Greek Female mask & Greek Male Mask by Mary Harrsch, via Wikimedia Commons.
You can download the PDF of this study: The Days of Nero!
We begin our study by emphatically stating the Book of Revelation is a BOOK that reveals the future and it is revealed in the portrayal of the Lord Jesus Christ in various dispensations. Telling the things to come to pass is the nature of God, He has IDENTIFIED Himself in such a manner from the VERY beginning. “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.” Genesis 3:15 is the very first Prophetic utterance of God. And He has identified Himself in a similar manner throughout the Bible, in the affirmation of the strength of His WORD. Isaiah writes, “For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure.’” Isaiah 46:9-10 And the Lord also told His disciples, “And now I have told you before it comes to pass, that when it shall have come to pass, you might believe.” John 14:29 The point being the book of Revelation being the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ does NOT negate the fact it is a book that foretells the future, in FACT it is PROOF of the nature and character of God.
The Second point we want to assert is the fundamental truth that the writing of Daniel speaks up to the END of the dispensation of the LAW, in the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. The writing of Daniel as it pertains to the future that is the future that concerns the present generation is that it gives us a TEMPLATE, a glimpse by which we may be able to perceive the days we are living in. The similarities we find between the days Daniel spoke of concerning 70 AD and our days is that the spirit of the AGE of Rome is the SAME spirit that works in our days. It is through this understanding we are able to perceive what the Antichrist is going to be like. Daniel identified the man that personifies this spirit in the 11th Emperor of Rome, Vespasian, through whom Jerusalem was brought to desolation in 70 AD, as Daniel prophesied in Daniel 7:24-26 and Daniel 11:30-35. And he also revealed how the SAME one spirit worked through ALL the Emperors of Rome in Daniel 8:9-14, 23-26. It is this principle we have used to apply to the subject of our study: the Emperor Nero and his significance to our days.
Now, there is disagreement on how we identify our place in the book of Revelation. In most cases, we either over complicate matters or we throw up our hands and ridicule those who seek to understand. God would not have given us the book of Revelation if He did not want us to understand the days we are living in. John writes, “Blessed is the one reading, and those hearing the words of the prophecy, and keeping the things having been written in it; for the TIME is NEAR.” Revelation 1:3 Meaning the Book of Revelation SHOULD IMPRESS upon us how CLOSE the kingdom of God has drawn NEAR, through the acknowledgment of the signs of the days revealed in this Book. The Lord said, “And of these things BEGINNING to COME to PASS, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.” Luke 21:28
Now, when studying prophetic events [D.p] used to say you have to find the spine from which you can build on, in the same manner we have to find unshakeable truth to build on. In this instance, it is from the teaching of Paul, who clearly tells us the Antichrist WILL NOT be revealed while Christians are in the world saying, “No one should deceive you in any way, because it is not until the apostasy shall have come first, and the man of lawlessness shall have been revealed—the son of destruction.” and Paul follows that statement with, “For the mystery of lawlessness is working already; there is only the ONE at present restraining it, UNTIL HE might be gone out of the MIDST. And THEN the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will consume with the breath of His mouth and will annul by the appearing of His coming.” 2 Thess. 2:3, 7-8
Here we have the opportunity to put at rest the controversy in regards to whom Paul was referring to. The ERROR people make is that they try to distinguish between the Holy Spirit and the Church as if they are two separate entities. The Church does NOT exist without the Holy Spirit and where the Holy Spirit is there we find the Church. The Masculine verb used to describe the One who is restraining lawlessness is a reference to the Holy Spirit, and His dwelling is in the Church! As Paul says, “having been built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is increasing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a HABITATION of God in the Spirit.” Ephesians 2:20-22 and again “Do you not know that you yourselves are God’s temple, and the Spirit of God dwells in you?” 1 Cor. 3:16 Now, as the Holy Spirit is masculine the Church is ALWAYS referred to as feminine, she is the bride, the body of Christ. Therefore, if the One holding back the tide of lawlessness is removed from the midst of the earth then we can expect the Church will ALSO be removed along with HIM, this is the Rapture.
