Listen to this articleTHE REVELATION.
Revelation 4:1 (NKJV) After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, “Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this.”
John was not seeing the past No. He was seeing the future.
Revelation 1:1 (WEB) This is the Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things which must happen soon, which he sent and made known by his angel to his servant, John,
Its written clearly John was shown things that were to happen in the future. So all visions of John no matter how similar they are to things that happened in the past, are talking of the future.
Revelation 22:6 (NRSV) And he said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true, for the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place.”
Three different verses emphasising that John was seeing the future.
John Was in Patmos under severe persecution by the Roman empire which had already destroyed Jerusalem and burnt down the temple in 70 AD. This was now 96 AD. John an old man now living in Asia Minor which is a province in Turkey.
Rome the fourth Beast was ruling the world. John is then shown something that was coming in the future…
Revelation 13:1 (NRSV) And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads; and on its horns were ten diadems, and on its heads were blasphemous names.
To John is revealed that there is yet another beast that is coming in the future, this beast with seven heads and ten horns had never been seen by Daniel.
Let’s go on.
What is this beast?
Revelation 13:2 (NRSV) And the beast that I saw was like a leopard, its feet were like a bear’s, and its mouth was like a lion’s mouth. And the dragon gave it his power and his throne and great authority.
This beast is a unification of the four kingdoms that had been revealed to Daniel. The four headed Leopard which is Greece, The Bear (Medo-Persia), The Lion (Babylon) and The Ten Horned Beast (Rome) were going to unite and rise out of the sea as ONE SINGLE BEAST with seven heads, ten horns and A SINGLE NAME OF BLASPHEMY ON EACH HEAD.
This is the unification of the Four Kingdoms under one Name
Anyways, since to Daniel these nations had already been revealed. We can name them.
1. Babylon which is Iraq.
2. Medo Persia which is Iran.
3. Greece was divided into 4 heads…
3. Syria, 4. Egypt 5. Pergamos (Turkey) 6. Macedon (no longer exists).
7. ROME.
Since Macedon No longer Exists it means one of the seven heads is gone…
There is Iraq, Iran, Syria, Egypt, Pergamos and Rome.
So is this unity and this rise of the beast in the past or in the future. It already happened. ROME WAS KNOWN as the CITY OF THE SEVEN HILLS.
The Roman empire had its Capital in Rome. Constantine then came into power and changed everything. FOLLOW CLOSELY THIS IS IMPORTANT.
In 324 AD Constantine decided to move the Capital of the Roman empire from the city of Rome to a new city in Turkey called Byzantium. It was inaugurated in 324 AD at ancient Byzantium, as the new capital of the Roman empire by emperor Constantine the Great, after whom it was named, and dedicated on 11 May 330.
This is similar to what David did when he moved the capital of Israel to Jerusalem and dedicated Jerusalem as the city of God.
From then it was so.
Byzantium is in Turkey.
People are still looking at the city of Rome when the seat and capital of the empire was now in Byzantium which Constantine renamed Constantinople. Like the original capital city Rome, Byzantium was surrounded by seven hills and a seven mile wall around it.
The seat of The Roman Empire was moved from the West to the East.
Within a 100 years the previous capital city of the empire (Rome) was invaded and taken over by the Goths, Germanic tribes, Asthrogoths and what not.
However the new capital city of Rome remained standing and ruling for another thousand years.
A unified Beast Rises…
Why would The Roman Empire move its capital to Turkey? Why?
Jesus explains…
