Revelation 17:14

These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them; for He is the Lord of lords and King of kings; and they that are with Him are called and chosen and faithful.

As the angel tells John, it is not an easy matter to understand the mystery here revealed: Here is the mind that has wisdom. Here is work for the discerning mind, to be able to tell what the meaning of the various features in the picture is. He explains: The seven heads are seven mountains, where the woman sits on them. The city of seven hills Rome is called, and so this reference to the Church of Anti-Christ, to the Church of Rome, is clear; for Rome was the seat of the Pope from the beginning, and all the adherents of papacy recognize Rome as the capital of their empire.

But there is another interpretation: And there are seven kings; five have fallen, one now is in existence, the other is not yet come, and when he comes, he is destined to remain but a short while, The Roman Empire is here conceived of as the continuation of the ancient world empires, of which five had fallen, the Egyptian, the Assyrian, the Babylonian, the Persian, and the Greek-Macedonian. At the time when John wrote, the Roman Empire was in power. And as for the seventh ruler and empire, that is undoubtedly to be found in the Christianized Roman Empire, in the kingdom of Anti-Christ. The papal state, indeed, was not of great extent, but the dominion of the Pope, during the thousand years of his kingdom, reached far beyond the boundaries of his province, and his influence and authority are still evident in the life of the nations. This fact is shown also in the next verse: And the beast that was and is not is itself the eighth, and is of the seven, and goes into perdition. So it is the so-called spiritual power of popery which is here alluded to, whose temporal empire is now a negligible factor, and which still wants to be recognized as an empire.

In just what manner the papacy exerts its power is next indicated: And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, such as have not yet received a kingdom; but they will receive power as kings for one hour with the beast. These are of one mind, and they give their strength and their power to the beast. Here there is a reference to the ten great provinces into which the Roman Empire was divided. At the time of John's vision these provinces were not yet independent, but they later became autonomous and had their own rulers. Their heirs and successors may be found in practically the entire world today. And of the great majority of rulers and states it is true that they have directly or indirectly furthered the cause of the beast, of Anti-Christ. No matter how dissimilar they may be otherwise, in their admiration for the papacy they are all alike, and they place themselves, more or less directly, into the power of Anti-Christ, to be used as the tool of the Pope.

The climax is reached in the next verse: These will wage war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for the Lord of lords He is and the King of kings, and with Him are the called and the elect and the faithful. It is not only a defensive. alliance which the rulers of the world have made with Anti-Christ, but also a coalition for offensive tactics. Again and again not only Roman princes and rulers, but also such as professed the Protestant faith have become the instruments of Rome in attempting to suppress the true Gospel-preaching with all the means at their disposal. But what will their puny attempts avail in the end? In waging war with the Lamb, the King of kings and the Lord of lords, their inevitable end is destruction. And in overthrowing these enemies, the Lamb incidentally protects them that are His, those whom He has called, those whom He has chosen, those that are faithful to Him to the end.