spread far past that one system.
- Kings — The heads are forms of rule that followed one another. Five had fallen and the sixth was ruling at the time. Commentators differ on naming the five.
And there are seven kings five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; and when he comes he must remain [only] a little while.
The angel has just told John that the seven heads carry a double sense: they are seven mountains, and they are also seven kings. Verse 10 places those kings on a timeline: five gone, one present, one still to arrive.
The word "kings" here means a run of governing systems that followed one another in Rome. The angel's count — some fallen, one standing, one still ahead — shows they never overlapped.
"There are seven kings," says the Spirit of God: "five of whom have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come." It is hard to doubt that these heads or kings refer to the various forms of power which followed each other in Rome. Other beasts were simply said to have one head. The Macedonian empire might become four heads, and these were clearly at the same time, not one after another. But in Rome we hear of seven heads. From the language of the interpreter, these are not at the same time but in succession. The figure refers to the complete variety of political power that would mark that empire.
Commentators who name the five list offices that ruled Rome before the emperors:
"Five have fallen." These are Kings, Consuls, Dictators, Decemvirs, and Military Tribunes.
Commentators differ over the five. Two popular identifications fail on the same ground: the symbol here is a head.
Some have applied the five fallen heads to the successive kingdoms of Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia, Greece, and Persia. Others think the reference is to Rome's first five emperors — Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero. The first idea cannot be right, for it is the Beast, that is, the Roman empire, that is before us in the prophecy. Nor can the second theory be right, for the heads are different forms of government. There might have been some ground for calling these emperors "horns," but "heads" they cannot be.
The present tense fixes the moment the angel is speaking from. Since the beast itself at that moment "is not," the only present left is the writer's own lifetime.
The heads are also seven kings. They rule one after another, not at the same time. Five had already fallen, one was, and another was yet to come, only to exist for a short time. The beast himself is the final one. Imperial Rome was clearly what existed in the apostle's day. "One is" we must take as applying to the apostle's day. At the time of the vision the beast itself "is not." The only other present time would be the time the apostle lived in.
A long stretch of history lies between the sixth head and the seventh. In it the empire was not there at all.
"The other has not yet come." So between the breakup of the empire and its future devilish reappearance many centuries have passed. "When he comes he must remain only a little while." This is the seventh head. It is the rise of the fallen empire under new conditions, as presented in chapter 13:1.
The brief span given to the seventh becomes a test.
Here again we find this last ruler, whose duration is so brief, has been by some attributed to the papacy. That seems unreasonable. A system which has existed for so many centuries should not be taken as the one that only continues for "a little while," especially when this king is put in connection with five other kings which had passed away.
One writer sees Napoleon as a shadow of the last head, perhaps even the seventh. He still warns against turning a likeness into a fulfilment.
It is quite true that events often foreshadow the fulfilment of a prophecy. The first Napoleon passed across the stage of the world. By his energy and speed of conquest he was an undoubted shadow of the final head of the Roman Empire, if not the seventh head himself. But it is a mistake to think that striking agreements with the thing predicted mean you have found the complete fulfilment.
And the believer loses nothing by not knowing the details:
To understand the prophetic word you do not require history. Suppose the simple Christian believes that the five forms of power fell before the existing imperial one — what of importance can history add? He is assured on the word of God that there were five, though he may not know their histories or their characters. Further details are of no importance to the believer.
- Heads, not men. The seven kings are seven forms of Roman government. They come one after another, not side by side.
- Five fallen. Kings, Consuls, Dictators, Decemvirs and Military Tribunes had all gone before John wrote.
- One is. The sixth head was the imperial line of the Caesars. It stood in John's own day, which dates the vision from his present.
- One to come. The seventh is the fallen empire rising again under new conditions. Centuries pass first, in which the beast "is not."
- Only a little while. Its short span rules out any long-running system. It also warns against pinning the prophecy on a passing figure from history.
And the beast that was and is not, he also is an eighth, and is of the seven, and goes into destruction.
The angel has just counted seven kings: five fallen, one reigning, one still to come. Now he adds a figure who breaks the count — a beast that is both an eighth and one of the seven. The riddle is how something can be new and old at once, and why its single stated future is ruin.
One writer traces the beast through four stages. The first two are already behind us:
It "was." The Beast existed as one huge united empire under a long line of emperors. "Is not." It has no political existence now. The countries and lands once inside it are still there, of course, but the empire itself came to a shameful end in A.D. 476. That ancient empire, famous and vast, has not existed for many centuries.
