Shabbat shalom kol beit Yisrael and Mishpachah and welcome to Part LXII (62) of our study of the Book of Revelation. Last time we took a close look at the first half of chapter 17 and at the whore, prostitute or harlot of Babylon, the contents of that foul cup she carries, various candidates for the Antichrist, the evolution of his political system, the transhumanist agenda, satanic 'Utopias' and a whole range of other topics linked to the main theme. We basically zoomed in on themes that I outlined in Part LX (60), A Tale of Two Cities.

So let's dive straight into the second half of chapter 17, beginning at verse 9, using a messianised version of the New King James Version (NKJV) as our ground text as usual [in the video we used the RNAB]. The text itself is pretty straightforward although as you'll see from the website digest of numerous Protestant, Catholic and Messianic versions, the richness of the English language allows for many different ways of translating both the Aramaic and Greek ground texts.

One of the reasons I share all of these versions, aside from the pursuit of accuracy and different nuances of the receptor languages, is to persuade Bible students not to get hung up on only one wording and to realise that it is the original concepts that are the main thing, not our favourite collection of English words which usually have modern associations too that we can often read into the ancient text which aren't there. We must never forget that we are dealing with a 2,000 year-old document that uses language very different from our own. We must never forget its ancient historical setting. So don't go hunting for current events such as the Ukrainian and Gaza wars because this is something every generation does and ends up missing the whole point.

So let's put aside our 21st century spectacles (eye-glasses) and cast our minds back two millennia as we return to the woman sitting astride the scarlet Beast:

"'9 Here is the ('this calls for a' - NRSV, Amp.V; 'this is a moment for a wise and discerning' - KNT) mind ('understanding' - HRV) ['with understanding' - JBP) which has ('equipped with' - Barclay) wisdom ['and intelligence' - Amp.V] ('clue for those who can interpret it' - NEB; 'need for cleverness, for a shrewd mind' - JB; 'Now understand this' - NLT; 'the interpretation of the discerning mind' - Moff.) (Rev.14:18): The seven heads (Rev.17:3) are ('represent the' - NLT) seven mountains ('hills' - JB, NLT, JNT, NEB, RSV, JBP, Moff., Barclay, Amp.V, NIV) on which ('where' - CLNT) the woman sits ('enthroned' - Barclay; 'where the woman rules' - NLT). 10 There ('they' - NASB) are also ('also represent' - MLT) seven kings ('emperors' - JB; 'sovereigns' - ISRV). Five have ['already' - NLT] fallen ('been dethroned' - JBP), one is ['here now' - JB; 'living [now]' - JNT, NRSV; 'now in existence' - Barclay] ('the sixth now reigns' - NLT; 'now reigning' - NEB; 'reigns' - JBP), and the other has not yet ('[seventh] is yet to' - NLT, JNT) come (Rev.17:8). And when he comes ('once here' - JB), he must continue ('[is destined to] remain [for only]' - Barclay, NASB, JNT; 'stay' - JB) a short ('little' - NASB, JNT, HRV, NRSV; 'brief' - Amp.V) time ('space' - RSTNE; 'while' - JNT, NEB, HRV, NRSV) ('his reign will be brief' - NLT). 11 And the ['dragon and the' - HRV] ['scarlet' - NLT; 'wild' - CLNT] beast ('monster' - KNT) that was ['alive' - NLT], and ['now' - JB] is not ['an eighth king' - JNT] ('then died' - NLT), is himself also ('at the same time' - JB) the ('an' - NASB) eighth ['king' - NLT], and is ['one' - NASB] of the ('like the other' - NLT; 'it comes from the' - JNT; 'it belongs to the' - NRSV) seven ('he is one of the seven'- NEB), and is going ('goes' - NASB) to perdition ('[his/utter] destruction' - JB, JBP, JNT, HRV, Barclay; 'his doom' - NLT).

