"Daniel 7:11-12 shows the lives of the first three beasts being extended past the AD 70 destruction of the fourth beast.. This counters the usual full preterist teaching that all satanic evil was destroyed in the lake of fire at AD 70.  "

In Revelation 17-18 the beast throws off the harlot and burns her with fire (Rev. 18:8).  After this, the beast is destroyed at the AD 70 Second Coming (Rev. 19:11-21).  This is usually interpreted by preterists as Rome (the beast) which throws off unfaithful Israel and destroys her.  This is essentially correct but do you notice a glaring problem here?  If the beast was Rome, how is it that Rome wasn’t destroyed in AD 70?  In beginning to answer this question let me ask two more.  The beast comes out of the abyss (Rev. 11:7; 17:8).  Did Rome or any of its emperors come out of the abyss? (no)  The beast is made up of eight kings (Rev. 17:10-11).  Did the Roman Empire have only eight emperors before it was destroyed? (no).  The answer to these questions is an obvious “No.”  OK, if the rulers that make up the beast that is shown in Revelation 17-19 are not the physical rulers of Rome, what are they?  In this article I will argue that the kings that make up the beast of Revelation (and Daniel) are not physical rulers but spiritual rulers.  I will argue that what was destroyed in the lake of fire (Rev. 19:19-20, cf. Dan. 7:11) at AD 70 was not the Roman Empire but the confederation of spiritual rulers behind the pre AD 70 Roman Empire.

Most of these rulers that are shown in Daniel and Revelation are ultimately spiritual rulers.  The books of Daniel and Revelation contain what are known as apocalyptic writings.  The word apocalyptic is taken from the Greek word apokalypsis which means “to unveil.”  Usually, it is assumed that what is being unveiled in the apocalyptic writings of Daniel and Revelation is the future.  While this is mostly true, the primary unveiling of the Biblical apocalyptic writings is of the spiritual realm.  That is, the apocalyptic language of these writings is unveiling the invisible realm of the spirit, making it visible by way of symbols.  These writings are showing us the spiritual realm that lies behind the physical realm.  The rulers that are being shown in Daniel and Revelation are not simply human rulers, but the spiritual rulers behind the human rulers.  Understanding this is crucial for understanding the kings and princes to whom the biblical apocalyptic writings refer.

In Ephesians, Paul emphasized the reality of the spiritual rulers that make up the true power behind earthly rulers: “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12).  Ladd had the following comments on the terminology that Paul uses in talking about these spiritual rulers and authorities:

• “rule” (archē), 1 Cor 15:24; Eph. 1:21; Col. 2:10
• “rules” (archai; RSV, “principalities”), Eph. 3:10; 6:12; Col. 1:16; 2:15; Rom. 8:38
• “authority” (exousia), 1 Cor. 15:24; Eph. 1:21; Col. 2:10
• “authorities” (exousiai: RSV, “authorities”), Eph. 3:10; 6:12; Col. 1:16; 2:15
• “power” (dynamis), 1 Cor. 15:24; Eph. 1:21
• “powers” (dynameis), Rom 8:38
• “thrones” (thronoi), Col. 1:16
• “lordship” (kyriotēs; RSV, “dominion”), Eph. 1:21
• “lordships” (kyriotētes), Col. 1:16
• “world rulers of this darkness,” Eph. 6:12
• “the spiritual (hosts) of evil in the heaven lies,” Eph 6:12
• “the authority of darkness,” Col. 1;13
• “every name that is named,” Eph. 1:21
• “heavenly, earthly and subterranean beings,” Phil 2:10

That this terminology designates supernatural beings is quite clear from Ephesians 6:11ff., where the believer’s struggle is against the devil and against principalities, authorities, world rulers of this present darkness, spiritual hosts of wickedness. [George Eldon Ladd, A Theology of the New Testament, Revised Edition, Donald A. Hagner, Ed. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans:, 1993, reprinted 2002), 441.

The NT teaches that these spiritual rulers were “coming to nothing” in the first century (1 Cor 2:6-8; 2 Cor. 4:4; cf. Rom. 16:20).  While Daniel and Revelation are showing us these rulers of darkness who are behind earthly empires, they usually provide enough information to help one identify the human ruler that a given spiritual ruler worked through.  For example consider the “prince to come” in Daniel 9:26.  While I believe this prince was ultimately a spiritual prince of the Romans (“the people of the prince to come” cf. Dan. 12:1), it is pretty easy to figure what human ruler this prince worked through in his destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple.

