Rev 17:9 describes something about the "woman", the harlot, Babylon the great:
Here is where the intelligence that has wisdom comes in: The seven heads mean seven mountains, where the woman sits on top. And there are seven kings: five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet arrived, but when he does arrive he must remain a short while.
I was dreaming about this verse last night, so I thought I'd look it
up. I have long thought, ever since I was a child, that the seven
mountains might not mean what WTBTS says it means, but that it may mean
seven continents or seven seas instead. This is because Rev 17:1 says
the harlot sits on "many waters". I don't recall much about my dream,
only the words "seven continents" in relation to this verse. So, I
thought I'd look into it further this morning. But, this post is not about the seven mountains. Bear with me.
I came across a blog posting about the verse that asked an interesting question:
On what basis can anyone claim that the present tense John wrote is
anything other than a reference to a state of affairs existing in his
time?
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/exploringourmatrix/2012/03/is-revelation-179-10-the-decisive-evidence-against-the-end-times-view-of-revelation.html
WTBTS explanation is this:
The seven heads of that ferocious beast stand for seven “mountains,” or seven “kings.” Both terms are used Scripturally to refer to governmental powers. (Jeremiah 51:24, 25; Daniel 2:34, 35, 44, 45) In the Bible, six world powers are mentioned as having an impact on the affairs of God’s people: Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. Of these, five had already come and gone by the time John received Revelation, whereas Rome was still very much a world power. This corresponds well with the words, “five have fallen, one is.”
Revelation Climax p. 251 par. 2
Here's my question: Regarding the seven kings, would they be describing kings as seen from John's point of view in his time? Or, would they be describing kings as seen from the point of view in the day of the Lord? At the beginning of the book, at Revelation 1:10, John says that by the spirit, he came to be in the day of the Lord. Does this change the view of who these seven kings are?