| News and Views | October 1944 |
The Fifth Universal Empire
“And the Kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey Him.”—Daniel 7:27
THERE IS an expectancy that the European phase of the war will soon be over. With this prospect in sight there is much discussion, many proposals, and a prolific array of rumors relating to the post-war world—what it ought to be, and plans for what it is hoped it shall be. Looming up in the mists of uncertainty as the most likely pattern of things to come is a triumvirate of military power by which peace will be enforced worldwide by the three great victors in the present struggle—Russia, the United States and Great Britain, with China and possibly France nominally co-operating. These powerful allies seem destined to work together for an indefinite term with the view of holding down all aggressors and of maintaining a political and economic world-order which best suits their purpose following the hour of triumph.
The British and American public will not find it easy to become reconciled to such a cold reality but, nevertheless, will continue to hope that the idealistic platitudes of freedom, equality, anti-imperialism. etc., will be among the spoils of war to be guaranteed by the victors. And there seems little doubt but what the governments in whose hands will rest the destiny of the post-war world are intending to do the very best they can for all nations under the circumstances.
As Christians, our interest in the march of events is particularly given the image picture of the four world empires, identifies ancient Babylon represented by the head of gold, as being the first. To Nebuchadnezzar, the head of the Babylonian Empire, Daniel said, “Thou art this head of gold.”—Dan. 2:38
Daniel forecasts the downfall of Babylon and the rise of its successor, the Medo-Persian Empire, which he indicates would in turn be succeeded by another—Greece. Like its predecessors, Greece also was to succumb to the growing power of its successor, which would be the fourth empire. The accuracy of this prophecy is attested by history. Babylon fell at the hands of the Medo-Persian conqueror, Cyrus, in 538 B.C. Alexander the Great established Greece as the third in this succession of authority over the then civilized world when he conquered the Persians in 331 B.C. The Roman conquerors finally gained ascendancy over Greece and it was made a Roman province in 146 B.C. It was the Roman Empire that held sway at the time of Jesus’ first advent. The universality of Rome’s authority is indicated in the Scriptures by reference to the decree of Caesar that all the world should be enrolled, evidently for the purpose of taxation.
The prophet’s interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream explains that the head of the image was the Babylonian kingdom, the breast and arms the succeeding Medo-Persian Empire, the belly and thighs of brass the Grecian Empire which followed, and the legs of iron the succeeding Roman Empire. The Roman Empire, as history portrays, was first pagan, and later, papal. The prophet calls particular attention to the disintegration of power and division of authority that would occur in the Roman Empire, as represented by the feet and toes of the image. Instead of the solid iron, like the legs, the feet and toes were of iron and clay mixed,
Most reliable students of prophecy suggest that the feet represented the Holy Roman Empire and its successors, the various church-state governments of Europe as they existed prior to the first World War. These divisions of papal Rome seem clearly represented by the ten toes of the image. The accuracy of this prophetic outline is most striking when we note its description, not of a fifth earthly power to succeed Rome, but the disintegration and division of Rome.
The Stone Kingdom
In this prophecy the world government which succeeds the fourth, or Roman Empire, is depicted by a stone which smites the image on its feet, destroys it, and then grows to mountain-like proportions, filling the whole earth. The prophet’s interpretation of this is that in the days of the kings pictured by the toes of the image, the God of heaven would set up a Kingdom. It is significant that in this explanation Daniel uses the term “kings” in the plural. The Holy Roman Empire, as a unified organization under one representative head, ceased to function in the year 1806, when Francis the Second of Hapsburg, Archduke of Austria, and King of Hungary and Bohemia, resigned his imperial title as the head of the Holy Roman Empire. The Germanic empire which came into existence on December 31, 1870, when the. King of Prussia accepted the title of Emperor, occupied a somewhat similar position in European affairs, but was not legally a continuation of the Roman-Germanic Holy Roman setup.
When the time came for the Kingdom of God to exert its influence toward the establishment of God’s new order, the old Roman Empire was most correctly identified by the term “kings” in the plural. It was no longer a unit. It had already begun to disintegrate and to divide. There is nothing in this prophecy to justify us in expecting the establishment of a further unified world government prior to the manifestation of the Kingdom of God. Any and all human efforts to do so, therefore, are against the Lord because they are out of harmony with His plan.
