Beast of Revelation.pdf - Friends of the Sabbath Australia

Chapter 4
All Roads Lead to Rome
The tourist posters display a magnificent Rome—the famed
“City of Seven Hills,” all covered with architectural glories
of the past. Rome is a city of contrasts. Ancient ruins and old
buildings jostle side by side with a thriving, modern city. More
than 27 centuries have come and gone since its legendary founding
at the hands of Romulus and Remus. During this long
expanse of time, the remarkable city has played an unparalleled
role in the history of Western civilization. Rome—the “Eternal
City” of power and intrigue!
Nestled within the city of Rome itself is the world’s smallest sovereign
territory, Vatican City. Maintaining its own diplomatic relations
with all of the world’s major powers, this minuscule city-state ruled
by the Roman pontiff is a full participant in international affairs. The
Vatican aspires to much more, however. It seeks to return to the center
stage of world politics that it occupied for so many centuries.
Let’s return now to our story. As we’ve seen, when Daniel 7
and Revelation 13 are compared, it is apparent that the “ten
horns” (kingdoms) that are mentioned must have originated in the
Roman Empire, which is the seventh head of the “Beast.” Though
Rome’s ancient empire received a fatal wound with the death of
the last emperor in A.D. 476, that was not the end of the story!
The first three horns or kingdoms springing from the old Roman
Empire—the Vandals, Heruli and Ostrogoths—were uprooted by
Emperor Justinian at the behest of Rome’s pope. Justinian “reconciled
the proud and angry spirit of the Roman pontiff, and
spread among the Latins a favourable report of his pious respect
for the apostolic see,” i.e. the papal office (Gibbon, p. 477).
That left seven horns. Justinian would “heal” the “deadly
wound” in 554 and launch the first of six historical attempts with
papal sanction to revive and carry on the empire of ancient Rome.
But since there were seven horns left—not just six—a seventh
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