18 January 2009During additional research last evening, some crucial, inter-related eschatological points made themselves apparent. The notion that Antichrist will be Islamic carries with it the implied baggage that his global empire arises from within the Islamic world which has been mutated by some authors into an implication of reference to the eastern leg of the Roman Empire. Nothing could be further from the truth of this prophetic matter.
The prophetic Word of God declared otherwise, most recently about 1,980 years ago through John on Patmos, who declared to all mankind, “
The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants—things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John, who bore witness to the word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all things that he saw. Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near.” (Revelation 1:1-3 NKJV)
I also remind the reader of the Lord’s admonition regarding this prophetic Word, for it is
NOT to be trifled with: “
For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” (Revelation 22:18-19 NKJV)
“
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. 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.” (Revelation 13:1-2 NKJV)
As I referenced in blog comments made to Bill Salus'
Prophecy Depot, this above prophetic picture is given in the reverse order as it was originally given to the prophet Daniel. (see
Daniel 2: 31-43) Instead of Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome we see Rome, Greece, Persia and Babylon.
The key eschatological reference here is that not one leg of the Roman Empire is singled about, but both are. And below them are the ten toes of the two feet upon which it stood, not just five of the eastern foot, but all ten of both feet, which is inclusive of all the territories of its predecessors.
Then in Daniel 2: 44-45 we are given the key with which to interpret the prophetic Word of God: "
In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands—a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces. The great God has shown the king what will take place in the future. The dream is true and the interpretation is trustworthy."
The above is a direct reference to the Kingdom Of God, and of the King of kings and Lord of lords, our Messiah Jesus Christ. It was His Kingdom which came to be in 33 AD with His Crucifixion and Resurrection during the period of the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire was THE LAST of all earthly empires according to God Almighty.
It is all of those specifically referenced ten toes of loose iron and clay that arise again as the kingdom of the Antichrist, not just five of them at the terminus of the eastern leg and foot. This prophetic image specifically details that all subsequent empires are irrelevant to the prophetic picture from our Lords perspective. And this includes the subsequent Empire of Islam, which truly was no empire of individual states, but of a single political entity – the Islamic Khalifa (Caliphate) in all of its various forms. At
no time in history did the Roman Empire ever have dominion over Arabia, the birthplace of Islam. Neither did the Macedonian-Greek Empire of Alexander the Great, nor Persia at its greatest territorial extent under either Darius I or as reconstituted under Artaxerxes III, nor did the Babylonians.
Clearly and unambiguously, with the prophetic Word of God being the final arbiter as it is written in Daniel 9:26b (NKJV) “
And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary” is a direct reference to the Roman Empire and its peoples, of all ten toes and none other. It was indeed the Legions of Rome who destroyed the city and the sanctuary in 70 AD and it will be from the descendants of the people of Rome that Antichrist will arise in these ‘Last Days.”
24 January 2009: As is the case with the majority of the exegesis within what some have dubbed the “Islamic End Time Paradigm,” an undue excess of emphasis has been placed on three prophetic verses from Numbers 24:17-19 by those trumpeting an “Islamic Predominance” during these last days. A severe twisting of the meaning of these verses attempts to lay them as the exegetical cornerstone which adherents perceive to be an Islamic world government led by a Muslim Antichrist. Deconstructing this bogus paradigm begins by removing its foundation.