Building Plans for Satan’s Final Empire

Transcript

GRM 1056
10/30/2011
Building Plans for Satan's Final Empire
Daniel 2, 7, 9
Gil Rugh


These are awesome days in which we are living and I'm amazed as I look at what is going on in the world and I look at the Scripture. We don't want to interpret the Scripture through events that are going on, but we do want to interpret the events that are going on through the Scripture. And when we look at what God says is going to place in the days leading up to the return of Jesus Christ to earth to establish His kingdom, it is awesome and amazing to see what is taking place in the world today. I want to talk about some of those matters, we're going to focus particularly on what is going on in Europe and what we would call the Revived Roman Empire or the final phase, if you will, of what God says about the Roman Empire.

We've just finished Romans, so turn in your Bibles if you would to Romans 13. Peter wrote in his second letter in the third chapter that there would be mockers who would come in the last day and say, where is the promise of His coming? All things continue as they have been from the beginning. And then God says through Peter, when they say that, they are willfully ignorant. That's not been the case. And that's what people would say today. You know, things have been evolving, that's just been the way it has always been. It's not the way it has always been, nor is today the way it is always going to be. God is sovereignly moving His creation toward His appointed climax. It's one thing for the world to be indifferent or actively opposed, but it's important that we as believers be clear and ready and alert. Paul exhorts the Romans in Romans 13:11, do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep. Concern that perhaps the Roman church has become a little bit lax, a little bit dull, a little bit less than alert in their Christian faith. It is time for you to awaken from sleep, for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. Our ultimate salvation, the return of the Lord to bring to fruition and completion all He has promised. The night is almost gone, the day is near. If the Apostle Paul could write that under the inspiration of the Spirit 2,000 years ago, what does it mean for us today? The night is almost gone, the day is near. We are to live in light of the imminent return of Jesus Christ and it is to have an impact on our lives. They must be lives of godliness and lives of purity.

Let us lay aside the deeds of darkness, put on the armor of light. Behave properly as in the day. We may very soon step into the presence and glory of God, the fullness of the light of His presence. We have to live like that. Not in carousing, drunkenness, sexual promiscuity, strife, jealousy, sensuality. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, make no provision for the flesh and its lusts. Talking about future things and biblical prophecy and being reminded of the coming of the Lord is to have a purifying effect on our lives. How would you live if Jesus Christ were coming before lunch today? How would you live if this were the last day and He was going to come before the day was over? We are to live like that as God's people. We are children of the day and not of the night.

And I want to talk about some of the things that God says are going to take place in preparation for the return of Christ. Jesus told the Jews of His day that they were to be alert. When they saw certain things happening, they knew that the return of the Lord was near. By the same token, when we look at what God says is going to take place leading up to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ to earth to establish His kingdom, we see some of those things coming together. That makes us more ready and more alert for the return of Christ. We understand that the Bible teaches that Jesus Christ is going to return for the church, believers in Jesus Christ before a seven-year period that will climax with His return to earth to establish His kingdom.

Come back to Daniel 9. We're going to be in the book of Daniel several times, you may want to leave a marker here, we're going to leave it and then come back. We're going to come to Daniel 9:24, which we have looked at on previous occasions. This really gives you the framework for God's prophetic plan for Israel. Verse 24, seventy weeks, or literally seventy sevens, have been decreed for your people and your holy city. And we'll see a little bit of this, we're not going into detail on it. But it's clear the seventy sevens are seventy 7-year periods. They are weeks of years, and literally seventy sevens have been declared. And we find out from the rest of the context of Daniel and then the context of the book of Revelation he's talking about seven-year period, a week of years and not a week of days. Four hundred ninety years have been decreed for your people and your holy city. This has to do with God's plan for Daniel's people the Jews and the holy city, Jerusalem. Six things will be accomplished by the time those 490 years have been brought to completion—will finish the transgression, make an end of sin, make atonement for iniquity, bring in everlasting righteousness, seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy place. That will complete God's plan for Israel and the establishing of Christ's kingdom on the earth.