The number marks a new source of power behind the empire:
The Beast in its last and worst state comes up out of the abyss. That is different from how it first rose, and different from its future revival by human hands. So it stands as a complete picture on its own, and that earns it the name an "eighth." Satan revives it, and that devilish character is why it is given this number. Revelation 13 shows the empire coming back by human means; Revelation 17 shows its revival from hell.
The number itself carries this sense elsewhere in Scripture:
EIGHT. A new start outside the order of creation, yet linked to it: so it stands for resurrection. Circumcision came on the eighth day, when a new fellowship began. Eight people were saved in the ark, to start a new world… The new form of the future Roman empire will be the eighth.
New in origin, but not new in kind:
When he has risen, he will be the "eighth" — that is, under his eighth "head," or form of government. Still he "is of the seven," because although he has only just risen to power, it is only an old, earlier form of power brought back. In the kind of power, it is one of the seven brought into being again; but in the way it actually appears, it is an "eighth," or new headship over the empire.
The verse speaks of the beast, yet the seven heads were kings. One ruler so fills the empire that the two names become one:
The eighth head is one individual ruler, yet he bears the name of the beast, or the empire, because in character he is the empire. He stands at the top, directing all its authority. He is of the seven, because some earlier form of power will carry on, or be taken up again. But he will be the eighth, because something about him will be so unusual that it deserves a name of its own.
Some push this identification too far. One writer warns against that:
Some see the beast (the empire) and its last head as one, and so have even argued for the literal resurrection of a person here. That is only a wild fancy. Real resurrection could only come from God, and the beast in its last form is completely under Satan's power. So the rising up out of the abyss is figurative, just as the beast itself is.
Commentators do not agree on how the eighth relates to the seventh king of verse 10. One takes the eighth to be the seventh head revived in the same person:
He himself will receive a deadly wound… So he falls as the seventh head, but rises by Satan's power as the eighth head.
Another keeps them as two men. The seventh gives way to the "little horn":
The seventh head continues for a short time only. We may take him to be a person of importance, in control when the empire first reappears. Then the "little horn" — Satan's own choice — takes his place. That horn rises up looking "greater than its companions," and three kings fall before him.
The other heads simply fell. This ending falls on persons, and it takes the empire down with it:
The two great leaders, heads of the political power and of the religious power, are thrown alive into the lake of fire; those under them and their armies perish forever. The first five heads fell one after another. Then the sixth came to a violent end. The seventh merges into the eighth, and the eighth suffers a judgment more terrible than anything in history. This head and the Beast are one, so if the head is destroyed the whole Beast must go into utter ruin.
- Was — the empire really existed, ruled by a long line of emperors, and then it ended.
- Is not — the empire is gone today, but that is not the end of the story; it comes back.
- Eighth — the number marks a new start, and what makes it new is that Satan, not God, raises it.
- Of the seven — the form is nothing new; an old shape of imperial power comes back under a new head.
- Destruction — the eighth head and the beast are one, so its judgment is not decline but the lake of fire and utter ruin.
And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have not yet received a kingdom, but receive authority as kings one hour with the beast.
The angel now explains the ten horns John saw on the scarlet beast. It raises two questions: who are these ten kings, and when do they rule?
One writer gives both the wide sense of "horn" and the narrow one, then sets the ten beside the seven heads of the earlier verses.
These horns refer to royal persons. The word "horn" stands for power in general, but as used here it refers to kings. So the ten horns stand for that many separate royal persons or their kingdoms. Another writer has put it well: "The ten kingdoms will exist at the same time, unlike the seven heads, which came one after another."
The angel says these kings have no kingdom yet. Commentators say the verse points to something history has never produced.
It is very clear that this is still future. Never in the past did the Roman empire consist of ten kingdoms welded together, as this prophecy plainly describes. In ancient times Rome's vast lands were under one government. But in the future ten separate kingdoms will be welded firmly together. Each will keep its own ruler, yet all will follow the general leadership of one head.
Daniel's visions stand behind this picture.
Anyone who has carefully read Daniel's explanation of the statue that King Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream, and Daniel's own vision of the fourth beast with the angel's explanation, will be ready to understand the ten horns or kings of this chapter. Put these scriptures together, and it is very plain. The final form of the restored western Roman Empire will be ten kingdoms, all of them joined in one alliance under a single imperial head — the beast.
Much turns on this short phrase, and one writer weighs the grammar behind it.
The grammar here, like the word "at," supposes the same starting point for the beast and the ten horns. But it adds the other and main piece of information: they receive authority as kings for one hour with the beast. This is not the Roman empire as it once was, without the kings. Nor is it the kings as they were afterwards, without the empire. It is both together — the revived empire in its place, the kings in theirs, lasting for the same span, until they all perish together at the appearing of Jesus.
Commentators differ on what is new for these kings. One reads their authority as belonging to this league, and the hour as a very short term.
