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In this study, we’ll be looking at some amazing truths from God’s Word and how it has played out in history. God has led me to share these truths with you over the past few Bible studies, so most of the information will be familiar, but more in-depth. He’s had me share a little bit at a time, to build the foundation and to till the soil. This study is the last leg of the foundation to be laid before we can start building on it and the last row of the soil to be tilled before we can start sowing and growing in Truth.
As I said, some of the things we’ll learn will be familiar, and some of it will be… unsettling. I don’t say this to cause concern or to create controversy, but to be a good steward of God’s Truth and to prepare us all for some hard truth.
Last study we began a study on the 4 beasts of Daniel 7. We saw that these 4 beasts represent 4 kingdoms or empires that rise up, one after the other, the same as the statue in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. In fact, it’s exactly the same.
We learned that the first two beasts, the winged lion and the hunched up bear, represented Babylon and Medo-Persia. We also learned of another dream Daniel had about a one horned he-goat that destroyed a 2 horned ram, and that the he-goat and ram represented Greece destroying Medo-Persia.
This study, we’ll dive deeper into that dream, but first we need to learn more about the other 2 beasts from Daniel 7. Starting with the 4 headed leopard…
We already know that if the lion is Babylon, and the bear is Medo-Persia, then this 4 headed leopard that comes after it, has to be Greece. But why a leopard, and why 4 heads and 4 wings? For that, as usual, we have to look at history.
The Greek Empire rose up and conquered the other nations faster than any other empire in history at the time. The ruler, Alexander the Great, became emperor at the age of 20, and in only 8 years, he conquered most of the known world. Those 4 wings on the leopard are symbolic for how fast it conquers. It’s not just fast, it’s super fast. But what about the 4 heads…
Alexander died mysteriously just 4 years after conquering everything, at the ripe old age of 32. His death left a power vacuum in his empire. This created a civil war within the Greek empire, called the Diadochi War, or the War Of Successors. Out of that chaos, 4 of Alexander’s Generals emerged victorious and split the Empire into 4 regions.
THE 4 GENERALS AND WHAT THEY RULED
1. Cassander–Macedonia
2. Lysimachus – Asia Minor
3. Ptolemy – Egypt
4. Seleucus – Persia, Mesopotamia
There was actually a fifth general at first named Antigonus, but he was getting very powerful and he wanted to reunite the Greek empire under his rule, so these 4 generals united together and destroyed him in battle. After that, they constantly warred with each other, united with each other and betrayed each other, in an epic power struggle, but always retained the 4 different regions. The most powerful of those generals was Seleucus, and an interesting fact is that he would go into battle wearing a helmet wrapped in leopard skin. This was in honor of both Alexander and the god he served, Dionisis, who is represented as a leopard in Greek mythology.
Through all the struggle and civil war, and the empire being divided, it was still an empire. That is until the final beast came along. The beast that was different from all the others.
This beast represents the empire that conquered the Greeks, and that is of course, the Roman Empire. If you remember from our last few studies, the Romans would smelt bronze and iron together to make their weapons and armor. That lines up perfectly with the teeth of iron and claws of bronze.
From our recent studies we also learned the Roman Empire split into 2 Empires and eventually split into 10 kingdoms, represented in this vision by the 10 horns. Daniel sees this strange beast with 10 horns and then he sees something really crazy. A little horn rose up from amongst the 10 that was different than the other horns, speaking boastful words against God and plucked out 3 of the other horns. Let’s read the Bible’s interpretation of this part of the dream.
We’ll touch on that strange time frame of “time, times, and half a time” in a later study… Looking in history, we find that the Western Roman Empire split into these 10 kingdoms and that 3 of them disappeared from history. Here’s what happened: When the Roman Empire split in two, all the religious power stayed in the West with Rome, and all the political power went to the East in Constantinople. Together, they were known as The Holy Roman Empire, which was the precursor to the Roman Catholic Church.
Over time, the Western Empire began having trouble with these 3 kingdoms falling in line with the pope’s religious authority, so the Eastern Empire came in and destroyed them completely. By the year 590 AD, all three of these kingdoms only existed in memory, and the Roman Catholic Church was officially recognized as the only Church in the world. That meant that any group of believers that rejected the authority of the pope were considered heretics, and therefore enemies of the church and deserving of death.
