That Hideous Beast

INTRODUCTION:

We’re are jumping back into our study of the book of Revelation. This is an incredibly timely and insightful book written by John, a disciple of Jesus.

There are many people who disagree on their interpretation of this great book but John’s overarching purpose was to describe the religious and political landscape of the earth prior to the second coming of Jesus Christ.

Last time we were together we began looking at Revelation 17. It’s one of the craziest and most difficult chapters in the book of Revelation to interpret.

In this chapter John sees a woman and he knows this woman is a harlot.

He knows this not because of the way she’s dressed or the way she acts. He know she’s a harlot because she has the words “Mother of harlots” on her forehead.

Last time we looked at this Harlot and learned she represents a city that epitomizes false religion and spiritual adultery. The use of the word harlotry is to convey idolatry.

She is portrayed as a violent and murderous, guilty for shedding the blood of God’s people (saints.) She is a source of great religious seduction and lures many of the earth’s inhabitants to join its false system of worship in opposition to the Lord.

Finally, this city is wrapped up in some kind of political association because the kings of the earth commit adultery with her and she rides on the top of this scarlet beast who is associated with the final end-times antichrist government.

Don’t Marvel

Revelation 17:6 closes with the phrase,

Revelation 17:6 (CSB)

6 ...When I saw her, I was greatly astonished.

That word translated “astonished” is sometimes translated “marvel.” It means to see something and not really fully understand what you’re looking at.

Even though you can’t fully understand it you can’t stop looking at it because it’s so compelling (i.e. Moses & burning bush.)

Whatever this city is, wherever it’s located - it acts as a center for financial and religious corruption that begins in the Middle East and radiates out to the whole world.

Obviously this peaks your interests and raises all kinds of questions.

Thankfully, our passage today opens with an angel coming up to John saying, “you don’t have to marvel any more. I’m going to show you what this vision means…”

Revelation 17:7–8 (CSB)

7 Then the angel said to me, “Why are you astonished? I will explain to you the mystery of the woman and of the beast, with the seven heads and the ten horns, that carries her. 8 The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to come up from the abyss and go to destruction. Those who live on the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will be astonished when they see the beast that was, and is not, and is to come.

It’s interesting that John says he’s going to unravel mystery of the woman but instead he talks exclusively about the beast. Why? Can’t understand the woman without understanding the beast.

What does the beast represent?

What does it mean that he has seven heads and ten horns?

Answers to these questions are critical if we want to answer “Who’s that Lady?”

Thankfully, we’ve met this beast before in Revelation 13. It’s easy to get lost because of the images and the symbolism and the heard to understand prose but if you go back a few chapters you know who this beast is and what he’s all about.

The beast is an evil end-times empire that is headed up by a figure known as the antichrist.

Understanding The Beast?

Remember, John’s purpose in Revelation is to describe the political and religious landscape leading up to the arrival of the Lord Jesus on the earth.

You might think of this woman and this beast as his way of doing that. The beast represents a kind of government or administration that wants to thwarts God’s plans and crush God’s people.

Who Was & Is Not

To begin, notice John’s description of this beast is a play on how he often describes God: who was, who is and who is to come.The difference is with the beast he was and IS NOT.

The idea is that the beast is inferior to God in that he’s always having to be reborn or rebuilt.

Some suggest that John’s phrase, “who was, is not but will come again...” means that this antichrist and accompanying government existed in the past - are not an immediate threat in the present - but will soon be made manifest in the days to come.

That’s certainly a possibility and a straight forward reading of this text.

From the Abyss

Putting questions of who, what and when aside - the birthplace of this evil is NOT in question.

John says this beast comes “from the abyss.”

We saw this earlier in Revelation. (Rev 9:1-2, 11; 11:7)

The idea is that this politician and his politics are from the pit of hell. God hating, antisemitic, antichristian, murderous and authoritarian.

