Now we’re going to use those keys we learned in the second chapter to interpret some of the difficult images in the book of Revelation. Understanding the meaning of these images is important. When events in Europe and the Mediterranean begin to match the images in these prophecies, our world will begin witnessing the prophetic road signs leading to Christ’s return. I believe this may be happening, and I will show why later in this book.

The first image we need to understand is what might be called the mother of all signs.  I say this because the Bible refers to this sign as a “great sign.”  In fact, if we don’t understand this sign correctly, then we won't be able to understand all the signs in prophecy that follow.

Actually, this sign will be for the angels in heaven to see. We on earth, however, will come to appreciate its effects. When this sign is displayed an enormous battle for the heavenly high ground will erupt between God’s angels and Satan and his angels. 

The Apostle John described the great sign like this: “And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; and she was with child; and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth” (Revelation 12:1-2).

Before we interpret this first great sign, we will examine another sign.

Right after the first great sign comes another. John said:

   And another sign appeared in heaven and behold, a great dragon having 
   seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven diadems 
   (crowns). And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven, and threw 
   them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to 
   give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child (Revelation 
   12:3-4).

When I read about these two signs — the sign of the woman and the sign of the dragon — I envision two angelic armies quietly facing each other on a heavenly battlefield. Each side is waiting for the other to move first. Suddenly, the sign representing one side is raised high in the air and a loud cheer breaks out. Then another sign, representing the other side, appears and that army cheers.

But before the battle begins we find that the first sign about the woman wasn’t finished yet. John describes the rest of the first sign:

   And she (the woman) gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule the 
   nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and to His 
   throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place 
   prepared by God, so that there she might be nourished for one thousand two 
   hundred and sixty days (3 1/2 years, Revelation 12:5-6).

Now the angelic battle begins. John wrote:

   And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the 
   dragon. And the dragon and his angels waged war, and they were not strong 
   enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. And the 
   great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil, and 
   Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and 
   his angels were thrown down with him (Revelation 12:7-9).

Who is the woman in this first sign? Since God called this “a great sign” it must be very important for us to get it right. Some believe this woman in labor represents the church. This is because a woman in Bible prophecy can represent religion. But how can the church – something that began after Jesus was born – give birth to Jesus (the child referred to in this passage)?  Not only does this not make sense, but many Scripture passages point to a better interpretation.

As I've said, the correct identification of this woman is a very important issue. If your church claims that she is the same as the woman “clothed with the sun,” I must give you a word of warning. There is another woman in Bible prophecy who also brings forth a messiah-like figure. But this is the “other woman.”  She represents false religion. But more on this later.

The simplest and best answer is that the woman in this great sign is Israel. And her child is the Messiah who was born from her and caught up into heaven. Of course, this child was Jesus.

So, once again, we find God mainly concerned about His purposes for Israel and the Messiah. Here, however, God expands His revelation by showing that there is a spiritual side to this earthly conflict. This seven-headed dragon represents Satan and the seven Gentile kingdoms he has used to oppose God’s purposes for Israel.

We already know the identity of five of these kingdoms from King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. But the king’s dream began in the time of Israel’s captivity to Babylon, and this great sign covers a longer period of time. This image reveals this great earthly conflict from God’s point of view, beginning with the time of His servant Abraham. 

According to H.L. Willmington, in his Willmington’s Guide to the Bible, the seven Gentile kingdoms represented by the heads of this dragon are:

• Egypt, which enslaved Israel for 400 years (Exodus 1-12)
• Assyria, which captured the northern kingdom of Israel (2 Kings 17)
• Babylon, which captured the southern kingdom of Israel (2 Kings 24)
• Persia, which produced wicked Haman (Esther 3)
• Greece, which produced, indirectly, Antiochus Epiphanes (Daniel 11)
• Rome, which destroyed Jerusalem in A.D. 70 (see Luke 21) and which will torment Israel in the revived empire as never before in history (Revelation 12).1

In other words, the Roman Empire was the sixth head (kingdom). And a revived Roman Empire will be the seventh head (kingdom).

Once again, we must remember the on-going nature of these images. So, this woman in this great sign represents Israel, the nation God has chosen as His instrument to bring salvation to the world. And the dragon represents Satan and the seven major Gentile kingdoms he has used to oppose God’s purposes for Israel. So Satan is continually plotting to destroy the Messiah and His special nation, Israel.2

This interpretation is consistent with the keys. It’s simple, and it matches the overlay of the king’s statue.

As we’ve learned, an important key to unlocking our understanding of Bible prophecy is the nation of Israel. And, as we have just learned, Israel is the “great sign.”  It’s important that we understand why. It’s because God chose to work through the nation of Israel to reveal Himself to the world.

