This is a bold statement indeed. Over the coming posts I will show why I believe that the Anti Christ will rise out of America, and who I believe meets enough of the requirements to be the Anti Christ spoken of in revelation's end time prophecies (though it may seem obvious). We will begin with...
The statue in Nebuchadnezzar's dream, as it was interpreted by Daniel.
The statue in Nebuchadnezzar's dream, as it was interpreted by Daniel.
“Its head was composed of gold, its chest and arms of silver, its stomach and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, and its feet of a mix of iron and clay (Dan 2:31-33).”
This is the statue as interpreted by Daniel. Most of it has been figured out on a consensus amongst scholars, but the final piece is missing or is at least up to debate.
First the Head of Gold is a reference to Babylon. The scripture is clear that this is Nebuchadnezzar himself, and by extension the Kingdom of Babylon.
The Chest and Arms of silver contain two distinct, but related parts. These are a reference to Media and Persia. Cyrus the Great of Persia defeated the Babylonians, and that initiated the next "Beast" or "Ant-Christ" kingdom. I will take this opportunity to note that anti-christ is a reference to anyone who opposes Christ, or the Christian view. The Bible does explicitly direct attention to the final Beast, which is what is referred to as "The Anti-Christ," however others in history before would have had the same satanic influence and were therefore "Beast" kingdoms.
The third beast kingdom was the kingdom of Greece, and Alexander the Great, the stomach of bronze. Alexander was the one who conquered the far reaching Persia.
The legs of iron are the fourth beast empire, and they represent the mighty Rome, the victors over their predecessors, the Greeks.
The final Beast kingdom is the feet mixed of Iron and Clay. To follow the successive lines of defeat to issue in the coming of the next kingdom, we find that Germanic tribes brought Rome to its feet, meaning the next beast kingdom would rise from Germany. We see this happen with Hitler's rise to power with the Third Reich. Of course it was the United States of America that would be the one's to enter the Great War and finally topple the German globe conquering ambitions.
I do not completely agree with this however, as the feet of Iron and Clay show a cooperation between the two final beasts. While other theories present the cooperation between the States and Germany through past influences of Eugenics, and purging of impure genetics I do not find this to be enough evidence and does seem to be stretching things a bit too much for the benefits of the argument. Though I have no reason to completely dismiss this, I will provide an alternative view. This is where I would like to introduce the fact that the end times are marked by the rise of TWO beasts, not just one.
The Beast from the Sea
1 And he stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast
coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and
upon his horns were ten crowns, and upon his heads were names
of blasphemy. 2And the beast which I saw was like a leopard, and
his feet were like those of a bear, and his mouth was like the mouth
of a lion. And the dragon gave him his power and his throne and
great authority. 3And one of his heads was as slain unto death, and
his mortal wound was healed. And the whole earth marveled after
the beast, 4 and worshiped the dragon, because he gave authorityto the
beast, and worshiped the beast saying, “Who is like the beast,
and who is able to wage war with him?”
5 and it was given to him a mouth to speak great things and
blasphemies, and it was given to him to exercise authority for
forty-two months. 6And he opened his mouth in blasphemies
against God, to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle, namely,
those who dwell in heaven. 7And it was given to him to make war
with the saints and to overcome them, and authority over every
tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him. 8And
all those who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names
are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world.
This beast in Revelations is comprised of the first four kingdoms referred to way back in Daniel, both in the statue, and four literal beasts shown to Daniel. Some explanations pulled from here.
"The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings; I beheld till its wings 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" (Dan. 7:4)"
Nebuchadnezzar is referred to as a Lion in Jeremiah 4:7, as well as references to eagles wings.
"And behold, another beast, a second like a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between its teeth; and they said unto it, Arise, devour much flesh" (Dan. 7:5)
This second beast, the bear, is the reference to the Medo-Persia empire, and the arms and chest of silver in the statue. We saw that the arms and chest were Media and Persia, but the now bear is carrying three ribs. Babylon (539 B.C) Lydia (546 B.C) fell to Cyrus, and Egypt was acquired by Cam (525 B.C). These three nations captured by Media-Persia, are the three ribs captured by the Bear.
