Today’s episode discusses Biblical predictions of political world empires, beginning with the time of the prophet Daniel and ending at the return of Jesus Christ. This interpretation is of necessity a little subjective and speculative. I don’t claim to know all the answers or that “God told me”: He didn’t. Some things are, however made clear in the pages of Scripture.
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A PROCESSION OF WORLD EMPIRES. Several Scripture passages concerning end times speak of a final empire which will dominate the world immediately before the return of Jesus Christ. The book of Daniel contains key passages in this regard as does Revelation. Revelation crystalizes and brings together material found earlier in the Bible, so that it’s been called the “Grand Central Station” of Bible prophecy.
Daniel chapter 2 speaks of successive world empires in chronological order, beginning with the one in place in Daniel’s day. Significantly, the Babylonian empire and its king are almost spoken of in Daniel’s book as one: a key to understanding some Revelation passages about the final world empire. Empires outlined in chapter 2 therefore start with Nebuchadnezzar and Neo-Babylon. Next comes the Medo-Persian empire. The Greeks follow, then Rome, and finally a somewhat divided or fragmented version of the Roman empire. The latter will be around just before Messiah comes.
EMPIRES IGNORED? Some critics protest that the Biblical view of the world is far too small and narrow, and the times and events it covers do not take into account the rest of history or the world at large. Ancient China had an empire; Japan claimed to have an empire, as did African kings and some in the Americas’: why aren’t they included in the Bible?
Most fundamentally God can see and summarize world history just any way He wants to see it: He doesn’t have to see it our way at all. While the whole world is ultimately His and HIs son died for everyone, God in Scripture is concerned with the powers which affect His chosen people and land – Israel, and Scripture largely plots the genetic line to Jesus Christ. It doesn’t even try to summarize the history of the whole world. Old Testament Scriptures were written initially and principally for a Jewish audience, and while all other nations are important to Him, it’s the Mediterranean and Western powers which have dominated and will continue to dominate. They are therefore most relevant to Bible prophecy.
To me one of the intriguing things to observe in the procession of world powers as covered in Daniel is that they begin in Mesopotamia and slowly but surely migrate Westwards. In our time the leader of the free world and the dominating power is the United States, which politically is about as far West as you can get.
THE FUTURE OF AMERICA. At this point I would like to say that while I am very happy that the United States currently has the leadership of Donald Trump and his administration, he’s only going to be president for a few years. Once the anti-West leftists gain power again – however far in the future that may be – America will continue its decline into globalism and self-destruction. Carl Marx prescribed the overthrow of the political and social order, and his followers of today want to continue that goal. The weakness and chaos they create will pave the way for a true tyrant who they will love and admire: a God hater, a Jew hater and a Christian hater.
HISTORY IS MADE OF METAL AND CLAY. The successive empires described in Daniel chapter two are represented collectively as a huge statue or idol in the shape of a man. The ruler of the time, Nebuchadnezzar, was its head of gold. Babylon’s successor – Persia – is represented by a chest and arms made of silver. The belly and thighs, speaking of ancient Greece – epitomised by Alexander – are made of bronze. The legs consist of iron, and the feet and toes are made of a mixture of iron and clay. Therefore the “timeline” considered in the prophecy begins with the head and works its way down to the feet and toes. Whoever lives in the time of the world symbolized by feet and toes will be living at the end of human rule over the earth.
