End Time Insights

Only God’s kingdom will prevail and endure. All other political powers and regimes are fleeting. Already they are passing away . Despite human pretensions, History demonstrates  without exception  the impermanence of political power, human ideologies, and governments. Rome endured for a thousand years, but that Empire fell all the same. Like human life, political power is impermanent, and regimes and even the greatest empires collapse unexpectedly and often quickly when their allotted time expires. Only the “ Kingdom of God ” will endure forever.

Babylon is a biblical symbol of the recurring rise of empires and self-appointed world leaders, and it continues to live and thrive today . There is a larger story behind the visions of the Book of Daniel than meets the eye, which remains relevant today. Daniel focuses on an empire that intends to rule that part of the world. It has done so since the dawn of human history. Not only was ancient Babel alive and well at the time of Daniel, but it is rising again on the world scene.

Only Daniel could reveal and interpret the Nebuchadnezzar’s troubling dream, thereby unveiling the future of empires and God’s Kingdom . The second and third chapters of the Book of Daniel present a single story told in two parts. First, the Babylonian ruler, Nebuchadnezzar, dreams of an enormous image composed of several materials, which Daniel then interprets. In the process, the Prophet demonstrates the sovereignty of God over History. Second, in Chapter 3, Nebuchadnezzar attempts to implement his dream in his own way by erecting a great golden image on the “ Plain of Dura .”

In the Book of Revelation , humanity is divided into two and only two camps – those who follow the “ Lamb wherever he goes ,” and those who give their allegiance to the “ Beast from the Sea .” Members of the former group will not participate in the “ Second Death ,” but everyone without exception who takes the Beast’s “ Mark ” or “ Number ” will be cast into the “ Lake of Fire .” THERE IS NO THIRD OPTION , no place of neutrality.

Imperial arrogance and idolatry are the legacies of the Tower of Babel, humanity’s first but not last attempt to build a world empire . Human history is dominated by tyrants and empires determined to subjugate nations and populations.  This plan has been underway since time immemorial. It will reach its climax shortly before Christ’s return when Satan gathers his earthly forces in his final attempt to annihilate the saints of God. It will be the final act of the war between the  World Empire  and the Kingdom of God.

The King invested great effort to make his dream into reality. First, he “set up” an enormous image covered in gold to represent his majesty and the irresistible power of the Empire. Then, he commanded all the “peoples and nations and tongues” of his realm to pay homage to his image or face a horrific and certain death in the “burning fiery furnace.”

The Beast of Revelation embodies the ancient imperial power that has stalked the saints since the Tower of Babel incident . History is littered with the remains of past attempts by tyrants and empires to dominate peoples and territories. Each new imperial power may experience initial success. However, all past empires have floundered, declined, and collapsed in the end. The Babylonian kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar and Caesar’s imperial realm, for example, ceased to exist thousands of years ago .

The Second Beast or Fale Prophet employs economic sanctions to coerce men, so they swear allegiance to the Beast from the Sea . The “ False Prophet ” uses economic power against anyone who refuses to render homage to the World Empire , and the “ Mark of the Beast ” is his test of loyalty to determine who worships the Beast’s image and who does not. The ability to impose monetary penalties on nations, communities, and individuals is key to the imperial power of the First Beast.

Only Daniel could reveal the troubling dream of the Babylonian King, unveiling the future of empires and the final kingdom.  The second and third chapters of the  Book of Daniel  present a single story told in two parts. First, the Babylonian ruler, Nebuchadnezzar, dreams of an enormous image composed of several materials, which Daniel then interprets, thereby demonstrating the sovereignty of God over History. Second, Nebuchadnezzar attempts to implement his dream in his own way by erecting a great golden image in the “ Plain of Dura .”

The arrogant acts of Nebuchadnezzar in the Book of Daniel parallel the incident at the Tower of Babel in Genesis .  The  Book of Daniel  begins by referring to the Babylon of Daniel’s day as the “ Land of Shinar ,” a verbal link to the story of the Tower of Babel in  Genesis  and the founding of the city of Babel that centuries later became the capital of the Neo-Babylonian Empire. That incident is echoed again in the third chapter of the Book when Nebuchadnezzar gathered all the nations and peoples of his realm to pay homage to the great golden image that he had “ set up ” on the Mesopotamian plain.

End-Time “ Babylon ” sits on the same beastly entity that John saw “ ascending from the Sea ” in Chapter 13, but it combines the four “ Beasts ” of  Daniel  into one final malignant creature bent on destroying the saints. In Chapter 17, its “lineage” and inevitable destruction are described with language from Daniel’s vision of the “ Little Horn ” and the “ Fourth Beast .”

After the overthrow of the Babylonian kingdom, the new ruler appointed Daniel as his chief officer over the other civil servants of the city. This caused resentment among the other officials, so a conspiracy was hatched to destroy by trapping Daniel with his own words, even ensnaring the unwitting king in the plot.

The events recorded in the fifth chapter occurred on the eve of the city’s conquest by the “ Medes and Persians .” That night, the king hosted a feast “ for a thousand of his lords ” who “ tasted wine ” from the vessels looted from the Jerusalem Temple by Nebuchadnezzar, all while praising the false gods of the empire.

Nebuchadnezzar implemented his dream by “setting up” the great golden image as he imagined it to glorify his majesty and realm  - Daniel 3:1-7.  The King invested great effort to make  his dream into reality. First, he “ set up ” an enormous image covered in gold to represent his majesty and the irresistible power of the Empire. Then, he commanded all the “ peoples and nations and tongues ” of his realm to pay homage to his image or face a horrific and certain death in the “ burning fiery furnace .”