Then he breaks it down. It begins with the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, verse 25. That occurred in 444-445 B.C. So we note 490 years will occur. Now we're told, he breaks it down, there will be 7 weeks and 62 weeks, the last part of verse 25. That's a total of 69 weeks—a period of 7 weeks, 49 years, then 62 weeks after the 7 weeks for a total of 69 weeks or 483 years. Then verse 26, then after the 62 weeks Messiah will be cut off. That tells us we start with our starting point, 444 B.C. Four hundred eighty-three years after that Messiah will be cut off. We've looked at this on other occasions and material that unfolds this for you and breaks it down. That brings us to the time of the crucifixion of Christ. And very shortly after the completion of the 483rd year Christ was cut off.

You'll note it didn't say in the 70th week, because there is a break. The Old Testament prophets did not see the period of time in which we are living, called the Church Age that began in Acts 2 and continues down to this present time. It will conclude with the removal of the church from the earth in what we refer to as the Rapture. And all true believers are caught up to meet the Lord in the air with resurrected loved ones. Then we'll be ready for the final seven-year period.

So what happens is you have 483 years, then the time for Israel goes on hold and you have a period now of some 2,000 years. That will be brought to completion and the time when the fullness of the Gentiles is completed as Revelation 11 says. Then we will have the final seven years. And you'll note, the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing. The people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. You'll note, the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. We know who destroyed the city and the sanctuary in 70 A.D.—the Romans. Now there is a Roman prince who is going to come still yet future.

Verse 27, he will make a firm covenant with the many, referring to the Jews, Israel, Daniel's people for one week, one seven-year period. But in the middle of that seven-year period he'll put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering and then he comes to his end. So we're told here that there is going to be 483 years, then the Messiah is going to be cut off and have nothing. He does not establish His kingdom. He was resurrected and taken to heaven in Acts 1. Then the city is destroyed by the Romans and then a coming Roman prince because he is of the people who will destroy the city. That's important because some people wonder, is the coming Antichrist, that's who we are talking about with the prince who is to come, will he be Jewish? No, he'll be Roman. Will he be a Muslim? No, he'll be Roman. Christian in the broad sense, to start. But that's the framework, we're looking in that seven-year period before the return of Christ for some of these events.

Now let's back up and come to the book of Genesis. We're going all the way back to Genesis 10. All that the Bible has revealed about future events occurs after the Rapture of the church, the removal of the church from earth so God can complete His 490-year program with Israel, that final seven-year period. But we want to go back and see what is happening in the conflict that is unfolding in the world. This goes back very early to Genesis 10-11. This follows the flood of Noah. The death of Noah is recorded at the end of Genesis 9, all the days of Noah were 950 years and he died. Now Genesis 10 opens up, now these are the records of the generation of Shem, Ham and Japheth, sons of Noah. And sons were born to them. The sons of Japheth, verse 2. The sons of Ham, verse 6. We want to pick up, the sons of Ham, verse 6, were Cush, Mizraim, Put and Canaan. The sons of Cush, and we're particularly interested verse 8. Now Cush became the father of Nimrod. He became a mighty one on the earth, he was a mighty hunter before the Lord. Therefore it is said, like Nimrod, a might hunter before the Lord. The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech and Accad and Calneh in the land of Shinar. So the city of Babylon in the land of Shinar which we now know as Babylon. The city has given its name to the land.

You'll note also, Nimrod not only began his kingdom by establishing Babel and others in the land of Shinar, the land that we know as Babylon or Iraq today. Verse 11 says, from that land he went forth into Assyria and built Ninevah. He's an empire builder because Ninevah is going to be the capital of a great empire, Assyria. He is the founder of these places, Babylon being the key.

Turn over to Genesis 11. Now the whole earth used the same language and the same words. So they journey after the flood and with the leadership of Nimrod they come to the land of Shinar verse 2 tells us. They come up, let's make bricks, mortar and build for ourselves, verse 4, a city and a tower whose top will reach into heaven. Let us make for ourselves a name otherwise we'll be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth. You see what they are going to have, a world-wide empire with Babylon as its capital. It will be the political center of the world, it will be the religious center because it will have as a focus a center of worship, the tower of Babel. The top will reach to heaven. Now they probably didn't think they could build it all the way up through the clouds, but it would be a worship center from the top of which they could reach into heaven itself, commune with God, have access to God and so on.

