From A Briefer History of Time, one may realize that the visions of Daniel and Revelation are a bit complicated for their nature as films in motion of the future, seen in present tense, written in the past in past tense, and written in part in future tense and part in present tense. For example where it says, that “a white robe was given to each of them” (Rev. 6:11; emphasis added); and as it says in this other place, that some others “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” (17:14; emphasis added).

       Yet the complicated parts and phrases clarify themselves as we move along in time and the future becomes the present.

       It is as if John and Daniel traveled into the future, filmed it, and then took it back into the past as recorded DVD’s for people to view.

       Picture the Bible for instance. Revelation is located at the end of the Second or New Testament (The Oxford Illustrated History of the Bible, 2001, says that the book of Daniel could properly have been placed at the end of the Old Testament). As we read or scroll through the Second Testament, we go from the Gospels, through Acts and the Epistles, and finally we get to Revelation. But, trying to read part of the book of Revelation in the present naturally makes for complicated reading. We know that it is located at the end of the Bible. We can flip pages and get there at any time. But, although reading it in the present helps in preparing for the future, some of it remains unclear as it pertains to a time yet to come.

       However, once the future becomes the present, at any given part of the book of Revelation and at any given century (such as the 1260 year prophecy of Rev. 12:14 or the last ten kings of Rev. 17:12), Revelation clarifies itself and its symbols, phrases, and events become obvious to the reader.

       Time is also like a treadmill, the thin layer that scrolls under our feet being the calendar. As we walk along, we go over October, November, December…and through 2006, 2007, 2008…; each year in the future turning into the present and then the past. The faster we go the faster time goes.

       It seems that time is closely related to motion. Time on earth for example goes faster than time in space because of our planet’s spinning motion. And time would go faster for people engaged in a basketball game than for people watching it on TV. And well, it had already been prophesied that the last days would be shortened (Matthew 24:22), perhaps even in more ways than just running busier lives.

       As we know, a day represents a year in prophetic language (Ezekiel 4:6). This perhaps indicating that time goes much faster in heaven than on earth. Notice the spinning wheels in Ezekiel 1:16 of a wheel within a wheel (see also Daniel 7:9 and Ezekiel 10:1, 2). As the whole universe may possibly be in some rotating fashion (or movement according to A Briefer History of Time), the throne of God may be at the center of the universe and the nucleus of a universe in motion that never ages, because of the river and tree of life that are found within it (Rev. 22:1, 2).

       In regards to Jesus’ second coming, we know that at some point in time, we will see the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who in one day will appear on the clouds within our atmospheric layer (Matthew 24:30; suddenly, Rev. 16:15; Luke 21:35). As our globe spins from east to west, the righteous in the east will be gathered unto Him on the clouds followed by the righteous in the west, fulfilling His Word which says: “[f]or as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be” (Matthew 24:27).

       According to Matthew 24:29 the stars will fall from the sky. And according to Revelation 6:13, 14 the sky will roll up as a scroll; every mountain and island will move out of its place; and our Lord will be appearing in the sky (Matt. 24:30; Rev. 6:16). In trying to picture how John saw this, one may figure that if a person were standing outdoors at night, and suddenly our planet was put on fast-forward, the stars would appear to fall from the sky (picture a space-craft from Star Wars put on turbo charge); and as the clouds roll back, the sky would appear to roll back as a scroll. If he were shown seconds later a film-cut of various mountains, he would see them as stretching or moving backwards -as a picture of a moving vehicle with its lights on at night.

       Lastly, picture our Lord Jesus Christ reaping the fruit of the vine while sitting on a throne on the clouds (Rev. 14:14-16). We would have received the latter rain of the Holy Spirit, so that by the time of His second coming, the fruit of His work will be ripe for the reaping (James 5:7). Fascinating! It will be just as He said it will be. His words are incredibly real and true! And therefore we thank God for His Holy Bible, His Holy Word, Words of life and truth, further clarified through Stephen Hawking’s A Briefer History of Time.

Leonard Lugo, November 2006

The head of gold represents Babylon, the breast and arms of silver represent Medo-Persia, the belly and thighs of brass represent Greece, and the iron legs represent the Eastern and Western Roman Empire (Daniel 2:32, 33, 28, 37, 38; 7:1; 8:1-25);

The feet represent the period of the time of the end (Daniel 2:33, 34, 41-44; Hebrews 1:1, 2);[†]

The Rock that destroys the statute is Christ (Daniel 2:34, 44; Psalms 118:22; Romans 9:33; Ephesians 2:20; Matthew 21:42, 44);

Christ the Rock is stronger than iron and more precious than gold (Daniel 2:32-34, 44);

The mountain that swells up covering the earth (Daniel 2:35, 44) is Christianity,[‡] the spiritual kingdom of heaven that Jesus preached of, which will be known across the world by the time He returns (Matthew 4:17; 24:14);

Christ’s first coming takes place between the time of the iron legs and the time of the feet of iron and clay (Luke 2:1, 11, 21);

Christ’s second coming takes place at the time of the toes (Daniel 2:42-44);

The toes represent the ten kings, leaders or presidents, which along with the Roman beast represented by the iron legs, war against the Lord and are destroyed at His second coming (Daniel 2:42-44; Revelation 17:12-14);

Daniel 2 is a hologram, a frame with three pictures, each one viewed at a different angle: the first being Christ’s first coming; the second His second coming; and the third His third coming;

The picture viewed at the third angle would be when Christ returns to the world with the New Jerusalem and the faithful after the millennium spent in heaven. And at that time, the physical kingdom of heaven will cover the earth (see cross-reference notes along with Matthew 24:27, 30, 31; Revelation 20:1-6; 21:2; 20:7-9).

The problems with the interpretation are the following:

Christ the Rock is seen coming to earth once;

The mountain that covers the earth covers it once;

Christ the Rock is not seen bouncing from earth back to heaven;

The Rock hits the feet, not the iron legs, although Christ’s first coming was at the time of the pagan Roman Empire represented by the iron legs; and  

There are no gaps in the vision.

Yet, picture a Jew living in the time of the First Testament. For him or her, the Rock of Daniel 2 would represent the coming of the Messiah. When Christ comes and this same Jew is converted becoming a Christian Jew, he or she would see Jesus as the Messiah and the fulfillment of Daniel 2.

However, after hearing Christ mention that He will be returning again, this Christian Jew would review the dream of Daniel 2 and realize it to be a prophecy concerning Christ’s second coming.

In other words, a Jew living in the time of the First Testament would have drawn one interpretation of Daniel 2, that of a prophecy pointing to the first coming of the Messiah; while a Christian Jew living in the time of the Second Testament interprets it as pointing to Christ’s second coming.

Yet, when looking at the bigger picture, through the benefits of the First and Second Testaments and their cross-reference notes, one may see Daniel 2 pointing to both, Christ’s first and second comings.

Lastly, the third picture angle of Daniel 2 would be that of Christ’s third coming, this time with the faithful and the New Jerusalem after the millennium spent in heaven.

Leonard Lugo, November 2006

[†] Fee, Gordon D., and Douglas Stuart. How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2003.

[‡] Ibid.

       From thereon forward, we find the Scriptures in the form of sections, motion film cuts, parts, or snapshots: one of heaven, followed by one of earth. Some of the sections regarding the end, work as foreshadowing devices or infomercials of how it is all going to end: one type are like snapshots of hope for the righteous in the midst of chaos, and a second type are as warnings of damnation for those that refuse to believe and convert. And some parts -sets of verses- review the past, others inform of the present, and other parts of the future. If one pictures a building with two floors, and a number of units across the two floors, the units on the second floor would represent the snapshots of events that go on in heaven, and the units on the first floor would represent the snapshots of events that take place on earth, with some parts taking place virtually simultaneously (cf. C. Mervyn Maxwell’s God Cares, Vol. II, 1985, pp. 54-62).

       The book of Revelation is also like an abstract piece of art, in parts comparable to a Matisse in collage form -due to parts given in slab form- such as the section on the seven seals (cf. Donald Barthelme’s “At the End of the Mechanical Age,” Sixty Stories, c1982), and in parts comparable to a Picasso, in being multidimensional and interconnected with a sense of motion; it is like looking at a picture of multiple freeways from above, in a flat kind of way, as in a Matisse, and looking at it from the side, and noticing its multiple levels, as in a Picasso piece of work.

Leonard Lugo, August 2010

Timeline of kingdom periods as given in Daniel 2, 9, 8, 7, 11 and 12

1. The 70 year captivity period of the Jewish people, went from 527 to 457 B.C., going from the Babylonian period to the Medo-Persian period (Daniel 2; 9:2; 1:1-3; Ezra 7:7; see “What Astonished Daniel about the 2300 Year Time Period” below).

2. The 70 week or 490 year period for Jews and Jerusalem, went from 457 B.C. to A.D. 34, going from the Medo-Persian period to the Roman period (Daniel 2; 9:24; Ezra 7:7; Daniel 9:25-27; 8:20-25; Luke 23; 24; Acts 7; see “What Astonished Daniel about the 2300 Year Time Period” below).

3. The 2300 year period during which Judea’s temple and sin offerings are no longer valid, began on A.D. 31, and goes through the Roman period, stretching to the time of Jesus’ second coming (Daniel 2:33; 9:26, 27; 8:20-25, 9-14; Luke 21:20, 22, 24; Zechariah 6:12, 13; John 2:19-21; Mark 14:58; Luke 23; 24; Hebrews 9; Daniel 7:8-14; 12; 2:34; see “What Astonished Daniel about the 2300 Year Time Period” below).

4. The 1260 year period during which Christians or spiritual Jews were persecuted, went from A.D. 554 to 1814 (Daniel 2:33; 7:8, 24, 25; 11:33-35; see “The 1260 Year Time Period of Daniel and Revelation” below).

