The City on Seven Hills
By Pastor F. M. Riley
“And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth,” Revelation 17:9.
“And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth,” Revelation 17:18.
Introduction
What city was under consideration when John was inspired of God to write down the 17th chapter of the Book of Revelation in 96 A.D.?
What city will this be when it is finally destroyed in the coming Tribulation as prophesied in Revelation 17:16-17?
These are the questions that we are going to consider and attempt to answer in this study. This should be enlightening study for all of God’s people who are honest about wanting to know the whole truth set forth in God’s Word. We invite you to join us as we search the Scriptures and history for an answer which is in harmony with our text.1000 B.C.
According to the Encyclopedia Britannica the city of Rome, Italy was founded in approximately 1000 B.C. Because the original city was founded in the hills overlooking the present city of Rome, from antiquity it was known as the “seven hilled city of Rome.” This title description of the city of Rome has been passed down through the centuries and continues to be applied to the city of Rome even to this present time. Due to its antiquity I believe we would be safe in saying that Rome, Italy is “the original” city built on seven hills.
In 313 A.D. Constantine became the Roman Emperor, and almost immediately adopted “Christianity” as the official state religion of the Roman Empire. But his brand of “Christianity” [Sic!] was in reality a perverted mixture of Christianity and the ancient Babylonian religion founded by Nimrod and adopted by the Roman Empire. He then designated himself as the official father [“papa”] of the Holy Roman Catholic [universal]Church. This act of Constantine brought political Rome and religious Rome together under the leadership of one man; the Roman Emperor. Thus began a religio-political confederation in ancient Rome that has continued to exist to this very day. Over the next 300 years this confederation between church and state developed into the religious hierarchy known today as “Catholicism,” with its world headquarters in Rome, Italy, the city that sits on seven hills. From that seven hilled city the Roman “papa” [Pope] extended the religious influence and political power held by the Roman hierarchy throughout the nations of the world, in exact fulfillment of Revelation 17:1-2.
But contrary to some theologians claims and lack of serious study, Rome, Italy is not the only city on earth built on seven hills. Let’s look at the others…..700 B.C.
In 324 A.D. Constantine visited the city of Byzantium in Turkey.
Byzantium is an ancient city which was founded in approximately 700 B.C. This city is located at the exact dividing line between Europe and Asia. The original city of Byzantium was built in a nine square mile walled area and called “Stanboul.” Large portions of the ancient original walls are still standing today. Within that walled area are seven hills. Each of them are along a high ridge leading down to the ocean. Each of the hills has a flat summit with very steep slopes. The 7th hill is higher than the other six and sits in the southeast corner of the old city. This area is still visited by tourists today.
Constantine was so impressed with Byzantium, that he made it the capitol city of the eastern Roman Empire and changed the name of the city from Stanboul to “New Rome.” The major reason he named it “New Rome” was because it was a city originally built on seven hills just like Rome, Italy. In 330 A.D. Constantine renamed the city again. This time he named it “Constantinopolis” after himself. However, over a period of time the citizens dropped the suffix and simply called the city “Constantinople.” This city served as the eastern capitol of the Roman Empire, while Rome, Italy remained the western capitol of the Roman Empire. [Today this city is known as “Istanbul,” having reverted to its ancient name].
In 395 A.D. the Roman Empire split politically into western and eastern divisions. Constantinople, which was already an important trading center, took on new importance as the seat of government for the eastern half of the Roman Empire. From this time forward political Rome began to decline, ultimately leading to the collapse of the Roman Empire as a political entity.
When the Roman Empire began to break up, the Holy Roman “papa” claimed the right of succession, and assumed both political and religious power to act in behalf of the Holy Roman Empire. Through the centuries that followed the Popes exercised authority over Europe, and to some extent in Asia, in both religious and political matters. This situation continued until 1054 A.D.
In 1054 A.D. the eastern “church” rebelled against the edicts of the Roman Pope, and in 1056 chose their own “Patriarch” to lead them. While remaining fervently “Catholic,” they no longer gave their allegiance to the Pope in Rome. This group is known today as the Greek Orthodox or Eastern Orthodox Catholic Church.
Now there were two cities in the world sitting on seven hills, with both of them serving as headquarters for a branch of the ancient Babylonian religious system established by wicked old Nimrod after the flood.
But this is still not the full story…..
1000 A.D.At some point in time after the flood the families of Magog, Tubal, and Meschech [Genesis 10:2] crossed the Caucasus mountains, and settled in the area we know today as southern Russia.
