Don’t let anyone mislead you, for many will come in my name, claiming, “I am the Messiah.” They will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and threats of wars, but don’t panic. Yes, these things must take place, but the end won’t follow immediately. Nation will go to war against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in many parts of the world. But all this is only the first of the birth pains, with more to come.
After talking about false messiahs, Jesus mentions the second birth pain: “wars and threats of wars” and “nation [going] to war against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.” This prophecy is mirrored by the apostle John in Revelation 6:3-4, which predicts the outbreak of wars during the end times using the symbol of a rider with a sword on a blood-red horse. The fragile, relative sense of peace the world experiences today will be shattered and suddenly stripped from the earth (see 1 Thessalonians 5:1-3).
While “wars and threats of wars” have always been part of human history, international strife and conflict will mushroom and proliferate in the end times to levels never seen before. I think we can sense the foreshocks of that today. Peace is tentative. Threats of wars are rumbling. The Middle East is like a powder keg ready to explode—fueled by ISIS, Syria, Iran, the Israeli-Palestinian standoff, Hezbollah, Hamas, and Al-Qaeda. Some small yet reckless act could unleash total chaos.
Bad actors all over the world seem ready to spin out of control at any time. North Korea and its loony leader are conducting ballistic and nuclear weapons tests. The Russian bear is on the prowl all over the globe. Other hot spots could ignite suddenly. The winds of war are blowing.
How much longer can this all be kept in check?
How much longer until the lid blows off?
In the strife between nations and kingdoms that will crest during the end times, the Bible highlights four “kings” or leaders who will ascend to power. While the world of the last days will be engulfed with “wars and threats of wars… nation… against nation, and kingdom against kingdom,” four key leaders will emerge from the pack, locking themselves and their allies in a final, deadly game of thrones. Scripture speaks of this final game of thrones as nations and kingdoms jockeying for power and preeminence. In the end times, four kings will take center stage in a dramatic geopolitical death struggle.
These leaders and their power blocs will rise and fall at different times. This book is primarily about the rise of Russia—which, as we’ll see, the Bible identifies as the king of the north. We don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves, but for us to understand the rise of Russia and the northern confederacy, it’s helpful to get an overview of the end-times alignments of nations.
In the scramble for power and resources, the world will divide into four main power blocs:
• The king of the west (see Daniel 7:8; Revelation 13:1-10)
• The king of the south (see Daniel 11:40)
• The king of the north (see Ezekiel 38; Daniel 11:40)
• The kings of the east (see Revelation 16:12)
The directional location of each of these powers is given in relation to Israel, which from God’s perspective is the center, or “navel,” of the earth (see Ezekiel 38:12, NASB). Pointing to these four power blocs of the end times, Bible prophecy scholar J. Dwight Pentecost says,
In studying the alignments of Gentile nations at the time of the tribulation period we find there will be: (1) a ten kingdom federation of nations that has become the final form of the fourth kingdom or the Roman empire under the leadership of the Beast [Antichrist] (Rev. 13:1-10); (2) a northern confederacy, Russia and her allies; (3) an eastern or Asiatic confederacy; and (4) a north African power. The movements of these four allied powers against Palestine [Israel] in the tribulation period are clearly stated in Scripture and constitute one of the major themes of prophecy.[1]
The two main objectives of these four kings will be the same—dominate the world and destroy Israel. The common goals they seek will pit them against one another. The ultimate prize in this final game of thrones is the tiny land of Israel, which means all of this was set in motion by the rebirth of the modern state of Israel in 1948, as predicted in Ezekiel 37. The stage is being set for the rise of these kings.
Of course, the Bible doesn’t mention every nation on earth in the end times, so we can’t be sure exactly which nations will be part of these blocs. Also, it’s impossible to say that all nations will be part of one of these coalitions. But when the dust settles, these four will be key players according to Scripture.
The first king who will appear on the world scene is a leader often called the “king of the west,” although the Bible never gives him that designation. This title is fitting, however, because he will lead the reconstituted, revived, and reunited Roman empire or Western alliance of nations. The world knows him best as the Antichrist.
Daniel 2 and 7 reveal that a group of ten Western leaders will come to power sometime after the church is raptured to heaven. These ten leaders will serve as a kind of ruling committee or oligarchy over the Western confederacy of nations. In Daniel 2 they’re represented by the ten toes on the metallic image, while in Daniel 7 they’re pictured by ten horns on the fourth beast. They represent the final form of the Roman empire. I like to call them the “Group of Ten” or “G-10.” The European Union could be an embryonic form of this final alignment of nations or simply the first stage of some greater alliance of nations. Either way, the Bible is clear that when the end times arrive, these ten kings or leaders will have control over the Western nations.
At some point, one ruler—the final Antichrist—will emerge, and he will grab control over the reunited Roman empire. He is depicted by Daniel as a “small horn” that rises up among the ten horns (Daniel 7:8). With the rule of this leader, the revived Roman empire will mimic the historical Roman empire that transitioned from a republic to an empire—from the rule of a body of leaders to rule by one caesar. As the Antichrist seizes control of the Western federation, the Bible says he will consolidate and expand his power, ultimately ruling the entire world for the final three and a half years before the return of Christ.
The Western leader is the subject of more than one hundred Bible passages. The Bible paints a vivid portrait of this end-times dictator:
• He will be a Gentile, not a Jew (see Revelation 13:1).[2]
• He will burst onto the world scene as a peacemaker, forging a seven-year agreement or peace treaty with Israel, solving (albeit temporarily) the Middle East crisis (see Daniel 9:27; Revelation 6:1-2).[3]
• He will break the seven-year treaty at its midpoint, double-crossing the Jewish people (see Daniel 9:27). At this point, his mask of moderation will come off.
• As the final great anti-Semite, he will unleash a reign of terror against the Jewish people (see Daniel 7:25).
• He will declare himself to be God and will demand worship (see Daniel 11:37; 2 Thessalonians 2:4; Revelation 13:4, 12).[4]
• He will defile the rebuilt Jewish Temple in Jerusalem by establishing an image of himself in the Holy of Holies (see Matthew 24:15; 2 Thessalonians 2:4).
1
J. Dwight Pentecost,
2
Revelation 13:1 calls the Antichrist the “beast rising up out of the sea,” which pictures the Gentile nations—see Revelation 17:15.
3
Revelation 6:1-2 describes the Antichrist as a rider on a white horse—a false messiah—who brings a brief window of peace to the earth. We know he brings peace because the next rider (in Revelation 6:3-4) destroys that peace.
4
Some today believe the Antichrist will be a Muslim, possibly even the Islamic Mahdi, but 2 Thessalonians 2:4 says the Antichrist will declare himself to be God. The central tenet of Islam is that there is one god, who is Allah. No practicing Muslim could take this step. The Islamic Mahdi could never do this.