12 The ('His' - NLT) ten horns (Rev.12:3) which you saw are ten kings ('sovereigns' - ISRV) who have received no ('not yet received a' - NRSV) kingdom ('reign' - ISRV; 'royal power' - JB, RSV, Moff.; 'not yet begun to rule/reign' - JNT, NEB) as yet ('have not yet risen to power' - NLT), but they receive ('are to share' - NEB; 'will have royal' - JNT) ['royal' - Amo.V, Moff.] authority ('power' - JNT; 'dominion' - Amp.V) for one ('a single' - JB, Amp.V, KNT) hour (Rev.18:10,17,19) as kings ('sovereigns' - ISRV) ('will be appointed to their kingdoms' - NLT) ('in association' - JB) with the [wild' - CLNT] beast ('monster' - KNT; 'in one brief moment to reign with the beast' - NLT) (Dan.7:20-24). 13 These are of ('have' - JNT) one mind ('common policy' - Amp.V; 'opinion' - CLNT; 'united' - NRSV; 'have one/a single/common purpose' - NASB, NEB, Barclay, NIV; 'have one will' - HRV; 'They will all agree' - NLT), and they will give ('hand over' - JNT, Barclay; 'confer' - NEB, Moff.; 'yield[ing]' - NRSV) their ['own' - HRV] power and authority to the ['wild' - CLNT] beast ('monster' - KNT; 'in putting their strength and powers at the beast's disposal' - JB). 14 These will make ('be battling' - CLNT; 'wage' - NASB, NLT, Moff.; 'go to' - JB, JNT) war with the Lamb ('Lambkin' - CNLT) (Rev.16:14), and the Lamb ('Lambkin' - CLNT) will overcome ('defeat' - JB, NLT, JNT, NEB; 'conquer' - RSV, NRSV, CLNT, Barclay; 'triumph over' - Amp.V) them ['and they will be defeated by their followers' - JB] (Jn.16:33), for He is Master of ('over all - NLT) masters (RSTNE, HRV) (Lord of lords) (Dt.10:17) and King of ('over all - NLT) kings (Sovereign of sovereigns (Dan.10:17; 1 Tim.6:15); and those who are with Him ('His people' - NLT) are ['the' - NASB] ['the' - JB, Moff.] called ('[elected]' - Amp.V), ['the' - JB, Moff.] chosen (Mt.22:14), and ['the' - JB, Moff.] faithful ('loyal' - Barclay; Amp.V) ['ones' - NLT; 'followers' - NIV] ['will overcome along with Him' - JNT].'

"15 Then he ('the angel' - NLT) said to me, 'The waters ('ocean' - NEB) (Rev.17:1; Is.8:7; Jer.47:2) which you saw, where ('beside which' - JB) the harlot ('prostitute' - JB, NLT, CLNT; 'whore' - JNT, NEB, NRSV, KNT) sits ('was sitting' - JB; 'is sitting' - NLT; 'is seated' - NRSV; 'took her seat' - JBP), are ('is an ocean of' - NEB) peoples, multitudes ('[vast] crowds' - JBP, JNT, Barclay; ISRV; 'the populations' - JB, NEB; 'the masses of people' - NLT; 'throngs' - CLNT; 'hosts' - Moff.), nations, and tongues ('of every language' - Barclay; 'languages ['dialects' - Amp.V]' - JB, NLT, JNT, NEB, NRSV, CLNT, JBP, Amp.V, NIV, KNT) (Rev.13:7). 16 And ('but the time will come when' - JB) the ten horns (Rev.12:3) which you saw on the ['scarlet' - NLT] beast ('animal' - JBP; 'monster' - KNT), these will hate ('turn against' - JB; 'loathe' - JBP) the harlot ('idolatrous woman' - Amp.V; 'prostitute' - JB, NLT, CLNT, Barclay, NIV; 'whore' - JNT, NEB, NRSV, KNT) (Rev.17:1), make her desolate ('cheerless, bereaved, desolate' - Amp.V; 'bring her to ruin,' - JNT, NIV; 'lay her waste' - Moff.; 'leave her deserted' - JBP) (Rev.18:17,19) and ['leave her [stripped]' - JNT, Barclay; 'strip her' - Moff.] naked ('desolated' - Barclay; 'strip off her clothes and leave her naked' - JB) (Ezek.16:37,39), eat ('devour' - RSV, JBP; 'devouring' - Moff.) her flesh (Rev.19:18) and burn her ['up' - NRSV; 'in flames' - Barclay] ['to ashes' - NEB, Barclay] with ('the remains in' - JB, NLT; 'consume her with' - JNT, JBP) fire (Rev.18:8). 17 For ('In fact' - JB) Elohim (God) ('YWHH' - RSTNE) has put it ('a plan' - NLT) into ('imparts to' - CLNT) their hearts (2 Cor.8:16) ('heads' - NEB; '[influenced their] minds' - JB, NLT) to fulfill ('accomplish' - NIV; 'execute' - NASB; 'carry out' - NLT; 'form' - CLNT) His purpose[s] ('do what He intended' - JB) (Rev.7:13), to be of one mind ('having a common purpose' - NASB; 'making common cause' - NEB; 'agree together' - JB; 'mutually agree' - NLT; 'agreeing' - NRSV, NIV; 'coming to a common decision' - Barclay), and to give ('surrendering' - Amp.V; 'by giving' - NASB; 'conferring/hand over their sovereignty' - NEB, Barclay) their kingdom to ('royal power/to' - Moff., RSV) the ('that' - HRV) ['scarlet' - NLT; 'wild' - CLNT] beast ('animal' - JBP; 'monster' - KNT; 'to put their royal powers at the beast's disposal' - JB), until the ['prophetic' - Amp.V] words ('intentions and promises' - Amp.V) of Elohim (God) ('YHWH' - RSTNE) are ('should be' - NASB, JB) fulfilled ('have accomplished their intent' - JNT) (Jer.39:16; Rev.10:7). 18 And the woman whom you saw ['in your vision' - NLT] is ['herself' - Amp.V] ('represents' - NLT) that great city (Rev.16:19) which reigns ('dominates and controls' - Amp.V; 'has authority/sovereignty' - JB, Barclay; 'rules' - NLT; 'holds sway' - NEB; 'has [royal] dominion' - HRV, RSV, KNT; 'has a kingdom' - CLNT) over the kings ('sovereigns' - ISRV) of ('rulers and leaders' - Amp.V; 'all the rulers on' - JB; 'sovereigns of' - ISRV) [the] earth" (Rev.17:9-18, NKJV).

