The Blasphemous Horn in the Book of Revelation.

 

Do you remember the mouthy, blasphemous horn we saw in chapter two of this book? 

It is mentioned in Daniel 7:8 and Daniel 8:9-14, 23-26 as arising after Greece.  But we had questions about this because we knew Rome followed Greece.  Well, here our questions are answered.  This mouthy, blasphemous horn does arise after Greece, but we can see here that it comes out of Rome and after the Western Roman Empire had been carved up into ten kingdoms.  And this horn does uproot and subdue three of the ten kings.  When the Emperor Justinian declared the Bishop of Rome as head of the Christian churches and gave him civil powers to go with his new religious powers, three of the ten kingdoms opposed this.  The Heruli, the Vandals and the Ostrogoths fought against this new arrangement but by 538 CE the last of them had been crushed.

The Bishop of Rome, the Pope of the Catholic Church, the blasphemous horn, was now unopposed and was able to wield its unlimited powers as it saw fit for 1260 years.

 Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten diadems, and on his heads were blasphemous names…And the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority.  There was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies, and authority to act for forty-two months was given to him.  And he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme His name and His tabernacle, that is, those who dwell in heaven.  It was also given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them….  Rev. 13:1, 2, 5-7

This beast came out of the sea, meaning it arose out of people (see Appendix 2) and the dragon, Satan, backed this beast with all his power.  Here again we see the 42 months, the1260 years, of authority, so this beast must be the same entity as the horn.  Revelation 17:9 says, The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits.  The woman referred to is Jezebel, the false church, …Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots… Rev. 17:5.  The seven mountains give us her location:  the seven hills of Rome, the city where the Pope lives and from which the Catholic Church rules.  We know that a beast represents nations, kingdoms, or political powers (see Appendix 2), so the Catholic Church’s depiction here as a beast shows the political authority it wielded as well as its religious authority. 

 One thing you must remember: the Catholic Church referred to in prophecy describes the leaders of the church, those who operate with the spirit of Balaam and the Nicolaitans.  There have been millions, and there are still millions, of innocent and sincere members of the Catholic Church who do not know the truth and are led astray by the leaders of the church. 

We have not explored why the false church persecutes those who refuse to follow her lead.  Revelation 12:17 tells us that the persecuted depicted in Revelation are those who …keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.  What does this mean and why does it threaten the false church? 

 The commandments of God…

Even if we do not know exactly what the commandments are, most of us have at least heard of the Ten Commandments.  You can find them listed in Exodus 20:3-17. 

But even the Catholic Church knows that the Ten Commandments are still in effect, right?  Yes they do, as do almost all Christians of all denominations, but there is one commandment that the Catholic Church changed and that the followers of truth refused to honor.  One of the things Daniel said about the horn was that, He will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in laws. (Dan. 7:25)  In the Commandments of God, which one of his laws has to do with times?  It is this one: Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.  (Exodus 20:8)  

Did one of your parents ever tell you “I brought you into this world, and I can take you out of it!”, reminding you where you came from and who is the boss? 

That is the basic purpose behind the Sabbath commandment, although God uses much kinder words.  God set up the Sabbath after creation as a reminder to us that he made the world (Gen. 2:1) and, when we honor the Sabbath, we are recognizing God’s power and authority over us.  Often, when God is talking about himself or when others refer him to, the fact that God is the creator is included in his title.  (See Rev. 4:11; 10:6; 14:7.)  He is not called the God who said not to covet, or the God who does not like adultery (even though he did say not to covet or commit adultery).  No.  He is referred to as our creator, and in recognition of that he asks us to honor him by devoting one day per week to him.

The Jews kept what we know as Saturday, the seventh day at the end of the week, as the Sabbath day.  Jesus, when he was on earth, would go to the synagogue on Sabbath (Luke 13:10) and he called himself the Lord of the Sabbath (Mark 2:28).  If he is our example and if he called himself Lord of the Sabbath, why would he give us an example and call himself Lord of something that was going to be changed? 

