Heads

Suggested Prior Reading: Beasts and Mountains

There are a couple of beasts used in prophecy that are noted as having multiple heads.  Heads aren’t as clearly defined as some other symbols, but there are sufficient clues to come to a solid identification.

One place where a beast is shown to have multiple heads is in the book of Revelation.

Revelation 17:3

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.

An angel explains what the heads signify.

Revelation 17:7-10

And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns. The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth 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. And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. 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.

We are told that the seven heads are seven mountains and that there are seven kings, five are fallen, one was present during the first century, and the other is not yet come.  We’ve already seen that mountains are used to describe empires ruling vast areas.  With this view of a mountain in mind, combined with the further description of the seven kings, five previous, one current to the time of the first century Church, and one short-lived king yet future to the first century Church, and then the final eighth king, paints a clear picture of heads being a series of related empires or incarnations of an empire.

Note: There is a common idiom used today to describe the reappearance of something bad: reared its ugly head.  Modern idioms aren't something to base scripture research upon, but it does give a good illustration.  And who knows, this may be where the idiom came from.