Jesus’ words? As far as I can tell, Jesus Himself added nothing to the conversation about the final world empires, concentrating instead on the events that will transpire around Jerusalem during those epic days.

And Paul’s? It seems to me that Paul also is silent about the geographical background of the Tribulation and its preceding years, though he too mentions that antichrist will sit in a Temple, presumably a Jewish edifice, and therefore in Jerusalem. This is in keeping with his final disposition recorded in Daniel 11, that we have already seen. That leaves only…

The apostle John. John’s Revelation 13 brings us right back to the prophet Daniel, chapter 7. A composite-part animal. Rising from “the sea”. Yes, composite parts. Not four separate animals, but one animal consisting of the parts of the animals seen by the prophet:

(verses 1-2) This animal was like a leopard. Consider the leopard of Daniel, and the mid-section of the statue. Is this Greece, or the Grecian Empire, or is John speaking of the swiftness of the rise of the antichrist kingdom?

His feet are like those of a bear. Move to Daniel’s bear, and the chest and arms. The old Medo-Persian Empire, super-imposed on today’s map, would cover parts of Europe and the Middle East. Or, again, is it the actions of the bear, the command to destroy many humans?

The mouth of a lion. Daniel’s lion was Babylonia/Nebuchadnezzar. The head of the statue. But the mouth. The mouth. The Spirit would have us look closer at Daniel here and see the one that Daniel saw in 7:8, a “mouth speaking pompous words.”

A world dictator rises out of the Mediterranean, yes?

With seven heads. Representing all the empires of all time. And ten horns, representing what Daniel saw twice, a worldwide power that has evolved into a ten-nation empire that will crush the world. All authority worldwide, including power over God’s people, will be granted to this final kingdom before Jesus comes.

Out of this new Babylonia will arise a new Babylon, a religious force unequaled in history, yet one which also will become history in the antichrist’s hands (Revelation 17:16-17).

Where else in Revelation is a hint about the location of the final government? Chapter 17.

(Verses 10-14) Historically, seven kings and their kingdoms are to rule planet earth. In John’s day, five of those had fallen. One existed (Rome), and one had not (still has not) come. The seventh will be that ten-nation group. But that too is not the final. They will give their authority to an eighth “king” and kingdom, who is actually one of the seven.

Chapter 17 ends with a description of the capital city of that seventh, and partly of the eighth, kingdom. It is Rome, that great city “which reigns (in John’s day) over the kings of the earth.” Rome revives. Rome’s Empire revives. Then is crushed forever by the coming Messiah Jesus.

So how close are we? Speculating on things that might not appear for centuries may not be that profitable. But I write this chapter with the awe-inspiring notion that the days Daniel saw may be here very soon.

Even if I could look at the landscape of the present world and see no possibility of these things coming to pass, I would still believe the picture that God is painting.

But that view is being enhanced in our own day by some very compelling activity in the very part of the world which Daniel and John mentioned. It all started in 1957.

The treaty of Rome. In that city six nations decided it was time to “lay the foundations of an ever-closer union among the peoples of Europe”. A treaty was created and signed by the six. And prophecy-lovers everywhere were excited. Rome lives again!

Yes, there were only six nations. But there would be more. However, when the magic number of “ten” was reached and then passed and then very much passed, excitement leveled off.

But the focus has returned to the Mediterranean. And it is at that sea that the focus belongs. It is out of the “Great Sea” that antichrist and his kingdom will rise. It was, after all, a Mediterranean thing, this Roman Empire. Not just the nations north of the sea, but south also.

That would mean, using Daniel’s imagery, “iron” nations as well as “clay.” Strong and weak and very different from one another, shall be the amalgamation to end all amalgamations. Has it begun?

Fast forward to 2008. It is the year of Barack Obama’s rise to fame, perhaps coincidentally with another, much greater, event of that year. In July, the thirteenth to be exact, forty-three countries surrounding the Great Sea united their forces as one.

The Union for the Mediterranean (UfM). It was originally the “Mediterranean Union” but perhaps because it threatened the identity of the still very real European Union, a name change had to take place.

