The interpretation of the prophecy of a future ten nation or economic bloc confederacy as found in four major passages of Scripture is a
determinative issue in any system of prophetic interpretation. This is
because the principles of interpretation applied to this prophecy are
the key to the total prophetic outlook. Accordingly, the Scriptures
related to this problem present one of the decisive interpretive
questions facing any expositor.
At least four major Scripture passages make a contribution to this subject (Dan 2:31-35, 40-45; 7:7-8, 19-24 ; Rev 13:1-2; 17:3, 7, 12-16). These passages either directly or by implication prophesy a ten kingdom or economic bloc confederation which will be an important aspect of the end-time political situation.
The Image of Daniel 2
The second chapter of Daniel reveals the dream of
Nebuchadnezzar in which he saw a great image. The interpretation of this
dream revealed to Daniel in a night vision constituted the first
comprehensive revelation of Gentile prophecy. The head of gold according
to Daniel’s interpretation represented Babylon and the Babylonian
Empire headed by Nebuchadnezzar (Dan 2:31, 37-38).
The breast and arms of the vision made of silver symbolized the next
kingdom which later in Daniel is identified as Medo-Persia (Dan 2:32, 39;
8:1-20). The third empire represented by the lower part of the body
and the thighs which were of brass is later identified as Greece (Dan 2:32, 39; 8:21). The fourth kingdom was portrayed as the legs of iron, and the feet and toes part of iron and part of pottery (Dan 2:33, 40-43).
The fourth kingdom is not named in Daniel, but is pictured as
continuing up to the time when God establishes a kingdom which shall
never be destroyed (Dan 2:44). Normative interpretation accordingly would identify the fourth kingdom as the Roman Empire.
In the interpretation of the dream, the stone is
seen smiting the image in the feet with the result that the image is
totally destroyed, and the stone increases in size until it is a great
mountain which fills the whole earth. This is obviously related to the
divine consummation of human history.
The nonliteral interpretation of this portion of
Scripture has usually recognized the first three empires much in the
same fashion as the literal interpretation, namely, referring them to
Babylon, Medo-Persia, and Greece. Some few refer the fourth kingdom to a
subdivision of the third and the two legs of the image as the two major
divisions of the Seleucid Empire. Even the nonliteral interpretation,
however, more generally has identified the fourth empire as Rome with
the main difference in the interpretation of the stone. premillennial
interpretation, the image and its corresponding prophetic fulfillment
has already become historic down to the feet stage of the image. The two
legs represent the divided aspect of the Roman Empire into its Eastern
and Western divisions. The feet stage, including the implied ten toes,
is yet future and is related to the period just before the second coming
of Christ. This interpretation involves the thesis that the Roman
Empire in some form or fashion will be revived and therefore the toes
representing a ten nation or economic bloc confederacy are yet to be fulfilled.
The Vision of Daniel 7:7-8
In the seventh chapter of Daniel a companion vision
given to Daniel himself reveals four beasts symbolizing four great
world empires. Although some expositors have resisted the correspondence
of this chapter to chapter two , the similarities are such that anyone
attempting to interpret this normally comes to the conclusion that this
is another view of the same truth presented in chapter two of Daniel .
Here again are the familiar four empires: the first represented as a
lion corresponding to Babylon, the second as a bear corresponding to
Medo-Persia, the third as a leopard with four wings on its back and four
heads corresponding to Greece under Alexander, and the fourth empire as
a terrible beast having ten horns. To this point the revelation
coincides precisely with the empires portrayed in the image of Daniel 2.
Here, however, an additional activity is described in the little horn
which uproots three of the ten horns and apparently introduces a
personage who will be prominent in the last days. According to the
vision, the fourth beast is later destroyed by the Son of Man who comes
from heaven. The dominion of the fourth beast is succeeded by a kingdom
which has an everlasting dominion which comes from God (Dan 7:9-14).
The interpretation of the vision of Daniel 7 is more detailed than that of Daniel 2 and is found in Daniel 7:17-28. Here we learn specifically that the four beasts are four kings or
kingdoms. Our attention is directed especially to the fourth beast and
more particularly to the little horn. An important point in the
interpretation is that the ten horns, apparently corresponding to the
ten toes of the image of Daniel 2, are pictured as reigning simultaneously and as subdued by the little horn of Daniel 7:8.
This is a frontal refutation of the postmillennial and amillennial
concept that the ten kingdoms were successive kingdoms in the latter
phase of the Roman Empire or, as some would have it, fulfilled in the
empire of Seleucids. Instead, it is clear that the ten kingdoms are
simultaneous as three of them are subdued by the little horn and the
other seven apparently capitulate. The fourth kingdom under the
domination of the little horn becomes a world empire described in the
phrase: “Shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and
break it in pieces” (Dan 7:23).