God is displeased because you see what is happening. They are going to establish an earthly kingdom and they're going to have a worship center. But they have left the true and living God out of this plan. So God comes down to disrupt their plan. And what He does is divide the languages, confounds the languages. They wake up one morning and this family over here is speaking one language, this family over here is speaking another language. Nobody can understand anybody. So those who spoke this language go off this way, those who spoke this language go off this way. And then the world becomes divided according to its languages and individual nationalities tied to their languages. We still find that today that nations get identified by their language. And when you want to pull people together you have to do something about the difference in language. It goes on.

So God's intention was that the world be divided. But we see here what the plan of Satan is, to have the world united under his authority that centers in worshiping him. You cannot disassociate the worship from the empire. That's foundational. Now interesting, when you come to Genesis 12, what happens? God calls Abraham and establishes a covenant with him and promises to make him a great nation and ultimately it's through the descendant of Abraham that the world will be ruled. And God will be worshiped.

So in Genesis 10-11 you see unfolding the plan of the devil to try to create a world system, politically and religiously, that will be under his authority as “the god” of this world. Genesis 12 and following, you have God preparing the world for His rule.

Now from this we are going to have that ongoing attempt of the establishing of earthly empires and the religion of those empires. And the religious system started in Babylon has continued and been passed down. And alterations are made in it but it still has its same basic worship system as was started in Genesis 10-11, the founding of Babylon and the worship system.

It's interesting, just to jump to our day. You know, we talk about the European Union, the Council of Europe and things associated with what's going on there. They have a European parliament building in Strasbourg and you know it is an interesting building. And it was designed based on a painting done by a well-known painter who painted his conception of the tower of Babel. And you remember, and we get into the book of Daniel, that in Babylon they had the hanging gardens of Babylon that were famous. They have even had those on the top of the tower of this parliament building now. Remarkable. Then they have the various languages of the world inscribed, running up the sides of this building, associating it with the languages that came out. Amazing that all these years after Babylon in Genesis 11 we have come to the point where that is the focus. And there is much more focus with it.

But first we have to come back to the book of Daniel. You have that conflict with Babylon and really Jerusalem which is going to become the capital for God's kingdom on earth. You have Babylon which becomes the focal center for Satan's attempt to replace God's plan.

We come over to the book of Daniel again, we're coming to Daniel 2. And in Daniel 2 Nebuchadnezzar is the kind of Babylon. He is a powerful man, he is a godless man, he is a man who will require all in his kingdom to worship him. And God will do a work in his heart, but that is yet future. In Daniel 2 the king has a dream. He doesn't know what it means so he calls his wise men in. He says, I need you to tell me what my dream means. They say, fine, tell me the dream. Nebuchadnezzar is no fool. He says, no. If you get revelation from God, you should not only be able to tell me what the dream means, you tell me what the dream was. They said, nobody can do that. Well if you can't tell me what the dream was, I don't believe you could tell me what it mean. Furthermore, if you can't tell me what the dream was, I'm going to execute you all. He's not a very nice man. He didn't have to call for any kind of council to approve his actions, he ruled solely and purely as a dictator.

Daniel becomes aware of the situation, he is a wise man in Babylon, being carried there when Babylon conquered the southern kingdom of Israel. So he comes and note what he has to say. First, look at the background, look at verse 20. God reveals to Daniel what the dream was and what it means. So in verse 20, Daniel said, let the name of God be blessed forever and ever. For wisdom and power belong to Him. Note this, it is He who changes the times and epochs, He removes kings and establishes kings. Remember that at every presidential election, remember that rulers come and go but God is sovereign. It may not be the way you voted, it was the way God voted, though. So He removes kings, establishes kings, gives wisdom to wise men, knowledge to men of understanding.

Now he is going to stand before the most powerful man on earth, address him. So Daniel comes before Nebuchadnezzar and he tells him, this can't be done by men, to give revelation from God to you. But God can make Himself known and He has done that. Verse 28, there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries. He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will take place in the latter days, at the end of the days. So what has been revealed to Nebuchadnezzar is going to carry him all the way to the end of earthly empires. As for you, oh king, while on your bed your thoughts turned to what would take place in the future. So he's telling him what Nebuchadnezzar was thinking when he went to bed that night. I wonder what the future holds, wonder what is going to happen, wonder what will happen to my kingdom and so on. The mystery has been revealed.

