What are the seven kings of Rev. 17:10?

[Hobie]

Who are they and what is the significance of this prophecy to the end times? Here is the text in question...

Revelation 17 King James Version (KJV)
"1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great harlot that sitteth upon many waters:
2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
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.
4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
5 And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon The Great, The Mother Of Harlots And Abominations Of The Earth.
6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.
7 And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.
8 The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: 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, and is not, and yet is.
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.
13 These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.
14 These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful."

So we see the sequence it gives us, '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.' Some say it is the forms of government which dominated the Roman Empire others say its all was just the Roman Emperors, yet bible scholars see the Beast that was in power during Johns time as the Roman Empire and there are more. So what does scripture and history show us...

 

[Hobie]

So in Revelation 17 we see one of the seventh angel which had one of the seven vials, came to John and said come and I will show you the judgment of the great whore of Babylon, the mother of Harlots. Now you have to understand who Babylon represented. She is shown as a woman in purple, and we know that a woman represents a church in prophecy. In this case it was a church that at one time had been given the truth, was at one time was the bride of Christ but now decided to leave her first love, and play the Harlot. This also was used to describe Israel in the Old Testament who played the Harlot, and particular the Church/Churches in the New Testament and is called the Mother of Harlots. Notice John was asked by the angel, 'Wherefore didst thou marvel?' John was startled to see the church which was true in what was show as the pure woman of Revelation 12 and now it was a harlot full of spiritual fornication.

The peoples all over the earth are affected by the teachings of this harlot church, who when she first rises to power is described as sitting on the beasts back, which is 'full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns'. This false Harlot is arrayed in purple and scarlet, decked with gold and precious stones and has a golden cup in her hand, which is a symbol of divine activity. It looks to be divinely given, but it is filled with false religious concepts, with abominable things, with spiritual adulteries, filthiness of teaching, this is a false religion. We find her name in verse 5, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. And John says he saw this woman/church, 'drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus Christ:' and was amazed that the woman/church of Revelation 12 had become this harlot.

Now the angel begins to identify both of them as the angel is offering a description of this Harlot woman but also the beast but one needs to have understanding and the angel gives a clue: 'And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.'

Lets first go over the seven heads and we have to keep in mind that the interpretation of Daniel 7 gave these same kingdoms as being Babylon, Media-Persia, Greece, and Rome. Daniel 8 shows the king of Greece, which is Alexander the Great as the 'he goat' that 'came from the west' and takes down the ram. It gives the interpretation of the ram which had two disproportionate horns are specifically identified as the kings of Media and Persia together 'having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia' and then we get to the same end point of Rome. But this timeline is different too, as John is at the kingdom represented by the Roman Empire, as it says 'five are fallen, and one is'. So John in this timeline is at the sixth kingdom in this sequence. So lets line them up with Rome as the sixth:

1 Egypt 2100BC-1400BC

2 Assyria 1100BC-605BC

3 Babylonian 605BC-539 BC

4 Medio-Persian 539BC-331 BC

5 Greece 331BC-197 BC

6 Rome 197BC-538 AD
(Five Are fallen, Number 6 is the Roman Empire. This is the one in power in Johns Time.)

7 The Seventh 538 AD-
This one rises after the Roman Empire and now we see how the 'Little Horn' power of Daniel and the 'Beast' in Revelation and how the timeline matches up which gives us the rise of the overwhelming power and its duration.

• Daniel 7:25, "time, times and a half".
• Daniel 12:7, "time, times and a half".
• Revelation 11:2, "42 months".
• Revelation 11:3, "1260 days".
• Revelation 12:6, "1260 days".
• Revelation 12:14, "time, times and a half".
• Revelation 13:5, "42 months".

So you add 1260 years to 538AD and you get 1798, which we have seen before. The Protestants Reformers and theologians understood and saw that the woman/church in these 1260 years, from 538 AD to 1798 AD was in fact the antichrist power that Daniel prophesized about.

So now you have the eight Beast John saw, "was, and is not" and it says 'is of the seven'
So that gives us the clue in that this is the beast of the "deadly wound" of Revelation 13:3 'And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast' . The beast was wound and seemed to be dead and yet was healed, and we see this repeated in verse 11 of Revelation 17, "behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is."

Revelation 17:11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.

The Beast was wounded as if to death and yet was healed is now the eight as the seventh look dead, but as you see the eight, 'is of the seven'. They are the same entity, just it looked like it had been destroyed or wounded 'to death', and yet here is comes up again, but it 'goeth into perdition' and like the one in Daniel will be taken down by the 'stone cut without hands', and will meet its end.

