Daniel's Endtime Kingdoms

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FOR THE TRUTH

THE FIVE ENDTIME KINGDOMS OF THE WORLD
BEFORE JESUS’ RETURN.
Part II of the study of Daniel’s Vision in chapter 7.

We have already asked that you be open to a different explanation from the very frequently presented idea that the ‘Monsters’ of Daniel 7 are the same as the powerful kingdoms depicted in chapter 2. It seems they are very different.
One point is that they were all appeared to Daniel as ‘living’ beasts/kingdoms existing at the same time, not following on after each other, as the kingdoms of chapter 2 did.
We would also like to emphasise that we see these four ‘Beasts’ more as ‘Power Blocks’ whose influence is wider in a sense than any one geographical area. To an extent they over-lap as well, but in total they cover the whole world.

A. The first, the LION with EAGLES WINGS, verse 4. To this writer this could well be a picture of the British Commonwealth of nations, (which admittedly had early associations with Europe, especially Germany). From approximately 1688 it became a world power and its symbol was that of a lion, (possibly copying and associating with the Biblical emblem of the Lion.) Even today, though the relationship has changed in the last 50 years, they still see themselves as a group of nations. Initially this was through colonisation, which today is looked on very negatively on the whole, yet these nations have enjoyed God’s blessings in many ways. From it came one other large English speaking nation, which of course did become independent as the great nation of the United States of America, in 1776 -1782 and this is depicted in the Eagles wings which were ‘torn off’. This nation too, adopted the emblem of former powers, and still uses the Eagle as its symbol.
The Lion “was lifted from the ground so that it stood on two feet like a man, and the heart of a man was given to it”. It is significant, too that the English language has become almost universally accepted for expressions that always come ultimately from the heart. So they have become centres of Earthly wisdom.

But note - GOD over-rules for good, and the spread of the Gospel has been very much linked to these two powers, (yes, perhaps not always wisely) but for which we Praise God as part of HIS over-all Plan for blessings on the Earth.

B. The second, like a BEAR, verse 5. There is only one nation with the Bear as it’s national symbol, and that is the Former Soviet Union, or ‘Communist Russia’.
No-one visiting the Olympic games in Moscow would doubt that! The extra description however is sad and chilling, “it was raised up on one of its sides, and it had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. It was told, ‘Getup and eat your fill of flesh!’ “ It would seem we have lived to understand that -that picture has been true of the U.S.S.R. which cruelly engulfed the neighbouring smaller nations such as Romania, Poland, Ukraine and others and killed thousands of its own citizens, including hundreds of Christians and Jews as well. However it was confined to the west and not able geographically to spread further into Asia. Yet the influence of Communism had worldwide repercussions especially in some parts of Africa, in Cuba, and Vietnam and North Korea. The so-called ‘cold war’ implicated Europe and U.S.A. also. It still is a world power of Physical Cruelty.

Yet God over-rules for good and blessing in the most awful circumstances and even the strengthening of Believers, as well as encouraging many Jews to make ‘aliya’ (immigration) to Israel through this regime.

C. The third one looked like a LEOPARD, Verse 6. “One that looked like a Leopard, (similar to a black panther). And on its back it had four wings like those of a bird. This beast had four heads, and it was given authority to rule.” This could well be what we call ‘the third world’; (even the Bible called it that!) The leopard frequents these nations. It has many cubs and is secretive and able to hide well. They live in a male dominated society and are very strong, (can carry its own weight up a tree). They are very resilient to bad conditions, and if foiled in a hunt can go hungry for days. All other animals are wary of them, even lions. The ‘third world’ wields enormous influence in the world today, if not actual rulership. There are four very great areas of the world, representing the four heads and four wings. These are:

1, AFRICA, the world’s largest continent!
2, ‘ARABIA’, or even more possible ‘EURABIA’ being a recent amalgamation of Europe with the ‘Mediterrainian’ countries. It could include all the Muslim nations of the Middle East, Syria, Iraq, Iran, the Gulf Sates, Yemen and Saudi Arabia - some 22 nations joined in the ’Arab League’.
3, ASIA, especially China and Japan, Philippines & Indonesia including most of the indigenous people of the South East Asian and some Pacific nations.
[Note: India, Pakistan, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia & New Zealand etc, are in the ‘Lion’ Kingdom.] And finally,
4, SOUTH AMERICA, which is a vast, rich area, like the others.

