Unveiling the Beast's Resume Text: Revelation 17:7-14
Introduction: The Folly of Man's Rebellion
We live in an age that prides itself on its sophistication, its supposed liberation from ancient myths. Modern man believes he is standing on the pinnacle of history, looking back with a kind of condescending pity on the superstitions of the past. But what he fails to see is that he is simply reenacting the oldest rebellion with newer, shinier props. The desire of man to build his own kingdom, to establish his own authority, and to define his own reality apart from God is the central, driving engine of all fallen history. Man wants to be his own god, and the state is the instrument he uses to make that idolatry official.
Empires rise and empires fall, but the pattern is always the same. A city is built on blasphemy, it gathers power to itself, it persecutes the people of God, and it is finally brought to ruin by the very God it defied. This is the story of Babel, of Egypt, of Assyria, of Babylon, and as we see here in Revelation, of Rome. And it will be the story of every secular empire that follows in its train, right down to the present day.
The book of Revelation was not written to be a cryptic puzzle for end-times hobbyists, allowing them to draw up complex charts about events thousands of years in their future. It was written to first-century Christians who were about to be thrown into the meat grinder of Roman persecution. It was a letter of intense, practical comfort, telling them that their suffering was not meaningless, that their persecutors were not sovereign, and that God had already written the final chapter. The angel here is not giving John a secret code; he is explaining the political situation on the ground, in their time, through the lens of God's absolute sovereignty. He is pulling back the curtain to show that the fearsome beast of Rome is nothing more than a pawn in God's redemptive plan, a tool that He will use and then discard.
If we fail to see this, we will misunderstand the nature of the beast, the identity of the harlot, and the triumphant victory of the Lamb. And if we misunderstand that, we will be ill-equipped to face the beasts of our own day. God is not just sovereign in the sweet by-and-by; He is sovereign over the bloody here-and-now.
The Text
And the angel said to me, “Why do you wonder? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns.
“The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to come up out of the abyss and go to destruction. And those who dwell on the earth, whose name has not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, will wonder when they see the beast, that he was and is not and will come.
Here is the mind which has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits,
and they are seven kings; five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; and when he comes, he must remain a little while.
And the beast which was and is not, is himself also an eighth and is one of the seven, and he goes to destruction.
And the ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but they receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour.
These have one purpose, and they give their power and authority to the beast.
These will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, because He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those who are with Him are the called and elect and faithful.”
(Revelation 17:7-14 LSB)
The Beast's Strange Biography (vv. 7-8)
The angel begins by rebuking John's astonishment and promising to unravel the mystery.
"And the angel said to me, 'Why do you wonder? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns.'" (Revelation 17:7)
John is marveling at this grotesque vision of the harlot city, apostate Jerusalem, riding on the back of the scarlet beast, imperial Rome. It is a picture of a corrupt, covenant-breaking people in bed with a pagan, persecuting empire. The angel is about to give John the key to unlock the symbolism. This is not meant to remain a mystery; it is a revelation.
The angel then gives a cryptic description of the beast's career:
"The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to come up out of the abyss and go to destruction. And those who dwell on the earth, whose name has not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, will wonder when they see the beast, that he was and is not and will come." (Revelation 17:8)
This phrase, "was, and is not, and is about to come," is a satanic parody of God's own self-description: "who is and who was and who is to come" (Rev. 1:4). The devil is the great ape of God. He cannot create; he can only mimic and mock. This beast, this Roman empire, has a past, a strange present state, and a future. This points directly to the political chaos that engulfed Rome in the wake of Nero's suicide in A.D. 68. The beast "was" under Nero. Then, with his death, the empire was thrown into turmoil. It was the year of the four emperors; the beast "is not" in the sense that its stability and singular authority had vanished. But it "is about to come up out of the abyss" with the rise of Vespasian, who would restore order and solidify Roman power just in time to execute God's judgment on Jerusalem in A.D. 70. This resurrected beast, this restored Roman order, is what causes the unbelieving world, the earth-dwellers, to wonder. Their names are not in the book of life, so they are easily impressed by the apparent resilience of man's power. But the angel gives away the end of the story from the beginning: it "go[es] to destruction." Man's empires always look formidable, but their doom is written before they even rise.
