Time Will Tell
The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but they receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour. These have one purpose, and they give their power and authority to the beast. Revelation 17:12-13. NASB
In the last two chapters we have encountered the kings of the east, the kings of the earth, the seven kings, and now ten kings! What is going on here? These ten kingdoms are end-time characters without a pedigree. They receive their dominion along with the beast in the last period of earth’s history. They exist in the time of the “eighth king” (Rev 17:11).
If the beast represents the combined political and economic powers of the world, the ten horns represent a significant subgroup of the world’s nations. Crucial to the final events is a worldwide unity of political and economic power. In order for that worldwide unity to happen, this powerful subgroup has to sign on.
Only time will reveal the identity of these ten kings.
Those who observe this prophecy with care will want to watch for a move toward world unity by a major sub-grouping of the world’s nations, possibly in the context of the UN or some similar organization.
If this action occurs in the reasonably near future, there are two major candidates for the role described in this passage; NATO and the G8 nations. NATO is a military alliance made up of the United States, Canada and 24 European countries (including Turkey, which is partly in Europe). In 1949 the treaty’s initial purpose was to provide a political and military counterbalance to Soviet power in Europe. With the collapse of Soviet communism, NATO has become the chief military and political power in the world. Worldwide union is inconceivable without its support.
NATO has grown in size as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The G8 nations, on the other hand, are more of an economic group than a political or military one. While NATO is the more powerful organization on paper, the G8 countries together can dominate NATO.
However, speculation is futile because there is no way in this passage to identify the 10 kings. We must watch and wait. Whatever the makeup of the ten kings, the giving of their authority to the beast results in war with the Lamb (Rev 17:14). The good news is that the end is not in doubt and the outcome is clear. The Lamb wins and the powers of the world lose.
What we should remember is that the accumulation of imagery normally associated with Jesus and the Hebrew temple services reinforces that this woman, and the beast, are primarily religious spiritual symbols. They are a picture of religion gone wrong. And let’s face it – some of the most devastating and obnoxious episodes in history have been committed by religions and religious figures who had lost the plot, who operated by the devil’s system of power and coercion instead of grace, mercy and love. And these episodes are at their worst when the coercion is done in the name of love.
The word “astonished” is used three timers in Revelation 17:6-8. John is astonished at the sight of this woman, and the divine messenger asks him why. The angel seems to imply that he should have already been familiar with this religio-state alliance. At the time of this vison John and the Christian church were being persecuted by Imperial Roman authorities who claimed divine qualities. And throughout history, spiritual and temporal powers have united in causes that have been evil and destructive. John should not have been astonished. Those who are not saved inevitably will be astonished, but the angel offers them no consolation. They have fallen under the spell of this enticing adulterous union of the spiritual and the secular.