Interpretation of Daniel’s Vision

Transcript

GR1908
1/25/2015
Interpretation of Daniel’s Vision
Daniel 7:8-28; Revelation 12-13, 17
Gil Rugh

We are in Daniel chapter 7. Daniel chapter 7 is one of the key prophetic chapters in all the Bible and particularly in the Old Testament because it helps to set the foundation for what will be further expanded in the New Testament, key prophetic chapters like Matthew 24. Jesus referred to the fact “when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place.” When you get to the book of Revelation, and we will go there as we move through this section, you will see an understanding of what is there in Revelation is built upon the book of Daniel.

Put up the resurrections chart. Keep in mind in Old Testament prophecy it is not difficult but it is crucial. Always see the coming of Christ, the prophesied Messiah, not distinguishing two separate comings as we have here where the cross is and then His return to earth, the second stage of the second coming as we call it. Those two events are talked about in Old Testament prophecy but they are not sorted out. Also the seven years that now we understand precedes the second coming to earth to establish the kingdom. They knew that those seven years of tribulation would be climaxed by the coming of Christ. But they didn’t understand there were two separate distinct comings. That’s why we look in Peter. Peter said the Old Testament prophets searched and studied to try to understand how the prophesied Messiah would suffer and die and rule and reign in glory. Now we understand. That’s important because that period of time from the cross to the first stage in the second coming does not appear in Old Testament prophecy.

So when we are studying the Old Testament, things are somewhat sandwiched together because it would be later revelation that would reveal that there was a gap, a span of some 2000 years. This is not a change in God’s plan, it’s just something that hadn’t been revealed. Everything He revealed about the coming of Christ whether to suffer and die or rule and reign in glory will be carried out exactly as He has said. So keep that in mind because that becomes a factor in what we are studying.

And we noted we interpret prophecy the same way we interpret any other portion of the Bible, literally, historically, grammatically recognizing figures of speech. These are often explained for us. We saw in Daniel chapter 2 the image of a man with various metals, gold, silver, bronze, iron but they are explained for us. These are symbols representing different empires so there is really no confusion. They have a definite identification and the metals depict something significant, deterioration in the quality of the kingdoms but an increase in the strength of the kingdoms.

Now we are in Daniel chapter 7 and we are seeing the same kingdoms under different imagery. Now we see wild beasts in Daniel 7 as Daniel has a vision and each of these wild beasts represents an empire and something of the characteristics of each empire are conveyed in the animal that is used to depict them. So again, the fact that they are analogies here and symbols used doesn’t make it particularly hard to understand because they are interpreted for us as representing kingdoms. So the various kingdoms here, verse 3,”four great beasts coming up from the sea and the mass of humanity different from one another. And there was the first, a lion and certain characteristics and not just a lion but the lion had wings” and so on.

Then the second beast “resembling a bear and it is lifted up on one side” and we looked at the significance of that. It is the Medo-Persian Empire and the Persian come to dominate it. “Three ribs in its mouth” because three key kingdoms were devoured by the Medes and Persians that solidified their kingdom.

Then you had the leopard. Now keep these in mind because each of these images are going to show up over in Revelation chapter 13. People get into Revelation and say, “Oh, it is an apocalyptic book, don’t take it literally. It is full of symbols but those symbols have a clear, literal meaning. Much of it has been explained in the Old Testament as here.

The fourth beast which is where we came to is a dreadful, terrifying beast. It has its own fierce, ferocious character. It’s not identified as an animal that you might recognize like a lion or a bear or a leopard. It’s just defined in verse 7 as a dreadful and terrifying and extremely strong beast.

Now each of these parallels, we come to the last one and in Daniel chapter 2 in the image of the man, the fourth empire there was symbolized by iron. Well here you have this dreadful, terrifying, extremely strong beast. It had iron teeth so you see the same kind of emphasis here in development of it. This fourth empire is the unique one in a special way. “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.”

