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All right, turn to Revelation chapter 17 in your Bible, Revelation 17, Revelation chapter 17, and we're not going to read the entire chapter here. We did read it last week, but we decided just to have one song and then just go straight into the sermon due to there being heavy rain, even though it has come down here a little bit. But remember last week we started talking about Babylon, and we talked about the concept of Babylon. We're going to be talking about Babylon here this week, and then next week, and the week after that. We're going to talk about a four-part series within the book of Revelation. We talked about the concept of Babylon last week, tonight we're going to talk about the history of Babylon. So we're going to see that we talk about the concept of Babylon, that there's this world empire that has control. Now we're going to look at kind of the history of that, these different empires that have had this control throughout history. Now notice Revelation 17, verse 9, Revelation 17, verse 9, and here is the mine which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sitteth. Now there's kind of a dual application here in verse 9. I've talked about before how Rome is a city set on seven hills, and that's true. But there's also this application of these seven different empires. And notice verse 10, and there are seven kings. These are seven kings of different kingdoms. Notice this, five are fallen. When it says fallen or to fall or fell in the Bible, that's saying dead, okay? Five of these kings are already dead. Then it says this, and one is. Is is present tense, right? So what the Bible is saying here is one of these kings is in charge as this is being written 2,000 years ago. Now when we read this today, this does not mean one is present day today, because this was written 2,000 years ago. But when John was alive and it said one is during his time period, present tense, that one king was still there, that one empire was still there. So it says five are fallen, past tense, and one is, and the other is not yet come. So basically during John's day, the sixth kingdom was there, and then it says the other is not yet come. Now next week we'll talk about what is the one not yet come. We'll talk about who Babylon's talking about during the end times, okay? But now turn in your Bible to Daniel chapter two, Daniel chapter two, Daniel two. So we see here mentioned that there are basically seven kingdoms, and the Bible also talks about there being an eighth, which is referring to the Antichrist, which will come from the seven. And so we're going to look at these first six kingdoms, okay? We're not going to look at the one that is not yet come, because that's next week's sermon. But let's go to Daniel chapter two, because Nebuchadnezzar also has a dream, which kind of talks about some of this stuff. Daniel two verse 31. Thou, O king, sawest and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee, and the form thereof was terrible. The image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, his legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and break them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors, and the wind carried them away that no place was found for them. And the stone that smote the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. This is the dream, and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king." So the king has this dream, and basically Daniel's letting him know this was the dream, and now he's going to give the interpretation. Thou, O king, art a king of kings, okay? So he's saying, Nebuchadnezzar, you're not an ordinary king. You're a king of kings. You're powerful. In fact, you are the most powerful one. He says, you are a king of kings above all these other kings. For the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. Now Nebuchadnezzar should have remembered this because Daniel's very clear, God gave you this kingdom. You didn't take it yourself because you're so smart or you're so strong or anything. No, God gave you this kingdom, Nebuchadnezzar. Verse 38, and wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the head and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold. So he tells Nebuchadnezzar, in this dream you had, you are the head of gold. So obviously, one of these six empires is Babylon. I think that should be a given, given the fact that this was given to Nebuchadnezzar and everything, and we're talking about end times Babylon. Notice verse 39, and after thee shall rise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth, and the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron, for as much as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things, and as iron that breaketh all these shall it break in pieces and bruise. So in Nebuchadnezzar's dream, what Daniel's saying is there are four kingdoms being mentioned, and you are the first one, Nebuchadnezzar. You are the most powerful one, but then there's going to be another one that comes after you. Okay, we're going to find out what are these referring to. So in Revelation, we had six kingdoms. Here with Daniel, here with Nebuchadnezzar, we mentioned four kingdoms. So all four of these are part of the six, but there are two other ones that are not mentioned. Okay? Now, number one, one thing we do know is this, that the sixth kingdom is Rome. The one that is during John's day was Rome. Go to Luke chapter two. I'll show this to you. Luke chapter two. So we're going to look at all six, and we're going to look at the order, and we're going to see this straight from the Bible. And so one of these six is definitely Rome because, look, there's no question, and we'll look at it in the Bible, but in the days of Jesus Christ, the empire that was reigning was the Roman empire. Okay? There's no question it's in the Bible. We're going to look at a lot of scripture about this. Notice what it says in Luke chapter two, verse one. And it came to pass in those days that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. Okay? Now, Caesar Augustus, after the dust settled, he basically took the power, Mark Antony was defeated. Caesar Augustus comes, obviously everything after Julius Caesar dies kind of in chaos, which was not really that long before the times of Jesus Christ. It was during that time between Malachi and Matthew, that hidden time, all that happened. Well, Caesar Augustus, notice, he taxes the entire world. Okay? Now, last week on the concept of Babylon, we're looking at an empire that basically has a world reign, is combined as one, there's great sin and wickedness coming from them. And here we see in Luke chapter two, verse one, that Caesar Augustus, who's the head of this Roman empire, he taxes the entire