Now, there is a VERY simple way to identify the dispensation we are living in and that is the Dispensation of the TRUMPET, that spans from Revelation 8 to Revelation 11. And the OVERWHELMING clue which we IGNORE is, the return of the Lord Jesus Christ to gather the Church to Himself is announced with a great Trumpet call. Matthew writes, “And He will send His angels with a GREAT TRUMPET call, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from the ends of the heavens to the ends thereof.” Matthew 24:31 And Paul also describes this moment saying, “The Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the TRUMPET of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we, the living remaining, will be CAUGHT AWAY together with them in the clouds for the meeting of the Lord in the air; and so we will be always with the Lord.” 1 Thess. 4:16-17 [1 Cor. 15:52] And as the Church is caught away, the Holy Spirit Himself is also taken out of the midst of the Earth. That is, the body, the Ark of Christ, is made of the Holy Spirit. [1 Cor.12:13] So, after the Rapture there will be NO more SALVATION towards the Gentiles, the Holy Spirit is NOT on EARTH.
So we can clearly see the TRUMPET plays a great part in the LAST DAYS. And this dispensation of TRUMPET is brought to close, when the LAST from the children of Israel are gathered into the fold of the Kingdom of God as John identifies saying, “And the SEVENTH angel sounded his TRUMPET, and there were great voices in heaven, saying: “The kingdom of the world has become that of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign to the ages of the ages.” Revelation 11:15 Trumpet for Trumpet is our BIGGEST clue, our difficulty is in seeing the VASTNESS of the time period that is covered by this dispensation that has already SPANNED over 2000 years. This is the reason why from generation to generation we have misapplied this book, according to the perception of our days. However in our case, we being the LAST, which we hope by the end of this study have greatly impressed upon you are able to CORRECTLY identify our place in the book. And the FACT we are EVEN able to DO that holds GREAT Significance!
The Last point we want to make in regards to this in order to ensure we DO NOT dismiss this clue as some protocol of heaven to use Trumpet to announce an event as it was in days of Moses at the foot of Mount Sinai is that, after the sounding of the Seventh Trumpet, in Revelation 11, THERE is NO MORE TRUMPET sounded, only the outpouring of the Bowl of the Wrath of God, described in Revelation 16 which in itself is a ANOTHER dispensation no matter how SHORT, leading up to the End when the Lord returns with His saints riding on white horses. [Rev. 19:11-14]
Now, the Trumpet Call that fits our time is the Fifth Trumpet, which John describes as, “And the FIFTH angel sounded his TRUMPET, and I saw a star having fallen out of heaven to the earth, and the key of the PIT of the ABYSS was given to it. And he opened the pit of the abyss, and SMOKE went up out of the PIT, like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were DARKENED by the SMOKE of the pit.” Revelation 9:1-2 Five is the Number for Grace, and it is at the end of this period that is the dispensation of the Grace of God that the DAY of His wrath is revealed, which Isaiah calls, “the day of vengeance of our God.” Isaiah 61:2
We have titled this study as the Days of Nero, in reference to the Emperor of Rome who preceded the 11th Emperor Vespasian, who is a foreshadow of the Antichrist. The name Nero means, BLACK, so in this respect it is a portrayal of the darkness that covers the world before the revelation of the Antichrist. Nero as the head of the Roman Empire is a representation of the state of governance of our time, especially in regards to those identified as branches of the Graeco-Roman civilization. So we aim to examine the life of Nero and the manner he ruled in order to assess his significance to us. Now, please bear in mind that these comparisons are made in a very SUPERFICIAL manner, by attaching meaning to the actions of Nero.