Leonard Lugo, September 2007

       In chapter 2, Daniel is shown a time-table with five time periods represented by a statue and a rock. Each time period is covered by a different kingdom. The statue represents four earthly kingdoms that follow each other in consecutive order and the rock represents the kingdom of heaven. At the end of the world, the kingdom of heaven^[4] destroys the kingdoms of the earth. Babylon is named as the first kingdom, and heaven’s kingdom as the last and everlasting kingdom. 

       In chapter 7, Daniel is shown a second version of the same timetable given in chapter 2, informing that after the fourth kingdom is judged and destroyed by the Lord, that the saints will inherit the kingdom of heaven. With the exception of the kingdom of heaven, the timetable is given in the form of beasts, each representing different time periods.^[5]

       In chapter 8, Daniel is shown a third version of the same timetable that was given in chapter 2 (with the exception of the first kingdom since it now lies in the past), in which the fourth kingdom kills the Messiah and destroys Jerusalem along with its temple, causing the start of the 2300 year period (see Appendix A) during which time Jerusalem remains deserted^[6] of the sanctifying presence of the Spirit of God in regards to non-Christian Jews, at the end of which period the sanctuary is cleansed.^[7] Here Medo-Persia and Greece are named as the second and third kingdoms. The fourth kingdom is represented by a horn, which history points to as that of the Roman kingdom, that according to Daniel 2:33, 34 continues until the very end, through both its pagan and Christian periods;^[8] and the fifth kingdom, the kingdom of heaven, is alluded to as the one which destroys the horn “without human means” (Daniel 8:25).  

       Daniel is so shocked by the 2300 year period during which Jerusalem will remain deserted, that he faints and is sick for days (Daniel 8: 27, 26, 9-14).^[9] The dream of chapter 2 and the vision of chapter 7 had four kingdom periods each, followed by God’s everlasting kingdom. But this vision of chapter 8 includes a time period of 2300 years, within the Roman period, involving Jerusalem and its temple, during which Jerusalem will be found deserted. Daniel realizes that God is speaking to him through this chapter 8 vision, similar to the way in which God spoke to Nebuchadnezzar through the dream given in chapter 2. 

       Daniel sees that God has determined time periods for a set of four empire kingdoms. But the fourth period involving Jerusalem doesn’t look good for Jews; in fact, they don’t seem to be in the picture at all, since the fourth period kingdom destroys their country and leaves it deserted for 2300 years (Daniel 8:9-14). “What is God telling us through this time period during which Jerusalem will remain desolate for 2300 years? Will we no longer be favored? Are we to fade away in captivity as did our northern Israeli kingdom when taken over by the Assyrians? (2 Kings 17). Are we being deleted in the future?” Daniel wonders to himself.^[10]

       Daniel reviews Jeremiah’s prophecy to know how long their country is to be deserted while they are up in captivity, and understands that they’re to be away for 70 years (Daniel 9:1, 2). “But, will we be rolling into a 2300 year captivity period from the 70 year captivity period in which we’re in?” He fears the worst, and nervously goes into an all-out fast, falling on his knees, asking God for forgiveness and for mercy, that they may return home as soon as possible, rebuild God’s temple, and serve Him in Judea (Daniel 9:3-19).

       At this moment of Daniel’s prayer and supplications, an angel is sent over to explain the larger picture to him (Daniel 9:20-23),^[11] which is that at the end of their present 70 year captivity period, 70 weeks (or 490 years; Davies 568) have been determined (see Appendix B), for his people from earth’s general history-long timetable, during which time God’s temple will be rebuilt, and the Messiah will arrive to reconcile them with their God but, Who will be killed by the fourth kingdom which, will leave their temple and nation in ruins due to the sins of his people, causing at such time the start of the 2300 year period (Daniel 9:24-27; 8:9-14, 23-26),^[12] during which “Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled” (Luke 21:24).^[13]

       At this point, Daniel understands that at the end of their 70 year captivity period, that a previously unrevealed 70 week (or 490 year) period has been set aside for them, at the end of which, the 2300 year period will begin. Daniel catches his breath, as he realizes that at least they won’t be rolling over into a 2300 year captivity period, from their present 70 year captivity period, but that they will be having a 490 year break in between periods, to consecrate themselves to the Lord, rebuild the temple, and prepare for the coming of the Messiah, Who will reconcile with God, those He finds spiritually ready for Him at His coming.  

       “But, how could the Messiah, our coming Prince and Savior be killed, the temple destroyed, and Jerusalem be deserted for 2300 years, following the coming of the Messiah? Was not the Messiah to bring in an age of peace and righteousness? And if a second temple will be destroyed, then who will be rebuilding it for the cleansing service at the end of the 2300 year period? No mention was made of a third temple being rebuilt at the end of that period, while the angel did mention that we would rebuild a second temple during the 70 week period. If our people happen to fade away during the 2300 year period, will God be having another people rebuild it, or will that atoning service take place at the heavenly sanctuary?”^[14] Daniel asks himself.

       As Daniel goes over the words of the angel from chapter 9, the following words play back in his mind: “Seventy weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness…Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself…he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week…in the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate…until the consummation which is determined is poured out on the desolate” (Daniel 9:24, 26, 27).

Daniel’s people through the 2300 year time period    

       In time, when more information is revealed to him through chapters 11 and 12, Daniel reviews them along with chapters 9, 8, 7 and 2, and the whole picture begins to fall into place as he begins to see the overall message. Daniel now realizes that some of his people will be found living non-God-centered sinful lives when the Messiah comes, towards the end of the 70 week period (Daniel 9:24, 25). Because of their non-God-centered spiritual lives at the time of the Messiah’s coming, some will not recognize Him, but rather reject Him as they rejected many of God’s prophets before Him, even to the point of requesting His death.^[15] The Messiah will be killed. But interestingly, His death will take the place of the Passover lamb, and of the sin offering as it functions on the day of atonement, resulting in the condemnation of those who reject Him, and in the salvation of those who believe and follow Him.^[16]  Such death however, will be administered through the hand of the kingdom that will be governing Judea at that time -the fourth kingdom power.^[17]

       Those that recognize and follow the Messiah will be reconciled with God at His death, and will continue on through the 2300 year period. But the sins of those who reject Him will fall on their heads, and God will destroy them and their temple through that same fourth kingdom power that will be reigning over them, leaving Jerusalem deserted of God’s sanctifying presence through the 2300 year period.^[18]

       Those that are reconciled to God through the Messiah’s death will survive the destruction of Jerusalem, but their descendants will be persecuted by the same dreadful fourth kingdom beast through a period of 1260 years (Daniel 7:25). These that survive the destruction of Jerusalem will have a close relationship with God, they will be spiritually strong (Daniel 11:32), and will convert many into the Messiah’s spiritual kingdom of heaven, by sharing and spreading His everlasting righteousness.^[19] These “shall fall by sword and flame, by captivity and plundering…to refine them, purify them, and make them white, until the time of the end” (Daniel 11:33, 35).

       The 1260 year period will be running within the 2300 year period, since the persecution of the saints will take place by the hand of and during the time of this fourth kingdom power, until the 1260 year period has run its course (Daniel 7:23-25).^[20] However, not until the end of the 2300 year period, “when he^[21] shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people” (Daniel 12:7, KJV; cf. Luke 21:24; Matthew 24:14),^[22] will the fourth kingdom simultaneously reach its limit of sinfulness,^[23] and “all these things shall be finished” (Daniel 12:7). God will at such time cleanse the heavenly sanctuary with the previously shed, priceless and ever-saving blood of the Messiah, and destroy the fourth kingdom beast on that one last day of judgment.^[24]

Things that may not have caused Daniel to faint and be sick for days 

       In reviewing Daniel’s chapter 8 vision, there are a number of things that are unlikely to have surprised him, for instance, events regarding the Medes, the Persians, the Greeks and the yet unnamed Romans, as similar versions of these events had been shown and explained to him in chapters 2 and 7.

       For Daniel, moreover, the message given through the language of chapter 8 verses 9 through 13, may have been understandable for him as a Jew: on the fourth kingdom horn casting down truth, on the sanctuary being thrown down, on the daily sacrifices being taken away, and on Jerusalem being left desolate, as these events would have been similar to what had taken place in Jerusalem by the Babylonians, prior to the time of his chapter 8 vision.

       In time, the Romans would show up revealing themselves as the fourth kingdom power of Daniel chapters 2, 7 and 8, not only in taking over the known world after the Greeks, but in their leaders considering themselves divine, in crucifying Jesus Christ in AD 31, destroying thereby the spiritual temple of God, in putting an end to the daily sacrifices, in casting truth to the ground, and in leaving their physical temple and holy city destroyed in AD 70.^[25]

       And, Daniel may not have been surprised by the cleansing of the sanctuary itself (8:14), for it would not have been something out of the ordinary for him. Instead, what would have been something out of the ordinary for him, is that for the length of 2300 years, no atonement services would be held, while their physical temple remained destroyed. This length of time with its negative implications for Jews may have surprised him, for no other prophetic period in which they had been oppressed compared to it: neither the 70 year period in which they were presently in (Daniel 9:2), nor their 400 years in Egypt (Genesis 15:13) for instance.

