I wondered with great admiration.—“With great wonder” (Diaglott), that the Lord would permit such an institution to exist.
17:7. And the angel.—Volume VII, Scripture Studies.
Said unto me.—See Revelation, Chapters 4, 5 and 6.
Wherefore dost thou marvel.—This is all quite right and necessary. The Papacy was foreseen and permitted as a part of God's wonderful plan for developing and testing His Church, proving who are worthy to be of the First Resurrection, joint-heirs with Christ.
I will tell thee the mystery of the woman.—The apostate Church of Rome.
And of the beast that carrieth her.—Pagan Rome, now represented in earth's warring governments.
Which hath seven heads and ten horns.—See Rev. 12:3; 13:1. The exposition of the remainder of this chapter was greatly assisted by the following letter: “Your request for my version of what I understood Bro. Russell's expectations to be respecting the fulfillment of the 17th Chapter of Revelation received and after considerable meditation upon the matter I have decided to submit the following: Brother Russell stated that there were three possible fulfillments of this Chapter, and that he did not or would not go on record as to which would be the correct interpretation, for the reason that this Chapter could not be interpreted in a positive way until after its fulfillment. He stated that this Chapter was the key to all of the pictures, or prophecies, of Revelation, which are as yet wrapped in mystery. On various occasions I requested Bro. Russell to give me his idea respecting the three possible fulfillments; but he remained absolutely mum respecting two of the ways, but freely expressed his opinion respecting the third way, which he believed would be the way in which the prophecy would be fulfilled. ‘The beast that thou sawest was, and is not and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit and go into perdition,’ we understand to be the Holy Roman Empire—Church and State, united in power from 799 to 1799. The term ‘Thou sawest’ refers to the thousand-year reign of the Pope, and the term ‘And is not’ refers to the present non-existence of the Empire in power, and the term ‘And shall ascend from the bottomless pit and again go into perdition’ refers to the re-establishment of the Holy Roman Empire in power and its subsequent destruction. The statement ‘When he cometh, he must continue a short space,’ was understood by Bro. Russell to mean that the beast would rule only for a very short time. In answer to a direct question on this point [pg 264] Bro. Russell stated that he did not believe this short space could be interpreted in days, months, or years, but that it simply meant a short time. In the 12th verse, we read that ‘The ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet, but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.’ This seems to set forth the Papal view respecting the various kings of Europe which at the present time have not received the official anointing by the Pope, and consequently have not as yet received their kingdom. If this is correct, it would then also mean that if the Pope should anoint these kings and declare them to be ruling by Divine right, they thereby would officially receive power as kings, and would rule with the Pope and together with the Pope would constitute the beast again in power.
“Bro. Russell was anxiously awaiting the settlement of the present world war for the reason that it seemed very probable that the Pope would be the leading figure in bringing about its settlement, and possibly the very basis of the settlement will be the recognition of the Pope as the Holy See. If the Pope receives such recognition, he could in return immediately grant an official anointing of the rulers of the various governments included in the settlement, and they then as stated in Verse 13, will be ‘Of one mind and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.’ If this is to be the fulfillment of this picture, then it will only be a question of time until these same governments will turn upon the Roman Church and ‘Shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh and burn her with fire.’ (Rev. 17:16.) The foregoing briefly outlines what Bro. Russell seemed to think would be the outcome of the present war. He had certain articles in prospect which, if backed up by fulfilled prophecies, were to be the absolute and irrevocable proof to the world of all of the leading pictures given in the entire book of Revelation. Personally, I think everything seems to be shaping itself towards the fulfillment of the Chapter on the line above specified. If you are making any use of this letter, kindly specify or emphasize the fact that Bro. Russell considered the matter largely as a speculation, and that he positively stated that he would not go on record in the matter for the reason that when he treated the matter he would do so in the light of fulfilled prophecy as the last word and as the unsealing of the entire book, and that he would not attempt to do this until such a time as the interpretation could not be refuted.” That time has evidently now come.
17:8. The beast that thou sawest.—The Antichrist.
Was.—Exercised actual dominion until 1799 A. D.