What kind of time do we actually live in? There won't be a person who doesn't wonder that. We see so much breaking down and so much changing and wonder if this will continue, or maybe we can get back to normal after all. We are going to look in the Bible for the last world empire and see what it tells us for the time in which we live and how it will end.
Daniel described the four world empires there will be in world history. The last world empire is that of the Romans. It is an empire that will first be made of iron, but in a later form will consist of iron and clay (Daniel 2:40-43). We have written a bit about this empire before (see here). Maybe good to read again first.
This Roman empire ruled Emperor Augustus at the time of the birth of Jesus Christ (Luke 2:1,2). In the last days, this same Roman empire will be restored but crushed by the God of heaven and Christ will set up His kingdom (see Daniel 2:44,45).
Christ appears twice in the Roman Empire
It is important to see that the New Testament confirms to us that Christ comes to this earth twice. Both times He is visible to all and both occasions are referred to as 'His appearance‘.
About His first appearance is written:"(...) grace is revealed through the appearance of our Savior, Jesus Christ" (2 Timothy 1:10). This happened in the time of the Roman empire and at the beginning, with the first emperor of the empire. "And it came to pass in those days that there went out a commandment from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be enrolled.(...) And it came to pass, while they were there, (...) she gave birth to her firstborn Son" (Luke 2:1, 6-7). Here He comes - though He is God - in the form of a poor man, a slave (Philippians 2:7).
We know how it ended: He was rejected by the Jews and crucified by the Romans. There, between heaven and earth, He completed the work His Father gave Him to do and brought reconciliation to everyone who believes. After His resurrection, He ascended to heaven, where He is now until He returns and will appear again.
About His second appearance is written "And then the lawless one will be revealed. The Lord will consume him by the Spirit of His mouth and destroy him by the appearance at His coming." (2 Thessalonians 2:3,8). This lawless one is the one we normally refer to as "antichrist"; he is consumed by Himself in the confrontation with Christ.
This is the fulfillment of what is written in Daniel: "And the fourth kingdom will be as strong as iron, for the iron crushes and crushes everything. . . . that you also saw the feet and the toes, partly of a potter's clay and partly of iron (…) In the days of those kings, however, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will not last forever. shall go to ruin, and whose dominion shall not pass to another people. It will crush and destroy all those other kingdoms, but it itself will stand forever.” (Daniel 2:40-44).
In the book of Revelation it says:And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse, and He that sat upon it was called faithful and true. And He judges and makes war in righteousness. (…) And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against Him who sat on the horse, and against His army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet . . . These two were cast alive into the lake of fire that burns with brimstone.” (Revelation 19:11, 19-20).
The antichrist, the lawless one, is here called "the beast"; he is the leader of the kings of the earth, the leader of the fourth empire from Daniel 2. He is the emperor of the restored roman empire, but he will be destroyed by the One who was crucified two thousand years ago in that same roman empire.
We will continue to see how far the Roman Empire is now restored.
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After World War II
In 1945 the United Nations (UN) was founded with all kinds of 'noble' goals, such as world peace, in its banner. Since those years, step by step in all kinds of ways – without our noticing it – work has been done on the recovery of the Roman Empire.
That this last empire is now almost 'finished' became clear to me when I realized a few things that have struck me in recent years.
- The political contrast is no longer as it used to be between 'left' and 'right'. The political struggle today is between 'globalists' and 'nationalists'. That is why parties such as VVD and D66 can also rule together in the Netherlands; they are both for the same globalist agenda. Nationalist parties such as PVV and FVD have been sidelined for many years; they are not allowed to participate and are labeled as 'populist'. This is now called 'democracy'.
- In most countries today, international law takes precedence over national law. So agreements with and legislation from organizations such as the UN and EU take precedence over national legislation. Poland is in fact one of the few countries within the EU that (still) rejects the primacy of supranational legislation.
- In the covid pandemic it suddenly turned out that almost the entire world dealt with a virus in the same way. All kinds of agreements made with the countries from the WHO were followed, as well as all kinds of guidelines and regulations that subsequently came from the headquarters in Geneva. Isn't it amazing that worldwide, just like nothing, people think, decide and execute in the same way? It is inconceivable that the vaccination obligation is 'just' introduced in all countries? The chances of that being a coincidence are incredibly small. It's not accidental and it can't do without a global 'network'.