The good news about the 70 week and 2300 year time periods

       The good news for Daniel’s people about the 70 week and the 2300 year periods, is that towards the end of the 70 week period, the Messiah would through His death reconcile with God (Daniel 9:24-27) those that believe (John 6:29), repent,^[26] and confess^[27] that He is the Christ, the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29). And that after the Messiah’s resurrection, that He would intercede for later generations of spiritual Jews (Galatians 3:23-29; Romans 11:23) in the heavenly sanctuary, throughout the following 2300 year period, by virtue of His new covenant terms established through His own blood shed on the cross.^[28] And that for these following generations of spiritual Jews, Jesus Christ would atone at the end of the 2300 year period, and reconcile with the Lord forevermore (Hebrews 9; Daniel 8:14; 7:22).^[29]

Appendix A

The starting point of the 2300 year time period 

       Since Jesus referred to His body as the temple (John 2:19-21), the 2300 year period may have started on the day of His resurrection, when the temple of His body was rebuilt (Mark 14:58). And, since Paul later explained that Jesus Christ is now interceding for us in the heavenly sanctuary as our High Priest (Hebrews 9), we know that His heavenly sanctuary is the one that will be cleansed at the end of the 2300 year period (Daniel 8:14).

       Except that, from the language and order of events given in Daniel 9:26, 27; 8:9-12, the starting point of the 2300 year period seems unclear, as if it may have started on AD 31, when Jesus Christ died and resurrected, or on AD 70, when the Jerusalem temple was destroyed, which is not a problem because it does not contradict Matthew’s record of Christ’s words, Who said that of the day and hour of His second coming no one knows (Matt. 24:36, 42, 44, 50; 25:13), nor other texts which tell us that He will come as a thief (Rev. 3:3; 16:15; I Thess. 5:2; 2 Pet. 3:10) and as a snare (Luke 21:35), words which remain constant, as “His words will by no means pass away” (Matt. 24:35). 

       However, since Jesus took the place of the Passover lamb (Exodus 12:5-13; John 1:29; Rev. 5:5, 6), and of the sin offering (Dan. 8:11; 9:26, 27),[30] Jerusalem’s sacrificial temple services became meaningless at the point of His crucifixion (Matthew 27:50, 51). And since Jesus had applied the validity of the Jerusalem temple to His body before His death (John 2:19-21), the Jerusalem temple itself also became meaningless at the point of His crucifixion. Therefore, the 2300 year period may have started on AD 31, when the temple of His body was destroyed and rebuilt without hands (Daniel 9:26, 27; John 1:29; 2:19-21; Daniel 8:9-14). The death of Jesus as the Lamb of God, is after all, what the whole of the Old Testament pointed to and waited for since the time of Abel’s sacrificial lamb offering, when there had not yet been a temple built until thousands of years later. Althoug knowing the starting point of the 2300 year period gives us the year of our Lord’s coming, it doesn’t give us the day and hour of his second coming, which only God the Father knows (Matthew 24:36). And even though this period seems to end at a point far into the future, it will arrive much sooner than we think (Luke 21:35), when those days or years (Numbers 14:34) during the time of trouble are shortened (Matthew 24:21, 22), accelerating time.

Appendix B

“Determined” as used in Daniel 9:24

       According to Clifford Goldstein, the root word used for determined in Daniel 9:24, is the Hebrew word chatak, which means to cut off; and states that while chatak is found nowhere else in the Bible, that it appears twelve times in the Mishnah (46). So, if chatack is not used as the root word for the word determined elsewhere in the Bible, even though determined is found about 26 times in the NKJV,[31] what would cut off be referring to?

       In view of Daniel chapters 2, 7 and 8, God had determined empire time periods for various countries, while for Jews, God had instead determined a different, yet very special type of time period, at the end of which, they would be cut off as the people of God, should they fail “To finish the transgression, To make an end of sins, To make reconciliation for iniquity,” as the period would “bring in everlasting righteousness…seal up vision and prophecy, And…anoint the Most Holy” (Daniel 9:24; KJV).

       Therefore, being that the 70 week or 490 year time period for Jews and Jerusalem, went from 457 BC to AD 34, from the Medo-Persian period, to the time of the Roman period,^[32] it is great noticing that towards the end of the 70 week time period, that “John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!’” in Matthew 3:1, 2, and saying that “even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire” (Matthew 3:10; emphasis added). And it is interesting noticing that after Jesus was baptized by John the Baptized (Matthew 3:13), that Jesus went out preaching: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15; emphasis added).

       Thereafter, Doug Batchelor explains how it was that Jesus brought the cut off of Daniel 9:24 into closer focus, placed it in perspective, and applied it to His time, when Daniel’s prophecy would be fulfilled (vv. 25-27). First, in giving the parable of the fig tree (Luke 13:6-9) as an illustration of what would happen to those who failed to put forth the fruits of the Spirit, for just as the fig tree was to be cut down if it failed to produce fruits, God’s people would also be cut off if they failed to produce the fruits of the Spirit [cf. John 15:1-8; Galatians 5:22, 23]. Second, in cursing an actual fig tree that failed to provide Him with fruits (Matthew 21:18-20) to further illustrate the point. And third, in applying Daniel’s prophecy to the Pharisees and to people like them who “outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside…are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness” (Matthew 23:28), cursing that generation in verses 34 to 36, and destroying it at near the end of its forty year generation period (Numbers 32:13), in AD 70 (7-9).

Appendix C

1. The King from the West 

       The king from the west is the fourth kingdom beast or Roman Empire, which has continued to the present through the State of the Vatican.^[33] The Roman Empire may be referred to as the kingdom from the west, as it grew out of one of the four horns of the Greek Empire, out of the horn that extended towards the west, since it lies to the west of Greece (Daniel 8:8, 9; cf. 8:4). Daniel 8:8 tells us that after the goat’s main horn had been broken, that from its place “four notable ones came up towards the four winds of heaven”. And from Songs of Solomon 4:16, Psalms 78:26, and Revelation 7:1, we can see that the “four winds of heaven” phrase is the Scripture’s diagram phrase for north, south, east and west.

       When Alexander the Great died, the Greek Empire divided into four kingdoms (Daniel 8:8, 21, 22 and 11:3, 4), each governed by a different general: Lysimachus governed the northern kingdom of Thrace; Seleucus governed the eastern kingdom, which included Syria, Babylon and Persia; Ptolemy governed the southern kingdom of Egypt; and Cassander governed the western kingdom which included Macedonia and most of Greece (Encyclopedia Britannica).

       But “out of one of them came a little horn” (Daniel 8:9). This little horn represents the Roman Empire (Daniel 8:23; 7:7, 8), which “grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the Glorious Land” (Daniel 8:9, 11, 12; 9:26; 11:16, 31), becoming in the process the fourth kingdom of Daniel chapters 2 and 7. Prior to the time of the Roman Empire, Greek colonists had settled in the area that became the city of Rome (Nelson 65), as well as throughout southern Italy. In time the Romans conquered the Italian peninsula, the four Greek kingdoms, including Thrace lying to the east of Rome, and adopted Greek culture, cementing a connection between Greece and Rome.

2. The King of the North

       For “the king of the north” of Daniel chapters 8 and 11, there are at least two different versions for the king or kingdom of the north: one being for the Seleucids, and the other for the Russians. While these versions seem to be in conflict with each other, we will attempt to show how they may both be biblically valid.

       Most Bible commentaries identify the Seleucid kingdom as fitting the Bible’s historical narrative on “the king of the north”. While, Russia on the other hand, undeniably fits the Bible’s geographical location for “the king of the north”. So which of the two may be “the king of the north”? Our solution for deciphering this lies in Daniel 11:40′s key phrase: “[a]t the time of the end”. In light of this phrase, we will show how the Seleucids are likely to have played the role of “the king of the north” across Daniel chapter 11, verses 4 through 15; how the Roman empire beast as the king from the west, is identified and described across verses 16 through 45 via parallel texts from other chapters in the Bible; and why it is likely that at verse 40, the Russians may be playing the part of “the king of the north” at “the time of the end”.

       According to some accounts, the Seleucids fit the historical description of Daniel’s “king of the north” across verses 4 through 15, for the following reasons. First, the Seleucids were one of the four divided kingdoms of the Greeks described in Daniel 11:3, 4; 8:21, 22. Second, the Seleucid period stretched from 312 to approx. 64 BC (Webster’s New World 1291); Alexander the Great had recently died in 323 BC (Ibid. 33). And third, when the four divided kingdoms of the Greeks were reduced to the southern Egyptian kingdom of the Ptolemies, and the eastern kingdom of the Seleucids, which lied north of Judea, the Seleucids appeared as “the king of the north”, for at least a period of time (Davies 568-9), fitting the narrative of Daniel 11, verses 4 through 15.

       Then, in Daniel 11:16, the Roman kingdom is implicitly introduced as the “he”, and thereafter progressively described through its pagan and Christian stages clear up through verse 45. Since there is much debate over who is being referred to and described across these texts, the reader is asked to simply read the following verses, compare them with the verses given in parenthesis next to them, and see whether the Seleucids or the Romans are being described in these verses: Daniel chapter 11 verse 16 (Dan. 8:9), 20 (Luke 2:1-5), 22, 30, 31 (Dan. 8:11, 12; 9:26, 27), 32-35 (Dan. 7:25; 8:24; Rev. 17:6), 36 (Dan. 7:25; Rev. 13:6; 17:5) 37-39 (Dan. 8:25; Rev. 13:6, 16-18; 17:12, 13; 18), 41 (2 Thess. 2:4) 43 (Rev. 17:4), and verse 45 (2 Thess. 2:4).

