Authored By :
Bill Kochman
Published On :
April 22, 1997
Last Updated :
January 3, 2009
NOTE: This article or series has not been updated recently. As such, it may possibly contain some outdated information, and/or ideas and beliefs which I no longer embrace, or which have changed to some degree.
Linking The Daniel Prophecies With The Book Of
Revelation, Identifying The Five Fallen Empires,
Rome: The Sixth Empire With The Iron Teeth!
Any student of the Bible who has studied Endtime prophecy in
depth is familiar with the mysterious woman in the Book of
Revelation known as Babylon The Great Whore. We are first
introduced to her in the following prophetic verses:
"And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is
fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all
nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication."
(Revelation 14:8)
"And the great city was divided into three parts, and the
cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in
remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine
of the fierceness of his wrath." (Revelation 16:19)
"And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY,
BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND
ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH." (Revelation 17:5)
It is in Revelation chapters seventeen and eighteen that we
are given a full description of the whorish Babylon, her
evil influence upon the world, and her final destruction by
the Beast and the Ten Horns. Being as I have already shared
my thoughts on the possible identity of this woman in my
companion article 'Revelation's Babylon The Great Whore',
the purpose of this current series of articles is not to
concentrate on Babylon herself, but rather on the strange
Beast upon which she is mounted committing spiritual
fornication with the world as is described in the following
verse:
"So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness:
and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of
names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns."
(Revelation 17:3)
It is in the seventh verse of this same chapter that the
angel tells John that he is going to give him the
interpretation regarding the identity of the woman, as well
as that of the Beast upon which the whore is straddled:
"And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I
will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast
that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten
horns." (Revelation 17:7)
In the next four verses, the angel reveals some startling
information in the form of a riddle which has had many Bible
students perplexed ever since the words were first recorded
by the Prophet John:
"The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall
ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and
they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were
not written in the book of life from the foundation of the
world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and
yet is. And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven
heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. And
there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the
other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue
a short space. And the beast that was, and is not, even he
is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into
perdition." (Revelation 17:8-11)
As I have revealed in other Endtime articles such as 'The
Kings Of The North And The South', there is a close link
between the prophecies of Daniel and the Revelation given to
John the Divine. Both of these men included some of the very
same key elements in their prophecies. By comparing what
they each said, plus applying the interpretations I have
provided in my other articles, perhaps we can gain a much
clearer understanding of exactly who these five fallen kings
are, as well as identify the one who existed at the time of
John's writing. To begin with, it is significant that the
angel refers to seven heads, seven mountains, and seven
kings which will be followed by a final eighth king. It is
my belief that these seven heads, mountains and kings are
synonymous terms, and are referring to the seven empires,
and their primary leaders, which will have come and gone
before the arrival of the final empire of the Beast.
To confirm that this may indeed be what the angel is
referring to, notice his usage of the phrase 'five are
fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come'. At the
time John received this prophecy, five kings and their
kingdoms, or empires, had indeed already come and gone. As I
clearly demonstrate in my study of the Daniel prophecies
found in 'The Kings Of The North And The South' and 'The
Seven Heads' series, these previous five empires were Egypt,
Assyria, Babylonia, Medo-Persia, and Greece. Daniel
describes these previous empires in two different ways:
first in Daniel chapter two as various parts of a great
image in the shape of a man, and again in later chapters as
wild beasts. While the Daniel prophecies begin with King
Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian Empire, we know from
previous Biblical history, as well as from secular history,
that Egypt and Assyria were indeed the first two empires to
control vast territories, peoples and resources in the
Middle East before Babylonia rose to prevalence.
One unifying factor between the prophecies of Daniel and
the Book of Revelation can be found by looking at an earlier
description of this very same Endtime Beast found at the
beginning of the thirteenth chapter of John's Revelation:
"And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise
up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and
upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of
blasphemy." (Revelation 13:1)
As can be seen, this verse is almost identical to the one I
shared previously from the seventeenth chapter where we see
the very same phrases 'seven heads', 'ten horns' and 'names
of blasphemy' used. However, it is in the next verse that we
find even more striking similarities to the prophecies of
Daniel:
"And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his
feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth
of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat,
and great authority." (Revelation 13:2)
Notice first of all that this final eighth king, the empire
of the Beast, is similar to a leopard. As I show in the
aforementioned articles, the Grecian, or Macedonian, Empire
was also symbolized by a leopard. Here is some of the
information I provided in those articles:
"After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which
had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had
also four heads; and dominion was given to it."
