A House Divided
Satan will one day destroy half his house to exalt the other half. Isn't that a sign of his coming end?
“A house divided against itself cannot stand,” is more than common sense. These words of our Master Yahshua were actually one of the most awesome prophecies of the entire Bible — the end of Satan, his finish!
Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and any city or house divided against itself shall not stand. And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then shall his kingdom stand? (Matthew 12:25-26)
And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but he is finished! (Mark 3:26)
There is no way to unlock the mystery of Satan's fall without seeing in the Word of God the two aspects of the world system he will dominate. These two powers will in the end violently oppose one another, because each is filled with Satan's desire to dominate and rule, but only one can. His own schemes to seize control over every aspect of people's lives and souls will actually bring about his end. Our Master Yahshua spoke prophetically that when Satan rises up in one to destroy the other, he is divided against himself, and then he is finished!
What are these two powers? The Bible says the time is coming when the evil one will dominate, through a man, the governments of the world. This coming world dictator is called the Beast in the Bible. Before he comes ten kings of great power will arise on the very soil of the ancient Roman Empire. They will appear in the last days to gather the awesome political, military, and economic power of Europe under one authority. The European Union of today is only a shadow of the might of the coming “Ten Kings.” The many nations of the EU will boil down to ten.
Men have long heard of the Beast. The ten kings have also been thought to be the rulers of some future super-Europe. But these political leaders do not solve the mystery of Satan's divided house that must fall, for they are in perfect harmony. The other power is called a “mystery” in the Bible because it has been so little understood. For at the same time the Beast is rising to world prominence there will be another great power on the earth, which is described in the Bible as a woman. So great will be her power that it will seem to more than match that of the beast himself. In fact, it is she who will make possible his rise to power.
This Beast, a man so insensitive to the soul and spirit of man that he might as well be a beast, will actually be under the control of this woman. She is seen in the Bible as riding on his back. This is a picture of the one who is in control, for the one who rides on the back holds the reins. This woman is a body of people so numerous and so powerful her numbers can only be described as “peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues.”1 Her corrupting influence affects the entire planet:2
The kings of the earth committed acts of immorality,3 and those who dwell on the earth were made drunk with the wine of her immorality. And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness; and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast, full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns. (Revelation 17:2-3)
What she represents will be a force so mighty, a people so great, that she will actually rule over the kingdoms of the earth! With the spread of democracy the world over, no one will be able to get elected without her support.4 The one who rules over her sits enthroned in the city that sits on seven hills.5
Many Protestant leaders, from Martin Luther onward, have identified this passage as the Pope's influence, centered in Rome. They did not see themselves as the daughters of this Mother Harlot, however.6
And the woman that you saw is the great city which has dominion over the kings of the earth. (Revelation 17:18)
This dominion is something the Ten Kings will not tolerate any longer than they have to. They will use her influence over the voters to gain office and then resent her influence over them. They will realize what stands between them and ultimate power. They will see the need for one man to stand out from all the rest — one man for the whole world to rally behind. To that man these ten kings will surrender their power and authority and together they will take action.
And the ten horns which you saw are ten kings, who have not yet received a kingdom, but they receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour. These have one purpose and they give their power and authority to the beast. (Revelation 17:12-13)
They will secretly plot to remove every other authority than their own. They will break the power of the one who has brought them to power. They will throw off the one who is riding the back of the beast. They will turn on her, whom the Bible calls a harlot, and burn her with fire, the ancient punishment for a woman who falls into harlotry:7
And the ten horns which you saw, and the beast, these will hate the harlot and will make her desolate and naked, and will eat her flesh and will burn her up with fire. (Revelation 17:16)
And this is the very beginning of Satan's house being laid waste as it is divided against itself in the last, climatic moments of the last days of this age. For the mystery is this — he will possess both the beast and the woman. They are each in his house.
Who is this Woman?
So who is this woman who will have such great power and come to such a terrible end? To understand this we will have to see that she was once far different than the world power she has so often lusted for. She was once a pure young woman, a virgin betrothed to another man:
For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin. (2 Corinthians 11:2)
