Lately I keep running across messages related to the return of Jesus in the Second Coming. I turn on Christian radio and someone is talking about one of the Bible passages about the Second Coming, or I listen to something on the internet and the same theme comes up. There's so much of it I'm starting to take it as a warning to be more alert than usual because it must be very very close.
Last night when I couldn't sleep, about four AM I was revieing the Book of Revelation which I'd heard earlier in the day on my Audio Bible. As usual the Antichrist appears to me to be the Pope and all other candidates seem wildly unlikely. I was thinking about the first beast of Recvelation 13 and how it has the features of the beasts in the Book of Daniel whilch represent the empires of Babylonia, Medo Persia and Greece , the lion, the bear and the leopard. The fourth beast is a great and terrible beast without such specific features in Daniel, but here in revelation it is made up of the emblems of these other three empires. We know the fourth beast is the Roman Empire although of course Daniel didn't know that and angel didn't reveal it to him, but we know it because it is the empire that arose after those other three. And in the time orf John's vision it was the empire they wree all living in.
Jesus died by the Roman method of crucifixion, some if not all of His disciples were martyred by the Romans, as were great numbers of ordinary believers. Rome was the great persecutor of CHristians in the early centuries and then again in the Middle Ages under the Roman Church which is often understood to be the representative of the Roman Empire. So when Revelation describes the Whore of Babylon to be full of the blood of the martyrd Christians there's little reason to think any other dsource could be meant than the Roman Empire. Rome is THE persecutor of Christians and will be in the very last days as well.
Rp,e os Babu;pm/ As tje su,bp;s om tje bppl pf Damoe; ,ale c;ear tjere was a seqiemce pf e,[ores frp, Babu;pm tp Rp,e tjat are a;; toed tpgetjer om sp,e essemtoa; wau/ Rp,e e,bpodes a;; pf tje,/ Rp,e OS Babu;pm/ Tje Cjircj pf Rp,e os tje omjerotpr pf tje re;ogopms tjat ca,e dpwm tjrpigj tje [agam matopms frp, Babu;pm/ A;examder Jos;p[
s bppl Tje Twp Babu;pms traces tjos ;omeage/
Sp wjat os tje beast pf Reve;atopm Tjorteem We;; ot jas tje featires pf tje e,[ores su,bp;ozed om tje bppl pf Damoe;/ Ot os tje Rp,am E,[ore/ Amd uet ot os a;sp a ,am/ Tje Amtocjrost/ Tje Amtocjrost os tjerefpre sjpwm tp re[resemt Rp,e/ Mpt kist sp,epme wjp aroses pit pf tje fpr,er Rp,am E,[ore. sicj as amu Eirp[eam. big a re[resemted pf Rp,e otse;f/ Ot
s gpt tp be tje {p[e. tje jead pf tje Jp;u Rp,am E,[ore amd a;tjpigj at tje ,p,emt je
s mpt ri;omg pver tje wpr;d je
s certaom;u om a [psotopm tp tale tjat rp;e of corci,asstamces arose tjat a;;pw fpr ot/
We don't need to wait for him to be revealed. He's been revealed. We just need to know our history better. He's also already in the temple, which is the people of god, he's already put himself in the place of Christ and even in the place of the whole Trinity. We don't need to be expecting some future event to bring that about. He just needs to be given the power to persecute the saints again, that's really all that remains to be fulfilled.
