Both Revelation 13 and 17 provide insight into the timing of the Antichrist’s death and return to life. In Rev 13:3 the Apostle John sees one of the 7 heads “as if it had been slain, and his fatal wound was healed.” With this statement, the Apostle establishes a chronological marker (the “terminus a quo”) for the timing of the fatal injury.
Since the mortal wound occurs to one of the 7 heads, it follows that the wounding must be at a time when there are only 7 heads or 7 decision-makers in the Roman confederation. This indicates that the deadly attack upon the Antichrist occurs after he subdues 3 of the 10 original confederation regions. The fatal attack upon the Antichrist cannot occur earlier than his successful removal of all 3 regional rulers. Also, the attack cannot come until the Antichrist is elevated as ruler over one of the original 10 regions. There must be only 7 decision-making rulers, and the Antichrist, being the wounded head, must also then be one himself.
Rev 13:5 provides the other chronological marker (the “terminus ad quem”) for the fatal attack upon the Antichrist. In v. 5 the Apostle John states that “authority to act for forty two months was given to him.” We previously saw that this 42 month period correlates with the last 3 ½ years of the final 70th week of years from Dan 9:24-27. The final 7-year period contains roughly 84 months divided in half. The second half contains 42 months. The Antichrist’s full authority is during the final 42 months. This means that he does not come into this full authority until the midpoint of the final 7 years.
Since the Antichrist’s full authority is uninterrupted and lasts for the full 2nd half of the final 7 years, we know that he must be alive again by this time. Therefore, the Apostle’s statement in Rev 13:5 provides us with the chronological marker for the resurrection of the Antichrist. He must have been resurrected before the midpoint of this final 7-year period. The latest that the fatal attack and coming to life can occur to the Antichrist is the midpoint of that firm covenant in Dan 9:27.
In considering the passage of Rev 13:1-10, we are able to identify the earliest and the latest time for the fatal attack and the Antichrist’s return to life. The fatal attack cannot occur before the Antichrist “subdues” 3 of the 10 original regions. The supernatural resurrection could occur no later than 3 ½ years from the establishment of the firm covenant of Dan 9:27.
It is possible that the text of Rev 13:3-5 may even narrow these parameters further:
And I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain, and his fatal wound was healed. And the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast; and they worshiped the dragon, because he gave his authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him?” And there was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies; and authority to act for forty-two months was given to him.
Revelation 13:3-5
We can see a definite progression of events in these three verses. The Antichrist, being the head or ruler that is fatally wounded and who unexpectedly comes back to life, is greeted initially with amazement. This amazement then turns into worship. Next, the “whole earth” warms to the idea of the Antichrist’s return to power. In stating “Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him?” the masses are embracing the idea of submitting to the rule and protection of the Antichrist who cannot be killed. Who better to rule and protect the people than the one who conquers death? The Antichrist himself accepts and promotes this worship, and necessarily blasphemes God by doing so. The Antichrist also accepts the people's desire for him to rule them by exercising authority for 42 months.
How much time elapses between the fatal wounding in v. 3 and the exercise of authority for 42 months in v. 5? It does not seem that the intervening steps, from amazement to worship to seeking his rule and protection, would require an extended period of time. The progression of events in the text of Rev 13:3-5 could occur rapidly, requiring only a rather short period of time.
Up until now, we have only looked at Revelation 13 for clues to the timing of the Antichrist’s death and resurrection. We have yet to look to Revelation 17 for what it may contribute to our growing timeline of events. The rest of this chapter is a look into Revelation 17, because it contains important clues that both narrow down the timing of these events and show how intertwined the most important ones are in their eventual fulfillment.
And the angel said to me, “Why do you wonder? I shall tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns. The beast that you saw was and is not, and is about to come up out of the abyss and to go to destruction. And those who dwell on the earth will wonder, whose name has not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast, that he was and is not and will come. Here is the mind which has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits, 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. And the beast which was and is not, is himself also an eighth, and is one of the seven, and he goes to destruction.
