Revelation 17 speaks of seven mountains. World Kingdoms. World Rulers. In John’s day, five had already passed off the scene. One existed. One was yet to come, and it/he has not yet come in our own day.

Matching Daniel’s “statue” vision, his “animal” vision, and John’s comments here and in chapter 13, it becomes clear that Rome was the kingdom that “now is” in John’s day, and that that same kingdom was seen by Daniel as the last, but not the last. For out of that kingdom, in its extremities, as toes on a body, was to come another kingdom. Here in Revelation 17, the statement is simply made that a seventh kingdom will arise, then an eighth.

The seventh ruler will mount the throne of the seventh Empire. This will be an Empire formed around the Mediterranean Sea. It would seem now that this ten-nation conglomeration will be made up of kingdoms and democracies, pseudo-Christian and Muslim. It will be a force unparalleled, headquartered in Rome, dominating all.

Its original charter will include a solution to “the Jewish problem.” In a masterful stroke of diplomacy, the “Emperor” will allow Jews to have their Temple worship, complete with sacrifice and offering, at the top of their precious Temple mount. Judaism will thus defy the provision God has already made for sin.

Though this man is wise and popular and powerful, he is not the last ruler. For John talks of a man who arises during his reign to become the “eighth”. He says that number seven will only rule a short while.

Yet number eight, says John, is one of the seven. This is a resurrection. This is a miracle man. This is the man of sin, the antichrist of all antichrists, Satan’s final creation. He will easily be able to overpower kingdoms and take the Empire to himself. But he will have an agenda far different from number seven.

One obvious goal will be the annihilation of Israel. Though Bible prophecy kicks in with number seven and his treaty with Israel (see Daniel 9), a flood of prophecies are fulfilled when he breaks said treaty, takes away sacrifice and offering, surrounds Jerusalem with an army, and thereby initiates three and one half years of hell on earth.

Which of the seven will be resurrected? Whoever he is, he “was” and “is not” in John’s day. Therefore, he must be one of the five already fallen. Daniel 10-12 fairly screams the answer to this mystery, but that is the subject of another day.

My point here is to warn the gullible who form conclusions on half-baked ideas, that the rise of a world leader does not signal that antichrist is on the way immediately. First the world ruler, then the usurper comes and sets in motion the final events of pre-millennial history.