These kings may not be new rulers. The authority they receive may refer only to this present league. So we need not think they became kings at this time. But they are given power now for one special object, for a very brief term, only "for one hour." Yet that is long enough to carry out their dreadful purpose of making war with the Lamb.
This one verse rules out any fulfilment in the centuries after Rome fell. The empire and the ten kings never stood together.
"One hour with the beast" — mark this. It is the clear evidence that this had not been going on since the fall of the Roman Empire, when the northern nations invaded. Those nations broke it up and, for the time, destroyed the beast — gave it its deadly wound. These receive power one hour with the beast: therefore the beast must come up again. It existed at first without these kings. Then these kings existed without it, and you have the ten kings without the beast. At the end you get the ten kings with the beast.
That gap in history drove some readers to identify the beast with the pope.
In the Middle Ages there may have been ten kings. That was the reverse of the ancient state, where the Beast ruled without them. But there was no Beast, no imperial system with lesser chiefs or vassal kings under it. This is what drove men to the idea of making the pope the Beast. But that idea is wholly unable to cover or meet the word of God.
The kings do not lose their thrones by joining the beast. They hand over what they have, and the combined force turns against Christ.
Here we have kingdoms that still exist. Without ceasing to be kingdoms, they have given their power to one head, who leads them all as a whole. "They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with Him are called and chosen and faithful."
- Horns. The ten horns are ten kings or their kingdoms. They stand side by side at one time, unlike the seven heads, which followed one another.
- Not yet. They have no kingdom yet. No age of history has shown ten kingdoms welded together under one imperial head.
- Together. "One hour with the beast" means kings and empire hold power for the same span. Not the empire without the kings. Not the kings without the empire.
- Therefore future. The two must hold power together, so the beast has to rise again. Readings that place the fulfilment in the past, the papacy included, fall short.
- Then judged. The kings hand their power to one head and make war on the Lamb. He conquers them, and all perish together at the appearing of Jesus.
These have one mind, and give their power and authority to the beast.
Ten rulers agree to put everything they have behind one man. The questions are what holds them together, why proud nations would ever accept this, and what they will do with the pooled power.
Why would ten rulers do this? One writer points out that no army forced them:
The ten nations are not forced into alliance with the Beast by military conquest. Rather, they have one mind and give their power and strength to the Beast. Of course these nations want the advantage of a strong leader. They also want mutual protection and economic advantage. This "one mind" therefore is one purpose, not really unity of heart and soul.
Another writer puts the whole weight of the verse on where that purpose is aimed — the entire will of these ten rulers bends toward one man:
The whole mind and purpose of these ten sovereigns is to yield themselves entirely to the will and service of the Beast (v. 13).
Nothing in history matches this. Nations have always worked the other way, each guarding itself against any one power growing too large:
"They have one mind, and give their own power and authority to the beast." So far history has shown the reverse of this. The horns have constantly opposed each other, and sometimes even the pope. Since then the world has not seen an imperial power to which all bow. Have we not all heard of the balance of power? Nations have worked at this constantly, in case any one power should become the beast. If a few join on one side, others are sure to help the other. They are jealous of any one power gaining such overwhelming authority and power as to govern the rest. But in the time really in view here all this political manoeuvring will be over.
Another writer describes the arrangement, and uses Napoleon as an illustration:
The ten kings "shall give their strength and power to the beast." There will be an imperial head — an emperor — and ten kings who will give him their power. The kingdoms will continue to exist, but it will be a confederation of them. As an illustration, we may point to the kingdoms of Spain, Holland, Westphalia, and others under Napoleon. There has been the beast. There may have been ten kings. But there have never yet been ten kings giving their power to the beast who was not, and who then came into existence again.
They hand over power without losing their thrones. They stay kings, and they submit by choice:
And now note the character and actions of these ten kings. "They have one mind and give their power and strength to the beast." They are lesser kings. They are distinct from the beast, and yet entirely and willingly subject to him.
But no proud nation submits like this by choice. One writer finds the reason outside the kings themselves:
How does this come about? The answer comes a little later. "God has put it into their hearts to fulfil His will." It is not their own will. A nation that values its independence would refuse to stoop like that. Is there anything a kingdom would be more ashamed of than being nothing but the servant of a harsh, driving power? But here they submit completely.
So what do they do with all that pooled power? One writer points to the war that follows:
The ten kings are the beast's willing servants. They back his Satanic schemes, even to the point of madness in making war with the Lamb. Men are going to become so puffed up in mind, so self-confident and so arrogant that they will throw themselves against the mighty power of God. Borrowing the language of 1 Corinthians 8:5, we may say this. However many lords and kings there may be in heaven and on earth, the Lamb is Lord and King of them all. The beast and his followers are included.