Because of these riches of minerals, diamonds, gold and especially oil, they certainly have vast power and influence in the world. If one looks at the phrase ‘authority to rule’ there have been very influential leaders from these countries, and the General Secretaries of the U.N.O. and World Trade Organisation are among them.
Undoubtedly the Muslim influence will be felt more as time goes on, and ‘indigenous people’ are a force to be considered by many Governments, not to mention the huge, crying needs of people of the ‘third world’, brought about by wars and famine and other disasters.
Political Influence is their forte.

Yet, again we can see the grace of God being evidenced by the strong stand for the Bible by leaders in these nations, and they are now in the forefront of taking the Gospel to the rest of the world. Especially in Asia, Christians have suffered greatly, yet they have an impact that many people do not see.
NOTE: together these 7 power blocks encompass the whole world, the 7 ‘heads’?

THE FOURTH MONSTER DANIEL SAW, ENCOMPASSES ALL THE OTHERS.
Sadly it includes all the worst features of all the other three ‘monsters’. “There before me was a fourth Beast –terrifying and frightening and very powerful. It had large iron teeth; it crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left. It was different from all the former beasts and it had 10 horns.” Every Bible Teacher agrees that this is the same Beast as John the beloved saw and described in Revelation 13, with the effects of its control of the world. All agree that this Monster is an End Time creature, part of the scenario of events right up to the Coming on the clouds of the Son of Man, as explained in Daniel 7: 13.
Revelation 13:2 paints the picture; “the Beast that I saw was like a leopard, but with feet like those of a bear and a mouth”, (English speaking?) “like the mouth of a lion.” This surely is the same monster, which can further be identified by the added descriptions. “The fourth beast…was different from all the former beasts, and it had 10 horns.”

These are all End Time Powers. [We still suggest that this vision of Daniel’s, and his further explanations do not match the ‘kingdoms’ that Nebuchadnezzer saw, and those kingdoms do not match the world powers that Daniel saw.] The ‘beasts’ are different in that they exist as living creatures in these ‘Last Days’ some 2000 years later than the kingdoms of Daniel 2, which no longer exist. However because they are depicted in a serious way, we need to have some understanding of them.

But first we must not miss the glorious Heavenly scene that unfolded before Daniel!
“As I looked, thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of days took His seat.
His clothing was as while as snow; the hair of His head was white like wool.
His throne was flaming with fire, and its wheels were all ablaze.
A river of fire was flowing, coming out before Him.
Thousands upon thousands attended Him;
ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him.
The court was seated and the Books were opened.”

The Beasts are all in existence at the Coming of the Son of Man.
Daniel makes this clear in verses 11, ‘Then I continued to watch because of the boastful words the [1 unique 11^th horn] “was speaking. I kept looking until the [4th] beast was slain and its body destroyed and thrown into the blazing fire. The other beasts had been stripped of their authority but were allowed to live for a period of time.”

The very next verse goes on to describe what we would call the ‘Second Coming of Yeshua/ Jesus’. It says, “In my vision I looked and there before me was One like a Son of Man, coming with the clouds of Heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into His Presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshipped Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and His Kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.” God’s ‘Fifth’ Kingdom!
When He comes, as other Scriptures tell us, He will rule with a sceptre of Iron, (Revelation 19: 15), where once He suffered and died under the ‘iron’ rule of Rome!

So it seems to emphasise that the first three ‘kingdoms’ are End Time ‘power blocks’, existing in the world right now. There is no doubt that they will give rise to an evil amalgamation of them all in the Fourth Beast as a world encompassing ‘kingdom’.

