THE FORMATION OF THE BEAST'S
POLITICAL POWER BASE

It is apparent that a world leader, who is the center of world events during the time period known as Daniel's 70th week, needs to be in place before he can make the covenant with Israel. And although his full political and military might is not demonstrated until the middle of the week, the structure from which he operates must already be in existence and he must have some political control in order to "swing" the deal in the first place. This then is the "final" factor that needs to be a "functional" reality before the 70th week can begin. Although the rise of the world leader relates to the beginning of Daniel's 70th week, it is necessary at this point, to give a brief synopsis of that rise in order to correlate it with the political confederacy that will be in place prior to his rise.

Revelation 13:1,

"And he (Satan) stood on the sand of the seashore.
And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea,
having 10 horns and 7 heads, and on his horns were 10 diadems"

This refers to the beast "kingdom" rather than the beast-ruler.
The beast has 7 heads. The final world kingdom (the beast-kingdom) is built upon 7 other historical world kingdoms.

Rev. 17:10,

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

These are kingdoms which all have their foundation in the "Babylonian evil" of Nimrod's kingdom. Although Nimrod's world rule was terminated at the tower of Babel judgment, his influence through the religion he began, was carried with all the peoples who scattered from Shinar and was perpetuated as new cultures developed, changing and adjusting as history progressed, and yet always retaining the basic core of evil that was launched into the world through Nimrod's involvement with Satan.

Of these kingdoms, 5 have fallen prior to the then present kingdom of Rome. One is, which is Rome (from John's perspective); and one is yet to come, subsequent to Rome. There is usually no disagreement in identifying the 6 kings or kingdoms. The problems arise with trying to identify the 7th. But I think that we can find within the context of Revelation 17 as well as the context of Daniel, the fact that the 7th is simply a ten-nation confederacy formed into a political and economic power which will have great, although subtle, influence throughout the whole world. This 10-nation "organization" will be in existence at "the time of the end" and become the instrument by which one man out from among them will establish world control. It is usually identified as a revived or a reconstructed Roman Empire that will exist at the end times and prior to the world ruler taking control. However, it should not really be viewed as a "revived" Roman Empire, but this term has been generally accepted to refer to the 10-nation political confederacy which is structured out from the geographical boundaries of the old Roman Empire. That would basically be Europe. But as powerful national entities outside of Europe have emerged on the scene of international politics, we have to take those nations into consideration. Perhaps a clear identification of this 10-nation organization cannot be found until it actually arises.

The identification of the 5 kings or kingdoms which have fallen is based on understanding this progression of "Babylonian evil" in the five kingdoms which functioned, each in their turn, as a world force both religiously and militarily. Those five then would be in order, Egypt, Assyria, Chaldea, Persia and Greece.

The 6th kingdom which is present during the time of John, is Rome.

The 7th kingdom, which is the beast kingdom, is described as possessing 10 horns which are identified as 10 kings which have not yet received a kingdom, but will receive authority with the beast for one hour (a short time). This 10-king body, or 10-nation body refers to a political and economic organization, with roots in the Roman Empire, which will come together in the last days. We learn details of this from Daniel 2:40-44; 7:19-24; and Rev. 17:8-17.

The 10-nation body out from which will come the benevolent world leader will succumb to the beast's authority after he begins his reign.

THE VISIONS OF DANIEL

We begin with the first vision of Daniel which is found at chapter 2:31-45. Here we see a huge statue of a man designed as a broad outline of the world's major kingdoms from the time of Babylon until the future return of Jesus at the Day of the LORD.

Briefly then, the head of Gold refers to Babylon; the breast and arms refers to Persia; the belly and thighs refers to Greece; and the legs and feet refer to Rome with the 10 toes referring to the final form of "Roman" influence at the "end times."

