The Old Testament book of Daniel tells of a dream King Nebuchadnezzar had of an image, the head was made of gold, the chest and arms of silver, the stomache and thighs of bronze, and it's legs of iron and it's feet partly of iron and party of clay, the image was destroyed by a stone that became a great mountain that filled the earth. The Prophet Daniel interpreted the dream for the King and we learn that the image is the four empires that would rule over the known world.
The head of Gold was Babylon
The chest and arms of silver was the Medo/Persians
The stomache and thighs of bronze were the Greeks under Alexander the Great.
And the legs and feet of iron and clay was none other than Rome.
Daniel tells us that the stone struck the image on the feet and then became a great mountain, and so, we shall see the Roman empire emerge once more, just before Christ makes His Triumphal return.
But it is ancient Rome I wish to explore here with you, only by knowing our past, can we understand our future.
When Daniel uttered his prophecy concerning Rome, no one would dare dream, a small village Kingdom would one day emerge as one of the largest Empires known to man. At it's largest, the Roman Empire would engulf nearly all of Europe, England and Scotland would be conquerored by her, a great deal of the Middle East was held under her iron fist, along with Northern Africa, and as the crown jewel, Egypt would succumb as well upon the death's of Mark Antony and his beloved Cleopatra. It was the death's of these two that would propel Rome from a Republic(with the help of Julius Caesar) to an empire ruled by Emporer's or Princeps as they emporer's were called in Rome.
Octavian better known as Augustus, would battle with Antony over Rome as the rightful heir of Caesar, and would mount the throne as the first emporer of Rome, it was in his reign that Jesus Christ was born. Many saw the reign of Augustus as a Golden age of peace and prosperity, Augustus liked to boast that he found Rome a city of brick and left it one of marble, unfortunately for Rome, his successor's and kin would not be such a gift to Rome, ie, Caligula, Claudius and Nero.
Nero was the son of Caligula's sister and nephew of the emporer Claudius. Agrippina would marry the emporer to further her son's political future, and it is believed she poisoned the dottering Claudius. Upon Claudius' death, it was not his son who mounted the throne, but his teenaged step son, Domitius Ahenobarbus, better known as Nero. He started off well, but, would succumb to the drug of wealth and power, he would order his mother's execution after a couple failed attempts on her life, and even kick his pregnant wife to death. After the fire that rage through Rome, destroying much of it, Nero claimed the land and began a building project for a new home that would encompass what once had been public land. It would be known as the Golden house and Nero would not live long enough to enjoy it's oppulent contents. He was a meglomaniac, ordering death's, banishing people, and the first recorded persecution of Christians(He blamed them for the fire, it is believed that both Peter and Paul were executed upon his orders.) and eventually it came to the point where the people wanted his head. He would flee, but, there was no safe place for him in Rome, and he killed himself and Rome was plunged into a year of civil war that would see no less than four men mount the throne.
At the time of Nero's death, General Titus Flavius Vespasianus, better known as Vespasian, was waging a war in the land of Israel, known as the Jewish War, he would be the fourth and final man to wear the purple after Nero's death.
Vespasian was the last man anyone would expect to become emporer, born a Sabine peasant, and at one point so broke, he was forced to sell mules and would become known as the mule driver, but, divine intervention played it's part and Vespasian would mount the throne and end a year long brutal Civil War in Rome.
Divine intervention? You ask....yes! God wanted Vespasian on the throne in order to work His will, and I shall tell you why!
In Matthew 24:2 Jesus says of the Temple in Jerusalem, "See ye not all these things? Verily, I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down."
When Vespasian mounted the throne he entrusted his son Titus to end the Jewish War, which he did with mastery, in 70 A.D. on the anniversary of Nebuchadnezzar's sack of Jerusalem, Titus and his army would completely annihilate Jerusalem and her Holy Temple. Josephus tells us, that Titus had no desire to destroy such an antiquated and famous Temple, but, his soldiers and the Jew's themselves, set the conflagration into the inferno that would level the House of God.
Titus must not have been too upset because he and his soldiers set up their Roman standards on the Temple Mount and worshipped the pagan Gods near the Eastern Gate of God's Mount!
After the fire had died out, the Roman's discovered that the Gold from the Temple had melted into the cracks of the stones, and they quickly got to work uprooting each and every stone and fulfilling the words of Christ, nothing was left except for what we now call the Wailing Wall, and the Jew's would enter into a two thousand year diaspora that would not end until May of 1948.
The arch of Titus was built by his brother Domitian upon the highest spot on the Sacra Via (Sacred way), it comemmorates the victory of Titus over the Jew's and there are relief's depicting Titus' triumph with images of the menorah and the goodies taken from the House of God found upon the arch.
Domitian was the youngest son of Vespasian, and it is believed he is the emporer who banished St. John to the isle of Patmos where he wrote the Revelation.
Domitian was another power hungry, paranoid, meglomaniac, he banished Jew's from Rome, along with philosopher's, and even had members of his own family put to death for "Jewish manner's", (most probably Christian's.) And I've even come across some sources that suggest he attempted to boil John in a vat of boiling oil, only to find the prophet came out of the oil without injury!!!
I'm sure some of you have heard of the Emporer Hadrian, but, what some people don't know is this man known for being a terrific emporer, forbade Jew's from residing anywhere near Jerusalem, and he proceeded to try to Romanize the city, and even built a temple to Jupiter on the Temple Mount, and renamed the city Aelia Capitolina.
The time will come again, when somewhere out of the old Roman Empire, that a man will emerge that make all of the other Emporer's look like pussycats when it comes to the Jew's and Christians, will you be ready? I pray to God you will, but rest assured, just as Israel rose from the annals of time and into the present, so too, will the fallen Empire of Rome, although, it might be called by another name.
FYI- in the book of Revelation John speaks of the Babylon being situated on seven hills, the literal Babylon is not, but Rome was, her hills were the Palatine, Esquiline, Caelian, Capitoline, Aventine, Quirinal, and Oppian. And so, was her successor, the city of Constantipole, better known to us as Istanbul.
It is interesting to note that the Country of Turkey is prophecied to come against Israel in the last days along with Russia, Libya, Ethiopia, and a few other Islamic countries!
A list of the emporer's reigning before, during and just after the death of Christ.
Augustus- emporer when Jesus was born
Tiberius- emporer of the crucifixion
Caligula- tried to have his image put into the Holy of Holies
Claudius- dottering and harmless(poor schlub!)
Nero- first persecutor of Christians
Three emporer's in between( Galba, Otho and Vitellius)
Vespasian- built the Colosseum, ordered the end of the Jewish War
Titus-ended the Jewish War in 70 A.D. and began the Jewish Diaspora.
Domitian-Believed to be emporer when John the Revelator wrote the book of Revelation and believed to have exiled the senior citizen John to hard labor on Patmos.
