The Woman and the Beast of Revelation 17
The satellite map of Europe appears like a beast
The book of Revelation, as the name suggests, is a revealing – not a hiding — of events that lead to the second coming of Christ to set up God’s kingdom on earth. This soon-coming kingdom of God is the central message of the true gospel that Jesus and His disciples preached. But the world is oblivious to God’s coming kingdom, because most preachers proclaim a popular but counterfeit gospel that declares Christ to have finished everything on the cross. The fact is that Revelation tells us that Christ and his resurrected “saints” will have a lot of work to do, the moment He returns.
Written mostly in symbolic language, Revelation is a record of what God showed to John in vision as well as the direct testimony of Jesus Christ [Rev 1:2]. God gave it to show to His servants “things which must shortly come to pass.” Revelation, like the book of Daniel is a closed and sealed book. But God told Daniel:
Dan 12:9 And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. 10 Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.Who are the wise? Christ says the wise are those who hear His words and does them [Mat 7:24-26].
Understanding the Woman of Revelation 17
The vision of the mysterious woman riding the beast can be mostly understood from the explanation given within that chapter itself – with some help from Daniel. Let’s take a look at what Revelation 17 says:Rev 17:1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:So Revelation 17 is about God’s judgment on a “great whore”. Judgment here means condemnation or avenging or punishment that is to be executed upon this woman. So this woman must have committed a real serious crime in the eyes of God. Who is this woman? Why is she called a whore? What is her crime?
Rev 17:2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.Revelation 17 fully identifies the woman and the other terms it used – so we do not need to speculate. An angel identifies this woman – this whore that sits on the beast – as “that great city which reigns over the kings of the earth” [verse 18]. The waters upon which the whore sits is identified as peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues [verse 15]. Now the word sit, as used here, denotes rule, authority or control, as by a rider over a horse. The idea is that of this woman riding the beast like a horse.
Now, a woman is also defined as a church [Rev 19:7-9, Eph 5:25-29]. The true church of God has an intimate and lawful relationship with Christ [as its betrothed husband 2Cor 11:2]. The true church had partaken of the wine – the blood of the New Covenant with Christ [Mat 26:27-28]. This signified their trust in Christ as their personal Savior and Protector. On the other hand, the woman of Revelation 17 and 18 is a church that commits fornication with the kings [rulers] of the earth, as Rev 17:2 shows. It makes use of its political influence apparently for its own security. God’s people are citizens of God’s coming kingdom [Phil 3:20]. We are ambassadors for Christ [2Cor 5:20], and have no business partaking in the political affairs of this world.
There is only one church in history that exerts so much clout or influence over much of the world, a power that to some extent it still wields to this day. It is the one and only great universal church.
This concerns you and millions of others
The fact is this woman and the beast that she rides had profoundly affected many millions of people of the world since the Middle Ages. Relationship between this church and the Roman Empire began during the accession of Constantine who chose to convert to “Christianity”. Prior to Constantine’s rule, the Roman government persecuted Christians. But by AD 380, Christianity [Catholicism] was declared state religion of the Roman Empire by edict of Emperor Constantine. However, in less than a century thereafter the Roman Empire would suffer a rapid decline in power. The Vandals would inflict wound to the Empire beginning in AD 429 that culminated in the dissolution of the Roman Empire in AD 476, when its last Emperor Romulus Augustus was deposed by Odoacer, chief of a Germanic tribe Heruli. This “dead” state of the Roman Empire continued till the end of the kingdom of Ostrogoths in AD 554.The “deadly wound” of the beast heals
While the reign of these “barbarian” kingdoms represent “heads”, the fact that they were non-Roman invaders of Roman Empire clearly meant that the Roman Empire itself was “wounded” and effectively “dead”. This situation would be short-lived however, because disunity between Catholic Romans and these Goths would result in the collapse of these invading kingdoms. The Ostrogoths were confirmed Arians – a religious group that rejected Trinity, something that made them unpopular with the Catholic Romans. When Theodoric, the last of the Ostrogoth rulers, died in AD 526, his kingdom fell into disarray, which the Eastern Emperor Justinian took advantage of. With the help of his general Belisarius, Justinian re-conquered Italy. But it took a long and bitter war that spanned several regimes to vanquish the last king of the Ostrogoths, Teja, who was killed in a battle for his kingdom in AD 553. Thus Justinian in effect restored the Roman Empire in AD 554.The church rides the beast
