A lot is happening in the world around us. Sometimes you actually want to know exactly where we are on God's calendar. Over the past year, some things have come to my mind and somehow that pushed me to re-read the book of Daniel. You can read below what that has yielded so far.
Biblical prophecy
Much has been written about biblical prophecy and I must say that I find it quite difficult. I cannot say that I have all the biblical prophecies in a completely fitting picture. Nevertheless, in this article I make some comments about the events, also based on what others have written about the book of Daniel. One of them, William Kelly (1821-1906, see on wikipedia), explained this book of the Bible nearly 160 years ago, saying things that we see happening in our time now.
- The Dutch translation of this work by Kelly can be found here and it is worth downloading and reading. I tend to attach great value to his explanation, without saying that I see everything as he does or that it is all completely clear to me already. It is easily written and, in between Daniel's explanations, also contains many clues for the spiritual life of today.
In this article we start from what Daniel describes in his book. The various dreams and visions contain matters pertaining to the last days. We will extract a number of things and illustrate them with current events. I will try to be guided by what the Bible says, also use Kelly's explanation and finally make my own comments or interpretations here and there, without claiming that this is the explanation of the prophecy. Think of it more as an incentive to focus more on the things of biblical prophecy.
The world we live in
What is happening in the world around us is very special. It is also frightening, if you do not know the Lord Jesus, do not know that your sins are forgiven and that the Lord Jesus is coming to save you from the wrath to come (1 Thessalonians 1:9-10).
It is clear to many people in this world that things are not going in the right direction. You don't hear much about this in the regular media (the so-called MSM – MainStreamMedia); then most of it seems to be under control and otherwise we will make some sort of 'solution' for it in the UN or EU context. But the dissatisfaction is mainly found in the non-mainstream media, usually on the Internet.
The Restoration of the Roman Empire
In Daniel 2 we read the well-known story of Nebuchadnezzar's dream about the great image that consists of four parts representing four world empires. Successively the Babylonian Empire, the Perso-Medical Empire, the Greco-Macedonian Empire and the Roman Empire. That Roman Empire comes in two forms, first that of iron and then that of iron and clay. The explanation about the 70 weeks of years is crucial; I'm not going to explain these here, but refer to for example this document.
On the basis of this explanation you can say that the empire of iron and clay is the old Roman empire, but in a different form, namely mixed with clay and that it appears and is active as a realm in the last week of the year. Until Christ comes to judge, destroy the kingdom and establish His kingdom on this earth.
When the Roman Empire is restored in the last week of the year, the question is whether we are now living in the time when we can see around us that this empire is recovering. Can we see the characteristics of the restored Roman Empire? The book of Daniel gives us some tools for judging the times in which we live.
The democracy
About the 4th kingdom, that of iron (Daniel 2:40), Kelly writes, among other things
“In fact, a feature of the Roman Empire was that in the name of the people ruled. However despotic the ruler was, in theory he always did as if he consulted the people and the senate. Even under the imperial form, the Romans still had their old republican polity. Only a single monarch vested himself with all real power.” (W. Kelly, p. 43)
This characteristic of the ancient Roman Empire is today again in full force in almost all Western European countries. Everyone can see that major changes are taking place here in the Netherlands as well. The ease with which 'politics' ignored the results of two referenda (Ukraine in 2016 and the so-called Sleep Act in 2018) and the speed with which the referendum has been abolished are characteristic! In addition, more and more important decisions are being made, such as with regard to immigration and 'the climate', where you feel that the ordinary citizen is not happy with that. In this respect it is becoming increasingly clear that the 'political elite' is becoming increasingly alienated from 'the people'.
It is no better in other countries, and certainly not at European level. Interestingly, the European population has no direct say in European affairs. Even the European Parliament only has the power to say yes or no to proposals from the European Commission.
The erosion of democracy leads to parties and movements that are labeled as 'populists' by 'the left-wing elite' (the political rulers). And populists are exactly the ones who say they stand up for 'the people' (see Wikipedia) .
THE EVOLUTION AND FACTUAL IMPLEMENTATION OF DEMOCRACY IS A FIRST CHARACTERISTIC OF THE RETURN OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE IN OUR TIME.
Immigration
In Daniel 2 we read further that in its final form the iron of the empire will be mixed with clay.
“Furthermore, that thou sawest the feet and the toes partly of a potter's clay and partly of iron — that shall be a divided kingdom. It will have something of the hardness of iron—that is why you saw iron mixed with muddy clay. And the toes of the feet, part iron and part clay -- that kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle. That you have seen iron mixed with muddy clay - they will mix with human seed, but they will not cling to each other, as iron does not mix with clay.” (Daniel 2:41-43)
Kelly writes remarkable things about this:
“Iron was the original element. The clay was added later and didn't really belong in the large metal statue. It was a strange ingredient. When and where did this clay come from? I think that God's Spirit with this clayey loam does not refer to the original Roman element, which had the strength of iron, but to barbarian hordes, who later invaded. They weakened the Roman power and gradually formed separate kingdoms. I give this as my own opinion, based on the common language of Scripture. This loam is originally not Roman, it came from elsewhere. The mixing of the two components brought weakness and finally led to division. The barbarian hordes that invaded did not call themselves victors, but guests of Rome. They eventually settled within the borders of the Roman Empire. This led to the division of the empire into independent empires, when the power and pride of imperialist Rome was broken.(…) If ever there was a continent with a disjointed system of empires, it was Europe. As long as iron dominated there was an emperor, but when the clay, strange material, came in the case was divided.” (W. Kelly, pp. 47,48)
If Kelly's the wordbarbarians' he undoubtedly means what the Romans called 'barbarians', namely people who could not understand the Romans and brought with them a culture that they saw as foreign (see Wikipedia).
Isn't it clear that here we see the migrant flows, which have come in after Merkel invited them with her 'We can do this!'. Islamic jihad as guests of Rome; isn't it striking? And how will this increase after the 'Marrakesh pact', which should actually welcome anyone who wants to emigrate to Europe? Division is the result of the combination of iron and clay.
“It will be a divided kingdom(Daniel 2:41). How true is that in several ways:
- It divides the countries of Europe. Some close their borders to Islam immigration, such as Hungary and Poland.
- It divides the populations and creates contradictions like never seen before. On the one hand 'the globalists', those who want to destroy the existing (Judeo-Christian) culture. And on the other hand the 'nationalists' who want to preserve their culture and way of life and are against uncontrolled immigration.
“The kingdom will be partly strong and partly fragile” (Daniel 2:42). This too is a kind of division. On the one hand, a tough and strong action towards its own population, but 'brittle' when it comes to action against Islam.' The latter is not effective; sometimes words but no actions.
A SECOND CHARACTERISTIC OF A RECOVERING ROMAN EMPIRE IS THE IMMIGRATION OF HUMAN MASSES WITH NON-INTEGRAL ISLAMIC CULTURE. THIS LEADS TO WIDE DIVISION AND PROBLEMS.
Even in the world there are enough voices that call immigration the doom or suicide of Europe, such as in the video below 'The suicide of Europe' (with Dutch subtitles) or this recent article with a 'prospect' for 2019. Both do not contain a biblical vision, but do show how right-minded people view the problems today.
Mass immigration is an agenda item of the globalists. It is a 'belief' of the political left-wing elite that goes so far as, for example, a Frans Timmermans pronounces that 'Europe's salvation lies in its unification with Africa' (see here).
As far as immigration is concerned, no one will have noticed that international agreements were made at United Nations level in Marrakesh at the beginning of December. Opponents of these agreements fear that this will lead to unprecedented immigration from Africa to Europe and that they are even referred to as 'the demise of our Judeo-Christian civilization' or 'an intended destruction of our own culture and the white race'. See for example in these stories: this one and this one. In another story it is assumed that in 30 years' time the Netherlands will be a Muslim country.
One world religion
In the third chapter of the book of Daniel, we find that Nebuchadnezzar has a golden image erected and demands that everyone in his realm worship it. It is the well-known story that Daniel's three friends end up in the fiery furnace but are kept by the Lord.
Kelly writes the following about this, among other things.