Any reasonably literal interpretation of this
prophecy requires necessarily the expositor to take the position that
this is yet future from the standpoint of the twentieth century. Nothing
in history corresponds to a ten nation or economic bloc confederacy subdued by another
king which endures until it is succeeded by the kingdom of heaven. If
this passage is allowed to speak as a genuine prophetic revelation, it
necessarily requires a future ten nation or economic bloc confederacy as a key to the
political and international situation in the days just preceding the
second coming of Christ and His kingdom.
Revelation 13:1-2
The New Testament revelation afforded by the
Apocalypse, coming as it does hundreds of years after Daniel’s prophecy,
constitutes a confirmation as well as additional revelation of that
which had been previously introduced by Daniel the prophet.
In Revelation 13:1-2
John “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.”
The correspondence of this beast to that in Daniel 7 is obvious in that the beast has ten horns and ten crowns, speaking of
political power and yet having seven heads. The meaning of the seven
heads is not immediately clear but may be related to the deposition of
three kingdoms by the little horn of Daniel 7:9.
Another interpretation is that the seven heads represent seven
successive rulers in the Roman Empire which are succeeded by a ten nation or economic bloc confederacy which has ten simultaneous kings (Rev 17:10-13).
From the standpoint of establishing a future ten-nation confederacy,
the passage adds its weight to that previously revealed in Daniel, in
that again there are ten horns and these rulers are under the domination
of a single ruler described in Revelation 13:3-8.
Here even more clearly than in Daniel the prophecy
relates to that which is future. The ruler who dominates the political
scene is declared to have power given to him to continue forty and two
months. This three and one-half year period may be identified with the
future great tribulation of Daniel 12:1 and Matthew 24:21 which is in turn related to the prophecy of Daniel 9:27 as being the last three and one-half years of the 490 years of Daniel’s prophecy pictured in Daniel 9:24-27. More important is the fact that the forty-two months (Rev 13:5) culminate in the second coming of Christ when, according to Revelation 19, the beast of Revelation 13 is captured and cast into the lake of fire (Rev 19:20).
This clearly identifies the time factor as that immediately preceding
the second coming of Christ and therefore future, not a part of past
Roman history.
Revelation 17:3,7,12-18
The fourth major passage relating to the ten-nation confederacy is the description of the beast found in Revelation 17. According to Revelation 17:3
the wicked woman depicting the apostate church is astride the beast
having seven heads and ten horns. Because of the precise description,
there should be little question that this is the same beast which has
seven heads and ten horns found in Revelation 13:1,
and represents, therefore, the political government of that time. The
position of the woman astride the beast describes her relationship,
namely, one of dominance and yet supported by the political government.
The description of the ten horns as given in Revelation 17:12-16
confirms again that the ten horns are ten kings who are subservient to
the one dictator who reigns over the entire government. Their
blasphemous character is described and their ultimate destruction is
assured. An amazing detail is added in Revelation 17:16,
namely, that the ten horns, representing the kings, destroy the wicked
woman in order that the dominion which she had religiously should be
transferred to the political ruler. This, of course, is in line with
intimations in Scripture that at the beginning of the final forty-two
month period the ruler of the revived Roman Empire will take upon
himself the role of God and demand that all the world worship him (Rev 13:8, 15).
Again the identification of the horn and the beast and the times in
which they are pictured as exercising their power relate them to a
future period, namely, that just preceding the second coming of Christ
to the earth.
On the basis of this investigation of four major
passages which make a contribution to the prophetic foreview of the ten nation or economic bloc confederacy, it has been presented that a normal, literal
interpretation of the prophecies lead to the concept that there is yet
coming a future ten-nation confederacy within the bounds of the ancient
Roman Empire. The speculation as to which ten nations these may be is,
of course, not answered in the Scriptures. Suffice it to say there were
more than ten kingdoms within the ancient Roman Empire and this revival,
identified as it is with the Roman prince of Daniel 9:26,
may well include Rome itself and representative countries in Northern
Africa, Western Asia, and Southern Europe. As the Scriptures make plain,
the ten nation or economic bloc confederacy is only the beginning, and the power of the
ruler continues to extend until he reigns over every kindred, tongue,
and nation (Rev 13:7).
Hence, it may be concluded that a normative and literal interpretation
of prophecy leads to the conclusion that the world is yet to see a
revival of the ancient Roman Empire in its ten-nation confederacy form.
In the light of the amazing unification of Europe under the Common
Market and the pressures of a modern situation which make the survival
of small, independent nations very difficult, such a move toward
confederacy fits precisely into the temper of our modern international
situation. The appropriateness of this prophecy to our present day is
another indication that the church may be ending its earthly course and
that end-time prophecy is about to be fulfilled.
By: John Walvoord