Concerning the twofold division of Greece and Rome as represented by the image, Walvoord concludes,

"The upper part of the legs represented the twofold stage of the last period of the Alexandrian Empire, which especially concerned the Jews, namely, Syria and Egypt. This was two-legged because it embraced two continents, or two major geographic areas, the East and the West. The Roman Empire continued this twofold division and extended its sway over the entire Mediterranean area as well as western Asia." (Daniel, page 73)

Concerning the "dual" character of this "Roman" kingdom as represented by the iron and pottery, Daniel records at Daniel 2:43,

"And in that you saw the iron mixed with clay
they will combine with one another in the seed of men
but they will not adhere to one another
even as iron does not combine with pottery."

The significance of the iron and pottery:

The two Aramaic words, chasaph and tiyn, used together indicate "baked" clay rather than "natural" clay and therefore should be rendered as "pottery" and not "clay." This is confirmed in the passage by the description of this element as being, "brittle," which refers to pottery rather than clay.

The meaning of this "dualism" has been the subject of many and varied interpretations, and since it is not clearly stated, the most logical should probably be based on the "nature" of the substances involved in the whole image.

Keil summarizes,

"As, in the three preceding kingdoms, gold, silver and brass represent the material of these kingdoms, i.e. their peoples and their culture, so also in the fourth kingdom iron and clay represent the material of the kingdoms arising out of the division of this kingdom, i.e. the national elements out of which they are constituted, and which will and must mingle together in them." (Keil and Delitzsch, Daniel at verses 42, 43)

This dualism indicates the division within the kingdom that will occur later in its history. It has been suggested that the dualism represented by the iron and clay refers to the division of the Empire into West and East. However, that geographical division is indicated by the "two legs" of the image while the iron and clay speaks of some other factor.

The first aspect of this division refers to the two spheres of power that will exist within the Empire after its "iron" stage. Those two spheres are political and religious with neither truly being able to merge with the other.

The second aspect of the division is that the one half will be strong and the other will be brittle. Eventually, the political sphere will give way to the religious. The political, being more brittle, will shatter into many segments as separate and diverse nations are formed. The religious, however, will remain strong and administer its own political influence through its massive economic and religious controls.

The next major factor concerning this image is its scope. This image traces the history of the 4th empire UNTIL the time when "the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed." It bypasses the 1st advent of Messiah and extends far into the future without even hinting at the length of time involved, but it ends with the Messiah bringing an end to Gentile rule and establishing His own reign on the earth.

What we should gather from this, is that Daniel's 4th empire, which is generally identified as Rome, would eventually diminish in its power and influence and yet remain "mingled" with the seed of men, without itself being a major political body. Often people speak of the Roman Empire coming to an end and no longer having any kind of impact on the world as a whole, but this has not been the case. Peters quotes from Freeman's, Historical Essays:

"It may be a hard saying, but it is one which the facts fully bear out, that hardly one student in ten of medieval history really grasps that one key to the whole subject without which medieval history is simply an unintelligible chaos. The key is not other than the continued existence of the Roman Empire. As long as people are taught that the Empire came to an end in the year 476, a true understanding of the next thousand years becomes utterly impossible. No man can understand either the politics or the literature of that whole period, unless he constantly bears in mind that, in the ideas of the men of those days, the Roman Empire, the Empire of Augustus, Constantine, and Justinian, was not a thing of the past, but a thing of the present." (G.H.N. Peters, The Theocratic Kingdom, Vol. 2, p. 643).

The influence then, of the Roman Empire, will continue to be felt throughout subsequent history and finally reach a stage in the last days where it is to be viewed as a 10 nation confederacy which will once again have a world-wide impact. And yet, this confederacy is not to be viewed as a kingdom "power" on the earth, but rather a political body or organization which works for the mutual benefit of the whole world. Since this organization will not have "authority" itself, it is probable that its influence will be carried out in a "behind the scenes" manner until such time as it is taken over by the world leader.

Dan. 2:41-43,

"And in that you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter's clay and partly of iron, it will be a divided kingdom; but it will have in it the toughness of iron, inasmuch as you saw the iron mixed with common clay. And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of pottery, so some of the kingdom will be strong and part of it will be brittle. And in that you saw the iron mixed with common clay, they will combine with one another in the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, even as iron does not combine with pottery."

The diversities within the the Roman Empire continued to cause more and more division. The political side totally crumbled into many separate and distinct cultures, whereas, the religious side strengthened and wielded its own political influence through the power of its religious and economic controls.

