(Note: Review the
previous lecture
to help understand this discussion.)
Daniel 7- the 4th beast is
the one that Daniel asks for an explanation and God gives it.
Daniel 7:17 4 beasts = 4
kings = 4 kingdoms
Daniel 7:23
The 4th Beast "will
devour the whole earth and tread it down and crush it'' = The 4th beast
will have power over the whole earth
Daniel also wants to understand the 10
horns and the "Little Horn"
that pulls out or subdues 3 kings.
In
Daniel 7:25
the Little Horn exerts power over the saints for
"time, times and half a time" which
equates with a 3.5 year period during which the Little Horn persecutes the
saints.
Da 7:25 'And he (Little Horn) 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 law;
and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and
half a time.
When the Ancient of Days comes, He
removes the Little Horn from power (cf
2Thes 2:8)
the Ancient of Days came, and judgment
was passed in favor of the saints of the Highest One, and the time arrived
when the saints took possession of the kingdom. (Daniel 7:22)
The Ancient of Days gives the Kingdom
to one like a Son of Man Who possesses that KINGDOM forever and
ever, thus putting an end to all other kingdoms.
"I kept looking in the night visions,
and behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming,
and He came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him. And to
Him was given dominion, glory and a kingdom, That all the peoples,
nations, and men of every language might serve Him. His dominion is an
everlasting dominion which will not pass away; and His kingdom is one
which will not be destroyed. (Daniel 7:13-14)
The Son of Man's Kingdom is
over all the earth will endure forever. The saints will also take possession of the
kingdom.
Does
DANIEL 7 have the church in
view?
The answer is "no". How can we
be certain? Because the church
was a mystery (a truth hidden in times past but revealed in the NT) until the under the inspiration of the Spirit, the apostle Paul revealed it
3:1 For this reason I, Paul, the
prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles--
2 if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace which was
given to me for you;
3 that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I
wrote before in brief.
4 And by referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight
into the mystery of Christ,
5 which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it
has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit;
6 to be specific (Paul explains the "mystery of Christ"), that the
Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow
partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel (Ephesians
3:1-6)
The "mystery of Christ" is that there are not just Jews
who will respond to the gospel but Gentiles will believe the gospel and
become
fellow heirs with the believing Jews. Paul explains this in (Ephesians
2:11-18) writing to
the predominantly Gentile church in Ephesus...
11 Therefore remember, that formerly
you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called "Uncircumcision" by the
so-called "Circumcision," which is performed in the flesh by human hands--
12 remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from
the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise,
having no hope and without God in the world.
13 But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought
near by the blood of Christ.
14 For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one, and broke
down the barrier of the dividing wall,
15 by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments
contained in ordinances, that in Himself He might make the two into one
new man, thus establishing peace,
16 and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by
it having put to death the enmity.
17 AND HE CAME AND PREACHED PEACE (in the Gospel) TO YOU WHO WERE FAR AWAY
(the Gentiles), AND PEACE TO
THOSE WHO WERE NEAR (the Jews);
18 for through Him (Christ) we both (Jew and Gentile) have our access in one Spirit to the Father.
And so we see that Jew and Gentile are
reconciled through Christ's death into one body which is known as the
Church and represents an entity not described in the Old Testament. This truth was
foreshadowed in the Abrahamic Covenant
when God promises to bless all the nations through Abraham, God was
preaching the gospel
to the Gentiles, Paul writing that
the Scripture, foreseeing that God
would justify the Gentiles by faith,
preached the gospel
beforehand to Abraham, saying, "All the nations shall be blessed in you."
(Galatians
3:8)
And I will bless those who bless you,
And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families
of the earth shall be blessed." (Genesis
12:3)
since Abraham will surely become a
great and mighty nation, and in him all the nations (synonymous
with "Gentiles") of the earth will be blessed? (Genesis
18:18)
"And in your seed all the nations
(synonymous with "Gentiles") of the earth shall be blessed, because you
have obeyed My voice." (Genesis
22:18)
So to understand Daniel's prophecy keep in mind that there is a time when God calls out His church, and that
this truth is not described in Daniel. With this background let's look
at...
Revelation 12:1-6
John describes...
1 And a great sign appeared in heaven:
a woman (Israel) clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on
her head a crown of twelve stars;
2 and she was with child (Messiah); and she cried out, being in labor and
in pain to give birth.
3 And another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon
having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven diadems.
4 And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven, and threw them
to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give
birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child (King Herod
tried to kill him).
5 And she gave birth to a son, a male child (Jesus), Who is to rule all
the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God (His
ascension after His resurrection) and to His throne.
