The Seven Heads of the Beast

[Guest]

Since there are several passages which talk about the seven heads of the beast, I'm going to pick the one from Revelation 17:6-11 to talk about:

"When I [John] saw her [the woman sitting on the beast], I was greatly astonished. Then the angel said to me: 'Why are you astonished? I will explain to you the mystery of the woman and of the beast she rides, which has the seven heads and ten horns. The beast, which you saw, once was, now is not, and will come up out of the Abyss and go to his destruction. The inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world will be astonished when they see the beast, because he once was, now is not, and yet will come. This calls for a mind with wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits. They are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; but when he does come, he must remain for a little while. The beast who once was, and now is not, is an eighth king. He belongs to the seven and is going to his destruction.'"

There are a lot of details jam-packed into these few verses! But in order to start unraveling everything, I need to go back in time to the beginning of history. See, Revelation was written from the perspective of the end from the beginning, and it contains a huge amount of Creation symbolism. What I'm about to explain can only make sense in the context of that symbolism and that understanding.

When God sent Cain packing eastward from Eden into the "land of Nod", the first thing Cain did was to build a city. According to the biblical account, he named this city Enoch after his son Enoch. 'Enoch' means 'initiated' or 'made wise'.

Historically speaking, civilization began in the Fertile Crescent, in Mesopotamia. The first city built there was called Eridu. In it was a small mud-hut temple dedicated to Enki, the god of knowledge.

Later, this mud-hut temple was expanded into a seven-story ziggurat - an artificial mountain that looked like a stepped pyramid - with a temple on top. According to Sumerian mythology, "when the kingship was lowered from heaven, the first king was in Eridu." Because the king ruled from Eridu, they called the city "Nun-ki."

Translated literally, "Nun-ki" simply means "water-place" which doesn't look all that impressive. But "Nun-ki" was a reference to the Sumerian creation tradition which claimed that the earth rose out of the watery "Nun" - the primordial waters of Creation. (See the similarity with Genesis 1:9-11? That's because Cain counterfeited it!) By calling the city "Nun-ki" it was in effect saying that this place was "where Creation had occurred." Moreover, the ziggurat was simply a representation of the earth that had risen out of the primordial waters. It was trumpeted as the pre-eminent place in all of the world, in other words, and certainly a fitting place for a king to rule from!

Idiomatically, "Nun-ki" meant "THAT GREAT CITY" or "MIGHTY CITY" because it was the city where the king reigned. (cf Josh. 10:2) Are you beginning to see the relevance to Revelation, especially passages like Revelation 14:8, 16:19, 17:8, 18:10, 16, 18-19, and 21?

Now comes the truly fascinating part! The capital city of Sumer (and later Babylon) moved around from time to time as the course of the Tigris and the Euphrates changed! Each successive capital city would be in turn called "Nun-ki", that great city. In each of those successive capital cities, you would find a ziggurat-temple.

Does the description of the passage from Revelation I quoted above now begin to make more sense? What we have is a succession of seven capital cities from which a pagan king reigns. In each one, we have an artificial "mountain" or ziggurat-temple.

I personally can't tell you who all seven kings are. But I can tell you that the sixth king rules during the 3 1/2 years immediately prior to the end-time Great Tribulation, whereas the seventh king rules during the Great Tribulation comprising the last 3 1/2 years before Christ returns. That last 3 1/2 years is the "little while" that Revelation 17:10 is talking about. Compare Rev. 12:12, where the same "little while" is mentioned. Revelation 12 also identifies this time period as 3 1/2 times, and as 1260 days. This is the period during which the two witnesses preach in Jerusalem (Rev. 11:2-3).

And why are they preaching in Jerusalem, specifically?

Because the seventh king makes Jerusalem his capital city. For the last 3 1/2 years before Christ returns, Jerusalem becomes Babylon the Great, and the Temple Mount is substituted instead of a ziggurat. That's why.

Damon