World powers-Total.pdf
In the Scriptures, a number of world powers are described and represented as beasts and there is spoken of a new 8th world power, which will come in the last days. This article provides an unraveling, step by step, to the 8th world power, so we can recognize the 8th world power. In Scriptures, we are warned for this 8th world power, because during this period a great tribulation will occur.
In this article, the Scriptures are considered that describe this as well as the Scriptures that support or are treated with this in harmony. Many passages in the book of Revelation are symbolic, so a certain amount of assumptions is not ruled out..
The giant statue in the Book of Daniel:
In this first section Daniel explains the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. The dream is about a huge statue and Daniel explains the dream and then describes a number of successive kingdoms.
NKJV (Daniel 2:31,35-44) 31 You, O king, were watching; and behold, a great image! This great image, whose splendor was excellent, stood before you; and its form was awesome…35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. 36 “This is the dream. Now we will tell the interpretation of it before the king. 37 You, O king, are a king of kings. For the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory; 38 and wherever the children of men dwell, or the beasts of the field and the birds of the heaven, He has given them into your hand, and has made you ruler over them all–you are this head of gold. 39 But after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours; then another, a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth. 40 And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything; and like iron that crushes, that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all the others. 41 Whereas you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; yet the strength of the iron shall be in it, just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay. 42 And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile. 43 As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay. 44 And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.
The wild beasts (powers) in the Book of Daniel:
Nebuchadnezzar represented the Babylonian Empire (head of gold). It is followed by the Medo-Persian Empire, followed by the Greek empire. The Greek empire is followed by the Roman Empire, an empire that is composed in two parts (East and West) . In Daniel 2:35 is spoken of a stone that will crush the statue – the composition of all these kingdoms – and this stone will become a big mountain, which will fill the whole earth. Daniel 2:44 shows that this will be a powerful kingdom that will never be destroyed, God’s kingdom.
NKJV (Daniel 8:19-24) 19 And he said, “Look, I am making known to you what shall happen in the latter time of the indignation; for at the appointed time the end shall be. 20 The ram which you saw, having the two horns–they are the kings of Media and Persia. 21 And the male goat is the kingdom of Greece. The large horn that is between its eyes is the first king. 22 As for the broken horn and the four that stood up in its place, four kingdoms shall arise out of that nation, but not with its power. 23 “And in the latter time of their kingdom, When the transgressors have reached their fullness, A king shall arise, Having fierce features, Who understands sinister schemes. 24 His power shall be mighty, but not by his own power; He shall destroy fearfully, And shall prosper and thrive; He shall destroy the mighty, and also the holy people.
NKJV (Daniel 7:3-7) 3 And four great beasts came up from the sea, each different from the other. 4 The first was like a lion, and had eagle’s wings. I watched till its wings were plucked off; and it was lifted up from the earth and made to stand on two feet like a man, and a man’s heart was given to it. 5 And suddenly another beast, a second, like a bear. It was raised up on one side, and had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. And they said thus to it: ‘Arise, devour much flesh!’ 6 After this I looked, and there was another, like a leopard, which had on its back four wings of a bird. The beast also had four heads, and dominion was given to it. 7 After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong. It had huge iron teeth; it was devouring, breaking in pieces, and trampling the residue with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns.
In Daniel, the 4 world powers described God’s people into the promised land was suppressed by. The lion (the Babylonians), the bear ( the Medo-Persians), the leopard (the Greeks) and the fourth beast (the Romans). Daniel 7:3-7 allows a comparison of wild beasts with their properties for these kingdoms, while Daniel 8 describes the composition and the ratio of the power of the kingdoms.
The wild beasts (powers) in the book of Revelation:
NKJV (Revelation 13:1-2) 1 Then I stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name. 2 Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority.
The wild beast with 7 heads and 10 horns, the joint characteristics of the beasts described in Daniel 7:3-7, the leopard, the bear and the lion. Rev. 13:1,2 depicts the wild beast – as well as in Daniel 7 – as the world powers.
The difference between the description of world powers in Daniel and Revelation:
In Revelation, another count of the kingdoms is held as in Daniel. In Daniel, the world powers are described that suppressed God’s people, during that time the Jewish people, to begin with the times of Daniel. The saints, spoken of, were at first only Jews who had joined the promised Messiah, Jesus Christ. Sanctification began in Pentecost (AD 33), 10 days after Jesus had ascended to heaven.
NKJV (Daniel 7:17-18) 17 ‘Those great beasts, which are four, are four kings which arise out of the earth. 18 But the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever.’
There have been more than 7 world powers in history, but the seven heads of the beast symbolize the seven major world powers, which have oppressed God’s people. There are six world powers in the entire history to biblical times John played a role, namely Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome. In the prophecy: “Five of them died, one is now” (Op.17: 10) and in that time of John it was the Roman Empire.
NKJV (Revelation 17:9-11) 9 Here is the mind which has wisdom: The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits. 10 There are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come. And when he comes, he must continue a short time. 11 And the beast that was, and is not, is himself also the eighth, and is of the seven, and is going to perdition.
The 4th king of Daniel – the Roman Empire – is the 6th king in Revelation. In the subsequent section, we will continue keeping the order of the world powers as described in Revelation.
Read more at: 2. The sixth king, the Roman Republic