The Old Testament prophets were, above all, concerned with God’s purposes for Israel and the surrounding nations. In fact, the Apostle Paul tells us that the existence of the Gentile church was not even revealed to the prophets of old (Ephesians 3:4-5). 

You see, the physical nation of Israel is God’s on-going witness in the world to the reality of His existence. This is what God meant when he spoke to the nation of Israel through the prophet Isaiah: 

   ‘You are My witnesses,’ declares the Lord, ‘And My servant whom I have 
   chosen, in order that you may know and believe Me, and understand that I am 
   He. Before Me there was no God formed, and there will be none after Me. I, 
   even I, am the Lord; and there is no savior besides Me’ (Isaiah 43:10-11).

The role of Israel for God’s purposes in history is symbolized in the burning bush. At that time, all of Israel was in slavery under the hard-hearted rule of Egypt’s pharaoh. When the time came for God to deliver His people from bondage, God appeared to Moses in a bush that was on fire but was not being consumed.

Have you ever wondered why God appeared in this way?  The bush represented the children of Israel and the fire represented God’s anger. In other words, although Israel may experience His anger God would see to it that Israel would never be completely consumed (Isaiah 4:4, 5:25, 6:13, Zechariah 13:8-9).

When Moses asked God for His name, God answered, “I Am who I Am.” This name that God gave to Moses was derived from the Hebrew verb, “to be.” By using this name, God was emphasizing His eternal existence.

You see, not only was God planning to reveal His name and nature through the children of Israel, He was going to make their continuing existence a proof of His Own continuing existence. This is why – in the last book of the Old Testament – God reaffirmed His commitment to preserve His chosen people by promising through the prophet Malachi, “For I, the Lord, do not change: therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed” (Malachi 3:6).

But as a nation Israel did cease to exist. In A.D. 70, the Roman Emperor Titus completely destroyed God’s favored city Jerusalem, and the Jewish people were scattered among the Gentile nations. Yet this too was predicted in Bible prophecy. Hundreds of years earlier Daniel wrote:

   Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, 
   and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the 
   sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be 
   war; desolations are determined (Daniel 9-26).

It is interesting to note that, at the time Daniel wrote these words, the temple in Jerusalem had already been destroyed by King Nebuchadnezzar’s armies. This means it first had to be rebuilt, and then once again destroyed. And this is exactly what happened.

Yet even more interesting is the part about the Messiah first being cut off and having nothing. The only one this could have been referring to was Jesus. He’s the only personality in history who could qualify as the Messiah that Daniel said would be “cut off and have nothing” before the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. Jesus was crucified less than forty years earlier.

Jesus also correctly predicted the destruction that was coming to Jerusalem. But when the destruction came in A.D. 70, not everything happened that Jesus said would happen. For example, Jesus said:

   Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation which was spoken of 
   through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, then let those who are 
   in Judea flee to the mountains; let him who is on the housetop not go down to 
   get the things out that are in his house; and let him who is in the field not turn 
   back to get his cloak. But woe to those who are with child and to those who 
   nurse babes in those days!  But pray that your flight may not be in the winter or 
   on the Sabbath; for then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not 
   occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever shall. And 
   unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for 
   the sake of the elect those days shall be cut short (Matthew 24:15-22).

The Roman Legions devastated the little nation of Israel in A.D. 70. But as bad as it was, it was not the great tribulation Jesus spoke of – “a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever shall.”

And Jesus certainly wasn’t talking about that regional conflict fought with ancient weapons when He said,  “unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days shall be cut short.”

For students of Bible prophecy, the implications were clear. Although Israel had ceased to be a nation in A.D. 70, someday Israel would be reborn. And not only that, the temple would be rebuilt. Then the Antichrist and the Great Tribulation would come just as predicted by Daniel and Jesus.

One of these faithful students of prophecy was a man by the name of Clarence Larkin. His book, Dispensational Truth (1918), laid the groundwork for many of the students of Bible prophecy who followed him. What fascinates me about Clarence Larkin is how his absolute faith in Scripture foresaw the restoration of Israel many years before it happened. Like a child, he looked at the pictures in prophecy and believed them. And guess what? He was right.

The nation of Israel was reborn on May 14, 1948. It was a miracle of the first kind – a very “great sign.”  Never before has a nation ceased to exist for so long a time and then returned to become a nation again. And this is what the Jewish people were able to do after almost two thousand years in exile. 