COMPARING VALUES OF THE METALS. Why the descending change in the makeup of the idol? Daniel speaks of successive empires as being “inferior” to the first. As the idol’s timeline progresses downwards the value of its makeup representing each empire decreases. This doesn’t speak of physical power lessening, since iron is a much harder metal than gold, and there’s certainly no less aggression or success spoken of when describing the kingdom of iron in this or any other prophecy. Instead this change speaks of a loss of purity or integrity of power. Nebuchadnezzar was fully in charge of every corner of his empire. He didn’t have to have the approval of a congress or boards or committees, and he didn’t have to bow to a phalanx of judges before he could even hope to get something done. He had ultimate and immediate power over every human life in his kingdom. Speaking to king Belshazzar at a later time, Daniel says:
“Your Majesty, the Most High God gave your father Nebuchadnezzar sovereignty and greatness and glory and splendor. Because of the high position he gave him, all the nations and peoples of every language dreaded and feared him. Those the king wanted to put to death, he put to death; those he wanted to spare, he spared; those he wanted to promote, he promoted; and those he wanted to humble, he humbled” (Daniel 5:18-19).
THE CLAY OF DEMOCRACY. The attempted mingling of iron and clay in the prophecy of Daniel chapter 2 relates partially to a forced mingling of nations and ethnicities which cannot be conducive to political or social integrity or cohesion. I’ll be writing more about that next time. Here we can consider the weakness of an alleged “democracy” which cannot work because of indecision, confusion and disagreement.. In Europe governments are often not able to plot a clear path or do the best for their nations (even if they know how to) because they have numerous political parties and no ruler with decision-making authority. Leaders have to regularly and normally make compromises or back down in order to stay in power for just a little while.
Perhaps we could put this weakness of iron and clay in the final kingdom down to what is called “democracy”. In Democracy political correctness and corruption reign and not integrity or decisiveness, which are hugely out of style. It seems obvious to me that we are living in the time of the feet and toes of iron and clay. There’s no clear leader and no purity of government. Donald Trump has been railed upon by his enemies partly because he dared to have clear policies and a decisive attitude.
AN OPEN DOOR. The progenitor of the European Union, the “Common Market” was intentionally designed by its founders to replace national sovereignty, and perhaps the weakening of national governments by fragmentation was designed in order to pave the way for a European parliament which could override the will of the people. People have developed a contempt for strong leadership in their own nations but now dominance is being imposed on them from higher up, where they cannot reach, to achieve the really big goals globalists dream of. The door is opening for the last world emperor, while the imagery of iron and clay remains very relevant.
DANIEL CHAPTER SEVEN. In similarity to Daniel chapter two Daniel chapter seven speaks of four world empires predicted to exist from Daniel’s time to the coming of the Messiah’s reign. They are described as “beasts” and are clearly in succession because the fourth will rule the entire world (Daniel 7:23). The other three would continue to exist but no longer be dominant (verse 12). Nations which comprised former empires such as Iran (Persia) and Greece continue to this day but no longer have dominance.
The leading question then is just which kingdom, nations or powers does the iron of chapter two and the fourth beast of chapter seven speak of? It would be too easy to conclude there’s something wrong with these two prophecies by saying that the Roman empire ended centuries ago and the world moved on, but did it? We no longer have rule from the city of Rome or by a Caesar, but we have a culture and a fragmented “empire” which is the afterglow of Rome, occupies the same territory but has expanded, and expresses the genetic descendants of Rome.
HOW ROME CONTINUED. Rome indeed had two “legs” as foretold in Daniel’s prophecy from almost six centuries before Christ. The Byzantine empire continued as the eastern half of Rome until the twelfth century, and the Western half was greatly influenced or even governed from Rome by the “Holy Roman Empire” and the Catholic Church. Here’s that Westerly migration again.
The HRE officially disbanded in 1806 but the culture of the HRE and of Rome itself remains in many distinctive ways, and the nations descended from Rome continue to dominate the world. The European Union has been called by some prophetic commentators as “The Revived Roman Empire”. In a way they are right, but Rome really never needed “reviving” – its zeitgeist lives on. Is not white Europe – made up of nations which descended from Rome – being condemned for conquering, dominating and dictating to the world all the way down to the present time? Daniel’s prophecy of the fourth empire in chapter two shows the iron “legs” of history continuing on down the idol towards the feet until they become iron and clay: not really Rome but certainly Rome’s “offspring” or remnants. Rome lives on in the West.
The prophecy “experts” of today are missing something else: the United States was born out of Europe and carried on or extended its culture and its power to dominate the world. That’s not to say that the United States or the EU is the final world empire per se. This entity will exist for only the last few years of human rule, according to Revelation and Daniel chapter 7. The political entities we see now contain the material, the potential and the embryo of the last world empire.
THE MAGNIFICENT TEN. In Daniel chapter seven we see that the final world empire will be associated with a political leadership contingent of ten. We see the same prediction in the book of Revelation. The ten don’t have ultimate command, because one will rise to power with them who will give them their authority and rule over them all- a man we call “the Antichrist”. They are all referred to as “horns” in Revelation. Horns when speaking of positions of power in the Bible normally speak of “kings” or “leaders”. They are also represented by the toes of the image in the prophecy of Daniel chapter two. Their advent will be the culmination of over two thousand years of world domination.
INSIGHT FROM REVELATION. Prophecies speaking of the Beast in Revelation are focusing on a final “beast” out of all the “beasts” of human history. This beast symbolizes both a man and an empire or kingdom. It also symbolises the entirety of human rule. The beast of Revelation is all of these, and the man is just the epitome or ultimate expression of the empire and of Satan’s influence.
We see the principle of Satan’s power over the affairs of humanity in the story of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness. Here Satan offers to give Jesus all the kingdoms of the world if he will only worship him. Jesus of course refuses but does not argue with the fact that the kingdoms somehow belong to Satan. This principle is related to the vision John has of Mystery Babylon in Revelation chapter 17. Here the Harlot is seen to be “riding” on the beast of human history.
THE FINAL WORLD EMPIRE. I’ll quote a couple of lengthy relevant passages here in order to summarize the final world empire according to Scripture.
“The dragon stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on its horns, and on each head a blasphemous name…. The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise its authority for forty-two months” (Revelation 13:1 and 5).
“This calls for a mind with wisdom: the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated they are also seven kings, five of whom have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come, and when he does come he must remain only a little while. As for the beast that was and is not, it is an eighth but it belongs to the seven, and it goes to destruction. And the ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have not yet received royal power, but they are to receive authority as kings for one hour, together with the beast. These are of one mind, and they hand over their power and authority to the beast. They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful” (Revelation 17:7-14)
HEADS, HORNS AND WHORES. Many have wrestled with these passages, trying to put them into a clear, coherent framework, and it isn’t easy. However, we can glean a few important facts from them. The word translated “kings” can also mean “kingdom”, so when the angel speaks of seven “kings” he may be considering both kingdoms and the leaders who epitomised each one of them. Antichrist, of course, will epitomise the final kingdom. The horns speak of ten individual rulers who gain power at the same time and reign along with him, under his command (Revelation 17:12 and Daniel 7:24).
The number seven is a recurring number in Revelation and has several different meanings here. The “seven hills” probably refer to the seven hills of Rome, spoken of in old history books, as Rome was the ruling empire in John’s day. But the most important reference to “seven” for our study is that the seven heads of the beast likely represent the seven most significant empires of world history beginning in Mesopotamia. The four of Daniel’s book start their countdown from the time of Nebuchadnezzar.
Satan has been involved in all human empires and he will be at the heart of the Antichrist and the final empire. From the seventh empire of world history, which will also be the empire of iron and clay and which I believe we are living in now, will come Antichrist and ten rulers who he will designate authority to (Revelation 17:12). This will then be the eighth and final human kingdom or empire on the earth (17:11). It will last only for three and a half years (Revelation13:5 and Daniel 7:25) before the coming of Christ who will put an end to them all (Daniel 2: 44-45 and Daniel 7:26-27).
THANK YOU! Thank you for reading. The subject of the next part of my series will follow on from this one, so be sure to come back!
Fuel for Faith, Food for Thought 