Come back to Daniel chapter 2 and you see in verse 40 as he interprets this image of a man and the different metals. Each one is a kingdom and the first one was identified by Babylon. Then verse 39: “After you will arise another kingdom inferior to you, then another third kingdom of bronze.” So the fact that symbols and so on are used doesn’t mean it’s hard to understand. It helps us to understand it. Then verse 40: “There will be a fourth kingdom as strong as iron; inasmuch as iron crushed and shatters all things, so, like iron that breaks in pieces, it will crush and break all these in pieces. And in that you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly or iron, it will be a divided kingdom; but it will have in it the toughness of iron, inasmuch as you saw the iron mixed with common clay. And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of pottery, so some of the kingdom will be strong and part of it will be brittle.”

If you put up the resurrections chart again and where we are going in the kingdoms we go from the time of Christ, remember, down to that seven year period following the first stage of the second coming. Keep in mind because that period from after the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ down until that period of time is not part of Old Testament prophecy. So you don’t learn from Daniel chapter 2 or Daniel chapter 7 that there is a space between there and the Roman Empire ceases as an empire that’s why we call it revived because we find out that an iron which is the characteristic of that fourth kingdom will continue. So it picks up again. That doesn’t mean there was no break. It’s just like there was a break between the first coming and second coming of Christ but we now know that in those two three and half year segments totally seven years they become key.

You will note also in chapter 2 what is significant is what is brought out. For example he mentions the feet and the toes and then in verse 42 of chapter 2 he talks about “the toes of the feet.” The fact that there would be five fingers on each hand at the end of the arms of this image are irrelevant. Only what stands out in the symbolism as important is what the Spirit of God directs attention to. There are things here that are just there because if you are going to have an image of a man you would have arms and legs and toes and hands but the hands aren’t significant. And the fact that there are ten fingers that’s not relevant. But the fact there are ten toes that is relevant. So in the symbols we have to be careful that we let Scripture interpret the Scripture. And it is interpreted here. What’s important are the various metals coming down now the mixture when you get to the toes of iron and clay and the weakness there becomes important and then that culminates with the kingdom in verse 44: “In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom,” and as we are going to see basically we are going to talk about the final phase there, those ten toes and then the kingdom set up.

You come over to chapter 7 you have the same truth conveyed with different imagery. So you have this fourth beast in verse 7 of chapter 7 and at the end of verse 7 it had “ten horns.” So just like in chapter 2 there were ten toes, here there are ten horns. Now you know, you start to unravel because for some reason some commentators on this say well it doesn’t have to be ten. Well you know ten is just a number. Yes, ten is a number. That means ten. I take it that is clear, it had ten horns.

Why don’t we go to number 16 on the slides if you would, just a little bit of review here picking up with Rome. We pick that up in 63AD and that’s when Pompeii takes over Jerusalem for the Romans. The Roman Empire begins before that. Slide number 17 shows you the Roman Empire. We talked about that fact and it’s picked up by various believers who think that really Rome doesn’t count because it doesn’t spread out far enough over to where you see Persia, Media is. But Babylon, Persia, Media are not the key things in Scripture. Babylon has a place in future events but Israel is the focus. So the fact that the Roman Empire doesn’t go over into Persia, it doesn’t matter. Persia is not an empire anymore. Everybody recognizes that. You see something of the Roman Empire. It has moved to the west and it is in that context we talk about the revival of the Roman Empire because remember when we get down to the ten toes, the iron continues. Now there has been a break between the first coming of Christ and events leading up to the second coming but the iron will be pervasive. That’s why we talk about a revived Roman Empire because the Roman Empire was the empire pictured by the iron in chapter 2.