For many centuries their principal cities were Tobolsk [named after Tubal] and Kiev. But, according to archeologists and historians, about 1000 A.D. a new community sprang up on the Moskva river, a tributary of the Oka river, and close to the upper Volga river. This new community was named Moscow, derived from the Moskva river which apparently had been name after one of the important early Russian settlers; Meschech. See Genesis 10:2. Because of its ideal location for trade by river, Moscow grew and became an important trading center. But as the city grew it was carefully planned and laid out by the leaders of the community. As a result Moscow is designed in a series of huge circles that sits on seven hills.
In 860 A.D. the Eastern Orthodox Catholic religion sent missionaries to establish Catholicism in the city of Kiev, Russia. For some six hundred years the Russian Catholic religion, headquartered in Kiev, spread their religion throughout parts of Europe and Asia, while giving their allegiance to the Greek Orthodox Patriarch in Constantinople. Then in 1328 A.D. the Metropolitan [head or leader] of the Russian Orthodox Catholic Church moved their headquarters from Kiev to the city of Moscow, where it is still headquartered today. In 1453 A.D. the Metropolitan of the Russian Orthodox Church disavowed any further allegiance to the Patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Church at Constantinople, and promoted himself to the office of Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Catholic Church. The Russian Orthodox Church, while remaining fervently “Catholic,” became totally independent of the other two branches of Catholicism. At the same time, the new Patriarch of the Russian church publicly declared Moscow, Russia to be “the third and last Rome.” He made this declaration because Moscow is a city built on seven hills.
So now there are three cities in the world built on seven hills, with each of them being the headquarters of one branch of the ancient Babylonian religious system. Is this all coincidence? Or, was some unseen power directing the building of all three of these cities? Think about it!
But this is still not the end of the story…..1972
Let’s fast forward to 1972. This is the year that the mayor of Jerusalem, Teddy Kollek, publicly stated that Jerusalem’s population had increased until the city now sits on seven hills. Indeed it does! This now makes four cities in the world that sit on seven hills, Jerusalem having only achieved that distinction as late in history as 1972.
However, it should be obvious to any honest reader that Jerusalem is not the world headquarters of a branch of the ancient Babylonian-Catholic religious system, nor has it ever been. Quite the contrary, Jerusalem since the days of King Solomon has been the one city in the whole earth that Almighty God has chosen to “set His name there.” See Deuteronomy 12:5; 12:11; 1 Kings 8:29, and many other similar passages. While it is true that Jerusalem was defiled in the past while under the dominion of some of the wicked kings of Judah, this doesn’t change the truth that God Himself has chosen this city for Himself. The Lord has purposed in His Word to return to Jerusalem and cleanse and purify that city from all of its past defilement. Jerusalem is the city set apart [sanctified]for the Lord Himself, from which He shall rule and reign over the nations of the earth in the ages to come. Such a truth is repeatedly stated by a multiplicity of prophetic Scripture passages in both the Old and New Testaments. Use your Bible and Concordance and look up these passages for yourself.
Therefore to claim that the city of Jerusalem is the “great whore” of Revelation 17 is ridiculous at best, and downright blasphemous at worst.Our Questions…..
In view of the fact that there are actually now four cities on earth which are built on seven hills, with three of them having a direct link to Rome, which of the four cities is under consideration in Revelation 17? Let’s see…..
Byzantium, Turkey…..There is no way this city built on seven hills could be the city the Lord inspired John to write about in Revelation 17, for although this city was established in 700 B.C., it did not come to any great prominence until it was made the capitol city of the eastern division of the Roman Empire. As far as being an “international” city “With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication….,” such has just never happened with this city in the past, and it is sure not likely to happen in the future. We can eliminate this city as a candidate to fulfill this prophecy.Moscow, Russia…..This city built on seven hills could certainly not be the city John wrote about, for it didn’t even come into existence until a thousand years after John wrote the prophecies of Revelation 17. Moscow has been a powerful city in the last two or three centuries, but has never been an “international” city committing [spiritual] whoredom with the kings of the earth. We can eliminate this city as a candidate to fulfill Revelation 17.
Jerusalem, Israel…..I haven’t the slightest idea how this city could fulfill the prophecies of Revelation 17, for it never became a city built on seven hills until 1972. That was some 1900 plus years after John was inspired to write the prophecy of Revelation 17. It is also true that this city has never at any time throughout history, “committed fornication” with the kings of the earth. So we can eliminate Jerusalem as a candidate to fulfill Revelation 17.