world. Go to verse number 21, verse 21. And they asked him saying, master, we know that thou sayest and teachest rightly, neither acceptest thou the person of any, but teaches the way of God truly. Is it lawful for us to give tribute unto Caesar or no? But he perceived their craftiness and said unto them, why tempt he me? Show me a penny, whose image and superscription hath it. They answered and said, Caesar's, and he said unto them, render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar's and unto God the things which be God's. So during this time, the empire that's in control is the Roman empire. There's no question about that. Let me ask you a question today, though. Is the head of Rome able to make some decree in today's world and tax the entire world? Not at all. You say, why? Because although the Roman pyre was the one that is during the day of John, they're not in control now, they're gone. Many people have looked at Revelation chapter 17 and said, hey, Roman Catholic church, this proves that the end times Babylon is the Roman Catholic church. Now here's the thing, Revelation 17 is referring to the Roman Catholic church. Now I've preached on that several times, I believe, I've talked about that, and that is the empire that is, and so yes, that's what he's talking about in Revelation 17. Now there are things that can apply toward the end times Babylon or really any of these empires because they have a lot of the similarities between them. But the one that is and what he's expressing to John is basically the Roman empire because he can kind of understand that, but then he's going to transition to Revelation chapter 18 to the end times Babylon. And so go to Daniel chapter two, Daniel chapter two, Daniel two, Daniel chapter two. You say, well, I don't know, I'm not sure if one of the empires is the Roman empire. Well, let's look at what it says in Daniel two. Let's see if it fits with kind of end times prophecy scripture. And let me say this, I will talk about history a little bit and one mistake people make is they say, well, when you're talking about the Bible, you cannot add any history or talk about history at all. You know, you can't use history to interpret the Bible, but here's the thing about this. Nebuchadnezzar gets a dream and all of this stuff is futuristic. It has not taken place yet after Nebuchadnezzar. And how do we know what's true or not? Well, we see what the Bible says and you use commonly known history and you can see whether that's true or not. It is going to line up, okay? That's what prophecy is. You make a prophecy about the future and then current events or future events will tell you, hey, did that actually take place? So yeah, when we were talking about this end times Babylon, it makes sense to look at some very commonly known history, okay? Yes, we know that history cannot be 100% trusted, like two plus two equals four. But I also think you're a little bit insane if you tell me, I don't believe Alexander the Great existed. Julius Caesar, I didn't see him with my own eyes. He must not have existed. I mean, obviously there are some things that are commonly established facts and we're actually going to see in Daniel that these things line up with these empires, things that are commonly known facts. Notice what it says in Daniel 2 verse 39. And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron, for as much as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueeth all things, and as iron that breaketh all these shall it break in pieces and bruce. Now, I believe that Rome is this fourth kingdom mentioned, okay? It's the sixth kingdom in Revelation 17, the one that is, and if this is the fourth out of Nebuchadnezzar's dream, that would tell us there are two kingdoms that existed before those four. One, two, three, four, five, six, okay? You say, well, how do you know this is referring to Rome? Well, see, here's the thing. The Bible's going to give us very specific details and we can line those up and see whether or not they're accurate. Notice what it says in verse 41, because he's telling them this dream and he expects that when this actually takes place, people are going to know Roman Empire based on the information he said. Verse 41, and whereas thou sawest the feet and toes and part of potter's clay and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided, okay? Let me ask you a question. Was the Roman Empire divided? Yes it was. It had two halves to it, right? They split the empire up. Was it divided? Yes it was. Does that line up with the Roman Empire? Here's the thing. If you were to look very closely at all these religious or spiritual books, you'd find so many errors in them, so many historical errors, so many scientific errors, but when you look at the Bible, it lines up perfectly. Whenever somebody says, hey, here's an error, it's actually an error in your logic and your thinking. So many times the Bible's ahead of time with history. This hasn't even taken place yet. It's ahead of time with science, okay? Notice what it says. You say, well, I don't know. The kingdom shall be divided. That's kind of vague. It shall be in it of the strength of the iron for as much as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay, and as the toes of the feet were part of iron and part of clay, so the kingdom shall, notice this, shall be partly strong and partly broken. See here's the thing about the Roman Empire. It divided into two halves and guess what? One side didn't last very long. It was partly broken, but it was also partly strong because the other side was still strong. The Byzantine Empire lasted until around 1453, so that would be partly strong. It lasted a long time. On the other hand, the Western Roman Empire breaks up around 476 AD to 480 AD, depending on how you measure that, but there's no question it broke up. So it splits into two halves and guess what? The Byzantine Empire, it's very strong. It lasts for a very long time. So when it says partly strong or partly broken, what it's saying is this empire is partly strong, partly broken. The broken side was the Western Roman Empire. It didn't last for a super long time, and the strong side is the Byzantine Empire. So it divides and guess what? They don't dissolve at the same day. One side lasts longer than the other. So look, does that fit with the Roman Empire? I mean historically it fits, doesn't it? This is commonly established fact about the Roman Empire. Some people can be way too crazy with conspiracy theories and say, well, every single thing is just a lie, okay? Well, I mean, you can go a little bit overboard when there's pretty commonly established facts, okay? Daniel 2, notice verse 39 again, Daniel 2 verse 39, and after these shall rise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass which shall bear rule over all the earth, and the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron, this is the Roman Empire, for as much as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things, and as iron that breaketh all these shall it break in pieces and bruise. And so according to what I'm telling you, this is the fourth of the four that Nebuchadnezzar has in this dream, and it's number six when it comes to listing revelation, okay? So what's the first in Nebuchadnezzar's dream? Babylon, right? Babylon's number one, the Roman Empire's number four, so we're still gonna find out what's number two and number three. So number six is the Roman Empire, number three is Babylon in the chart in Revelation, which means there should be something we can find in the Bible, two major empires that existed before Nebuchadnezzar's dream, and we'll talk about that toward the end of the sermon, okay? So number three out of the six is the Babylonian Empire, obviously we know that, we don't have to look at scripture, we know that, okay? Number six is the Roman Empire. So who comes after Babylon? Who conquers Babylon? Does the Bible tell us? Go to Daniel five, Daniel five, Daniel chapter five, Daniel five, Daniel chapter five. I mean, the truth is with a lot of this historical information, the Bible is the best source of this history. So a lot of what we know as history comes from the Bible, okay? Now, people will try to theorize what these are talking about in Revelation 17, people will talk about the British Empire and things like that, and I could understand where people are confused, but the Bible actually bears witness to what it's referring to, okay, if you closely look at it. Notice what it says in Daniel five, verse 26. This is the interpretation of the king, Mene, God hath numbered thy kingdom and finished it. Tekel, thou art weighed in the balances and art found wanting. Perez, thy kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians, okay? The Medes and Persians were what's called a dual monarchy, and a dual monarchy means basically you have two kingdoms that are kind of unified as one instead of one Chaldean Empire or Babylonian Empire. It's a dual monarchy that basically controls the world, okay? And so it says the Medes and the Persians then commanded Belshazzar and they clothed Daniel with scarlet and put a chain of gold about his neck and made proclamation concerning him that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom. And that night was Belshazzar, the king of the Chaldean slain, okay? That's the Babylonian Empire, the Chaldean Empire. Verse 31, and Darius the Median took the kingdom being about three score and two years old. Now it mentions Darius the Median here in verse 31, and we don't have time to look at it, but one thing that we should know is this. There's a very famous Darius in history, one of the most famous kings who ever existed. That's a different Darius, though, because this is very clear it's Darius the Median, okay? The very famous Darius in history was a Persian, okay? And that's actually mentioned in other parts of the Bible, so there's a reason why it says Darius the Median because it's letting you know. And this actually makes sense because as we're going to see from the Bible and also through history, we know the Persian Empire was more powerful than the Median Empire. In this dual monarchy, the Bible actually says one side was stronger than the other. We can actually see that. We'll look at that in a second. But here's the thing. If you're really strong like King Cyrus the Great and the Persian Empire, and you have a very famous city called Persepolis, you're probably not going to want to move your kingdom to the Babylonian location. He's probably happy with their location to make that the rule, the epicenter. So it makes sense that Darius the Median would be the one that would take over control of that because the main epicenter was in Persepolis with the Persian Empire, which later got burned down by Alexander the Great, okay? And so go to Daniel chapter 7, Daniel 7, Daniel 7. Now I will say this, that in the Bible, we don't have first and last names. You have first name, and a lot of people have many names. And so sometimes history will look at some of these characters and say, well, this person never existed and everything like that. What you need to understand is a lot of people had various names, okay? And so oftentimes they'd have multiple names. Or if you became the king, you'd have a title. For example, in the Roman Empire, you're known as Caesar, but that wasn't actually your name. Or you take a new name because you became powerful and things such as that. And so notice what it says, though, here in Daniel chapter 7, verse 3. If you remember a long time ago, we talked about the Apocrypha tries to tell us that Darius the Median is actually King Cyrus the Great. And that's definitely wrong. That's not what the Bible teaches. But notice what it says in Daniel 7, verse 3. And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another. The first was like a lion and had eagle's wings. I beheld to the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man's heart was given to it. Okay, now this is in reference to the Babylonian Empire. And behold another beast, a second like to a bear. And notice what it says here, and it raised up itself on one side. Okay, now why does it say it raised up itself on one side? Because of the fact one side was stronger than the other. This is a dual monarchy, okay? Now that quote right there is a little bit vague. Go to Daniel chapter 8 and it won't be vague at all. It'll be very clear, okay? In Daniel 7 it said it raised up itself on one side. And what that's indicating is one side was stronger than the other, which the Persians were stronger. But I want you to notice here in Daniel chapter 8, we're gonna see how accurate the Bible is historically. And look, I know this is a deep sermon, but we're in revelation, right? I mean, doesn't it make sense? You're gonna go a little bit deep, okay? And notice this is why this Babylon topic, we're covering many sermons on it. Because it's a really in-depth topic and I want you to see this is very scriptural, very biblical. Daniel 8 verse 1. In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar, vision appeared onto me, even onto me, Daniel, after that which appeared on me at the first. And I saw in a vision and it came to pass when I saw that I was at Shushan in the palace, which is in the province of Elam. And I saw in a vision and I was by the river Ullai. Then I lifted up mine eyes and saw and behold there stood before the river a ram which had two horns and the two horns were high, okay? The ram has two horns. This is an indication of the dual monarchy, okay? Notice this, but