v.12-14 “And the ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority for one hour as kings with the beast. These are of one mind, and they will give their power and authority to the beast. These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of Lords and King of kings; and those who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful.”
The “ten horns” of the beast are ten kings that comprise the kingdom of Antichrist during the first half of Tribulation. None individually rules the world, but collectively “as kings with the beast” they become an empire that mutually shares in the “hour” of power allotted to Antichrist—perhaps like a United Nations.
The prophet Daniel sheds light on these nations and the origin of the Antichrist inside two visions he encountered during his Babylonian captivity.
The first was a dream given to King Nebuchadnezzar that was interpreted by Daniel. The prophet describes a composite image of a man that had a head of gold, arms and chest of silver, belly of brass, legs of iron, and ten toes partly of iron and partly of clay, which he later interprets to be a succession of Gentile empires: Babylon (the head of gold), Media-Persia (the arms of silver), Greece (the belly of brass), Rome (the legs of iron), and an unnamed empire of the last days in the form of the ten toes of iron mingled with clay (Daniel 2).
In a subsequent vision given to Daniel some fifty years later, the prophet saw the same succession of Gentile empires in the form of animals. Babylon was a lion, Media-Persia was a bear, Greece was a leopard, Rome was a creature identified only as a “dreadful and terrible” beast, and the last day’s empire shown merely as ten horns growing from the head of this fourth beast. Then Daniel saw “another horn, a little one” coming up among the ten horns which plucked out three of the first horns. “And there, in this horn, were the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking pompous words” (Dan.7).
From both accounts here’s the progression: Babylon, Media-Persia, Greece, Rome, a revised form of Rome, the Antichrist.
This has lead some commentators to conclude that the revised form of Rome from which Antichrist comes and rules consists of a conglomerate of ten nations once a part of the old Roman Empire (see also notes—Rev.13:2).
Some go further. They see the European Union as the fulfillment of this kingdom. Since it was founded in 1951, the EU not only has become one of this world’s most formidable political, economic, and military blocks, but all of the European nations currently in the EU can be traced back to the old Roman Empire. If this is correct, that the EU becomes man’s final kingdom on earth, than we are witnesses, dear ones, to what shall become the body of nations from which Antichrist will one day emerge.
“These are of one mind, and they will give their power and authority to the beast…” Sovereign nations willing to give up their power and authority to one world leader is already becoming a reality in our present day. We need only to look at NATO, the United Nations, or the EU to see how the global quest for peace has brought nations together with treaties and contractual agreements into a single unified body. So the stage is set. The charismatic Antichrist needs only to surface to win them over and lead them until Satan empowers him to become their king and god.