The Little Horn Power
– Daniel 7:1-12
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DANIEL
7:21-22
I beheld, and
the same horn made war with the
saints, and prevailed against them;
Until the Ancient of days came, and
judgment was given to the saints of
the most High; and the time came that
the saints possessed the kingdom.
{21} During
my vision, I saw the eighth horn
making war against the saints for a
long period of time and it kept on
defeating them
{22} until the Ancient of Days
took His seat and issued a
restraining order. After He issued
the restraining order, the eighth
horn lost its ability to hurt the
saints of God. Over time, it became
clear that the restraining order was
temporary. The eighth horn regained its
power and resumed its persecution of
God’s saints. As it regains
power, it will continue to speak
boastfully and insult God’s
sovereign authority again. I learned
that the eighth horn will not cease
its opposition against God, His
truth, and His saints until fire
destroys it at the Second Coming.
There will be no rest for God’s
saints until false religion is
destroyed and Jesus establishes His
kingdom. Then, and only then, will
the meek have peace on Earth.
DANIEL 7:23
Thus he said,
The fourth beast shall be the fourth
kingdom upon earth, which shall be
diverse from all kingdoms, and shall
devour the whole earth, and shall
tread it down, and break it in
pieces.
{23} The
angel told me that the monster beast
will be the fourth empire to appear
on Earth. This kingdom will be called
Rome. Rome’s governance will be
different from the previous kingdoms
of Babylon, Medo-Persia, and Grecia.
Rome will hire mercenary soldiers and
even though it will not have a
monarch, its ruler will exercise
power over life and death. Rome will
become renowned for its use of iron
weapons and this kingdom will control
a larger territory than any empire
before it. God will give Rome the
power to devour its enemies, crushing
any tribe or nation that defies its
authority. When the Roman Empire
fills up its cup of sin, God will
remove Rome’s power – even
as empires before it were removed
from power.
DANIEL 7:24
And the ten
horns out of this kingdom are ten
kings that shall arise: and another
shall rise after them; and he shall
be diverse from the first, and he
shall subdue three kings.
{24} The
angel continued, “The ten horns
on the monster beast represent ten
ethnic kings who will rise up from
within the Roman Empire. These kings
will hate the ruling government at
Rome. Over time, these kings will
break the Roman Empire apart, piece
by piece, and they will terminate
Rome’s authority by A.D. 476.
These tribal nations will be called:
Goths, Ostrogoths, Vandals,
Burgundians, Franks, Lombards,
Alameni, Suevi, Anglo-Saxons, and
Heruli. After Rome’s power is
broken into fragments, a different
type of king, represented by the
little horn, will rise. Unlike the
tribal kings represented by the ten
horns, the eighth horn will be a
religious king whose throne will
endure for more than twelve
centuries.
“Shortly
after the sixth century A.D. begins,
Emperor Justinian will endeavor to
reunify the old Roman Empire by
creating the Holy Roman Empire. To
purify and unify the empire,
Justinian will give special authority
to the pope in A.D. 533. This
authority will give the pope (and his
appointed prelates) power to
determine who is an orthodox
Christian and who is a heretic, but
three of the original ten kings will
hate the church because of religious
differences. The Heruli, Ostrogoths,
and Vandals will show no respect for
Justinian or church authorities in
Rome. These tribal nations will be
uprooted by A.D. 538 and the pope
will begin to exercise civil
authority in A.D. 538. This process
explains how the eighth horn will
dominate the other seven for 1,260
years. (See Additional Note at the
end of this chapter.)
DANIEL 7:25
And he shall
speak great words against the most
High, and shall wear out the saints
of the most High, and think to change
times and laws: and they shall be
given into his hand until a time and
times and the dividing of time.
