Sunday, February 27, 2011

New World Order – 2 – The Seven World Empires

The word of God has much to say about the concept of a New World Order (NWO)…. We will be studying the NWO and it’s Biblical implications in a four part series…

1.Part #1 – The NOW – What is it? – Will it take place?

2.Part #2 – Past attempts at forming a NWO by force (The 7 World Empires)

3.Part #3 -  Past attempts at forming a NWO by consensus (The Tower of Babel)

4.Part #4 -  The Future NWO – Is the Lord pleased?







THE SCRIPTURE:

 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. 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… And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. (Rev 13:1-8)

 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…I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns. 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. And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast… (Rev 17:3-14)

 And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. (Rev 19:19-20)

Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible. This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth... And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure… (Dan 2:31-46)

THE STUDY:

Throughout history there have been seven world empires that have sought, through the use of force, to overtake and rule all of the nations that were in existence in their day:

  1. Egypt

  2. Assyria

  3. Babylon

  4. Medo-Persia

  5. Greece

  6. Rome

  7. Includes a variety of world powers existing in the last days – (Germany, Italy, Russia, Japan etc.) that attempted to overtake world in WW1 and WW2.


 

In every case, their attempt to overtake the known world was unsuccessful due to divine intervention. 

This truth is presented in the prophecy of Revelation 13:+17:+19:  In these verses, a beast with 7 heads is described.  The 7 heads represent the 7 world empires;  while the 10 horns on the 7th head represents the 7th world empire being made up of a varied group of nations. see Rev 17:9-12.  The end of this beast is made plain in Rev 19:19-20.  It will be cast in to the Lake of Fire, picturing the Lord’s defeat of all these national empires.

Likewise Daniel 2:, Nebuchadnezzar’s dream revealed an image that represented the world empires that would exist from Daniel’s day forward into the future (Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, and the world powers of the latter days.)  These were pictures by the gold, silver, brass, iron, and iron and clay parts of the image.  Once again, the end of these powers was clearly presented by the stone (Christ) culminating the destruction of the image.

The Bible gives us accounts and prophesies of divine intervention that proves the Lord’s control over the world empires.  These accounts are limited to the empires that fell during the periods in which the Old and New Testaments were written….

  1. Egypt – Exo 14:21-31 – Egyptian army drowning in Red Sea.

  2. Assyria – 2 Kings 19:35-37 – Angel of the Lord defeating Assyrian army at night

  3. Babylon – Dan 5:25-31 – Defeat of Babylon by Lord through use of Darius the Median

  4. Medo-Persia – Dan 8:2-8, 8:20-21 – Prophecy of defeat of Persia by the Greek Empire

  5. Greece – the fall of the Greek empire took place during the silent years of 400-0 BC.

  6. Rome – fell after the New Testament writings were completed and Divine revelation brought to an end.


 

In every case, these empires wanted to control the wealth and military power of each of these individual nations.  In each case, the Lord said “No’ and acted on behalf of his people, stopping the world wide takeover through His personal intervention or the use of other nations. 

THE PRACTICAL APPLICATION

For the Christian….

The truth that the Lord is sovereign over all nations cannot be denied.  From the title of “King of Kings” and “Lord of Lords” to the many verses describing His sovereignty (Dan 4:34-37, Isa 40:15-17, Jer 10:10, 1 Tim 6:14-16, Rev 19:15-16) the Bible is filled with references to this truth.

We have every reason to praise and honor our Lord based upon His strength and Lordship over all.  (Psa 150:1-2)  It is because of this truth, that we can find peace and rest in the midst of a tumultuous world.  When we see Iran working to create a nuclear arsenal, terrorist threatening our country on almost a daily basis, and China growing economically and militarily, we can still trust in the fact that He is in control. 

Even as we see the world rushing to form new alliances that will involve a unified monetary/economic system, a lessened military defense for our country, and loss of national sovereignty, we can rest assured that the Lord is in control.  None of these events will take place apart from His hand of protection and allowance allowing these things to take place.

While we can freely worship and proclaim His Word, let us increase our efforts to reach the lost around us with His message of salvation by grace.

For those who have never trusted in Christ…

The events leading up to the establishment of a NWO should be a warning to all of the closeness of the Lord’s coming and the end of the world.  To date, every attempt to unite the world by force was stopped by the Lord but, someday, world unity will come into existence.  Our time of national freedom is perhaps coming to a close.  The freedom to proclaim the message of God’s grace and the freedom to worship Him is still with us.  Now is the time for you to consider your eternal destiny while the truth is being proclaimed publically and you have the opportunity to worship freely.

The Lord gives us clear teaching on the way of salvation:

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.  (Joh 14:6)

Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. (Act 4:10-12)

For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: (1Pe 3:18)

Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.  (Rom 5:1-2)

Turn from your sins and come before the Lord, and trust only in Him for your salvation.   

If you would like further information about salvation please refer to the page on my blog entitled “How to have a relationship with God”.

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To see this lesson taught on video please go to my Video Blog at  http://www.youtube.com/settledinheaven

If you have any questions concerning this blog, or if you have a subject you would like discussed, please feel free to email me at settledinheaven@gmail.com.    I will answer all emails via my blog, email, or both.

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May the Lord bless your study of His Word.  Like God’s Word… may your soul’s salvation and your life’s faithfulness be “Settled in Heaven.”

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