United States in Prophecy. The Books of Revelation and Daniel.

 

In the last chapter we looked at the first five trumpets and the first of three woes.  Before we begin studying the sixth trumpet and the second woe, there are a few things that must be clarified.  In the past chapters of this book I would simply refer to the appendices, but I know many readers have not flipped to the back and read them.  This section on the sixth trumpet and the second woe is too important not to be understood completely; therefore we are going to define everything up front instead of using the appendices.   

King of the North/Lamb from Earth        King of the South

In Daniel 11:1-30 we see a repeat of the three world empires that followed Babylon:  Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome.  More detail is given as to the events that occurred under each empire, but we have already covered all this in enough detail to suit our purposes.  All we need to recognize is that in Daniel Chapter 11 the king of the North usually represents the dominant power and the king of the South represents a secondary power.  In verses 31 through 33 we find the Catholic Church described.  We know it is the Catholic Church because it is described as doing away with the regular sacrifice, as setting up the abomination of desolation, and as persecuting those who do not fall into line (see chapter five of this book).  To confirm our identification of the Catholic Church here in Daniel, verse 37 says that he (the church, or the Pope) shows no regard for the desire of women.  Catholic priests are celibate and show no regard for the desire of women.

Daniel 11:40 says, At the end time the king of the South will collide with him… meaning a secondary power will wage war with the Catholic Church.  Catholicism is the largest and most visible of all Christian denominations, so if any other religion, such as radical Islam, were to want to attack Christianity, this would be a logical description for the Bible to give of the first target.  Verse 40 continues; …and the king of the North will storm against him (the king of the South) with chariots, with horsemen and with many ships; and he (the king of the North) will enter countries, overflow them and pass through.  So what is this dominant power that will fight for Christianity against the king of the South?  The answer to that question is found in Revelation Chapter 13.

Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb and he spoke as a dragon.  (Rev. 13:11)  We know that a beast represents a nation, kingdom, or political power.  And we learned that the beast in the first half of Revelation 13 was the Catholic Church (see chapter five of this book), and that it came up out of the sea, meaning it arose out of a population of people (see Appendix 2).  This new beast, however, comes up out of the earth.  This can only mean that it is a new power, one that does not rise out of an established population.  There were two brand new nations that arose around the time of the decline in the power of the Catholic Church in 1798:  Australia and the United States of America.  The United States was the only one to become an independent nation around this time and is the only one that is a dominant world power now.  Therefore, this beast from the earth must represent the United States.

As an independent nation, the United States has always acted as gently as a lamb domestically by offering religious and political freedom to all its citizens, but in the world theater it speaks with the power of a dragon.  We know that a horn represents individual people, rulers of nations or a position of great power (see Appendix 2).  In the end times, under the sixth trumpet, two powers, one religious and one political, will arise in the United States.  Since the US is predominantly a protestant nation, we can surmise that the religious power will be someone who represents Protestant Christians.  The president will work with this religious leader and together they will govern America.

           Back in Daniel Chapter 11 we see what else the king of the North, the United States of America, will do at the end times.  He will enter the Beautiful Land (the Middle East), and many countries will fall…Then he will stretch out his hand against other countries, and the land of Egypt (representing the king of the South) will not escape. But rumors from the East and from the North will disturb him, and he will go forth with great wrath to destroy and annihilate many.  (Dan. 11:41, 42, 44)  As this chapter is being written, the United States is involved in a prolonged conflict in Iraq…the location of the Euphrates River.  This conflict arose out of the 9/11 attacks against the US by radical Muslims: Islam versus Christianity, the West versus the East, the king of the North versus the king of the South.  

The US involvement in the Middle East is only the beginning.  Iran, North Korea, Syria and others are perceived as threats to the Western world and Daniel says that the US will expand its campaign to the East and North.

The False Prophet

In Matthew 7:15 Jesus said, Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.  Revelation 13 continues with its description of the United States’ religious leader’s powers, one of the two horns on the lamb that arose out of the earth.  He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down out of heaven to the earth in the presence of men.  And he deceives those who dwell on the earth, because of the signs which it was given him to perform in the presence of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who had the wound of the sword and has come to life.  (Rev. 13:13, 14)  This religious leader, in the guise of a lamb or in sheep’s clothing, is going to perform signs that are meant to deceive people into believing that he is sent by God to organize an image to the beast, when in fact he speaks like a dragon and is inwardly a ravenous wolf.  The signs he performs may be powers given to him by Satan, or they may simply be sleight of hand magic tricks.  We cannot know.  What we do know is that he will be convincing enough to make people follow him unquestioningly and to make an image to the beast.