Another original idea of instigator French President Nicolas Sarkozy had to be scrapped early on. This was to be a union, said he, only of nations that touched the sea, literally. There are nineteen such entities, plus two islands, per Wikipedia and the map on your wall:

The countries surrounding the Mediterranean in clockwise order are Spain, France, Monaco, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, Greece, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco; Malta and Cyprus are island countries in the sea.

That’s still not “ten”, the final ten that must be in place when things go south on Planet Earth, but it’s closer than forty-three and more accurately depicts the original boundaries of the old Roman Empire.

Sarkozy, who has since lost power in France, proposed this union with a high-minded idea: “as a means to end all hatreds, to make way for a great dream of peace and a great dream of civilization.”

All of this was to be done in and around the Mediterranean, mind you. All civilization would be involved, but directed from the Mediterranean part of the world. That does sound a lot like what is coming. A man of peace, a man with high ideals and a lot of cash, will step forward and unite a section of the world, the Roman section, to demand peace for the whole world, or else. The Pax Romana returns.

No one is suggesting that Sarkozy will be this man, by the way. But we see how it works. Not with cymbals clanging and horns blowing, but quietly the confederation grows, working on its projects, promoting peace…

This wasn’t the beginning of UfM. Side by side with the growth of the European Union were other dreams of a Mediterranean force of some sort. It was 1995 when in Barcelona, Spain another effort had been initiated to kick-start a process. This movement failed but not before it picked up new life from Sarkozy and company.

Absent for now. Not everyone surrounding the Great Sea has bought into the new program. Notably absent is Libya, whose former dictator Gadaffi feared such a move. Interesting words mouthed by the great Libyan leader:

“We shall have another Roman Empire and imperialist design. These are imperialist maps and designs that we have already rolled up. We should not have them again.” (The Daily Telegraph, July 10, 2008).

Yes, Mr. Gadaffi. You were right. That is exactly what we shall have. Another Roman Empire! He said more:

“I believe this project of the Union for the Mediterranean would increase illegal migration and terrorism and give a justification to Islamist extremists to step up jihad attacks. These extremists would explain it [UfM] as a crusade against Islam and European colonization… they will see it as a new colonialism and they will accuse the Arabs that they are traitors, who have abandoned principles and sold out their countries…”

But Gadaffi is gone. His warning will go unheeded. The new Libyan leader is open to joining UfM.

So what do we have here? From a 2008 Best of Sicily magazine:

The event [formation of a Mediterranean Union] signals a tangible effort to unite nations which have much in common. Their communal interests transcend such matters as better trade policies and improved water-purity and fishing laws, important as these may be. Nobody is discussing a common currency, and the duplication of existing institutions is to be avoided…

The practical role of the Mediterranean Union remains to be defined beyond generalities. The region’s challenges are, to say the least, complex. It’s no simple feat to rally forty-three countries to the same tune. There are republics, monarchies, near theocracies and the occasional quasi-dictatorship. Rich and poor, a few technically at war with each other and others having longstanding rivalries…

Yes. Clay and iron. Strong and weak nations binding together into a strong alliance. Is this the beginning of Daniel’s predictions?

As I write, the year 5779 has just dawned on the Jewish calendar. Prophecy people don’t like much to talk about Jewish reckonings. They look at the year 2000 and think, we must be near. Four thousand years of Old Testament history, two thousand years of New Testament times. Six thousand years. One day is as a thousand years. Six days. And on the seventh day, God rests from the burden of this planet, and we all rest in Christ’s new kingdom.

That’s solar reckoning.

As the year 2000 fades into the background, perhaps more people will get a Jewish heart and start thinking Jewish ways. Lunar calculations. If this is 5779, then we have another two hundred plus years before that 6000 mark.

Again, no one wants to allow that Jesus will wait that long, but if He does, there will be plenty of time to whittle these forty-three Mediterranean countries into the Biblical ten countries, without the wild speculations of what “ten” might mean.

Ten is ten. Ten horns. Ten nations. It’s coming. Just as God saw. And planned.

I still think it fascinating that in these modern sophisticated days, people are allowing that the old supposedly dead Roman Empire will indeed rise again.