The Catholic leadership clearly played the role of savior in European politics. As put succinctly by Lynn Winters in her book OUR JUDAIC-CHRISTIAN HERITAGE:“Majority of the barbarians belonged to the ARIAN sect of Christianity. However, Catholic bishops in Western Europe were eventually able, through their position as authorities in church matters (which issued the sacraments of baptism, weddings, etc) to covert the entire population into Orthodox Christianity. This process began in the fifth century and the Arian populace was essentially completed over the next two hundred years. When all was complete, everyone in the West could identify themselves (regardless of nationality) as a Roman Catholic.” [Chapter 6 - Entry of Western Europe into the Middle Ages]This helped hold together whatever was left of the old Roman civilization during the “barbaric” invasion. So, as an important part of restoration process, Emperor Justinian promulgated the Corpus Iuris Civilis for the Roman world AD 533-534, which declared the bishop of Rome as the “Head of all the holy churches,” thus laying the legal foundation for papal ecclesiastical supremacy. This marked the beginning of the Church “riding” or taking control of the beast. This also fulfilled the prophecy where the first three horns of Daniel 7:20 -the barbarian kingdoms – were to be “plucked out” in the presence of another horn that looked “more stout” than the others. This “more stout” horn is clearly the Roman Church.
Continuing with the Revelation 17 narrative:
Rev 17: 3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. 4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: 5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. 6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.
Drunk with the wine of her fornication
The Roman church’s pompous use of the term “Holy Father” or “Vicar of Christ” to refer to a human being is blatant blasphemy. The Bible says that only God is holy [Psa 22:3, Rev 15:4]. Christ instructs us not to call any man our father because we have only one Father, in heaven [Mat 23:9]. Now, fornication refers to an illicit relationship between a woman and a man. This woman had partaken of illicit wine with human governments which had killed and spilled the blood of many true Christians for their faithfulness to the word of God, at the behest and pleasure of this great whore [Rev 6:9]. That is the great crime of this great religious whore.Not only are “kings” or government leaders drunk of her wine of her fornication, but people in general had become drunk. Despite its long history of persecuting and putting dissenters to death, which dates back to the Middle Ages, people seem not able to see that evil and they would still flock to this woman in droves. They could not see the obvious abomination of the worship of images or idols or the blasphemy of paying mere human leaders with honor or titles that belong only to God or Christ.
The beast of Revelation 17
Continuing with John’s narrative:Rev 17:8 The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. 9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.The key phrase here is “seven mountains on which the woman sitteth”. As mentioned in an earlier post, the beast of Revelation 13 represents the same kingdoms symbolized by the enormous image of Daniel 2 and the four beasts of Daniel 7. The seven heads of Revelation 13 represent the head of lion, bear, the four heads of the leopard and the head of the fourth beast of Daniel 7 – that’s seven heads in all. The 10 horns of the fourth beast of Daniel 7 correspond to the ten horns of the beast of Revelation 13. The entire beast of Revelation 17 represents the last seven horns of Daniel 7 and of Revelation 13.
Rev 17:10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. 11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.Revelation 17:11 says “it was, and is not” – referring to its subsequent series of “hiatuses” and revivals — is part of “seven” heads but is counted as “the eighth”. This is because seventh head of Daniel 7 and Revelation 13 – the Roman Empire – had died because of “deadly wound” which is represented by the reign of the three non-Roman barbaric kingdoms of the Vandals, Heruli and Ostrogoths – the first three horns of Revelation 13 beast. The church “sat” or had exercised powerful authority or influence on the beast only beginning with the Justinian restoration [the first of the last seven horns] and onwards. There had been six revivals of the Roman Empire since that deadly wound, namely: Justinian, Charlemagne, Otto the Great, Charles V, Napoleon and Garibaldi. The Garibaldi revival ended with the ignominious defeat of the Hitler/Mussolini attempt to rule the West. We are awaiting the seventh revival of the Roman Empire.
“Little horn” rides the beast for forty and two months
Now notice the following details given by Revelation 13:Rev 13:5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. 6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. 7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. 8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.Is this speaking of the civil [Roman government] or the ecclesiastical [Papal] government?