The apostle Paul was talking about the end times when he said this: …one who's coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved.  For this reason, God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth but took pleasure in wickedness.  (2 Thess. 2:9-12)  People will often believe what they want to believe when it seems to benefit them the most.  God allows this as each person on earth has been given free will to love God and accept the truth or love wickedness and believe what is false.

The Big and Little Horn. The Book of Daniel.

 

Continued from previous post:

Now we are going to look at the longest timeline in Bible prophecy; the timeline that all other timelines fall into.  Do you remember the ram and the goat, Medo-Persia and Greece, from Daniel Chapter 8? 

The goat’s horn was broken and was followed by four other horns, representing Alexander’s death and the division of his kingdom among his generals.  In the strife and confusion after Alexander’s death, the generals split the kingdom …toward the four winds of heaven. (Daniel 8:8) North, East, South and West.  Daniel 8:9-12 and 23-25 says that out of one of them, in the latter period of their rule, came a small horn that became mighty and powerful, destroying holy people, opposing God, and calling himself equal to God.  After our study in the last chapter we know without a doubt that the Roman Empire followed the Greek Empire, both in prophecy and in fact, and we know that a horn stands for a person or a position of power.  So what are these verses in Daniel Chapter 8 talking about?

Rome came from the West and first conquered Macedonia, the Western portion of Alexander’s divided empire in 168 BCE.  But Daniel 8:23 says the horn would arise In the latter period of their rule… so when did the fourth and final division of the Greek Empire fall to Rome?  In 30 BCE when Cleopatra, Pharaoh of Egypt and descendant of the Greek general Ptolemy, killed herself and Octavian (later the Roman Emperor Augustus) claimed Egypt as a province of Rome. 

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:

Rome, Emperor, Destroyed Temple at Jerusalem.

Demanded Emperor to be worshiped.

End Times:

Offspring of Rome, blasphemous horn, trample the Holy Place.

Calls itself equal to God 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.  This vision applies to events in both ancient times and the end times.  It also covers 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 the new system set up by the sacrifice Jesus made for us and that he is offering in our place in the temple 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.

Daniel 8:14 says that at the end of the 2300 years the …holy place will be properly restored and, as mentioned above, this now applies to what Jesus does for us in heaven.  Since this occurs in the spiritual and heavenly realms, we will not have any visible evidence to know when the restoration has taken place. So when might the regular sacrifice have been removed from God and when might the holy place be restored?  There are several theories.

 

Theory #1

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?  It could give us 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 1843 CE. 

 

Theory #2

Alexander the Great died in 323 BCE and his four generals divided his empire.  Some use this date as the start of the 2300 years and that would put the end of it at 1977 CE.

 

Theory #3

Antiochus Epiphanes was a descendant of Seleucus, one of Alexander the Great’s generals, who gained control of Mesopotamia and the Middle East after Alexander’s death (see Appendix 1).  In 168 BCE Antiochus occupied Jerusalem and desecrated the temple by, among other things, offering a pig on the altar.  His desecration of the temple was so heinous to the Jewish people that many of them (and many Christians) consider Antiochus and his blasphemous acts to be the first step in the fulfillment of the prophecy in Daniel 8:9-14.  If 168 BCE were the start date for the 2300 days, then the end date would be 2132 CE, or well over a century from now.  

 So which theory is correct?  No one can be sure and no one can agree.  The important thing to remember is that God knows and we can trust him to show us what we need to know when we need to know it.  

 We have followed Old Testament prophecy to the end of the Jewish sacrificial system and the birth of Christianity, and we have proven that the symbolic “day” in prophetic language stands for a literal year.  Both this chapter and the previous one have given us an understanding of basic prophetic symbols and their meanings.  Now we are ready to move on to Revelation and start applying what we have already learned to what we will find there.

 

Jesus' Baptism and Death in Prophecy. The Book of Daniel.

 

Continued from previous post:

The angel Gabriel said that the Messiah would make a covenant with the many for one week (7 years).  If Jesus began his ministry in 27 CE, then the covenant week ends in 34 CE.  What is this covenant week?  This is the last 7 years of the 70-week, or 490-year, probationary period for the Jews.  The Messiah was here on earth in person, ready and willing to make a permanent covenant with the Jews if only they would accept him. 

But in 30 CE, in the middle of the last seven years, the Jewish religious and political leaders successfully schemed to have Jesus killed.  Jesus was cut off and had nothing, separated and rejected by the chosen people, the people blessed with God’s personal attention for centuries.

