The Time Perspective in Revelation 17

Purpose

In Revelation 17:3-6, John, in vision, saw a woman sitting on a seven-headed beast (Rev 17:3). The rest of the chapter explains this vision. One aspect of that explanation is that the seven heads are consecutive and that five are past, one is, and one is to come (Rev 17:9-10). To correctly identify the seven heads, one has to determine the time perspective from which it is said that the sixth head “is.” That is the purpose of this article

Two Views

Jon Paulien, a scholar who is respected as one of the leading experts on the Book of Revelation, argues that, since this explanation was given to John, it uses John’s time as point of reference. It would follow that the first five heads existed before John, the sixth existed in his time, and the seventh later. To justify this approach, Paulien argues that, in Daniel 2 and 7, the visions were explained relative to the prophet’s time perspective. He says that visions can go to any place and time, but explanations in apocalyptic prophecies must always be given from the perspective of the prophet’s time. (Paulien’s article)

In contrast, the current article proposes that the explanation in Revelation 17 is not given to John but given to the end-time church. Therefore, it is given from the time perspective of the end-time church, just before the seventh and final head: [Show More]

Cannot be John’s Time

For the following reasons, the explanation in Revelation 17 cannot be relative to John’s time:

(1) In the explanation part of Revelation 17, the beast “is not” and is in the abyss (Rev 17:8). Both of these indicate that the beast was in a weak phase, but the beast was not weak in John’s time. [Show More]

(2) Given the strong allusions in the description of the beast to Daniel 7 (Rev 13:1-2), it seems logical to limit the seven heads of the beast to the empires mentioned by Daniel. If John lived during the 6th head, five heads preceded his time, but in Daniel 7, there are only three empires before John (Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece). Then, one has no option but to include empires that Daniel does not symbolize as heads of the beast. [Show More]

(3) If John lived during the 6th head, a single head must explain all phases of the beast after John’s time. That does not seem fair. Revelation 12 describes the 1260 days (Rev 12:14) and the end-time war (Rev 12:17), which are two major phases of the beast.  [Show More]

Not like Daniel’s explanations

Paulien argues that since Daniel 2 and 7 explain the visions in those chapters relative to the prophet’s time perspective, the same applies to Revelation 17. However, the explanation in Rev 17 is not like in Daniel:

It was one of the plague angels who gave the entire chapter of Revelation 17, implying that that chapter explains the seven last plagues. Specifically, Revelation 17 explains Babylon and the beast she rides, and the seven plagues culminated in the seventh, which fell on Babylon (Rev 16:19).

Therefore, Revelation 17 is an explanation in its entirety. That explanation consists of two parts: a vision and a verbal explanation. But since the whole of Revelation 17 is an explanation, the two parts of the explanation have the same time perspective.

The text confirms that the vision and verbal parts of Revelation 17 describe things from the same time perspective because both describe the beast in a weak phase. In the vision part, the beast is in the wilderness and has no crowns. In the verbal part, the beast “is not” and in the abyss (17:8). [Show More]

Revelation 19:1-3 seems to continue where chapter 16 left off, for it shows God being praised for judging Babylon, indicating that both chapters 17 and 18 are an interlude to explain particularly the judgment on Babylon in the seventh plague.

Took John to a different Time

Since both the vision and explanation in Revelation 17 describe the beast in its weak phase, the two parts form a unit. The shift in the time perspective from John’s time can be explained as that the angel took John to a different time:

In Revelation 21, a plague angel takes John to a high mountain to see the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven (Rev 21:9-10). That is to be an event at or after Christ’s return, which is described in Revelation 19. By implication, by taking John to a high mountain, the angel took John to a different time.

Similarly, Revelation 17 begins when a plague angel takes John to the wilderness to show him the woman sitting on the beast (Rev 17:1-3). Similar to Rev 21, he takes John to a different time. 

Time of the End

This section argues that Revelation 17 is an explanation to the end-time church, meaning that the time perspective is the End Time. This is based on the following observations:

(1) Daniel heard that his prophecies would only be understood in the Time of the End (Dan 12:4, 9), subtly implying that all the explanations to the church in the Book of Revelation would be given in that Time.

(2) In other places where the Book of Revelation describes a present time with things happening before and after that time, like in Rev 17, the ‘present time’ is always the Time of the End. [Show More]

In conclusion, the entire Book of Revelation has an end-time perspective, and Rev 17 must be understood accordingly. It is the time when the souls under the altar receive their robes, and the seal of God and the little open book are brought to earth. [Show More]

Conclusion

Therefore, in 17:1-3, the angel took John to the End Time, to a time when the Beast-power was in the wilderness of incapacity (our time of religious freedom), just before the seventh head, when it arises from the abyss of incapacity. That is our time! The angel took John to our time to give God’s people understanding of the prophecies (symbolized by the little book of Revelation 10).

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The Beast’s fatal wound is its sixth head. (Rev 13:3-4)

Overview

John saw a beast with ten horns and seven heads coming out of the sea. The Beast received its authority from a dragon:

The Dragon symbolizes the Roman Empire.

The Beast symbolizes one of the kingdoms into which the Empire fragmented in the fifth to eighth centuries. Specifically, the Beast symbolizes the Church of the Roman Empire that survived intact after the Empire fragmented, grew in strength, and eventually dominated the other kingdoms in Europe.

One of his seven heads of the Beast had a ‘fatal wound’, meaning that it was dead. But the Beast came to life again.

Since the seven heads exist one after the other, the seven heads symbolize the seven phases of the Beast’s existence. So, the death of one of its heads is the death of the whole Beast but only for a time.

Revelation 17 also explains the fatal wound and the Beast’s recovery from it:

It describes the fatal wound as the Beast being incapacitated; unable to persecute God’s people.

In perhaps the best proof that Rev 13 and 17 describe the same Wound and the same Healing of the Wound, both chapters say that, after the Wound was healed, “everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life” was amazed and followed after the Beast (Rev 13:3; 17:8).

Revelation 17 identifies the Wound as the Beast’s sixth head, which is our current age of religious freedom in the West. But Revelation predicts that the Church of the Roman Empire will be revived and again persecute God’s people.

Purpose 

John saw a Beast with “ten horns and seven heads” coming out of the sea (Rev 13:1). One of his seven heads was “as if it had been slain,” for it had a “fatal wound” (Rev 13:3). In other words, it seems as if the Beast itself and the other six heads were still alive. The purpose of this article is to explain what this fatal wound is and which of the seven heads was dead.

Revelation 13:3-4

The Beast continues the Roman Empire.

The Beast received its authority from the Dragon (Rev 13:2). Previous articles identified the Dragon and the Beast:

Revelation 12 uses ‘Dragon’ as a symbol for Satan’s forces in different forms and ages. However, in Revelation 13:2, the Dragon is the same as the fourth animal in Daniel 7, which another article identified as the Roman Empire. 

The Sea Beast is the 11th horn of that fourth animal, symbolizing a world power that, came into existence when the Roman Empire fragmented into many kingdoms, inherited the authority of the Roman Empire (cf. Rev 13:2), and grew in power to dominate the other kingdoms in the territory previously ruled by the Roman Empire (Dan 7:20).

The Beast was dead.

A “fatal wound” is a wound that kills. In other words, the Beast was dead. Therefore, when the wound is healed, it is said that the Beast “has come to life” (Rev 13:12, 14). That same expression is also used for Christ’s resurrection (Rev 2:8) and the resurrection of God’s people when Christ returns (Rev 20:4).

Only one phase of the Beast was dead.

But the entire Beast did not die; only “one of his heads” was “slain” with this fatal wound (Rev 13:3). Since the seven heads exist one after the other (Rev 17:9-10), the seven heads symbolize the seven phases of the Beast’s existence. So, the death of one of its heads is the death of the whole Beast but only for a time.

The whole world worshiped the Beast.

After the wound was healed, “the whole earth … worshiped the beast” (Rev 13:3-4). [Show More]

They also “worshiped the dragon because he gave his authority to the beast” (Rev 13:4). Since the Dragon symbolizes the Roman Empire, and since the Sea Beast came into existence when the Roman Empire fragmented, the Roman Empire no longer existed when the Beast received its fatal wound. But, by worshiping (showing respect to) the Sea Beast, the people indirectly ‘worship’ the Roman Empire because the Beast is the continuation of the authority of the Dragon (Rev 13:2).

Revelation 17

The Scarlet Beast on which the harlot sits, as described in Revelation 17, provides a different perspective of the same Beast-power. Revelation 17 describes and explains that same Fatal Wound as well as the healing of that wound. It also explains what the Fatal Wound is and which of the seven heads was dead.

At present, the Beast is incapacitated.

Revelation 17 explains the Beast and its heads by referring to the past, the present, and the future. At the ‘present’ time, the chapter describes the Scarlet Beast as incapacitated:

Is not – The Beast “is not” (Rev 17:8). In other words, in some sense, at this time, the Beast does not exist.

Wilderness – In Revelation 12, the pure woman was in the wilderness (Rev 12:6, 14), symbolizing circumstances in which it is difficult to survive. But, in Revelation 17, it is the Beast’s turn to be in the “wilderness” (Rev 17:3).

Abyss – The Beast is in the “abyss” (Rev 17:8), which symbolizes incapacity (Rev 20:3).

Diadems – In contrast to the Dragon and the Sea Beast, the Scarlet Beast has no diadems (ruler crowns) (Rev 12:3; 13:1; 17:3), implying that it does not rule.

So, in Revelation 17, the Beast is suffering, weakened, and unable to rule. In that sense, it “is not.”

This is the Fatal Wound.

For the following reasons, the incapacity in Rev 17 is the same as the fatal wound in Rev 13:

Firstly, for the Beast to be incapacitated must be unusual. Since two different chapters of Revelation describe this condition, they likely describe the same weak period.

Secondly, both the fatal wound in Rev 13 and the abyss in Rev 17 symbolize the inability to persecute God’s people:

When the Sea Beast is alive, it blasphemes God and persecutes God’s people (Rev 13:5-7; cf. Dan 7:25). Therefore, for it to be dead (to have a fatal wound) means being unable to persecute.

To be in the abyss also means to be unable to persecute. For example:

            • Satan is bound in the abyss “so that he would not deceive the nations any longer” (Rev 20:3).
            • After the Beast comes up from the abyss, it immediately proceeds to persecute God’s witnesses (Rev 11:7, 3).

The same Healing of the Wound

Further evidence that Rev 17 describes the same fatal wound as 13:3 is that it describes the same healing of the wound as in Rev 13. Rev 17 predicts that the Beast will come up out of the abyss (Rev 17:8). The following confirms that its escape from the abyss is the healing of the wound in Rev 13:

After the Sea Beast’s “fatal wound was healed … the whole earth was amazed and followed after the Beast” (Rev 13:3).

Similarly, after the Scarlet Beast has “come up out of the abyss … those who dwell on the earth … will wonder when they see the Beast” (Rev 17:8).

Note the similarities:

      1. Both sections refer to the whole world.
      2. The terms “amazed” and “wonder” are translated from the same Greek word thaumazó.
      3. In both chapters, the Beast is exalted after its recovery.
      4. And, perhaps most strikingly, in both, those who adore the Beast are described in both chapters as “everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life” (Rev 13:8; 17:8).

For these reasons, the two chapters describe the same period of incapacity, symbolized in Revelation 13 by the Beast’s fatal wound and in Revelation 17 by the Beast being in the abyss or wilderness or ‘is not’.

The Sixth Head

The Fatal Wound is the Sixth Head.

Revelation 17 explains the Beast and its heads by referring to the past, the present, and the future:

The Beast (Rev 17:8) Heads (Rev 17:10)
Past Was Five have fallen.”
Present Is not and is in the abyss “One is.” This would be the sixth head.
Future Will “come up out of the abyss.” The whole world will “wonder when they see the beast.” “The other” (the seventh) “has not yet come.”

Therefore:

The sixth head is the phase when the Beast is in the abyss, which is the head with the fatal wound.

The seventh head follows after the fatal wound has been healed, and the entire world follows after the Beast (Rev 13:4).

It is implied that the entire sixth head is dead. The sixth head or phase begins when the Beast-power is killed and ends when “his fatal wound was healed” (Rev 13:3, 12). This is confirmed by the fact that we never read that the head with the mortal wound comes to life; it is always the Beast that becomes alive (Rev 13:14).

When in history is the Sixth Head?

The fatal wound implies that the Beast goes through three phases; alive, dead, and again alive.

Since a previous article identified the Beast as the 11th horn of Daniel 7, the Beast began to exist when the Roman Empire fragmented into many kingdoms. Specifically, one of the previous articles identified the 11th horn as the Church of the Roman Empire that survived intact after the Empire fragmented, grew in power, and became the Church of the High Middle Ages. [Show More]

Consequently, another article identifies the seven heads of the Beast as follows:

      1. Babylonian Empire,
      2. Medo-Persian Empire,
      3. Greece,
      4. Roman Empire,
      5. The Roman Church after the Roman Empire fragmented, particularly during the High Middle Ages,
      6. The Roman Church unable to dominate in the present age due to religious freedom and the separation of Church and State, and
      7. The Roman Church revived when the image of the Beast is erected, possibly near in our future.

The Present Time is not John’s Time.

Many commentators assume that the ‘present time’ in Revelation 17 must refer to John’s own time because he had to understand what he was told. But that would mean that the Beast was dead in John’s time, which most certainly was not the case. At that time, the authorities were very able to persecute Christians.

My view is that, when the angel “carried” John “into a wilderness” (Rev 17:3), he took John not to a specific place but to a specific time in history. And since he carried John away, he carried John to a different time.

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