A Big Deal about a Little Horn

Notes
Transcript
A Big Deal about a Little Horn Daniel 7:7-8, 11-12, 21-26 I. Intro: The Bible in One Hand and the Newspaper in the Other? On Family Life the other day, I caught a portion of Greg Laurie’s broadcast. As I understand it, he’s preaching a series about the end times right now. In this message, he commended a practice that I have often heard suggested: Christians should be reading the Bible in one hand with the newspaper in the other. This common sentiment seems to imply that we should expect that, if we are approaching the final season of human history, anticipating Jesus’s imminent return to rapture the church, certain events may unfold before our eyes that will serve as “signs” of his near arrival. And we should be watching for those signs, paying attention to the news so that we remain aware. I fundamentally disagree with this practice, and I believe taking this seriously has led to much misunderstanding of biblical prophecy. I have a book on my shelf entitled Not Afraid of the Antichrist, written by two Charismatic Bible scholars, one a Messianic Jew, and I disagree with both of them on a lot of things. The subtitle of their book is Why We Don’t Believe in a PreTribulation Rapture, and with that I do agree. The message this morning has little to do with the tribulation, so we won’t explore that topic, but the little horn of Daniel 7 has often been associated with the antichrist, so their book has some relevant things to say about that. Regarding Greg Laurie’s newspaper comment, these authors write, “It is one thing to say, ‘Current events might fit God’s plans,’ or, ‘This fits the ways that God works in history,’ and quite another to try to match them point-for-point as if biblical texts were predicting our generation’s newspaper headlines. So far every other generation that has used this technique of interpreting Scripture by news headlines has proved mistaken.” As I said last week, putting the pieces together of prophecy and fulfillment in Scripture and history is very challenging. But I believe one reason it has become so challenging is that for many of us—and I’m including myself in this—the first or dominant exploration of end times theology was not an inductive study of Scripture, but a series of novels or movies. For me, the Left Behind series of novels fueled my imagination and my understanding of how the future would play out, as a teenager, before I ever dug into the Scriptures for myself. For others, popular presentations like A Thief in the Night or Hal Lindsey’s The Late Great Planet Earth made everything seem so simple and coherent. A novelization or a movie draws you in, relates you to characters, and makes everything so vivid, and the plotline seems smooth and straightforward. The problem is that, when you come to the Scriptures, it isn’t like that. To understand the fulfillment of prophecy, you’ve got to pull passages from different portions of Scripture, some poetry, some visionary, some narrative, some teaching, and figure out how they relate to each other. You’ve got to untangle when to take something symbolically and when to take something literally. And, like in my own case, if you’ve already seen a neat and tidy unfolding in an action-packed novel, that storyline colors and shapes what you think when you read passages of Scripture. So, I’m going to ask you all to do what is nearly impossible. As we explore the next few chapters of Daniel, I’m asking you to try hard to consider these texts freshly. Try to get out of your mind images of Rayford Steele, Bruce Barnes, Buck Williams, and Nicolae Carpathia. This morning, instead, we are re-entering Daniel’s visionary world, and we’re focusing on the fourth beast of Daniel’s vision in Daniel chapter 7. As we looked at last week, Daniel saw this vision that depicted a series of four beasts rising up out of the sea, and a heavenly scene with God on the throne and a humanlike figure approaching God’s throne. Daniel doesn’t understand the meaning of what he’s seeing all by himself, so he asks one of the angels he sees in the heavenly scene in his vision to explain. The angel summarizes the main message of the vision in verses 17-18: “17 These four great beasts are four kings who shall arise out of the earth. 18 But the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, forever and ever.” Or as we summarized the message: God rules over the beastly kingdoms of the world, and he will judge the wicked and establish his kingdom for his people through the Son of Man, even as persecution of God’s people increases. This morning, we’re going to focus our attention on the fourth beast and its horns. Let’s begin with Daniel 7:7-8, Daniel’s description of the fourth beast. II. Daniel’s Description of the Fourth Beast (Dan. 7:7-8) 7 After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, terrifying and dreadful and exceedingly strong. It had great iron teeth; it devoured and broke in pieces and stamped what was left with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. 