Randy Larson (23 Jan 2008)
"SEVEN HEADS"
It seems to be logical to read Revelation 17:9 and begin looking for seven literal, physical mountains; big, rocky, piles of earth that might be the seven mountains spoken of. Is that a correct tactic for understanding the passage? The verse says that the seven heads represent seven mountains on which the woman sits. Are the seven heads the figurative image, and seven mountains the literal interpretation of that image? Why do I even ask the question?Is the woman in the image riding on the seven heads of the beast? If the seven mountains that the woman sits on are literal mountains, then don’t we have the thinking, leading, governing part of the beast being seven literal mountains of earth? Wouldn’t that mean that this great beast is being led by seven piles of dirt? It is clearly stated that the woman rides a beast with seven heads. That image should be clear in everyone’s mind. John also gives supplemental imagery to help us see more specifically what is being portrayed. We are told that the woman sits “upon many waters” (v1) and that the seven heads of the beast are “seven mountain”.
Revelation 17:15 says that the waters where the whore sits “are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.” I thought she was sitting on a beast? That’s what verse three tells us. There is no picture of the beast standing in the waters. Is it possible that the “beast” and the “waters” are two different images for where she sits? Perhaps Revelation 13:1 is the connecting link. In that verse, a beast having the same seven heads (and also ten horns) rises out of the sea (waters). Looks like the whore sits on a beast that came out of the sea, and that beast has seven heads. Did any literal seven mountains (either Rome or Jerusalem) come out of the sea, the sea which represents “peoples, and multitudes, and nations and tongues”? Don’t think so. But, since the seven heads came out of the sea as part of the beast which came out of the sea, and the sea represents “peoples, and multitudes, and nations and tongues”, don’t the seven heads also have to represent some part of what the beast represents? Is there a way to see that?
We’re speaking of prophecy. Revelation is a book of prophecy. When God speaks to us prophetically, He uses prophetic imagery, and He is consistent in that imagery. Ezekiel has a prophecy presented as two riddles. We find it in chapter seventeen. In this prophecy, God uses the image of mountains. He says that He will take a twig and plant it in a high mountain, a mountain as high as Israel. Here’s the text.
“Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will also take of the highest branch of the high cedar, and will set it; I will crop off from the top of his young twigs a tender one, and will plant it upon an high mountain and eminent: In the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it: and it shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar: and under it shall dwell all fowl of every wing; in the shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell.”
(Ezekiel 17:22-23) I live in Utah, and what Israel has as mountains do compare to what we have here. I guess there is Mt Hermon, but if I were going to speak of something being physically high, I wouldn’t consider Israel’s mountains for making my point. Besides that, God says that Israel IS the mountain He is using for His comparison. In Ezekiel’s prophecy, God is speaking of a prominent kingdom into which He was going to plant a descendant of the kings of Israel. Here “mountain” meant “kingdom”. Then there is the prophecy in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of Daniel chapter two.
“Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; 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 2:35) “And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.” (Daniel 2:44) Here again “mountain” is an image of a “kingdom”. Now when we come to Revelation, we read: “And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.” (Revelation 17:9) The woman sits on/in seven kingdoms. If the beast came up from the “peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues” so did its heads, and those heads drive the beast, which is in turn driven by the woman. I look for the seven heads to be seven political entities driven by an entity which is at its core, an apostate church.Some will think that I mean the Roman Catholic Church, but that’s too obvious. Like Antiochus Ephiphanes IV, she is but a visible precursor. The real whore of Babylon is in the background as yet, pulling the strings that guide the beast, just like she has done since the inception of the Babylonian combine.
Hi:> > I look for the seven heads to be seven political entities driven by an entity which is at its core, an apostate church.I can help you expand that. The setting of Rev. 17 is the time of the Pre-Trib Rapture. Verse 14 says of Jesus, "he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that ARE WITH HIM are called, and chosen, and faithful." Verse 12 says, "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."Keep in mind that Satan will be cast into the Earth Mid-Trib. Rev. 12:9 says, "And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out INTO THE EARTH, and his angels were cast out with him." Satan will come right back up out of the Earth and go into the False Prophet Mid-Trib.Now, lets look at Rev. 17:7-11. It says, "I will tell thee the mystery of the woman (a religious group, the Mystery Religion of Babylon), and of the beast (Satan, the great red dragon of Rev. 12:3) that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns (i.e., 10 kings). The beast that thou sawest (Satan) was (in Judas Iscariot), and is not (in man now); and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit (Mid-Trib), and go into perdition (the 2nd son of perdition, the False Prophet): 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 (in Judas Iscariot), and is not (in man now), and yet is (exists). And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains (kingdoms), on which the woman (the Mystery Religion of Babylon) sitteth. And there are seven kings: FIVE ARE FALLEN, AND ONE IS, and the other (the False Prophet) is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space (the shortened Great Tribulation). And the beast (Satan) that was, and is not, even he is the eighth (the tail of the great red dragon), and is of the seven (controls the 7), and goeth into perdition (the Satan-possessed False Prophet)."Five kingdoms upon which the Mystery Religion of Babylon rides have fallen:(1) Tower of Babel, where Nimrod, Semiramis and their son Tammuz started the Mystery Religion that rides on all 7 kingdoms(2) Babylon II(3) Media Persia(4) Greece(5) Imperial RomeOne kingdom IS at the time of the first Rapture:(6) Ecclesiastical Rome, headed up by the PopeOne kingdom is yet to come:(7) Babylon III, to be headed up by the False ProphetRev 13:1,2 says, "I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea (nations and people), having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and UPON HIS HEADS (all 7) THE NAME OF BLASPHEMY (Pontifex Maximus, the high priest, a title that only belongs to Christ). And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard (Greece, Dan. 7:6), and his feet were as the feet of a bear (Media Persia, Dan. 7:5), and his mouth as the mouth of a lion (Babylon, Dan. 7:4): and the dragon (Satan) gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority."The first Rapture comes before the Tribulation. The second Rapture comes at the end of the shortened Tribulation. Rev. 18:3-5 says, "all nations (i.e., the UN) have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication (joining together with pagan religions), and the kings of the earth have committed fornication (joined) with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. And I heard another voice from heaven (at the 2nd Rapture), saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities."She will be destroyed when the asteroids of Rev. 8:8-11 impact Earth. Rev. 18:21 says, "And a mighty angel took up a stone (Satan's asteroid Wormwood) like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon (the literal city in Iraq) be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all."Isa 22:16-19 says, "What hast thou here? (Babylon) and whom hast thou here (the Satan-possessed False Prophet), that thou hast hewed thee out a sepulchre here, as he (Satan) that heweth him out a sepulchre on high, and that graveth an habitation for himself in a rock? (Wormwood) Behold, the LORD will carry thee away with a mighty captivity, and will surely cover thee. He will surely violently turn and TOSS THEE LIKE A BALL into a large country (not tiny Israel): there shalt thou die, and there the chariots of thy glory shall be the shame of thy lord's house. And I will drive thee from thy station, and from thy state shall he pull thee down."The "chariots of thy glory" are Satan's planet Rahab that split and became our Asteroid Belt and the asteroid Wormwood.Psalm 89:10 says, "Thou hast broken Rahab in pieces, as one that is slain; thou hast scattered thine enemies with thy strong arm."Isa. 51:9 says, "Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD (i.e., the Pre-incarnate Christ); awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Art thou not it that hath cut (split) Rahab, and wounded the dragon (Satan)?"