Explanation
of the Revelation 12 Dragon's
Heads and Horns
The
Dragon Gets Credit For What He Instigates - He's
Held Responsible!
As
explained elsewhere on this web site, the sea
beast of Revelation 13 (the beast that comes up out of the sea in Revelation 13 and which may also be referred to here as the sea beast of Revelation 13) and the scarlet beast of Revelation
17 represent the same power. Consequently, the
heads and horns of both of these beasts also represent
the same power. Note that the heads of the sea
beast are still sea heads (but one has the mouth of a lion on it) and the heads of the
scarlet beast are still scarlet beast heads (whatever
that is), but they represent the same power even though
they look different. There are those who
come to the conclusion that though the body, heads,
and horns of the sea beast and the scarlet beast represent the
same power, the heads and horns of the dragon
are different. This web page is designed to
help you understand that the heads and horns of the
dragon represent the same power as the heads and horns
found on the sea beast of Revelation 13 and the
scarlet beast of Revelation 17, even though the body
of the dragon clearly is different from the other
two beasts.
To
begin, the most obvious reason the heads and horns
of the dragon represent the same power as those found
on the sea beast is that the 7 heads and 10 horns
of Revelation 12, 13, and 17 have only one explanation
given for them by an angel in the vision. This
explanation is found in chapter 17. Consider
the explanations found in Daniel 7 and 8 where Daniel
says that while in the vision, he questioned those
standing nearby as to the meaning of the horns on
the dreadful beast, and received an explanation of
what he was seeing. The heads of the sea
beast were explained in a later vision through the
explanation of the horns of the goat. One could
say that wherever there are heads and horns in Daniel,
there is a subsequent explanation giving the interpretation
of each of them. Likewise, there must also be
an explanation of the heads and horns found in Revelation
12, 13, and 17. The fact that there is only
one explanation for heads and horns in all three chapters
of Revelation 12, 13, and 17, indicates that the explanation
applies to the heads and horns of all 3 beasts.
If
one refuses to accept this, there is another way to
determine that the heads and horns represent the same
power for all 3 beasts.
And,
if one refuses to accept any explanation
that shows the heads and horns are the same for all
three beasts, then one must
invent an
explanation for the heads and horns that one considers
different from the others. That is problematic
as there is no other key in Revelation 12 to indicate
what these heads and horns are.
Revelation
12:9 tells us that the dragon is the devil. We
can know that the sea beast and the scarlet beast
are not the devil since we already know their identity
(assuming you have read the other web pages on this
site). So, how can the heads and horns represent
the same power on all 3 beasts? The explanation
of this comes through the idea clearly presented in
Revelation 12 and 13 that I call credit
by responsibility. This credit
by responsibility concept
is not a new idea to careful bible students, though
it is not commonly known to most people.
To
explain this concept of credit by responsibility,
let us digress for a moment into some rather puzzling
aspects of the bible. Sooner or later, most
people run into puzzling texts, such as where God
claims he causes certain forms of evil. After
reading such texts in the bible, most don't know how
to explain them so will probably simply skip over
them when they encounter them again in the future. But
were they to investigate carefully, they would find
this idea of credit
by responsibility applied
even to God himself. One such "puzzling" text
is Jer 49:37 , which says "For
I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies,
and before them that seek their life: and I will bring
evil upon them, even my fierce anger, saith the LORD;
and I will send the sword after them, till I have
consumed them: " (Elam
was part of what is now Southwestern Iran). Here God
says he will cause or bring evil upon Elam. Does
God cause evil? I
think not, for the bible presents God to be author
of all that is good and Satan to be the author of
all that is evil. But there is the fact that
God is ultimately responsible for the universe and
all that happens in it, and that
includes permitting evil
to occur because he allows us to have free will. Nothing
evil can happen without his express permission (much
as he does not like it), so God
is saying that he is taking
responsibility for
the evil that occurs, though he is NOT the cause of
evil. It
is very important for us to understand that God himself
does not CAUSE evil, but rather is trying to destroy
evil and
is in fact good.
To
understand the explanation of the concept of credit
by responsibility,
it helps to understand that the woman of Revelation
12 is believed to represent the true believers in
God, or one could say that she represents the true
church as contrasted with the apostatized church presented
in Revelation 17. Here is how the credit
by responsibility concept
works in Revelation 12.
In
Revelation 12, the dragon is shown standing before
the woman waiting for her to give birth so it can
devour the child soon to be born. That child
was Jesus. Now, historically we know that the
devil was NEVER seen
standing before the woman waiting for the birth so
he could kill the child. The Romans did kill
the children of the town of Bethlehem and the coastal
towns in an attempt to kill Jesus, but Jesus and his
family were already gone, so the attempt failed (though
you can surmise that Herod probably THOUGHT he had
succeeded). Though the devil didn't go out and
kill the children of Bethlehem, the dragon is given
credit in Revelation 12 for what was done. He
was responsible because
he instigated the
attempt on the life of Jesus and for
this reason, he
gets the credit in
Revelation 12 for the action of Rome. Does
this make sense to you? It should.
Later,
after Jesus went back to heaven, the dragon is shown
pursuing the woman (Revelation 12:13). This
largely represents the persecution of the Christians
by the Romans. Historians list ten persecutions
suffered by the Christians under Pagan Rome, beginning
with that of Nero, A.D. 31, and ending with that of
Diocletian, A.D. 303 to 313. The fact that this
is Roman persecution is evidenced by the fact that
(1) it occurs after the birth and ascension of Jesus (Rev. 12:13), but
(2) before the woman is given the wings of an eagle to swiftly fly away to the wilderness to hide for the 1260 prophetic days (see 1260 days are 1260 years explanation), which we can show began in 538 AD (Rev. 12:14),
(3) it occurs at a time when history records pagan Rome was in charge of the areas where the persecutions took place (before 476 AD),
"The
persecution of the Christian church by the empire
of Rome officially came to an end in March of 313
AD, when Constantine issued the document known as
the 'Edict of Milan,' which assured to each individual
freedom of religious belief" (Source: International
Standard Bible Encyclopedia under topic "persecution"). Again, nobody
saw the dragon persecuting the woman,
so we know that this means the dragon is being given credit
by responsibility for
what he instigates, which in this case was for Rome
to persecute Christians. Hence, the
dragon is, in a secondary sense, representative of
Rome.
During
the 1260 years beginning in 538 AD, the dragon works
through the Papacy to persecute Christians (Revelation
12:14 - 15), while during this time the woman has
to hide in the wilderness. What is interesting
is the fact that the
dragon is given credit by responsibility for the activities
of the power represented by the body of the sea
beast. Here
is reasonable evidence that this is true:
(1) Revelation 12:13 says "And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child".
