Since the conversation is mixing Revelations and Nostradamus now ...
I think that there are simple enough solutions to a book like Revelations which can be understood from the point of view of the writer, rather than from our point of view.
Passages in Revelations that refer to a beast seem to be a deliberate imitation of similar passages in Daniel. Daniel is written during the Babylonian exile and his beasts were symbolism for the powerful empires and kings of his time. When one mentions "crowns", one is referring to kings.
Revelations, we are told, was written by a John who was living on the island of Patmos - quite likely after the fall of the Jewish state to the Romans in 70 AD. It seems that if John was so enamored of Daniel's symbolism he might be emulating the meaning also and not just borrowing the imagery.
The beast in Revelations, like the one in Daniel, rises out of the sea. Daniel seems consumed by the troubles of Rome throughout Revelations. He writes of a woman "decked in purple and scarlet" sitting on a "scarlet colored beast" that has ten horns and seven heads. Purple and scarlet are colors strongly associated with Rome, the Caears, and its soldiers. John writes that on her head is written the name "Babylon the great". A little later, he tells us that "The seven heads are seven mountains". (The 7 hills of Rome). He says the woman IS "the great city". Continually he refers to Babylon, referring to it as the city that rules over all the kings of the earth and mentioning it as being draped in purple and scarlet and prediciting it will fall. It is quite likely that he is using coded language for Rome. Some scholars have said that Babylon was used quite often as symbolism for Rome by Jews at the time.
Interestingly the six most used Roman numerals were I V X L D M which sum to 666.
That John would be transfixed on writing about Rome would not be surprising. Roman legions marched into Judaea in 70 AD, destroyed the temple, killing or captivating much of the population. Many others fled. Rome destroyed the Jewish homeland. [They got it back in 1948].
The wailing wall is the last remaining wall of the temple. Still standing!
|