End Time Timelines

Represented in Nebuchadnezzar's vision as the head of gold (Daniel 2:32), and in Daniel's vision as a winged lion (Daniel 7:4)

Represented in Nebuchadnezzar's vision as the chest and arms of silver (Daniel 2:32), and in Daniel's vision as a bear (Daniel 7:5). The bear was raised up on one of its sides, representing the fact that the Median empire arose first (in about 590 BC) and was then conquered and absorbed by the Persians (in 550 BC). The Persian empire became larger than the Median empire had been, and conquered the Babylonian empire in 539 BC. The Persian empire is also known as the Achaemenid Empire.

Represented in Nebuchadnezzar's vision as the belly and thighs of bronze (Daniel 2:32), and in Daniel's vision as a four-winged leopard with four heads (Daniel 7:6). The wings represent the speed with which Alexander the Great sped across Asia, conquering his empire. After Alexander's death, the Greek Empire was divided up between his four generals, Seleucus, Ptolemy, Cassander and Antigonus (known as the Diadochi or 'successors'). The four heads represent the resulting four kingdoms or empires. The eastern part of the Greek empire, including both Israel and Babylonia, continued as the Seleucid Empire.

The Seleucid Empire ended in 129 BC when Antiochus VII Sidetes was killed in battle by the Parthians. The Parthians then ruled the eastern part of his former empire, including Babylonia and Persia. The Maccabean revolt had given Israel a brief period of independence from 166 BC until Seleucid control was restored briefly in 142 BC.

Represented in Nebuchadnezzar's vision as the legs of iron (Daniel 2:33), and in Daniel's vision as the fourth and most terrifying beast (Daniel 7:7).

Islamic armies conquered Israel and Babylonia in 636 / 637 AD, just a few years after the death of the so-called Prophet Mohammed, during the period of the Rashidun Caliphate (see Wikipedia's History of Islam). Israel and Babylonia continued to be under joint Islamic rule during the Umayyad Caliphate (661 to 750 AD) and the early part of the Abbasid Caliphate. In 909 AD the Fatimid Caliphate arose in Tunisia and gradually spread across North Africa, taking Egypt in 969, and later expanded up into Syria. In 1037, the Turkish Seljuk Empire arose and spread across the north and eastern parts of the Islamic Empire. In 1099, the First Crusade conquered Jerusalem, and Israel became a crusader kingdom until it was retaken by Saladin in 1187. So the Islamic empire fragmented into regional powers during the latter part of the Abbasid Caliphate, and remained so until being re-united again in the 16th Century under the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire arose in Eastern Turkey in 1299. In 1453, the Ottomans captured Constantinople, marking the end of the eastern Roman empire, now known as the Byzantine Empire. In 1517, they conquered Israel, and Baghdad in 1534. So from 1534 until 1917, the Ottomans ruled the regions of both Israel and Babylonia. The Ottoman Empire was defeated by Britain in World War I with the help of an Arab insurgency. After the Turkish War of Independence (1919-22), the sultanate was abolished in 1922, and the Islamic caliphate was abolished by Ataturk in 1924. Turkey became an independent secular state, and the rest of the Ottoman Empire was divided up into modern Middle Eastern nations by the British and the French.

Although the history of the Islamic Empire is somewhat complex and at times fragmented, because it ruled over the regions of both Israel and Babylonia for centuries, I believe it is reasonable to identify it as the fourth empire in Daniel's timelines.

Represented in Nebuchadnezzar's vision as the feet of iron mixed with clay (Daniel 2:33), and in Daniel's vision as the horns of the fourth beast (Daniel 7:7-8). If the 4th empire is the Islamic Empire, then in the end-times we should expect a Restored Islamic Empire.

Daniel 7:7 After these things, as I was watching in the night visions a fourth beast appeared – one dreadful, terrible, and very strong. It had two large rows of iron teeth. It devoured and crushed, and anything that was left it trampled with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that came before it, and it had ten horns. 8 As I was contemplating the horns, another horn – a small one – came up between them, and three of the former horns were torn out by the roots to make room for it. This horn had eyes resembling human eyes and a mouth speaking arrogant things. (NET)

For a full analysis of these verses, it is important to also consider the beast in Revelation 17, which also has ten horns. But in brief, horns represent rulers. The end-time Islamic Empire will be resurrected as a coalition of ten rulers. After some time, an eleventh ruler will arise who will take over the Empire and depose three rulers. This eleventh ruler is the person whom the Bible calls the Antichrist. The fact that he deposes three rulers implies that the ten rulers rule simultaneously as a coalition, not as a succession of ten kings. Neither does Antichrist succeed them, but rather he arises during the time of their joint rule and deposes three of them.