A little in between about the religious Roman Empire.
When we see 'the Roman Empire' as 'the Empire that is governed from Rome' we are not only thinking of the political event, but also of that other Roman Empire, of which the Vatican is the capital. A lot has happened there after the Second World War.
Het second Vatican council was held from 1962 to 1965. It was aimed at 'bringing up to date', the modernization, of the church so that, for example, the mass could also be held in the national languages (instead of in Latin). Vatican II is seen by the Roman Church as 'the basis for ecclesiastical and religious life in the 21th century' but at the same time it launched an attack on the Protestant churches on several fronts with the aim of bringing them back to 'the mother church'. We know, for example, what this has led to:
- The Reformation really shouldn't have taken place, See here.
- Mary must be given a much more important place. See here.
- Monastic practices are also practiced by Protestants in the contemplation and
- Protestant churches should be adorned with statues. See here.
The ancient roman empire
The old Roman empire expanded from its original territory in Italy by conquering peoples around them, and then the borders were pushed further and further. The authority of Rome was then established in the conquered territories. They appointed their own people to the board. For example, in the New Testament you come across governors and centurions ('chieftain over a hundred').
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The population of the Roman Empire was made up of a number of estates or classes (see for example here or also wikipedia), which were quite separated from each other and which differed mainly in the amount of money and possessions. If you search the internet for the names of these classes you will come across some different terms and classifications. From this I distill the picture below of society in the Roman Empire.
- The highest class were the Patricians; the senators (members of the senate, large landowners) and the so-called horsemen (originally the knighthood, later wholesalers and entrepreneurs).
- The so-called Plebeians. Those were the businessmen, craftsmen and wealthy farmers
- The Proletarians, being the workers, peasants and servants. People without money or possessions. All they possessed were their children, hence the name proletarians (from proles = progeny).
- The slaves belonged to the lowest class. They were not citizens and thus had no civil rights and property, let alone. Slaves were important to the economy, which largely depended on them. You could become a slave by birth, but prisoners of war were also sold as slaves.
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It is clear that there was a small elite, consisting of the patricians and the plebeians. Then there were the poor, the people without money or possessions. These were the proletarians and the slaves. The poor were there to work for the wealth of the elite.
Everyone had civil rights except the slaves; they had no rights and no possessions. They were actually the ones who didn't belong in any way; the only 'use' was their work benefiting the elite.
Rebuilding the world on the model of the Roman Empire
To get straight to the point: what is happening under the flag of and together with the United Nations with, for example, the WHO (World Health Organisation), the European Union (EU), the World Economic Forum (WEF) and many others. organizations going on is nothing more than converting the present world to the model of the Roman Empire.
To begin with, international law and international agreements already take precedence over national law, meaning that the sovereignty of the individual countries practically no longer exists. This means that the 'world government' has actually already taken the countries, only now not with military force like the Romans used to do, but with an army of diplomats and officials. An example of this is the flow of migrants to Europe and to our country; that is not something that happens to us by chance. It's all somehow settled under the 'Marrakesh pact’ of the UN, even if it is formally 'not legally binding'. The Numbers show little coincidence.
What remains to be done is the conversion of the population to the model of the Roman Empire. This is where the role of the World Economic Forum comes into play. This is not the place to devote a great deal of text to it here, yet we should try to briefly summarize their ideas. For the enthusiasts: see here the WEF-site or download the WEF book here, The Great Reset.
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For several reasons, people believe that the world needs to be changed drastically. The financial system is rattling (mainly due to a huge mountain of debt), we consume far too much and that is bad for the climate. Of course we also produce too much and that is also bad. Moreover, due to further automation, ordinary work will increasingly disappear. That means an entirely new economic system has to be created. This has been considered within the WEF for the past ten years (or perhaps even longer), but now it will have to be implemented and it is not that simple.
