Revelation: - Knights of Columbus, Supreme Council

In vv. 10-11 we read that the seven heads are also seven kings, five of whom
have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come, and when he comes, 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 perdition. Probably what John means is this. He had the beast
with seven heads from Daniel, and he has not changed the figure. He is
thinking, however, of eight emperors of Rome. These are the eight that have
ruled down to his time, who were Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius,
Nero, Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian (there were three others, Vitellius,
Galba, and Otho, who had reigned only mo mentarily, however). Five of these
had fallen – the Church had seen the end of the persecution of Nero. One is –
John puts himself in the time of Vespasian (when the vision may originally
have been granted), during whose reign there was a temporary surcease from
persecution. One is yet to be – Titus, who destroyed Jerusalem, and who
reigned a relatively short time. The eighth, who is one of the seven, is
Domitian, whom the early Christians, as we know from the writings of
Tacitus, Dio Cassius, and Dio Chrysostom, along with others, pic tured as a
reincarnation of Nero. It is in this sense also that we should understand 13:3,
of the wounding of one of the heads of the beast, only for it to be re stored.
Also, in view of this explanation now given, we see the reason for the
description of the dragon in 12:3.The dragon, who is Satan, exercises his
power through the beast.
The ten kings of 17:12 given as an explanation of the ten horns of the beast
probably refer to the other kings of the earth who, in John’s time, shared in
the power of Rome, though only partly, for one hour. They, too, make up the
world that is opposed to Christ and assist in the persecution of the Church
(vv. 13-14). But eventually they and the beast will turn against Rome and
destroy her (vv. 15-18). John not only predicts the destruction of the Roman
Empire, by pic turing the beast which previously has been described in terms
of that very empire now in opposition to it, he shows that he does not see the
power of antichrist simply iden tified with Rome. It is a power that continues
and that will outlive Rome.
Fall of Babylon
(Revelation 18-19)
Chapter 18 consists first of a proclamation of the ruin of Babylon (vv. 1-8),
a tissue of quotations from Isaiah and Jeremiah chiefly, in this order: Jeremiah
- 51 -