orld history from ancient to modern times has been portrayed in biblical symbolism. How? Four, ferocious, wild beasts. They would rule the world for (seven) "times of the gentiles" (Luke 21:24) or 2520 years (7 x 360). God says, "I will chastise you (Israelites) SEVEN TIMES for your sins" (Lev. 26:28). Who were these beasts? What was foretold about them and how was it fulfilled?

BABYLON (745-538 B.C.): "The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings; I beheld till its wings were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man; and a man's heart was given to it" (Dan. 7:4). "Thou (Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon) art this head of gold" (Dan. 2:38). NEBUCHADNEZZAR is actually called a "LION" in Jeremiah 4:7 when compared with 25:9. The eagle's wings typify "SWIFTER than EAGLES" (Jer. 4:13). Chaldeans "shall fly like the EAGLE that HASTETH to eat" (Hab. 1:8).

MEDO-PERSIA (538-331 B.C.): "And behold, another beast, a second, like a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had THREE RIBS in the mouth of it between its teeth; and they said unto it, Arise, devour much flesh" (Dan. 7:5). Cyrus the Persian conquered Babylon in 538 B.C. and then probably appointed Darius the Mede king (Dan. 5:31; 9:1). Just as the ram pushed west, north and south (Dan. 8:4) so BABYLON, LYDIA and EGYPT were the three empires conquered or the THREE RIBS in the bear's mouth. Notice that the breast and TWO "arms of silver" (Dan. 2:32) correspond to the "ram which had TWO horns" (Dan. 8:3,20) and to the TWO sides of the BEAR. They typify the "Medes and Persians" (Dan. 5:28). The BEAR "raised up ... on one side" (Dan. 7:5) corresponds to the "higher (horn which) came up last" (Dan. 8:3). Persia was a younger nation than Media but more prominent than Media. At the Battle of Arbela in 331 B.C., Alexander the Great conquered Medo-Persia.

GREECE (331-63 B.C.): "After this I beheld, and, lo, another, like a leopard, which had upon its back four wings of a fowl; the beast had also FOUR HEADS, and dominion was given to it" (Dan. 7:6). When the he-goat's "notable horn" (Dan. 8:5) -- Alexander the Great -- died in 323 B.C. at the age of 33 from drinking too much alcohol, his four generals, CASSANDER (Macedonia), LYSIMACHUS (Thrace), SELEUCHUS NICATOR (Syria) and PTOLEMY (Egypt) took over the empire and divided it into four parts. "The first king ... being broken ... four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation" (Dan. 8:21-22). The "little horn" is the Greek Orthodox Church (although Antiochus Epiphanes was also a fulfillment and type of the antichrist). Greece had conquered the world in only 13 years, hence the wings of swiftness on a swift leopard. But like the belly and thighs of brass, Greece was pre-occupied in food, trink and sex. The Roman Pompey captured Syria in 63 B.C.

ROME (PAGAN) (63 B.C.-476 A.D.): "A fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly ... had great iron teeth (cp. "legs of iron" -- Dan. 2:33); it devoured and broke in pieces, and stamped the residue with its feet; and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it, and it had TEN HORNS" (Dan. 7:7). Revelation 12:3 defines this beast as a "great RED DRAGON ... having TEN HORNS." The fourth beast must be the RED DRAGON because both have TEN HORNS. By 46 B.C. Julius Caesar ruled the Roman world. Rome was in fact the fourth empire and it was also the DRAGON which tried to "devour her (Christ) child" (12:4). first using Herod in the reign of Augustus Caesar and second using Pilate in the reign of Tiberius. The TEN HORNS (Dan. 7:7) or TEN TOES (Dan. 2:41) were the TEN KINGDOMS that Rome was divided into after 476 A.D. Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Vandals, Sueves, Franks, Burgundians, Heruli, Huns, Lombards and Anglo-Saxons. TWO LEGS of iron illustrate the division of the empire by Diocletian in 292 A.D. with capitals at ROME and CONSTANTINOPE (Byzantium). This beast "was, and is not, and yet is" (Rev. 17:8). It "was" pagan Rome, destroyed in 476 A.D. so "is not", then "is" resurrected as "Holy Roman Empires." Constantinople fell to the Turks in 1453 A.D. The dragon's "nails (#2953 "tephar") of brass" (7:19) are defined as "nails (#2953 "tephar") like birds' claws" (4:33) which is why this dragon must have bird claws.

