Revelation 17:3

Revelation 17:3: “So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.”

This verse seems hard to understand, but later in the chapter the angel explains what all of this means:

Revelation 17:9: “And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.
10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.
11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.
12 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.”

So there you have it. That is how you deal with symbolism: you just look for the verse in the Bible that explains what it means. What you must never, ever do is assign your own meaning to it. The Bible must explain itself; you cannot impose your own explanation upon it from the outside.

The beast represents a king – specifically, the eighth king in a line of kings. The seven heads are seven kings. (To be more precise, the 7 heads are 7 mountains, and the 7 mountains are 7 kings. The woman sits on the mountains; therefore, the woman has authority over these kings. That is why she is said to ride the beast – she has power over it.) The ten horns represents ten kings that do not yet have power, but when the beast gains power they will as well – although later they will come to hate her:

Revelation 17:16: “And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.”

So what does all of this mean? One theory I have heard is that the beast with 7 heads represents world governments at seven moments in history. In John’s day five of these have passed: Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, and Greece (and Daniel talked about many of these). One still existed – Rome – and there is one more that is yet to come. This future one-world government will be divided into 10 divisions, which will obtain their authority and power from the antichrist.

What about all the world kingdoms that existed between Rome and now? Well, some have argued that the various kingdoms of this world are just an extension of the Roman Empire. It has changed form over the past 2000 years, but it never really disappeared. However, all that will change when the antichrist comes on the scene. He will destroy the old world system and establish a new one – the last one that will exist before Jesus returns and establishes His kingdom.

Who is the woman that rides the beast – this false religion that uses this system for her own ends?

Revelation 17:18: “And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.”

No one really knows. The Reformers of the Middle Ages believed that this referred to the Roman Catholic Church, and that Rome was the “great city”. That might be the case, but this passage could also be referring to something completely different. Some people believe that this is a reference to Islam, while others claim that it is a future religion that joins all false religions together into one. It’s hard to say.

The key takeaways in this complex chapter are:

• There will be a total of seven world governments. Five of them had passed by John’s day, and one of them (Rome) still existed. There is just one more world government left, an it will be established by the antichrist. When it arrives it must “continue a short space”.
• This one-world government will have 10 jurisdictions, and each jurisdictions will be ruled by a different person. These leaders will get their power from the antichrist and will serve under him.
• While all of this is going on, a world religious system will be in effect and will take advantage of this source of power. The kings of the world will come to hate this system and will eventually destroy it.

One interesting thing is that the beast is depicted as having seven horns. This means that the 7 world kingdoms that have existed throughout history have actually been different versions of the same thing – it has been the same beast each time, just in a different form. Likewise, the woman that rides the beast has been around for a very long time. This is one reason why the woman may not be Catholicism, since this heresy and paganism predates the Catholic church. This is something older – a spirit of heresy that has persisted through thousands of years. It has not been judged yet, but its end is coming.