SPELLING EDITED J-33. THE REVIVED ROMAN EMPIRE! Is the antichrist from a revived Roman Empire or is the antichrist from a revived Islamic Muslim Ottoman Empire? Could it be a combination of both Empires? Will there be a one-world government? Is the Roman Catholic Pope the antichrist? If not, is the Pope the false prophet? These are just some of the questions that we will be looking at in this study of God’s word. Let us begin by looking at the verses that lead many prophecy teachers to insist that the antichrist MUST come from a revived ROMAN Empire. Please read Daniel 2:31-45 which is where King Nebuchadnezzar has a dream of a great image and Daniel tells the king his dream and the interpretation of the dream. Daniel 2:31-45. “You, O king, saw, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before you; and the form thereof was terrible. 32. This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, 33. His legs of iron, his feet part of iron, and part of clay. 34. You saw till that a STONE (Jesus the chief cornerstone) was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay and broke them to pieces. 35. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, (Or a great kingdom) and filled the whole earth. (You can see that the word “mountain” in Bible prophecy speaks of a kingdom) 36. This is the dream, and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king. 37. You, O king, are a king of kings: for the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. 38. And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven has he given into your hand and has made you ruler over them all. You are this head of gold. 39. And after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to you, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth. 40. And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and subdues all things: and as iron that breaks all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise. 41. And whereas you saw the feet and toes, part of potters' clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as you saw the iron mixed with miry clay. 42. And as the TOES of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken. (So, to me, the TEN toes represent another kingdom out of the feet and toes kingdom that will be an image of the feet and toes kingdom) 43. And whereas you saw iron mixed with miry clay, THEY shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: BUT THEY shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay. (In other words, this FINAL kingdom will MIX themselves among the seed of men BUT they will not “integrate” with them or be a true part with those they mingle themselves. It sounds just like the immigrant refugee Muslims in Europe. They come in peaceably at first. They will not work and support the community. They insist on having their own laws. They have mingled BUT they will not mix together to become one with the community into which they have mingled. Also, there are two major sects of their religion of Islam the Sunnis and Shiites which do NOT mix. One sect considers itself to be peaceful while the other sect is making themselves in the IMAGE of their prophet Muhammad to convert with the SWORD. The west calls them radical Muslims but in their country, they are called Wahhabi and Sulfist Muslims. Wahhabism basically has no conscious so to speak. The west calls them terrorists. Jesus will destroy them at his coming and set up his kingdom) 44. And in the days of THESE kings, shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, (Speaking that this is the final kingdom of this present world which will be given over to Jesus and the saints during the 1000 year reign of Jesus) but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. 45. Forasmuch as you saw that the STONE was cut out of the mountain without hands and that it (The chief corner STONE speaking of Jesus) brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God has made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.” One of the reasons that some prophecy teachers are stuck on the final kingdom being a revival of the ROMAN Empire is that the feet and ten toes kingdom SEEMS to be just ONE kingdom that follows immediately AFTER the Roman Empire which are the legs of IRON. These prophecy teachers fail to make the full connection between the dream of King Nebuchadnezzar and with the book of Revelation which teaches us of EIGHT total kingdoms that rule the same area of the world. Revelation 17:9-11.
“And here is the mind which has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, (Or seven kingdoms or seven world Empires) on which the woman sits. (The woman is the SAME whore religious system that was and will be in ALL seven world empires and in the EIGHTH final kingdom as well) 10. And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he comes, he must continue a short space. 11. And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the EIGHT, and is OF the seven, and goes into perdition.”
So then, the five world Empires that were already fallen in John’s day were as follows.
#1. The Egyptian Empire. #2. The Assyrian Empire. #3. The Babylonian Empire. #4. The Medo-Persians Empire. #5. The Grecian Alexander the Great Empire.
And the Empire that IS or was in power in John’s day was the Roman Empire.
#6. The Roman Empire.
