Ellen Gould White über: "The meaning of the beast that was and is not (Revelation 17)"

The beast that “was and is not and yet will appear again” is understood in Adventist interpretation as a symbol for the successive phases of Roman power. The condition in which the beast “was” refers to the period of papal dominance up to 1798; the “is not” describes the time after the fatal wound (1798), while the reappearance represents the full restoration of its power in the end times. The seven heads of the beast are interpreted as successive forms of Roman government, with the papacy often identified as the head whose wound is healed.

Wonders about the recurring beast

»People are amazed when they see a beast that was, then was not, and then appears again. It is this final appearance in its long and bloody career that provokes astonishment. [...] The seven heads [...] must refer to seven phases that appear in the beast's rule. Seven different forms of government successively dominated the Roman state... Five of these forms already existed and had passed away when John had his vision, and he lived under the sixth or imperial head.«

1 - Uriah Smith, The Seven Heads of Revelation 12, 13, and 17 (SHR 36.6)

Copy quote text only Find similar quotes

Restoration of power after the fatal wound

»The prophecy predicts a restoration of its power. “I saw one of its heads as if it were mortally wounded; and its mortal wound was healed: and the whole world marveled at the beast.” The causing of the mortal wound points to the fall of the papacy in 1798. Afterwards, the prophet says, “its mortal wound was healed: and the whole world marveled at the beast.”«

2 - Ellen Gould White, Darkness Before Dawn (DD 27.1)

Copy quote text only Find similar quotes

The sequence of the seven heads and forms of government

»The seven heads are seven forms of civil power that exercise rule successively. [...] The dragon symbol from chapter 12, the beast from chapter 13, and the one from chapter 17 each represent the power under different heads... According to Revelation 17:9,10 in comparison with Daniel 7:6; 8:20,21, the heads of the beasts must be explained as kingdoms or governments. Mountains, according to Jeremiah 51:25 and Daniel 2:35,44, denote kingdoms.«

3 - John Nevins Andrews, The Three Messages of Revelation 14:6-12 (TMR 77.5)

Copy quote text only Find similar quotes

Identification of the heads and the eighth ruler

»The seven heads of Revelation 17 have a double meaning: first, they literally refer to the seven hills on which the city of Rome was built; and second, they symbolically refer to the seven forms of Roman government... The eighth head is the pope, who took the place of the emperors: “He is in many respects very similar to them, in others however very different.”«

4 - LeRoy Edwin Froom, The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 2 (PFF2 300.2)

Copy quote text only Find similar quotes