one was higher than the other. Why is it saying one was higher than the other? Because one side was stronger than the other. It's a commonly established fact that the Persian Empire was stronger. Obviously, we know King Cyrus the Great. You don't know famous kings from the Medes, right? You know a lot of famous Persian kings like the Darius that was a different Darius, right? Ahasuerus, Xerxes, a lot of famous people from the Persian Empire. You don't really see that with the Medes because they were not as powerful, okay? One was higher than the other. But notice this, and the higher came up last. The higher came up last. Why does the Bible say the higher came up last? Because the median dynasty started in 678 BC and the Persian Empire more than 100 years later starts around 550 BC. So guess what came up last? The Persian Empire. But the one that came up last was the one that was higher. The Persian Empire actually became stronger even though it was 128 years later when it actually became a dynasty. And so look, the Bible is historically accurate, okay, when it comes to commonly established facts. 678 BC of the median dynasty starts, 550 BC the Persian Empire, that's when their dynasty starts. It comes up last, but there's no question the Persian Empire was higher than the Medes. They were more powerful. Okay, you say, well, how do you know this ram is referring to the Persian Empire? It sounds like you're just using something that could be symbolic, it could mean anything. Verse 20, the ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia. The Bible tells you it's the Medes and the Persians. And so look, when it says at the beginning of the chapter one was higher than the other, what it's indicating is one was stronger than the other. And it says the higher came up last, and the reason why it says the higher came up last is because the Persian Empire came up after the Medes, okay? The Bible is historically accurate. So in this chart, what do we have? Well, number three out of the six kingdoms is the Babylonian Empire, right? Number four is the Medes and Persians. So number three, the Babylonian Empire, number four, the Medes and Persians, number six, we've got the Roman Empire. So in between the Medes and the Persians, we should find a kingdom that basically kicked out the Medes and the Persians and then got destroyed by the Roman Empire. So what does the Bible say about this? Notice what it says in Daniel eight, verse four, Daniel chapter eight, verse four. So look, we can look at commonly established facts in history and it's lining up with the Bible. That's the whole point of prophecy that it's something that's going to be historically proven and you can say, okay, thus saith the Lord, this is what God said. Daniel eight, verse four, I saw the ram pushing westward and northward and southward so that no beast might stand before him, neither was there any that could deliver out of his hand, but he did according to his will and became great, okay? This is the Medes and the Persians that it's referring to and it's giving you some information about how it established its kingdom and where it went and things such as that. I mean, these are things that are, we know some historical stuff from the Bible here. Verse five, and as I was considering beholden, he goat came from the west on the face of the whole earth and touched not the ground and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes. Now this goat is referring to Alexander the Great and I'm going to prove that to you, okay? It is commonly established in history that the Greek Empire, the Macedonian Empire, whatever you want to call it, I know someone's going to say you're Bobo because you say it's the Greek Empire, Macedonian Empire, whatever you want to call it, they are the ones that destroyed the Medes and the Persians, okay? And then they were eventually destroyed as time went by, the Roman Empire would rise up after the Greek Empire, okay? But notice how it said it touched not the ground, you say why does it say it touched not the ground? The reason why it says it touched not the ground is it's basically going very fast, it's coming up out of nowhere. And if you know anything about Alexander the Great, I mean he conquered quickly. I mean good night, I'm older than when he was when he died, I mean he died in his early thirties, the year is kind of, people argue like 30, 31, 32, 33, you know somewhere around that, but I mean he died at a pretty young age, I mean he took over for his dad and he became very powerful, very fast, okay? And Julius Caesar in history, if you've ever listened to biographies on Julius Caesar, Julius Caesar was looking at a statue of Alexander the Great and he cried, he was in his early thirties, and he cried before that statue and the reason why he cried is he said, man, I'm the same age as he was when he conquered the world and what have I accomplished in my life? Because he had a goal to conquer the entire world and Julius Caesar came pretty close to that, okay? And so I mean Alexander the Great, he became powerful very quickly, it says he touched not the ground, okay? Verse 6, and he came to the ram that had two horns, the Medes and the Persians, verse 6, which I had seen standing before the river and ran onto him in the fury of his power. Verse 7, and I saw him come close onto the ram and he was moved with collar against him and he smote the ram and break his two horns and there was no power in the ram to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground and stamped upon him and there was none that could deliver the ram out of his hand. And I know we're looking at some kind of dark sayings, but the Bible gives us enough indication here in Daniel 8 to know exactly what he is referring to, okay? Notice what it says here in, let me actually read this to you before we look at verse 8, some information about Daniel, Alexander the Great, they say that he died around the age of 32 and when he died, he was actually at the peak of his power, okay? Now people debate about why he died, kind of the most commonly given reason is the fact that he was basically poisoned himself with alcohol or he got a major sickness as a result of alcohol. Basically he destroyed his body with, perhaps he was doing some sort of drugs or whatever like that, but basically that he destroyed his body. Now obviously, Alexander the Great was a wicked person, okay? It's kind of funny when you look at people that were world rulers a long time ago, people often think of them as like these great epic heroes or something like that. I mean, if you looked at a guy like, I don't know, whatever's a wicked ruler in today's world, you say, man, he's wicked. But people go back away in history and say, man, Alexander the Great was awesome. Julius Caesar was