Countdown to His Coming Part 1
Bob Yandian
There is a knowing, a sense throughout the Body of Christ, that Jesus is coming back very soon. Each day, events in the world point to only one conclusion: Bible prophecies are coming to pass all around us, and we are definitely in the last of the “last days.”
The purpose of the article is not to pinpoint dates or even a certain year when specific yet unfulfilled prophetic events will happen. It is to show you from the Scriptures what to generally expect to happen in the coming years. It will give the scriptural background for the world conditions of our day.
Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream
Daniel 2
vs. 31 ““You, O king, were watching; and behold, a great image! This great image, whose splendor was excellent, stood before you; and its form was awesome.”
vs. 32 “ This image’s head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze,”
vs. 33 “its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay.”
vs. 34 “You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces.”
vs. 35 “Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.”
This passage of Scripture is Daniel’s interpretation of a dream the Lord gave to Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon. The King saw a large image of a man, whose body was divided into parts made up of different substances. Daniel interpreted each part of the image to represent one of the major world empires to come. Two empires, Egypt and Assyria, had already declined by the time of the King’s dream; therefore, they were not included. In King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, five world empires were seen, beginning with his own kingdom. The dream ends with the coming of the eternal kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, described in verse 35 above.
The Image of the Large Man
Daniel 2
vs. 38 “Thou (Nebuchadnezzar) art this head of gold,”
The head of gold represented the Babylonian Empire, which was holding Judah, the southern kingdom of Israel, in captivity at that time. Daniel himself was one of the captives.
The kingdoms which would follow the Babylonian Empire, depicted as different metals, were seen in descending power.
vs. 39 “But after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours; then another, a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth.”
vs. 40 “And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, in as much as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything; and like iron that crushes, that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all the others.”
The chest of silver was the coming kingdom of the Persians, which would appear later in chapter five of the Book of Daniel. The Persian Empire would be instrumental in returning the Jews to Israel.
The belly and thighs of brass were the Greek Empire under Alexander the Great. This empire would develop and teach the whole known world the Greek language. This common language would give all nations the ability to read the New Testament when it was written.
The iron legs are the longest part of the body, and they represented the Roman Empire, which lasted almost one thousand years. It is this iron kingdom which would see the birth, earthly life and ministry, death, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Roman Empire would be the last kingdom to hold Israel captive, and it would also torment, persecute, and kill both Jews and Christians before its downfall.
Once Jesus rose from the dead and the Church began at Pentecost, world empires, or governments which controlled the entire known world of their time would cease to exist. King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream makes it clear that as long as the Church is on the earth, no natural kingdom can rule the entire earth. However, once the Church has been removed, the iron empire will arise again in a different form
vs. 41 “Whereas you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; yet the strength of the iron shall be in it, just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay.”
vs. 42 “And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile.”
vs. 43 “As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay.”
The feet of iron and clay represent a revived version of the former Roman Empire which will come after the Church Age. This last world empire, like the feet in the dream, will be the shortest kingdom of all and the most unstable. Its control of the rest of the world will be far less powerful, but its leader will be more wicked and ruthless than any leader in history – Satan’s man, the antichrist.
vs. 44 “And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.”
vs. 45 “In as much as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold—the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure.””
Once the Church is gone, the earth will return back to Jewish time for seven more years, known as the Great Tribulation. Time will take up where it left off before the Church Age began at Pentecost, as the feet of iron and clay in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, the revived Roman Empire, will rise up as a world power and again control Israel. Once more, that empire will attempt to destroy Jerusalem and the Jewish people.
The small stone at the end of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, which represents the Lord Jesus Christ, will keep Israel from being destroyed. Jesus, Himself, the small stone cut out without hands (virgin born), will strike the fragile feet of the revived Roman Empire, led by the antichrist. The entire image will come crashing down, which signifies that all world empires will come to an end forever.
Then, as the image crumbles to the ground, the small stone will grow into a mountain and fill the whole earth. “The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever” (Revelation 11:15). The millennium, the one-thousand-year reign of Jesus Christ, will then begin.
How New is the New Age?
Every world empire in history had a religion, and the last kingdom of iron and clay, the revived Roman f Empire, will also have a religion. It will consist of all religions from all of the empires that came before it. These include both the five empires depicted in King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, plus the Egyptian and Assyrian empires which preceded them, which is a total of seven kingdoms.
John writes of this in Revelation 17, when he saw a woman, a prostitute, sitting on a beast with seven heads. The woman represents the religion of the last empire, revived Rome, and the seven heads represent the seven world empires which existed before the eternal reign of the Lord Jesus.
Revelation 17
vs. 9 “…The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits.”
vs. 10 “There are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come. And when he comes, he must continue a short time.”
The seven heads are seven mountains (world empires), on which the woman sits (draws power). And there are seven kings: five are fallen (Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia and Greece), and one is (Rome), and the other is not yet come (revived Rome); and when he (antichrist) cometh, he must continue a short space (seven years).
Each world empire dominated and controlled Israel for a time. Each one of their religions was Satan’s attempt to counterfeit Christianity, gaining false authority and power over people through mysticism, spiritism, and even witchcraft. The last world religion is in the earth right now. It is the religion of the New Age
Revelation 17:3 says this woman is “full ofnames of blasphemies.” The blasphemies of the New Age combine all deities and religions into one final mockery of the righteousness of God by Satan. Which brings us to the question, why does the Holy Spirit use a prostitute to represent false religion?
A prostitute is the counterfeit of a wife. She provides the sexual act of marriage without love, fidelity, or honor. In other words, there is no commitment with a prostitute, just the exchange of money. There is also a lack of fulfillment and peace, which only comes with marriage.
The New Age gives the ritual of religion and supernatural experience without a personal relationship with God, which can only come through the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no call to sanctification and no peace or fulfillment. Furthermore, just as the prostitute drains her victims of prosperity, leaving them destitute, so will the New Age religion rob the people of their wealth and goods (Revelation 17:4).
How new is the New Age? It is as new as Satan’s intervention into the events of man in the Garden of Eden. Facets of this religion have been around as long as world empires have existed. The New Age movement today incorporates all of the deities and religious practices of the Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, and Romans.
The little stone which will cause the image to topple will also bring to an end all false religion in the earth. The New Age Movement will be short-lived as the Son of God takes His rightful throne on the earth. Jesus will not only set up his eternal kingdom, but He will be worshiped as the true and living God forever.
