The Ten Prophetic Kings of Rev. 17

So today, I know a lot are anticipating this second part of what the 10 prophetic kings in Revelation 17 are all about. Last week, we went over the meaning of the statue found in Daniel chapter 2, and how God is revealing future events, the four great empires in the world, of which the last one would have 10 different revivals or resurrections. And we have seen this being fulfilled throughout history. A key understanding to prophecy is realizing the statue in Daniel 2 has its symbolic and historic development in Daniel 7, Revelation 13, and Revelation 17.

So God continues to add details as he is explaining these four great empires in the world. And that fourth empire, which was the Roman Empire, would end in the time of the 10 kings going against the returning Christ. So let's just rehearse real quickly, because I know some are visiting us, and also it's good always to review and check everything very carefully with the Scriptures. Let's go to Daniel chapter 2. Daniel chapter 2, starting in verse 42. It says, And here, other translations mention they will make an alliance among men, but they will not adhere to one another.

In other words, it won't become one great nation, but these are divided countries that come together just as iron does not mix with clay. And in the days of these kings, when you see those 10 kings, and it's talking about the area of Europe, because that's where the Roman Empire, it was basically the empire, the main area, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed. So there's a fifth kingdom, which is the kingdom of Christ.

But when you see the alliance of 10 kings or rulers, whoever they are, presidents, prime ministers, but they're going to be the leaders that are going to be in charge of this resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire. Then in Revelation 17, verses 12-14, it mentions about the 10 toes of this statue as being now the 10 kings, prophetic kings. Revelation 17, verse 12, it says, the 10 horns which you saw are 10 kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority for one hour as kings. One hour means a short period of time, not necessarily an hour in a clock, but it's talking about a short time as far as world history is concerned, as kings with the beast.

These are of one mind, and they will give their power and authority to the beast. These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them. So, just like in Daniel it said, that when you see the final manifestation that these will be present when Christ returns and destroys that statue. So, in Revelation 17 it talks about these 10 kings also facing Jesus Christ and battling against Him.

So, in part one, we covered the historical development of the four kingdoms from the time of Daniel, then in the days of the Apostle John, and finally the fourth kingdom in what we believe are the final days. This is the way we read in the scriptures about it. So, the next slide says, much has been fulfilled so far, and if we understand prophecy correctly, there is just one final revival of the fourth kingdom manifested as the Holy Roman Empire, with an end time alliance of 10 kings in charge who will ultimately delegate their powers to the beast. Notice Revelation 17, 12. It says, the 10 horns which you saw, we just read, are 10 kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority for one hour as kings with the beast.

And then in verse 17, it says, for God has put it into their hearts, these 10 kings, to fulfill His purpose, to be of one mind and to give their kingdom to the beast until the words of God are fulfilled. In this sermon, we are going to focus on the sequence of events that bring forth those final 10 prophetic kings of Revelation 17. But let's remember, along with them will be two other powerful leaders guiding this political and religious system. The political leader, which the Bible calls the beast, and the religious leader, called the false prophet.

Revelation 13, let's go there, and just kind of highlight, you can read the whole thing later, but it says in Revelation 13, so you have this is the beast emerging into the world scene. And then the false prophet is the second beast coming out. It says, verse 1, then I stood on the sand of the sea, and I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his head a blasphemous name. And I mentioned this last week, it says this beast, which I saw was like a leopard, because that used to be the Grecian Empire.

His feet were like the feet of a bear, that was the Medo-Persian Empire, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion, which had to do with the Babylonian. The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority. So Satan is behind what we're going to see in the future.

