Jaareshiah,I've just rechecked Revelations 17:8-11. The popular theory is that the "5th",if he/it is either a king,empire or nation,will return to become the 8th.I wouldn't say my English is terrible but I still don't get how the passage means the 5th will return to be the 8th.Could you explain how all that "who was and will be,etc" hints to meaning the 5th will return?
I'm not sure if you are one of those who agree about there being a 5th who will return to be the 8th,but if you do believe that,I take it that you believe the 8th king the UN is a revival of the 5th king that is Greece?Please explain further.I'm interested to know more.
The "5th king" was Greece, for Alexander the Great defeated Darius III of Medo-Persia, in 331 B.C.E., at Gaugamela, near ancient Nineveh, thus felling the Medo-Persian Empire. The "popular theory" that the 5th king "will return to become the 8th" has no Biblical basis, for Alexander the Great died of malaria, on June 13, 323 B.C.E, after ruling only 12 years. His kingdom then became divided among four of his generals, Cassander, Lysimachus, Seleucus I Nicator, and Ptolemy Lagus, which were eventually absorbed by the Roman Empire in 30 B.C.E.
Revelation 17:11 says clearly that the "eighth king...springs from the seven (kings)", not from the "5th king". It is amazing that someone can come up with this "theory" (like the "theory of evolution"), of the "5th king" that has no basis, but just an imaginery dream. This "eighth king" is also seen at Revelation 13:15, having been given "breath" (or life, compare Gen. 2:7) as "the image of the wild beast" by the "wild beast" that had "two horns like a lamb."(Rev 13:11) The United Nations is like an "image" of the world's governments, like these looking in a mirror of themselves, that was given "breath" by the Anglo-American dual world power in 1920 (the "wild beast" with "two horns like a lamb"), causing it to come to life, originally as the League of Nations and later ' ascending out of the abyss' (state of inactivity) as the United Nations.
This "eighth king" is also seen as being ridden on by the "harlot", called Babylon the Great at Revelation 17:3, 7. This "harlot", picturing all false religion as one empire world-wide, has been manipulating the nations by means of this "eighth king" (also called the "scarlet-colored wild beast" at Rev 17:3), committing both physical and spiritual "fornication" with the "kings of the earth"(Rev 17:2), causing them to "drink of the wine of the anger of her fornication."(Rev 14:8, see also verse 9)
Having "seven heads and the ten horns", but not with "diadems"(crowns) as the "wild beast of Revelation 13:1, 2, the United Nations (and formerly the League of Nations) did not have the governmental authority as the nations have within themselves (the League of Nations and later the United Nations, lacked it's own armed force and so depended on the Great Powers to enforce it's resolutions), yet "those who dwell on the earth will wonder admiringly", placing their hope in this man-made "image", that basically speaks in many ways for the world's governments. Those who do so, "their names have not been written upon the scroll of life, from the founding of the world."(Rev 17:8; see also Ex 32:32)
At Daniel 11:31, it speaks of the Anglo-American dual world power (called the "king of the south"), along with the nations compiling the "king of the north" as " they will certainly put in place the disgusting thing (originally the League of Nations founded as a result of the treaty of Versailles) that is causing desolation." Thus, at the direction of US and Britain, along with other nations in 1919-1920, these "put in place" the "image of the wild beast" that is repugnant to God, a "disgusting thing" in his sight. Why ?
One reason is that the churches have exonerated this political organization as "the political expression of the Kingdom of God on earth, " as substituting for God's kingdom in order to bring global peace, for as mentioned earlier, as early as December 18, 1918, the body now known as the National Council of the Churches of Christ in America adopted a declaration that declared in part: “
Such a League is not a mere political expedient; it is rather the political expression of the Kingdom of God on earth. . . . The Church can give a spirit of good-will, without which no League of Nations can endure. . . .
The League of Nations is rooted in the Gospel. Like the Gospel, its objective is ‘peace on earth, good-will toward men.’”
The U.S. Senate received an avalanche of mail from religious groups urging it to ratify the Covenant of the League of Nations. The general body of Baptists, Congregationalists, and Presbyterians in Britain lauded it as “the only available instrument for attaining [peace on earth].”
This "eighth king" will be used by God to remove the "harlot", the world empire of false religion, from the face of the earth. Revelation 17:16 says that "the ten horns that you (John) saw, and the wild beast, these will hate the harlot and will make her devastated and naked, and will eat up her fleshly parts and will completely burn her with fire."
This destruction of false religion will not occur as a result of their own initiative, but rather Revelation 17:17 says that "God put it into their hearts to carry out his thought, even to carry out their one thought by giving their kingdom to the (scarlet-colored) wild beast, until the words of God have been accomplished." Thus, through the United Nations, will the end of false religion occur, with the nations at this time giving it real "bite" so that God's words concerning this "harlot" has been fulfilled.
