The Beast’s Seven Heads

Revelation 17 tells us that in John’s time, the seven-headed Beast

Revelation 17:8 “…was, and is not [present], and shall ascend out of the Abyss and go to perdition… 9 The seven heads are seven mountains… 10 and are seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come. And when he comes, he must remain a short time.”

Jeremiah 51:24-26 and Daniel 2:34-35 tell us that – speaking prophetically – “mountains” may symbolize great kingdoms or empires:

Jeremiah 51:24 “And I will render unto Babylon, and unto all the inhabitants of Chaldea, all their evil they have done in Zion before your eyes,” says the LORD. 25 “Behold, I am against you, the mountain of the Destroyer,” says the LORD, “the one destroying all the earth. And I will stretch out My hand against you, and roll you down from the lofty crags, and will make you a burnt mountain. 26 And they shall not take from you a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations; but you shall be desolate for ever,” says the LORD.

Daniel 2:34 “You watched until that a stone was hewn out – that not by hands – which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. 35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were broken in pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors: and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them. And the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.”

Daniel 7:3 speaks of “four great beasts coming up from the sea.” Verse 17 tells us, “Those great beasts…are four kings.” Verse 23 tells us, “The fourth beast shall be a fourth kingdom on earth…” Therefore – speaking prophetically – “beasts” and “kings” may symbolize powerful spirits that rule over kingdoms or empires on earth. For example, Daniel 11 describes how two spirit-kings, the King of the North and the King of the South, were able to serially possess, or at least control, long lines of human kings throughout the duration of their kingdoms.

Clearly, then, the seven mountains/kings/Beast’s heads of Revelation 17 symbolize powerful spirits that rule over, and are personified in, earthly empires. Thus the “one is,” in John’s day, was the spiritual ruler of the Roman Empire. The ‘fallen five’ were the spirits of the earlier empires that had oppressed God’s people: the spirits of Egypt, Assyria, Chaldeo-Babylon, Medo-Persia, and Greece. The seventh spirit, who will bear rule for only “a short time” (Rev. 17:10), is yet to achieve a comparable dominion. Unless, as some believe, it has been personified in the Anglo-American hegemony, now fading away.

Revelation 17 tells us that these seven heads belong to a single great Beast. Therefore, it is evident that THE BEAST ITSELF MUST BE AN EVEN GREATER SPIRIT THAN THEY. It is the embodiment of all of them:

Revelation 17:11 “The Beast that was, and is not [present], he is also an eighth [spirit-king], and is ek/out of/from the seven, [:8 and will ascend out of the Abyss,] and is going to perdition.”

The prophecies of Daniel and Revelation give us an understanding of the two primary opposing earthly rulerships. Currently, Jesus is in heaven, yet He has “seven spirits of God having been sent forth into all the earth.” Rev. 5:6 The Beast is currently in the Abyss, yet he has seven of his own spirits in the earth. But soon, Jesus will descend from heaven to reign on earth, even as the Beast will ascend from the Abyss to likewise reign on earth. The final conflict between these two rulers will take place at the 7th Bowl judgment, being the Battle of Armageddon.

(Satan has his own seven heads (Rev. 12:3), which are dominions of the spiritual realm: religions and ideologies. But this series of articles is solely focused upon the earthly, carnal, governmental dominions of the Beast.)

Index and summaries of all articles is here:

https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/1403-index-and-summaries-of-articles/