Many of us have heard the term “One World Government” or “New World Order” (NWO). Although these terms have their own cultural connotations and may often be termed as a “conspiracy theory”, it must be stated that the bible makes it crystal clear there will one day be a global government of some type that will come about during the tribulation.
One World Government of the Past
The earliest example we can see in the bible of one world government or global governing system is in Genesis 11:1-4. We’re told the whole world had one language and at the time they also had a grand goal of building a tower which we know as the tower of Babel.
At this time the whole world was united in language and a common goal, “But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. And the Lord said, ‘Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them,'” (Genesis 11:5-6).
They were united in their rebellion against God and for that God thwarted their efforts and scattered them all over the earth (Genesis 11:7-9). We’re told in Genesis 10 that there was also a single man who was in charge of this effort – Nimrod, “Cush begot Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one on the earth…And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar,” (Genesis 10:8, 10).
This was the first attempt at a one world government in Genesis 11 that failed and it was headed by a single individual who had control over it all. When we understand this, we see that talks of a one world government is nothing strange, crazy, or conspiratorial.
In fact, it’s biblical. It was attempted before, and mankind not learning from their mistakes will attempt it once more. Just as the bible says, there’s nothing new under the sun, “That which has been is what will be, That which is done is what will be done, And there is nothing new under the sun,” (Ecclesiastes 1:9).
One World Government of the Future
The next place to go to in order to learn about another one world government that’s to come is in the book of Daniel. In Daniel 2, Daniel interprets Nebuchadnezzar’s dream concerning a statue who’s “head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay,” (Daniel 2:32-33).
We’re told that each colored layer of the statue represents a kingdom which will follow one another in succession with the head of Gold representing the Babylonian empire (Daniel 2:38), the chest and arms of silver representing the empire of Media-Persia (Daniel 2:39, Daniel 5:25-30, Daniel 8:20), the belly and thighs of bronze representing the Greek empire (Daniel 2:39, Daniel 8:21), the legs of iron representing the Roman empire (Daniel 2:33, Daniel 2:40, Daniel 11:1-4), and finally the feet of part iron and part clay representing the empire of the last days who many also believe to be a “revived Roman empire” – I will dissect this further later in the article (Daniel 2:33, Daniel 2:41-45).
The Fourth Beast in Daniel
Daniel has a similar vision concerning these coming kingdoms in Daniel 7 except this time they’re portrayed as “beasts” or various animals that come out of the sea (Daniel 7:15-17).
The Babylonian empire is portrayed as “a lion, and had eagle’s wings” (Daniel 7:4), the Media-Persian empire is portrayed as a bear (Daniel 7:5), and the Greek empire is portrayed as “a leopard, which had on its back four wings of a bird. The beast also had four heads…” (Daniel 7:6).
Daniel has a lot more to say concerning the fourth beast and its horns who both represents the fourth empire -Rome – and a “revived Roman empire” of some kind.
“After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong. It had huge iron teeth; it was devouring, breaking in pieces, and trampling the residue with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. I was considering the horns, and there was another horn, a little one, coming up among them, before whom three of the first horns were plucked out by the roots. And there, in this horn, were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking pompous words.” (Daniel 7:7-8).
We see from Daniel’s vision of the fourth beast (and fourth kingdom – Daniel 7:23), it correlates to the feet of part iron and part clay. This fourth beast has 10 horns just as the last kingdom represented in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream had 10 toes. Daniel also sees a “pompous horn”, a little horn among the other horns. This is another key idea we’ll hold onto for later.
We’re told several things concerning this fourth beast and the “little horn”:
The Beast from the Sea in Revelation
When we go to Revelation 13, John seas a “beast from the sea”. Remember in Daniel 7:3 we’ve already been introduced to this language of beasts emerging from the sea as representation of kingdoms essentially rising to power or emerging on the world stage. Likewise we see the same here in Revelation 13:1, “Then I stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea…”
In Daniel 7:7 and Daniel 7:23 we were told this fourth beast would be different from the beasts that came before it and Revelation 13:1-2 gives us a description of its appearance, “And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name. Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion, (Revelation 13:1-2).
Unlike Daniel, Revelation 13 tells us this beast has 7 heads which represent 7 kings (Revelation 17:9-10), but we also see something familiar – mention of the 10 horns that were described to us in Daniel 7:24 which I also said correlates to the 10 toes of Nebuchadnezzar’s statue.
As we continue to read we see that the beast is like a leopard, it has the feet of a bear, and a mouth of a lion. Unlike the first 3 beasts in Daniel 7, this beast (said to be different from the others) appears to be a mix of the 3 beasts that came before it.