Now, before we go any further, we need to explain that our identification of the Roman Emperors does not quite fit into the narrative of secular records. For example, General Pompey, the champion of the Republic of Rome and Julius Caesar the one who at the end became dictator for life are not counted as Emperors, nonetheless they were rulers of the people, on which bases the Bible attributes the term kings to them. Daniel identifies General Pompey as one of the kings of the north saying, “He who comes against him shall do according to his own will, and no one shall stand against him. He shall stand in the Glorious Land with destruction in his power.” Daniel 11:16 This is recorded in reference to Pompey’s victory over the Seleucid Empire in 63 AD, followed by his conquest of Jerusalem. And Augustus Octavian Caesar is also known as, “There shall arise in his place one who imposes taxes on the Glorious kingdom.” Daniel 11:20 So when the bible says, the kings of the world it is not necessarily referring to a royal bloodline but simply rulers of the people. The book of Revelation also refers to the ten kings that are yet to come in respect to democratically elected representatives of the people and NOT necessarily a person of a royal bloodline. [Rev. 17:12] On which grounds the honour of kings is applied to both Pompey and Julius Caesar, even if secular records do not do so.
The next point we need to address is the GAP of THREE emperors that exists between Nero the 7th [54-68 AD] and Vespasian the 11th [69-79 AD]. The year between 68 – 69 AD after the death of Nero is described as the year of four emperors, during which the Roman Empire was steeped in the turmoil of CIVIL WAR. Before Vespasian was declared the final victor, in one year three emperors were uprooted: Galba (68–69 AD), Otho (January–April 69 AD) and Aulus Vitellius (July–December 69 AD). Daniel prophesied this event saying, “The ten horns are ten kings who shall arise from this kingdom. And another shall rise after them; He shall be different from the first ones, and shall SUBDUE THREE KINGS. He shall speak pompous words against the Most High, shall persecute the saints of the Most High.” Daniel 7:24-25 Here we see Daniel identify Emperor Vespasian as one who persecuted the Jews in the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD as well as the one before whom THREE emperors FELL.
So the significance of this gap between Nero and Vespasian is to portray a period of turmoil of war, famine and plague, a time of absolute chaos and great upheaval in the world resulting in great death and destruction. As prophesied by John saying, “And the SIXTH angel sounded his trumpet,… And the four angels having been prepared for the hour and day and month and year were released, so that they might KILL a THIRD of mankind… By these THREE PLAGUES, a third of mankind was killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone proceeding out of their mouths.” Revelation 9:13,15,18 Now, if you so choose, you can see the significance of the FOUR Angles in relation to the year of FOUR Emperors and the uprooting of the THREE Emperors in relation to the THREE Plagues through which the third of mankind will be destroyed. And it is on the heels of these events that the Antichrist, the FOURTH angel will come to prominence. [Daniel 7:11-12, Rev. 13:2]
Now that we have established the bases by which we can perceive the Days of Vespasian to be successive to that of the Days of Nero, we will examine the features of the Fifth trumpet. The LOCUSTS that came up out of the pit are a depiction of evil spirits released upon the earth with the mandate, “And out of the smoke, locusts came forth unto the earth, and power was given to them, like the scorpions of the earth have power. And it was said to them that they shall NOT HARM the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but only the men not having the seal of God on the foreheads.” [vs. 3-4] [Luke 10:19] These spirits are instructed not to harm the green of the earth or the people who bear the mark of God, but they are to afflict those who are in the world. Now, one of the major signs of our day is our perception of the Earth and the climate upheaval we are witnessing. Luke writes, “And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars; and upon the earth distress of nations with perplexity, sea roaring and surge rolling, men fainting from fear and expectation of that which is coming on the earth.” Luke 21:25-26 These spirits that come up represent a mindset that is over the world, in respect to the state of the climate. The days we are living in are marked by governments geared with this ideology in mind and many actions and unpopular policies implemented especially in the Graeco-Roman civilised world, are based on this belief, “Do no harm to the grass and trees.” The point is the fear and expectation of disaster these spirits bring in the heart of those who do not know God.