And then in verse 11, it says, then I saw another beast coming out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb, and spoke like a dragon. So this one is looking very innocent. A lamb has very tiny horns on them, but he actually was like a dragon, disguised like a lamb, like an innocent white lamb. And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence. He's a very bullying type. He pushes his agenda and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. He performs great signs so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do. God permits this at this time in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. So the power of the second beast is a religious power, a miracle producing person that's going to appear in the end time. So he's going to be in cahoots with the political leader. There's going to be a political leader and a religious leader. And backing them are these ten leaders of the European Union, whatever manifestation that will eventually take. You can read the rest of the scriptures, talks about the beast and the false prophet being together. Then, just as a reminder, the idea for the sermon was inspired by the October 23rd article in The Economist called The Court of Kings. Have any of you gone online to read that? The Economist magazine. I would suggest it's there. It's available. It said, in the European Union, every leader becomes a monarch, which is another name for a king. The European Council hands leaders too much power. Guess what? It's a little too late now to try to take that power back. Notice in the drawing, each leader is shown wearing a crown. It reminded me of Daniel 2, verses 36-44, which we already covered about the ten toes and the mixture of clay and iron. It continues. Coronations of a different sort in Europe happen whenever the European Union's 27 leaders gather for the European Council, the club's top institution. Once presidents or prime ministers enter the ovum, a special egg-shaped meeting room, which we're going to see in a moment, they in effect become elected monarchs or kings, saddling every major question. This is from one of the top reporters of the Economist magazine. He titles his column Charlemagne, because he's talking about the European Union. This man knows what he's talking about. Let's continue. Remember how Daniel 2 characterized a union of nations, some strong, some weak, united by alliances, as Daniel 2, 41-44 says, and as the toes of the feet were partly of iron, partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile.

In the days of these kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed and it shall stand forever. So basically, we are living in the time when, through alliances, Europe has become united. There are 27 nations now that are all united, and they have this European Council, which basically calls the shots. But what you don't read in the paper, or listen in the news, is what I'm going to mention now in a moment.

So let's continue. The 10 prophetic kings are found in Revelation 17 with a symbol of a beast with seven heads and is ridden by a fallen woman representing a church-state union. This describes the seven remaining resurrections of the Holy Roman Empire. Notice the seventh and last head of this resurrection, or resurrected Holy Roman Empire, is the one with the ten horns depicting the ten toes of Daniel 2, the statute, or ten rulers of this system in power when Christ fully intervenes in the world. So we go back to the chart that I handed you last week. And you can see at the top it has Revelation 17, and if we go down to the very end, it talks about the ten kings. And the second point, the ten toes of the statue of Daniel 2, going to Revelation 17, the ten toes represent the ten kings. These have not appeared yet.

This is what I wanted to show you now that's not in the news. An important book on this topic, The Principality and Power of Europe, by Adrian Hilton. I was given this book probably ten years ago, and I had it just waiting to be able to give a sermon on it. This is the sermon. Anybody heard of that principality and power of Europe? It is a classic.

Adrian Hilton is a prominent British professor in political philosophy and a theologian who wrote it in 1997, twenty-five years ago, and he revealed some key points. He begins in chapter one of his book with a quote, and the ten horns which you saw are ten kings. Revelation 17, 12. It describes the present European Union. So he realized that what's going on there has to do with these ten future kings. He notes, the fighting in Europe finally stopped in the spring of 1945. This may have been Europe at rock bottom, but it followed the pattern of history there in Europe. Catastrophe followed by revival followed by catastrophe. We can't deny that truth. He continues, Since the fall of the Roman Empire, there have been numerous attempts to rebuild a unified Europe. The vision of one empire under one emperor belonging to one church has caused more bloodshed than anything in the history of the world. For instance, World War I and World War II had to do with trying to unify Europe in this way. You see the French President Macron meeting, Pope Francis. Pope is very involved in everything going on in Europe. Hilton goes on to say, if European federalism triumphs, this union of European states, the EC, now called the European Union, will indeed be an empire. It will lack an emperor, but it will have the Pope. There is already a religious figure that fits that position, although you don't have the emperor position filled in yet. The current Pope is very old, so we'll have to look and see what happens. He's ailing. We don't know who the next one is going to be. He continues, Thus, the last word on all European legislation lies with the block vote of the Unrepresentative Council of Ministers, now called the European Council. This was written in 1997. What did this columnist in The Economist magazine, three months ago, say? This European Council is the one that calls the shots.

