Revelation 17:10
And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.
Revelation 17:10 belongs to the connected prophecy running through Revelation 17:1-18. That prophecy belongs in turn to the larger series of Revelation 12 to 18, which is being fulfilled in the time when the last message of warning is to go to all. It stands just before the very last call to the churches recorded in chapter 18, which is now to be given. It comes just before the events pictured in chapter 19, when the beast and the false prophet are taken and cast into a lake of fire, the dragon is bound in the bottomless pit for a thousand years, the wicked are resurrected, Satan and all the wicked are finally destroyed, and Christ triumphs and reigns on this earth.
In the symbolism of the chapter, the woman representing Babylon is a symbol of a church, and a vile woman represents an apostate church. The name Babylon comes from Babel and signifies confusion, and it is applied to various forms of false or apostate religion. The verse is part of God's warning to His people of the perils before them in the last days. It shows things which will be in the last days, including a people working counter to God and a deception that gathers its followers and leaves a company deceived.