In chapter 7 this beast representing the fourth empire Rome has the horns on its head so it’s viewed as part of that empire. I mentioned some of that here and the break because people get into a problem today and say, well, prophecy prophesied they think you have to continue. They don’t recognize the break so they say the ten toes, the ten horns that must be part of the Roman Empire that existed in the days of Christ. And since the kingdom of Christ will be set up in the days of those kings Christ must have established the kingdom at His first coming. But we don’t have Him ruling over the earth in a physical way. Therefore they say the kingdom must be a spiritual kingdom in the hearts. We wonder where do we get these different views. Well if you don’t recognize that break you say, well the ten toes were the ten horns must have been part of the Roman Empire in Jesus’ day or shortly afterwards. So they sort out and say, “Can we find ten Roman Emperors that we could identify here?” And then if the kingdom is established in the days of those kings we don’t have a physical earthly kingdom with Christ on earth ruling therefore it must not be a physical kingdom. So you have a-millennialism. You have the majority of reformed theology and so on. A-millennial (no literal earthly kingdom) but that’s part of our problem. I’m not recognizing the pattern of prophecy. There is a break. That’s clear from later revelation. It doesn’t change anything that has been revealed. The Messiah will come, suffer and die. There will be a seven year period of suffering for Israel and events going on that we are going to talk about. Then Christ will return to earth and establish an earthly kingdom. You have to recognize there is a break. Nothing’s changed but there is clarification. It’s not going to all happen sequentially. There is a break in the prophecy of Old Testament.

Okay, just a review. The legs were made of iron. The feet were a mixture of both iron and clay. The legs of iron suggest a kingdom would be strong. Iron would break and smash all things and then come to slide 19. The kingdom would be a divided kingdom, both strong and weak. Like iron is strong and the clay is brittle so there we got insight in Daniel chapter 2. We get down to the closing phase of this Roman Empire there is brittleness to it. There is the strength of iron in it but there is the brittleness of clay and it won’t adhere together as it said like iron and clay don’t adhere together. So you have a kingdom that is comprised of ten kings or nations but they have that independence but united together they have a strength but they also have a brittleness.

Then you have the fourth beast in the next slide, number 20. Ten horns, iron teeth and the ten horns are ten kings that would arise but before we go now let’s take a break from that and come to Daniel chapter 7, verse 8: “While I was contemplating the horns (the ten horns), another horn, a little one, came up.” That wasn’t revealed in Daniel chapter 2. So we are getting additional information that is filling in but the horns represent kings. We will see that in a moment but now there is another horn, a little one that comes up among these ten and replaced three of them. And this horn has its own uniqueness. “This horn possessed eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth uttering great boasts.” The wisdom, the arrogance and the influence of the man and that moves us to what, now to the kingdom. “I kept looking until thrones were set up, and the Ancient of Days took His seat,” and so on. You have the throne of God and the judgment that will take place on the horn, verse 11: “I kept looking because of the sound of the boastful words which the horn was speaking.” Now you know what it means. A mouth uttering boasts. He’s a man of arrogance. “I kept looking until the beast was slain, and its body was destroyed and given to the burning fire.” Dominion was taken away from the rest of the beast but an extension of life was granted to them, those other beasts that represent other empires. In other words if won’t be a cessation of all empires but they will all be subjugated empires because now the Son assumes rule over the earth. So we have the same pattern but now we’ve gotten some additional information. This final form of Roman Empire is not just ten kings or kingdoms but there is also another phase, one king becoming dominant among the ten. Then we come to the climatic kingdom of Christ.

Okay, let’s look at the interpretation, verse 15. We want to say in these kingdoms you would get no reason to think as you look through Daniel that we are talking about any other than an earthly kingdom over which the Messiah will rule. To jump to say well this is a spiritual kingdom. It exists today in the hearts of men. I mean we are talking about replacing earthly kingdoms and when he takes it in verse 14: “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.” The same place we go in Daniel chapter 2. So I think it’s a work of the devil to get people to say, “Well prophetic portions of Scripture, they can’t be interpreted literally because you know there is a lot of symbolism there; but the interpretation is given and it has a literal connection. This fourth beast is dreadful and terrifying because of its power and its ferocity and the ten horns well what do we have here?

