Revelation 17:7-14. A angel is trying to explain to John the meaning of some of his visions. John has seen a woman (identified as the harlot, and as Babylon, mother of Earth's abominations) seated on a beast with seven heads and 10 horns. The angel says the beast "was, and is not, and is to ascend from the bottomless pit and go to perdition." The seven heads are seven hills on which the woman is seated and are also seven kings, "five of whom have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come, and when he comes he must remain only a little while." The beast is an eighth (hill, king, both?) but "it belongs to the seven, and it goes to perdition." The ten horns are kings who have not yet come, but they will receive royal power, together with the beast, for one hour. "These are of one mind and give their power and authority to the beast." These kings and beast will make war on the Lamb (Jesus), but the Lamb will conquer them, "for he is the Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called chosen and faithful."

Well, thanks angel, that explains everything! Obviously, lots and lots has been written about Revelation and what this all means. It is impossible for us to nail it down with any certainty. Saying "This leader is one of the seven kings," or trying to fit our precise time and experience into these visions is a fool's game. But Jesus gave John and us Revelation for a reason. We are supposed to be familiar with it and to use it, if even just to prepare ourselves for our own day of final judgment. We also must read the signs of our times and if something looks like a duck, swims like a duck, quacks like a duck, then treat it like a duck until there's reason not to.

So do I see Babylon, the great harlot, in my time? I see her in many places, and that is good - I know to stay away from her. Can I see in my times how kings may hand over their power and authority to "the beast"? Sure can, and that is good, I know not to vote for people like that or go along with their edicts that are in service of the beast and against the good of the people (while always remaining obedient to valid authority, however.) So while I can not know or say that "our time" is the time Revelation is talking about, I can use its lessons to teach me the kinds of power, people, and institutions of which to be wary. And I can rely on the fact that the Lamb will ultimately conquer the evil of the world. So I am not to be frightened or anxious about any of it.

Finally, I love the cyclical, out of time nature of Revelation - It describes the fall of the angels at the end of the Bible, while the effect of that is seen in the very beginning in Genesis. Here, I love the verbs and tenses - "was, and is not, and is". Is impossible for us to understand how things occur without time being a factor. Revelation's use of various verb tenses and verbs describe to describe the same thing is evidence to me that this is Truth, this is how an angel might try to explain something outside of time to us. It is so cool!