ten horns – Praying Pint

8.d. This calls for a mind with wisdom:

Revelation 17:6 When I saw her, I marveled greatly. But the angel said to me, “Why do you marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman, and of the beast with seven heads and ten horns that carries her. The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to rise from the bottomless pit and go to destruction. And the dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel to see the beast, because it was and is not and is to come. This calls for a mind with wisdom: the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated; they are also seven kings, five of whom have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come, and when he does come he must remain only a little while. As for the beast that was and is not, it is an eighth but it belongs to the seven, and it goes to destruction. And the ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have not yet received royal power, but they are to receive authority as kings for one hour, together with the beast. These are of one mind, and they hand over their power and authority to the beast. They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful.” And the angel said to me, “The waters that you saw, where the prostitute is seated, are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages. And the ten horns that you saw, they and the beast will hate the prostitute. They will make her desolate and naked, and devour her flesh and burn her up with fire, for God has put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose by being of one mind and handing over their royal power to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled. And the woman that you saw is the great city that has dominion over the kings of the earth.”

Oh my, this is a bit of a mystery, isn’t it? Five of the seven Kings have fallen, one is, and another is to come. The beast appears to have been destroyed by the Antichrist, and the are ten kings yet to come into the perfect plans of God. They come into their power for a short time and they come to make war against Jesus. A war they cannot win but they have the delusion of being able too. In these short verses, we see the beginning and the end of the tribulation period through the lens of seeing the doom of those who lead both the political and religious activities throughout the world. We know the power of Jesus Christ and wonder how they could ever think such thoughts. However, we don’t have to go back very far into our lives to understand we too were like this lost and without hope until the grace, mercy, and love of God pierced our hearts. We were called and chosen as all mankind is. I find it hard to explain why one heart and mind are open to receive the grace of God and others are not. We do well to remember to live in a manner that honors, glorifies, follows, obeys, and trusts Jesus Christ. Our Christian walk is not a walk to be taken lightly for we are a child of the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. Find time each day to set aside time to grow in His Word, pray, and actively be a light in the world pointing to Jesus Christ.

8.c. “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations.”

Revelation 17:1 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality, and with the wine of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk.” And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality. And on her forehead was written a name of mystery: “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations.” And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.

Babylon of old seems to be the birthplace of many false teachings and worship and is spiritually void of God. We have a political system established by the Antichrist and a religious system established by the false prophet. Babylon, both politically and religiously, has once again become great and not in a good way. The spiritual adultery people are graving and lusting after will give them their fill of false hopes, false ideas, and a false sense of security. This unfaithfulness toward God is voluntary and intentional. People during the tribulation, like now, have a choice to commit or not commit adultery with the world and what it has to offer. Every day we have choices we make that take us deeper with God or not. Do not be swayed by the eloquent speech of those who have an outward appearance of godliness but inwardly they are void. Do not we taken in by the cultural thoughts that lead to a lukewarm watered down Christian life. Do you want to grow spiritually and have a deeper understanding of God’s word? Spend as much time in it as what you spend watching sports, reading news, or surfing the internet. You will find an amazing release from world influence and will see a maturing of your faith over and over again. Watering down the gospel now points to a time in the near future where people will not even be aware of their adulterous acts against God.

7.p. Also it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them.

Revelation 13:1 And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads. And the beast that I saw was like a leopard; its feet were like a bear’s, and its mouth was like a lion’s mouth. And to it the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority. One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed, and the whole earth marveled as they followed the beast. And they worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?”

And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months. It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven. Also it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. And authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation, and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain. If anyone has an ear, let him hear: If anyone is to be taken captive, to captivity he goes; if anyone is to be slain with the sword, with the sword must he be slain. Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.

Think of all of the ruthless, charismatic, cruel, and cultic rulers there have been over the course of history. Some of these are recent and some more distant. One thing is for sure they despise God and think of themselves as “god-like”. The antichrist will rise to power through Satan and he will be worshiped by the masses. He will persecute those Christians who have come to the knowledge of Jesus Christ during the tribulation period. He will kill many but he will also take great pleasure in tormenting them physically, financially, and mentally. He will do supernatural things so that multitudes of people we flock to Him. He will have a way of convincing people to follow Him and allow how he is treating Christians.

This will not be a time you would want to live through and most definitely would not want this to be what opens your heart to the message of Jesus Christ. Now is the time to repent and come to Him. Now is the time of salvation. Now is the time to live for Him. Seek and desire Him more than the things that are keeping yours for giving Him your whole heart, mind, and soul.

7.l. And a great sign appeared in heaven:

Revelation 12:1 And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems. His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it. She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days.

Who is this woman identified in verse 1? The woman is the nation of Israel. Genesis 37: 9 “Then he dreamed another dream and told it to his brothers and said, “Behold, I have dreamed another dream. Behold, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” Joseph had this dream. Clearly there is a reference here that has to be taken seriously. There are a few other thoughts out there claiming the “Woman” represents the “Church or the Virgin Mary. The Great Red Dragon is none other than Satan Wanting to devour the child that was to come out of Israel. God has granted to Satan great power of activity on earth. Jesus said that Satan was a murderer from the beginning. John 8:44 – “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” The Dragon description emphasizes his intense cruelty. There is much to come in future chapters that give a more clear understanding of 7 heads and 10 horns. Just know that these give us understanding to the antichrist, the nations that become his tool against Christ, and the indwelling and rule of Satan over the antichrist.

I read a comment on this chapter by Theodore Epp which seems to be worth sharing. “Only a small portion of chapter 12 fits into the sequence of events during the Tribulation. The chapter is really an inset providing necessary information about the past, present and future events concerning Christ, Israel, and Satan. One cannot understand the entire Book of the Revelation unless he understands the 12th chapter. The truth revealed in Revelation 12 reaches backward to Abraham and forward to the end of the Tribulation. The chapter needs to be where it is in the book so the reader might understand the future unfolding events of the Tribulation.”

Know this: Satan is the father of all lies, is a roaring lion seeking those whom he can destroy, and is the great deceiver. If we think about how he is able to lead many down paths of self-centered, speed-satisfying, and self-reliant lives how much more so when the church (people who have chosen to give all their heart, mind, soul, and strength – and believed in, trusted, followed, and obeyed Jesus Christ) is raptured out of earth and is no longer present with the Holy Spirit) The time is coming and is now here when people will no longer give thought to the need of salvation, repentance, and forgiveness. They will see no need because they have been deceived into thinking God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit are nothing more than a fairy tale and only the weak need something like this in their life. There awaits a shocking reality to these people upon their death when they enter eternity (forever) in a place of torment awaiting the final judgment of God where they are cast into the Lake of Fire where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth forever and ever. Now is the Day of Salvation.