“And the angel said to me … The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition” (Revelation 17:7,8).

These words of explanation by the revealing angel very evidently describe in a general way three states as well as three periods in the scarlet colored beast’s career, the last of which will witness its destruction. The first mention in the Apocalypse of this ten-horned, seven-headed “beast” is in chapter 13, where we have its origin or rise in its ten-horned state described. (Its rise as a universal empire is described in Daniel 2 and 7.) In chapter 13 it is represented as ascending up out of the sea. The dragon that is seen standing on the shore of the sea, is represented as giving to the beast its power, throne, and great authority. This, we have interpreted to represent the Emperor Justinian’s giving to the Papacy by a decree, power over the saints of God. The eastern part of the Roman Empire afterward called the Eastern or Greek Empire, with its capital at Constantinople, is named the dragon.

“The beast that was,” according to this interpretation, would represent the Western part of the Roman power during the long period of ecclesiastical and temporal authority exercised by the Pope, beginning to end in 1799, and fully ending in 1870, when it lost all vestige of temporal sovereignty. The “is not” state, would represent its condition since 1870 — its present condition. Events of the near future will alone prove what the third state of the beast will be. It would seem that this last form may be the peoples and nations, or body of the beast, without an organized government — the anarchistic phase in connection with which the Papal Church and all ecclesiastical and civil governments will go down to make way for the Kingdom of God, the fifth universal empire, which will be under the control of the Son of Man (Daniel 7:14,27).

We next have a most remarkable and significant statement by the angel, to the effect that the dwellers of earth, except those whose names are recorded in the book of life, will be moved with wonder and amazement when seeing the beast, “that was, and is not, and shall be present.” These words of the angel seem to emphasize a fact regarding the beast — that it existed once under its Papal head, then ceased in that phase for a time, and afterward confronted the inhabitants of the earth again. The question is, In what form will it confront the world again? Understanding that the Prophet Daniel saw the beast, the Western Roman Empire, until it was slain and its body was given to the burning flame, would cause us to suppose that this stage when it will confront the world again represents the period of anarchy when the governments existing up to that time will be destroyed. Furthermore, in Daniel we are informed that this destruction occurs after the judgment on the “little horn” (Papacy) had resulted in taking away its dominion, to consume and destroy it unto the end.

“I beheld, then,” said Daniel, “because of the great words which the horn spake [it was in 1870 that Papacy’s most blasphemous ‘words’ were made — the claim of infallibility]: I beheld even until the beast was slain, and its body destroyed, and given to the burning flame” (Daniel 7:11). We shall see as we consider the further explanation of the angel in the Revelation visions that the consuming process, preceding the destruction of the “little horn,” Papacy, is accomplished by the beast that carried her, which means the nations that supported her. The destruction of the beast in its last form is described in Daniel 7 and Revelation 19.

It will be only fair to note that the older expositors interpret these words of the angel different from the above. “The beast that was” is explained by them to refer to the Western Roman Empire before it fell in 476. The “is not” state they interpret to refer to the brief period between 476 AD and the rise of Papacy, a period of a little over half a century. “The beast that is,” its last form according to these writers, represents Papacy as it has existed since its rise in the Sixth Century.

The revealing angel next proceeds to explain what is represented by the seven heads, in the words, “Here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains [hills] on which the woman sitteth.” The angel, as we have already noted, explained these words as referring to the seven-hilled city of Rome. He further states: “And the kings are seven; the five are fallen, the one is, the other is not yet come, and when he may come he must remain a little while.” This is quite generally understood to represent the seven successive forms of government that have ruled from the city of Rome. The angel’s explanation most naturally suggests the question, Does the expression, “five are fallen,” mean that such was a fact at the time St. John saw the vision? or, does it refer to a future time from St. John’s day, namely a time when the woman was drunken with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus, and when the judgment upon the woman was about to begin to be experienced — the judgment referred to in the angelic utterance to St. John: “Come, and I will show thee the judgment upon the great harlot”? It would seem that the latter view is the correct one for the following reason:

The fourth beast or Roman Empire (a later phase or aspect of which the scarlet colored beast of the vision under consideration describes) did not come into prophecy until the first three beasts, the Babylonian, Medo-Persian, and Grecian, had passed away (see Daniel 2:40, 7:23). The third or Grecian beast had four heads, which represented that this empire was divided into four parts. The last one of these, as we have previously seen, was Egypt, and did not come under the fourth beast or Roman dominion until about 31 BC. The seven heads on the fourth beast represent seven forms of government that would rule successively from the city of Rome, but history finds only one as having ceased or passed away in St. John’s day. This was the republican form which ended in 27 BC. The form ruling in St. John’s day was the second or military imperial.

We are aware of the fact that most of the expositors who wrote before the middle of the Nineteenth Century begin to count these heads from the time that the city of Rome began its existence, in the Eighth Century before Christ. Following Livy, a heathen historian, they count five forms of government as having passed away at the time of St. John’s vision. However, other historians conflict with this enumeration. All are agreed that the first form, the kingly, existed until 509 BC, and that it was succeeded by the republic, which lasted until 27 BC. We quote: “The history of Rome as a republic covers a period of 482 years — from the termination of kingly rule, 509 BC, to the termination of republican rule by the establishment of the empire under Augustus, 27 BC” (Swinton, Outlines of the World’s History). We are aware of the fact that there were different forms of the republican rule. The form of government, however, was always a republic administered by the people’s chosen representative.

Carried Down the Stream of Time

It is our understanding, then, that St. John was transported in spirit from the Isle of Patmos, and from the year 96 AD, down the stream of time to 1799, when the harlot woman is represented as being “drunken with the blood of the saints” — the time when Papacy’s judgments had begun, by the humiliation and dethronement of the Pope by Napoleon. At this time five of the heads had fallen, and the sixth head, the Roman republic was ruling. St. John is thus represented as seeing the judgment on the Babylonian harlot beginning. At this time (1799) the much larger part of the vision of the beast with its ten horns had met its fulfillment and was in the past. When the angel explains the vision as a whole, as given in this chapter, nearly all of it was future from 96 AD.

If our understanding of the angel’s explanation of these seven heads is correct, then the Victor Immanuel Dynasty, ruling since 1870, is the seventh head, and the next or eighth form of the beast will be the beast without a head, which would be anarchy. It was in 1799 AD, that the beast under its Papal head, ceased to have power over God’s true saints. It was at this time that the “time, times and a half” of Daniel 7:25 and the “forty-two months” of Revelation 13:5 ended. It was at this time that the judgments on the Papal system began in earnest. These judgments began to be executed by Napoleon, and then followed a checkered history during which several revolutions resulted at different times in temporarily removing the Pope, when finally they reached their climax in so far as temporal dominion is concerned through the agency of Victor Immanuel in 1870.

“This last government [seventh head, Victor Immanuel Dynasty] has now continued as head of Rome since September, 1870; and today more than 150,000,000 Catholics [220,000,000 at the present time — 1924] are biding their time, waiting and longing for the auspicious moment when a blow can be struck for its overthrow; vainly hoping for a restoration to Rome of Papal sovereignty; while the prophetic symbol demands, not the restoration of Papacy, or any other government, but the rising of the beast itself without a head; in other words the peoples and nations, or body of the beast without an organized government, as the next verse will show: ‘And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition’ (verse 11).”

This eighth is not a head, since the beast had but seven. This eighth is the beast as it is to be after its seventh or last head has fallen. This last or eighth state will be anarchy. The expression, “and is of the seven,” signifies that the nations (‘waters’ verse 15) on which the woman sat, have been of the seven; and are already taking on a separate existence as the inter-nations, or peoples of all nations.

Summary of the Seven Heads

“The reader cannot fail of seeing our present locality in the world’s history; and that we are on the verge of great events. And if he will revert to near the end of the last century, may judge somewhat of the character of the events which are to follow the fall of this last head of Rome. ‘And they that dwell upon the earth

shall wonder [whose names are not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world], when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is [this last its final, eighth form]’ (Revelation 17:8).

