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In the spring and early summer of 2004, I became increasingly intrigued by the seemingly self-contained enigma of Revelation 17:7-11.
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 into 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.
I worked with these five verses over the next nine years. In the book that follows, you will find not only a new interpretation of these verses but also its implication for other biblical prophetic texts. These Biblical passages, when considered in their context, identify the Antichrist from his earliest deeds, his place in the changing structure of the world’s future governing authority, and his final rise to complete religious and ruling power on earth.
While we are curious to know when these momentous prophetic events are to begin, the Scriptures seem to ignore our curiosity. Instead, the Bible consistently focuses on the what. Of the two, when and what, the most important, of course, is what. If we know what will happen in the future when becomes unnecessary. If the prophesied events have not happened, the Scriptures’ answer to the question of when seems to be ‘not yet.’ If these events are already happening, the answer is ‘now.’ This seems to be as far as the Scriptures are willing to satisfy our desire to know when.
Yet many have attempted to identify specific dates when prophetic events are to occur. Some have relied upon supposed ‘codes’ found among the letters that make up the biblical message. Others have tried to tie the unfolding of future prophecies to key dates or events in recent history. Still others, have predicted the start of the prophetic end by calculations of ‘significant’ numbers. Among the many flaws in these methods is a lack of reliance upon the biblical authors’ intended message.
The Scriptures are a precious treasure preserved for us by God through real persecution and suffering. They were never intended to be a database of letters that could be sifted and repeatedly aligned until something of assumed coherence ‘pops up.’ Such ‘findings’ could also be achieved by sifting and aligning the works of Shakespeare or any other large grouping of words.
The method used when handling the Bible must be based upon what the authors thought they were saying. While the Divine author of Scripture may have intended some words to bear more meaning than the human authors were aware, this Divinely intended message is found to be complementary, not contrary, to the intent of the human hand that wrote it. Some may disagree with what I believe the authors of Scripture were intending to say, but I trust we can agree that the principle of authorial intent is the necessary foundation for biblical interpretation.
Since the authors of Scripture did not indicate at what date these future events would begin, we sacrifice credibility by going past such omissions to create ‘start times’ of our own. The prophetic authors did specify that certain events would occur with or near other future key events. But no specific date is given for any of them. Every reader must be content to understand the prophecy as accurately as possible while waiting for these key events to occur in the course of history. Readers looking for dates in history when these prophetic events will occur will be disappointed. There are no specific dates or ‘Bible codes’ in this book.
I am greatly indebted to Fred Plastow. His passion, insatiable curiosity and keen intellect were all brought to bear when he graciously agreed to review a rather impenetrable very rough early draft. His 20 pages of observations and suggestions helped lay the groundwork for this book’s current format. His contribution was crucial to this project moving forward.
I am also very thankful for David Hudson’s thorough review and many suggestions. Being a gifted writer, David patiently tried to show me how to say things simply (often in vain, I’m afraid). I truly wish I could better emulate my son’s clear effortless style.
The book’s cover was designed by my brother, Lane Hudson. It is now much more visually appealing and easier to read. He also made very helpful suggestions concerning the format of the book’s interior layout.
The greatest contribution came from my wife, Bev, who helped in many ways large and small. With surprising enthusiasm, she took up the thankless and painstaking task of proofreading the final draft, usually after having spent many long stressful hours at work. Without her help and encouragement, this book would not exist.
Additional introductory issues are addressed in the EXPANDED PREFACE, but they can wait. Feel free to skip them for now.