THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST - From Commencement to Completion (video series)- Chapter 6, Revealing the Annointed King Part 17
by Brett Jacobsen
The focus of this teaching is to promote the biblical truth that Christ’s Kingdom is active and increasing right now on this earth, in this age. Erroneous eschatology has detracted from this truth in many circles of the Christian faith.
All of the major eschatological (study of how things end) passages are covered but the end of the world is not the important issue and true eschatology is merely a means to an end- Christ Himself as King of kings. Though we will look at the glorious end of earthly history from time to time, we will more so continually use the scriptures to interpret the scriptures and arrive at the present victorious Kingdom of Christ.
For most Christians this teaching will challenge you deeply in your understanding of the New Covenant and Christ’s Kingdom as well as liberate you greatly in the truth of His Word.
Revelation chapter 17
Below are the notes from this teaching so you can read along:
Chapter 17:1-2
17:1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying to me, Come here; I will show to you the judgment of the great whore that sits upon many waters: [1]
2 With whom the kings of the earth [ge] have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth [ge] have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. [2]
Rev 14:8 & 16:19 have already introduced the whore city Babylon.
[1] This whore is the nation and land which is being judged by the “seven angels” with “the seven vials” in chapter 16.
- Whore/harlot is used in scripture for a nation who has turned from God to other gods and idolatry:
The LORD said also to me in the days of Josiah the king, Have you seen that which backsliding Israel has done? she is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there has played the harlot. (Jer 3:6)
Harlot = apostate Israel/Jerusalem - Is 1:1-31 (read 3-10, 21), Jer 2:1-37, Jer 3:1, 3:6, 3:8, Ezek 16:15, 16:16, 16:28, 16:31, 16:35, 16:41, Hos 2:1-3:5, Hos 4:1-19, Amos 7:1-17.
Harlot = Israel and Samaria - Ezek 23:1-49, Mic 1:1-14.
Harlot = Tyre- Is 23:15-16.
Harlot = Ninevah- Nah 3:4.
There are numerous references to add to this list which don’t use the word harlot, but do however, use harlot terminology to describe apostate Israel (God’s then covenant people).
- She “sits upon many waters” because she is allied to the sea beast who rules the oikoumene (also, see v 15…).
[2] The word ge is used to mean a specific city/land or the earth/land at different times. It is also presenting a contrast to the celestial geography like- “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth” (Col 3:2).
- fornication for a nation was generally idolatry…
- The reason that people had “been made drunk with the wine of her fornication” was because they had converted to Judaism or partaken in their sacrifices when they were apostate.
You have also committed fornication with the Egyptians your neighbours, great of flesh; and have increased your whoredoms, to provoke me to anger. 27 Behold, therefore I have stretched out my hand over you, and have diminished your ordinary food, and delivered you to the will of them that hate you, the daughters of the Philistines, which are ashamed of your lewd way. 28 You have played the whore also with the Assyrians, because you were insatiable; yea, you have played the harlot with them, and yet could not be satisfied. 29 You have moreover multiplied your fornication in the land of Canaan to Chaldea; and yet you were not satisfied herewith. 30 How weak is your heart, says the Lord GOD, seeing you do all these things, the work of an imperious whorish woman; 31 In that you build your eminent place in the head of every way, and make your high place in every street; and have not been as an harlot, in that you scorn hire; 32 But as a wife that commits adultery, which takes strangers instead of her husband! 33 They give gifts to all whores: but you give your gifts to all your lovers, and hire them, that they may come to you on every side for your whoredom… (Ezek 16:26-63)
- “drunk” – make nations confused in their view of God due to religious mixture.
Chapter 17:3-6
3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. [1]
4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: [2]
5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. [3]
6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: [4] and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. [5]
[1] “the wilderness” is a dry barren place in contrast to Eden.