SO DOES THE FOURTH BEAST REPRESENT A ‘REVIVED ROMAN EMPIRE’?
So many Bible teachers believe this to be true. A study about this needs to be addressed in more details given about the ‘Fourth Beast’. We are reluctant to get into deep discussion of this concept, especially focusing as it does on Europe, (the E.U.) as the fulfillment. We find it hard to justify the revival of the Roman Empire being Europe, and fulfilling all the prophecies of ‘the fourth Beast’, from Scripture.

Therefore we would suggest Europe might not be ‘Rome’ as we consider these facts.
a. All the kingdoms of Daniel chapter 2 were totally destroyed and ceased to exist as kingdoms. “The wind swept them away without leaving a trace.” Daniel 2: 35.

b. The Beasts of Daniel 7 all have worldwide influence which has only been evidenced in the last 4 hundred years. Up until the 17th century, much of the world had not been ‘discovered’ let alone bonded together as the 3 Beast kingdoms have, nor has their influence been exercised until these last few centuries.

c. We need to realise that God does not need to repeat history. We are the ones who continually repeat the mistakes of history! [For instance the 2 godly witnesses of Revelation 11 are not going to be re-incarnations of Elijah or Moses. The Bible does not teach re-incarnation. God will prepare the men who will die, (not angels), that He has for this role and perhaps He is doing this right now.]

d. The fourth beast will be quite different from any previous ‘kingdom’, as Daniel said. However we have the added information of the book of Revelation so that we know the False-messiah/ Anti-christ will be one with his beastly ‘kingdom’. While there have been many ‘anti-christs’ as John said in his letter, the End-time False Messiah will be a completely independent human being taken into the role as he submits to Satan. This does not mean that there has not been a ‘type’ of the false Messiah, as Antiochus Epiphanies clearly was, but the ‘Fourth Beast World Kingdom’ which he will preside over, will be totally different in its scope and organisation and power. It will far exceed what the Roman Empire was!

e. The countries of Europe have had such a chequered history – but for a long time they were a loosely affiliated group of ethnic and geographical little kingdoms and states. Historically there were two attempts to restore the ‘Roman Empire’ in a political form in the years: 742-814 by Charlmagne, and Napoleon too in the 18th C.

f. After W.W.I Europe was divided and controlled by others, so that God needed to take the time for them to start to come together since the threat of the ‘Bear’ and other factors -especially economic needs -forced them to start joining together, ready for the ‘one world beast power’. The grouping has grown to 25, so that now ‘prophets’ are looking at a sub-alliance of 10 of them in a military agreement, the W.E.U. =’Western E.U.’ but it does not resemble the Roman power.
[We have to be careful not to make the Bible fit events, but events fulfill Scripture.]

g. Europe does not (yet) wield worldwide power, (though there are some liaisons with Mediterranean nations, called ‘Eurabia’.) Other areas of the world such as Africa now have their own alliances, (the African Union) and South East Asia and so on…

h. At present even, and into the future the one thing which will be used by Satan to bring the world together under his chosen False-messiah will be religion- a homogenous, humanistic, One- world religious form. At present most of the world would not accept European control, (even though ‘Christianity’ is not included in their Constitution). This is true of ‘the Muslim’ world’, therefore the power of Islam will need to be broken before the One World Government can emerge to take control. Islam’s goal is to take over the world, but the Anti-christ does not acknowledge “the gods (plural) of his fathers…” and as “he will exalt and magnify himself above every [previous] god…” this could indicate that he will not be from a monotheistic back-ground. (11:37.)

The Caesar’s of Rome did also acknowledge the ancient ‘Roman’ gods that were virtually the same as the Greek gods, but called by different names. The end-time religion will not be a ‘one-world church’ (e.g. like the Roman Catholic or other Orthodox churches), but an amalgamation of many religions- ‘Humanism’. It will include Animism, Buddhism, many forms of liberal Christianity, Hinduism, a weakened Islam, etc), religions that in the end have all been ‘set up’ by Satan –who desperately wants the whole world to worship him!