So that explains the 3 horns rooted up, but what about the pompous words, the persecution of the saints, and the changing of times and laws? How do these 3 characteristics apply?
This is a screenshot from one of the most popular Roman Catholic websites in the world. They get over 100k website visits per month and this website alone generates up to 5 million dollars per year for the church. The word “VICAR” means “substitute”. The phrase under that title in the image begins with this: “A title of the Pope implying his supreme and universal primacy.” This is just one example of pompous words straight from the horse’s mouth. Let’s move to the next characteristic.
Something we as protestants don’t teach enough about, is the fact that not only was the Body of believers held captive under the Roman Catholic Church for over 1000 years, it also suffered through the worst religious persecution in history at the hands of the Roman Catholic Church.
The infamous, “Inquisitions” lasted for almost 350 years, with the Spanish Inquisition being one of the worst of all. A Christian could be burned at the stake for possessing a Bible. An entire family could be ruined and forever scarred for rejecting anything the Roman Catholic Church taught. You don’t want to pray to Mary? YOU DIE! You don’t want to acknowledge the pope as Christ on earth, YOU DIE! All this persecution was done in the name of Christ.
By the way, one of the most famous of the men killed as a heretic during this time, was a man named William Tyndale, and his spiritual crime against the church was translating the Bible into English. He translated the entire N.T. and about half the O.T. But before he could complete his mission for God’s Kingdom, the Roman Catholic church caught him, strangled him to death, and burned his dead body at the stake. Alright, let’s move on.
The last characteristic is very interesting because it incorporates two things, times and law. But not just any times and law, it’s a changing of God’s times and God’s law.
This is another screenshot from that catholic website I mentioned earlier. I figured instead of telling you the history of the change of times, I’d just let them show you themselves. That’ll save us some time. Most of the world, including us, goes by what is called the Gregorian calendar, and it was appointed by Pope Gregory the 13th. All of the holidays and special times of the church are according to the Gregorian calendar.
Now, why is this important, you may ask? Well, because all of God’s Holy Days are according to what is called the Ecclesiastical calendar and all of our culture’s holidays are according to the Pope’s calendar. The Ecclesiastical Calendar is very different from the one we use.
To start with, the Biblical New year actually starts in March and ends in February. Even the ancient Romans knew this, so you can still see the truth of that in the Roman names given to certain months.
SEPTEMber = LATIN SEPTEM = SEVEN = SEVENTH MONTH
OCTOber =LATIN OCTO = EIGHT = EIGHTH MONTH
NOVEMber = LATIN NOVEM = NINE = NINTH MONTH
DECEMber = LATIN DECEM = TEN = TENTH MONTH
The little horn changed God’s times because the little horn wants humanity to observe his own appointed times and not God’s, because observing God’s times acknowledges Him as the sovereign Creator. This little horn confused the calendar and mixed it up, so that most of the world, (including us) has completely forgotten about the Biblical calendar and God’s appointed times, thereby passively accepting the little horn’s authority to do so.
Let me pause here for just a second. I know some of this is uncomfortable and maybe even a little scary. But think of it this way: As the Body, we want supernatural confirmation of God’s Word. We want all the good stuff. We want prophetic anointing spoken over our lives, we want healings, we want to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Right??
Well, the same Holy Spirit that causes us to speak with tongues of fire, is the same Holy Spirit that caused this burning truth to be spoken to us in God’s Word. The same Holy Spirit that shows us what and how to prophesy, is the same Holy Spirit that showed us what this Prophecy is and how it would come to pass. The same Holy Spirit that gives us physical healings, is the same Holy Spirit that spiritually heals us by revealing what is spiritually harming us. Amen!
The goal here isn’t to make us afraid that everything we thought we knew is suspect, it’s to make room in our hearts and minds for the Holy Spirit to reveal TRUTH to us, because it’s the TRUTH that sets us free.
Ok, let’s keep going. So that was just a touch on the times, now what about God’s law?
Can you see the difference?