- Satan “seven heads and ten horns” (Rev 12:3) Sea beast/Rome – “ten horns and seven heads” (13:1); The whore sits on Rome who sits on Satan…
- Also, remember that the whore “sits upon many waters” (1); she rides on the oikoumene of Rome due to her 666 allegiance with it. The scarlet beast is Rome but also Satan.
[2] Her “purple and scarlet” = royalty and “gold…” are due to her “golden cup” of abominations” and “fornication”.
[3] Apostate Israel is now symbolically “BABYLON… MOTHER OF HARLOTS” due to her idolatry despite her knowledge of God.
“But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.” (Gal 4:26)
Nebuchadnezzar – “your God is a God of gods…” (2:47) “there is no other God that can deliver after this sort” (3:29) Darius – “in every dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel” (6:26)
[4] As we’ve seen – it is Jerusalem & Israel who have killed the prophets and Jesus, and it is them who initiated and drove the persecutions of the church (read Acts) also:
…Wherefore, behold, I send to you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them you shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall you scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city… (Matt 23:31-36)
[5] “I wondered [thaumazo] with great admiration” - “all the world wondered [thaumazo] after the beast” (13:3) The Dragon, the Beast and the whore are all seductive; even John felt the wonder.
Chapter 17:7-8
7 And the angel said to me, Wherefore did you marvel [thaumazo]? I will tell you the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and ten horns. [1]
8 The beast that you saw was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition [2]: and they that dwell on the earth [ge- land] shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. [3]
[1] Clear revelation is what stops the bride from marvel/wondering after the whore.
[2] As in verse 3 the beast is Satan and Rome. As we’ve already seen, Rome (Sea Beast) is the Empire and the Caesars and can be a specific Caesar.
The Empire
- “was” – from Caesar to Nero
- “is not” – the year of four Emperors
- “shall ascend…” – with Vespasian
Personified (Ford’s comment mixed with mine) (maybe???)
- “was” – Vespasian was in favour with Nero
- “is not” – he fell from favour
- “shall ascend…” – he was restored (as Caesar) by the demonic influence
- “go into perdition [apoleia – sim to Rev 9:11 Apollyon from the pit]” – Satan who is the driving force here did “ascend” from the pit but was sure to be put back there.
[3] “they that dwell on the ge – [land (of Israel] shall wonder [thaumazo]” – the Jews were seduced by the beast (Satan/Rome/false prophet/whore)
- They are seduced because their “names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world” – God foreknew that they would not yield.
Chapter 17:9-10
9 And here is the mind which has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sits. [1]
10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he comes, he must continue a short space. [2]
[1] As we saw in 13 the “seven mountains” are the famous seven hills of Rome.
- “on which the woman sits” – She sits on the Roman Empire who has seven hills.
[2] “seven kings” – Caesars
- “five are fallen” – Julius, Augustus, Tiberius, Gaius/Caligula, Claudius. (Q Julius as first Caesar see TDOV p436 note 15) http://www.roman-britain.org/people/_caesars.htm
- “one is” – Nero (the sixth Caesar)
- “the other is not yet come” “he must continue a short space” – Galba (reigned for less than seven months)
Chapter 17:11
11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the [Gk- an] eighth, and is of the seven, and goes into perdition.
“the beast that was, and is not” - We saw in verse 8 that this is Vespasian:
“The beast that you saw was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition” (8)
- “he is the eighth” – (TBOR- Gentry p 96-98 – Gk “an eighth” #1 see below) The Julio-Claudian line of Caesars ended with Nero. The year of four Caesars was a dead point for Rome (#2 see below). It was under Vespasian that stability came back in Rome.
- “is of the seven” – He (Vespasian) is a Caesar as much as the first seven even though he’s not from the Julio-Claudian line (they started the Empire).
Chapter 17:12-13
12 And the ten horns which you saw are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
13 These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength to the beast.
- “ten horns … ten kings” Rulers subject to first century Rome.
- Possibly the ten provinces of Rome -
- Chilton – ten = manyness in the Bible. “the totality of those allied or subject kings who aided Rome in her wars both on Judaism and Christianity” (Terry)
- They have “one mind” because they are in allegiance to Rome.
