I seriously doubt there will be anymore new empires here on earth, it appears that all are slowly dwindling down. The United States was falling apart thanks to Bush and Obama, and of course Hilary Clinton had helped out (I say Hilary because we all know that Bill wasn’t the president), but thanks to Trump things are looking up again at the time of this writing (May , 2019).

The next empire to come will be that of Jesus Christ. He will conquer all and His kingdom will last forever.

“And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.

His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.

And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.

And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.

And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.

And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;

That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.

And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.

And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.

And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh” (Rev 19:11-21).

“And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.

And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,

And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.

And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.

Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,

And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.

And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.

And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.

And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.

And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire” (Rev 20:1-15).

“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea” (21:1).

Tomorrow we’ll being our study with…

Luke 4
The Temptation in the Wilderness

1 And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,

2 Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered.

“4:2” – See notes on Matt 4:1-11.

3 And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread.

“Command this stone that it be made bread” – the devil always makes his temptations seem attractive.

The devil makes them appear to be so great that we can’t even see how ugly and destructive it truly is. For example, cocaine is fun, energetic and entertaining and that’s all we see.

What we don’t see is the crooked bank president in the back, the small cells of bacteria that enter the body and slowly consume the brain, the handcuffs that are soon to come, and the devil laughing his head off at the fool we have become.

The same thing happened to Eve – Gen 3:6 is what she saw, but what she couldn’t see was Gen 3:13-19).

Don’t tell me I’m wrong or exaggerating because I’ve been there and places nobody wants to be.

4 And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.

“It is written” – three times Jesus meets Satan’s temptations with scripture. Many say that only God’s Word can provide the strength needed to overcome Satan, and this is true. Yet, that doesn’t mean you have to quote scripture, it’s faith in Jesus that defeat’s the devil.

5 And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.

6 And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.

7 If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.

“Worship me” – the devil was tempting Jesus to avoid the sufferings of the cross, which he came specifically to endure. The temptation offered an easy shortcut to world dominion. What he tried on Jesus is exactly the same thing he did with Eve (Gen 3:1-7).

8 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

9 And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him; If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence:

“Cast thyself down” – Satan was tempting Jesus to test God’s faithfulness and to attract public attention dramatically, like the Jews and Catholics do today as they pray or fast so everyone can see (Matt 6:1-7, 16-18).

10 For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee:

“For it is written” – this time Satan quoted scripture, though he misused (Ps 91:11-12).

Like a used car salesman doesn’t lie to you, they tell you all the good things about it and how profitable it would be for you to purchase it, especially at that price.

Yet, they leave out the fact that the car had been in a head-on collision and the A Frame is a bit twisted, but you won’t notice that unless you drive over 50 miles an hour.

Lawyers also won’t lie to you, they’ll tell you exactly what the law book says, and they’ll tell you they recently had a case like yours and instead of jail or prison time they got their client off on probation.

And more than likely they are telling the truth. What they don’t tell you is that their other client’s past history was different from yours, they were in a different county, you may have a different/harder judge, and their other client was related to the state senator.

11 And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.

12 And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.

13 And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season.

“He departed from him for a season” – Satan continued his testing throughout Jesus’ ministry (see Mk 8:33), culminating in the supreme test at Gethsemane.

14 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about.

15 And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all.

16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read.

17 And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,

“The book of the prophet Esaias” – the books of the Old Testament were written on scrolls, kept in a special place in the synagogue and handed to the reader by a special attendant.

18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,

This verse tells of the Messiah’s ministry of preaching and healing – to meet every human need.

“He had anointed me” – not with literal oil (Ex 30:22-31), but with the Holy Spirit.

19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

“The acceptable year of the Lord” – not a calendar year, but the period when salvation would be proclaimed – the Messianic age.

This quotation from Is 61:1-2 alludes to the year of jubilee (Lev 25:8-55), when once every 50 years slaves were freed, debts were canceled and ancestral property was returned to the original family.

Isaiah predicted primarily that liberation of Isaiah from the future Babylonian captivity, but Jesus proclaimed liberation from sin and all its consequences.

20 And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.

21 And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.

22 And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph’s son?

23 And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country.

“Thy country” – Nazareth. Although Jesus was born in Bethlehem, He was brought up in Nazareth, in Galilee, and His ministry was set in Capernaum.