A STUDY OF THE HORNS DESCRIBED IN DANIEL 7 & REVELATION 13 & 17.
Daniel 7: 7 - 8. “After that, in my vision at night I looked, and there before me was a fourth beast –terrifying and frightening and very powerful. It had large iron teeth; it devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left. It was DIFFERENT from all the former beasts, and it had ten horns.
While I was thinking about the horns, there before me, was another horn, a little one, which came up among them; and three of the first horns were uprooted before it. This horn had eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth that spoke boastfully.”

Verse 11. “Then I continued to look because of the boastful words the horn was speaking.”
Verse 16 –17, “I approached one of those standing there and asked him the meaning of all this. So he told me and gave me the interpretation of these things: the four great beasts are four ‘kingdoms’ that will rise from the Earth.

Verse 19 –26. “Then I wanted to know the true meaning of the Fourth Beast, which was DIFFERENT from all the others and most terrifying, with its iron teeth and bronze claws –the beast that crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot what was left. I also wanted to know about the ten horns on its head and about the other horn that came up, before which tree of them fell – the horn that looked more imposing than the others and that had eyes and a mouth that spoke boastfully. As I watched, this horn was waging war against the Saints and defeating them, until… He gave me this explanation: the Fourth Beast is a kingdom that will appear on Earth. It will be DIFFERENT from all the other kingdoms and it will devour the whole Earth, trampling it down and crushing it.

The ten horns are ten kings who will come from [or be part of] this kingdom. After them another king will arise, DIFFERENT from the earlier ones; he will subdue three kings. He will speak against the Most High and oppress His Saints and try to change the set times and laws. The Saints will be handed over to him for time, times and half a time. But the Court will sit, and his power will be completely destroyed for ever.”

The description in Revelation, given by the angel to John in chapters 13 & 17 & 18.
“And I saw a Beast coming out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on his horns and on each horn a blasphemous name.
The Beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The Dragon [Satan] gave the Beast his power and his throne and great authority.
Verse 5, “The Beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise his authority for forty-two months. He opened his mouth to blaspheme God and to slander His Name and His Dwelling Place and those who live in Heaven.
He was given power to make war against the Saints and to conquer them.
And he was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. All inhabitants of the Earth will worship the Beast – all whose names have not been written in the Book of Life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world.” Do you see the words ‘every’ and ‘all’ ? World Power!

A POSSIBLE EXPLANATION OF THE 10 HORNS ON THE ENDTIME BEAST.
They surely need to represent the whole world?
It seems very unlikely that one, even powerful nation or ‘kingdom’ from only one part of the world like Europe, could have total world control. America has been seen to be the world’s most powerful nation, yet at the beginning of this 21^st century, it was clearly shown that a large part of the world was not only not supportive, but in fact actually against the proposed activities. This is why 10 powerful world ‘kings’ will be needed to give worldwide power to the Beast to control the world –globally!
To bring all ethnic groups together as one; all developed nations together with ‘undeveloped', all religiously powerful bocks such as Islam and Christianity, is also impossible at present.

Therefore the ‘powers that be’ are looking for ways to unite the world.
We could go into much detail here about the various efforts that have been made, especially in the last century, to unite the world.

1. First there was ‘The League of Nations’ which after its perceived failure to prevent W.W.II, was re-formed as the ‘United Nations’ but recent events have shown that they are not united!

2. However there are many other sub-blocks forming, some politically, such as the E.U., for Europe, the A.U. for Africa, the ‘Gulf States’ and more. Some are based on religion, such as the 56 nations in the ‘Organisation of Islamic Conference’, (O.I.C.) The Pope would like to see more agreement among the millions in the Orthodox Christian communities, Russian, Greek, Armenian, and Roman Catholic. Some are ethnically grouped, such as the 22 nations of the ‘Arab League’. Many are grouped by trade links. Two are; the ‘World Trade Centre’, and OPEC.

