Executing Babylon the Great

IN FURTHER describing the scarlet-colored wild beast of Revelation 17:3, the angel tells John:  "Her is where the intelligence that has wisdom comes in:  The seven heads mean seven mountains, where the woman sits on top.  And there are seven kings: five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet arrived, but when he does arrive he must remain a short while." (Revelation 17:9, 10) The angel is here conveying wisdom from above, the only wisdom that can give understanding of the symbols  in Revelation.  (James 3:17)  This wisdom enlightens  the John class and its companions as to the seriousness of the times in which we live.  It builds  in devoted hearts appreciation of Jehovah's judgments, now about to be carried out, and includes a healthy fear of Jehovah. As Proverbs 9:10 states:  "The fear of Jehovah is the start of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Most Holy One is what understanding is." What does divine wisdom reveal to us about the wild beast?

The seven heads of that ferocious beast stand for seven "mountains," or seven "kings."  Both terms are used Scripturally to refer to governmental powers.  (Jeremiah 51:24, 25; Daniel 2:34, 35, 44, 45)  In the Bible, six world powers are mentioned as having an impact on the affairs of God's people: Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome.  Of these, five had already come and gone by the time John received  Revelation, whereas, Rome was still very much a world power.  This corresponds well with the words, "five have fallen, one is."  But what of "the other sheep" That was due to come?


The Roman Empire endured and even expanded for hundreds of years after john's day in 330 C.E., Emperor Constantine moved his capital from Rome to Byzantium, which he renamed Constantinople.  In 395 B.C.E., the Roman Empire was split into Eastern and Western parts.  In 410 C.E., Rome   itself fell to Alaric, king of the Visigoths (a Germanic tribe  that had converted to the Arian brand of "Christianity"). Germanic tribes ( also "Christian")  conquered Spain and much of the territory of Rome in North Africa .  There were centuries of upheaval, unrest, and readjustment in Europe.  Notable emperors arose in the West, such as Charlemagne, who formed an alliance  with Pope Leo III in the 9th century, and Frederick II, who reigned in the 13th century.  But their domain, though named the Holy Roman Empire, was much smaller than that of the earlier Roman Empire at its zenith.  It was more of a restoration or a continuation of this ancient power than a new empire.

Rome's Eastern Empire, centered at Constantinople, endured in somewhat uneasy relationship with the Western Empire.  In the sixth century, Easter emperor Justinian I was able to reconquer much of North Africa, and he also intervened in Spain and Italy.  In the seventh century,  Justinian II recovered for the Empire areas of Macedonia that had been conquered  by Slavic tribesmen. By the eighth century, however, much of the former territory of ancient Rome in North Africa, Spain, and Syria had come under the new empire of Islam and thus passed from the control of both Constantinople and Rome.

Next time:  Conclusion of  Executing Babylon the Great

From the Book of Revelation