Deceiving Many

Notice that he also says that those who do NOT belong to Christ are going to be swept up in this movement and will submit themselves to the beast.

So the third feature of this beast is that he deceives many.

The Bible repeatedly warns of a global delusion and fleshly carnality that will infect even the Church during the last days. (even the elect - if possible - would be deceived)

Seven Mountains

So what is this empire? Who is this antichrist leader? How long do we have to wait for this empire to manifest itself? (1,000 days or 1,000 years?)

These are all good questions. John doesn’t answer them in particular. But he does suggest we can look to antichrist empires of the past to get an idea.

Revelation 17:9–11 (CSB)

9 This calls for a mind that has wisdom.

“The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated. They are also seven kings: 10 Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come, and when he comes, he must remain for only a little while. 11 The beast that was and is not, is itself an eighth king, but it belongs to the seven and is going to destruction.

Well that’s clear as mud!

As you might imagine, a passage like this has ALL SORTS of different interpretations. We don’t have time to explore them all.

Mountains = Authority

The Bible often uses the term mountain to suggest governing authority or political power.

The fact that John modifies these seven mountains with the phrase “they are also seven kings” adds weight to the idea that these mountains are representative of past empires.

The past belongs to five fallen kings. The present belongs to a king currently ruling and the seventh and final empire is coming soon. That’s the gist of it.

So the Heads/Mountains of this vision represent the past, present and future expressions of the beast and his empire.

Now that weh ave our basic terms defined, we need to spend a little bit of time exploring these seven mountains and John’s statement that five have fallen, one IS and one is yet to be.

What does that mean? As you might imagine, people disagree!

Understanding The Beast

There’s pretty well a consensus that the sixth head of the beast (the king that is) is the Roman empire.

The disagreement is over which kings/kingdoms come before and what we are to make of this seventh/eighth king who belongs to the seven and is one with the antichrist.

The preterist interpretation by and large sees this as a reference to the Roman empire.

Rome sat on seven different mountains and so the kings refer to seven different Roman emperors. And the antichrist was Nero (or others say Vespasian or others Papal Rome)

To me, that interpretation feels a little forced and plays loose with the history of Roman emperors.

Certain idealists suggest that the seven mountains speak more broadly to the idea of evil empires in general.

The five fallen kings represent the totality of those empires in the past.

The sixth represents the current godless empire (Rome for John, ? for us?).

The seventh the one that will become manifest in the days leading up to Jesus’ return.

Futurist Interpretation

Many futurist try and isolate the particular kings/kingdoms from the past that make up the five and then speculate on who the sixth/seventh might become in the future.

These kingdoms represent pagan empires that ruthlessly persecuted God’s people and tried to steal God’s glory for themselves.

Here is a list of the first six (generally agreed upon by most futurist interpreters).

Egyptian Empire

Assyrian Empire

Babylonian Empire

Medo-Persia Empire

Grecian Empire

Roman Empire

Many of you may be familiar with OT stories of how Egypt enslaved God’s people and then chased them into the dessert for extermination.

There are also OT stories about how Assyria under Sennacherib attacked and carried into exile the ten northern tribes of Israel.

The book of Daniel is all about the Babylonian captivity and the ruthless persecution of God’s people under Nebuchadnezzar who attacked the southern kingdom of Judah, destroying Jerusalem and carrying the nation of Israel into exile.

The book of Esther records the fourth great pagan empire: Medo-Persia. It speaks of Haman and his devilish plot to exterminate the Jewish people.

After Medo-Persia came the Greek empire. Alexander the Great conquered the whole of the Middle East and after his death his empire was split apart.

Out of that split eventually came, Antiochus Epiphanes IV (King over Seleucid Empire) who waged a horrific assault against the people of God. Details of that plight are recorded in Jewish history books like 1 & 2 Maccabees but he’s mentioned indirectly in Daniel’s prophecy as a type of Antichrist.

