Saturday, May 2, 2015

Part 1: Who Is the 8th King?

If Solana is the beast, then his retirement is an apparent aberration in the prophetic scheme of things.

Or is it???

8 “The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to come up out of the abyss and go to destruction. And those who dwell on the earth, whose name has not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, will wonder when they see the beast, that he was and is not and will come. 9 Here is the mind which has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits, 10 and they are seven kings; five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; and when he comes, he must remain a little while. 11 The beast which was and is not, is himself also an eighth and is one of the seven, and he goes to destruction. (Revelation 17:8-11 NASB)
 This is wildly confusing, but thankfully, there are two main interpretations to this passage:
  1. The seven kings represent successive Roman emperors, one of whom was reigning in John's day
  2. The seven kings represent seven successive empires and kings who have persecuted God's people in the past. 
View #1 is difficult, because the Roman empire had a lot more than 7 different emperors. As a result, I side with the scholars who take the second view (and it's variants). "Mountains" can represent an empires in the Bible. And in prophecy, kings are always connected to kingdoms, and vice versa. 

The passage talks about a beast who used to exist, but is in the Abyss at the time of John's writing, but will return in the future. This is the 8th king, who is apparently one of the seven, since he is "of" the seven. The best way to interpret this is that the beast from the abyss is a specific demon who has inhabited a king in the past, is now in the Abyss, but will come back and inhabit the Antichrist. (Herb Peters held this view as well). Many people, at least broadly, accept this interpretation since they believe the Antichrist will be possessed by Satan himself, making him both the 7th and the 8th king being Satan himself.

If you look at the scheme of history, then there are 7 major empires that will persecute God's people, and each has a particularly egregious king who does the persecuting.




Antichrist & Revelation 17

Mountain (Kingdom)
King
The Beast from the Abyss
1
Egypt
Pharaoh
N/A
2
Assyria
Sennacherib
N/A
3
Babylon
Nebuchadnezzar
N/A
4
Medo-Persia
Haman
N/A
5
Greece
Antiochus IV Epiphanes
“was,”
6
Roman Empire
Domitian
“and is not,”
7
European Union

(Revived Roman Empire)
Antichrist Phase 1

Antichrist Phase 2
(Demon Possessed)
“a little while”
8
“and is about to come up out of the abyss and go to destruction.”


As far as the 8th king is concerned, we need to find in history the other person this demon from the Abyss inhabited. He did not inhabit Domitian, but inhabited someone before him. Thankfully, we have a fairly good candidate: Antiochus IV Epiphanes.

The Bible presents numerous similarities between Antiochus IV Epiphanes, and even talks about them as if they are the same/similar person. Theologians refer to these passages as having a "dual fulfillment." Many of the prophecies were fulfilled by Antiochus, but have complete fulfillment in the end times. For example, Daniel 11:36-45 transitions to talking about the Antichrist relatively smoothly. But there is a "drop off" in which the prophecies about the king no longer have historical precedent. There is a transition from v. 35-36, but its not a dramatic one. 



Beast from the Abyss
Antiochus IV Epiphanes
Antichrist
War with Egypt, then attacks Israel
War with Egypt, then attacks Israel
Calls himself God
Calls himself God
Sets up the abomination of desolation
Sets up the abomination of desolation
Persecutes God’s people for a short time
Persecutes God’s people for a short time
Little horn of Daniel 8
Little horn of Daniel 7
Spoken of as if the same/similar person in Daniel 8
Spoken of as if the same/similar person in Daniel 11


Antiochus and the Antichrist even act the same. Domitian, as expected, doesn't fit the bill, because he was in charge of Rome when Revelation was written. But the similarities between Antiochus IV Epiphanes and Antichrist have long been noted by theologians. So apparently, the demon who inhabited Antiochus IV Epiphanes will inhabit the Antichrist in the end times.