8 I considered the horns, and behold, there came up among them another horn, a little one, before which three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots. And behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things. As we said last week, historically, the fourth beast should likely be recognized as the historical Roman Empire. This is in parallel with Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in chapter 2, where the fourth kingdom depicted in the statue we identified with the historical Roman Empire. Daniel may have made this connection himself, connecting the iron teeth of this beast with the iron legs of the statue. This monster is unlike anything Daniel knows of in nature; unlike the first three kingdoms, he cannot compare it with anything familiar. Later, in verse 19, he adds a detail, that this beast had bronze claws. But it’s the action of the fourth beast that should draw our attention. With its great iron teeth, it devoured the first three beasts; with its bronze claws it broke in pieces the first three beasts; and with its feet it stamped what was left of the first three beasts. If this kind of scene were to come up on my television or computer, in one of those nature documentaries where cameras have recorded predators doing what predators do, this would’ve been the point when I would’ve changed the channel. Daniel identifies a major difference between this fourth beast and the three previous ones: it has ten horns. None of the first three beasts had horns. Horns, in Scripture and in the ancient world more broadly, are often symbolic of military or political power or simply strength of some kind. Daniel counted ten horns, and he focused his attention on them to see if he could understand what they might signify. But, as he was thinking it over, an eleventh horn, which he only describes initially as “little” suddenly came up on the beast. As the little one was coming up, three of the original horns were uprooted, and that passive voice indicates that Daniel recognized God as the one who ripped them out. Then, Daniel’s attention was riveted on this new little horn, and he observed that the little horn was very bizarre; it had what appeared to be human eyes, and it had a human mouth, and it was speaking loudly. Daniel apparently heard what the horn was saying but did not record it. Last week, we talked about how we need to recognize the correlation of heaven and earth in this vision. Daniel is seeking to describe two things he saw in the vision, one thing happening in heaven and one thing happening on earth, but he is communicating that he watched these things unfold at the same time. Thus, while he’s hearing the little horn speaking loudly, his attention shifts to the heavenly scene, featuring God in radiant attire with fire all around and an uncountable multitude of angelic servants standing around, and Daniel saw books being opened in the heavenly courtroom. So, Daniel’s expecting a verdict of some kind to be announced. Then, in verses 11-12, Daniel’s attention shifts back down to earth, to that little horn of the fourth beast, and he watches the judgment of the fourth beast. Look at verses 11-12. III. Daniel Sees the Judgment of the Fourth Beast (Dan. 7:11-12) 11 I looked then because of the sound of the great words that the horn was speaking. And as I looked, the beast was killed, and its body destroyed and given over to be burned with fire. 12 As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away, but their lives were prolonged for a season and a time. So, Daniel first notes that he was still hearing the little horn’s words; the little horn hadn’t stopped speaking. Notice what happens next. We might expect that the little horn might be chopped off or uprooted, like the other three horns had been uprooted earlier. Instead, Daniel watches the whole fourth beast, that incomparable monster being slaughtered, and its carcass was then tossed into the flames. Those passive verbs again indicate the action of God himself. I think we are to see here the outworking of the verdict against the fourth beast, which of course includes the little horn. The books were opened in the court of heaven, and the evidence was presented to convict the fourth beast of its crimes, and Daniel then sees the execution of the sentence against the fourth beast on earth. But then Daniel feels the need to back up and tell his readers what he had seen happen to the previous three beasts. He already pretty clearly implied, though he didn’t say it as clearly as he could have, that the fourth beast had overcome the previous three beasts somehow, back in verse 7. The “what was left” that the fourth beast stamped, and the assumed object of the fourth beast’s devouring and breaking in pieces was the three previous beasts. However, here in verse 12, Daniel seems to be providing the heavenly perspective on what that means. Rather than total destruction, which is what happens to the fourth beast, God took away the dominion of the first three beasts. That is to say, he removed their power, took away their dominance on the earth. But he also allowed those first three beasts to live “for a season and a time.” Not forever, but “for a season and a time.” The passive verbs again indicate God’s actions here. What should we make of this? Perhaps this lines up quite well with what we noticed in chapter 2. While the four sections of the statue in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream represented four successive historical empires— Babylon then Medo-Persia then Greece then Rome—there was a kind of unity depicted in the one image, the unified statue. And when the stone impacted the feet of the statue, we noted how the whole statue—all four metals—were destroyed together. Thus, it seems that Nebuchadnezzar’s dream not only represented four successive human kingdoms that would rise to power in the Middle East one after the other, but it also represented all human kingdoms, all nations throughout history. So also here; the prolonging of the lives of the first three beasts may indicate their incorporation into the fourth beast and may also indicate that the doom of the fourth beast will prove to be the actual doom of all of them. Daniel then shifts his attention back to the heavenly scene and sees the arrival of “one like a son of man” approaching God’s throne in heaven, and God gives to this human the everlasting kingdom. So, the judgment that spelled the doom of the fourth beast proves to be the reward for the “one like a son of man.” Said differently: the judgment goes against the beasts and for the human! Daniel doesn’t understand the meaning of what he sees, so he asks for more information from one of the angels in the vision, and the angel provides the summary we noted earlier in verses 