Finally came the Roman empire (the one ruling in John’s day). Their oppression of the Jewish/Christian people is well documented (crucifying Jesus the greatest example!). Under Roman Emperor Titus the Jewish temple was destroyed and the citizens of Jerusalem exiled.

Who is the Seventh?

So that gets us from head 1 all the way down to head six. But what about the seventh head?

Many suggest this will be a revived Roman empire (one led by the Antichrist.) Others suggest an Islamic empire that will be revived in the last days.

Whatever it is, my opinion is that the actions of this empire are going to be geographically centered in the middle east just like all of these other empires were.

You might be asking, where in the world does this view come up with all of these empires? The answer is the book of Daniel.

If we go back to Daniel’s prophecy we see some unavoidable parallels with Revelation 17 .

The Statue of Daniel 2

In Daniel 2 King Nebuchadnezzar has a dream of a big statue. Here is Daniel’s interpretation. Daniel 2:36-42

Daniel 2:36–42 (CSB)

36 “This was the dream; now we will tell the king its interpretation. 37 Your Majesty, you are king of kings. The God of the heavens has given you sovereignty, power, strength, and glory. 38 Wherever people live—or wild animals, or birds of the sky—he has handed them over to you and made you ruler over them all. You are the head of gold.

39 “After you, there will arise another kingdom, inferior to yours, and then another, a third kingdom, of bronze, which will rule the whole earth. 40 A fourth kingdom will be as strong as iron; for iron crushes and shatters everything, and like iron that smashes, it will crush and smash all the others. 41 You saw the feet and toes, partly of a potter’s fired clay and partly of iron—it will be a divided kingdom, though some of the strength of iron will be in it. You saw the iron mixed with clay, 42 and that the toes of the feet were partly iron and partly fired clay—part of the kingdom will be strong, and part will be brittle.

Chart: Daniel 2 Generic:

So you’ve got statue right? The head is Babylon. The Chest & Arms represent a kingdom that follows in the place of Babylon (Medo-Persia Empire). The Belly& Thighs resemble the next kingdom that rules over that area (Greece).

But then there’s mysterious fourth kingdom that’s got iron and clay mixed together. The iron smashes and destroys everything it comes into contact with.

The toes of the statue represent a divided kingdom: part iron and part clay, part brittle and part strong.

Most agree that the Chest is Medo-Persia and the Belly/Thighs is Greece. But there’s disagreement on the fourth.

Some say it’s the Roman empire and the Roman empire DID take the area of historical Babylon for themselves. But they didn’t utterly smash it to pieces like this dream suggests.

That wasn’t done until later on by a religious/political movement known as the Islamic Caliphate.

CHART - MAPS -

So historically and geographically the Islamic Caliphate empire fits best. They, better than Rome, dominated the geographical regions covered by the Babylonian, Medo-Persian and Greecian empires!

The Beast of Daniel 7

You see the same dynamic in Daniel 7. It’s almost a repeat of Daniel 2 except instead of statue there’s a vision of four different beasts.

The first was a Lion with eagles wings and human mind: Babylon. (Dan 7:4)

The second was a bear with 3 ribs in its mouth who gouged on flesh. Medo-Persia. (Dan 7:5)

The third was a leopard with four wings and four heads: Greece. (Dan 7:6)

The leopard represents the Grecian Empire, the bear represents the Medo-Persian Empire, and the lion represents the Babylonian Empire.

Here’s the crazy part. Right after Daniel defines the first three beasts he describes a fourth.

Daniel 7:7

7 “After this, while I was watching in the night visions, suddenly a fourth beast appeared, frightening and dreadful, and incredibly strong, with large iron teeth. It devoured and crushed, and it trampled with its feet whatever was left. It was different from all the beasts before it, and it had ten horns.

So this fourth beast in Daniel 7 is similar to the fourth kingdom in Daniel 2.

Both are described using the symbol of iron.

Both swallow up the lands of the kingdoms before them (plus more.)

