Chapter 7
Daniel Chapter 7
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In Daniel 2, King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream he could not remember, which God revealed to Daniel along with its interpretation. In Daniel 7, Daniel had a dream that contained a vision that he remembered. At the end of the vision, we are told his “thoughts troubled and alarmed me and my cheerfulness of countenance was changed in me, but I kept the matter in my heart and mind” (Daniel 7:28 Amplified Version). In this chapter, Daniel relates his troubling dream and its interpretation. He begins by telling us that he saw “four great beasts come up from the sea, diverse one from another” (Daniel 7:3). The “sea” represents multitude of peoples as seen in Isaiah 60:2-5, Revelation 17:5.
In Revelation 13:1-2, a different beast will “rise up out of the sea.” This beast has some of the features of the beasts described in Daniel 7. There the ten horns, the lion, the bear, and the leopard are mentioned as they are in Daniel 7.
We read in Daniel 7:12, “As concerning the rest of the beasts [lion, bear, and leopard – the fourth beast was not included], they had their dominion taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a time” (emphasis added). In Daniel 7, they represented separate individual kingdoms, and in Revelation 13, they form a composite beast made up of parts of all three beasts. We will be looking more closely at this beast when we get to our study of Revelation 13.
Daniel related what he was shown during his dream in Daniel 7:2-14 and in conclusion Daniel says, “I Daniel was grieved in my spirit in the midst of my body, and the visions of my head troubled me” (Daniel 7:15).
The visions or dreams described throughout the Bible use very similar language to describe the recipients’ experiences. There is no ecstatic joy or rapture. These visions from God seem to have a very sobering effect on the recipients unlike what we read about in modern occurrences of this nature and are often claimed to be of God (1 John 4:1).
We have been told “the whole world” is being deceived by Satan, and that can include you and me. He is after all of us; and no one is immune to his devices and attacks. Jesus and His disciples were attacked by Satan, so unless we are aware of his devices and methods, we may fall for his deceptions and lies. “Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices” (2 Corinthians 2:11). We can see Satan at work throughout the Bible, and we need to be aware of how he is at work today to deceive and lead us away from God and the truths found in the Bible.
The interpretation of Daniel’s dream is given in Daniel 7:16-28. In Daniel Chapters 2 and 7, the interpretations of the dreams are given along with the dream or vision giving us an example of how the Bible interprets itself. In these two chapters, God makes it relatively easy for us by giving the interpretation with the dream or vision. We can see the principles we discussed in chapter 1. It is not quite that easy with the other visions or dreams Daniel and John received; they require careful searching and thought and most of all prayer to find what is the Bible’s interpretation. We do not want to put our own spin on it; we must let the Bible interpret itself as we ask for God’s Spirit to guide us in our studies (John 16:13).
In Daniel 7:3-7, four beasts are described. What did these four beasts represent? In Daniel 7:17, Daniel was told, “These great beasts which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth.” Further in Daniel 7:23, Daniel was told, “Thus he said, the fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon the earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shalt tread it down, and break it in pieces.”
Daniel was told this because in Daniel 7:19, he asked, “Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast, which was diverse from the others, exceeding dreadful whose teeth were of iron, and his nails of brass; which devoured, brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with his feet.”
Daniel’s attention was focused on the fourth beast. He is not given any further information on the previous three beasts nor did he ask for any. He was told that the “beasts, which are four, are four kings” (Daniel 7:17) but in verse 23, he was told “the fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon the earth.” Did the other three beasts represent kingdoms also? From the descriptions given in Daniel 7 for each of the four beasts, we can figure out which kingdoms they represent.
“Verse four. ‘The first was like a lion, and had eagle’s wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made to stand upon the feet as a man, and a man’s heart was given to it.’
“The Lion. – In the vision of Daniel seven, the first beast seen by the prophet was a lion. For the use of the lion as a symbol, read Jeremiah 4:7; 50:17, 43, 44. The lion as first seen in the vision before us had eagle’s wings. The symbolic use of wings is impressively described in Habakkuk 1:6-8, where it is said that the Chaldeans should ‘fly as the eagle that hastes to eat.’
“From these symbols we may easily deduct that Babylon was a kingdom of great strength, and that under Nebuchadnezzar its conquests were extended with great rapidity. But there came a time when the wings were plucked. It no longer rushed upon its prey like an eagle. The boldness and spirit of the lion were gone. A man’s heart – weak and faint – took the place of a lion’s strength. Such was the case with this nation during the closing years of its history, when it had become enfeebled and effeminate through wealth and luxury. This corresponds to the head of gold in Daniel chapter two.
