THE FOURTH EMPIRE OF DANIEL 7 BEGINS AND ENDS WITH MARS (PART THREE)
Apollyon is a Loser
The Devil has been known by many names by many civilizations. In Bible alone he is given many names. But he is also known in history by different nations and peoples. The Prince of Darkness has a profile that can be recognized wherever it rises, if we just have eyes to see it.
In Greek Mythology the god of war, Ares fits this very profile. Ares is the bringer of ruin through the curse. He is the enemy of God and man. He is the fallen deceiver. Ares enters the fray of battle against mortals and suffers a severe wound. Driven by bloodlust, Ares is as despised as he is humiliated in ancient myth. According to Greek Myth, Ares is a loser.
Similarly, according to the Bible, Apollyon is a loser. Just like Ares, the Devil is born to lose. Think about it for a second… The Devil’s campaign is a fool’s errand. We are talking about the quest to dethrone Almighty God!!! Quick question for the Devil... Exactly which part of the definition of “Almighty” is unclear?
Psalm 2 says God thinks this is funny. Watching the Devil and men rage about trying to dethrone Him, is comedy.
“He who sits in the heavens laughs” - Psalm 2:4
After all of the Devil’s deceiving and warmongering, what happens? For all of his efforts, how is he rewarded?
“I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him…” - Revelation 20:1
BIG… FAT… FAILURE. The Devil is a loser.
But don’t think for a moment that failure will stop him. The Devil has a plan and strategy to take as many with him as possible. The cosmic folly of men and devils rages on regardless of its futility.
Phobos & Deimos (Panic and Dread)
God may laugh at the Devil, but Daniel didn’t. We underestimate him at our own peril. Just because Apollyon is doomed to failure and his campaign is a joke to God, doesn’t mean he isn’t superior to human beings in every respect. Humanity is no match for the god of war. He is vastly more intelligent and his capacities are far greater than anything we can imagine.
When Daniel saw a vision of the Fourth Beast, he was terrified.
“I desired to know the truth about the fourth beast, which was different from all the rest, exceedingly terrifying…” - Daniel 7:19
When Apollyon arrives on earth, we must remember what accompanies him. Ares was accompanied by Phobos and Deimos. According to Greek mythology, Phobos and Deimos ride into war with Ares. Dread and Panic spread fear upon the battlefield. We should expect no less, when Apollyon arrives. He will pose no real threat to heaven, but for those on earth during that time there are these words.
“Rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!” - Revelation 12:12
The City of Murder
The Bible tells of an empire that would last from the fall of Alexander the Great until the 2nd Coming of Christ. In my previous posts I addressed these four empires as Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome. The Roman Empire conquered Macedonia and will endure until the Kingdom of God destroys it at the Return of Christ.
Rome is named for Romulus. The son of Mars and murderer of his twin brother Remus. The story of Romulus and Remus reminds me of Cain and Abel.
“Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.”
“Cain went away from the presence of the LORD and settled in the land of Nod”
“Cain built a city…” - Genesis 4:8, 16, 17
Like Cain, Romulus murdered his brother and built a city. A city that would rule the greatest empire in history. Rome was fathered by Mars and built by Romulus. Or to find the biblical parallel, Rome begins with Apollyon and Cain.
“You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him.” - John 8:44
The Metal of Mars is Iron
According the Greek Mythology, the metal of Ares is iron. Interesting coincidence when we consider the prophecies of Daniel 2 and 7.
Have you ever noticed that there are five elements to the statue Daniel sees and yet only four beasts in the vision he sees? If there were five elements in the statue, why only four beasts? In the statue there is gold, silver, bronze, iron, and a mixture of iron and clay. In the vision there is a lion, bear, leopard, and iron beast. How do the 5 empires in the statue correspond with the 4 empires of the beasts?
Notice that the final two elements of the statue share the same element with the fourth beast. The legs and feet of the statue are made of iron, so is the fourth beast. Iron is the metal that ties this mystery together. The fourth beast relates to both the legs and feet of the statue. Iron is the commonality. What begins as iron, ends as a mixture of iron and clay.
The Roman Empire began as the iron legs of the statue and will endure to the end when the Roman Republic will attempt to merge iron and clay. This final state of the empire is destined to fail. Chalk it up as one more brilliant idea of Apollyon.
It is this final state of Iron and Clay that Daniel sees in the terrifying Beast with iron teeth and ten horns that represent ten kings. The Beast that Daniel sees is made up of iron and clay. It has iron teeth and human kings. The Fourth Beast is the culmination of mixing iron and clay together in the final empire of this age. This is the greatest calamity of folly in history. The Devil and Fallen Man joining together. Merging iron and clay is the final, stupid, evil, rebellious act.
“They will not hold together, just as iron does not mix with clay.”
“And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed” - Daniel 2:43