Yet this is what the prophecies said would happen. For example, the prophet Ezekiel said:

   The hand of the Lord was upon me, and He brought me out by the Spirit of the 
   Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; and it was full of bones. And 
   He caused me to pass among them round about, and behold, there were very 
   many on the surface of the valley; and lo, they were very dry. And He said to 
   me, ‘Son of man, can these bones live?’ And I answered, ‘O Lord God, Thou 
   knowest.’  Again He said to me, ‘Prophecy over these bones, and say to 
   them,’ ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to 
   these bones, ‘Behold, I will cause breath to enter you that you may come to 
   life’ (Ezekiel 37:1-5).

These dry bones represented “the whole house of Israel” (Ezekiel 37:11). And the question, “can these bones live,” was asked by students of Bible prophecy for hundreds of years following Israel’s destruction in A.D. 70. The Bible clearly taught that someday Israel was going to be reborn as a nation. Yet the fulfillment of this prophetic event seemed about as probable as life returning to a valley of dry bones.

So Ezekiel obeyed God and prophesied over the bones. And when he did, he saw the bones coming back to life. He said, “So I prophesied as He commanded me, and breath came into them, and they came to life, and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army” (Ezekiel 37:1-10). 

Then in 1948, the impossible happened. Just as Ezekiel prophesied, the dry bones began coming back to life. The nation of Israel was reborn. Even many unbelievers understood the prophetic implications of this event. One such person was the former Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. In a speech given in Washington to the American Jewish Community, Netanyahu said, “As you all know, I am not a religious man. But you don’t have to be religious to see that the Jewish state is a fulfillment of prophecy.”

Netanyahu then went on to list all the seemingly impossible events that happened to come together and give birth to his nation.

I remember a day when I was a small boy playing in my grandparent’s front yard. My grandmother called me to the door and said something to me I will never forget. She said, “The Lord isn’t coming in my lifetime, but He’s coming in yours.”

Then she turned away, closed the door, and left me standing alone with my thoughts. This happened in the early 1950s. During this time, I remember she would often sit in her chair and read her Bible. When she called me to the door she must have been reading the prophecies and thinking about the implications of the recent rebirth of Israel.

In my imagination, I can see her looking up and watching me play in her yard. Suddenly, the burden of God’s Word in heart became too great to keep to herself. She had to tell someone. How do I know this is what happened? Because many times now I have felt the very same way.

It’s very possible that my grandmother’s prediction — that I would be alive when Christ returns — might come true. This is because she had strong biblical support for her view. Jesus said that when the nation of Israel was reborn and certain signs began to occur then that generation of the Jewish race would live to see the end times. He put it this way:

   Now learn the parable from the fig tree; when its branch has already become 
   tender, and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near; even so you 
   too, when you see all these things, recognize that He is near, right at the door. 
   Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take 
   place (Matthew 24:32-34).

This fig tree is Israel. God often referred to Israel in such fashion. Speaking through Hosea, God said, “I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your forefathers as the earliest fruit on the fig tree in its first season” (Hosea 9:10). In another place God said, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Like these good figs, so I will regard as good the captives of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans” (Jeremiah 23:5).

Jesus’ comparison of Israel to a fig tree may explain a confusing passage in the New Testament — when Jesus cursed the fig tree. Once, when Jesus became hungry, He walked up to a fig tree in order to eat some of its fruit. Although the tree was in full leaf, there was no fruit on it. So Jesus said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.”

Later when Jesus and His disciples passed by this tree again, Peter noticed that the fig tree had withered from its roots up. When Peter asked about this, Jesus responded by saying: “Have faith in God. Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain. ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it shall be granted him” (Mark11:23).

Like that fig tree, we can have leaves – we can appear very religious. But, if we don’t have our faith rooted deep in Jesus, then we won’t have power to bear any real fruit for God. In fact, this is what happened to Israel when they rejected Jesus as their Messiah.

So, when Jesus asks us to “learn the parable from the fig tree,” He was telling us not to make the same mistake as unbelieving Israel. And when He said, “this generation will not pass away until all these things take place,” He was referring to the generation that sees the rebirth of Israel and the beginning of the signs – our generation.

So, when Israel was reborn on that day in 1948, our world witnessed the first sign of the end-times events in the book of Revelation. This first sign was the sudden reappearance of the nation of Israel on the world stage.

And we know that when this first “great sign” of the woman appears, another sign is soon to follow. And that second sign – which I believe began with the Schuman Declaration in 1950 – is the appearance of the great seven-headed dragon.

Now we get to the spooky part. The beast of Revelation makes his grand entrance. John wrote:

    And he (the dragon – Satan) stood on the sand of the sea shore. And I saw 
   a beast coming up out of the sea having ten horns and seven heads, and on 
   his horns were ten diadems (crowns), and on his heads were blasphemous 
   names. And the beast which I saw was like a leopard, and his feet were like 
   those of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave 
   him his power and his throne and great authority (Revelation 13:1-2).