(Daniel 7:6)
In the above verse, the fact that Greece is represented by a
leopard with four wings is very significant as it most
likely symbolizes the great speed with which Alexander the
Great, its greatest king, conquered the known world of his
day. According to the historical record, this young
conqueror's rise to power and rule over the Grecian Empire
only lasted about thirteen years, from approximately 336
B.C. to 323 B.C. At the height of his power, Alexander
suddenly seems to have lost the vision for any further
conquests, even though much of the world still lay before
him unconquered. It is said that he basically took off his
war boots and died a drunk at about the age of thirty-three.
His demise resulted in his empire being divided into four
smaller weaker kingdoms ruled by his key generals. This may
be represented by the four heads of the leopard in the above
verse.
Returning to the Book of Revelation, notice too that we are
told that the final Endtime Beast has 'the feet of a bear'.
Again we see a direct connection to the Daniel prophecies:
"And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it
raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the
mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto
it, Arise, devour much flesh." (Daniel 7:5)
The above verse is commonly interpreted as prophesying the
arrival of the Medo-Persian Empire on the stage of world
events. According to the historical record, the year 550
B.C. is established as the first year of the reign of Cyrus,
(Koresh in Hebrew, and Korrush in Persian), the son of
Cambyses, as king of the Persian Empire. Cyrus' mother,
Roxane, was daughter of Kiaksar, (also know as Astiak), the
king of the Medes. Some historians place the beginning of
Cyrus' reign as early as 558 B.C. The reason for this is
because it is believed that initially, in 558 B.C., Cyrus
was serving under his father as King of Anshan, a satellite
of Persia in what is today southwestern Iran. At the same
time, Cyrus' father, Cambyses, may have also been sharing
the throne with his father, Astyages. In 550 B.C., Cyrus
decided to invade the kingdom of his grandfather, Astyages.
The Medes helped him in this invasion hoping that he would
free them from Kiaksar's harsh rule. Cyrus killed his
grandfather and then continued ruling until about 529 B.C.
Thus, depending upon which date we accept, the duration of
Cyrus' reign was somewhere between twenty and thirty years.
While the Persian Empire had a whole line of kings, from
both a Biblical and a historical perspective, Cyrus is
probably the most well-known, and the most-loved. He is
mentioned extensively in the Old Testament due to the
important role he played in not only ending the Jews'
'Seventy Years of Captivity', but also in giving the order
to rebuild the Temple at Jerusalem. This is covered in more
detail in part four of this series entitled 'The Seven
Heads: His Deadly Wound Was Healed'.
On the Median side, Darius the Mede, (Dar`yavesh in Hebrew,
and Dariush or Dayara-Vahusha in Persian), was the son of
Aspadas, who ruled the Median Empire from about 585 B.C. to
550 B.C. In the Bible, the Hebrews called Aspadas, King
Ahasuerus. Ahasuerus holds Biblical fame as the husband king
of the young Jewess Queen Esther. Ahasuerus may have also
been known as Astyages, the very same family name as that of
Cyrus the Great. Some say that Astyages was actually the
name given to his son, Darius. King Ahasuerus was in turn
the son of Cyaxerxes. Thus, Darius the Mede, who took the
kingdom from Belshazzar in about the year 538 B.C., in the
Book of Daniel, was also known to the Greeks as Cyaxerxes
II, being named after his grandfather. At the time Darius
took over Babylon, the Median Empire had already become
subservient to the Persians under Cyrus the Great, also
known as Cyrus II, who had defeated Ahasuerus, the father of
Darius in 550 B.C. Thus, it appears that Darius was
temporarily appointed over Babylon for just a few years by
Cyrus.