Daniel’s Dream
Another View
The four world empires foreshadowed by the gold, silver, brass and iron of Nebuchadnezzar’s image, God showed under different symbols to the Prophet Daniel. Instead of an image, Daniel saw four great beasts. As already noted, this means that the Gentile governments thus portrayed, which in the heyday of their existence appeared so grand to worldly men, have been beastly from the divine viewpoint. It is not difficult to see why this is so when we look over the bloody pages of history, for the world has been under beastly rule even though it was the best that it was able to provide for itself.
The first beast of Daniel’s dream was like a lion. It represented Babylon. The second beast which the prophet saw was like a bear, representing Medo-Persia. Then there appeared on the scene a beast that looked like a leopard, prophetically symbolic of the Grecian world power. This leopard had four heads, which seemingly represented the four generals who became the successors of Alexander the Great as rulers over this third empire. The fourth beast indescribably ferocious, foreshadowed the Roman Empire. This beast had ten horns which correspond with the ten toes of the image.—Daniel 7:7,19
Daniel’s fourth beast had a horn which was quite different from its other horns. In fact, when it appears on the head of the beast it is seen to replace three of its original horns. (Daniel 7:8-11; 20-27) This horn, to which special attention is called by the prophet, had eyes, and a mouth speaking great swelling words. It is believed that this horn represents the ecclesiastical power of Rome enthroned amidst political power in the Roman Empire.
Daniel’s prophetic vision, not only shows the same succession of world powers as represented in Nebuchadnezzar’s image, but also reveals that there is to be no intervening stabilized world-order between the beast-like empire of Rome and the Kingdom of God. In Daniel’s vision was a judgment scene in which all the governments represented by the four beasts were disapproved and the dominion taken from them and given to one who appeared like unto the Son of man, while all the beastly governments were destroyed. This corresponds with the smiting of Nebuchadnezzar’s image on its feet by the stone-power, which is the Kingdom of God that becomes the fifth universal empire. The prophecy reads: “But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his [the fourth beast’s] dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end. And the Kingdom and dominion and the greatness of the Kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey Him.”—Daniel 7:26,27
The Saints
The Scripture last quoted explains that the Kingdom is given to the saints of the Most High. The first of these saints, and chief among them, is Jesus. Many promises of the New Testament show that His footstep followers who suffer and die with Him are to share in His Kingdom reign. (Rom. 8:17) Hence, in Daniel’s prophecy they are represented as together taking over the rulership of earth. The Kingdom or dominion which the saints possess is the same as described in Revelation 20:4 where the Apostle John says, “I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the Word of God, … and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.”
The New Testament teachings show that those who share the Kingdom with Christ first suffer and die with Him. Daniel’s prophecy also discloses that these saints of God, before their exaltation in the Kingdom, are persecuted by those who dwell in darkness. The fourth, or Roman beast, after it comes under the direction of the little horn that speaks great swelling words, is said to wear out the saints of the Most High.
This power to persecute the saints, the prophecy declares, was given to the fourth beast “until a time and times and the dividing of time.” A “time” as a prophetic symbol is a period of three hundred and sixty years, based upon the Biblical year of three hundred and sixty days, each day standing for a year. A “time, times, and the dividing of time” would therefore be a period of twelve hundred and sixty years. This is the length of the period during which Papal Rome exercised almost undisputed power in Europe to persecute all those who disagreed with its policies, either politically or religiously. It began in 539 A.D. and ended when Napoleon overthrew the pope, made him prisoner, and took him to France where lie died in 1799.
During all this time great swelling words from the mouth of the little horn were being uttered. Samples of these swelling words of blasphemy are the titles applied to the pope, some of which are as follows: “Most Divine of all Heads,” “Overseer of the Christian Religion,” “Christ by Unction,” “Moses in Authority,” “Heir of the Apostles,” “Peter in Power,” “Key-bearer of the Kingdom of Heaven,” “Vicar of Christ,” “Ruler of the House of the Lord,” “Apostolic Lord and Father of Fathers,” “Infallible Pope,” and “Head of all the Holy Priests of God.”