“The state of chaos and reign of terror in that demoniac equality and atheistic liberty which deluged France in blood, under the Commune; when such monsters as Dupont, Robespierre, and their class could wield the guillotine and ride the storm, is only a faint picture of the fully developed Commune, or headless monster And the character of coming events can be gathered by what

then occurred in France, with this difference: the Commune came to the surface in only one of the ten divisions of the empire at that time and was soon driven back; while now it is to become a universal scourge. And not only are all the kingdoms of the world that are on the face of the earth to be thrown down, but there is to be want of employment so that there shall be ‘no hire for man, nor hire for beast’ (Zechariah 8:10); the natural outcome of this growing want of confidence between man and man.”

The historical enumeration of these heads beginning 31 BC, when the last head of the Grecian beast, Egypt, was overthrown by the Romans, would be as follows:

(1) The Roman Republic ruling from 31 until 27 BC;

(2) The Military Imperial government ruling until Diocletian 303 AD;

(3) The Despotic Imperial ruling until 476 AD1 ;

(4) The change of the Roman Empire from Military Imperial introduced by Augustus, is thus noted by Gibbon: “Like Augustus, Diocletian may be considered as founding a new empire.”

(5) The Odoacean Dynasty until about 539 AD;

(6) The Papacy, until it received a death wound in 1799 AD;

(7) The Republic under Berthier for about two years, after which, Papacy was reinstated;

(8) The Victor Immanuel Dynasty since 1870.

The eighth form (not head) of the beast would be the future anarchistic state of the peoples (who have always constituted the body of the beast) — the peoples in a condition of anarchy. It will thus be seen that the beast in one form or another continues to exist until destroyed. The words of Daniel are very significant in this connection: “I saw until the beast was slain and its body destroyed and given to the burning flame.” At each of these periods a change of form takes place. The present form is the Victor Immanuel Dynasty. Every “head” up to its last or eighth form rules from the city of Rome.

The older expositors speak of the eighth form of the beast as an eighth head, representing Papacy as both a political and ecclesiastical ruler, and that as such it would continue until its complete destruction. However, as we view the present state of Papacy, it seems quite evident that while it still exists as an ecclesias- tical power, exercising a very great influence as such over a large portion of the human family, it has lost altogether its temporal authority, and therefore has ceased to exist as a civil government — a “head” of the symbolic beast. Papacy, as a “head” of the beast, received a deadly wound beginning in the great Reforma- tion Movement and culminating in the terrible blow at the hands of Napoleon, who took possession of the city of Rome, carried the Pope a prisoner to France, and set up a Roman republic in the city where the Pope had reigned supreme for a thousand years. It seemed for a season (two years) as though this wound was a fatal one; however, the deadly wound was healed, and Papacy recovered its temporal authority, being reinstated by Napoleon. This state of things continued with varying fortunes to Papacy until 1870, at which time Victor Immanuel took possession of the City, making it his capital. The Pope at this time took refuge in the Vatican palace — every vestige of temporal authority gone. Thus Papacy ceased to be a “head” of the Roman “beast” — the Victor Immanuel Dynasty becoming a “head” in its place.

The Seventh Head

Therefore, in the light of history unveiling prophecy, it would seem that so far as the successive order of these “seven heads” is concerned, the older expositors erred. Mr. Russell evidently saw this, for in 1896 he understood that the Victor Immanuel Dynasty was the seventh head of the beast. We quote his words, which when carefully considered reveal a very important point, namely in what manner he understood Papacy, as a religious power, would be finally destroyed:

“To our understanding the present Italian government is the seventh head of the ‘beast’ (Revelation 17:9-11), which has continued a ‘short space,’ represented in the present monarch and his father Victor Immanuel. According to this prophecy Rome will never have another head — the eighth condition will be the beast without a head — either a republic or anarchy. If a republic, we shall shortly expect anarchy, ‘perdition.’ All the signs of our time corroborate prophecy, and bid us lift up our heads and rejoice that our redemption draweth nigh.”