ROME (PAPAL) (554-1814 A.D.): The Imperial Restoration of the empire by Justinian came in 554 A.D. He recognized the supremacy of the pope and submitted to him. The seven heads of the dragon in Revelation 12:3 are the same as the seven heads of the beast ridden by the woman in 17:3. All are therefore "seven mountains on which the woman sitteth" (Rev. 17:9) or seven successive "Holy Roman Empires." (Justinian 527-565, Charlemagne 800-814, Otto the Great 962-973, Frederick Barbarossa 1152-1190, Charles V 1520-1556, Louis XIV 1661-1715 and Napoleon 1804-1814.) From 554 to 1814 these "holy Roman emperors" ruled for 1260 years (Dan. 7:25; Rev. 12:6; 13:5). In 257 A.D. Cyprian first expressed the idea of salvation depending upon acceptance of Roman doctrine. Then 1260 years later Luther nailed his 95 theses to the Wittemberg Church door in 1517 A.D. Also, in 533 A.D. Justinian decreed the Roman bishop pre-eminent. Then 1260 years later in 1793 the French Revolution occurred and the Roman Catholic religion was abolished in France. In 538 A.D. Justinian united church and state. Then 1260 years later in 1798, Napoleon's General Berthier took Rome and imprisoned Pope Pius VI. In 596 A.D., a Benedictine monk "St. Augustine" came from Rome and landed at Thanet in England. He converted the English King Ethelbert, baptising him with 10,000 of his English subjects in the river Swale. Then 1260 years later in 1856 A.D., and from that time onward, Bible revivals spread across Britain and America. In 606 A.D. Constantinople's emperor Phocas decreed Roman pope Boniface III head of all Christian churches (confirmed by two Latin historians: Paulus Diaconus and Anastasius). In 610 A.D. Phocas was "taken out of the way" (died) (2 Thess. 2). Then 1260 years later in 1866 Garibaldi overthrew the Papal States in stages: Venetia fell in 1866 and Tuscany in 1870. This woman (church -- Eph. 5:23) is "full of names of blasphemy" ("Holy Reverend Father," "Vicar of Christ," "Infallible," "Mother of God") and "arrayed in purple and scarlet" (Roman bishops wear purple; cardinals wear scarlet), "having a golden cup in her hand" (Babylonian doctrines -- Jer. 51:7), "full of abominations" (idolatry -- Isa. 44:19). She is "the eighth (form of government -- papacy), and is of the seven (forms of government: kings, consuls, dictators, decimvirs, military tribunes, military emperors and despotic emperors)" (Rev. 17:11).