And one is yet to come. History tells us that the next Empire in that part of the world was the Islamic Muslim Ottoman Empire which did indeed have a WOUND by the SWORD of war as if it were dead. In other words, the seventh head had a wound by the sword and has been dead since 1920 but has been reviving from 1990 to this present day. From 1990 to the year 2000 it has been said that more Christians were killed by Muslims during those ten years than all the Christian martyrs put together from the days of the Apostles to the year 1990. And who knows how many more Christians have been killed by radical Muslims since the year 2000 to this present day and the killing is still going on. Now if that is true, then how could Islam not be the mark of the beast? Islam DENIES that God has a Son. It denies that Jesus died on the cross and thus denies the resurrection of Jesus, it beheads Christians and who more than the Muslims hate the Jews?
#7. The Islamic Muslim Ottoman Empire.
And the EIGHT LITTLE HORN kingdom will be OF the SEVEN or OF the SEVENTH depending on how one interprets the word translated as seven. So the eight antichrist kingdom may encompass that same land as the Ottoman Empire only. Or it may encompass the combined land area of all seven previous world empires. Also, another reason that some Bible prophecy teachers insist that it will be the revival of the Roman Empire is that the feet and ten toes kingdom has been described as being PART IRON and part clay. So since the legs being the ROMAN Empire were of IRON and PART of the feet and toe kingdom is ALSO IRON then it seems reasonable to conclude that the final kingdom must be a revival of the ROMAN Empire. Another verse that these prophecy teachers use that seems to be saying that the final kingdom will be a revival of the ROMAN Empire is found in Daniel chapter 7 where Daniel has a vision of FOUR beasts but it is the FOURTH beast that troubles him. The FOURTH beast is the FOURTH kingdom on the earth after the Babylonian kingdom.
Daniel 7:2-27.
“Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea. 3. And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another. (All four beast kingdoms came up out of the SEA and they were all different from each other) 4. The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man's heart was given to it. (This is the head of gold the Babylonian Empire) 5. And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh. (This is the arms and chest of silver the Medo-Persian Empire) 6. After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads, and dominion was given to it. (This is the belly and thighs of brass the Grecian Empire of Alexander the Great and the four heads are the divided kingdoms of his four generals) 7. After this, I saw in the night visions, and behold a FOURTH beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great IRON teeth: it devoured and broke in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; (When you look at a MAP of these four kingdoms you can clearly see that the Roman Empire conquered much of Europe while the other three kingdoms conquered the world around the Mediterranean sea and the Middle East) AND it had ten horns. 8. I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them ANOTHER LITTLE horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things. (Here we can see that OUT OF the Roman empire, which ALSO extended down into the Middle East, where there came up the feet and TEN toes kingdom. And then OUT of the feet and ten toes kingdom came up ANOTHER LITTLE HORN which will be that LAST and final kingdom on the earth when Jesus returns. So it will be out of this the LITTLE HORN kingdom that will come forth the antichrist. Or perhaps more precisely the little horn king will be the antichrist leader of the TEN kings. In other words, the antichrist will indeed come out of the Roman Empire but this does NOT dogmatically mean that the antichrist MUST come out of EUROPE because the Roman Empire also extended into the Middle East which is predominantly Muslim today) 9. I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. 10. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand of thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened. 11. I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the HORN spake: I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed and given to the burning flame. (The BEAST behind all the world empires is Satan who will possess the Antichrist that is also called the son of perdition and that Wicked one in 2 Thessalonians 2, and the common whore religion in all seven Empire was the pagan Babylonian religion going all the way back to Nimrod which is primarily the false worship of the sun, moon, and stars. Consider the crescent moon and the star that is atop the Muslim Mosques and on all their flags) 12. As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time. (This is speaking of the FOLLOWERS of the antichrist system who call upon the name of Jesus to be saved alive in their mortal bodies to go into the Millennium to be taught of the Lord) 13. I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man (Speaking of Jesus) came with the clouds of heaven and came to the Ancient of days (Speaking of Almighty God Yahweh), and they brought him near before him. 14. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. 15. I Daniel was grieved in my spirit in the midst of my body, and the visions of my head troubled me. 16. I came near unto one of them that stood by and asked him the truth of all this. So he told me and made me know the interpretation of the things. 17. These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth. 18. But the saints of the Highest God shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever. 19. Then I would know the truth of the FOURTH beast, which was diverse from all the others, exceeding dreadful, whose teeth were of iron, and his nails of brass; which devoured, brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with his feet; 20. AND of the ten horns that were in his head, AND of the OTHER which came up, and before whom three fell; even of THAT HORN that had eyes, and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look was more stout than his fellows. 