{TIME GAP}
6 And the woman (Israel) fled into the wilderness where she had a place
prepared by God, so that there she might be nourished for one thousand two
hundred and sixty days (1260 days equates with 3.5 years the same time period as the "time, times
and half a time" in Daniel) .
Revelation 12:1-6 gives an overview and
the remaining verses in Revelation 12 give more background. Note that between
Revelation 12:5 to 12:6
there is a time gap of almost 2000 years. This time begins with the birth, crucifixion,
ascension of Jesus Christ and culminates some 2000 (plus) years later when the woman (Israel) flees into the
wilderness.
And so in
Revelation 12:7-17
John gives the details overviewed in the first 6 verses, explaining that...
7 there was war in heaven, Michael and
his angels waging war with the dragon (Satan). And the dragon and his
angels waged war,
8 and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found
for them in heaven.
9 And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called
the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to
the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.
10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, "Now the salvation, and the
power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have
come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, who accuses
them before our God day and night.
11 "And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of
the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even to
death.
12 "For this reason, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them. Woe to
the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having
great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time."
13 And when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he
persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child.
14 And the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, in order
that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she was^
nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the
serpent.
15 And the serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the
woman, so that he might cause her to be swept away with the flood.
16 And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and
drank up the river which the dragon poured out of his mouth.
17 And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make war
with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and hold
to the testimony of Jesus.
What transpires when the devil loses
the war in heaven and is thrown down to earth?
From
Revelation 12:9-10
we observe that the deceiver, the devil accuses
the
followers of Christ on earth but that they overcome by...
(1) Blood of Lamb - Christ's
precious blood paid
the ransom price for sin. Sin gives Satan power over us so if it is taken care of,
Satan no longer has power over us.
(2) The word of their testimony -
Those "bought with the price of His blood" testify that
they belong to Jesus Christ. In his first epistle John writes that greater is He
(Christ) Who is in these saints then he who
is in the world (Satan).
(3) They did not love their live even
to death - In short they were willing to lay down their life for Christ rather than
compromise (cf. Shadrach, etc) When they were confronted with the choice
to deny Christ in some form or another or else lose their life, they
will say in essence...
''Take my life, I'm already dead. I've died with Christ. Nevertheless I
live. Absent from the body, present with the Lord.''
John records in
Revelation 12:12
that they "rejoice in heaven" because the devil has been kicked out. On
the other hand there is "Woe to the earth". Why? John says that the devil has
great wrath because he knows his time is short.
When does the dragon persecute the
woman?
When he is cast out of heaven and
thrown down to the earth, he persecutes the woman, Israel, for time, times
and half a time (3.5 years, 1260 days)
How does he persecute the woman
(Israel)?
In
Revelation 12:15
we read that "the serpent poured water
like a river out of his mouth after the woman so that he might cause her
to be swept away with the flood". Although this statement could represent
a figure of speech (e.g., flood representing a military force), it could
literally be a huge
flood by which Satan tries to destroy those who are running from him.
Who are "the rest of her offspring"
in
Revelation 12:17?
Israel was called to be a kingdom of
priests unto God and were to take the gospel to the whole world. They did
not do this. There is a time when Jews in Revelation will become witnesses
and Gentiles will be saved. Whoever these "offspring" are, they keep
the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. (for more
discussion of Revelation 12 see
Revelation - Lecture 11)
When is Satan cast out of heaven and
how does this relate to the Little Horn's wearing down of the saints in
Daniel 7:25?
The casting down of Satan takes place at the beginning of the 1260 days,
contemporaneous with with the 3.5 year ("time, times and half a time" in
Daniel 7:25)
period when the "Little Horn" (the Antichrist) persecutes the saints.
Revelation 13
First, by way of review, remember that
in
Daniel 7:2-3, 7
Daniel writes
"I was looking in my vision by night,
and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea.
3 And four great beasts were coming up from the sea,
different from one another...7 After this I kept looking in the night
visions, 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.
John sees a similar beast coming
out of sea having
10 horns.
Rev 12:17 And the dragon (Satan)
was enraged with the woman (Israel), and went off to make war with the
rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the
testimony of Jesus.
13:1 And he stood (note that some Greek texts read "I stood" which would
be John, whereas if the correct rending is "he stood" it indicates the
Dragon. As one reads on this distinction is not crucial accurately
interpreting the following verses) on the sand of the seashore. And I
(this is clearly John) saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten
horns and seven heads, (cf "a great red dragon having
seven heads and ten horns" in
Revelation 12:3)
and on his horns were ten diadems, and on his heads were blasphemous
names.
2 And the beast which I saw was like a leopard, and his feet were like
those of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. And the dragon
gave him his power and his throne and great authority.