 Luke, who was writing about Paul at Corinth in the book of Acts, said that Paul went to the synagogue every Sabbath to reason with the Jews (Acts 18:4)  If the Sabbath had changed, why did Luke call the day the Jews gathered at the synagogue Sabbath?  Why not say, “Paul went every Saturday”?  The author of Hebrews says, …there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. (Heb. 4:9)  The Sabbath remains, it is not a new or a different one, it is the one that has always been.

The Emperor Constantine was the first Roman Emperor to be converted from paganism to Christianity but most of his subjects remained pagan.  At this time the church was still keeping Saturday as Sabbath but it was also observing Sunday as a holy day in remembrance of Jesus’ resurrection.  

 These days were ones of fasting and prayer. 

   The church knew that the more people it could get under its influence, the more power it would have and the more money it could make. The Catholic Church makes no apologies for its actions.  You see, the church admits openly that it changed the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday.  (See Appendix 4)  Truly the horn made … alterations in times and in laws. (Dan.7:25) 

The true churches of God, Thyatira and Sardis, refused to obey the Catholic Church and continued to …keep the commandments of God…  They were hunted, persecuted, and suffered the Inquisitions of the Catholic Church, but they held fast.

 

Darius the Mede, Alexander the Great and Rome. Book of Daniel.

 

Belshazzar was the last king of the Babylonian Empire.  Daniel had the dream about the beasts, and the following vision, while serving in Belshazzar’s palace.  In this next vision, we see the same timeline given except this time Babylon is not mentioned.  In a matter of a few years Babylon was going to be conquered by Darius the Mede, one of the first rulers of the Medo-Persian Empire, so Babylon was already moving out of the picture.

Okay, on to the third vision. 

 …behold, a ram which had two horns…Now the two horns were long, but one was longer than the other, with the longer one coming up last.  I saw the ram butting westward, northward, and southward, and no other beasts could stand before him nor was there anyone to rescue from his power, but he did as he pleased and magnified himself.  While I was observing, behold, a male goat was coming from the west over the surface of the whole earth without touching the ground; and the goat had a conspicuous horn between his eyes.  He came up to the ram that had two horns…and rushed at him in his mighty wrath…and he struck the ram and shattered his two horns…So he hurled him to the ground and trampled on him…Then the male goat magnified himself exceedingly.  But as soon as he was mighty, the large horn was broken; and in its place there came up four conspicuous horns toward the four winds of heaven.   Daniel 8: 3-8

ANIMAL		KINGDOM		ATTRIBUTES
Ram		Persia		Two Horns = Media and Persia
				One Horn Longer = Persia stronger than Media
				Butting in Three Directions = three areas of conquest
							Medo-Persia
							Babylonian Empire
							New Territory
Goat		Greece		Not touching ground = speed
				Conspicuous Horn = Alexander the Great
				Four New Horns = empire divided among the generals

Here we read that Daniel saw a ram with two horns, one of which was longer than the other (Persia stronger than the Medes).  And this ram was butting in three directions which corresponds to the three ribs the bear had in its mouth in the previous dream (the three geographical areas of the ancient world to come under its control).  Then Daniel saw a male goat with a single horn coming from the west without touching the ground.  This is Alexander the Great (horn) who, in only three years, conquered the Persian Empire (so fast he was not touching the ground).  Then Daniel says he saw that as soon as the horn was mighty, it was broken and replaced by four other horns.  This would be the division of Alexander’s empire amongst his generals after his death.  A man standing next to Daniel in the vision explained the vision, actually naming Media, Persia and Greece, so we know without a doubt what the ram and goat part of the vision means.

 However, Greece is followed by a rather small horn rising up and becoming mighty and powerful, destroying holy people, opposing God and calling himself equal to God (Dan. 8:9-12, 23-25).  Obviously, we know this must be Rome because all the other timelines say so.  But it seems more like the mouthy, blasphemous horn we saw in Chapter 7’s dream than it does the Roman Empire.  Could it be a combination of the two?  Does this mean Rome unites with or supports this horn?  Again, we will address this in later chapters.

The dreams and visions we have just looked at in the Book of Daniel were written down in the sixth century BCE.  History has unfolded just as Daniel was shown, without one deviation from the prophecies.  If God knew ahead of time that a mishmash of city-states would unite under one leader and grow to be the Greek Empire, and if God knew that a backwater town in Italy would one day rule the world with a fist of iron, and if God knew that that backwater town in Italy would be the last World Empire ever to exist, then I have to believe that the final parts of those dreams and visions will come true also.  The Rock is coming, and Jesus will establish his everlasting kingdom on the earth.