Revelation 17:7-11
Of the seven verses in Rev 17:7-13, three are directly relevant to the current discussion. These three verses, however, must be seen in their proper context to fully appreciate their impact and contribution. In Rev 17:7, the angel who first addressed the Apostle in v. 1 speaks to John again. The angel informs John that he will tell him the mystery of the woman who is called “the mother of harlots,” and of the beast that carries her. The angel is going to explain three things, the meaning of the harlot, the meaning of the beast with 7 heads and 10 horns, and the interrelationship of the harlot and the beast.
Of the three areas the angel will explain, he chooses to discuss the beast first. Rev 17:8 is a remarkable verse in its literary construction. Verse 8 not only introduces the beast in general, albeit without any discussion of the heads and horns, it is also designed to connect to several passages previously seen in Revelation. Rev 17:8 is an intricate and elegantly prepared literary unit composed of three parts.
The angel discusses the meaning of the 7 heads beginning in v. 9. This verse begins with the same type of introduction that is found earlier in Revelation. In Rev 13:8, just before revealing the number of this beast, the Apostle John says, “here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast.” In Revelation 17, what the angel is disclosing also requires wisdom of its readers: “Here is the mind which has wisdom.” Clearly, he considers this part of his message to be very important. Therefore, we need to pay very close attention to what he says and how he says it.
After stating that the reader will need wisdom, vs. 9b -10a say that the 7 heads of the beast have dual meanings. While some may consider this contrary to accepted interpretive principles, the indication of vs. 9b-10a is clear. The 7 heads of the beast represent two different things.
The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits, and they are seven kings.
Revelation 17:9b-10a
Some have tried to resolve this interpretive tension by pointing out that in antiquity mountains sometimes represented power or ruling authority. They would contend that the angel did not really mean to indicate dual applications for the 7 heads. Rather, the reference to the 7 mountains is another way of referring to the 7 rulers mentioned in Rev 17:10a. However, this attempted solution to a perceived difficulty raises further questions. Why would the angel say, in the same sentence, that the 7 heads “are” two different things, if his intention was to emphasize only one in the interpretation? We will come back to this issue later.
The simplest interpretation of Rev 17:9b-10a is to regard the words of the angel as meaning just what the words communicate. According to the regular use of the rules of communication, the angel is indicating that the 7 heads are both 7 hills and 7 kings.
Rev 17:10 follows up on one of the two applications in v. 9. In v. 10 the angel discloses that the 7 kings serve in a progression. Verse 10 itself was also composed by the angel in the same elegantly prepared literary pattern found in vs. 8 & 11.
Verse 11 is also concerned with the progression and identification of the rulers from v. 10. As will be seen in the next section, the use of the intricate pattern seems to indicate a connection between the Antichrist’s death and resurrection and when they will occur.
Having discussed the meaning of the 7 heads of the beast in Rev 17:9-11 and how they progress over time, in Rev 17:12-13 the angel reveals that the beast’s 10 horns also have changed during this same period. This lays the foundation for explaining the change in attitudes among those exercising the authority of the beast. These changes are followed by action as the beast and his 10 administrators destroy the harlot that the beast once supported. The angel also explains the symbolism of the waters that support the harlot and that the harlot herself is a city “which is having a kingdom over the kings of the earth.”
The previous brief review of Rev 17:7-13 was to remind us of the ideas in these verses. Now we will discover the artistry and ingenuity of the angelic messenger, whose words form elegant literary structures that communicate extremely important prophetic information. To mine all that these verses can tell us, we will look at them two more times. That may sound like overdoing it. But what we will find in the angel’s words is nothing less than the political roadmap for the rise of the Antichrist. Claims such as these require that we have very solid reasons for making them. Given that there is much to understand and the importance of what we will find, we will make two passes over these verses, using what we find on the first pass to delve deeper during the second.
The angel who will tell the Apostle John the mystery of the woman and of the beast begins that description in v. 8. As has been stated before, this verse can be divided into three parts. Parts A and C are in the form of that elegant literary pattern. Part B is sandwiched between and provides information that reminds the reader of similar descriptions from the larger passage of Revelation 13. These points of common description were discussed previously in Chapter Three.