WORLD GOVERNMENT (Gentile) (604 B.C.-1917 A.D.): "And I stood upon the sand of the (Mediterranean) Sea and saw a beast (kingdom -- Dan. 7:17,23) rise up out of the sea ("peoples ... nations" -- Rev. 17:15), having seven heads (Babylonian lion, Medo-Persian bear, Greek leopard with four heads and Roman dragon) and ten horns (kings -- Dan. 7:24) (on the dragon's head -- Rev. 12:3) (After 476 A.D. the Western half of the Roman Empire was divided into ten groups: Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Vandals, Sueves, Franks, Burgundians, Heruli, Huns, Lombards and Anglo-Saxons.) ... And the beast ... was like a leopard, and his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion, and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat (throne) and his great authority. And I saw one of his heads as though it were wounded to death (Heruli king Odoacer deposed Romulus Augustulus -- the Roman head -- on 22nd August, 476 A.D.) and his deadly wound was healed (Justinian's Imperial Restoration in 554 A.D.) ... and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months" (after the wound was healed: 554-1814 A.D.) (Rev. 13:1-5). In 496 A.D. Clovis, King of France, subjected his sovereignty to the Bishop of Rome; and his example was followed by the rest of the ten kingdoms. By the decree of Justinian (533 A.D.) and the decree of Phocas (606 A.D.), the Bishop of Rome became universal pope with "great authority." Popes wore the tiara (triple crown)as well as the mitre. They were emperors as well as bishops. But the total existence of this mixed beast was for "SEVEN TIMES" (Lev. 26:28) "of the gentiles" (Luke 21:24). (7 x 360 = 2520 years.). "Mene (1000 gerahs), Mene (1000 gerahs), Tekel (or Shekel -- 20 gerahs -- Ex. 30:13; Num. 3:47), Upharsin (or Peres's -- 500 gerahs)" (Dan. 5:25) is 2520 gerahs. "Let seven times pass over him" (Dan. 4:16) -- Nebuchadnezzar -- whose statue of himself personified all four gentile empires. In 604 B.C. the seven "TIMES of the Gentiles" began. Ferocious, merciless, aggressive gentile empires began to rule the world for 2520 years (Dan. 4:32; 7:17; Luke 21:24) after Israel was taken captive. Nebuchadnezzar was crowned king of Babylon. Babylon (the lion) lasted from 604 to 538 B.C. Then Medo-Persia (the bear) from 538 to 331 B.C., then Greece (the leopard) from 331 to 63 B.C., then Pagan Rome (the dragon) from 63 B.C. to 476 A.D., then Papal Rome (the dragon ridden by the harlot) from 554 to 1814 A.D. By the end of the First World War (1917 to 1918 A.D.) these same gentile empires were all devastated and fell: Germany, Austro-Hungary, Turkey, Russia and Italy. This Babylonian image had been smitten by the British Empire and the United States who together formed that "STONE" that "became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth" (Dan. 2:35). This "STONE" kingdom is revealed in other "SEVEN TIMES" intervals also. In 745 B.C. Tiglath-Pileser forced Menahem to pay tribute (2 Ki. 15:10-20). Then 2520 years later in 1776 A.D. Americans no longer paid tribute. In 742 B.C. Tiglath Pileser invaded Israel in Pekah's reign (2 Ki. 15:20) and took two-and-a-half tribes away (1 Chr. 5:26). Then 2520 years later in 1781 A.D. the thirteen colonies were united by the ratification of the U.S. Constitution. From 721 to 718 B.C. Shalmaneser beseiged Samaria three years in the reign of Hoshea (2 Ki. 17:3-5) and took the land of Israel. Adding 2520 years we arrive at 1800-1803 A.D. Spain gave France the Louisiana territory in 1800 A.D. Thomas Jefferson purchased it from Napoleon in 1803. The year 1800 A.D. was also when England, Scotland and Ireland united to become "Great Britain." These Ephraimites and Judahites had been divided in 721 B.C. In 677 B.C. Esar-Haddon invaded the remnant of Israel as well as Judah (2 Chr. 33:11) and replaced them with Samaritans (2 Ki. 17:24; Ezra 4:2). Adding 2520 years we get 1844 A.D. when the Sultan of Turkey was forced to give religious liberty to the Jews. In 1845 the United States annexed Texas territory which included large parts of New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas and Oklahoma as well as what is known as Texas today. Americans displaced Mexicans. In 604 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar's Babylonian army took tribute from Jerusalem. Then 2520 years later on November 2, 1917, the Balfour Declaration gave Jews the land of Palestine and on December 9th British General Allenby liberated Jerusalem from the Turks. In 597 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem. Then 2520 years later in 1924 A.D. the Caliphate was abolished and Turkish power and influence ended. In 586 B.C. the Temple was destroyed and Zedekiah taken captive (Jer. 39). Nebuchadnezzar "carried away all Jerusalem ... to Babylon" (2 Ki. 24:14-17). Then 2520 years later we get 1935. With the ascent of Hitler to power in Germany (1934), a new type of Jew began emigrating to Palestine.

There will be an end-time Gentile world government for seven literal years when an actual human leader (such as the pope) will receive a "deadly wound" and then be resurrected and blasphemously claim to be the Messiah (Rev. 13:6). He will enslave the United States, the British Empire and the Jews just as the historical anti-type did. Then the Messiah will return.

If you'd like to know more, we publish a 113-page booklet called The United States and the British Empire FORETOLD in the Bible? ($4.00). Write to: Harold Hemenway, Box 88401, Tukwila, WA 98138, U.S.A. or use this link to pay with a credit card: