The Kingdoms of the Dragon
I started off today intending to write about one topic but in the midst of my studies God led me in a completely different direction. Has that ever happened to you?No matter what viewpoint a student of prophecy starts with, we mostly all have one thing we believe in common and that is the identity of the beasts from Dan. 7. We know that the lion-like beast was Babylon, the bear-like beast was the Medo-Persians and the leopard-like beast was Greece and the fourth terrible beast was Rome. Admittedly, some try to put a modern spin on it and want to believe that the lion is England, the bear is Russia and the leopard is either an African-Indian alliance, various parts of the Middle East or some even believe it’s the USA!
Where we depart from that common ground is in the identity of the ten toes from Dan. 2 and the ten horns of the fourth beast from Dan. 7. Historicists and many futurists believe they are made up of some of the remnants of the western part of the Roman Empire. I believe they’re looking in the wrong direction. The picture of the dragon from Rev. 13 tells us where to look for these nations to come from. Rev. 13:2 – “And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.”
It seems plain to me that we should look in the areas that these four kingdoms had in common which means we should concentrate on Rome’s eastern empire (aka the Byzantine Empire) and not the western. I’m sure my list is incomplete because my computer wasn’t forthcoming with a simple answer to my queries but I found at least eight modern countries that they, at various times, controlled. They are Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Iran, Iraq and Turkey. There is one more that Greece, Medo-Persia and Rome shared and that is Libya. The Medo-Persians and Greeks had Afghanistan and Pakistan in common and Rome and Greece had Greece, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Armenia and Romania in common. Individually they each held territories the others didn’t so I will list them as possibilities as well. They consist of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Georgia and Albania.
I believe at least the eight they all had in common may be part of the ten kingdoms controlled by the dragon and the other two is a toss-up amongst the remaining countries. Israel may be an exception but only time will tell.
Have you ever had a dream that sticks with you? You know it’s important and that God gave it to you but you don’t necessarily understand it fully. Well, that’s happened to me a couple of times lately. Let me share my last one. I was shown a map and on the map were seven mountains arranged in a semi-circle. (Rev. 17:9) The middle one was the largest and was called either Mt Olympus or Mt. Olympia.
I tried to find a similar arrangement on the computer but to no avail. In this election year we have two slogans, Hillary’s, “I’m with her” and Trump’s, “I’m with you”. There is a passage in Dan. 11:36-39 that I believe is talking about the a/c. “And the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done. 37 Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all. 38 But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces: and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things. 39 Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god, whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many, and shall divide the land for gain.”
In my ponderings I have always thought that this “strange god” could be technology. However, because of my dream I’m leaning a different way. Continuing on with the dream, I was in a park with my family just watching the kids run and play and other families have a good time together. I was sitting on the ground next to a swing set and suddenly a little girl who was several feet away stood up and pointed at me and said, “I stand for the world” then many others, adults and children alike either stood up or turned to face me and then one at a time they all said the same thing, “I stand for the world” and the dream ended.
As I was considering what the dream might mean the word “globalism” came to mind. “Peace and safety with unity” is a concept that none of the a/c’s fathers had known. It was always power, conflict, control and conquest. The concept of globalism has only arisen in the age of the computer and internet and while we’ve heard the term bandied about a bit, it hasn’t become a “movement” but that might change in the near future and it might very well be that the a/c will come to fame within this cause. It seems to go with the flow of scripture but let me know what you think.