17-18. But that doesn’t satisfy Daniel. Don’t you love that? The prophet is just as curious as we all are! He wants to know more details about that fourth beast and its horns and especially the little horn. The angel graciously obliges, but we’re not going to get as much of an answer as we’d like, and Daniel doesn’t seem to come to a much better understanding afterward. But, before we hear from the angel, let’s zoom in on one particular detail about the little horn that Daniel adds in verse 21. We looked at this briefly last week, but let’s be sure we remember this detail as we press on. In verse 21, Daniel adds, “As I looked, this horn made war with the saints and prevailed over them.” What this warring against the saints means and where it fits in the fulfillment is really the crux of the difficulty in interpreting this chapter. But, let’s bring in the angel’s explanation regarding the horns and see what we can discover. Look at verses 24-26: IV. The Angel’s Explanation of the Horns (Dan. 7:24-26) 24 As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings shall arise, and another shall arise after them; he shall be different from the former ones, and shall put down three kings. 25 He shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and shall think to change the times and the law; and they shall be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time. 26 But the court shall sit in judgment, and his dominion shall be taken away, to be consumed and destroyed to the end. A. Poetry First, notice that we’ve shifted to poetry. Most of our modern English Bibles recognize and indicate that Daniel has shifted to a rhythmic, poetic use of Aramaic in these verses by indenting some of the lines. This poetic style also appears in verses 9-10 and 13-14. This suggests that Daniel recognizes the angel’s explanation as containing some significant figurative language. Of course, this muddies the waters for us because this creates ambiguities and allows for some flexibility of meaning that we might not be terribly comfortable with. B. Ten Horns = Ten Kings So, the angel identifies the symbolism of the horns for Daniel. Ten horns on the fourth beast equals ten kings exercising authority during the days of the fourth kingdom. That seems straightforward…but it’s not. Are the ten sequential emperors or are they ten regional rulers whose time in office overlaps either exactly or partially? Since, at one level at least, the fourth kingdom represents the historical Roman Empire, and we know from history that they developed a system of rule where various provinces or smaller regions were ruled by what would be known as “vassal kings” or “client kings,” this could be a prophetic reference to them. We know of these “client kings” from the Bible as well, seeing as several are mentioned in the New Testament who had the same name: Herod. One other ambiguity presents itself right off the bat as well: should we take the number ten literally? The number ten has appeared in the book of Daniel as a symbolic indicator of completion, of maximum excellence, or just a whole lot more—Daniel and his friends were ten times healthier than the other Babylonian students, and Nebuchadnezzar ordered the furnace heated ten times hotter. Could these ten kings be a way of pointing to a complete line of kings, or something like that? Or, knowing what’s coming with the next one and considering this from the vantage point of Jews who would suffer under the oppression of these kings, could it be a way of saying, “Just when you think the reign of terror is complete, then there’s this guy!” Or, thinking about the historical Roman Empire in particular, when Roman rule seems complete and established, then a trouble-making king arises from within and asserts himself in such a way as to upset the establishment, so to speak. Lots of suggestions have been made throughout Jewish and Christian history. Neither the angel nor any other biblical writer ever spells this out for us. Some have assumed that this must mean that they haven’t arisen yet in history. For Daniel at least, and maybe for all of us, their identity is irrelevant. We really want to know about the loud-mouthed little horn, who represents another naughty king. C. The Loud-Mouthed Little Horn = Another Naughty King The angel doesn’t give much description to the eleventh king depicted as the little horn that came up while Daniel was watching the vision unfold. He’s somehow different from the other kings, and he “shall put down three kings.” Hone in here for just a moment. Last week, I drew our attention to the fact that what happens to the three horns is described differently in different verses. Daniel refers to it twice himself. First, in verse 8, he said, “I considered the horns, and behold, there came up among them another horn, a little one, before which three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots.” I think the passive verb “plucked up by the roots” or “uprooted” refers to the action of God, in line with the action of God implied in all of the other passive verbs in the vision. But then, in verse 20, Daniel described the same thing a bit differently; he said there, “and the other horn that came up and before which three of them fell.” They were uprooted by God becomes “they fell.” Now, in verse 24, the angel says that the horns represent kings, and the king represented by the little horn “shall put down three kings.” The angel focuses on the action and involvement of this late-coming king, but the action he describes is not very clear. What does it mean to “put down” three kings? And does it happen all at once or over a period of time? Does “put down” mean to subdue or capture? Does it mean to so control them that they are merely “puppet kings”? Does it mean to have them assassinated? Does it mean to conquer their territory or territories? The word itself has been used in Daniel to describe God