We can better understand how end time events play out, if we realize that the material world is a reflection of the spiritual world. Things first take place in the spiritual, and then over time they reflect in the natural. To give an analogy, if a war plane is shot in the engine, one can say that the war plane has been shot down, although it can still take some time for it to come down out of the sky. This is similar to the fall of Babylon.
Earlier we saw how Babylon falls in the spiritual realm at trumpet 7, and then her sentence of judgment is carried out in the natural during the cups. At cup 7 the great city (Rome) is divided into three parts, and the capital cities of all existing Babylonian-Roman-Islamic nations fall. All Luciferian, Babylonian governments (including the State of Israel) will fall at that time, and every existing national border will dissolve.
Revelation 17 and 18 go into some detail about the fall and judgment of the harlot, Babylon. In verse 5 she is called Mystery Babylon, perhaps because while both Christians and Muslims think they are worshipping Elohim, in truth they are following Babylonian religions which have nothing to do with Yahweh’s Torah.
Hitgalut (Revelation) 17:1-6
1 Then one of the seven messengers who had the seven bowls came and talked with me, saying to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters,
2 with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication.”
3 So he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness. And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
4 The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication.
5 And on her forehead a name was written: MYSTERY: BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
6 I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Yeshua. And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement.
In visions, women represent spiritual bodies. Verse 6 speaks of a woman who is drunk with the blood of the saints and the martyrs of Yeshua. This is primarily Rome, but secondarily Islam. Both Rome and Islam have oppressed and murdered Yahweh’s saints (set-apart ones), and will continue to do so at least until cup 7 (but probably until after Armageddon).
Hitgalut (Revelation) 17:7-8
7 But the messenger said to me, “Why did you marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns.
8 The beast that you saw was, and is not, and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition. And those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.
The Babylonian Empire had already risen to power and been defeated before Revelation was written, yet John wrote that the Babylonian spirit would ascend from the bottomless pit and go to perdition after Armageddon.
Hitgalut (Revelation) 19:20
20 Then the beast [Rome] was captured, and with him the false prophet [Muhammad] who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image [united religion]. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone.
Verse 9 tells us that the seven heads of the beast are symbolic of seven mountains on which the woman sits. There are different interpretations, but we believe the primary fulfillment is the Seven Hills of Rome, while the secondary fulfillment is the seven mountains of Mecca.
Hitgalut (Revelation) 17:9
9 “Here is the mind which has wisdom: The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits.”
Verses 10 and 11 tell of the seven kings and the beast.
Hitgalut (Revelation) 17:10-11
10 “There are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come. And when he comes, he must continue a short time.
11 The beast that was, and is not, is himself also the eighth, and is of the seven, and is going to perdition.”
Again, there are different interpretations, but considering that Scripture concerns itself primarily with the land of Israel and the Middle East, the following interpretation makes sense:
- Egypt (Ezekiel 29:1-30:26)
- Assyria and Nineveh (Nahum 3:1-19)
- Babylon (Revelation 18:2, Jeremiah 50-51)
- Medea-Persia (Daniel 8:20-22, 10:13, 11:2)
- Greece (Daniel 11:4)
- Rome (existed when Revelation was written)
- Ottoman Islamic Caliphate (1299-1922)
- A one world order in the Middle East (with a united religion), or a renewed Islamic Caliphate
When Revelation was written, Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Iran (Medea-Persia), and Alexander’s Grecian empire had all fallen. As in verse 10 (above), Rome was, but the Ottoman Islamic Caliphate was not yet; and when it came it had to continue a short time (1299-1922). It received a deadly wound at the Battle of Vienna in 1683, from which it never recovered (Revelation 13:3). Today (2015) we see efforts to revive an Islamic caliphate (Revelation 13:12). It remains to be seen whether the Islamic Caliphate is restored to its original capital in Istanbul, Turkey (the former Constantinople, which was the seat of the eastern leg of the Roman Empire), or whether it will be restored in some other location (such as Assyria, reference Micah 5). What we do know is that at some point there will be a successful effort to unify Judaism, Christianity, and Islam in a one world religion centered on the Temple Mount (which will be the eighth, verse 11 above).
Verse 12 speaks of ten future kings who will receive power with the beast for one hour.
Hitgalut (Revelation) 17:12-14
12 “The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority for one hour as kings with the beast.
13 These are of one mind, and they will give their power and authority to the beast.
14 These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Master of Masters and King of kings; and those who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful.”
These cannot be ten kings from past history, because there is no way to apply the principle of 2 Peter 3:8 (that a day with Yahweh is as a thousand years).
Kepha Bet (2 Peter) 3:8
8 But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with Yahweh one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
If a day in prophecy is equal to 1,000 earth years, then an hour is 41 2/3 earth years (and a half hour would be half that, or 20 1/3 years). That is a very short amount of time for a historical kingship, and the context here is the harlot’s fall (around the time of the tribulation, the cups, and Armageddon).
Those who study the New World Order tell us that when the NWO rises to full power, they intend to redraw all existing national boundaries into ten supernations. The goal is to break up any existing national, ethnic, and religious ties, and to form new national groups that are easier to govern. Variations of this tactic have been employed by Babylonian-style governments throughout history. For example, when the Assyrians took the Ephraimites out of Israel, they resettled them in different lands, causing them to assimilate. To redraw the national boundaries would simply be a different variation on the same theme.
Even if these ten kingships are formed immediately after seal 6, it will still take some time for the new national boundaries to be drawn.