24 And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country.

25 But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land;

26 But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow.

“Sidon” – one of the oldest Phoenician cities, 20 miles north of Tyre. Jesus later healed a Gentile woman’s daughter in this region.

27 And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.

28 And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath,

29 And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.

30 But he passing through the midst of them went his way,

31 And came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them on the Sabbath days.

32 And they were astonished at his doctrine: for his word was with power.

33 And in the synagogue there was a man, which had a spirit of an unclean devil, and cried out with a loud voice,

“Which had a spirit of an unclean devil” – to pagans, “demon” meant a supernatural being, whether good or bad, but Luke makes it clear that this was an evil spirit. Such a demon could cause mental disorder (Jn 10:20), violent action (Lk 8:26-29), bodily disease (13:11, 16), and rebellion against God (Rev 16:14).

34 Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art; the Holy One of God.

35 And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And when the devil had thrown him in the midst, he came out of him, and hurt him not.

36 And they were all amazed, and spake among themselves, saying, What a word is this! for with authority and power he commandeth the unclean spirits, and they come out.

37 And the fame of him went out into every place of the country round about.

38 And he arose out of the synagogue, and entered into Simon’s house. And Simon’s wife’s mother was taken with a great fever; and they besought him for her.

“Simon’s wife’s mother” – Peter was married (1 Cor 9:5).

39 And he stood over her, and rebuked the fever; and it left her: and immediately she arose and ministered unto them.

40 Now when the sun was setting, all they that had any sick with divers diseases brought them unto him; and he laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them.

41 And devils also came out of many, crying out, and saying, Thou art Christ the Son of God. And he rebuking them suffered them not to speak: for they knew that he was Christ.

42 And when it was day, he departed and went into a desert place: and the people sought him, and came unto him, and stayed him, that he should not depart from them.

43 And he said unto them, I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also: for therefore am I sent.

44 And he preached in the synagogues of Galilee.

Top 10 Greatest Empires

Throughout history much of the world has been ruled by empires. Below is a list of what some people think were the greatest empires that ever existed. Not everyone thinks the same, but everyone agrees on which one was the greatest of all.

To be considered an empire an expanse of land must be politically led by either a monarch, an emperor, or be an oligarchy.

Aside from their leadership model, the only other thing they all have in common is that each of them disappeared, which the United States is in the process of doing, thanks to Bush and Obama.

#10 – Ottoman Empire

At the height of its power (16^th–17^th century), the Ottoman Empire spanned three continents, controlling much of Southeastern Europe, Western Asia and North Africa.

It contained 29 provinces and numerous vassal states, some of which were later absorbed into the empire, while others were granted various types of autonomy during the course of centuries.

The empire was at the center of interactions between the Eastern and Western worlds for six centuries.

With Constantinople as its capital city, and vast control of lands around the eastern Mediterranean during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent (ruled 1520 to 1566), the Ottoman Empire was, in many respects, an Islamic successor to the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire.

#9 – Umayyad Caliphate

The Umayyad Caliphate was the second of the four Islamic caliphates (systems of governance), established after the death of Mohammed. It was ruled by the Umayyad Dynasty, whose name derives from Umayya ibn Abd Shams, the great-grandfather of the first Umayyad caliph.

Although the Umayyad family originally came from the city of Mecca, Damascus was the capital of their Caliphate. Eventually, it would cover more than five million square miles, making it the largest empire the world had yet seen, and the fifth largest contiguous empire ever to exist.

The Umayyads established the largest Arab-Muslim state in history. From the time of Mohammed until 1924, successive and contemporary caliphates were held by various dynasties – the last being the Ottoman Empire.

#8 – Persian Empire or Achaemenid Empire

Babylonian, Akkadians, Assyrians, Sumerians, Hitites, Bactrians, Scythians, Parthians, Medes, Elamites, Egyptians, Ethiopians… before the Romans, there were the Persians.

They basically unified the whole of Central Asia which consisted of a lot of different cultures, kingdoms, empires and tribes. It was the largest empire in ancient history.

At the height of its power, the empire encompassed approximately 4,970,969 miles. The empire was forged by Cyrus the Great, and spanned three continents: Asia, Africa and Europe.

#7 – Byzantine Empire

The Byzantine Empire, or Eastern Roman Empire, was the Roman Empire during the middle Ages, centered on the capital of Constantinople, and ruled by emperors in direct succession to the ancient Roman emperors.

