Ten Kings from Western Europe
How Daniel’s Ten-Horned Beast Points to a Final Western European Confederacy Before the Return of Christ
As I have written elsewhere, the book of Daniel predicts that the Roman empire will be revived in the end times, just prior to the Second Coming of Christ.
In Daniel 7, the Roman Empire is symbolized by a beast with ten horns on its head. Daniel 7 emphasizes its terrifying ferocity:
After this I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and extremely strong; and it had large iron teeth. It devoured and crushed, and trampled down the remainder with its feet; and it was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. (Daniel 7:7)
As the angel later explains, these correspond to ten kings that will come out of the ancient Roman Empire.
As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings will arise; (Daniel 7:24b)
It is from within this context of ten kings that the Antichrist rises to power. Therefore, these ten kings do not correspond to the historical Roman empire, but to its final phase.
Bible Scholars Anticipated a Ten-Nation Confederacy
Since the end times Roman Empire is composed of a group of ten kings, many theologians have anticipated the rise of a ten-nation confederacy in the area where the Roman Empire once was. This is also consistent with what the early Church Fathers believed.
“This means that the Roman Empire will be revived under the form of a ten-power confederacy.”
-John Ker Munro, 19391
“…the Roman Empire will some day be organized in ten states under a great dictator.”
-William K. Harrison, 19592
“…in the last days ten federated nations, emerging out of the area of the ancient Roman Empire (the iron legs of Daniel 2:33, 40), will arise.”
-Charles J. Woodbridge, 19623
“…the formation of a ten-kingdom confederation on the territory of the ancient Roman Empire.”
-Charles L. Feinberg, 19644
“…a crisis in the Mediterranean area leads to the formation of the revived Roman Empire composed of a ten-nation confederacy.”
-John F. Walvoord, 19675
“The fourth kingdom is over, and we are now in a prophetic gap that will end when a ten-nation confederacy reconstitutes the Roman empire.”
-John H. Walton, 19866
“The final form of the Roman world power will be a confederation of 10 nations who will arise simultaneously in the tribulation days.”
-Charles Ryrie, 19957
Western European Union
This was fulfilled in 1995, when the Western European Union (WEU) became ten member countries. This was an alliance separate from the European Union but worked closely with it. It existed until its closure in 2011, which occurred since it had already transferred all of its functions to the EU by that time.8
Since the EU was not a military organization, EU members agreed to use the Western European Union as its “defense component.”9 The ten full member countries were:
Belgium
The Netherlands
Luxembourg
France
United Kingdom
Germany
Spain
Portugal
Italy
Greece10
The Western European Union was a mutual defense treaty very similar to NATO, where an attack on one member was considered an attack on them all.11 Furthermore, this group conducted joint military operations on an as-needed basis.12
A comparison of a map of the Western European Union with a map of the old Roman Empire reveals that these ten kings emerged from the Western European portion of the Roman Empire.
The book of Revelation also talks about how the ten kings will wage “war” against the Lord Jesus Christ.
2 The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but they receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour. 13 These have one purpose, and they give their power and authority to the beast.
14 These will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them because He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those who are with Him are the called and chosen and faithful.” (Revelation 17:12-14)
This reinforces the idea that the ten kings have a military relationship.
Contemporary Significance
These ten countries played a significant role in the prophecies about the rise of the Antichrist and his consolidation of power. Nevertheless, their importance seemed to diminish after the alliance closed down. This was further reinforced by the departure of the United Kingdom from the European Union, in an event known as Brexit.13
Yet it appears that many of these old players are reemerging to fulfill the remainder of the prophecies. The European Union intends to keep a close relationship to the UK in the field of defense despite Brexit.14 Furthermore, military structures are emerging in Europe that include the UK. For example, the Coalition of the Willing group intends to provide soldiers to enforce any ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia.15
Though the Western European Union organization has dissolved, those ten countries have a special role to play. Movements in that direction will be discussed in a forthcoming article.
Woodbridge, Charles J. Phd. 1967. Bible Prophecy. 2nd ed. Chicago: Moody Bible Institute.
Ryrie, Charles C., ed. The Ryrie Study Bible, Expanded Edition: New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update. Chicago: The Moody Bible Institute of Chicago, 1995. (p.1362 - note on Dan. 7:24)