God’s law can be summed up in the 10 commandments. Here on the left we have the 10 Commandments as they appear in the Bible, this is from Exodus 20:3-17. On the right, we see the 10 commandments as they are listed from the Roamn Catholic church.
They took an entire commandment (#2) out, and to keep it as 10 they split the last one in two. Think about this, if the Protestant Movement had never happened, if Martin Luther had just accepted the “justified reasons”, if William Tyndale had decided to just “go with the flow” and follow the “status quo”, we might never have known the real 10 Commandments of the Bible.
Now, there is one other example of this characteristic of the little horn that involves changing both God’s time and God’s law all in one, and just as before, the little horn pompously boasts about it’s authority to change it. But, we’re not gonna get into it for times sake, and I’d rather encourage you all to study it for yourselves and don’t be afraid to question the “status quo”, even in today’s time.
The final characteristic of the little horn I’d like to focus on is the fact that it’s little.
You remember the angel told Daniel that the horns represented kingdoms, so the little horn represents a little kingdom with a lot of power. A little kingdom that is different than the others. A little kingdom that not only holds political power in the world, but also religious power in the world.
This is a screenshot from the Encyclopedia Brittanica entry for Vatican City. I try to use encyclopedias and other verifiable sources whenever I can. I don’t want anything to be based on my opinion, my bias, my traditions, or even my beliefs when God has me share His Truth. I simply present the facts and let the Holy Spirit do the rest.
Something crazy about Vatican City is that despite all its power and wealth, it’s only about 121 acres big with a population of about 825 people. That’s it. Take away the visitors and vendors, the lookie-loos and the passing-thrus, and there’s only about 825 people living on about 121 acres, that have a huge religious presence and political pull on the world.
Ok, let me stop here for another second. I want to be clear that none of this information being presented is meant to attack anyone that’s a member of the Catholic church. I know some really good, God loving people that are Catholics.
I also know some really good people that are great employees at Walmart, so if you ever hear me saying that Walmart is a terrible company run by corrupt, greedy elites, just know that I’m not referring to those good employees, I’m referring to the company’s bad business practices. In that same way, I’m not speaking badly of people that are catholic, I’m addressing the organization’s corruption and power.
Alright, so that’s the 4 beasts of Daniel 7, the Lion, the Bear, the Leopard, and the 10 horned monster. The last 7 verses of Daniel 7 speak about the judgment of the beast and follow the same pattern as the statue dream in Daniel 2, where all the kingdoms are destroyed and replaced by the True Kingdom of God. But remember we had one other vision to dig into in the book of Daniel. That’s found in Daniel 8, with the He-goat and the Ram.
For a refresher, Daniel sees a ram with two horns, but one horn is bigger than the other. Then he sees a goat with one big horn attack and destroy the ram. Then the big horn on the goat breaks and is replaced with 4 horns. Then in the midst of the 4 horns, a little horn rises up and exalts itself.
Ok, , the original big o quickly summarize, Alexander the Great, was broken. Then 4 other horns grew out in its place, representing the 4 generals that took over after Alexander. Then in the midst of the 4 horns, a little horn grows up, just like in the vision of the fourth beast with 10 horns.
But this little horn isn’t the same as the other little horn in Daniel 7. Remember, the first little horn we just studied came out of the 10 kingdoms that Rome split into, but this little horn grows up out of the 4 kingdoms that Greece split into, which happened many years before Rome conquered Greece.
Now, these two little horns often get confused with each other, especially because similar language is used to describe them. But the fact that they each arise from two different empires is our first clue that they are different. Also, the fact that the horn in Daniel 7 arises from Rome, makes war with the saints and then is destroyed by the coming of the final Kingdom, the True Kingdom of God. While this little horn in Daniel 8 arises from Greece, before the Roman Empire, ends the daily sacrifices, casts down God’s sanctuary, and prospers. At least for a time. These two little horns, even though they are empowered by the same evil, are separate from each other and mark two distinct points of time in the overall end times narrative.
Just like we did with the little horn of Daniel 7, we’ll learn some incredible stuff about this little horn of Daniel 8 in our next study as we continue to examine the DREAMS OF DESTRUCTION AND VISIONS OF VICTORY. AMEN.