Who are the 7 kings mentioned in Revelation chapter 17?

Scripture: Revelation 17:9-10
In verse 10 of Revelation chapter 17 it says that 5 are fallen and one is and one is yet to come. What does this mean and who are these kings?
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Caller: I was wondering if you could explain Revelation 17 verse 10?

Pastor Doug: I will do my best. This is a verse in the Bible for our friends who might be in their car. Revelation 17 is the passage that talks about - it's called the horror of Revelation. You have two women in Revelation God's church faithful church is described in Revelation 12 as a woman clothed with the sun, moon and stars, the light of God. Revelation 17 talks about a woman who is clothed with scarlet. She's an unfaithful church and she represents Babylon that we just spoke about. It says she's sitting on a beast that has 7 heads and 10 horns. And then the Angel interprets for John he explains this. He says these 7 heads represent 7 mountains, that's verse 9, on which the woman sits. In verse 10 it says there are also 7 kings. These 7 heads of this beast are 7 kings or kingdoms on which the woman sits. Five are fallen, one is, the other is not yet come and when he comes, he must continue a short space.

All right let me back up real quick. There are 7 empires in Bible prophecy that persecute God's people. When John wrote the book of Revelation, he was on the isle of Patmos, a captive of Rome, imprisoned by Rome. When he wrote this, there were 5 kingdoms that had persecuted God's people. You had Egypt. Of course everyone knows about the Pharaoh we just talked about him. Assyria. The Assyrian king carried away the 10 tribes. Babylon. They were carried to Babylon. Medo-Persia. Greece, under Alexander the Great. That's 5 kingdoms, five are fallen. The next one is Rome. He says one is. Which one was in power when John was imprisoned? Rome. Did Rome persecute Christians? Absolutely. The other is not yet come. When he comes he must continue a short space. Rome was divided and instead of it being Rome ruled by Caesar, it became the Roman Empire ruled by the church, which became corrupt. During the Dark Ages, the church persecuted real Christians - they'd burn them at the stake and everything and he receives a deadly wound but he comes back to life. These represent the 7 heads of that beast. It's a deep study but can I make a suggestion?

Caller: Sure.

Pastor Doug: Amazing Facts has an advanced Bible prophecy series. You can call our resource number and tell them you'd like to sign up. They won't just send you the whole set of lessons. They'll send you one or two at a time - they want to make sure you're committed to doing them. It's all free. You fill them out and send them back they'll send you the next ones.

Caller: Okay.

Pastor Doug: And they've got one specifically on Revelation 17.

Caller: Okay. Is there a book that you would recommend on Revelation?

Pastor Doug: Yes there's a book and you can find it I think at the Amazing Facts website. It's called Daniel and the Revelation.

Caller: Thank you very much.

Pastor Doug: Okay God bless.

Co-Host: Thanks for the call. 1-800-835-6747 is the phone number for those lessons.

Pastor Doug: or Amazingfacts.org.

Co-Host: Website or call the resource operator and you'll get the lessons and the book as well.

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