Dreamworld

You may miss it if you’re not watching. And in the scheme of end times events, it’s likely very important. No, I’m not alluding to the rapture but to what may be a governmental change that could be prophetically huge. Let me suggest that if you haven’t read the letter “Counterfeit Controllers” that you do so (see www.gracentruth.net) in order to review the prophetic picture given in Daniel chapter two.

 

Briefly, you’ll remember that Nebuchadnezzar’s dream was of a human image with several strata of metals – the head was of gold, the arms and chest were of silver, the abdomen and thighs were of bronze and the legs were of iron. The final part of the image, the feet and toes, were of a mixture of iron and clay.

 

Here’s what Daniel said about this dream: You, O king, are a king of kings. For the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory; and wherever the children of men dwell, or the beasts of the field and the birds of the heaven, He has given them into your hand, and has made you ruler over them all—you are this head of gold. But after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours; then another, a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything; and like iron that crushes, that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all the others.

 

Of course, most of you remember that the kingdoms which followed Babylon were the Medo-Persian empire, the Greek empire and the Roman empire, each corresponding to the deteriorating metals in the image. Note, however, that Daniel specified that the head of gold was Nebuchadnezzar – that is, the representation pertained to the head of the head, the head of the government and his power to rule. Now, Nebby was an absolute monarch. He had total power to rule. What he said, happened, period. He was the law.

 

What we observe in history is that this authority to rule diminished in each of the subsequent kingdoms along with the value of the metals. Recall that the head of the silver portion of the image, king of the Medes and the Persians, was constrained by the very laws he made as with Daniel in the lions’ den. The Greeks ruled by way of an oligarchy and next, the Roman ruler was ‘advised’ by the senate. 

 

Another important phrase in the passage is Daniel’s statement above that these kingdoms rule “over all the earth”. Now, sadly, this is a very poor translation in light of the prophetic significance of this dream. You don’t need history 101 to know that none of these empires ruled over the entire earth. No empire ever has. “Earth” in this passage is much better translated “land”. It is the Aramaic word corresponding to the Hebrew word for land and is associated with Israel. What the translation should have said was “over the complete land of Israel” (i.e. both north and south kingdoms of Israel and Judah).

 

Daniel continued: Whereas you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; yet the strength of the iron shall be in it, just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay. And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile. 

 

For good reason, many if not most students of eschatology see this kingdom as the ‘revived Roman empire’ because it ‘consists of the same metal as the legs’ if you would.  As I pointed out in “Counterfeit Controllers”, the Bible itself says that the clay in the image is symbolic of the Jewish people, more accurately the Hebrew people. See Isaiah 64:8 and Jeremiah 18:1-6.

 

Again, a poor translation has left us with the word “fragile” when it is most correctly “broken”. As a result, what we have prophesied is a final government that jointly rules over Jerusalem and the Hebrew people. It will consist of the iron and clay or the revived Roman empire and the reborn state of Israel. The constituent parts of the government will be partly strong or authoritarian and partly broken.

 

Now, what kind of government has its authority broken up? Democracies of course. As with our own country, the authority to rule is broken or divided up. It’s called the separation of powers – executive, legislative and judicial. Here’s the rub. All of the countries in the current EU are in this “broken” category. None of them has an authoritarian head of government. So where are the “strong” in this equation?

 

Below is a map of the old Roman Empire. As you will note, what is now Europe comprised less than half of the regional entities of the empire.  So, in the EU, the revived Roman empire is apparently only partially revived. Now, there’s no prophetic requirement for it to be fully revived – only that it jointly rules in a loose, non-cohesive manner over the land of Israel and Jerusalem along with the Hebrew people. That may happen yet for just recently Israel and the EU agreed to an “upgraded relationship”.

 

Here is an excerpt from an article describing the event in Epoch Times:

After a year of negotiation, Israel and the EU entered a new phase of negotiations on Monday (June 16, 2008) during the annual EU-Israel General Affairs Council... The negotiation process between Israel and the EU was initiated more than a year ago in a meeting of the Association Council with Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni, in recognition of Israel's upcoming 60th anniversary. Accelerated negotiations between Israel and the EU are now set to begin.

