Let us return to the literal meaning of John’s symbolic portraits. So far, we have discussed the beast and its seven heads, seeing in them a reference to the Antichrist and (perhaps) Roman emperors, in whose company the Antichrist should be counted.
The angel now draws John’s attention to the beast’s ten horns (Rev. 17:12–14), which are “ten kings who have not yet received royal power.” If the seven heads refer to Roman emperors, the ten horns refer to their “client kings,” who ruled as proxy powers and at Rome’s behest in each of its ten imperial provinces. (Herod the Great, for example, was such a client king.) At the time of John’s vision, these ten client kings had not yet been appointed to their thrones. Similarly, we can presume—based on verses 10 and 11—that as of John’s writing, the Antichrist had not yet arisen either.
What should interest us about these kings is that they, like the Antichrist and the devil himself loathe Jesus Christ and his followers. “Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus” (12.17). “Also it [the beastly Antichrist] was allowed to make war on the saints and conquer them [for a short period of time]” (13.7). Indeed, the ten kings have a monomania, namely, the destruction of Christ and his church: “They will make war on the Lamb” (17.14).
What should interest us about Jesus Christ is that he defeats these ten kings utterly: “…and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful.” Too often, we are shocked and awed by the powers of the world, whether social, cultural, political, or religious. Too often, we let their power determine our actions, keeping quiet when we should speak out, hiding our convictions, curtailing actions that we know we should take. In such situations, we should remember where real power lies, with Jesus Christ, and do the right thing anyway, for we too are “called and chosen and faithful.”
Finally, the angel turns John’s attention to the great prostitute herself (verses 15–18). She sits “on many waters,” which are “peoples and multitudes and nations and languages.” This, no doubt, indicates the geographic and cultural reach of the Roman Empire at the time of John’s writing. She is identified as “the great city that has dominion over the kings of the earth.” Interestingly, at some point, the Antichrist leads Rome’s ten client kings in rebellion against it. There is not, it turns out, any honor or loyalty among the dragon’s devotees.
So, the great prostitute is Rome. The beast she rides is the Antichrist, whose heads are Roman emperors and horns their client kings. Can we be more specific? Is Nero the Antichrist, for example? That is the preterist solution. Or is the Antichrist yet to come? That is the futurist solution. Or is the Roman emperor the prototype of rulers who set themselves up “against the Lord and against his anointed” (Psalm 2.2)? That is the idealist or symbolical solution. Personally, I cannot make up my mind one way or another for sure.
But I am sure about two things. Even in their wicked scheming, the devil, the Antichrist, and the forces opposed to God are playing into his hand, “for God has put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose by being of one mind…until the words of God are fulfilled.” And that purpose, that victory, is the utter, ultimate, and undeniable victory of his Beloved Son, the Lamb who conquers.
We may fear the devil and his minions for a moment, but we should never doubt their defeat.
GeorgePWood.com 
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