3 And I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain, and his fatal wound
was healed. And the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast;
The Dragon in
Revelation 12:3 has
7 heads and
10 horns but in that context, he is in the time of Jesus' birth.
What could correspond to the "7 heads and 10 horns" at the time of
Christ's first coming? What empire was in power when Christ was born?
Obviously Rome. Who was ruling over the area of Bethlehem at that time?
The Scripture says it was King Herod and Matthew records that Herod tried
to put Jesus to death
"Then when Herod saw that he had been
tricked by the magi, he became very enraged, and sent and slew all the
male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its environs, from two
years old and under, according to the time which he had ascertained from
the magi." (Mt
2:16)
If you are keeping a timeline,
associated with Christ's birth you could write ''Beast with 7heads and 10
horns''
In short, in these events, we see the
perpetual drama of the hatred and persecution of the Jews, God's chosen
people. Why? Because from the Jews would come the Christ, of Whom it was prophesied (In Genesis
3:15, the "first
gospel" or protevangelium, God declared to Satan "I will put enmity
between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He [Christ]
shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise Him on the heel") that
He would crush the
head of the Serpent. When Jesus Christ was at His weakest point on the
Cross, He Who knew no sin, was made sin for us so that we might become the
righteousness of Christ in Him. At that moment, Jesus crushed the head of
the Serpent. The writer of Hebrews explains that...
Since then the children share in
flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that
through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death,
that is, the devil
15 and might deliver those who through fear of death were subject to
slavery all their lives. (Hebrews
2:14-15)
So Christ crushed the serpent's head at
Calvary.
Now back to
Revelation 12:3
where we observe "a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns",
which represents Satan who energizes a kingdom, which is the "Revived Roman empire".
This is the same one Daniel had described as a "dreadful and terrifying"
beast (Daniel 7:7).
What is the difference between 13:1
and 12:3?
Revelation 12:3
3 And another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon
having seven heads and ten horns, and on his
heads were seven diadems.
Revelation 13:1
1 And he stood on the sand of the seashore. And I
(this is clearly John) 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.
In
Revelation 12:3
the 7 diadems were on his heads but in
Revelation 13:1 describing
the beast coming out of the sea, the diadems are on the horns, not on the heads.
Note that in
Revelation 13
you we are looking
back in time and we see the
leopard then the bear and then the lion. On the other
hand Daniel in
Daniel 7
is looking forward in time and sees first the lion, then the bear and then
the leopard.
In
Revelation 13
what we see is that ‘’...the beast...like a
leopard...bear...lion...’’ represents the "DT beast" (the Revived Roman
Empire) which has absorbed the characteristics of
the other 3 "beastly" kingdoms.
Who energizes the beast of
Revelation 13?
Satan "the dragon gave him his power
and his throne and great authority."
You might ask "Does Satan have the
power to do this?"
If you recall when Jesus went into the
wilderness to be tempted by the devil, he offered Christ all the kingdoms
of the world, Matthew's gospel recording that
Again, the devil took Him to a very
high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world, and their
glory; and he said to Him, "All these things will I give You, if You
fall down and worship me." (Mt
4:8-9)
Jesus did not dispute Satan’s claim to
all the kingdoms of the world. So clearly Satan had been
given this authority.
Other passages also underscore Satan's
authority over the world...
Ephesians 2:2
in which you formerly walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the
power of the air (Satan), of the spirit that is now working in the sons of
disobedience.
John 12:31 "Now judgment is upon
this world; now the ruler of this world (Satan) shall be cast
out.
John 16: 11 and concerning judgment,
because the ruler of this world (Satan)
has been judged.
1John 5:19
We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in the power of the
evil one (Satan)
Eventually Satan will be
kicked out of heaven (as we saw above in
Revelation 12:7-9).
And based on his hatred of the woman (Israel), Satan will energize the
beast. John then records
3 And [I saw] one of his heads as if it had been slain,
and his fatal wound was healed. And the whole earth was amazed [and
followed] after the beast; 4 and they worshiped the dragon (SATAN),
because he gave his authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast,
saying, "Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him?"
(Revelation 13:3-4)
Why did they worship the dragon, Satan?
Because he
gives his authority to the beast, whom they also worship. Who could ever come against this great beast? The
lost world has always wanted to be on the ‘’winning team’’ and so the
earth dwellers bow down to the
devil and the beast because of their power, etc.
John again describes a "fatal wound"
that "was healed"
Revelation 13:12-14
12 And he (the second beast, the false
prophet) exercises all the authority of the first beast (antichrist) in
his presence. And he makes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship
the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed.
13 And he (false prophet) performs great signs, so that he even makes fire
come down out of heaven to the earth in the presence of men.