The Covid pandemic is now being used to bring about changes worldwide. I don't know exactly how they will do that, but if this heralds the restoration of the Roman Empire, the result will be that
- rich getting richer (we've seen that happen in the past two years; see here);
- small businesses can no longer exist and big companies (the companies of the elite) grow;
- unemployment is rising and more and more people are becoming dependent on the government;
- the common people are getting poorer; prices will rise and the livelihood will be hard to do;
- possession is discouraged or even made impossible; what you can still have or consume (because of 'the climate' you know?) is determined by the government
- changes in the monetary system can directly affect people's property; think of bank accounts and mortgages.
- people who do not want to comply with this will no longer have any rights and become 'slaves'. They are no longer allowed to participate
- eventually a control state exists in which the elite, using technology, call the shots and keep the population under control, the worker owns nothing and the slaves have no rights. We have already written about this in this blog: Homo God.
A world in chaos
We can well imagine that the changes in the economic world are causing tremendous chaos. That it will lead to riots, violence and possibly even civil wars is not inconceivable and even probable.
At the moment there is social unrest surrounding the vaccination problem. The first thing to note is that there is the question of truth and lies. What is true what is being told and what is a lie? This causes great division in society, even to the extent that a certain group (the unvaccinated) is in danger of being excluded. Governments force citizens to obey and if not they deprive them of further rights. In Roman terms they are then declared slaves.
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This is what many residents of the (European) countries fear. People who do not want to be vaccinated will not receive an access pass and will be banned from society. It has already been announced that way in most European countries and the US. A few years ago it was decided in the European Union that the digital identity document will be introduced in 2022 (see here the EU timetable until 2022 and a EU page on the same topic).
It is this freedom of the individual that is being taken away and against which there are demonstrations all over the world. You can see that the 'bourgeois counter-movement' is becoming more and more massive worldwide. You hardly hear or see anything about it in the official media, but the unrest and resistance are growing and the demonstrations are getting bigger.
Many have the hope that together they can turn the tide. But it is to be feared that this is a vain hope and that this 'fighting for freedom' is a hopeless task.
If the major societal changes envisioned in the 'Great Reset' are to be brought about, it can only be successful with a servile population.
If what is happening is really the Bible's foretold restoration of the Roman Empire, then human resistance will not stand up to it. The empire consists of iron and its hardness will become more and more visible in the near future, especially where resistance is offered. After all, the Romans also made short work of that time: prisoners of war were sold into slavery and rioters faced a cruel death on the cross (Luke 23:19,33). It will be no different in the Roman Empire that is recovering.
One more time: slaves and freemen
The judgments we find in the book of Revelation are all over the world. It is remarkable that in this book all classes and terms that we have come across with regard to the Roman Empire are used. These expressions occur in three places, grouped in different ways, but they always refer to 'slaves and freemen'. Even a reference to the horsemen it says: 'the horses and those who sit on them‘.
- "And the kings of the earth, and the great, and the chiliarchs, and the rich, and the strong, and every bondman and freeman, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains." (Revelation 6:15)
- "And it causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free and the bondmen, that they should give them a mark upon their right hand or upon their forehead." (Revelation 13:16)
- "..that ye may eat flesh of kings, and flesh of chiliarchs, and flesh of strong men, and flesh of horses and of those that sit upon them, and flesh of all, both free and bond, and small and great." (Revelation 19:18)
Could this confirm that the restored Roman Empire, as seen by Daniel, is indeed taking shape and being judged again in the last days? The description of the classes in Roman society is even very concrete and complete. Common in this is always the characteristic 'free and slave'. I consider that another proof of the accuracy and reliability of the Word of God.
The first and the last emperor
The first emperor of the Roman Empire was Emperor Augustus. With his arrival it came into being empire. Before that, the Roman Empire was a republic, but this was a form of government that no longer worked well for such a large empire. Hence, the 1st century BC was a turbulent time of civil wars in which Augustus expanded his personal power and eventually became emperor and sole ruler. Originally his name was Octavian, but when the senate also surrendered to him, he was named Augustus, that is, 'Exalted One'.
With Augustus indeed came a time of peace in the empire, so that he was also called 'prince of peace'.
