END OF TIME PROPHECIES 195

The ten horns                                    Revelation 17v12-14

"And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.   These have one mind and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.   these shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for He is Lord of lords and King of kings: and they that are with Him are called, and chosen, and faithful."

In these verses we have a revelation of how kingdoms are formed and the various features described should be very informative for all of us.   What we have here is the penultimate world empire seen against the kingdom of God.

• The ten horns are ten kings.     The next great world empire will consist of a confederacy of ten kingdoms, whether it be ten nations, or ten power blocs, or ten commercial or financial institutions, we don't know.   What we do know is that nothing like it exists today.   People speculate on the G7, G8, the twenty six nations of the EU, even some speak of the USA being divided into ten power blocs; however there is nothing of this future empire is existing now  "she hath received no kingdom as yet.
• This future amalgamation of power  "will receive power as kings one hour with the beast."    No one builds a kingdom, no one rises to power except it is given of God; this is the clear assertion of Holy Scripture.   In Romans 13v1 it states  "there is no power but of God; the powers that be are ordained of God."   Daniel 4v17  "to the intent that the living may know that the most high ruleth in the kingdom of men and giveth it to whomsoever He will."  John 19v11 Jesus is speaking to Pilot the Roman governor  "thou couldest have no power at all against Me except it were given thee from above.   The God of heaven decides not only who will reign but He decides how long they will reign.   The allocation of time to each individual to live on God's earth or the allocation of power to kingdoms to rule on His earth are decided by God alone.   Each one of us has an allotted time span (Acts 17v26). Corporate systems the same.  This future kingdom will last for only a short time.   In verse 10 of this chapter  "He must continue a short time;" verse 12  "He reigns one hour with the beast." It may well be the shortest-lived empire in history.
• These ten kings give their full support to the beast.     In the creation of the greatest force of unity the world has ever seen.   It is very difficult to attain unity of mind in ten power blocs, but they achieve it only when "the little horn"  of Daniel chapter 7 comes to the fore.   How this happens is described for us in Daniel, and this insignificant force takes on the ten kings and destroys three of them.   This fact is written all over Daniel 7. In v5  we have the bear with three ribs in his mouth, in verse 8 it says  "the little horn before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots."   In verse 20 it says  "the ten horns and the little horn before whom three fell."   Verse 24  "another shall rise after them and he shall be diverse from the first and he shall subdue three kings."   In this manner the little horn rises to take control of the world powers, the ten horns.
• "These shall make war with the Lamb and the Lamb shall overcome them."     It is a well known saying in the world that "power corrupts," and "absolute power corrupts absolutely."   When men are lifted up in the pride of their hearts they begin to think indeed that the are God and can do whatever they like.   The Psalmist refers to this in Psalm 2 and he calls it  "the imagination of a vain thing."   Do men really think they can wage war against the Almighty and win?   They may wage war but they cannot win because  "He is Lord of lords and King of kings.   It pays us all to be humble before this almighty One who occupies the highest place in all the universe and before whom all kingdoms must fall.
• "They that are with Him are called and chosen and faithful."     This delightful aside, in the context of world power gone mad, is designed to instill confidence in His people.   It's an interesting phrase  "they that are with Him."   Are you with Him today?   The only alternative is to be with those who oppose Him.   The angel thus proclaims the absolute security of those who are with the King of kings.   They are called (they responded to that divine call), they are chosen (elect of God) and faithful (loyal to God).   In that day there will be no one sitting on the fence with one foot in both camps. Everyone will be faithful or not with Him at all.

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