Wielding Power 3½ Years

(Daniel 7 – Part Five)

The fourth kingdom is Rome-based. These ten horns (kings or kingdoms) give it their power. This is noted in greater detail in the scarlet-colored beast of Revelation 17:3, which had ten horns.

“And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast” (Revelation 17:12).

There, a harlot rode the beast, symbolizing an apostate church (a woman in prophecy represents a church – Jeremiah 6:2, Ephesians 5:24-27, Jeremiah 3:6, 20, Genesis 3:15, Galatians 4:26). Here in Daniel 7 the ten horns give power to the beast – but, intriguingly, an eleventh horn arises shortly that has special control of three of the ten horns. This represents the same power as that harlot in Revelation.

Revelation 17 reveals a church (woman)–state (beast) bond, with the church controlling the state. The Roman Catholic Church, since the 1929 Lateran Treaty, strongly fits this imagery. Daniel 2 first introduced the ten kingdoms or regions in its “ten toes” (Daniel 2:41-42) of iron and clay, symbolizing a church and state mix.[1]

What ten kings/kingdoms give strength and power to the Roman beast? In 1941 the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace with the United States’ State Department, proposed the world be divided into ten divisions as a first step towards a New World Order (see Appendixes I and II for map and narrative). In 1957 Alice Bailey, leader of the House of Theosophy, wrote that the world must first be reorganized into “Spheres of Influence” (regions) before it could be organized into a global government.[2]

These proposals moved deeper toward an implementation stage when an Italian scholar and industrialist, Aurelio Peccei, founded the Club of Rome in 1968.

This organization, acting as an influential think tank, has sought solutions to global problems in economics, climate change, world food resources, wildlife preservation, population concerns and international peace. They also divided the world into ten regions in 1973 (see also Appendix I).

Its geopolitical objectives were similar to those of other groups who are interested in a “New World Order,” just as the United Nations and the Roman Catholic Church do. The United Nations more recently adopted similar geographic world divisions.[3]

These emerging ten divisions are represented by the ten-horn/ten-toe imagery in Daniel 2 and 7 and in Revelation 13 and 17. This, in turn, forms a unique basis for apocalyptic narratives of the world that is to wonder after a Rome-based beast right at the end (Revelation 13:3, 17:9). With 178 current ambassadors represented in Rome, these nations support a geopolitical trend that will soon give the papacy world dominance from all these world regions.

Let’s look again at Gabriel’s explanation – reapplication:

                 Four beasts, four kings/kingdoms out of the earth (vs 17)

                        BUT (qualifier, sequence insert) – the saints will then possess God’s eternal kingdom (vs 18)

                             Fourth beast – different from all – subdues/controls the whole earth (vs 23)

                                   Ten horns of that fourth beast – ten kings/kingdoms (vs 24) give it its power

Parenthetically: Since the saints will soon possess the eternal kingdom – these earthly kingdoms are all temporal and representative of an end-time understanding. God’s people are to look into the expectant future with these kingdom metaphors.

“and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first,” (vs 24)

The “model” that this builds upon is from the little horn that was originally described as a blasphemous and flagrant horn of the papacy, arising during the Dark Ages (Daniel 7:8). This new prophetic description, along with those of Revelation’s antichrist, again reveals that this latter emergence of the papacy will move into being a dominant world power (Daniel 8:9-12).

It cannot be long after the ten horns are recognized that this “eleventh” comes, because it “came up among them” in an end-time setting.[4]

This is final antichrist imagery within this prophecy. He emerges as a ruler of the entire world, with his deadly wound already healed.[5] He is a person or ruler of the last days called “the man of lawlessness” in II Thessalonians 2:3, the “antichrist” in I John 2:18 and the “beast” in many references of Revelation.[6]

A review of the rise of papal power since 1929 is helpful. On June 7, 1929, three Lateran Accords were ratified between the government of Italy and the Holy See. Out of those legal settlements, the Holy See was recognized as a sovereign state – a church/state government – the only such entity internationally. That commenced the fulfillment of Revelation 17’s predictions.

