The Prophecies of Daniel - Part 4
The image in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream included four empires that have ruled the world since Nebuchadnezzar’s time.
But there were two world empires *before *Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylonian empire which were not included in this image: the empires of Egypt and Assyria.
Altogether, at the time of Jesus’ return, there will have been six great empires that ruled over the world before the Kingdom of God is established upon earth.
Six is the number of man. God’s perfect number is seven. Six falls short of seven. This again illustrates that man without God always falls short.
“For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.”—Romans 3:23 (NLT)
Satan has always tried to distract people from the things of God and turn our focus to the things of man. Satan has always wanted to put man in the place of God in our world and in our hearts.
“But he turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. **For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.’”—**Matthew 16:23 (ESV)
In the book of Revelation, we see the culmination of all of the empires of man in one unholy trinity of Satan, the Antichrist, and the False Prophet. It is marked by the number 666.
“This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666.“—Revelation 13:18 (ESV)
This verse reads that “it is the number of a man,” but the article “a” is not used in the original language, so it could just be telling us that this is the number of *man. *In other words, this is the ultimate fulfillment of man without God—or man in the place of God. When man is left to himself, without God, this profane beast is what he ultimately becomes.
The Image of the Beast
When the unholy trinity is in power, a statue will be created to honor the Antichrist. This will be the final, ultimate image of idolatry, and it will also signal the complete fulfillment of the image in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream.
We see in Revelation chapter 13 that the False Prophet persuades the people of earth to make an image of the Antichrist. Through the powers of evil, breath is given to the image that allows it to speak.
“And because of the signs (miracles) which he is allowed to perform in the presence of the [first] beast, he deceives those who inhabit the earth, commanding them to erect a statue (an image) in the likeness of the beast who was wounded by the [small] sword and still lived.
“And he is permitted [also] to impart the breath of life into the beast’s image, so that the statue of the beast could actually talk and cause to be put to death those who would not bow down and worship the image of the beast.”—Revelation 13:14-15 (AMPC)
This image of the Antichrist becomes the ultimate idol. It is the culmination of all the idol worship that has taken place through the centuries. It is the ultimate fulfillment of the image in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. This is the image to end all images, and it places man squarely in the place of God as the ultimate object of worship.
And, just as in Nebuchadnezzar’s time, anyone who refuses to bow down and worship the image may be put to death. (See Daniel chapter 3.)
The Antichrist’s reign during the Great Tribulation period brings Nebuchadnezzar’s dream to full maturity. The Antichrist completes the feet and the toes of the image. In Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, the final ten kings are represented by the ten toes of the statue. Daniel sees these ten kings again in his night vision of the four beasts in chapter 7. In Daniel’s night vision, these ten kings are represented by ten horns. In Revelation 13, the final ten kings are again represented by ten horns.
“Then I stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name.”—Revelation 13:1 (AMP)
An angel explained to John what these ten horns represent:
“The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority for one hour as kings with the beast. These are of one mind, and they will give their power and authority to the beast. These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful.”—Revelation 17:12-14 (NKJV)
We could speculate about who these ten kings might be and which countries they might represent, but most likely our guesses would be wrong because the angel made it clear to John that none of these kings are in power yet. They will only receive their authority in order to support the Antichrist, and we know that the Antichrist will not be in place as a governmental power until the Great Tribulation period.
