Then the angel said to me,
“Because of what do you marvel? I myself will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the dangerous creature carrying her, the one having the seven heads and the ten horns.
“The dangerous beast which you observed was and is not, and is about to rise up out of the abyss, then withdraw into ruin, the loss of eternal life: then the dwellers upon the earth will marvel – the ones not having the name written upon the book of life from before the foundation of the universe – seeing the dangerous beast that was and is not and is to come.
“In this place [is] the mind, the one having wisdom. The seven heads are seven hills, where the woman sits herself upon them, and they are seven rulers. The five fell, the one is, the other is not yet come, and whenever he does come, he is bound to remain briefly. Now, the dangerous creatures which was and is not, is himself also eighth, and is out of the seven, and withdraws into ruin, the loss of eternal life.”
Revelation 17:7-11
Although the angel gives some concrete interpretation, those interpretations create more questions!
Historicist
The beast, representing Rome, was a persecuting power under antichristian Roman emperors. Under Constantine, the beast ceased to be for a time. But then, when the church became Romanized, the beast arose once again and is now destined for destruction.
The seven rulers may be seven forms of government, five of which have already fallen away:
- Kings
- Consuls
- Dictators
- Decemvirs
- Military Tribunes
The sixth form of government, in John’s day, were the Caesars, the military emperors. The seventh might be the rule of Christian emperors, or perhaps the development of western, benevolent governments. The eighth is identified as the ruler of the Roman church.
Preterist
If the seven hills identify the location of the beast as Rome, the seven rulers identify the time period as the Caesarian dynasty. Five of the Caesars had now fallen by the writing of Revelation:
- Julius Caesar
- Augustus
- Tiberius
- Caligula
- Claudius
Nero was now on the throne, the one who is, and the one to come was Galba, who would rule for only a short time. In fact, Galba reigned for a short seven months.
Alternatively, the five fallen emperors might begin with Augustus and end with Nero. If the three contenders who all ruled very briefly during the Year of the Four Emperors (Galba, Otho, and Vitellius) are omitted, the sixth ruler becomes Vespasian (68-79 CE), the briefly reigning seventh ruler is Titus (79-81 CE, and the eighth “who is of the seven” is Domitian, who was every bit as cruel and corrupt as Nero.
A final theory keeps the counting the same as the first posited schema, but the eighth represents all the emperors who came afterward who were like any of the first seven emperors named.
If the seven hills identify the location of the beast as Jerusalem, then the seven rulers were the procurators sent by Rome under Claudius and Nero leading to the start of the Jewish War in 66 CE.
- Cuspius Fadus
- Tiberius Alexander
- Ventidius Cumanus
- Antonius Felix
- Portius Festus
- Albinus
- Gessius Florus
The temple authorities were under the jurisdiction of Sadducee families, namely the corrupt Caiaphas and his father-in-law Annas, who had been high priest before him. Additionally, the Sanhedrin was largely Sadducean, but also Pharisee, and both were indicted by Jesus for not believing God, nor Scripture. The Sanhedrin and the temple rulers–both supported and were supported by Rome–are the harlot seated upon the beast, and the beast is Nero.
Futurist
Since Rome is the most famous city to claim seven hills, there is little question where the beast is located. However, since these hills are also described as rulers, possibly seven empires are meant. The five empires that had already arisen then fallen away by the time of John’s Apocalypse would have been
- Egypt
- Assyria
- Babylon
- Medo-Persia
- Greece
The sixth and current empire would have been Rome, and the seventh has not yet come. Since the harlot/idolator rides on the back of all seven empires, their unifying characteristic is false religion and all the corruption that goes with it.
There is also the possibility these are forms of government within the continuing iterations of the Roman empire, and the seventh, still-future-to-us ruler will be the man of lawlessness who presides over earth’s final empire and ushers in the end of the world.
| By Lambert of St. Omer – Public Domain
Spiritual
The description of the beast likens it to Nero, who in turn is a portrayal of the AntiChrist. Though the seven hills can certainly be understood as Rome’s distinctive, they may also represent empires from around the globe. Even more broadly, seven may be a number that encompasses all that is anti-God, the spirit of secular power and ambition. In this way, Revelation’s original readers would have understood immediately John was writing of Rome, while readers in every age will just as immediately recognize the corrupt and godless powers of their day.
Like futurists, many spiritual scholars see the same five fallen empires of the Ancient Near East and Mediterranean region. The one not yet fallen was Rome. The seventh empire reaches from the fall of Rome to a future time when the AntiChrist will establish the world’s last God-rejecting sovereignty. Perhaps this eighth federation will resemble one of the former empires in some way, as a revival of that ancient rule.
In particular, the final ruler will be the tincture of all the rulers who precede him. He will embody all of their spirits in himself.
Symbolism of Seven
The Gospel of John and the Book of Revelation feature the number seven throughout. Seven is the sum of spiritual harmony, wisdom, and understanding encompassed in the number three and the whole of the material universe represented by the number four. Seven becomes the number of fullness, completeness and completion, of perfection, the joining of heaven and earth, spiritual and physical.
Additionally, שבע “seven” is spelled with the same consonants as the word שבע “complete/full.”
In a sense, when seven empires have come and gone, the history of humanity will have been completed, and its time come to its natural end.
The four perspectives taken from Revelation: Four Views A Parallel Commentary, edited by Steve Gregg
