A Continuing Look at the World's Future Leader

The book of Daniel is one of the most amazing works of prophecy in the Bible. To the day it predicted Jesus would enter Jerusalem; the book prophesied the rise of Alexander the Great and the rise of the Roman empire.

Written around 530 B.C., the book reveals revelations given by God to Daniel. Some will argue for a different date of the writing of Daniel, putting it as late as 200 B.C., though they offer little proof other than it would be impossible to predict with accuracy such as Daniel did. Even if written in 200 B.C., the prophecies concerning the coming of Christ and the future kingdoms coming to the world are remarkable.

Still, some people are thick headed. While it is impossible for man to predict the future; it is not impossible with God who, "knows the end from the beginning." God revealed the future to Daniel, that's the reason for the accuracy.

Now, a couple of weeks ago we began looking at the person of the Antichrist. No book gives such a complete description of this agent of Satan as does Daniel. While John, in his epistles and in the book of Revelations, gives a graphic description of the sheer evil of the Antichrist and of the torment he is to suffer upon Christ's return, along with the amazing power he will yield on earth; Daniel focuses a lot on the political side of the Antichrist, but also gives us a glimpse of the "man of perdition's" alliance with Satan.

In Daniel 7, we see his description of four beasts that come upon the earth with the last one being Rome. In his vision, the beast had 10 horns, signifying 10 nations.

"While I was thinking about the horns, there before me was another horn, a little one, which came up among the them; and three of the first horns were uprooted before it. This horn had eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth that spoke boastfully." — Daniel 7:8

Apparently, like most politicians, this little horn liked the sound of his own voice.

"Then I continued to watch because of the boastful words the horn was speaking. I kept looking until the beast was slain and its body destroyed and thrown into the blazing fire. (The other beasts had been stripped of their authority, but were allowed to live for a period of time.)" — Daniel 7:11-12

Now, Daniel had trouble understanding the dream and asked an angel in his vision to explain it to him.

"I also wanted to know about the ten horns on its head and about the other horn that came up, before which three of them fell — the horn that looked more imposing than the others and that had eyes and a mouth that spoke boastfully. As I watched, this horn was waging war against the saints and defeating them, until the Ancient of Days came and pronounced judgment in favor of the saints of the Most High, and the time came when they possessed the kingdom." — Daniel 7:20-22

Daniel, just like us, was curious about how things would turn out. We want to know what God has in store for us, the only difference is, we have the completed Bible and the revelations God gave to men like Daniel. Now, here is the answer that was given to Daniel.

"He gave me this explanation: 'The fourth beast is a fourth kingdom that will appear on earth. It will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth, trampling it down and crushing it. The ten horns are ten kings who will come from this kingdom. After them another king will arise, different from the earlier ones; he will subdue three kings. He will speak against the Most High and oppress his saints and try to change the set times and the laws. The saints will be handed over to him for a time, times and half a time.'" — Daniel 7:23-25

Here we have the political description of the Antichrist. A king who will arise out of the fourth empire, which we know to be Rome. That doesn't mean this man will have to come from Rome or be Italian, because if you remember from history that the empire of Rome was vast, stretching to from Great Britain, across both sides of the Mediterranean and nearly to India. So that is a lot of possibilities concerning where the Antichrist can call his home.

It appears the Antichrist will come to power after subduing three kings, according to Daniel's vision; that doesn't mean he has to come to power surreptitiously, it could be as simple a thing as three countries ceding power to this individual; or he could overthrow them militarily.

Here is where some of the evil begins to come into play as Daniel's vision shows this "king" to begin blaspheming against God and his servants here on earth, plus the explanation Daniel received said this "king" would try to change the set times and the laws and the saints would be his to control for a period of 3 1/2 year — the second half of the tribulation.

We can see parallels in Revelation 13, where John said this Antichrist would try and force all of the world to worship him; and those who didn't would be put to death.

As far as changing the set times and the laws; we know through the Antichrist's blasphemies that he is trying to change the order of the natural world and set himself up as God. There have been some scholars postulate that the Antichrist will try to actually change the way the world counts its time. I think it may mean something different.

"When he (Jesus) arrived at the other side in the region of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs met him. They were so violent that no one could pass that way. 'What do you want with us, Son of God?' they shouted. 'Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?'" — Matthew 8:28-29

Satan's minions know they have a set time for their judgment, but that doesn't mean they won't try and extend that time or even abolish it; they knew that Christ wasn't there in those days to render their judgment, but they knew he would be coming back.

Like all guilty beings, they want to put off or escape judgment, but we are comforted because their end has been foreordained by God and we will not have to suffer their fate if we trust in Jesus Christ.

Now, back to Daniel, I believe Daniel is trying to say this "king" will try and put off his judgment, change the set "time."

Now, there are many who don't put a lot of stock in long-term prophecy. They said all of that particular prophecy of Daniel was fulfilled in the person of Antiochus Epiphanes, and his eventual overthrow by the Maccabees.

But we must look at the Bible as a whole, in John's Revelations, we see much the same imagery, centuries after the Maccabees led their famous revolt. John is dealing with Rome, but remember, John wrote this about 25 years after the temple and Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 A.D.

So, if we take the Bible as a whole, we see we are not dealing with local events around Israel and Judea, we are seeing a person in the Antichrist who is bent on conquering the world.

This coming "king" will very much be a political figure. He will be known when he confirms a 7-year peace covenant. So it looks like he will only show his teeth half-way through the Tribulation, but before then it looks like he will come to power through political manipulations rather than force, but of course I am just speculating, because only God knows what is written.

Next week we will continue to look at the person of the Antichrist and what Scriptures say he is shaping up to be.

The world, it appears, is going through a major power change. The United States is diminishing in both world stature and power and it will be interesting to see how the next few years will shape up. While I believe those who have put their faith in Christ will not be here to see the events that unfold in Daniel and Revelations, we must be aware of the season and warn people that God's judgment is coming and call the world to repentance.

Come quickly, Lord Jesus.