In my article The Names of Blasphemy on the Beast of RevelationRevealed, I detail the identity of the first six heads and the Names of Blasphemy,
this provides us a gauge of what to look for in identifying the 7th
and 8th head.
Some writers have come up with all
kinds of far -fetched identifications of 7th and 8th head
of the Beast or Revelation and even say that their kingdoms have already come
and gone.
The 7th and 8th
head are clearly the Antichrist’s empire and are yet future.
Revelation 17 describes the Whore
of Babylon and the image of the beast, which she rides and this passage provides
the second riddle in the book of Revelation. The first is identifying the number
of the beast. Revelation 13:18 provides
the first riddle.
18 Here is
wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it
is the number of a man: His number is 666.
The second riddle deals with identifying
the 7th and 8th head and is in Revelation 17:9-12, it
reads: 9 “Here is the
mind which has wisdom: The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman
sits. 10 There are also
seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, and the
other has not yet come. And when he comes, he must continue a short time. 11 The beast that
was, and is not, is himself also the eighth, and is of the seven, and is going
to perdition.
Both
of these riddles use a phrase that only occurs two times in all of the Bible
and they relate to end time Bible Prophecy and they are both found in the book
of Revelation. The expression is “Here is
wisdom.” The only other time that the
word wisdom is used in the New Testament is in Matthew 12:42 and it is in
reference to Solomon’s wisdom and it states the wisdom of Solomon. So the wisdom
of Solomon becomes a gauge and when we reflect on Solomon we think of spiritual
wisdom as evidenced by the book of Ecclesiastes.
The reign of the Antichrist after
the start of the Tribulation comprises two distinct periods, which is divided
from the Tribulation to the Great Tribulation.
We see this reaffirmed by the 7th and 8th head as
also depicting two separate times in the final world empire’s reign. The 7th
and 8th head show us the division of these two periods.
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| The 7th Head of the Beast of Revelation |
In the book of Daniel we are told
that the Antichrist raises the final world empire to its pinnacle of power,
this is depicted in the little horn that grows great to the starts of heaven in
Daniel 8:10. We see this prophecy in the
Bible backed up by the forecast of the prophecy in Jeremiah 51 of how the King
of Babylon through trade and economic prosperity increased his empire’s
wealth. He King of Babylon is another title
for the Antichrist. In the early days of the Antichrist’s reign he raises the
final world empire to its pinnacle of power by increasing its economic
prosperity.
Daniel 11:23 tells us that after
the league that is made with the Antichrist he begins to work deceitfully. He raises the final world empire, or revived
Roman Empire to its greatness and
preparing it for what he really wants to do or what he will do later when the
time is right.
In this context of the
verse it means that once the Antichrist gets into power he works cunningly and based on the
predictions I have sited that are written in Bible Prophecy, this means that he
will appear to be working for the good of the empire. The Antichrist will make proposals
that will strengthen the empire as if it is for its good, when it is really for
him at a later time to have a more powerful empire to accomplish his aims that
the book of Daniel tells us he sets out to undertake and will achieve.
It is a possibility that Revelation 17:12
and 13 refer to the 7th head.
12 “The ten horns
which you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they
receive authority for one hour as kings with the beast. 13 These are of one
mind, and they will give their power and authority to the beast.
These
kings might very well lose their power in the second half of the Tribulation
when the Antichrist is the one with full reign.
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| The 8th Head of the Beast of Revelation |
THE 8th HEAD
At
midway through the tribulation the Antichrist is killed and he comes back to
life. The Greek verb sphazo which describes the mortal wound means to slay
slaughter, butcher, to put to death by violence, mortally wounded.
Revelation 13: 3 states:
3 And I saw one
of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was
healed. And all the world marveled and followed the beast.
The KJV reads:
3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to
death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the
beast.
Zechariah 11:17 elaborates on the damage left
after words from the mortal wound,
“Woe to the worthless shepherd, who leaves the flock! A sword
shall be against his arm And against his right eye; His arm shall completely
wither. And his right eye shall be totally blinded.