It was called the Roman Empire, and also Romania. During its existence, of over a thousand years, the Empire remained one of the most powerful economic, cultural and military forces in Europe, despite setbacks and territorial losses, especially during the Roman–Persian and Byzantine–Arab Wars.

The Empire received a mortal blow in 1204 by the Fourth Crusade, when it was dissolved and divided into competing Byzantine Greek and Latin realms.

Despite the eventual recovery of Constantinople and re-establishment of the Empire in 1261, under the Palaiologan emperors, successive civil wars in the 14^th century further sapped the Empire’s strength.

#6 – Han Dynasty

During the Chinese period of warring states, the whole of China was embroiled in a civil war as the different kingdoms within it battled it out with each other in the quest for supremacy.

In the end, the Qin State won, and gobbled up the whole of China, with 40 million people under its control. The Qin Dynasty didn’t last long, and soon it went to the Han, which eventually controlled China for close to 400 years.

The period of the Han Dynasty is considered a golden age in Chinese history in terms of scientific achievement, technological advance, economic, cultural and political stability.

Even to this day, most Chinese people refer to themselves as the Han people. Today, the “Han people” is considered the largest single ethnic group in the world.

#5 – British Empire

At its greatest extent, the British empire was known as the largest empire in history, as it covered more than 13,000,000 square miles, which is approximately a quarter of the Earth’s total land area, and controlled more than 500 million people – again a quarter of the world’s population.

As a result, the legacy it imprinted on these conquered lands is tremendous in terms of political reform, cultural exchanges and way of life.

The English language, which it spread, is the second most-widely spoken language in the world today, and many linguistics agree that English is the de facto standard language of the world.

The British Empire is definitely one of the most influential empires ever to have existed in human history.

#4 – Holy Roman Empire

During the middle ages, they were considered the “superpower” of their time. At its height, the Holy Roman Empire consisted of eastern France, all of Germany, northern Italy and parts of western Poland.

Despite being relatively small in terms of Empires, its influence on the history of central Europe is still felt today. Incredibly the Empire lasted from the early middle ages to the 19^th century.

The Empire was formally dissolved on August 6, 1806 when the last Holy Roman Emperor, Francis II (later Francis I of Austria), abdicated following a military defeat by the French under Napoleon.

Upon its collapse, the following nations emerged: Switzerland, Holland, the Austrian Empire, Belgium, the Prussian Empire, Principality of Liechtenstein, Confederation of the Rhine and the first French Empire.

#3 – The Russian Empire

The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia, and the predecessor of the Soviet Union.

It was the second largest contiguous empire in world history, surpassed only by the Mongol Empire, and the third largest empire behind the British Empire and the Mongol Empire. At one point in 1866, it stretched from eastern Europe, across Asia, and into North America.

#2 – Mongol Empire

It all started when Temujin (who was later known as Genghis Khan), vowed in his youth to bring the world to his feet. He almost did. His first act was unifying the scattered Mongolian tribes. Then he set his sight on China, and the rest is history.

From Vietnam to Hungary, the Mongol Empire is the largest contiguous empire in the history of mankind. Unfortunately for them, their empire was too big to be controlled, and there was no unity among the different cultures.

The Mongols were fearless and ruthless fighters, but had little experience in administration. The image of the Mongols as a brutal and savage people is renowned through history.

#1 – Roman Empire

At first they were ruled by divine kings, and then they became a republic (perhaps their greatest period) before finally becoming an empire.

How a group of farmers, who started off fending wolves to protect their livestock eventually, became the greatest empire in all history is the stuff of legends.

Coupled with an excellent military and administrative system, the Roman Empire, or rather ancient Rome is also one of the longest-lasting. Counting from its founding to the fall of the Byzantine Empire, ancient Rome lasted for 2,214 years!

Ancient Rome contributed greatly to the development of law, war, art, literature, architecture, technology, religion and language in the Western world.

In fact many historians consider the Roman Empire to be a perfect empire – influential, fair, long-lasting, big, well defended and economically advanced.

The influence of the Roman Empire is felt to this day, if for no other reason than the influence on the Catholic Church, which took much of its administrative nous and pageantry from it.

…the Byzantine Empire: Creating the New Rome.