So verse 31, you were looking, behold there was a great statue. The statue was large and extraordinary splendor standing in front of you. Its appearance was awesome. So Nebuchadnezzar had this vision and there is a beautiful, awesome, splendid, overwhelming statue of a man and it is made out of various metals. The head, gold; breast and arms, silver; belly and thighs, bronze; legs, iron; feet, partly of iron and partly of clay. Now note this, you continued looking until a stone was cut without hands. It doesn't have human origin. It struck the statue on the feet of iron and clay and crushed them. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, the gold were all crushed at the same time and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors. The wind carried them away so not a trace was found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.

What does it mean? That's the dream, here's the interpretation. Verse 37, you, oh king, are the kings of kings to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, the strength and the glory. You'll note, it is God who has given you the kingdom, God has given you the power, the strength and the glory that is yours. Nebuchadnezzar thought he had acquired it by his brilliance, his wisdom, his military prowess. God gave it to you. You are the head of gold, He has caused you to rule over them all. You know we as God's people, we need to have a handle on this. God is sovereign, there is not a person in the position of power in the world anywhere today that is not there because God has put them there. Nebuchadnezzar is a godless man. He will consign Shadrach, Meshech and Abednego to the furnace for not bowing down to worship him. He is a godless man, God put him into power.

You are the head of gold. So in this statue of a man that Nebuchadnezzar saw, the head of gold represented Babylon. And the king and the kingdom, they are inseparably associated and that's true in ancient history and true in biblical history there. We talk about the king and the kingdom, they go together. Babylon is the head of gold.

Then he works down. You have Medo-Persia going to be the next empire. Verse 39, there will arise another kingdom inferior to you. And you'll note the metals go down in verse 32, the head of gold followed by breast and arms of silver. That's Medo-Persia, a combined empire. So you have the two arms and they are joined together in the chest, they comprise one empire. Then you have a third kingdom of bronze and they become a little more inferior. And that's going to refer to Greece. And then there will be a fourth kingdom, that's going to refer to Rome. A fourth kingdom, and he elaborates on this one. This becomes the most important. He goes quickly—Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome. A fourth kingdom strong as iron inasmuch as iron crushes and shatters all things. It will break in pieces, it will crush and break all these in pieces. It will be more powerful than any preceding empire and indeed history has demonstrated the truth of that.

In you saw the feet and toes partly of potter's clay and partly of iron, it will be a divided kingdom. So you see what happens. You have the legs of iron, they come down to the feet, then you have the toes. Ten toes, it's an image of a man with a head, two arms, feet, ten toes. We know it's ten, it doesn't say ten toes, just says toes. We look in further revelation and it will say there were ten of them. You'll note the toes are partly of iron and partly of clay. That has significance. It will be a divided kingdom, have in it the toughness of iron. Inasmuch as you saw the iron mixed with clay as the toes of the feet were partly of iron, partly of pottery, some of the kingdom will be strong, part of it will be brittle. In that you saw the iron mixed with common clay, they will combine with one another in the seed of men but they won't adhere to one another, even as iron does not combine with pottery.

And I take it that's what we are seeing happening even as we see the Roman Empire in its final form being established today. You have individual nations being brought together, basically the seed of men. They have been joined together, make commitments. But there is clay in this, they have their own individuality and that brings a brittleness to it. We see a battle going on now dealing with finances that brings a brittleness to an alliance. I'm not saying that's the final form of this alliance, but we get a picture of what this alliance will be like. But their strength, and it gets stronger even as the brittleness is there.

You'll note what happens. In the days of those kings, the feet, the toes, the ten toes particularly as we'll see. In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed. Now for some people, they get to verse 44 and they lose the flow here. We have talked about a series of earthly kingdoms—Babylon, an earthly kingdom ruling over this physical earth; Medo-Persia, an earthly kingdom ruling on this physical earth; Greece; Rome. They get to verse 44 and they say this must be a spiritual kingdom in the hearts of men. No, this is the same kind of kingdom.

