The Mystery of the Beast Explained

Reflections on Revelation 17:7-14

The beast that carries the prostitute is godless, human government.  When the beast "was," it held the nations in darkness without knowledge of God before the time of Christ.  Christ defeated the beast that "was" so that now it "is not" because it is unable to keep the nations in darkness without the knowledge of God (Beale, p. 864).  However, he rises again from the Abyss (bottomless pit) to deceive the nations at the end of the age, and his kingdom is again shrouded in darkness.  Nevertheless, his renewed power lasts only a little while before he goes to destruction.

Haifa and the Mediterranean Sea

The seven heads of the beast are seven mountains, where mountains suggest the power or strength of the heads (Beale, p. 868).   The heads are also kings or kingdoms (Daniel 7:17, 23).   Seven does not suggest the precise number of kings but the complete number of such kings however many they may be (Beale, p. 869; Johnson, p. 559).  Five (numerous) kingdoms which held the world in darkness have fallen.  They are the beast who was and is not.  One kingdom is, and represents the beast who still persecutes the saints but is stripped of his power to hold the nations in darkness.  Another, the seventh, will come but he will remain only a little while before going into destruction. 

Just as the eighth day is the day of resurrection and the beginning of a new week, the last king will portray himself as an eighth, resurrected king who has recovered from Christ's deadly blow and who is able to usher in a new era.  Indeed, because he has renewed power to deceive the nations and plunge them into spiritual darkness again, ten lesser kings (the ten horns) will give him their allegiance in order to make war on the Lamb (compare with Revelation 16:14, 16).  John reassures the saints that although this king makes himself out to be something new, the eighth, he is of the seven, and like the former kingdoms he too will go into destruction (Johnson, p. 561).  The Lamb will conquer the beast and his allies. Those with the Lamb, those who are called and chosen and faithful even unto death, have waged war with the beast and conquered him. This answers the question asked earlier, “Who is like the beast (in strength - DM)? Who can make war against him?”  (Revelation 13:4 NIV).