 

Possible Integration of Israel in European Market Israeli-EU relations will be addressed in three areas: increased diplomatic cooperation; Israel's participation in European plans and agencies; and examining the possibility of Israeli integration into the European market. This has been widely supported within Israel as well.

 

As an example, on Monday, January 1, 2007, Minister of Strategic Affairs Avigdor Lieberman said that Israel should set itself a political objective for the next five years to join as a full member of the European Union…

 

So, the discussions that once were considered secret are now out in the open. Israel and the EU plan to merge in some substantial form. But that may not be the whole story for something new has surfaced that may have great prophetic importance. The French have just taken over the rotating presidency of the EU and their new president Nicolas Sarkozy is in charge. For many reasons, not the least of which is that he is part Jewish, he is sympathetic to the welfare of Israel and is very vocal about an equitable peace in the Middle East.

 

On July 13th, a new entity which he has proposed and pushed through came into being – the Mediterranean Union (or as is more politically correct, the Union for the Mediterranean). It is considered an extension to the EU and will be focused initially on trade rather than on governmental conformity.  Do you see it?? THIS indeed is representative geographically of the ‘revived Roman empire’ – all of it! And, importantly, who is included? Israel.

 

The Mediterranean Union - Here are a few headlines and a ‘snipit’ from each:

Out of the 43 nations involved, only one did not send its head of state or the appropriate representative – Libya. Gahdafi’s reasoning was that this union “is the rise of another Roman Empire.” Ha! Even he gets it!

 

“Israel sees Mediterranean Union as way to boost Arab ties” -- AFP

“This is the first time that the top leaders of the Mediterranean meet” with the participation of Israel, [Prime Minister Ehud Ohmert] said. 

 

“Mediterranean union launched with Mideast peace hopes” – AFP

Sarkozy said Arab states had made a “gesture of peace” by attending the inaugural summit of the new union and proclaimed that a “great initiative has been born.”

 

“43 nations creating Mediterranean union” – AP

Israeli, Syrian and Palestinian leaders were among those attending an unprecedented gathering on the River Seine in Paris. Coping with age old enmities involving their peoples and others along the Mediterranean shores will be a central challenge to the new union.

 

“Mediterranean Union Launched Amid Hopes for Peace” –

   Deutsche Welle

Leaders of the EU and of its southern neighbors agreed Sunday to a joint declaration accompanying the creation of the union, a breakthrough which came after heads of state and government from 43 countries, among them Israel, Syria and the Palestinian territories, overcame their differences over a reference to the Middle East peace process.

 

Of note, in this new Union, we also see the fulfillment of the “strong” portion of the final government for many of the countries included in the new MU have very authoritarian heads of state such as Syria, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Morocco, and Jordan.

 

Additionally, as we consider the structure of the image in Daniel 2, each portion appropriately pictures the corresponding empire – the two arms united by the chest justly symbolizes the Medes and Persians as one empire. The two thighs and four sides of the abdomen pictures the four generals that Alex the Great left his empire to and the two of them that emerged as most powerful – the Seleucid and the Ptolemy kingdoms.

 

Then there are the two legs representing the two parts of the Roman Empire (East and West -- Rome and Constantinople). At the end, there are the two feet.

 

Until this point, the EU did not fit this part of the picture but now with the MU we see it complete – ‘northern’ Mediterranean members and ‘southern’ members each with their own presidents. The first two are Sarkozy from France and Mubarrak from Egypt.

 

As you Bible students know, the ten toes are ‘kings’ who will arise during the Tribulation and rule “for one hour” with the Antichrist. 

 

Finally, we should note from the prophecy Daniel emphasized that the toes of the image were made of the mixed iron and clay. He says that the feet and toes are of iron and clay, but with the emphasis on the toes, you get the impression that the mingling of these two materials is happening, really, at the very bottom of the image. That is, the clay-iron mingling happens at the very end. Thus, based upon the emergence of this MU, I’d say that we are now finally seeing this mingling of the clay with the iron.

 

And folks, we’re in the very last days.  The enemy of our souls is creating his own dream world called hell on earth. Let’s not get caught day-dreaming of the here and now or spiritually nodding off. Jesus said, “But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly. For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.” (Luke 21:34-36)

 

The Roman Empire

 

The Mediterranean Union

 

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