(2) Revelation 13:2 says "...and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.",
(3) Revelation 13:7 says "And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations",
(4) Revelation 13:5 says "And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months."
What
we see above are texts that gives the basic facts
surrounding this set of events. First the dragon
sees that he is cast to the earth (remember that there
are two casting out events recorded in Revelation
12, once out of heaven from his home there, and the
second time is when he realizes that he has lost the
battle for the hearts and minds of those living in
heaven, which occured when Jesus died), and after
that he begins persecuting the woman through Pagan
Rome.
Revelation
12:13 clearly is a reference to the Roman persecution
that followed because it says the woman has given
birth to the man child (Jesus), which makes that a
past event. Yet it says that the woman went
into hiding in the wilderness in the next verse (Revelation
12:14), so we know that though Revelation 12:13 primarily
applies to the Roman persecution, it also is the cause
of the woman hiding in the wilderness during the 1260
days (years), so must have some application there
as well. If it did not, then the woman would
have no cause to go into the wilderness.
During
the time that the woman is in the wilderness (is in
restraint or a type of prison), the Papal authorities
were responsible for the persecution of the true believers. Pagan
Rome was gone, so it was no longer the responsible
party for persecution of the true Christians. Revelation
13:5 tells us that the dragon gave the sea beast
authority, power, and even a seat from which to rule. That
places the dragon in control of the sea beast
and THAT makes
the dragon RESPONSIBLE for
what the sea beast does because he instigates
the activities of the sea beast. Historically
it is also true that this was done through Pagan Rome
when it handed power over Rome to the Pope at the
time that Constantine moved the capital to Constantinople. But
the devil instigated this transfer of power, so is
made responsible for what he did there.
Further,
the woman is said to be hidden in the wilderness during
the 1260 days (years), and the sea beast is allowed
to make war against the saints for 42 months (Revelation
13:5), which is 1260 days (Remember that in biblical
prophetic usage, months can refer to a 30 day month,
see explanation of
the day for a year principle). The
time periods are the same time frame and of the same
duration, and the dragon has pursued the woman into
the wilderness where she is now away from his face. The persecution of
the woman during the 1260 years by
the dragon is in
reality the war against
the saints the sea beast executes. The dragon
is persecuting the woman by instigating the sea
beast to carry out a war against the saints during
the 1260 days. Hence, he is responsible and
is given the credit for what is done by the sea
beast.
Since
the dragon is held responsible for what the sea
beast does, that
means the dragon, in a secondary sense, also is representative
of Papal Rome. There
is no stated reason to attach this secondary representation
to either the heads or horns of the dragon, so it
must be that the dragon body represents Papal Rome
during the 1260 years time. The body of the
sea beast represents the 1260 year time period,
so it's heads and horns represent a time period that
follows the 1260 year time period.
Evidently,
the dragon, though successful against the woman during
the 1260 year time period, does not think he is successful
enough, so he spews out water from his mouth to try
to sweep away the woman, but the earth opens its mouth
and swallows the water. It is said that the
dragon spews the water out towards the woman just
after it has been explained that she has hidden herself
in the wilderness. Note that the dragon does
not follow her into the wilderness. Why is that? For
the answer to this question, click
here
Now,
Revelation 17:15 says "The
waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth,
are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues." So,
because water represents these things, the earth probably
represents the opposite, or dry conditions which probably
represent a relative lack of organized nations or
a relative lack of people. So, what would the
spewing out of water from the dragon's mouth represent? Maybe
this: There was a real problem with a population explosion
that occurred in Western Europe in the 17th century,
and this put considerable pressure on people to find
any available land on which to live and grow food
or other crops needed by themselves and society. No
doubt this population explosion threatened many with
starvation. This, and religious persecution,
threatened the religious beliefs and lives of many
and caused them to leave for America during this time. The
earth opening its mouth and swallowing the water may
represent the opening up of America as a refuge from
religious persecution that occurred before 1798. The
earth could be said to have swallowed a flood
of people looking for a better life. Based on
historical events, this places the timing of Revelation
12:15-16 at about 1620-1800, or in other words, roughly
near the end of the 1260 days (years).
This
is a clue, telling us how that "dry" earth
is going to be filled up when the earth beast comes
along, to provide "water" for it, so to
speak, to give it people to populate a new nation. It
even tells us the most important reason why - persecution
by the dragon drives them to go to this new place.
Overpopulation also played a part in this. So, the
people would come from the dragon of Revelation 12
(out of the sea beast's domain - remember the
dragon secondarily represents the sea beast) and
move to the New World where a new nation would spring
up out of the dry ground. Hence, from this we
know roughly when these people would migrate (near
the end of the 1260 years), we know that they come
from the domain of the beast (the dragon's mouth -
remember that those heads are from the papacy), and
go to a place where there are no prior organized nations
(the earth would swallow the flood of water and in
Revelation 13 you have a power that arises at the
end of the 1260 years in an area that is "dry",
represented by the 2-horned earthbeast). The
fact that there are no winds shown over the dry land
represents the idea that this new nation would arise
without the strife and warfare the has created empires
in the past, unlike what is shown for the beasts of
Daniel 7.
What
we have so far is that the body of the dragon is secondarily
representative of both Pagan AND Papal Rome. This
means the body of the dragon is representative of
time from the birth of Jesus till 1798 by representing
first Pagan and then Papal Rome. Does this make
sense to you now?
So,
where do the heads and horns fit in?
The
bible directly answers the question about where the
horns fit in. The dragon is credited with the
combined activities of the 10 horns of the scarlet
beast of Revelation 17 and the time represented by
the body of the scarlet beast (the returned beast)
just before Jesus comes again. This would be
during the time of the image beast spoken of in Revelation
13.
Here
is how the author knows this to be true: consider
that Revelation 17:12 - 14 says that the 10 horns
of the scarlet beast will give
their power and authority to the returning beast (Papal
Rome), and then together they
will make war against
the saints of God. Revelation 12:17 says that
the dragon will make war against
the remnant of the seed of the woman. This is
Satan's final series of acts against God before Jesus
comes again. Nevertheless, the war made
against the saints in Revelation 12:17 is the same war spoken
of in Revelation 17: 12 - 14. Note the key word
to understanding this is "war". Revelation
12:16 places the vision near the end of the 1260 days,
and then goes on to say that the dragon goes off to
make war against the remnant of the woman's children.
