The seventh and eighth kingdoms are the last kingdoms to exist on the earth before Jesus comes and sets up His kingdom. These are the two kingdoms that will exist in the time period that we refer to as the tribulation, described in Revelation 6–19. The event of the tribulation will last for seven years, and at the end of it Christ Jesus and the armies of heaven will destroy the armies of the Antichrist. One of the goals of this book is to explain how the final two kingdoms will be drastically different from anything that exists now or existed at any time in the past.
Illustrated by Jason Kole.
The way the spiritual realm interfaces with the natural will be different when these future kingdoms arise. Angels will fly through the sky announcing the gospel of the kingdom.1 During the time of the last kingdoms, God will pour out His wrath and judgment upon the ungodly and, in so doing, will allow demons and angels to manifest in all sorts of ways. There will be no restraint placed upon Satan and his fallen angels; they will unleash their hatred and rage against mankind with torment and destruction like the world has never seen. There will also be great wars and destruction taking place that defy the imagination. In the first year of the tribulation alone, before the first six seals have been completed, the death toll and destruction will result in a world that is unrecognizable to us. There will not only be disasters and world wars but also the upheaval that comes when the worst kinds of natural disasters occur.
Daniel saw these end-time events in the context of what was taking place during the days of the Babylonian Empire. The Babylonian Empire was led by the great king Nebuchadnezzar, who also had many similarities to the coming Antichrist. The Lord showed Daniel the connection of Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom to five other kingdoms that would follow in Daniel 2:31-35. To understand what is yet to come and become empowered to more perfectly discern the last days, we must understand the geopolitical and religious influences connected with Babylon and the three kingdoms that immediately followed it—Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. These kingdoms give us the ability to better understand where the Antichrist comes from and what his kingdom will look like.
When the apostle John spoke of these past kingdoms, he also included Egypt and Assyria. In the book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ he described the seventh kingdom as the one that is yet to come; it would oppress Israel like the kingdoms that preceded it. He said, “And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space” (Revelation 17:10). In this passage of Scripture, John did not begin with Babylon as Daniel did. John included all the nations that played a key role in the persecution of God’s people and that also shared a common religious and governmental design. In all the symbolism used by both Daniel and John, the connections of these kingdoms are emphasized.
God has unveiled in His Word the spiritual powers that exist behind the kingdoms of the earth. The spiritual wickedness behind the kingdoms of the past exists even unto this day. Satan is the prince of the power of the air, the god of this world. The things God allows him to do in response to the choices of men will one day be unrestrained. The satanic influence behind the kingdoms of the past and the wickedness incorporated into the political and sociological structure of nations will not be destroyed until Jesus comes and sets up His kingdom. The evil and sinister power that has ruled since the days of Adam’s transgression drove the world to a state of madness in the days of Noah. After the people of Noah’s time were destroyed, the same rebellion and iniquity emerged again through a man named Nimrod. Yet in the future things will become dramatically worse. However, the influence of the Devil and his angels and that of all rebellious men will come to an end for one thousand years when Jesus Christ, the living God, sets up His kingdom upon the earth.2
One of the mistakes each generation has made has been trying to fit prophecy into current events. The things described by the Old Testament prophets or by Jesus and His apostles should only be understood on the basis of what they actually said and in the context of their description. God has given us the ability through His Word to discern the last days, so that those events do not come upon us as a thief.3 Today, with the reemerging threat of Muhammadanism, which is also called Islam, we watch as past mistakes are being repeated. In every generation the greatest threat to the Western world is labeled by some as the Antichrist. Attempting to make Scripture fit into current events only distorts what it is saying. Scriptures must be understood in the most literal way possible, based upon the history from which they emerge and the future which they foretell. Muhammadanism cannot fulfill the prophecies about the rise of the seventh and eighth kingdoms any more than Antiochus IV Epiphanes, Nero, Titus, Napoleon, Mussolini, Hitler, or a host of others could, even though it is certain that there were shades of the Antichrist in all of these tyrants because they served the same master, Satan.
The world during the days of the seventh and eighth kingdoms will look very different from our current world. Even though the industrialized empires of the world believe they will continue to advance even unto the stars, everything is going to come crashing down. When we clearly understand the end point described in prophecy, all we need to do is interpolate and we can understand where we are today and what must happen between now and the time when Christ Jesus comes. We know that, as the last days approach, the cataclysmic events that Jesus described will continue to take place but with greater frequency, just as a woman has contractions that come closer and closer together before she delivers her child.
Imagine what the world will be like just on the basis of what Ezekiel said concerning the last days. He described a primitive world in which primitive weapons will be used at Armageddon. He further emphasized the nature of these weapons by saying they “shall set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the hand staves, and the spears, and they shall burn them with fire seven years: so that they shall not take wood out of the field, neither cut down any out of the forests; for they shall burn the weapons with fire” (Ezekiel 39:9-10).
Things are about to change. No one can tell us exactly when, but we can be certain that the industrialized nations of the earth will eventually come to a screeching halt. The machinery and infrastructure upon which we have become so dependent will cease to exist. Instead of seeing further advances of science and technology, we will find ourselves living like those who lived before all the modern breakthroughs came into existence.
The sorceries, witchcraft, and demon worship related to the kingdoms of the past will revive in modern society beyond what is already happening now. Another goal of this book is to reveal that the interaction with sin and worldliness is an interaction with the demonic realm, and this interaction will only intensify until wickedness cannot get any worse. The things that have become widespread within the New Age community will develop into deeper and darker interactions with fallen angels and demonic spirits. The idolatry of the past will take on a new form, and as it was in the days of Noah, men will become increasingly wicked. As we approach the last days before the tribulation, even the church will fall further and further away from God and His ways.
