I'm going to join in the conversation (if it can be called that) here. <
smile> Whether I stay in long I will determine later; for now I'll keep my options open... <
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Any time your spiritual discernment requires you to change the Word of God, you are discerning nothing and are only creating a problem that leads to other problems in understanding.
The ten kings represent a one world government.
I think you mean the ten
horns, here, The Light. So yeah, the number ten goes back through Revelation 17:7 and 13:1 to Daniel 7:7, 24. But the Beast of Revelation cannot simply be identified with the fourth beast of Daniel. Rather, he is a
composite, summing up characteristics of
all four of Daniel’s beasts. In Revelation the ten horns are kingly confederates of the Beast. In view of Revelation 16:12, 14, 16, Revelation 19:19, and Revelation 20:8, the political powers beyond the borders of the Roman Empire are most directly in mind. The picture rises beyond the limitations of Rome and opens up a picture of the final battle in which the Beast will enlist
large-scale assistance. The Beast, as an antichrist figure, enlists many other powers who cooperate with him. Together they undertake a final, climactic battle against the Lord and his Anointed (Psalm 2:2; Acts 4:26). The details of the battle unfold in Revelation 19:11-21.
The thing that hath been is that which shall be and that which is done is that which shall be done, and there is no new thing under the sun. Nimrod is the sun BTW, in the Babylonian religions.
Ugh. <smile>
As in other cases in Revelation and in apocalyptic literature, angels explain the significance of aspects of mysterious visions (v. 7; cf. Revelation 7:13-14; Revelation 10:9-11; Daniel 10:10-12:4; Zechariah 1:9; 1:18-21; 2:1-2; 4:4-7; etc.). The Beast
"once was, now is not, and will come" (v. 8): The description is a counterfeit of the sovereignty of God, which is proclaimed in Revelation 1:4, 8 and Revelation 4:8. “Now is not” indicates that persecution is now at an ebb, but with rise with renewed intensity in the future, which is along the same lines of Revelation 20:1-6 ~ Jesus is the "angel Who came down from heaven" and "seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years," bound from "deceiving the nations until the thousand years (are) ended" and will then "be released for a little while." The Beast of Revelation 17 represents a repeated pattern of persecution, as in the four successive beasts of Daniel 7. As in Revelation 13:8, the Beast captures the allegiance of all except the elect, those whose names have been written in the book of life. The names were written from the creation of the world, indicating the absolute sovereignty of God and his control over salvation from the beginning. It's certainly not Nimrod. <
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Can you explain how there are seven kings and the eighth king is of the seven?
As you probably know, Rome was known as the city built on seven hills. At the time that John wrote, Rome was the principal embodiment of Babylon ~ the worldly city. Who are the seven kings, five of whom have fallen? Most believe Revelation to have been written in about 95 A.D., but according to one interpretation, if Revelation was written in about 67 A.D., these five may be the first five Roman emperors, beginning with Julius Caesar. The sixth is then Nero, the currently (in 67 A.D) reigning emperor. But in that case the history of the Empire subsequent to Nero presents nothing but problems. After Nero came emperors Galba, Otho, and Vitellius, in 68 A.D., the “year of three emperors,” We can't simply ignore them or skip them in order to arrive at Vespasian (69-79 A.D.) and the time of the fall of Jerusalem (70 A.D.). The sixth head is clearly near the end and is to be succeeded by at most two more manifestations. So this whole line of reasoning is off track. The five who have fallen simply represents an indefinite number of previous emperors. The presence of the sixth indicates in symbolic fashion that Christians are near the end, but not quite there. The Beast itself is an eighth king (v. 11). Since there are only seven heads, the verse is not claiming that the Beast is an eighth head; rather, the Beast symbolizes, in final manifestation, a power analogous to that of the seven.
Can you explain how the beast was and is not and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit. Or that the beast was and is not and yet is?
See above. In a nutshell, again "once was" and "now is not" is saying, as in Revelation 20, that
he was once able to deceive the nations ~ though only under the authority of God; it suited God's eternal plan to allow Satan to prevent the spread of the Gospel beyond the nation of Israel before Jesus came ~
but now cannot prevent said spread of the Gospel to all nations ~ he is bound from doing so, thus Jesus's commission of His disciples and by extension us in Matthew 28:19-20... because of the coming of Jesus to "free the captives" and His work of salvation on the cross opening the Gospel and redemption and salvation to people of every tongue, tribe, and nation... and "will come," meaning that
he will be "released for a little while" after God's millennium, which is the current age.
Grace and peace to you.