What is the revived Roman Empire today?
The revived Roman Empire is identified as the European community, a restoration of the same geographical area as the ancient Roman Empire. It is the final world system that the Antichrist, also called the beast and man of sin, will rule, emerging from the sea of humanity and the nations.
Les explains that the beast carries a two-fold meaning: it can refer to the original Roman Empire and the revived Roman Empire, but it also refers to the man of sin, the Antichrist, who will rule this final world system. The sea in the imagery is not a literal ocean or sea monster; it symbolizes the sea of humanity and the masses of the nations from which this final empire arises. Les points out that this is being seen with the European community, a restoration of the very same geographical area of the ancient Roman Empire. Although the ancient Roman Empire ended between 3 and 400 A.D. and the revived empire is rising in the 1990s, almost 2,000 years later, Les teaches that in the mind of God this interval is only a blink of the eye. What ended in 350 or 360 A.D. and is now coming about is as if there is no interval in between, pushed back to back, so the whole interval has never happened.