awesome. Hitler was terrible. Stalin was terrible. No, actually Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar were pretty bad also. I mean, Julius Caesar was very common for basically taking men's wives and sleeping with them and stuff like that. And it's like, no, they were not good either. They were bad people. Alexander the Great was a bad person and it is possible. God just smote him and he died, right? So it is possible that he drank himself to death or whatever. It's possible God just specifically said, you know what? You're so wicked. You're a wicked evil reprobate. I'm just going to strike you down. Because oftentimes when people are really arrogant, God will make them fall even in this life. He doesn't always wait till the great white throne judgment for them to get what's coming to them. Sometimes he just strikes them down dead while they're alive. And Alexander the Great, he was at the peak in the height of his power, okay? It says this in Ancient History Encyclopedia. When he was asked who should succeed him, Alexander said the strongest, okay? Because he had the point of dying and he didn't really have the successor set up after him. And so they asked him, well, who should take over if you die? He said whoever the strongest is. So basically Alexander the Great was saying, you know what? There's going to be a battle for it. Whoever wins ends up taking over, okay? Which answer led to his empire being divided between four of his generals, Cassander, Ptolemy, Antigonus, and Seleucus, known as the Diadochi or successors. I don't know, I'm sure I'm mispronouncing that, okay? You say, why are you telling us all of this? Because if this is a commonly established fact in history, which it is, there's a good chance the Bible's actually going to tell us this information. And you might not realize this when you're reading over it, but when you actually understand deep in it what history says, and those are commonly established facts, does the Bible actually teach this? Verse 8, therefore the he goat waxed very great. And when he was strong, the great horn was broken. I mean, doesn't that line up with history? When Alexander the Great is strong, then that's when this great horn that's smote, you know, the meads and the persons, that's when he's broken. Alexander the Great was at the peak of his power. I mean, he reached a point and he basically just wanted to conquer more and more, and his men told him, at least assuming this is historically accurate, they said, you know, hey, let's just go home. It's like, we already own the world. It's like, do we really have to just conquer everybody and just go and fight and fight and fight? That's what Alexander the Great wanted to do. He just wanted to fight and fight and fight and fight. And then all of a sudden, boom, he gets this massive sickness out of nowhere a few weeks later, he's dead. Right, because he was a wicked person, and however exactly he died, I'm sure God just smote him, okay? God allowed it to happen. So when he was strong, the great horn was broken, and that certainly lines up with history with Alexander the Great. But notice this, and for it came up, four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven. In how many parts was Alexander the Great's empire divided? Four, and see, the Bible is actually telling you that. And see, the Bible is giving very specific details. So when commonly established history comes around 1,000 years later, you could say, man, the Bible's an awesome book. Everything is accurate. Because you look at these prophecies from Nostradamus, and they're just incredibly vague. I mean, it'll be something like, out of the West will rise a woman to rule. It's like, good night, there have been a lot of women presidents, okay? It's like something really vague that could be looked at a hundred different ways. Something ridiculous. But the Bible's actually given real specific information. And look, when he was strong, he was broken. And guess what, four notable ones rose up. You say, well, how do you know for sure this is Alexander the Great? Verse 21, and the rough goat is the king of Grecia, the Grecian empire, the Macedonian empire, referencing Alexander the Great here. And the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king. See, how do you know it's four kingdoms? That was kind of vague, four notable ones, four winds of heaven. Now that being broken, whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power. Why does this say not in his power? Because none of those four kingdoms were as powerful or as strong as Alexander the Great, okay? Four rise up, but not in his power. Alexander the Great was very strong, and then the ones who took over, they just weren't as strong, okay? They were basically four, and they were never really unified, okay? Hundreds of years later in Tychus Epiphanes, which we've talked about him a little bit, who's kind of like a type of the Antichrist. The Bible references him for the abomination of desolation, kind of a type of it in Old Testament times. He actually comes from one of those four kingdoms a little bit down the road. But there was none that were actually established as the leader. And Tychus Epiphanes was not as powerful as Alexander the Great. He wasn't even close to it. There was no established one kingdom ruling after Alexander the Great under that Grecian or Macedonian empire, okay? So this is all lining up with history, and what did we see? What we saw in number three was Babylon. Number four was the Medes and the Persians, a dual monarchy. The Persian Empire came a blast and was stronger, which also history says. Then Alexander the Great takes over, which history says. And when he was powerful, he was broken, which history also says. And then his kingdom was divided into four kingdoms, which history also says. And eventually, the Roman Empire will end up rising up in basically barren rule on the earth, which we have the Bible to back us up throughout the entire New Testament, that they are the ones in control. So in Revelation 17, when it said one is, that's clearly a reference to the Roman Empire, okay? So we've got four out of six. So the question is, what are the other two empires? Because if the Bible is accurate, historically, and all of this, and it's gonna mention that, surely the Bible would tell us what those other two empires are. And look, if you're familiar with the Old Testament, you're gonna know who those two empires are. Go to Genesis 41, Genesis 41. Now, one of these is very obvious. What great world power existed that people still talk about today? Everyone's like, man, I wish I lived in the pyramids, right? The Egyptian Empire. Everybody knows about the Nile River, the pyramids. I mean, throughout the Old Testament, Egypt plays a major role, right? Genesis 