The Bible talks about a final worldly kingdom that will one day rise. It will have a global government and global leadership. The kingdom will have ten divisions with ten rulers and another king will rise among them to rule everyone on the planet. He will have a sparkling personality, great intelligence in solving the problems of the world, will rule over a world-wide monetary system, and will seem to arrive as a savior in a time when the world is in turmoil. Many, many will follow him. But he is a deceiver. But we have to go back in time to see what the Bible says about the development of the empires of the world.
Daniel received and interpreted dreams and visions when he was in captivity in Babylon and Persia with his nation of Israel in 586 BC. The book of Daniel’s chapters 2 and 7 contain images of successive kingdoms that would control and occupy the land of Israel from his time right down into the future - including Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, and a final worldly kingdom ruled by the Antichrist. Daniel then speaks of the return of Jesus Christ to defeat the Antichrist and set up His kingdom on earth. The final world kingdom that is described in both chapters will have ten divisions with ten rulers. The world leader will arise from the ten divisions and will somehow uproot three of them in his assent. He will oppress the Jewish people for three and a half years.
The book of Revelation adds to this picture by talking about the Dragon as the one who gives power to the beast. It is Satan, who gives power to the world leader, also known as the Antichrist. The world leader and the world-wide system he rules are called the ‘beast’ and his system. The ten leaders will have power with the world leader for one hour, before Jesus returns to fight them in the battle of Armageddon.
In the end, the world leader (Antichrist) will wage war against the Lamb. The Lamb is Jesus Christ. He is called the Lamb because He died as a sacrifice to atone for the sins of the world. In the Old Jewish system, the people sacrificed lambs to cover their sins. The lambs died in the place of the people and covered them before God. But Jesus came as the final sacrifice when He died on the cross for the sins, (the wrong thoughts, choices, actions), of humanity that God must judge. God judged Jesus Christ instead, and accepted His sacrifice in our place, to pay the death sentence that we deserved to die for our own sins. Only Jesus was a sufficient and final substitute for humanity’s sins, because Jesus was both human and perfect. This means He was a one to one replacement - human for human - and because He is perfect, He did not have to pay for His own sins, but He could pay for ours instead.
When the first humans sinned, Satan, the Dragon, usurped the rule and authority humans were supposed to have in the world. The Bible calls Him the ‘Prince of the power of the air’ and says the ‘whole world lies in the evil one.’ Every aspect of our personal lives and the world system in general is somehow affected by Satan’s influences. For this reason all the kingdoms written about in Daniel and Revelation are controlled by him. And the final one world government will be as well. He will direct the world leader, the Antichrist, and will give him his power. Why? Because Satan hates humanity, and he wants to rule the world.
But because Jesus paid the debt for humanity’s sins, He will one day return, will defeat the Antichrist, his kings and Satan. And Jesus will return the rule of earth to humanity uncontrolled by Satan. Jesus will set up a beautiful kingdom of peace and righteousness, and those who have trusted in Him and have accepted His free gift of salvation, will rule and reign with Him!
Those who have looked at the world around us in the last century have seen the final world system arising in the idea of a one-world government. Some have suggested that the European Union will one day have ten members, or have noted that both the United Nations and Club of Rome divide the world up into ten regions. This is one reason that many resist the idea of globalism.
Many Bible readers remember that God had to disrupt the peoples of the world early on in humanity’s history, not because He didn’t want people to work together, but because people were attempting to reach great heights without having a connection and relationship with God. The Bible talks a lot about high places (hill, mountains) where people would go to connect with the gods. Some have suggested that in Genesis 11, mankind was building a great tower, the tower of Babel, as a sort of high place to reach into the heavens, not to meet with God, but to meet with the evil fallen angels who had descended onto Mt. Hermon and corrupted humanity in Genesis chapter 6 and the book of Enoch. What these fallen angels, the Watchers, taught humanity, was the evil that spread throughout the earth and grieved God’s heart so much that He had to send the global flood.
So it is again in our future, that mankind will attempt to come together as One-World, not to connect with its good and loving Creator, but to try to advance without Him into eternal life. And Satan will be right there behind the scenes guiding the world’s leadership into leading people to worship him instead. He will trick people into believing that they don’t need God, and that they can find eternal life without Jesus perhaps through some form of transhumanism or learning from our alien progenitors. These are lies. It is God who created humanity in His image and likeness and to have a relationship with Him. And it is only through Jesus Christ that we can be forgiven of our sins and transformed so that we can have eternal life!
Scriptures
Ephesians 2:1-7
And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
Daniel 2:40-45
Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron—for iron breaks and smashes everything—and as iron breaks things to pieces, so it will crush and break all the others. Just as you saw that the feet and toes were partly of baked clay and partly of iron, so this will be a divided kingdom; yet it will have some of the strength of iron in it, even as you saw iron mixed with clay. As the toes were partly iron and partly clay, so this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle. And just as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, so the people will be a mixture and will not remain united, any more than iron mixes with clay. “In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands—a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces.
Daniel 7:23-27
“He gave me this explanation: ‘The fourth beast is a fourth kingdom that will appear on earth. It will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth, trampling it down and crushing it. The ten horns are ten kings who will come from this kingdom. After them another king will arise, different from the earlier ones; he will subdue three kings. He will speak against the Most High and oppress his holy people and try to change the set times and the laws. The holy people will be delivered into his hands for a time, times and half a time. “‘But the court will sit, and his power will be taken away and completely destroyed forever. Then the sovereignty, power and greatness of all the kingdoms under heaven will be handed over to the holy people of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will worship and obey him.’
Revelation 13:1-8
The dragon stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on its horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority. One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was filled with wonder and followed the beast. People worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, “Who is like the beast? Who can wage war against it?” The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise its authority for forty-two months. It opened its mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. It was given power to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And it was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world.
Revelation 17:10-14
They are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; but when he does come, he must remain for only a little while. The beast who once was, and now is not, is an eighth king. He belongs to the seven and is going to his destruction. “The ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but who for one hour will receive authority as kings along with the beast. They have one purpose and will give their power and authority to the beast. They will wage war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will triumph over them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings—and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers.”
Revelation 19:11-21
I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written:
King of kings and Lord of lords.