Once again – to identify this beast – we need to use those keys. We have learned from Key 6 to look at things from God’s point of view. And from God’s point of view a beast is an evil king and his kingdom.

But what king and kingdom could this be? This is where we can use that image of the statue King Nebuchadnezzar saw as an overlay. Remember, the statue represented the four great Gentile empires that would rise over Israel until the Messiah came. The fourth and last kingdom was Rome. This could only mean that the beast John saw rising from the sea in Revelation is some kind of revival of the Roman Empire.

This dream of the statue, however, was from a pagan king’s point of view. If you recall, we also have another picture of this last Gentile empire from God’s point of view given to Daniel. Let’s see if the beast Daniel saw representing Rome fits the description of this beast John saw in Revelation. Daniel wrote:

   After this I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, 
   dreadful and terrifying and extremely strong; and it had large iron teeth. It 
   devoured and crushed, and trampled down the remainder with its feet; and it 
   was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns 
   (Daniel 7:7).

Bingo!  The beast Daniel saw had 10 horns. And the beast John saw in Revelation also had ten horns. So this 10-horned beast John saw rising from the sea must be some kind of replay of the old Roman Empire.

Yet the beast not only had 10 horns, it also had seven heads. And one of these heads had a fatal wound. John said, “And I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain, and his fatal wound was healed. And the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast” (Revelation 13:3).

There has been much speculation about the meaning of this head wound. A popular interpretation today is that the Antichrist will be killed and come back to life. People who hold this view believe that this coming back to life would be an attempt by Satan to duplicate Christ’s death and resurrection.

So will the Antichrist rise from the dead?  If you have seen the movie, The Omega Code, this is probably what you're expecting to happen. The movie presents a fictionalized story based on many of today’s popular interpretations of Bible prophecy. The movie was well made, and I enjoyed it very much. The most powerful scene is when the Antichrist, portrayed by the great actor Michael York, awakens from the dead after receiving a fatal gunshot wound to the head.

But is this an accurate interpretation of prophecy?  I have several problems with this idea. For one thing, this interpretation is based entirely on speculation. But even more importantly, it's an unnecessary speculation.

One of our keys to the prophecies in Revelation is to understand what came before. In the book of Genesis, this great red dragon is depicted as a small serpent that successfully tempts our first human ancestors to join him in his rebellion against God. Because of this evil deed, God told the serpent: “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise (crush) you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel” (Genesis 3:15).

Here we find the beginning of a conflict between good and evil that is destined to span the farthest reaches of human development and history. In Genesis, we see God beginning a process for delivering His people from the effects of their fall into sin and the power of the serpent. This Savior would be the promised seed of the woman who would someday crush the serpent’s head.

Of course, we Christians know that this Savior has already come and given that serpent of old his fatal blow. This occurred when Jesus died on the cross. Referring to His coming death and resurrection, Jesus said, “Now judgment is upon the world; now the ruler of this world shall be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself” (John 12:31-32).

You see, when Christ was crucified, Satan and his Roman Empire – the sixth head of the great red dragon – received their fatal head wound. This is why Jesus said after His resurrection, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and earth” (Matthew 28:18).

But someday, perhaps sooner than we think, the Roman Empire, with Satan himself ruling over it in the form of the Antichrist, will return (Revelation 13:1-3). And, as John said, the whole earth will be amazed.

Now we need to know what the 10 horns on this beast of Revelation represent. But this is no problem. The Bible provides us with the answer in Revelation. These 10 horns are 10 kings who will rule with the Antichrist (Revelation 17:12).

Again, this is consistent with Daniel’s vision of the beast that represented Rome. Daniel described this fourth beast by saying:

   While I was contemplating the horns, behold another horn, a little one came 
   up among them, and three of the first horns were pulled out by the roots 
   before it; and behold the horn possessed eyes like the eyes of a man, and a 
   mouth uttering great boasts (Daniel 7:8).

As we know, a beast in Bible prophecy doesn’t only represent a kingdom, it also represents some great king. In the case of this terrible beast of Revelation, that king will be the Antichrist himself. In other words, the Roman Empire will someday return in the form of 10 kings, and the Antichrist will rise to power among them.

