The City of Seven Hills

We’ve heard something like this before, in Revelation 13:18, where we learned that the “man” whose “number is 666” is the pope. Today, we are given another number. Is it perhaps related to the man’s number? Indeed, Rome, the seat of popery, is known among scholars and historians as the City of Seven Hills.

The seven hills, or mountains, of Rome—Aventine, Caelian, Capitoline, Esquiline, Quirinal, Viminal, and Palatine—are still frequently visited by scores of tourists. Upon them sit palaces, monuments, and even ruins indicative of Rome’s power throughout history, from its rise to being the most powerful empire in the world, up to its current position as the most influential of religiopolitical unions.

Vatican City, the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church and the most famous enclave in the world, sits as its own country, in the midst of Rome, just as the harlot sits upon “the seven heads.” Even further beneath the harlot are the waters of the world (Revelation 17:1), the poor people she has conquered.

The resemblance is striking: God sat upon His throne, “the mercy seat” (Exodus 25:22), in the earthly sanctuary. Beneath the mercy seat was “the ark of the Testimony,” within which was kept the Ten Commandments, the founding law of God’s government.

Meanwhile, the Holy See sits upon the foundations of an ancient pagan empire and abides by a modified set of Ten Commandments. It is as though John were seeing “the man of sin” (2 Thessalonians 2:3) described, who “sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God” (v. 4).

Did you know that Jesus also spoke of His own “city that is set on a hill”? (Matthew 5:14). The city is God’s people, who are to shine with the gospel, “the light of the world.” Interestingly, U.S. politicians have frequently equated America with Christ’s proclaimed city. As we know, however, Bible prophecy has revealed that this Land of the Free ultimately becomes a counterfeit as well, a beast in sheep’s clothing (Revelation 13:11).

God with us, thank You for sharing Your wisdom, which is beyond all measure, that we might be prepared against Satan’s counterfeits.

For Further Study: Psalm 111:10; Jeremiah 51:24, 25; Daniel 2:35, 44, 45

Key Bible Texts

And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. (Revelation 17:9 KJV)