Revelation 17:7 "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."
This angel is going to tell us the mystery of the woman, the beast, the heads, and the horns. Satan will work differently in this second earth age, than he worked in the first earth age [given in
Revelation 12:1-6]. Then the crowns of power was given to the kings that sat over the people, where as in
Revelation 13:1-3 we saw that it was the ten agencies of power that wore the crowns of power, not individuals.
Revelation 17:8 "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 [shall come]."
This
"beast" was in the Garden of Eden deceiving [
beguiling] Eve; he is not here now, for he is in heaven accusing the saints before the throne of God, now. He [Satan] will ascend out of the bottomless pit, as we saw in
Revelation 9:1, and
2, and "
he will go to perdition", following the judgment at the end of the Millennium kingdom age. Friend,
"he" spoken of here, is Satan, and don't let any one tell you any different. Satan is the
"son of perdition" as recorded in
II Thessalonians 2:1-4, and he will be the first Christ to come at the end of this earth age.
"Perdition" means to
"perish", and only Satan has had that sentence passed on him at this time. We are told that those
"whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world", [that first earth age], will wonder, or follow after Satan. They fell in the first earth age, and they will also fall in this earth age. Those of who were chosen in that first earth age stood against Satan then, and they will also stand now. They are God's elect.
When the last of the elect, and the 144,000 of Israel are sealed, then Satan will arrive as the Antichrist. This age is a repeat of the first earth age. Now, what about the other Christians? They will follow false doctrine, and go into Satan's camp. The deception will cover the whole earth, yet the truth is in your hands to forewarn those around you in this generation.
There will be no equal to the deceptions that are going to come, in the history of all mankind. Yet the sermons of today are full of nonsense, with no sense of urgency given even as this great hour of deception is at our doorstep. The Church sleeps, while the Kenites steal the sheep.
Revelation 17:9 "And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth."
If you understand God's prophecy, then you have "wisdom". The
"Mountains" are seven nations, or dominions. They are areas of land, and all seven dominions comprise the entire earth. They will make up Satan's earthly kingdom. A
"kingdom" is
"a king and his domain". The "
woman", or this false religion will sit and rule over all seven of these dominions. "She" is the religion of Satan created by the Kenites, and the eighth verse told us it is Satan [the beast] that will sit over the woman.
Revelation 17:10 "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."
Now we get to something a little different. When we go back to verse eight, we will understand it.
There were ten kings at first,
but this deals with seven different kings. These seven kings have been over their dominions for some time. There is only one king that Christ has given power over all the earth in the past two thousand years, and that king is Satan. These seven kings represent the seven offices that Satan has held, from the
"dragon" in the first earth age,
"serpent" in the garden, all the way through this age to the Antichrist at the end of this age. There has been five roles that Satan has and is playing to this date, and Satan is our
"accuser" before the throne of God today, but in time he will be right here on earth filling the role of Antichrist, which will be for a very short time. Satan's final role starts shortly, very shortly, with Michael casting him out of heaven [Revelation 12:7]. He will have only five months in his final role of this earth age.
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."
Remember in verse eight, "he" was the one out of the pit. Satan's
"eighth" role is when he goes into perdition. Why,
"of the seven"? Because he was over the seven, one entity in all seven positions; and now this eighth is his last.
No one except Satan has been judged and sentenced already to perdition, as recorded in
Ezekiel 28:18. This beast is the son of perdition, and "
perdition" means "to destroy" or destroyer.
Revelation 17:12 "And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power [authority]
as kings one hour with the beast."
These "ten horns" are ten kings, and all these kings exists at the same time. They are not like the seven kings of the roles of Satan. They do not rule until a specific time, and then they rule for one hour.
The beast [Antichrist] must appear first, then their power will be given to them by the Antichrist. This is after the deadly wound has been healed, the ending of the one world political system. This is the
"hour of temptation" Jesus speaks of and warned us of seven times. The warnings are given so that we will not follow, or be deceived by this beast in that final hour [of this age]. The elect and the sealed of God will not be tempted in that hour, for they know who the tempter is [Satan].
This is the time to have your Spiritual armor on and ready for the battle. There is no "rapture" or escape from this hour of temptation here on earth, but God's armor is sufficient to protect you during this spiritual battle. I am aware that this is the point that deceivers use to draw you in; however, it is the very deception that will lead you to the Antichrist.
Revelation 17:13 "These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast."
There can be no doubt now who rules over the ten kings, or authorities, or agencies: it is Antichrist, the beast. The nations of the world have no borders, or boundaries. The Euphrates has dried up, and Israel and Babylon are one in mind and accord. These authorities must be similar to the ten agencies that now rule the earth, under the United Nations. These are UNICEF [for the children], the World Bank [economics], the World court [to settle disputes], Red Cross [the world health organization], Relief [starvation], the U.N. forces [military], Space, Environment, and the Beast [universal information and control computer], and Education, as well as the World council of churches.
Anything you can imagine is covered and governed by one of these ten agencies.
http://www.theseason.org/revelation/revelation17.htm