Daniel verse 15: “As for me, Daniel, my spirit was distressed within me, and the visions in my mind kept alarming me. I approached one of those who were standing by and began asking him the exact meaning of all this. So he told me and made known to me the interpretation of these things.” We’ve got an angel here and he’s going to explain to Daniel. That’s one way to find out the symbolism and then for us the Spirit of God directed Daniel to write it down.

So why are people all in knots saying, well we are in apocalyptic literature and you have a lot of symbolism and you couldn’t take that literally? What does he say? Verse 17: “These great beasts, which are four in number, are four kings.” Well, the four is four. People get the idea that you don’t take the numbers of Scripture literally. What does this angel mean? There are four beasts, are you listening Daniel? These represent four kings, four is four, not 14, not seven, not nine, but four. “Four kings will arise from the earth.” A king and a kingdom are connected together so you can talk about a king, you can talk about a kingdom. We do the same today. The head of a country represents the country, not a difficult connection.

So these are four beasts who will arise from the earth. “The saints of the Highest One will receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, for all ages to come.” There is a summary interpretation. You note he focuses on just the four beasts because the 10 horns and the little horn are really part of the fourth one. The ten horns were on the head of the fourth beast. The toes were composed partly of iron and partly of clay in chapter 2 so we are still talking about the fourth empire and the little horn that came out from the ten horns which were on the head of the fourth beast is part of that fourth kingdom. So there are only four kingdoms that he deals with. But that latter form, that fourth kingdom will take various forms as time unfolds but we are dealing with four kingdoms. Okay, then in the days after that the kingdom of God will be established on earth.

Daniel “desired to know the exact meaning, the truth of the fourth beast which was different from all the others, exceedingly dreadful with its teeth of iron and its claws of bronze, and which devoured, crushed, and trampled down the remainder with its feet, and the meaning of the ten horns that were on its head and the other horn.” It’s this fourth empire that grabs onto Daniel. He knows from chapter 2 and the revelation there given through Nebuchadnezzar that he interpreted something about Babylon being succeeded by the next empire, the next empire but he’s intrigued by this fourth beast. It is unique and different from all the rest. So he wants to know about it.

And verse 20, “the meaning of the ten horns that were on its head, and the other horn which came up, and before which three fell, that horn which had eyes and a mouth uttering great boasts and which was larger in appearance then its associates. I kept looking, and that horn was waging war with the saints and overpowering them.” Now we are getting things, this final form of the Roman Empire dominated by one king, one person who will be waging war against the saints in overpowering them. “Until the Ancient of Days came, and judgment was passed in favor of the saints of the Highest One” until God intervenes and the saints take possession of the kingdom.

So he answered and said: “The fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on the earth.” The problem with the symbolism of Daniel, there is a clear connection to the meaning of the symbol. It has a literal meaning. That fourth beast just doesn’t mean someday there will be airplanes and we will all be able to travel. What is the connection? A fourth beast, terrible that is crushing and destroying everything around it can be a portrayal of a kingdom that is doing just that.

So verse 24: “As for the ten horns, (now note this) out of this kingdom” (which kingdom? the fourth one,) verse 23, “The fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on the earth, different from all the others. As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom, (the fourth kingdom) ten kings will arise; and another will arise after them, and he will be different from the previous ones and will subdue three kings. He 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,” three and one half.

And as we will see as we get later in Daniel then we go over to Revelation, that is referring to 3 ½ years. 42 months and 60 days, the different ways it is identified. No reason to be confused, it’s time, times and a half time.

Can you go back to the resurrections chart? Time, times and a half time, 42 months, 1,260 days, we are talking about a 3 ½ year period. So we know now this little horn that becomes the big horn dominate will be in power for 3 ½ years and his kingdom and rule will be brought to an end by the return of Christ to earth. So now you see we are getting a picture of how things are unfolding and we will find out the ten kings will be in the first 3 ½ years and the little horn with its king will be in the last 3 ½ years but that has not been revealed yet that clearly. We know that the little horn follows the ten horns and the little horn is going for 3 ½ years. You won’t get the identification of this as a seven year period until we get to Daniel chapter 9. You can see how it was hard for Old Testament saints to put this together.