Again, the understanding that we are ultimately being shown spiritual rulers is crucial for understanding the kings and princes that are spoken of in Daniel and Revelation.  In 1 John we are told that the Antichrist is a spirit (1 John 4:1-3).  The book of Revelation supports this as it shows the Antichrist (the beast) ascending out of the bottomless pit (Rev. 11:7; 17:8).  Ladd had the following comments of this, “The abyss or ‘bottomless pit’ from which the beast ascends was the source of the demonic plagues of the fifth and sixth trumpets [of Revelation 9].  The beast too is of satanic origin and power, and derives his authority from the demonic realm.” [George Eldon Ladd, A Commentary on the Revelation of John, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1972), 156-157].  The abyss is the abode of demons.  It is where Satan is cast at the beginning of the millennium (Rev. 20:1-3).  Similarly, the legion of demons that Jesus cast out of the Gadarene demoniac begged Him not to send them “into the abyss” (Luke 8:31).  It is not a human ruler that Revelation shows coming out of the abyss; it is a demonic ruler.

The kings of Revelation 17:9-11 are not simply referring to Roman emperors (who were not properly referred to as kings) but to demonic kings that were behind the emperors.  If the eighth of these kings was demonic, coming out of the abyss, it makes sense that the other seven were also (cf. Dan. 10:13).  This is one of the reasons why the understanding of the rulers of Revelation 17 calls for a “mind which has wisdom” (Rev. 17:9).  It was ultimately a demonic ruler, not a human ruler, which came out of the abyss to oppose Jesus at the His Parousia in AD 70 (Rev. 19:11-21).

In Daniel 10:13, the heavenly messenger sent to Daniel speaks of fighting “with the kings of Persia” (Daniel 10:13) and of how one of the chief princes, Michael, helped out in this struggle.

Then he [the glorious Man of Daniel 10:5-6] said to me, “do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words.  But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty- one days and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been alone there with the kings of Persia. Daniel 10:12-13 emphasis added

The glorious Man of Daniel 10:12-13 was either an angel, or more likely, a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus (compare Dan. 10:5-12 with Rev. 1:12-18).  The kings and princes He was fighting against were not the physical rulers of Persia but the spiritual rulers.  The same is true of the prince that helped him (Michael, the angelic prince of the Jews; Dan. 12:1; cf. Rev. 12:7).  The glorious Man goes on to say how after He was finished talking with Daniel He would again fight with the prince of Persia and then the prince of Greece would come.

Then he said, “do you know why I have come to you? And now I must return to fight with the prince of Persia; and when I have gone forth, indeed the prince of Greece will come.  But I will tell you what is noted in the Scripture of Truth (No one upholds me against these, except Michael your prince.” Daniel 10:20-21

Again, the princes referred to here are spiritual rulers.  Michael is the angelic prince of the Jews (Daniel 12:1), the princes of Persia and Greece were the demonic rulers over those empires.  That we are being shown spiritual rulers in Daniel helps to explain the somewhat strange statement of Daniel 9:26, “and the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.”  Why doesn’t the text just say, the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary?  Futurists have used this somewhat strange wording of Daniel 9:26 to separate the prince to come from the people who destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple in AD 70.  They say it was not the prince to come (whom they see as a future Antichrist) who destroyed the Temple in AD 70, but his people, the Romans.  In doing this they attempt to avoid having to admit that the prince to come was the one who destroyed Jerusalem in AD 70 (i.e. Titus).  Thomas Ice wrote the following on this.

The subject of this sentence is “the people,” not “the prince who is to come.”  Thus, it is the people of the prince who is to come that destroy the city and the sanctuary.  We have already identified the people as the Romans, who destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple in A.D. 70 under the leadership of Titus.  Yet I believe that “the prince who is to come” is a reference to the yet-to-come Antichrist.  Dr. Dwight Pentecost explains, ‘The ruler who will come is that final head of the Roman Empire, the little horn of 7:8.  It is significant that the people of the ruler, not the ruler himself, will destroy Jerusalem.  Since he will be the final Roman ruler, the people of that ruler must be the Romans themselves’ [J. Dwight Pentecost, “Daniel,” in John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck, the Bible Knowledge Commentary: Old Testament (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985, p. 1364]…Why should we not see ‘the prince who is to come’ as a reference to Titus, who led the Roman conquest in A.D. 70?  Because the emphasis of this verse is upon “the people,” not the subordinated clause, “the prince who is to come.”  Apparently this passage is stated this way so that this prophecy would link the Roman destruction with the AD 70 event, but at the same time, set up the Antichrist to be linked to the final week of years to the first ‘he’ in verse 27.  He is not described as the prince coming with the people, but instead, as one who is coming.  This suggests that the people and the prince will not arrive together in history [Thomas Ice, The Seventy Weeks of Daniel in The End Times Controversy, Tim Lahay and Thomas Ice eds, (Oregon, Harvest House, 2003), 335-336].