humbling Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar humbling others, and Belshazzar refusing to humble himself. Again, lots of guesses have been made, but let’s just admit the ambiguity and move on. One more point of ambiguity: should we take the number three literally? It can be used the way we might use the phrase “a few.” Or we might say “two or three,” whereas if we actually counted there were five. So, the angel could be simply indicating that this different king represented by the little horn in the vision will show off his power by taking power from a few other kings within the fourth kingdom. In any case, the most important thing is in verse 25: this king’s blasphemy and war against the saints. D. Blasphemy and War Against the Saints The angel indicates that this king will be a blasphemer, verbally opposing the God of Israel, and he shall persecute the saints, wringing them out like clothes soaked in water. The third thing he is said to do is that he shall “think to change the times and the law.” Now, according to Daniel himself, back in 2:21, God alone “changes times,” which seems to imply something of God’s sovereign prerogative to determine how long particular states of affairs on earth will continue as they are. So, here, this king would like to usurp a prerogative, a right that is God’s alone. Alternatively, the word for “times” could refer specifically to sacred times, holy days for God’s people, so that this king is somehow seeking to alter the religious practices of God’s people, forbidding them to gather for worship at the God-ordained times. This would connect with the word “law,” so that this king apparently would have an interest in forcing God’s people to disobey God’s law or forbidding them from obeying it. But notice that the angel is careful to say that this king only “shall think to change the times and the law”; it doesn’t say he’ll succeed. All that may be claimed here is that this king may have what we might call a “godcomplex” that is directly impinging on the practices of God’s people. But in his persecution and oppression of God’s people, the angel notes that the saints “shall be given into his hand,” another passive verb to highlight God’s oversight of all of this. Even as this king pretends at godlike supremacy, the one true God remains sovereign, overruling and overseeing every move he makes. It is God who gives the saints into the hand of the king represented by the little horn. And God exercises his sovereignty to limit the time of this persecution; it will only last “a time, times, and half a time,” no longer, and no shorter. This is a key point to dwell on. This ambiguous phrase, “a time, times, and half a time” lines up with what Daniel described in verses 21-22. The horn’s war against the saints would continue to be successful only, verse 22, “until the Ancient of Days came, and judgment was given for the saints of the Most High, and the time came when the saints possessed the kingdom.” But this sequence is reflecting what Daniel saw in the vision; Daniel saw the little horn warring against the saints, and then Daniel saw it stop warring against the saints when God pronounced the verdict in heaven against the fourth beast and for “the one like a son of man,” who in some way represents the saints, and then Daniel saw the fourth beast on earth destroyed. When the angel comes to this point in his explanation, he does not repeat the sequence indicators. Verse 25 describes the king’s successful wearing out of the saints, and then verse 26 simply says, “But the court shall sit in judgment, and his dominion shall be taken away, to be consumed and destroyed to the end.” That last phrase is crucial to attend to: “to the end.” This seems to imply, not a sudden destruction, all at once, but rather a process that unfolds over time. The exact same phrase, “to the end,” appeared in Daniel 6:26 describing God’s everlasting kingdom; King Darius had proclaimed that the God of Daniel, “is the living God, enduring forever; his kingdom shall never be destroyed, and his dominion shall be to the end.” He means that God’s kingdom will last, it will continue, whereas human kingdoms will fade or be conquered. The king represented by the little horn will “be consumed and destroyed to the end.” This sets up an interesting possibility that we’ll explore in just a bit, that the little horn king represents, not a particular individual in history, but a repeated pattern that recurs in different historical rulers. But, before going down that rabbit hole, let’s consider closely the meaning of the cryptic phrase “a time, times, and half a time.” E. A Time, Times, and Half a Time We talked about the Aramaic word translated “time” in this passage back in chapter 4. It is used several times in chapter 2, twice in chapter 3, four times in chapter 4, and, in this chapter, it appears once in verse 12, and three times here in verse 25. As we saw in our discussion of chapter 4, in none of the earlier uses in the book could it possibly mean “year.” Our Bible translations don’t translate the word as “year” for good reason. But many students of Scripture say that it must mean “year” in this verse, so that this cryptic phrase must refer to a 3 ½-year period of time. This time frame is then specified as the second half of a seven-year tribulation period, which is sometimes further labeled as “The Great Tribulation.” Because this is such an important detail to folks who see the end times highlighting this specific period of time, I’m going to spend an inordinate amount of time this morning showing why this phrase almost certainly cannot mean 3 ½ years. That’s a pretty strong assertion, and it makes a huge difference in how I view the end times unfolding, so let me support it with some data. First, I just note again that there is no evidence that the word itself can mean “year.” It is a word that refers to a generic, unspecified period of time. I believe