Then what will happen? Verse 26: “The court will sit for judgment, and his dominon will be taken away, annihilated and destroyed forever. Then the sovereignty, the dominion, and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One; His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom and all the dominions will serve and obey Him.”

I think it is a horrendous hermeneutical error to somewhere in here transfer the kingdom to some kind of spiritual kingdom that exists in hearts. I mean the kingdom is supposed to be given to the saints. You think you rule? Well you know, in a spiritual sense we rule. We rule over what? Well Christ rules in my heart. I know but what He promises here is more than that. He promises the kingdom. Turn on the news. You know we don’t take God at face value. The angel explains it and people still say, “Well I don’t think we can interpret prophecy literally and the symbolism carries us into apocalyptic kind of literature.” It’s true. Apocalyptic literature in the secular realm outside the Bible is fanciful and full of symbols and that. We are dealing with Biblical prophecy. It’s offensive to come back and take that mythological, confused symbolism and say that’s the way the Bible is because that’s what apocalyptic literature is. That’s not what Biblical prophecy is. It was given to be understood.

Alright, why don’t you go to that number 22 and we will give you the overview and then we are going to the book of Revelation. So here is a summary. Forget chapter 8 because we haven’t gotten to chapter 8 yet. You can see, so you had the head of gold, you had the lion with eagles wings, jump to the far right, skipping Daniel 8, you tell what it means. The chest and arms of silver, the bear raised, Medo-Persia; belly and thighs, the leopard, Greece and Alexander the Great; the legs of iron and clay; the beast with iron teeth, ten horns. You have the ten toes in chapter 2. You come over to the divided kingdom and then the stone cut without hands, the Son of Man established in a kingdom He came before the Ancient of Days. We didn’t read all the details in chapter 7, we will be coming back and that’s the eternal kingdom which is an earthly kingdom.

Alright, come over to the book of Revelation. We noted when we started looking at prophecy and then we reminded ourselves again, I believe maybe in our last previous study, the importance of taking prophecy literally and the blessings pronounced upon those who read and study the book of Revelation and do what it says. You live in light of it. It was given to be understood.

So we are coming to Revelation 13. “The dragon stood on the sand of the seashore.” We have to go back and pick up chapter 12. Look at verse 14 before we put this in context. “The two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman (the woman is Israel here, we will see that in a moment) so that she could fly into the wilderness to her place, where she was nourished.” Note this, “for a time, times and half time.” Sounds like Daniel doesn’t it? Time, times and a half time when the little horn becomes the big horn, dominates and then you come down into verse 5 of chapter 13 concerning that little horn here called the beast. “There was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies,” sounds like that horn, doesn’t it? “Authority was given to act for forty-two months,” time, times and a half time, 3 ½, forty-two months is what, 3 ½ years, talking about years. You back up to verse 6 of chapter 12. “And the woman 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,” 3 ½ years, a prophetic year is 360 days. Here twelve hundred and sixty days, 3 ½ years, forty-two months, time, times and a half time, 3 ½ years and yet you read commentaries and say well the numbers in Revelation shouldn’t be taken literally. What does God have to do? You can’t figure out 42 months, you can’t figure out twelve hundred and sixty days. You can’t figure out the time, times and a half time? I repeat it all three different ways and you say you still don’t take it literally. No wonder people are confused when they come to the book of Revelation.

You will note in chapter 12, “A sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet and on her head a crown of twelve stars.” This goes back to the revelation in the book of Genesis and it’s referring to Israel. We are not going back there. We’ve done that with the Revelation. We want to stay on track. Then verse 3: “Another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns,” seven heads and ten horns. Well it sounds like we’ve got extra heads but the ten horns I am familiar with. We just talked about that. “And on his heads were seven diadems.”