The next point we want to address is the appearance of the Locusts, “And the APPEARANCE of the locusts was like horses having been prepared for BATTLE, and upon their HEADS were something like CROWNS, LIKE GOLD; and their faces like the FACES of MEN. And they had hair like HAIR of WOMEN, and their teeth were like those of lions. And they had breastplates like breastplates of IRON,” [vs 7-9] The main point we want to make here is that these Locusts are described as having the FACES of MEN and Hair like that of WOMEN. The significance to our day is in relation to the Gender confusion that is prevalent MOSTLY in the Graeco-Roman civilised world, represented by the breastplate of Iron. Iron is a representation of the kingdom of Rome as recorded in the visions of the book of Daniel. [Daniel 2:40-45, Daniel 7:7-8, 19-20] And this ideology of Gender is being forced by governing bodies represented by the Locusts head having something like crowns. The crowns like that of Gold are, to represent these Gender theories that are forced taught and implemented in public discourse are represented as an act of Righteousness, that is they have the APPEARANCE of righteousness, in addressing social causes. And the Locust appearance of preparedness for BATTLE is to portray how in a forceful manner these ideologies are being pushed on people. The Teeth of Lions is to represent the fierceness by which they seek to devour those who oppose them. [Daniel 7:7]
The Last point we would like to make before going to examine Nero is that these Locusts are described as having a king. “They have a king over them, the angel of the abyss. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in the Greek, he has the name Apollyon.” [vs. 11] The significance of this point is that the Angel Abaddon was the prince of the people of Rome, described in Daniel 8:23-25; 9:26. So these Locusts are being sent out ahead of him to prepare his way, this is the reason the examination of Nero has significance in respect to our day. Abaddon is the ANTICHRIST, his rise is described after the sounding of the SIXTH Trumpet as, “And when they [two witness] shall have completed their testimony, the beast coming up out of the abyss will make war with them, and will overcome them, and will kill them.” Revelation 11:7 The two witnesses are the LAST to proclaim the gospel of God to the Jews, the result of which is that Israel will be Saved by their death and resurrection, resulting in the sounding of the FINAL SEVENTH Trumpet, bringing this AGE to a CLOSE.
Now the main points in respect to Nero we are going to address are the features that are commonly known about him, the things that are most relevant to our days and as mentioned above these comparisons are superficial but they hold sufficient similarities to our days that we ought to take notice. Now as mentioned above, Nero being a head is a representation of governance, so we do not perceive his action as that of an individual, but one that affects many people with the backing of governmental bodies, which is the representation of the spirit of our days. One of the signs of the Fifth Trumpet is the aspect of Gender confusion, “faces like the faces of men. And they had hair like hair of women.” This is the foremost spirit that is telling of our times. The ideology that Gender is fluid, so a man can be a woman if he so pleases and vice versa. Nero embodies this concept of gender fluidity, by the fact that he married a man named “Pythagoras,” while playing the role of the wife then later playing the role of the husband he married a young boy of 13 years old whom he castrated. This act is also representative of our days in the Lawfull upholding of same sex marriages, which Nero portrayed in full traditional marriage rites even down to dowry payment.
And this young 13 year old boy whom he castrated and married was paraded in a public arena as a social prop. This use as a social prop to gain advantage is later observed after the demise of Nero, where successive ambitious political leaders, sought to use this young boy in order to gain advantage, first by “Nymphidius Sabinus,” then by “Otho,” who became emperor after Galba. In our days, many parents seeking the limelight have forced their perfectly normal children to wear the opposite sex’s clothes and to act accordingly and have paraded them in public in order to gain social points about how forward and current they are. This abuse of children is not curtailed but encouraged by social institutes. Schools overstepping their boundaries to push thoughts into young impressionable minds to question their gender and sexuality.
Historians point out that Nero named the 13 year old boy he castrated “Sporus” meaning, “seed or semen,” his name reflecting the very thing he deprived the boy. We live in a generation that has taken the leap to give young developing bodies hormone blockers in a great social experiment to change a boy into a girl and a girl into a boy, without revealing the hidden consequences of these drugs to castrate a boy and make girls infertile. Which has left many wondering what is this cruel joke that is being played out. And ALL these under the protective watchful eye of governmental bodies, determined to fulfil the fleet transient imagination of these young impressionable children.