This is only a theory, but in The Torah Calendar we show how the spring and fall feasts are mirror images of each other. For example, the spring feast of Passover is a one day event which lasts for an afternoon, followed by seven full days of unleavened bread. As a mirror image, the fall feast of Sukkot (Tabernacles) is a seven day feast followed by a gathering in the morning (Shemini Atzeret, or the Eighth Day Assembly). There are many other examples of this, but the thought is that this same pattern might extend to the second exodus as well.
The first exodus was marked by ten plagues, a sudden exodus, and then 40 years in the wilderness. Conversely, the second exodus may be marked by 40 years of refinement (with plagues during the trumpets and cup judgments), followed by a sudden exodus (after the Battle of Armageddon). If true, then while the first exodus may have taken a prophetic hour overall (a year of plagues followed by 40 years in the wilderness), the second exodus may also last a prophetic hour (i.e., +/- 41 years). This would hint at a +/- 13 year timeframe for the redistricting of national boundaries after seal 6 (13 being an occult number). (This is only a theory.)
| Redrawing national borders after seal 6 | +/- 13 years |
| Half hour of silence (peace) at seal | 7 21.6 years |
| Tribulation (wars, plagues) | 7 years |
| Cups and Armageddon | Partial year |
| Total elapsed time = 1 prophetic hour | +/- 41 years |
Next, we are told what the waters represent.
Hitgalut (Revelation) 17:15
15 Then he said to me, “The waters which you saw, where the harlot sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues.”
The harlot is able to “sit” on so many people because they have not received the love of truth. This opens a door for Satan to enter with his “unrighteous deception” and teach them a substitute Babylonian religion.
Thessaloniqim Bet (2 Thessalonians) 2:9-12
9 The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders,
10 and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
11 And for this reason Elohim will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie,
12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
Of course, Satan would prefer that we worship and serve him directly. Yet we are created in Yahweh’s image, so Satan must first convince us that we can ignore Yahweh’s words with impunity (as he convinced Havvah [Eve] in the Garden of Eden). Then he must convince us that Yahweh does not truly exist. If we believe that lie, then Satan can convince us that it is better to worship him, than to worship nothing at all. This is even mentioned in Albert Pike’s prophecy, which we saw in earlier chapters. (It is reprinted here, for convenience.)
“The Third World War must be fomented by taking advantage of the differences caused by the “agentur” of the “Illuminati” between the political Zionists and the leaders of Islamic World. The war must be conducted in such a way that Islam [the Muslim World] and political Zionism [the State of Israel] mutually destroy each other. Meanwhile the other nations, once more divided on this issue will be constrained to fight to the point of complete physical, moral, spiritual and economical exhaustion….We shall unleash the Nihilists and the atheists, and we shall provoke a formidable social cataclysm which in all its horror will show clearly to the nations the effect of absolute atheism, origin of savagery and of the most bloody turmoil. Then everywhere, the citizens, obliged to defend themselves against the world minority of revolutionaries, will exterminate those destroyers of civilization, and the multitude, disillusioned with Christianity, whose deistic spirits will from that moment be without compass or direction, anxious for an ideal, but without knowing where to render its adoration, will receive the true light through the universal manifestation of the pure doctrine of Lucifer, brought finally out in the public view. This manifestation will result from the general reactionary movement which will follow the destruction of Christianity and atheism, both conquered and exterminated at the same time.”
[Commander William Guy Carr, Satan: Prince of This World]
Satan plans to bring all this about by an elaborate series of deceptions-within-deceptions in which Babylonian religious and government institutions pretend to stand for truth (but are later exposed as frauds). This will destroy the average man’s confidence in what he wrongly takes to be Yahweh’s institutions, hence weakening his faith in Yahweh. The creation of these elaborate systems of deceptions-within-deceptions is Babylon’s job.
Chapter 13 introduced us to two Babylonian beasts. The first beast is the church (the harlot), who teaches us that we can ignore Yahweh’s laws (the truth), and still become Yahweh’s bride. The second beast is a political system that seeks to conquer the world by establishing a secular world government (the UN). It is important to understand how these two spiritual beasts interact.
The first beast seeks to establish as many different variations of the faith as she can. First, she established Catholicism (which was used to replace the Nazarene Israelite faith). Then she used the Catholics to establish Islam. Then there was fragmentation within Islam with the establishment of both Sunni and Shia sects (which are often at war with each other). Then she caused the Protestants to break from the Catholics. All of these factions are at odds (and often at war) with each other—and because most people have not received the love of the truth, they want government to step in and enforce a peace (so they can get on with their lives). This opens a door for the second beast (secular government) to come in and “bring order out of chaos,” as the Freemasons like to say (when in truth their goal is to bring their form of order out of the chaos that they themselves created).
As the world economy continues to become more global, and the West seeks Middle Eastern (Islamic) oil, Islam and Christianity are brought ever closer together. This creates an increased opportunity for the second beast to control the world in the name of peace (that is no peace).
After the coming engineered nuclear war at seal 6, the united world religion will be brought to full power, and will be billed as an alternative for fundamentalist religious belief (which will be blamed as the cause of the war). Since the average man has not received the love of the truth, he will agree that the one world religion is better. Eventually, all faiths, except those which join forces with the URI, will be outlawed and persecuted unto death.
The second beast does not care about the first beast; the second beast only uses the first beast as a tool to lure religious people into its grasp. After the one world government has consolidated its power, it plans to dispense with the first beast (URI), whom it will view as having outlived its usefulness.
Hitgalut (Revelation) 17:16-18
16 “And the ten horns which you saw on the beast, these will hate the harlot, make her desolate and naked, eat her flesh and burn her with fire.
17 For Elohim has put it into their hearts to fulfill His purpose, to be of one mind, and to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of Elohim are fulfilled.
18 And the woman whom you saw is that great city which reigns over the kings of the earth.”