This severely strained dispensationalist attempt to separate the prince to come from his people is not very convincing.  Ultimately Ice is partially right, however; the prince here is not simply Titus but the demonic prince of the Romans that worked through Titus.  It was the people of this demonic prince (i.e. the Romans) that would destroy Jerusalem and the Temple in AD 70.  Daniel 12:1 supports this interpretation.  In Daniel 12:1 there is a similar verse of a ruler and his people (“At that time Michael shall stand up, the great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people;…”).  The prince in Daniel 12:1 is clearly a spiritual ruler (the angel Michael); his people are the people of Israel.  It is the same with the prince to come and his people in Daniel 9:26 (...And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary…).  The prince who was to come was a spiritual ruler; this prince’s people were the Romans.  This demonic prince didn’t destroy Jerusalem and the Temple, his people did.

Daniel is unveiling the spiritual realm and the spiritual kings and princes that were the true power behind the Babylonian, Medo Persian, Greek and pre-AD 70 Roman Empire.  Because this is addressed so fleetingly, it is easy to miss this point.  In the space of just three verses, Daniel 9:26; 10:20-21, we are told of four spiritual rulers of four different peoples.  These were the spiritual rulers of the Persians, the Greeks, the Jews and the Romans.  In addition to this, Daniel 10:13 shows that a given spiritual ruler can be part of a confederation of such rulers.  At the beginning of Daniel 10:13 the glorious Man said that “the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me.”  At the end of verse 13 He indicates that actually more than one spiritual ruler of Persia was involved; He said He was “left alone there with the kings of Persia.”  Compare this with the kings of Revelation 17:7-11 and the fact that at least one of these kings (of Revelation) is said to come from the abyss (v. 8).

In Daniel 8:10-11 the little horn of that chapter (who most commentators agree, myself included, is Antiochus IV) is shown going against the host of heaven and casting some of the stars to the ground; he even rises against God, “the Prince of Princes” (Dan. 8:25).  Goldingay noted that this has spiritual connotations that go beyond Antiochus’s physical attack on the Jewish people.

In the interpretation of the small horn’s attack on the heavenly army [in Dan. 8] similar issues arise to those raised by chap. 7.  References to the earthly sanctuary in vv 11-12 could suggest that the heavenly army is the Jewish people, or the priesthood in particular, viewed as of heavenly significance because of their relationship with the God of Heaven.  They are the Lord’s armies (Exod 7:4; cf. 6:26; 12:17,51; Num 33:1; they are his heavenly children (2 Macc 7:34).  It is they who are attacked by Antiochus (1 Macc 1:29-38).  Yet the people attacked include “some of the stars,” which rather points to the heavenly army being a supernatural body.  Elsewhere “the heavenly army” denotes the actual stars in the heaven (Isa 34:4; cf. Gen 2:1; Ps 33:6), and more commonly the stars as personalized objects of worship (Deut 4:19; Jer 8:2; Zeph 1:5).  [John Goldingay, Daniel, Word Biblical Commentary, vol. 30, eds., David A. Hubbard, Glenn W. Barker and John D. Watts (Dallas: Word Books, 1989), 209-210.]

Collins makes a similar observation about the reference to the host of heaven in Daniel 8:10.

Many commentators have assumed that the stars are an allegorical representation of the persecuted Jews, but the use of this language to refer to human beings would be highly exceptional…The host of heaven connotes both the stars and heavenly beings, either gods or angels.  The stars were the visible manifestation of the heavenly beings…[thus] the host must be identified with the “good angels,” and the “prince of the host (8:11a, if indeed the reading is not corrupt) is the God of the traditional Jerusalem cult. brackets mine  [John J. Collins, A Commentary on the Book of Daniel, Hermeneia- A Critical and Historical Commentary on the Bible (Minneapolis: Fortress Augsburg Press, 1993), 331-333.]