Chapter 17:14
14 These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome [nikao] them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.
Satan has always purposed to set men against God and His Christ:
The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed… (Ps 2:2)
Satan, through Jewish leaders (land beast/false prophet) and Rome (seven heads) and its allies (ten horns) is spiritually waring “with the Lamb” but He overcome nikao.
On spiritual war/persecution: Eusebius says of Nero that he “took up arms against the God of the universe” and that he was “the first to be heralded as a conspicuous fighter against God” (The History of the Church, Eusebius p 104)
- Jesus overcomes them by deflecting the “flood” against the apostates who are spurring on the attack- Israel:
And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. 16 And the earth [ge- land (of Israel)] helped the woman, and the earth [ge] opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. (Rev 12:15-16)
Chapter 17:15-18
15 And he said to me, The waters which you saw, where the whore sits, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. [1]
16 And the ten horns which you saw upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. [2]
17 For God has put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. [3]
18 And the woman which you saw is that great city, which reigns over the kings of the earth [ge- land]. [4]
[1] Jerusalem the whore sat on the Roman beast. Her allegiance to Rome gave her influence throughout the whole Roman oikoumene. They had synagogues in every city and they had people come from “every nation under heaven” to worship at the temple (Acts 2:5).
[2] Due to the Jews stopping sacrifices for Rome, Rome and its allies did “hate the whore” and fulfilled this verse completely, even in that they did “burn her with fire”.
[3] This is clearly God’s show, He is calling the shots in history and even such a mammoth event is not outworked except to fulfil God’s Word’s.
[4] “that great city” – Jerusalem (Rev 11:8, 14:8, 16:19)
- “reigns over the kings of the earth” – not politically but spiritually (albeit with spiritual harlotry). Israel had pre-eminence among all nations when she obeyed the covenant.
#1 An eighth
An Objection Considered
From The Beast of Revelation (Gentry) p 96-98
The reference to the “eighth” king in revelations 17:11 has caused some commentators to stumble here. There we read: “And the beast which was and is not, is himself also an eighth, and is one of the seven”. In response to a view such as I am presenting, some commentators note that the eighth emperor of Rome was actually Otho, the second of the rulers during Rome’s awful civil wars. Thus, they point out, this head does not refer to Vespasian. Given the interpretive approach presented above, it would appear that the eighth head (according to my calculation) is one of the destroying elements of Rome, not one who actually stabilised the empire, causing its revival. Consequently the supposed imagery fails.
This problem does not, however, undermine the view I have presented. In an important sense the revival of the Empire under Vespasian, was a revival under “an eighth,” who is, nevertheless, “of the seven.” The same Roman Empire is coming back to life from the death of the civil wars – not some new empire. John’s concern particularly regards the contemporaneous events: the Roman civil wars that occurred within the compass of the reign of the seven kings. The eighth is beyond his most pressing and immediate concern (although it is not unimportant) and thus is not specified and detailed.
Consulting the Greek text alleviates any apparent tension in this understanding. Exegetically, the chronological line of heads/kings is spoken of with careful exactness by use of the definite article, “the.” That is, if we translate John with exact literalness, he writes of the “kings” (emperors) in revelation 17:10 as follows: “the five fell, the one is, the other not yet come, and whenever he comes a little [while] him it behoves to remain.”
But John conspicuously (in the Greek) drops the definite article when he mentions the eighth head/king in Rev 17:11: “And the beast which was and is not, even he an eighth is.” The definite article that clearly and repeatedly defined the chronological series of head/kings (“the five,” “the one,” “the one to come”) vanishes before the eighth is mentioned. Thus, this eighth king is “an eighth,” i.e. it refers not to any one particular individual, but to the revival of the Empire itself under one who is outside of the originally specified seven kings. The Roman Empire is arising from ruin.
