Daniel 7:7-28
In the second vision of Daniel, verses 7-12, he sees the last of the four Gentile empires, that of Rome, and a judgment scene with solemn issue. Much attention is given to the fourth beast, because the empire it represents was in existence when the Lord was upon earth, and under its authority He was crucified (see. Luke 2:1; Matthew 22:17-21; John 19:12, 15). The empire will be revived in the days now rapidly approaching (Rev. chapters 13, 17, 19) when it will serve Satan as no power has clone heretofore.
What marked the fourth empire was resistless strength; what it did not absorb, it destroyed. It was unlike its three predecessors, because it introduced some features of a republic; professing to be a government of the people, it was as despotic as any monarchy that has ever existed. The beast which Daniel saw had ten horns; these belong to the future reappearance of the empire which came to an end nearly 1460 years ago.
In verse 24 the ten horns are explained as ten kings. The revived Roman empire will be comprised of or include ten countries of Europe, each of which will have a king of its own (see Rev. 17:12), No doubt these will be within the territory of the empire as it formerly existed. Among the ten kings there will appear another having a small beginning but quickly becoming the most important of all, and taking the place of three of them; he becomes the imperial head. He will be great in intelligence and pretension, not so much in brute force (verse 8).
In verse 9 we should read “set” or “placed” instead of “cast down”. The “Ancient of days” can be none other than the eternal God; the language used suggests the Person who is seen in Revelation 1:13-10. (See also John 5:22, 23, 27). The Son is, however, not revealed in verses 9 and 10 of our chapter, but in the second reference, in verses 13 and 14. Rev. 4 and 5 may be compared with this passage; in the former is a throne of judgment, and God sits upon it; the Persons are not distinguished there, but in chapter 5 the Lamb is introduced as the Executor of the judgments. The Rejected One becomes the Judge (Phil. 2:9:11). So in our chapter.
The saints of God are not mentioned until verse 18 is reached. In verses 18 and 22, the saints of the high places (see margin) are the heavenly saints of all ages, and with them will be those mentioned in Revelation 20:4. In verses 21 and 25 the saints are the believing Jews, converted after the removal of the Church of God to heavenly glory, suffering under the persecution of the last days. In verse 22 “the saints” is a term plainly general, referring to the heavenly and earthly saints, and in verse 27, “the people of the saints of the high places” are evidently the Jews.
The judgment (verse 11 ends in the slaying of the fourth beast; his body is destroyed and given to the burning flame (Rev. 19:20). It is after this that the Millennial kingdom (verse 27) is set up.
Verses 15 and 28 tell of Daniel’s feelings in view of what he had been told. The restoration of Israel was now far off; not until the Babylonian empire, under which he then lived, and three others, should have run their course (and as we know, too, the long interval of the gospel of the grace of God) would the promised day of blessing dawn.
ML 07/12/1936