ONE of the most fascinating phases of Bible study is the study of Bible prophecy. Descriptions of the world just before Jesus comes and the glorious hope of a peacefully inhabited earth in the not-too-distant future will ever intrigue the mind of the prayerful and diligent student of Scripture.
Chapter seventeen of the book of Revelation holds a masterpiece of prophecy depicting the present and future. In the history of nations described in this chapter it can be clearly seen how God is permitting Satan himself to prove the futility of his system of government and man's great need of the system of government God has drawn up and sealed with the blood of His own Son.
As outlined in this chapter, Satan's system, bereft of the fine principles of God's law that bind a people together eternally, is filled with moral corruption causing decay and degeneracy until final ruin comes upon it. The whole chapter is a description of the judgment of a great confederation of the wicked.
The Vision of John
In verses 1 and 2 an angel introduces the subject to John. Beginning with verse 3, John is carried off in vision and sees a woman sitting upon a scarlet beast. It is clear that she is sitting upon a beast and not a dragon. Because of the satanic influence so characteristic in this beast, John sees it as being scarlet, the color assigned to Satan (Rev. 12:3, 9). Except for its color, it is described in Revelation 13 in even more detail. If we are to understand what God would reveal to us in this beast it is important that we do not confuse it with the dragon of chapter 12.
This makes relevant the fact that this great whore is also depicted by the angel as sitting upon many waters (chap. 17:1). John tells us in verse 15 that the "waters" mean "peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues." It is helpful to the understanding of this prophecy when we remember that the conglomerate beast in Revelation 13:2 incorporates the ten horns of the nondescript beast (Dan. 7:7), the body of the leopard (verse 6), the feet of a bear (verse 5), and the head of a lion (verse 4). These beasts all came out of the sea (verse 3). What Daniel saw in four separate beasts, John sees in one homogenized Biblical depiction of a God-offending power.
As the woman of Revelation 12 is presented a pure woman to symbolize a pure church, so chapter 17 presents an impure woman as the symbol of an impure church. The woman is clearly seen as the ecclesiastical power of the Roman church. Bedecked in costly array (verse 4), she is full of blasphemies and doctrines that cause the kings of the earth to commit spiritual fornication. She leads the people to utter destruction.
We can only marvel at the accuracy of this prophecy as we today behold its fulfillment. The woman is pictured as "drunken with the blood of the saints and the blood of the martyrs of Jesus" (verse 6). Revelation 13:7 shows us that the beast actually persecutes God's people while the woman (Rev. 17:6) is intoxicated by her ability to dictate to the beast she rides.
This is certainly in agreement with Bible symbolism, since a beast represents a political power (Dan. 7; Rev. 13:11) and a woman represents an ecclesiastical power. How aptly this fits the Roman Catholic power today and in the past. Popes have crowned kings, and have caused political powers to put to death those marked as heretical.
To see how accurately history fits this prophecy, we must give careful scrutiny to the beast power.
Revelation 13 and 17
That the beasts of Revelation 13 and 17 are one and the same is evidenced by the reading of two verses. "And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed" (Rev. 13:3). Then turning to chapter 17, verse 8, we read, "The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition." The first shows the beast mortally wounded, and the second, ascending out of the abyss (abussos). In both cases this marvelous recovery causes the world to wonder (13:3 and 17:8).
Napoleon had General Berthier take the pope a virtual prisoner in 1798. In 1870 the Italian government stripped this church of her temporal power at home. Speaking of the historic treaty between the Fascist government of Mussolini and the papacy, we read, "Lateran Treaty, the accord concluded on Feb. 11, 1929 between the Holy See and the Italian State, which terminated the long estrangement between the papacy and the house of Savoy resulting from the occupation of Rome in 1870 by the troops of Victor Emmanuel II, king of Italy. . . . The signatories were Pietro Cardinal Gasparri for the Holy See and Premier Benito Mussolini for the kingdom of Italy. ... It consists of 27 articles providing recognition of the sovereignty of the occupant of the Roman See, territorial guarantees of the State of Vatican City, recognition of extra-territorial privileges and of exemption from expropriation and taxation, as well as making financial arrangements in the form of an indemnity." 1
This was just the beginning of Rome's climb back to power. This is an accurate fulfillment of the prophecy in that, while the church suffered a declension, it was the temporal power (the beast) that received the deadly wound and was healed (was, is not, and ascends out of the abyss). (Rev. 13:3, and 17:8). Lately the Roman pontiff has been working with the communist government to free her priests and is, according to some commentators, reaping a fringe benefit. It may make him more acceptable as a possible mediator for conflicts such as the Vietnam war. Bishop Agostino Casaroli called on a Hanoi diplomat in Paris recently on a mission that would have been impossible if polemics between the church and Communism had still been bitter.
