LESSON 30
THE SEVEN HEADED BEAST
OF REVELATION 13 AND 17
1. Describe the beast John saw in vision?
Revelation 13:1, 2; 17:3.
2. Who did John see riding on the beast?
Revelation 17:3.
Note: A “woman” in prophecy represents a church – a pure chaste woman the true church; an unclean, adulterous woman, the apostate church. [Revelation 12:1,25,6].
3. What were the characteristics of this woman?
Revelation 17:1-6, 9, 15, 18.
Note: John identifies the woman thus:
A. She is the “great whore” having committed “fornication” with the kings of the earth – Revelation 17:1, 2 [Union of Church and State; Paganism in the Church].
B. She sits upon “many waters” – Revelation 17:1, 15 [Rules over many nations, peoples, tongues].
C. She sits upon a scarlet coloured beast having 7 heads and 10 horns – Revelation 17:3, 9.
D. She is the “Mother of Harlots” and arrayed in costly garments – Revelation 17:4, 5.
E. She is responsible for the martyrdom of the saints – Revelation 17:6.
4. Who does this Harlot woman [Mother] represent?
Answer: There has never been any other ecclesiastical system that could possibly fulfil the specifications of this prophecy than the APOSTATECHURCH – Roman Catholicism.
5. Since the “woman” is a “mother of harlots” who are her daughters?
Note: The only possible answer could be the “sects” or denominations who have been the product of the “mother” – those who still teach and practise her errors.
- Why is the “woman” called “Babylon”?
Answer: “Babylon” means confusion, first manifest at the tower of Babel [Genesis 11:1-9], then in the city and kingdom of Babylon [Jeremiah 51] and finally in the apostate church in union with the state [Revelation 17:1-6; 18:1-24]. This “woman” was corrupted by “fornication” with the pagan religious doctrines and customs which stem from Babylonian idolatry. [See “The Two Babylons” by Alexander Hislop and “Mystery Babylon Religion” by Ralph Woodrow, P O Box 124, Riverside, California92502.
7. Who is the 7 headed beast that carries the woman?
Revelation 13:1,2; 17:3,9,10.
Note: The 7 mountains or kings are 7 kingdoms that carry the woman [Catholic Church].
8. Are these kingdoms contemporaneous or successive?
Revelation 17:10,11.
Note: There is some disagreement as to the exact time to begin and end the period of time the woman rode on the beast. Some begin with Constantine the Great [300 A.D] to the time of the Reformation [1560 A.D] making the 1260 years of Papal rule. Others interpret the 7 heads as:
1. Justinian, 538 A.D
2. Charlemagne, 800 A.D
3. Otto the Great, 962 A.D
4. The Hohenstaufen Emperors, 1152 A.D
5. Charles the 5th, 1519 A.D
6. The AustrianKingdom, 1648 – 1806 A.D
7. Napoleon, 1850 A.D
9. What happened to one of the heads of the beast?
Revelation 13:3; 17:8.
Note: The head that was wounded, revives and becomes the 8th, “was and is not” [Revelation 17:11] at the time “five are fallen” [Revelation 17:10], “one is, and one is yet to come”. So it must have been one of the first five. History reveals that it was the fifth head – Charles the 5th that was wounded by the Reformation. The wound is now being healed by the ecumenical movement. We will see the reunification of all apostate religions together with the civil powers that will enforce one form of religion under penalty that no one will be able to buy or sell without conformity to the powers that be.
10. What do the ten horns on the beast represent?
Revelation 17:12-14.
Note: These will be ten kings who are contemporaneous with the eighth head kingdom.
11. Who then does God use to punish and destroy the harlot woman?
Revelation 17:16
12. What happens to the beast and the ten kings?
Revelation 14:9, 10; 19:20.
13. What happens to those who receive the mark of the beast?
Revelation 14:9, 10; 19:20
14. In view of this what are we told to do?
Revelation 18:4