You'll note, it is related to these kings. In the days of those kings, those final toes, there will be ten kings there we'll see, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed. That kingdom will not be left for another people. It will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever. Inasmuch as you saw that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands and it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, the gold, the great God has made known to the king what will take place in the future. And I love this, so the dream is true, it's interpretation is trustworthy. You can take it to the bank. Not a good analogy today. But you can count on it, it is sure, it is fixed. Why? God said it. God made known what the future is. All earthly kingdoms are going to be brought to their conclusion when God directly intervenes and establishes His own kingdom on the earth which will replace all other kingdoms. And there is nothing to come after it because it will endure forever.

Come over to Daniel 7. Daniel later is given a vision himself, using different pictures, but the same material is being revealed as was revealed to Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 2. Daniel 7, in the first year of Belshazzar, king of Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar has died, he is off the scene, we have a new king. First year of Belshazzar, king of Babylon, Daniel saw a dream and visions in his mind and he wrote the dream down and related the summary of it. Daniel said, I was looking in my vision by night and behold the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea. Four great beasts were coming up from the sea, different from one another. And now Daniel sees the empires of the world, same empires that Nebuchadnezzar saw. But Nebuchadnezzar, the fallen pagan, how did he see them? As a splendid, awesome statue of a man. How does Daniel see them as God's representative? Wild beasts. So four great beasts coming up from the sea. The first like a lion. You know we are going to see the lion will refer to Babylon. Then another beast, a second one, verse 5, resembling a bear. It was raised up on one side. That's Medo-Persia. In Daniel 2 on the image it had two arms and the chest. Now we have the bear lifted up on one side. The two parts that made up that empire, Medo-Persia, but the bear is lifted up on one side because the Persians dominate it and when we refer to it with just one reference we refer to it as the Persian Empire. So very specific here.

Then verse 6, another like a leopard, they are different animals, and we're going to see them, these different animals representing these kingdoms—the lion, the bear, the leopard, then this wild and fierce beast. They'll come up in the book of Revelation. That third empire, third empire representing Greece, the leopard. Then the fourth empire, representing Rome. Verse 7, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrifying and extremely strong. It had large, iron teeth. It devoured and crushed and trampled down the remainder with his feet. It totally took over any other empires, brought them to nothing. It was different from all the beasts that were before it and it had ten horns. Where did we come to in Daniel 2? The iron coming down the legs, remember the Roman Empire divided into the eastern and western culminates with the ten toes. Here this beast has ten horns.

While I was contemplating the horns, behold, another horn, a little one, came up among them. Three of the first were pulled out by the roots before it. This horn possessed the eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth uttering great boasts. Now we have another further revelation. Nothing changed, everything is the same except now there is something additional. In addition to the ten kings we are going to have one who rises up and becomes the most powerful and the most prominent. Then what happens in this period of time? The ten toes and then this one?

I kept looking until thrones were set up. The Ancient of Days took His seat, that awesome heavenly picture. Then verse 13, I kept looking in the night visions and behold in the clouds of heaven one like the Son of Man was coming and to Him was given a kingdom. And all the peoples, nations, men of every language might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, won't pass away, a kingdom which won't be destroyed. See, we've come to the same place as Daniel 2.

Come over to Revelation 13. This is an easy sermon, all I do is read verses. So you see what God has unfolded, the empires of the world from Babylon down until Christ comes to establish His kingdom. Now remember in the Old Testament as God revealed His program for Israel, He did not reveal anything about the church. So when you read the prophecies regarding these kingdoms, you really go from the time of the crucifixion of Christ and you pick up with the ten toes. But we find out now with New Testament revelation that between that there is a period of about 2,000 years. Doesn't change anything, it just reveals there is a time period in here where God's program with Israel, if you will, is going to be put on a sidetrack. And now He is dealing with the church. But there will come a time when He is going to resume that program with Israel. The removal of the church from the earth, then remember Daniel 9, the prince that is to come which is that little horn of Daniel 7, we call the Antichrist. He has other names but is familiar to us probably as the Antichrist. He will sign an agreement with Israel that will mark the beginning of the last seven-year period to complete God's program for Israel. The last empire, world empire here is Rome. And Rome hasn't ceased to exist, it has just been somewhat dormant as an empire. But it is going to experience a resurgence. It is in our day.

We come to Revelation 13 and the dragon, the dragon comes out of Revelation 12 and that is the devil, stood on the sand of the seashore. I saw a beast coming up out of the sea having ten horns and seven heads. On his horns were ten diadems, on his heads were blasphemous names. This is a little bit familiar. A beast comes up out of the sea, it has ten horns and seven heads. And on his horns were ten diadems, a crown of a ruler, a king. The ten horns represent a king or a kingdom. On his heads were blasphemous names. These seven heads represent the seven world empires, and they have blasphemous names on them. These have been part of the satanic attempts again and again and again to establish an empire, a world kingdom, but it comes to naught. There are extra empires here because when you come to the book of Revelation, he doesn't start where Daniel did. Daniel started in his day, those were the revelations God gave him, starting with Babylon. The revelations given to John take you back before that. What's the first empire to impact Israel? Where did Joseph go when he was sold into slavery? Where did Jacob and his sons go to be built into a nation? Egypt. Then what followed Egypt? Assyria. What empire carried away the northern ten tribes into captivity? Assyria. So they are on the front now. Now we have Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome. But there are seven mountains because the ten horns, the ten toes, the ten horns we have here are having ten diadems. They are going to form an additional kingdom, we'll pick that up in a moment.

And you'll note what this beast is composed of. It is a conglomeration of the previous empires. He was like a leopard, feet like a bear, mouth like a lion. We saw this in the empires as Daniel saw them. So as we've said each of these empires have come and gone but elements from those empires continue on. They are absorbed into the next empire, and the next empire, and the next empire. And the pagan worship of that empire continues on. Now this will culminate with the worship, that little horn in Daniel 7 that replaced three of the horns and becomes the dominant one. He assumes the authority here, he is this final beast, in this final form of the Roman Empire ultimately.

We are dealing with the last half of that seven-year period because we're told in verse 5, there was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words of blasphemy and authority to act for 42 months was given to him. How long is 42 months? It is 3½ years. Now in Daniel 9 he signed an agreement with Israel for a seven-year period. In the middle of that seven-year period he breaks the agreement with Israel and begins a persecution of Israel, the last half of that seven-year period. For the first half of that seven-year period these ten kings rule, for the last half this one king is the dictator, 42 months.

Interestingly, what was Revelation 12 about? Unfolding what is going to happen to Israel. Do you know what? There is a time of persecution coming and you have a similar picture. Look in Revelation 12:3, another sign appeared in heaven. Behold a great red dragon. And we're told in the context here that the dragon is Satan. He has seven heads and ten horns and on his heads were seven diadems. So you see the ultimate power behind these earthly kingdoms, these world empires is the devil himself. The seven heads are seven empires, they have diadems on them because they represent kingdoms. That will become even more clear. And then the ten horns, this final phase.

Come over to Revelation 17. Here you have a picture. He carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness. I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast full of blasphemous names, having seven heads, ten horns. Now note here, the woman is not the beast, the beast is not the woman. There is a distinction here. The beast will be this final form of world empire. The woman is on the beast, she is the religious aspect of that. She is the religious power that helps the ten horns and then ultimately this one man come to power. Clothed in purple, scarlet, adorned with gold and precious stones. Note in verse 5, on her forehead was a name written, a mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and the abominations of the earth. The woman represents the spiritual side, the religious side of this empire. And to start out she is in power, she has dominance.

The angel said to me, verse 7, why do you wonder. I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has seven heads and ten horns. The beast that you saw was and is not and is about to come out of the abyss and go to destruction. Those who dwell on the earth will wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world. Here is the mind which has wisdom. You have wisdom, believers who now can look into the Word of God with the teaching of the Spirit. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits and they are seven kings. So there is a connection here. The seven heads are seven mountains, verse 10, are seven kings. Some have said, the seven mountains, that refers to the seven hills of Rome. That is not true. I know it is not true because he says the seven heads are seven mountains are seven kings. Then he explains the seven kings. The seven mountains, the seven heads represent seven kings or kingdoms. Five have fallen—Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece. When John writes those five had fallen, those empires were over. One is. Who was ruling the world when John wrote Revelation? Rome. It's number six, one is. The other has not yet come. When he comes he must remain a little while. That will be the seventh, that's the ten nations. How do I know that? Well, verse 11, the beast which was and is not is himself also an eighth and one of the seventh. He goes to destruction.

So when you go back to Daniel 7 and we saw that little horn that came up and asserted itself following the ten, here you have the same thing. You have five empires, one that is in existence as John writes, Rome. There is a seventh coming. But now we get a further breakdown. Just like Daniel 2 carried us to Rome and the ten toes, then Daniel 7 told about the ten toes and a little horn. Now we have it all broken out, he will be an eighth kingdom. He is of the seven, verse 11, but he is really an eighth. The ten horns which you saw are ten kings or kingdoms who have not yet received a kingdom. But they receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour. They are going to have a short reign. In this whole period we're only talking about seven years and it's divided into two 3½ -year periods. They have one purpose, these ten kings, the ten toes, the ten horns, their little kingdoms have one purpose. They give their power and authority to the beast. That's how we read in Daniel 7, he replaces three and becomes the dominant one.

What happens then to the woman that was riding the beast? Well in verse 15 we have further explanation. The waters which you saw where the harlot sits, these are people, multitudes, nations and tongues. This religious system encompasses people from all over. The ten horns which you saw and the beast, these will hate the harlot, make her desolate and naked, eat her flesh, burn her with fire. For God has put it in their hearts to execute His purpose by having a common purpose, by giving their kingdom to the beast until the words of God will be fulfilled. The first 3½ years of this seven-year period you have this ten-nation confederacy dominating with an apostate religious system riding the empire and its religious influence gives power to these ten. But in the middle of that seven-year period a change occurs. Now this little horn comes and asserts himself and all ten of these nations now agree, we don't need this woman, the apostate religious system, anymore. Why? According to Revelation 13 all the worship of the world must now be directed to this one man. And we have Satan's final focus, we have what started back in Genesis 11 brought to fruition—Satan having a kingdom, ruling the world with one man being worshiped. The counterfeit of what God started in Genesis 12 with the call of Abraham, where He would establish through the descendant of Abraham a kingdom that encompasses the whole world, ruled by one man who would be the object of the worship of all.

You see the coherence of all that has gone one. It's so amazing today, look and watch the news. We have had some financial crises in the world. Isn't interesting how Europe affects the United States? Something good they say happens in Europe and our stock market booms, something bad happens in Europe and the bottom falls out. Who cares about Europe? The whole world. I mentioned that parliament building in Strasbourg, been modeled after the painting of the tower of Babel. Do you know what the statue is out in front of that? I've showed it to you on the screen in previous studies. It's a woman riding a beast, a bull. Because you know what the symbol of Europe is? Europa, that's where the name of Europe comes from. In fact almost all the nations of the world, when they refer to Europe, they refer to it as Europa. That was the mythical goddess. There is this huge statue outside this replica, as they see it, of the Babylonian tower which is their parliament building, and it is this woman representing Europe riding the bull. But who is the bull? Well in ancient mythology the bull is Zeus. And you know what he did? He carried off Europa. You know what they did? The conceived a son. Do you know what happened to that son? Bet you can guess, he died. But I bet you can guess what happened to him in mythology, he got raised from the dead.

Isn't it amazing? You say, are these people reading the book of Revelation to try to mimic this? In the sovereign plan of God it happens. Look at the flag of Europe, it has twelve stars. Twelve stars, why not more stars? Fifteen nations with fifteen stars. They say, no, we'll always have twelve stars because that represents perfection. Do you know where the twelve stars come from, the man who designed the flag, do you know what he said where he got it? From a statue he saw of the Virgin Mary with twelve stars around it. Do you know where they got that from? The first part of Revelation 12 which we didn't read, which represents Israel. But for Roman Catholicism it represents the church.