21. I beheld, and the SAME HORN made war with the saints and prevailed against them; 22. UNTIL the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Highest God, and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom. (THE final antichrist is THAT SAME LITTLE HORN of the feet and ten toes kingdom who will be destroyed at the coming of Jesus) 23. THUS he said, The FOURTH beast shall be the FOURTH kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces. (The whole earth is speaking of the whole LAND which is that region of the world that was conquered by the Roman Empire. Look at the maps of the land area of all seven kingdoms and you will see that the Roman Empire is DIFFERENT because it extended into Europe all the way to a part of England) 24. AND the ten horns OUT OF this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: (Keep in mind that the Roman Empire extended into the EAST which is what is called the Middle East today that is predominantly Muslim. To me, I am seeing this kingdom as the Islamic Muslim Ottoman Empire that was wounded with the SWORD of war) and ANOTHER shall rise AFTER them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings. (And I am seeing this final antichrist kingdom as being the revival of the Islamic Muslim Ottoman Empire the EASTERN part of the Roman Empire which will have STRENGTH in the MIDDLE EAST but will be weak and NOT MIX in the western part of the Roman Empire which is Europe. It will be DIFFERENT from the Islamic Muslim Ottoman Empire in that it will extend into Europe but not be given the power to KILL in that part of their kingdom. In other words, they will NOT succeed in changing the law of the land in that part of the antichrist kingdom to their SHARIA law where it is LEGAL to kill anyone who insults or reject Islam) 25. And he shall speak great words against the Highest God, (Muslims blaspheme the one true God by calling their God Allah greater) and shall wear out the saints of the Highest God and THINK to change times and laws: (When Muslims become the dominant power in the land they live they change the law of the land to Sharia law. Also, Muslims are SEEKING to change the prime meridian to go through Mecca. Another interpretation of SEEKING to change times is that Satan will seek more time from God but God will tell him no as you can see in the following verse that the judgment will sit) and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time. (Speaking of 3 ½ years or 42 months or 1260 days the period of great tribulation right before Jesus returns) 26. But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end. 27. And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Highest God, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.”
There is one more verse that seems to indicate that the final kingdom will be a revival of the ROMAN Empire.
Daniel 9:26,27.
“And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people OF the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary, and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. 27. And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.”
The part of verse 26 that says.
“and the people OF the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary”
The prince is Satan, the god of this present world system that uses PEOPLE to do his work. So I believe that verse 26 had its first fulfillment in 70 AD. The Jewish Temple in the city of Jerusalem was destroyed by the Roman army led by Titus so it is assumed that the people of the “prince” is the Roman Empire who will AGAIN destroy the “REBUILT” Temple and the city of Jerusalem at the end of days during the end of the so-called “seven” years of tribulation. First of all, the people of the “prince” are speaking of those who are under the prince of this present world who is Satan the prince of darkness. Now, I say the so-called “seven” years of tribulation but according to the book of Revelation, I myself am only seeing 3 ½ years of the great tribulation. So this led me to take a closer look at the seventieth week of Daniel and the MIDST of the week. You can read those studies for all the Scriptures but just briefly here in this study, I will say that when looking at the pre-tribulation chart something suddenly stood out to me that I never saw before. The most common pre-tribulation rapture chart has a timeline starting at the cross with the church age following, then the rapture, then the seventieth week which is SEVEN years, then the second coming, then the 1000 year reign of Jesus. What jumped out at me one day was that I saw the 7 years divided EXACTLY with 1260 days, a midpoint, and EXACTLY 1260 days which total to EXACTLY 7 prophetic years having 30 days a month. I saw that the MIDPOINT was just that, a POINT, having NO TIME for anything to happen yet according to the pre-tribulation teaching a LOT of things must take place in the MIDST of the week. Please read the study “WHEN IS THE MIDST OF THE WEEK?” because we are IN the midst of the week right now. The midst of the week actually began when God turned to the Gentiles and will end when the great tribulation begins. So then, the destruction of the Jewish Temple in 70 AD was IN the midst of the week and so was the complete destruction of the city of Jerusalem, and so was the building of the Islamic Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount. And so was the rise and fall of the Islamic Muslim Ottoman Empire that received the wound of the SWORD of warfare as if it were dead. And now, presently, we are seeing the rise of Islam once again where a part is like IRON and part like clay not wanting to mix with the part that is like IRON. The part like iron is radical Islam or Wahhabism and the part like clay is peaceful Islam. The part of Islam like iron is like a potter that wants to mold the clay or all of peaceful Islam in the IMAGE of Islam during Muhammad to force Islam on non-Muslims by the power of the sword. We can see how Islam has MINGLED with the seed of men all over the Old ROMAN Empire but they are only strong like IRON in the Middle East. They SEEK to change the laws of the land where they have MINGLED but they will not succeed. Revelation 6:8 prophesies that they will only have power over a FOURTH of the land to KILL. So stand in your authority in the name of Jesus and resist the lies of Satan that Islam will take over the entire world.
