Join us as we delve deep into the fascinating prophecies of Revelation 17. Unveil the mystery behind the seven heads of the beast and the parts they play in global history, from the fallen empires of Egypt and Babylon to the resurgence of Rome. Discover how these ancient predictions are, in fact, foretelling contemporary world division into ten nations, an apparent revival of the Roman Empire, indicating significant changes in global politics.
Apparently, in order to have a world empire today, we’re going to have to have all nations divided up into ten divisions. If you think that is far away, you don’t know where people are right now in politics and thinking around the world. First of all, they’ve already divided up the world into ten divisions. They’re already discussing the economics of those divisions.
SPEAKER 02 :
This is Hope for Today. On today’s program, the world’s system—rich, religious, ruthless—is about to crash and burn. The empires of men, the lies of religion, the arrogance of power— All of it is coming down under the weight of God’s judgment. This is no political collapse. It’s a supernatural reckoning. And even as Babylon falls, God’s mercy and grace reach the faithful remnant, those who refuse her lies and stand with the Lamb. The final fall of Babylon exposes the depth of her deception and the holy wrath that leaves nothing standing in its wake. This is day two of The Mystery Revealed, as Bible teacher and author David Hawking continues our study in Revelation 17, right here on Hope for Today. And just before our study time, remember we have a number of resources specific to our current radio series in Revelation. First, David’s downloadable sermon notes. These are David’s original sermon notes for each message in the series, and the complete pack is just $10.00. We also have the series in Revelation on MP3 audio, all of the messages in a pack, just $30, or on DVD for $50. To order, call 800-75-BIBLE in the U.S. or 888-75-BIBLE in Canada. You can also visit us anytime at davidhawking.org. And here’s David with day two of The Mystery Revealed, found in Revelation 17, verses 7 to 18.
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The identity of the seven heads is really a problem, verse 9 and 10. And we’re talking about the identity of the seven heads of this beast. Now, let’s read the verses again. Verse 9, here’s the mind which hath wisdom. We’re talking here the wisdom of God to understand. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sitteth. Well, wait a minute. Back in verse 1, it says, she sits on many waters. Now it says she sits on seven mountains. Look at verse 15. The waters that she sits on are peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues. You see, my friends, I do not believe the Bible is trying to trick us. What she sits on are nations, people, tongues. Therefore, the mountains represent nations. nations, peoples, multitudes, and tongues. You follow that? Now let’s walk through these eight points. Number one, the heads are representing some sort of conquest or kingdom or king. The heads do. Now the second point is in chapter 13, verse 1, and that is that the beast who arose from the sea had seven heads and ten horns with crowns on the horns. Not the heads this time, but on the horns. So again, first point, seven heads are on the dragon. The great red dragon is specifically stated to be Satan or the devil in Revelation 12, verse 10. He’s the accuser of our brethren. He’s the old serpent, Satan or the devil. So the devil’s behind this whole thing. It actually pictures his work in the world. Everything that is represented by this beast with seven heads and ten horns is representing the work of our enemy, the devil himself, in this world. Now, when we look at the beast coming out of the sea, inspired by Satan, it has ten horns with crowns on the horns. which means they will have also a kingdom or a conquest or a rulership in some fashion. It appears as though the ten horns are on one of the heads, the seventh head. Now, number three. The third thing we notice from the Bible’s account is that the beast comes out of the bottomless pit and will go into perdition. Look at chapter 17 again, verse 8. The beast will come out of the bottomless pit and will go into perdition or destruction. Chapter 17, verse 8. The beast that thou sawest was and is not and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit. Folks, what’s in the bottomless pit? We got the devil, the angel of the bottomless pit, and all his demonic hordes. We got demons. So we see now that the devil’s major work in this world is through this beast of seven heads with ten horns on the seventh head. And it represents all that hell produces. It comes out of the bottomless pit. This whole thing. This beast with seven heads and ten horns. And where is it going? It’s going into perdition. Look at verse 11. The beast that was and is not, even he is the eighth and is of the seven and goeth into perdition. I’ll explain the first part of that verse in just a moment. Look at chapter 19, verse 20. Chapter 19, verse 20. And the beast was taken. This is referring to the eighth beast. The beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. Before Jesus ever sets up his thousand-year reign of Christ, both the beast and the false prophet are cast into the lake of fire. They go into perdition, the Bible says. They came out of the