“Then in my vision that night, I saw a fourth beast—terrifying, dreadful, and very strong. It devoured and crushed its victims with huge iron teeth and trampled their remains beneath its feet. It was different from any of the other beasts, and it had ten horns. As I was looking at the horns, suddenly another small horn appeared among them. Three of the first horns were torn out by the roots to make room for it. This little horn had eyes like human eyes and a mouth that was boasting arrogantly.” Daniel 7:7-8
Daniel’s ten horns is the Revival of the Roman Empire. It appears that the future, revived Roman Empire will go through three stages. First, a group of ten kings or some form of a ruling oligarchy within the ancient Roman Empire will appear. This will mark the first phase of its revival. Second, a strong man will emerge who will consolidate these ten nations into a united empire and probably extend its borders in various directions. Third, there is the final stage of the revived Roman Empire when, by declaration or edict, its power extends to the entire earth. The Antichrist will simply declare he is ruler of the world in the power vacuum created by the destruction of the armies of Gog and Magog described in Ezekiel 38–39. The final or third stage may be in a state of partial disintegration at the time of the second coming of Christ since it appears that there is warfare.
This is the description of the end-time government in Revelation 13:1. This alliance or confederacy of ten leaders and the nations they represent constitutes a revival of the Roman Empire and the beginning of the final stage of the fourth beast in Daniel 7. These countries will include European countries and possibly nations in western Asia and northern Africa. This Group of Ten will control the nations and geographic areas from the ancient Roman Empire. The Group of Ten will rise to power because the West will desperately need to guarantee the peace and security of the Middle East. This will temporarily be accomplished in a seven-year covenant of peace and protection with Israel. Without a forced peace, disruption of the West’s oil supply and an escalation in terrorism will threaten to bring Western civilization to its knees. This little horn is the rise of the Antichrist.