The Restored Roman Empire Will Have Another Leader Who We Are From Biblical Data'the antichrist' (1 John 2:18; 4:13). He is also called 'the man of lawlessness, the son of perdition‘ (2 Thessalonicenzen 2:4) of ‘het beest uit de zee' (Revelation 13:1-10) or 'a ruthless king' (Daniel 8:23). At the height of his power'he exalts himself above all that is called God or is worshiped as God, so that he sits as God in the temple of God and pretends to be God.’ (2 Thessalonicenzen 2:4).
From the perspective of the Roman Empire being restored, we see here the first emperor of the restored Empire, a new Augustus, the 'Exalted One'. But at the same time he will prove to be the last emperor, for the Lord Jesus Christ appears in glory to judge him.
The imperial crown
While searching for this article, I discovered another common symbol, namely the crown of laurel. In the language of Rome, the crown is a corona. It is a crown of laurel awarded to Caesar by the Senate in recognition of his numerous victories. This insignia was retained by his three successors, when they had ascended the imperial throne, as the mark of their supremacy.
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I cannot escape the impression that the logos of both the UN and the WHO have in them an imperial crown that spans the whole world and symbolizes that they are working for the coming victory of the new world ruler. Which, of course, will bring peace to the world, the great empire, just as Augustus did in the first Roman Empire. The corona project and the Great Reset as an accelerator of developments also fit into this.
Finally, see how the book of Revelation describes the coming of the emperor of the restored Roman Empire; he makes no war, has a crown and conquers. That does sound a bit mysterious.
“And I looked, and behold a white horse, and he that sat on it had a bow. And a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.” (Revelation 6:2)
After the Corona event and the consequences of the Great Reset, chaos, misery and violence will be incalculable. Worldwide attempts will be made to introduce the new world order with brute force and that will cause enormous problems.
Meanwhile, the new emperor works his way up the power structure described in the book of Daniel (7:8, 24) and the whole world follows after him (Revelation 13:3). He is the one who will miraculously deceive the whole world with promises of peace and prosperity. With Israel he creates a peace relationship that makes it possible to build the temple in Jerusalem.
Finally
I remember how a brother once said long ago that our world is becoming more and more like the New Testament world. That is going on: the rebuilding of the western world and the restoration of the Roman Empire.
Whereby the new kingdom arises on the ruins of the old, as it has always been in history.
But the new Roman Empire is short-lived: it will not be shattered by human hands (Daniel 2:45), for Christ comes in great glory to judge and establish His empire that will last 1,000 years.
"But when these things begin to come to pass, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws nigh." (Luke 21:28)
We may look forward to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in the clouds, who will take us to Himself before the judgments break out.
Let's do together what John calls us to in the last chapter of the Bible. Longing for the coming of the Lord Jesus and meanwhile inviting the people to still accept God's offer of grace and take refuge in Christ.
"And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that hears say, Come. And let him that is athirst come; he that will, let him take [the] water of life freely." (Revelation 22:17)
Notes
*** You will find a critique of the Great Reset, neatly formulated by a professor from Nijenrode here. What he sees as the dangers of the Great Reset are precisely the hallmarks of the Roman Empire.
*** The idea that the "new emperor" of the restored Roman Empire would be the one called by the Bible "the Antichrist" (1 John 2:18) and "the beast out of the sea" (Revelation 13: ) is , is certainly not shared by all Bible teachers. The argument for this is usually that "the Jews will never accept a Gentile messiah because the Bible gives very clear indications where the Messiah comes from." But this reasoning is based on the assumption that the government of Israel – because I think they are about it – uses the Bible in its political choices and alliances. However, that is very much the question. The saying of the Lord Jesus”. . . another cometh in his own name, him you shall receive” (John 5:43) instead points out that they will accept the wrong one as messiah. What I of my only visit to Israel learned is that they accept anyone as messiah who gives them peace from 'the enemies around'; a peace that even goes so far as to allow them to rebuild their temple in Jerusalem.
But we don't make it a point of contention; after all, it is not literally stated in the Bible which of the two beasts of Revelation 13 is the antichrist. Maybe they are both or together.