Regarding the interpretation of the ten horns, we refer the reader to the explanation given of the same in connection with the unfolding of chapter 13. It will be sufficient to note here those details not considered there, which are mentioned in this chapter by the revealing angel in his explanation to St. John. The words of the angel are: “And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings (kingdoms), who have not [yet] received a kingdom; but they receive authority, as kings, one hour with the beast. These have one purpose, and they give their power and authority to the beast” (verses 12,13).

This statement of the angel has been thought by some expositors (because of its being considered apart from its connection we think), to apply to the future. The thought on the part of these expositors, with some minor variations, is that these words refer to Papacy as a temporal sovereignty restored and becoming supported by the ten kings (kingdoms) who, because of this support, will again be anointed by Papacy as divinely appointed kings (so-called); that this will continue for a brief time, after which the kingdoms will again turn against Papacy and make her “desolate and naked,” and at last “burn her with fire.” We desire to notice that if this is yet to meet a fulfillment, it will be a second fulfillment, for the reason that all these descriptive symbols have certainly been fulfilled, and are now matters of history. For this reason it is our conviction that this interpretation which places the fulfillment future is not the correct one, as we shall endeavor to further prove. In doing this let us consider first the words of the revealing angel: “And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet.”

“If you allow, as the text demands, that the seeing [by St. John] is down the stream of time to where the judgment is [beginning to be] executed on the Papacy [1798 AD], while the explanation [by the angel] is back at the date of the prophecy [96 AD], all is harmony.”

In this Scripture we are considering it should be understood that the angel is giving a rapid survey from 96 AD even to the end. In his explanation of this part of the vision he states what actually occurred in history a few centuries from St. John’s day. This was, first, that the Roman Empire did at that time become divided into ten kingdoms; and, second, that these same kingdoms did subsequently receive power as kings with the beast through its Papal head. It was not long after Papacy’s exaltation and establishment, 539 AD, as all historians are agreed, that these ten kingdoms did become of one mind by becoming Roman Catholic, and by so doing gave their power and strength to the beast (Papacy) for centuries. But some see a difficulty here and say, It reads that they received authority as kings “one hour” with the beast, and how could one hour apply to so long a period in history? In reply we would say first that it is a fact of history which cannot be successfully disputed that the ten kingdoms did receive power from Papacy, they having previously become Roman Catholic, and that this perfectly fulfills the prophecy. It is also equally true that nearly all the other features of the vision have met their fulfillment. Furthermore, it is generally admitted that the “hour” mentioned cannot refer to symbolical time, that is, to fifteen days or to a literal hour. It will be seen then that in either method of interpreting the vision it will be necessary to examine carefully the words translated “one hour,” and thus discover, if possible, its meaning.

Mr. Elliott, who was an eminent Greek scholar, as well as commentator, rendered these words: “The ten horns are ten kings which receive power at one and the same time with the beast.” He says that this is the true, as it is the most natural, rendering. He further states that it is in this sense that the patristic expositors generally understood it; and as regards modern expositors, he says, it has so been explained by persons of the most differing schools of interpretation; so of the Roman Catholic expositor Bossuet; as well as Protestants, Mede, Daubuz, Vitringa, Whiston, etc.; so among living expositors, the Futurist Burgh, as well as anti-Futurist Wordsworth, and spiritualist, I. Williams. Mr. Elliott further enlarges: “There is no doubt that accusatives of time may signify duration; but seldom, I believe, except after verbs signifying action such as may imply time [here it evidently does not]: e.g., Matthew 20:12, ‘They worked one hour’; Matthew 26:40, ‘to watch one hour.’ Not often after verbs … of action instantly completed. In most cases of the latter character the accusative of time, marks the time at which, not the time for which. So John 4:52, ‘Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.’

