The 8th Head of the Rev 17 Beast

Suggested Previous Reading:  Mountains, Heads, 1st Head (Nimrod's Empire), 2nd Head (Assyrian Empire), 3rd Head (Babylonian Empire), 4th Head (Persian Empire-Fars), 5th Head (Alexander the Great's Empire and Diadochi), 6th Head (Persian Empire - Parthian and Sassanid), and 7th Head (Muslim Caliphates)

Revelation 17 tells of a series of empires, five of which are past, one that is current to the first century church, and one that is to come yet in the future of the first century.

Rev 17:9-13

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.  And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.  These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.

The final empire is “of the seven”, that is, one of the previous seven that have come and gone.  However, being that it will have ten kings, or rulers, it appears to be a confederation of nations rather than a single empire.  Since it is a reappearance of one of the previous seven empires, this rules out the US or Canada suddenly going rogue and taking over the middle-east, making 10 provinces out of it.  The source has to be from one of the previous seven head empires.  This includes Italy (or perhaps Europe by association) as a possible source of the next empire because of the Roman Empire.  It might also start in any of the Arabic nations or Turkey (Caliphates), Iran (Persian Empires), Iraq (Nimrod’s, Assyrian and Babylonian Empires), or Greece.  The conclusion that the eighth empire needs to start from within one of the previous seven is supported elsewhere in the book of Revelation.

Revelation 13:1-3

And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.  And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.  And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.

Some have argued that the wounded head means that “the antichrist” will be mortally wounded in the head but miraculously recover.  That’s not what this section is saying at all.  A head is a past empire.  One of the seven empires, thought to be long past gone, will arise in the future to the amazement of the world.

There is another clue to consider on where the last beast empire may arise from.

Daniel 9:24-27

Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.  Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.  And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.  And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

The title ‘the prince that shall come’ is a reference to the ruler of the final beast empire.   Notice that it speaks of “the people” that destroyed the temple.  This happened in 70 AD by the Roman general Titus.   Josephus, in his history on the war of the Jews (Book V, Chapter I, Section 6), states that Titus’s legions were made up of mostly Egyptians and Syrians (a term used then for Assyrians).  Egypt isn’t one of the seven past beast empires, but Assyria and possibly Rome are.  Which would be “the people” that will spawn the future prince, the kingdom of Rome that conscripted the warriors or the warriors of Assyria themselves?  Micah gives us the answer.

Micah 5:2-6

But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.  Therefore will he give them up, until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth: then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel.  And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God; and they shall abide: for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth.  And this man shall be the peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land and when he shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise against him seven shepherds, and eight principal men.  And they shall waste the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in the entrances thereof: thus shall he deliver us from the Assyrian, when he cometh into our land, and when he treadeth within our borders.

This section of scripture in Micah is well known for the prophecy of the birth place of our Lord, Jesus Christ.  It also gives the identity of the last beast empire.  This may be highly unpopular.  There are many in the west that like the thought of the Roman Empire rising again as the European Union and being the final beast empire.  I think God’s Word is very plain when looked at without preconceived ideas.  It will come from where Iraq is located today, or more specifically, northern Iraq.