It is when the Antichrist is raised from the dead
that Satan will most likely enter him and he becomes the 8th head. How do we know that Satan will enter the
Antichrist, because of Judas Iscariot.
In two of the gospels we are told that Satan
entered into Judas, Luke 22:3 tells us that the chief priests were looking for
a way to get rid of Jesus. After Satan
entered into Judas he went to the chief priests and discussed how he might
betray Jesus and they were so delighted with his plan they offered to give him
money. He then waited for his opportunity. Luke 22:1-5.
In John
13:27. Judas was called by Jesus the son of perdition In John 17:12 and in 2
Thessalonians 2:3 the Antichrist is referred to as the son of perdition. For
this reason some have wondered if the Antichrist will be Judas Iscariot come
back to life, rather it is a strong indicator that the Antichrist comes back to
life with Satan having entered him just like he entered Judas Iscariot. This is when the Antichrist becomes the 8th,
which splits off from the 7th head.
Revelation 17:9-11 affirms:
9 “Here is the mind
which has wisdom: The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits. 10 There are
also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, and the other has
not yet come. And when he comes, he must continue a short time. 11 The beast
that was, and is not, is himself also the eighth, and is of the seven, and is
going to perdition.
It is at this time that the Abomination of Desolation occurs
where the Antichrist stands in the Jewish temple in the Holy of Holies and declares
that he is god and places the Abomination of Desolation, which begins the Great
Tribulation which is the second half of the Tribulation. This act confirms the
8th head and a second phase in his empire and its structure. This will occur once Satan has entered into
the Antichrist.
In Daniel 11:36-27 it reads:
36 “Then the
king shall do according to his own will: he shall exalt and magnify himself
above every god, shall speak blasphemies against the God of gods, and shall
prosper till the wrath has been accomplished; for what has been determined
shall be done. 37 He shall regard neither
the God[k] of his fathers nor the
desire of women, nor regard any god; for he shall exalt himself above them all.
We learn that like the other heads of the beast image and
their empires, the Antichrist too equates himself with a god, only his
proclamations of god ship surpass theirs and another reason for the two headed
feature of his empire.
It is also while under the leadership of the 8th
head that the Whore of Babylon is destroyed meaning that at that time all world
religions and especially the Jewish and Christian religions will be annihilated
along with their followers, and thus begins the predicted persecution of the
church characteristic of the great tribulation.
Thus we see the two
women of Revelation, the Whore of Babylon destroyed and the woman with the
moon, the sun and the garland of 12 stars and the child in Revelation 12 flee to the wilderness and pursued by the
dragon. With Satan now ruling the earth through the Antichrist, he will demand
worship of him alone.
With each preceding empire
the woman has rode the beast meaning that she has been part of the empire
because each of the kings believed they were defendants of a false god, but the
Antichrist destroys the woman as he identifies himself as God. Notice she is
initially riding this particular beast meaning that she does have something to
do with it as it is riding to power and I have discussed this in detail in my
books: the correlation.
The question remains that with the two headed aspect of the
final world empire, i.e. the revived Roman Empire, are the names of blasphemy
that the Antichrist uses in the first half of the tribulation different from
the second half of the tribulation? Is the Scripture referring to the names
that are revealed when the eight head completes the seventh and gives it its
two headed form? We will not know until the time comes.
It is possible that the Antichrist might take a title when he
gets into power or shortly thereafter that will be a name of blasphemy but the
blasphemies that the Scripture speak of is when he raises the Final World
Empire to its pinnacle of power and stands in the Holy of Holies in the third
Jewish temple and places the Abomination of Desolation.
We saw from the previous heads that while each empire deferred
they were consistent in the names they gave themselves as the names of
blasphemy. Each of the empires heads held the beliefs of the many pagan gods of
the day. The seventh and eighth head
while influenced on by the Whore of Babylon and her teachings in its rise to
power is in the end destroyed by the 8th head as the Antichrist
declares he is god above all gods.
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