What makes the history of the Medo-Persian Empire so
confusing is the fact that some of these kings were known by
different names by different cultures. To further add to the
confusion, as we have also seen, some of these Median and
Persian kings shared the same surname because of marriages
between their families. This is why it is said that Darius
was a distant cousin to Cyrus. It should also be pointed out
that there was more than one Darius. For example, Darius I,
also known as Darius the Great, the son of Hystaspes, became
the founder of the Perso-Arian dynasty in 521 B.C. According
to the Bible, we are told that Darius the Mede was sixty-two
years old when he took Babylon in 538 B.C.:
"And Darius the Median took the kingdom, being about
threescore and two years old." (Daniel 5:31)
The historical record states that Darius the Great was born
around the year 558 B.C., the very year that Cyrus the Great
began sharing the throne with his father. This means that
Darius the Great would have been twenty years old when
Darius the Mede overthrew Belshazzar at the age of
sixty-two. Clearly then, these are two separate persons.
According to my sources, there was also a Darius II, known
as Nothus, or Ochus, who is believed to have ruled Persia
during the time of Ezra and Nehemiah and some of the minor
Prophets such as Zechariah and Haggai. He reigned for about
nineteen years from 424 B.C. to 405 B.C. Finally, the Darius
who was defeated by Alexander the Great in about 330 B.C.,
was known as Darius III, or Codomannus.
Returning to our imagery of Daniel chapter seven, notice in
the above verse that the bear is raised up on one side. This
may be due to the fact that Persia was the stronger half of
this dual empire. The three ribs in the bear's mouth may
represent the first three kings of this empire; or they
could represent the three empires which had come and gone
before the arrival of the Medo-Persian Empire; that is,
Egypt, Assyria and Babylonia.
Another important link between Daniel's prophecies and the
Beast of the Book of Revelation can be found in the phrase
'and his mouth as the mouth of a lion'. Again we return to
my article 'The Kings Of The North And The South' to find
this confirmation:
"The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings: I beheld
till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up
from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a
man's heart was given to it." (Daniel 7:4)
In Daniel chapter four, we discover that the wings of the
lion being plucked represent King Nebuchadnezzar being
temporarily abased by God due to his failure to recognize
Him as the Supreme Sovereign who gives power to the kings of
the Earth. While it isn't recorded in secular history, the
Bible states that God ousted Nebuchadnezzar from his kingdom
for a period of seven years until a spirit of humility had
been restored to him. I discuss this topic in much more
detail in later articles included in this series. In the
book of Daniel we read:
"At the same time my reason returned unto me; and for the
glory of my kingdom, mine honour and brightness returned
unto me; and my counsellors and my lords sought unto me; and
I was established in my kingdom, and excellent majesty was
added unto me. Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and
honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and
his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able
to abase." (Daniel 4:36-37)
Nebuchadnezzar's reign lasted approximately forty-three
years from about 605 B.C. to 562 B.C. It was during his
reign that Jerusalem was invaded and the Temple of Solomon
destroyed. This is described in much more detail in some of
my other articles such as 'The Seventy Years Of Captivity:
Was It Fulfilled?'. As you will see, Daniel's prophecies
were in part a result of his own interest in the 'Seventy
Years' prophecy of Jeremiah, being as he himself was taken
captive during that same time, possibly in the days of King
Jehoiakim:
"In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the
seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm of the
Chaldeans; In the first year of his reign I Daniel
understood by books the number of the years, whereof the
word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would
accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem."
(Daniel 9:1-2)
It is right after this that Daniel confesses his own sins,
as well as the sins of his people, and pleads with the Lord
to show mercy to Jerusalem which has already been destroyed
by the forces of the winged lion, King Nebuchadnezzar. It is
towards the end of the same chapter that Daniel is given his
famous 'Seventy Weeks' prophecy which prophesied the coming
of the Messiah, and His subsequent Crucifixion by the Romans
along with other important events.
With this last comparison between the books of Daniel and
Revelation, we have now covered all five kings, or empires,
which had fallen by the time of Christ. For the sake of
brevity, I have not gone into great detail regarding each of
these empires. To do so would require many pages. However,
you will find additional information on this subject in the
fourth part of this series entitled 'The Seven Heads: His
Deadly Wound Was Healed'. After telling John that five kings
had already fallen, the angel then says '...and one is...'.