“Verse five. ‘And behold another beast, a second, like a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh.’
“The Bear. – As in the image of Daniel two, so in this series of symbols a marked deterioration is noticed as we descend from one kingdom to another. The silver of the breast and arms is inferior to the gold of the head. The bear is inferior to the lion. Medo-Persia fell short of Babylon in wealth, magnificence, and brilliance. The bear raised itself up on one side. The kingdom was composed of two nationalities - the Medes and the Persians. The same fact is represented by the two horns of the ram in Daniel chapter eight. Of these horns, in Daniel chapter eight, it is said that the higher came up last; and of the bear; that it raised itself up on one side. This was fulfilled by the Persian division of the kingdom, for although it came up last, it attained the higher eminence, becoming the dominant influence in the nation. The three ribs signify the three provinces of Babylon, Lydia, and Egypt, which were especially oppressed by Medo-Persia. The command, ‘Arise, devour much flesh,’ would refer to the stimulus given to the Medes and Persians of these provinces. The character of the power is well represented by the bear. The Medes and Persians were cruel robbers and spoilers of the people. The Medo-Persian kingdom continued from the overthrow of Babylon by Cyrus to the battle of Arbela in 331 B.C., a period of 207 years. The bear corresponds to the chest and arms of silver in Daniel chapter two.
“Verse six. ‘After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given unto it.’
“The Leopard. – The third kingdom, Greece, is here represented by the symbol of a leopard. If wings upon the lion signified rapidity of conquest, they would signify the same here. The leopard itself is a swift-footed beast, but this was not sufficient to represent the character of the nation here symbolized. It must have wings in addition. Two wings, the number the lion had, were not sufficient; the leopard must have four. This would denote unprecedented swiftness of movement, which we find to be a historical fact in the Grecian kingdom. The conquests of Greece under Alexander had no parallel in ancient times for suddenness and rapidity. His military achievements are summarized by W.W. Tarn: ‘He was a master in the combination of various arms; he taught the world the advantages of campaigning in the winter, the value of pressing pursuit to the utmost, and the principle of ‘march divided, fight united’. He marched usually in two divisions, one conducting the impediments and his own (division) traveling light; his speed of movement was extraordinary. It is said that he attributed his military success to ‘never putting anything off.’ The enormous distances traversed in unknown country imply a very high degree of organizing ability; in ten years he had only two serious breakdowns . . . Had a lesser man attempted what he achieved, and failed, we should have heard enough of the hopeless military difficulties of the undertaking.’
“The beast had also four heads.” The Grecian Empire maintained its unity but little longer than the lifetime of Alexander. After his brilliant career ended in a fever induced by a drunken debauch, the empire was divided among his four leading generals. Cassander had Macedonia and Greece in the west; Lysimachus had Thrace and the parts of Asia on the Hellespont and Bosphorus in the north; Ptolemy had Egypt, Lydia, Arabia, Palestine, and Coele-Syria in the south; and Seleucus had Syria and all the rest of Alexander’s dominions in the east. By the year 301 B.C., with the death of Antigonus, the division of the kingdom of Alexander into four parts was completed by his generals. These divisions were denoted by the four heads of the leopard.
“Thus accurately were the words of the prophets fulfilled. As Alexander left no available successor, why did not the huge empire break up into countless petty fragments? Why into just four major parts? – For reasons that the prophecy foresaw and foretold. The leopard had four heads, the rough goat of Daniel chapter eight had four horns, the kingdom was to have four divisions; and so it proved to be. The four-headed leopard corresponds to the thighs of brass in Daniel chapter two.
“Verse seven. ‘After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns.’
“A Dreadful Beast. – Inspiration finds no beast in nature to symbolize the power here illustrated. This power is diverse from all the others, and the symbol is wholly different from anything found in the animal kingdom.
“The foundation for a volume is laid in verse seven, but for lack of space we are compelled to treat it briefly here. This beast corresponds to the fourth division of the great image – the legs of iron. How accurately Rome answered to the iron portion of the image! How accurately it answers to the beast before us! In the dread and terror which it inspired, and in its strength, the fourth beast answered admirably to the prophetic description. The world had never seen it’s equal. It devoured as with teeth of iron, and broke in pieces all that stood in its way. It ground the nations into dust beneath its brazen feet. It had ten horns, which are explained in verse twenty-four to be ten kings, or kingdoms, which should arise out of its empire. These divisions have ever since been spoken of as the ten kingdoms of the Roman Empire.”4
Daniel did not want to “know the truth of the fourth beast,” but “of the ten horns that were in his head, and of the other [horn] which came up, and before whom three [horns] fell, even of that horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spoke very great things, whose look was more stout than his fellows” (Daniel 7:20).