The literary patterns of parts A and C in v. 8 both begin with phrases that introduce the subject described in the lines that follow. In parts A and C, that subject is the beast whom the Apostle just saw carrying a woman. In these elegant patterns, each line contains a verb describing the actions or conditions of the subject. The first line after the introduction speaks about the beast in past time. The second line describes the beast in present time. The third and fourth lines speak about the beast in future time, with the third line speaking of a nearer future than the fourth line. In Rev 17:8c, there is no fourth line. The third line simply speaks about the beast in a generic future way. The use of the past, present, and future in these lines was referred to earlier as the time reference indicator. These time reference indicators are keyed, not to the tenses of the verbs in these lines, but to the implied time of their completion or fulfillment. For example, v. 8a line 3 says:
and he is about to ascend up from the abyss.
The tenses of the verbs are not future, but the clear implication of the phrase is a future fulfillment. The Greek verb μέλλει - “is about” introduces the idea of imminent but not yet completed action. In addition to the time reference indicators, these lines also contain existence indicators. Each of the lines following the introduction also indicates the beast’s absence or existence in the four time periods.
When all three parts of Rev 17:8 are seen together, we can more clearly observe that it is concerned with the death and coming to life again of the Antichrist. This message is so important to the angel that he repeats the pattern twice.
We should also take note that the first subject the angel discusses, as he seeks to explain the mystery of the woman and the beast, is the beast. The first aspect of the beast which the angel speaks about is the beast’s death and coming back to life. The angel presents this information using two nearly identical literary patterns that surround a narrative which directs our thoughts to other passages in which this same topic is presented.
We discovered the same five line pattern in v. 10, and with some slight modification in v. 11 also. After having employed his literary pattern twice in v. 8, the angel suspends its use in v. 9 to warn and encourage the reader that wisdom is required to fathom his message. He begins his message by clearly indicating that the 7 heads of the beast represent two different things. The angel then reverts back to his literary craftsmanship again in vs. 10 & 11.
Both vs. 10 & 11 each contain the same artfully prepared literary pattern seen in vs. 8a & 8c. Verses 10 & 11 both begin with a phrase introducing a subject which is discussed in the following lines. These introductory phrases are followed by four lines which further describe the subjects just introduced. Verse 11 has a compound phrase as its third line. This difference within the pattern draws our attention to this third line. The difference in the established pattern serves to highlight further important information.
Each of the four lines following the introductory phrase in vs. 10 & 11 contains the same two indicators as v. 8. The patterns in vs. 10 & 11 use both the time reference indicators of past, present, near and distant future, and the existence indicators where the subject is either absent or not absent in those different times. This allows the angel to communicate and highlight certain aspects of his message. These important aspects are communicated both by the repetitions which create the pattern and by the differences that draw our attention.
The angel in Rev 17:10 uses three complementary indicators to communicate that the 6th ruler is the Antichrist, that ultimate human antagonist to God and his followers. The first concerns the choice of words used to identify the rulers in v. 10. Three different designations are used by the angel to refer to the 7 rulers.
The five
The one
The other
Two of these three invite indifference. Neither “the five” nor “the other” single out a ruler for further consideration. Only “the one” draws our attention. Thus, the choice of words used to identify the 7 rulers is the first indication used by the angel to highlight the 6th ruler for further description.
The second complementary indicator is the time reference indicator. The angel uses the present tense in connection with the 6th ruler. The first 5 rulers are portrayed in past time. They have passed from consideration. The 7th ruler is portrayed in the near and distant future. The 7th ruler has not yet come into the time horizon of the reader and can, therefore, also be dismissed from further consideration. Only the 6th ruler is portrayed in the present. By only placing the 6th ruler in the ‘now’ or the present time of this verse, the angel is using the second of the three complementary indicators to identify the final ruler.
The third complementary indicator is the existence indicator. In each of the lines following the introduction, the angel uses language that indicates whether that subject is absent (A) or existing (E). After observing how the angel uses this indicator in the three literary patterns in vs. 8 & 11, we see that this existence indicator is used in an opposite fashion in the pattern of v. 10.
