RECAP
The Tribulation is about last opportunities, judgments and the resulting wrath of God.
- The tribulation – 2 x 3 1⁄2 years – It is about Israel – it’s Daniel’s 70th Week.
- God’s last opportunity for Israel to finish their rebellion and return to Him.
- God’s judgment and wrath on all who have persecuted Israel.
- God’s wrath on all who rebel against Him.
- In the first 3 1⁄2 years that judgment and wrath will take place through the opening of the 7 Seals, releasing that which had been kept sealed and through the 7 Trumpet judgments.
- In the last 3 1⁄2 years those judgments and wrath will take place through the 7 Bowl judgments.
The Tribulation - First 3 1⁄2 years
7th Empire.
It opens with the formation of the 7th Empire. Ten kings (heads of state) who are in a coalition with one another. Nations which will be under the influence of a one ‘all encompassing’, religious system.
At this point the Anti-Christ IS NOT part of this coalition. He is the Head of State of another country in the same region.
The way I see it – these 10 Heads of State will use the one ‘all encompassing’ religion to gain influence and by the same token, the one ‘all encompassing’ religion will use the 10 nations to gain influence. Neither of them is truly committed to one another but each will use the other for their own benefit.
Fornication. It’s about taking the benefits BUT there is no commitment.
These ‘kings’ will be Heads of State from10 nations that are within approximately the same area that once was a part of the Ancient Roman Empire. Six previous empires have ruled in these areas and ALL of them considered Israel to be an enemy and the same will still be true of this 7th empire. Therefore the coalition together with Mystery Babylon, will persecute Israel. Rev. 17:1-18. BUT The BIG question is – why was Israel considered an enemy by all of them?
Gen. 3:13-15 – And the Lord God said to the woman, ‘What is this you have done?’ The woman said, ‘The serpent deceived me, and I ate.’
So the Lord said to the serpent: ‘Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field; on your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity (hostility) between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise His heel.’
In Satan’s opinion, he believed that he could be like the Most High God (Is.14:12-15 and the result? Luke 10 18) and now The Lord God, God Almighty had cursed him.
So…since that day, Satan had been watching and waiting for the One who would crush his head.
He never knew who it was until the day that God entered into an Eternal Covenant with Israel and because God is ONLY IN COVENANT with Israel. Satan now knew that the One who would crush his head had to come from Israel.
From that day Israel became the enemy of Satan. The war to destroy Israel was on. Empire after empire would rule over Israel. War, destruction, persecution has been their truth.
6 Empires have come and gone. Each oppressed Israel. The Egyptian, Assyrian, Babylonian, Medo-Persian, Grecian empires and finally the Roman Empire – all ruled over Israel.
NEBUCHADNEZZAR’S DREAM – 603 BC – Dan. 2:28-45
Kingdoms still to come
The 7th Empire and the 8th Empire. The 7th will morph into the 8th Empire (which is the 7th that is now ruled by the Anti-Christ).
Both the 7th and the 8th Empires will continue to persecute Israel. For that reason, and the fact that the 7th Empire and 8th Empire will be the feet of iron (Rome) and clay with the 10 toes, it is safe to presume that this Revised Roman Empire will arise from those regions as well.
Note that all of these empires ruled and reigned in a similar area. One empire may have been larger and another smaller and there are many countries who are common to all these empires. Israel was one of these.
The European Union
Just as a point of interest.
The European Union is currently made up of 27 countries and as you can see a lot of the countries that made up the Old Roman Empire are also part of the EU.
As an aside... The sixth trumpet judgment
Rev. 9:13-21 READ
The sixth angel sounded – he is commanded to loose the 4 angels who have been bound at the great river Euphrates. This is the longest river of Western Asia. (Also the same area).
Its origin is in Turkey, so it flows from Turkey, through Syria, through Iraq and empties into the Persian Gulf.
This takes place then in Western Asia.
These 4 angels, have been prepared for the hour, the day, the month and year and are now released to kill 1/3 of mankind. Between them they have two hundred million horsemen prepared especially for this time. The horses had heads like lions and out of their mouths came the following three plagues – fire, smoke and brimstone (sulphur – which is highly flammable and difficult to extinguish). They also have tails like serpents, having heads, and with their tails they do much harm. This is part of the second woe.
‘The Princes’
Dan. 10:5-21 – PLEASE READ
QUESTIONS: Where did the messenger angel come from? From God, in answer to Daniel’s prayer.
Where is Daniel? On the earth.
So between leaving the throne of God and reaching Daniel on the earth, this angel could not get through.
He tells Daniel in V13 that the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood him for 21 days until Michael, one of the chief princes came to help him.
Also he tells Daniel in V20 that he will have to fight with the prince of Persia once more and after that he will have to deal with the prince of Greece.
Where do these satanic angels… these ‘princes’ get their power and authority from?
From Satan, he gives them the authority and the power that they need
They are his ‘ambassadors’ but the actual power is his
THE PRINCE OF PERSIA
And THE PRINCE OF GREECE
ARE SATANIC ANGELS.
THEY ARE PART OF THE ‘PRINCES’
WHO RULE OVER DIFFERENT
KINGDOMS FOR SATAN –
WHO IS THE GOD AND RULER OF THIS WORLD
In the same way, the beast from the bottomless pit or the abyss is empowered by Satan.
