Executing Babylon the Great - Why Called an Eighth King

 The angel further explains to John:  "And the wild beast that was but is not, it is also itself an eighth king, but springs from the seven, and it goes off into destruction."  (Revelation 17:11) The symbolic scarlet -colored  wild beast  "springs from the seven heads; that is, it is born from, or owes its existence, to those heads of the original "wild beast. . . . out of the sea,"  of which the scarlet-colored  wild beast is an image. In what way?  Well, in 1919 the Anglo-American power was the ascendant head. The previous six heads  had fallen, and the position of dominant world power had passed  to this dual head and was now centered in it. This seventh head, as the current representative of the line of world powers, was the moving force in establishing the League of Nations and is still  the major promoter and financial support of the United Nations. Thus, in symbol, the scarlet-colored wild beast-the eighth king-"springs from the seven harmonizes well with the earlier revelation that the wild best with two horns like a lamb (the Anglo-American World power, the seventh head of that original wild beast) urged the making of the image and gave it life. -REVELATION 13:1, 11, 14, 15.

Additionally, original members of the League of Nations included, along with Great Britain, governments that ruled in the seats of the some of the previous heads, namely Greece, Iran,  (Persia)  and Italy (Rome).  Eventually governments ruling the territory controlled by the previous six world powers came to be supportive members of the image of the wild beast.  In this sense, too, it could be said that this scarlet-colored wild beast sprang from the seven world powers.

Notice that the scarlet-colored wild beast "is also itself an eighth king."  Thus, the United Nations today is designed to look like a world government. At times, it has even acted like one, sending armies into the field to resolve international disputes, as in Korea, the Sinai Peninsula, some Africa countries, and Lebanon.  But it is only the image of a king. Like a religious image, it has no real influence or power apart from what is invested in it by those who brought it into existence and worship it.  On occasion, this symbolic wild beast looks weak, but it has never experienced the kind of wholesale abandonment by dictator-oriented members that sent the League of Nations reeling into the abyss.  (Revelation  17:8)  Though holding radically different opinions in other areas, a prominent leader in the Soviet Union in 1987 joined the popes of Rome in expressing support for the UN. As John soon learns, the time will come  when the UN will act with considerable authority. Then, in its turn, "goes off into destruction." 

Next time: Executing Babylon the Great - Ten Kings for One Hour

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