In all four patterns the existence indicator alternates between positive and negative, that is between existence and absence in all the lines that follow the introductory line. In the three patterns of vs. 8 & 11, the alternating begins in the positive position with the subject existing. However, in the literary pattern of v. 10, the existence indicator begins alternating from the negative position, with the subject being absent. This difference draws our attention.
As we see how the existence indicator is used differently in the literary pattern of v. 10, we are able to observe, among other things, that only the 6th ruler in the progression of 7 is portrayed as being present or existing. All of the other 6 rulers are portrayed as absent or non-existing. When taken together, these three complementary indicators mark out the 6th in the progression of rulers for further description and more specific identification in the following verse, Rev 17:11.
After clearly highlighting the 6th ruler in v. 10, the angel moves on to provide a more comprehensive description of this ruler through the use of another artfully prepared, now familiar literary pattern in v. 11. This pattern in v. 11 is nearly identical to the two patterns presented in v. 8, with one notable modification.
When the literary pattern of v. 11 is compared to vs. 8a & 8c in the original Greek, striking similarities can be observed. A Greek reader would observe that three of the five lines of vs. 8a & 11 are exactly word for word identical. [ 39 ] In v. 8c, two of the four lines are identical in the Greek with their counterparts in v. 11. In addition, the subject in the introductory lines in vs. 8a, 8c, & 11 are nearly identical. The only truly significant difference among all three literary patterns occurs in the same line in all three verses. The third line after the introductory phrase is different in all three patterns.
Given the nearly identical character of the other lines in the patterns with their counterparts in these verses, the differences, always in the third line, draw our attention. This highlights the information contained there. The meaning and significance of the differences in these third lines of vs. 8a, 8c & 11 will be taken up shortly.
Clearly, the angel is making a major effort to connect the meaning of v. 8 with v. 11. As we discussed previously, Rev 17:8 is concerned with the Antichrist’s death and return to life. This is so important that the angel repeats it twice through the two patterns of vs. 8a and 8c. Rev 17:8b draws our thoughts back to the fuller presentation of the beast’s death and new life in Revelation 13. When we then encounter Rev 17:11, with its verbatim and other similar features from 17:8, we are able to recall the previous wealth of information concerning the death and resurrection of the Antichrist.
The portions of Rev 17:11 that portray the death of the Antichrist are the first and second lines after the introduction. These two lines are repeated verbatim from the Greek of both vs. 8a & 8c. In all three literary patterns, these two lines say that the beast:
The literary pattern of Rev 17:10 tells us who dies in v. 11. In v. 11 we are reading about the 6th ruler who was highlighted for us in v. 10.
The angel presents additional information in line 3. This third line differs from the nearly identical templates in vs. 8a & 8c. This single line of difference among the identical nature of the other four lines draws attention to itself, highlighting what the angel is presenting.
Further evidence of the angel’s literary art is found in the original Greek in this third line, which is composed of two phrases. The first phrase in line 3 describes the beast as the 8th ruler, and it contains eight syllables in the Greek. The second phrase tells us that this 8th ruler is also one of the previous 7 rulers, and it contains seven Greek syllables. The Greek numerals are just before the last word in both phrases. [ 40 ]
The angel’s literary artistry is on full display in Revelation 17:11. We will see more reasons as we move forward.
The beast, who is described as existing in the past tense but absent in the present, is described in the two phrases of the third line:
he himself also is an eighth and he is out of (or “from”) the seven,
If the literary pattern of Rev 17:11 was read separately from the preceding verse, these compound phrases would seem meaningless. However, when v. 11 is considered in context, following the disclosures of v. 10, then the two phrases leap to life. The 6th ruler, who was clearly selected in v. 10 for further description, has already been correctly identified as the Antichrist who would die.
Now, through these compound phrases, we also recognize that the beast who will serve as the 6th of 7 rulers will be a ruler again following the rule of the 7th. Since the beast is described as an 8th ruler, we can correctly conclude that the Antichrist will be a ruler once again after the 7th ruler. Since the beast is also identified as belonging to the 7, we can correctly confirm that Rev 17:11 is describing one of the previous 7 rulers, more specifically the one clearly highlighted as the 6th ruler in the previous verse.
The way the angel expresses his message in this third line is consistent with the two literary patterns of vs. 8a