Revelation 6:8.
“And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the FOURTH PART of the earth (Or over one-fourth part of the LAND in that region of the world), to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts (Or men who behave like wild beasts. Remember that the seed of Ishmael would be like a wild man) of the earth.”
Genesis 16:11,12.
“And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, you are with child, and shall bear a son, and shall call his name Ishmael; because the LORD has heard your affliction. 12. And he will be a WILD man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.”
Some may argue that Revelation 6:8 is just my own personal interpretation but when you take a CLOSER look at Revelation 13:11-15 you can clearly see for yourself that it is speaking about THEIR land and not the whole earth.
Revelation 13:11-15.
“And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb (Or came in peaceably at first), and he spake as a dragon. (But then turned to hatred and dominating and conquering others by the sword. This is the little horn, the Assyrian, the Mahdi, or the twelfth Imam) 12. And he exercises all the power of the first beast before him, (Or he will conquer by flatteries, then he will unite Muslims together beginning with a small number, and he will control the same land area that the Islamic Muslim Ottoman Empire conquered and controlled.) and causes the earth (Or the LAND) and them which dwell THEREIN to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. (I think that it is reasonable to assume that all human beings dwell on the earth so the Greek word translated as “earth” also means LAND or that REGION of the world and NOT the WHOLE world or the whole earth) 13. And he does great wonders so that he makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, 14. And deceives them that dwell on the earth (Speaking of THEM that dwell in THEIR LAND or THAT REGION of the world) by the means of those miracles which he had the power to do in the SIGHT of the beast (And NOT in the sight of the WHOLE world); saying to THEM that dwell on the earth (Or the LAND in that REGION of the world which is the Middle East Islamic Muslim DOMINATED countries), that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live. (So the IMAGE here is not some statue but rather it is this new leader saying to the Muslim people to unite and be LIKE Muhammad and the Ottoman Empire to go about CONQUERING with the SWORD or with WAR to force the infidels to convert to Islam or DIE) 15. And he had the power to give life (Or spirit or zeal) unto the image of the beast (Radical Islam), that the image of the beast should both speak (Or that these newly converted peaceful Muslims will continue promoting radical Islam along with him, the ASSYRIAN, the antichrist, the son of perdition, that Wicked one), and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast (Speaking of bowing their knee to SUBMIT to radical Islam) should be killed.”
Now think about this. Radical Muslims are killing their OWN people who will not conform to their IMAGE of Wahhabism Islam to take up the sword and from all non-Muslims to convert to Islam or die. And in dominant Islamic Muslim countries where Sharia law has been established as the new law of the land the radical Muslims implement a high tax on all non-Muslims. They do this to get them to become Muslims or to leave their country. Eventually, a non-Muslim cannot buy or sell so they are forced to become Muslim, leave the country or die. And as time goes on they will simply give the ultimatum to either convert to Islam or be beheaded. And in some places, this is already happening. Also, any Muslim who leaves Islam to become a Christian is killed as well. They call it mercy killing for they believe by killing their own family members who leave Islam they will save their souls. And here is something that I just came across a few weeks ago even though it has been happening for years now. First, read Revelation and then watch this short video and then come back to the study in God’s word.
