Sunday School Notes: Revelation 17:8-10
8 “The beast that you see was and is not and is about to come up from the abyss, but he departs to destruction. And those who dwell on the earth, whose name is not written upon the Book of Life from the beginning of the world, shall wonder seeing the beast that was and is not and shall come. 9 This calls for a mind having wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains upon which the woman sits. Also, they are seven kings. 10 Five fell, one is, the other has not yet come, and whenever it comes it must remain a little while.
We come to the resolution of the cliff-hanger from verse 7 as the angel explains the mystery of the woman and the beast: “The beast… was and is not and is about to come up from the abyss.” Crystal clear, yes? This might not seem very clear, but the angel is drawing a parallel here with the description of God we saw in 1:8: “The one who is and who was and who is coming.” Once again, the beast is parodying the Lord. The false Messiah compared to the true. But the description of God expresses His eternality, His abiding and enduring authority and presence. What does the beast’s version of this communicate? In what sense is the beast “was, is not, and is about to come”?
The beast had continuing existence, hence it “was.” When the angel says the beast “was not,” this could be a reference to the dragon’s defeat of Michael in chapter 12, after which Satan pursued God’s people. But that pertained more to Satan’s ongoing activity rather than the beast’s role as false Messiah.
We’ve noted before how the beast in Revelation 13 is an amalgam of the four beasts of Daniel 7. In Daniel 7, the beast comes on the scene (vv. 3, 7, 23), is destroyed (vv. 11, 17-18, 26), and will rise again to be destroyed ultimately (vv. 8, 21-22). You might recall that the beast in Revelation 13 had a head with a mortal wound that was healed, causing the whole world to marvel. All of these underscore the fact that the beast is a parody of Christ. Just as Christ died and rose from the dead, the beast will “die” but will rise again. However, Christ’s resurrection was to life and to judge. The beast’s resurrection is for its ultimate destruction.
We will see in Revelation 20 Satan being bound for “1,000 years.” After this time, the dragon will be released for a little while, and then finally defeated. When we get to Revelation 20, we’ll talk about what this “1,000 years” means. Whatever it represents, this period of “binding” could correspond to the beast’s period of “not being.”
When the beast rises to destruction, it will do so “from the abyss.” This is a reference back to Revelation 11:7, where a beast rises from the abyss to make war on the saints and conquer them. The church will appear to be dead for a short time, but the Lord will revive His people and bring judgment upon their persecutors.
The angel tells John that the “earth-dwellers” will marvel at the beast. He reminds him that these earth-dwellers are not in the Book of Life “from the foundation of the world.” While the same Greek verb is used of their marveling as was used for John’s marveling at the woman, I think we can confidently assume the earth-dwellers are in awe of, and worshiping, the beast. That is, after all, what we are told they do in Revelation 13.
The “Book of Life” has been mentioned previously (3:5 and 13:8). Whether or not this is a literal book is, I think, not the point. If nothing else, the “book” symbolizes the fact that the Lord knows who His people are and can name each one. Only those God has chosen for eternal life will be saved. These are the “heaven-dwellers”; the rest are the “earth-dwellers.” I think it’s important to emphasize again the fact that there is no “in-between” class of people. You are either a heaven-dweller or an earth-dweller. Your name is either in the Book of Life or it isn’t. No-one’s name is penciled in pending some future decision. These names have been decided since the foundation of the world. And no-one on earth knows these names, which is why we still evangelize and pray that the Lord would use us to call His people to Himself.
The formula “was, is not, will come” is used again of the beast by the angel at the end of verse 10. The verb used in the Greek for “will come” (parestai) is the verbal form of the noun parousia, “coming.” This noun is often used in reference to Jesus’s second coming (“The Parousia”), a fact that further establishes the beast as a parody of Christ.
Verse 9 begins with a familiar-sounding phrase: “This calls for a mind having wisdom.” In 13:18, it preceded the identification of the beast’s number. The heaven-dwellers will be able to use wisdom and discern the true nature of what they’re about to be told. And while what follows appears confusing at first, I think the underlying message is clear.
The angel tells John that the seven heads of the beast represent seven mountains, and the woman sits upon these mountains. Previously, we’ve been told the woman sits upon many waters and also sits upon the beast. This reminds us of the fact that these visions are not to be taken literally and logically. Each picture conveys meaning, and where there is more than one picture for something (e.g., the woman), these provide layers of meaning. The woman seated on many waters symbolizes her influence over many people. As we will see, the mountains represent kingdoms, spheres of influence, as well as those who rule over those kingdoms. More than once in the Old Testament we see kingdoms spoken of in terms of mountains (e.g., Mount Zion, the kingdom of God’s people; Babylon is a “destroying mountain” in Jeremiah 51:24 ff.; Ezekiel 35 refers to the region SE of Judah, where Edom is located, as Mount Seir). The symbol of the head already gives us this to some extent, so here we have a strengthening of that symbolism. The woman’s influence isn’t simply over a mass of people, but over those that rule the people.
