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Written by Victoria Radin   

The Rise of the Kingdom of the Antichrist

The Confederacy Against God

The Bible is primarily the history of God’s people, Israel, from Genesis, chapter 11 forward––from choosing them as His people (Genesis 12:1-3, Deut. 7:6-8), to using them as His agents to bring spiritual salvation to mankind (John 4:22), and finally to being God’s instruments in the physical salvation of the world (Zech. 9:13-17, 10:5, 7, 12:6-9). Other nations and events are mentioned only as they pertain to their effect upon Israel and God’s plan of redemption. For instance, King Nebuchadnezzar’s prophetic dream (Daniel chapter 2) was about Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom and other Gentile kingdoms in their relationship to Israel and God’s plan to destroy His enemies and redeem the world. His dream was monumental in its scope, reaching far into the future of Israel and even to the end of the world as we know it. But prophecy is always best interpreted as the events and situations come together––like the pieces of a puzzle; the more pieces in place, the easier it is to see the picture that is unfolding.

“For we know in part and we prophesy in part.” (1 Corinthians 13:9)

Nebuchadnezzar saw an image that was made of precious and non-precious metals as well as worthless clay. The image had a head of gold, chest and arms of silver, belly and thighs of bronze, two legs of iron, and feet and toes partly of iron and partly of clay. Daniel revealed to Nebuchadnezzar that his dream was about things that would happen in the ‘latter days’.

The image, Daniel said, represented successive world kingdoms beginning with Nebuchadnezzar’s own kingdom, Babylon. However, in the ‘latter days’, Daniel revealed, the nations symbolized in the image would come together (vs. 35) as one man and be broken to pieces by a stone cut without hands (vs. 34). Each of these kingdoms ruled Israel, thus representing the time-period during which foreign nations would ‘trample’ Jerusalem, i.e. ‘the times of the Gentiles’ (Luke 21:24).

It should be noted that the value of the metals in the image decreased as their strength increased––gold being the most valuable has the least strength, and iron being the least valuable, is the strongest of the metals mentioned. Therefore, the way God values each kingdom was expressed by the metals from which the image was made: The increasing strength of the metals symbolized that each Empire was defeated by an Empire stronger than itself.

Babylon, the ‘head of gold’, was the most valuable, in God’s sight, because Nebuchadnezzar acknowledged Daniel’s God (Daniel 2:47).

The Medo-Persian Empire that defeated Babylon is represented by silver. It was lower in value because, although it ‘cooperated with God’ in returning the Jews to Israel to rebuild Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 36:22, 23), it did not acknowledge the One true God.

The Macedonian (Grecian) Empire that defeated the Medo-Persian Empire is represented by bronze, less valuable because it allowed Israel to exist as a nation but tried to force the Jews to turn away from their devotion to God.

The Roman Empire, which defeated the Macedonian Empire is represented by iron and was least valuable because it crushed Israel, expelled the Jews from Jerusalem and destroyed the Temple of God.

Rome was the last World Empire. It was never defeated by a stronger enemy but instead, dissolved into nation-states. Following Rome’s rule over the land of Israel, Islam was ‘born’. Various Islamic peoples became the self-proclaimed overseers of the land. Although, during that period, the land was almost completely devoid of inhabitants (Lev. 26:32, 33); it was forsaken and forgotten for almost two thousand years until the Jews began returning to the land (Isaiah 11:12, Jeremiah 31:10), the land promised to them by an unconditional covenant with the Almighty (Psalm 105:8-11, Deut. 32:9-10). As if their return was a signal to God’s enemies, nations began to rise up against God’s plan to resurrect the nation of Israel (Zechariah 12:3). The “latter days” feet of iron and clay from Nebuchadnezzar’s prophetic image began to take shape––the Kingdom of the Antichrist, the confederacy against God, moved onto the scene of history.

The feet of the image “partly of iron and partly of worthless clay” represents a joining of nations that are unequal in strength. This “latter days” World Kingdom is the United Nations, a fragile union of the world’s nations (Daniel 2:42, 43), worthless in the sight of God. The United Nations officially came into existence on October 24, 1945, just before the nation of Israel was ‘reborn’. Although the United Nations partitioned land for the formation of Israel, it appears that most nations of the world believed that she would not survive. The website of Christian Action for Israel records the history of the U.N. vote for Israeli statehood:

“There is every indication that the leaders of the United Nations never intended that the nation of Israel was to live very long after she declared her independence on May 14, 1948…[The land] was entirely indefensible with few natural resources –– including scant water… This was a State that was planned to be still-born… But, there was more to the planning of her demise than just the vulnerability of her borders and zero defensive depth. For political reasons, the nations of the U.N., each for local consumption, knew that they had to make the gesture of creating the Jewish State for the refugees[that] many helped to generate. Those in control also concurrently recognized or believed that a Jewish nation with pre-pledged enemies on so massive a scale could not possibly survive more than a few weeks.”  

In spite of all that was against the new State––the many hostile nations and the geography––God ordained the rebirth and has preserved the nation of Israel for His name’s sake, having declared in His Word that He would re-gather them and be a God to them.

Ultimately, the goal of the confederacy of nations is to control Jerusalem and eliminate the Jewish people from their place in the Middle East. The nations that will march against Israel under the banner of the United Nations Army will be under the leadership of Russia. Ezekiel 38:1-7 states that “the chief prince of Rosh” (Russia) will be a guard (verse 7) for the nations who attack Israel (verses 5, 6). Their goal is recorded in Psalm 83; all nations listed therein are, today, Muslim nations:

“…and do not be still, O God! For behold, Your enemies make a tumult; and those who hate You have lifted up their head. They have taken crafty counsel against Your people, and consulted together against Your sheltered ones. They have said, ‘Come and let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more.’ For they have consulted together with one consent; they form a confederacy against You: the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites; Moab and the Hagrites; Gebal, Ammon, and Amalek; Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre; Assyria also has joined with them; they have helped the children of Lot.” (Pslam 83:1-8)

In revealing the fate of these enemies of God, Daniel said that the stone that was cut out without hands would strike the image (the alliance of nations) and break it in pieces. The ‘stone’ is Jesus (Psalm 118:22, Matthew 21:42-44). He will come to rescue the Jews from certain destruction (Ezekiel 39:3-6). Their rescue and acknowledgment of Jesus will mark the end of ‘the times of the Gentiles’ (Luke 21:24) when Jerusalem and the Temple Mount will once again be fully in the hands of Israel and then ‘all Israel will be saved’ (Romans 11:25, 26).

“For thus says the Lord of Hosts: ‘He sent Me after glory, to the nations which plunder you; for he who touches you touches the apple of His eye.’”

 
 
 
 
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