Many excellent Bible scholars share this understanding of prophecy. One such scholar is John Walvoord. In his book, The Nations in Prophecy, Walvoord says:

   A crisis in the Mediterranean area leads to the formation of the revived Roman 
   Empire composed of a ten-nation confederacy. This is occasioned by the rise 
   of the Roman ‘prince that shall come’ (Daniel 9:26) who subdues three of the 
   kings and secures the submission of the seven remaining rulers. His 
   successful conquest of these ten kingdoms, outlined in Daniel 7:23-26, 
   makes the Roman ruler supreme in his control of this revived form of the 
   ancient Roman Empire.3

As if this first beast from the sea wasn’t enough bad news, John tells us that another beast comes up. But this one’s from the earth. John wrote:

   And I saw another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns 
   like a lamb, and he spoke as a dragon. And he exercises all the authority of 
   the first beast in his presence. And he makes the earth and those who dwell 
   in it to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed. And he 
   performed great signs, so that he even makes fire come down out of heaven 
   to the earth in the presence of men (Revelation 13:11-13).

This two-horned beast is usually referred to as the “False Prophet” (Revelation19:20). This creepy creature will bring fire down from heaven and cause people to worship the Antichrist. But there is more to this guy.

Remember, these beasts of Bible prophecy aren't only kings. They are also kingdoms that have some kind of relationship to Israel. And when we read a little farther, we find that this beast has more than just spiritual authority. About this second beast John writes:

   And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the 
   free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand, or on their 
   forehead, and he provides that no one should be able to buy or to sell, except 
   the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his 
   name (Revelation 13:16-17).

Here we have one man who has immense religious and economic power. In fact, I believe this could be the meaning of his two horns. “Horns” in Bible prophecy indicate power. This man’s power will be religious and economic.

This suggests that this person will have control over some kind of global organization where he can exercise these two powers. Where would we look to find such an organization today?  I believe this organization could well be the United Nations. Later in the book, I will deal more with why I believe the United Nations could be the organization destined to fall under the control of the False Prophet.

If I’m right, and the first beast (the Antichrist and his kingdom) is now rising from the sea, then it won’t be long until the second beast (the False Prophet and his kingdom) also shows up.

Remember the other woman I mentioned a while back?  Well the time has come to introduce you to that other woman – the scarlet lady of prophecy. John wrote:

   And one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with 
   me, saying, ‘Come here, I shall show you the judgment of the great harlot 
   who sits on many waters with whom the kings of the earth committed acts of 
   immorality, and those who dwell on the earth were made drunk with the wine 
   of her immorality.’ And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness; and 
   I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast, full of blasphemous names, having 
   seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was clothed in purple and 
   scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her 
   hand a gold cup full of abominations and of the unclean things of her 
   immorality, and upon her forehead a name was written, a mystery, ‘BABYLON 
   THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF 
   THE EARTH.’ And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, and 
   with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus. And I wondered greatly (Revelation 
   17:1-6).

I don’t know about you, but this is one of those places where I can really relate to the Apostle John. Every time I’ve read his description of this woman riding the beast, I too have “wondered greatly.”

Yet the next thing the angel said to John was, “Why do you wonder?  I shall tell you the mystery of the woman and the beast that carries her, which has seven heads and the ten horns.”

Talk about someone being frustrated!  What the angel said to help us understand the meaning of the woman riding the beast seems even harder to understand. But more on that later.

I agree with the commonly accepted view of this passage. The woman riding the beast represents false religion. As we have learned, these images of Bible prophecy are from God’s point of view. So this false religion is the one that — from God’s point of view — gave birth to all false religions. That’s why she’s called “THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS.”

Like the other images in prophecy, this image has an on-going nature. That is the reason she is called, “BABYLON THE GREAT.”  This identifies this false religion with the ancient Babylonian Empire. Tim Lahaye said, “In ancient days Satan seemed to make Babylon the capital of his evil operation. From this headquarters was started false religion” (Revelation Illustrated and Made Plain p. 224).

But Alexander Hislop, author of the great Christian classic The Two Babylons, traced the false religion in ancient Babylon back to the builders of the Tower of Babel.4  According to the Bible, the Tower of Babel is where people who had rebelled against God came together to build a city. These people said, “Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name; lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth” (Genesis 11:4).

Hislop believes the religion that began at the Tower of Babel was actually the worship of Satan in the form of fire, the sun and the serpent.5 However, Satan worship could not be done openly because of the many who still believed in the true God of Noah. So a mystery religion began at Babel where Satan could be worshipped in secret.

These builders of Babel had a leader by the name of Nimrod. The Bible tells us that Nimrod “became a mighty one on the earth.”  In fact, the city of Babel was just the beginning of Nimrod's great empire. He went on to build and unite seven more great cites (Genesis 10:8-12).

There is non-biblical support for the existence of this great leader. According to ancient lore, Nimrod had a wife named Semiramis. Although Nimrod recognized no God other than himself, Semiramis was religious. And she was the one responsible for the creation of the idolatrous mystery religion that began at Babel.