“That the numeral even by itself, often bears the sense of the same is indubitable. As the point is one of considerable importance let me give a few examples from both the Old and the New Testament (O.T. Septuagint) ‘We dreamed both of us in one and the same night, he and I’ (Genesis 41:11); ‘We are all the sons of one and the same man’ (Genesis 42:11); In the New Testament Philippians 2:2, ‘of one mind,’ or more literally, ‘thinking the one and same thing’; Ephesians 4:4,5, where the sense is evidently, not that the Christians had each but one Lord, numerically, instead of the many lords of the heathen; or but one baptism, numerically, in contrast with the various baptisms of the Jews; but that they were united by the bond of one and the same Lord, one and the same baptism and one and the same hope. And so, indeed, as the very next verse to the passage under consideration, Revelation 17:13, ‘These have one mind’; i.e., one and the same.”

In concluding this which seems to us to be the true significance of Revelation 17:12,13, we will say that our deductions are in perfect harmony with the requirement of the vision — that the beast under its Papal head and the ten horns (kingdoms) reigned contemporaneously.

Making War with the Lamb

The next feature of the vision is contained in the words: “These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful” (Revelation 17:14).

There is doubtless in these words a general statement of the fact that during the entire period of Papacy’s reign a conflict has been going on between Christ and Papacy and its supporters; and that during this period, there have been called out ones, who were chosen and faithful, associated with Christ. This conflict, at one stage, seemingly resulted in these called out ones, saints, being overcome (Revelation 11:7-10, 13:7). These words of the angel, however, teach that the victory will at last be with the Lamb and his followers. There seems to be a reference here to that which is more fully portrayed in Revelation 19:11-21.

Mr. Barnes’ comment on this verse is worthy of our consideration, and reads: “These shall make war with the Lamb. The Lamb of God — the Lord Jesus; that is, they [the ten kingdoms] would combine with the Papacy in opposing evangelical religion. It is not meant that they would openly and avowedly proclaim war against the Son of God, but that they would practically do this in sustaining a persecuting power. It is unnecessary to show how true this has been in history; how entirely they sustained the Papacy in all its measures of persecution. ‘And the Lamb shall overcome them’ — shall ultimately gain the victory over them. The meaning is that they would not be able to extinguish the true religion. In spite of all opposition and persecution, that would still live in the world, until it would be said that a complete triumph was gained.”

In the words “And the ten horns which thou sawest, and the beast, these will hate the harlot, and will make her desolate and naked, and will eat her flesh and burn her with fire” (Revelation 17:16, Diaglott), we have described the first stage of the judgment on the Babylonian harlot. The beast here must, of course, be the same which is represented as carrying the harlot. It cannot be an individual Antichrist, as Futurists would have us believe. To believe this, we would have “the grotesque figure of the woman riding upon a man, a symbolical monstrosity of which revelation could not be guilty. Besides, there is no precedent in Scripture for making a beast signify an individual man. If Daniel gives the key to Revelation, as is generally admitted, a beast means a dynasty, or civil government. It is the body of the beast, the Papal Empire, with its ten kingdoms, including rulers, people, territory, and dominion, that is here evidently meant. These that have long supported the harlot church, now turn and rend her. It is useless to say that by identifying the Papacy with the beast this verse would compel the conclusion that the Roman Pope finally destroys the Roman Church. There is a head and a body of the true Church; the Head is called The Christ and the Body is called The Christ (1 Corinthians 12:12); but it does not follow, therefore, that when it is said that ‘Christ loved the Church and gave himself for it,’ we must conclude that he loved himself and gave himself for himself; for though Christ and the Church are mystically one, their actions and offices are separable. So the Papacy, as head of the Roman Empire in its ten-kingdomed condition, is called the beast (Revelation 13:4,5,6); and the empire itself as the body, is called the beast (Revelation 17:3). But though symbolically one, their actions and career are distinguishable. It is clearly the body of the beast that is figured as carrying and supporting the harlot — the Roman Empire under the sway of the Roman Church, the empire supporting the Church, and the Church ruling the empire. But when the consuming judgments begin, this is changed. Just what was predicted we have lived to see — the kingdoms once subject to the Papacy snapping their concordats and alliances, till the woman’s bit and bridle are utterly broken; those kingdoms turning upon her, and stripping her of her endowments, rejecting her authority, and tearing away her territory. So we have beheld it wonderfully come to pass in these latter days. Events often constitute an indisputable exegesis. So long ago as 1607 AD, Brightman, the commentator, ‘searching what and what manner of time’ the Spirit signified by this prophecy, concluded that about 1800 AD, the dismantlement of the Roman Church would begin. In August, 1797, the French ambassador in Rome wrote to Napoleon: ‘Discontent is at its height in the Papal states; the government will fall to pieces of itself. We are making it consume by a slow fire. It will soon crumble into dust.’ The next year the Papal government was overthrown, and an infidel democracy reared on its ruins. ‘The churches and convents,’ says Allison, ‘the palaces of the cardinals and nobility, were laid waste. The spoilation exceeded all that the Goths and Vandals had effected’ ” (A. J. Gordon).