¤BIBLE VERSIONS KEY: AENT = Aramaic English New Testament (NT, Gabriel Roth), Amp.V. = Amplified Version (1958 ed.), Aram.Pesh. = Aramaic Peshitta (NT), Barclay = William Barclay New Testament, B.Wilson = Benjamin Wilson's Emphatic Diaglot, Vatican MS 1209 (NT), CLNT = Concordant Literal New Testament, CJB = Complete Jewish Bible (David Stern), HCSB = Holman's Christian Standard Bible, HRV = Hebraic Roots Version (James Trimm), ISRV = Institute for Scripture Research Version ('The Scriptures', 2009 edn.), JB = Jerusalem Bible (1st edn.), JBP = J.B.Philips New Testament, JNT = Jewish New Testament (David Stern), KNT = Kingdom New Testament (N.T.Wright), MRC = Messianic Renewed Covenant (NT), NASB = New American Standard Bible, NEB = New English Bible (1974 edn.), NIV = New International Version (1984 edn.), NKJV = New King James Version, NRSV = New Revised Standard Version (1995 edn.), KJV = King James Version, Moff. = Moffat Translation, NLT = New Living Translation, RNAB = Revised New American Bible, RSTNE = Restoration Scriptures True Name Edition (2005 edn., Moshe Koniuchowsky), RSV = Revised Standard Version (1952 edn.), Tischendorf = Tauchnitz Edition, Vol.1000, 1869 (NT), S&G = Smith & Godspeed

Well, we have quite the puzzle or riddle to solve here. A few evenings ago I was sitting at my bedroom desk and contemplating how John's contemporaries 2,000 years ago would have decoded this message. Indeed, we have to ask ourselves the question, why a code at all? Why not just speak plainly? Is John deliberately trying to hide something that only those with the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit) would have understood? Was it to conceal information from Satan? From the worldly? And if so, why? At first it didn't make a lot of sense to me. The kind of language used would have been familiar to them but not to us two millennia later. The only way for me to understand this, I thought, would be to find a similar piece of apocalyptic scripture whose meaning we now do know but which at the time of writing would have been a complete mystery, and would have remained sealed up until the events being portrayed were actually happening. Do we have such a scripture that could serve as a kind of decoding manual for us?

We do, which is why I found myself re-reading the Book of Daniel to try and understand how the Book of Revelation worked. Yet even today the Book of Daniel remains a mystery to most Christians and Messianics because they're determined to read it in the wrong way through 21st century lenses. Moderns reading Daniel and Revelation in search of 'ISIS', 'Hamas' or 'Hezbollah', modern Islamic terrorist groups that have made headline news in our time, are going to miss the whole point (and by the way, I came across some believers only the other day convinced they had found 'Hamas' in the Bible and that its conflict with modern Israel is detailed, which made me sigh and shake my head).

You see, unlike many who want to find evidence of 'modern things' happening in the Book of Daniel, I am now firmly of the view that except for the very last chapter, everything in the Book of Daniel was fulfilled long ago and has little or nothing to do with contemporary events, so why make it complicated? We know, in detail, who all the various kings were that Daniel speaks about. I could sit down (and maybe we'll do this sometime) and tell you who each of the beasts and horns and others things were. Nobody knew who they would be when Daniel wrote about them but as history unfolded, it soon became plain to students of prophecy who these leaders were, enabling lovers of Scripture to give Yahweh the glory for knowing everything in such detail in advance - only sceptical liberals, who have tried to make out that Daniel was written much later when all of these dates were already known, did not glorify Him. There will always be those who, in search of natural explanations exclusively, deny the supernatural and accuse religionists of making things up in order to dishonestly win converts. That's as it may, or may not, be.

