Signs
of the Times
January
2004 Article by Ian Prentice
The Development
of the European Union and the Return of Jesus Christ
The New
Year takes us closer in time to the return of Jesus Christ to establish the
No one
can claim to know the exact date of Jesus’ return but God has declared in his
word the Bible that “the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth
his secrets unto his servant the prophets.” See Amos chapter 3 verse 7. One
such servant of God is Daniel. In Daniel chapter 2 we have perhaps one of the
clearest prophecies concerning Christ’s promised return to this earth and the
establishment of the Kingdom of God; Daniel chapter 2 verse 44 declares “in
the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall
never be destroyed but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms
and it shall stand forever.” If we could identify the time period of “the
days of these kings” referred to in the prophecy we would then have a clue
to the time period of Christ’s return.
Let us
look briefly at Daniel chapter 2 and the interpretation given by Daniel of
Nebuchadnezzar’s dream about an image made up of different materials revealing
a historical progression of powers that would have rulership or political sway
over the
The fifth
and final kingdom described in verses 42 and 43 as “toes of the feet part of
iron and part of clay” is the power that will exist at the time of Christ’s
return and is therefore of most interest to us. This final power shares the iron
symbol of the fourth power with a new material clay. Hence the conclusion is
that the influence of the Roman iron power remains with this fifth power until
Christ’s return; can secular history help identify this power? The following is
an extract from the Times Atlas of World History (Third Edition) about modern
Europe ‘Roman law forms the basis of the law of most modern European states…
the Roman Church lives on as a direct link with the past; and the German kings
of the “Holy Roman Empire” claimed that they were Roman Rulers.’
A consideration
of the words in Daniel chapter 2 verses 42 and 43 further point to the fifth
power being identified as the European Union (EU). For example in the language
of Daniel we see a power made up of, “partly strong” (iron) and “partly
broken” (weak/clay) nations that “shall mingle” (the root meaning of
“mingle” is “to trade”) but shall “not cleave” (are divided).
The EU is
the largest trading block in the world today and it continues to grow in size,
power and influence. On
We continue
to watch for further developments in the EU as evidence of Christ’s soon
return.