41. Now, it's interesting that Egypt is not powerful at all anymore, cuz they were really the empire that lasted the longest in terms of still being powerful. I mean, literally, shortly before the Roman Empire took over. Because we know Mark Antony, who was basically trying to take, Mark Antony's the one who basically put the crown on Julius Caesar's head to see how people reacted to having a king. Cuz they normally didn't wanna have a king. And Julius Caesar takes it off to show humility, although it's fake and everything like that. They're trying to test people's reaction to see, how do you feel having a king over you? Because that's not something the Roman Empire was used to. Well, after Julius Caesar is killed, Mark Antony's one who rises up, who tries to take power. And there's a lot of different guys who try to take power and everything like that. But kind of the main two were Mark Antony and Caesar Augustus, right? And so what ends up taking place might be Octavius. I might be getting the name backwards. But anyways, Mark Antony, if you know, he was actually with Cleopatra, right? I mean, you guys have probably heard of Cleopatra before. She's very famous and everything like that. And she comes from the Egyptian empire. And so if Mark Antony's side had actually won that, then you know what? Egypt might have still been in power. But unfortunately, that's not what the Bible prophesied, okay? They're not the ones that were gonna take power. So basically, he was almost turning his back on Rome to be actually with Egypt. Cleopatra was also with Julius Caesar. So I guess you would call her a whore, right? I mean, biblically speaking, she was a whore. She was with Julius Caesar, Mark Antony, all these famous people in history. Who knows how many other people? Because whatever side was powerful, she was gonna go to, right? Well, anyways, there's no question, though, that Egypt is one of the powers. Okay, they're even somewhat powerful when Jesus is born. And it was shortly before that, they were kind of wiped away by Rome. Genesis 41, verse 54. Genesis 41, verse 54. And the seven years of Dirth began to come, according as Joseph had said. And the Dirth was in all lands, but in all the land of Egypt there was bread. Okay, everybody's got this major famine, Egypt, though, is powerful. Verse 55, and they were prepared for this. And when all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread. And Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, go unto Joseph, what he saith to you do. And the famine was over all the face of the earth, and Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold unto the Egyptians. And the famine waxed sore in the land of Egypt. Notice what it says, and all countries came into Egypt to Joseph for to buy corn because the famine was so sore in all lands. All kings, all countries, they're going to Egypt to get food. Why? Because Egypt was the most powerful empire in the world. And look, once you get past Genesis, who owns the world in the book of Exodus? It's the Egyptian empire, right? And the Egyptian empire is kind of interesting because Babylon rises and falls. The Medes and Persians, they were kind of powerful for a while, and then they fall and everything like that. A lot of empires, they basically rise up out of nowhere and fall when they're at their peak. Egypt kind of rose up, and then they kind of fell, and they're still pretty strong after that. Even after the Red Sea and everything like that, they're still pretty powerful, okay? But I don't think there's any question, obviously everybody knows Egypt was a major power that existed before Babylon. But there is one empire that people kind of forget about. Go to 2 Kings 18, 2 Kings 18. And the reason why we forget about this other empire is because God made it that way, and it's actually in the Bible that they would basically be forgotten, okay? Go to 2 Kings 18, 2 Kings 18, 2 Kings 18, notice what it says in verse 19. The other major empire that existed that we see in the Bible, and secular history would also bear a rule on this, or agree with this, is the Assyrian Empire, you know, I've talked about the Assyrian Empire many times before, and they're kind of forgotten because the Bible made it that way. God made it that way. Notice what it says in verse 19. And Rabshacki said unto them, speaking now to Hezekiah, thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria, what confidence is this wherein thou trustest? Thou sayest, but they are but vain words, I have counsel and strength for the war, now on whom dost thou trust that thou rebellest against me? Now behold, thou trustest upon the staff of this bruised reed, even upon Egypt, on which if a man lean, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt, unto all that trust on him. And so Rabshacki's saying, you know, you're trusting in Egypt to help you out. It's like, Egypt? It's like, we're more powerful than Egypt. And guess what? The Assyrian Empire at that time was a lot more powerful than the Egyptian Empire. He's saying, you can get Egypt to help you, you can get Syria to help you. Go ahead, get whoever you want to help you. We're Syria. We're more powerful. And they were the one that owned the world this time. Go to verse 33, verse 33. Have any of the gods of the nations delivered at all his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? He's saying, we've taken over everybody. None of the gods of these nations could do anything. He's like, we're more powerful. Verse 34, where are the gods of Hamath and of Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvam, Hena, and Ivah? Have they delivered Samaria out of mine hand? Who are they among all the gods of the countries? They have delivered their country out of mine hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of mine hand. And what Rabshacki's saying is, you know what? None of these were able to basically take, you know, fight against us. It's like, as the Assyrian Empire, we're more powerful than any other empire. Now, why is it that we don't know about Assyria much today? Because, you know, outside of a church like this, outside of a Bible-preaching church, nobody ever talks about Assyria. Now, you can go online and type a documentary on Egypt. Five million results, right? You'll have tons of results. You're not going to find a whole lot about Assyria. You say, why? Go to Nahum chapter three, Nahum chapter three in your Old Testament. Nahum chapter three. Because here's what you have to understand. Jonah, he preached to Nineveh, which is the capital of the Assyrian Empire. And he talked about them being wicked, and they had a chance to turn to God. And then, you know, Jonah preached, there's a great soul-winning revival, and people get sin and wickedness gone, and everything like