I believe the Book of Revelation is coded the way it is, like the Book of Daniel was, to give Elohim (God) the credit for being omniscient (all-knowing). I believe our Heavenly Father sometimes wants us to work hard in figuring out His truth, learning important lessons about life along the way, so that we can be sanctified by our search. I think He also does this to show how silly we can be at times and to not be intellectually cocky. Yahweh does all of this to vindicate Himself, vindicate His true nevi'im (prophets) and to expose the false nevi'im (prophets) and the false theological schools of thought that they represent.

One thing I am noticing again and again in our time is how Yahweh shows up and exposes all the lawless 'prophets' and 'teachers'...those who disobey the mitzvot (commandments) and teach others to do the same - those who reject His Torah (Law) like (for example) today's Dispensationalists who represent a particular Evangelical-Protestant school of thought hostile to commandment-keeping even though, ironically, they claim to be perfectionists. Yahweh will not be mocked and 'deals' with those who misrepresent His Davar (Word) in His own peculiar way. Our Heavenly Father therefore uses apocalyptic prophecy to expose the false prophets until in the end people get fed up with them and stop listening to them. And there are thousands of them in the churches and on the internet today. We've all been fooled by them at various times.

Thus says one who was once a 'Dispensationalist' and 'Zionist' because as a young, uninformed, immature and somewhat carnal believer I loved the sensational. So I initially fell for all the Hal Lindsey hype though in my favour I never did fall for all the lawless 'rapture' and 'batalogean tongues' nonsense. If we're honest, we will all be found with the egg of stupidity on our faces sometimes. We learn from our mistakes (or ought to - some seemingly never do) and hopefully can save others from falling into similar traps. You see, to be successful at this business you need to be both slightly sceptical and a little adventurous so as both not to be easily fooled as well as not to shy away from taking risks in exploring the at times often confusing linguistic landscape that is the Truth embedded in the world. We need both some scepticism and some risk-taking - "I believe everything and I believe nothing," goes one enigmatic detective's proverb that was originally intended to be humorous but which I believe turns out to be quite profound.

So how shall we approach today's text in a constructive and helpful way? By using the same kind of device that John employs - analogy. When I was young, map-reading was an important skill we had to learn as we had no GPS or online Google Maps back in those days. We learned this in Geography lessons at school and in the army because in Britain everyone was expected to be able to read an Ordinance Survey Map. British and German maps were amongst the best back then and as you know I am a bit of a map and atlas collector. I loved Geography in school and can still remember being taught how to read maps. See if you can find a YouTube video sometime called Map Making (1961) made by British Pathé, showing how Ordinance Survey maps were made in the 1950's and 60's. There's also a more detailed American National Geographic video called The Mapmaking Process by PublicResourceOrg (1973). Like many in my generation, I was fascinated by contour lines and deciphering them, something that was especially important when on a march in the Army Cadet Corps so we could find the easiest routes to our objectives. Since we wanted to avoid steep climbs carrying heavy backpacks and rifles, I, as an NCO, looked for those contour lines that were widely spaced-out as opposed to those which were so close together as to appear to have no space between them at all: that meant, in effect, the difference between a gentle slope and a cliff. Ordinance Survey maps had all sorts of useful symbols on them denoting forests, churches, post offices, public toilets, windmills, railway lines, roads, tunnels, bridges, quarries, and the like, all important when you're orienteering. These days you can go online and get an arial photograph and even walk down the streets virtually! Nevertheless, the requirements for symbolic designs has not entirely gone away and we still need to interpret them, just as we do the symbols in prophetic revelation. It's here the literalists can, at times, so easily get lost.

For instance, when you're climbing a hill in real time you don't find contour lines all over the place and bridges aren't all the same shape or length. Lots of detail is necessarily left out of maps or they'd get too cluttered up and make no sense at all. Maps have to be simplified. So too does prophetic imagery. So when people start dissecting prophetic symbols with a magnifying glass, pulling apart every word, character and syllable, I have to tell them, 'Hold on there, you're going to miss the wood from the trees if you go about interpreting prophetic and apocalyptic scripture that way.' Like map-makers' symbols, the images found in prophecy are not actual representations of what you'd find when you go there. There are no literal multiple-headed beasts with horns and crowns sprouting all over the place.

John has already given us a symbolic picture of the beast and the whore. And now - unusually for him - he's going to tell us what it means. Even so, can we easily decipher the contour lines of today's text as we examine them up close? Apparently not because Bible students and scholars alike are still struggling. Let me illustrate. The first clue we're given is straightforward:

"The seven heads are seven hills (mountains), on which the woman (whore) sits" (Rev.17:9, KNT).