Now,
why would he do that when he is already engaged in
a war against the saints of God during the 1260 days? This
should be a clue to you that this last verse of Revelation
12 is not talking about the war during the 1260 days,
so must be a war at a later time. The verse
in Revelation 17:12-14 makes it clear when this war
will resume - during the time of the 10 horns. During
the time of the heads of the scarlet beast, the scarlet
beast is said to be in the abyss, restrained if you
will, so it cannot carry out war. This means
the war spoken of in Revelation 12:17 must occur after
the 7 heads of the scarlet beast which would be during
the time of the 10 horns. The time of the 10
horns is yet future as of the writing of this page
in March of 2003. This is logical because chapter
12 covers the history of the dragon from the birth
of Jesus to just before Jesus comes.
Some
would argue that the war spoken of in Revelation 12:17
cannot be at the time of the end because the very
next thing that happens in the vision is that John
sees the sea beast come up out of the sea, which
represented the Papacy and is known to have actually
gotten power against God's people in 538 AD by the
decree of the Eastern Roman emperor, Justinian. The
problem is that using this argument places the war
spoken of in Revelation 12:17 as occurring just before
538 AD, which would contradict Revelation 12:16 which
has already been reasonably shown to refer to the
time period 1620-1800. Revelation 12:13 - 17
shows a progression of time leading through and past
the 1260 years time period, leading right up to the
end of time. Revelation 12:17 points to a time
that is still future to our own time in March of 2003. Hence,
the sea beast comes up after the dragon in the
vision, but this is a step backwards in time to 538
AD.
What
this boils down to is that there are 3 periods of
persecution spoken of in Revelation 12, which also
correspond to those mentioned in Revelation 13, and
17. These are:
(1) That done first through Pagan Rome, This means the dragon here represents Pagan Rome.
(2) next, that done through Papal Rome during the 1260 years lasting till 1798, This means that here the dragon represents Papal Rome.
(3) and finally, that which will be done through the combined forces of the returned scarlet beast (Papal Rome) and it's 10 horns at the end just before Jesus returns, which will be during the time of the image beast of Revelation 13. This means that here the dragon represents the 10 horns in the final war against God's people. Reasonably it would be the 10 horns of the dragon that do this.
Below
is a graphical representation of a timeline for the
dragon from the birth of Jesus to the end of the world. Above
the dragon's time line are time lines for other powers
that the dragon also represents secondarily through credit
by responsibility. Note
that time moves to the right towards our time:
|---------------
Dragon Body ------------------|-7 heads|---10 horns---|
Pagan
Rome -
Jesus'
Birth to 476 AD
--------------------- Papal
Rome to 1798
----------------------------- Gap
- what goes here?
----------- 10
horns
------------------
Dragon
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The
author has put each succeeding time period on separate
levels in case the reader is color blind and cannot
see the color coding of the lines. As you can
see, the dragon continues from the beginning of the
time line (the birth of Jesus) to the end of this
world's history. This must be true because he
has not died. But as is true of the worldly
kingdoms such as Greece, the time of dominance or
prominence of each time period and corresponding kingdom
or power is what is represented by the body, heads,
and horns. The body was prominent as the dragon
or the devil primarily, and secondarily as Pagan and
Papal Rome because the pagan religious systems were
implemented through both Pagan and Papal Rome.
The
devil controlled the religious world during the days
of Pagan Rome through pagan religions present in that
empire. Later, during the time represented by
the sea beast, the pagan religious symbols and
rites were incorporated into the Christian Church
of the time, and the devil still controlled things
through the pagan religious system, though with a
different cover over it. After that, the heads
and horns gain prominence because of religious freedom
and the Protestant Reformation that occurred prior
to 1798 but really gained influence after 1798. But
the devil continues to exist. We just don't "see" him
so much as before. This is similar to what it
stated in Daniel 7:12 - "As
concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their
dominion taken away: yet their lives were prolonged
for a season and time." The
devil continues to exist, but his days of dominance
of the religious world in an open manner like was
done during the days of pagan religions is now past. Henceforth,
his dominance is expressed through the activities
of the 7 heads and the soon to come 10 horns (as of
the writing of the web page in March of 2003).
Each
segment above the dragon (such as Papal Rome or Gap)
are time periods and powers that the dragon represents
in addition to representing himself (or the devil). Hopefully
this little graphical chart makes sense to you. The
time from Jesus' birth to the end of Pagan Rome (476
AD) is followed by Papal Rome that continues till
1798, which is followed by a time gap (yet to be filled
in by the explanation on this page) that lasts until
the 10 horns arrive. Then the 10 horns remain
until Jesus comes again. Now, what
goes into the time gap? Heads?
Nothing, maybe? Logically, something must go
into that gap.
Now
logically, if the dragon is responsible for the sea
beast's activities, it is also responsible for the
beast's heads and horns as well. This should
be evident because of the fact that on one side of
the time gap, the dragon is secondarily representing
the body of the sea beast, and on the other side
he is representing the 10 horns of the sea beast
(or scarlet beast, if you will). And if you
have studied the sea beast, you know that the
sea beast's body represents time from March of 538 AD to
February 15, 1798, the heads go from February 15, 1798, to the future to the
point when they end, which should be when the current pope (Benedict XVI) changes his name to a new name, and finally the 10 horns begin their
time after the 7 heads have ended. So,
logically, the heads should fill the gap because their
end marks the beginning of the time of the 10 horns
and the different body parts of the same beast are
represented on both sides of the time Gap. Those
horns on the dragon must have a beginning marker in
time, and the end of the heads would logically act
as the marker.
The
logical conclusion of the matter is that by this means
we can know the identity of the dragon's heads and
horns: they represent the same power that the heads
and horns of the sea beast of Revelation 13 represent.
Another
way to summarize the facts presented above is through
the table shown below:
Persecution Period |
Bible Verse |
Pagan Rome |
Papal Rome |
10 horns |
| 31 AD - 476 AD | Rev. 12:13 | Persecution | ||
| 538 -1798 | Rev 12:14, Rev 13:5,7 | War against saints | ||
| 1798 -10 horns | Rev 17:8 | Peace - beast in abyss ("is not" or is in restraint so that it cannot war against the saints of God, does not have the power to prosecute for heresy during this time) | ||
| 10 horns - end | Rev 12:17, Rev 17:14 | War against Saints | War against Saints |
Some
argue that since the dragon gets credit for the activities
of Pagan Rome, then the horns of the dragon are the
same as those of the dreadful beast because it represented
Rome in the vision of Daniel 7. This would appear
logical, but it ignores the plain fact that the dragon
also represents Papal Rome and it too has heads and
horns. Consequently, these heads and horns must
be accounted for. They cannot just be ignored.
