During His ministry on earth, Jesus’ message from beginning to end was the Kingdom of God. He went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom, healing every disease and sickness. Matthew 9:35. Before His crucifixion, He taught His dis-ciples, “This Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come.” Matthew 24:14.
Crucified as King – in the 40 days between His resurrection and ascen-sion into Heaven, Jesus spoke to His apostles ‘of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God’ so that they asked him, “Will You at this time restore the Kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:3-6).
Even the devil understood Christ’s mission on earth – and sought to subvert it: ‘Jesus, being full of the Holy Spirit…was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being 40 days tempted of the devil…And the devil, taking Him up into a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.
And the devil said to Him, “All this power will I give You, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will, I give it. If You therefore will worship me, all shall be Yours.” And Jesus answered and said to him, “Get behind me, Satan: for it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve.”’ (Luke 4:1-2, 5-8).
Notice, Jesus did not say to Satan, “You do not have the power over the king-doms of the earth.” Why? Because He Himself called Satan the ‘prince of this world’.
Speaking the night before His crucifix-ion, Jesus said, “Now shall the prince of this world be cast out!” (John 12:31). But only when the third woe of the Book of Revelation is come and the seventh angel sounds, then there will be a sound of great voices in Heaven say-ing, “The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign forever and ever.” (Revelation 11:15).
The whole world we live in today is under attack from Satan whom Jesus saw cast out of Heaven and fall like lightning to the earth. (Luke 10:18). It was this same Satan who deceived Adam and Eve and so became ‘prince of this world’ instead of God, with Adam now ruling under him, instead of under God. Satan is still seeking to keep control of this world and this world’s systems, and to destroy faith in Jesus Christ. Satan’s name, Lucifer, means ‘light-bearer’.
One of the three Archangels, Gabriel, Michael and Lucifer – beautiful heav-enly beings – closest to God Himself, he was created to worship and serve God. But, through ambition, he want-ed to be equal with God, rebelled against God, and was cast out of Heaven – to earth – falling as a great dragon, sweeping with him one third of all the heavenly hosts of angels! Revelation 12:3-4 tells us this. The Old Testament also gives witness to the rebellion of Lucifer in Heaven and his fall to earth.
Isaiah 14:12-14 shows that, controlling Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, was Lucifer himself – and these verses describe, not Nebuchadnezzar the man, but Lucifer in him, his rebellion against God and his fall: ‘How art thou fallen from heav-en, O Lucifer, son of the morn-ing! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into Heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High.’ So controlling the ancient king-dom of Babylon and its king, was Lucifer, the prince of this world and of this world’s kingdoms and empires.
God gave Daniel the clearest picture and understanding of this world’s king-doms in Daniel 2. Whilst serving the King of Babylon during the Jewish exile there, God gave Daniel the gift both to tell Nebuchadnezzar the details of the dream that had troubled him, and give him a clear interpretation. In the dream, Nebuchadnezzar had seen an image representing succeeding world empires, beginning with himself, the King of Babylon, the head of gold, then the chest and arms of silver (the Medo-Persian Empire), the belly and thighs of bronze (the Greek Empire), then the legs of iron (the Roman Empire – fulfilled in the days of Christ on earth). By the third century after Christ, the Roman Emperor declared Christianity as the ‘official religion’ of the Roman Empire, Church and State became inseparable! And after the collapse of the Roman Empire, the power of the Roman Empire entered into the Church, ‘two legs’, the Roman Catholic Church in the West, and the Orthodox Church in the East! Both these Churches exist today.
The Babylonian Empire (the head of gold) was FIRST defeated by the Medo-Persian Empire – in Babylon. The Medo-Persian Empire (the chest and arms of silver) was defeated by the Greek Empire – in Babylon. The Greek Empire (the thighs of bronze) was defeated by the Roman Empire – in Babylon. The Roman Empire (the legs of iron) was defeated by the Germanic tribes – in Europe. The spirit of Babylon that was in the Medo-Persian Empire, then the Greek Empire, then the Roman Empire – is now in Europe. So what about the feet of iron and clay? The FINAL Empire?
Linking the EU with the Roman Empire that Daniel saw, it is significant that it was the ‘Treaty of Rome’ which brought the EU into existence in 1958; the goal, following two world wars in quick suc-cession – to bring a final end to war. Archbishop Welby on June 6 2018 eulo-gised the EU, himself linking it with Rome, calling it the greatest dream realised for human beings since the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD – a perfect restoration of the Roman Empire!