Their story does not end with the beast. One writer traces it from their alliance to their own judgment:
The ten kings give their authority to the beast, and join him in his opposition to Christ. God uses them to do His will in executing His judgment on the false church before they come in for judgment at Armageddon.
- Agreement — "one mind" means shared purpose, not shared heart. No army conquers them. They want a strong leader and mutual protection, so they hand their power over.
- Surrender — they keep their thrones and still obey the beast. No proud kingdom would accept that. God has put it in their hearts.
- Novelty — history has nothing like it. Nations have always blocked any one power from ruling the rest. That balancing act ends here.
- Target — they aim all that power at the Lamb. Human arrogance finally throws itself against God.
- Outcome — God uses these kings to judge the false church. Then they face judgment themselves at Armageddon. The Lamb is Lord and King of them all.
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 called, and chosen, and faithful.
In Revelation 17, ten kings hand their power to the beast. Together they turn that power against Christ. Verse 14 gives the outcome of that war before it describes the war, and it names who stands with Him.
The angel does not report a battle here. He announces its outcome, and the detailed account comes later in the book.
Here we have the final public act of the beast and his allies. Revelation 19:19-21 describes the conflict in full. The angel here simply notes the fact, passing over many intervening events. The war has not yet begun, but it is looked at in advance. Its outcome is not in doubt at all: "The Lamb will conquer them." Victory is certain before the fighting starts. The mighty Conqueror is King of all who reign, and Lord of all who exercise authority. He is supreme.
The Conqueror keeps the name "the Lamb" — the name He carries all through the book, from the seals to the last war.
As He had redeemed His saints by blood, so now He redeems the inheritance by power. It is the Lamb who opens the seals, and at once judgment takes its course (Rev. 6:1). It is before the wrath of the Lamb that the nations cry out in terror (Rev. 6:16). And it is against the Lamb that the nations make war, under the leadership of the beast, only to be overcome. They then discover that the Lamb of God — the One they had despised and nailed to a cross, and crowned with a crown of thorns — is the Lord of lords and King of kings.
The chapter sets two companies side by side. The kings pool their power and give it away; the Lamb's companions carry the titles God gave them.
They give their kingdom and power to the beast; they have one mind about this... They will make war on the Lamb: this will be their conduct and their end... Then we see His companions, the church and the armies of heaven, brought forward ahead of time. He is not alone: those with Him are "called, and chosen, and faithful."... The allied kings gave their power to the beast, and it was man's will that did it. The Lamb's companions, by contrast, were called, and chosen, and faithful.
Some take the ones with Him to be angels. One word in the verse points elsewhere.
Angels are faithful, and one passage calls them "chosen." But we never hear of angels being "called." "Calling," however, is a special mark of believers... So the companions of Christ in this victory over the beast and the false prophet — the armies of heaven that come out with Him — are not angels. They are saints: believers called by God's grace, whom God had already taken before this time to be "always with the Lord."
Commentators differ on how wide that company is. Darby names the church; Walter Scott includes every redeemed person then in heaven.
The fighting forces, the armies of heaven, are made up of all the redeemed who are then in heaven. There will be other companies of saved persons in heaven besides the Church (Heb. 12:23). The whole body of heavenly saints go with their Lord through the opened heaven. They come down to crush the united opposition to the rights of the Lamb.
The wording also settles a question of timing.
So it is evident from this, that the heavenly saints are already gone to the Lord. It is not that the Lord receives them now; they are with Him in the conflict, and before the conflict begins. Revelation 19:14 confirms this... Christ is coming to attack the great enemy on earth whom Satan uses. But it is heaven that opens. From there comes not only Christ, but also "those with Him, called and chosen and faithful."
The three descriptions are not repetition. Each looks at a different point.
Everyone who takes part in this conflict, under such a famous Leader, is described as "called and chosen and faithful." Called in time (2 Tim. 1:9); chosen in eternity (Eph. 1:4); and proved faithful in every relationship of life, even to death (Matt. 25:21-23; Rev. 2:10).
- War — the kings unite, give their power to the beast, and turn it on Christ. The verse records their last public act before it happens.
- Won — the outcome is settled in advance. The One they attack is King of all who reign and Lord of all who hold authority.
- Lamb — the Conqueror keeps the name Lamb. The One they nailed to a cross now redeems the inheritance by power.
- Company — those with Him are saints, not angels, because "called" marks believers; they come with Him out of heaven, already His before the war starts.
- Credentials — called in time, chosen in eternity, faithful to death. The kings gave their power away by their own will; these belong to Christ by God's calling and choice.