The Last Empire of the World

You must understand that in the last days difficult times will come. People will be lovers of themselves and lovers of money, boastful and proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, and unholy. They will be without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, and haters of what is good, treacherous, reckless, and conceited. They will love pleasure rather than God. They will have a form of godliness but deny its power. Have nothing to do with such people!

2 Timothy 3:1–5

The signs that we are living in the last days are evident not only to believers but also to unbelievers. They can clearly see the writing on the wall—that the days of this world are numbered and judgment has been decreed. The sign that we are living in the last days is not only the decline of moral standards in our society, but also the fact that we can clearly see the rise of the final world empire. This empire was foretold in the Bible, and its foundation is now being laid. Soon the man of sin will be revealed. In his book, the prophet Daniel interprets the king’s dream about a great statue. It was a dream about four empires that would arise in this world, the last of which was the Roman Empire, represented in the dream by legs of iron. The feet and toes were made partly of iron and partly of clay.

Daniel 2:42 As the toes were partly iron and partly clay, so this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle.

If the toes represent the final empire, this means that the kingdom will consist of ten nations, just as a person has ten toes. Later, Daniel receives another vision of this fourth kingdom, but this time it appears in the form of a beast.

He gave me this explanation: “The fourth beast is a fourth kingdom that will appear on the earth. It will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth, trampling it down and crushing it. The ten horns are ten kings who will come from this kingdom. After them another king will arise, different from the earlier ones, and he will subdue three kings.”

Daniel 7:23–24

You may be surprised to learn that about 600 years after Daniel’s death and burial, another prophet, John, wrote about this same kingdom in the Book of Revelation. Revelation 13:1–2 Now that we know this kingdom consists of ten nations that form an alliance, the next question is: which nations are they? Does the Bible identify them? As I was growing up as a Christian, I heard various teachings connecting this kingdom with the European Union, sometimes the United Nations, or even the United States. At that time, the United States and the European Union were the world’s dominant powers, and it was difficult to imagine that something even stronger would arise to challenge them. The Bible says that in the last days this kingdom will come against Israel, and no one appears to come to Israel’s aid. The question was always, “Where is the United States?” Today we can clearly see why nations that were once strong and closely aligned with Israel are no longer able to rescue it. We can see that nations once firmly rooted in Christian values have gradually declined, losing their position as world leaders and becoming mere spectators. They are no longer able to shape global politics. This has been brought about by Satan, just as the book of Isaiah says that he is the one who weakens the nations.

How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once weakened the nations.

Isaiah 14:12

In the NKJV, the latter part of Isaiah 14:12 reads: “How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations!” Now you can understand why so much money is spent promoting LGBT ideology, abortion, and many other things that oppose traditional family values. According to this view, the purpose of such propaganda is to weaken these nations.

And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but abandoned their own dwelling place, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day. Likewise, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and unnatural desires. They serve as an example by undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.

Jude 1:6–7

Today we use the term “fallen angels” to describe those angels who did not preserve their original position and authority. The same will happen to nations that were once bearers of hope in the world. They will fall, and other nations will rise. In my next article, we will examine which nations could make up these ten kingdoms and how their new system of government may operate.