       And lastly, for the version that argues for Russia as the geographical “king of the north” of Daniel 11:40 at “the time of the end”, please note the following points: first, that in Daniel’s chapter 8 vision, he finds himself in Shushan (Susa), the Babylonian province of Elam, an area that by the time he received his visions recorded in chapters 9 through 12 had become part of the kingdom of Medo-Persia.^[34] Second, the phrase: “I saw a ram pushing…northward” of Daniel 8:4, implies a people settled north of Medo-Persia, whom the Medo-Persians must have fought against at some point. Third, the phrase: “towards the four winds of heaven” of Daniel 8:8, implies that one of the four divided Greek kingdoms settled in or migrated to an area north of Greece (vv. 21, 22), which has been identified as Thrace. Fourth, Daniel’s vision given across chapters 10 through 12, begins with Daniel standing by the Tigris River, and ends with the man standing on the same Tigris River, in modern day Iraq, while giving his last prophetic utterance (Daniel 10:4; 12:6-13). Fifth, since Babylon and Medo-Persia lie east of Greece (Daniel 8:1-6, 20, 21), with Egypt lying south of them (Daniel 8:4; 11:5, 8, 42, 43), “the king of the north” may refer to a king or kingdom located in an area north of Greece, Babylon and or Medo-Persia. Sixth, since Russia is the only country that lies north of Greece, Iraq and Iran, Russia may likely be “the king of the north” of Daniel 11:40, “[a]t the time of the end”. And for the final point, notice that in Daniel 11:40, three entities are being referred to: the king of the south, the king of the north, and to a “him” and “he”. Notice that this “him”/”he” is the same “he” referred to in verse 39, that considers himself greater than every god, fights against the strongest fortresses with the god of fortresses, and divides the land for gain (vv. 36-39), who in verse 40 is attacked by the king of the south and the king of the north, but “he shall enter the countries, overwhelm them, and pass through” them.

Leonard Lugo, January 2008

Bibliography 

Batchelor, Doug. “Behold the Fig Tree.” Amazing Facts: Inside Report. Sept./Oct. 2007, pp. 7-9.

Davies, P.R. “Daniel.” The Oxford Bible Commentary. Eds. John Barton and John Muddiman.  Oxford University Press, 2001, p. 568-9.

Encyclopedia Britannica Online. “Cassander: king of Macedonia.” Web. January 2008.

Goldstein, Clifford. 1844 Made Simple. Nampa, ID: Pacific Press Publishing Assoc., 1988, pp. 44, 46, 69, 70.

Martindale, C.C. “The Apocalypse.” A Catholic Commentary on the Holy Scripture. Eds. Dom B. Orchard and Edmund F. Sutcliffe. New York: Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1953, p. 1203.

Nelson, Eric. The Complete Idiot’s Guide to the Roman Empire. Indianapolis, Ind.: Alpha, c2002, p. 67.

The King James Version. The Holy Bible. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989. 

The New King James Version. The Holy Bible. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1988.

The Valera Version. The Holy Bible. Dallas, TX: International Bible Assoc., 1976.

The Oxford American Desk Dictionary and Thesaurus. 2nd ed. “Astonish.” New York, NY: The Berkley Publishing Group, 2001, p. 45.

The Oxford American Desk Dictionary and Thesaurus, 2nd ed. “Desert.” New York, NY: The Berkley Publishing Group, 2001, pp. 207-8.

Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary. “Squadron.” Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, c1977.

Webster’s New World Dictionary of the American Language. Second College Edition. “Alexander the Great.” USA: The World Publishing Co., 1970, p. 33.

Webster’s New World Dictionary of the American Language. Second College Edition. “Seleucid.” USA: The World Publishing Co., 1970, p. 1291.

^[1]  Two different Hebrew words are used for vision in Daniel chapter 8. The Hebrew word used for vision in verses 26 and 27 is mareh, which refers specifically to the time period vision of 2300 years. And the Hebrew word used for vision in verses 1 and 2 is hazon, which refers to the whole vision of chapter 8 (Goldstein 44). 

^[2]  Evenings and mornings is a Bible’s phrase for days, as used in Genesis 1:5 (Goldstein 69, 70). Furthermore, when days, or evenings and mornings are mentioned in the context of a prophetic message, they may refer to years, as in Numbers 14:34 and Ezekiel 4:4-6.

^[3]  Astonish: amaze, surprise, shock (The Oxford American Desk Dictionary and Thesaurus 45).

^[4]  God’s kingdom of heaven is eternal. However, people’s experience involving the kingdom is understood as taking place in two parts: the spiritual, which is invisible and the physical, which is visible. People’s experience in the spiritual kingdom of heaven, stretches from the time of Jesus Christ’s first coming to His second coming: Christianity (Daniel 9:24-27; 8:14, 17; Luke 1:30, 31; 2:1-11, 21; Matthew 4:17; these last days, Hebrews 1:1, 2; Matthew 24:3, 29-31; notice ten toes, Daniel 2:42-44; ten kings, Rev. 17:12-14). And people’s experience in the physical kingdom of heaven will go from the point of Jesus’ second coming to eternity (Daniel 2:44; 7:13, 14, 27).

^[5]  Biblical phrases with symbolic language can often be broken into its figurative, literal and spiritual parts. For instance, the book of Daniel presents us with figurative beasts, representing literal kingdoms, and with some spiritual messages, one of which being that above all, God is in control of world events.

^[6]  Desert: desolate (The Oxford American Desk Dictionary and Thesaurus 207-8).

^[7]  Since Hebrews 9 tells us that Jesus Christ is now interceding for spiritual Israel (Christians, Galatians 3:26-29) in the heavenly sanctuary, we know that non-Christian Jews in the land of Judea are spiritually deserted of the sanctifying presence of God during the 2300 year period, and that the temple that will be cleansed at the end of the 2300 year period will be the one in heaven. 

^[8]  See “The 1260 Year Time Period of Daniel and Revelation,” by Leonard Lugo, June 2006.

^[9]  When Daniel returns to work, his subjects ask what kept him from the palace for the past few days. He tells them that a vision he had caused him to faint and be sick for days. “Well Daniel, what was the vision about?” they ask him. Daniel relays the vision, but no one understands it.

^[10]  Daniel is not aware of chapter 9 verse 24 where he will be informed of a 70 week or 490 year break that has been set aside for them, during which time their Messiah will come to reconcile those that would be ready and willing to be reconciled with their God. And, Daniel apparently fails remembering that in chapter 7 verse 25 he had been shown that the saints will continue on through 1260 years of persecutions during the fourth kingdom period, and that at the end of that kingdom’s period that they will inherit the kingdom of heaven (Daniel 7:26, 27).

^[11]  “Relax Daniel! As soon as your prayers were heard in heaven, my dear friend, I was sent to give you a wider presentation of God’s time-table,” the angel says regarding the 70 week period Daniel was unaware of.

^[12]  Notice that the information given in Daniel 9:24 may have been given instead along verses 3 and 4 of chapter 8, and that information given in Daniel 9:25-27 may have been given along verses 9 through 14 of chapter 8. Notice moreover that God’s timetable given across chapters 7, 8, and 9, clears up in regards to the starting and ending points of the 70 year, 70 week, 2300 year, and 1260 year periods, when read in reverse order, as in first reading chapter 9 verses 1 to 27, then chapter 8:1-26, chapter 7:1-27, chapter 11, and lastly chapter 12, overlapping where necessary in light of chapter 2. In parts of the Bible, the first part of a thought, phrase or message is introduced in second place, and the second part of the same is introduced in first place, possibly for drawing attention to the thought, phrase or message that is being presented. Notice for example that Revelation chapter 14 verses 14 to 20, may very well have been placed between verses 16 and 17 of chapter 19 (see Matt. 13:30; 24:30, 31), since Jesus’ second coming will take place just before the millennium of Rev. 20:1-7. Events not given in perfect order may also be for the purpose of sifting the faithful from the unfaithful. Compare questioning methods by attorneys at depositions with Daniel, Revelation and Matthew 25:31, 32, where witnesses are put through a sieve for the purpose of extracting facts from deponents. In a similar way, the books of Daniel and Revelation may work as a sieve to extract the faithful from the unfaithful or to shake people into deciding for the Lord or the world (see Luke 22:31, 32; Isaiah 30:28; Daniel 11:35; 2:35; Matthew 13:30; 25:31, 32). Yet, God’s interest is for everyone to be saved as we know, for He says: “[w]atch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man” (Luke 21:36; emphasis added. For stand see cross-reference to Ephesians 6:13; NKJV).

^[13]  Then what? Then our God of justice will execute judgments on all nations for transgressions committed against non-Christian Jews and spiritual Jews during the 2300 year period (Joel 3:2, chapters 2 and 3; Galatians 3:23-29; Rev. 16:12-21; 13:11-18; 17:12-14; Daniel 11:45; 12:1; Rev. 18:5-8, 10; 14:14-20; Matthew 13:24-30; 24:29-31; Daniel 7:21, 22). The Scriptures tell of city-states, that when having reached a limit of sinfulness, gave God no other choice but to punish or destroy them, as was the case of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18:20; 19:24), Egypt (Genesis 15:13, 14; Exodus 6:6; 12:12; Numbers 33:4), Babylon (Daniel 5:27, 28), and Jerusalem (Ezekiel 7:1-3; 2 Chronicles 24:23, 24; Luke 21:20, 22, 24). Therefore, when modern Babylon, i.e. the Vatican, and its associate states have reached their limit of sinfulness, so it will be for them as well at the end of the world (Rev. 14:17-20; 13:11-18; 14:8-11; 18:1-8; 19:2; Daniel 7:21, 22). 

^[14]  Daniel may have considered the possibility of the heavenly sanctuary being the one cleansed at the end of the 2300 year period, as heaven’s sanctuary throne courthouse is mentioned in both Old and New Testaments (Psalms 11:4; Ezekiel 1:26; Isaiah 6:1-5; 66:1; Daniel 7:9, 10, 13, 14, 22; Zechariah 6:12, 13; Rev. 16:1, 7, 17).

^[15]  Compare with 2 Chronicles 24:20, 21; 36:15-17; Luke 13:34; 22:63-71.

^[16]  See “Day of Judgment & Day of Atonement,” by Leonard Lugo, January 2007.

^[17]  Daniel 9:26; cf. Leviticus 16:9; Luke 23:1-3, 13-15, 20-24.