So again we look and what does history show us in 1798 AD:
Napoleon's army under General Berthier entered Rome with his French troops and took down this antichrist power. The Papacy was abolished, the pontifical ring was removed, and the sitting Pope, Pope Pius VI was sent to France, where he died in exile. The Biblical prophecy given by John, 'saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed' unveils what is given in the kings of Revelation 17, "behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is."....

SEDE VACANTE 1799-1800​

information on the Conclave of 1799-1800 and the election of Pius VII
www.csun.edu

https://www.catholictextbookproject.com/post/the-pope-dragged-from-rome-february-20-1798

France Abolished the Temporal Power of the Pope 1798 – Amazing Bible Timeline with World History​

In 1798, French troops entered Rome and imprisoned Pope Pius VI. His imprisonment effectively abolished Pius’s temporal power which the popes preceding him had held since the 8th century. This event is recorded on the Bible Timeline Online with World History during that time. [This article...

amazingbibletimeline.com

https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4867&context=pubs

 

[Hobie]

Here is a simple explanation which is very straight forward...

THE THREE PHASES OF THE BEAST​

In the second part of the chapter, John is described as greatly astonished when he sees the prostitute. He recognizes in her the woman that had fled into the wilderness in order to escape the persecution of the dragon during the prophetic 1,260-day period of the Middle Ages (Rev. 12:13, 14). In response to John’s astonishment, the interpreting angel promises to disclose the “ ‘mystery’ ” of the prostitute and of the scarlet beast that carries her as well as their function at the time of the end (Rev. 17:7).

John describes the beast as the one that “ ‘was, and is not, and is about to come up out of the abyss’ ” (v. 8). This identification of the beast brings to mind the divine title “ ‘who was and who is and who is to come’ ” (Rev. 4:8). Thus, this title identifies the beast as a parody of God. However, this tripartite formula also shows that the beast has passed through three phases of existence. This, in turn, links the scarlet beast of Revelation 17 with the sea beast of Revelation 13 (cf. Rev. 13:1 with 17:3).2

First, the beast “was.” In other words, this beast existed in the past. The “was” phase of the beast refers to its activities during the prophetic period of 1,260 days or years (Rev. 13:5). The year A.D. 538 marked the beginning of this prophetic period when the church of western Europe, led by the Roman papacy, established itself as an ecclesiastical power and dominated the Western world throughout the Middle Ages. In our time characterized by religious tolerance, such statements can be regarded as harsh and unfair; but the present reality cannot erase the historical facts.

Furthermore, the beast came into its “is not” phase of existence in 1798 when, as a result of the events of the French Revolution, it sustained its deadly wound (Rev. 13:3). This brought an end to the church’s oppressive political power. The beast disappeared for some time from the world’s scene, yet it survived.

Third, with the healing of the deadly wound, the beast will resurrect to life in full satanic rage against God’s faithful people. The prophecy thus shows that the religious-political oppressive system that dominated the world during the Middle Ages will be revived at the time of the end and will dominate the world as it did in the past. This revival of the beast will fill the inhabitants of the world with awe and admiration (Rev. 13:8; 17:8b).

Therefore, Revelation 17 clearly describes the sea beast of Revelation 13 at the time when its deadly wound has been healed. Upon this resurrected beast, John sees the end-time prostitute Babylon sitting. Thus, the end-time religious system that will play a key role in the final conflict is a continuation of the religious-political power that harmed and oppressed God’s people during the prophetic 1,260-day period of the Middle Ages.

Revelation thus tells us that religion will once again dominate and control politics as it did in the past, albeit for a short time. However, there is a noticeable difference between its power during the medieval period and the time of the end. While the sea beast, representing the medieval church, was a religious-political power, the scarlet beast is exclusively a political power. These two are distinct at the end of time.....

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[Hobie]

THE SEVEN HEADS OF THE BEAST​

This brings us to our key passage of Revelation 17:9–11: “ ‘Here is the mind which has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits, and they are seven kings; five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; and when he comes, he must remain a little while. The beast which was and is not, is himself also an eighth and is one of the seven, and he goes to destruction.’ ”

The text opens with a call for “wisdom” as a prerequisite to understanding the meaning of the heads of the beast. The wisdom that John calls for here is the same wisdom that was spoken of in connection with the number of the beast (Rev. 13:18). This wisdom refers to spiritual discernment that can only be imparted by the Holy Spirit, rather than through brilliant mental and intellectual ability (James 1:5). Only through this divinely imparted wisdom will the faithful be able to discern the true character of this end-time satanic power.

