This is the first time you have directed such a message to me, but I have for some time now been grieved by the arrogant spirit of many of your posts. Even when people are mistaken, it is inappropriate to correct people in such a way as this. The scriptural pattern for a teacher is "a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and
that they may come to their senses
and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to
do his will. " (2 Timothy 2:24-26)
And the qualification for an elder, or bishop, is "that he may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and convict those who contradict." (Titus 1:9)
If you can demonstrate an error from the scripture, do so. But do it in humility, not in arrogance. And remember that "the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy." (James 3:17)
You insist that the Holy Spirit "was not speaking of geography." But in actual fact, this is exactly what He did. He identified this woman two ways. the first way, which you dismissed so cavalierly, was by saying she sat on seven mountains. At that time, there was exactly one city in the entire world that was known as "the city of seven hills." And that one city was Rome. The physical proof of this is still available for people to see in the coin below. This was minted by the Roman government only about 20 years before the Revelation was given, and it depicts Rome as a woman sitting on seven hills. This coin is called the Roma sestertius of Vespacian.
But that is only one of the two positive identifiers in this chapter. (Revelation 17) The other one, in the last verse, is the one I referred to, which is, "the woman whom you saw is that great city which reigns over the kings of the earth." (Revelation 17:18)
At the time this was said, five previous governments of Rome had already fallen, and she now had a sixth. For Rome was first ruled by kings, then by consuls; followed by decemvirs and then by consular tribunes. (See “The History of Rome,” by Livy, book 5, chapter 2. And “the Annals of Imperial Rome,” by Tacitus, book 1, chapter 1.) During these governments, the ·Roman Senate had occasionally appointed dictators in extreme emergencies. These had always been given power for only six months or until the emergency was over. But Rome’s fifth form of government was different. One after another, military commanders began to violently seize dictatorial power by force of arms, as recorded by the ancient historian Appian in a book called “The Civil Wars.” This continued for a period of about a hundred years, finally ending when the Senate granted absolute power to Augustus Caesar, thus establishing Rome’s sixth government, the line of emperors called Caesars. This government was in power when the Revelation was given and lasted until the fall of the ·Roman empire. So the one which “has not yet come” has to be future.
It is not only your last statement that is "just a guess," but everything in these two paragraphs. Such a system of interpretation requires hard scriptural backup to make it even "seem" valid. And this you have not done, and you cannot do. For the scriptures do not teach this idea.
The basic error in the system of interpretation you have presented here is that you have neglected that the seven heads are all on the beast. These are not seven independent empires, but seven different governments of the same empire. And that is the Roman Empire.
The head that was wounded unto death was the empire, the last of the ancient forms of government over Rome. The Roman Empire received a stroke that appeared to have killed it. But this scripture says that the deadly wound will be healed. When Rome re-asserts herself, it will be as a true revival of the ancient Roman Empire.
When people are on a public forum attempting to teach, but teaching error, the error is to be corrected. God gave me a verse for my life, very early in my life:
2 Timothy 4:2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season;
reprove,
rebuke,
exhort with all long suffering and doctrine.
For beginners on a public forum, I exhort, but for those who have been on forums day after day, week after week, teaching false doctrine, I reprove. In particular I reprove a false, posttrib doctrine, because it is very dangerous. Do you understand, some are here for ONE Purpose: to spread their false doctrine. I should not have to tell you who is behind that.
I still say, John did not even remotely have Rome in mind. To understand this, you must go back to the image in Daniel chapter 2. Do you remember this? Notice these verses:
44 And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.
Notice the wording: "in the days of these kings...." What is this telling us? It seems that all these kings are contemporary! And they are all living at the time Jesus comes to set up His kingdom. This seems to be the final meaning. The first and obvious meaning is that the head of gold was to represent Nebuchadnezzar, the silver chest (two arms) were to represent Medo-Persia that took down Babylon; then the bronze of the Greecian Kingdom, belly with two thighs. This image had two legs, to represent the Eastern leg and Western Leg. Alexander's kingdom was so large it included southern Europe and the Middle East - two thighs. After the Grecian kingdom was defeated, ROME took over, but again the TWO legs of Iron. Rome controlled most of Europe and the Middle East. So this image was to represent these empires, one after another. But there is a second meaning: these same land areas will have kings at the time of the end. Now these verses from chapter 7:
8 I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.
Notice the TIME: it is when the Beast of Rev. 13 rises up to begin his reign of power: he takes out three nations: I believe Middle East nations. His goal is Jerusalem.
Now notice these next two verses:
11 I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake: I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame.
12 As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time.
The beast - the very same beast as Daniel 13 - is taken, as shown in Rev. 19. But notice, "the rest of the beasts" lost their dominion but were not destroyed at that time. My point is, all four of these beasts of chapter 7 are alive at the SAME POINT in time, the time of the END.
