Like most of you I grew up hearing and reading the stories of the Bible. I learned about Noah, Abraham, Samson, David, Daniel and many others. One of the things, that I learned as I grew up, was that these were more than just stories or fables. These were not well thought tall tales for the purposes of entertaining children. These stories were the detailed accounts of men's lives that were lived out in faith of a living God. During these men's lives were accounts of things that happened, and God's instructions about what would happen. Intriguing to most, is the "about to happen" instructions, that we call today, prophecy. The book of Daniel was written around 530 b.c. Daniel, a prophet of God, was taken into captivity by the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel is brought into the service of the Most High by nothing other than a great need to protect his life. King Nebuchadnezzar had dreamed a dream and couldn't remember it. So intriguing was the dream, that the King knew that it's knowledge and interpretation had to be known. A decree was ordered from the King. He demanded for the soothsayers, magicians and wise men to remind him of the dream and interpret it or die. The King's captain came to slay Daniel, to which, Daniel asked for time to pray unto his God. One of the lessons to be learned from this particular incident in Daniel's life and the lives of Israel was prayer. Up to this point, Daniel had not prayed for the leaders that God had placed over him. How can I come to that conclusion? The enemy will always attack you at your weakest spot. Looking for the chink in the armor has always been a tactic of warfare. Daniel's weak spot was his lack of prayer for the rulers placed over him. After this incident, we see that Daniel regularly prayed for his leaders and because of those prayers, the hand of favor was always upon Daniel. So pray for your leaders, even when you don't agree with them. This incident not only placed Daniel in the good graces of the King, but also revealed a prophetic picture and timeline that has affected generations of people, even today. What was the prophetic picture and dream?
An image was revealed to the king. The image was in the form of a man. Daniel had received the interpretation of the image from God. Daniel began to relate to the King the interpretation of the image. The first thing that Daniel revealed was that the image was in the form of a being that would have it's existence through the ruling powers of men. Daniel explained to Nebuchadnezzar that the first part of this being was the head. The head was where the being begins. Daniel explained that the head of gold was the Kingdom of Babylon and Nebuchadnezzar was the beginning of rulers or King of Kings. Daniel explained that this being would continue it's growth, metamorphosing into a new part of this being until it's conclusion of it's feet. Each part of this being would have a new and different look but be a part of the entire image. This prophecy, which was revealed to Daniel, has been a prophecy that has affected mankind since it's revelation. The uniqueness of this image is interesting to consider. While men build things from the ground up, this image was built from the head down. One only has to think about this to rightly understand the implications of this being. In Ezekiel, the prophet explained an important insight to the true ruler of Tyre which was identified as the devil. Ezekiel further explained the following; Eze 28:2 Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyre, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because thy heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a god, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art man, and not God, though thou didst set thy heart as the heart of God. Interestingly enough, We see the explanation that the devil's heart was lifted up and that he believed he sat in the seat of God. The thought process of the devil is to build from where his heart is, from the throne room down. So one only has to examine this being, to realize that it is the devil's kingdom being built from the head down to it's completion on the Earth. Now, the writings of Daniel informs us of the first two kingdoms. The golden head was Babylon and the second kingdom of silver was the Medes and Persian empire. From this point on is an area of intrigue. Why?
Daniel was told to do something that has affected our full knowledge until, I believe, the times that we live in today.
Dan 12:4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. Daniel was instructed to seal up the book. Interestingly enough, I believe that Daniel went to his grave with the interpretation of the image. When we research the story of King Belshazzar in chapter 5 Daniel knew the Medes and Persians were about to take the Babylonian empire and the second stage of empire construction was underway. The seal of interpretation was placed upon the book of Daniel and it's opening of the seal could only be obtained through the passage of time. What was that time period? One where man could travel instantaneously from one space to another. Now, I know you might say well that is definitely not this time period. However, things began to change and knowledge increased exponentially when the internet was introduced into society.