Pope Pius XI was presiding over the Roman Catholic Church at the time. He retained the services of psychoanalysts to lay the foundation for future domination of the world! A glimpse of this was published by a “former” Jesuit, Boyd Barrett (one of those psychoanalysts), in his 1935 book Rome Stoops to Conquer. Promotion of a non-religious agenda to “bond the world” to the Catholic Church was formulated. The area of the sacredness of life and many of the issues that Aurelio Peccei pushed into the public’s eye were part of its world-domination itinerary!

The papacy concluded that if it could control the United States, it could conquer the world. Its power base would be three Christian regions – North America, South America and Western Europe. It is interesting that the Daniel 7 Roman prophetic beast has ten horns. It is equally intriguing that the world, represented by ten horns of the Revelation 17:10 beast, is predicted to share power with that papal beast briefly at the end. Those horns shortly thereafter are shown in Revelation 13 as having crowns – exactly as the Club of Rome and the United Nations envision ten world civil (and perhaps religious) divisions as part of a New World Order. They give strength and authority to that beast.

On June 29, 2009, Pope Benedict made public a significant encyclical letter called Caritas in Veritate (Charity in Truth). In it he called for a world moral leader. There is no question that within the body of this document he considers the papal head – himself – as that person and the answer to earth’s troublous times.

Presidents and prime ministers make their way to Rome each week to meet with the pope or his prelates. No power on earth equals that of the papacy. A subtle and almost subliminal magnetism is attracting the world to Rome. World leaders are failing to solve the growing intensity within and between nations. A moral compass, a leader, symbolizing peace, economic stability and global answers, is attracting growing attention to the Vatican.

Mikhail Gorbachev, member of the Club of Rome, noted: “We are on the verge of a global transformation. All we need is the right major crisis and the nations will accept the New World Order.”[7] Though the “front” for a New World Order appears secular, the concepts are exactly as the Vatican has been planning since 1935, outlined by Boyd Barrett.

The ten horns are the ten divisions of the world, which are now politically and sociologically divided. The rise of “another,” or eleventh, is quickly ascending into international favor.

A special crisis – a “stress” on humanity – in which the Christian world (those three divisions) looks for a “religious” answer, is in waiting.

The weight of evidence suggests that calamities will bring on a sense of helplessness.[8] There will be an outcry over morals.[9] Financial stress will be apparent[10] and, instead of a secular New World Order, there will be a call to get back to God. The papacy will be the “natural” focus, and a call for Sunday sacredness will ensue (Daniel 8–12 reveals that the Sabbath will be the pivotal issue)! Instead of the “right to life” or “global warming” agendas, a religious revival under false doctrines will ensue. In the previous verse (23) the whole earth will be trodden down and broken in pieces by Rome, suggesting its final control will be coercive.

The focus? The Christian world. The rest will follow.

“We are approaching the end of this earth's history, and Satan is working as never before. He is striving to act as director of the Christian world. With an intensity that is marvelous he is working with his lying wonders. Satan is represented as walking about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. He desires to embrace the whole world in his confederacy.”[11]

“and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings” (vs 24)

The word “subdue” is shephal (H), which implies “to humble.” In this context, it means to bring under its control. Rome, as an agency for Satan, will bring the Christian world under its control through the Sabbath issue. That happens to represent, as we have noted, three of the ten divisions the world has been divided into!

Why would Satan and his agencies focus on the Christian world? That is where resistance against his deceptive practices will arise and be the strongest.

“And how is this matter to end? The Satanic agencies are to combine with, and inspire, the professedly Christian world. Those who have the form of godliness without the power, will rank under Satan's banner, and will display their zeal in making void the law of God. The whole world will have the opportunity of choosing between Christ and Barabbas. Men who have perverted truth, misapplied Scripture, and who have become blinded by resisting the word which is truth, form the great apostate power of the last day. It belongs to the same order as the power which the Lord Jesus revealed to John as drunken with the blood of saints. It is to pursue the same line of action, determined to rule or ruin. The crisis is right upon us, and many will be deceived. Men who have all their life had opportunity to learn of Christ, but who have tenaciously clung to their own habits and practices, unwilling to change their own course of action and walk in the light, will act like blind men. They will accept everything that will coincide with their own ideas.”[12]

In verse 24 the angel turns from the historic Roman Empire to its ultimate ten-horn phase – corresponding to the ten toes of Nebuchadnezzar’s image.[13] Note that when the stone smote the feet and toes, four kingdoms came to an end – an end-time application!

