Rome Rising

Daniel 2 reveals not only the order of empires that will occur and lead up to the physical return of Jesus at the end of this age, but tells us much about them. We learn not only the identity of the empires, but their inherent strength and value as well. Moreover, each empire that replaces the previous one, in some measure, absorbs part of that empire. So it is, even to the final Gentile empire that will be in place when Jesus returns. This final empire will be headed by one ruler, the Antichrist. But as each empire rolls into the next, what can we learn from the make-up of the final empire. The Bible says that it "dies" as if having a fatal wound, yet it lives. The last empire to exist was the Roman Empire. We also know that it went out of existence just as the empires before it did. But, the Bible clearly says that though it appears to die, it comes back to life. The Roman Empire (legs of the statue), segues into the final empire (feet of the statue). How does that occur? A trip through parts of Scripture and secular history will provide the answer.