bottomless pit, and they will go into the lake of fire itself. I’ll go back to chapter 13. I’ll give you fact number four, just looking at what the Bible is saying. Fact number four, the beast, according to the Bible, ceased to exist and then came back to life. The beast ceased to exist and then came back to life. Now in chapter 13, verse 3, it says, I saw one of his heads as though it were wounded to death, and his deadly wound was healed, and all the world wondered after the beast. Now the deadly wound was inflicted on one of its heads. Then it comes back to life. I believe in chapter 17 it’s clear that what comes back to life is the seventh head represented by ten horns. So the head that receives the fatal wound is the sixth head, which comes back to life as a seventh head in a tenfold empire. Tenfold divisions of some sort. Ten kings. Now you say, are you sure? Well, go to chapter 17 and look at this carefully. We know the deadly wound was one of its heads, and then it comes back to life. But in chapter 17, if you’re following this carefully, it says in verse 8, the beast that thou sawest was and is not, and yet shall ascend out of the bottomless pit. Verse 10, there are seven kings, five are fallen. One is, the other’s not yet come. And when he cometh, he must continue a short space. And the beast that was and is not, even he is the eighth and is of the seven and goeth into perdition. And the ten horns which you saw are ten kings who’ve received no kingdom as yet, but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. Here’s what I think happens. According to the book of Daniel, there is going to be a tenfold division of the world in the final stages before the return of Christ. It has been the thinking of many Bible commentators for several years that this represented a revived Roman Empire. You can understand that because the sixth head is Rome. It receives a deadly wound. It comes back to life. because there has never been a world empire since Rome. There will be another world empire, but it will be composed of ten divisions. There are ten horns on the seventh head. And out of that tenfold division will come the eighth world empire, which will be a man in and of himself, the Antichrist. The beast, we know, ceases to exist. It receives a fatal, deadly wound. But it says one of its heads received the wound and it comes back to life. When the Bible describes the beast that was and is not, it shows that he will become the eighth but out of the seven. And the ten horns are going to amalgamate and give their authority to him for a short period of time. But he’s going to send out from it all and get rid of them. And he, in and of himself, will be the eighth empire of the world. Eighth world empire. Well, let’s go to number five fact. Revelation 17, 9 says the seven heads are what? Seven mountains. But the clue is, on which the woman sitteth. You go back to verse one, she sits on many waters. Verse 15, the waters are peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues. There’s two symbolisms here. The reason why you have seven mountains instead of the waters is because it’s not picturing peoples and nations in general. It’s picturing seven empires of all these nations and people that have existed in world history. five who had fallen in John’s day, one who was existing in John’s day, one would receive a deadly wound, and yet come back to life as a ten-nation confederacy. The seventh head has ten horns on it. And out of that will come what Daniel said was a little horn, who will quickly come into the ten, gain the ascendancy and the power, and ultimately will become, in and of himself, the eighth world empire in all of world history. The seven heads are in seven mountains on which the woman sitteth. Now, whatever these seven heads are, understand the woman, this mystery Babylon, the great mother of harlots, has been sitting on them all this time. Talk about influence. Talk about control. And that also will affect your view as to who the woman is. Fact number six. Verse 10. The seven heads are seven kings. You see that? Verse 10. There are seven kings. Seven kings, five are fallen, one is, and the other is not yet come, and when he cometh, or when it comes, it must continue a short space. And then the beast that was and is not even, he’s the eighth, and he’s of the seven, and goeth into perdition. I know it’s a little tough. There are two major views. One is that these are talking about seven kings or Caesars who have ruled in the Roman Empire. Five fell before John’s writing of Revelation. One was in power when John was writing, which would be Domitian, and the rest of it falls apart. As we well know from the book of Daniel and from prophecy in general, the king represents a kingdom. As a matter of fact, in verse 12 it says that the ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet. So obviously a king does represent his kingdom. If that’s true and these are world empires, it makes more sense. There were only five world empires before Rome. Only five. Oh, there were lots of kingdoms and nations that were strong, but there were only five that were world empires. That includes Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, and Greece. The only one existing in John’s day is Rome. It is Rome that received the fatal wound, but Rome will indeed come back. As a matter of fact, it already is back in every area. You name