A diadem, you know in Greek there are two kinds of crowns, a stephanos and a diadem. The diadem was the crown of a ruler. The stephanos was the crown of a victor and the wreath you might get if you won an athletic contest. A diadem was a crown, what a ruler would wear. Here you have these heads wearing diadems. They represent kings or kingdoms, we will see that. Then you have the fall of Satan and he’s the dragon. You wonder, what is the dragon? Well come down to verse 9: “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.” You understand the symbol of the dragon, what the dragon is; well you know, a dragon is mythological. You know, the fire breathing dragon. That symbolism is mythical and mythological and yes, but it represents something clear here in that fierce behavior, it refers to Satan; so many of these things are interpreted for us. So, you say, yes, it could represent Satan with that fierce character. Verse 4: “The dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child.” We are talking about Israel is the woman here and his desire is to destroy Israel from whom the Messiah would come. “She gave birth to a male son, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne;” the crucifixion and the resurrection. “The woman 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.” The last 3 ½ years before Christ returns to establish His kingdom will be a time for horrendous persecution of the Jews; the holocaust, just a little taste. This will be a world encompassing attempt of the devil to annihilate the Jews because in so doing there cannot be a Jewish kingdom. There is war in heaven and on it goes. So that’s the context when you come down into chapter 13.

“The dragon stood on the sand of the seashore.” The dragon, as chapter 12 ended, was enraged with the woman, Israel and wants to make war against her. “The dragon stood on the sand of the seashore.” And we saw that, the great sea and the empires coming out of the mass of humanity. “I saw a beast coming up out of the sea having ten horns and seven heads. On his horns were ten diadems and on his heads were blasphemous names.” So now we see we’ve got heads, we’ve got horns, we’ve got crowns and these are blasphemous. “And the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet like a bear, and mouth like a lion.” Well we’ve just picked that up with Daniel from chapter 7, various parts of former empires as this final empire has assimilated them and asserts itself. What do you find being spoken in the Roman Empire? Greek becomes the language that is being used in the various parts of the world. It’s assimilated, the other.

Verse 5: “There was given to him a mouth, speaking blasphemies” which we read for forty two months. Verse 7: “It was given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them; and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him. Those who dwell on the earth will worship him.” This is why they call him the “antichrist.” He is the false Christ, he is Satan’s imitation. He’s the man who will bring initially a false peace to the world and ultimately require the worship of the world and the world will worship him.

Come over to chapter 17 of Revelation and in verse 3: “And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness; and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast, full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns.” We just can’t get away from this, the heads and the horns and the ten horns. You know that is what we looked at in Daniel and it was interpreted for us. The ten horns are ten kings, or kingdoms. The description here and then you come down to verse 9: “Here is the mind which has wisdom.” And we want to have wisdom so it is going to be interpreted for us. “The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits.” Okay, seven heads, seven mountains and some have taken that to mean well seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits and you read that some will say, well isn’t Rome the city of seven hills or seven mountains? So it must be Rome. No. Grammatically what this says, “The seven heads are seven mountains (verse 10) and they are seven kings.” So the seven mountains of verse 9 don’t represent the seven hills of Rome. We are told the heads, the mountains represent the same thing, kings. The seven heads are seven mountains, they are seven kings. Seven heads, seven mountains, seven kings, interpreted for us. So you have the seven heads and a head refers to a king or a kingdom. A mountain as we have talked about, remember in Daniel chapter 2, the kingdom that crushes all previous kingdoms grows into a large mountain, the kingdom of Christ that will envelope the world. So here the head, the mountain, we know we are talking in these seven about seven kings or kingdoms.