Some
might try to argue that both beasts are credited to
the dragon, but only the 10 horns of the dreadful
beast are present on the dragon and the 7 heads must
be something other than those of the sea beast. They
may suggest then that the 7 heads may be 7 forms of
Roman government or maybe 7 emperors of Rome. The
problem with this idea is that it is an either-or
situation. The 10 horns on the dreadful beast
began their time in 476 AD. The 10 horns of
the sea beast as of the writing of this page in
March of 2003 have not
yet arrived. Therefore,
because of the differing starting dates, they are
mutually exclusive. It cannot be both. It
must be one or the other. So, which is it? Are
the horns on the dragon from the dreadful beast of
Daniel 7, OR are the horns from the sea beast
of Revelation 13?
It
might appear logical for the horns to be from the
dreadful beast (pagan Rome), but they are NOT for
the following reasons:
(1) the dreadful beast in Daniel 7 had 10 horns initially and then lost 3 of them to the talking horn (which represented Papal Rome), but the beast in Revelation 12 starts with 10 horns and never loses any horns,
(2) there is evidence that the dragon secondarily represents Papal Rome, which means it also gets credit by responsibility for the sea beast. Something else to consider is that the body of the sea beast represents time to 1798. The credit by responsibility concept would also extend to the heads and horns so that these must be what the heads and horns represent,
(3) there is no mention of the activities of the horns of Daniel 7 in the explanation portions of Revelation 12, Not even a hint of that is present in Revelation 12.
(4) the 10 horns of the scarlet beast do make war against the saints as mentioned in Revelation 17:12 - 14 and we know that this is also mentioned in Revelation 12:17. Both sets of horns do this during the same time period, which means these 10 horns very likely must be the same. If the 10 horns were those of the dreadful beast, then they would very likely be carrying out the war in a completely different time period,
(5) Further, the time represented by the horns on the dragon must follow the time represented by the heads, which in turn must follow the time represented by the body of the dragon (which secondarily represents the sea beast). This is true because of the rule demonstrated in Daniel that the author calls the Miller Principle. So the time of the 10 horns of the dragon must be the same as those 10 horns of the scarlet beast. They cannot represent the 10 horns of Daniel 7 because they had their time of dominance from the time of the fall of Rome (476 CE) onward. The 10 horns of the dragon must have their time of dominance after 1798 because they follow the heads of the dragon which in turn must follow Papal Rome's fall in 1798 (when the Papal government was done away with and the pope taken captive).
Another
common suggestion is that the 10 horns of the dragon
(or those of the scarlet beast of Revelation 17) are
the 10 toes of the image in the dream of Nebuchadnezzar
in Daniel 2. The problem with this is that these
10 toes correspond to the 10 horns of the dreadful
beast of Daniel 7 (though it does not lose 3 toes). This
must be true because it clearly refers to the kings
that come out of Rome (Daniel 2:44), since Rome is
the last of the 4 kingdoms symbolized on the image
and it refers to the feet and toes as one symbol for
the kings that will come out of Rome. The kings
represented by the feet and toes of the image in Daniel
2 are political in nature, unlike the 10 horns of
the scarlet beast of Revelation 17, which are religious
powers. There is nothing in Daniel 2 that would
indicate that there has been a change in the nature
of the symbolism in going from the legs of the image
(which was representing a political power) to the
feet and toes. So, the Similarity
Principle would
apply and those feet and toes must represent political
powers. The conclusion of the matter is that
the feet and toes of the image of Daniel 2 cannot
be the same as the horns of the sea beast or the
scarlet beast in Revelation.
All
these facts combined make a strong case for the
10 horns of the dragon being the same as the 10
horns of the sea beast. This
means that since the body of the sea beast
and the 10 horns are obviously credited to the
dragon from the sea beast, then it must also
be true that the 7 heads come from the sea
beast by credit as well. This deduction about
the heads is not directly explained in the text
of Revelation 12, but it is the only logical conclusion
that makes any real sense. All the information
shown above must be included to properly understand
how the heads fill in the time gap. Leave
out the heads and there is that time gap that must
be filled in. All examples we have in Daniel
and Revelation show that time represented by the
body, heads, and horns of beasts is continuous. There
are no significant gaps from one body part to the
next and likewise there is no significant gap between
one kingdom and its division into more parts. So,
the heads of the sea beast must fill in the
time gap.
One
cannot credit heads from the dreadful beast to the
dragon because there is only one head on the dreadful
beast. And it is not a good idea to "place" heads
onto the dreadful beast that are not there originally. In
other words, it is possible that one is "adding
words to the prophecy" by saying that there really
are 7 heads on the dreadful beast because they exist
on the dragon, unless one can make a compelling case
that the heads of the dragon absolutely have to be
pagan Rome in some way or another. So far, the
author has not seen anything anywhere near a compelling
case for that. If one insists that the heads
are those of Pagan Rome (7 emperors or 7 forms of
Roman government), then logically the horns should
be the 10 horns of the Daniel 7 dreadful beast. But,
all 10 horns are shown here (it does not lose 3),
and you have to ignore the evidence that Papal Rome
is also represented by the dragon, and you have to
ignore the evidence that the dragon going off to make
war against the saints at the end of Revelation 12
is a clear reference to the same time period as the
10 horns of the scarlet beast that makes war against
the saints.
In
summary, what it all finally boils down to is this: the
dragon primarily represents Satan, but in a secondary
sense, the body of the dragon also represents pagan
Rome to 476 AD and continuing with Papal Rome till
the year 1798. At that time, the 7 heads of
the dragon begin to represent the 7 names of the popes
(without the attached numbers) that have occurred
since 1798 to the present. Soon, the time of
the horns will occur and the 10 horns on the 3 beasts
will begin to represent the Protestant Religions.
Hopefully
this helps you understand how the dragon gets his
heads and horns.
Are
the Heads of the Dragon Ancient Kingdoms Occurring
in Sequence?
Introduction:
This
section is written for those of you who would like
to dig a little deeper into the issues of the identification
of the heads of the dragon, the sea beast, and
the scarlet beast. The section above and other
web pages deal with the correct identification of
the heads and horns of the dragon and other beasts
of Revelation, while this section deals with a common
hypothesis of the identification of the heads and
why this hypothesis is probably incorrect.
There
are some who argue that the heads of the dragon represent
ancient kingdoms that the devil has worked through
over the ages which occur in sequential order. The
sequence of kingdoms usually begins with ancient Egypt,
and then continues on with Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia,
Greece, Rome, and some others they may list. The
author will refer to this idea as the ancient kingdoms
hypothesis. Some may start further down the
same list or have a different list altogether, so
there are some variants out there. Almost all
of them have in common the use of a sequence of ancient
kingdoms that the protagonists believe the heads of
the dragons represent. Typically, the horns
are those of the dreadful beast of Daniel 7, but there
are those who use the 10 horns of the scarlet beast.