The Vatican stands today an ecclesiastical and temporal command, vividly portrayed in Bible prophecy as a woman riding on a beast.
The Seven Heads
The seven heads of the beast are very significant. "And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space" (Rev. 17:9, 10).
Given in these two verses are three symbols, each seven in number. The symbols are interpreted elsewhere as kingdoms, empires, or political powers.
1. Heads Daniel 7:6
2. Mountain Daniel 2:35, 45
3. Kings Daniel 2:37, 38
In the King James Version the tenth verse of Revelation 17 begins, "And there are seven kings." The New English Bible says, "They represent also seven kings." 2 The Greek begins the verse, "Kai basileis kepta eisin," 3 or "and they are seven kings." This makes it rather clear that John saw the heads, mountains, and kings as the same. Here these kingdoms are made up into one beast and homogenized by the sinful influence of Satan, from whom they received their power (chap. 13:2).
At the time John sees them, five had already fallen, one was in power, and the seventh was yet to receive the kingdom. Throughout the history of this world there have been seven major world empires. Egypt, which rose to a high peak of power thrice, Assyria, which destroyed Israel, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, pagan Rome, and papal Rome." When John saw this vision, Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, and Greece had all passed off the scene of action. Pagan Rome was holding the scepter and a few centuries later it merged into papal Rome. The Roman Catholic Church was supported by and directed the civil government, and for a while the Holy Roman Empire was the temporal power with the remaining seven of the ten horns (Europe) as rather strong and independent vassal kings.
It is stated three times in verses 3, 7, and 9 of chapter 17 that the woman is supported and carried by this beast. This is very significant. In fact, the prophecy seems to be supported by geography in that the city of Rome sits on seven hills (mountains) which represent as it were the seven world empires from which she gets her support. Each of them has had a part in the development of her doctrines.
False Doctrines
The Catholic Church has based her doctrines on tradition, as well as the Bible, as declared in the Council of Trent. 5 These traditions have come down through the ages from pagan sources and have affected nearly all if not all of her teachings. In his book Paganism to Christianity in the Roman Empire, Walter Woodburn Hyde admits, "But while the Empire be came Christian, the Church became in part pagan." 6
L. E. Froom points out in The Conditionalist Faith of Our Fathers, volume 2, that the doctrine of purgatory had multiple pagan sources. Some named were Egypt, Persia, and the Greek platonic philosophers.7
Divinities were passed on through Assyria, Babylon, Persia, and Greece, most of these being incorporated into Roman paganism in some form or other.
"That [Babylonian] influence manifested itself in various ways. First, it introduced new gods. In this way Bel passed from the Babylonian pantheon into that of Palmyra and was honored throughout northern Syria. It also caused ancient divinities to be arranged in new groups. . . . Finally, and most important, astrolatry wrought radical changes in the characters of the celestial powers, and, as a further consequence in the entire Roman paganism." 8
Speaking of the doctrine of purgatory, Dr. Froom says, "The foundation was laid by Augustine. It was then sanctioned by Pope Gregory the Great (c. 582), supported next by Damian, and consummated under Peter Lombard and Thomas Aquinas. Augustine, following Plato in his concept of an abode of unending pain, seems to have been the first Christian writer to project the idea of purifying the 'immortal soul' while the body lies in the tomb, though he emphatically rejected the idea of a 'third' place 'as unknown to Christians and foreign to revelation.' But he sought some avenue of escape from the fearful pains of an unending hell. . . . Augustine's high standing in theological circles gave credence to this definite idea, and it found reception among the barbarian tribes in Italy, Spain, and England when the Goths and Lombards invaded Italy, and when France was subdued by the Franks, and the Vandals desolated Spain."9
How many are the sources of papal doctrines it would be hard to know, but much of what has been passed down through the empires of the world has been crystalized into Catholic teaching and practice. Satanic influence down the corridors of history is seen ever opposed to the truth but changed to fit the peoples and the times. The doctrine of the immortality of the soul has been trained like an ever-growing vine, but the seed was planted in the Garden of Eden when Satan said, "Ye shall not surely die" (Gen. 3:4).