Back to Rome
Now let’s see…..what city on earth do we have left that has all the qualifications set forth in the inspired Word to fulfill Revelation 17? Why, my goodness, by this process of elimination we are right back at ROME, ITALY. How about that?
Folks, Rome, Italy was the city sitting on seven hills that was already in existence when John was given the prophecies of Revelation 17. It was Rome that was already exercising political and economic power over the whole known world when John wrote, and through bringing into existence the Roman whore religion, has indeed “committed fornication” with “the kings of the earth” from that time right down to the present day.
Rome, Italy is the city that turned away from the great and glorious gospel of Christ delivered to it by none other than the Apostle Paul himself as clearly recorded in the Book of Acts. Christian history tells us that thousands of Roman citizens turned to the Lord under the preaching of Paul. In spite of this, by the end of the second century apostasy was rampant in the ranks of the churches in Rome. When Constantine became Emperor those apostate Roman churches were ready and eager to make a “marriage” [an ecumenical alliance]with the previous established state religion of the Roman Empire. In the third century “Jezebel,” the old Babylonian whore, put on the garments of “Christianity” [Sic!] and has spent the last 1,700 years “professing” herself to be a “Christian” [Sic!]. The rest is history.
The Fulfillment
But Rome isn’t finished yet. “Jezebel” still has a role to play in gathering all of the false religions of the world back into her bosom and under her leadership, from whence they were scattered across the face of the earth at the Tower of Babel nearly 4,300 years ago. This will be fully accomplished early in the first half of the Tribulation, then the rest of the prophecies given in Revelation 17 will be fulfilled to the letter.
It is during the first half of the Tribulation that wicked only “Jezebel” will cast aside the garments of “Christianity” [Sic!] that she has been wearing as a disguise for the past 1,700 years and show her true nature; that of the old whore from Babylon. As she gathers back into her fold and embraces every false religion in the world, her and her “one-world religious system” [Revelation 2:20-23; 17:5] will viciously turn on all those who dare to receive the Lord as their Savior during the first half of the Tribulation [Revelation 7:9-17], and she will slaughter them from one end of the earth to the other, Revelation 6:9-11. This is why John saw her prophetically in Revelation 17:6 as being “drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.”
But notice that John also saw her demise. At the middle of the Trib the Antichrist will proclaim himself to be God [2 Thessalonians 2:4; Revelation 13:3-4], and therefore the only person on earth to be worshipped. When the old Roman whore objects to being deprived of the worship and adoration she has so long enjoyed, the ten kings being ruled over by the Antichrist will “hate the whore, and….make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire,” Revelation 17:16. Payday for Rome! Payday for “Jezebel!” The wages of sin have never changed, Romans 6:23.
ConclusionFolks, I have clearly demonstrated that there are four cities in this world that are built on seven hills. Everything I have written about these cities can be verified by reading the Encyclopedia Britannica. I would suggest that those who claim to be “Christians” do some serious study, and get their facts right and their “theology” in harmony with God’s Word before any further tirades against the city of the Great King, Psalm 48:1-2. You might start by reading Psalm 51:18, 68:29, 116:18-19, 122:1-9, 125:2, 128:5, 135:21, 137:5-6, 147:2, and 147:12-14. God is going to make Jerusalem a praise in the earth, whether some folks like it or not.
Further, the fulfillment of the Tribulationprophecies are staring humanity in the face right now. At any moment now our Lord is coming to rapture His people [true believers] to glory. The rapture will be immediately followed by “tribulation; the great one” [Revelation 2:22; 7:14] coming upon those left upon the earth. Folks, are you ready to face this? Are you saved, and know that you are going to be caught up to meet the Lord when He comes for His own? If so, praise the Lord!
Or…..are you filled with doubts and not sure at all of your salvation? If this is your case, then I urge you to seek the Lord today. Tomorrow may be too late! “…..behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation,” 2 Corinthians 6:2. Won’t you humble yourself before God, and call upon Him now for forgiveness of sin and salvation? “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved…..” If you need spiritual help, please contact me at once. I’ll do everything I know to do to help you find salvation and peace in the Lord. May God grant you grace is my prayer.<<<<<<< 0 >>>>>>>
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Last Call Gospel Ministry
Pastor F. M. Riley
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