Who were the ten horns? In Daniel 7:24, we are told that the ten horns that arise “out of this kingdom [fourth beast] are ten kings.”
When the Roman Empire came to an end, it was divided into ten kingdoms. We have seen that in Daniel’s interpretation of the vision, he uses the words kings and kingdoms interchangeably. The ten kingdoms which arose out of the Roman Empire were the Anglo-Saxons, Franks, Suevi, Visigoths, Burgundians, Alamanni, Lombards, Ostrogoths, Heruli, and the Vandals.
“The division of the Western Roman Empire was accomplished between 351 A.D. and 476 A.D. The era of dissolution thus covered a hundred and twenty-five years . . . No historians of whom we are aware, places the beginning of this work of the dismemberment of the Roman Empire earlier than 351 A.D., and there is general agreement in assigning its close in 476 A.D. Concerning the intermediate dates, that is, the precise time from which each of the ten kingdoms that arose on the ruins of the Roman Empire is to be dated, there is some difference of views among historians. Nor does it seem strange, when we consider that there was an era of great confusion, that the map of the Roman Empire during that time underwent many sudden and violent changes, and that the paths of hostile nations charging upon its territory crossed and recrossed each other in a labyrinth of confusion. But all historians agree in this, that out of the territory of Western Rome, ten separate kingdoms were ultimately established, and we may safely assign them to the time between the dates above named: namely, 351 A.D. and 476 A.D.
“The ten nations which were most instrumental in breaking up the Roman Empire, and which at some time in their history held respectively portions of Roman territory as separate and independent kingdoms, may be enumerated (without respect to the time of their establishment) as follows: Huns, Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Franks, Vandals, Suevi, Burgundians, Heruli, Anglo-Saxon, and Lombards. The connection between these and some of the modern nations of Europe, is still traceable in the names, as England, Burgundy, Lombardy, France, etc.”5
It is then said, “Another [horn] shall rise after them, and he shall be diverse from the first [ten horns] and he shall subdue three kings [of the original ten]” (Daniel 7:24). This horn is described in the vision as “another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things” (Daniel 7:8). Daniel 7:25 mentions this “little horn,” “and he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High” (emphasis added).
The ten horns rose to prominence from AD 351 to AD 476 as political kingdoms. But the “little horn” was to “be diverse from the first [ten horns].” Since AD 476, has any kingdom risen among those ten kingdoms which was “diverse from the first?” The answer is yes; the religious-political kingdom of the papacy. It answers to the narrative found in Daniel 7 in every particular as we shall see.
It is written that this “little horn” shall “oppress His [God's] saints.” Has the papacy done this? History tells us that between fifty and two hundred million persons were put to death by the papacy since its rise to power in AD 538.
It is written that this “little horn” shall “subdue three kings.” During the papacy’s rise to power, its doctrine of the Trinity was severely challenged by the teachings of Arianism and was violently opposed by those three Arian-believing nations. Without getting into the differences between the two, an Arian-believing king ruled Italy, thus greatly limiting the dissemination of papal doctrine. “While Catholics were thus feeling the restraining power of an Arian king in Italy, they were suffering from violent persecution from the Arian Vandals in Africa.”6
“The Vandal kings were not only Arians, but persecutors of the Catholics; in Sardinia and Corsica under the Roman Episcopate, we may presume as well, as in Africa.”7
“Such was the state of affairs when in AD 533, Justinian entered upon his Vandal and Gothic wars. Wishing to obtain the influence of the pope and the Catholic party, he issued that memorable decree which was to constitute the pope as the head of all the churches, and from the carrying out of which in AD 538, the period of papal supremacy is to be dated. And whoever will read the history of the African campaign, during AD 533-534, and the Italian campaign, during AD 534-538, will notice that the Catholics everywhere hailed as deliverers the army of Belisarius, the general of Justinian.
