Unleashing the Beast

38 / U NLEASHING THE B EAST

was in existence and ruling over the world in his day. This would be the Roman Empire. John then explains how a seventh empire will form in the future and "continue for a short space." This seventh empire is often identified as the uniting of Europe, and especially the European Union. What was revealed to John but was not known to the Old Testament prophets was that out of the previous empires would come an eighth empire, the kingdom of the Beast. This would thrust the world into the worst time of tribulation in world history. Thankfully, the empire will rule for only 42 months. And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? l will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns. The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition (Revelation 17:7, 8, 11). According to John, the final beast arising from the sea (Revelation 13:1) will form an eighth and final empire. Prophetically, the sixth empire of history was Rome. The seventh is a continuation of Rome, involving the EU and