So at Babel, we find the first rebellious builders of a godless system of government and the first promoters of this idolatrous mystery religion. These two forces worked together to blind and enslave the weak and spiritually ignorant people in the days of Nimrod.

Of course we know the rest of the story. God interrupted the plans of these builders by giving them different languages. Unfortunately, as these people scattered, they carried their mystery religion with them over the face of the whole earth.

So the woman John saw riding the beast represents this satanically inspired religion that has been scattered around the world, now existing in its many forms.

This brings us back to the beast John saw this mystery woman riding. The angel said:

   The beast that you saw was and is not, and is about to come up out of the 
   abyss and to go to destruction. And those who dwell on the earth will wonder, 
   whose name has not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the 
   world, when they see the beast, that he was and is not and will come
   (Revelation 17:18).

What in the world does this beast stand for?  Perhaps the simplest explanation is that the beast that “was” refers to Satan when he appeared to Eve in the form of a serpent in the Garden of Eden.

If so, then the beast that “is not” refers to the fact that Satan, at the time of John, didn’t occupy an earthly body. And the beast that “is about to come up out of the abyss” means that someday Satan will occupy another earthly body, but this next time it will be the body of a human king. If you follow this interpretation, then you can see why some Christians believe that Satan himself will someday personally indwell the Antichrist.

Yet I don’t agree with this interpretation. For one thing, Revelation 16:13 indicates that they remain separate beings. In this passage we find the dragon (representing Satan) and the beast (representing the Antichrist) still being referred to separately.

Another problem with the interpretation that Satan personally indwells the Antichrist is that the “abyss” – the place where the beast comes out from – is another name for the “bottomless pit.”  And Satan does not dwell in the bottomless pit. This is where demons dwell. Demons are spirits that do not have their own bodies. 

According to Clarence Larkin, the abyss is “the prison house of demons (Revelation 9:1-21), and where Satan is to be bound for 1000 years (Revelation 20:1-3, 7-8).”  Larkin said, “It is the place into which the demons besought Christ not to send them” (Luke 8:31). Then Larkin summed it up by saying:

   ‘The ‘Bottomless Pit’ or 'Abyss' then is a deeper compartment in ‘The 
   Underworld’ than ‘Paradise,’ or ‘Hell,’ and is the place where the ‘demons’ 
   and baser spirits are temporarily confined until they are finally consigned to 
   the ‘Lake of Fire’ to spend eternity with their Master, Satan.6

So if it isn’t Satan, then who – or what – is this beast that the angel said would “come up out of the abyss and go to destruction?”

According to Larkin, “the ‘King’ of the ‘Bottomless Pit’ is called in the Hebrew tongue ‘Abaddon,' but in the Greek tongue his name is ‘Apollyon,’ that is, the King of the ‘Bottomless Pit’ is named after the Hebrew and Greek words that are translated – ‘Destruction.’”

Here we may have some important clues to identifying this beast. We know for sure that this beast from the abyss refers to the coming Antichrist. We also have learned that the name of the king of the abyss – the place the beast comes out of – is "Destruction." And we also know that Paul called the Antichrist “the son of destruction” (2 Thessalonians 2:3).

This is why I believe the beast from the abyss refers to some demon spirit who is specifically used by Satan to possess certain earthly kings. And when this possession occurs, it’s as if Satan himself were the king.

When Satan appeared to Eve in the Garden of Eden, it was in a time of innocence. It was before Adam and Eve ate the fruit – before the fall of mankind had occurred. At that time, Satan and his demons didn’t have the right to occupy a human being. This is why Satan first had to appear in the body of a serpent. Since the fall, however, human bodies have become available.

Now when people worship Satan instead of God, whether knowingly or not, Satan and his demons can gain the right to occupy their bodies. This is Satan’s true purpose for false religion.

So, let’s put this all together. This woman John saw riding the beast represents this satanically inspired religion scattered around the world. This false religion likes to work together with godless governments. And the beast represents Satan’s ultimate goal of bringing his Antichrist demon from the abyss to indwell some powerful earthly king. When this occurs, this king becomes Satan in the flesh. And these two forces working together are called by the Apostle Paul, “the mystery of lawlessness” (2 Thessalonians 2:7).

If you have come to a different interpretation of these verses that’s OK. These are difficult passages to understand and I don’t for one minute think I have found all the right answers.

The angel went on to explain a little more about the beast the woman of false religion was sitting on. The angel said:

   Here is the mind which has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains 
   on which the woman sits, and they are seven kings; five have fallen, one is, 
   the other has not yet come; and when he comes he must remain a little while. 
   And the beast which was and is not, is himself also an eighth, and is one of 
   the seven, and he goes to destruction (Revelation 17:9-11).

