7 Kings

[Andy]

Hey, can anyone help me to understand who or what are the Kings are which are mentioned in Revelation?

“And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.”

[Lazarus]

A quick answer: This might not be complete, but the five kings past are the five kingdom Daniel(?) speaks of when he interprets the dream - the statue dream. There is the existing kingdom. The antichrist will rise - the sixth king. Then he will be slain with a headwound and brought back as the seventh king - the beast. The beast will be thrown into the Lake of Fire.

How off am I? This was off the cuff, I'm sure there are some mistakes here.

[Lazarus]

This is what Chuck Smith's commentary on the Blue Letter Bible website says about Revelation 17: 10-11.

"When John was writing, the sixth king was on the throne of the Roman empire; five had died and one was yet to come. The beast will be one of the seven. Caesar Nero was the fifth emperor of Rome and was called "The Beast" by the early Church. His actions after he rejected Paul the apostle's witness were those of a demon-possessed man. In my opinion, the demon who possessed Nero will possess the Antichrist."

[Lazarus]

Here's a full look at what Jack Kelley says about it:

http://www.raptureready.com/featured/kelley/rev14.html

"This calls for a mind with wisdom. The seven heads are seven hills 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. (Rev 17:9-11) The imagery of the seven heads and ten horns has now been expanded to give us added insight. By all historical accounts, the city on seven hills is Rome, current seat of the Babylonian Religion. It had moved to Pergamum during the reign of the Greeks and then to Rome. Later, in the 4th Century AD, it would be blended into Christianity becoming first the Holy Roman Empire, then the Catholic Church. One more metamorphosis (a merger with Islam?) will make it into the woman who rides the beast.

At the time of John's writing history had noted the passing of five World Empires, Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, and Greece. The current Empire was Rome, components of which (Spain, England, and the USA) have reigned to this very day. The one that has not yet come is a revival of Ancient Rome, soon to emerge out of the European Union. The anti-Christ is an eighth king, that is he's not specifically identified with any of the seven, but in his goals and ambitions will belong to all of them. This could be a hint that the anti-Christ will not have previously held a leadership position in the European Union, but will come from outside that group's current political structure.

"The ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but who for one hour will receive authority as kings along with the beast. They have one purpose and will give their power and authority to the beast. They will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings—and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers." (Rev. 17:12-14) Some see the ten horns as the heads of ten regions of the coming One World Government. Some see them as the 10 fully vested members of the EU. Either way they'll have governmental authority over the Earth under the headship of the anti-Christ, eventually massing all the armies of man to oppose the return of the Lord with His Church. The three words used to describe His followers are always and only used of the Church, and He's coming with us, not for us.

Then the angel said to me, "The waters you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations and languages. The beast and the ten horns you saw will hate the prostitute. They will bring her to ruin and leave her naked; they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire. For God has put it into their hearts to accomplish his purpose by agreeing to give the beast their power to rule, until God's words are fulfilled. The woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth." (Rev 17:15-18) This is the destruction of religious Babylon foretold in Rev. 14:8. Although the anti-Christ came to power under the auspices of the World Wide Religion, this very religious system becomes a barrier to his ultimate goal of being worshipped himself as the only god. And so governmental Babylon turns on religious Babylon to destroy it. Notice that it's God Who puts them up to this. For "one hour" (the time of the Great Tribulation) the Beast and his 10 kings get power over Earth just so they can destroy the Woman who made their rule possible, thereby fulfilling God's purpose.

[Lazarus]

Daniel's dream taken from another Jack Kelley commentary:

http://www.raptureready.com/featured/kelley/daniel1.html

"You looked, O king, and there before you stood a large statue—an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance. The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay. While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were broken to pieces at the same time and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth. (Daniel 3:31-35)

..."This was the dream, and now we will interpret it to the king. You, O king, are the king of kings. The God of heaven has given you dominion and power and might and glory; in your hands he has placed mankind and the beasts of the field and the birds of the air. Wherever they live, he has made you ruler over them all. You are that head of gold. (Daniel 2:36-38) Babylon was the country we know as Iraq today. Jeremiah, a contemporary of Daniel's who wrote from Jerusalem had told envoys from each of Israel's neighbors that God was giving them two choices; surrender to the King of Babylon and live, or fight and die. God had chosen King Nebuchadnezzar to punish Israel's enemies for their past treacheries at the same time He's bringing His promised judgment upon Israel. (Jeremiah 27:1-11) As a result, Babylon will wind up ruling the entire Middle East including parts of Egypt. But Daniel has just informed the King that any place on Earth that he desires will be given into his hands. Even the animals have been made subject to him. Nebuchadnezzar, representing Babylon, is the statue's head of gold.

"After you, another kingdom will rise, inferior to yours. Next, a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule over the whole earth. Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron—for iron breaks and smashes everything—and as iron breaks things to pieces, so it will crush and break all the others. Just as you saw that the feet and toes were partly of baked clay and partly of iron, so this will be a divided kingdom; yet it will have some of the strength of iron in it, even as you saw iron mixed with clay. As the toes were partly iron and partly clay, so this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle. And just as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, so the people will be a mixture and will not remain united, any more than iron mixes with clay. (Daniel 2:39-43) The advantage of history makes accurately interpreting this passage possible for us. Babylon was conquered by a coalition of the Medes (today's Kurds) and the Persians (Iran) at the end of the seventy year period set aside for Israel's captivity. They're the chest and arms of silver. The Greek armies under Alexander conquered Persia and are represented by the belly and thighs of bronze. The legs of iron are the Eastern and Western divisions of the Roman Empire that displaced the Greeks, and from this point on we've switched from history to prophecy. The Roman Empire was never really conquered, but collapsed from the weight of its own decay, transforming itself from a political entity to a religious one in the process. The Holy Roman Empire held sway over the known world well into the middle ages. Since then various components have had their time in the sun, Spain, England, and England's colony, the USA.




He goes on to fully explain the toes and such. I encourage you to look at the collection of writings near the bottom of the Rapture Ready website for researching the end times - especially Jack Kelly and Thomas Ice.