2 Peter 2:4 – For if God did not spare His angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell (Tartarus) and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment.
Jude 1:6-7 – And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day.
BY CONTRAST…
Dan. 12:1 – At that time Michael shall stand up, the great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people; (Daniel’s people are Israel) and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that time. And at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone who is found written in the book.
Mystery Babylon and the beast with seven heads and ten horns
Rev. 17.1-6 – Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and talked with me, saying to me, ‘Come, I will show you the judgment of the harlot who sits on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine (the intoxicating ideology) of her fornication.
So he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness.
And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication.
And on her forehead a name is written: Mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth.
V6 I saw the woman, drunk with blood of the saints and of the martyrs of Jesus. When I saw her, I marvelled with great amazement.
Rev. 17:7-8 – But the angel said to me, ‘Why did you marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns. The beast that you saw was, and is not, and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition. And those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.
QUESTIONS: What is the woman, Mystery Babylon sitting on? A scarlet beast with 7 heads and 10 horns.
Where is this beast coming from? The bottomless pit.
The beast from the bottomless pit is the one who moves her from point A TO B.
FOR HER TO DO WHAT SHE HAS TO DO, THE BEAST IS THE POWER TO GET HER THERE.
LIKEWISE…THE 7TH AND 8TH EMPIRE
WILL BE RULED BY A ‘PRINCE’ FOR SATAN
AND HE IS THE ANGEL THAT IS RELEASED FROM THE BOTTOMLESS PIT, OR ABYSS
WHO HAS BEEN HELD IN CHAINS IN TARTARUS (2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 1:6-7)
V9-11 Here is the mind which has wisdom: The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits. There are also seven kings. Five have fallen, (Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece) one is (Rome was ruling at the time John wrote this) and the other has not yet come (the 7th Empire). The beast that was, and is not, is himself also the eighth, and is of the seven, and is going to perdition.
Remember that essentially John is a Jew who knows and loves the Messiah – Jesus Christ. He is writing the book of Revelations at the time when Rome is in power. He is writing to people who are alive while Rome is in power.
What the Lord asks him to write is using terminology that people who are alive at that time can relate to. To you and I, what John has written is predictive prophecy but to them it is previously known truth.
So when he speaks about Mystery Babylon, he describes her in a way that they can relate.
At that time the Romans worshiped a goddess called Roma. She was widely worshiped as the personification, a representation of the majestic Roman civilization.
Roma stood out as a symbol of ‘natural’ dominance, the fierce mother of a warrior race, partner of living Roman emperors, she was a promise of protection to those who obeyed and cooperated with her.
In 71 AD, coins were minted that had Caesar Vespasian on one side and the goddess Roma, sitting on seven hills, on the other side. Anyone who had held one of these coins in their hands would be able to make the connection.
V9 tells us that she is sitting on the 7 empires. That means that she has had and will have religious influence over all the 7 empires. Those that are past and those that are future.
She is not the Catholic Church or Islam or any individual faith.
She represents every faith, every belief, that mankind has worshiped that is not the One True God. The Lord God Most High.
Each one of these empires was held captive by a religious, intoxicating ideology – a worship of one or more false gods. Gods whom the people would pray to for all sorts of things.
The point of ALL religions or intoxicating ideologies is that every human being who believes in these false gods is not going to trust and believe in the ONLY God who can actually help them. A God who has created them and actually knows them, their thoughts, their capabilities, their needs…the ONLY God who actually loves them and wants them to know Him personally. Satan does not want God to get their worship. He does not want them to be rescued from the lake of fire. He hates them and wants to see them destroyed. So he creates these intoxicating ideologies because he knows that he can deceive them with these false beliefs. It all looks good and sounds good…seemingly wise and even…holy…but each one of these false beliefs is keeping them from the ONLY one who can save them and the end thereof is destruction…which is exactly what Satan wants.
All of these empires have been deceived by Satan and have served false gods to serve Satan’s purposes. The 7th and 8th empires will be exactly the same.
V12-14 – The 10 horns which you saw are 10 kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority for one hour as kings with the beast. These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful.’
V15-18 – Then he said to me, ‘The waters which you saw, where the harlot sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations and tongues. And the 10 horns which you saw on the beast, these will hate the harlot, make her desolate and naked, eat her flesh and burn her with fire.
For God has put it into their hearts to fulfil His purpose, to be of one mind, and to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled. And the woman who you saw is that great city which reigns over the kings of the earth.
Understanding the Beast
The Anti-Christ is referred to as the ‘beast out of the sea’ (Rev. 13:1-8). The satanic angel is called ‘the beast from the bottomless pit’ (Rev. 17:1-8) and the False Prophet is called, ‘the beast from the earth’ (Rev. 13: 11-18). These are all different REPRESENTATIVES of the Beast.
- The Beast’ really represents Satan, who has been behind the satanic angels who ruled over the 6 empires that have already been.
- Satan is behind the ‘Beast’ out of the abyss / bottomless pit – the satanic angel who will have the power of influence over the 10 Heads of State (kings) and who will have the power of influence over the Anti-Christ. (The 7th and 8th empires still to come).
- This same angel from the bottomless pit will have the power of influence over Mystery Babylon. Satan is the one behind Mystery Babylon – basically, every false religion. He will do anything to stop people from finding out that they have been redeemed from certain destruction and that God the Father is calling them to come into His family (so that He can save them from destruction).