The
Ancient Kingdoms Hypothesis
The
analysis of this gets a little complicated, but it
is not impossible to understand. Be sure you
understand the rules
of interpretation before
starting into this.
Before
beginning, consider that Daniel shows that the Miller
Principle accurately
describes how the beasts with multiple heads/horns
are to be interpreted. Remember that for a beast
with a body, multiple heads and multiple horns, the
body of a beast usually represents the first time
period of a power or kingdom, the heads the next time
period, and finally the horns represent the last time
period of a power or kingdom.
How
do protagonists of the ancient kingdoms hypothesis
come to their conclusion? They have no direct
indication of who these heads and horns are in Revelation
12, 13, and 17, for it is not directly stated who
they are. There is enough information in Revelation
17 to determine the identity of the heads and horns
if one correctly identifies the scarlet beast. As
a result, there is no explanation at all of the heads
and horns identity if they refuse to accept the explanation
given in Revelation 17. Some. on the other hand,
do accept the explanation of the heads as given in
Revelation 17, and think that the dragon and the scarlet
beast are one and the same (usually because scarlet
is a shade of red). They then read in Revelation
17 that two of the heads are sequential, so they assume that
all are sequential. The trouble is, that assumption
is not necessarily true.
Generally,
these individuals do not understand that the rules
of interpretation laid down in Daniel should be applied
in Revelation and can help them correctly identify
the heads and horns. The
rules in Daniel should be used because there you can
get a clear picture of the interpretation based on
history. Further, the beasts of Revelation are
an expansion of the talking horn on the 4th beast
of Daniel 7, so the rules must apply to Revelation
just as they do to the beast in Daniel 7. Build
rules from that which is easily understood, then work
on understanding the unknown. The
prophetic beasts of Revelation are much more difficult
to interpret unless you use those rules from Daniel.
What
is interesting is that protagonists of the ancient
kingdoms hypothesis do use some of the rules found
in Daniel, but only where it suits their purpose. They
ignore the remaining rules. For example, they
usually agree that waters represent peoples, nations,
languages, and so on, and apply that explanation from
Revelation back into Daniel, but that is also implied
in Daniel so there is nothing new there. They
accept the idea that beasts are usually kingdoms as
demonstrated in Daniel, so will apply that to Revelation. They
accept the idea that horns are kings, so will also
apply that to Revelation. But, when it comes
to the clear evidence that heads exist concurrently
with heads, they often will not accept that idea. They
will agree that they are concurrent in Daniel, but
refuse to believe that is the case in Revelation. The
reason is simply that they believe that Revelation
17 indicates that all heads are sequential in Revelation,
when it does not say any such thing - that is an ASSUMPTION on
their part.
Some
assumptions have to be made, no doubt about it, but
they fail to understand that the rule from Daniel
that heads are concurrent must apply in Revelation
17 as well. You
can read about the exception for the concurrent heads
on another page,
but suffice it here to say that they apply the rules
from Daniel only to a certain extent and ignore the
remaining rules where it is convenient. This
also suits their purpose because they WANT the
heads to be sequential ancient kingdoms. They're
used to that idea and any change to it is heresy to
them! But
that does not make
it so, no matter. An assumption is still an
assumption and nothing anyone does will change that
basic fact!
Based
on the beasts of Daniel and how God viewed both ancient
Egypt and Assyria, many conclude that two of the heads
must be these ancient kingdoms, with four of the remaining
ones based on the four beasts of Daniel 7. The
author does not know why they believe they can do
this, but several of the following reasons may be
involved:
(1) it appears to them that the heads are powers through which the devil has worked throughout the ages of earth's history,
(2) the dragon is a very different beast than the other two beasts with heads and horns,
(3) possibly because in Daniel 7, on the dreadful beast, the talking horn is shown as a horn, and in Revelation 13, the talking horn becomes the sea or sea beast. So a horn in one vision becomes a whole beast in a later vision. Perhaps they think the reverse can also be done - a whole beast in one vision can become a head or horn in another later vision.
(4) The follow the herd phenomena. The Duoay Rheims Catholic version of the bible has a footnote in it for the sea beast of Revelation 13 which states that Egyptian, Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, and Greece, Rome. and the seventh yet to come, the Antichrist and his empire. are the seven heads. These comprise again a list of ancient kingdoms. Seems everybody else is following their lead on this, which may or may not lead to truth on this issue.
(5) Revelation 17, which says "And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.", has a present tense verb for the "one is", suggesting that at the time of John, there was one of those 7 kings present in his day. This is a common understanding of this text, but it is misleading because the context, if properly understood, would tell the reader that this "one is" is actually a future reference. Still, there are those who read this and conclude that the heads must be ancient kingdoms, even if they predate the beast they are on, and that one of those kingdoms was present in the time of John, which means Rome. This same reasoning is often applied to the dragon, so will be considered here.
Explanation
of Reason #1:
First,
let us deal with the idea that the devil has worked
through the heads down through the ages. We
have to ask ourselves this question: has the devil
worked through various visible earthly powers down
through the ages? The obvious answer to that
question is a crystal clear "yes". He
certainly has. But does that mean this is the
right way to interpret the heads of the dragon? No,
and here is why.
The
ancient kingdoms hypothesis for the heads is an attempt
to create an explanation for the dragon's heads and
horns that fails to consider the full information
the bible has to give the reader on this. Revelation
12, 13, and 17 gives sufficient information to give
the correct interpretation to those heads without
the need of creating another explanation. Go
read the explanation of the dragons heads and horns
in the section above on this web page for an understanding
of the heads and horns of the dragon. Once you
have read that section, you should be able to see
that the ancient kingdoms hypothesis is not correctly
based on the bible and history. It is as if
they have a bible based explanation, but maybe because
they don't fully understand it, or just maybe they
don't like the one found in the bible, they
ignore it and create their own. Some, of course,
have never come to understand that there is an explanation
for this in the bible since the explanation presented
there is somewhat subtle, so naturally they don't
appear to have a choice but to create an explanation. Many
do not understand the full set of interpretation rules
available in Daniel 2, 7, and 8, and therefore are
unable to see that these rules disallow the interpretation
they use for the heads of the dragons.
The
point of the matter is that where a bible based explanation
is available, one should use that rather than making
up another hypothesis to explain this.
Rule
Violations of Explanation #1:
For
purposes of the discussion in the next few paragraphs,
consider the dragon as representing the devil himself,
which is the primary interpretation of the dragon. Further
down in this discussion, the secondary representation
of Pagan and Papal Rome will be considered.