  What does it mean that Jesus’ death put an end to the sacrifice and grain offering?  Why did Jesus have to die?  All of our decisions and actions have consequences and when we sin it separates us from God - erecting a wall in our relationship with him.  God had set up a substitutional system that would restore our relationship with him and transfer the punishment (eternal consequences) we should receive for our bad choices onto something else.  Those people living before Jesus was on earth would go to the temple, symbolically transfer their sin onto an innocent animal (usually a lamb) and kill it as a sacrificial substitute.  God would accept the substitute, they would be absolved, and their relationship with him would be restored.

 Jesus came to this world to be the ultimate sacrifice.  He was offering himself as our permanent substitute; taking our punishment, absolving us of sin, and becoming a permanent bridge connecting heaven and earth – God and man.  Once he did that, the sacrificial system was put to an end because the ultimate sacrificial substitute had died for us (Heb. 10:11, 12).  When John the Baptist saw Jesus coming to be baptized, he appropriately declared, …Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! (John 1:29)

In 34 CE, the time of God’s favoritism towards the Jewish nation ended because they stubbornly rejected Jesus and his sacrifice for them.  God had to start all over from scratch because, although he had a few followers, he had nothing in the form of a nation of followers anymore.  In that same year the Jews killed a Christian named Stephen and began persecuting all the Christians in the area, so many of them scattered and began preaching wherever they found refuge.  God was building a new “nation” of followers, gathering anyone who wanted to belong to him.

Once God removed his protection from the Jews, they were in big trouble.  In 70 CE the Roman general Titus and his army destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple.  Jesus had told his disciples that the temple would be destroyed to such an extant that …not one stone here would be left upon another… (Matt. 24:2) and that is exactly what happened.  When Titus’ army set fire to the city, the gold in the temple melted along the walls and the soldiers tore the building apart stone by stone in order to scrape up the gold.  Thus, Titus destroy(ed) the city and the sanctuary.

We have just looked at an extremely important timeline, and we have proven that our interpretation of timelines is accurate from the start to the end, and all points in between. 

Artaxerxes' decree to rebuild Jerusalem was from 457 to 408 BCE. That is 7 weeks in prophecy which translates to 49 years.

Jerusalem rebuilt until Jesus baptized: 408 BCE to 27 CE. 62 weeks = 434 years, 

Jesus baptized until Stephen stoned: 27CE to 34 CE.  One week = 7 years 

A Day Isn’t Always 24 Hours. The Book of Daniel.

 

Many of you reading this are wondering when we are going to be getting into the book of Revelation.  That is where all the prophecy about the end of time is located, right?  Well, no.  In the first chapter we looked at prophecies from the books of Matthew and 1 Peter, for instance, to prove we are indeed in the end times.  In the second chapter we looked in the book of Daniel to prove that Bible prophecy is true and reliable and to learn the meaning of certain prophetic symbols.  We are going to look in Daniel once again before moving on to Revelation.  Not only do we want to understand what we find in Revelation, we want to know why each thing means what it does and how it fits in with the others. 

The book of Daniel gives us very useful timelines that we can follow like maps, where we can mark on them different events prophesied in the Bible.  These timelines are described as days, weeks, and months, but a day in prophetic language is actually a year.  (see Appendix 2). 

 

If one day equals one year (Ez. 4:4-6 and Num. 14:34), then…

 One week = 7 days = 7 years. One month = 30 days = 30 years. One year = 360 days = 360 years.

We are going to start with a timeline that will prove that our understanding of timelines is correct.

 "Seventy weeks have been declared for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place.  So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress.  Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary.  And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined.  And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering…"  Daniel 9:24-27

This passage was spoken by the angel Gabriel to Daniel so it comes straight from heaven.

We are going to start with a timeline that will prove that our understanding of timelines is correct.

 "Seventy weeks have been declared for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place.  So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress.  Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary.  And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined.  And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering…"  Daniel 9:24-27

Gabriel was saying that the Jews and the city of Jerusalem had 70 weeks, or 490 years (7 days per week multiplied by 70 weeks equals 490 years), of probation left to straighten out and start keeping their side of the bargain they had made with God way back when God brought them out of Egypt.  The start of the probation period would be when a decree was issued allowing the Jews to restore and rebuild the city of Jerusalem. 

It was not long after the Medo-Persians conquered the Babylonians that many of the Jews were allowed to return to their homeland and rebuild the temple Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed. 

 However, the city itself was still in shambles.  Seven years after Artaxerxes ascended the Persian throne, he sent a Jew named Ezra to Jerusalem with orders that, in part, called for Ezra to organize the city so it could rule itself independently while still being part of the Persian Empire.  Ezra was to appoint magistrates and judges and was to ensure the carrying out of the king’s laws. (Ezra 7:25, 26)  Although the decree from Artaxerxes did not specifically say that the city of Jerusalem was to be rebuilt, Ezra and the rest of the Jews knew the orders they held implied the rebuilding.  How else was a city to function without buildings for the government, the courts, etc?  So, Artaxerxes’ decree restored Jerusalem to the Jews and they began to rebuild the city in 457 BCE. We now have the starting point for our 490-year timeline.