^[18]  Daniel 7:24-27; Luke 19:41-44; 21:24.

^[19]  Daniel 11:32; 9:24; cf. Matthew 4:17; Matthew 28:18-20; Revelation 14:6.

^[20]  For the starting point of the 1260 year period see Daniel 7:8, 23-25, and “The 1260 Year Time Period of Daniel and Revelation,” by Leonard Lugo, June 2006.

^[21]  The fourth kingdom beast (Daniel 2:40; 7:7), the Roman Empire, which has continued to the present through the State of the Vatican, presented in Daniel 8:9, 23 and 11:16-45 as the king from the west. For more on the king from the west, as distinguished from “the king of the north,” see Appendix C.

^[22]  The New King James Version translates it as: “when the power of the holy people has been completely shattered” (Daniel 12:7; emphasis added), providing cross-references to Daniel 8:24 in support of shatter, and to Luke 21:24, which supports scatter, as found in the King James Version. The Valera Version translates it as: “when the scattering of the squadron of the holy people has been completed” (Daniel 12:7; emphasis added). Squadron: a unit of military organization (Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary). Holy people: God’s spiritual army (see Exodus 7:4; 12:41; Psalms 136:14, 15; Numbers 2:1-30; Rev. 7:3-8; 17:12-14; and Daniel 9:24; NKJV). But, God’s holy people are not to take up physical arms and defend themselves in the face of persecution (Rev. 13:7), for “[h]e who leads into captivity shall go into captivity; he who kills with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints” (Rev. 13:10; Isaiah 33:1; Genesis 9:6; Rev. 14:12; Martindale 1203). 

^[23]  This king from the west will reach his limit of sinfulness when he/she establishes the tents of his palace on Jerusalem’s Mount Zion, sits on the throne of God pretending to be God, and causes virtually the whole world to fornicate with her in worshiping, serving, or following him/her (Daniel 11:45, 36, 37; 2 Thessalonians 2:3, 4, 8; Revelation 14:9-11; 13:15-18; 18:2-8).

^[24]  Daniel 8:25, 26, 14; Hebrews 9; Rev. 11:19.  

^[25]  Daniel 8:9-12, 23-25; John 14:6; John 2:19-21; Mark 14:58; Matthew 21:42; Luke 23:33, 46; Mark 15:38; Matthew 28:9; Hebrews 9; Daniel 8:13, 14; 9:25-27.

^[26]  Matthew 4:17; Mark 1:15; Luke 13:3; Acts 2:38.

^[27]  Matthew 10:32; Philippians 2:11; 1 John 1:7, 9; 4:2.

^[28]  Hebrews 9 (cf. Exodus 12:5, 1-13; 24:7, 8; Leviticus 16); John 1:29; Acts 2:22, 23; 8:32, 33, 35; Matthew 27:35, 50, 51; 1 Peter 1:18, 19; Romans 5:10; Revelation 5:6, 9.

^[29]  The Lord: God the Father, the Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ the Son (Genesis 1:2; I Samuel 16:13; Joel 2:29; John 10:30; Matthew 3:16, 17).

[30]  See “Day of Judgment & Day of Atonement,” by Leonard Lugo, January 2007.  

[31] See The Strongest Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, by James Strong, and revised by John R. Kohlenberger III and James A. Swanson. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2001.

^[32]  Daniel 9:24; 2:31-45; Ezra 7:7; Daniel 9:25-27; 8:20-25; Luke 23; 24; Acts 7.

^[33]  Daniel 8:9, 23; 11:16-45; 2; 7; Rev. 13, 17, 18.

^[34] Daniel 8:1, 2; Esther 1:1-3; Davies 568; Daniel 9:1, 2; 10:1,4; 12:5, 6.

       The title of Pontifex Maximus previously used by Roman Emperors, transferred to the Papacy in the fourth century (Encyclopedia Britannica), a title which Roman Emperors previously held as they presided over civil and religious matters (Nelson, p. 67). Similarly, Caiaphas was ruler and high priest of Israel (Matthew 26:57). But while Rome was pagan and Israel monotheistic, the Roman Bishops went about uniting paganism with Judeo-Christian beliefs forming a hybrid religion. There were a number of independent churches around the Mediterranean Sea during the first centuries of the Christian church, but only the Roman Church took steps to identify itself with the Roman Empire (See Appendix A).

The ten horns, the little horn, the three uprooted horns, and the start of the 1260 year time period

       By the fifth century, a number of major Germanic kingdoms were found across Western Europe, which included the Alemanni, Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Franks, Suevi, Burgundians, Anglos, Saxons, Vandals, and the Lombards; as well as a number of minor tribes in Eastern Europe, such as the Heruli, the Rugians and the Gepids (Bury; and Bunson). 

       In 476, Odoacer (435-493) imprisoned the last Western Roman Emperor Romulus Augustulus and had him announce his abdication to the senate, which thereafter proclaimed the extinction of the Western Empire. Odoacer led an army of various different Germanic tribes that came together under him, and he in turn was under Roman General Orestes whom he killed. After conquering Romulus Augustulus, Odoacer was titled king (Dyer, pp. 325-6). In 493, Ostrogothic Theoderic took over Italy for Zeno the Eastern Roman Emperor, destroying Odoacer, and titled himself King of Italy (Dyer, p. 327). Then, Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian’s General Belisarius destroyed the Vandals in North Africa by 535 (Bunson, p.  36, 567; Duffy, p. 45), and Justinian’s General Narses regained Italy from the Ostrogoths by 553 (Dyer, p. 342).^[1] And, when the Franks and the Allemanni -allies of the Goths- invaded Italy, Narses overthrew them in 554. At that time, “A decree of Justinian’s, called the Pragmatic Sanction, dated on the 13th of August in that year, settled the affairs of Italy” (Dyer, p. 342).^[2] And so we can see, the three horns of Daniel 7:8 that were uprooted, were the kingdoms of Odoacer, of the Vandals, and of the Ostrogoths.

       And herein lies the timeframe of the 1260 year period. As the last of the three horns was uprooted in 554, one adds 1260 to 554 and gets the year 1814, precisely when the Holy Roman Empire fell with the last Holy Roman Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, marking the moment when the scarlet beast of Rev. 13:3 and 17:3, 4 received its deadly wound.[3] The 1260 year prophecy is the time during which the woman of Rev. 12:6 and 13:5, 7 persecutes the saints. Notice that in Rev. 17:4-6 the woman is seen drunk with the blood of the saints. The 1260 year period is the period during which she is the seat of power in Western Europe, enforcing her authority through the military power of the Holy Roman Emperors she crowns.

       Eamon Duffy shows that when Constantine moved to Byzantium in A.D. 324 to create a Christian capital in the East, that the Roman Bishop was left in charge of Rome’s ecclesiastical and civil matters, working alongside pagan senators (pp. 18, 20, 27, 29). Arthur E.R. Boak and William G. Sinnigen tell us that during the fifth century, Bishop of Rome Leo I (440-61) stressed the primacy of Peter in a series of sermons, and that in the same century the Roman Bishop began being referred to as Pope (p. 503; Bunson, p. 412). Rome was thereafter taken over by the above-mentioned Germanic kingdoms from 476 to 554, but by the time it was liberated from these kingdoms, the Papacy found itself better established: Emperor Valentinian III granted Roman Bishop Leo I the jurisdiction of all Western churches in 455; there were no more Western Emperors over the Papacy after 476 (Boak and Sinnigen, p. 503; Duffy, p. 35); and when the Lombards invaded Italy in 568, the Eastern Empire found itself smaller and weaker and therefore incapable of defending Italy from the Lombards (Bury, p. 266; Criswell, pp. 30, 31), and of having much influence over the Papacy.

       Although the Lombards did not take the city of Rome, they respected not property and members of the Catholic Church elsewhere in Italy (Criswell, pp. 31-2); which is the reason that when Charles Martel defeated the Muslims in Poitiers in 732, the Papacy began seeking his help to overthrow the Lombards, seeing in Martel someone capable of expelling the Lombards from Italy. Following popes did not give up in requesting help from the French, and finally Pope Zacharaias succeeded in convincing Pepin the Short to come and conquer lands from the Lombards for the Papacy (pp. 33, 34); followed by Charlemagne, who later conquered some additional lands for the Papacy as well (Duffy, p. 77).

       Three minor Germanic tribes that appear to have disappeared in the sixth century as well were the Heruli, the Rugians and the Gepids. But they were not the three horns referred to in Daniel 7:8, as neither one of these three tribes attacked the city of Rome, and neither one of these three were destroyed directly or indirectly by the Papacy or the Romans.

       As to the Heruli and the Rugians, some clarifying is needed as to whether either one of them represented the first of the three uprooted horns of Daniel 7:8. For this we will see into what Germanic tribe Odoacer may have been born, and whether his army was composed solely of one or of several tribes. Dyer tells us that Odoacer titled himself king when conquering Italy (as previously mentioned), but neither of the Germans or of Italy (pp. 325-6). Moreover, while Dyer and Duffy claim that Odoacer was Rugian (pp. 325-6; p. 37), Bury claims that Odoacer may have been either Rugian or Scirian (p. 166). However, since Bury further tells us that Odoacer destroyed the power of the Rugians in 487 (p. 258), who were settled in an area north of the Danube River, Odoacer may not have been Rugian, but rather Scirian (p. 166).

       Furthermore, while Dyer tells us that Odoacer led an army composed of various tribes (pp. 325-6), Bury informs us that the Heruli were settled in Dacia, north of the Danube, and that they were mostly destroyed by the Lombards in 508 (p. 258); that those that were left of the Heruli settled in Moesia (somewhere between present day Romania and Bulgaria), and that the rest were partly received into the tribe of the Gepids, who were located in Dacia (in an area of present day Romania; pp. 258-9); and lastly, that the Gepids themselves, were later destroyed by the Lombards and the Avars in 567 (p.  264).

