Revelation 17:7 - 18

The Meaning of the Woman and the Beast

7 But the angel said to me, “Why did you marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns. 8 The beast that you saw was, and is not, and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition. And those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.

9 “Here is the mind which has wisdom: The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits. 10 There are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come. And when he comes, he must continue a short time. 11 The beast that was, and is not, is himself also the eighth, and is of the seven, and is going to perdition.

12 “The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority for one hour as kings with the beast. 13 These are of one mind, and they will give their power and authority to the beast. 14 These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful.”

15 Then he said to me, “The waters which you saw, where the harlot sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues. 16 And the ten horns which you saw on the beast, these will hate the harlot, make her desolate and naked, eat her flesh and burn her with fire. 17 For God has put it into their hearts to fulfill His purpose, to be of one mind, and to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled. 18 And the woman whom you saw is that great city which reigns over the kings of the earth.”

Not only was John amazed at the horror which was coming from the Roman-Catholic empire, but somewhat puzzled as well over the vision, he had just seen, remember all of this except the Roman empire was in the future, and a few hundred years of the beast, the Roman empire had not happened yet before the joining of the Roman empire to the Catholic church to become a church-state.

The angel is going to help John understand the vision, and us as well because he will explain the symbols so that a student of the Bible and history will have no doubt about what is seen here.

The scarlet beast refers to the Roman empire before the time of Constantine, who confessed to accepting Christianity, it was at that time no longer pagan because that would be opposite of what Constantine claimed to believe.

“Was, is not, will ascend,” refers to the time before Constantine and then all of the way to the judgment day.

Pagan Rome did exist, and then ceased to exist when Constantine became a Christian. Because wicked people who made up Pagan Rome were evil they were sent to Hades, the waiting place for the evil, here referred to as the “bottomless pit,” but that is not the end for them, they will ascend from the pit to meet their final sentence and then be placed in the “Lake of Fire” which is what perdition refers to.

Those who were not faithful to Christ were fooled by the Roman-Catholic empire. The pagan Rome ceased to exist, but the papal Roman-Catholic empire retained so much of the doctrines and wicked practices of the pagan empire that the papal empire was really the pagan empire in disguise.

Those who believe in the truth of the scripture have no reason to be amazed by the conditions in Rome as Paul had prophesied those happenings in 2 Thessalonians 2.

Verse 9 simply uses the geographical features of Rome to identify her here, the seven mountains mean the seven hills upon Rome sits.

The woman sits on them also because the Catholic church-state depended on the government and military might of the Roman empire to have the control of so many which were subjected to her.

Since the ten horns represents the ten kings or kingdoms which were subject to the Roman-Catholic empire, these seven kings must have some other meaning.

The Roman empire often had leaders history has shown who were always competing for power, murder, betrayal, and coups were not rare, this verse shows seven individuals who are and have competed in Rome to be the leader.

The beast is listed as number eight among the ones vying for power in Rome and would be considered as part of the entire organization which is condemned to the lake of perdition or Fire.

The ten kings of verse 12 indicate the 10 kingdoms which are subject to the rule of the Roman-Catholic empire. This verse tells us the kingdoms will be subject to the Roman-Catholic empire until the time it collapses and then they shall have the type of government desired by the people of the country. These kingdoms were subject to pagan Rome but now are being controlled by the papal church-state.

Verse 13 indicates that as long as the Bible is withheld from the people these kingdoms will not know any better and will give their allegiance to the scarlet beast, the Roman-Catholic empire.

Verse 14 tells us these ten kings or kingdoms which were giving their allegiance to the Roman-Catholic empire were blinded because they did not have the word of God to direct them so the Roman-Catholic church-state led them to fight against Christ and his true followers.

When the Reformation gives the Bible back to the people in their own language then the lamb, Christ overcomes them.

Christ is the of lords places Him above all other rulers, being King of kings means He is greater than the ten kings who fought against Him.

The Lamb subdues them through the word of God and since the true church is controlled by the word and the army of the Lord's is the church who are chosen by Him because they are faithful to Him.

The angel explains the water which the great harlot sits on are all the different nations and peoples of the Roman-Catholic empire.

The ten horns represent the kings or kingdoms which we discussed in chapter 13, England, Germany, Italy, France, Holland, Belgium, Austria, Switzerland, Portugal and Spain.

When these kings and kingdoms eyes are opened by the restoration of the Bible to the people of the Roman-Catholic empire, they all understand the deception which has been put forth by the harlot, the Roman-Catholic church, and yes they can feel only hatred for her.

When their eyes are open the rest of the verse symbolically represents the actions the kings and kingdoms will take toward the Roman-Catholic church.

God does not force people to do what is wrong, He allows them to do what they desire, He is allowing these kingdoms to continue following the commands of the beast and giving their kingdoms to the beast until all of the predictions have been fulfilled and their eyes are opened by the work of the Reformation.When their eyes are open the rest of the verse symbolically represents the actions the kings and kingdoms will take toward the Roman-Catholic church.

Since the Reformation has not yet happened, this verse continues to refer to the union of church-state which is the harlot riding the power of the beast, or in other words, the Catholic church using the government and military powers of the Roman empire.