Artaxerxes’ decree restored Jerusalem to the Jews and they began to rebuild the city in 457 BCE. We now have the starting point for our 490-year timeline.

The 62 weeks, or 434 years (7 x 62 = 434), of the 70-week prophecy follow the seven weeks so it obviously begins in 407 BCE and goes through to 27 CE.  Did anything special happen in the year 27 CE?  Yes.  Luke Chapter 3 and Verse 1 says that it was the 15^th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar when Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist and Messiah the Prince, Jesus, began his ministry here on earth. 

Tiberius became co-emperor of Rome with Augustus in 13 CE, so his 15^th year would bring us to 27 CE.

DAY for a YEAR 

When a day is mentioned in prophecy, it stands for a year in actual time.  So if you see a prophecy of 1260 days, it actually means 1260 years.  One hour would be a literal two weeks, one week would be seven days or seven years, one month would be 30 days or 30 years, etc.  See:  Ez. 4: 4-6; Num. 14: 34

 

30 DAY MONTH / 360 DAY YEAR 

Everyone knows that a year contains 365 days and that not all the months in a year have 30 days, so how do we come to the decision to break down the months and years into 30 and 360 days?  Some scholars refer to ancient calendars as proof that the common year was 360 days, not becoming our familiar 365 day year until the Julian calendar was instituted.  Others talk about the simplicity of using a 360 day year and 30 day month still in use today when doing complex financial calculations.  I prefer the easiest explanation.  If you divide 365 days by 12 months you get 30.4 days per month.  Rounding that number down gives you 30 days.  Then, if you multiply 30 days by 12 months you get a 360 day year.  Also, in Revelation 11: 2 and 3 we are shown that 42 months is 1260 days, these numbers coinciding only if a 30 day month is used (42 x 30 = 1260).  The 365 day year we have now is only an average itself:  2006 only had 364 days, 2007 has 365 days, and 2008 will have 366 days. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another Dream from God. Books of Daniel and Revelation.

 Continued from previous post:

This timeline of world history was so important that God repeated it three times and in each of them God added a little more detail.  In Daniel Chapter 7, while Daniel was still living under the Babylonian Empire, God gave him a dream. 

…the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea.  And four great beasts were coming up from the sea, different from one another.  The first was like a lion and had the wings of an eagle.  I kept looking until its wings were plucked, and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man; a human mind also was given to it.  And behold, another beast, a second one, resembling a bear.  And it was raised up on one side, and three ribs were in its mouth between its teeth; and thus they said to it, ‘Arise, devour much meat!’…and behold, another one, like a leopard, which had on its back four wings of a bird; the beast also had four heads, and dominion was given to it…and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrifying and extremely strong; and it had large iron teeth.  It devoured and crushed and trampled down the remainder with its feet; and it was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns…behold, another horn, a little one, came up among them, and three of the first horns were pulled out by the roots before it; and behold, this horn possessed eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth uttering great boasts.   Daniel 7:2-8

Daniel saw the four winds of heaven stirring up the great sea (for an explanation of prophetic symbols see Appendix 2).  Out of this great sea there came four beasts corresponding to the four metals making up the statue Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream. 

 The first was a lion that had wings like an eagle (signifying the speed with which the beast could move).  It had its wings plucked and it was given a human mind.  Babylon stopped conquering other nations and felt secure in its power, becoming decadent and complacent, losing the attributes of a preying lion and instead becoming the prey.

The lion was replaced by a lop-sided bear (signifying that one side was stronger than the other) with three ribs in its mouth (signifying the three geographical areas it ‘devoured’: its own lands of Media and Persia, lands the Babylonian Empire once ruled, and new lands such as Anatolia).

The bear was replaced by a leopard with four wings (signifying even greater speed of movement) and four heads (Alexander’s empire divided among his four generals).

 And finally a fourth beast, Rome, which was terrifying and extremely strong, had iron teeth and crushed the other beasts. 

Following all these beasts and horns Daniel saw Jesus returning to the earth and setting up his kingdom. 

I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven One like the Son of Man was coming…His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away…  Daniel 7:13, 14 

Daniel’s dream reinforces what we have already studied: Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome, mixture of nations, and finally God’s kingdom.

