Revelation 17:12 Commentary and Bible Study

This striking feature of the beast – the ten horns – is mentioned several times (12:3; 13:1; 17:3; 17:7, 12, 16). It is also a feature found in the book of Daniel (Daniel 7:7, 20, 24). However Daniel and Revelation do not appear to agree at first sight. In Daniel, the ten horns are made to belong to Daniel’s fourth beast, while in Revelation 17, John is told that the ten horns represent ten kings that are associated with the last of the seven heads, the final antichristian world empire. It is a matter of perspective. Daniel’s fourth beast is his last beast. He starts with the Babylonian empire because it was the power of his day and the initial prophetic vision of the book comes from Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. Nebuchadnezzar was given insight into his own destiny and his own significance on the world stage. Daniel is only shown as far as the gospel age, because the emphasis of his visions is the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to earth to establish his kingdom. But John, who lived after the first coming of Christ and who is given the church’s last instruction on the future campaign, is shown far more detail. His vision includes everything that will be revealed to the church right until the very last hour. Daniel’s fourth beast is more than just historic Rome, for that empire has fallen and yet his fourth beast takes us to the end of the world. He is told that the fourth beast would be, ‘different from all the beasts that were before it’ (Daniel 7:7). He embraces all further activity of the beast from Rome until the end of the world under the image of a single beast. In this case it is understandable that Daniel associates the ten horns with his fourth beast, while Revelation makes them to be future from the perspective of Rome.What then are the ten horns? One view is that the ten horns represent institutions such as education, science, the arts, industry, commerce: all of which have become dominated by worldly principles and so function as tools of the antichrist. This makes them to be parts of an anti-moral campaign. However, these institutions are not new, and yet the angel says they are ten kings who ‘have received no kingdom as yet’ and will arise in the future. Another view is that they represent all the rulers of the kingdoms of the world who are alive at the time of the antichrist. They are said to receive authority with the beast as kings for one hour. The use of the present tense reads like the description of a plot from a book, or play, which is already written and cannot be any other than the way it is. Such is the plan of God. Written before the creation of the world, it is fixed and determines all that shall come to pass. It determines that these kings shall reign with the beast. The beast has by now become personified in the form of the antichrist. These kings will receive their authority from the antichrist but on condition that they are subservient to him and support his purpose of worldwide domination. Daniel speaking of this fourth beast says that it ‘shall devour the whole earth’ (Daniel 7:23). World government, and all the kings of the world will serve the beast who is Satan's agents. This is a universal kingdom which in its final form will leave believers no place to hide.Very unusually, they are so aligned with the beast that they happily hand their authority over to him. He is the rightful leader of the world. They desire his advance and so very unusually hand over their power to the beast. We can be certain therefore that he will be a man of outstanding intellectual power and leadership. There may perhaps also be an element of fear in their behaviour. The antichrist will certainly be a ruthless man, a man of great cruelty, as seen in his relentless persecution of believers. What else would we expect from the devil incarnate?But this awful state affairs will be short lived; it is only for an hour. That time is not to be taken literally any more than the other time symbols in the book. It is a short period, and significantly shorter than the three and a half years representing the gospel age.