the angel could’ve provided a specific time reference if that is what God intended. But he does not do so. Aramaic has a word for “year” that the book of Daniel uses several times, so he could’ve used it here. Second, you know how English can make a singular noun plural by often simply adding an “s” to the end of the word? Well, Hebrew and Aramaic both do that, too; they add a particular ending to a singular noun to make it plural. But, Hebrew and Aramaic have an additional feature that English doesn’t have; they can add a different ending to a singular noun to make it “dual.” They can just add a couple of letters on the end of a noun to make it say “two of these.” Folks who see this phrase as referring to 3 ½ years treat the word “times” as though it were dual, insisting that it must mean precisely “two times” or “two years,” but the Aramaic ending indicates a plural, not a dual. Thus, “times” equals many times. Now, it’s true that two is also plural, and a plainly plural word can refer to two of something, but context would have to make that really clear. Like, for example, when Daniel said that the little horn had humanlike eyes, I assume there were two of them because humans typically have two eyes. We will run into this phrase again in chapter 12 verse 7, where Daniel is writing in Hebrew again. We can go ahead and discuss the Hebrew word used for time there. It’s a very common word, occurring over 200 times in the Old Testament, and the first occurrence helps us understand the most specific meaning it can have. It is used in Genesis 1:14, in the creation account, where the ESV translates it as “seasons,” specifically in distinction from “days and years.” Its most common usage, however, is to emphasize an appointed or set time, very often a time appointed by God for certain events to take place. For example, the feasts of Yahweh in the Mosaic Law are referred to by this word repeatedly in Leviticus. Thus, in over 200 occurrences, there are no clear examples of this word being used to indicate “year.” Daniel himself uses the word once in chapter 8 and three times in chapter 11, and the ESV translates each occurrence “the appointed time.” We’ll tackle the difficult context of this phrase in chapter 12 when we get there. So, if the Hebrew and Aramaic don’t really give us any reason to believe that this is a reference to “years,” why do so many students of Scripture think that’s what it’s referring to? Well, I think it’s because of the way the equivalent Greek phrase appears in the book of Revelation. The meaning of the Greek word is parallel to the Hebrew and Aramaic words; the word typically refers to a non-specific period of time, or, when it is specific, it refers to “seasons,” as in Galatians 4:10, where it is used in distinction from “days and months…and years.” But, in Revelation 11, 12, and 13, we find a reference to this phrase, “time, times, and half a time,” connected to references to 1,260 days and 42 months, which seems to offer a more specific period of time that does reflect approximately 3 ½ years (but not precisely). Seeing that connection in the book of Revelation, many students of Scripture are quick to then import those specifications back into the book of Daniel. Typically, there’s a technical term in biblical studies for that kind of interpretive move: that’s a “no-no.” In Revelation, John is borrowing this phrase from Daniel; we can’t assume that these other time periods in Revelation are supposed to reflect what’s going on in Daniel. That has to be demonstrated from interpreting the book of Revelation, and I’m not convinced by the way this is often done. Something else may be going on with the references to 1,260 days and 42 months, but I defer that discussion for another time. Back in Daniel, this “time, times, and half a time,” when assumed to be 3 ½ years, is often connected to the half-week referred to in Daniel 9:27, the last half of the seventieth week of that mysterious prophecy. However, there is nothing in Daniel that explicitly connects these time periods or the events being described. We’ll explore that also when we come to it. So, if “a time, times, and half a time” doesn’t refer to 3 ½ years, what do we take away from it? What does it mean? Well, it remains cryptic! Here’s my best guess at the point: Daniel 7:25 refers to the oppression of God’s people by the king represented by the little horn for a period of time that will seem long to God’s people, but which will be definitively stopped at God’s appointed time. As with the reference to seven periods of time for Nebuchadnezzar’s humbling, it will last as long as it lasts. The half or divided time perhaps indicates an end unexpected by both oppressors and those being oppressed, but it is guaranteed by God’s promise of intervention. So then, verses 25-26 describe this king’s persecution of the saints, the pronouncement of God’s judgment against this king and the whole kingdom he represents, and the execution of that judgment in terms of removing his power and a process that will end with his final destruction, and then verse 27 highlights the saints’ receiving the final kingdom, God’s kingdom. Thus far, I have not said anything about the little horn’s potential identification as the Antichrist. What should we say about this? F. The Little Horn = Antichrist? What is the Antichrist? Notice that we have to answer the “what” question before we address the “who” question. The Antichrist is often depicted as a dictator who will rule a one-world government at the very end of history. He’s Nicolae Carpathia in the Left Behind series. The profile of the Antichrist is usually drawn from the little horn of Daniel 7, the coming prince of Daniel 9, the self-exalting king of Daniel 11, the man of lawlessness in 2 Thessalonians 2, and the Satan-inspired beast from the sea in Revelation 13. You know what’s conspicuously missing from all these passages? The word “antichrist.” The apostle John gives us the term “antichrist.” He writes to his Christian readers, in 1 John 2:18, “Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour.” Does it seem like a surprise to John that many antichrists have come, or that his readers should be surprised by that fact? No, it seems like that is what should be expected. But then John defines what he means by “antichrist.” In 1 John 2:22, he writes, “Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son.” Then, in 1 John 4:3, he adds, “and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.” Then, in 2 John 7, he adds, “For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist.” So, from John’s profile, Antichrist is his label for false teachers, heretics who reject Jesus’s Messiahship or his true humanity. John’s expectations of Antichrist don’t give any indications of a political leader or a persecutor of God’s people. The apostle Paul’s discussion of the “man of lawlessness” is similar to John’s discussion of “antichrist.” In 2 Thessalonians 2, Paul describes this man in terms of self-exaltation, even putting himself in the place of God in certain unspecified ways, perhaps even claiming divinity for himself, but then Paul, like John, indicates that this figure he’s anticipating to be around when Jesus returns has precursors. Paul writes, in 2 Thessalonians 2:7a, “For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work.” Then, he adds in verses 9-10, “The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, 10 and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.” So, he’ll be a Sataninspired deceiver, but he’s not here described in terms of a political leader or even a persecutor of God’s people, per se. I’ve always been puzzled by this reality. When we talk about the Antichrist, we think primarily in terms of a world leader, a political head, a dictator or emperor. Yet, in the Bible, the word “antichrist” is never applied to such a figure. So, how did the term “antichrist” become dominant, and how did it get applied to the little horn of Daniel 7 and the beast of Revelation? And is it appropriate to do so? I spoke earlier of a possible pattern being presented in Daniel 7 with regard to the little horn. We’ll meet another little horn in chapter 8, and pretty much everyone agrees that the little horn of Daniel 8 is fulfilled in the Greek king Antiochus IV Epiphanes in the 160s BC. This fact has led many students of Scripture to believe that the fourth kingdom in Daniel 7 and Daniel 2 is actually the Greek Empire instead of the Roman Empire, assuming that the little horn in chapter 8 must be the same figure as the little horn in chapter 7. But, as we’ll see when we get to chapter 8, the way the two little horns are described is quite different. Nevertheless, if Daniel 7 points us to a king in the fourth kingdom who is represented by a little horn and Daniel 8 then points us to a king in the third kingdom who is also represented by a little horn, then the common symbolism may be an indication that there will be many such figures in the history of God’s people. Another way to think about this is to recognize that, in the fulfillment of prophecy, there is often, if not always, an already-not-yet pattern of fulfillment. This is true with every aspect of our salvation. Though neither Paul nor John seem to refer specifically to the fourth beast or the little horn of Daniel, they both recognize a final deceiver who hasn’t arrived yet but who casts a shadow backwards over the whole church age, back into the first century. The authors of Not Afraid of the Antichrist make an interesting observation along these lines. If Satan doesn’t know the time of Jesus’s return, then “he must always have an antichrist in waiting, whether Nero, Hitler, Stalin, or others.” This may just be a good reflection of what we’re supposed to take away from this aspect of Daniel’s vision. So, Daniel’s depiction of the little horn is of an opponent of God and an oppressor of God’s people, a primarily political figure. The apostle Paul and the apostle John both warn of a deceiver and false teacher who seems to be active within the church or arise from within the church. It seems like these figures get combined in the book of Revelation, and so we must briefly give some attention to the beasts of Revelation. V. The Beasts of Revelation When you read the book of Revelation, do you assume, even before you start reading, that the beast imagery must be representing the same exact thing that it did in Daniel? Beware of such an assumption. Look at Revelation 13:1: “And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads.” Like all the beasts of Daniel 7, John sees this one coming out of the sea. Like the fourth beast of Daniel 7, this one has ten horns. Unlike the fourth beast of Daniel 7, however, this monster has seven heads. However, this, too, goes back to the vision of Daniel 7, because if you count all the heads of the four beasts, you get seven heads. The third beast, the leopard, had four heads. From this detail alone, we should conclude that the beast of Revelation 13 is not simply an equivalent of the fourth beast of Daniel 7. Rather, this beast is a conglomeration of all four beasts from Daniel 7. There’s more going on in Revelation than in Daniel. Also, the beast in Revelation has ten crowns, which indicates that they represent royalty, ten kings, as in the fourth beast of Daniel 7. This will be made plain in Revelation 17, where the angel talking with John explains that the ten horns represent ten kings. Then, in Revelation 13:2, the beast has features of the lion, bear, and leopard. Furthermore, we had read that the fourth kingdom of Daniel 7 would “devour the whole earth,” and we discussed how we probably shouldn’t view that as an indication of global domination. Likewise, in Revelation 13:7b-8, we read that “authority was given to it over every tribe and people and language