The Hidden History of Verse Forty - Number Thirty

In the book of Ezekiel, the ‘siege’ of Jerusalem is the ‘sign’ that is the test by which our eternal destiny will be decided, for it marks the formation of the image of the beast.

The Christians that fled Jerusalem at the ‘sign’ of Cestius did so because they had been forewarned and recognized the ‘sign’ when it arrived. Recognizing the formation of the image of the beast is to recognize the “events,” “preparations” and “movements” that lead to the Sunday law. The prophetic elements that make up the ‘sign’ must be understood in advance of the sign. When Cestius began the siege, it was too late to learn what the sign was.

The “preparations,” “movements” and “events” must be recognized in advance of the test.

We “must know” “the great and solemn events as we stand on the very threshold of their fulfillment.” The threshold identifies our need to understand the events in advance of their fulfilment.

The formation of the image of the beast is accomplished first in the United States, and thereafter in the world.

The Edict of Milan in 313 represents the starting of the formation, and also identifies the closed door for Seventh-day Adventists. Constantine of the west and Licinius of the east attached a treaty marriage to the Edict, when Constantine gave his half-sister Constantia to Licinius in the fourth treaty marriage represented in a prophetic line of the six treaty marriages within the prophetic history of Daniel eleven. The first two were associated with wars between the north and south; the next two were civil wars between east and west and the last two are symbolic marriages of the papal church power and state power.

Antiochus II Theos set aside his wife Laodice I to marry the Ptolemaic princess Berenice (daughter of Ptolemy II) around 252 BC. The treaty marriages of the Seleucid Empire were accomplished between the king of the north and the king of the south, whereas the treaty marriage of 313 was between the emperor of the east and the emperor of the west.

The treaty marriage of Antiochus II Theos in 252 BC represented the beginning of the Seleucid Empire that reached its conclusion as an empire in the history represented in verses ten through sixteen of Daniel eleven. In the final history of the Seleucid Empire, another treaty marriage was accomplished by Antiochus III the Great, when he gave his daughter Cleopatra I Syra (the very first Cleopatra of prophetic history) to Ptolemy V in 193 BC. At the time, Ptolemy V was about 16 and Cleopatra I Syra about 10 years old. Their marriage was a diplomatic settlement after the fifth Syrian war. The alpha treaty marriage between the king of the north and south in Daniel eleven had marked the end of the second Syrian war.

The last Cleopatra of prophetic history interacted with both Julius Caesar and thereafter with Mark Antony. After the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BC, the second Triumvirate was formed in 43 BC. Three men made up the triumvirate, and after one of those three, Marcus Lepidus, was forced out of the threefold union by Octavian, a power struggle between Mark Antony of the east and Octavian of the west ensued. At Brundisium, in 40 BC, a treaty between the two eastern and western rivals was made. The treaty included the marriage between Octavian’s sister Octavia and Mark Antony. The treaty and accompanying marriage did not hold, and after Mark Antony became involved with Cleopatra, he divorced Octavia in 32 BC. At the battle of Actium in 31 BC, the empires of east and west were consolidated into one power, and Octavian thereafter became Augustus Caesar, the symbol of the height of Roman glory and power.

Prophetically, the first treaty marriage of Daniel eleven was between the kings of the north and south in an attempt to end hostilities between the two combatants who were struggling to re-establish the empire of Alexander the Great. That first treaty marriage between the Seleucids and the Ptolemies of Egypt was the alpha treaty marriage of the Seleucid and Ptolemaic kingdoms, which typified the omega treaty marriage between the same two powers. In the last or omega treaty marriage, the very first or alpha Cleopatra of Egyptian history became the prophetic link to the last, or omega, Cleopatra, whose relationship with Mark Antony became the point of reference for the divorce of Octavia and Mark Antony. The divorce marked the renewed hostilities between Mark Antony of the east and Octavian of the west which ended at the battle of Actium in 31 BC.

The treaty marriage of Brundisium in 40 BC was the alpha treaty marriage of the struggle between east and west, just as the treaty marriage of Laodice and Antiochus II Theos was the alpha of the struggle between north and south. The treaty marriage of 313 was the omega to the alpha treaty marriage of Mark Antony and Octavia, just as the treaty marriage between Ptolemy V and Cleopatra I Syra was the omega treaty marriage of the northern and southern kingdoms. The three treaty marriages that led to the omega treaty marriage of 313 all align, and provide three witnesses to the prophetic characteristics associated with the Edict of Milan. Together the four literal treaty marriages of east, west, north and south align with the two symbolic treaty marriages of the papacy.