This young boy’s pain was not recognised, even when it was expressed in a ring he gave to Nero bearing a gemstone depicting the “Rape of Proserpina,” whereby the ruler of the under world Hades kidnaps and takes a young woman to the underworld to forces her to be his bride. Finally, when a plan is put in place to demean him further by then new emperor Aulus Vitellius, by having him play the part of Proserpina, in order to take his pain and present it as public entertainment the young boy chose to commit suicide. Now we wonder if this boy, snatched from the normalcy of childhood forced to play a role he had no understanding of, if in fact he took being an empress to heart having enjoyed the lavish lifestyle, and if indeed that was the cause of his demise. Children are also used in the similar manner in our days, as political pawns, by governments that seek to present themselves as social conscience to the disregard of what is truly best for the children. And when these social experiments fail and young children realising the damage they have done to themselves are more prone to take their own lives than any other group, it is played down as failure in aftercare, to the disregard of the ROOT cause.
Nero is also said to have invented a game, whereby he puts on the skin of an animal and engages to assault the genitals of people bound to a stake with an implement, meaning he mutilated them. Our days are NOT any different. We are also engaged in the mutilation of the genitals of young boys and girls, the cutting away of perfectly sound body parts, only it is done in a sterile room with men and women who have reached the highest pinnacle of the education system. Nero rightly wore a costume of a beast, it is an illustration of the same spirit that works in our times to subject boys and girls to the same treatment, in a Government approved endeavours, while GAGGING their parents [bound] to silence with the threat of depriving them the right to be with their children, even imprisonment if they objected!
Continuing on this issue of Gender, which seems to be the MOST defining feature of Nero, is that he frequently played the parts of women, even to play the part of pregnant woman after the death of his second wife. This is the most telling part of Nero’s character: his need to emulate women in every aspect that defined them. One of the major public discourse of our time is the attempt to reexamine the functions of male and female bodies. In a bid to qualify the supposed ideology of Gender Fluidity, we have reduced women to “birthing people” and claimed men can get pregnant. As such we have sought to curtail the speech of people in keeping with this ideology and anyone who fails to do so in stating scientific fact is classified as an advocate of hate speech. Nero, is an expression of government backed invasion of the women only places. This ideology mainly seems to be visible in the continental US and Canada, where it is being forcefully being implemented by stripping away laws that are put in place to protect women. Whereby young women athletes watch helplessly while their dreams are being eroded in having to compete against biological males. This is expressed in the life of Nero, where he took part in the Olympics and won, oblivious to the effect his status as an emperor had on his opponents. This is proven by the fact his name was stricken from the Olympic record of victors after his death. The key point being, governments of our days are also, “Oblivious to the advantage, biological male’s have over women!”
The next point we will address is that Nero killed his own mother. Paul says “But realise this, that in the last days difficult times will be present. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boasters, proud, verbally abusive, disobedient to parents.” 2 Timothy 3:1-2 Nero’s disobedience to his mother was expressed in a gruesome manner to the shock of Rome. Nowadays children are also encouraged to be deceptive to their parents especially in the issues of Gender, to act in disobedience to their will. Governing bodies have also sought to circumvent parents’ authority, in instructing their children in distorted sex education, race theory, gender ideologies and exposing them to perverted sexsuallised content.
Nero is also reported as to have kicked his heavily pregnant wife to death, in a fit of rage killing both her and the baby. Now in most cases, current historians have sought to argue that Poppaea died of complications during childbirth. Poppea died in 65 AD while Nero was dealing with the aftermath of Rome burning, and was engulfed by accusations that he himself was responsible for the devastation of Rome. To a man with violent tendencies, during the best of times established in the fact he repeatedly sought to strangle his first wife Claudia Octavia, it does not take a giant leap of the imagination he could do this. And his expression of his undying love for his second wife is dashed to pieces by the fact within a year of her death he took her only remaining heir Rufrius Crispinus, born to her from her first marriage and killed him by drowning. After which he took a young boy who is said to have resembled Poppaea likeness and castrated and married him calling him “Sporus,” a mockery of the fact he deprived both her and the boy of heirs. The point being to show the deliberate action of depriving of seed, hence the reason we have chosen to associate this gruesome act to a widely accepted practice of abortion in our days. Some places even permit aborting a baby even up to the time of birth.
