<p>21:10 <i>Then said he to them: Nation shall rise against nation- </i>Any first century fulfilment is unlikely because the&nbsp;<i>Pax Romana</i>&nbsp;meant that the Roman empire was firmly in power and such a situation did not therefore occur.<i>&nbsp;Ethnos</i>&nbsp;is the word commonly translated &quot;Gentiles&quot;. The picture of nations and kingdoms rising up against each other was simply not fulfilled in the run up to AD70- the Roman empire with their&nbsp;<i>Pax Romana</i>&nbsp;did not permit such a situation. And the system of world empires which disintegrated in the 20th Century likewise didn't permit much of this in recent times, especially in the area around Israel, or in the land promised to Abraham, which is the focus of all Bible prophecy. Only in our times has this become a reality, especially in the Arab world and amongst the nations located in the territory promised to Abraham. The language of 'rising up' in revolt is now common amongst them. The picture, however, is of the Gospel going into all those &quot;nations&quot; at this time (Mt. 24:14), all those nations persecuting the believers (Mt. 24:9), and the nations AV &quot;Gentiles&quot; taking Jerusalem and treading it down (Lk. 21:24); despite their internal struggles, these same &quot;all nations&quot; will be confederated under a latter Babylon (Rev. 17:15; 18:3,23). The overall picture is of Gospel preaching going on at a time when the nations are rising up against each other, and at the same time persecuting the believers. This scenario is developing- but is as yet unfulfilled on a global scale. But it is daily fulfilling in the nations surrounding Israel, who are persecuting Christians, rising up against each other, and to whom the Gospel is being powerfully preached. Never before has my own mission organization received such major expression of serious interest from the Muslim nations surrounding Israel, thanks largely to the growth of the internet and the growing disillusion with the existing social and religious situation. People from all nations will be gathered before the Lord for judgment (Mt. 25:32) and people from every nation will be saved (Rev. 5:9; 7:9)- confirming that the Gospel will indeed spread to all nations before the Lord's return; it must at least be &quot;proclaimed&quot; to them all, thereby making people amongst them responsible to judgment; the &quot;fullness of the Gentiles&quot; must &quot;come in&quot; to Christ before the end comes and Israel repent (Rom. 11:25). The Lord sent the disciples out to &quot;all nations&quot; (Mt. 28:19 s.w.); the implication is that they failed to take the Gospel to them all, and therefore the intended scenario didn't fulfil as initially intended in the first century. Lk. 21:25 speaks of how there will be &quot;upon the earth land- that promised to Abraham distress of nations&quot;, suggesting that the situation amongst the Gentile nations living within the land promised to Abraham is the particular focus of the prophecy. The same language is used of how there were devout Jews in &quot;every nation under Heaven&quot; (Acts 2:5)- and the list of nations in Acts 2 corresponds with the Middle Eastern Moslem world of today. We note that the promise that Abraham should be father of &quot;many nations&quot; was fulfilled in a literal sense in that Abraham is the ancestor of the Arab nations living in the land promised to him (Rom. 4:17). And it is those nations particularly who have stated their desire to take Jerusalem out of the hands of the Jews, as required in Lk. 21:24.</p><p><i>And kingdom against kingdom</i>- It seems likely from Revelation that &lsquo;Babylon&rsquo; of the last days will rise to political and military dominance in the territory promised to Abraham, the earth/ land of which the Bible speaks so much.&nbsp;The 10 nations / horns / leaders which exist in the land promised to Abraham- the &ldquo;kings of the earth / land&rdquo;- will give their power to Babylon, by force and by political manoeuvre, and this system will then invade Israel. The horns hating the whore implies there will be inter-Arab friction apparent in the beast system throughout its existence. &quot;Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom&quot; (Mt. 24:7) will be a sign of the last days. In the AD70 context, this referred to friction between the Semitic peoples living around Israel; and the Lord's words are clearly an allusion to 2 Chron. 15:6, which specifically uses the phrase about inter-Arab friction. The fragile alliance between them will then be broken by the Lord&rsquo;s return, the horns will hate the whore and destroy her. They give their power to the beast for but &ldquo;one hour&rdquo;. Daniel seems to associate a covenant which is then broken with the latter day Antichrist. Is. 30:27-31 speaks of the latter day Assyrian as placing &ldquo;a bridle in the jaw of the people causing them to err&rdquo;, referring to some kind of covenant / agreement which forces others to follow their direction. The Lord&rsquo;s especial fury will be against the individual latter day Nebuchadnezzar who leads the invasion. The future leader of Babylon, the whore riding the beast, will see themselves as Nebuchadnezzar. Isaiah and Micah describe the latter day invader of the land as &ldquo;the Assyrian&rdquo; (Is. 10:5; 14:25; 30:31; Mic. 5:1-6). This itself suggests we are to see the individual who heads up the invasion, the rosh / chief prince of Ez. 38:2, as an ethnic Assyrian / Iraqi. Dan. 8:24,25 invites us to see the same- the &ldquo;king of fierce countenance&rdquo; stands up out of the area of northern Iraq / northern Iran.&nbsp;</p>