BREXIT and Prophecy

This vote, for Britian to
leave the European Union,

is going to have huge ramifications
which we can't really predict or foresee.

Some we can, but many we can't.

But at the moment it's hard to
see these many different countries

with their very different histories,
including histories of enmity to each other,

it's very hard to see them being able
to cleave together.

The European Union's origin is,
of course, in World War II -

this extraordinary catastrophe -
a generation of people

Europeans, who said,
"We cannot do this again!"

There was an understanding that,
if you want to preserve peace,

you need to have some kind of
economic system

that doesn't cause hatred
or cause rivalry.

Many people won't understand or know
that religion was actually

a very important ingredient in the
establishment of the

European economic community.

There is still a religious element to much
of the debate in the European Union.

In the early 2000s, the then President
of the European Commission,

Romano Prodi, actually published a book.

It was in Italian, but the translated title
means, "An Idea of Europe".

And he said, "What can hold
these many different countries?

It's not enough for the elites to
propose political union.

There has to be something cultural."

And he said, "The one thing
that all Europeans have in common,

the one thing that can bind us all together,

is loyalty to the Church."

But he was Italian.
What did he mean?

He meant, the Roman Catholic Church.

That's the story of people
trying to make Europe into a powerhouse

and yet failing, again and again.

Think about Napoleon: everything looked
perfect, and yet, a decade, and it fell.

Think about Hitler: it failed.

As a European, I grew up with the question:
"How does Europe fit into Bible prophecy?"

Daniel chapter 2 - the king has a dream -
Nebuchadnezzar has a dream -

and in that dream, he sees a huge statue,
a beautiful statue.

Different metals are used to indicate
different kingdoms.

He starts off as the head, the golden head.
Babylon, Medo-Persia, the Greek empire

and then, finally, the strength of the
Roman empire.

But there is something else.
There are toes, and feet,

that are made up of mixed clay and iron.

And Daniel, somehow, he says,
"They will not stick together.

Some are strong, some are weak."
And that seems to be the story of Europe.

Especially given recent circumstances - the
situation in Greece, Spain, Italy, Cyprus -

where the core EU countries, the northern
EU countries, are seen as oppressive,

as meddling in people's affairs,
at the same time we have to say,

all kinds of ethnic and nationalist
hatreds that seem to have died in the

ruins of World War II, and have not been
seen for 70 years, are somehow magically

and disturbingly reappearing.

So given all these strains that are on
the European Union, for one of the

three biggest economies, the chief
contributor to a common defense and

foreign policy, to leave, this is just
going to create a vacuum at the heart.

Prophecy is not just

something interesting we study, you know,
in history books, or in Bible classes.

We can get our bearings, the
great direction, the big picture

from prophecy.

Scripture tells us that there will not be
another united Europe, it will be

weak and strong, and we can see that.

But that's not where the story ends.
Daniel chapter 2 doesn't end with

the statue and the feet of
mixed clay and iron.

There's a rock: it's small at first,
but that rock smashes the entire statue.

That little rock that becomes a huge rock,
is Jesus Christ.

A new kingdom. God's kingdom.