Revelation 17
V.3 “So he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness; and I saw a woman sitting upon a scarlet-colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, and having seven heads and ten horns.” We might say that the beast is the foundation behind the wickedness of the woman. The seven heads and 10 horns will be talked about when I cover verses 9–10.
V.4 “And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and bedecked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication.” The city of Rome as well as the Roman Catholic Church has been very wealthy throughout its history, its priests and bishops often wearing extravagant apparel. The golden cup is a possible reference to the wine used in the Eucharist.
V.5 “And upon her forehead was a name written: Mystery, Babylon the Great, Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth.” Prostitution is often a symbol of religious prostitution and turning away from the true God of the Bible and worshiping other gods (Isaiah 1:21, Jeremiah 2:20). The Catholic Church has allowed for this idolatry through the Hyperdulia of Mary and the bowing down to statues.
V.6 “And I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I wondered with great amazement.” Rome was one of the greatest persecutors of Christians for nearly 3 centuries, and even after the so-called conversion of the empire the Roman Catholic Church continued to persecute and kill faithful Bible-believing Christians.
V.8 “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, whose names were not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, shall wonder when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.” The beast refers to divine nature and/or authority given to anyone other than God to whom it is due—in this case, the false divinity ascribed to certain emperors that were worshiped by the imperial cult. “Once was” refers to the emperors that had once before been deified by the imperial cult before 95–96 AD (the time in which Revelation was likely written), namely Julius Caesar (not officially an emperor but the next closest thing to one before the formation of the empire), Augustus, Tiberius, Claudius, Vespasian, and Titus. “Now is not” refers to the absence of a divine emperor at the time of John’s vision; the emperor during this time would have been Domitian, who ruled 81–96 AD. “And yet will come”—Domitian eventually was deified after his death by the imperial cult. “The world will be astonished when they see the beast.” The world would have been astonished at the deification of Domitian because Domitian himself claimed divinity, which up until that point no emperor had ever both claimed for himself and been deified by the imperial cult. This essentially communicated to the world that the imperial cult had entered a new era in which deification would become more frequent as well as the practice of worshiping the emperor while he was still alive.
V.9 “And here is the mind which hath wisdom: The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sitteth.” Rome is literally known as the city of seven hills. The seven hills of Rome are named Aventine, Caelian, Capitoline, Esquiline, Palatine, Quirinal, and Viminal.
V.10 “And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other has not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.” “Five have fallen” = the five deified emperors Julius Caesar, Augustus, Tiberius, Claudius, Vespasian, and Titus. “One is”—Domitian was alive during this time and was himself claiming to be both “God and Lord,” something that had never been done before. “One is yet to come”—the next deified emperor was Nerva. “He must remain a little while”—Nerva’s reign was very short and lasted only from 96–98 AD. “The beast who once was, and now is not, is an eighth king. He belongs to the seven and is going to his destruction.”
V.11 “And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, yet is one of the seven and goeth into perdition.” This emphasizes that the eighth is not just another king, but the culmination or full expression of the same anti-God system. Unlike the previous seven, which were participants in the system, the eighth embodies it fully, making it the “beast itself.” This is the papacy. Rome claimed emperors could be deified; the papacy claims spiritual authority over nations. Both exercised control under the guise of divine sanction. This explains “of the seven” (ἐκ τῶν ἑπτά) in Greek: the beast originates from the same spirit/system without being a literal emperor.
This makes perfect sense in light of Revelation 13:1–6: “A spectacular sign appeared in the sky: a woman dressed with the sun, who had the moon under her feet and a victor’s crown of twelve stars on her head. 2 She was pregnant and was crying out from her labor pains, the agony of giving birth. 3 Then another sign appeared in the sky: a huge red dragon with seven heads, ten horns, and seven royal crowns on its heads. 4 Its tail swept away one-third of the stars in the sky and knocked them down to the earth. Then the dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth so that it could devour her child when it was born. 5 She gave birth to a son, a boy, who is to rule all the nations with an iron scepter. But her child was snatched away and taken to God and to his throne. 6 Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where a place had been prepared for her by God so that she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.” The woman represents God’s people as a whole—first Israel because she has a crown of 12 stars and gives birth to Christ, but then after Christ ascends she becomes the church and is persecuted by the beast (Rome of 7 heads and 10 horns) for 1,260 days or symbolic for years. This would be referring to papal supremacy which lasted from 538 AD to 1798 AD, exactly 1260 years. It ultimately ended in 1798 when Napoleon overthrew the pope, hence the fulfillment of “and goes to its destruction.”
V.12 “And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, who have received no kingdom as yet, but will receive power as kings for one hour with the beast.” Many of Rome’s allied kings or “horns” were not fully independent rulers. If we try to identify ten representative allied powers around the first century, here’s a plausible list: Judea, Galatia, Cappadocia, Pontus, Armenia, Commagene, Mauretania, Numidia, Thrace, Nabataea.
1 Timothy 4:1–3
V.1 “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils.” We must ask: what or when are these latter times? Because we know that from very early on there were already many heresies sprouting up and dividing the church (Revelation 2:6, Galatians 1:8, Titus 1:10), and yet this is described as happening at a latter time. Therefore this departure of the faith is depicted as something unique from what was already being observed during that time. The defining characteristics that make this departure unique is not only the magnitude of it but also the particular doctrines which Paul goes on to describe.
V.2 “Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron.” During the late third and fourth century especially, Greek philosophy and pagan thought began to be incorporated into Christian belief by apologists in an attempt to appeal to kings and rulers (especially the Roman emperors) who were killing and persecuting many Christians. In order to end Roman persecution they tried to make their theology closer to that of the Romans; thereby we know that the pre-Nicene Hellenization of Christian doctrine was largely due to Rome. Many seared their consciences from the truth so that they might be freed from persecution.
V.3 “Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.” Catholic priests formally stopped marrying in the year 1139, but the tradition began long before then. As John Calvin stated, “I confess that the prohibition of marriage for priests is ancient, and so is the vow of perpetual chastity for monks and nuns.” (Necessity of Reforming the Church, 1544). It pained Calvin to admit this as a doctrine of antiquity; therefore he would have had no benefit in lying about this. And the abstinence of meat on Fridays is also a very early practice, although not formally stated until the 13th century. “But fast on the fourth day and the Preparation (Friday)” – The Didache. “We devote to Stations the fourth and sixth days of the week, and to fasts the preparation-day” – Tertullian, On Fasting.
Conclusion:
As we can see, it does not appear that the Bible is silent concerning the coming of the Roman Catholic Church and its practices such as priestly celibacy, the papacy, idolatry, and other false doctrines. God warned His church about this apostasy through His Holy Scriptures. Revelation 17 speaks of a beast likened to the false deification of the emperors and has direct relation to the city of Rome, and 1 Timothy 4 speaks of a time when many would depart from the Judean Christian faith, giving heed to demonic deceptive doctrine that are contrary to the word of God. However, we need not be discouraged because throughout the centuries God has preserved and taken care of His Church (Revelation 12:6, Matthew 16:18). In these last days God has poured out His Spirit like never before and is victorious over every false deceptive doctrine. Revelation 17:14: “They will wage war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will triumph over them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings—and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers.”
Apostolic Antiquity 
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