The Antichrist and the Last Evil Empire
King Nebuchadnezzar's Dream (Some of this will stretch your faith! But hang in there)
In Chapter 2 of the Book of Daniel, Daniel relates a dream King Nebuchadnezzar had that troubled him greatly. He summoned all the magicians, enchanters and astrologers and told them they were to tell him what he had dreamed. They protested that this was impossible. However the king was adamant, and unless they told him what he had dreamed and what the dream meant they would be executed.
When news of this decree reached Daniel he went to the king and asked for time so that he might learn the dream and interpret it. During the night God revealed the king’s dream to Daniel in a vision. Along with the dream he was given the interpretation of the mystery; and so he went to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to have the wise men executed, and asked to be taken to the king and he would interpret the dream for him. Daniel is taken to the king, he tells him his dream and then interprets it for him.
The dream outlines five successive empires that will rule the world, beginning with the Babylonian Empire and ending with Millennium kingdom, a kingdom that will be established on earth when the present age has ended.
The purpose of the dream and its interpretation was twofold: To reveal to King Nebuchadnezzar what will take place in the future, and secondly, that he might understand the dream (v30). But it also gives us understanding of what will take place on earth now as the present age is coming to a close.
The question arises: Why was it important that the king should understand what will happen in the distant future? The answer lies in a prophecy written and explained by the apostle John some five or six hundred years later.
Daniel Interprets the Dream
24Then Daniel went to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to execute the wise men of Babylon, and said to him, “Do not execute the wise men of Babylon. Take me to the king, and I will interpret his dream for him.”
25Arioch took Daniel to the king at once and said, “I have found a man among the exiles from Judah who can tell the king what his dream means.” 26The king asked Daniel (also called Belshazzar), “Are you able to tell me what I saw in my dream and interpret it?”
27Daniel replied, “No wise man, enchanter, magician or diviner can explain to the king the mystery he has asked about, 28but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries. He has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in days to come. Your dream and the visions that passed through your mind as you lay on your bed are these:
29“As you were lying there, O king, your mind turned to things to come, and the revealer of mysteries showed you what is going to happen. 30As for me, this mystery has been revealed to me, not because I have greater wisdom than other living men, but so that you, O king, may know the interpretation and that you may understand what went through your mind.
31“You looked, O king, and there before you stood a large statue — an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance. 32The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, 33its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay. 34While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them. 35Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were broken in pieces at the same time and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth.
36“This was the dream, and now we will interpret it to the king. 37You, O king, are the king of kings. The God of heaven has given you dominion and power and might and glory; 38in your hands he has placed mankind and the beasts of the field and the birds of the air. Wherever they live, he has made you ruler over them all. You are that head of gold.
39“After you, another kingdom will rise, inferior to yours. Next, a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule over the whole earth. 40Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron — for iron breaks and smashes everything — and as iron breaks things to pieces, so it will crush and break all the others. 41Just as you saw that the feet and toes were partly of baked clay and partly of iron, so this will be a divided kingdom; yet it will have some of the strength of iron in it, even as you saw iron mixed with clay. 42As the toes were partly iron and partly clay, so this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle. 43And just as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, so the people will be a mixture and will not remain united, any more than iron mixes with clay.
44“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. 45This 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.”
46Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell prostrate before Daniel and paid him honor and ordered that an offering and incense be presented to him. 47The king said to Daniel, “Surely your God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, for you were able to reveal this mystery.”
48Then the king placed Daniel in a high position and lavished many gifts on him. He made him ruler over the entire province of Babylon and placed him in charge of all its wise men. 49Moreover, at Daniel’s request the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego administrators over the province of Babylon, while Daniel himself remained at the royal court.
The first question that comes to mind is why did God give this vision to King Nebuchadnezzar. Why was it important to God that the king should know and understand this vision? The answer is hidden in the words in Revelations 17:8, ‘yet will come.’ The king will make another appearance on earth, but this time in his role as the Antichrist.
Notice the power that God gave this king, outlined in verses 37 and 38. God gave the king dominion and power and might and glory over all people and over all the birds and animals on earth; wherever people live God made the king ruler over them all. There is no record in the Bible that God has ever revoked that awesome power that He bestowed upon King Nebuchadnezzar. That sweeping, universal, all embracing authority will manifest itself in this king’s next incarnation as the Antichrist* and he will retain that power until God is finished using him.
We need not concern ourselves with the second and third rulers referenced as having a chest and arms of silver and a belly and thighs of bronze. I believe they are the Greek and Roman empires, but others may disagree.
It is the fourth kingdom with legs of iron and feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay that is of much greater significance because that is the kingdom of the Antichrist. That is the next incarnation of the extremely powerful King Nebuchadnezzar. The kingdom of the Antichrist is the second-last kingdom that will rule the world. It will be followed by Jesus Christ’s ‘kingdom that will never be destroyed’ which is represented by the large rock.
*This is a reference to Ezekiel 30:10-12. The prophecy of his reincarnation, and his resurrection, are explained in detail in the forthcoming book.
The Antichrist and his Kingdom
The fourth kingdom whose leader is represented by the legs of iron will be as strong as iron, iron that can be used to break and smash everything. And just as iron can be used to break things, so this fourth kingdom will crush and break all other nations on earth (v40). This leader is the Antichrist.