I meant to do a chart for you here. Maybe I will have it done next week so you can see it pictured. Five have fallen. Okay, what would be the five that have fallen? Now we are familiar with Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome, four. He is talking about five and then he says, “Five have fallen, one is.” We’ve got seven heads to deal with, five have fallen. What John does, Daniel started with the kingdom that was in place when he prophesied, Babylon. You Nebuchadnezzar are the head of gold with the Babylonian Empire. John goes back before that. What is the first major empire that impacts Israel as a nation? Where did Israel go down as just a family of seventy people, into Egypt and 400 years later came out of Egypt a nation with a couple million people so he goes back to the beginning of the empires. Empires are only significant as they impact God’s people Israel, so he goes back to Egypt.

What is the next empire significant for Israel? What empire carried the northern ten tribes of Israel into captivity, Assyria? So we have Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, and Greece. Five have fallen. There are seven heads which are seven mountains which are seven kings or kingdoms. Five of those have fallen. We can identify them, Egypt, Assyria, then we pick up where Daniel did, Babylon, Persia, Greece, five. One is. Which one is as John writes this? Nobody is confused, Rome, the Roman Empire the empire that ruled. John writes the book of Revelation around 95 A.D. Rome is the unquestioned ruling empire.

“One is, the other has not yet come. When he comes he must remain a little while.” Well before we read next, what would you think that was? Where did we go in Daniel chapter 2 to the ten toes? Where do we go in Daniel chapter 7, to the ten horns? Where do you think we are going? Rome is the present one. We are up to six.

“Then there is one to come that will remain a little while. The beast which was and is not is himself also an eighth and is one of the seven and he goes to destruction.” I can figure that out from Daniel. One that forms the next empire after the ten so we’ve got from Rome we go to the ten nation confederacy. These ten nations join together with the strength of iron, with the brittleness of clay but remember out of those ten horns came the little horn that was arrogant and boastful and dominant and he goes to destruction, exactly what we saw in Daniel chapter 7. He will be destroyed and cast into the fire when the Messiah comes to set up His kingdom.

So you read verse 12: “The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom.” It is future. Rome is the kingdom that is right there but the ten nation form of that kingdom is future. He doesn’t say how far in the future. It just hasn’t arisen yet. There is going to be a break now we know because Biblical prophecies connect all the way down to seven years before the second coming. So “the ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom. They receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour.” They have one purpose. They give their power and authority to the beast. This fits with what Daniel said. From among the ten arises this little horn that displaces three of them. He becomes the dominant authority among those kingdoms and they all agree. We will be stronger with one to rule over us.

I shared with you many years ago now, I think I still have the article in my file in Time Magazine, there was an article on the European Union and the leaders of that union said if there would be a man who could come who could unite and lead us we would follow him if he were the devil himself. He is coming, be patient. They have one purpose, they give their authority to the beast.

Verse 14: “These will wage war against the lamb. The lamb will overcome them because he is Lord of Lords and King of Kings.” Verse 16: “And the ten horns which you saw and the beast these will hate the harlot.” This is the religious form of the Babylonian religion and it has its religious form in chapter 17 of Revelation and the commercial side of it in chapter 18.
Now remember in chapter 13 of Revelation we read the whole world is required to worship the antichrist. So all other religious systems are ended. We see this in places like Nazi Germany and in a place like North Korea today. This will be a man of such supernatural charism and power. The Devil will manifest his power and his powers through this man more than any other man who has ever ruled on the earth apart from Christ, obviously. Satan didn’t empower Him. It’s going to be a man the world is going to worship. Chapter 13 elaborates that and he has the false prophet in the last part of chapter 13 which we didn’t read whose sole responsibility is to direct the worship of the world toward this man.

So he destroys the religious system, the apostate religious system that was in force during the first 3 ½ years. “God has put it in their hearts to execute His purpose by having a common purpose by giving their kingdom to the beast.” So we are reminded, chapter 13 it was given to them, it was given to them. Here in chapter 17 God put it in their hearts. They are agreed. We are going to give all of our authority and submit ourselves to this man. That will culminate chapter 18 it talks about the destruction of the religious side of the earthly empire. Chapter 19 we have the return of Christ to earth.