Some Bible versions use the word “hills” in place of "mountains," which the New American Standard version uses. And since the city of Rome is known to sit on seven hills, this causes some prophecy students to identify this woman riding the beast with the Vatican and the Catholic Church.

And this leads some to believe that the seven kings this passage refers to were seven Roman Emperors. The problem with this interpretation is that these seven emperors are hard to specifically identify. And if you recall from our keys, we are to watch for sure road signs in history, not unidentifiable events or emperors.

It’s my opinion that this is another example of a dual prophecy. At the time this was written, it was clearly understood that this prophecy referred to the city of Rome. In fact, in John’s day, Roman coins were even circulating with the seven hills of Rome on their face. And, as you know, John and the early Christians went through much persecution because of this woman riding the beast – because of opposing false religion and Roman authority. 

However, it doesn’t necessarily follow that the end-times fulfillment will also refer to the literal city of Rome. Let me show you why.
For one thing, I can’t see the Antichrist making Rome – one of his own capital cities – a great wasteland in one hour with fire, such as the Antichrist is predicted to do to this harlot at the end of the tribulation (Revelation 17:16-18).

For another, most Bible translators believe the correct word is “mountains,” not “hills.”7 But my main reason for believing the correct word is “mountains” is because this would make this prophecy more consistent with those prophecies that have come before.

The angel’s statement that the seven heads of the beast are mountains and kings may at first seem more confusing. Actually it is very helpful to our understanding. If you recall, the future kingdom of the Messiah was pictured in King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream as a great mountain (Daniel 2:35). Other Old Testament prophets also referred to great kings and their kingdoms who opposed Israel as mountains (Isaiah 2:2, Zechariah 4:7).

At the time of John, five of these great kingdoms that the woman sat on had come and gone. These were Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia and Greece. The one that existed in John’s day was Rome.

Now the angel’s attention turns from the earthly kings of these kingdoms back to the beast that comes from the pit. The angel says, “And the beast which was and is not, is himself also an eighth, and is one of the seven, and he goes to destruction.”
In other words, at the time John wrote these words, the beast was back in the Bottomless Pit. But someday, when the Roman Empire is revived under a confederacy of 10 nations, a seventh king will come to power.

And after this seventh king comes to power, the beast will again come out of the pit and possess this seventh king. When this event occurs, the beast from the pit will become the eighth king, and also will be one of the seven.

Again, there are other ways to interpret these difficult passages of prophecy. But as I consider all of our keys, this seems to be the best.

If you recall, I said that this other woman of prophecy – the one who represents false religion – will also bring forth a messiah-like figure into the world. Before the true Messiah returns from heaven, a false messiah will be offered to the world. Unlike the Messiah who fulfilled the prophecies of Scripture – who came forth from Israel, died and rose again – this false messiah will come forth from false religion and use deceiving signs and wonders (2 Thessalonians 2:9).

The Apostle Paul explained it this way, “Let no one in any way deceive you, for it (Christ’s return) will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction” (2 Thessalonians 2:3).
The word “apostasy” means to fall away. Paul is telling us that, just before the Lord’s return, most people will fall away from the true faith of the Bible.

When you think about it, it’s amazing how confident the Apostle Paul was in the power of the new faith he was spreading. At the time Paul wrote this, the Christian faith had just begun to be preached. Yet here Paul was saying that the day would come when the loss of the true Christian faith would cause a calamitous political change to the entire world.

How could Paul, 2000 years ago, have had such confidence in the faith he was preaching?  I believe it was because he understood the implications of what Jesus accomplished on the cross. Paul took it literally when Jesus said, “Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world shall be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself” (John 12:31-32).

Paul understood that our real battle here on earth is not against “flesh and blood,” but against “the spiritual forces of wickedness” (Ephesians 6:12). He also knew that when Jesus was crucified, Satan’s authority over mankind had finally been broken. Just as foretold in Bible prophecy, the seed of the woman had come (Jesus), and had crushed the serpent’s (Satan's) head (Genesis 3:15).

You see, with true Christianity comes true freedom. And Paul knew that Christianity would have a liberating effect on the Gentile world that had been enslaved by Satan. As I said earlier in my book, I believe this is what Paul had in mind when he said:

   To me, the very least of the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the 
   Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ … in order that the manifold 
   wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers 
   and the authorities in the heavenly places (Ephesians 3:8-10).

Now world leaders are attempting to mold their nations and international organizations into the American image – democracy, the rule of law, and individual freedom. Ironically, these world leaders can recognize the good that has been manifested by the nations that are filled with Bible-believing churches, but they can’t bring themselves to recognize the faith that accomplished this good.