"After this I beheld, and, lo, another, like a leopard, which had upon its back four wings of a fowl; the beast had also FOUR HEADS, and dominion was given to it" (Dan. 7:6)
The third beast is the four headed leopard with 4 wings. Following their victory over the Persians at Salamis, the union of Greek states was headed by FOUR different states in succession, namely Athens (477-404 B.C.), Sparta (404-376), Thebes (371-362) and finally Macedonia after 360 B.C. Alexander the Great died in 323 B.C. at the age of 33, his four generals, CASSANDER (Macedonia), LYSIMACHUS (Thrace), SELEUCHUS NICATOR (Syria) and PTOLEMY (Egypt) took over the empire and divided it into four parts. "The first king ... being broken ... four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation" (Dan. 8:21-22). This is amazing. In 553 B.C. Daniel predicted that over two hundred years later the Greek Empire would be divided into four sections. But it gets even more amazing. Greece had conquered the world in only 13 years, hence the wings of swiftness on a swift leopard. It should also be noted, that Alexander the Great rode his horse with a saddle made from leopard skin.
"A fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly ... had great iron teeth (cp. "legs of iron" -- Dan. 2:33); it devoured and broke in pieces, and stamped the residue with its feet; and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it, and it had TEN HORNS" (Dan. 7:7). Revelation 12:3 defines this beast as a "great RED DRAGON ... having TEN HORNS."
This beast is Rome, and reference to the legs of Iron on the statue.Its IRON teeth and BRONZE nails (Dan.7:19) indicate that it occupied both Roman and Greek territory. The Roman legions marched under the red dragon standard and may have appeared like a long red snake as they marched off to war in long, winding columns. By 46 B.C. Julius Caesar ruled the Roman world. Rome was in fact the fourth empire and it was also the DRAGON which tried to devour Mary's "(Christ) child" (12:4). first using Herod in the reign of Augustus Caesar and second using Pilate in the reign of Tiberius. The empire was divided into two parts in 292 A.D. by Diocletian with Rome and Constantinople as the two capitals. In 476 A.D., the barbarian tribes who had settled in Italy revolted under their leader Odoacer and forced the last Roman Emperor to abdicate.
The beast from the sea in Revelations, maintaining all the qualities of the four earlier beasts will receive power to rule.
Revelation of Jesus Christ 13:2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as [the feet] of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority
.
This beast is non other than the Anti Christ. Just as the first four beasts referred to the previous 4 beast empires, (head, arms/chest, waist, legs), this beast is the feet of Iron mixed with clay, with ten toes. The significance of the clay and iron together will come later, but for now recognize that the clay is this beast from the sea and the other is the Beast from the Earth. The sea represents the people, multitudes of languages and nations. It is power given unto the beast but not by his own doing. This is a democratically elected power, albeit through deception. This is a crucial piece in the puzzle for recognizing the beast will rise from the Americas. The bible states that "The whole world is lying in the power of the wicked one." And the Bible identifies him, saying: "The one called Devil and Satan . . . is misleading the entire inhabited earth."—1 John 5:19; Revelation 12:9. If you refer back to the original quote I have placed at the start of the Beast of the Sea section, it claims very clearly that the dragon gave it great authority, and his throne. As Satan is the ruler of the Earth, for all intents and purposes, he is the one giving the Anti Christ his power. Satan is often referred to as the dragon. Notice it says, the dragon, "that ancient serpent" an obvious allusion to the serpent back in the Garden of Eden that deceived Eve to eat the forbidden fruit, as he was non other than the Devil. We will return to the significance of the ten horns that offer power to the beast in a later entry.
Next entry.. The Beast out of the Earth
