.

Prophecy Expert Explains How There Will Be No Revised Roman Empire, Refocuses on Middle East

Most people who are familiar with Bible prophecy are also familiar with Daniel’s seventieth week. Each of the seventy weeks is comprised of seven years. Sixty nine of those seven year periods­a total of 483 years­were fulfilled from the time that the command was given to rebuild the Jewish temple that had been destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, to the the time that Jesus was crucified on the cross. The final week of years is tied to the future when the Antichrist will terrorize the world.

What most people don’t realize is that Daniel’s other prophecies, the ones that deal with four different kingdoms, also skip over thousands of years to the time of the Antichrist.

Daniel spoke in four different places about these four kingdoms, and in each subsequent mention there was a little more detail added, particularly to the final beast.

In Daniel 2 a great statue is described with a head of gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. We are told that the head is Nebuchadnezzar and his kingdom, and that the different parts of the statue represented other kingdoms that would follow. The other kingdoms are Medo-Persia, which conquered Babylon; Greece, which conquered Medo-Persia; and the Antichrist kingdom.

It has been assumed that the final kingdom is Rome, but it’s not. For starters the fourth kingdom is tied directly to the Antichrist, and the only thing that will bring an end to it will be the Millennial kingdom of Jesus Christ, which is described as a stone cut out without hands. That stone will crush the feet of the beast (the Antichrist kingdom) and become a great mountain to fill the earth.

It’s easy to see why many assume that Rome is somehow tied into the equation since it did conquer all the territory of Greece. However, when we look at the other three places in Daniel that speak of these kingdoms a different, or more precisely, a broader and much clearer picture of the final kingdom emerges.

In Daniel 7 the fourth beast is described as a devouring kingdom made up of ten smaller nations that give their allegiance over to the beast. This is reiterated in Revelation 17. In Daniel and Revelation it is evident that the Antichrist and his ten nation kingdom will oppose Christians and ultimately be destroyed by Jesus Christ when He returns with His saints.

Again, some assume this to be a revised Rome in the future since the ten nation alliance was never a part of the past empire, nor was the AntiChrist.

Daniel 8 is were we start to see the differentiation between Rome of the past and the Antichrist kingdom of the future. Before looking at that, however, it should be noted that each of the first three empires were distinctly different from each other except that they did cover much of the same land mass. The difference was in who was ruling, how they were ruling and from where. The how was by conquest. Or, in other words, one great kingdom overthrowing another. Also, we want to notice that the third kingdom in Daniel 7 is described as a leopard with four wings and four heads. Those four wings and heads are elaborated upon in Daniel 8.

In Daniel 8 there is a ram with two horns, which again represents Medo-Persia. A goat with one great horn comes to the ram and breaks the two horns. That goat is Greece and the horn is Alexander the Great. After the goat becomes great by conquest the great horn is broken and replaced by four other horns. Those other horns are Alexanders generals who divided the Greek kingdom into four parts after the untimely death of Alexander.

Shortly after a little horn rises from one of the four new horns and takes away the daily sacrifice. This little horn could represent Antiochus who was a leader of the Syrian portion of the divided Greek Empire, and who took away the sacrifice and substituted pagan worship in the temple. However, he was only a forerunner or type of the Antichrist. The rest of the chapter gives details that were not fulfilled in Antiochus and will only be fulfilled by the Antichrist. The daily sacrifice was taken away for less than three years by Antiochus, but will be stopped for a full 2300 days (more than six years) when the Antichrist stops the sacrifice according to Daniel 8.

We are repeatedly told in Daniel 8 that the vision and the interpretation of it is for the end. Verse 23 declares that ”in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up.” It is the Antichrist who will fulfill this prophecy just like he will fulfill those prophecies from Daniel 2 and 7. What we are seeing here is a jump of several thousand years from the past to the future when the Antichrist will rule a new kingdom in the general location occupied by the former Greek kingdom. We learn from various places that that area is comprised of the Middle East: including Turkey, Pakistan and Afghanistan; and down into Africa, particularly Ethiopia and Libya.

Rome was completely skipped over in Daniel 8. We go from Greece to Antichrist kingdom in one giant step. The fact is that Rome is skipped over in all of Daniel’s prophecies. Students of prophecy have made the wrong assumption about the fourth kingdom and as a consequence try various methods and theories to make Rome a part of things. The truth is that the Middle East, where Israel is despised by Allah and considered an illegal nation, is where “the transgressors are (will) come to the full,” and they will follow the beast. The entire story of the Revelation and Daniel circulates around the Middle East with the city of Babylon, the Euphrates River, the Antichrist and the two witnesses taking turns in the temple, and the overthrow of Israel by the ten nation kingdom of the beast, the repercussions of which are then felt around the world.

That brings us to Daniel 11 where the Bible again makes a transition from the activities of Antiochus in the Greek Empire to the Antichrist of the end times. Thousands of years of elapsed time from Greece to a future outline of the once great empire­Muslims following that great leader who will finally lead them against their worst enemy; Israel, and then infidel Christians.

The only place in Daniel 11 where Rome is even remotely mentioned is in verse 30 where it says, “the ships of Chittim shall come against him: therefore he shall be grieved, and return, and have indignation against the holy covenant.” Rather than showing an alliance between the Antichrist and Rome, this verse shows enmity and opposition.

Back in Daniel 2 we saw the kingdom of Christ become a great mountain after crushing the beast kingdom. In Jeremiah 51:25 God calls Babylon a destroying mountain as He declares that He is going to send the Medes against it, just like He sent Babylon against Syria. God judged both in retribution for their sins against Israel.

The seven mountains of Revelation 17 are seven kingdoms who abused and mistreated Israel. These kingdoms are Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome and the Antichrist kingdom. Rome was the only one who fell under the grace of God and diminished under the weight of its own sin long after destroying Israel and her Messiah. Again, we see that Rome is distinct from the nations before it and the one that will follow. Israel does not yet have a ten nation alliance breathing down its’ neck. When it does, it won’t be Revised Rome. It will be ten nations in and around the Middle East which fall within the boundaries of Ancient Greece.

There has already been a great falling away in the lands where Christianity first began. In those countries where Paul and other faithful disciples traveled and spread the good news the religion now is Islam, which is totally anti-Christian. The Koran has declared Christians and Jews to be infidels. There would be more Christians in those countries except for the fact that many of them have been persecuted and put to death, leaving only the bravest souls to carry on an outlawed religion in many parts of the Middle East.

There are many other proofs that Rome is not going to revive for the Antichrist. Even if Europe becomes one nation, Europe, NATO and the E.U. are beyond ten nations, do not cover the Mid East section of the old Roman Empire, do include nations that were never a part of Rome and they will not submit to the beast. NATO and the E.U. have come together in an attempt to deal with various regional and world problems and will only add to the perplexity of nations in the end times.

An article about the 2300 days without sacrifice will be posted in the future, which will further verify these truths.

JC Alexander is a leading authority on Bible prophecy and the author of The End Times Simplified, and THE KINGDOM OF THE BEAST AND THE END OF THE WORLD.