THE FIVE WORLD RULERS

After God judged mankind at Babel the people were scattered, North, South & East. They became different ethnic groups, nations speaking different languages according to Noah`s three sons. Shem`s sons settled in Arabia and to the east, Ham`s sons settled in Africa to the South and Japheth`s sons settled in Europe to the north.

Over time many nations developed around the Middle East. The most powerful nations however, were Assyria in the north and Egypt, in the south. Although they were powerful and mighty nations, they never became World Rulers.  As Israel became a great nation they learnt to rule under God and were of great renown amid the other nations. Over time however, Israel turned from God and thus came under God`s chastisement. World Rulership was then passed on to the Gentiles for a set time. 

Thus the great power of the Babylonians arose and dominated the Middle East. They conquered Israel, who then went into exile to Babylon. Now God knew which World Rulers would emerge and in which order. He actually revealed who they were to the king of Babylon, by a pictorial representation - a Great Image.

The Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar, had a dream, but no one could interpret it. Finally Daniel, after asking God, was able to tell the king what the dream was & its interpretation. The king had seen a vision of a Middle Eastern man with head of gold, arms & chest of silver, thighs of brass, legs of iron and feet of iron and clay. (Dan. 2: 28 - 45)

Daniel told the king that this great image represented the different world rulers to come. We know from history that - the first was the Babylonian Empire, the next the Medes and Persians, followed by the Greeks and then the Romans. These have all come to pass, however there is still the final Gentile World Ruler to come.

Head - Babylonian Empire.

Chest and Arms - Medes and Persians.

Thighs - Grecian Empire.

Legs - Roman Empire.

Feet and Toes - The Divided Empire.

Looking at this great image, we see that it is standing before the king in Babylon. Thus each of the first four World Rulers have ruled over this area, the Middle East, and the Final World Ruler will also.