that. But, you know, that only lasted for a little while. Because you go two books forward and you have the book of Nahum, and it's an entire book preaching against the Assyrian Empire. And if you read closely, the Bible says you're going to be forgotten and not remembered anymore. And guess what? Assyria is forgotten. Nineveh was completely destroyed, right? Now, that says something, because obviously they were completely destroyed due to being arrogant and more wicked. Which, you know what, that says a lot because it's not like the Egyptian Empire was godly, and yet they lasted when they fell. They still were pretty strong after that for a while. I mean, most empires don't completely get wiped out, but the Assyrians today, I mean, they're gone. They got assimilated into other countries. Nineveh was wiped out. I mean, they're pretty much done. You know, Assyria today is completely different. The religion of Assyria today is actually kind of an orthodox sort of religion, which is like Catholic light, or actually more like Catholic heavy. They're kind of more hardcore than the Catholics in a lot of ways. But it's kind of like an orthodox, you know, type religion here today. But the religion during the Bible time, they basically worshipped a god of war. And so basically their god got glory when they would wipe out another empire. And so, look, I remember I was preaching about it and, you know, Brother Matt, who actually lives in the US now, he was actually here, and he was talking about how he went to a museum, I think, in the UK or somewhere like that, and they had all these art, because he said, everything you said about Assyria is true. He's like, he said, I went to this museum, and they showed all this artwork that had been done. And it shows Assyria brutally torturing people in their own artwork. That's the remains you have from the Assyrian empire. They showed how they were wicked, and why would they do that? Because the god they worshipped would be like, yes, we're more powerful. They looked at that as being a good thing. They were an extremely vicious empire. And I would say of all these ones we mentioned, Assyria was the worst. And that's why they're forgotten. Nahum, chapter three, verse eight. Nahum, chapter three, verse eight. And it says, art thou better than populous? No. Now, no, I believe, and we do still have some time, so we'll actually look at it here in a second. I believe that's the capital city of Egypt, which is short for Naf, okay? And I'll prove that to you here in a little bit. But notice, art thou better than populous? No, that was situate among the rivers, that had the waters round about it, whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was from the sea. Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and it was infinite. Putt and Lubom were thy helpers. So it mentions the rivers and everything. And if you know anything about the Egyptian empire, they became powerful because of the Nile River. That is why they became a major powerful empire, okay? It mentions Egypt there, and Ethiopia's right there beside it. And it says it was situate among the rivers. Notice what it said in verse nine. Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, okay? Knows the capital city of this Egyptian empire, and it was infinite. Now, what does infinite mean? It means it can't get any more powerful, right? What the Bible's saying here in Nahum chapter three is, look, Egypt was as strong as you're gonna get, basically. Now, I believe, biblically, we can look at this and say, you know what? The Assyrian empire was not as powerful at its peak as Egypt was at its peak. Now, when they were mocking Egypt in 2 Kings 18, they were more powerful than Egypt. But Egypt was more powerful earlier, okay? They were a major empire. Assyria thought they were the most powerful empire that ever existed. I mean, doesn't every kingdom think, well, we'll never fall. We're so powerful. And then God always smites them when they're at their peak, right? I mean, that's what happens. And so this is what Assyria said. And because they were so arrogant, guess what happened? They were completely destroyed, okay? Go to Ezekiel chapter 30, Ezekiel 30, we're gonna look at this. Ezekiel 30, Ezekiel chapter 30, let me turn there myself. And look, I've said it before in sermons, but as high as you lift yourself up, it just means you're gonna fall from a further distance, right? I mean, if you arrogantly lift yourself up 20 feet in the air, hey, it's gonna hurt. But let's say you lift yourself up 100 feet in the air, it's gonna hurt more, okay? Because you have not reached terminal velocity yet. It's gonna keep going. You're gonna be faster and faster when you hit the ground. In the Bible, when you look at these empires that were really arrogant and really lifted themselves up, the ones that were the most arrogant got completely destroyed. Edom is a great example of that. The Bible says you're gonna be destroyed, okay? Assyria is a great example of that. Notice what it says in Ezekiel 30. Let me just show you that no is referring to naught here. Ezekiel 30, verse 13, it says this. Thus saith the Lord God, I will also destroy the idols, and I will cause their images to cease out of Knopf. Now, let me just say this real quickly. If you're trying to do a word study after this sermon on this, you might wanna write down these references, because try doing a word study on the word no, N-O, right? I mean, it appears thousands of times in the Bible, okay? So trust me, I remember seeing this before, and I didn't remember where it was. And I'm like, where is this in the Bible? And I couldn't remember the name Knopf, so I was typing in no. And it's like 15,000 references. I was like, you gotta be kidding me, okay? So here in Ezekiel's kind of the way we can cross reference this. And I will cause their images to cease out of Knopf, and there shall be no more prince of the land of Egypt. And I will put a fear in the land of Egypt, okay? And I will make pathros desolate, and will set fire in zoan, and will execute judgments in no, okay? It just said Knopf in verse 13. In verse 14 it says no, and it mentions Egypt, okay? Verse 15, and I will pour my fury upon sin, the strength of Egypt, and I will cut off the multitude of no. And I will set fire in Egypt, sin shall have great pain, and no shall be rent asunder, and Knopf shall have distresses daily. And so it mentions no, and it mentions Knopf. I believe that no is referring to the same thing as Knopf. This is kind of hard to see today because if you were to look this up, these aren't really commonly known for capitals. Like with the Assyrian Empire, we know them as Nineveh. The Babylonian Empire is actually not the Babylonian Empire. It's just known as the Babylonian Empire, because that's