He goes on to say, it is not democracy which is failing the citizens of Europe, but the degenerate system which claims this title. If Satan can masquerade as an angel of light and demons appear as ministers of righteousness, 2 Corinthians 11-14, then it is not so far removed from the realms of possibility that a system of government which hides behind a cloak of democracy is, in reality, nothing of the sort. In other words, people are not voting for what these men are deciding. They call the shots.

He adds, The designs of the European flag was inspired by the halo of twelve stars around pictures of the Madonna, the supposed Virgin Mary of the Catholics. So you see the European Union, what does it have in the background? Catholic Church. And this is the same halo, as you can see, the statue of Mary has that twelve star halo on her head, and the European Union flag also has the twelve stars of the halo. If anybody has a Euro note, anybody have Euros, anybody have a bill someplace? If you look, Gary has one, look, and you will see at the top, there's the European flag with the twelve halos, and then it has twelve stars as the backdrop of all of these Euros bills.

Notice that the European Union flag and the twelve stars, even if it has twenty-seven nations, in other words, they're not adding more stars to the flag, because that would break the reference with Mary and the twelve stars. They've kept the twelve. The Wikipedia article on this says, in 1987, following the adoption of the twelve star flag by the EC, Arsen Heights, one of the designers who had submitted proposals for the flag's design, which was accepted, suggested a religious inspiration for it. He claimed that the circle of stars was based on the iconographic tradition of showing the blessed Virgin Mary as the woman of the apocalypse, wearing a crown of twelve stars. And so, again, it might be a coincidence, but how many are the chief protagonists at the end time in Europe? It's not ten, it's twelve, because you have to add the beast and the false prophet, who are part of the system. So you actually have twelve stars that are going to appear one day. Continuing, let me show you where these ministers, the Council of Ministers, meet in Brussels. The new European Council, headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, called the Europa Building, it only has some four or five years, with a vainglorious space egg or ovum meeting room. They meet inside that egg. It's hermetic. You can't hear anything from the outside. And as we saw in the economist's drawing, each European head of state is now depicted because of their power as a king. And next to this Europa Building is the old Europa Building. And right next to this big space egg building, you have the statue of Europa riding the bull right next to the European building. So there, it's a symbol of Europe being taken over by a bull and the fight between the woman and the bull that is involved. Has anybody ever been to that area of Brussels, just in case? Well, if you ever visit, it's well worth seeing this. When the European Parliament building was built in Strasbourg, France, they used a poster of the painting by Dutch painter Peter Bruegel in 1563 of the Tower of Babel to promote it. Notice its resemblance and 12 inverted stars over it. Now, it's got the 12 stars, but this one, they're inverted with a point downward. And that is a symbol of the pentagram used for black magic, the occult. Again, maybe it was a coincidence. I don't know why they put it that way, but if you look it up, the inverted pentagram is a symbol of the occult, of Satanism, of black magic. Why in the world are you representing this united Europe with the Tower of Babel and then having these stars that are inverted?

Babel, of course, is just another name for Babylon, where God confounded the languages and it is a symbol of man's rebellion toward God. Notice in the poster, if you can read there carefully, it says, one nation, one voice, many nations, one voice. That talking about the voices that God confounded.

We go forward.

Germany, as a key element in the European Union, we believe, is eventually destined to play a leading role. As journalist Luigi Barzini mentioned in his book, The Europeans, he says, the future of Europe appears largely to depend today, once again, for good or evil, whether we like it or not, on the future of Germany. In the last century, Germany was then the shorthand for the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation. So they have been intimately connected with the Holy Roman Empire. As former German Minister of Finance Theo Weigel mentions about the European Union, Germany, as the biggest and most powerful economic member state, will be the leader, whether we like it or not. The Germans are very disciplined people. They are very warm-hearted. But once things go downhill, when they get frustrated, when things are not getting done, when they feel threatened, they turn into warriors that have one end in mind. And that's conquest. They don't do things halfway. The Roman historian Tacitus had said 2,000 years ago, the Germans are either at your feet or at your throat. Well, right now, they're at your feet. They're still peaceful. They don't feel threatened. They've got a very powerful economy. But if something happens there that threatens their lifestyle, they feel insecure, they start feeling paranoid and fear, they turn into something else. It's happened time and time again. Churchill said the same thing in 1943. So we'll have to see what Germany does in the future. Now, about the fallen woman of Revelation 17 described as sitting on 7 hills. Revelation 17.9, easy reading version. Rome also was founded on 7 hills as this coin which depicts the goddess Roma sitting on 7 hills. Notice that Vatican Hill is nearby. Vatican from the Latin Vaticanus means prophetic hill where pagan prophets gave their visions in oracles. This is where the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church is.