It's at this point opinions divide. The most obvious contenders will, however, mean dating the Book of Revelation to a much earlier time than hitherto supposed, for which a very good case can be made here. If we take out our list of Roman emperors, starting with Augustus, and then add Tiberias, Gaius, Claudius and Nero, to make five, that takes us up to the death of Nero in AD 68 - and recall for a recent study that many people around the Empire believed that Nero didn't really die or that he did die but would come to life again and lead an army against Rome, perhaps from Parthia, in order to take back his throne. Could John be playing on this superstitious belief and using it for illustrative purposes? Maybe. It's a possibility. Paul employed this device in Athens, didn't he, when he used the Greeks' "unknown god" superstition as a stepping stone to teach them about the one-and-only true Elohim (God), Yahweh (Ac.17:23). Anyway, after Nero came Galba, who lasted into the year 69 but not for long, and then came Otho, who snatched the throne but once again didn't keep it for long. That makes a total of seven, and it is just possible that this is the moment when John is writing, speaking about Otho as the seventh, short-lived emperor, who is about to be ousted by the returning Nero, the beast, who was and is not and is to come: the eighth, though one of the seven [1].

Those who are convinced that this is the correct interpretation of the 'seven kings', go on to claim that there's another detail reinforcing this literal interpretation. And that is the seven hills or mountains. What do mountains often represent in Hebrew symbolism? Kingdoms. And are we not here speaking of seven kings, emperors or caesars? But wait - there aren't seven kingdoms in view here but only one, namely, Rome! So the evidence, pointing to this being a possible first p'shat (literal) level of interpretation, is weakening. Mystery solved? I don't think so.

You see, there is a second prophetic sense where mountains are used to denote something else. Turn with me to the fourth chapter of Zechariah and you'll see what I mean:

"What are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubabel (Prince of Judah), be a plain ('level ground' - NIV)! He will pull out the keystone ('capstone' - NIV) [2] to shouts of: Blessings on it, blessings on it!" (Zech.7:7, JB).

My point is as follows: the numbers themselves are almost certainly symbolic and are are at the very least the primary layer of meaning. This means that the Seven Kings could primarily stand for the apparent perfection of the beastly kingdom, with the eighth (though one of the seven) a king who will appear to take the kingdom forward into a new day, but who will instead lead it to its destruction. What then matters at this level is not which king is which Roman emperor, but that the Beast's kingdom looks perfect and impregnable (like a hill or mountain), but forces within its own ranks will destroy it (flattening the mountain out into a plain).

Remember the Beast is presenting himself as a false Christ or Messiah; also note that the true Messiah rose, as we know on the first day of the biblical week that is somethinmes counted as a kind of '8th day' because of its importance. The true Messiah was killed (crucified) and rose on the day after the Sabbath, the '8th day' of a unique 'week'. In the autumn festivals we observe an eighth day too, Shemini Atseret or 'Last great Day', which is tacked on to the seventh day of Sukkot (Tabernacles). You may be able to find other parallels.

But I think the main message we are to take out of this - especially the final generation that experiences all of this - is this: don't be afraid, this apparently untouchable beast system is actually weak because it can't control its own officers. It is riddled with rivalry and intrigue as all empires are. So be of good cheer!

But that isn't the end of the story - there are ten more kings who are described as "horns" and as you know in earlier prophecy horns symbolised kings and military powers chiefly (Dan.7:8; 8:21; etc.).

Just as nobody in the first century could have guessed or imagined who these people were, neither can we, though numerous attempts have been made, as you know, with the most popular candidates being the states of the European Union [4] as they were in 1981 after Greece joined, a claim that began to fall apart as the EU kept growing in size from 6 initial members in 1959, to 9, then 10, then 12 (when the European Community became the European Union in 1992), then doubling to 24 in 2004, then 26 in 2007, then 27 in 2013 when Croatia joined and finally 26 in 2020 when the UK left. So the '10 horns' which were '10 kings' cannot possibly have been the EU. Were any number to have been significant, then it would have been 6, after the number of the original signatories of the Treaty of Rome. But there are no kingdoms, hills or horns adding up to 6 in the Book of Revelation anywhere. The fact that Seat #666 in the European parliament is always left vaccant is more a superstition than anything else because of people's fear of that number even in a supposedly secular institution. Could the EU appear in prophecy elsewhere in the Bible? Possibly, but not in the Book of Revelation, meaning it is likely not a significant player in the events of the end of the end times. From the perspective of the élites, it is but a prototype of their future planned World Government which clearly is part of the Beast's end-time system.

There is, I think, an even bigger clue that tells us John is not expecting us to work our way through more lists of emperors, this time a list of 10. And here's the problem with the literalist approach: if there are ten more emperors in view, then the Book of Revelation would have had to be written as late as the end of the second century long after John was dead, which is what we would have to say if another ten Roman emperors were added to the seven or eight already listed. This clearly makes no sense. Maybe the first seven Roman emperors could in some way be tied to the Seven Kings in a secondary sense but by the time we come to the next ten, it is clear we can no longer use a literal interpretation. And this suggests we were supposed to be primarily looking to a symbolic meaning the whole time, as we have come to increasingly expect of this book, with a literal interpretation of the first being, at best, a concession to the less spiritually mature. Call it an 'educational primer' in reasoning. Yahweh wants His people to think things through both for His pleasure and our betterment.

Could there be 10 ruling entities in our day? That doesn't seem to me to be unreasonable - in fact, it seems most likely given that that is what a 'king' is. Will we know in advance who specifically they are? Probably not, but who knows. 10 is the symbol of completeness of order (as in the 10 commandments). It is therefore far more likely that the Ten Kings are a part of the beastly system of governance, and who eventually round on the Whore herself and destroy her. Almost certainly they are different ruling élites to the Seven - kings and princes from the far-flung corners of the Western world - who will finally tire of Mistress Rome herself, and will use the bestial, monstrous power of Rome's own empire to attack the city that has for so long scooped up and sucked all the wealth and glory that was going.

These rebel forces are every bit as much a part of the Beast's rule as was the Whore herself. They, like the Whore, will persecute the true believers (v.14) - indeed, they are bound to, because the Beast's rule depends on being absolute, and allows no space for any rivals, especially a rival (Christ) who claims absolute and unique allegiance and worship.

This is why the overall Beast system is depicted in terms of the number 7 which is the biblical number of completion and of spiritual perfection, here used in the sense of 'perfect evil' (though it is, in fact, less than perfect because of the rebellion of the 10 kings). So the seven kings or heads or hills quite simply represent all the nations and world powers who are viewed as one Beast, so that they may be seen as belonging to, and forming part of, the whole. There are no 'independent nations', they are always a part of - or controlled by - something or someone more powerful themselves. That is why in chapter 13, verse 2, this Beast is like a 'leopard' (the third, Greece), and his feet as the feet of a 'bear' (the second, Persia), and his mouth as a 'lion' (the first, Babylon). He combined in himself the symbol marks of the others.

This notion is further born out when we are shown the woman (the 'great city' of verse 18) sitting on "many waters", meaning, she reigns over peoples, multitudes, nations and languages (v.15). She is seen seated on a scarlet beast, meaning she is carried or supported by all the kings and all the numbers which make up the body of the Beast. This, John says, will be the condition of things at the point-of-view referred to in the Vision. So in this 9th verse we are given a description of what it will be in the early part of the 3½ years. Notice that the tense is present, "sits" or "is sitting" so in the prophetic scheme of things this arrangement will be as true in the end of the end times as it was in John's day. In some sense, then, the whore is historically universal and has been around since the Fall. This is what the fallen world looks like. The whore is an attitude that infects, governs or rules all the world's nations. It was certainly true of ancient Israel most of the time because idolatry has always been around.

Notice ths seven years of the final Great Tribulation is split in half, into two 3½'s. 3 is the prophetic number of divine perfection with '½' not being a prophetic number at all. Given that Satan is always trying to 'better' Elohim (God), represented by the number 3, the number '3½' would seem to be an appropriate symbol; but it's not a whole number and is 'unstable', like the Beast system itself. So in the general sense, it could be argued that the whore has always sat on the Scarlet Beast but it is only now, in the very end-time, that the Beast tires of her and at length devours her. It's something I'll leave you to think about.

And so - and here once again we can connect to John's own readers and his situation - we're told that the Lamb will conquer these 'kings' because He is "King of kings, and Master of masters (Lord of lords)", and those with Him are "called, chosen and faithful". So the Lamb will conquer them by exactly the same method by which He has always conquered - by His own blood, and by the blood of His own - the martyrs who remain faithful. It's a fait accomplis at the time of the Cross but since there are human agents in this process, this 'done act' has to be worked out over the next two thousand years. Our blood and our testimony are, after all, important. We are part of the 'story' because that's the way Elohim (God) wants it.

Meanwhile, the Ten Kings, who will receive their authority collectively for a short but vital period (v.12) will be Yahweh's instruments, it seems, in bringing all the evil of the Beast's domain to a head. Finally, as we've seen before, evil will turn on evil, as it always does in the end, and destroy itself in the process. The brief description of the fall of Babylon, drawn partly by the biblical prescription for the punishment of the Whore - "When the daughter of a cohen (priest) profanes herself through prostitution, she profanes her father; she shall be burned to death" (Lev.21:9, NRSV) - and partly from Isaiah's description of the fall of the original Babylon (Is.47), anticipates the terrible chapter that is yet to come (Rev.18), where the judgment of Babylon is spelled out in far more detail.

Now all this may seem so complex as to be incomprehensible but really it's very simple. The abiding and overriding lesson for the Messianic Community (Church), then as now, should be clear: the brutal but seductive so-called 'civilisations' and national empires, which ensnare the world by promising luxury and delivering slavery, gain their power from the Beast, that system of Imperial Power so clearly revealed in the Roman Imperial system of John's day. Some have called this the 'domination system', a system which transcends geographical and historical limitations, and reappears again and again in every century. And John's readers already know that this system itself gains its power from the Dragon, the Accuser, Heylel, Lucifer, the Adversary (haSatan) - Satan. Those who are caught up in the resultant battles - and we're seeing a couple happening right now as I speak (November 2023) in the Ukraine and Middle East - need not feel that they are merely a part of a dangerous confusion, of ignorant armies clashing by night. They - and we - are a part of the Lamb's victorious army, who will conquer the Beast in the usual way, by His blood and by the word of their faithful testimony. Thus it has been, and thus it will always be.

Now I have deliberately left out other theories concerning the identity of the 7 kings, most of which are full of flaws, some of which are very interesting but in the end are just speculative, as that would make this study inmpossibly complicated. What's important for the end-time Remnant is knowing that what they face is not an insurmountable colossus which was the way the ancients once viewed the mighty Roman Empire and yet that was brought tumbling down in the end. The Dragon and the Beast do not win, they are not impregnable, and in the end it's the devil's own system in revolt that ends his terrible rule. And though the context of the saying was different, Yah'shua (Jesus) anticipated this in a general sense when He said:

"Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and a house divided against itself will fall. If Satan is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand?" (Lk.11:17-18, NIV).

Well, it can't, and won't. Carnal men divide into factions and quarrel among themselves, even waging war against each other. The demonic hosts are no different. These are impermanent '3½ systems', made up of two contrary, good cop/bad cop, occultic inner/outer, '3½'s', one of which makes itself out to be benevolent but the other revealing it is in fact rapacious, because that is how deception always pans out. This satanic system must simply be allowed to expose itself and work itself out to its own self-destruction and doom along with those in it who will not repent.

Over the next two weeks we will examine how this implosion of Babylon takes place in chapter 18. It's a patterm we see playing out throughout history in every evil empire only this time, in the final collapse and great judgment, we will finally see the end of an entire long and painful æon or age. With the completion of chapter 18 we will have come to the end of the second of the three parts of the Book of Revelation which we have called the 'Nearer Future' (as opposed to the first part of 'Near Future') relative of John's Day. That will then take us into the final section of this large study or the 'Far Future'.

• A. The Present
  • Ch.1-3:
    • A1. One ascended Master
      
    • A2. 7 Assorted Lampstands
  • Ch.4-5:
    • A3. Creator & creatures
      
    • A4. Lion & Lamb
• B. The Nearer Future
  • Ch.6-16:
    • B1. 7 Seals, 7 Trumpets & 7 Bowls
      
    • B2. Devil, Antichrist & False Prophet
  • Ch.17-19:
    • B3. Babylon - Last Capital
      
    • B4. Armageddon - Last Battle
• C. The Far Future
  • Ch.20:
    • C1. Millennial Reign
      
    • C2. Judgment Day
  • Ch.21-22:
    • C3. New Heaven & Earth
    • C4. New Jerusalem

So until next week, Yahweh bless your week, stay warm (if you're in deep winter) and healthy, be vigilent in prayer, and keep prepping, in Yah'shua's (Jesus') Name. Amen.

Endnotes

[1] See the section on dating in the leader article to the Book of Revelation website
[2] The final stone to be put in place (Psalm 118:22) making the completion of the restoration temple by Zerubabel
[3] Similar imagery is used in Isaiah 40:10; 41:15; 49:11; Matthew.17:20; 21:21; Mark.11:23; 1 Corinthians 13:2; 2 Corinthians 10:4
[4] West Germany¹, Netherlands², Belgium³, Luxembourg⁴, France & Colonies⁵, Italy⁶ (1957), UK & Colonies⁷, Eire⁸, Denmark & Colonies⁹ (1973) & Greece¹⁰ (1981); the addition of Spain (with Ceuta & Melila)¹¹ and Portugal¹² (1986) turned the 10 into 12, the 12 stars of the EU flag, thus ending any possible connection to the 10 Kings of Revelation 17:27. The Union has continued to expand with the annexation by West Germany of East Germany (1990), at which point the EEC/EC became the EU in 1992, and the addition of Austria¹³, Sweden¹⁴, Finland¹⁵ (1995), Czechia¹⁶, Slovakia¹⁷, Hungary¹⁸, Poland¹⁹, Estonia²⁰, Latvia²¹, Lithuania²², Slovenia²³, Cyprus²⁴ (2004), Romania²⁵, Bulgaria²⁶ (2007) & Croatia²⁷ (2013). The UK left (2020) leaving the EU with 26 members states, putting pay to the notion of the EU being a 10-nationed state. Attempts to get Ukraine during the war with Russia (2022-3) were a failure. Algeria and Greenland were also at one point member states together with France and Denmark, respectively. Turkey has made several unsuccessful attempts to join and Norway has repeatedly refused to join. Switzerland, Iceland, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia, Northern Macedonia, Albania, Georgia and Armenia are either applicant nations or otherwise their incorporation remains a goal of the EU. Were these nations to join, and the UK rejoin, a total of 25 nations would be a part of the EU. It should also be noted that Germany has not strictly been country since 1945 but is a business corporation (Bundesrepublik Deutschland Finanzagentur GmbH) belonging to France, the UK and USA (the Soviet Union sold its share upon German reunification in 1990). Germany is still under military occupation, principally by the USA. With the defeat of Ukraine (2023), the proxy of NATO, it is unlikely the Ukraine will ever be admitted to the EU but the eastern part annexed by Russia and the remainder becoming a neutral rump. The EU, then, could only possibly have been the 10 Kings of Revelation 17 between 1981 and 1986 and is in any case really a mere satellite of the American Empire. Rome is not, in any case, the political power, but rather Berlin - which is the US Corporation's Headquarters). Thus on numerous counts, the EU fails, in my opinion, to qualify as a resurrected Roman Empire in anything other than the name of the original Treaty that formed it in 1957.

Acknowledgements

[1] Tom Wright, Revelation for Everyone - The New Testament for Everyone Commentary Series, Vol.19 (SPCK, London: 2011)
[2] E.W.Bullinger*, Commentary on Revelation (Kregel Classics, Grand Rapids, Michigan: 1984)
[3] David H. Stern, Jewish New Testament Commentary (JNT Publications, Clarksville, Maryland: 1992)
[4] ESV Study Bible (Crossway, Wheaton, Illinois: 2011)
[5] The NIV Study Bible (Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan: 1995)
[6] Ed. J.R.Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (MacMillan, London: 1909)
[7] David Pawson, Unlocking the Bible: A Unique Overview of the Whole Bible (Collins, London: 2007)

*E.W.Bullinger was a brilliant Anglican clergyman and scholar whose works merit careful study by serious students of the Bible. He was, however, seriously in error in at least three main areas, namely, (1) he believed the 'Church' has been raptured before the Book of Revelation opens, (2) he believed that the 7 churches in Revelation 2-3 are 7, literal Jewish churches or assemblies yet to come, and (3) he believed in a pre-tribulation, pre-millennial rapture.

• 1. White horse - military aggression
• 2. Red horse - bloodshed
• 3. Black horse - famine
• 4. Pale Green/Blanched/Pallid/Sickly-looking horse - disease, epidemics

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• 5. Persecution & prayer
• 6. Tremour & terror

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  INTERLUDE I (Ch.7)
  (The 144,000 Redeemed)

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• 7. Silence in heaven, listening to prayers which are then answered in a final catastrophe: a severe earthquake I

• 1. Scorched earth
• 2. Polluted sea
• 3. Contaminated water
• 4. Reduced sunlight

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• 5. Insects and plague (for five months) (1st Woe)
• 6. Oriental invasion (200 million army) (2nd Woe)

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  INTERLUDE II (Ch.10-11)
  (The Malak with the Little Scroll)
  (The Two Witnesses)

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• 7. The Kingdom comes, the world is taken over by Yahweh & Yah'shua (Jesus) after a severe earthquake II (3rd Woe)

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  INTERLUDE III (Ch.13-14)
  (The First & Second Beasts)
  (The Lamb & the 144,000)
  (The Messages of the Three Malakim)

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• 1. Boils on the skin
• 2. Blood in the sea
• 3. Blood from the springs
• 4. Burning by the sun

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• 5. Darkness
• 6. Armageddon

  ---

• 7. Hailstorm (OB 368:11-12) and severe earthquake III, leading to international collapse

  ---

  POSTSCRIPT (Ch.17-18)
  (Babylon the Great & the Bride)

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Click the image for the whole Series

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