We read verse 9 earlier and we know that this system is referring to the Roman Catholic church. However there are people who disagree, they do not believe that the Roman Catholic church is going to be the one considered as Babylon.

Candidates for Babylon

Jerusalem

Some of them will say that it’s referring to Jerusalem. That could be a good, strong case but it is not scriptural, it is doctrinally wrong.

If you look at Revelation 18:21, the Bible shows that the great city shall be found no more, and on the next verse it says no more singing etc. It cannot be Jerusalem because in the book of Jeremiah and Isaiah, in the great city of Jerusalem, God is going to have the people singing and it’s going to reign forever, the government is going to last forever. That’s why it cannot be referring to Jerusalem.

America, Washington DC

Other people would say that it’s referring to America. The reason why is because they found out that a lot of things about Washington DC matches with what Revelation 17 and 18 describes. One of the things that’s pretty plain about Rome being Babylon is the seven hills. They also argue that Washington DC consists of seven hills.

Later on in the study, we will see more and more evidence in Revelation chapters 17 and 18 that point to the Roman Catholic church rather than Washington DC. You might say, ‘Why are there so many descriptions similar to Washington DC then, at Revelation 17 and 18?’. The reason why is because Washington DC is a copycat, a daughter of the mother.

Roman Catholic church is considered to be the mother of harlots. That’s the same reason why Jerusalem is similar to Revelation 17 and 18 because it’s the daughter of Babylon.

The title ‘City of Seven Hills’ is not referred officially to Washington DC, it’s actually Rome, historically. Washington DC is not titled that, just like many other cities that have seven hills and imitated Rome.

The seven kings

Revelation 17:10 “And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.”

There are 7 kings, 5 has fallen, 1 is still ongoing, and 1 of them is yet to come.

Here’s another thing: if this is talking about seven kings, then this directly matches with the beast of Satan in Revelation 12:3.
The seven-headed dragon is different from the Antichrist. The seven-headed dragon has seven crowns on the seven heads, whereas the Antichrist has ten crowns on the ten horns. This proves that the beast in this verse is not referring to the Antichrist’s beast but the red dragon, Satan, because of the seven kings.

If these are the seven kings, then we got to find out who the five fallen are. Let’s review the 7 heads:
The first is Nimrod, Babel.
The second is Pharoah, Egypt.
The third is Assyria, Sennacherib.
The fourth is Nebuchadnezzar, Babylon.
The fifth is Persia, Cyrus or Darius.
The sixth is Greece.
The seventh is Rome.

So we know that the first five are fallen, it was long ago in the past. Greece is the present and Rome is the future.

How Dr. Peter Ruckman explains the seven-headed dragon system is that in order to make all of these things past tense, what we could do is to combine the first and fourth together. Why? Because they share the same kingdom, Babylon.

In Revelation 12, the heads are representing kings and kingdoms together, it’s an empire. So Dr. Ruckman combines these together into Babylon, counting Babylon, Egypt, Assyria, Persia and Greece as the five fallen ones.

Then Rome becomes the present because the Roman empire was operating in the past as pagan Rome, through the Catholic church system, through the past 2000 years of history, through current events and into the future tribulation, it will continue. Whether you place Rome in the present tense or future tense, both can work.

Then, the future head would be referring to the Antichrist. The Antichrist kingdom was working all the way during the present time even to the future. It is the unofficial version of the Antichrist at present but in the future, it will be the official version.

Many antichrists

1 John 2:18 “Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.”

‘the last time’: that’s like the end times.
‘that antichrist shall come’: that’s the official Antichrist in the future but John recognizes that there are unofficial versions of the Antichrist at present.
‘even now are there many antichrists’: even now, that’s present tense, there are many antichrists.

We had famous Great Awakening revival preachers and protestant reformers who pointed at the pope at the Vatican saying ‘You’re the antichrist’. Throughout all that to the present time, the Roman leaders in power were known as antichrists but they’re just the unofficial versions of the Antichrist. The official guy who’s going to join in their ranks, the next pope that’s going to come out as the next Roman leader, he’ll be the official Antichrist.

The short reign of the Antichrist

This future king who’s coming, he’s only going to continue just a short space of time. He’s not going to rule forever because the Antichrist’s reign is really going to be a short time compared to Jesus Christ who’s going to reign forever. During the standard teaching of 7 years tribulation, that’s not a long time, it’s only at best 7 years.