The nations in the Bible are synonymous with kings, and vice versa. King Nebuchadnezzar is likened to the kingdom. The head of gold is ancient Babylon, it is also the king.

Dan 2:37  You, O king, are a king of kings. For the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory;

Dan 2:38  and wherever the children of men dwell, or the beasts of the field and the birds of the heaven, He has given them into your hand, and has made you ruler over them all you are this head of gold.

The end time beasts are the evil devils, which are in charge of the end time kingdoms.

The prophecy of Daniel 4 shows that Nebuchadnezzar will be king of Babylon at the end time. Seven times is seven years, which is 2520 days. Using a year for a day principle: this shows that Nebuchadnezzar will be king of Babylon once again in the end time. The tree starts to grow sometime toward the end of the 20th century.

Dan 4:16  Let his heart be changed from that of a man, Let him be given the heart of a beast, And let seven times pass over him.

Dan 4:26  “And inasmuch as they gave the command to leave the stump and roots of the tree, your kingdom shall be assured to you, after you come to know that Heaven rules.

Notice that Nebuchadnezzar is a wild beast during the seven times.

Dan 4:25  They shall drive you from men, your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and they shall make you eat grass like oxen. They shall wet you with the dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass over you, till you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He chooses.

Nebuchadnezzar is not dead during the time between kingdoms, he is a wild beast; he is in the bottomless pit.

The day for a year principle shows that Nebuchadnezzar is alive on earth at this very time, and the tree which is Babylon, is growing, even as God’s truth is being revealed.

The number of the beast also points to Nebuchadnezzar.

Rev 13:18  Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666.

King Solomon had wisdom and understanding: he will tell us who the beast is.

1Ki 10:14  The weight of gold that came to Solomon yearly was six hundred and sixty-six talents of gold,

Dan 2:38  and wherever the children of men dwell, or the beasts of the field and the birds of the heaven, He has given them into your hand, and has made you ruler over them all you are this head of gold.

The above scriptures help us to understand the beast of Revelation 17. The great harlot rides a beast with seven heads and ten horns.

Rev 17:3  So he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness. And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.

The beast existed, then he did not exist on earth, He comes out of the bottomless pit.

Rev 17:8  The beast that you saw was, and is not, and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition. And those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.

The seven heads of the beast are where the harlot sits.

Rev 17:9  “Here is the mind which has wisdom: The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits.

End time Babylon bears rule over the whole earth. The harlot sits on the whole earth.

Rev 17:15  Then he said to me, “The waters which you saw, where the harlot sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues.

The seven heads of the scarlet beast is the whole earth. [There are seven continents.]

The ten horns are the ten toes of Daniel 2. These are the nations which fight Christ at his return.

Rev 17:12  “The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority for one hour as kings with the beast.

Rev 17:13  These are of one mind, and they will give their power and authority to the beast.

Rev 17:14  These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful.”

Dan 2:40  And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything; and like iron that crushes, that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all the others.

Dan 2:41  Whereas you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; yet the strength of the iron shall be in it, just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay.

Dan 2:42  And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile.

Notice how the iron seed is mixed with the clay, that is the evil sons of God mingled with man, as we know has happened.

Dan 2:43  As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay.

Dan 2:44  And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.

Notice that the beast of Dan. 7 stamps the residue with its feet.

Dan 7:7  “After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong. It had huge iron teeth; it was devouring, breaking in pieces, and trampling the residue with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns.

There are seven kings connected with the scarlet beast.

Rev 17:10  There are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come. And when he comes, he must continue a short time.

Rev 17:11  The beast that was, and is not, is himself also the eighth, and is of the seven, and is going to perdition.

The prophecy of Daniel 4 shows that Nebuchadnezzar is on earth at this time. The sixth king, {the one who is,} is Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar is also the eighth king who is from or of the seven.

Nebuchadnezzar is Lucifer, the very son of Jesus Christ.

Isa 14:4  that you will take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say: “How the oppressor has ceased, The golden city ceased!

Isa 14:12  “How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations!

Summary

The scarlet beast of Rev. 17 is end time Babylon. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the whore sits. This is the whole world. There are seven kings: the sixth and the eighth are Nebuchadnezzar. The ten horns are ten nations who unite with the beast to fight Christ; they also destroy the great whore.