Elijah2come

     The last Empire before God's rule is clearly the Roman Empire (see the previous section). But how can the Roman Empire be the evil Empire that is to come if it was already here and now is no more? I will explain that next.
     John was shown the exact same vision of the beasts that Daniel saw, with one notable difference. John wrote while the Roman Empire was in power, so instead of seeing four beasts come up in sequence representing four Empires, John saw one composite beast, representing only the last of the four - the Roman Empire. If you were to take Daniel's beasts and glue them to each other you would get one beast that is part leopard, part bear, and part lion, with seven heads and ten horns - exactly what John saw in the Book of Revelation. The book of Revelation was written when the Roman Empire was in power and the other three governments had already fallen, so naturally this beast is a composite of the four.

And the dragon stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the [Mediterranean] sea. He had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on his horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority. One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was astonished and followed the beast.
(Revelation 13:1-3)

... Why are you astonished? I will explain to you the mystery of the woman and of the beast she rides, which has the seven heads and ten horns. The beast, which you saw, once was, now is not, and will come up out of the Abyss and go to his destruction. The inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world will be astonished when they see the beast, because he once was, now is not, and yet will come.
(Revelation 17:7-8)

This last Empire ("beast") is foretold to fall, but then come back again! The Roman Empire was prophesied to have a "fatal wound" that will be "healed" -- so that it will be, then will not be, and then return again (see above). The first part of this prophecy has since come true -- the Roman Empire seems to be completely gone. The second part is yet to be fulfilled -- the Empire will be revived! The evil Empire that is to come will be a revival of the Roman Empire.