20. The Roman Empire-The Northern Confederacy

CHAPTER TWENTY

THE ROMAN EMPIRE-THE NORTHERN CONFEDERACY

“And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast . . . These shall make war with the Lamb and the Lamb shall overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings" (Revelation 17:12-16).
In the time of Daniel, over 2500 years ago, and during the Babylonian captivity, our Lord sent a dream to Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. This dream pictured the image of a man composed of different kinds of metal. The interpretation of the dream, as revealed by God to Daniel, told of the existence, development and strength of the coming world empires.

The Roman Empire, as a world power, was repre­sented by the legs, the feet, and the toes of the image. The Roman Empire was destroyed and ceased to exist before all the prophecies, as revealed in the image dream, were fulfilled, or before the history of the Roman Empire reached the toe part of the image. Students of Bible prophecy, therefore, have reason to believe that the Roman Empire is to be revived in order to fulfill prophecy, and that this revival will be ushered in at the time of the tribulation period.

The ten-kingdom part of the Roman Empire, which is the last stage of its existence, is represented by the ten toes of the image dream (Daniel 2:1-49; Daniel 7:1-28). It is repre­sented in the same manner by the ten horns of the terrible beast of the vision of Daniel, and by the ten horns of the beast of the vision of John on Patmos (Revelation 17:12).

The Bible says that the ten kingdoms of the image dream were broken in pieces by “a stone cut out without hands” falling from heaven. This “stone” is Christ Himself, “the stone of Israel" (Genesis 49:24; Daniel 2:34-35; Daniel 2:44-45).

“And the stone that smote the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth"

“God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure" The Gentile nations of today are being shaken, pushed about and changed. We read startling articles about these changes in the daily newspapers and in the maga­zines; and we hear about them over the radio and from the platform. Bible students are watching with keen interest all of these changes that are taking place among nations; for prophecy is being fulfilled, and they know what to expect.

God used Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, an evil leader of a Gentile nation, to subdue weaker nations and to develop a powerful world empire (Daniel 2:37-38).

God, in the same way, is using evil leaders today to sub­due nations and to draw to a close the present age, the age of grace.

Dictators of iron are now breaking up nations of clay and forcing them into submission. They are attempting to form leagues of nations. They are trying to become world conquerors.

Things that have seemed to be impossible with man are now happening at the command of God.

The Bible tells of two feder­ations of nations yet to be formed, the Revived Roman Empire and the Northern Confederacy. Newspapers of today are unconsciously picturing the trend of nations toward the development of these two great federations. The development of Italy toward becoming a powerful nation was started at the time of the last world war. Mussolini has been building Italy after the plan of the Caesars. He believes in the resurrection of the Roman Empire. He announced the Revival of the Roman Empire on May 9, 1936, and is now dating the official papers of Italy from 1927 R. R. E. which is the date he marched into Rome.

The papacy has become a temporal power, and the woman arrayed in purple and scarlet and riding on a beast with seven heads and ten horns, is regaining more temporal power (Revelation 17:1).

God will use the Antichrist, the beast, who is thought to spring up out of some part of the Revived Roman Empire, and who is an evil man, to carry out His plan of conquest among the weaker nations, and to form a federation of nations in the tribulation period.

We do not know the leader who will be the Antichrist. Mussolini is fast preparing the time and the conditions in which the Antichrist will be revealed.

The Jewish people do not as a whole receive Jesus, the real Christ, as their Messiah, for only a very few Jews are being converted now; but they will receive Him at the “time of Jacob’s trouble,” when they will see Him as the one whom they have crucified.

When the Antichrist is revealed after the rapture, how­ever, the Jews will receive him instead of Christ. The Antichrist, at the beginning of the tribulation period, will make a covenant with the Jews. He will break this cove­nant after three and one-half years.

Present-day dictators now are pressing forward in a strange and remarkable way. What a shock it will be to many who are left behind at the rapture, when they discover that the saved people who were ready to meet their Lord have been caught up, and that they who remain are to be ruled by the Antichrist.

This dictator will increase his activities rapidly dur­ing the tribulation period after he breaks his covenant with the Jews. He will carry his conquests into Egypt (Daniel 11:42-43). This will be the start of his last cam­paign.

“He will stretch forth his hand also upon the countries; and the land of Egypt will not escape. But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Lib­yans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps" (Daniel 11:42-43).

The kings of the South will come against him, and the beast will conquer. He will conquer all of the Mediterranean countries except Edom, Moab, and Ammon (Daniel 11:41). These nations will be a place of refuge for the remnant of the Jews.

The Northern Confederacy also is preparing for con­quest while the best of the Roman federation is con­quering around the Mediterranean Sea with his eye on Palestine. Russia and Germany, as well as all the other countries of the North, also have their eyes on Palestine. The Northern Confederacy is described in Ezekiel 38:8-9.

“In the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them. Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou and all thy bands, and many people with thee"

During recent years, Israel has been going back into her own land after being scattered among the nations. Read Ezekiel 36:1-38; Ezekiel 37:1-28; Ezekiel 38:1-23. Genesis 10:1-32 gives the origin of the nations mentioned in Ezekiel, as Magog, Rosh, Meshech, Tubal, Togarmah and Gomer.

The Antichrist will be troubled by tidings out of the East and out of the North. With his federation of ten nations, he will meet the Northern Confederacy, with Gog as their head, in the valley of Esdralon. Both of these confederations will seek the wealth of Palestine.

The Antichrist will be the conqueror. He will become the head of the armies of all nations. This will lead him to the battle of Armageddon, to war against God’s chosen people, the Jews. This war therefore will be fought by the combined armies of the Gentile nations under the leadership of the Antichrist against the Jews.

Then will occur the Revelation of Jesus Christ, as the rider of the white horse from heaven. The result of Christ’s coming on His white horse from heaven to battle against the Antichrist will be that the hosts of the Antichrist will be slaughtered in great numbers. The dead will be buried in the Valley of Hamongog.

The house of Israel will be seven months burying the dead of the armies of the Antichrist.

“And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brim­stone. And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of His mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh" (Revelation 19:19-21).

Thus will end the power of the Antichrist, the king of the Revived Roman Empire.

Today men would do well to search the Scriptures and to understand what God says about the future course of the Gentile nations. Christ will come with all His hosts of heaven, at the time of His revelation, to the Mount of Olives, to put a stop to the work of the Antichrist, to judge the nations and to usher in His Kingdom.