“And he shall speak great words against the most High,” (vs 25)

Twice previously the little horn was depicted as “speaking great things” (7:8, 20). Now the angel explains what kind of words that meant.[14]

“He” refers to the papacy. The authority that the Roman Catholic Church has assumed in defiance of the Scriptures and assumption of tradition and pagan practices is directly against the sacred directives of God. Elsewhere are listed many of the issues at variance to Biblical injunctions (see Appendix IV).

“and shall wear out the saints of the most High,” (vs 25)

The picture is not that of a brief campaign but of a prolonged one of intimidating warfare, false teachings, accusations and abuse of God’s people. In addition, elsewhere it is clear that the antichrist will demand worship (allegiance) of humanity that the saints cannot participate in (II Thessalonians 2:4; Revelation 13:8, 12).[15] Stephen R. Miller suggests that religious freedom will be abolished and likely economic pressure will be placed on God’s remnant at this time (cf. Revelation 13:16-17).

“Prophetic Scriptures describe the extreme plight of people at the hand of the Antichrist at that time, so that he is actually given authority ‘to make war with the saints and to overcome them’ (Rev. 13:7; cf. Dan. 7:21). Just at the time the forces of evil are ready to destroy Jerusalem [a symbol of God’s people – His body of believers], the last stronghold of the saints, ‘the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations’ (Zech. 14:1-3), and the remnant will be rescued.... [The] 144,000 …, sealed by God from death (though not from extreme suffering, Matt. 25:35-40), will carry ‘this gospel of the kingdom’ to ‘the whole world for a witness to all nations, and then the end shall come’ (Matt. 24:14; Rev. 7:1-8).”[16]

“and think to change times and laws:” (vs 25)

The Roman Catholic Church stands indicted in this area. Most blatant has been the rewording of the Ten Commandments as recorded in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5. In the Latin Vulgate (390-405 A.D.) and the Douay-Rheims versions (1582-1610 A.D.), that Decalogue is not like the ancient documents. This was done to bypass the direct counsel God made against veneration of images and the seventh-day Sabbath (see again Appendix IV for greater detail).

The only place that God directly wrote part of the Bible is in writing those commandments! It was written by His finger on tables of stone. The Supreme God of the universe wrote the wording and put it on stone as unchanging, endurable commands, never to be forgotten by mankind.

Ancient manuscripts reveal what God originally said and intended. Much of Exodus 20 is missing in the Dead Sea Scrolls but is nearly complete for Deuteronomy 5. The Septuagint and, later, the Masoretic Text reveal the importance of those ten distinct principles that would serve as moral guidelines for man. Yet claiming God’s authority and changing the very Word of God (the Council of Trent, 1546, in its Fourth Session), decreed that anyone was cursed to hell if they didn’t receive the Scriptures and Apocryphal books as they portrayed them.[17]

In 1943 Pope Pius XII published an encyclical called Divino Applante Spiritu. While seeming to affirm the conservative Providentissimus Deus encyclical of Leo XIII, he allowed room to redefine the concept of inerrancy of the Bible. This opened the door to “historical criticism” and questioning of God’s Holy Word![18]

The Roman Catholic Church fulfills this prophecy!

“The little horn will seek the prerogatives of God. The horn’s words and teaching will usurp God’s authority … The little horn will attempt to replace God’s Word with his own ‘great words’ (7:11). This matches what Paul says about ‘the man of lawlessness … who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God on [above] what is worshiped so that he seats himself in the temple of God, displaying himself as God’ (2 Thess 2:3-4). Paul’s triple reference to divine worship and God’s gracious presence in the divine service (what is ‘called God … what is worshiped … in the temple of God) expands upon ‘intend to change times and Law’ in Dan 7:25.... His sinister method is to substitute human words for God’s Word to get the saints to change their faith, worship, and life to match those deceptive words presented as words from God.”[19]

“and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time” (vs 25)

The power given to the papacy to dominate the world with its doctrines is for three and a half “times.” The Aramaic word for “time” is iddan. This can simply mean time, a period or span of time or an era. It is argued that since in Daniel 4:16, 23, 25 and 32 the same word refers to years (based upon Josephus and the Septuagint) (TWOT), it is the same here. Other arguments support a more generic time because Daniel uses the actual word “year” in 6:1. But – the Bible refers to this power elsewhere with very specific time periods, lasting three-and-a-half years.

