1 00:00:01,690 --> 00:00:04,700 This vote, for Britain to leave the European Union, 2 00:00:04,700 --> 00:00:08,570 is going to have huge ramifications which we can't really predict or foresee. 3 00:00:08,570 --> 00:00:10,450 Some we can, but many we can't. 4 00:00:10,450 --> 00:00:14,190 But at the moment it's hard to see these many different countries 5 00:00:14,190 --> 00:00:18,110 with their very different histories, including histories of enmity to each other, 6 00:00:18,110 --> 00:00:21,490 it's very hard to see them being able to cleave together. 7 00:00:21,490 --> 00:00:24,750 The European Union's origin is, of course, in World War II - 8 00:00:24,750 --> 00:00:28,330 this extraordinary catastrophe - a generation of people 9 00:00:28,330 --> 00:00:31,170 Europeans, who said, "We cannot do this again!" 10 00:00:31,170 --> 00:00:34,020 There was an understanding that, if you want to preserve peace, 11 00:00:34,020 --> 00:00:36,490 you need to have some kind of economic system 12 00:00:36,490 --> 00:00:40,420 that doesn't cause hatred or cause rivalry. 13 00:00:40,420 --> 00:00:43,820 Many people won't understand or know that religion was actually 14 00:00:43,820 --> 00:00:46,270 a very important ingredient in the establishment of the 15 00:00:46,270 --> 00:00:48,180 European economic community. 16 00:00:48,180 --> 00:00:52,590 There is still a religious element to much of the debate in the European Union. 17 00:00:52,590 --> 00:00:56,590 In the early 2000s, the then President of the European Commission, 18 00:00:56,590 --> 00:00:59,410 Romano Prodi, actually published a book. 19 00:00:59,410 --> 00:01:03,090 It was in Italian, but the translated title means, "An Idea of Europe". 20 00:01:03,090 --> 00:01:07,000 And he said, "What can hold these many different countries? 21 00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:10,760 It's not enough for the elites to propose a political union. 22 00:01:10,760 --> 00:01:12,940 There has to be something cultural." 23 00:01:12,940 --> 00:01:16,280 And he said, "The one thing that all Europeans have in common, 24 00:01:16,280 --> 00:01:17,960 the one thing that can bind us all together, 25 00:01:17,960 --> 00:01:19,860 is loyalty to the Church." 26 00:01:19,860 --> 00:01:21,740 But he was Italian. What did he mean? 27 00:01:21,740 --> 00:01:24,510 He meant, the Roman Catholic Church. 28 00:01:24,510 --> 00:01:29,290 That's the story of people trying to make Europe into a powerhouse 29 00:01:29,290 --> 00:01:31,770 and yet failing, again and again. 30 00:01:31,770 --> 00:01:36,790 Think about Napoleon: everything looked perfect, and yet, a decade, and it fell. 31 00:01:36,790 --> 00:01:40,070 Think about Hitler: it failed. 32 00:01:40,070 --> 00:01:47,520 As a European, I grew up with the question: "How does Europe fit into Bible prophecy?" 33 00:01:47,520 --> 00:01:51,520 Daniel chapter 2: the king has a dream - Nebuchadnezzar has a dream - 34 00:01:51,520 --> 00:01:56,510 and in that dream, he sees a huge statue, a beautiful statue. 35 00:01:56,510 --> 00:02:00,510 Different metals are used to indicate different kingdoms. 36 00:02:00,510 --> 00:02:05,260 He starts off as the head, the golden head, Babylon, Medo-Persia, the Greek empire 37 00:02:05,260 --> 00:02:08,710 and then, finally, the strength of the Roman empire, 38 00:02:08,710 --> 00:02:12,390 but there is something else. There are toes, and feet, 39 00:02:12,390 --> 00:02:16,300 that are made up of mixed clay and iron. 40 00:02:16,300 --> 00:02:20,000 And Daniel, somehow, he says, "They will not stick together. 41 00:02:20,000 --> 00:02:25,490 Some are strong, some are weak." And that seems to be the story of Europe. 42 00:02:25,490 --> 00:02:31,280 Especially given recent circumstances - the situation in Greece, Spain, Italy, Cyprus - 43 00:02:31,280 --> 00:02:36,270 where the core EU countries, the northern EU countries, are seen as oppressive, 44 00:02:36,270 --> 00:02:40,060 as meddling in people's affairs, at the same time we have to say, 45 00:02:40,060 --> 00:02:44,970 all kinds of ethnic and nationalist hatreds that seem to have died in the 46 00:02:44,970 --> 00:02:50,790 ruins of World War II, and have not been seen for 70 years, are somehow magically 47 00:02:50,790 --> 00:02:52,960 and disturbingly reappearing. 48 00:02:54,390 --> 00:02:57,730 So given all these strains that are on the European Union, for one of the 49 00:02:57,730 --> 00:03:01,730 three biggest economies, the chief contributor to a common defense and 50 00:03:01,730 --> 00:03:07,040 foreign policy, to leave - this is just going to create a vacuum at the heart. 51 00:03:09,600 --> 00:03:12,110 Prophecy is not just 52 00:03:12,110 --> 00:03:16,550 something interesting we study, you know, in history books, or in Bible classes. 53 00:03:16,550 --> 00:03:20,500 We can get our bearings, the great direction, the big picture 54 00:03:20,500 --> 00:03:21,880 from prophecy. 55 00:03:21,880 --> 00:03:26,640 Scripture tells us that there will not be another united Europe, 56 00:03:26,640 --> 00:03:29,170 it will be weak and strong, and we can see that. 57 00:03:29,170 --> 00:03:33,760 But that's not where the story ends. Daniel chapter 2 doesn't end with 58 00:03:33,760 --> 00:03:37,760 the statue and the feet of mixed clay and iron. 59 00:03:37,760 --> 00:03:44,330 There's a rock: it's small at first, but that rock smashes the entire statue. 60 00:03:44,330 --> 00:03:48,330 That little rock that becomes a huge rock, is Jesus Christ. 61 00:03:48,530 --> 00:03:51,190 A new kingdom. God's kingdom.