We Are In the Time of the Fourth Beast

We are living in the remnants of the Roman Empire, which will be revived for a time with the Anti-Christ ruling.

The Bible gives us an outline of the history of the universe from creation until the New Heaven and New Earth of eternity.

An important part of this history is foretold in the Book of Daniel.

Four empires are described: Babylonian, Medo-Persian, Greek, and Roman.

The fourth empire is called the Fourth Beast in Daniel chapter 7. It exists when Messiah comes and Messiah is cut off (See Daniel 9:24-27). It still exists when Messiah returns to set up His kingdom on the earth.

We are in the time of the Fourth Beast. The Roman Empire has never truly ceased to exist.

Understanding this flow of world history helps followers of Jesus understand the nature of the world system and the New Testament priorities we have been called to.

 

The Statue of Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream

As a captive in Babylon, Daniel interprets Nebuchadnezzar’s dream as described in Daniel chapter 2. The four empires are represented by four metal sections of a great statue (Daniel 2:31-33 and 2:36-43).

The fourth empire is represented by the legs and feet of the statue.

“… its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay.” Daniel 2:33

“And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything; and like iron that crushes, that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all the others. Whereas you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; yet the strength of the iron shall be in it, just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay. And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile. As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay.” Daniel 2:40-43

 

The Four Beasts of Daniel’s Vision

Years later Daniel was given visions of these four empires in which they were represented as four beasts as described in Daniel chapter 7. The first was like a lion with eagle’s wings; the second like a bear; the third like a leopard with four wings and four heads.

The fourth empire is described:

““After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong. It had huge iron teeth; it was devouring, breaking in pieces, and trampling the residue with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. I was considering the horns, and there was another horn, a little one, coming up among them, before whom three of the first horns were plucked out by the roots. And there, in this horn, were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking pompous words.”

More is said in chapter 7 about the Fourth Beast

 

The 70 Weeks Prophecy of Daniel 9

Daniel chapter 9 outlines important segments of history of the Jewish people that, when added together, equal seventy weeks of years (Daniel 9:24).

The time period between the command to restore and build Jerusalem until the Messiah is given in 9:25.

Messiah is cut off in 9:26, and the people of the prince who is to come destroy the city and the sanctuary.

Verse 9:27 of Daniel speaks of a covenant made by the “prince who is to come”, and then broken.

Daniel 11 outlines history leading up to the Fourth Beast including the 400 years between the Old and New Testaments.

 

The Time of the End

Daniel 2:44-45 says:

“And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold—the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this…”

And Daniel 7:11-14 describes the end of the Fourth Beast and Jesus’ return:

“I watched then because of the sound of the pompous words which the horn was speaking; I watched till the beast was slain, and its body destroyed and given to the burning flame. As for the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away, yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a time. I was watching in the night visions, And behold, One like the Son of Man, Coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, And they brought Him near before Him. Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, Which shall not pass away, And His kingdom the one Which shall not be destroyed.

 

The last 2000 years

The Roman Empire saw itself as bringing civilization to Europe and Central Asia.

The Roman legions destroyed the Jewish temple and Jerusalem in 70 AD. The Bar Kokhba revolt was put down in 135 AD. Jews were banned from Jerusalem which the Romans called Aeila Capitolina. The Jews were dispersed among the nations.

The history of the West and Central Asia during the last two millennia has been about the maintaining, extending, and preserving the Roman Empire, and regaining its former glory:

Pax Romana, Constantine, Pontifex Maximus, the Roman Catholic Empire, the Byzantine Empire, Charlemagne, the Holy Roman Empire (First Reich), Popes, Emperors, Kings, Knights Templar, Novus Ordo Seclorum, Spanish Empire, British Empire, Emperor Napoleon, German Empire (Second Reich), The Russian Empire, Mussolini Il Duce (The Leader), The Third Reich, the Führer (Leader), League of Nations and United Nations, The Brotherhoods: CFR, TC, Freemasonry, IMF, World Bank, Federal Reserve, Central Banks and Global Corporations, Feudal Spheres of Influence Iron mixed with Clay, Pax Universalis New World Order

Caesars, Kaisers, Tsars

 

The World System Today

The global economic, political, and religious system of today is largely the result of the history of the West which is derived from the Roman Empire.

Even China, Japan, the rest of Asia, Africa, the Muslim countries, and the Americas function in a system that is mainly derived from the West.

The Americas can be thought of as Roman provinces.

The United States of America is definitely one of the gentile nations; one of the pagan nations.

Jesus was born, lived, crucified, buried, resurrected, and ascended during the time of the Fourth Beast.

We are living in the time of the Fourth Beast.

There are innumerable examples that we still live in the Roman Empire. Each one, taken by itself, may look insignificant. But when one begins to look, these are everywhere.

Consider the fasces, a symbol of the Roman Empire, consisting of a bundle of wooden rods held tightly bound together. The fasces was a symbol of Roman Imperium (authority) carried in processions. The fasces served as a symbol of modern fascism from which the word fascism, itself, was derived. In the United States the fasces can be found on either side of the podium in the House of Representatives, in the Oval Office, under the arms of Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial, in statues and paintings of George Washington and other founding fathers, on the Mercury dime, and many other places in society.

 

Why is this so important?

Jesus is coming back. Judgement is coming. World history is unfolding just as the Bible said it would.

God will do what He said he will do.

Genesis through Revelation tells us about the unfolding of world history and the nature of the world system.

In the New Testament, God tells us His calling and priorities for His people.

We should emphasize in our lives the priorities of the New Testament.

We should not allow worldly rulers and worldly mobs to distract us by their agendas.

We are not called to take over America and then spread the “light” of Americanism all over the world.

That was the vision of Rome! The Fourth Beast!