The Bible describes prophecies, meaning events that have already been fulfilled, as well as events we expect to come true. Someone might say they don’t believe in biblical prophecies. That’s their right. However, faith is not an empty word:

“Faith is the confident expectation of things that are certain, the convincing evidence of things that are not seen.” – Hebrews 11:1

Therefore, every person who believes in God should strive to understand prophecy, that is, what God has planned.

Let us examine the Bible’s prophecies about the powers that have ruled, are ruling, and will rule the earth.

Just as God foretold: powers rise and fall…

A prostitute/woman rules the powers

The prostitute/woman, that is, babylon the great, sits on a beast which has seven heads:

“The woman dwells/sits(2521) on the scarlet beast, full of blasphemous names, having seven heads” – Revelation 17:3.

The word number 2521 means:

• literally (BibleHub): kathēmenēn = to sit, to be seated, to dwell,

• in prophetic imagery: „to sit on something” also means „to exercise authority, to rule by virtue of what one sits on” – as in „to sit on a throne.”

In 17:9 we have 7 heads, mountains on which the woman sits.

In 17:10 we have an expansion of these 7 heads, which represent 7 kings/powers.

In 17:18 we have the explanation that the woman is the great city that has authority over the kings of the earth:

“And the woman which you saw is that great city which has a kingdom over the kings of the earth” – Revelation 17:18.

Who is the prostitute?

Check out these articles:

Who is the prostitute? Does she control politicians, religions, and commerce? – Part 3 – Objawienie Jana

Is the financier/harlot Judaism? – Part 4 – Objawienie Jana

Who are the seven powers?

„Here is a mind/understanding having wisdom: seven (nominative) heads, seven/seven (nominative) mountains/hills/mounds (1510 pl.), where a woman (1135) dwells/sits (2521) on them. And seven (nominative) kings (nominative pl.). Five have fallen, one is/exists, another has not yet come, and when he comes, (3641 oligon) a few/a short while/it is necessary for him to remain. And the beast that was, and is not (now he is not), this one is the eighth, and is from the seven, and goes to death, going to destruction” – Revelation 17:9-11.

The sixth and seventh kings are quite easy to guess. John writes about the sixth king: „five have fallen – one is.” This one is the Roman Empire. In John’s time, this power ruled the world. Therefore, the Roman Empire is the sixth king.

The seventh king is also easy to guess. It is the anglo-saxon empire.

Let’s look at the seven powers:

	Power (King)	Period of rule as a superpower	Cause of the fall	Today’s countries (area)
1	Egypt	ca. 1600 – 900 BC (≈700 years)	Loss of dominance, takeover by Assyria	Egypt, Sudan (Nubia), Israel/Palestine
2	Assyria	900 – 612 BC (≈288 years)	Nineveh conquered by Babylon and the Medes	Iraq (north), Syria, Türkiye (southeast), Israel
3	Babylon	612 – 539 BC (≈73 years)	Conquered by Persia (Cyrus)	Iraq (Babylon), Syria, Israel
4	Medo-Persia	539 – 331 BC (≈208 years)	Defeated by Alexander (331 BC)	Iran, Iraq, Türkiye, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Israel, Egypt
5	Greece	331 – 168 BC (≈163 years)	Defeated by Rome (168 BC)	Greece, Türkiye, Egypt, Syria, Israel, and even India
6	Rome	168 BC – 1815 AD (≈1983 years) Historically: Rome fell in 476/1453 AD. Symbolically: “Rome” = Roman system → Holy Roman Empire → lasted until the early 19th century.	Britain’s Assumption of Hegemony (After Waterloo)	Europe, North Africa, Middle East, Britain
7	Anglo-American power	1815 AD – present (over 200 years)	It has not fallen yet (Rev 17:10: „it will remain a short time”)	Great Britain, USA, global influence

*Approximate Dates represent the period of dominance as a „power” in the biblical/historical sense, not the entire existence of states.