The first beast in Daniel 7 was like a lion, correlating to the mouth of a lion on this beast, the second beast was like a bear, correlating to the feet of this beast, and the third beast was like a leopard, just as we’re told concerning this beast in Revelation 13:2. We also see more similarities between the fourth beast and the beast from the sea outlined below.
| Daniel | Revelation |
|---|---|
| It will "devour" the whole earth (Daniel 7:23) | The whole world will worship and follow the beast (Revelation 13:3-4, 8) The beast is given authority "over every tribe, tongue, and nation" (Revelation 13:7, Revelation 13:16-17) |
| The "little horn" from this kingdom will speak pompous words against God (Daniel 7:11, 25) | The beast was given a mouth to speak blasphemies and blasphemed God (Revelation 13:5-6) |
| The "little horn" of this kingdom will persecute and prevail over the saints (Daniel 7:21, 25) | It was granted to the beast to make war with and overcome the saints (Revelation 13:7) |
| He's given authority for a time, time, and half a time - 3 1/2 years (Daniel 7:25) | The beast is given authority for 42 months - 3 1/2 years (Revelation 13:5) |
| The 10 horns represent 10 kings that will come from this kingdom (Daniel 7:24) | The 10 horns are 10 kings (Revelation 17:12) |
| The kingdom will first be destroyed, then God's everlasting kingdom will come (Daniel 2:40, 44-45, Daniel 7:11, 22, 26-27) | The beast, false prophet, and his armies are defeated at Christ's 2nd coming and he then sets up his millennial kingdom (Revelation 19:19-21, Revelation 20:4-5) |
Earlier in the article I showed through scripture how Nimrod was in control of the first one world government – Babel. Nimrod is often seen as a “type” of the antichrist, meaning throughout scripture and history we can see examples of individuals who garnered public attention and exerted control and influence.
Nimrod is one of these individuals, but the ultimate fulfillment of the antichrist will come right before the tribulation starts. In Daniel we saw the little horn mentioned and compared it to the beast from the sea in Revelation 13.
These 2 are one and the same – the antichrist who exalts himself above everything called God or that is worshiped (2 Thessalonians 2:4) who will one day rule over the coming one world government for a short 3 1/2 years.
I also mentioned how the feet of iron and clay in Daniel 2 and the fourth beast shown to us in Daniel 7 is a representation of the last days empire or revived Roman empire.
In Daniel 2:34-35, 44-45, and Daniel 7:11, 21-22, 26-27 we see a “timeline” of sorts given to us concerning the rise and fall of this kingdom. It will come after the others before it, be different, trample and devour the earth, but we see what follows it immediately in both chapters of Daniel is judgment by God and then God’s kingdom on the earth.
And as shown earlier this same beast described to us in Revelation 13 meets its demise the same way in Revelation 19:17-21 and then God’s kingdom (Christ’s millennial reign) follows after in Revelation 20:4-6. This leads us to believe that this truly will be the final gentile kingdom of the last days which will also be global in scope.
We also see another piece of information mentioned to us in Revelation 13:3, “And I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed…” In this verse we’re told the beast (which is both a representation of the antichrist and last days “kingdom”) has a head that was mortally wounded but healed.
In Revelation 17 we were told these 7 heads are 7 “mountains” who are also 7 kings. The bible uses mountains to represent kingdoms, below are a few examples of this.
When we go back to Revelation 13:3, we then understand the “head” that was mortally wounded but then healed is actually a kingdom. When John first saw this vision, only 5 of these kingdoms who had dealt with Israel had come or “fallen”: Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, and Greece.
The sixth was Rome, and the seventh will be the revived Roman empire who’s head was wounded (the kingdom faced decline or partially fell) but it will be brought back (Revelation 17:10).
When is this One World Government Coming?
Although today we’re seeing an increase in discussion surrounding the formation of a global government of some kind, we need to understand that the final kingdom – the fourth beast or beast from the sea – will not come until the tribulation starts.
Before this kingdom can come about, the “beast” (the antichrist) must first make his debut on the world stage. However this happens once the restrainer – who I and many others believe to be the holy spirit indwelt church – is first “taken out”.
Until these sequence of events happen, those who strive towards a global government will not have success until God allows it. However, as we see efforts for this increase and those who we identify as “globalists” become more and more open about talking about this and working towards this initiative, it means the tribulation is close, and even closer, the rapture of the church!
What this also means for the believer is that no matter what we see happening around the world around us, whether it be various schemes of the enemy or governments attempting to exert more power over their citizens, we know that Christ wins in the end – and we are counted victors with him.
It’s this truth we should hold unto and this truth that should give us hope in God’s promises regarding what’s to come. No matter what Satan and those who follow him try to do, and they will be successful for a very short “season”, Christ reigns supreme in the end! Maranatha!
Other articles in this series:
Support the Ministry