The practices of Nimrod, who can be considered both the first Babylonian and the first Assyrian, will arise again on the earth as mankind returns full circle. Nimrod was the first one in the Bible to fit the description of the Antichrist. When he led his rebellion against God, he hunted the people of the earth and gathered them into one place. Nimrod was not building a simple tower, as we learned in Sunday school, but rather he was building an access to greater powers through interacting with the satanic realm. If he were only building a tower up into heaven, the builders would have run out of oxygen at a certain elevation. But what they were doing had to be stopped because “nothing [would] be restrained from them” (Genesis 11:6). To this day there remains a token of those dark days at Mount Nemrut, believed to be the burial place of Antiochus I. The statues on the mountain are but a heap of rubble today, yet they still serve as a reminder of the gods that were worshiped and established by Nimrod. These gods, who became the cohorts of men, were nothing less than demons and angels of darkness.
When we consider the final kingdoms of the world, the seventh and eighth kingdoms, we can begin to get a glimpse of how evil things will become. When Daniel was describing the Empire of the Ten Kings (from whence the seventh and eighth kingdoms will arise), he likened the kings to ten toes, part clay and part iron. Daniel’s description of the mixture says, “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” (Daniel 2:43). When we consider that Satan will be cast down out of heaven to the earth, which is another way of saying that he will be cast out of the unseen realm into the visible realm, we can further appreciate the enormity of the manifestation of the Luciferian cult.
Satan has wanted to be worshiped from the time he rebelled against God. Through his craft and deceit, he was able to lead a host of the mighty angels of God in his revolt. Since the day Satan overthrew Adam and turned his heart against the Lord God, he has made one attempt after another to completely take over all mankind. Through his influence Satan so turned the hearts of men against God that they had become entirely wicked in 1,656 years. Then after the Flood, in the days of Job, Satan was able to boast that all the earth was subjected to him. His rebellion and boldness were so great that he tried to persuade Jesus, the eternal God, to bow and worship at his feet. Yet his rebellion and deceit will be made manifest on a far greater scale in the last days. All restraint will be removed. He will have the power to overcome God’s people, and he will attempt to brand all men as his slaves. He will lead the armies of men along with the Antichrist in a battle against God to try to overthrow God and His saints once more.
How can we find a reference point in order to better associate the past with the future? We must look to the temple of the Lord, the place where He chose to dwell among His people. A great event will take place in the middle of the last seven years of the last days that establishes an absolute reference point. This event empowers us to properly navigate through end-time prophecy. It is called the abomination of desolation. Jesus spoke of this event in Matthew 24:15 and made it a key to understanding the events of the last days. Jesus said, “‘When you see the “abomination of desolation,” spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place’ (whoever reads, let him understand)” (NKJV). If we are going to understand the end times as they are revealed to us in Revelation, we must look back at what God revealed to Daniel. The abomination of desolation, which is yet in the future, is pivotal to understanding how everything will unfold. The Antichrist will go into God’s temple in Jerusalem, set up his throne in the Holy of Holies, and proclaim himself Almighty God. This is the key event that empowers us to understand how all these end-time prophecies will develop.
God revealed to Daniel the major events that would take place leading up to the time that the Messiah would set up His kingdom on the earth. The Lord made these events known on the basis of seventy weeks or seventy sevens.4 The events are viewed in relationship to how the entire world relates to Israel. Keep in mind that the bringing forth of the Redeemer, for which Israel came into existence, was central to God’s plan since the fall of man. The seventy weeks were broken into three segments of time. The first seven weeks were the time in which the decree to rebuild the temple was given. After that, there was a period of sixty-two weeks during which the temple was completed. At the end of this period, on the last day of the sixty-ninth week, the Messiah was cut off for the sins of the people. This prophecy was fulfilled on the very day Jesus was crucified.
With the death of Jesus at Calvary, sixty-nine of the seventy weeks were completed. There is one more week that is yet to be fulfilled. The final week will bring everything to an end and result in the coming of our Lord Jesus to set up His kingdom on the earth. This last week is laid out for us by Daniel and is the primary focus of Revelation. We are, of course, living in the time period between the sixty-ninth and seventieth weeks, and both humanity and world events are being shaped in preparation for the world’s most terrifying episode, the seventieth week, also known as the tribulation.
God most certainly rules in the kingdoms of men and is the One who has established the calendar for all these events. The name of Jesus Christ has been exalted above all principalities and powers, and He is absolutely in control of everything. Satan cannot do whatever he wants because God has set boundaries for him. These boundaries hold him back from the deception and destruction that he would unleash on mankind if he could. However, when men set themselves against God so that they lose any willingness to submit to God, Satan may have his way with them. When the restraint God has placed upon iniquity is removed, men who submit to Satan will become so desperately wicked that their sin and iniquity cannot get any worse. In that state the grapes of wrath will become fully ripe: “Thrust in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for her grapes are fully ripe” (Revelation 14:18, NKJV). In part God has allowed sin to continue so that all creation might witness its end. The smallest amount of sin that began with Adam will result in man wanting to do away with God altogether.
The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against His anointed, saying, “Let us tear off their bonds and cast away their ropes from us” (Psalms 2:2-3, MEV).
The certainty of the events of the last days and how things will develop and then come to an end with the return of the Messiah, Christ Jesus, is unveiled through the book of Daniel. Through Daniel’s faithfulness to seek God, the key events of the last days were laid out in chronological order in the context of the kingdoms and empires that have ruled the world. Daniel may be regarded as an Old Testament near equivalent to Revelation. Daniel supplies the outline of the last days, and Revelation fills in the details.
| 1. Revelation 14:6-11 2. Revelation 20:3-6 3. 1 Thessalonians 5:4 4. Daniel 9:24-27 |
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