The wealth of the Romish Church system in the zenith of its power was immeasurable. It not only possessed the wealth of the cities and provinces of the ten Italian States, but through its monks and nuns held possession of a large share of the landed territory in all the European kingdoms. The dominion of the Popes was supreme in all the Italian States, and they also exercised a subtle and despotic influence over all the kings of Europe. Their spiritual influence once extended over a large part of the civilized world — to the king on the throne, as well as to the peasant that tilled the soil. In fact, it was once even considered necessary, in order to secure salvation, to be subject to the Roman Pontiff. How remarkable has been the change from that condition. The territorial possessions of the Pope have been lost to him, and the immense landed property belonging to the different orders of monks and nuns in European countries, have been largely confiscated by the state. The political power of the Popes, once a dread reality in Europe, has departed. The spiritual influence, although great at the present time, is small compared with past generations.

The words of the angel, “For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil His will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled,” signifies that all this is according to the Divine permission, and is overruled by Him in the accomplishment of His great purpose of selecting and schooling the joint-heirs of the Heavenly Kingdom. “Kings and princes are under the control of God, and whatever may be their own designs, they are in fact employed to accomplish His purposes, and are but instruments in His hands.” It is further shown that this is for a limited time — “until” — and that time has, as we have seen, run its course, and the kings have continued to be still His instruments in gradually destroying her influence in the world; and when the due time comes, which seems near at hand, other agencies will arise and be His instruments in accomplishing her destruction. This may be, it would seem so far as the hierarchy at Rome is concerned, by a rising of the Italian people in a state of revolutionary anarchy; and so far as her priesthood and supporters over the world, and the daughter systems themselves are concerned, their destruction will be accomplished by a general world-wide uprising.

“And the woman, which thou sawest, is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth” (Revelation 17:18).

“Rome would of course be understood by this language in the time of St. John, and all the circumstances, as we have seen, combine to show that Rome, in some form of its dominion, is intended.”

Undoubtedly, the Papal hierarchy, whose seat of power is located in the seven-hilled city, is represented by this great city. Its destruction is described in the symbols of chapter 18. The fires of liberty so long pent up are now breaking forth, and the storm clouds of indignation are already seen on the horizon. Soon this great power of evil will be destroyed forever.

Millennial Hymn

O Church of Christ! behold at last
The promised sign appear —
The Gospel preached in all the world
And lo! the King draws near.

With girded loins, make haste, make haste
Thy witness to complete;
That Christ may take His throne and bring
All nations to His feet.

And Thou, O Israel, long in dust,
Arise! and come away;
See how the Sun of Righteousness
Sheds forth the beams of day.

Thy scattered sons are gathering home,
The fig tree buds again;
A little while and David’s Son
On David’s throne shall reign.

Then sing aloud, O Pilgrim Church,
Brief conflict yet remains;
And then Immanuel descends
To bind thy foe in chains.