3. But the strongest ties that will enable the Fourth Beast to wield control over the entire world are Financial. The I.M.F. (International Monetary Fund) is well known, and also the G8 so-called ‘Industrial nations’ and the Multinational Investment Companies and other grouping hold much power. The ‘G20” which was formed in Berlin in 1999 and which Germany currently holds the Presidency of, has agreed to investigate the possibility of having a one world currency in the near future. Therefore we suggest that the ten horns, could well be TEN POWER BLOCKS. Even in 1941 there was a suggestion that the world should be divided into this number! See the map at this site: http://penncrier.com/penncrier/penwompt.html

POSSIBLE 10 POWER BLOCKS AS WE SEE IT. [We only suggest these as possible!]
Africa, Arabia, Europe, Russia/FSU, North America, South America, China, India, Sth Asia (Japan/Korea, etc), Oceania, (all the Pacific Island states, Australia, N.Z. etc.)

DANIEL’S QUESTIONS AND ANGELIC ANSWERS NEED TO BE LOOKED AT.
Daniel’s greatest concern was God’s Kingdom and God’s People.
This is the reason he was so anxious to understand the terrible cruelty he saw the fourth Beast inflicting. We read from Daniel 7: 19, “Then I wanted to know the true meaning of the fourth beast, which was different from all the others, and most terrifying, with its iron teeth and bronze claws – the beast that crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left. I also wanted to know about the ten horns on its head and about the other horn that came up, before which three of them fell – the horn that looked more imposing than the others and that had eyes and a mouth that spoke boastfully.

“As I watched this horn was waging war against the saints and defeating them, until the Ancient of Days came and pronounced judgement in favour of the saints of the Most High, and the time came when THEY possessed The Kingdom! ‘He gave me this explanation: ‘the fourth Beast is a fourth kingdom that will appear on the Earth. It will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the WHOLE Earth, trampling it down and crushing it.

“The ten horns are ten kings who will come from this kingdom.” [We could read ‘are part of’ this kingdom, going by the clear description in Revelation 17: 12 that “the ten horns are ten kings… who for one hour will receive authority as kings along with the beast and will give their power and authority to the beast.” See this for yourself.] Back to Daniel 7: 24, “after them another king will arise, different from the earlier ones; he will subdue three kings. “He will speak against the Most High and oppress His saints and try to change the set times and the laws. The saints will be handed over to him for a time, times and half a time. [NOTE that – 3.5years, or 42 months.] “BUT the Court will sit and his power will be taken away and completely destroyed forever.”

It is important to allow Scripture to commentate on other Scriptures.
For this reason we complete the picture of the time of the Fourth Beast in Revelation chapter 13. This is because as we have said -in the final consideration the Beast’s kingdom is based on both a religious base and control of the world’s economies. So while the ‘Holy Roman Empire’ had some similarities, we believe they are only an illustration, and as such warns true believers of the danger of believing the lies that will cause most of the world to accept the Fourth Beast kingdom. Perhaps, too to remember the courage of those early believers who died rather than worship the Emperor. So the rest of this chapter tells of the False Prophet who uses his authority to force the worship of the ‘first’ Beast (described in this chapter) and other details of his evil powers. It concludes, “If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the Beast, for it is man’s number. His number is 666.” [His name too.]

He will be a representative of the basest of all mankind, who was originally created for good, on the sixth day of Creation. We see also the combination of the religious and commercial evils are personified as a prostituting, gaudy woman, called ‘Babylon’.
Chapter 17: 3, “The Angel carried me away in the spirit into a desert. There I saw a woman” [representing the world religious system] “Sitting on a scarlet Beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns.

[To avoid confusion and a large area of mystery of ‘the seven heads’ that we will not know fully about until nearer to the time of their emergence, we continue from verse 12.] “The ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but who for one hour will receive authority as kings, [rulers] along with the Beast. They have one purpose and will give their power and authority to the Beast.

Verse 16, “ The Beast and the ten horns you saw will hate the prostitute. [Religious system especially] “They will bring her to ruin and leave her naked; they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire. For GOD has put it into their hearts to accomplish HIS purpose by agreeing to give the Beast their power UNTIL God’s words are fulfilled. The woman you saw is the great City, that rules over the kings of the Earth.”