it. Economics, legality, legal matters, education. You name it. Rome is back. We have a definite interest in the future of a fallen Roman Empire when the leaders who have been talking new world order have said point blank in their writings that we need another world order like Rome. My friends, we’re back there now. We’re crying out for another world empire to control all the trouble that’s in the world. How this is going to take place, we don’t know as yet. But the one that receives the fatal wound is the nation of Rome. And it dies officially in 476 A.D. as it was sacked and burned by the Visigoths in their invasion. But friends, Rome is back again. The New World Order is talking everything about Rome and all that it was and wanting that to be established again. But according to the Bible, when it’s established again, it will have 10 divisions. Notice, please, in verse 10, it says, the other is not yet come. In Greek, there are two words for other, another of the same kind and another of a different kind. It fascinates me to read another of the same kind here in the Greek. The point is that what’s coming is another of the same kind as the one that was in existence in John’s day. That’s how we get the idea of a revived Roman Empire, a future empire that, friends, will be composed of ten divisions or ten horns, all of who have crowns, so they are nations, but they will be broader than what we see today. First of all, they’ve already divided up the world into ten divisions. They’re already discussing the economics of that. Division number one is Canada, the United States, and Mexico. There is an attempt to establish a dominion around the world that will deal with economics and health and you name it, and it’s going to have ten divisions. And they already have it organized. It’s just a question of getting rid of these fundamentalist Christians who keep preaching that it’s a fulfillment of Bible prophecy and is a bad, not a good. We are moving rapidly, folks, to this. We are already set up for ten divisions in the world. I think it’s coming faster than people are willing to admit. Fact number seven, the seventh head of ten divisions is going to last only a short time. They’ll think it’s going to last forever. Chapter 17, verse 10, when he or it comes, meaning the final one, the seventh one, It will continue a short space. It won’t last long. It’s going to come within the context of the tribulation period, and it’ll be over before the tribulation is done. It’s only going to be here for a short period of time. Fact number eight is the eighth world empire is going to come out of the seven. And that’s exactly what Daniel said. Turn to Daniel chapter seven, please. Daniel chapter 7, look please at verse 8. Now watch this carefully. I considered the horns, these ten horns on the beast, the end of verse 7. I considered the horns, and behold, there came up among them another little horn. He pulls up three of them by the roots, and behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth speaking great things. We’re talking the Antichrist. Look at verse 24. The ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise and another, the eighth empire, a man. Another shall rise after them. He shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings. That’s how he’ll get the balance of power. He’ll speak great words against the Most High, shall wear out the saints of the Most High. He’ll think to change the times and the laws, and they shall be given into his hand until a time, times, and the dividing of time. In other words, for three and a half years, the last half of the tribulation, this man is going to rule, and he will be the dictator of the world, the Antichrist. Sound familiar? Sound like it’s possible? Go back to Revelation chapter 17. When you look at the involvement of the ten horns, which are on the seventh head, it’s kind of interesting what it says. In verse 12, it says, The ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings. This is like verbatim what we just read in Daniel 7, 23 to 25. The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who received no kingdom as yet. They’re not here yet, John said. But they received power as kings one hour with the beast. Just a short time ago. presumably in the first half of the tribulation. And they’ll have one mind, and it’ll give their power and strength unto the beast. They’ll all go for him, and he’ll become the leader of the world. He’s the one who can solve all the world’s problems, so we relinquish our sovereignty to him. And then he changes his colors. The wolf in sheep’s clothing drops his sheep clothing. He sets himself up in a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem and declares that he is God and demands to be worshiped. And he begins a persecution of the Jewish people such as never existed, including under Stalin and Hitler. Terrible time. God will supernaturally protect them and nourish them for three and a half years in the wilderness, the Bible says. Unbelievable. Unbelievable.
SPEAKER 02 :
That’s David Hawking, and this is Hope for Today. David will be back in a moment to close out our time, so do stay right there. First, his son Matt’s here, and together we have a great home Bible study resource for you. This is going to address some of the most foundational, heartfelt questions that all of us have at some point in our lives. And Matt, what’s it all about?