But there is something new in this vision.  As we have seen, the fourth beast, Rome, had ten horns on its head.  As Daniel was looking at the horns a little horn popped up, pushing three of the original horns out by the roots.  This new horn had eyes and a mouth and was yapping and boasting about itself.  As Daniel was seeing this, someone standing next to him said that the horn was also speaking out against God and persecuting the saints (Dan. 7:25).  

We know that Rome destroyed Jerusalem and persecuted Christians, even throwing them into the arena to be torn apart by wild beasts.  But what is this horn, which three horns did it rip out by the roots, and why are its persecutions and boasts so huge that it is worth mentioning in prophecy?  We will uncover this mystery in later chapters, so for now just keep this mouthy, blasphemous horn in the back of your mind.

 

Empires of the World. The books of Daniel and Revelation.

 

The Babylonian Empire was the largest reigning force in the world at the time Nebuchadnezzar had his dream.  It was well represented by gold, as it was a rich and lush empire.  In fact, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

But in the year 539 BCE, 66 years after Daniel had been taken captive from his homeland of Judah, the Medo-Persian army conquered Babylon and the Persian Empire entered the world stage.  Eventually the Medes would fade and the Persians would strengthen, causing the Medo-Persian Empire to become simply the Persian Empire.

Map by Anton Gutsunaev

The Greeks were a pain in the neck for the Persians.  First, the Greek cities of Ionia rebelled against Persia but they were defeated.  Then, as retribution for the rebellion, Xerxes decided to overtake Greece itself. 

 You have probably seen movies or heard about the 300 Spartans and other Greek warriors fighting against the Persian king Xerxes at the pass of Thermopolae.  This battle took place in 480 BCE while the Persian Empire was extremely strong.  The Greeks lost the battle at Thermopolae but they eventually stopped the Persians at the navel battle of Salamis and forced Xerxes to withdraw from Greece.  This was not the end of the Greek/Persian story as Greece was to be the ruin of the Persian Empire.

Phillip of Macedonia would be the first to unite the City States of Greece under one ruler. After Phillip died, his son Alexander would solidify the allegiances of the lesser kings in Greece and in 334 BCE he took his armies into Asia Minor to fight against Darius and his Persian Empire.  In just three years Alexander the Great had defeated the Persians and Greece was now the world’s largest empire.  In 323 BCE at the age of 33, Alexander died and his empire was divided among his Generals (see Appendix 1). 

Now we move on to the legs of iron portion of the prophecy: Rome.  Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar that the fourth kingdom would be as strong as iron and would crush and shatter all that came before it.  This is a good description of the Roman Empire.

 There are debates as to the exact beginning of the Roman Empire.  This is due to the fact that the rise of Rome seems to be almost accidental.  Rome did not start out with a conscious plan to conquer other nations and begin its own empire; it actually started to expand through reactionary events.  When it perceived a threat of any kind by an outside force, Rome would rally the troops and march into battle.  In the middle of the second century BCE Rome squashed a threat from Macedonia and it became the first of the Greek provinces divided after Alexander’s death to come under the rule of the Roman Empire.

  

No two scholars can agree on what exactly caused the end of the Roman Empire, and that is probably because no one thing is to blame.  Some of the theories given for its fall: an undisciplined army, civil wars, barbarian invasions, over extension, political infighting, laziness, etc.  What matters to us is the fact that the Roman Empire had collapsed by the end of the fifth century CE and is no more. 

This leads us to the feet part of the statue where iron is mixed with clay, or where nations are no longer ruled by one World Empire but are a mixture of strong and weak nations.  Never again would a human world empire exist.  That does not mean people have stopped trying.  Napoleon tried to create a French Empire but failed, and Hitler tried to create a Third Reich that would last a thousand years, but he too failed. 

 People have even tried to unite countries through marriage.  A royal from one country would marry a royal from another country in an attempt to unify, but it always failed.  As late as World War I we saw the failure of these intermarriage attempts in that the Russian, German and British monarchies were all related but were at war anyway (see Appendix 1).  God told Daniel there would not be a human world empire after Rome and no matter how hard people have tried, this prophecy has held true.

The rock that pulverized the statue in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream smashes first into the feet of the statue, signifying the establishment of Jesus’ kingdom will occur sometime after world empires have ceased to exist and the world is divided into different nations.  It is fitting that God used a rock to signify his kingdom as the Bible has often referred to God as a Rock of Salvation (Deut. 32:15), an everlasting Rock (Is. 26:4), a Rock, a fortress and a deliverer (Ps. 18:2), a Rock and a Redeemer (Ps. 19:14), etc.

 ...Is there any God besides Me? Or is there any other Rock? I know of none.                                                                        

                                                                                                                   Is. 44: 8