A look at the End Times from a largely fulfilled perspective begins, primarily, with the book of Daniel.  Daniel sets the scene from the foundation of the enemies empire, Babylon, with Daniel’s interpretation of the king’s dream.  Daniel 2 sets the case for Rome being Babylon, and is the best case for a mostly-fulfilled End Time paradigm.  Plainly put, we see a kingdom/statue beginning with King Nebuchadnezzar, with that king as the head.  It ruled over the entire Earth and, although it changed identities (metal) three times, four in all, it was a continuous one-world government from the time of that king until the Kingdom of God broke it, probably circa 313AD, when it’s emperor was converted.  As we saw war and conflict from each subsequent kingdom, but the entire statue remained, so we see that it’s actual destruction was not a war in on the Earth, but a spiritual overthrow of the power of that kingdom in the spiritual realm, in which it was spiritually defeated, crushed, and overthrown.  When the spiritual power (beast) of Rome was destroyed, its physical and nationalist elements could then no longer be maintained, and, quite literally, the wind scattered the pieces, being the “Decline of Rome”.

Proof positive that this is correct is demonstrated in the startling simplicity of the argument–None of these empires exist today.  Babylon, Media/Persia, Greece, and Rome are no longer in existence.  Something broke them, and that something was Christ.  The fact that they no longer exist is proof enough, for, as the video states, a “revived Roman empire” is not enough to fulfill the prophecy of Daniel 2.  No, the dream indicates, rather, that all four Kingdoms were broken together.  Therefore, in order to meet the criteria, you would have to have a revival of all four empires.  In addition, this is also not enough, because they must be successive.  And, to top it all off, there’s the head.  Daniel said to King Nebuchadnezzar, “You are that head of gold.” (Daniel 2:38, portion).  From this, we would need a resurrected King Nebuchadnezzar to head up a revived Babylonian empire, followed by a silver kingdom, followed by a bronze one, finally followed by a revived Roman Empire.  Yet, at some point, the ridiculousness of this position is revealed.  Seeing that all four metals must be broken together, the mere fact that the glory of Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon no longer exists is proof enough that either the dream is false, or it’s fulfillment came when it was destroyed.

Yet, God’s Word never fails.  At the very time it was predicted, the Kingdom came, saving, healing, delivering, and setting the captives free.   The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached. And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me. (Luke 7:22-23, portion).

From His first proclamation in Mark 1:15 that “the time is fulfilled, the Kingdom is here, Repent and believe the Gospel” (my paraphrase), it should be obvious to anyone that since Jesus is the Messiah, to use that particular language in any other way would simply be deception.  No, the Kingdom, the one that was prophesied, was here.  Not in part, not in some infant form, but, rather, “the time is fulfilled”.  To understand this any other way denies who Jesus was and what He was saying with this proclamation.

This quick video gives an overview of Daniel as the background for the coming of Messiah and rise and fall of Jerusalem after it’s captivity.

Yet, it is precisely this perspective that sets us up for the next segment, the Millennium, in which the church reigned as the only ruling body on the Earth for a literal 1000 years.