And both play on the number 10 (10 toes, 10 horns)

The Beast of Revelation 13

Given that John is steeped in this OT prophecy, is it any surprise that he defines this final end-times empire as a conglomeration of Daniel’s first three beasts and the fulfillment of the fourth?

Revelation 13:1–2 (CSB)

1 And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads. On its horns were ten crowns, and on its heads were blasphemous names. 2 The beast I saw was like a leopard, its feet were like a bear’s, and its mouth was like a lion’s mouth. The dragon gave the beast his power, his throne, and great authority.

Daniel is showing us that whatever, whenever and wherever this final empire is, it’s going to act in ways that are SIMILAR to its predecessors.

It’s going to rule over the same geographical areas and have the same social and political goals. Namely, to thwart God’s plans and crush God’s people.

Will it be European? Revived Roman? Islamic? Something else? Let the people debate!

Historically, the only empire that fits this description RIGHT NOW would be some kind of revived Islamic Caliphate.

It would have to unite what today includes Iraq, Iran, the Balkans, Turkey and Syria (all previously controlled by the kingdoms mentioned earlier)

Islamic Antichrist

If you look historically AFTER the fall of Rome it WAS an Islamic empire that conquered that whole region. For that reason, an Islamic empire DOES fit John’s description the seventh head.

And a revived Islamic Caliphate would fit what John describes as an “eighth head” that belongs to the seven.

Now there are others who take the idea of an Islamic antichrist and develop it much further than what I have time to do today. (See Joel Richardson)

It’s possible it’s NOT a revived Islamic caliphate but that it’s a different type of kingdom that arises in that same geographical region at some later point in our future.

It’s also possible John is being more symbolic and it’s just a generic reference to some future kingdom in general.

The main point is - this empire is going to act in ways that are similar to it’s predecessors. The five fallen kings were just types and shadows of this final expression of evil power that is coming into the world.

The Harlot Destroyed

Now that we have a basic idea of where the different views land - lets finish our passage and see how this beast destroys the woman sitting on top of her.

In verses 12-13 we see these ten additional kings share their power with beast so they can rule with him.

Revelation 17:12–13

12 The ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but they will receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour. 13 These have one purpose, and they give their power and authority to the beast.

Here we see in summary form what we’ve seen before in the book of Revelation.

This antichrist and his false religion have persuaded other kings and nations to join him in his war against the TRUE Christ and his people on the earth.

Their power is immense, their coalition seemingly invincible.

The Little Horn

Interestingly, in Daniel’s prophecy these 10 kings are portrayed as ten horns but three of the horns are uprooted by a “little horn.” Many commentators believe this “little horn” is a reference to the Antichrist.

Daniel 7:8 (CSB)

8 “While I was considering the horns, suddenly another horn, a little one, came up among them, and three of the first horns were uprooted before it. And suddenly in this horn there were eyes like the eyes of a human and a mouth that was speaking arrogantly.

Those from the futurist camp suggest that this “little horn” is the “eighth head” mentioned by John earlier who is “of the seven” and “one with the beast.”

In other words, this is the Antichrist who will leverage this end times empire and this end times false religion to persuade a coalition of Middle Eastern nations to wage war against Christ and his people.

As you might imagine, those plans don’t work out.

Revelation 17:14 (CSB)

14 These will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will conquer them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings. Those with him are called, chosen, and faithful.”

In his arrogance the Antichrist believes that he can triumph over Christ and his people but instead he is utterly defeated.

Mark it down: in the cosmic battle between good and evil Jesus Christ and his people will win.

Christ and Christ alone is the true king of kings and Lord of Lords.

I believe this battle is the same one mentioned at the end of the bowl judgments: the battle of Armageddon.

As you see at the end of verse 14 we are going to be with the Lord Jesus when he comes back and defeats these fools once and for all. (whether pre-mid-or post we are with him in the end!)