Notice that the passage talks about a 7th king that will remain "a little while." ESV and NIV emphasize this by saying "only" a little while. To have a consistent interpretation of Scripture, the 7th head represents both the king and his kingdom. So the 7th head is the Antichrist, apparently in his non-demon possessed tenure. The 8th king likewise corresponds to another king.

All of the kings I have in that list, who persecuted Israel and/or the Church, have non-contiguous reigns. They correspond to successive empires, but as soon as one falls, they aren't immediately replaced. The next empire yields the next persecutor.

The Prewrath commentary on Revelation, who has no connection to the ENP theory whatsoever, says this about the 7th and 8th kings.

2. Is himself also an eighth and is one of the seven = is very important. This explains the mystery concerning the "was, and is not and will come" composite scarlet-beast. The composite scarlet beast is a king. He eventuates from the seven. John’s point is this: there will be seven beast/kings and one of them will service twice upon the face of the earth.

This commentary text may not mean what I am about to say. However, it is possible that the tenure of the 7th and 8th kings is "non-contiguous," i.e. not immediately next to each other or concurrent. Most theologians assume that the transfer from the 7th king (human Antichrist) to the demon possessed phase is immediate, based on the healing of the fatal wound. There is justification for this here:
And those who dwell on the earth, whose name has not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, will wonder when they see the beast, that he was and is not and will come. Revelation 17: 8b
I agree that the Antichrist's fatal wound healing is connected with his demon possession, which enables the counterfeit miracle. However, this need not be immediate. He could have been inhabited by that demon long before his fatal wound.

If we go back to Daniel 11, and the relatively seamless transfer between Antiochus IV Epiphanes and the Antichrist (v. 35-36), we see that this arrogant military conqueror does things before the abomination of desolation. If we view this "smooth" transfer between the two characters in Daniel 11 as being explained by the beast demon, who inhabits them both, then we will see that the Antichrist, in his demon possessed state, performs military conquests, apparently before the abomination of desolation, fatal wound, etc.

Now it clicks. 



Javier Solana & Revelation 17

Mountain (Kingdom)
King
The Beast from the Abyss
1
Egypt
Pharaoh
N/A
2
Assyria
Sennacherib
N/A
3
Babylon
Nebuchadnezzar
N/A
4
Medo-Persia
Haman
N/A
5
Greece
Antiochus IV Epiphanes
“was,”
6
Roman Empire
Domitian
“and is not,”
7
European Union
(Revived Roman Empire)
Javier Solana (1999-2009)

Javier Solana Phase 2
(Demon Possessed)
“a little while”
8
“and is about to come up out of the abyss and go to destruction.”

Regarding Javier Solana, you will notice that he isn't very boastful. He seems to be fulfilling a lot of prophecies or at least leading to them, but with the exception of being inordinately boastful. Granted, he may have a big head like all politicians. But this is not enough to fulfill the prophecies about the Antichrist. Antiochus IV Epiphanes was inordinately boastful. It seems the 8th king might be the boastful one, who inhabits the body of the 7th king.

So there is a chance that an Antichrist with multiple reigns is allowable by Scripture.



But this immediately raises questions about Javier Solana's relationship to the ten nation WEU alliance, and what prophecy says about his future role. In the next blogpost we will explore this.


2 comments:

  1. Hi Eschologizer,

    Baldy here......

    Just wanted to chime in on your written thoughts.

    I believe that you "may" be making a mistake in using symbolic language in attempting to make a Beast System into a man itself. Another way of looking at the symbolic language which is written is to recognize that it is the Beast Kingdom that sets itself up by becoming revived through the power of Satan - then a man comes along and is incorporated into this Beast System type methodology. So in essence, it is not necessarily the man who receives the fatal wound - but the Empire in which he has come to power in after it is revived by Satan. This in my very humble opinion is the EU.
    I'm not saying that I'm correct...but just wanted to throw something out there for you to ponder on as you continue you research.

    God Bless you and your Ministry to Him.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Demon
    Thanks for this nice information... Keep it up


    Regards
    Bishop Jordan

    ReplyDelete