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precepts said in post 456:
Rev explains that the 10 horns and the 7 hills were kings.
In Revelation 17:10, the 7 "kings" can refer to 7 empires, just as the 4 "kings" in Daniel 7:17 refer to 4 empires, Daniel 7:23 referring to the 4th (i.e. the Roman Empire).
In Revelation 17:9, the 7 mountains (or hills) which support Revelation's symbolic "Babylon" can be the 7 hills of Rome. For at the time of John the apostle in the first century AD, the Roman Empire was the chief support for what Revelation's "Babylon" represents: all of mankind's corrupt political (Revelation 17:18), economic (Revelation 18:11), and religious (Revelation 18:24) systems throughout the earth (Revelation 18:3) and throughout history (Revelation 17:9-10). At the same time, in Revelation 17:9, the 7 mountains can also represent 7 empires (Revelation 17:10). For an empire can be referred to symbolically as a mountain (Jeremiah 51:24-25, Daniel 2:35,44), and what Revelation's "Babylon" represents has been supported by 7 empires: Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, and (possibly) Islam.
The first 5 had fallen by the time of John the apostle in the first century AD: "five are fallen" (Revelation 17:10, Revelation 1:1b-2). The 6th (Rome) existed at the time of John: "one is" (Revelation 17:10). The 7th (possibly Islam) hadn't come by the time of John: "the other is not yet come" (Revelation 17:10). The empire of the Antichrist (the individual-man aspect of the beast) will be a different, still-future, 8th head (Revelation 17:11), which will be a revival of one of the 5 empires that had fallen by the time of John (Revelation 17:8,10,11). It will be a revival of the empire of Babylon. The Antichrist will transform the present-day, rebuilt city of Babylon (in Iraq) into the capital of his world empire, only to see his city of Babylon ultimately destroyed at Jesus' 2nd coming (Isaiah 13).
Before the 2nd coming, when the world is brought into the worship of Lucifer (the dragon, Satan) and the Antichrist, during the Antichrist's future, literal 3.5-year worldwide reign (Revelation 13:4-18, Revelation 12:9), the Antichrist will build their main temple in the city of Babylon. For a temple to "wickedness" will be built in Shinar (Babylonia) (Zechariah 5:8,11), and the Antichrist is called "that Wicked" (2 Thessalonians 2:8). Also, the dragon has been the god worshipped in the city of Babylon since ancient times.
The Antichrist may claim to be Nebuchadnezzar returned, and so reinstitute the system that Nebuchadnezzar set up whereby everyone had to worship an image or be killed (Daniel 3, Revelation 13:15). The Antichrist may also claim to be, at the same time, the return of Nimrod (the founder of Babylon: Genesis 10:8-10), and Hammurabi, and Asoka, and other famous rulers of the past. For he may claim that he has had many different "past lives" as various "enlightened" rulers.
Besides building a main temple in Babylon, the Antichrist will also sit (at least one time) in a future, 3rd Jewish temple in Jerusalem, and declare himself God there (2 Thessalonians 2:4, Daniel 11:36,31, Matthew 24:15, Revelation 11:1-2). The Antichrist could also sit (at least one time) in other religions' holiest shrines, and declare himself to be God there as well. For example, he could also sit in Islam's Kaaba in Mecca, in the Sikhs' Golden Temple in Amritsar, in Catholicism's St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican, etc.
precepts said in post 456:
Rev explains that the 10 horns and the 7 hills were kings.
The 10 horns/kings of the beast in its Antichrist's-empire aspect (Revelation 13:1, Revelation 17:3,12) could be 10 men whom the Antichrist will appoint as kings over 10 major nations, which nations could be the 10 horns in Daniel 7:24. For in Daniel 7, the first 3 beasts (Daniel 7:3-6) represent the ancient empires of Babylon (lion), Medo-Persia (bear), and Greece (leopard). And the 4th beast, or 4th "king"/"kingdom" (Daniel 7:17,23), represents the ancient Roman Empire. And the 10 horns/kings which come out of it (Daniel 7:7,24) could represent 10 major kingdoms/nations today which came out the former territory of the Roman Empire, which consisted not only of Western Europe, but also the Middle East and North Africa. These 10 nations could be Germany, the U.K., France, Italy, Spain, Turkey, Egypt, Iraq, Algeria, and Syria.
