In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He [Jesus Christ -Yeshua]
was in the beginning with God.
THE SEVENTH KINGDOM
In the book of Revelation, chapter 17, Christ reveals to the Apostle John the
rise of a kingdom, which will be led by the Antichrist to make war
against the Lamb (Christ) who is the Lord of lords, the King of
kings.
Both the kingdom and the Antichrist are described as beasts. The use of
the words ‘kingdoms’ and ‘kings’ by the Old Testament prophets and the
Apostle John was a reflection of the political systems of their times.
The political systems of today are represented by nations with presidents
and prime ministers.
An angel described the Antichrist as a seventh
king who will rule over ten kings in a seventh kingdom. Seven kings are
described by the angel as 'five who have
fallen' (past tense), 'one who is' (present tense) and 'one who is yet to
come' (future tense). Kings and kingdoms are in
reference to the time and place of John's ministry.
This identifies ‘the one who is’ as Domitian, Emperor of the Roman
Empire. Bible scholars such as Newell and Govett identify the ‘five who
have fallen’ as rulers of the Roman Empire prior to Domitian including Julius
Caesar, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius and Nero. Although other
rulers preceded Domitian, the five listed had something in common
with Domitian – they were perverse, and they 'fell' as their rule ended prematurely by assassination or suicide.
The Antichrist is the 'one who is yet to come'. He
will be the seventh ruler who will rule the ‘revised’ Roman Empire,
the seventh kingdom. Like the previous six kings before him, his rule will
end prematurely when Christ returns to defeat him.
Daniel prophesied the rise of two European
powers: the ‘ancient’ Roman Empire and the 'revised'
Roman Empire. He described the
'ancient' Roman Empire as ‘the legs of iron with
feet of iron and clay’, and the ‘revised’ Roman Empire as ‘the fourth
beast’ - a terrifying, powerful and vicious kingdom. In one of his
apocalyptic visions, Daniel
saw a little
horn [the Antichrist] rise up among ten horns and subdue three of them. In
Revelation, John saw the little horn
as a beast rising to power in
the seventh kingdom [the 'revised' Roman Empire of a unified Europe].
The little horn is described as the eighth
king [leader] of this seventh kingdom. The remaining seven
horns [leaders] in this kingdom will give him authority.
Daniel was so
terrified by what he saw that he turned pale and kept the matter to
himself.