and nation, 8 and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.” Must we take this description as indicative of a oneworld government or a global empire, or that every human being on the face of the planet will, in fact, worship this beast? Perhaps not. It may simply point out that, in the larger context, that there are only two possible allegiances for people on the planet: you either follow the Lamb or you follow the beast. This universal language also appeared in Revelation 13:3: “One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed, and the whole earth marveled as they followed the beast.” Many have noted the mimicry of Jesus in both the dragon and the beasts of Revelation, and here he seems to perform a kind of death and resurrection with one of his horns. But, it’s possible that this is the kind of visionary indication that what this beast represents will be a recurring reality, from John’s day until Jesus returns: it keeps dying and rising again. The beast of Revelation 13 also has features of the little horn of Daniel 7, even though no little horn appears on the beast of Revelation. But, in Revelation 13:5, we read, “And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months.” Note the passive verbs here as well. John, in Revelation, does the same thing Daniel does, using the passive voice to indicate God’s action in sovereignly ruling the actions of these beasts. Neither Satan nor human rulers nor nations at large have independent autonomy to act outside of God’s sovereign oversight, and this is made clearest in the most horrific and evil individuals and empires in history. Also, we notice that, as the little horn “made war with the saints and prevailed over them,” so, in Revelation 13:7a, we read that this beast “was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them.” Now let’s take stock of an important historical detail that we’ve left hanging in the background. The Jews of the first century, the Jews of Jesus’s and John’s day, would’ve recognized that the fourth kingdom anticipated in Daniel 2 and Daniel 7 was the Roman Empire, under whose rule they were living at the time. For John, then, to receive this vision while Rome was still ruling, he would not have simply equated the beast he saw with the beast depicted in Daniel 7. But as he sees the features drawn from all four beasts of Daniel 7, including features of the little horn, I think it’s likely he could’ve understood that the Roman Empire he was living under did serve as a partial fulfillment of the beast he saw in his own vision, but he surely also recognized that the historical Roman Empire didn’t exhaust the meaning of the vision. Neither does he envision some kind of revival of the Roman Empire in the future. Rather, relevant to his original audience in the first century and to all Christians who would live after his days, including us, this beast represents the Satan-inspired political power that keeps on coming to oppose Christ and his people. John then sees a second beast, who is later identified as a false prophet, and this beast seems to line up more with the antichrist depiction of John’s letters or the man of lawlessness Paul spoke of. Nevertheless, the two beasts work in tandem, the political and the religious, to cultivate humanity’s allegiance to the ways of the beasts, the ways, ultimately, of Satan. “You have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come.” At the end of the day, what is antichrist? Both a spirit and a person; it’s both the stance of opposition against Christ as well as those who take their stand against Christ. John focuses his description on false teaching and deception that antichrists propagate. Antichrists will be here until the true Christ returns. In Daniel and Revelation, deception and false teaching are connected more to blasphemy, as the kind of speaking that these figures will promote, but the emphasis in these visions is on political power and persecution of God’s people. Roman emperors of the first and second centuries were often labeled as the Antichrist in Christian writings. Famously, during the Protestant Reformation, the leading Reformers labeled various Popes as the Antichrist. In both cases, the label was appropriate. The same government which the apostle Paul labeled as “God’s servant” in Romans 13 began open and aggressive persecution of the church just a few years after Paul wrote that letter under Emperor Nero. After Nero, the persecution died down. But then it ramped up again in the latter days of John’s life, so that John’s vision of these nasty beasts would’ve seemed immediately relevant for him and his readers. What Paul called “God’s servant for your good” had become a vicious beast making war on the saints. On the political side of reality, during the days of Greek supremacy, Antiochus IV Epiphanes was the little horn, antichrist before Christ. During the days of Jesus’s life, Herod and the Jewish leaders could be viewed as antichrist, combining both elements of deception and political power marshalled against the Son of Man and the saints. Emperor Nero in the early 60s, crucifying and burning Christians, executing both Paul and Peter— antichrist. The Romans who destroyed Jerusalem and the temple, slaughtering both Jews and Christians in the late 60s until 70 AD—antichrist. Emperor Domitian who enacted an official empire-wide policy of persecution against Christians, exiling John, burning Scripture, and murdering many Christians— antichrist. Political authority hostile to Christians, false philosophies, false religions all fall under the umbrella of antichrist. Yes, there will be a final one who will be active when Jesus returns, but we should recognize the reality that, as both John and Paul indicated, their threat is real now. However, I again refer to the title of the book I’ve referenced a couple of times now: Not Afraid of the Antichrist. All the speculation I see on the