Sunday sacredness, also with pagan roots, is a doctrine of Satan opposed to the law and government of God. No wonder the beast was revealed to John as scarlet colored!
The Beast That Was, Is Not, Yet Is
Revelation 17:11 is one that seems involved, but once untangled, it is in beautiful harmony with verses 8 and 10, as well as verse 3, of chapter 13.
"The beast that was, and is not ["which received the deadly wound and was healed"], even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition" (Rev. 17:11).
Notice the harmony with chapter 13, verse 3.
Rev. 17:11 | Rev. 13:3 |
1. "was, and is not" | 1. "one of his heads . . . wounded" |
2. "even he is the eighth" | 2. "deadly wound was healed" |
3. "and is of the seven" | 3. "one of his heads" |
4. Verse 8, "and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder" | 4. "and all the world wondered after the beast" |
When pagan Rome fell, it was more of a transition into a religio-politico government and continued for 1260 years. But the eighth, which is "out of" the seven (ek ton hepta),10 is the return of papal Rome to a dual power beginning February 11, 1929, and is still a woman riding a scarlet-colored beast. It seems inconsistent, but the very one (Mussolini) who again gave the pope his authority, was murdered and hung upside down with his mistress in the streets of Rome. Yet the Roman Church moves on until the kings of the earth are committing fornication with her.
Today we see the kings, indeed all the world, looking more and more to the pope for guidance in national and religious affairs. It is this mixing of the two to advance the church's ecclesiastical authority that results in the loss of religious liberty and develops a fornicating attitude on the part of the church.
In fulfillment of this the heads of state will accept of ecclesiastical power laws that will restrict conscience and swerve men from duty and allegiance to God. Today world leaders are looking to this religious-political power for direction and guidance. They, like the religious leaders, are reaching across the gulf.
The Mother Church
The woman represents the Roman Catholic Church as the "mother of harlots" (Rev. 17:5). Then she seems to change before the eyes of John and is explained as the "great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth" (verse 18). Still the woman distinctly, but with her daughters gathered about her. It is significant that Rome is known as the mother church, and today we find the "separated brethren" returning as it were to the one fold.
As in the case of men's attitude toward a harlot, eventually they hate the whore (verse 16). "The multitudes are filled with fury. 'We are lost!' they cry, 'and you are the cause of our ruin;' and they turn upon the false shepherds. The very ones that once admired them most will pronounce the most dreadful curses upon them. The very hands that once crowned them with laurels will be raised for their destruction. The swords which were to slay God's people are now employed to destroy their enemies." 11
In this vision given to John, is set forth a great panoramic view of the development, reign, and utter destruction of a power that in these last days will be at war with the remnant church that keeps the commandments of God and has the testimony of Jesus. How important that Seventh-day Adventists understand the true nature of the conflict as it involves Romanism, united with apostate Protestantism and spiritualism (Rev. 16:13). In the light of present-day developments, how important it is that we faithfully proclaim the third angel's message of Revelation 14!
REFERENCES
1. "Lateran Treaty," The Encyclopedia Americana, 1968 edition, Vol. XIV, 770, 771.
2. From The New English Bible, New Testament. The Delegates of the Oxford University Press and the Syndics of the Cambridge University Press 1961. Reprinted by permission.
3. Nestle, D. Erwin, Novum Testamentum Greace, printed in Germany by Verlag and Druck, 1952, p. 645.
4. Thiele, E. R., Outline Studies in Revelation (Berrien Springs, Michigan: Emmanuel Missionary College), 1954, pp. 527, 528.
5. Seventh-day Adventist Bible Students' Source Book, edited by Don F. Neufeld and Julia Neuffer (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association). 1962, article 1728, p. 1042.
6. Hyde, Walter Woodburn, Paganism to Christianity in the Roman Empire, as quoted in SDA Bible Students' Source Book, op. cit., article 1360, p. 842.
7. Froom, L. E., The Conditionalist Faith of Our Fathers (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association) 1965, II, 41.
8. Cumont, Franz, The Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism, as quoted in SDA Bible Students' Source Book, op. cit., article 137, p. 74.
9. Froom, op. cit., pp. 42, 43.
10. Nestle, D. Erwin, op. cit., p. 645.
11. White, EIlen G., The Great Controversy (Mountain View, California: Pacific Press Publishing Association), 1948, p. 656.