Revelation 17:8 The beast that thou sawest was , and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, ... 9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, ... 10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen , and one is , and the other is not yet come ; 11 And the beast that was , and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.
"The seven heads are seven mountains":
Mountains, when used as prophetic symbols, refer to kingdoms that try to compete with God's kingdom:
Jeremiah 51:24 And I will render to Babylon, and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil, that they have done in Sion, before your eyes, saith the Lord. 25 Behold I come against thee, thou destroying mountain, saith the Lord, which corruptest the whole earth: and I will stretch out my hand upon thee, and will roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain.
Isaiah 2:2 And in the last days the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be prepared on the top of [other] mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it.
"And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come, ... And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth":
So there are seven heads representing seven kingdoms or seven mountains, and yet, there are eight kings. Why is this so? Because the eighth king is the reincarnation of one of the former five kings that have already fallen: "The beast that thou sawest was , and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit". In other words, two of the eight kings are one and the same individual and therefore should be counted as one head only!
In my previous blog titled "Pergamum: the Throne of Satan" , I mentioned that Constantine XI, or the Antichrist, is the reincarnation of Nimrod. And when Constantine XI is resurrected, he will have Pergamum, or Babel, as the capital of his future empire, therefore reviving Nimrod's already fallen empire. Thus, Constantine XI and Nimrod rule the same mountain or kingdom, and are properly represented by just one head of the Beast.
But the Beast has six other heads, in addition to the head representing the kingdom of Babel. What do these other heads mean and why are they connected with the Antichrist? These six other heads represent six other kings who were possessed by the evil spirit of the Antichrist and who acted according to his will. They were not reincarnations of Nimrod, but since they allowed themselves to be controlled by his spirit, the Bible treated these kings as though they are one and the same as the Antichrist:
1 John 4:3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus, is not from God ; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.
1 John 2:18 Children, it is the last hour ; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared ; from this we know that it is the last hour.
When Constantine XI resurrects, the spirits of these six other kings will cohabit his immortal body; thus, a total of seven human souls will be present in the resurrected Antichrist. Yes, that is right, the Antichrist is not just one person! These souls will bring back with them all their bitter memories, and will compel the Antichrist to "complete the slaughter" which they all failed to accomplish during their lifetimes:
Century IX Q84
The King exposed will complete the slaughter,
After having discovered his origin:
Torrent to open the tomb of marble and lead,
Of a great Roman with 'Medusine' device.
Because the souls of the six other kings were joined with that of Nimrod a.k.a. Constantine XI, they get to share also the Antichrist' ulitimate destiny, that is, eternal damnation in the Lake of fire:
Revelation 19:20 And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image ; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone.
The First King: Nimrod
Genesis 10:8 Now Cush became the father of Nimrod ; he became a mighty one on the earth. 9 He was a mighty hunter before the LORD ; therefore it is said, "Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the LORD." 10 The beginning of his kingdom was Babel and Erech and Accad and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. 11 From that land he went forth into Assyria, and built Nineveh and Rehoboth-Ir and Calah, 12 and Resen between Nineveh and Calah ; that is the great city.
Nimrod was the first to rule an empire right after the Great Flood of Noah. The land of Shinar was the beginning of his kingdom, but we are told that afterwards, he went forth to build Nineveh and many other great cities, to become its first king; and this is right after the people of the world began speaking different tongues or languages:
Revelation 13:7 ... and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him.
The Second King: the Pharaoh of Egypt
The Pharaoh that confronted Moses was the first king to persecute and enslave Israel, the people of God. Furthermore, the Pharaoh and the Antichrist share the following two common destinies:
- Both their corpses were buried underneath the sea
- the resurrected Antichrist will suffer plagues similar to the ones given by God to Pharaoh
Revelation 16:1 Then I heard a loud voice from the temple, saying to the seven angels, "Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God." 2 So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth ; and it became a loathsome and malignant sore on the people who had the mark of the beast and who worshiped his image. 3 The second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and it became blood like that of a dead man ; and every living thing in the sea died. 4 Then the third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of waters ; and they became blood. 8 The fourth angel poured out his bowl upon the sun, and it was given to it to scorch men with fire. 9 Men were scorched with fierce heat ; and they blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues, and they did not repent so as to give Him glory. 10 Then the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom became darkened ; and they gnawed their tongues because of pain, 11 and they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores ; and they did not repent of their deeds.
The Third King: Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon
One of Daniel's prophecies connected with the coming Antichrist is his utter destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple sanctuary in the near future:
Daniel 9:26 ... the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary... even to the end there will be war ; desolations are determined.
King Nebuchadnezzar was the first to fulfill this nefarious role:
2 Kings 25:8 Now on the seventh day of the fifth month, which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. 9 He burned the house of the LORD, the king's house, and all the houses of Jerusalem ; even every great house he burned with fire. 10 So all the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard broke down the walls around Jerusalem.
King Nebuchadnezzar was also known for his idolatry:
Daniel 3:1 Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, the height of which was sixty cubits and its width six cubits ; he set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. 4 Then the herald loudly proclaimed : "To you the command is given, O peoples, nations and men of every language, 5 that at the moment you hear the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, trigon, psaltery, bagpipe and all kinds of music, you are to fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king has set up. 6 "But whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be cast into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire."
And just like King Nebuchadnezzar, the Antichrist will force everyone to worship his image under penalty of death to those who refuse:
Revelation 13:15 And it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed.
The Fourth King: Haman the Agagite
Esther 3:8 Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, "There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom ; their laws are different from those of all other people and they do not observe the king's laws, so it is not in the king's interest to let them remain. 9 "If it is pleasing to the king, let it be decreed that they be destroyed, and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who carry on the king's business, to put into the king's treasuries." 10 Then the king took his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews. 11 The king said to Haman, "The silver is yours, and the people also, to do with them as you please ." 13 Letters were sent by couriers to all the king's provinces to destroy, to kill and to annihilate all the Jews, both young and old, women and children, in one day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, and to seize their possessions as plunder.