We find then today, that the religious sphere is still strong and influential in world affairs, but carries no "direct" political clout.

However, the political sphere, which long ago splintered into many different pieces, is now pushing and shoving; moving toward some kind of political union that will be able to once again administer the affairs of the world with a "unified" political authority as the Roman Empire did for so many years. Eventually, this pursuit will result in a 10-nation organization which will exist at "the time of the end" from which will arise a dynamic world leader who will use that organization to resolve the economic, religious and political crisis in the Middle East.

The next vision also focuses on these four major world kingdoms with greater emphasis on the "end times" status of the fourth.

Dan. 7:7-8,

"After this I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, a 4th beast (Rome), dreadful and terrifying and extremely strong; and it had large iron teeth. It devoured and crushed, and trampled down the remainder with its feet; and it was different from all the beasts that were before it, AND IT HAD 10 HORNS."

Dan. 7:23-24,

"Thus he said: The 4th beast (Rome) will be a 4th kingdom on the earth, which will be different from all the kingdoms, and it will devour the whole earth and tread it down and crush it. As for the 10 horns, out of this kingdom, 10 KINGS WILL ARISE. . ."

The fact that this 10 nation confederacy will be in existence in the last days is established by Dan. 2:44,

"And in the days of those kings,
the God of heaven will set up a kingdom
that will never be destroyed,"

A CHANGE OF FOCUS

We saw earlier that at Revelation 17:1-7, there seems to be a focus on a kingdom which is designated as a beast (the beast-kingdom). At Rev. 17:8ff, there seems to be a subtle change of focus as we switch from looking at the beast-kingdom to the beast-ruler who will arise prior to the 70th week and accomplish the peace keeping desires of the 10 nation confederacy by taking control of that political body.

The vision of Daniel 8, focuses on this "beast-ruler." Verses 1-22 prepares Daniel's people for a time in the relatively, near future, as Gabriel tells him about what will take place progressively from the rise of Media and Persia, to Greece and then to the oppression of Antiochus Epiphanes. The historical progress of this passage is given in "prose" and extends approximately from 538 until 164 BC.

However, at Daniel 8:23 the writing style changes to "poetry" and the focus goes far beyond even the few hundred years of the near future and looks to "the latter period of their rule," which corresponds with Dan. 2:44, "and in the days of those kings," which takes us to the "end times" period.

Furthermore, the phrase at v. 8:23, "when transgressors have run their course," has eschatological significance in reference to the discipline stage of Israel's history, which has extended currently from 70 AD to the present. This same point of focus is found at Daniel 9:24 with the phrase, "to finish THE transgression."

It is from within this 10-nation confederacy, that a king will arise who is arrogant and skilled in intrigue. He will use the 10-nation confederacy as a political base from which to implement his peace keeping ideas in Europe and the Middle East. And it is from this ideology that comes the 7-year covenant experiment of Dan. 9:27.

Daniel 8:23,

"And in the latter period of their rule,
When the transgressors have run {their course,}
A king will arise strong of face and skilled in intrigue
(political diplomacy."

Daniel 9:27,

And he (the prince who is to come)
will establish a covenant with the many (peoples of Palestine)
for one week (7 years).

It is important to note at this point that the language indicates that these 10 kings will exist together in a union of political power, and are NOT to be viewed as following one another in history. Furthermore, it is "out from among them" that the little horn will arise and subdue 3 of them (Dan. 7:8, 24). That is, a man from within the borders of the 10 but not one of the 10, will rise to take control of the 10.