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What tough question is dominating your thoughts right now? Who am I? Where did I come from? What is the meaning of my life? Where am I going? Matt, and if not you, someone you know is deeply troubled by a question like one of these. Yeah, and they’re not small matters. They’re issues that affect our peace of mind, self-worth, ability to function. They can determine how we live today and where we’re all going to spend eternity.
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Matt, this is where your dad’s book, Life’s Greatest Questions, is so very helpful and uplifting.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yeah. Inside this book, Life’s Greatest Questions, we go back to the Bible, the whole Bible, and nothing but the Bible. Amen. For the answers to the perplexities of the human heart from the beginning of creation and the fall of mankind to the end time eschatology of revelation. God’s word has the answer to our deepest needs.
SPEAKER 02 :
And Life’s Greatest Questions opens the scriptures and applies them to the questions we’re all asking, Matt. And I’m thinking, too, that this book will not only help our listening friends, it will also help prepare them to help and encourage friends and family in their times of questioning and need.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yeah. Friend, you don’t need to remain in darkness concerning life’s greatest questions. God has given us his truth, and in it we find hope, assurance, and peace through his Son, our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And you shall know the truth. And the truth shall make you free.
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John 8, 32. Amen. Life’s Greatest Questions by David Hawking. Our featured resource this month is just $10, and your purchase or donation will help the Ministry of Hope for today.
SPEAKER 01 :
And please pray for hope for today in these challenging times.
SPEAKER 02 :
Also, we want to let you know that David Hawking’s Revelation series sermon notes, we mentioned that at the top of the broadcast, the complete pack, just $10. You can also get our current Revelation radio series on MP3 audio, and that is $30. Or get the entire series on DVD. You can watch David teach for $50. To order any of these resources, call 800-75-BIBLE in the U.S. or 888-75-BIBLE in Canada. And Bible by the Numbers, 24253. You can also visit us online at davidhawking.org. And just before David returns, you know, if you haven’t reached out to us with your financial support lately, or if you’re thinking about a first time gift, we could use your help, your most generous donation. This isn’t about keeping the lights on. It’s about keeping truth alive. Every dollar you give pushes back against a world that has turned its back on God and helps us keep proclaiming His Word clear, strong, and without compromise across the airwaves and around the world online. Lives are being changed by the power of God’s Word through Hope for Today. Hearts are turning to Christ, and the impact of your giving is not going to end when this broadcast does. It’s going to keep speaking long after those of us who know the Lord have gone to be with Him. To give, call 800-75-BIBLE, that’s in the U.S., or 888-75-BIBLE in Canada. And of course, you can contribute online at davidhawking.org. If you prefer to write a note, we’d love to hear from you that way. You can write to Hope for Today, Box 3927. Tustin, California, 92781. That’s in the U.S. Or in Canada, write to Hope for Today, Box 15011, RPO, Seven Oaks, Abbotsford, B.C., V2S 8P1. And once again, here’s David.
SPEAKER 03 :
Thanks for listening, friends. We’re in Chapter 17 of Revelation. And we’re talking about the seven heads of the beast. We’re told they are seven kings or kingdoms. Five of them had fallen in John’s day. Boy, that’s interesting. Egypt and Assyria and Babylon and Persia and Greece. They had all fallen. The one that is… is Rome was in existence in John’s day. After all, he was a prisoner in the Isle of Patmos for his testimony of the Word of God. Now, we’re told that there’s another king coming, and that’s the king we know as the Antichrist, who’s also called the Beast, the Man of Sin, the Son of Perdition. And he, we are told, is a part of all of that seven, but he has a destiny that God is speaking about. He’s going to go into perdition. He’s going to be judged by Almighty God. Now, the ten horns are probably on the seventh head, and they’re ten kings, according to verse 12. They have no kingdom as yet, but they receive power as kings one hour with the beast. And they’re going to give all their power and strength under the beast, who’s also called the Antichrist, the man of sin, the willful king. Here he is. And my dear friends, they’re going to make war with the Lamb of God. But don’t worry. He’s going to overcome them because He’s Lord of lords and King of kings. God bless you.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, thank you, David. And that’s all the time we have for today’s program. And on our next broadcast, David continues our study in the book of Revelation with another powerful message from God’s word, a message that will strengthen your faith and deepen your understanding of his plan for the end times. So be sure to invite a friend or a family member to listen along with you and share the hope, the hope that comes from knowing the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s next time right here on Hope for Today.
