How should you view the interval between the ancient and revived Roman empires when studying Revelation?
When studying Revelation, view the roughly 1,900-year gap between the ancient Roman Empire's demise and the revived Roman Empire as no interval at all. In God's mind it is merely a blink of the eye, so the two are pushed back to back, as if the whole interval never happened.
Les teaches that the beast has a twofold meaning: it is both the Roman Empire, original and revived, and the Antichrist who will rule the final world system. The imagery of the beast coming out of the sea symbolizes that out of the sea of humanity and the masses of the nations, this final empire arises. He sees the European community as the restoration of the ancient Roman Empire's same geographical area. Though the gap from the ancient empire's demise between 3 and 400 A.D. to the revived empire rising in the 1990s is almost 2,000 years, to God it is a blink of the eye. Therefore, as you study Revelation, keep in mind that all of this is as if the whole interval has never happened, pushed right back to back.