Revelation 16:2.
“And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth, and there fell a NOISOME and GRIEVOUS SORE upon the men which had the MARK of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image.”
Now please watch this short video on YouTube called ISIS Spreading FLESH eating disease. To me, this is setting the stage that when radical Muslims unite and make an all-out war against Israel to take the city of Jerusalem that they will follow the same practice of leaving the dead bodies in the streets of Jerusalem to fulfill the Bible prophecy in Revelation 11:8.
Revelation 11:8-11.
“And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. 9. And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and a half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves. 10. And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth. 11. And after three days and a half, the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet, and great fear fell upon them which saw them.”
Here is a quote that I got from another website called MYSCRIPTURESTUDIES which you can go to read the whole article. The emphasis highlighted in yellow is mine.
“We can see this in the historical record at www.roman-empire.net. The realms of so-called 'client kings' were largely seen as an extended part of the Roman Empire. Very often these royal houses owed their authority to Rome. As part of the arrangement between Rome and the client kingdoms, the kings had to provide troops for Roman campaigns. It was therefore not uncommon for the troops of such client kings to fight alongside Roman forces in a battle against the enemies of Rome.
The 70 AD reality is that Titus' army in Judaea was accompanied by local forces of Agrippa II (Palestine), Sohaemus (Emesa), and Antiochus IV (Commagene). Some of the troops from these client kingdoms from the area today known as "The Levant" were even trained in a fashion similar to that of Roman Legions, in order to be more effective on the battlefield when working in union with real Roman forces.
For instance, the annexation of Galatia as a Roman province brought the thirty cohorts of King Deiotarus under the Roman command and saw them formed into a Roman Legion (Legion XXII). Though this was clearly an exception. The vast majority of troops from annexed client kingdoms became auxiliary forces. Let's examine exactly where Titus' "Legions" were from, but first, a little more history is needed:
As we know, in 70 A.D. Titus was the Roman General who sacked Jerusalem and destroyed the Temple rebuilt by Herod. Historical records tell us Titus' four Legions surrounded Jerusalem. There were three Legions on the west side of the city and the fourth Legion approached from the Mount of Olives from the east. General Titus was quite crafty in that he put pressure on the food and water supplies by allowing thousands of observant Jewish pilgrims to enter the city to celebrate the Passover that year, and then he refused to allow them to leave. Many fought hard against the Legions. At one point, Titus was nearly captured, but in the end, much of the population was killed, dispersed, or enslaved. Jerusalem was significantly broken and the Temple was destroyed. The Roman historian Publius Cornelius Tacitus gives us his own account of this event: "Early in this year Titus Caesar, who had been selected by his father to complete the subjugation of Judaea, and who had gained distinction as a soldier while both were still subjects, began to rise in power and reputation, as armies and provinces emulated each other in their attachment to him. The young man himself, anxious to be thought superior to his station, was ever displaying his gracefulness and his energy in war. By his courtesy and affability he called forth a willing obedience, and he often mixed with the common soldiers, while working or marching, without impairing his dignity as general. He found in Judaea three legions, the 5th, the 10th, and the 15th, all old troops of Vespasian's. To these, he added the 12th from Syria, and some men belonging to the 18th and 3rd, whom he had withdrawn from Alexandria. This force was accompanied by twenty cohorts of allied troops and eight squadrons of cavalry, by the two kings Agrippa and Sohemus, by the auxiliary forces of king Antiochus, by a strong contingent of Arabs, who hated the Jews with the usual hatred of neighbors…" —Tacitus The History New Ed edition Book 5.1 Editor: Moses Hadas, Translators: Alfred Church, William Brodribb (Modern Library; New York, 2003) There are a few important pieces of information that Tacitus tells us. The first is that the Roman "Legions" were accompanied by “a strong contingent of Arabs, who hated the Jews with the "usual hatred of