{25} “The
eighth horn rising out of the fourth
beast represents the Roman Catholic
Church. Its leaders will falsely
think that they can usurp God’s
sovereign authority. The church will
insult the Most High God by creating
and imposing false doctrines on its
subjects. The special authority
Justinian granted to the church will
establish a church/state precedent
which the church will use to
persecute those who refuse to obey
its doctrines. Wielding absolute
authority over Christians in Europe,
the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic
Church will think that it has the
authority to change the day of
worship which the Most High God has
plainly declared to be the seventh
day of the week.[13] The
Catholic Church will also decide to
eliminate the second commandment from
the Ten Commandments. By dividing the
tenth commandment into two parts, the
Catholic Catechism will give
the illusion that
it contains ten commandments.[14] The
Ancient of Days will permit the Roman
Catholic Church to persecute His
saints for a time, times, and half a
time – 1,260 years (according to
Rule Four[15] ). Be
assured that God will look after His
saints while they are in the
wilderness. He has prepared a place
for them.
You may
wonder why God allows the eighth horn
to have power over the saints for
1,260 years. Strange as this may
sound, persecution keeps the faithful
– faith-full. Persecution
separates nominal Christians from
thoughtful and prayerful Christians.
Persecution makes the Word of God
come “alive” and for
the honest in heart, truth
becomes more important than the
traditions of men. Persecution
purifies the heart and soul and the
Comforter brings great peace to the
faithful.
DANIEL 7:26
But the
judgment shall sit, and they shall
take away his dominion, to consume
and to destroy it unto the end.
{26}
“The 1,260 years will end when
the court is seated and the power of
the Roman Catholic Church is
temporarily terminated.
Naturally,
human beings cannot see what is
taking place in Heaven, so God has
linked events in Heaven with events
on Earth. I like to call this linkage
the “Heaven-Earth Linkage
Law.” When prophetic events
transpire on Earth, “linked
events” occur in Heaven. For
example, when the 1,260 years
allotted to the eighth horn comes to
an end, the courtroom scene described
in verses 9 and 10 will occur in
Heaven. We know this because the
Father will issue a restraining order
against the eighth horn. As a result,
the power of the Roman Catholic
Church will abruptly end. The church
will lose control over the nations of
Europe. The pope will be captured and
exiled to France in February 1798.
This event on Earth is linked to the
restraining order the Father issued
in Heaven.
The little
horn will later recover from the
deadly wound it received in 1798.[16] A
treaty (actually the Lateran Pacts of
1929) will be ratified in June 1929
and Vatican City will be returned to
the papacy. Over time, the Roman
Catholic Church will regain world
respect and recognition. By the
twenty-first century, the church will
have diplomatic ties with more than
178 nations. This international
prominence will play an important
role during the Great Tribulation.
During the
devastating judgments described as
the first four trumpets of Revelation
8, the religions of the world will
come together in an effort to appease
God so that His wrath will cease.
World leaders will select the pope to
be the leader of a new government.
Because the world will be in an
extreme crisis, Babylon (the new
government) will achieve world
control without firing a single
bullet. Babylon will create laws
mandating moral behavior and the
worship of God. Some of
Babylon’s laws will be contrary
to the Ten Commandments,
specifically, the fourth commandment.
Babylon, under the leadership of the
pope, will persecute those who refuse
to obey its laws for forty-two
months.[17] Even
though the saints will be persecuted
and millions will die as martyrs for
their faith,[18] Babylon
will come to a horrible end. Jesus
will annihilate His enemies at the
Second Coming.
DANIEL 7:27
And the
kingdom and dominion, and the
greatness of the kingdom under the
whole heaven, shall be given to the
people of the saints of the most
High, whose kingdom is an everlasting
kingdom, and all dominions shall
serve and obey him.
{27} “Ultimately,
the powers of darkness will prevail
until the end, but do not be
discouraged. Jesus will destroy them
and create a new Heaven and a new
Earth. Then, the world will be handed
over to the saints. God’s
children will love, worship, and
willingly obey their King
forever.”
We know that
the courtroom scene in Heaven
occurred in 1798 because there is a
“linked” event on Earth.
The power of the papacy was broken
that year. A few years later (1844),
Jesus opened the books of record
(this date will be discussed in
Prophecy 3) and began to judge the
dead.
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