In Daniel 12:7 Jesus reveals that the antichrist, characterized as the “king of the north” in the previous chapter, will be persecuting the saints. There, “moed moeds half” (H) refers to three and a half sacred festival years (Atonement) (cf. 8:19). In the amazing chapter of Revelation 13, the sea beast is in suppressive world control for 42 months – a prophetic three and a half years.[20]

The completeness of the number “seven” is noted in Daniel 3:19 and 4:25, drawn from the creation account (Genesis 1 and 2), and alluded to in weekly and yearly Sabbath observances (Exodus 20:8-11, 23:11-12; Leviticus 25:3-4). “‘Three and a half,’ the period of oppression, is depicted as one-half of a divinely determined complete period for the world.”[21] It also suggests that another three and a half is elsewhere in prophecy to make a whole “seven.” That is the precise picture of Daniel 9’s 490-year prophecy! Christ spent three and a half years in His ministry to mankind through sorrow and grief. Man has a final period of three and a half years to finish what He started, which will complete that final seven weeks of years. Then human history will come to its end.

This is fascinating. The allusion to the commencement of the Messianic kingdom is called “the later/last days” (Numbers 24:14, Isaiah 7:2, Micah 4:1; cf. Jeremiah 48:47, 49:39; Ezekiel 38:16; Hosea 3:5). The prophetic phrases “the latter years” (Ezekiel 38:8) and “the later days” (Ezekiel 38:16) are used for this early period. The last three and a half years are similarly called “time of the end” (Daniel 8:17, 11:35, 12:4) and “appointed time” (Daniel 8:19, 11:35, Habakkuk 2:2-3). Together, they make a “seven,” portraying the great significance of the last week of the seventy weeks of years in Daniel 9.[22]

That is why the last days “already began” with the first advent of Christ (Acts 2:17, Hebrews 1:2). Those “last days” were already present (II Timothy 3:1, James 5:3, II Peter 3:3). Similar is the expression “the last hour,” in which the antichrist has arrived (I John 2:18) and “the last time[s]” (Jude 18, in which the scoffers are present), and when God’s salvation had already been revealed in Christ (I Peter 1:20).[23] But because portions of Daniel were sealed until the time of the end, the apostles would not know initially how that 490-year period might end. The last week was split into two three-and-a-half-year periods.

Peter seemed to grasp this later, when he noted that believers were being guarded for when salvation would be revealed “in the last time” after Christ’s return (I Peter 1:5). This is why there are so many “breaks into the future” that Daniel portrays when the finalé of redemption for the saints finally comes.

The power extending into the antichrist era ceases at the end of the three and a half years. Some portray this three and a half years as 1260 years. This is based on a false assumption that a day represents a year in this prophecy. This introduces complications that suddenly mount within the eschatological theme presented in Daniel 7 and 8 (see Appendix III).

“The expression is generally understood as three and a half years, the equivalent of the last half week of years in 9:27.... The three and a half years should be understood here as a genuine prophecy [of time].”[24]

The time, times and half or dividing of time represents three and a half Atonement cycles, based on Daniel 12:7 and the language in Revelation 12:14. This ties to the final probationary period emphasized in the final week of Daniel 9’s 70 weeks. A similar 42 months is used when expressing earthly persecuting powers; the 1260 days is used to express the time God’s people can know the final battles are soon to end – perhaps even a literal countdown can occur. The expressions are consistent, replicating and instructive.

References:

Franklin S. Fowler, Jr., M.D.; Prophecy Research Initiative © 2011

EndTime Issues…, Number 125, July 26, 2011