Collins talks about a “synergism between the heavenly and earthly world” that is often found in the references to rulers in Daniel. [Ibid 333. He cites Andre Lacocque on this; The Book of Daniel (trans. David Pellauer; Atlanta: John Know, 1979), 162]  Goldingay similarly notes that in Daniel there is fluidity in the references to spiritual and physical rulers.  In the following quote Goldingay is using a literary device in which he imagines what Daniel might say if he were commenting on his own writing: “I [Daniel] used the ordinary word leader too, without qualification, both for celestial beings and for earthly ones (10:13, 20, 21; 11:15; 12:1; cf 1:7-11, 18; 8:11, 25; 9: 6, 8), and the ordinary word for “king” in 10:13 in a context where I was talking about supernatural figures.” [John Goldingay, Daniel, Word Biblical Commentary, vol. 30, eds., David A. Hubbard, Glenn W. Barker and John D. Watts (Dallas: Word Books, 1989), 313-314]  Goldingay (speaking for himself here) goes on to say,

Perhaps the fluidity and the ambiguity in such usage reflects a duality about all entities that embody power (Wink, W. Naming the Powers, [Philadelphia: Fortress, 1984]; Unmasking the Powers, [Philadelphia: Fortress, 1986]).  There is something human, earthly, structural, political and visible about them.  There is also something heavenly, invisible, suprahuman, immaterial, and spiritual.  The powers have an inner and an outer aspect, an outer form and an inner driving spirit.  They are not merely metaphors for structures of power within the nation itself, but neither do they exist in themselves, as independent persons or disembodied sprits.  They have no profile of their own; their significance is only as agents of God and/or foci of human societies. [Goldingay, Daniel 314]

While Goldingay would apparently not go as far as I do (in saying that many of the rulers that we are shown in Daniel are either supernatural or include aspects of the supernatural), he does at least acknowledge that some of the rulers are supernatural.  Of course given Daniel 10:13 (“I had been left alone with the kings of Persia”) it is next to impossible to deny this point.  Goldingay also correctly acknowledges a certain fluidity in Daniel’s references to rulers, that there are both spiritual and physical aspects in the rulers that are portrayed in the book.  The little horn of Daniel 7 has “eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking pompous words” (Dan. 7:8).  If this is just a reference to a man then the information about him having eyes and a mouth (even if it is a big one) hardly needs to be stated.  If this is a reference to a spirit that works through a man, however, then the information is more pertinent.

This combining of the spiritual and physical aspects of rulers is also to be found in Revelation.  The beast is ultimately shown to be a spirit (he comes out of the abyss, Rev. 11:7; 17:8) but is also said to work through a certain man.  Thus the mark of the beast “is the number of a man” (Rev. 13:18).  Johnson wrote the following on this.

The statement “it is a man’s number” [in Rev. 13:18] alerts the reader to some hidden meaning in 666.  From this we may conclude that the number of the beast is linked to humanity.  Why would it be necessary for John to emphasize this relationship unless he assumed his reader might have understood the beast to be otherworldly without any connection to humanity.  Might it be, then, that the statement signifies that the satanic beast, which is the great enemy of the church, manifests itself in human form?” [Alan F. Johnson, Revelation in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Revised Edition: vol. 13 Hebrews-Revelation, Tremper Longman III and David E. Garland gen. eds. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2006), 716.].

In Daniel 7 the four empires shown in chapter 2 are shown again in the form of four beasts: Babylon, as a lion; Medo-Persia as a bear; Greece as a leopard; and (pre-AD 70) Rome as a dreadful non-descript beast (Daniel 7:4-8).  Each of these beasts represents a confederation of demonic rulers behind each of the four respective empires.  In terms of the fourth beast representing pre-AD 70 Rome, consider the fact that the Roman Empire had many more emperors than just the eleven that are shown in Daniel 7:8 (or the eight shown in Revelation 17:8-11).  It is the spiritual rulers behind the pre AD 70 Roman Empire that we are being shown here.  It should be noted that Daniel 7’s fourth beast with eleven horns (rulers) loses three of them (Dan. 7:7-8); this left it with eight rulers (11-3=8).  These rulers correspond to the eight kings of Revelation 17:8-11.  This confederation of spiritual rulers shown in Daniel and Revelation ends up in the lake of fire (Dan. 7:11; Rev. 19:19-20).

