Seven Empires |
The Seven-Headed Dragon |
REVELATION 12 |
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The sign of the great red dragon of Revelation 12 confirms the verdict that Islam is the final human empire in the divine plan. The seven-headed dragon is explicitly named as Satan, portrayed in other biblical passages as a ruling prince. The book of Job describes Satan as a prosecuting attorney who doggedly pleads against faithful servants of God. Righteous Job was vulnerable to the ambition of this sinister official of the heavenly Court. In Revelation 12 seven crowned heads are a sign of ruling might. |
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Satan is a behind-the-scenes mover and shaker of empires, but he remains a second-rate authority under God, comparably far less than wicked Haman under the Persian king, the husband of Queen Esther of the Bible (map 10). Still, the dragon retains authority for a certain amount of time, symbolized by the seven crowns. A staggering picture unfolds as we review all the historical maps of this site. Seven corresponding civilizations have dominated the Promised Land and the biblical world since the days of Abraham, the "Father of the Faithful." Not one of the seven cultures ruled with divine perfection, even in its finest hour. Each exalted the pomp of this created world, though they alleged the favor of the gods (maps 2-19) or God (maps 20-34). The difference in the glory of these seven and the coming Kingdom of God is far beyond the difference in glory between a candle and the sun. In the day of God's Kingdom the brilliant radiance of His grandeur will make Man's little flame imperceptible. The seven empires have fallen far short of God's magnificence in the same manner as their shadowy prince, Satan. |
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Revelation
12 also portrays a symbolic Woman clothed with the sun, standing on the moon
and crowned with twelve stars, who is persecuted by the seven-headed dragon.
The sun, moon and stars are found in Joseph's dream in Genesis 37:9-11 and
represent the family of The Woman is
persecuted by Satan because of obedience to God. Certainly all seven empires
have persecuted |
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Another beast in Revelation 17 adds more color to this picture. This animal with seven heads betrays an identical nature as the dragon. We are also told the heads represent seven mountains and seven kings, five kings had fallen, one was, and one was yet to come. We have already seen that heads can represent empires in biblical prophecy, the head of gold of the image was Nebuchadnezzar's Babylonian Kingdom. In that same passage a mountain also represented an empire, the Stone that smashed the feet and toes became a great mountain, the Kingdom of God. Then Daniel 7:17,23 tell us kings are interchangeable with kingdoms, the four beasts that arise from the sea are four kings, but the fourth beast is a fourth kingdom. So the seven heads, mountains and kings might easily symbolize seven empires. Biederwolf's study of biblical prophecy, The Second Coming Bible, lists several scholars on page 671 who believe this imagery does indeed speak of seven biblical empires. At the time Revelation was recorded at the end of the first century five kingdoms had fallen, one was, and one was yet to come. The Roman Empire governed in the days Revelation was given (sometime between maps 17 and 18). But that empire fell and Islam arose. God appointed
the Egyptian, Assyrian, Babylonian, Medo-Persian, Greek,
Roman and Islamic Empires to expose Man's competence to rule. In all their
forms they prove human inability to meet divine standards. These seven
empires also stand in for all civilizations which have ever appeared on the
face of the earth. None are better, some are worse. They also verify God's
patience before He subjects all creation to His righteousness through His
chosen King, His Messiah. A cataclysmic battle of cosmic proportions will
dethrone the dragon. His seventh dark empire will be consumed by God's
Kingdom and forgotten. |
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