The Empire of the Last days

Few people know, but the Bible has detailed the exact number of world empires; since inception.
There has been much speculation as to who is this last world empire and who will head it up. The prophecies of Daniel 2, 7 and Revelation 13; written more than 600 years apart from each other, provides details concerning a kingdom that would be in place before "The Son of Man" would return to bring in an everlasting kingdom. It is no coincidence that this was initially prophesied more than 500 years before Christ was even born. As with all things in prophecy, visions are given and the keys for interpretation are clearly stated by both the prophet Daniel as well as John the Apostle.

There is much speculation amongst Christians regarding the kingdom of the Antichrist. We have already seen in the Tribulation, the antichrist will confirm a treaty with Israel and its neighbours for a period of 7 years.
The question all ask, is "Which nation or empire does he represent ?". Before we can understand his origin and command base; we have to travel through two prophetic books; namely Daniel and Revelation. We begin a brief explanation of these prophetic books although we present a detailed accounts of these scriptures for those we eagerly wish to study the prophetic depths of the scriptures and how they relate to one another.

Before we even start, it is necessary to understand the language of the visions. In all these visions, animals or beasts are used to describe kingdoms from Daniel's time that would persecute Israel, right up to the kingdom of the end of the current age. The interpretation was given in the vision as to what the animals are, what the horns represent as well as many other finer details. Having the keys disclosed in these prophecies, there should be no reason why people should debate this final empire of the antichrist.

Daniel was a Jewish prophet that was taken captive with the fall of Judea in 605bc. King Nebecudnezzar; was the king of Babylon, which was a mighty empire to the north of Israel. God had previously prophesied against Israel saying that as a result of their constant disobedience; he would bring the armies of the north against Israel. In 605bc; the northern kingdom of Israel was defeated and nearly 20 years later; King Nebecudnezzar soldiers returned to the southern kingdom of Judea and laid the land to waste taking all the temple treasures and Jewish nobles back to Babylon as slaves. Daniel; due to his station; was assigned to serve in the kings council amongst soothsayers; witchcraft and astrologers. It was here, in captivity, that Daniel rose to prominence as a person God would use to demonstrate His power to the world.

Daniel, chapter 2 details a vision of 4 world empires that would rise to power out of the earth and would dominate and persecute the land of Israel. King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon received a vision of a statue that he could not understand. Daniel, a Jew taken captive into Babylon and who served in the kings advisory courts, was the only person in the kings council that could detail the kings dream and give its meaning. Daniel then described the statue to the king with the following 5 elements or parts:

1. The head was made of Gold.

   2. The chest and arms were made of silver.

   3. The belly and thighs was made of bronze.

   4. The legs were made of iron.

   5. The feet were a combination of iron and clay.

Once Daniel described the statue; he went on to explain to the king that a huge rock; of supernatural origin; came out of the heavens and smashed the statue into oblivion. Of course; the king must have been shocked on hearing the exact vision that he had seen; but imagine the surprise when Daniel started to give its interpretation.

Daniel went on to explain to the king that each part of the statue represented a mighty empire that would dominate the inhabitable world of its day. Daniel identified Babylon; under the reign of King Nebecudnezzar; as being the 1st of the 4 world empires to come (Daniel 2:38).

The chest and arms would represents a kingdom that would rise to take Babylon's place (verse 39). History reveals that it was the Medo-Persian empire conquered Babylon and as per the scriptures was inferior to Babylon. The Medo-Persians used silver as their medium of exchange. This was the second of the five elements in the vision.

The belly and thighs of bronze would represent a mighty empire that would conquer the 2nd kingdom. Historically it was the Grecian empire, under king Alexander the Great that rose to world-wide prominence after the Medo-Persian empire. By now, we know that there it is no prophetic co-incidence that these armies wore bronze plates as their shields and armour.

The 4th kingdom, the legs of iron as per the statue, is described by Daniel as the most powerful of all empires. Historically it was the Roman Empire that emerged as the largest empire the world has ever known. And we all know, that under Roman colonization, no country could prevail against her for more than 500 years.

Daniel went on to explain that the feet of iron and clay would be the 4th world Empire that is revived shortly before God establishes an eternal kingdom.

Finally Daniel tells us that the rock the shatters the statue into oblivion, is the kingdom of God. God's kingdom will be established in the time-frame when the 4th world empire is revived. Clearly, according to this prophecy, the old Roman Empire has to start a revival by the individual nations establishing treaties and alliances with one another. It is at the time that this happens; this is when God is going to shatter all human kingdoms into extinction and set-up His eternal kingdom.