“But the little horn could not come into absolute power until the Arian horns which stood in its way were overthrown. A turn came, however, in the tide of affairs, for in the military campaign in Africa and Italy the victorious legions of Belisarius dealt a crushing blow to Arianism, so much so that its final supporters were vanquished.”8
The subject of Arianism and Daniel 7:24 is the subject of a study on our website and discusses the doctrine of the Deity as taught in the Bible. The Arians believed quite differently from what the papacy taught on the composition of the Deity. I believe the Arians had the truth, which was nearly buried by the forces teaching the Trinitarian doctrine of the papacy, and the Arian view with some minor adjustments is being resurrected during these last days and is a part “of restitution of all things” mentioned in Acts 3:19-21.
Another identifying mark of the “little horn” is that “he will intend to make alterations in times” (Daniel 7:25 NAS). “Under the reign of Constantius (AD 337-362), the persecution of the Jews reached such a height that . . . the computation of the [Biblical] calendar was forbidden under pain of severe punishment.”9
“Sabbath and New Moon (Rosh Chodesh), both periodically recur in the course of the year. The New Moon is still, and the Sabbath originally was, dependent upon the lunar cycle [Biblical lunar-solar calendar].”9
“The Sabbath, as marking the end of the week, reveals its lunar origin; the phases of the moon having taught . . . to divide the period elapsing between two new moons into four equal groups (weeks), the last day of each - in imitation of the moon’s coming to rest, as it were – becoming the day of rest. Indications are not wanting that at first the New Moon festival was not counted among the seven days of the week; but after 7 x 4 (=28) days had elapsed, one or two days intercalated as New Moon days, whereupon a new cycle of four weeks began, so that the Sabbath was a moveable festival. Later the week and the Sabbath became fixed [4th Century]; and this gradually resulted in taking away the New Moon festival from its popular [Biblical] importance.”11
Numerous historical statements similar to those above could have been added. From our web site the following link will show you additional Historical References for Calendar and Sabbath Changes - http://globalimpactstudies.com/historical-references-of-calendar-and-sabbath-cha.html From the evidence available, it appears that Hillel II, the last president of the Jewish council, excused the Jews from calculating their Sabbath days by the Biblical lunar-solar calendation method. Talmudic tradition teaches that if one does not know when the Sabbath occurs, all that is required is that a person observe one day in seven. Under this rabbinical tradition, where ignorance exists, no law is broken. Thus, if knowledge of the true calendation is lost, the Jews believe that worshipping on Saturday on a continuously fixed weekly cycle of the solar year is acceptable. This was done under the urging of the papacy. But is this acceptable to God? It was not lost, but it was intentionally changed.
The fact is that neither Saturday, the seventh day of the pagan Gregorian calendar, nor Sunday, what is claimed to be the Lord’s Day are correct. Jesus said, “But in vain they do worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Matthew 15:9). The Biblical Sabbath day of worship is determined by the New Moon (Genesis 1:14, Leviticus 23:2, Psalm 104:19). This is also a part “of restitution of all things” spoken of in Acts 3:19-21. A future chapter explores the possibility that there have been other changes in “times” mentioned in the Bible.
And the last identifying mark of the “little horn” is that “he will intend to make alterations . . . in the law” (Daniel 7:25 NAS). Exodus 20:2-17 and Deuteronomy 5:6-21 contain the Ten Commandments as given by God. This is the only thing in the Bible that was actually written by God on stone tablets. “If nothing is permanent unless it is written in stone,” how permanent is the Ten Commandment Law of God that was written in stone by God’s Own finger? Does any man have the right to make any changes to the Ten Commandment Law of God? God does not change (Malachi 3:6), nor does He change His laws.
We saw in Daniel 2 that only God can change "the times and seasons" (Daniel 2:21).
Some would tell you that God’s Law was done away with at the cross. Jesus said, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled” (Matthew 5:17-18). “Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross” (Colossians 2:14). The ordinances which governed the sacrificial system for the Temple were done away with and not the law of God. “And the statutes, and the ordinances, and the law, and the commandment, which he wrote for you, ye shall observe to do for evermore; and ye shall not fear other gods” (2 King 17:37, 34). Webster’s Dictionary describes ordinance as “a religious ceremony or rite.” When Jesus was crucified the entire system of ordinances that had been given by God were ended as evidenced by the tearing of the veil that separated the holiest of holies from the holy place in the sanctuary. “And behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom” (Matthew 27:51). This was not done by any earthly means but by the hand of God Who had foretold in Daniel 9:27, “And in the midst of the week He shall cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease” thus bringing to an end the sacrificial system which pointed to the Lamb of God being slain for the sins of mankind.