Back to the image of chapter 2: we see that from Babylon and Nebuchadnezzar, MedoPersia took over, and from there, Greece took over, and from there, Rome took over. EAch of these nations RULED Israel and influenced her greatly. Babylon took many captive; the Persian king in the time of Esther was going to destroy the Jews. Antiochus Epiphanes of the Grecian empire did TERRIBLE things to Israel, and became a TYPE of the Rev. 13 beast. But then ROME took over, and again had GREAT influence over Israel, finally destroying her temple and scattering her people to the four winds. So these empires came one after another. But at the time of the end, there will be PEOPLE in all these same land areas, which will be nations with Kings. THIS is the kingdom of the final Beast. John was not talking about Rome AT ALL. He was talking about all the previous nations that controlled Israel: Assyria, Babylon, Meads, Persians, Greece, and finally Rome. The Kingdom of the Beast will include the same land areas as is common with all these kingdoms, mostly the MIDDLE EAST. This would include IRAN, IRAQ, SYRIA, to name just three.
The Beast is a leopard beast with wings. Why? Because he will have the same speed of conquering as Alexander did. He will have the feet of a bear, because he will also resemble the Medopersian Empire. My guess is, he will be able to amass VAST NUMBERS of troops, as did the Medopersians. He will have the mouth of a lion to represent Nebuchadnezzar. He ruled as a SOLE Monarch, meaning HE MADE ALL decisions. The Rev. 13 beast will be the same kind of king.
You should understand, EVERYTHING in Revelation is centered in the Middle East with Israel as the Center. JESUS will return to Jerusalem, so Satan WANTS THAT CITY!
Finally, the Beast of Revelation will come representing Christ. For that He will enter the temple where Christ will one day come, and proclaim that he is God. He will spend the last 3 1/2 years IN JERUSALEM, not Rome. He will arrive in Jerusalem as shown in Rev. 11:1-2. That will be 3 1/2 days before the abomination. He will not come alone, but with his Muslim Armies. This is why John said the city would be trampled for 3 1/2 years.
HOW does Rome fit in? She was never defeated; rather she just faded away. But those land areas held by Rome still have people in them. And Rome still can be pictured as the legs and feet of the image. Did you notice that the clay and iron would not mix or blend? Have you notice that Islam will not "blend" ANYWHERE? They have no desire to blend or mix: they want to RULE. Muslims will never mix with any population where they go.
I will admit, I have not received revelation knowledge on this - so am using only human wisdom. I cannot be dogmatic on some points. But on the 7 mountains I can be sure: they are to represent seven SIGNIFICANT nations; the very same we see in Daniel 2 and Daniel 7. How can we hope to understand Revelation if we ignore Daniel? The Beast's kingdom MUST be understood by the image of Daniel 2 and Daniel's vision of chapter 7.
When it comes to the 70th week, I DO have revelation knowledge. I am sure of what I write. I know the truth, because God spoke it to me. Have you notice HOW SURE Paul was about his gospel he received by revealed knowledge? He wrote that we will be judged by his gospel. He was so sure he preached it for years before checking it out at Jerusalem. it is that way with revelation knowledge: when God speaks, you KNOW the truth. I suspect some in Paul's day called him arrogant. But he was not: he KNEW the TRUTH, and would not compromise it.
If you are only a beginner in end times, I repent. I hope you will be open to learn. I did get revelation knowledge on the Great Wh**e Babylon being Jerusalem. There is absolutely no doubt of this. The Beast will rule and deceive the entire world with false doctrine, and false miracles to back him up. It will be deception on a level this world has never seen. The very city where God wanted to spreak the good news to all the world, becomes the very city where FALSE doctrine is spread.
9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.
John is not speaking her of the woman, but of the KINGDOM of the Beast. Each head is not a hill in Rome, but a NATION or EMPIRE. The Beast is not going to be ruling from Rome, but from JERUSALEM.
The seven heads are seven mountains...And there are seven kings:
There are NOT seven kings, one for each hill in Rome! That is not the meaning. Each mountain is to represent an EMPIRE with a king.
You have neglected that the seven heads are all on the beast. These are not seven independent empires, but seven different governments of the same empire. And that is the Roman Empire.
These seven ARE on the same Beast...to represent the 7 nations the Beast of Rev. 13 will begin his reign with. But they are RELATED to the ancient empires in that they are in the same land areas. And here they are MIDDLE EAST nations.
The head that was wounded unto death was the empire
I disagree. Each head represents a NATION with a King.
LAMAD