THE REVELATION OF DANIEL

The Revelation of Daniel Chapter 8

THE KINGDOM OF ANTICHRIST AS FORESEEN BY DANIEL

Read Daniel 8….

THE THIRD GENTILE EMPIRE…. “And he said, Behold, I will make thee know what shall be in the last end of the indignation: for at the time appointed the end shall be.” [Daniel 8:19] This chapter then is not exclusive to Alexander the Great nor his 4 generals who later divided up his Empire. Those times and Empires have long since evaporated, but yet within its structure are references to the last days yet before us.

To know what the Old Testament says is prerequisite to learning what it means and is essential for a Christian’s progressive knowledge when Christ adds His teachings to it. Prophecy is given for a spiritual application. Most of prophecy has to do with the end times, that arrangement and condition of the World as the harbinger of the Messiah’s approach. To properly comprehend end time prophecy we should have at least a general idea of comparative history of the Biblical Empires.

Let us be reminded of a few key understandings when looking at prophecy:

• That Israel once brought out of Egypt was called to be that theocracy of God placed in the earth without interruption going forward. But because of Israel’s idolatries, God “sold them” (as seen in Judges) into the hands of their enemies as “Lo-Ammi” or not my people. And in God’s mystical chronology then there are times/years suspended, as it relates towards Daniel’s end time prophecy. Those “appointed times” of His final reckoning at the “end of the indignation” are suspended as long as they were/are in appointed times of Israel’s servitude or desolation.
• Therefore the suspended period of time we have been in for around 2000 years since the “cutting off of the Messiah” has been for Israel a “Lo-Ammi” not my people
• That period which corresponds in John’s Book of Revelation to the “things which are”. [Revelation 1:19] The calling out of the Gentiles a people for His Name [Acts 15:14] “….and I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people.…”
• Foreseeing this, and in answer to Daniel’s earnest request for knowing the fate of his people in their promised final restoration, God gave him a mixture of the standard chronological time frame associated with the common times and seasons, and the mystical chronological time frame; that of in consideration and calculating the Lo-Ammi
• That being accomplished in the revealed 3 time frames of 7 weeks of years=49 years, and the 62 weeks of years that = 434, and the 1 week = 7 years. Totaling 70 weeks of years or 490 years.
• 69 weeks of years are consecutive starting with the edict of the restoration of Jerusalem by Darius the Mede (ending a period of Lo-Ammi) to the cutting off of the Messiah exactly 483 years later. Resulting in this current day’s most tragic and final “Lo-Ammi” period. That understanding wherein we discover the essence of God’s mystical chronology of this last 2000 years.
• There will be another edict by the future “king” of the last day Gentiles that will allow the Israelites to reestablish their ancient religious traditions. That “edict of covenant” will trigger that final 7 year period, now in suspension, to finish the 70 weeks of Daniel’s vision. This corresponds with God’s final indignation being completed, and afterwards taking them unto Himself as His people in the Millennial Kingdom with the subsequent building of the 3^rd Temple described by Ezekiel.
• That 70^th week of years, that one 7 year period corresponds to John’s Book of Revelation in 1:19 “….the things which shall be hereafter” (That is after that time or ageof the calling out of another people, that John was living in and is described in chapters 2 & 3) After Israel’s suspended time, we pick up the 7^th week’s events in the expounding of Daniels vision in Revelation chapters 4 through 20:6.

The four beasts of Daniel’s first vision of chapter 7, in the first year of Belshazzar, were 4 Gentile kings/kingdoms that would follow one after another over a span of around 2500 years, even up unto today and near future. The main focus of Daniel chapters 7 & 8 is the “little horn” that arises out of the end time 4^th beast who finally emerges from among 10 kings/kingdoms that correspond with Nebuchadnezzar’s Image of chapter 2, having 10 toes. That 4^th kingdom is a diverse and horrific beast which after study and reflection surely must include Islam, which means submission; the very spirit of the Beast. This religion’s spawning and development was during the Roman Empire’s military might’s declining days. Wherein and at the last, the Ottoman/Turkish Islamic forces overcame the last Roman stronghold of Constantinople held by Catholic/Greek Orthodox forces. This completed the extinction of that once great military giant in the year 1453.  Rome itself having fallen about a 1000 years earlier in 476.