       As we can see, the only undisputed points regarding Odoacer seem to be, that he may have been a Scirian, and that his kingdom of Italy, composed of various ethnic groups, represented the first uprooted kingdom horn of Daniel 7:8.

       In addition, the kingdoms of Odoacer, of the Ostrogoths and of the Vandals, each attacked the city of Rome, and either settled Rome, or affected its power and strength indirectly. Revelation points out that the city of Rome, is the one that should concern us in this prophecy of the Roman Church and the Roman Empire, pointing to it as the city located on seven hills (Rev. 17:9; see also Criswell’s explanation on this, pp. 20-22).

       The Vandals attacked Rome in 455 (Bunson, p. 567) and settled in North Africa. Since N. Africa produced Italy’s corn supply, by invading N. Africa the Vandals indirectly weakened the strength of the Romans (Bury, pp. 160-1). Thereafter, Italy was taken by Odoacer in 476, and thereafter by the Ostrogoths in 493.

       Moreover, only these three kingdoms directly or indirectly affected Rome, from the time the Western Roman Empire fell to Odoacer in 476, to the time when Rome was liberated from the Ostrogoths in 554. Furthermore, each of these three kingdoms was indirectly destroyed by an order of the Eastern Roman Emperor or directly by one of its generals. And finally, each one of these three kingdoms are confirmed to have been completely wiped out of existence (Bury, pp. 160, 185, 207; Dyer, p. 327),  fulfilling the prophecy of the three uprooted horns of Daniel 7:8.

       The 1260 year time period of the books of Daniel and Revelation therefore, began in A.D. 554, when the three horns of Daniel 7:8 were uprooted.

The deadly wound

       Revelation 13:3 informs us that the beast receives a deadly wound. The Apostle John tells us in Rev. 13:3 that he “…saw one of his heads as it had been mortally wounded…” (its footnote says: as “if it had been”; KJV). And he also tells us that he saw Jesus, the Lamb of God, “…as it had been slain…” (Rev. 5:6; KJV). And as the Lamb of God virtually died from the deadly wound, and resurrected (Rev. 5:9, 12; Luke 23:46; 24:7; Mark 16:6), the beast’s wound later healed as a scar that heals-up. In Rev. 13:3, 12 we find that the beast’s “deadly wound was healed”, and in Rev. 13:14 we find that the beast was “wounded by the sword and lived.”[4]

       In reviewing the history of the Papacy, one would see that the “deadly wound” may not refer to any point in time when a pope was either murdered, arrested or exiled (see Appendix C), but rather to a point when anything that functioned as or claimed to be an extension of the old Roman Empire, such as the Holy Roman Empire and the Papacy, ceased to exist.

The fall of the Roman Empire and its deadly wound

       Eamon Duffy tells us that the Roman Empire fell in 476, when Odoacer the tribal Germanic king conquered Rome (p. 37), and that the empire revived when Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne Roman Emperor in 774 (p. 77).

       J.B. Bury on the other hand, points out that the Roman Empire did not actually fall in 476, but that it lived on through Zeno (474-491), the Eastern Roman Emperor (p. 170). However, the western part of the pagan Roman Empire did fall in 476, yet it continued as a Christian Roman Empire from 774 onward, according to Duffy (p. 77).

       There being more than one person running the empire was nothing new. On more than one occasion the empire was governed by more than one person: Caius Julius Caesar (100-44 B.C.), Marcus Licinius Crassus (?-53 B.C.), and Gnaius Pompey (106-48 B.C.) governed the Roman Empire together for a while. They each were titled Consul while working together and apart. Caius Octavius (31-14) formed the second triumvirate for a while with Mark Anthony and Lepidus (Nelson, pp. 97-104). When Emperor Constantine (306-337) died, his son Constantinus (337-361) governed the East and his son Constans governed the West (Duffy, p. 23). And later Honorius (393-423) governed the West and Arcadius (395-408) governed the East, and so on (De Imperatoribus Romanis; Bunson, p. 601).

       The Eastern part of the Roman Empire later fell in 1453 when the Turks conquered Constantinople (Duffy, p. 150); while the West lived on through the Holy Roman Emperors.

       While Johnathan W. Zophy points out that during Napoleon’s Empire, Francis II (1792-1806) of Austria was the last of the Holy Roman Emperors (p. 504), Duffy mentions that the period of the Holy Roman Emperors went from Charlemagne (774-814) to Napoleon (1796-1814), and David Criswell supports this in stating that Napoleon was the last Holy Roman Emperor ever (p. 569). Furthermore, Criswell mentions that when Napoleon invaded Germany, Francis II “retired” the title of Holy Roman Emperor (p. 18), and thereafter, according to Duffy, Napoleon crowned himself in front of Pope Pius VII (p. 209), with the pope’s consent.

       The beast therefore, received its deadly wound when Napoleon’s Empire fell in 1814, rather than when Western Emperor Romulus Augustulus (475-476) fell to the Germanic king Odoacer in 476, or when Eastern Emperor Constantine XI (1449-1453) fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453 (Duffy, pp. 214, 37, 150; De Imperatoribus Romanis). 

       The Papacy lost its property to Napoleon in 1796 (Duffy, p. 69), and the Papacy ceased to exist as a secular and religious government in 1799 when it lost its independence to the same (pp. 200-203). Then when Napoleon’s empire collapsed in 1814, for all intents and purposes, both the Holy Roman Empire and the Papacy were found as nonexistent.

The healing of its deadly wound

       Lastly, in fulfillment of Rev. 3:3, the Papacy regained its independence in the same year of 1814, and its Papal States by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 (Duffy, p. 214), pointing to 1815 as a possible date for the healing of the wound of the beast of Daniel and Revelation.

Appendix A

Church and State 

Constantine I (306-337) legalized Christianity in 313 by the Edict of Milan, and it was turned into the official state religion in 380. He turned pagan temples over for the use of the Church (Trigilio and Brighenti, p. 348), and allocated money for the work of the Church, as well as “new churches, grants of land and property in Numidia, Egypt, in the Adriatic Island, on Gozo, Tyre, Tarsus, Antioch, and gardens, houses, bakeries, baths, precious metals, furniture made of precious metals such as gold and silver, and a house for the pope at the Lateran along with the huge Lateran basilica” (Duffy, p. 18). Since 315, Constantine put Christ in his coins and an image of himself as a devotee of the Invincible Sun (p. 18). The sun god grew in popularity and importance over other gods within the Roman culture during the first century, while Christians thought of Jesus Christ as the sun of righteousness (Bacchiocchi). The birthday of the invincible sun was a pagan holiday baptized into Christianity (New Catholic Encyclopedia, p. 551). December 25th was the birthday of the sun god; that Christ’s birthday is unknown; that Roman Emperor Aurelian placed the sun god at the Pantheon as the head god in a symbolic way of representing centralized power in 274 A.D; and that the Christian Nativity feast of December 25 was instituted between 243 and 336 A.D. (New Catholic Encyclopedia). The sun, therefore, worked for both pagans and Christians, and Constantine made good use of this. Constantine was believed to be a Christian in 312, but his conversion seems to have occurred gradually (Duffy, p. 18). Constantine baptized just before his death in 337 (p. 23). When he moved to Byzantium in 324 to create a Christian capitol in the East, the Pope was left in charge of Rome’s ecclesiastical and civil matters working alongside pagan senators (pp. 18, 20, 27, 29). And Pope Damasus (366-384) later Christianized the Latins, and Latinized the Church in his attempt to effectively govern over Christians and pagans (p. 29). Etruscans, Latins, Oscans, Sabines, and Greeks lived in and around the area that became the city of Rome (Nelson, p. 65). It seems that popes would campaign at times for the papal office and to have worked as mayors of the city of Rome; some were elected and others at other times were appointed. While pope and emperor ran the empire, they often insisted on one’s superiority over the other, as in a love/hate relationship, while they went about their business running the empire. Emperor Justinian (527-565) believed that emperors were to supervise the pope in his duties; that the emperor was responsible and in charge of all the churches, to appoint and fire bishops, and that it had the right to decide on correct religious practice and belief. “The Emperor, not the Pope, was God’s vicar on earth, and to him belonged the title Kosmocrator, lord of the world, ruling over one empire, one law, one Church” (Duffy, p. 45). However, Pope Innocent III (1198-1216) stated that “Christ…had left to Peter ‘the government not only of the Church but of the whole world,’ quoting Jeremiah: ‘I have set you over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow” (p. 110). And, in trying to set the Roman Bishop over bishops of other cities, that would attempt claiming to be representatives of other Apostles, at another time declared: “We are the successor of the prince of the Apostles, but we are not his vicar, not the vicar of any man or Apostle, but the vicar of Jesus Christ himself” (p. 99). Moreover, Sixtus V (1585-90) “deliberately reclaimed Rome’s pagan imperial past for the Papacy, moving the great obelisk which had originally been in the circus of Nero into the centre of the Piazza in front of St. Peter’s…and crowning the other obelisks and columns of Rome with Christian symbols” (p. 172). And Pius VI (1775-99), raised additional obelisks in key points of the city of Rome (p. 198). Furthermore, “The [Eastern] Emperor’s attack on images, and the resulting wave of image-breaking or ‘iconoclasm,’ fell like a thunderbolt in the West. The Exarch, who tried to enforce it in Ravenna, was lynched by an angry mob, and Pope Gregory II saw in it yet another example of the empire espousing heresy” (p. 63; calling heresy the act of breaking idols). And during the Renaissance, a large number of secular pagan Humanists were employed by the Vatican’s Curia (pp. 144-5). Lastly, the hand sign popes give, of hand with raised index and middle finger, is a hand sign made in honor of “Sabazios, a great god from Phrygia who was variously identified with Zeus and Dionysus, and who colors all the Dionysiac mysteries. [The] cult is most clearly seen in the votive offering of bronze right hands decorated with magic symbols, representing the god’s benevolent power. These are found throughout the imperial period” (Ferguson, pp. 102, 172).

