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#51.
The Seven Heads and the Ten Kings (17:).
pp. 91 - 94
A further description of the seven heads and the ten horns is given by the angel in
Rev. 17: to that which is given in 12: and 13: We must remember that the
explanation which starts in verse 9 reads straight on and should be translated thus:--
"The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sitteth, and they are seven
kings."
We may not be quite clear why there is this double interpretation here, but it is clear
enough for us to understand that the seven heads represent seven kings. Possibly the
introduction of the symbol of mountains is connected with the fact that the woman
represents a city. The transition would be then:--
The Woman.
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The Seven-headed Beast.
The woman is a city.
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The heads are mountains.
The city reigns.
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The mountains are kings.
The seven kings are further described:--
"Five are fallen" (the word indicates a violent death).
"The one is" (that is at the time of the vision).
"The other is not yet come."
The order therefore is:---
1.
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2.
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3.
}
Kings already fallen.
4.
/
5.
/
6. The sixth king reigning at this point of the vision.
7. The seventh king not yet come.
When the seventh king ascends the throne "He must continue a short space". We are
not here told how the seventh king comes to his end, but in chapter 13: we find that one
of the heads of the beast was wounded to death and the deadly wound was healed.
"The beast that was and is not, even He is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth
into perdition" (17: 11).
In verse 8 we read:--
"The beast that thou sawest was, and is not, and shall ascend out of the abyss, and go
into perdition."
The ascending out of the abyss is parallel with the statement that he is the eighth and
of the seven. The eighth therefore is the superhuman stage after the deadly wound had