The
devil's kingdom is a spiritual kingdom, not a visible
earthly kingdom. If you question this conclusion,
consider the following questions to help guide your
thinking on this: We don't see king Satan ruling from
his palace, do we? Or how about President Satan? What
city is his office located in? Where is Satan's
council located (where do they meet?). Where
is his capital city? Why don't we see interviews
with him on TV? He certainly would be big news,
no doubt about it. Where is his legally claimed
territory on the map of the globe? So, you don't
know the answers to these questions? OK. Maybe
that is because he rules a spiritual kingdom as is
stated above, and not a visible earthly kingdom. He
may be invisible to human eyes, like many things in
nature, but that does not mean he does not exist. However,
we don't see a visible earthly kingdom, so the logical
conclusion is that his kingdom is a spiritual kingdom
- he rules in the hearts and minds of many.
Based
on the Similarity
Principle,
which says that the heads or horns will be similar
in nature to the body of a beast (if the body is political,
for example, the heads should also be political in
nature). This means that since the body of the
dragon is spiritual in nature, then the heads and
horns should be spiritual in nature as well.
In
Daniel, when there was a change from the body of the
sea to the heads, or a change from the body and
head of the dreadful beast (4th beast) to the horns,
the ruler of each of these kingdoms died and his kingdom
split. To date we have absolutely no evidence
that the devil has died and no evidence his kingdom
has split. Fact is, the bible tells us that
Satan will be alive and well until the lake of fire
occurs, which is yet future. What this all means
is that those heads and horns on the dragon cannot
be from his spiritual kingdom because he will not
die until the lake of fire and there will NOT be a
split in his kingdom - ever. When he dies, that
is the end of the matter. There will be no split
in his kingdom on that day or any day thereafter because
his kingdom will be at an end right there at the lake
of fire. As a result, the heads and horns must come
from earthly powers or kingdoms. There is no
other alternate explanation of them - they either
come from the devil's own kingdom or from visible
earthly powers or kingdoms, but since the bible and
history rules out the split as coming from the devil's
own kingdom, the heads and horns then logically must
be from visible earthly powers or kingdoms.
This
means that an exception is created by the bible to
the Similarity
Principle because
the heads and horns should be spiritual kingdoms and
yet are not, and the Miller
Principle because
normally the heads and horns take their identity from
the body of the beast they are on, but that does not
happen in this case. The material in Revelation
makes this quite clear.
Wherever
there are exceptions, look for the explanation of
how the exception works and the alternate path taken
nearby in the text material itself. The bible
does explain how the heads and horns come about through
the credit
by responsibility concept
in Revelation 12 and 13 and the explanation of the
heads and horns in Revelation 17. These provide
an explanation of the alternate path taken because
of the exception. It does NOT provide any such
explanation for the ancient kingdoms hypothesis, which
should suggest that this is an invalid hypothesis.
Here
is where the secondary representations of the dragon
come into use. Revelation 12 demonstrates an
alternate explanation for the dragon to work through
a sequence of visible earthly powers (pagan and Papal
Rome) which can only be attributed to the body of
the dragon. It is through one of these (Papal
Rome) that the dragon actually gets its heads and
horns. The information indicating that this
is given to the dragon through credit
by responsibility is
an exception statement for the heads and horns, though
it is indirectly stated. This means the dragon
can have those heads and horns that represent visible
earthly powers as long as it gets them through the
mechanism explained in Revelation 12, 13, and 17 and
the concept of credit
by responsibility,
even though it would normally violate the Similarity
Principle for
them to be visible earthly powers.
Daniel
7 and 8 show us that heads are concurrent with heads,
and horns are concurrent with horns (Concurrency
Principle). Concurrency,
of course, means things occur together or at the same
time. The idea of the ancient kingdoms hypothesis
is that there is a sequence of kingdoms
down
through the ages through which the devil has worked
and that these are what the heads of the dragon represent. Using
this ancient kingdoms hypothesis means the example
in Daniel of concurrent heads or concurrent horns
is thrown out. Is that a valid thing to do?
Remember
that in the list of interpretation rules, there is
the Precedence
Principle,
which says that previously given examples create rules
that, once established, should be followed unless
there is an exception to the rules indicated in the
text of the material under study. This principle
is reasonable given that there are examples where
God shows a certain symbol being used, and then uses
it elsewhere. For example, waters in Daniel
obviously does represent peoples or nations, and winds
refers to the strife or competition for control that
nations engage in through warfare. This same
definition of waters is explicitly stated in Revelation
17:15. So, God continues to use the same definitions
and rules as defined earlier. That puts "skin" on
the Precedence
Principle.
Consider
that there are no other provable examples of sequential
heads in Daniel or Revelation, with the exception
of what are commonly called heads 6 and 7 of the scarlet
beast of Revelation 17. People ASSUME that
because those 2 heads in Revelation 17 are sequential,
the remainder of them are sequential, but that is NOT necessarily
so. The very fact that it has to explain to
you that they are sequential indicates that a previously
existing rule is used for the other heads - the
Concurrency
Principle. The
dragon's heads in Revelation 12 are not a provable
case of sequential heads, so, do you really
want to gamble on it? It does not say
one word about the order in which the heads
occur in Revelation 12, so the previously existing
rule should be applied to them, which is the Concurrency
Principle. The
example we have in Daniel is that heads are
always concurrent unless proven otherwise by
the text of the bible, and horns are always
concurrent. It seems safer to go with
the previously established rule.
These
facts combined should tell us that the idea that the
heads of the dragon are sequentially occurring powers
or kingdoms down through the ages through which the
devil has worked is not the best explanation. We
need to look elsewhere for a better explanation. Why
not use the best hypothesis?
Explanation
of Reason #2:
Another
possible explanation that may motivate those who believe
in this hypothesis is that the dragon is a very different
beast than either the sea beast or the scarlet
beast. The dragon is primarily a spiritual kingdom
(though it does represent, in a secondary sense, both
pagan and Papal Rome as demonstrated in the Explanation
of the Dragon's Heads and Horns section) which is
unlike the sea beast and the scarlet beast that
are visible earthly powers. It is from this
difference that, no doubt, some decide that the heads
and horns must be different than the sea beast
or the scarlet beast. This is understandable,
but does that justify identifying the heads as ancient
sequential kingdoms? Given the interpretation
rule violations listed above and below for this theory,
it seems rather unsafe that one should rely on this.
Explanation
of Reason #3:
Some
who believe in the ancient kingdoms hypothesis appear
to conclude that one can convert a whole beast from
one vision into a head or a horn in a later vision,
just the reverse of the conversion from the Daniel
7 talking horn, which was the earlier vision, to the
Revelation 13 sea beast, which was the later vision. What
the bible does is valid because the horn converted
to a beast in a later vision means that both come
from the same power. Is going the reverse direction
the right way to do things? To answer that,
one must go back to what God has actually demonstrated
that he has done. When God shows clearly provable
examples of a method of interpretation, then we may
say he has established a rule. The rules already
established by God may tell us whether or not this
is the right way to interpret the symbols of the vision. Other
aspects of this may also be examined to determine
the correctness of this approach.