internet seems only to stir fear in the hearts of Christians. If you’re among the saints, you need not fear any antichrist! Jesus and the apostles have warned us of the opposition and temptation we will face. Jesus was clear and emphatic: in the world, you will have tribulation. The apostle Paul was similarly emphatic: we must enter the kingdom of God through many tribulations. And so we will. But endurance and victory are guaranteed for us. More on that next week. We’d better return to Daniel and ask two final questions about his vision: when and so what? VI. Conclusion: When and So What? It is hard to believe in a pre-tribulation rapture when you’re experiencing tribulation as a Christian. The popularity and attractiveness of this teaching in America may say more about our privileged political situation in this nation as well as our lack of intimate connection with the church in other countries than it does about our careful interpretation of Scripture. Now, I know American missionaries in China who believe in a pre-tribulation rapture. They were trained at Dallas Theological Seminary, an excellent institution which promotes the idea of a pre-tribulation rapture. When they see extreme oppression and persecution of Christians, they can always say that it will only get worse. And I agree with that. The ease at which false teaching is promoted and the vile practices of torture and persecution in many nations around the world today certainly indicates that humanity is capable of great atrocities. And they keep on happening. So, for those who don’t see biblical evidence of God taking the church out of the world before the final antichrist figure does his worst, what do we do with Daniel 7 here? When does the king represented by the little horn of the fourth beast make war on the saints? I have seen so many iterations of who the ten kings might’ve been, from the line of Caesars between Julius and Titus who destroyed the temple in 70 AD, to ten Jewish zealot leaders who caused the war against the Romans that resulted in the destruction of the temple in 70 AD, to suggestions about the ten kings being reflective of Roman imperial power in general, and then the Herods rising up in Judea opposing Jesus and then Christians afterward. I’m partial to this last theory in certain senses, but I don’t think there’s enough data to go on to be conclusive or dogmatic. Here’s what I am pretty close to certain about. First, the verdict is in against the power of the little horn. His doom is certain. He has already been condemned, in all of his iterations. In John’s Gospel, Jesus spoke of his upcoming death as a moment of judgment, and this will sit in the background for next Sunday. In John 12:31, Jesus said, “Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out.” At the time of Jesus’s death on the cross, the world was judged by God; the verdict was pronounced against the world, and its ruler, Satan, was cast out. This is what I see depicted in Revelation 12, when the dragon was thrown out of heaven. Thus, if Satan was judged when Jesus died, rose from the dead, and ascended to heaven, then surely the judgment of the fourth beast and its little horn was included in that. But, as with Satan, the influence of the fourth kingdom and its blasphemous persecuting ruler are still a reality in this world. So, the already-not-yet fulfillment of this seems to me to be surrounding the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus during the historical Roman Empire, in the first century. The verdict was declared and set, but the actual execution has yet to come, so that the pattern continues throughout history. Thus, I see the little horn’s wearing out the saints as equivalent to the dragon’s making war against the children of the woman in Revelation 12. And then Revelation 13 shows that Satan utilizes earthly powers, political power and false religion and deception, as his weapons of warfare against the saints. As will become clear next week, the saints in Daniel and in Revelation are the same group of saints Paul speaks of dozens of times: all Christians throughout history. We are living in the midst of the “time, times, and half a time,” the period that seems long to us as we go through it, but will be certainly, finally ended when Jesus returns to execute final judgment. As Daniel had seen the beast “killed and its body destroyed and given over to be burned with fire,” so John sees, in Revelation 19:20, “And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur.” We are told about the certain judgment of our enemies to strengthen us to endure their opposition and to hold to the truth in the face of attempts to deceive us. In the midst of the section describing the beasts of Revelation, twice John interrupts his descriptions of visions to address his audience directly. In Revelation 13:10c, we read, “Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints,” and in Revelation 14:12, we read, “Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.” That is the major application point that is to be drawn out of the book of Revelation, and that’s the major application point from Daniel telling us about the fourth beast and the little horn. Whether false teachers or oppressive governments, their doom is sealed. The saints, the people God has made holy by connecting them to Jesus—we will still be standing when all rulers and all governments made up of fallen, sinful humans are gone. God rules over the persecution of Christians in every nation of this world. He allows the beasts to rage against his people. If you don’t believe that, I don’t know how you will survive, how you will endure when it comes against you. Cling to the cross of Jesus; let no one lead you away from allegiance to him. When you suffer, trust him to walk with you through it, and trust him for the promise of final relief and vindication.
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