(Left out passage about eighth day = resurrection)
Here in rev 17, John originally sees “seven” heads, but suddenly an “eighth” appears. The eighth head is something new, in that the original vision only presents seven kings. This reestablishment of the Roman Empire under Vespasian offers a new beginning (the Julio-Claudian line was gone; the Flavian line established) and a revival of the Roman Empire, which had been through death throes. That recovery will come shortly after the demise of the original seven when an eighth arises.
#2 The year of four Emperors
Nero’s suicide in 68 AD left the government of the Roman Empire spinning out of control. Roman armies from different provinces marched on Rome to claim their commander as the next princeps. This chaos leads to what historians call the “year of four emperors”.
The first to take the throne was the elderly Galba, who was in his 70’s. Galba had been the governor of Spain and had promised the Praetorian Guard, along with the military, a large sum of money if they would throw in with those he supported in the rebellion against Nero.
As soon as Galba took the title of emperor of Rome, he found that he could not keep his promise to either the army or the Praetorian Guard. The reason he could not pay what he had promised was that the Roman Empire was broke. The military was in no mood to hear any more excuses so after seven months as emperor, one of his rivals, Otho, saw his chance and bribed the Praetorian Guard to murder the emperor Galba.
Otho knew he was the next emperor when a soldier with the rank of private brought Galba’s head to Otho with his thumb thrust into the mouth.
To say that Otho had a propensity for being decadent would be an understatement. His reputation was made during his time with Nero, and it followed him for the rest of his life, which was not very long.
The best that can be said for Otho is that he tried to make peace between all the armies, but it did not work. The legions of the Rhine and Gaul wanted their commander, Aulus Vitellius, to be emperor and these legions marched on Rome to prove it. A full-scale civil war was imminent and to avoid it, Otho at age 37 and on the 57th day of his reign, committed suicide, probably the noblest act of his otherwise miserable, self-indulgent life.
Vitellius became emperor according to the wishes of the Rhine and Gaul legions and as Dr. Eric Nelson points out, “you can’t say enough bad about Vitellius.” Historians describe Vitellius as the reincarnation of the very worst traits of Caligula, Claudius, Nero, and Galba. He was a murdering butcher, drunkard, glutton and wasteful with money. His total bill in just food, during his short reign, was 9 million sesterces and that was just for dining! The average soldier earned about 900 sesterces a year. What Vitellius paid in just food would have paid the salaries of 1000 soldiers for 10 years.
Vitellius’ excesses were the excuse for the legions of the east were looking for to rebel, because they wanted their commander, Titus Flavius Vespasianus, to ascend the throne and take the title of emperor. The eastern legions ceased their repression of the burgeoning rebellion in Judah and returned to Rome with the intent cleaning up the cesspool there.
When Vitellius heard that Vespasian was marching on Rome, he tried to abdicate the throne but Vitellius’ supporters refused to allow him to resign. When Vespasian’s brother, Sabinus, and his friends heard what was happening they tried to seize the throne from Vitellius, but Vitellius heard of the plot and had them killed.
Within two days Vespasian’s army had fought their way into Rome. Disguised as a commoner and a huge money belt hidden under his cloths Vitellius tried to sneak out of Rome, but his odious plan was discovered and he was caught.
Again according to Suetonius, Vitellius “begged to be placed in safe custody, even if that meant prison, because he had something to say concerning the welfare of Vespasian. Instead, his hands were tied behind him, a noose was fastened round his neck and amid cheers and abuse the soldiers dragged him, half-naked, with his clothes in tatters, along the Sacred Way to the Forum. They pulled his head back by the hair, as is done with criminals, and stuck a sword-point under the chin, to force him to expose his face and not lower it. Dung and filth were hurled at him, also such epithets as ‘Fire-raiser’ and ‘Glutton’, and his bodily defects were resoundingly mocked. The soldiers then put him through the torture of the little cuts before finally killing him near the Stairs of Mourning. Then they dragged his body to the Tiber with a hook and threw it in.” http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig6/case6.html
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Thank you.