Yet after 2,000 years, how can we know for sure the true faith that Jesus started? Actually, this is an easy question to answer. Paul said:

   Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, 
   which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are 
   saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed 
   in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that 
   Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, 
   and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 
   Corinthians 15:1-4).

In other words, the Gospel message at the heart of the Christian faith is simple. If you truly believe in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus, then you are a Christian. Yet, though the Gospel is very simple, it’s also extremely powerful. Paul said, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes" (Romans 1:16).

This is why our falling away from this wonderful Gospel is so strange. There is no natural reason for this to happen. The Bible tells us we will fall away from this simple Gospel because we will be seduced by that other woman of prophecy, false religion.
Paul wrote Timothy, “But the Spirit explicitly says that in the later times some will fall away from the faith (the simple gospel message), paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons” (1Timothy 4:1).

There is a reason the Spirit warned so explicitly about this falling away. When it happens on a large enough scale, the liberating influence Christianity brought into the Gentile world by Jesus will be taken out of Satan’s way. I believe this is what Paul was referring to when he said, “For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way” (2 Thessalonians 2:7).

There is one more sign in prophecy we need to take a look at. At the end of chapter 13, where John describes the 10-horned beast he saw rising from the sea, he throws a weird number at us.

John wrote, “Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six” (Revelation 13:18). 

For 2,000 years, Christians have wondered about the meaning of that number. This has given rise to all kinds of speculation. Since the Hebrew and Greek alphabets use letters for numbers, there have been many attempts to match certain names to this number.

The occult world has also made use of this mysterious number.  Constance Cumbey, an expert on the New Age movement, told me that some people who are involved in the New Age movement believe the number 666 brings them occultic power. They believe the more times they can use this number in their documents and logos, the more power will be granted to them.

As I thought about the occultic use of the number 666, I realized that Satan has gone to a great effort to hide the true meaning of this prophetic sign. God has not placed anything in the Bible that doesn't have a good purpose for God’s people. From God’s point of view there is nothing mystical about the number 666. It's just another prophetic sign God wants His people to watch for. John had more to say about this number. He wrote:

   And he (the False Prophet) causes all, the small and the great, and the rich 
   and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their 
   right hand, or on their forehead, and he provides that no one should be able 
   to buy or sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast 
   or the number of his name (Revelation 13:16-17).

In his book, Dispensational Truth, Clarence Larkin observed:

   The number ‘666’ is the ‘number of man,’ and stops short of the perfect 
   number seven. Man was created on the sixth day. Goliath the opposer of 
   God’s people, a type of Satan, was 6 cubits in height, he had 6 pieces of 
   armor, and his spearhead weighed 600 shekels. Nebuchadnezzar’s Image, a 
   type of the ‘Image of the Beast,’ was 60 cubits in height, 6 cubits wide, and 6 
   instruments of music summoned the worshippers.”8

Some Bible students have speculated that this “mark” will be some kind of computer chip with that number implanted under people's skin. Without this implanted chip, no one will be able to buy or sell. With e-commerce growing today by leaps and bounds, it’s not hard to believe this may soon be possible – if not already.

But this is all speculation. As I've already said, I believe Satan has gone to great effort to hide from the world the true meaning of this number found in Bible prophecy. Yet this can also be said about all the other prophetic signs in the Bible. Satan simply does not want us to understand any of them. 

We have already learned that these Bible prophecies have mainly to do with real historical facts about Israel. I believe the number 666 is no different. It simply will identify a very evil man who, in the last days, will do terrible violence to Israel and God’s people. In so doing, this man will bring great destruction from God upon himself and the whole earth.

And, believe it or not, in Europe today there is an important man who may hold a key to great political and military power, and that key is identified with the number 666.
Stay tuned.

1. H. L. Willmington, Willmington’s Guide to the Bible (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 1981) 565.
2. J. Dwight Pentecost, Things to Come, 285-90.
3. John F. Walvoord, The Nations in Prophecy, 103.
4. Alexander Hislop, The Two Babylons, 2nd American ed. (Neptune, New Jersey: Loizeaux Brothers, 1959) 5, 24.
5. Ibid., 227.
6. Clarence Larkin, The Spirit World (Glenside, Pennsylvania: 1921) 50.
7. Alfred Marshall, trans., The Interlinear Greek-English New Testament (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1975), 761.;  Joseph H. Thayer, trans., Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, 4th ed. (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1977) 454. 
8. Clarence Larkin, Dispensational Truth (Philadelphia: Rev. Clarence Larkin Estate, 1920)124-5.