If you have access to a Roman Catholic catechism, you will see how the law was changed by the papacy, and it is not bashful or ashamed about claiming responsibility for that. Many Protestant denominations maintain the papal change in their catechisms also. The second commandment forbidding the worship of idols is removed and the tenth commandment is divided into two separate commandments to maintain the full number of ten. The original wording for the fourth commandment, which became the third, is also changed (Exodus 20:8-11).
“It pleased the church of God [But did it please God?] that the religious celebration of the Sabbath day should be transferred to ‘the Lord’s day’ [meaning Sunday]; for as on that day light first shone on the world; so by the resurrection of our Redeemer on that day, who opened to us the gate to life eternal, our life was recalled out of darkness into light; whence also the Apostles would have it named ‘the Lord’s day.’ [Though there is no evidence in the Scriptures that the Apostles had done this.] We also observe in the Sacred Scriptures that this day was held sacred [No Biblical evidence for this claim either.] because on that day the creation of the world commenced, and the Holy Ghost was given to the Apostles.”12
Jesus Who observed the Biblical Sabbath while He was on earth said this: “Therefore the Son of man (Jesus) is Lord also of the Sabbath” (Mark 2:28), of the Biblical Lunar-solar Calendar. The reason that the papacy can get away with such preposterous remarks is because few are studying the Bible and do not know what It has to say on such matters, and Protestant ministers simply repeat what they have been taught by their denomination.
God had set aside the seventh day (Of the Biblical calendar and not of the pagan Gregorian calendar) as the Sabbath at the time of the Creation (Genesis 2:2-3, 1:14). Only God has the right to change His law, and those who have changed it and maintain that change will be answerable to God along with those who knowingly observe a false day of worship.
Here is the declaration by the papacy that it changed the time for observing the Sabbath according to the Decalogue, from the seventh day (not Saturday which is Saturn’s day) of the Biblical calendar, to the first day of the week of the pagan Gregorian calendar, erroneously calling it “the Lord’s day.” It will be observed that the change from the seventh day of the Biblical calendar to the first day of the pagan Gregorian calendar was made by the papacy but without any proof or authority from the Scriptures because there is no such proof or authority authorizing them to do so. All the reasons for the change given in the above declaration are purely of human and ecclesiastical invention and are lies that cannot be verified by the Scriptures.
God decreed that according to His calendar a new month would commence on the day of the new moon; seven days later would be the first Sabbath of that month; another seven days would be the second Sabbath (Luke 6:1); another seven days later would be the third Sabbath; and finally another seven days later would be the fourth and final Sabbath of that month. Thus the 8th, 15th, 22nd, and 29th days of the lunar-solar calendar months are Sabbaths. This was still the case during the ministry of Yahuhsua where we read in Luke 6:1: “And it came to pass on the second Sabbath after the first [Sabbath], He went through the corn fields.” The phrase it was “the second Sabbath” is Lunar–solar language and is used to denote the 2nd Sabbath of the month which fell on the 15th day of the Biblical month according to the Lunar-solar calendar.
There are approximately 200 verses in the Old Testament which use Lunar-solar language in them. Here is just one example: "And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat. And the waters decresed continually until the tenth month: in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen" (Genesis 8:4-5).
As noted earlier in Daniel 2:20 only “He [God] changes the times and the seasons.” God has never delegated the right to change the times or the seasons to any man or to any church, not even to His apostles and disciples, and certainly not to any pope.
The foregoing testimonies are sufficient to show how the papacy has thought to change the times and laws. As was stated previously, neither Saturday nor Sunday according to the Gregorian calendar is the correct day of worship which the LORD set aside to commune and fellowship with His people. This is how the papacy, in conjunction with pagan rulers and Satan himself, has thought to do away with God’s days of convocation (Leviticus 23) and His method of determining when they occur (Psalm 104:19). But there is an God in heaven who will one day call to account all those who have sought to make those changes, and those who knowingly maintain and follow those changes. We are told that instead of being bold and blasphemous in that day, they will cry “to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb” (Revelation 6:16).
Daniel wrote, “I beheld till thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of Days did sit, Whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head like the pure wool. His throne was like a fiery flame and His wheels [Ezekiel 1] as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before Him: thousand thousands ministered unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him; the judgment was set and the books were opened” (Daniel 7:9-10, emphasis added).
When we come to the study of Revelation chapters four and five, you will see this same language there. When did the judgment begin? As we noted in chapter 1 of this book, the events given within a vision or dream are given in sequence. God doesn’t want us to become confused in our search for truth, so He does things in an orderly manner. In Daniel 7:26, we read, “But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his (papacy’s) dominion.”