“Nebuchadnezzar was a wise man according to the flesh, but he was also very stubborn. He had a place that no one had occupied before. He was sovereign ruler over a vast kingdom and was the absolute master of many kingdoms, with different languages and all kinds of opposing customs and policies. What was to be done with these subject nations? How were all these different nations to be subdued and governed by a single chief? How was he to prevent nations and humans from coming face to face? What could bind them closely together? There should be no difference of religion! Unity of religion was necessary to ensure peace in the empire. A common religious influence was necessary to melt the hearts of his subjects. According to him this was political necessity. Unite all these people, by giving them a common object of worship, unite all hearts, by making them bow down to the same image, and you form a cohesive whole of all these different peoples.” (W. Kelly, p. 57)
Here we see that the Babylonian religion is made compulsory for all inhabitants of the empire. All inhabitants submit to the mystery religion in which man opens himself to the invisible world with all its consequences (see here). This creates the collective religion, the binding.
That the Babylonian mystery religion also ended up in Rome – and thus in the Roman Empire – is elsewhere (see here) already described. Revelation 18 speaks of "Babylon the great" to be judged at the time of the end, meaning that Babylonian idolatry from the beginning (the head of gold of Nebuchadnezzar's image) has continued through the empires to the Roman Empire. And it will be a signature element in the restored Roman Empire too.
This means two things that you already see happening around you:
- The world and its inhabitants will again and increasingly place themselves under the direct influence of the invisible world. Elsewhere (see here) we have already described how, especially from the sixties of the last century, this increase has been promoted by the influence of Eastern religions (especially meditation), music and drugs. We also found then that those who are in charge in the western world today are suffused with this suds. The influence of the invisible world on the people in the world is enormous and is especially expressed in the fact that they have the same mindset. It's starting to look like a religious fanaticism these days.
- Christendom ('the church') is drawn into this current by taking the charismatic or the contemplative path. We have already said a lot about this elsewhere (see, for example, here). The necessary steps have also been taken in this regard in the past year (see here the previous article).
A THIRD CHARACTERISTIC OF THE RESTORATION OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE IS THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A WORLDWIDE BABYLONIC PAGANISM OF WHICH CHRISTIANITY IS PART OF THE 'CHURCH OF ROME'.
Kelly writes…
“As the people in the first empire were forced into idolatry, so it will be at the end of the age. The Book of Revelation shows us the last phase of the last empire of the nations. What it started with, that's how it will end. The same compulsion that was used here to make all subjects bow and worship the statue will be exercised again at the end.”(W. Kelly, p. 67)
According to Revelation 13:14-15, an image will soon be erected again for the leader of the restored Roman Empire and anyone who does not want to worship that image will be killed. There is no longer any place for the God of the Jew and the Christian, and anyone who "will not worship the image of the beast will be killed."
Political anarchy and chaos
The empires first presented as a great image (Daniel 2) are represented in Daniel 7 as four great animals. At the beginning of the chapter we read:
“(…) behold, the four winds of heaven swept up the great sea, and four great beasts arose out of the sea, differing from one another.” (Daniel 7:3,4)
About this Kelly writes:
“(…) The sea, in the symbolic language of the Bible, represents a crowd of people in a political state of anarchy. Out of this troubled state of the people, empires emerge. Take, for example, the French Empire. A revolution put an end to the old system of government. The king was beheaded. Then followed a state of confusion and turmoil, as the sea is stirred by winds. From this state arose a new empire, the Empire of Napoleon. Something similar is meant by rising from the sea. The great empires arose from such a state of anarchy and great turmoil. Also, the foundations of the four great empires were laid at almost the same time. In verse 17 it is said that they come up out of the earth. So they have no heavenly origin, unlike the Son of man, who comes with the clouds of heaven (v. 13).” (W. Kelly, p. 113)
On this basis, I assume that the re-establishment of the (restored) Roman Empire will also take place in a time of great political anarchy and unrest. And isn't that exactly what we can observe all around us?
As far as I can see (and I'm only a bread-eating prophet) we are at the beginning of a spiral of increasing anarchy and chaos. I think it contains the following elements:
- the distance between 'the governing elite' and 'the people', which is increasing due to the dissatisfaction of 'Jan with the cap' about, in particular
- the impoverishment of the population (mainly through taxes and climate)
- immigration from islam
- Contradictions between globalists and nationalists are no longer resolved democratically, but through struggle and violence. Increasingly, violence is the answer in a discussion.