The 10 part-iron/part-clay toes of Daniel 2:42 could represent the same thing as the 10 horns of Daniel 7:7. The Europeans could be the iron, and the Arabs and Turks could be the clay. In Daniel 2:43, the inability of the iron to mix with the clay could represent how, for example, there are many Turks living in Germany, but they remain separated in ghettoes within German cities. Similarly, there are many Algerians living in France, but they remain separated in ghettoes within French cities.
But despite this social separation, which could endure indefinitely, the people of Western Europe on the one hand, and the people of the Middle East and North Africa on the other, could still one day put aside their political separation and become united into one confederation. For Daniel 2:42 refers to the 10 as a singular "kingdom". The person who brings this about could be the Antichrist. The arising of the "little" horn (Daniel 7:8, Daniel 8:9), which is "diverse" from the 10 major nations (Daniel 7:24), could mean that the Antichrist will arise from a little country.
And the little horn arising from "among" the 10 major nations (Daniel 7:8) could mean that the Antichrist's country's territory used to be part of the Roman Empire. And before that, it was part of one of the 4 Diadochian Greek kingdoms which succeeded the Greek Empire of Alexander the Great (Daniel 8:8-9,21-25). The territory of these 4 kingdoms stretched from Greece over to Iran, and down into Egypt. So the Antichrist could come from the Middle East. He could be an Arab who will come from the little country of Lebanon, from the modern city of Tyre (Ezekiel 28:2; 2 Thessalonians 2:4).
The Antichrist could start out by claiming to be a Baathist. After becoming the leader of Lebanon, he could peacefully gain control of a Baathist confederation of 3 of the 10 major nations (Daniel 7:24): Egypt, "toward the south" of Lebanon (Daniel 8:9), and Iraq and Syria, "toward the east" of Lebanon (Daniel 8:9). This confederation could also include the minor nation of a United Palestine, i.e. a defeated Israel, "the pleasant land" (Daniel 8:9).
This Baathist confederation could be put together in the future by an Iraqi Baathist General who could completely defeat and occupy Israel and Egypt with a huge Iraqi Army (Daniel 11:15-17; in verse 17 the original Hebrew word translated as "daughter" is "bath"), but who could then mysteriously disappear (Daniel 11:19) shortly before the Antichrist arises on the world stage (Daniel 11:21-45). Years later, when the Antichrist gains control of all 10 of the major nations, he could appoint kings over them (Revelation 17:12) who will defer to him (Revelation 17:13), like when Napoleon gained control of different nations, he appointed kings over them who would defer to him.
precepts said in post 456:
Rev explains that the 10 horns and the 7 hills were kings.
Note that Revelation 17:13 doesn't require (as is sometimes claimed) that its 10 kings will bring the Antichrist to power, instead of the other way around. For Revelation 17:12 shows that they will receive power as kings only when the Antichrist does. On the other hand, in Daniel 7:24, its 10 kings arise before the Antichrist does, and so they can be 10 major nations which currently exist, just as in Daniel 7:17, the 4 kings are 4 empires (cf. Daniel 7:23) which existed in the past.
precepts said in post 456:
Eventhough you claim what you claimed about the horns being kingdom, why is there no gaps between Babylon, Persia/Media, and Grecia? Why when it comes to Christ time there's no kings or rulers mentioned?
Christ's first-coming time was during the time of Daniel 7's fourth beast/king/kingdom (Rome).
precepts said in post 456:
The 4 beast kingdoms in Dan 7 is the 1st beast in Revelation, and the 11th horn in Dan 7's 4th beast is the 2nd beast in Revelation.
Note that the 7 heads in Revelation 13:1 and Revelation 17:3 aren't the same as the 7 heads in Daniel 7. For the 4 beasts in Daniel 7:3-7 represent the ancient empires of Babylon (lion), Medo-Persia (bear), Greece (leopard), and Rome (4th beast). The 4 heads of the Greek Empire (Daniel 7:6) represent the 4 Diadochian Greek kingdoms which the Greek Empire broke up into after the death of Alexander the Great (Daniel 11:4, Daniel 8:8). But the 7 heads of the beast in Revelation 13:1 and Revelation 17:3 represent the empires of Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, and (possibly) Islam. So the 4 beasts in Daniel 7 represent the same thing as 4 of the 7 heads in Revelation 13:1 and Revelation 17:3, but the heads in Daniel 7 aren't entirely the same as the heads in Revelation 13:1 and Revelation 17:3. If they were entirely the same, then it would have been said, at the time of John the apostle and the Roman Empire in the first century AD, that "six are fallen" instead of "five are fallen" (Revelation 17:10). For in Daniel 7, the first 3 beasts before the Roman Empire had a total of 6 heads, not 5.
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