By giving Haman his signet ring, King Ahasuerus of Persia gave Haman full authority to act in his behalf. Although not the King of Persia himself, Haman temporarily became such while the signet ring was in his possession. Haman used this kingly authority to try and destroy the Jews by passing a decree that would require all governors and princes in the kingdom to participate in the slaughter of Jews. During that time in Persia, any decree written and sealed with the King's signet ring cannot be revoked by anyone, not even by the King himself!
Esther 8:8 ... for a decree which is written in the name of the king and sealed with the king's signet ring may not be revoked.
Haman's muderous plot against the Jews was foiled by Queen Esther, King Ahasuerus' wife, who is herself a Jew. Just like Haman, the Antichrist will receive authority to make war with God's saints and overcome them. However, this will only be temporary:
Revelation 13:5 There was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies, and authority to act for forty-two months was given to him. 7 It was also given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him.
The Fifth King: Antiochus IV Epiphanes
Revelation 13:5 There was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies, ... 6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme His name and His tabernacle
...
Antiochus Epiphanes ruled the Seleucid Empire (an offshoot of Alexander the Great's Macedonian empire) from 175 BC until his death in 164 BC. He assumed divine epithets, which no other Hellenistic king had done, such as Theos Epiphanes ("God Manifest") and after his defeat of Egypt, Nikephoros ("Bearer of Victory"). Notable events during the reign of Antiochus IV include his near-conquest of Egypt and the rebellion of the Jewish Maccabees.
While Antiochus was busy in Egypt, a false rumor spread that he had been killed. The deposed High Priest Jason gathered a force of 1,000 soldiers and made a surprise attack on the city of Jerusalem. An official Antiochus appointed as High Priest, Menelaus, was forced to flee Jerusalem during a riot. On the King's return from Egypt in 167 BC enraged by his defeat, he attacked Jerusalem and restored Menelaus, then executed many Jews.
When these happenings were reported to the king, he thought that Judea was in revolt. Raging like a wild animal, he set out from Egypt and took Jerusalem by storm. He ordered his soldiers to cut down without mercy those whom they met and to slay those who took refuge in their houses. There was a massacre of young and old, a killing of women and children, a slaughter of virgins and infants. In the space of three days, eighty thousand were lost, forty thousand meeting a violent death, and the same number being sold into slavery. — 2 Maccabees 5:11-14
Not long after this the king sent an Athenian senator to force the Jews to abandon the customs of their ancestors and live no longer by the laws of God; also to profane the temple in Jerusalem and dedicate it to Olympian Zeus, and that on Mount Gerizim to Zeus the Hospitable, as the inhabitants of the place requested...They also brought into the temple things that were forbidden, so that the altar was covered with abominable offerings prohibited by the laws. A man could not keep the sabbath or celebrate the traditional feasts, nor even admit that he was a Jew. At the suggestion of the citizens of Ptolemais, a decree was issued ordering the neighboring Greek cities to act in the same way against the Jews: oblige them to partake of the sacrifices, and put to death those who would not consent to adopt the customs of the Greeks. It was obvious, therefore, that disaster impended. Thus, two women who were arrested for having circumcised their children were publicly paraded about the city with their babies hanging at their breasts and then thrown down from the top of the city wall. Others, who had assembled in nearby caves to observe the sabbath in secret, were betrayed and all burned to death. — 2 Maccabees 6:1-11
The Sixth King: Emperor Titus of Rome
Revelation 17:10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen , and one is ...
At the time when apostle John, the author of the Book of Revelation received his visions, the first five kings have already fallen, while the sixth was currently alive.
According to early tradition, the Book of Revelation was composed near the end of Domitian's reign, around the year 95. Those who are in favour of this date appeal to the earliest external testimony, that of the Christian father Irenaeus, who stated that he had received information relative to this book from those who had seen John face to face. Irenaeus writes, "For [John's vision] was seen no very long time since, but almost in our day, towards the end of Domitian's reign." Domitian, according to Eusebius of Caesarea, started the persecution referred to in the book. However, recent scholars dispute that the book is situated in a time of ongoing persecution and have also doubted the reality of a large-scale Domitian persecution, though there was a persecution of the Christians in Rome during Domitian's era.
I personally believe that John's visions were received instead towards the end of emperor Titus' reign in 81 AD. My reason for this is simple, Titus, while still a general of the Roman army in 70 AD, fulfilled one of the hallmarks of the Antichrist: his utter destruction of Jerusalem and its Holy Temple. The historian Josephus claims that 1,100,000 people were killed during the siege, of which a majority were Jewish, while 97,000 were captured.
The Seventh King: ?
Revelation 17:10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen , and one is , and the other is not yet come ...
At the time apostle John received the apocalyptic visions, the seventh king and his kingdom have not yet come. Which kingdom is this that is prophesied to appear after the Roman empire? I will discuss the identity of the seventh king and his kingdom in my next blog. For now, I can say that the seventh king is much different from the six kings who preceded him. For one, his war was against the Christians instead of the Jews. By identifying the seventh king correctly, one will also identify the prophesied Mark of the Beast as well as the Abomination of Desolation:
Revelation 13:16 And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, 17 and he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark ...
Matthew 24:15 "Therefore when you see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand ), 16 then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. 17 "Whoever is on the housetop must not go down to get the things out that are in his house. 18 "Whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak. 19 "But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days ! 20 "But pray that your flight will not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath. 21 "For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. 22 "Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved ; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.