- The 'freedom of expression' is being abolished. You can't say anything if it hurts someone else. We've talked about it before (here). This is a stepping stone to a totalitarian state, a dictatorship where the government (whoever that is or is) determines what you can think and say. And if you don't stick to it, you'll be taken to court at best, but it could also end up worse for you. In the Marrakesh Pact, it was also agreed between the countries that criticism of migration punishable is stated. This resembles the introduction of dictatorial practices.
What would you think when the so-called 'populist' parties come to power in all countries in the next elections, as happened in Italy (and in the USA)? I have a hunch that the current powers that be will not let that happen. The contradictions and interests are too great for that.
Now you can say that I am a pessimist and see everything through my own pessimistic glasses. It could be, but what do you think I 'coincidentally' encountered on the internet this afternoon while writing this article? Here is the most recent overview of columns in the Volkskrant, but certainly not a newspaper from the populist side.
In case you can't read the image, here are the column titles:
- America, the country of so much concern, is slipping into our camp on one important aspect
- The most maniacal makeability program that Dutch politics has produced since Willem Drees (about the climate plan)
- And then the good news: wars are passé
- After all, wasn't the Netherlands more of a metaphor than a vase?
- Something is brewing. No one knows exactly what, but it's clear that things are going to happen
- Rebellion or revolution often starts with taxation
- Although many people still have meat on the table at Christmas, a turnaround is announcing itself
- In these morbid times there is a need for a museum of optimism
- This is how you survive the political discussions during the Christmas dinner
A FOURTH CHARACTERISTIC OF THE RESTORED ROMAN EMPIRE IS THAT IT ARISES FROM GREAT POLITICAL ANARCHY AND UNREST.
Divide and conquer
However things will go in the world and whoever will "win" according to human judgment, one thing is certain: our western world will also fall into anarchy and it will not last very long. It's Satan's principle: to create divisions, creating chaos where no one can see the way. Then he comes up with his 'messiah', 'the great leader' who will point the way to a fantastic future for all humanity. So he does it from the beginning, so he goes on to the end, and so it will be with the restored Roman Empire.
Only this last attempt to establish his rule over everything will end in his downfall. He is crushed by the stone not cut with hands (Daniel 2); the Lord Jesus Himself will come to judge and crush.
The sum
The restored Roman Empire is coming!
Summarizing the foregoing point by point, the conclusion is that the book of Daniel speaks of a restored Roman empire, the empire of iron mixed with clay and that important features of this empire are:
- That it is democratically governed in name, but in fact the leader(s) have the say.
- The original Roman culture is mixed with a culture that is foreign to it ('barbarian'). This resulted in major divisions within the empire.
- A Babylonian paganism spreads over the western world and Christianity falls to this paganism, so that a 'world religion' arises that will bow to the one who will present himself as 'god'.
- The restored Roman Empire emerges from a situation of great political anarchy and unrest.
As far as I'm concerned, this is what we see emerging with great speed in the western world today. A development like never before.
In other words, what is developing in the world is the re-establishment of the Roman Empire, which eventually becomes so godless that God Himself intervenes and “shall shatter and destroy all those kingdoms” (Daniel 2:44). The restored Roman Empire isn't here yet, but we see it being born and it's coming!
The Lord Jesus is coming!
This world is rushing to its judgment, but those who belong to the Lord Jesus have great comfort: He comes to fetch His Church, and thus keeps us from the wrath of God that shall come upon the world.
“(…) Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come“(1 Thessalonicenzen 1:10)
” (…) the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our union with Him (2 Thessalonicenzen 2:1)
For the believers in Thessalonica, circumstances at one point became so severe that they sometimes thought that judgment had already come; Which "the day of Christ would already have come” (2 Thessalonians 2:1,2). Paul makes it clear to them that this was not yet the case (2:1-12), and then encourages them to persevere with the following words:
“But we must always thank God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, that God hath chosen you from the beginning unto salvation, in sanctification of the Spirit, and faith in the truth. To this he has called you by our gospel to obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Stand firm then, brethren, and hold fast to the traditions in which you have been taught by our word or by our letter. And may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting comfort and good hope by grace, comfort your hearts and strengthen you in every good word and work.” (2 Thessalonicenzen 2:13-17)
Similarly, we do not know how difficult the circumstances can still become for us, but the words of Paul also apply to us!
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