neighbors”. The Jewish historian Josephus also records that many other kings and their armies from the immediate nations that surrounded the land of Israel accompanied the Roman Legions as they went on to attack Jerusalem: "So Vespasian sent his son Titus from Achaia… to Alexandria, to bring back with him from thence the fifth and the tenth legions, while he himself, when he had passed over the Hellespont, came by land into Syria, where he gathered together the Roman forces, with a considerable number of auxiliaries from the kings in that neighborhood." —Flavius Josephus The Complete Works of Josephus, The Wars Of The Jews Or The History Of The Destruction Of Jerusalem Book III, Chapter 1, Paragraph 3 Let's look further where Josephus specifies not only the names but also the numbers of the client king legion warriors who were willingly recruited to join in the attack against the Jews and Jerusalem: "Malchus also, the king of Arabia, sent a thousand horsemen, besides five thousand footmen, the greatest part of which were archers; so that the whole army, including the auxiliaries sent by the kings, as well horsemen as footmen, when all were united together, amounted to sixty thousand, besides the servants, who, as they followed in vast numbers, so because they had been trained up in a war with the rest, ought not to be distinguished from the fighting men; for as they were in their masters’ service in times of peace, so did they undergo the like dangers with them in times of war, insomuch that they were inferior to none, either in skill or in strength, only they were subject to their masters." —Flavius Josephus The Complete Works of Josephus, The Wars Of The Jews Or The History Of The Destruction Of Jerusalem Book III, Chapter 4, Paragraph 2 Another important piece of information can be gathered from both Josephus and Tacitus. It is precise which Legions of fighting men were involved in this attack. These were: • Legion XV Apollinaris • Legion V Macedonica • Legion XII Fulminata • Legion X Fretensis What is so important to understand here is that under Roman rule, joining the army was both a duty and a distinguishing mark of Roman citizenship. Caesar's promise was that by serving 15 years in a Legion, you then became a full-fledged "Roman citizen" — a privilege that was passed on to your children. Further, during the first century, when a Legion was based in a particular province, it got all of its recruits it needed directly from that area.
The point, of course, is that although many of the Roman Legion warriors were citizens of the Roman Empire, it does not follow that they were men from Europe as many naturally assume. For some reason, possibly due to the fact that the capital of the Roman Empire was in Rome — and thus in Europe — it is easy to forget that the Roman Empire also included a vast portion of the "client kingdoms" of the Middle East as well.”
So while this little horn kingdom comes out of the Roman Empire no one should dogmatically teach that the antichrist must be a revived EUROPEAN Roman Empire. I actually heard a preacher say that Islam MUST be destroyed before the antichrist kingdom comes to power because he is so convinced that the Pope must be the antichrist or the false prophet. For me, I can see that those who teach that the Roman Catholic Church is the antichrist system that they have such a spirit of HATRED toward the Roman Catholics. This hatred toward PEOPLE rather than the enemy Satan has gone to such an extreme in some church denominations that they dogmatically demand that ANY Christian who worships God on a Sunday has taken the MARK of the beast. If you look closely you will find that most of the teaching concerning the Roman Catholic Papacy being the antichrist system comes from the seventh day of the week Sabbath-keeping church denominations. So the heart of their preaching is really against any Christian who does not keep the weekly Sabbath day. Personally, I believe that all the sound Biblical evidence point directly to Islam as being the MARK of the beast. Please read the other related studies that I have on this subject listed below and then you decide for yourself as to who the antichrist will be.
“IS THE ASSYRIAN THE ANTICHRIST?”
“COULD ISLAM BE THE MARK OF THE BEAST?”
“IS the ROMAN CATHOLIC Church the ANTICHRIST?”
“A NEW LOOK at the 70th WEEK OF DANIEL!”
“WHEN IS THE MIDST OF THE 70th WEEK?”
“WHAT IS THE ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION?”
“THE TWO WITNESSES---WHO ARE THEY?”
“250 REASONS for NO PRE-Tribulation RAPTURE!”
Thanks for reading and may God bless you richly as you continue to seek the truth of the whole word of Almighty God. Your brother in our Lord Jesus Christ, Brother Mark. RETURN TO HOMEPAGE AT |