The seventeenth chapter of the book of Revelations is one of the
most straightforward symbolic prophecies in the Bible. If you are being
introduced to Bible study on Revelations 17 for the first time you are
going to be impressed by its relative simplicity for two reasons:1. The clear Bible interpretations of symbols in the passage, and
2. The manner in which it simplifies the parallel prophecy of Revelation 13
For any Bible study on Revelation 17 to be fruitful you must accept the fact that you cannot understand any prophecy whatsoever unless the Lord has revealed the interpretation in His word. In this article I deliberately avoid spelling out what the Bible solutions are. I will simply give you the scripture references for you to check out in your Bible. I am doing this because I want to encourage you to study the book of Revelations for yourself, find the biblical solutions, and, hence, arrive at a Bible-based conclusion.
The whore and the waters
Now let us begin. When you look at Revelation 17:1, the first symbol that is introduced is the "great whore that sitteth upon many waters". The interpretation for that symbol is found in verse 18. There is also a Bible solution for the waters where the woman sits; it is found in verse 15.
The seven heads and ten horns
The next symbol to be mentioned is found in verse 8, the beast with seven heads and ten horns. This particular symbol is interesting because the different elements that are connected to it (the seven heads and the ten horns) are actual symbols to be interpreted. The seven heads has dual interpretations, which are found in verses 9 and 10, while the interpretation for the ten horns is found in verse 12.
The beast itself
It must be noted that the beast itself is treated as a symbol to be interpreted. This interpretation was not given in chapter 13. In order to find the biblical solution to this symbol you must consult the seventeenth chapter. The only place where this interpretation is located is verse 11. This is a key interpretation because it leads to other important conclusions which can only be arrived at by an acceptance of the correct interpretation of the beast symbol.
Having identified the solutions to all the symbols in that chapter, you can now apply them according to the narrative development of the passage. That's how easy, but effective, a Bible study on Revelation 17 can be; you can share this with a friend who might have some sort of mental block about the book of Revelation. I am sure he/she would find it interesting.
The easiest Revelations chapter for first-time prophecy students
If you are a not yet a seasoned student of Bible prophecy but hope to conduct either a group or a one-to-one Bible study on a Revelations topic, this might be the place to start. But I would advise you to study other prophecies in connection with this passage. You can go to the book of Daniel, which also covers end-time issue in great detail. Because you may not get a perfect understanding of this passage on first attempt, whatever you can do to improve your knowledge of the seventeenth chapter of the book of Revelation would be worth the effort.
The most important principle in the study of prophecy is to
implicitly accept all the biblical interpretation just as they are given
to us in the word of God. An advanced Bible study on Revelation that
covers this and other critical end-time issues is now available for
download. To find out how you can get a handle on the difficult
prophecies in the book of Revelation, click here to download a copy of the End-time Prophecy Ecourse
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