I have to read you an article, some of you read it in the paper. I read these things and think maybe I'll just go in and close the door of my study and wait for the return of the Lord. Vatican urges world economic reform. This was in this week's Lincoln Journal, it's from the Associated Press, it was on the 25th of October. Vatican City. The Vatican called Monday for radical reform of the world's financial systems, including the creation of a global political authority to manage the world economy. The Vatican is declaring we need the creation of a global political authority to manage the world economy. Keep that in mind because this world economy must be managed for the common good, not the individual good, they'll say at the end. A proposal by the pontifical council for justice and peace calls for a new world economic order based on ethics and achievement of a universal common good. It follows Pope Benedict XVI 2009 economic encyclical that denounced the profit at all cost mentality as responsible for the global financial meltdown. Isn't it amazing? You can have an 80-some year old man, decrepit and can hardly speak loud, and the whole world wants to listen to him? Even political leaders? Did you ever hear political leaders just tell the pope, oh shut up, you don't know what you're talking about? No, they go, they're going to have an audience with the pope.

The proposal acknowledges, however, that a long road still needs to be traveled before arrival, note this, at the creation of a public authority with universal jurisdiction. This suggests the reform process begins with the United Nations as a point of reference. Vatican pronouncements on the economy are meant to guide world leaders as the global church. U.S. Roman Catholic bishops, for example, have released the voter guide for the 2012 election that highlights social issues such as ending poverty is an exercise of responsibility, not only toward the current, but above all toward future generations so that hope for a better future and confidence in human dignity and capacity for good may never be extinguished, the document said. It highlights that reforms must ensure that financial and monetary policies will not damage the weakest economies while achieving fair distribution of the world's wealth. Who is going to determine the fair distribution? This central power that has global political authority to manage world economy.

The proposal also called for a minimum shared body of rules to manage the global financial market, lamenting the overall abrogation of controls on capital movements. While past Vatican pronouncements have condemned unfettered capitalism, the latest also criticized an economic liberalism that spurns rules and controls. It also attacked utilitarian thinking, saying what is useful for the individual does not always favor the common good. Who is going to determine the common good? This central authority.

Incidentally there is another article left on my desk that was in the paper. The Vatican is tightening up its requirements. All Vatican schools, hospitals, must adhere more rigidly and tightly to Roman Catholic dogma and doctrine and all their practices. Where are we going?

Interesting, in the founding, after World War II leaders of Europe met together with the desire to determine that World War II would not happen again. And do you know what they said they wanted to do? To have a revival of what Henry VI centuries earlier, king of France, had called for. A revival of the Holy Roman Empire, a Christian Europe was the way they talked about it. Interesting thing is, do you know what happened three days later? In the U.N. Israel was given the right to become a sovereign nation. You see these things come together.

You see what's happening. The council of Europe has authority over 800 million people in 46 countries, the European Union is a subset of this. The council of Europe has already passed a law, the Genocide Treaty, regarding the crime of intolerance. The law states that it is illegal for any individual to declare that his or her religion is the only true faith. Where does that leave us as Christians? Where does that leave Roman Catholicism? Well, you understand when we get this one-world religious system, that's the one that is accepted. Everything else is an indication of intolerance and cannot be tolerated because your individual religious convictions must be sacrificed for the common good, remember. We must decide for the common good, the common good does not always mean what is the individual's good. So now we move closer and closer together. Well, I have some other things I want to share with you, we'll do them next time.

Thank you, Lord, for what you have unveiled in your Word. Lord, how awesome it is to be living in the days where we see at least the precursor of what you have said in your Word. Lord, we would not be blind to the clarity of your Word. We are in awe that you the sovereign God bring a world of confusion, of empires that come and go and yet everything is on your schedule, everything is according to your plan. And now we turn on the news, we open the newspaper, they are talking about the need for a stronger Europe. And on it goes. Lord, may we be a people that are alert, may we not be drowsy, may we not be caught up in the cares of this life and the distractions of so much that goes on. May we be diligently about your business, living lives that manifest we are a people expecting our Lord to bring us into the brilliance of the light of your presence at any moment. Thank you for the Savior who loved us and died for us. We look for His coming even today. We pray in His name, amen.