The feet and toes represent ten nations that will unite with the Antichrist, the nation that will form the fourth kingdom. In the dream the feet and toes are partly of baked clay and partly of iron, meaning, we are told, that this fourth kingdom will be a divided kingdom; it will be partly strong and partly brittle. Yet this divided kingdom ‘will have some of the strength of iron in it.’ The conclusion being that the people making up this kingdom will comprise a mixture of ideology — opinions, beliefs, and doctrine — which make it a divided kingdom, and, we are told, the kingdom will be strong but will not remain united (v43).
Is there anywhere, today, a more accurate description of the Islamic nations in the Middle East, the brittle relationships between the various nations and the various factions, particularly the Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurds than what is laid out for us in the four verses, verses 40 to 43? Their strengths and weaknesses, their divisiveness, their discordant intransigence and their open hostility toward one another; the hostility within the various Islamic terrorist groups: Hamas vs. Fatah, for example; and their hostility toward other ethnic groups: the Muslim-Hindu violence in Kashmir, the Muslim-Buddhist violence in Thailand, the Muslim-Christian violence in Indonesia and the Philippines, that contributes to their “brittle” nature.
What they need to change to unite them into a powerful, united force is a leader. They have the motivation; between them they have all the money, wealth, resources, arms and manpower needed. Whatever they lack they can buy. But one thing they lack but cannot buy is a leader. They need a powerful leader who can unite them in their common purpose.
As to that purpose, we see it daily in the news from the Middle East. We see it in the conflict and discord and in terrorist attacks — by Islamic extremists in the Middle East and worldwide — a motivation toward this common purpose. That purpose is twofold: to “eliminate” the enemy in their midst, Israel and the Jews, and to impose their beliefs on the world. Beginning with Western nations their aim is to rid these nations of both their perceived Judeo-Christian ethic and their secular culture, and in the end to do so by force, killing whoever stands in their way.
In this regard the National Post published an article some time ago, written by Michael Coren, author and broadcaster, of an interview he had with Dr. Tawfik Hamid, a medical doctor who trained under Ayman al-Zawahiri while attending medical school in Egypt: This medical doctor, author and activist was once a member of Egypt's Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya (Arabic for “The Islamic Group,”) a banned terrorist organization. Al-Zawahiri is “the bearded jihadi who appears in Bin Laden’s videos, telling the world that Islamic violence will stop only once we all become Muslims.” (My emphasis)
Taking this view into account and considering the indiscriminate killing that has taken place in the world in recent decades, we can understand why this killing is happening … and based on Biblical prophecies that it will continue. According to prophetic Scriptures, Al-Zawahiri’s and Osama bin Laden’s pronouncement will prove to be prophetic and correct. (And, also according to prophecy, the killing will not end until bin Laden and his fellow extremists too are killed … in the Battle of Armageddon)
In the interview Dr. Hamid makes it clear that Muslim terrorists are motivated by “fundamental Muslim imperialism, the deliberate and determined expansion of militant Islam and its attempt to triumph not only in the Islamic world but in Europe and North America. Pure ideology. Muslim terrorists kill and slaughter not because of what they experience but because of what they believe ... It has absolutely nothing to do with poverty or lack of education.” He says most of those who do the killing are wealthy, privileged, educated and free. These sentiments are echoed by others who are knowledgeable and qualified to speak on the subject based on their understanding of the Muslim culture and the aims and ambitions of the clerics and leaders in the Muslim world.
Dr. Peter Hammond reportedly writes in his book, Slavery, Terrorism and Islam: The Historical Roots and Contemporary Threat: “Islam is not a religion nor is it a cult. It is a complete system. Islam has religious, legal, political, economic and military components. The religious component is a beard for all the other components. Isamitization occurs when there are sufficient Muslims in a country to agitate for their so-called “religious rights.” When the politically and culturally diverse societies agree to the “reasonable” Muslim demands for their “religious rights,” they also get the other components under the table.” He goes on to outline how this is being accomplished, and He lists the various stages this cultural shift is presently at in countries throughout the world. He says, “The ultimate goal of Islam is not to convert the world but to establish Sharia law over the entire world.”
Sharia law may be the ultimate goal of Islam, but that is not the ultimate goal of the Islamic extremists. Clearly their goal is the conversion of the world to their brand of faith, and by force wherever necessary (v40). We saw evidence of this recently in Pakistan. Not content with asserting control over the Swat Valley, they expanded and seized control and began imposing sharia law upon the Buner district as well, less than 100 miles from the capital Islamabad.
The Millennium Kingdom
The Millennium Kingdom is represented by the rock that was cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands. This rock struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, silver and gold were broken in pieces at the same time and became like chaff, and the wind swept them away without leaving a trace. This will take place ‘in the time of those kings’ (v44), in the time when the Antichrist and his ten-nation alliance are destroyed.
The breaking into pieces of the entire statue at one and the same time represents the Great Tribulation and the nuclear holocaust, a time of unprecedented horror in which all nations on Earth will be destroyed. The rock striking the statue on its feet means Jesus Christ will attack and destroy the kingdom of the Antichrist, after he, the Antichrist has conquered and destroyed the world. As is predicted, Jesus will destroy the kingdom of the Antichrist including his ten-nation alliance in the Battle of Armageddon.
The chaff that the wind swept away without leaving a trace is the remnants of evil. The punishment of the guilty and the slaughter of the unrepentant people is designed for this purpose: to eliminate all forms of evil from the world. This will be accomplished by the horrific events during that awful time. All evil ‘will be swept away without leaving a trace’ (v35).
When this is accomplished the God of Heaven will set up a kingdom on earth that will never be destroyed (v44). This kingdom will begin with the Millennium Kingdom headed by God’s appointed ruler, His son.