Can
a whole beast from an earlier vision be converted
to a head in a later vision? The correct answer
is no because doing this violates rules of interpretation. This
is probably the reason there are no examples in Daniel
or Revelation where this is verifiably done by God. We
really need clear examples where there is no question
of this being done and the interpretation is sure
so we don't end up simply guessing, and all the while
claiming that we have fact to back up our interpretation. Daniel
is the best source because the interpretation is the
clearest there. But as near as the author is
able to determine, it violates some of the rules of
interpretation, so this is not a valid way of doing
things. In order for it to be valid, God would
have had to have presented the beasts in a little
different way so as to change the rules of interpretation.
The
author would prefer that God has shown us beforehand
that this is how he wants things done. Then
one can be comfortable using that method of interpretation
and KNOW
FOR SURE THAT IT IS RIGHT. Otherwise,
one is simply guessing that one is right, and nothing
more.
Those
who propose the ancient kingdoms hypothesis would
have you believe that the heads are a sequence of
kingdoms. They believe that this is the only
correct explanation for the heads of the dragon in
Revelation 12 (some also argue the same for the heads
of Revelation 17) because, according to them, there
is no better alternative explanation. The author
disagrees because a better, stronger, bible based
explanation is available. Those believing in
the ancient kingdoms hypotheses assume that
the heads are a sequence of ancient kingdoms. While
some assumptions always underlie all proofs, it would
seem better to reduce the number of assumptions to
a minimum. The worst of it is that there is
no need for an assumption about this.
To
define the identity of the 7 heads of the dragon,
they may point to the beasts of Daniel 7 and claim
that this defines four of the heads. Of course,
then they have to invent the remaining heads, since
the beasts of Daniel only account for 4 of the heads
and there are a total of 7 heads. If they use
ancient Egypt and Assyria as two more of the heads,
then there remains only one head to invent. How can
they possibly be sure they genuinely have the right
answer to any of the heads that they invent?
One
person did come up with an inventive solution for
the identity of the dragon heads by using the beasts
of Daniel 7, and the 3 beasts of Revelation 13, which
are the sea beast, the 2-horned beast, and image
beast for the 3 remaining heads. What it boiled
down to is that all of this person's dragon heads
were prophetic beasts. This certainly is preferable
to inventing heads that were never originally beasts.
A
little better explanation the author has run into
is that the dragon's heads are the heads of the beasts
of Daniel 7, using each and every head present there,
for a total of 7 heads. This at least has the
advantage of transferring heads for heads rather than
some other more speculative conversions, and also
accounts for all the heads based on a common criteria. There
is no biblical precedent for doing this, but it does
seem a little more logical because at least they are
putting heads for heads, rather than beasts as heads. But,
again, it suffers from the same basic problem - the
heads are supposed to be sequentially occurring earthly
kingdoms or powers. Strangely, this person seems
to ignore the fact that 4 of those heads are concurrent
- the Greek kingdom heads were concurrent.
Any
beast converted to a head MUST conform to the rules
of interpretation laid down in Daniel. If it
violates the rules of interpretation laid down in
Daniel and there is no clear exception showing that
the rule(s) can be violated, then one must reject
what then clearly becomes an invalid interpretation
method. So, we must turn to the rules of interpretation
to see if they are violated, and if so, then we must
conclude that a beast cannot be converted to a head.
So,
how do we know if the heads are the ancient kingdoms? Now,
the usual hypothesis is that the ancient kingdoms,
which the heads on the dragon are proposed to represent,
begin with ancient Egypt, with the next head in the
sequence being ancient Assyria. This seems logical
based on the way God spoke against both of these ancient
kingdoms in the bible. But, what is interesting
is that neither
of these ancient powers was ever represented
in the visions of Daniel, Revelation, or anywhere
else in scripture as a prophetic beast in which the
future is portrayed. So,
how can they be converted to a head on a beast in
a later vision when they were never a beast in the
first place? The author thinks this is a very
reasonable question. Would not doing this be
something akin to "adding words to this prophecy" (Revelation
22:18)? Something to think about at least. This
is, after all, not all that unlike adding 2 more beasts
to the vision of Daniel as recorded in Daniel 7.
The
next 4 sequential heads typically proposed appear
more logical because, under the ancient kingdoms hypothesis,
four of them usually appear as separate beasts in
Daniel 7. So, with Egypt and Assyria and the
4 beasts of Daniel, you have a total of 6 heads. Where
is the last one to come from? Here there are
divergences, depending on the interpreter. The
Catholic Church simply labels it as a future antichrist. There
are Protestants who label it as Papal Rome, the sea
beast of Revelation 13. There are a few other
interpretations that place other powers for the last
head.
Rule
Violation of Explanation #3
In
Daniel, each beast represented a power that had its
days of dominance and then the next beast took over. This
means the heads/horns completed their time before
the next took over. This is the Succession
Principle in
action. This happens only from one beast to
the next because each beast is considered as one kingdom
or power (Daniel 7:17 - "These
great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which
shall arise out of the earth."). This
is the Singularity
Principle in
action, which says that each beast represents one
and only one power or kingdom. What this means
is that heads cannot be separate kingdoms that arise
independently of one another. They must arise
from the same common kingdom so that they can be considered
all one kingdom. Further, because heads are
always concurrent with heads (except for heads 6 and
7 of Revelation 17), and horns are always concurrent
with horns, this means that heads cannot occur sequentially
where each head completes it's time before the next
head starts. That just does not happen because
they all must occur together according to the Concurrency
Principle.
There
is one other item of note here. Under the ancient
kingdoms hypothesis, one of the sequential heads on
the dragon is usually interpreted to be the Papacy. The
Papacy appears as the talking horn in Daniel 7 on
the 4th or dreadful beast, and as the sea or sea
beast of Revelation 13. Typically, this head
of the dragon is explained to be the sea beast,
but protagonists of this hypothesis seem to forget
that the Papacy also appears as the talking horn on
the dreadful beast of Daniel 7. If the sequential
ancient kingdoms hypothesis for the heads is correct,
then does this mean the dreadful beast of Daniel 7
itself becomes a head on the dragon (for Pagan Rome)
and the talking horn on the same dreadful beast becomes
another head on the dragon (for Papal Rome)? Allow
a restatement of that idea: one of the heads on the
dragon is supposed to be ancient Rome, which means
the dreadful beast itself becomes a head, and the
horn on the dreadful beast becomes another head because
it is the same as the sea beast which they say
is one of the heads. Isn't that just a little
strange as there are no examples of that in Daniel?