Not only, can I from my computer screen talk to others in distant lands but with a simple search I can travel and look at all the attractions of that land instantly. Simply by searching the internet I can learn about things that are not taught in my history books. My knowledge can and has been greatly increased simply by a search. Stories that are shared can be investigated to insure the truth of it with a stroke of a key. With the knowledge we have access to today,via the internet, that has changed all of our understanding.
For hundreds of years we have been instructed with the knowledge that the Iron legs of the image was the Roman empire. We have been further instructed that the feet of the image made of clay and iron mixed would be the revised Roman empire. However, I believe this has been a wrong understanding. The first problem in this train of thought is scripture itself. Daniel wrote of the end of days and there is another book that is a partner to this vision. That book was written on the Isle of Patmos by John. The book of Revelations teaches us important things about the final days and also about the time that John was living in. John lived during the Roman empire. Did John give us understanding about the Roman Empire. Yes he did. John writes in Revelation 17:8 that the beast, or the Antichrist, was and is not now.
“The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to come up out of the abyss and go to destruction. And those who dwell on the earth, whose name has not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, will wonder when they see the beast, that he was and is not and will come.[Revelation 17:8 NASB]
The kingdom in power at the time of John’s writing was Rome. Since John tells us the beast was and is not, we can remove Rome from the list. John is saying that the revived kingdom will not be Rome. It will be one of the previous five – a kingdom that was. I can’t highlight this enough so here it is again: the kingdom that was will come again, not the one that is at the time of John’s writing. He uses the same sort of language to tell us again in Revelation 17:11.
“The beast which was and is not, is himself also an eighth and is one of the seven, and he goes to destruction.[Revelation 17:11 NASB]
Again, the kingdom which was in power at this time was Rome. John has just told us that the kingdom that is to be revived existed before Rome. Therefore, Rome cannot be the revived kingdom. Let me take you through this section of Scripture again, carefully, verse by verse.
Revelation 17:8-11 NASB [8] “The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to come up out of the abyss and go to destruction. And those who dwell on the earth, whose name has not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, will wonder when they see the beast, that he was and is not and will come.
The beast is the future Antichristian king, kingdom, kingship. John says it was, meaning before the time of his writing. He says it is not, meaning it does not exist at the time of his writing. And finally he says it is about to reappear and go to destruction. John then reiterates that the beast was, is not and is to come in verse eight.
[9] “Here is the mind which has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits, [10] and they are seven kings; five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; and when he comes, he must remain a little while.
The seven heads are seven kings. Five have fallen before the time of John’s writing. They are the kings of Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia and Greece. Remember, these also represent kingdoms (because a king can’t be a king without one) and kingships as well. The one that existed during the time of John’s writing was Rome. This is the one that is. The other that has not yet come is the future Antichrist’s kingdom.
[11] “The beast which was and is not, is himself also an eighth and is one of the seven, and he goes to destruction.
Here again, the beast that was and is not is the future Antichrist and his kingdom. which existed before the Roman Empire. It is also an 8th kingdom because of the numerical succession of its appearance. This means that the Antichrist will appear after the 7th kingdom is already created. Now, you may be thinking, if the 7th kingdom is the Antichrist’s kingdom, how can he appear after it and rule an 8th kingdom? Scripture tells us the 7th kingdom will be in power before the Antichrist steps up to rule it [Dan 7:7-8, 7:23-24]. This is what marks the difference between the 7th and the 8th kingdoms. He will make this existing kingdom his own therefore making it an 8th. In fact, he will make it his own so much so that he will hate the harlot, the false religious system that allowed him to become the world ruler, and destroy her [Rev 17:12, 16-18].
John is telling us, in the book of Revelation, that the Antichrist’s future kingdom will be one of the five kingdoms previous to Rome. Therefore, it cannot be Rome. What this means is that “Babylon”, as it is used in Revelation 18, is not a metaphor for Rome but a geographic clue to the location of the Antichrist’s future kingdom. Rome is in Europe, not the Middle East. This also means that“Babylon” is not being used as a metaphor for anything that did not exist before the time of Rome. This would include both the United States and the Vatican, two popular choices for the beast. Neither of these existed before Rome, which is a prerequisite for the final kingdom.
