The last thing we hear of the ‘dragon’ is that he is standing here, on the shore of the ‘sea’, the sea of nations.2 To achieve its goal, the ‘dragon’ hatches a stinking egg, for a ‘beast’ rises out of the sea. The ‘dragon’ himself has seven heads and ten horns,3 but no crowns on the heads. However, the ‘beast’ does have power, effective, crowned authority. The crowns indicate authority and might. This is also true of the Lamb, when He, as the Lion of Judah, takes world history in His hand, having seven horns.4 There is another difference: while the ‘dragon’ has crowns on its seven heads, the ‘beast’ has names of blasphemy on his seven heads. The ‘beast’ is sitting on a throne, reigning.5 The seven heads are seven kings and the ten horns are ten kings, who receive their authority from the ‘beast’.6 The ‘time of the end’ has come. For the last stage of the struggle between the Lord and His Anointed One and their Kingship, and the kingdom of Satan. The ‘beast’ was already mentioned as the ‘beast from the Abyss’ that conquered and killed the ‘two witnesses’.7 Satan’s power in Heaven, even the dragon’s presence in Heaven, is now past. Now it is all about the ‘power on earth’ – the battle for the dominion that God had in His mind to grant that to man at Creation.8 Mankind had fallen into Satan’s grips, into his clutches.9 A centuries-old struggle is approaching its climax. The first and last books of the Bible shake hands. We have come full-circle now. How does it end? Who will win? That has already been determined in advance, but that does not make the struggle less fierce; on the contrary, it is more intense.
Five of the seven kings had already fallen by the time in which John was living and writing. One was still alive, and the seventh had yet to appear.10 The seven kings in Revelation 17 appear to be seven kings, seven world powers. The ten horns are also ten powers, ten world powers however, whereas Daniel sees four world powers, in Nebuchadnezzar’s statue,11 as well as in the four beasts.12 Four powers, seven powers, ten powers – what are we to make of all this? We hope to discover more as we go along, but one thing is clear – the ‘beast’s earthly power is satanic power. It is full of blasphemy. The devil is the master of the ‘beast’, and ‘ruler over the world’ in which John is living. This was the same world in which the Lord Jesus was born and died – by the hands of Roman soldiers, executed by the power of Rome, embodied in Pontius Pilate – and rose from the dead. The world in which the faithful witnesses, Peter, James and Paul were killed, in which John was banned to the island of Patmos was ruled by the Roman Empire. Which four, seven, ten kingdoms are referred to here? We shall come back to this in chapter 17, as more explanation is given there. The ‘beast’ that now rises from the ‘sea’ is the apex, the top of the pyramid of previous Empires and it appears to unite everything from the previous kingdoms in itself. It is the last, horrible, terrifying and tremendously strong ‘beast’ that also has ten horns referred to in the Book of Daniel.13 It is the kingdom that will be destroyed by Christ Himself. Christ and His Kingdom is the stone that topples the statue in the Book of Daniel, and smashes the feet of iron and clay, and at that moment, at the same time, the whole statue is destroyed, every part crushed, simultaneously. Daniel 2:35 says “Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were crushed all at the same time and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them was found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth, so that His Kingdom fills the whole earth.”14 Christ is the Son of man, who receives everlasting authority from the Ancient of Days.15 When the time comes, this ultimate and final Empire of the ‘beast’ will be finished very quickly, suddenly.16 The Lord’s Kingship has already been proclaimed; Satan has been driven out of Heaven. Now the earth is next in line to follow.
• John observed ‘names of blasphemy’ on the beast’s heads. People who allow themselves to be worshipped as ‘gods’. It happened in the Roman Empire. Julius Caesar had his temple and his priest, and his image was carried around in processions together with other idol images.
• Although Caesar Augustus did not allow his deification and worshipping as a ‘god’ in Rome, it did happen in other parts of the Roman Empire. After his death, the first Emperor of the Roman Empire, Augustus, was declared to be a ‘god’ by the senate of Rome. Later his wife, Livia, and Emperors Claudius, Vespasian, Titus, Nerva, Caligula, Nero and Domitian (two terrible persecutors of Christians) had themselves worshipped as gods during their lifetime
• The cult of Roman Emperors, living and dead, became the State religion throughout the Empire, though it originated as a simple act of thankfulness for the peace and stability brought by Rome. Temples were erected in honour of Julius Caesar soon after his death (44 BC) and to Augustus in his lifetime, e.g. at Pergamum. This explains the reference to ‘Satan’s throne’ (Rev. 2: 13). The imperial cult became more and more a test of loyalty to the regime.
Bible References:
1.NIV 2.Revelation 17:15 3.Revelation 12:3 4.Revelation 5:6 5.Revelation 16:10a 6.Revelation 17:10, 12 7.Revelation 11:7 8.Genesis 1:28 9.Genesis 3 10.Revelation 17:10 11.Daniel 2:31-45 12.Daniel 7:1-8 13.Daniel 7:7 14.Daniel 2:34-35, 44-45 15.Daniel 7:13-14 16.Daniel 7:7-14