1st Kings – The Prostitution of Egypt

„You have committed fornication with the sons of Egypt, your neighbors, who are grown up. You have provoked Me to anger with your many adulteries. But when I stretch out My arm against you, O city, I will remove these your practices.” – Ezekiel 16:26

2nd Kings – Prostitution with Assyria

“Then you played the harlot with the Assyrians, because you were not satisfied; you played the harlot with them, and yet you were not satisfied.” – Ezekiel 16:28

3rd Kings – Prostitution with Babylon

„So you have again played the harlot with the merchants of the Chaldeans, and have not been satisfied with this either. How weak your heart was, declares the Lord God, to do such things as a shameless harlot would do.” – Ezekiel 16:29-30

“A head of pure gold” – Daniel 2:32. (This is how Babylon was pictured in Daniel’s image.)

4th King – Media – Persia

„He burned the house of the Lord, tore down the walls of Jerusalem, destroyed its buildings with fire, and destroyed all its ornaments. He carried away the survivors to Babylon, where they served him and his sons as servants until the kingdom of the Medes came” – 2 Chronicles 36:20 (Septuagint).

“Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: The Lord, the God of Heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth.” – 2 Chronicles 36:23.

“The ram which you saw with the two horns stands for the kings of Media and Persia.” – Daniel 8:20.

„breast and arms of silver” – (Daniel 2:32).

This is a „weaker kingdom” – (Daniel 2:39) (This is how Media-Persia is depicted in Daniel’s image).

The Septuagint on page 609 says: „The kingdom of the Medians and the kingdom of the Persians had a similar language. They ruled together. In 539, Cyrus the Great captured Babylon.”

5th King – Rule of Greece

“And the hairy goat is the king of Javan (Greece), and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king” – Daniel 8:21.

„Hairy goat” = the kingdom of Greece (Javan).
„Great horn” = the first king of Greece, Alexander the Great.

„Belly and thighs of brass” – Daniel 2:32.

„It will also encompass the whole earth” – Daniel 2:39 (This is how Greece was pictured in Daniel’s image).

This description could fit Alexander the Great’s reign:

„Now I will tell you the truth: Behold, three more kings will arise in Persia, and a fourth will become richer than all of them. And when he has become strong in his riches, he will stir up all against the kingdom of Greece. And a mighty king will arise, who will rule with great authority and do whatever he pleases. And when he arises, his kingdom will be divided and divided toward the four winds/four corners of the earth/world; but not by his descendants, nor by the power he wielded. For his kingdom will be torn away and will belong to others besides them.” – Daniel 11:2-4

• „Three more kings” → after Cyrus were Cambyses, Bardiya (Smerdis), and Darius I.

• „Fourth” → Xerxes I (known from the Book of Esther), extremely wealthy, marched against Greece (battles of Marathon, Thermopylae, Salamis).

• „Mighty king” → Alexander of Macedon (356–323 BC).

• „He did whatever he pleased” → in 12 years he conquered Persia, Egypt, and even India.

• „The kingdom will fall apart” → Alexander died suddenly (323 BC) without an heir capable of maintaining the empire.

• „Divided to the four corners of the world” → Diadochi (four generals): Cassander – Macedonia and Greece. Lysymachus – Thrace and Asia Minor. Seleucus – Syria, Mesopotamia, and all the way to Persia. Ptolemy – Egypt, Palestine.

• „Not for his descendants” → Alexander’s sons (Alexander IV and Heracles) were murdered.

• „Not with such force” → none of the four equaled Alexander, the empire fragmented into smaller kingdoms.

There is a belief that Alexander the Great never existed, as there are no surviving chronicles or documents written directly during Alexander’s time (4th century BC).

6th King – Roman Empire

„Then the chief priests and the pharisees called the Sanhedrin/Council/Court (4892) and said, 'What are we doing because this man is performing so many signs? If we let Him alone, everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away our places and nation.'” – John 11:47-48.

„Legs of iron” – Daniel 2:33.

„It will be as hard as iron, able to crush anything. It will cut down every tree. Then the whole earth will shake.” – Daniel 2:40 (This is how Rome was pictured in Daniel’s image).