The discussion of the “little horn” in verses 24 and 25 continues in verse 26. So “the judgment shall sit” occurs prior to the papacy’s dominion being taken away. This may be a shock to some who have believed otherwise. In this case however, the events pictured do not occur in the order given, but occur simultaneously. An event in heaven (“judgment shall sit”) occurs simultaneously with an event on earth (“his dominion” taken away). This is what the Bible says, and not what any denomination says. Events in heaven are connected with events occurring on earth, so we can follow Jesus in His High Priestly ministry.
This is the same principle that is seen in Revelation 8:5. The heavenly event (“golden censer being thrown down”) and an earthly event (a global earthquake accompanied by “voices, thunderings and lightnings”) occur simultaneously. This is God’s way of communicating to us important information with the progression of heavenly events by the observation of earthly events.
When was the papacy’s dominion taken away? In the year 1798, a French army entered Rome and took the pope prisoner, and inflicted what has been called the “deadly wound” on the papacy (Revelation 13:3). Though it has never since enjoyed all the privileges and immunities it possessed before, we are seeing a gradual restoration to its former strength; the deadly wound has not yet been healed.
The “little horn” did not take power until AD 538 when the last Arian king ruling Italy was removed, and the “little horn’s” dominion was taken away in AD 1798 which makes 1260 years. Daniel 7:25 tells us, “They [‘the saints of the Most High’] shall be given into his (‘little horn’s) hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.”
Time 360 years
Times 720 years (360 x 2)
Dividing of time 180 years (360 / 2)
1260 years
We arrive at these figures by taking “time” to equal one year (Daniel 43:23, 32). The Chaldean word (iddan) for "time" used in all these verses alsos could be translated 'a year." King Nebuchadnezzar was in the field for seven years (Daniel 4:32). We read in Genesis 7:1, “In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.” And in Genesis 8:3-4 we read, “And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters abated, and the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.” One hundred and fifty days divided by the 5 months gives us 30 days for each month. “Second month, the seventeenth day” until “the seventh month, on the seventeenth day” was one hundred and fifty days according to what we just read in Genesis 7:1, 8:3-4. In Biblical prophecies a year contains 360 days and each day represents a year (Ezekiel 4:6) also known as prophetic time. At the time of the flood it appears that there were 30 days in each month, which is not true today. There are either 29 or 30 days in each month according to the Biblical calendation method. Why this was, we are not told but perhaps there was a shift in the earth’s rotation at the time of the flood in the days of Noah.
It appears from all the criteria which needed to be met that the “little horn” is unquestioningly the papacy of the Roman Catholic Church. Daniel wanted to know the truth concerning “that horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spoke great things, whose look was more stout than his fellows” (Daniel 7:20).
Daniel 7:27 gives us great news. “And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey Him.”
There will be no kingdom to come after the kingdom that “the most High” shall set up. Unlike the kingdoms pictured in this chapter and Daniel 2 which succeeded one another; it will be given to “the people of the saints of the most High” and no kingdom will follow it. Nothing shall deter God from setting up this everlasting kingdom. “Hitherto is the end of the matter” (Daniel 7:28).
But before that kingdom is to be set up, there will be one more earthly kingdom coming on the scene, prior to the setting up of God's everlasting kingdom. We will read about it in Revelation 13, and we read about it in Daniel 2:44. But even that earthly/human kingdom shall come to an end prior to the return of Jesus, when Satan sets up his kingdom for a very short period of time (“one hour”) before it too comes to an end (Revelation 17:12).
In no wise should it be misunderstood that the membership of the Roman Catholic Church is responsible for what the papacy has done. They are deceived, as is most of the world of what the papal power has taken upon itself to do and many will come out of that system when the call is given to “Come out of her My people” (Revelation 18:4). The LORD has His people who are living up to all the light they now have in all the churches and religions of the world which have been corrupted by the “abominations and filthiness of her [Babylon’s] fornication” (Revelation 17:5), and when God’s last call of mercy is given, they will respond to the call to “Come out of her [Babylon] My people” and will comprise the “great multitude” spoken of by John in Revelation 7:9-17.
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- 1. Who is the "little horn" pictured in this chapter?
- 2. When did the judgment begin?
- 3. What Commandment did the "little horn" think to change?
- 4. Did it have the right to do that?
- 5. When did the "little horn" begin its reign? When did the "little horn" have its reign end?
- 6. What calendar should be following if you go by the Bible and the Bible only?
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