 Behold, the former things have come to pass, now I declare new things; Before they spring forth, I proclaim them to you.  Is. 42: 9

Addendum

 Prophecy uses symbolic language to refer to literal things and people.  Here is a list of what we covered in this chapter.  Also, see Appendix 2 for a more detailed explanation of these symbols and their meanings.

SYMBOL			MEANING
Precious Metals			Kingdoms, Nations, Empires
Wind			Activity, Commotion, Strife
Seas, Water			Groups, Masses of People
Animals, Beasts			Kingdoms, Nations, Empires
Horns			King, Political Power, Individual

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Part 13: A Double Meaning.

Okay, this is Belle writing right now. If any of you are upset by math and numbers, you may be getting either bored or upset by now. Just stick with us. We move into Revelation in the next post.

I know these dates and numbers are very important or else God wouldn't have given them to us so we could know what would happen in the last days. God is a God of great detail. Just read about the instructions of how to build the Sanctuary in Exodus and how to sew the priests clothing!  Details are important to God because each detail has a meaning.

Continued from previous post...

So does this mean Octavian is the horn of Daniel Chapter 8?  Yes, and no.

The angel Gabriel told Daniel that this particular vision “…pertains to the time of the end.” (Daniel 8: 17)  How can it pertain to the end of time when we know Egypt became a province of Rome over 2000 years ago?  That is because this vision has a dual application.

  

We saw in chapter one of this book that Jesus’ prophecy in Matt. 24: 6-8 applied to both the fall of Jerusalem in 70 CE and to the end of the world at the end time.  So, too, does the vision of the horn in Daniel Chapter 8 apply to two time periods; the emperors of Rome in ancient times and the power that grows from Rome in the end times.  One produces the other and, just like from parents to children, similar traits are passed down.

      

So if we look at the power that followed Greece in Daniel Chapter 8 as being a twofold prophecy, we can break it down like this.

Ancient Times                                                          End Times

Rome                                                                      Offspring of Rome

Emperor                                                                  Blasphemous Horn

Destroyed Temple                                                    Trample the Holy Place

 at Jerusalem

 Demanded the Emperor                                           Calls itself equal to God

 be worshipped                                                        and removes Jesus’ sacrifice

Daniel 8: 11 and 14 say that the horn “…removed the regular sacrifice from Him (meaning God), and the place of His sanctuary was thrown down…For 2,300 evenings and mornings; then the holy place will be properly restored.”  In Gen. 1: 5 we see that an evening and a morning is another way of saying ‘one day’, and we have proven that a day in prophecy is actually one year, so here we have a timeline of 2300 years.  The first thing we must determine is where this timeline starts.  

We understand that this vision applies to events in both ancient times and the end times.  It also applies to the old system of religion practiced by the Jews (the “…small horn which grew…toward the Beautiful Land” where the temple in Jerusalem was) and to the new system set up by the sacrifice Jesus made for us and that he is offering in our place in heaven (the horn “…grew up to the host of heaven…and it removed the regular sacrifice from Him…”), so the 2300 years must cover Rome and its offspring, and time periods before and after Jesus was crucified.

We saw that the 70-week probation period given in Daniel Chapter 9 was the last chance for the Jewish nation to get with the program.  They failed and the spread of the gospel to all people began with the scattering of Christians.  After the vision containing the 2300 days, but before giving Daniel the 70-week prophetic warning for the Hebrews, the angel Gabriel told Daniel that he had come to give him ”…insight with understanding.” (Dan. 9: 22) 

How does the 70-week prophecy of Daniel 9 give help in understanding anything else?  Part of what it gives us is a starting point for the previous vision’s timeline…457 BCE.  So if the 2300 years also begins in 457 BCE, then its end would be 1844 CE.  Did anything important happen in the year 1844?  Not that we can see with our mortal eyes because Daniel 8: 14 says that at the end of the 2300 years the “…holy place will be properly restored” and, as we have seen, this applies to what Jesus does for us in heaven.  We will go into more detail about this in later chapters.