Almost 60 years after the vision of Daniel 2, Daniel once again had a vision of 4 World Empires or kingdoms that would rule the world. This time the kingdoms were given in the form of beasts (animals) and Daniel says that each one of these animals or beasts represent 4 Empires or kingdoms. (Verse 15-18). Just like the feet of iron and clay in Daniel 2 had 10 toes; in this vision, the final kingdom was represented as being a beast with 10 horns that represented nations.

The first animal was described like a lion which once again relates to the kingdom of Babylon. Just like the lion is king of the jungle; so was King Nebecudnezzar the king of Babylon. It is also interesting to note that the entry to the city of Babylon was guarded by statues of lions.

The next animal was described as a bear that was leaning on its one side with 3 ribs in its mouth. Once again, this has prophetic elements that portrays the kingdom of Media-Persia; the same kingdom that conquered the Babylonian empire in +/- 539bc. This kingdom was inferior to the Babylonian kingdom.

And of course there is no denying the correlation of the next animal to the prophecies of Daniel 2. This beast was described as that of a "leopard with 4 wings". Prophetically it was the Grecian empire that divided into 4 separate nations at the death of King Alexander the Great, the leader of the Grecian Empire.

We can see that although there are prophetic details given of the first 3 animals allowing us to once again synchronizes them with the vision of Daniel 2; Daniel's whole focus is now on the 4th or last beast. We already know from the previous vision that before their will be an eternal kingdom set-up on the earth, there would be a revival of the old Roman empire. The details of the 4th beast; once again provides us with the details to show just how the revival of the Roman empire relates to end time events.

Daniel tells us that this 4th beast would be terrifying. He would have 10 horns on his head; each of these horns representing leaders or nations. A new leader "horn" will emerge out of the empires head and will quickly overthrow 3 rulers in its empire; this bringing the remaining nations to 7. It also implies that a new ruler emerges on the scene and is not one of the initial seven rulers.
This ruler is later identified as the antichrist; as he performs the following activities during his brief reign:

He will blaspheme and defy God.

He will change Jewish laws and festivities.
He will control the Jews and their kingdom for 3 1/2 years. (verse 25)

We have already learnt from Daniel 9's vision of the Seventy Sevens, that it is the Antichrist who establishes a treaty with Israel and its neighbours and after 3 1/2 years breaks the treaty. Interestingly enough, according to Daniel 7, this ruler that emerges governs for the same period - 3 1/2 years. ... this shows just how the revival of the Roman empire once again relates to the antichrists domain.

Now we turn to the book of Revelation and see what it has to say about the last world empire before God sets up an eternal kingdom.

Seem familiar. Did you notice that this is the same description of the last world empire that would govern the earth; that Daniel had?

We see immediately the relationship to Daniel 7. In Daniel 7:16-20, Daniel stated that the beast-"empire" initially had 10 horns- "rulers", but then a new ruler emerged and destroyed 3 horns "rulers". This illustrates once again the natural confirmation between prophecies. Just as Daniel was to be read literally, so this illustrates that the Beast that is mentioned in Revelation 13 is also a literal world kingdom.

There is no doubt that Daniel, the prophet; and John the apostle are talking about the same kingdom. However; the book of Revelation provides staggering information that shows that this is indeed the revival of the Roman empire, although, slightly different from its predecessor. On more than 2 occasions; the book of Revelation shows us that the head of the empire; is Rome itself.

From a brief introduction to these three visions we have discussed, we see that according to Daniel, the Roman Empire would be revived and will have 10 rulers governing it. It is during the time of this revival that the Antichrist emerges on the world scene and he removes three of the rulers; prophetically referred to as "horns".

Revelation 13 reveals more details concerning the revival/revision of the Roman Empire and its relationship to the antichrist.

Now although we believe that the revival of the Roman Empire is closely associated with the development of the European Union, the European Union is not necessarily the final form of this end time kingdom. There are many other factors to consider including how the U.S.A. relates to this prophecy; especially as they emerged out of England; a country that was previously part of the old Roman Empire ... and of course there are many other possibilities.

However; it is exciting; that the individual nations of the old Roman empire are establishing many treaties and alliances with one another just like the prophecies had said they would more than 2 600 years ago. They are also establishing one parliament and are currently establishing their own satellite monitoring systems and a European Defence force.

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FINAL INTRODUCTORY SESSION - An Illustration of how end time Events relate to one another

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