What do we see? Multitudes at the Vatican were leaders like former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez kissing the Pope's ring. Notice that Vatican today has a facade of the pagan sun god. They have all kinds of pagan symbols in the very building of the Vatican. So there are a lot of things that are happening. This is what we currently understand. For we know in part, we should always be humble when we talk about prophecy. Because God has the last word. He gives us a guideline. He gives us, just like in a human body, he'll show us the skeleton. He'll show us what the basic form. But he doesn't tell us what color the eyes are, color the hair. That will be revealed later. The European Union already exists. That is a fact. Nothing like that ever existed before. From the time of the fall of the Roman Empire, that was governed by emperors. And now you've got this European Union that have all these multiple leaders that are in charge. And how do they do business? Through alliances. They've got all kinds of policies and regulations to govern themselves. They have 27 rulers acting like kings. Again, that was not the original purpose of that European Union. They were supposed to have votes and parliaments. The parliament was going to pass the laws and then it was going to be voted on. Now they have a parliament, but it's the leaders of these European countries, the ones who decide what is going to be done. Now somehow they must be reduced to 10 leaders. They already lost one in that European Union. It used to be 28 countries. Now they're 27. It was Great Britain who left the European Union. They did not trust it. The people were always scared of what could happen, the control. Germany is united again, as we predicted in our literature. I'll never forget one gentleman who mentioned this and it came out in a newspaper. When Germany was unified, he said, I knew that this was going to happen one day because Herbert W. Armstrong had said that eventually for prophecy to be fulfilled, Germany had to be united again. He wasn't a church member. He was just a regular subscriber of the magazine.

In Revelation 17, these 10 rulers will then give their authority to a powerful leader called in the Bible the Beast, who is supported by a second leader, a miracle worker religious figure called the False Prophet. There are many places that this is mentioned. Let's just go to Revelation 19 and verse 20. You want to know the end of these two? Revelation 19 and verse 20. It says, let's start in verse 19. And I saw the beast, the kings of the earth. So you see, the beast is not some system. It's talking about a human being, a political military leader. The kings of the earth, so they allied together to fight Jesus Christ. And their armies gathered together to make war against him who sat on the horse and against his army. So the world is going to be so confused. If you think it's confused today, you don't know what to believe anymore. At that time, they're going to say, well, this is an extraterrestrial invasion and that this is something that is coming to conquer the earth and all these sci-fi movies, building it up. And the kings are going to go along with this. It's not talking about a small group. That's how deceived this world is going to be. And then it goes on to say, then the beast was captured and with him the false prophet who works signs in his presence. Here you see the definition. One is the religious and political, one is a political and military leader, and the other one is the religious that's making all of these illusions and miracles. He said, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshipped his image. Are people going to get used to having marks put on them and all kinds of things? You bet! These two were cast alive into the lake of fire, burning with brimstone. Now again, when we talk about something like vaccines, the church has said that's a personal decision. We shouldn't talk against it or talk for it. That's something that people have to investigate. But it is true that there's more and more control of the government over people's lives. Verse 21 says, these two were cast alive in the lake of fire, burning with brimstone. So their armies are destroyed at that time, but these two leaders are caught, and they have a special sentence and responsibility for what they have done. And the rest were killed with the sword which proceeds from the mouth of him who sat on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh. Jesus Christ commands, and fire comes and destroys all the armies in one second. In Zechariah 14 it says that they're going to be standing, and all of a sudden their skin is going to melt. They're just going to be a pool of blood and flesh. It's mercifully ended very quickly, but when Christ commands that, that's the end of the story. They're not going to be battles and all kinds of skirmishes. No, this is going to be one moment that Christ is going to defeat these nations.