Appendix B

Symbols of the Scarlet Beast 

       Satan the dragon of Rev. 12:9, embodies the seven headed ten horned beast of Rev. 12:3; and in Rev. 13:2, we see that the red dragon of Rev. 12:9, empowers the beast of Rev. 13:1.

       In Daniel 7:7, 8, virtually the same beast with ten horns, is seen with the added feature of a little horn uprooting three horns speaking pompous words as those spoken by Lucifer just before his fall, saying that he would ascend to heaven and be like the Most High (Isaiah 14:12-14). In prophetic language, a horn stands for a kingdom (Daniel 8:21).

       The pompous words spoken by the little horn of Daniel 7:8, represent the blasphemous name seen on the seven heads of Rev. 13:1, for the beast of Rev. 13:1, is given a mouth in Rev. 13:5, as that of the little horn of Daniel 7:8, by which it speaks blasphemies against God in Rev. 13:6, claiming to be as God, speaking as Lucifer before his fall (Isaiah 14:12-14).

       In Rev. 17:3, 4, we are presented with virtually the same beast of Rev. 12:3, 9; 13:1, 5; and Daniel 7:7, 8. The added feature is the prostitute representing the Roman Church that fornicates with paganism and secularism, dressed in scarlet and seated on a scarlet beast. One woman referred to in Revelation is pure, representing God’s people (Rev. 2:13; 19:7, 8). The other woman referred to in Revelation is a harlot (Rev. 17:1-6), representing a powerful financial religious government (Rev. 17; 18), whose worship will be called for, by the false prophet/lamb-like beast (Rev. 13:11-14; 16:13; 19:20). The dragon gave the harlot his power, throne, and great authority (Rev. 12:9; 13:2, 4); and both the prostitute and the animal on which she sits are called beasts in Rev. 17:3, 12, 13, the animal being the image of the prostitute, as well as the image replica of the beast presented in Rev. 13:1. While the prostitute appears as an added feature of the beast, she is a highlighted version of the blasphemous names tagged on the beast she is seated on, as well as a version of the little horn of Daniel 7:8, and the mouth of Rev. 13:5, evidenced by the word abomination that is written on her forehead in Rev. 17:4, 5.

       An abomination refers to lawlessness, something abhorrent before God, as well as to the act of worshipping other gods before God, the breaking of the second commandment. And, blasphemy refers to the breaking of the second commandment as well, when placing oneself as a god before God (Deuteronomy 13:13, 14; Exodus 20:3-6; Hastings Dictionary of the Bible, pp. 5, 109). As both terms refer to the breaking of God’s law, the word abomination that is written on the prostitute’s forehead in Rev. 17:5, refers to her lawlessness in the killing of the saints, as well as to her lawlessness in presenting herself as a god before God.

Appendix C

Popes Murdered, Arrested or Exiled 

Pope Martin I (649-53) held a synod at the Lateran to condemn a monothelist doctrine approved in the East. He held the synod without first seeking approval from Eastern Emperor Herakleios, thereby ignoring the Emperor’s claimed religious authority. The synod was attended by Western bishops and anti-monothelist monks from the East. Theodore Kalliopis, supporter of the monothelist doctrine, dragged Martin through the streets in chains and publicly whipped him for not having first sought approval from the Emperor for holding the synod. Martin was then deported to the Crimea where he died in 655 of hardship (Duffy, p. 60). When Charlemagne’s Empire dissolved during the 9th century “popes were left defenseless in the snakepit of Italian politics.” “Deprived of the support of empire, the Papacy became the possession of the great Roman families, a ticket to local dominance for which men were prepared to rape, murder and steal.” “A third of the popes elected between 872 and 1012 died in suspicious circumstances -John VIII (872-82) bludgeoned to death by his own entourage, Stephen VI (896-7) strangled, Leo V (903) murdered by his successor Sergius III (904-11), John X (914-28) suffocated, Stephen VIII (939-42) horribly mutilated, a fate shared by the Greek antipope John XVI (997-8) who, unfortunately for him, did not die from the removal of his eyes, nose, lips, and tongue and hands. Most of these men were maneuvered into power by a succession of powerful families -the Theophylacts, the Crescentii, and the Tusculani. John X, one of the few popes of this period to make a stand against aristocratic domination, was deposed and then murdered in the Castel Sant’ Angelo by the Theophylacts, who had appointed him in the first place” (p. 82). Otto I (962-73), next Holy Roman Emperor, began reviving the empire under Charlemagne. He began by reforming the Church and believed he had a right to enforce control over the Church (pp. 83-4). When Otto II (973-83) died suddenly, the Pope was deposed and murdered, and Rome was then ruled by the Crescentii family (p. 83). Emperor Henry IV (1056-1106) elected anti-pope Clement III. In 1084 Henry IV entered Rome, installed the anti-pope, and had the anti-pope crown him Emperor (p. 97). Pope Gregory VII (1073-85) requested help from the Normans, who came and sacked Rome. In the event, Gregory fled Rome and died in exile (p. 98). As the city of Rome experienced a revival in Republicanism, its citizens re-established the senate and established communes. As Popes governed Rome, they fought the revival. Lucius II (1144-5) died from a knife wound. And Popes Eugenius III (1145-53), Hadrian IV (1154-9) and Alexander III (1159-81) were driven out of the city (p. 108). 

  Leonard Lugo, June 2006 

Bibliography

Bacchiocchi, Samuel. From Sabbath to Sunday: A Historical Investigation of the Rise of Sunday Observance in Early Christianity. Rome: Pontifical Gregorian University, 1977. Print.

Bauckham, Richard. “Revelation.” The Oxford Bible Commentary. Eds. John Barton and John Muddiman. Oxford University Press, 2001, p. 1297. Print.

Boak, Arthur E.R., and William G. Sinnigen. A History of Rome to A.D. 565. New York: Macmillan, 1965, pp. 493, 503. Print.     

Bunson, Matthew. Encyclopedia of The Roman Empire. Rev. ed. New York: Facts On File, 2002, pp. 36, 412, 567, 601. Print.

Bury, John B. The Invasion of Europe by the Barbarians. London: Macmillan, 1928, pp. 160-1, 166, 170, 185, 207, 258, 266. Print.

Criswell, David. The Rise and Fall of the Holy Roman Empire: From Charlemagne to Napoleon. Baltimore, MD: Publish America, 2005, pp. 18, 20-2, 30-2, 569. Print.

De Imperatoribus Romanis: An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Rulers and their Families. 17 May 2006. Web. 2007.

<http://www.roman-emperors.org/impindex.htm>.

Duffy, Eamon. Saints & Sinners: A History of the Popes. [New Haven, Conn.]: Yale University Press, in association with S4C, c1997, pp. 18, 20, 23, 27, 29, 35, 37, 45, 60, 63, 69, 77, 82, 97-9, 108, 110, 144-5, 150, 172, 198, 200-3, 209, 214. Print.

Dyer, Thomas H. A History of the City of Rome: Its Structure and Monuments: From Its Foundation to the end of the Middle Ages. London: Longsmans, 1865, pp. 325-7, 332, 336, 341-2. Print.

Encyclopedia Britannica. “Pontifex Maximus.” Web. 7 February 2009.

< http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/469749/pontifex-maximus>.

Ferguson, John. The Religions of the Roman Empire: Aspects of Greek and Roman Life. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1970, pp. 102, 172. Print.

Hastings, James. Dictionary of the Bible. Rev. ed., Eds. Frederick C. Grant and Harold H. Rowley. NY: Scribner, 1963, pp. 5, 109. Print.

Nelson, Eric. The Complete Ediot’s Guide to the Roman Empire. Indianapolis, Ind.: Alpha, c2002, pp. 67, 97-104. Print.

New Catholic Encyclopedia. 2^nd ed. Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America. 2003, p. 551. Print.

Trigilio Jr., John and Kenneth Brighenti. Catholicism for Dummies. New York: Wiley Pub., c2003, p. 348. Print.

Zophy, Johnathan W. The Holy Roman Empire: A Dictionary Handbook. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1980, p. 504. Print.

^[1] While Bunson and Duffy claim that Justinian’s General Belisarius regained Italy from the Ostrogoths (Bunson, pp. 36, 567; Duffy, p. 45), Dyer claims that Narses was the general sent by Justinian that actually completed the task of regaining Italy for the empire. Belisarius, Germanus, and Narses were the Byzantine generals that fought Ostrogothic kings Theodatus, Vitiges, Totila, and Tejas respectively; that Totila was mortally wounded in 552, and that the Ostrogoths were finally defeated by Narses when Tejas was killed in 553 (Dyer, pp. 332, 336, 341, 342; see also Boak and Sinnigen, p. 493).  

^[2] See also Dyer, pp. 332, 336, 341; Boak and Sinnigen, p. 493.

[3] For symbols of the scarlet beast see Appendix B.

[4] According to Richard Bauckham, both Rev. 5:6 and Rev. 13:3 use the same phrase, stating that the beast’s death and healing is a parody on Christ’s death and resurrection (p. 1297).

Revelation 10:8-11; 11:3, 7, 11

Ezekiel 2:8-10; 3:1-3, 14

Jeremiah 15:16, 15

We will be held responsible for missionary work we fail to do, for the Lord’s will is to reach others through us. (This is not salvation by works; first we are saved, then we willingly partake in the service of the Lord; or is the servant greater than his master? Matthew 10:24).

Ezekiel 3:16-27

After the 1260 year persecution period, we are to do missionary work again and suffer persecution once again, but then the end will come.