In 496, Clovis the king of the Franks was married to Clotilda. Clotilda was a Burgundian princess, the daughter of King Chilperic II of Burgundy. After her father and mother were murdered in a family power struggle, she lived under the protection of her uncle before being given in marriage to Clovis I, king of the Franks, in 493. She was a Catholic, that is, she held the Nicene/orthodox faith of the Roman Church. This set her apart from many other Germanic royal families of the time, who were Arian Christians. Her mother Caretena had been Catholic, and Clotilda was raised in that faith. She is remembered for persistently urging Clovis to abandon paganism and accept Catholic baptism, and thereafter his conversion in 496 is one of the most important events in the early history of France and of Western so-called Christianity.

Clovis vowed that if he won the battle of Tolbiac, he would convert to Clotilda’s Catholic faith and be baptized. The Alemanni king was killed, their army broke, and the Franks won. After the victory, Clotilda arranged for Bishop Remigius of Reims to instruct Clovis, and he was baptized (traditionally on Christmas Day 496), along with several thousand of his warriors.

Clovis was the king of the Franks, which in modern terms is the king of France. He became the first of the kings of Europe who would ultimately surrender their pagan religion and turn to Catholicism. For this reason, Clovis is considered the “eldest son of the Catholic church,” and France is called “the eldest daughter of the Catholic church.” In 1980, when Pope John Paul II visited France, he asked, “France, eldest daughter of the Church, are you faithful to your baptism?”

Clovis’ conversion to Nicene Catholicism identifies the start of a symbolic marriage procession that would lead to the symbolic treaty marriage of 538. The symbolic treaty marriage between Clovis and the whore who commits fornication with the kings of the earth was typified by the four previous treaty marriages in Daniel eleven. Clovis was the first European king to provide military and economic support for the Roman church, and Clovis is therefore represented within the history in Daniel eleven.

Clovis in 496 marks the beginning of the European political structures to “stand up” to aid the papacy as it rose to power. It marks the beginning of a symbolic marriage procession. The “arms” of the verse would also pollute the “sanctuary of strength,” which for both pagan and papal Rome is the city of Rome.

There are two different Hebrew words in the book of Daniel that are translated as “sanctuary.” The Hebrew words ‘miqdash’ and ‘qodesh’ are both translated as “sanctuary,” but qodesh can only represent a holy entity, whereas miqdash can represent either a holy or unholy sanctuary—as determined by context.

The “sanctuary of strength” in verse thirty-one is ‘miqdash’ and represents the sanctuary of Rome’s strength, which for both pagan and papal Rome was the city of Rome. From the battle of Actium, when Octavian united the empire, pagan Rome was invincible for three hundred and sixty years (a time) in fulfilment of verse twenty-four of Daniel eleven.

When pagan Rome ruled from the city of Rome, it was invincible, but when Constantine moved the capital to Constantinople in 330, the “time” of verse twenty-four was fulfilled. When the last of the three horns (the Goths) of Daniel seven was driven out of the city, papal Rome prophetically took the throne as the fifth kingdom of Bible prophecy in 538. The Goths had besieged Rome, but ultimately retreated as Belisarius, general for Justinian, secured the city. The Roman church then ruled supremely for twelve hundred and sixty years until Napoleon had the pope removed and put in exile in 1798.

Rome, “the sanctuary of strength” was “polluted,” (polluted, meaning ‘wounded or dissolved’), through the “arms” from the ongoing warfare against the city, represented primarily by the first four trumpets of Revelation chapter eight.

The history that ensued from 496 onward would see the city of Rome polluted as it changed from the power and glory of the Roman empire unto the power and glory of the Roman Catholic empire. Those arms would take away the religion of paganism, represented by the word “daily” in the passage, as they accepted the religion of Nicene Catholicism.

At the battle of Vouillé, Clovis defeated the Arian Visigoths under Alaric II and took Aquitaine. In the aftermath of the victory, in 508, the Eastern emperor Anastasius I (in Constantinople) honored Clovis for his victory over the Visigoths. Gregory of Tours says that Anastasius sent Clovis official papers making him consul. At Tours, in Saint Martin’s church, Clovis put on a purple tunic and cloak, set a diadem on his head, rode out, and scattered gold and silver to the crowd. Gregory says that from that day he was hailed as consul and recognized by the Roman emperor as a legitimate Christian king in the west. He was rewarded for breaking the Arian Visigoths, whom Constantinople also opposed. 508 is the year the emperor in the East publicly honored the Catholic Frankish king—church, victory, and Roman legitimacy in one scene. 508 is the year the Frankish Catholic kingdom stood as the dominant Catholic power in Gaul after breaking Arian Visigoths’ rule. Clovis is the first major barbarian king to fight for Nicene Catholicism against Arian kingdoms, and thus the prototype of the French role as “eldest daughter of the Church.” Clovis represents the period of 496 unto 508 and is the alpha symbol of the symbolic marriage treaty. The thirty years from 508 unto 538 are represented by Justinian, who is the omega symbol of the procession.

