Babylon Uncovered is dedicated to the proclamations of the books of Daniel and Revelation. These apocalyptic prophecies are largely ignored or misunderstood by Christians today. The classic Reformers perceived correctly that Catholicism was the Anti-Christ, a view now abandoned. Using the historicist methold of interpretation favored by the Reformers, it can be shown that Daniel and Revelation contain final warnings about the time of the end. Apostate Christianity (Babylon) will soon attempt to force the consciences of every person on planet Earth to worship the Sea Beast of Rev. 13 (papal Rome). The power to enforce such worship will come from the Land Beast of Rev. 13 (apostate Protestantism). Rev. 18:4 contains God’s loving plea to his people in Babylon, “Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive of any of her plagues” (NIV).
In Daniel 2, Nebuchadnezzar’s dream is interpreted by Daniel as a succession of empires. However, within only a short time, the king reveals his rejection of Daniel’s interpretation. In Daniel 3, the king sets up a golden image for his administrators to worship, as though Babylon would last forever.
But the king’s pride and arrogance catch up with him. He learns the hard way that God sets up kings and brings them down, according to His will. (The king goes insane for seven years.)
Daniel himself has a vision that parallels the king’s dream of the large statue. This new vision in Daniel 7 features a useful interpretive pattern for the book of Daniel.
The interpretive principle is known as repetition and enlargement. Here’s how this pattern works: whereas Nebuchadnezzar saw representations of kingdoms as metals of descending value, but greater strength, Daniel sees in his vision the same kingdoms represented, not as metals, but as predatory animals. Both visions end at the second coming of Christ.
These two dreams are fundamentally the same in meaning, except that Daniel’s vision provides much more information about each kingdom than did Nebuchadnezzar’s, especially about the last kingdom.
We see repetition and enlargement in the book of Revelation, as well, with a number of scenes ending at the second coming of Christ. The Trumpets and the Seals cover different aspects of time from John’s day to the second coming. Daniel and Revelation begin in each author’s present and end in the same final events. This principle is of the utmost importance for understanding both Daniel and Revelation.
In Daniel’s vision in chapter 7, he sees the four winds of heaven stirring up the Great Sea, from which emerge four beasts of prey, one after the other. The first beast is like a lion, but has the wings of an eagle.
The second beast is like a bear, raised on one side, with three ribs in its mouth. The third beast is like a leopard, with four wings and four heads. A simple study of the animals reveals that they obviously represent Babylon, Medo-Persia, and Greece, just as in Nebuchadnezzar’s vision in chapter 2.
The king sees legs of iron, and iron mixed with clay, representing a more complex and distinctive kingdom compared to the previous kingdoms, and is identified as Rome, not by Daniel, but by Jesus in Matthew 24:15. The fourth kingdom is represented by no known beast, but by a mythical animal like a dragon or other fearsome monster.
Following the principle of interpretation discussed above, we learn more information about the fourth beast, or Rome, than we learned in Daniel 2. An even stronger case is made for Rome as the fourth beast. Much more identifying information is added.
Daniel’s vision of the fourth kingdom emphasizes the dreadfulness and horror of this beast, suggesting a level of cruelty and terror beyond the previous kingdoms. Just as no lion, bear, or leopard could successfully battle a large “dragon,” so too is the might of Rome as compared to Babylon, Medo-Persia, and Greece.
Historically, this is accurate. Also, it is clear that this terrible beast, just as in Daniel 2, will last until the end of time, destroyed at the second coming of Christ. We learn in Daniel 2 and 7 that the fourth beast is quite different from the other beasts. There is no historical precedent for an empire changing so dramatically from a secular power (pagan Rome) to spiritual power (papal Rome).
Daniel 7 helps us understand the ten toes as also ten horns, or powers, that emerge from the fourth kingdom. Again, historically true. Ten barbaric tribes replaced pagan Rome. But even more information is added. Another horn emerges, a “little horn,” that destroys three of the previous ten horns.
History supports this description. The Heruli, the Vandals, and the Ostrogoths were all defeated by 538 A. D., allowing the papal phase of Rome to emerge triumphant in the place of pagan Rome, which ended in 476 A. D.
According to the Bible, the Roman Church will in the time of the end seek to create a grand coalition of ecumenical religious and civil powers that will attempt to control the consciences of God’s people and destroy them, if possible, because God’s people will refuse to acknowledge the authority of Babylon. They will refuse to worship the image of the beast.
The fourth kingdom on earth, Rome, will persist without pause from its inception as an empire to the second coming of Christ. Pagan Rome and papal Rome are simply variations of the central concept of Rome, the so-called urbs aeterna, or eternal city.
(This nickname for Rome was first used by the poet Tibullus just prior to the birth of Christ. The fact that the name is still used is further evidence of the continuation of Rome as the antichrist power until the very end.)
What we see today in papal Rome is a deceptive version of Christianity that has crushed its enemies over many centuries, and will again seek to dominate the entire world, not militarily, but spiritually. The Bible clearly warns us about what will soon happen. I urge you to come out of Babylon.