So you see things brought together, dramatic. That’s why I say Daniel chapter 7 is sometimes referred to as a the background of God’s prophecies concerning Israel because it sets a structure and if you don’t understand Daniel you lack clarity when you come to the book of Revelation but you see what we read wasn’t hard to understand because the symbols were explained. The seven heads are seven mountains which are seven kings so they are a king and a kingdom. Five of those kingdoms have passed. You can go to a secular history book and find those empires going from Egypt to Assyria to Babylon, to Persia, to Greece, to Rome. Now they won’t get the future part yet, the ten horns and then the antichrist because they don’t believe Biblical prophecy but it is true just like you can read a number of commentaries on the book of Daniel. They deny it was written by Daniel. They say it had to be written down around 165 B.C. If it was written any earlier than that the events wouldn’t have happened. If you don’t believe that God is telling you the future what are you bothering with the Scripture for? If God can’t tell us the future what kind of God is He, a god making the best guesses?

So put up the chart one more time and then we will be done. We come down to the time of Christ, the Roman Empire. Then we have a break in talking about the earthly kingdoms because the Church is not concerned about earthly kingdoms, that period of time from the establishment of the church after the cross until the rapture of the church is the Church Age. The church is not an earthly kingdom. It is not an earthly nation. And it’s never referred to that way in spite of people’s misinterpretation of I Peter chapter 2. He is not talking about the church being an earthly nation. So it’s not in view there. We are talking about the nations of the earth because the nations of the earth are important in the context of God’s nation, Israel. So it’s not surprising there is a blank spot there because it doesn’t matter to us what nation is what but for Israel it’s a nation too that has been beat up by these nations, conquered by nations. Now when the church is removed at the rapture as it will be and that doesn’t appear in Old Testament prophecy because the church is not part of the Old Testament. The Old Testament prophets don’t talk about the church. Then you have the first 3 ½ years. That’s when the ten kings will exercise their power. They become the seventh kingdom. Remember in Revelation 17, five have fallen, one is, is Rome, that’s six. The seventh are the 10 kings or kingdoms. The eighth is the little horn and the little horn Christ returns the kingdoms of the earth are destroyed.

You know in this desire to get the Muslims into this I read you some material on this. Here is what one well-known Bible teacher says: In Revelation 17:9-11 it says “there were six kingdoms and then a seventh and finally an eighth.” What is the seventh? Well there has been discussion about that. It could well be the Ottoman Turk Empire which lasted 500 years; that Turkish Empire which the last caliphate ended in 1923. Let’s just stay with what the Scripture says. This comes out of Rome. Remember it’s connected. The toes in chapter 2 are part of iron. The horns are on the head of the fourth empire. You get off out here into somehow the horns are the Muslim Empire from 7th century down to the 20th century. What do you mean? It’s connected. The iron comes in to the toes. The horns are on the head. The little horn comes out of the ten horns so you have that division. If we just take the Bible literally and keep our focus on what the Scripture says things fall into place. God intends us to understand it and He pronounces a blessing on those who pay attention to this and live in light of it.

Let’s have a word of prayer. Thank You Lord for what You have unfolded in Your Word, the clarity, the detail. What an awesome God You are. The turmoil of the world, nations in confusion, people fearful and yet You are at work. Everything is as You have ordained it, as You move all things to the ultimate, final appointed climax of the return of Your Son to subdue all kingdoms and establish a kingdom that will never end. Lord, we as Your people would keep our perspective and be reminded the days in which we live and the opportunities which are ours. We thank You for what You have revealed about the future and we would live in light of what is promised for the future. Thank You for raising us up and calling us to Yourself in these days to be a testimony of Your saving grace. Now bless us as we adjourn together to enjoy a time of fellowship and again express our appreciation for Your grace in the lives of Eddie and JoAnn and their ministry among us. We give You thanks in Christ’s name, amen.