Remember that the time reference beginning with verse 5 is after the healing of the deadly wound by Justinian restoration. While there was an Imperial cult or worship during the early years of the empire, it was gradually abandoned after Emperor Constantine I started supporting Christianity in around AD 313. It was actually the ecclesiastical government – not the civil government – that made war on the saints or heretics. The civil government was more concerned with peace and order within the Empire.
The Papacy’s rise to power and primacy began in 538 A.D. through the letter and decree of Roman Emperor Justinian, which acknowledged the bishop of Rome as the head of all churches. This Justinian letter became part of the empire’s fundamental law. From that time on, the church enjoyed powerful – even coercive – influence. This power would end in 1798 A.D. when Napoleon Bonaparte by his general Berthier, imprisoned the Pope, who later died in captivity. From 538 A.D. to 1798 A.D. there had been exactly 1260 years. While the Pope triumphed over Napoleon in the end, the Church’s coercive power was never regained.
The phrase “five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come” indicates a succession of kingdoms rather than contemporary kingdoms existing side by side at the same time. In Revelation, a woman represents a church. The woman here in Revelation 17 clearly represents the great apostate universal church that “sits” on or rule over the seven revivals of the Roman Empire.
The ten horns
Rev 17:12 And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.This is an entirely different set of ten horns. These are ten contemporary kings that will break into world scene simultaneously when Christ returns. As of now they have no kingdom yet, but they, together with the “beast” will receive power as kings one hour – indicating a short duration of reign or regime. Verse 13 says they will “make war with the lamb”. The “lamb” of course is the returning Jesus Christ, who will declare all kingdoms to be under His rule. That proclamation will undoubtedly anger nations, especially the 10-nation European Union, the final revival of the Holy Roman Empire.
The “Two-horned Beast”
Now continuing with verse 11:Rev 13:11 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. 12 And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. 13 And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,Here is another beast, this time coming out of the earth. This is obviously a religious “beast” because it appears like a lamb [or Christ, John 1:36], and spoke like a dragon [serpent Rev 12:9] meaning with apparent wisdom [Mat 10:16] and it performs miracle. This corresponds to the “little horn” of Daniel 7:8, 24 where the little horn subdued three kings[verse 8], that is, caused them to be plucked out [verse 24]. It appears here as a “beast”, because it has become a sovereign state on its own, when Vatican was established as city-state in 1929, by the so-called Lateran Treaty, signed by Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Gasparri, on behalf of Pope Pius XI and by Prime Minister and Head of Government Benito Mussolini on behalf of King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy. This makes Vatican the eighth head which is part of the seven [Rev 17:11]. It has two horns because it is both head of state and supreme leader of the Church at the same time.
Rev 13:14 And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.There is so far no known instance in history where a prominent religious leader had performed a clear miracle. This is clearly a yet unfulfilled prophecy.
Little horn persecuted God’s people
Now notice a prophecy that had affected God’s people:Dan 7:24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings. 25 And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.The time frame mentioned – “a time and times and the dividing of time” – is equivalent to three and a half years or forty two months [Rev 13:5], which as mentioned earlier was fulfilled beginning with the time when Justinian declared the primacy of the Papacy and Catholic faith which lasted until the incarceration of the Pope and seizure of his properties by Napoleon. During that period which lasted exactly 1260 years, this little horn made war against the “saints of the Most High” [Rev 13:7, Dan 7:21]. And he prevailed [Dan 7:21] and murdered many of God’s people [Rev 17:6]. This will obviously happen again to the remnant of God’s church in the near future.
God’s judgment against the woman and the beast
Now, this will be how God will execute judgment and punishment on this woman:Rev 17:16 And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. 17 For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.So the ten-nation beast combine will turn against the woman and destroy her. Her destruction and punishment is further described in Revelation 18. Of this judgment here’s what the Bible says:
Rev 19:1 And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God: 2 For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.Now, the beast and other kings of the earth will gather to fight Christ at the valley of Megiddo [Jezreel today]. This is despite the plagues that God had inflicted on them earlier [Revelation 16]. But Christ is coming to judge, to make war and to take over the kingdoms of this world [verses 11-21, Dan 2:44,Dan 7:27]. These rebellious humans will become food for the fowls of the air [verse 21]!
No comments:
Post a Comment