By Garner Ted Armstrong
The Bible describes something as miry clay, mixed with iron. But iron and clay don’t mix! The prophecies describe ten-nations which will be unified together, but only for a short time. What is the unifying agent which will bring that about? For numerous reasons, many expert observers believe Europe will never become a completely cohesive entity. Those reasons include language barriers, cultural identities, historical disagreements and long-standing animosities. Nevertheless, there are as yet unfulfilled CORROBORATING prophecies which predict a cohesive combine of nations described as TEN KINGS which will play a critical role in a tumultuous culmination of end time events.
“Surely the Lord Eternal will do nothing, but He revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7). The prophet Daniel said, “He [God] revealeth the deep and secret things: He knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with Him…there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets…” (Daniel 2:22-28).
The secret of which Daniel spoke was the interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s famous dream, in which he saw a monstrous image. Read the entire second chapter of Daniel to refresh your memory concerning this great event. Daniel showed that the head of gold of the great image Nebuchadnezzar had seen represented Nebuchadnezzar himself and his Babylonian kingdom. Thus it was revealed in the interpretation of this prophecy that king and kingdom are synonymous. Quickly following, Daniel revealed that the four successive world-ruling Gentile empires would consist of Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greco-Macedonia, and finally, the Roman Empire.
The Roman Empire was described as “…the fourth kingdom [which would be] strong as iron…and whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potter’s clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.
And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken [margin: weak]” (Daniel 2:41-42). Some have imagined that the miry clay of Daniel’s vision (chapter 7) which seems to weld the ten toes of the great image together, represent a sticky, bituminous substance, which, even though it is obviously not mixed with iron, is used as a weak bonding agent of some kind, which at least effects a weak union for a time.
Daniel’s vision shows that although the hardness of iron is present in the ten governments represented by the toes; there is also the weakness of clay. The bonding agent which will hold the entire system of the future ten-nation central government in Europe together is religion!
The proofs concerning the identity of the world-ruling empires depicted by the fabled image of Nebudchadnezzar (Daniel 2) are too numerous to mention. Most Bible commentaries include ample references to historical sources correctly identifying the kingdoms of Babylon (the head of gold), Persia (the chest of silver), Graeco-Macedonia (the belly and thighs of brass), and Rome (the feet and toes of miry clay and iron). That Daniel could have successfully predicted the rise and fall of all these kingdoms, including the successive resurrections of the same system (the Roman Empire) down through the centuries, is one of the great testimonies to the inspiration of scriptures; the accuracy of God’s Word.
Today, millions of amateur theologians muse about the “beast,” leap to incredible, fantastic conclusions based on whimsical theories. Some think the beast is the United States. Some claim it is the Catholic Church. Some think it is a group of Jewish money-lenders involved in a vast conspiracy. Opinions and theories are rife, as Christ predicted they would be. “Many shall come in my name, saying I am Christ [not necessarily that they are Christ, but that HE is Christ! “Preaching Christ!”] and shall deceive many!”
But the identity of the beast has never changed. The culmination of the ancient kingdoms was Rome. Its many revivals down through history are documented. A weak revival of the “Holy Roman Empire,” embodying the same races of the heartland of Europe as the days of the Hapsburgs and Otto the Great, occurred during World War II, under Adolph Hitler and Benito Mussolini, who declared the central European alliance the Holy Roman Empire.
The second beast of Revelation 13 is “lamblike,” that is, it masquerades as a Christ-like organization, yet “spoke as a dragon,” that is, like Satan!
Bullinger’s Companion Bible includes a comparison between Christ’s Olivet Prophecy and the seven seals of Revelation. It can be proved conclusively that the “four horsemen of the Apocalypse” represent the progressively worsening human condition predicted by Christ in Matthew 24. The white horse indicates false christs, false prophets; the rise of the final “false prophet” (11 Thess. 2) who will have the power to perform miracles; “sit in the temple of God, shewing that he is god,” and cause millions to “worship the beast and his image.” In other words, the white horse of the first seal means the unveiling of the false prophet and antichrist, at the head of the “Image of the Beast” (the Babylonish mystery religion) in the time just prior to the Great Tribulation.
The red horse is synonymous with Christ’s predictions of “wars and rumors of wars,” of the Olivet prophecy. Bullinger correctly shows the exact parallels between the two prophecies; that the gray horse depicts famine, and the black horse death. Christ looked beyond His time into ours; foretold the future, the time in which we live; the times just ahead of us!
John saw, in vision, a great harlot astride a many-headed beast. Christ’s prophecies, together with those of Daniel and Revelation, leave no doubt as to the identity of this church-state system. Notice, “And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgement of the GREAT WHORE that sitteth upon many waters:
“With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
“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.
“And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
“And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH” (Rev. 17:1-5).
The woman is a great, universal, false church! She “sits on” a “beast,” meaning she holds sway and influence over the ten-nation union in central Europe. She CONTROLS the beast!
Clearly, the ten nations exist at the very last days of man’s governments on this earth, just PRIOR to the Second Coming of Christ! Notice, “And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings [absolute autocratic power] one hour [a very short time in prophecy] with the beast.
“These have one mind [one policy; one purpose on which they are in complete agreement], and shall give their power and strength unto the beast [they will pool their national economies, raw materials, industry, and their military into one].
“These shall make war with the Lamb [they will assay to FIGHT CHRIST at His second coming the time setting of this prophecy is impossible to ignore], and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful” (Revelation 17:12-14).
Remember, at the return of Christ, the Beast power, which will then be ensconced in Jerusalem, together with the great “false prophet” who is the ANTICHRIST, will attempt to FIGHT CHRIST!
This is an exact parallel of Daniel 2:44, and preceding verses, where God says the symbolic STONE (Christ) that is seen coming down from heaven like a meteor, smashes the ten toes of the great image. The image represents all the Gentile world-ruling kingdoms from the time of ancient Babylon down to the time of our modern age, the ten toes representing the ten kings (nations) of Revelation 17.
That great false church which has concourse with national governments is identified again in Isaiah 47. Notice it, “Sit thou silent, and get thee into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called, the lady of kingdoms.
“I was wroth with my people, I have polluted mine inheritance, and given them into thine hand: thou didst shew them no mercy; UPON THE ANCIENT HAST THOU VERY HEAVILY LAID THY YOKE.
“And thou saidst, I shall be a lady for ever: so that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart, neither didst remember the latter end of it.
“Therefore hear now this, thou that art given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children:
“But these two things shall come to thee in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood: they shall come upon thee in their perfection for the multitude of thy sorceries, and for the great abundance of thine enchantments.
“For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness: thou hast said, None seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee; and thou hast said in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me.
“Therefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shalt not know from whence it riseth: and mischief shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put it off: and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know” (Isaiah 47:5-11).
Notice that it is the great false church, under the FALSE PROPHET, who is the antichrist, that CONTROLS the ten-nation combine that is to PUNISH our peoples!
God commands, “Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord” (Isaiah 55:6-8).
Jesus Christ commanded, “REPENT, and believe the Gospel!” On the day of Pentecost, Peter cried out, “REPENT, and be baptized, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit!”
To those who heed God’s commands; who accept the invitation of Jesus Christ, God says, “Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I will also keep thee from the HOUR OF TRIAL [GREAT TRIBULATION], which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth” (Revelation 3:10).
Thanks be to God for His TRUTH; for an understanding of prophecy: for His calling to be a PART OF THE WORK OF HIS WATCHMEN, preaching witness and WARNING to a sin-sick, dying world! May God give you the personal conviction to act on what you know.
