Since the Antichrist's kingdom is typified by the King of the North (the Seleucid Kingdom) and his empire is bounded by the area controlled by both Alexander and the Romans, we can make some fairly certain statements about what will and what will not be part of the ten horns. The European Common Market is out, almost entirely: no England, France, Spain, Italy, Germany... you get the picture. The ten horns will be in the Levant, the Balkans and Africa.
The specificity of a revived Kingdom of the North ensures that Syria, Turkey, Iraq and Lebanon will be included. Jordan and Saudi Arabia (Ammon, Moab and Edom) are specifically excluded, whereas Egypt, Libya and the Sudan (Cush) are specifically included. That leaves three others which would have to come from the Balkans (Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia, or Albania).
Israel is not one of the ten, it merely signs a covenant with their leader, who happens to be the Antichrist. Daniel's prophecy has to be taken as situating the time of this covenant with the ultimate abominator (as opposed to the type of the abominator) as falling after the Roman destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 AD. Jesus mentioned the abomination in question as yet to come, not as fulfilled by Antiochus Epiphanes, and the events of 70 AD do not even remotely resemble what Daniel prophesied.
We have not considered the potential of Palestine being one of the ten nor the producer of the Antichrist, because Palestine is not a biblically legitimate entity. Even though the area had a large Gentile population in the days of Antiochus, and though there are efforts afoot to incorporate an Arab state in the Beautiful Land today, Canaan is Israel's, given once and for all time to her by God. Israel is is being restored to her land in these last days and Jerusalem to her people.
The Antichrist will worship a god unknown in Daniel's day. That is the implication of the descriptive phrases used by Daniel-- not the god of his fathers, not the one desired of women, a militaristic god unknown to his fathers, a foreign god. Whenever something is described prophetically that will only exist in the far future, it tends be a bit weird, hence the cryptic language.
Let me ask you, "what new god has arisen since the days of Daniel, that is totally outside the bounds of previously existing pagan pantheons and is militaristic: a god of fortresses (literally, strongholds) who assists its followers in overcoming the mightiest of citadels?" In my mind, this is a perfect description of the jihadist god, Allah of Islam. The Antichrist will be a Muslim, which makes sense considering his locale and his international ambitions. Nominal, however, only because he ends up repudiating all gods, except for himself.
Index to the Entire Series
I, II, III, IV, V
The specificity of a revived Kingdom of the North ensures that Syria, Turkey, Iraq and Lebanon will be included. Jordan and Saudi Arabia (Ammon, Moab and Edom) are specifically excluded, whereas Egypt, Libya and the Sudan (Cush) are specifically included. That leaves three others which would have to come from the Balkans (Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia, or Albania).
Israel is not one of the ten, it merely signs a covenant with their leader, who happens to be the Antichrist. Daniel's prophecy has to be taken as situating the time of this covenant with the ultimate abominator (as opposed to the type of the abominator) as falling after the Roman destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 AD. Jesus mentioned the abomination in question as yet to come, not as fulfilled by Antiochus Epiphanes, and the events of 70 AD do not even remotely resemble what Daniel prophesied.
We have not considered the potential of Palestine being one of the ten nor the producer of the Antichrist, because Palestine is not a biblically legitimate entity. Even though the area had a large Gentile population in the days of Antiochus, and though there are efforts afoot to incorporate an Arab state in the Beautiful Land today, Canaan is Israel's, given once and for all time to her by God. Israel is is being restored to her land in these last days and Jerusalem to her people.
The Antichrist will worship a god unknown in Daniel's day. That is the implication of the descriptive phrases used by Daniel-- not the god of his fathers, not the one desired of women, a militaristic god unknown to his fathers, a foreign god. Whenever something is described prophetically that will only exist in the far future, it tends be a bit weird, hence the cryptic language.
Let me ask you, "what new god has arisen since the days of Daniel, that is totally outside the bounds of previously existing pagan pantheons and is militaristic: a god of fortresses (literally, strongholds) who assists its followers in overcoming the mightiest of citadels?" In my mind, this is a perfect description of the jihadist god, Allah of Islam. The Antichrist will be a Muslim, which makes sense considering his locale and his international ambitions. Nominal, however, only because he ends up repudiating all gods, except for himself.
Index to the Entire Series
I, II, III, IV, V
5 comments:
Actually, the switch from looking at Europe to the Middle East.
I do think that this works out well.
Michael
Dr.D,
I wonder why that was overlooked by virtually everyone in times past, when it tracks so well with biblical type and geography. Prophetically, everything revolves around Israel, not London! The "revived Roman Empire" interpretation of Revelation 17:7-8is responsible, I think, for much of that, but it has absolutely no backing in the text. The Roman Empire was in John's day, not "now is not." The revived beast (empire) is the Seleucid Empire, aka the King of the North.
SLW-
Much of what passes for eschatology is based upon tradition.
In my lifetime, Hal Lindsey's 'Great Late' book has dominated the conversation since the 70's.
It is almost bordering on heresy (to some)to suggest that he might have been wrong here or there.
Since he listed Europe as the play ground of the Antichrist, it has been a given in thousands of book which have followed.
Michael
SLW,
Have you ever considered the ten regions of the world proposed by the Club of Rome as the ten toes?
Cindy,
That is an interesting way of looking at the possibilities, but I don't think it can be the fulfilment for at least a couple of reasons:
1) Nebuchadnezzar's image, Daniel's beasts visions, and ultimately the vision of weeks had as their ultimate focus, Israel. I think that holds up in view of Romans 11 and the Revelation too. Daniel was a prophet of "what now" for Israel after it had been dispossessed and faced assimilation. Therefore, ten toes represents an entity that exerts power over Israel. It's hard to see the ten regions model in that light.
2) These regions would not come into place in order to turn control over to the Antichrist or one world government (as in Rev 17), but would be the result of the same already existing. They would be more like Napolean reordering the departments of France.
It is intriguing to see such plans arise in these last days. They certainly bear watching. Who knows, they may be precient and offer an explanation of the ability of the Antichrist to control the world's economy.
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