Lesson 54
Revelation - Study of Things to Come
Destruction
of
4.
The Location of
- The view that this refers to
1. The assumed relationship between the woman and
the hills.
The 7 heads are associated with the Beast not the
woman.
[7 heads are 7 mountains....they are 7 kings]
2. There is a clear
distinction between the woman and the beast; and it is the beast that has the 7
heads!
The angel recognized this distinction in vs:7.
3. If you say the seven
hills are Rome, then the most that can be
determined is that the Beast (GWD; A/JC) will have his HQ in the city of
Rome; It does not give the location of the Harlot since she is not part of the
beast.
4. An argument is made
that the harlot is still to be associated with the Beast since it says in vs:9 "seven mountains on which the woman sits."
5. The identification of
the 7 hills as
6. To understand the
symbolism of the seven mountains we must go out of the Greco-Roman society in
which John lived and wrote to the
Jewish heritage in which he was raised.
- To understand "mountains"
we need to go to the Old Testament to find out how this symbol was used.
- It was used as a
symbolic reference to a kingdom or national power.
Examples: Isa 2:2; Isa 41:15; Jer 51:25; Dan
7. Another reason to
identify the 7 mountains as a reference to 7 kingdoms is that it explains the dual
identification of the seven heads as both mountains and kings.
8. The divine
interpretation then associates each head with both a mountain and a king. (vs:9-10)
Conclusions:
These 4 interpretive keys within the 2 chapters
provide us vital information on the identify of the
1. It is first and
foremost a literal city that will dominate the world. How?? Oil!
2. It will be
characterized as a harlot that prostitutes her moral values for material luxury,
ease and convenience.
3. The entire city is
viewed as a mystery in that her future position, relationship to the GWD and the
ultimate destruction had not been
known before John's vision.
4. At some point this
At
this point you should have some questions; I did.
How do we reconcile this city, this great city
eventually reigning over the kings of the earth with the GWD reigning over the
earth?
How do we have 2 end time powers, a revived
In Rev 17, John describes a vision with 2 parts.
- The first part of the vision is a woman
identified as "
- The second part of
John's vision is a "beast" that describes both anindividual
and the empire he rules. [Dan 2]
- Two world powers will
arise in the end time.
The GWD, rising to rule that federation of nations,
the RRE, will be predominantly a military leader exercising military dominance
over the world.
- And yet, in this vision
according to John,