Further evidence that the European Union is the direct descendent of the Babylonian Empire via the Roman Empire, as revealed to Daniel, is the EU’s own choice of symbols. See my film, ‘The Rape of Europe’. Years ago, when the European politicians wanted to advertise the purpose behind the European Union they produced a pro-motional poster based on the painting of the Tower of Babel by the famous 16th century painter Peter Brueghel. The prestigious EU parliament building in Strasbourg is actually modelled on Brueghel’s painting! But looking at the poster, it shows the tower with the slo-gan in French, ‘many tongues, one voice’, inverting God’s judgment on Babel!
What is Babel? The city of Babylon, or Babel, was built shortly after Noah’s flood by Nimrod as the centre of his kingdom. Genesis 10:10. The people joined together in order to make a name for themselves and to increase in power. This tower was an act of rebel-lion against God – intended to reach Heaven, to be greater than God – or high enough to escape a second flood – if punished for their sin.
God destroyed Babel, and Babylon became synonymous with sin and rebellion. Eventually in 586 BC God even allowed the children of Abraham the Jews, to be driven into exile in Babylon because of their sin. And it was here that God revealed to Daniel the secret of the succeeding world empires – from Babylon, the head of gold, to the ‘feet of iron and clay’ which will finally be destroyed by Jesus Christ.
The Bible is the past, present and future of 2 cities, 2 kingdoms: Jerusalem from where Christ the Great King will rule the earth, and Babylon which rules the earth today. We must not forget Israel’s unique position as a nation chosen by God, in a world full of a multitude of pagan gods, to demonstrate who the God of Israel is – He’s the God who created Heaven and earth.
The whole purpose, the whole history of Israel was to demonstrate the existence of God, to show who He is to a rebellious world. In part because Israel as a nation rejected Christ when He came, God has raised up other people, other nations, because His plan, from the beginning, is to save people out of every nation, tribe and tongue – through Israel, through Israel’s Messiah
There are only 2 nations God has significantly used in world history. I believe, after Israel, Britain is unique. At the time of the collapse of the Roman Empire – the last Roman troops left Britain in 410 AD – Celtic Britain was already a Christian country, now facing invasions from Anglo-Saxons and other barbar-ians.
Known as the ‘Dark Ages’, 400-800 AD, a recent BBC documentary, ‘How the Celts saved Britain’, showed that after the Romans left, the Northern Kingdom in Northumbria was in fact sending out missionaries to evangelise Europe! Ireland played a very signifi-cant part. St Patrick, 385-461 AD, British origin, but called the ‘Apostle to Ireland’, was known for his ministry of miracles and healings, just as in the days of the early Apostles. It was in Ireland that 300 years’ non-stop 24-hour prayer – day and night worship – began in Bangor Abbey, 550-810 AD. From there also missionaries were sent out in apostolic power across all Europe.
From the 6th century however, southern Britain came under the control of the Holy Roman Empire and a different form of Christianity. It was only the spiritual and political separation of Britain from Rome and from Europe at the time of the Reformation that led to the founding of the British Empire/ Commonwealth of Nations, independent from Europe and Rome. From there on, wherever the British Empire went, the Gospel of God’s Word was spread by missionaries great and small, and the Bible translated into every language.
If we accept the Truth of the Bible and the Truth of the prophecies of the Bible– all the empires seen by Daniel have already been terminated – except the final one. And this final one, the feet of iron and clay, which we believe to be the EU, is destroyed ‘by a Stone not made with hands’ – not human – but we believe is the return of Jesus Christ.
Jesus’ entire message was the ‘Kingdom of God’. The forgotten mes-sage of the Church is that when Christ came, His message was not simply the forgiveness of individual sin as we understand it, but the Kingdom of God – on earth!
The more you read the four Gospels and the more you read the New Testament, the more you see how strong this message of the Kingdom is. The very reason Jesus was crucified was because of His preaching of the Kingdom – which the Roman, and the Jewish leaders, couldn’t accept! The Kingdom!
The reason Judas betrayed Jesus was related to this. Being in charge of the purse strings and believing so strongly that Jesus would be King over Israel in his lifetime, Judas thought he would become Minister of Finance!
When Jesus told His disciples that He must first suffer and die, that He was not yet going to set up the Kingdom, Judas was so disappointed, he didn’t just quit, he sold Him to the Chief Priests for 30 shekels of silver!
Not only Judas believed in the immedi-ate Kingdom. After the resurrection, when Jesus appeared to the disciples in Acts 1:4-8, saying, “Wait in Jerusalem until you receive the Holy Spirit and power and become My wit-nesses all over the world!” – their first reaction, v6 was, “Will You at this time restore the Kingdom to Israel?” Today there is a danger in the Church that too many like Judas are interested in the money and the worldly power now, and so many don’t understand, the purpose of the Holy Spirit is to prepare for the coming Kingdom of God on earth. It is not myth, it is fact.
Copyright © 2018 David Hathaway Prophetic Vision-All rights reserved
