Saturday, May 18, 2013

Trilogy of the Ten Kings


Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had a bewildering dream that was interpreted by Daniel the prophet.  It disclosed a futuristic kingdom represented by two feet and ten toes.  This kingdom will follow Babylon (gold), Persia (silver), Greece (bronze), and Rome (iron).  It will be made of iron and clay.  The ten toes signify a divided kingdom ruled by ten kings.  Because the toes are made partly from iron and partly from clay, part of the kingdom will be strong like iron and the other part brittle like clay.  The ten kings will attempt to unite, through the intermarriage of their sons and daughters, but their efforts will fail because iron does not mix with clay.

Daniel was held captive in Babylon during the zenith of Babylonia’s power and authority on earth.  He revealed a futuristic kingdom with large iron teeth, bronze claws, and ten horns.  It will follow the kingdoms of Persia (leopard), Greece (bear), and Rome (lion).  The ten horns represent ten kings.  Another horn will emerge and pull three of the horns out by their roots.  The other horn signifies another king who will become more powerful than his associates and subdue three kings.

John, an apostle of Jesus Christ, saw a beast coming up from among the nations having ten horns and on his horns were ten diadems.  He was like a leopard with the feet of a bear and the mouth of a lion.  The beast represents the antichrist and the ten horns symbolize ten kings.  The antichrist will be a man of intrigue who captures the popular imagination and inspires allegiance and devotion.  He will perform extraordinary signs for the purpose of uniting the otherwise incompatible ten kings against God, the Almighty.  And the beast and his allies will be defeated at the Battle of Armageddon after which Christ will establish His kingdom where He will reign for a thousand years.

Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, Daniel’s vision, and John’s revelation are all in harmony.  The prophetic information revealed to Nebuchadnezzar in a dream was taken a step further in Daniel’s vision which was further enhanced by John’s revelation.  Almost 700 years elapsed between the Book of Daniel and the Book of Revelation.  Read the author’s notes and references which are published under comments.  This is a short article that covers a lot of territory so the footnotes will be helpful.

6 comments:

  1. Scriptural references: Daniel 2:31-43; Daniel 7; Revelation 13; 17:12-18

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  2. Armageddon: Revelation 16:12-21

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  3. Millennial Kingdom: Revelation 20:1-6

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  4. Why was the beast compared to a leopard, a bear, and a lion? Because he will be the leader of a global empire. Persia, Greece, and Rome were empires that spanned the entire known world.

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  5. (a) In Daniel’s vision, the sequence of the first three kingdoms is based on superiority rather than chronology. Rome (lion) was superior to Greece (bear) which was superior to Persia (leopard). Notably, the king of beasts had the wings of an eagle and the aquila was the emblem of Roman Legions. (b) John put the symbolic beasts in chronological order (leopard, bear, & lion). (c) In Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, iron symbolized Rome and bronze signified Greece. Daniel’s fourth kingdom had teeth like Rome and claws like Greece. John said the beast had feet like Greece and a mouth like Rome.

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  6. Daniel 7 (common interpretation): Babylon was the lion, Persia the bear, Greece the leopard, and the fourth beast represented both the Roman Empire & a futuristic or revived Roman Empire. However, Daniel 7:17 calls the four beasts “kings who will arise.” Daniel was a captivity prophet and Babylon had already emerged as the world’s foremost superpower. Belshazzar, who was prince regent in the absence of his father, was the last king of Babylon (Daniel 7:1).

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