Daniel 7:25; 12:7

 Matthew 24:14

Daniel 8:14

Leonard Lugo, January 2008

       The beast may in the future own the world through people’s debts to its worldwide companies.[1] The solution to the world’s debt would be a global monetary system offered by the Vatican. This monetary system will have the papacy’s seal of ownership which will be the mark of the beast (Rev. 13:16-18). The papacy’s main interests are geopolitical and economic power, according to Malachi Martin.

       Old debts would be refinanced for those who accept the seal or mark, but they would in turn be owned by the Vatican. Any further business will be permitted to those who accept the mark; and anyone that accepts or requests the mark would be required to pay a tax fee, similar to when Judeans were required to pay tax for business transactions when under the Romans (Matthew 22:17). Subject governments will profit under a one world government headed by the beast, as Herod did (Matthew 23:7; Rev. 18:3, 7), but the one that will profit the most will be the Vatican, the head of the one world government (Rev. 18). “[A]nd he shall cause them to rule over many, and shall divide the land for gain” (Daniel 11:39; gain: profit; KJV).

       The ten kings would be the image representatives of the beast in the global provinces they govern, as were the old Roman administrative and or military governors, such as Pontius Pilate in Judea in the first century (Rev. 17:3, 4, 12, 13; Daniel 11:39; Matt. 27:2). In honoring these image representatives people would honor the papacy, similar to when people were required to honor Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar by bowing down to his golden image (Daniel 3:1-7), and similar as well to when people were required to honor Roman Emperors through standards and statue images of them to show their respect and loyalty for them (Martindale). As the ten kings would be business, political and military agents of the beast, any other kinds of national leaders would be complying subject kingdom leaders under the beast and these ten kings.

       The Roman Catholic world leader is the beast that continues growing in power…an emperor in the making that will conquer and dominate the world as did the previous Roman Emperors.

       This image entity will be given life, enabling it to be aware of those that do not worship[2] it and kill them (Rev. 13:15; 14:9). The act of giving “life unto the image of the beast,” may refer to the act of reviving the old empire beast. The word “life” in itself, may also refer to the ability of the image of the beast to see, hear and know of everyone’s activities, through laws as “The Patriot Act” and technology such as cameras, satellites and voice recording devices. The word “speak” may represent authority, and the phrase “cause that as many as would not…” may refer to police and military power.

       The empire beast the papacy governed in Rev. 13:1, dissolves after the papacy receives a deadly wound in verse 3. A replica image of the empire beast is then seen recreated in Rev. 17:3, after the papacy’s deadly wound heals in Rev. 13:3.

       Both the prostitute and the animal on which she sits are called beasts in Rev. 17:3, 12, 13; the animal being the image of the prostitute, as well as the image replica of the beast presented in Rev. 13:1.

       When the one head with the little horn of the beast receives its deadly wound, the empire system dissolves. When the one head with the deadly wound heals, it wishes for an empire as the one it once had, only greater. A false prophet comes around calling for the creation of an empire similar to the one the one head once had.[3] When ten kings pledge themselves to the prostitute, the ten-horned beast is recreated. The one head/little horn/prostitute/beast, then sits as an emperor on the recreated beast, and goes out conquering the globe through the help of these ten kings.[4] 

       There will be a king considered worthy to reign over the kings of the earth.[5] A false prophet will come around to validate this king with magic and lying wonders. Ten kings will then unite under this one chosen king, and together with their military police force they will enforce the king’s will, of sealing everyone with the mark of the beast (Rev. 13:11-18), and uniting the globe under a one world economic order (Rev. 18); which parallels King Saul, the prophet Samuel, and the creation of a military to some extent, but in a spiritually opposite kind of way.

Leonard Lugo, September 2008

Works Cited and Notes

Martindale, C.C. “The Apocalypse.” A Catholic Commentary on the Holy Scripture. Eds. Dom B. Orchard and Edmund F. Sutcliffe. New York: Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1953, p. 1203.

Martin, Malachi. The Keys of This Blood. New York: Simon and Schuster, c1990.

[1] See The Vatican Empire, 1968, and Vatican, U.S.A., New York: Trident Press, 1972, by Nino Lo Bello.

[2] The following texts show how worship and service go hand in hand, as in worship service: Genesis 22:5; Exodus 20:5; Matthew 4:9, 10; 15:9; 28:17-20; to keep laws: 2 Chr. 7:19; Rev. 14:12; to follow and obey: Joshua 24:24; to bow down and kneel: Ps. 95:6; Josh5:14; to sing praises to: Ps. 66:4; to worship in the spirit: John 4:24; Phil. 3:3; and to perform service for: Ex. 8:1; 10:26; Num. 4:23; 18:7; 1 Chr. 16:29; 2 Chr. 32:12.

[3] Both the prostitute and the false prophet/lamb-like-beast are filled with the deceptive spirit of the dragon; Rev. 13:2, 11-14.

[4] Compare Daniel 7:7, 8, 23 and Revelation 17:3, 12-14, with Revelation 19:11-15 for a picture of Jesus Christ versus the Papacy.

[5] This king will later consider himself God, but then found false and destroyed; Daniel 11:45; 2 Thes. 2:3, 4, 8; Rev. 17:16; 18:8.

“Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all” (Daniel 11:37; KJV).

“[I]n his estate shall he honor the god of forces” (Dan. 11:38; KJV).

“He shall honor a god of fortresses” (Dan. 11:38; NKJV).

Force: wealth (Isaiah 60:5; see footnote; KJV).

The “god of fortresses”: Semiramis or Nimrod (Hislop 29-32).

The papacy’s main interests are geopolitical and economic power, according to The Keys of This Blood (Martin).

Nino Lo Bello mentions that the Vatican may end up evolving from a religious institution into a purely financial institution (186); and states, moreover, that the Vatican is “one of the greatest fiscal powers of the world” (12); that an encyclical published by Pius XI, was titled “Non Abbiamo Bisogno” (We Don’t Have Need; 14; compare with Revelation 18:7); that a Cardinal’s Aide once told him that “[t]he Vatican should truly be judged by the companies it keeps” (18); and, that Mussolini’s Lateran Treaty with Pope Pius XI in 1929 turned the Church around economically [apparently from a relative state of poverty and seclusion in which it had been from about 1870 to 1929; Duffy], receiving $90 million [which in part invested in a large number of companies] and great benefits in the form of three separate agreements (25, 63, 66, 67).

See also Vatican, U.S.A. by Nino Lo Bello, for a list of companies the Vatican owned in 1972 in the U.S. either in whole or in part, which have undoubtedly been multiplying since then. 

“[I]n his estate shall he honour the God of forces: and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things” (Daniel 11:38).

“Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many, and shall divide the land for gain” (Dan. 11:39; gain: profit; KJV).

“He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666″ (Rev. 13:16-18; NKJV).

“777 was a perfect number…666, injured throughout by one, was easily seen to be ‘Antichrist’s number’; if then Neron Caesar added up to 666, and 666 independently meant Antichrist, Nero was Antichrist. Finally, if (as we shall see) Domitian, reigning presumably when John composed his Apocalypse, and an eminent persecutor, was known as ‘Nero come to life again’, 666 will naturally have stood for him too, or the collectivity of persecutors, imperial, or any Antichrist who will endure so long as this world does” (Martindale 1203).

The papacy considers itself to be the extension of the old Roman Empire, according to Saints & Sinners: A History of the Popes (Duffy 172), confirming Daniel 7:8; 8:9.   

Regarding Revelation chapter 17, Richard Bauckham tells us that “[t]he basic idea is that those who associate with a prostitute pay her for the privilege. Babylon, ‘the great whore’ (v. 1), is a rich courtesan, whose expensive clothes and jewelry (v. 4) indicate the lifestyle she leads at her clients’ expense. This is an image of Rome’s economic exploitation of her empire (as becomes specially clear in ch. 18). To those who associate with her she offers the supposed benefits of the Pax Romana (the conditions for economic prosperity), much lauded in Roman propaganda of the period, but these benefits are not what they seem. While the local elites may benefit from Rome’s rule, many of Rome’s subjects do not, but, dazzled by her glory and persuaded by her propaganda, they fail to realize they are being exploited” (1300).

“[A]ll nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies” (Revelation 18:3).

“Render to her just as she rendered to you, and repay her double according to her works; in the cup which she has mixed, mix double for her. In the measure that she glorified herself and lived luxuriously, in the same measure give her torment and sorrow; for she says in her heart, ‘I sit as queen, and am no widow, and will not see sorrow.’ Therefore her plagues will come in one day death and mourning and famine. And she will be utterly burned with fire, for strong is the Lord God who judges her” (Revelation 18:6-8; emphasis added). 

Leonard Lugo, January 2008

 Works Cited

Bauckham, Richard. “Revelation.” The Oxford Bible Commentary. Eds. John Barton and John Muddiman. Oxford University Press, 2001, p. 1300.

Duffy, Eamon. Saints & Sinners: A History of the Popes. [New Haven, Conn.]: Yale University Press, in association with S4C, c1997, p. 172.

Hislop, Alexander. The Two Babylons: or the Papal Worship. Brushton, NY: Teach Services Inc., 2002, pp. 29-32.

Lo Bello, Nino. The Vatican Empire. New York: Trident Press, 1968, pp. 12, 14, 18, 25, 63, 66, 67, 186.

Martin, Malachi. The Keys of This Blood. New York: Simon and Schuster, c1990.

Martindale, C.C. “The Apocalypse.” A Catholic Commentary on the Holy Scripture. Eds. Dom B. Orchard and Edmund F. Sutcliffe. New York: Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1953, p. 1203.

The King James Version. The Holy Bible. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989. 

The New King James Version. The Holy Bible. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1988.

Leonard Lugo, October 2010