Moving forward, we may see that the beast has seven heads like the red dragon (or Satan) of Revelation 12:3. The existence of the beast remains inseparable from its heads. Throughout history, the beast has solely ruled and been active through the agency of its heads. When one of the heads receives a deadly blow, the whole beast dies (cf. Rev. 13:12–14). This brings us to a need for a closer look as to what these heads represent.

“‘The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits’ ” (Rev. 17:9). We see a new symbol added here. At first, we were told that the woman sat on “ ‘many waters’ ” (v. 1), and then, on the scarlet beast (v. 3); now, the angel explains that she actually sits on seven mountains. The waters, the beast, and the mountains are different symbols for the civic, secular, and political powers (cf. v. 15) that will provide popular support to Babylon as the end-time apostate religious system. We must keep in mind that Revelation does not deal with individual personalities, whether past or present, but rather with systems and world powers—whether political or religious.

The Greek word oros means “mountain,”not “hill,” as some translators suggest in order to show that the city of Rome, situated on seven hills, is in view here. However, since the seven mountains in Revelation 17 are successive, they cannot be interpreted in a literal manner. In the Old Testament, mountains often represent world powers or empires (Jer. 51:25; Ezek. 35:2–5; Dan. 2:35). For instance, the kingdom of Judah in the Old Testament is often referred to as Mount Zion (Ps. 48:1–3; Isa. 29:8).

The angel clearly does not refer to literal mountains since he immediately explains to John that these seven mountains actually represent “seven kings” (Rev. 17:10). However, these cannot be interpreted as individual kings, for at least three reasons. First of all, we have established that Revelation does not deal with individual personalities but systems. Second, these seven kings are equated with the seven mountains—a symbol of kingdoms or empires. Third, in the Old Testament, “kings” is another expression for kingdoms or empires (Dan. 2:37–39; 7:17).

THE SEVEN HEADS AS SUCCESSIVE EMPIRES​

Based on biblical evidence, the interpretation that makes the most sense is that the seven mountains, upon which the prostitute Babylon sits, stand for the seven successive empires that dominated the world throughout history and through which Satan worked to oppose God.3 These empires possessed common traits of religious-political governance and coercion, which they used to cause harm and persecute God’s people.

As the angel further explains to John from his time’s perspective, five of these kingdoms have fallen, one is, and the seventh one would appear sometime in the future. As previously explained, this cryptic text has generated numerous speculative interpretations, primarily due to the interpreters’ failure to note that the meaning of these successive kingdoms was explained to John in the context of his own time—not ours. Nowhere in the text does it indicate that John was transported to another time; the angel simply explains to him what he had already seen previously in the vision.

Therefore, the key to decoding the meaning of these seven heads lies in the sixth kingdom, which is described as “is.” This “is” refers to John’s time. John lived in the time of the sixth head—the Roman Empire. The five that had fallen were thus the empires that ruled the world and caused harm to God’s people prior to the time of John: (1) Egypt was the world power that enslaved and oppressed Israel, seeking to destroy her; (2) Assyria destroyed and scattered the ten tribes of Israel;
(3) Babylon destroyed Jerusalem and exiled Judah; (4) Persia almost annihilated the Jews at the time of Esther; (5) Greece oppressed and tried to destroy the Jews through Antiochus Epiphanes.

The seventh kingdom that “has not yet come” refers to the medieval papacy that, from John’s time perspective, would be manifested in the future from John’s time—after the fall of the Roman Empire. The angel further explained that the scarlet beast itself is a part of the phase of the eighth head, the world power that is to come at the time of the end. Yet, it is one of the previously noted seven heads. Although this eighth head is one of the previous seven, it is considered a new power. Which of the seven? Most likely the seventh head, which previously experienced the deadly wound but comes back to life after its wound has healed.

This seventh power will reappear as the eighth head at the end of time and will exercise the same authority as it did during the Middle Ages. During the time of the eighth head, the scarlet beast carries the prostitute Babylon. We now live in the era of the seventh head, for the eighth head has not yet gained its power. However, it will appear on the world scene at the time of the end and will impose its rule on the inhabitants of the earth.'...https://www.ministrymagazine.org/archive/2013/12/the-seven-heads-of-the-beast-in-revelation-17