The complete destruction of the Roman Empire with its horns or divisions follows the consuming of the papal horn. Concerning this we quote from page 259 of The Divine Plan of the Ages:
“Its power and influence began to consume when Napoleon took the Pope prisoner to France. Then, when neither the curses of the Popes nor their prayers delivered them from Bonaparte’s power, it became evident to the nations that the divine authority and power claimed by the Papacy were without foundation. After that the temporal power of the Papacy waned rapidly until, in September, 1870, it lost the last vestige of its temporal power at the hands of Victor Emmanuel.”
Having traced the fulfillment of prophecy portraying the rise and fall of Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome, and noting the foretold associated efforts of modern nations to perpetuate some sort of centralized world control, it becomes apparent that we are now living in a transition period. It is a transition, however, not between a Roman world-order and a United Nations’ world-order, but between the fourth prophetic kingdom of Daniel’s vision and the Kingdom of God. What intervenes in the way of temporary national and international changes of government is relatively unimportant. It is already clear to the thoughtful observer that chaos is gradually taking the place of order, and that the sporadic efforts to stem the rising tide of disintegration are futile. Concerning the fall of the old world and the establishment of God’s new order, Pastor Russell more than fifty years ago wrote:
“No matter what may be the means or instrumentality used, the cause of this fall will he the establishment of the Fifth Universal Empire of earth, the Kingdom of God, under Christ, whose right it is to take dominion. The transfer of the kingdom from the fourth beast, which for its appointed time was ‘ordained of God,’ to the fifth kingdom, under the Messiah, when its appointed season has come, is described by the prophet in these words: ‘And behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before Him. And there was given unto Him [the Christ—head and body complete] dominion, and glory, and a Kingdom, that all people, nations and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and His Kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.’”—Vol. 1, pages 260, 261
The Iron Rule
Many have erroneously supposed that when Christ’s Kingdom—the fifth universal empire of earth—is inaugurated, everyone will be pleased with its rule. Eventually this may become quite generally so, but not at the beginning. In the prophecy of the 2nd Psalm, from which we have already quoted, the kingdoms of this world are shown to be superseded by Jehovah’s King exalted upon the symbolic holy hill of Zion. In Revelation 14:1, the 144,000 saints are shown to be with Christ on Zion’s Hill. They are there to rule with Jesus; but according to Psalm 2:9, it is to be a rule of the iron rod. (Rev. 2:26,27) No interference with that rule will be tolerated for the 12th verse states, “Kiss, the Son, lest He be angry, and ye perish from the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him.”
The regulations of the Kingdom of Christ will be far more exacting than those of any previous government. The liberties of the people will be restricted to a degree that will he very displeasing to many now clamoring for an increase of liberty. There will be full liberty to do good, to practice righteousness, but no liberty at all to deceive, to misrepresent, nor to defraud others. Liberty or license to do wrong of any kind will not be granted. Nothing will be permitted to hurt nor to destroy in all that holy Kingdom.—Isaiah 11:9
Because of this, the final result of that iron rule will be most satisfying. It will be a time of judgment and of trial based upon the enlightenment of the people as symbolized by the opening of the books mentioned in the prophecy of Daniel 7:10 and in Revelation 20:12. As a result of this work of judgment the peoples of the earth will learn righteousness. (Isa. 26:9) They will learn by precept and experience that “righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.” (Prov. 14:34) They will learn that God’s plans and laws are best for all concerned, hence they will love righteousness and hate iniquity.
These instructions in righteousness under the iron rule of the Kingdom of Christ will be given first to the living generation, but this will be only the beginning of the Kingdom and judgment work. During the thousand years of the fifth universal empire all the dead are to be awakened and come into trial under the terms of the Kingdom laws in which they will be instructed. All the living and those who will be awakened from death—who fully demonstrate their love for righteousness when they are instructed in its principles and advantages—will be given life everlasting.
Those who fail to obey, and thus demonstrate their incorrigibility under those most favorable conditions of the Kingdom, will be destroyed from among the people. (Acts 3:19-23) Thus, under the authority of the fifth universal empire, humanity will be purged of selfishness, instructed in righteousness, and given the opportunity to develop in love. Those who accept the opportunity will be restored to human perfection and to the image of God in which they were originally created, His law being written in their hearts.—Jer. 31:33; Acts 15:14-17