Nor are they to be viewed as a kingdom "power" on the earth, but rather a political union for the mutual benefit of many nations. There status as a kingdom power will not come about until the take over by the world leader. According to Rev. 17:10, the 7th kingdom has not yet come (at the time of John) and when it comes it is to remain just a little while. This refers to the 10-nation confederacy that will be in place just prior to the beginning of the 70th week. Our passages make it clear that the 10-nation confederacy is in place first and then the "little horn" rises up from among them and diplomatically takes control of the group. Thus, my point is that the confederation will be in existence prior to the beginning of the 70th week of Daniel. This body will be a confederacy of nations that will reflect the interests of Europe and the Middle East for certain, but may also include representatives from other parts of the world. At any rate, this block of nations will inter-relate with all the nations of the world in an attempt to solve the social, religious, economic, ecological, health and warfare problems which will exist on a very large scale, especially in the Middle East. However, this body will be unable to accomplish its honorable intent as every attempt will meet with failure. The necessary ingredients for success will not be in place until such time as the world leader himself takes over the management and implementation of the peace experiment."

At Rev. 17:12, the 10 kings are described as not yet having received a kingdom but will receive authority with the beast for one hour, ie, a short period of time. Prior to the beginning of the week, these 10 kings serve in a political union that benefits the whole world through social and economic management but have no kingdom authority or function.

The United Nations and the European Union are two good examples of such a body, although at the present time, we do not see a specialized 10-nation section within either of those bodies.
SEE TOPIC: Ten nation confederacy possibilities

 Revelation 17:12

"and the ten horns which you saw are ten kings
who have not yet received a kingdom (ruling power)
but they receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour"

At the beginning point, of the week, the "little horn" will take over authority of the confederacy and begin to institute his benevolent agenda for world peace. It is in connection with this "overall" agenda that the new leader will institute the covenant of peace in Palestine. The "ten" do not receive authority with the beast for "a short time" UNTIL the mid-point of the week. This will happen after the benevolent world leader is assassinated and healed by Satan. At that time the healed leader will be indwelt by Satan and become the beast. The beast will then break the covenant and begin his oppressive reign using not only the 10 kings to do his bidding, but a special Palestinian leader as well, known as the beast out of the "land" or the false prophet (Rev. 13:11-17).

When the little horn, AS the benevolent leader comes on the scene he will politically conquer 3 of the 10 nations and thus bring the whole confederacy under his control. This is the event represented by the 1st seal of Rev. 6:2.

"And I looked, and behold, a white horse
and him who sat upon it had a bow and a crown was given to him
and he went out conquering and to conquer"

It is this "conquering" that gives this man authority within the 10-nation group and subsequently results in establishing THE peace of the 7 year covenant.
This action is described as subduing three of the ten at Dan. 7:24.

In actuality, he will function as a benevolent leader over this political/economic confederacy and accomplish great good for the world. This is the 7th world kingdom which is yet to come as mentioned at Rev. 17:10,

The other has not yet come; and when he comes,
he must remain a little while.

Now even though those of the church who are oriented to the scenario of events as revealed in the Bible, will "pick up" on what is going on and may be able to recognize this leader when he comes on the scene, he will not actually be "revealed" to Israel and to the world as an oppressive dictator (man of lawlessness) until the mid-point of the week. Only after being killed, and healed by Satan will he BECOME the beast. At that time he will break the covenant  and begin to institute his own religious and economic agenda. It is this healing and rise of the beast that then will begin the 8th world empire, the kingdom of the beast (2 Thes. 2:3-8; Mat. 24:15; Rev. 13:1-8). And it is this rise of and action of the beast which is represented at the 2nd seal of Rev. 6:4,

"And another, a red horse went out
and to him who sat on it it was granted
to take THE peace from the earth
and that men should slay one another
and a great sword was given to him."

Most translations do not recognize the presence of the definite article (the) in the verse which precedes the word, "peace." It is placed there to indicate that there is in existence through the activities of the first seal, a universal "peace" in the world. It is this very peace which is then interrupted and indeed, totally removed by the activities of the beast at the midpoint of the week when he sets himself up as God and begins his oppressive reign, known as the tribulation, the great one.

SUMMARY

The information about the beast at Rev. 17:1-10 describes the relationship of the beast-kingdom and Babylonian evil as it will exist in the Roman church. But the description covers a time period many years prior to the arrival of the beast-kingdom, and in fact reviews the religious harlotry of Babylonian evil from ancient Egypt to ancient Greece (the 5 that have fallen) and then to Ancient Rome.

