Hints on Daniel.
The Fourth Beast Daniel 7:7-137After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns. 8I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things. 9I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. 10A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened. 11I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake: I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame. 12As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time. 13I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. (Daniel 7:7‑13).
WE come now to the second division of our chapter. In the first the prophet had seen in a general manner four great beasts coming up from the sea, but three only of these were described, and that briefly, though with striking accuracy of detail.
Here, however, the fourth beast is exclusively noticed, and there can be but little doubt that the Roman empire is intended thereby. The Babylonian captivity had lasted seventy years, and this we may roughly take as the duration of the empire; for though Babylon was one of the most ancient cities of the earth―we find it mentioned in Scripture as early as the tenth chapter of Genesis―it had yielded to the power of the Assyrians. Babylonia had become an insignificant province, and the city of Babylon had been razed to the ground. Under Nebuchadnezzar, however, it was rebuilt after a gorgeous fashion about 607 B.C., and it is to this period of its existence that the vision of Daniel refers.
Roughly speaking, we may say that the Medo Persian empire lasted a little more than two hundred years from the fall of Babylon under Darius the Mede, about 538 B.C., to the time of the defeat of Darius the Persian by Alexander the Great at the battle of Issus in 333 B.C.
The Grecian empire, as we have seen, then asserted itself, and existed in greater or less degree for three hundred years. Towards the middle of this period another people began to make their presence felt in the affairs of the nations; these were the Romans. For many centuries this people had existed, for Rome was founded in 753 B.C., but in that form in which they came into prominence in connection with God’s plans as to this earth we must look not at their earlier history as a republic, but at their later under the emperors. In other words, it is the Roman empire as such that is seen in vision by Daniel as this great and terrible beast.
Magnificence had characterized Babylon. Rapacity and greed were the prominent features of the Persian dynasty. Rapidity of conquest marked the Grecian, especially in its commencement under Alexander the Great. But the Roman empire was diverse from all the others. It was “strong exceedingly.” Nothing could stand before it; it had “great iron teeth” with which it devoured all the peoples against whom its arms were directed.
This remarkable power of the Roman empire to absorb the nations that came under its influence marks it off completely from all the beasts that had preceded it. Where it did not absorb them, they were broken to pieces and stamped into submission.
But another remarkable feature stands prominently before the prophet’s vision; “it had ten horns,” and these ten horns, we are told, are “ten kings that shall arise” (vs. 24). There can be no serious question that this fourth beast of our chapter is the same that we find so frequently mentioned in the Apocalypse. In Revelation 13:11And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. (Revelation 13:1), John sees a beast rising out of the sea, that troubled state of human society, with “seven heads and ten horns”; these ten horns are here also explained as being “ten kings which have received no kingdom as yet” (17:12).
The more closely we examine these chapters in Daniel and Revelation the more we are persuaded that this ten horned state of the Beast looks on to that stage of its existence which is yet future. For the Roman empire is not done with, it is yet to arise, and will enter largely into the affairs of Palestine and Europe during that brief period of terrible trouble which follows the coming of the Lord for His saints, and immediately precedes His return with them in judgment.
We would direct the reader’s attention to a well-known but most remarkable passage in this connection. “The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition” (Rev. 17:88The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. (Revelation 17:8)). Here, then, there are three stages clearly noticed and marked off from one another. It “was”; this takes us back to the early days of the empire when in all its dreadful and terrible strength it rose up into power amidst the nations of the earth. So wide-stretched was its dominion that a decree went forth from its first emperor, Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed (Luke 2:11And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. (Luke 2:1)).
But it “is not”; that is to say, it has ceased to exist as a world power; instead of breaking others to pieces, it has itself been broken to pieces. Of course it must be distinctly borne in mind that we are not speaking of the Romish Church. The Roman empire is a political and not a religious power. The two are clearly distinguished in Rev. 17; in that chapter the Beast is the political, and the woman sitting on the Beast is the religious system.
But, further, we are told that it “shall ascend out of the bottomless pit”; this is the awful form that it will assume in the future. There will be at the close of this world’s history, just before the setting up of the kingdom of the Son of man, a vast political system in Europe. Its seat of government will be Rome, the city of the seven hills (Rev. 17:99And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. (Revelation 17:9)). Its form of government will be that commonly called imperial, that is to say, it will not be merely a king reigning over his own people, but an emperor who will have under him ten vassal kings. “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” (vs. 12).
It seems clear from this that the ten-horned stage is yet future, for never in the history of the Roman empire has there been such a condition of things as is here described. There was a time when the Beast existed apart from the ten kings. If the present broken state of the empire be looked upon as the ten-horned condition, then where is the Beast separate from and holding sway over the ten? No, the condition of things described in Revelation 17. has never yet been seen―namely, a great imperial head named The Beast, and at the same time ten kings who will give their power and strength unto the Beast.
The Word of God is specially concerned with what will take place at the close, and with those circumstances which lead up to the coming of the Son of man. Consequently the Spirit of God concentrates Daniel’s thoughts upon a change of a remarkable nature that will take place amongst these ten kings at that time. “I considered the horns, and behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots” (Dan. 7:88I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things. (Daniel 7:8)). Comparing this with Revelation 17:1414These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful. (Revelation 17:14), we gather, not that these three horns are positively destroyed, but that their power is broken, for the whole ten are seen at the end in open war with the Lamb, and He it is that destroys them.
The little horn will become notorious, and alas for him! notoriously wicked (vs. 25). He will be a man possessed of unwonted intelligence― “in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man” (vs. 8) ―coupled with arrogant pretension― “a mouth speaking great things;” and from the moment that he makes his appearance he thenceforth becomes so prominent in the affairs of the Beast that he and the Beast become identical. No one who reads Revelation 13:1-91And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. 2And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. 3And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. 4And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? 5And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. 6And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. 7And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. 8And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. 9If any man have an ear, let him hear. (Revelation 13:1‑9) in connection with the description given of the little horn in Daniel 7. can fail to see the identity between the Beast who opens his mouth “in blasphemy against God,” &c. (Rev. 13:66And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. (Revelation 13:6)), and the little horn who speaks “great words against the Most High” (Dan. 7:2525And 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. (Daniel 7:25)).
All seems to prosper until God’s time for the execution of judgment has fully come― “I beheld till the thrones were set up” (vs. 9). The authorized version is here misleading. The thrones here spoken of are not the earthly thrones of human government, but the heavenly thrones of divine judgment. Little as man may believe it to-day, an end will come to all the blasphemous hostility to God, His Word, His truth, and His people, which is gaining strength every day, and which will burst forth with appalling fierceness the moment the restraining power of the Holy Ghost is taken away by the removal of the true Church at the coming of the Lord (2 Thess. 2).
Judgment it is, and not the conversion of the world through the gospel, which will end the history of the times of the Gentiles. “I beheld till the thrones were set up, and the Ancient of days did sit,” &c. Who is this Ancient of days? The description here given resembles so closely what is said of the Son of man in Revelation 1. that it would be impossible not to identify the two. Indeed, our chapter does so further down, for in verse 13 we are told that “one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days,” whereas verses 21 informs us that it is the Ancient of clays that came. It is the Lord Jesus Christ to whom, as Son of man, all judgment has been committed (John 5:2727And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man. (John 5:27)), and who, while truly man, is as truly God. In His blessed Person we see One who, according to the prophecy of Micah (ch. 5:2), came forth out of Judah, and therefore was man, and yet, whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting, and hence was God.