After AD 70 the only kingdom shown is the kingdom of God.  This establishment of God’s kingdom on earth is shown in Revelation 11 where kingdom of this world becomes the kingdom of God (Rev. 11:15 NASB) at the time God destroys those who were destroying the Land (of Israel), Rev. 11:8, cf. Dan. 12:7; Matt. 21:33-44.  That the beasts of Daniel 7 are ultimately confederations of spiritual rulers can be seen by the fact that when the kingdom of God intervenes in history (Dan. 7:7-12), the fourth beast is destroyed in fire (cf. Rev. 19:19-20:4) but the first three beasts are allowed to exist past that time, into the time of the kingdom of God.

Dan. 7:11-12

I watched then because of the sound of the pompous words which the [little] horn was speaking: I watched till the [fourth] beast was slain, and its body destroyed and given to the burning flame.  As for the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion take away, yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a time. brackets mine

Daniel 7:11-12 shows the lives of the first three beasts being extended past the AD 70 destruction of the fourth beast.  It is impossible to adequately explain this if we are only being shown physical empires and rulers.  It wasn’t Cyrus of Persia or Alexander the Great of Greece that had their lives prolonged into the time of the kingdom of God at the AD 70 destruction of the fourth beast.  Rather, it was the demonic confederations of rulers behind these earthly rulers and empires (Dan. 10:13, 20-21) that were allowed into the kingdom at that time (minus their authority, Dan. 7:12).  This counters the usual full preterist teaching that all satanic evil was destroyed in the lake of fire at AD 70.  The authority striped from these spiritual rulers at AD 70 was given to God’s people at this time of the coming of God (Dan. 7:21-22, 27).  Revelation will show this as the Second Coming, the coming of the Word of God to defeat the beast and establish the millennial reign of the saints (Rev. 19:11-20:4).

It should be noted that the seeming contradiction between Daniel 2 and 7 disappears when one realizes that it is spiritual rulers that are ultimately being shown in these chapters.  In Daniel 2:34-35 and 44-45, the human image that Nebuchadnezzar saw (which represents the same four empires as the four beasts in Dan. 7) is destroyed all at once.  In Daniel 7:12, however, we are told that the first three empires continue to exist after the destruction of the fourth empire.  How can these differences be reconciled?

The destruction of Nebuchadnezzar’s image all at once in Daniel 2 is symbolic of the destruction of Satan’s rule in the kingdoms of man.  Satan was the god of the pre-AD 70 age (2 Cor. 4:4), the prince of the power of the air (Eph. 2:2).  He was the ruler of this world (John 14:30).  This can be seen in the fact that when Satan offered the authority of the kingdoms of the world to Jesus, Jesus did not question his right to do so (Luke 4:5-6; cf. Rev. 13:2).  At AD 70, Satan’s rule in this world (which was lost at the cross, John 12:31-32; cf. Matt. 28:18) was taken from him as God fully exercised His great authority.  Thus although Satan lost his authority at the cross, God did not fully exercise His authority until AD 70 (this was the AD 30-AD 70 already/not yet of the kingdom).

Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, ‘The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!’  And the twenty-four elders who sat before God on their thrones fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying: ‘We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was and who is to come, because You have taken Your great power and reigned.  The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints, and those who fear Your name, small and great, and destroy those who destroy the earth’[Land]. Rev. 11:15-18

It was at AD 70 that the kingdom of this world became the kingdom of God (Rev. 11:15 NASB); this was at the AD 70 destruction of those who were destroying the Land of Israel, cf. Matt 21:33-43.

Like Daniel 2, Daniel 7:11-12 also shows the sudden destruction of Satan’s rule in the kingdoms of man when it says that the authority of all four beasts was taken away at once.  The first three beasts, although overthrown from the premier place of rulership at the fall of their respective empires, still had retained a degree of authority after their downfalls.  This is similar to Revelation 17:10 where we are told that five (demonic) kings (cf. Dan. 10:13) had fallen from their place of authority when John was writing.  Being spiritual rulers, these kings were not dead; they had merely lost their place as the current head ruler of the beast.  It is the same with the first three beasts of Daniel 7; they were still in existence after their fall and still retained a degree of authority.  The spiritual dominion taken from all four beasts at AD 70 is given to God’s people at that time (Dan. 7:11-12, 21-27).