Consider
that further for a moment, will you please? The
dreadful beast is Rome and has the talking horn on
it that is Papal Rome. In Daniel, each whole
beast included all heads and horns as one kingdom
(Daniel 7:17 - "These
great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which
shall arise out of the earth".)
according to the angel who explained this to Daniel. This
is another way of stating the Singularity
Principle,
which says each beast represents one and only one
power. Now, on the dragon, the protagonists
of the sequential ancient kingdoms hypothesis are
placing the dreadful beast (as pagan Rome) as one
head next to the talking horn (Papal Rome) as another
head. Consider
that the dreadful beast represents a sequence of events
beginning with pagan Rome and ending with the Papacy,
the whole beast of which is represented in Daniel
7 as one kingdom or power (the dreadful beast) and
is supposed to last until the end of the world. Now,
if these are sequential kingdoms, where is there room
in time before the end of the world for the head representing
the papacy to follow the beast that represents Rome? The
head that represents Rome contains Rome and all that
follows it because each beast is considered as one
kingdom or king in Daniel 7. This means it contains
the Papacy and its entire time period that lasts until
the end of the world. There is a separate head
for the Papacy on the dragon that is supposed to follow
the head for Rome. Remember the heads are supposed
to occur in sequence. But the head that is Rome
really should last until the end of the world as all
its heads and horns must complete their time before
the next beast takes over. So, where is there
time before the end of the world for the head that
represents the leopard beast to fill in? There
is no time left, so how can it fit in? Hence,
there is a real problem with the sequential ancient
kingdoms theory because of glaring contradictions
present in that hypothesis.
Now,
where else in the bible is there a provable example
of this being done? I have yet to find any other
example of this being done. Some would get around
this by saying that they use only the body of the
dreadful beast and not the horns. Fine. But
now there is a problem because there are now time
gaps between heads. For example, the leopard
beast had 4 heads, and if one omits them, there is
a several hundred year gap between the leopard (Greece)
and the dreadful beast (Rome). That should not
be. Further, that is not the way the beasts
are presented. The leopard beast HAS 4 heads
and the dreadful beast HAS 10 horns at the beginning,
gains another, which in turn removes 3 others. Further
there is the statement in Daniel 7:17 which says "These
great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which
shall arise out of the earth." This
makes it pretty clear that the beasts and all "extras" are
considered as one kingdom. After all, the leopard
is thereby said to be a king, yet it included 4 kings
that would arise after Alexander the Great's empire. So,
it seems the protagonists of the sequential ancient
kingdoms hypothesis have some explaining to do....
At
the risk of redundancy, given the fact that each of
the 4 beasts of Daniel finished their days of dominance
to completion before the next beast took over, where
is there room after the dreadful beast (Roman beast)
for any further beasts? There are only 4 beasts
shown and the 4th dreadful beast was to last to the
end of the world. Consequently, Papal Rome is,
after all, a continuance of Rome itself. So,
the last head on that dragon should represent Pagan
Rome. There is no more time after that head. Something
to think about.
Hopefully
this helps make clear that putting heads on top of
other beasts creates real problems. There is
a simpler explanation that does not create time problems
and does not violate any rules of interpretation,
so is it not better to go with the simpler interpretation
that does not create these types of problem?
Explanation
of Reason #4
This
reason is the follow the herd type of thinking. The
author cannot imagine that there are any rule violations
from Daniel 7 for following the bigger guys on the
block, so we won't go there. However, following
the herd in biblical matters is not necessarily going
to lead to truth. Sometimes they have a political
ax to grind or some other entirely different reason,
or may even simply fail to understand the chapters
or issue in question, but however it happens, this
can be misleading. Consequently it is important
to study this issue for yourself to ascertain what
the truth of this matter really is.
Explanation
of Reason #5
This
idea is that the 6th head was in existence at the
time of John because of what the angel says to him
in Revelation 17:10. But this requires a literal
time frame for the vision. What if the vision
is actually set in the future and the angel is explaining
what John was seeing in front of him at that moment,
which was something that was actually future? Then
the statement would be understandable in terms of
present tense while discussing something in the future. It
turns out that if one properly understands the vision,
this statement is clearly talking about a future event
that John was seeing and yet it was spoken of as if
it was in the present. Hence, the vision is
set in the time frame of Pope Paul VI, far in the
future from John's time. Consequently, one need
not interpret the vision as requiring that the 6th
head exist in the time of John.
What
About the Heads and Horns of Revelation 13 and
17?
The
sea beast of Revelation 13 and the scarlet beast
of Revelation 17 are synonymous with one another,
so can be considered together. The important
points are these: (1) the Miller
Principle must
be followed because these beasts show a body-heads-horns
pattern like that which is found in Daniel 7, (2) the Similarity
Principle is
followed as there is no exception found for this rule, (3) the Difference
Principle is
followed as there is no exception found for this rule, (4) the Concurrency
Principle is
followed, with one exception as explained about Revelation
17 for heads 6 and 7, with heads 1-6 being concurrent.
The
one notable exception stated for the heads and horns
of Revelation 13 is that one of the heads receives
a near deadly wound that heals. This wound is
not shown on the heads and horns of Revelation 12
and Revelation 17, probably because, although the
heads and horns are identical, there is a shifting
emphasis on the details of what happens with each
of these chapters. Only one explanation of that
is needed to give the historical details of what it
represents. This does not change the Concurrency
Principle applicability
to the heads and horns of Revelation 13 or 17. Something
similar happens with the crowns found on the horns
of the sea beast in Revelation 13. In Revelation
17, there are no crowns upon those horns, but it is
stated that these horns are kings, so it is a given
that they represent kingly powers, just as the crowns
upon the horns represent kingly power in Revelation
13.
There
is only one concurrency exception stated for the heads
of Revelation 17, which has to do with only two of
the heads. In Revelation 17, six of the heads
exist concurrently with one another, but there is
one that does not, which is an exception to the rule. Since
the heads and horns represent the same power for all
3 beasts, this exception applies to all three beasts
for the same corresponding heads.
Click
here to read how to understand the concurrency
of the heads of the beast of Revelation 17. Click
here to read how to understand the exception
to the rule that the heads are concurrent in
Revelation 17. This
still does not change the fact that the Concurrency
Principle applies
to the remaining heads of the scarlet beast
of Revelation 17.
In
summary, the best explanation is that the heads and
horns represent the same power for all 3 beasts. This
creates the least discrepancies and no rule violations. Thus,
it is much more likely to be the correct interpretation.