So if not Rome, then who? There was another nation that we fail to highlight in most of our lessons of world conquest. That nation came to power after Rome and is from the middle east region which fits our prophecies of John and Daniel. What Nation? Turkey. The Ottoman Empire. This empire ruled from 1299-1923. For 624 years the Ottoman empire ruled and reigned throughout the middle east. It was the Nation to come after the fall of Rome. More importantly, the Ottoman Empire fulfills the prophecies of John and Daniel. First let us examine John's prophecies. John stated that the kingdom that was to come would have a history connected to the kingdoms that already had come. The Ottoman Empire definitely fills the bill. The Ottoman Empire consisted of the Safavid Empire. The Safavids were Persian and cousins of the Ottomans. Contained in the Safavid Empire which became the Ottoman Empire was also modern day Iraq, Babylonian Empire.When we compare this to John's prophecy to the Ottoman Empire meets all the prophetic requirements of Revelations. Now going to Daniel and his image of the being we are about to see some very exciting and enlightening revelations. First, observing the image of the kingdom of iron you will take notice that there are 2 legs. I believe this is key essential to understanding and unlocking the knowledge of the revised empire to come. The 2 legs speak of 2 powers but are one in body. You have two legs independent of one another yet operate together to move the body. The Ottoman Empire's official religion was Islam. There were 2 different divisions of Islam at the time and that was the Shi'ite and the Sunni. The Turks were predominantly Sunni while the Safavid's were Shi'ite. These two sects were divided over political issues in the Islam religion. The differences came after an argument ensued over who was to lead the Muslim faith after the death of the prophet Mohammed. How can two differing sects still work together. First, neither side believe the other has committed apostasy they just differ on who should have ruled. This is another example of the 2 legs working as one unit. There was one ruling empire but the religion was separated by political differences. With all the evidence combined one can easily come to the understanding that the Ottoman Empire is the Iron legs of Daniel's image.This is also the key to understanding the 10 toes mixed with iron and clay. In the past preachers have been teaching the ten governments of the anti-Christ would be involved in the United Nations and most recently the European Union. Trying to keep Rome as the Iron legs government has caused them great confusion. First it was a European government rather than a middle eastern government. Then came adding governments to the United Nations and taking away to come to the number 10. One important thing to consider in the government interpretation is a verse of scripture that the Apostle Paul wrote. Eph 6:12 For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
We covered earlier that Daniel's image is built from the head down. So following the example of the image, construction of the first form of the devil's government has to be one of a spiritual form first. It has to come from the heavenlies and then constructed down to the Earth. So taking from that example the government has to have a religion that is part of the government. We see that example in the Iron legs of the beast. Both legs were one power yet with two individualities involved in the political process of the religion.Today there are different sects of Islam but there are 9 basic sects. These are the following 9 basic sects; Sunni, Shi'ite, Kharajis, Druze, Alawi, Ismali, Ahmadiyyah, Sufi, Wahhabi. Any denomination if there is such a thing in the Islam religion comes from these basic sect. That was until 2011. In February of 2011 a new sect of Islam was introduced into the religion.
Chris-lam became the 10th toe of the clay and iron mixed feet of Daniel's image. All conducive to the mix of the Islam religion and a world tying political process of government rise of the revived Islamic Empire. This process has taken over 2500 years to develop. Along with this process we also seen the rise of this Islamic Empire right before our eyes through the media reporting agencies of the world. They labeled it the Arab Spring. As bystanders, we watched the toppling of governments from Tunisia to the current onslaught occurring in Syria. Who stood to gain the most in this Arab Spring? Of course, the Sunni Muslim. Just like the Ottoman Empire of old the Sunni Muslims will be the reigning force. This also fulfilled the prophecies of Ezekiel who spoke of the great bands of people that would sweep across the land. Eze 38:9 And you shall go up, coming like a storm. You shall be like a cloud to cover the land, you and all your bands, and many peoples with you. Folks, knowledge has increased and people are running to and fro throughout the Earth. The seal of the book of Daniel has been broken!
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