In other words, of the eight kings which are to rule over
the Middle East and have a direct influence on the nation of
Israel, the sixth one was currently in power at the time of
John's Revelation. Obviously, this was the Roman Empire. As
I reveal in 'The Kings Of The North And The South', Rome was
the fourth kingdom, or beast, predicted in the writings of
Daniel. This powerful empire was first symbolized by two
legs of iron in the great image seen by King Nebuchadnezzar
in Daniel chapter two. As you will also see in later
articles included in this series, this statue may have ties
to the Beast, and events yet to occur in these Last Days:
"His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay."
(Daniel 2:33)
While the Imperial Roman Empire initially found its seat of
authority in Rome, due in part to heavy influence from the
First Century Christian Church, it was later divided into
two powerbases; one in the East, and one in the West. The
eastern half became known as the Byzantine Empire, and was
founded by Emperor Constantine around 330 A.D. He ruled from
the ancient Greek city of Byzantium which he renamed
Constantinople. Today this ancient capital bears the name of
Istanbul, Turkey.
The western half of the empire continued to be ruled from
Rome which still retains the same name to this day. However,
as the Apostle Paul pointed out in his Epistle to the
Romans, Rome was full of pagan idol worship, hedonism and
general decadence, including widespread homosexuality and
lesbianism. Of course, we also know that until its
conversion, Rome was full of the blood and the bodies of the
Christian martyrs, thousands of which were buried in the
catacombs below the city streets. It is also interesting to
note that once Constantine 'Christianized' the empire with
the 'Edict of Milan', over the period of the next several
hundred years, the seat of power eventually returned to
Rome. Thus we see the birth of the Holy Roman Empire, of
which the Roman Catholic Church with its pope is the last
remaining vestige.
In the seventh chapter of his book, Daniel describes the
brutality and iron-fisted rule of the Roman Empire, again
confirming that it will be the fourth kingdom upon Earth.
Here we see it pictured as a merciless beast with great iron
teeth which devours everything in its path:
"After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth
beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it
had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and
stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse
from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten
horns." (Daniel 7:7)
"Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom
upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and
shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and
break it in pieces." (Daniel 7:23)
While the Roman Empire was indeed the fourth kingdom
described in the prophecies given to Daniel, as I have
already pointed out, counting from Egypt, we know that it
was in fact the sixth empire to rule the Middle East. It is
also interesting to note that it was because of Roman
persecution, which began with the Death of our Saviour, that
John found himself exiled to the isle of Patmos around the
approximate year of 90 A.D.:
"I John, who also am your brother, and companion in
tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus
Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the
word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ."
(Revelation 1:9)
Patmos is located in the Aegean Sea just off the coast of
what was then called Asia Minor. It was in and around Asia
Minor that Paul established most of the First Century
Churches before his execution in Rome some twenty-three
years before John received his Revelation. Today Asia Minor
is known as Turkey, while Patmos remains a part of the Greek
Archipelago. It was from Patmos that John wrote the letters
'to the seven churches which are in Asia' which begin the
Book of Revelation:
"John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto
you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which
is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his
throne;" (Revelation 1:4)
Thus, with these verses, we have now discussed the first six
kings, or heads, found on the Endtime Beast of Revelation
chapters thirteen and seventeen. To summarize, based on my
current understanding of world history and the Scriptures,
these six kings are Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia, Medo-Persia,
Greece and Rome. There are several more important links
between the books of Daniel and Revelation; however, because
they deal more with the Endtime, and not with ancient
history, they will be discussed in later parts of this
same series.
Before closing this article, allow me to state that, while a
few Bible students have tried to convince us that there is
no relationship between the writings of Daniel and John, in
order to support their own erroneous interpretations, in
light of the evidence I have presented here, I personally
feel that there is absolutely no way to overlook this unity
between the prophecies of Daniel and John. They fit together
like a glove on a hand. As a serious student of the Bible I
am convinced that the Word of God flows from one end to the
other in its predictions, and in the fulfillment of those
predictions. As the Lord said through the mouth of His
Prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel:
"Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there
is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring
the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the
things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall
stand, and I will do all my pleasure:" (Isaiah 46:9-10)
"And when this cometh to pass, (lo, it will come,) then
shall they know that a prophet hath been among them."
(Ezekiel 33:33)
In the second part of this series, I will be discussing the
phrase '...and the other is not yet come'. That article will
revolve around my speculations concerning the identity of
the seventh head. I'll see you there! I trust this article
has been instructive, and a blessing to many.
⇒ Go To The Next Part . . .