Even though all four beasts in Daniel 7 lose their authority at the same time (which again, parallels the image in Ch. 2 being broken all at once), it is only the fourth beast that is thrown into the fire at that time, at AD 70 (Dan. 7:11-12; cf. Rev. 19:20).  Daniel 7 is thus adding to the information given in Daniel 2.  While the first three beasts lose what authority they still possessed after their successive falls, they are not destroyed at the time of the coming of God.  Instead “they had their dominion taken away [at the AD 70 defeat of the little horn, Dan. 7:21-22], yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a time.” Dan. 7:12, brackets mine.  Again, this confirms the fact that we are not just being shown physical rulers or empires here.  No matter what four collections of rulers one says that chapters 2 and 7 are representing, it is impossible for four successive earthly empires to all fall at once (as happens in Dan. 2:44-45).  Similarly, the continuation of the first three empires after the destruction of the fourth (as Dan. 7:11-12 shows) doesn’t make sense if it is just physical empires that are being shown.  How could three physical empires who had been destroyed earlier than the fourth then survive past the destruction of the fourth?  The answer is, we are not being shown physical empires; we are being shown confederations of spiritual rulers behind physical empires.

Consistent with what I am saying here is the authority that is taken from the four beasts and given to the saints (Dan. 7:22, 27); it is a spiritual authority.  The dominion given to the people of God is a spiritual dominion; the kingdom of God is a spiritual kingdom not a physical kingdom (John 18:36; Rom 14:17; cf. Mark 8:38-9:1).  In Daniel 7 the authority of this world is taken is taken from nonhuman (demonic) beasts and given to humans, the saints of the Most High (Dan. 7:21-22).  The dominion of this world that Adam lost to Satan was taken back by Jesus (the second Adam) at the cross (John 12:31-32) and then given to God’s people at the Second Coming.  The rule of this world is given to the Son of Man at the AD 30 resurrection and enthronement of the Messiah (Dan. 7:13-14; cf. Matt 28:18) and then ultimately to the people of God at the AD 70 coming of God (Dan. 7:21-27; cf. Matt. 21:33-44 Rev. 2:26-27; 3:21).

That we are being shown spiritual rulers in Daniel and Revelation helps to clarify that the AD 70 destruction of Daniel’s fourth beast was not the destruction of the Roman Empire, but the destruction of the confederation of demonic rulers that was behind pre AD 70 Rome.  No doubt this is why many of the pre AD 70 Roman Emperors were so depraved, they were demon possessed.  Rome was obviously not thrown into the fire at AD 70.  Revelation will reveal that the fire that the fourth beast of Daniel is thrown into (Dan. 7:11) is the lake of fire (cf. Rev. 19:20).  No physical empire has, or ever will be, thrown into the lake of fire.  The lake of fire is the destination of individuals, both natural and supernatural (Rev. 20:10, 15; cf. Rev. 14:9-10).  The lake of fire is the second death (Rev. 21:8); it is not the destination of physical empires.

As to who the demonic spirit of Antichrist (the opponent of God/Christ that is defeated by the Second Coming, Dan. 7:21-22; 2; Thess. 2:8; Rev. 19:11-21) worked through, I go into detail on that in my book.  The book is done (910 pages double spaced) but I am still revising it and still need to get it edited (let me know if you know of a good book editor).  The book unifies the passages dealing with the Antichrist in one historical figure.

The Antichrist and the Second Coming

A Preterist Examination

Duncan McKenzie, Ph. D.

Contents

I.                    Introduction

II.                 The Coming of the Kingdom of God (Daniel 2)

III.               The Little Horn of the Daniel’s Fourth Beast (Daniel 7)

IV.              The King of the North and the Time of the End (Daniel 11:36-12:13)

V.                 The Day of the Lord

VI.              The Man of Lawlessness (2 Thessalonians 2)

VII.            Introduction to the Book of Revelation

VIII.         The Beast and the False Prophet (Revelation 13)

IX.              The Beast and the Harlot (Revelation 17)

X.                 The Beast and the Fall of Babylon (Revelation 18)

XI.              The Second Coming (Revelation 19)

XII.            The Millennium and New Heaven and New Earth (Revelation 20-22)

XIII.         Where Are We Now?