King #6 is Rome, and although it officially passes off the scene in 1453 AD, its political, economic and religious influences remain "mingled in the seed of men" to this very day.

The king who is to come (#7) will come on the scene out from among the 10 kings, gain authority over them and function for a short time (one hour).

Rev. 17:11-15 describes what happens at the midpoint of the week when the 7th king becomes the 8th (the beast-ruler) and will abolish all religion and promote himself as God. Verses 16-18 describes what happens to the Roman church at the midpoint of the week when the beast-ruler begins his oppressive reign over the world. He uses the 10-nation political confederacy to destroy the religious "harlot" and neutralize her capital city, Rome.

"And the ten horns which you saw, and the beast, these will hate the harlot and will make her desolate and naked, and will eat her flesh and will burn her up with fire. For God has put it in their hearts to execute His purpose by having a common purpose, and by giving their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God should be fulfilled. And the woman whom you saw is the great city, which reigns over the kings of the earth."

The great and powerful religious body of Rome will be instrumental in establishing religious tolerance in the Middle East which is absolutely necessary for THE peace to take effect. But after the beast-ruler is empowered by Satan, the agenda for beast worship will have no use for the ecumenical religious body of Babylonian evil nor the city of Rome which is its headquarters.

At about the mid point of the week, the benevolent world ruler will be assassinated (suffer a fatal head wound) but be raised up by the power of Satan which brings his soul back from the place of torments in the abyss of hades. It is for this reason that he can be described as "was, and is not, and is about to come up out of the abyss."

Rev. 17:8
The beast that you saw was and is not,
and is about to come up out of the abyss and to go to destruction.
And those who dwell on the earth will wonder,
whose name has not been written in the book of life
from the foundation of the world,
when they see the beast, that he was and is not and will come.

Notice that the people of the world will OBSERVE that this person "was and is not and will come." Accordingly, it does not seem likely that this has reference to the "7 kings" of verse 10, where we see that "five have fallen, one is and one is to come."

Here, at verse 8, viewed from the perspective of people alive AT THE TIME -

1. "Was," refers to the life of the world ruler (#7) as he was leader over the 10-nation confederacy.

2. "Is not," refers to the fact that #7 is killed and "lies in state" before the eyes of the watching world.

3. And "about to come" refers to the resuscitation of the world ruler as he comes from the abyss of Hades and becomes the 8th king.

We are given a picture of the rise, activity and demise of this ruler at Daniel 8:23-26.

The analysis from Walvoord is quite helpful.
(Daniel, the Key to Prophetic Revelation, pages 197-199)
THE LATTER TIME OF THE KINGDOM
-------
Daniel 8:23-26
In this section of Daniel 8, an individual is pictured prophetically who is said to have the following characteristics: (1) he will appear "in the latter time of their kingdom," that is, of the four kingdoms of verse 22; (2) he will appear "when the transgressors are come to the full"; (3) he will be "a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences,"
that is, having a strong or bold countenance and able to interpret riddles, a mark of intelligence (1 Ki 10: 1); (4) he shall have great power but his power shall be derived from another (either God, Satan, Alexander the Great); (5) he shall accomplish great exploits including destroying Israel, the mighty and holy people; (6) by his policies "he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand," always busy hatching plots (1 Mace 1: 16-51 ), that is, wickedness shall be on the increase; (7) he shall exalt himself, as did Antiochus Epiphanes; (8) by means of a false peace, he shall destroy many people; (9) he shall oppose "the Prince of princes"; (10) in the end "he shall be broken without hand" (Antiochus died of a foul disease), that is, his power shall be destroyed without human intervention, Finally, Daniel is cautioned that the total vision is true, but the understanding of it shall be delayed for many days as well as its fulfillment, A careful scrutiny of these many points will justify the conclusion that it is possible to explain all of these elements as fulfilled historically in Antiochus Epiphanes. Most of the factors are obvious and the principal difficulty is occasioned by the expression in the later time of their kingdom and in the statement he shall stand lip against the Prince of princes. Antiochus Epiphanos, of course, did arise in the latter time of the Syrian kingdom. However, the use of other terms such as the end in verses 17 and 19, and the last end of the indignation in verse 19 are difficult to harmonize with Antiochus Epiphanes.