Western Rome fell in 476 AD (overthrow of Emperor Romulus Augustulus). The Eastern Empire (Byzantium) lasted until 1453 (fall of Constantinople).

Between 1453 and 1815, there was no single, uninterrupted hegemon, as in the Roman era.

During this period, Spain, Portugal, France, the Netherlands, and the Ottoman Empire alternated in dominance, and only after Napoleon’s fall did Great Britain assume permanent leadership.

Therefore, it is prophetically said that Rome corresponds to the “legs of iron” (Dan 2:33), while the Anglo-Saxon kingdom (UK–USA) is the “feet of iron and clay” (Dan 2:41-43) – strong in part, and fragile and divided in part.

7th King – UK-USA

„and his feet/legs partly of iron and partly of clay” – Daniel 2:33 (This is how Great Britain-USA was pictured in the image of Daniel).

„The fact that you saw the feet and toes partly of clay and partly of iron means that the kingdom will be broken to pieces (1855); it will have some of the durability of iron. And the fact that you saw iron mixed with muddy clay, and the toes partly of iron and partly of clay means that the kingdom will be partly durable and partly brittle. The fact that you saw iron mixed with muddy clay means that they will be mixed through human seed, but they will not be distinguished by their cohesion, just as iron cannot be mixed with clay” – Daniel 2:41-43 (biblical apologist).

1855 – Strong’s – to break into pieces, to fall apart, to crumble.

In 1973, Great Britain joined the European Economic Community (EEC), later to become the European Union. This is the symbolic date of its submission to the rule of the European Union. Brexit took place in 2020. Great Britain left the EU but did not regain its status as a world power. After World War II, Great Britain weakened economically and militarily, and the United States became the global leader. In 1944, the Bretton Woods Conference was held. Coalition countries, including Poland, ceded power to the United States.

The beast is to be the 8th king

The 8th king/power is supposed to be the being presented in the Revelation of John as a beast/animal:

„And the beast which was, and is not (and now is not), this one is the eighth, and is from the seven, and goes to destruction, to destruction” – Revelation 17:9-11.

More about the beast: Click Here

The Kingdom of Lord Yeshu

„You looked up, and behold, a boulder/stone/rock was torn from the mountain range—not by human hands—and struck the image(6755) on its feet, the iron and the clay, and dashed it to pieces(1855). Then it was broken to pieces(1855) together: the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold, and became like chaff on a threshing floor in summer; the wind carried them away, leaving no trace behind. And the boulder/stone/rock that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth”—Daniel 2:34-35.

„In the days of those kings the God of Heaven will set up a Kingdom which will never be destroyed, and this Kingdom will not be left to another people. He will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, and it will endure forever.” – Daniel 2:44 (Septuagint).

„I continued to see in the night vision, and behold, one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven. One like the One of old appeared. Those standing around Him surrounded Him. And the dominion was given to Him, and all the nations of the earth according to their kindreds, and all the glory, to serve Him. And His dominion is an everlasting dominion; it will not be taken from Him; His Kingdom will not be destroyed.” – Daniel 7:13-14 (Septuagint).

Let us note that it is the Kingdom of the Lord Yeshu that ends the rule of individual powers.

Summary

These powers have ruled and will rule the earth:

• 1st king – Egypt – prophecy fulfilled.

• 2nd king – Assyria – prophecy fulfilled.

• 3rd king – Babylon – prophecy fulfilled.

• 4th king – Media-Persia – prophecy fulfilled.

• 5th king – Greece – prophecy fulfilled.

• 6th king – Roman Empire – prophecy fulfilled.

• 7th King – Great Britain-USA – currently ongoing.

• 8th King – beast/animal – future.

• The Last King – Christ, the Son of God named Yeshu.

Note on interpretation

This text adopts a Biblical perspective, in which the Revelation of John speaks of seven empires – and from this perspective, these kingdoms are considered key in world history. For believers, this is a matter of faith: since God indicated the number „seven” in His Word, plus an eighth empire, we accept it as revealed truth. However… secular historians present history differently – they point to more empires and powers that influenced human history (e.g., Spain, France, the Ottoman Empire, or the USSR).