The Harlot Destroyed

After describing this beast the angel closes his explanation to Daniel by detailing how the beast eventually is used by God to destroy the Harlot Babylon.

Revelation 17:15–17 (CSB)

15 He also said to me, “The waters you saw, where the prostitute was seated, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and languages. 16 The ten horns you saw, and the beast, will hate the prostitute. They will make her desolate and naked, devour her flesh, and burn her up with fire. 17 For God has put it into their hearts to carry out his plan by having one purpose and to give their kingdom to the beast until the words of God are fulfilled.

Isn’t that interesting?

Revelation 17 opens with the Harlot Babylon and the Beast in cahoots.

They are both children of the devil (the dragon)

They are both haters of God and persecutors of the saints. (Rev 13:7; 17:6)

They both committed to sinful lifestyles and idolatrous worship.

In the beginning there is a partnership between this end-times antichrist empire and this end-time city of sex, money and power. They have a symbiotic relationship for crushing the saints and amassing political power.

But in this partnership between Beast & Harlot, God uses one to DESTROY the other.

Satan’s end is ALWAYS destruction. There is not loyalty. No faithfulness. No true partnership. Only destruction.

What promised to give pleasure and wealth and prosperity was left barren, naked and destroyed.

Again - we don’t know exactly who this woman is or what city she represents. (Some have suggested Mecca/Saudi Arabia or revived Babylon)

But suffice it to say her fall will be epic and she’s going to bring down much of the rest of the world WITH HER. (certainly the fall of the Saudi’s would upend world trade today!)

All because of a satanically inspired antichrist who fulfills God’s purpose to usher in the return of the King.

Application:

As we close out our time I want leave you with two points of application. This passage teaches us a central truth about God and a central truth about sin and Satan.

TRUTH ONE: God is sovereign and we are safe. Even in your darkest hour God is in control. He is working out his plan even when it feels like the world is falling apart.

Our world IS falling apart in so many ways. But it’s not falling apart in a way that is outside the sovereign control of almighty God.

God is faithful! The response we should make to a faithful God is to TRUST HIM. Don’t just trust him with the easy times trust him in the valley low.

Why? Because you know how the story ends. Did you pick up on that last line in Revelation 17:14?

Revelation 17:14 (CSB)

14 These will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will conquer them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings. Those with him are called, chosen, and faithful.”

I’m so thankful that our God is a sovereign God. Lord or Lord and King of Kings.

He’s sovereign over the events of human history.

He’s sovereign over the rise and fall of kings and kingdoms.

He’s even sovereign over our OWN salvation.

It is GOD who calls. It is GOD who chooses. Those who are with the lamb are those who’ve been called and chosen by God.

From beginning to end we are safe and secure in the arms of a faithful God. That’s what this text teaches us about God.

Carrot & Stick

TRUTH TWO: Satan may start with seduction but the end is destruction. Always and Inevitably. Satan may lead with a carrot but he always finishes with a stick.

He tempts with prosperity but leaves you in squalor.

He tempts you with freedom but leaves you enslaved.

He leads with health and wealth and everything good.

But his promises are FAKE and his intentions are destructive.

Over and over and over again the Scriptures warn us of the seductive power of sin.

The prostitute doesn’t lead with the consequences of your spiritual adultery. She leads with the pleasures of sinning against God.

The antichrist empire doesn’t lead with his intentions to destroy the great city of Babylon but eventually and inevitably she is destroyed by her allegiance to him.

So be warned! The ways of this world eventually lead to death. Even if you can’t see it on the surface.

Conclusion

So as we close out our time in this passage let me encourage those of you who are in the valley low to rest in the sovereign plan of God.

You may not be comfortable. You may be suffering in some serious ways. But you are safe and protected in the arms of a sovereign God.

For those of you who find yourself ensnared by the trap of this harlot - it’s not too late. God has you here for a reason. You can repent of your sin this morning and give your life to Jesus Christ.