their capital city. It's actually the Chaldean Empire. And so a lot of them have really famous cities. I mean, the Persian Empire was Persepolis. With Egypt, not really so much like one name sticking out. But I believe no is referencing Knopf, and if you want to cross reference and look this up, it's Ezekiel 30 verses 13 through 16, okay? Now go back to Revelation 17, Revelation 17. So when I talk about populace no in Nahum Chapter 3, I believe that's a reference to Knopf, which is the capital city of Egypt. Obviously, we saw Ezekiel mentions no in Egypt and Knopf, okay? Revelation 17, let's close up. Revelation 17, I know this is a pretty deep sermon, but sometimes you don't have to catch everything from the sermon. As long as you catch a lot of things, there's obviously great things you can learn. And so notice what it says in verse nine. Let's go back to the verse we looked at earlier. And here is the mine which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sitteth. And there are seven kings. Five are fallen. What are the ones that are fallen? The Egyptian Empire wants bare rule, it doesn't anymore. The Assyrian Empire wants bare rule. The Babylonian Empire, the Medes and the Persians are a dual monarchy. And then the fifth one was the Grecian Empire, okay? They are all fallen, why? Because in the days of John, they're not powerful anymore, they're gone. They no longer rule. And then it says this, and one is the Roman Empire, okay? Look, I encourage you, if you get a chance, you can always go back and look at the verses I referenced. Or you can even, if you're interested, you can send me a message. I'll just send you the sermon to show you all the verses. But this has all proven what we looked at. Everything that's known as a historical fact has been proven here in the Bible. There are many things in history that are kind of vague and they don't know how true it is or things such as that. But look, a lot of these things are very proven facts. Everybody knows the Grecian Empire, Alexander the Great took out the Medes and Persians, he died at the height of his power. Four kingdoms rise up after him, and all those things are mentioned in the Bible. The Bible is historically accurate, okay? Then it says, and the other is not yet come. The other is not yet come. Who is that referring to? Because when it says the other is not yet come, people have a lot of opinions about that. Some people believe that it's one of these empires that have existed. I'm sure there's like a million opinions, okay? And we'll talk about that next week, what it's referring to. But throughout history when an empire would rise up, people would say, no, it's Germany. No offense, okay? They're like, it's Germany, it's Hitler, okay? And then they say, it's England, cuz England was powerful. It's France, it's Spain, right? It's the Philippines, right? I mean, different empires have risen up, and people thought, hey, this is the one, okay? But here's what you have to understand. It says the other's not yet come, and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. He's gonna continue for a short space after he takes power, or this kingdom takes power. And the beast that was and is not, even he is the eighth, and he is of the seven, and goeth into perdition, okay? And so basically, the seventh empire is gonna rise up for a short space, and then give way when the Antichrist takes rule over the Earth. So look, we know it wasn't the British Empire that was powerful hundreds of years ago. Why? Cuz the Antichrist didn't come from that British Empire, okay? It's gonna be an empire that exists, and basically, this Babylon that's gonna exist during the end times is gonna segue perfectly into the Antichrist taking over. So any great power that has existed after the Roman Empire, what we know that wasn't the Babylon that's mentioned as the seventh, why? Because the Antichrist is not here, right? The Antichrist is gonna come from that seventh empire, okay? Obviously, we talked about the political rise of the Antichrist. We went in depth and already talked about that and everything. Next week though, we're gonna look at the identity of the seventh empire, what I believe it is. Now let me say this though, as we'll look at it next week, and there's a lot of verses, it's a really deep topic and everything like that. Throughout history, people thought empires were that seventh empire. And they were proven to be wrong, okay? Although I do believe, and I'm sure everybody already knows this, I do believe, we'll look at it next week, that it's referring to America, the United States. It could be proven wrong though, because guess what? If hundreds of years go by, America's probably not gonna be that powerful empire anymore. So although there are a lot of verses we could apply to it, maybe you could apply them to other empires that existed before as well. And see, that's kind of the whole point of prophecy that the seventh is not yet come. And if it's not yet come, it's gonna be hard to tell whether or not it's the accurate one. You can see certain things and say, well, maybe this is it and everything like that. But when the Antichrist arises from it and he declares himself to be God, we're like, okay, yeah, we were right about that. I mean, if that ends up taking place, okay? And so look, when it comes to prophecy, it's not bad to use commonly established history to prove whether or not it's right. Because when this dream was taking place in the book of Daniel and Daniel chapter two, and it's referencing Revelation 17, God's not making some vague phrase where you have no idea whether or not it's true or not. He's saying, you know what? I'm gonna give you established facts that are gonna one day take place. So once those things take place, you can look at the history and say, you know what? We understand the prophecy now more than Daniel did. Cuz when Daniel spoke this and Daniel interpreted it, he had no idea who came after Nebuchadnezzar. But now we do know that today. Let's close in word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today and just doing this deep Bible study on end times prophecy and understanding the history of Babylon. And help us to understand that the Bible mentions this throughout the word of God that there's this Babylon that's not just the Babylon of Nebuchadnezzar's day. Going all the way back to the Tower of Babel like we talked about last week. And after Babylon, in Nebuchadnezzar's dream, another one rose up and then another one and another. And so we understand this spiritual Babylon does exist, God. And help us just to know our Bibles and understand these things, even these deep things of the Bible. Obviously, everything's there for a reason, everything's important. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.