It is also objected, as expressed by W. C. Stevens, "The time of Antiochus was in the former time of those kingdoms. His day was not even in the latter time of the old Grecian Empire; for he came to his end more than one hundred years before the Grecian Empire ended. The simple solution is that those four kingdoms are to have 'a latter time'; i.e., they are to be again represented territorially as four kingdoms in the last days at the Times of the Gentiles." The expression the end frequently occurs in references in Daniel 9:26; 11:6, 27, 35, 40, 45; 12:4, 6, 9, 13.

Another problem is the statement that the king "shall also stand up against the Prince of princes." H. A. Ironside expresses a common viewpoint that the "Prince of princes can be none other than the Messiah; consequently, these words were not fulfilled in the life and death of Antioohus." However, this objection is not unanswerable, because opposition to God, to Israel, and to the Messianic hope in general, which characterized blasphemers of the Old Testament, can well be interpreted as standing up against "the Prince of princes." After all, Christ existed in Old Testament times as God and as the Angel of Jehovah and as the defender of Israel.

Taken as a whole, the principal problem of the passage when interpreted as prophecy fulfilled completely in Antiochus is the allusions to the end of the age. These are hard to understand as relating to Antiochus in view of the larger picture of Daniel 7 which concludes with the second advent of Christ. It is for this reason, as well as for the many details in the passage, that many expositors believe the interpretation goes beyond the vision. If the vision itself of the little horn can be fulfilled in Antiochus Epiphanes, the interpretation given by the angel seems to go beyond Antiochus to the final world ruler. . .
It may be concluded that this difficult passage apparently goes beyond that which is historically fulfilled in Antiochus Ephiphanes to foreshadow a future personage often identified as the world ruler of the end time. In many respects this ruler carries on a persecution of Israel and desecration of the temple similar to what was accomplished historically by Antiochus. This interpretation of the vision may be regarded as an illustration of double fulfillment of prophecy or, using Antiochus as a type, the interpretation may go on to reveal additional facts which go beyond the type in describing the ultimate king who will oppose Israel in the last days. He indeed will be "broken without hand" at the time of the second advent of Jesus Christ.
-------

Revelation chapter 18, seems to go beyond the religious body of Babylonian "Rome" and deals with the destruction of the city of Rome itself, which served as the headquarters for Babylonian evil, and had held such a powerful religious and economic control on the nations of the world.

The religious body itself will be destroyed at the midpoint of the week but the city will not be destroyed until during the warfare that leads up to Armageddon. The fall of this city takes place at such a time that allows for the nations of the world to express their shock and sorrow at its destruction (Rev. 18:9-19). This would indicate a time frame prior to Armageddon rather than afterwards.

There has been much debate about whether this city is a "restored" Babylon or the city of Rome which has "housed" Babylonian evil since Constantine the Great in about 313 AD.

Details of this subject must await another chapter. However, let me say that the language found at Rev. 18 concerning the greatness and influence of the city involved, which is called "Babylon the great," can hardly apply to the physical city of Babylon either at the time of John or at any time since, nor could it apply to even a "restored" city of Babylon without a large number of years to fulfill the language of Rev. 18:3,

"For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the passion of her immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed acts of immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich by the wealth of her sensuality."

There is another theory floating around that Babylon the great is actually the city of Jerusalem. It is not and I think that Rev. 16:19 proves this conclusively.
"The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. AND Babylon the great was remembered in the sight of God, to give her the cup of the wine of His fierce wrath.
For more details see my discussion with a friend at:
Babylon And Jerusalem

I must suggest that if there is to be a restored "physical" city of Babylon for the end times, it seems that Revelation 17 and 18 do not have it in mind.

At any rate, the world ruler will utilize the political structure of a 10-nation confederacy to carry out his initial peace-keeping activities and later, as the beast-ruler, use it to carry out his religious agenda.

Questions and comments are always welcome
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İRon Wallace, http://www.biblefragrances.com. Anyone is free to reproduce this material and distribute it,
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