Let's continue.

Eventually, these ten rulers will tire of being bullied and deceived by the false prophet, and will turn against them. So there will be one last star. As it says in Revelation 17, 16 through 17, And the ten horns which you saw on the beast, these will hate the harlot, make her desolate and naked, eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. That's when Revelation 18 talks about the destruction of the capital of the false prophet. For God has put into their hearts, is God the one that's carrying this out, to fulfill His purpose, to be of one mind, and to give their kingdom to the beast until the words of God are fulfilled. Everything is going to be carried out that God has promised in the Bible. Every one of these prophecies. Now, what about Great Britain? We have always considered, prophetically, that Great Britain, who is modern Ephraim, would not remain in the European Union. Most people thought that was a done deal. When they entered, that star was going to stay there. And after a shocking electoral result, some three years ago, in January 2020, Brexit happened, which is the British exit from the European Union. Removing Great Britain from being part of the European Union. It was number 28. Now, they're just 27. So, we can see, through circumstances, how these leaders can be reduced from what they are. What happened is what Winston Churchill had, quote, prophetically said in 1948 about Great Britain. We are with Europe, but not of it. We are linked, but not combined. We are interested and associated, but not absorbed. And that's exactly what happened. They have a different spirit.

Okay, let's conclude.

Brethren, this is where we consider we currently are in Bible prophecy. Perhaps what happens with Russia and its possible invasion of Ukraine could precipitate the European Union into becoming much more warlike. Something's going to happen. A crisis that is going to shake Europe up. French President Macron called this week for, quote, Europe to become a power of the future, capable of guaranteeing its own security in the face of Russia's military moves next door. So the Europeans feel the United States is not a reliable partner, and that they have to take more action. And they need to guarantee their own security. They can't depend on the U.S. waffling and wringing their hands and allowing this Russian bear to come in. And gobble up a 44 million population nation, which is right next door to the European nations. Or some unforeseeable event. Perhaps China's moves against Taiwan will induce it into becoming much more powerful. We will have to wait and see, but remember God, not man, is in charge, and in his due time will fulfill all the Bible prophecies. You're going to see it with your very eyes. Now, unfortunately, we have several years of a time when the U.S. is very vulnerable. And these arrogant and beast-like nations are going to test the resolve of the United States. They know they can't afford to have maybe a very different leader that will face them and strengthen the U.S. even more. The resolve. So right now, we're in a period where there's a lot of appeasement in the air, there's a lot of, well, let's just talk and deal with it while the troops are all emassing. And so it's a very delicate period of time.

Meanwhile, God says in Revelation 18.4-5, to come out of the Babylonian system of false spiritual values. We are part of God's church. We have God's truths. We have God's spirit. He is guiding us, but it's so easy to get absorbed by this Babylonian system that surrounds us. It's very powerful, very influential. You have to see what's going on in the mass media, the government, everything else. And you have to say, I am separate. I am not going to let them just brainwash me into following everything they want.

So in Revelation 18.4-5, it says, come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins. That's what it was talking about. It was mentioned in the first message. Unless you receive of her plagues, because the punishment is coming upon all of these sinful nations. For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. It means God is very patient, but there's always that straw that you add to the camel's back, and it breaks the camel's back. You never know that little drop when you have a full glass. It'll hold a couple more, but then one more drop and it spills out. So it says that God knows when to act, because the sins are accumulating more and more.

So, brethren, let's remain faithful to the end. We have a wonderful kingdom that we're looking forward to. The kingdom of peace. No more beasts governing the world. No more human nature running rampant. No more Satan and his demons influencing nations and influencing human beings. We look forward to a time when all of that will be cleared. And that fifth kingdom mentioned, that big rock that comes out from outer space, and it hits the statue of Daniel 2 right in the feet with those ten toes and smashes it. So remember, as we've always said, I've read, Mr. Armstrong said it first, he said, I read the end of the book, and we win, brethren. We win.