Revelation 13 - timestamp status - end times, 42 months before Jesus returns
seven heads -
no crowns. one head mortally wounded but healed - the beast king.
ten horns -
crowns (to rule with the beast king).
In Revelation 13, the seven heads are seven sequential kings
of the fourth kingdom, which that kingdom is in Daniel 7 - the Roman Empire, which
in the end times is represented by the EU. They are the seven sequential kings of
Revelation 17:10. They are kings of the Julio-Claudian bloodline.
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Douggg, Appreciate your response. A lot to unpack. Our understanding of these prophecies vary greatly, and I'm not under the illusion that what I share will change your thinking, but nonetheless it's interesting to understand what others believe and how they arrive at it.
ln this post I will focus on your quotes,
and share my understanding of the seven heads and the ten horns of Rev.13, composite beast. To start off we both agree that the 42 months are literal, and not a symbolic day for a year as most expositor interpret it, and it does occur just before the return of Christ. While speaking of time I believe God has a law/hermeneutic as to how to translate time within apocalyptic prophecy. It is:
all time prophecy being fulfilled during the operation of the Jubilee calendar, (1437 B.C-1994) is symbolic, translated day/year, otherwise it is literate time. Since Rev. 13, is a future advent and well based the close of the Jubilee calendar (1994) it is therefore literal time.
I believe to properly understand what causes this composite beast to rise up out of the sea, one needs to understand the conditions on planet earth at the time. So I will go back in Rev. earlier chapters and share what I believe prophecy reveals. I will skip over the seals and start with the trumpet judgements in Chapter 8. They start the tribulation, and were predetermined by Father at the foundation of earths creation,
as a part of the plan of salvation. Whereas Jesus began the judgement of the dead in 1844, which still is ongoing, the living who shall experience the tribulation shall bring judgement upon themselves by whom they choose to worship, The Lamb/Christ or the Lamb like beast/Satan. God will put the earth in survival mode in order that
all will seriously consider their need of a savior. The trumpets are redemptive judgements in which only one third of His wrath will be poured out, and the offer of salvation remains open for 1260 days. Whereas, the seven last vile/ bowl judgements are punitive and are poured out in full measure (Rev.14:9&10) on the wicked who have chosen to worship the devil and receive his mark.
God gave to Israel, His early trustees of the gospel, a model in the form of the earthly sanctuary, on how the plan of salvation would be implemented. The sanctuary was an exact model of the heavenly, but much smaller. And all the services pointed to how God would save fallen mankind. It had two alters, the brazen alter out in the courtyard, for individuals to confess their sins, and apply the sacrificial blood on the horns of the altar, and the golden altar of incense located in the Holy Place before the veil, that separated it from the Most Holy Place. Daily, morning and evening a priest would offered a year old perfect lamb, at the brazen alter, and apply it's blood on the horns of the golden alter of incense, along with a special incense. This model demonstrates that God intercedes for mankind on two levels, Corporate and individual.
Why two levels? Within the camp of Israel, God's presence rested over the mercy seat within the Most Holy place. In His mercy toward individuals within the camp of which there were thousands, each of the twelve tribes were only allowed a certain window of time for access to the sanctuary to make personnel confession of sin and have their guilt transferred by the blood of their sacrificial offering to the brazen altar. In the meantime the "
Daily" was being conducted morning and evening continually at the golden altar of incense. It was the corporate, Daily sacrifices that kept the wrath of almighty God from destroying individual who had not yet transferred their sins to the sanctuary.
On the tenth day of their seventh month, (a religious year of seven months. Similar to a nine month school year) The Day of Atonement took place. The most solemn day of the religious year. On that day, the sanctuary was cleansed of the accumulated guilt that had been transferred there by individuals. Individuals who had not transferred their sins into the sanctuary prior to the Day of Atonement were cut off from the camp. God in His love for individuals, put in place a service that would alert the people of the coming Day of Atonement/judgementTh, so nobody would be caught off guard to its approach. It was called the Feast Of Trumpets. For nine consecutive days prior to the Day Of Atonement the priest would blow trumpets morning and evening. In essence they were a warning, get ready! get ready! judgement is coming.
With this understanding in mind, please read (Rev. 8: 2-12) To understand it correctly it must be understood in a literal sense for three reasons. First: if it were symbolic, the bible must define the symbols. Example, what are people if not people? What are rivers, if not rivers? What is the sun or moon, if not the sun and moon? Second, the physical outcome of each trumpet is consistent with the trumpet judgement itself. Third, the placement of the golden altar of incense, is consistent with the earthly model, as well as the trumpet judgements which will accomplish the same purpose as the Feast of Trumpets, both, giving warning of God's coming judgement.
Let me summarize, John is shown seven angles standing before the thrown of God. He sees another angle ministering at the golden altar of incense before the thrown as well. (Remember the placement of this altar was the same in the earthly sanctuary) John then sees the ministering angle fill the censer with coals from the altar, used for burning incense, and hurled it to the earth. This act by the angle brings an end to corporate intersession for planet earth, therefore, God's redemptive wrath, will begin. So that mankind can know the timing of this event in heavens temple, God has linked
literal manifestations on earth by way of, peals of thunder, rumblings, flashing of lightning and a earthquake. These manifestations will occur in the exact chronological order given, to dispute the argument that they are random acts of nature.
What John describes as
hail and fire in the first trumpet, we would call a meteor shower. A
huge mountain all ablaze, an asteroid, in the second trumpet. A
great star blazing like a torch, a large meteorite in the third trumpet. John does not indicate what would cause the sun, moon and stars to go dark in the forth trumpet, but the following article will give us better insight.
This article was published in National Geographic, entitled, "Extinction", in its June 1989 edition. The article proposed the following scenario: "Giant meteorite strikes earth, setting the planet afire. Volcanoes erupt, tsunamis crash into the continents. The sky grows dark for months, perhaps years. Unable to cope with the catastrophic changes in climate, countless species are wiped off the face of the planet." Too, the article suggest that great fires resulting from an asteroid would destroy crops, trees and vegetation. Even worse, wind storms created by the fires would destroy buildings hundreds of miles from the impact. Dust and smoke from the fires would find their way into the jet stream and block much of the Sun's light, thus altering the world's climate and chances of human survival.
This scenario would seem unbelievable for most individuals to ever affect the earth, but if you correctly understand the trumpet judgements you know its only a matter of time. God not only informs us of His coming judgements He also informs us of mans response. That response is revealed in the composite beast rising up out of the sea [peoples, multitudes, nations, languages, Rev.17:15] a global response.
What do the seven heads on the composite beast represent? In Rev. 13:1 we find they have blasphemous names written on them. This indicates they are religious in nature and they are anti-christ. Second, we know that one head was wounded, but the deadly wound was healed when the composite beast comes up from the sea. The head that was wounded is the papacy. There are seven heads, that is, there are seven of the same thing. Because the wounded/healed head represents a religious system (the papacy), the remaining six heads must also represent religious systems.
