The Scarlet Woman is the RC Church—the Scarlet Beast is the Roman Empire (past and future)—the ten horns are a joint confederacy of ten final kings of the Roman Empire.
In Scripture we see three disctinct stages in the history of the Roman Empire: i) the beast as the Roman Empire that arose after Greece, ii) The Roman Empire under the influence of the Scarlet Woman, iii) the last stage of it as the ten horns and the little horn – ten horns give power to the little horn.
But what are the Seven Heads on this Scarlet Beast?—v3, 7, 9, 11—The seven heads represent two things, i) Seven literal mountains or hills v9, ii) Seven kings v10—these are seven kings/kingdoms which rule from the seven hills of Rome. You cannot seperate the seven heads from the seven hills. This excludes any interpretation of the seven heads which is not based in Rome.
If we use the Grecian Empire under Alexander the Great as an example or aid to understands what is meant by "heads"—the first king, Alexander, was symbolized as a horn. The Kingdom was symbolized as a leopard with four heads. The heads represent different, distinct forms of government which Alexander's kingdom broke into after his death. e.g. Christ is the head of the Church. Isa.9:6, “…the government shall be upon his shoulder:”—When we see seven distinct heads upon the fourth scarlet beast it is representing seven distinct forms of government, headship or rulership belonging to the Roman Empire.
“…five are fallen”—in John’s day 5 forms of Roman government had already passed away.
Livy (59 BC–AD 17) who was a Roman historian and Tacitus (56–117 AD), who was a Roman senator and historian, both lived in the first century AD under imperial Rome and both listed five forms of Roman government which were already past.
1. Kings (ten kings), 2. Consuls (two men), 3. Decemviri (“ten men”), 4. Dictators (one man), 5. Triumvirs (three men),
John under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit states exactly the same thing here that the 1st Century Roman historians say. But he then goes on to prophecy what is yet to come.
“...and one is...”--Imperial Rome – John was living under this 6th head/form of government.
“...and the other is not yet come…”--the Papacy – there was a 7th form of Roman government which did not exist in John's day but which he prophesied would come after the imperial leadership, replace it, and would rule until it was replaced by another.
In Rev.13:2-3, we read concerning this same scarlet beast and specifically concerning one of these seven heads.
“And I…saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns…And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.”
One of its forms of government was “wounded to death”—it no longer existed or operated in John's day—but at the end of time this wound is healed/restored/revived. One of the old forms of Roman government will be restored in Rome. It will come after the 7th head of the Papacy.
Rev.17:8, “The beast that thou sawest i) was, ii) and is not; iii) and shall ascend out
of the bottomless pit, iv) and go into perdition:” This is the final history of the Scarlet Beast—the Roman Empire. At the end it gets revived. Only demonic spirits go into or come out of the "bottomless pit." The old Roman Empire was demonically inspired and shall be again. A spirit will ascend out of Hell and will restore one of its old forms of government (heads).
The restored government or leadership of the Roman Empire is the 8th head of the beast. 17:11, “And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.”—This form of government arises after the 7th head which was the papacy. It will replace the papacy after the destruction of the Scarlet Woman. The ten kings will only receive their kingdom when the Roman Empire is revived. This will be the new form of goverment within a revived Roman Empire.
This revived kingdom with its eighth head will grow up around the Mediterranean Sea. Dan.7:2, “I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea. And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one
from another.” The “great sea” in the Bible always means the Mediterranean Sea.
Do we in our generation see anything that is like unto a reviving of the old Roman Empire? Is their a fom of government being formed which has its source or has a connection to the seven hills of the City of Rome?
The Treaty of Rome: In 1956 six european countries signed this document which created the Common Market. This was signed on the Capitoline hill in Rome. This was one of the ancient seven hills of Rome. Although all insisted this was only a trade agreement and would not lead to any change in government, Bible scholars immediately discerned that this was the beginning of a revived Roman Empire. This then became the European Economic Community (EEC), which then became the European Union in 1992.
The Club of Rome began April 1968, in Rome Italy – their purpose was “…to act as a global catalyst for change…” – “…it is composed of scientists, economists, businessmen, international high civil servants, heads of state and former heads of state from all five continents…” In September 1973 the Club of Rome released its report entitled Regionalized and Adaptive Model of the Global World System. In this document it presented a map of the world divided into “ten kingdoms.” This ten region division of the whole world has also been adopted and promoted by the UN.
the EU now has its own passport, flag, national anthem, and since 2002 a common currency. It is made up of 27 individual states, 23 different languages, and 500 million people—and it is still growing and forming.
This is only the initial stage of the reviving of the fourth beast and of the ressurection of one of the old forms of Roman Government which was in place prior to its Imperial Government. As you can see above the Decemviri form of goverment was made up of “ten men” who acted together on behalf of the kingdom. The Dictator form of government was an individual man who acted as sovereign leader. We can see from John's prophesy that the revived head/government formed out of the seven hills will eventually be made up of ten men/kings who give their power to one man called "the little horn."