Finally, Rome burned 18th of July 64 AD, and Nero seeking to shift the blame used Christians as scapegoats for the greatest disaster Rome has ever experienced. So he fed them to beasts in public arenas, and used them as burning torches held up in cages to illuminate his garden parties. Here we are not dwelling on the brutality of his act, but we use it as evidence of the Rapture, in the fact he made Christians as rare as fine Gold in Rome. When the Sixth trumpet sounds and the Church of God is removed, a great devastation will befall those on Earth. So you can take the point of view that Christians will no doubt be blamed for the destruction. The fact the armies of earth being deceived by the Antichrist and the false prophet will gather themselves to war against the Lord is itself an evidence. The burning of Rome is followed by another major event that is the Jewish revolt of 66 AD. After which Nero Died on 9 June 68 AD and the Year of four Emperors ensued from June 68 – July 69 AD. Finally Vespasian, the one who embodied the Antichrist became emperor 1 July 69 AD, and he brought the persecution of Jerusalem to its ultimate end.
The point we want to associate is that when the Antichrist is revealed it is NOT the Church he seeks to persecute but Israel. As John prophesied saying, “And there was given to it to make war with the saints [Israel], and to overcome them. And authority was given to it over every tribe and people and tongue and nation.” Revelation 13:7 The CONTRAST John makes here is between the SAINTS [Israel] and NATIONS, the Church is NOT included in this statement, which herself is composed of Nations. [Rev. 7:9] So, the whole world is described as falling in line at his rise in the wake of the disaster that ensued at the end of the days of Nero. And John described the Antichrist’s campaign against Israel in Revelation 16:12-16, his defeat in Rev. 19:19-21 and the brutality of his action in Rev. 20:4.
Here it is important to note that some modern historians have sought to present Nero in a NEW light, less demonic than the way he has been presented. That he was a victim of political character assassination even though the things that were written about him were 20 years later, long after his political career ended in a pool of his own blood. Nero left ROME in a dire condition, two thirds of it was burned to the ground, public support was at its lowest since he sought to use the misfortune of the Romans to build a grander palace for himself. Vespasian came when Rome had hit rock bottom, the only place he could lead them was up and was engaged in the great rebuilding of Rome. Within a year of having come to power he had the decisive victory over Judea and turned Rome’s misfortune and debt into a surplus. So the claim that successive politicians were seeking to destroy Nero’s character so they themselves can look good has NO GROUNDS. The fact historians seeking to resurrect his tarnished image, as a man who was simply misunderstood, has more to do with our own current mindset to call evil good and good evil, further evidence that we are indeed living in the Days of Nero.
We have come to the end of our study, we hope we were able to impress upon you how CLOSE we are to the end of the Current AGE. We are literally at the GATE, the Sixth Trumpet is just a breath away, this ought to bring urgency to our way of thinking and examine the manner of life we live. Peter speaking of the end said, “All these things being dissolved in this way, what KIND OUGHT you to be? In HOLY CONDUCT and GODLINESS, expecting and hastening the coming of the day of God.” 2 Peter 3:11-12 Paul also says, “The night is nearly over, and the day has drawn near; therefore we should cast off the works of darkness and should put on the armour of light. We should walk properly, as in daytime; NOT in reveling and drinking, NOT in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in dissension and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make NO provision for the DESIRES of the FLESH.” Romans 13:12-14 The point is if we KNOW the DAY is NEAR we ought to be vigilant and sober.
We advise you to examine the Prophecy of Kenneth E. Haggin [Prophecy by Kenneth E. Hagin in 1963] Youtube:https://youtu.be/qkiSEBvlm_A?si=dmubbu4AwInUNiRp and the NEED for urgency in understanding the times we are living in the visions of Oral Robberts [The Sign of Christ’s Coming: A Vision Given to Oral Roberts], Youtube: https://youtu.be/un0wykY4rmg?si=XyJrKRkB0KgtkdQJ
Sources:
Bread Bait. 
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