Finally in chapter 19 we have the end of the story of the Beast!
“Then I saw the Beast and the kings of the Earth and their armies gathered together to make war against the Rider of the white horse and His army. But the Beast was captured and with him the False Prophet … The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulphur.” We are not going to comment further but leave the Scriptures as we have presented them, to speak for themselves except to point out the very sad and evil fruit of mankind’s rebellion to God is total destruction!
But also we see something of the cost of being among those WHOSE NAMES ARE WRITTEN IN THE LAMB’S BOOK OF LIFE!
Why do you think God gave these solemn messages to Daniel and to John?

BUT HERE ARE THE BEST PARTS OF THE VISIONS WE CAN REJOICE IN!
The ‘pictures of the Fifth Kingdom – God’s Kingdom!
A. From Daniel chapter 2 – Nebuchadnezzer’s Statue Dream.
Verse 44; “In the time of those kings, the God of Heaven will set up a Kingdom that will never be destroyed, not will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. This is the meaning of the vision of the Rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands – a Rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces.”

God has done this over more than 2000 years, and we praise Him we can be part of that great Kingdom of Love and Light, “The Kingdom of His dear Son” who was pictured as the Rock. Please make sure you are part of that Kingdom though prayer, to God in the Name of Yeshua/ Jesus/ Isa to be your Saviour and King.

B. From Daniel chapter 7 – Daniel’s Vision!
Verse 18; “But the saints of the Most High will receive THE KINGDOM and will possess it for ever – yes, for ever and ever.”
And again in verse 21; “… the horn was waging war against the saints and defeating them, UNTIL the Ancient of Days came and pronounced judgement in favour of the saints of the Most High, and the time came when THEY possessed THE KINGDOM.
Finally verse 27 says, …Then the sovereignty, power and greatness of the kingdoms under the whole of Heaven will be handed over to the saints, the people of the Most High. His Kingdom will be an everlasting Kingdom and all rulers will worship and obey HIM!”

May we make three notes:
1. About the ‘saints’. We have used a small ‘s’ for saints as in our Bible. But those who have remained true to The Most High, the LORD our God, Father of our Messiah Yeshua/ Jesus / Isa Mesih are very special to Him! Certainly, many Gentile Christians will suffer torture and die under the cruel regime of the ‘Fourth Beast’, but also many faithful followers, included in God’s royal Family by faith in the death and resurrection of His Son as Saviour are ‘saints’. All those right now and in the centuries past are also among those ‘saints’ – simply by being the best they could in their time and in the places God placed them. Your obedient trust in God just where you are, in the full dedication of your days to His Kingdom, by your life, your prayers, your work are all noticed by God. He even takes note of those like us who “Feared the LORD and talked with each other,” sharing together as we are in this modern way about His Word. (See Malachi 3:16.)

2. We also believe that while ultimately –when Yeshua/ Jesus returns -at that time there will be no division or difference between Jewish ‘saints’ and true Gentile ‘saints’ from the entire world. But during the time of the Fourth Beast it uses the word ‘saints’ meaning non-Jews. Israel, (called ‘your people’ in Daniel 12) will be protected. [You will need to see the separate studies about ‘Israel’s Future’ and ‘The Fullness of the Gentiles’. Also to understand Daniel 11, to verse 35 is past.]

3. “THE Kingdom” will come on Earth when King Yeshua/ Jesus returns as we have written in our other articles, -a time of joyous wonder- but which can be an encouragement to consider now. We can be like ‘Jesus… Who for the JOY set before Him, endured the cross, scorning its shame sat down at the right hand of the Throne of God. Consider Him, Who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” Life is not easy, but one day we will be amazed at the ‘prizes’ of joyous blessings we will have as ‘saints’ in HIS Kingdom – the Kingdom of Love!

Again, we have shared these serious studies,
not to be ‘right’ in our interpretations, but simply to look carefully
at what God has placed in His Word
for our warning and encouragement!
We long that it will be that to you, to God’s glory!
If you would like to encourage us with a word,
we would like to hear from you!

[Again we recommend that you print these studies off if possible,
for your more careful examination, with your Bible.]

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