The fact that there are seven mountains lead some to speculate that John is explicitly referencing Rome here. Rome was known as the “city of seven hills” (though, in fact, nine hills could be counted surrounding the city). I wouldn’t discount this idea since, for John and his audience, the beast would represent Rome. However, given the number of symbols in play with this vision, I don’t think the intention is to lock the identification of the beast down to one particular city at one particular time.
But these seven heads are not just seven mountains, they are also seven kings. The four beasts of Daniel 7 have a total number of seven heads (beast 1 = 1; beast 2 = 1; beast 3 = 4; beast 4 = 1). In his vision, Daniel is told the four beasts stand for four kings who represent four kingdoms. Again, the idea is one of spheres of influence to the highest level. Those kings and kingdoms may have had specific meaning for Daniel in his day (a discussion of which is beyond the scope of our study). The important point for us is that we are seeing the ultimate fulfillment of Daniel’s vision here in Revelation.
Could these seven kings refer to actual, literal rulers? In verse 10, the angel tells John that five have fallen, one is current, and one is yet to come. That sounds as if John should be aware of who these “kings” are. Might they refer to, say, Roman Emperors? That’s possible. But the question is, which seven? Here’s a list of all the Roman Emperors in the first century:
| Augustus | (22 BC-14 AD) |
| Tiberius | (14-37) |
| Caligula | (37-41) |
| Claudius | (41-54) |
| Nero | (54-68) |
| Galba | (68-69) |
| Otho | (69) |
| Vitellius | (69) |
| Vespasian | (69-79) |
| Titus | (79-81) |
| Domitian | (81-96) |
If we start at the top of the list, the five “fallen” would be Augustus through Nero, meaning that the current Emperor for John would be Galba, and the one to come would be Otho. That would make sense of the “one to come” being around for “a little while,” since Otho was Emperor for only a few months. But the same was true for his two successors.
Some might argue that if you include Julius Caesar in the list as the first Emperor, this makes Julius through Claudius as the five previous, Nero as the current, and Galba as a the short-lived “one to come.” This sounds plausible, and would support the idea that John wrote Revelation during the reign of Nero. However, there is question as to whether Julius Caesar should be considered the first Emperor. While he was called “Caesar,” he came to power originally as part of a triumverate at a time when Rome was ruled by Tribunes and Senators, not by monarchs. Indeed, for a long time the people of Rome had an aversion to the idea of monarchical rule. Augustus was, therefore, the first to come to power as Emperor.
Aside from this, there are some bigger problems with identifying specific kings in verse 10. First, what purpose does this serve? How does this inform the vision? In verse 12, we’ll see ten kings. Are these the next ten Emperors? Ten other specific rulers? If so, which? And when we’ve done our research and come up with ten kings, what then? Are we saying all of this pertains only to John’s time? This all sounds too much like coming up with a theory and then trying to make it fit the text.
Beyond this, however, I find it hard to believe that after all the symbolism we’ve seen, the angel would suddenly start speaking in literal, concrete terms. After all, consider the numbers here. How many heads/mountains/kings are we talking about? Seven. We know that the number seven carries special meaning in Revelation: completion, or fullness. Might these seven kings simply represent rulers from the totality of history?
What, then, is the significance of “five fallen, one current, and one to come”? It’s interesting this follows the pattern of “was, is, is to come” we saw spoken of the Lord in 1:4, 8 and parodied by the beast in 17:8. This, perhaps, tips us off that we’re not talking about seven literal kings. The message here seems to echo what we’ve been told of the beast. It has been around for a long time (five kings), will be around for a shorter time (one king), and will have a final manifestation, but it will only be brief and will result in destruction (one king for a little while). This is supported by what we’ll see in verse 11.
To sum up, I wouldn’t rule out completely these seven kings being literal kings, but given the use of numbers in Revelation so far, and the visions John has seen, I find it hard to believe the angel intended them to be literal. Whether or not you agree, the underlying message is far more significant: Hang in there! The beast’s rule is coming to an end soon. While the beast has manifested itself throughout history in many forms, its time grows short, and judgment is coming.
We’ll start at verse 11 next time.