In 538, the “arms” placed the papal power on the throne of the earth for 1260 years. It was then that the symbolic treaty marriage was consummated at the conclusion of the marriage procession that had begun in 496. In 1798, the treaty marriage that had begun between the pope of Rome and Clovis of France was disannulled when Napoleon of France divorced the papal power by having his general take the pope captive.

The alpha symbolic papal treaty marriage, which had begun its marriage procession in 496, was consummated at the Sunday law in 538, and it was thereafter disannulled in 1798, just as was every other treaty marriage of Daniel eleven. Revelation adds to the papal marital relationship between the kings of Europe and popes of Catholicism, for the dragon of Revelation twelve is both Satan and pagan Rome’s kings.

In Revelation John informs us of three things the kings (the dragon) gave to the sea beast of Catholicism.

In 496, the kings of Europe began providing the papal beast their “power” as represented by their military might and economic support. They had moved the capital of their empire to Constantinople in 330, leaving the city of Rome as the “seat” of the papal authority. The “arms” thereafter identified the papal church as the head of all churches in 533 with the decree of Justinian. The decree included the use of their military might to persecute those whom the papacy identified as heretics, thus placing their civil “authority” into the hands of the popes.

The alpha treaty marriage between the papacy and the kings of Europe began with Clovis in 496. By 508, paganism, the legal religion of the realm, was set aside for the religion of Nicene Catholicism. In 533, Justinian identified the papacy as the head of all churches, and surrendered the legal authority of their respective thrones unto the papal power.

In 330, the city of Rome was left in the hands of the Roman church where she would be seated until she is destroyed in the lake of fire at Christ’s second coming. In 538, she was officially seated again upon the papal throne, thus identifying the history of 330 unto 538 as a prophetic period that begins with an alpha seat and ends with an omega seat. The period represents the ending of the fourth kingdom of Bible prophecy (Pergamos) as a progressive demise beginning in 330 and ending in 538 with the arrival of Thyatira. Both western and eastern Rome continued the slow dissolution beyond 538, but the period began with giving the seat, representing the city of Rome, to the papacy in 330, until the seat became not simply a throne over the city, but over the kingdom represented by the city in 538.

330 to 538 is a specific prophetic period that defines the ‘eight’ waymarks of the papacy’s empowerment. Those eight steps are repeated in the healing of the papacy’s deadly wound at the soon-coming Sunday law.

The first of the eight steps was the giving of the city of Rome to the papal power, and the eighth step was the giving of the city as the throne of the fifth kingdom of Bible prophecy. This identifies 538 as the seat, and as ‘the eighth step, that is of the previous seven steps.’ The first step was the giving of the seat and the eighth step was the giving of the seat; thus, the first step in 330 is the alpha and 538 is the omega. Two seats, three horns removed, the daily taken away, Clovis’ conversion and Justinian’s decree equal eight total steps that identify the marriage procession, and ultimately the marriage.

In 1798, France, the power who had represented the ten European kings, who placed the papacy on the throne in 538, removed the papacy from that very throne. The alpha treaty marriage represented in the history of 538 unto 1798 typifies the omega treaty marriage of the papal power with the ten kings of Revelation seventeen. The marriage procession from 496 unto 538 typifies eight steps that align with the last eight presidents of the United States. Clovis and France are symbols of the ten European kings. They represent the United States who will become the premier king of Revelation seventeen’s ten kings at the soon-coming Sunday law.

The five previous treaty marriages of Daniel eleven align with the sixth and final treaty marriage of the latter days. The alpha and omega treaty marriages of north and south identify the bride from the south as the alpha and the omega is a bride from the north. In the treaty marriages of pagan Rome, the alpha bride from the east was given to the west, and the omega of 313 was a bride from the west. Those four marriages are prophetically linked together by Cleopatra the first and Cleopatra the last. The symbolic treaty marriage of papal Rome represented the groom as the premier king of a prophetic confederacy of ten kings joining with their bride—the scarlet woman of Rome. The divorce was carried out by the premier king of the ten kings in 1798.

The treaty marriage of 313 represents the final treaty marriage of the papal power with the United States—the premier king of Revelation seventeen’s ten kings, a two-horned power that is typified by the two-horned power of France. The history that began with Clovis in 496 and ultimately led to the decree of Justinian in 533 and the enthronement of the papacy in 538 represents the history of 1989 unto the Sunday law.

We will continue these things in the next article.