Brain Damage posted in message #31:
Iran will take over Iraq and become the Beast that
once was and will be again. (media persian empire)
If we check out the old roman empire we see that Iran
and Iraq were no part of it, hence the beast that is
looking for 10 within to join it to wipe out Israel.
Iran may not take over Iraq, just as Iraq may not
take over Iran. Instead, Arab Iraq could become part
of a greater United Arab States, initially consisting
of Iraq, Syria (including "Palestine", i.e. a
defeated Israel), and Egypt. Israel and Egypt could
be conquered (Daniel 11:15-16) by a Baathist Iraqi
General (in Daniel 11:17, the Hebrew word translated
as "daughter" is "bath") who could be given a huge
Iraqi Army fully trained and equipped by the U.S. to
conquer Iran. But instead of using his massive Army to
invade huge Iran, the Baathist Iraqi General could
turn and conquer tiny Israel, and then Egypt, instead.
The empire of the Beast that once was and will be
again (Revelation 17:8,11) may not be the Medo-Persian
Empire, but instead could be the Babylonian Empire.
A United Arab States could have its capital in
Baghgad, Iraq, which is close to the site of the
ancient Babylon. The Antichrist could take over a
United Arab States and then move the capital to the
ancient site of Babylon (which Saddam Hussein began
to rebuild), and there the Antichrist could eventually
proclaim himself the resurrected Nebuchadnezzar and
his empire the restored Babylonian Empire.
If we check out the old Roman Empire we see that much
of the territory of present-day Iran wasn't a part of
it and that most of the territory of present-day Iraq
was a part of it. The Antichrist may initially take
over some westernmost parts of Iran which may have
been part of the old Roman Empire, as well as taking
over all of Iraq and other parts of the Middle East.
Then he could subsequently take over all of the Middle
East, and then all of North Africa, and then all of
Western Europe, so that his empire could be in effect
become a new Roman Empire in its extent of territory.
Revelation 17 describes the empire of the Antichrist.
Its seven heads (Revelation 17:3) represent the seven
empires fallen by the time of the Antichrist, five of
which had fallen by the time of John the Apostle in
the first century (Revelation 17:10a): Egypt, Assyria,
Babylon, Medo-Persia, and Greece. One of the heads of
the Antichrist's empire represents the empire which
existed during the time of John the Apostle
(Revelation 17:10b): Rome. And one head represents an
empire which wouldn't come until after the time of
John the Apostle (Revelation 17:10c): possibly the
various manifestations of what could be called the
Empire of Islam.
The Antichrist's empire will be an eighth empire
(Revelation 17:11b) that could be declared by the
Antichrist as being the restoration of one of the
empires that was before the time of John the Apostle
but no longer existed by the time of John the Apostle
(Revelation 17:11a): possibly the Babylonian Empire.
And the Antichrist's empire could include territory
of all of the seven empires (Revelation 17:11c) which
existed before, during, and after the time of John
the Apostle.
The ten horns of the Antichrist's empire (Revelation
17:3c) could be the same as the ten horns of the
endtime empire seen by Daniel (Daniel 7:7c). The ten
horns represent ten kings (Daniel 7:24a, Revelation
17:12a) or possibly ten major nations which would
arise out of the territory of the former Roman Empire
(Daniel 7:24a) after the time of John the Apostle
(Revelation 17:12). These ten major nations could be
Germany, Britain, France, Italy, Spain, Turkey, Iraq,
Syria, Egypt, and Libya.
The Antichrist could begin his career on the world
stage by being given power over three of these ten
nations (Daniel 7:24c): Iraq, Syria, and Egypt. But
his origin has to be "diverse" from all ten of these
nations (Daniel 7:24b). He could be an Arab who
could arise out of Tyre (Ezekiel 28:2, cf.
2 Thessalonians 2:4), in Lebanon, and he could be
given control over the initial manifestation of a
United Arab States consisting of Iraq, Syria
(including "Palestine", i.e. a defeated Israel), and
Egypt, which United Arab States could have been put
together by force of arms by a Baathist General, an
Iraqi Arab predecessor of the Antichrist (Daniel
11:15-17), who could mysteriously disappear from the
scene (Daniel 11:19) before the appearance of the
Antichrist (Daniel 11:21).