The Political GPS Coordinates (vv. 9-11)
The angel now provides two very specific, historical identifiers for this beast. This requires wisdom, not wild speculation.
"Here is the mind which has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits, and they are seven kings..." (Revelation 17:9-10a)
This is as plain as a pikestaff. In the ancient world, if you were to speak of the "city on seven hills," everyone, without exception, would know you were talking about Rome. It was its most famous nickname. The harlot, apostate Jerusalem, has her seat of influence there. She has made a deal with the Romans to persecute the Christians, crying out "We have no king but Caesar!" (John 19:15).
But the heads are not just hills; they are also a succession of kings, or emperors.
"...five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; and when he comes, he must remain a little while." (Revelation 17:10b)
This verse allows us to date the writing of Revelation with remarkable precision. John is being told the current political situation. If we begin the count of Roman emperors with Julius Caesar, as was common, we get the following list: 1. Julius Caesar, 2. Augustus, 3. Tiberius, 4. Caligula, 5. Claudius. These are the five who "have fallen." The one who "is" at the time of the vision is the sixth: Nero. It was under Nero that the first great imperial persecution of the church began. The one who "has not yet come" and will "remain a little while" is Galba, who succeeded Nero but reigned for only seven months before being assassinated. The prophecy is breathtakingly specific.
Then we have another riddle about an eighth king.
"And the beast which was and is not, is himself also an eighth and is one of the seven, and he goes to destruction." (Revelation 17:11)
This refers back to the beast that comes out of the abyss. After the chaos following Nero's death (the beast that "is not"), the Roman imperial system itself comes back with a vengeance under Vespasian. This restored empire is the "eighth," but it is still "of the seven" because it is a continuation of the same Roman power. It is the beast resurrected. There was even a widespread rumor at the time, the Nero Redivivus legend, that Nero would come back from the dead. John is using this political language to describe the resurgence of Roman imperial might that would soon destroy Jerusalem. And again, for the third time, the angel reminds us of its ultimate fate: "he goes to destruction."
The Lamb and His Allies (vv. 12-14)
The vision then turns to the ten horns, who are allies of the beast.
"And the ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but they receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour. These have one purpose, and they give their power and authority to the beast." (Revelation 17:12-13)
The ten horns represent the vassal kings and provincial governors of the Roman Empire. They are the subordinate powers who derive their authority from Rome and who act in concert with Rome. They have "one purpose," which is to prop up the beast's blasphemous claims to total authority. Their reign is "for one hour," a symbolic period of time indicating that their power is brief and entirely subordinate to God's ultimate timetable. They are the enforcers, the regional managers of the imperial cult, who will join Rome in its central purpose.
And what is that central purpose? It is rebellion against the true King.
"These will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, because He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those who are with Him are the called and elect and faithful." (Revelation 17:14)
Here is the heart of the matter. All human history, all the machinations of empires and kings, boils down to this one central conflict: the world against Christ. The beast and his allies, with all their legions and all their political power, decide to take on the Lamb. This is the cosmic foolishness of Psalm 2, where the kings of the earth set themselves and take counsel together against the Lord and against His Anointed. They are declaring war on God Almighty.
And the outcome is not in doubt for a single moment. The Lamb will overcome them. Why? Not because He has more soldiers or better political strategy, but because of who He is. "He is Lord of lords and King of kings." His authority is ultimate. Theirs is derived and temporary. His is inherent and eternal. The war was over before it began. The victory was secured at the cross and the empty tomb. The ascension of Christ was His coronation, where He was seated at the right hand of the Father and given all authority in heaven and on earth.
And notice who is with the Lamb in His victory. It is not an angelic host, but His people: "the called and elect and faithful." This is us. This is the Church. We are on the winning side. We are not spectators in this conflict; we are participants, united to the victorious King. We are called out of the world by the gospel, elected by the Father from before the foundation of the world, and we are to be faithful in our testimony, even unto death. The victory of the Lamb is our victory. This was the message of profound comfort to the first-century saints facing Nero, and it is the same message of profound comfort to us as we face the tin-pot tyrants of our own day. The beast always looks invincible, but he always goes to destruction. The Lamb always looks defeated, but He is always the King of kings.