14 And he (false prophet) 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.
And so we observe in
Revelation 13:12 that
the fatal wound is healed. This is one
head out of 7 that was fatally wounded. In
Revelation 13:14 the second beast
(the false prophet) deceives
those who dwell on the earth.
Now let's cross reference
Revelation 17
8 "The beast that you saw was and is
not, and is about to come up out of the abyss and to go to destruction.
And those who dwell on the earth will wonder, whose name has not been
written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they
see the beast, that he was and is not and will come.
9 "Here is the mind which has wisdom. The seven heads are
seven mountains
on which the woman sits,
10 and they are seven kings; five have fallen, one is, the other has not
yet come; and when he comes, he must remain a little while.
11 "And the beast which was and is not, is himself also an eighth, and is
one of the seven, and he goes to destruction.
12 "And the ten horns which you saw are ten kings, who have not yet
received a kingdom, but they receive authority as kings with the beast for
one hour.
"Regarding the phrase "the seven
heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits and they are
seven kings" some commentaries have said the 7 heads are Rome
upon which Mystery
Babylon sits. A literal reading of the text however leaves no doubt as to
the correct interpretation...
7 heads = 7 mountains = 7 kings (kingdoms)
Now what about the phrase "five
have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; and when he
comes, he must remain a little while". This can be outlined as...
5 + 1 + 1
The last one is the seventh and
#7 must remain a little while
Then he says "the beast which was and
is not, is himself also an eighth, and is one of the seven, and he goes to
destruction"
What do we know about the beast?
Revelation 13 says he has 7 heads, 10 horns with crowns,
and that one
of the heads was wounded but was healed and so this head survived.
The 5 that are fallen are 5 empires
which have interacted historically with Israel
Egypt
Assyria (722BC)
Babylon (586BC)
Medo-Persia
Greece with 4 heads
So by the time John had written the
Revelation, 5 empires had
fallen and "one is" = the Roman Empire, which would be the Sixth. But did Rome last
forever? No. Rome declined in power by 476AD.
So you have
5 that were,
one that is and then
a gap in time from
476AD. There have been numerous attempts to revive the Roman Empire but
they have all failed. So Rome had a fatal wound and
is again =
Revived Rome which would be #7 that has 10
horns and 10
toes,
united (not one solid
federation but mingled like iron and clay, part brittle and part
strong.)
How do we know there is time
gap?
Comparing recorded history with the prophecies in Daniel 2 (10 toes) and Daniel 7 (10 horns), we can see that there was never a time in which
the Roman Empire was divided into a loose confederation of 10 kingdoms.
Neither does history document a stage of Rome with 10 horns or kingdoms from
which an 11th horn arose and then conquered 3 horns leaving a total
of 8. In short, these events prophesied in Daniel 2 and Daniel 7 are future
events, events which correspond to those described in Revelation 13 and
also in Revelation 17.
Revelation 17:10
and they are seven kings; five have fallen,
one is,
the other has not
yet come; and when he comes, he must remain a little while.
'Remain a little while'
= When Rome is revived it remains only a little while. The
5 that are fallen are
(Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and the one that
''is'' as John writes
Revelation in 70AD, Rome, then Revived Rome which gives Israel the right
to rebuild their Temple and also gives rise to the Antichrist who is
one of the 7 but is
the 8th and he is the
final power. That's what we see in Rev 13 and that is what we will look at
next week when we look at ''Beauty and the Beast''.
Revelation 17:11
And the beast which was and is not, is himself also an
eighth,
and is
one of the seven, and he goes to destruction.
What about this eighth who is one of
the seven?
After the Little Horn comes up
among the 10 and conquers 3 of the 10 (leaving 7), what would he be numerically speaking? He
would be the remaining 7 plus 1 or in fact the 8th. At the same time
the Little Horn is also one of the seven. You have 7 kingdoms and
one of the heads that was wounded (Rome)
and then had a fatal wound, then was healed, then you have a Revived Roman
Empire. This may be what God is trying to show us.
Let's recap: The
one that
''is'' was ROME but it
would come back as the REVIVED ROMAN EMPIRE. The 8th is one of the
7 but when the 8th comes the 7th only remains a little while so in the
last days of the 10 horns, in the days of the Antichrist, there is a
Revived Roman Empire (''revived 4th Beast''). That Revived Beast
with 10 horns gives rise to the LITTLE HORN, who is one of the 7, and when
he comes out he is an 8th. (Are you confused? This is somewhat confusing.
Read the texts again and look over these notes to help understand this
explanation). The "Little Horn" takes over the Roman Empire at the middle
of the 7 years (see
Daniel's Seventieth Week)
and at that time he is the dominant power. All the others, including the 3
that he has conquered and the rest look at him and give him their kingdoms
and rule with him until the very end. But this "Little horn" is supreme.