Historically Islam, the youngest of this world’s great religions, began with Mohammed attesting that he received a vision and words from Gabriel in 610 AD. (The Angel of God that we are introduced to in the Book of Daniel.) The words are then those recorded in the Quran. Words supposedly compatible as a further revelatory expansion of Torah and the Words of Christ. But the reality of the book is found in quotes from its pages where the Qur’an explicitly denies Jesus Christ’s crucifixion. (Sura 4:157-158)

So on the heels of the Roman military might, comes the religious corruption, that of Catholicism, that survives and thrives even after its military might and world dominance fades into history. This new religion, Islam, coincides with the next (2^nd) great leavening of the world and the Church of God. [Matthew 13:33]

Importantly what must be seen is that the Roman Empire is a mere extension of the Babylonian Empire, which is but an extension of Mystery Babylon the Great, of Nimrod’s Babel. The means by which its World dominating  purposes are forwarded, of which Catholicism and Mohammedism and a myriad of other “isms” are but harlots (Revelation 17:1-5) intent to draw our affections away from the Bride-groom. [Revelation 19:1-10]

God’s view of these Gentile Empires is an extension of that original great religious apostasy from the Creator. [Genesis 10:9, 11:1-9] And subsequently came God’s Call to the seed of Abraham to be His ambassadors with His authority in the World to bring truth and light into that corrupted world. The seed of Abraham being deceived, misled and consequently became thoroughly corrupted by that which stems from that prideful, religious, sensual error of Mystery Babylon. That was the principal cause of God’s indignation towards them first and Christendom 2nd.

The often severe disciplines in judgment and correction stem from the irreversible calling of them/us into that Covenant with Abraham. The 4 great Gentile Empires are the instruments by which God judges and finally humbles His people. The 4 Beasts’ revealed characteris not only descriptive of them militarily but of their spiritual nature.Their world dominance not only includes their initial military might, but their spiritual dominance. And although the Roman Empire militarily might have been silenced, its latent effects are still very much in dominance in the World, and ever increasingly so.

So from that view, the 4^th Beast is but an extension from the first Beast; Babylon. It is with this view that it can be seen that the little horn is the main focus of the 4^th Beast of Daniel 7. That is to say there is nothing dictated by Daniel as it relates specifically to military conquests or losses about the 4^th Beast over the extended period of its development and existence. As it is inconsequential to the key matter of that which the Spirit is pointing to. That of its true personified character erupting on the last days’ scene, and that which is described as manifest has wholly to do with God’s people in relation to His Son’s Kingdom.

It is from this same understanding that we see that Daniel chapter 8’s “he-goat” (which clearly begins with Alexander and then his generals) quickly proceeds, like the previous 4 beasts vision, to the little horn once again.  Just enough detail given in ancient Scripture, on the Horn of Alexander and his generals to make the statement, “And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe.” [John14]

Then the end time dynamic to which He is pointing is laid before us to comprehend and to act accordingly. “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, insomuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.” [1 Peter 4:12-13]

Having all this in mind, it is not necessary to try to force a revived Roman Empireof 10 nations into the end time scenario. The spiritual consequence of God’s indignation may be traced through the religious leaven. That is to say that ‘spiritual empire’ which has been propagated and promoted by the 4^th beast has survived and thrived through that Roman/Babylonian connection.

More than just interesting is that after the downfall of the last of the military might of the Roman Empire at Constantinople, the great Hagia Sofia (holy wisdom) church was converted into a Mosque, and the city was renamed Istanbul. It remains part of the modern state of Turkey, which is now all that remains of the Empire which claimed to be a third Rome, whose final end came in 1453, at the hands of the rising Ottoman Empire, and a Sultan who would afterwards style himself Qayser-i-Rûm: Caesar of the Romans.

Additionally, as noted in the 8^th chapter of Daniel with the he-goat narrative, we see the third great empire being the Greek. That it’s quickly moving to the end time little horn is indicative of the great influence of that culture upon the World that invaded that of the Roman and today’s culture. And in Paul’s day transcends the Roman culture in spite of their military dominance, as we see in Paul’s recorded words: “Now I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed to come unto you, (but was let hitherto,) that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among other Gentiles. I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise. So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also.” [Romans 1:13-15]

Greek civilization had a powerful influence on the Roman Empire. Indeed, some modern scholars see the Roman era as a continuation of the same civilization, which they label “Graeco-Roman”. The Roman conquest carried many features of Greek civilization to far-flung parts of the Mediterranean world and Western Europe. Through the mediation of the Romans, therefore, Greek civilization came to be the founding culture of Western civilization.

So it is that the Spirit of God traces for us the little hornnot only from the history of the 4th Empire but from the Greek by way of locating him for us in the end time as coming from among one of the 4 horns of the he-goat, representative of the generals of Alexander. “And out of one of them came forth a little horn.” Thus bypassing the 4^th beast altogether and tying the coming Anti-Christ to that of the Greek Empire. And more specifically to one area represented by one of the generals.

It is understood from Revelation 13 that the little horn/Anti-Christ represented here has the characteristics of the wild beasts, not that of the Ram or He-Goat. As the more domesticated seen in the 8^th chapter are more representative of those Ancient 2 Empires in general, as Persia and Alexander’s character. That being historically more tame in comparison to the beast, in the way that they approached Israel in their days of ancient conquest. This is contrasted with the ferociousness displayed towards God’s people representative in the last days’ wild beast depiction of the Anti-Christ and the 10 nation confederation out of which he rises. [Revelation chapters 12 & 13]