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The Amazing Prophecy Of World Empires (2)

By Pastor W. F. Kumuyi
11 October 2015   |   1:51 am
“And four great beasts came up.” The Gentile kings and their kingdoms are represented by beasts because they often rise to rule and reign by brutish rage and tyranny.
Pastor Kumuyi

Pastor Kumuyi

“And four great beasts came up.”
The Gentile kings and their kingdoms are represented by beasts because they often rise to rule and reign by brutish rage and tyranny. These beasts are “diverse one from another”, different in appearance, strategies and military genius. The first, represented by a lion with wings, is the Babylonian king. The lion-hearted warrior-king was fast and fierce; he fought and conquered many nations with great rapidity. He was daring and deadly, cruel and courageous. He ruled with beastly brutality, until he was judged and conquered by divine Omnipotence.

The second beast, a bear, symbolised the Medo-Persian kingdom. Though inferior to the Babylonian kingdom (Daniel 2:39), it was still beastly, brutal, rapacious and ravenous. “Raised up on one side”, the Persian side was stronger than the Medes. In its voraciousness, “it had three ribs in the mouth” – it had conquered Egypt, Lydia and Babylon. Wicked and cruel, the Medo-Persian kingdom arose, conquered and devoured much. The third beast, a leopard, represented the Grecian kingdom. Instead of two wings, the leopard had four wings, symbolising its great speed and swiftness. This winged leopard symbolised Alexander the Great, the Grecian king. Swift and powerful, he conquered the whole empire of Persia and other nations within 13 years. “The beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it.” When he died at the age of 33, his empire was divided among his four chief captains – Seleucus Nicanor, Perdiccas, Cassander and Ptolemeus.

The fourth beast was fiercer than any other the world had ever seen. It had no comparison in craft, cruelty and conquest. This dreadful and terrible beast represented the Roman Empire. “And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise” (Daniel 2:40). “And behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it” (Daniel 7:7). The commanders and armies of the Roman Empire, the dreadful, terrible, strong, iron-empire conquered the world with brutal, irresistible force. This godless world is always hoping that a good king or leader will arise to replace a current cruel one. After the reign of “the beasts,” when “the Son of Man” (Daniel 7:13, 14) comes to rule and reign without a rival, all the hopes and aspirations of man will be realised.

“After this I saw and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly.” The final beast was terribly different from the preceding ones. The number of its horns, the springing up of a new horn, the eyes on the horn, its mouth speaking great things, the might and terror of the beast, the long duration of its dominion upon the earth, all made it fearfully peculiar. This fourth and final beast represents the Roman Empire, which “Shall devour the whole earth” (Daniel 7:23). The beast with “iron teeth” with which he will devour the prey will be an exceedingly fierce kingdom of savage ferocity. “The great teeth of iron” are used as the symbols of cruelty. “There is a generation, whose teeth are as swords, and their jaw teeth as knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, and the needy from among men” (Proverbs 30:14). “And stamped the residue with the feet of it” (Daniel 7:7). This denotes the rage and wrath of the kingdom, having a determination to crush all in its way, in its pursuit of universal Dominion.

“And it had ten horns.” “And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise” (Daniel 7:24). Out of the final kingdom, ten kings will spring out. Eventually, a “little horn” will rise up to defeat and destroy the others. This “little horn” is identified with the future Antichrist who “shall speak great words against the most High” (Daniel 7: 8,25). The fourth beast represents the Roman Empire. The Roman dominion fell apart in AD 476, but it will be revived and will return to great unified form before Christ’s Second Coming. The revived Roman Empire will be comprised of 10 unified parts out of which the “little horn”, the Antichrist, will rise. The old Roman Empire is already being revived and re-gathered. Quite clearly then, the Second Coming of Christ is imminent. Let us watch and pray. “Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh”(Matthew 24: 44).

Further Reading:(King James Version): Daniel 7: 1-8; Daniel 8: 3,4; Hosea 13: 8; Isaiah 13:8; Daniel 8:8, 22; Hosea 13:7; Daniel 10:20; 2:40, 41; 7:19,23; Daniel 2: 40; 7: 23-26; Revelation 13:1; Daniel8: 10-12,23-25; 11: 36-39, 45; Revelation 17:12-14; 2 Thessalonians 2:3-7; Ezekiel 35: 12-14.

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