Daniel 7 is one of the foundational chapters in the Bible concerning the investigative judgement and there’s no point in going to chapters 8—10, or 12 or Revelation before you understand this. It’s foundational and exciting information because it reveals that there is a God in heaven who knows thousands of years ahead of time what will happen. And He has shown us these things in the Bible so that we can be ready for the future.
The Fourth Beast and the Ten Kingdoms
There are four beasts. Let us look at the fourth beast. “Thus, he said: ‘The fourth beast shall be a fourth kingdom on earth, which shall be different from all other kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, trample it and break it in pieces.’ ” Daniel 7:23
In his book, The Temporal Power of the Pope, 122, Cardinal Henry Edward Manning wrote regarding verse 23: “The legions of Rome occupied at the circumference of the world. The military roads which sprang from Rome traversed all the earth; the whole world was, as it were, held in peace and in tranquility by the universal presence of this mighty heathen empire. It was ‘exceedingly terrible,’ according to the prophecies of Daniel; it was as it were of iron, beating down and subduing the nations.” Does the Roman Catholic church know who the fourth beast is? Yes, Cardinal Manning tells us very clearly. It is an iron kingdom beating down the nations of earth.
“The ten horns are ten kings who shall arise from this kingdom. and another shall rise after them; he shall be different from the first ones, and shall subdue three kings.” Verse 24
These ten kingdoms rose up over hundreds of years. The ten kingdoms were despised by Rome—verse 23’s fourth kingdom—because Rome believed it would last forever. The ten kingdoms grew stronger and stronger. What Rome believed didn’t matter because hundreds of years before it was founded, Daniel had predicted its demise and the rise of the ten kingdoms.
- G. Wells says, “No vestige of the Western Empire, the original Roman Empire, remained as a distinct and separate political division.” The Outline of History, 526. They became stronger and stronger and divided it up until those ten kings owned it all. Another writer wrote, “The destruction of the Roman Empire in the West by the German barbarians is one of the most momentous events in history. It marks a turning point in the fortunes of mankind.”
Out of the Ten, Another.
Daniel then writes that after the fourth beast is divided into the ten kingdoms, another kingdom—different from the first ten—would rise up, more than the ten. This 11th kingdom would assume an air of superiority over all the others.
“The downfall of the Roman imperial government in the West was further, an event of immense significance in the political world, for the reason that it rendered possible the growth in western Europe of several nations or states in place of the single empire.
“Another consequence of the fall of the Roman power in the West was the development of the papacy. In the absence of an emperor in the West, the popes rapidly gained influence and power, and soon built up an ecclesiastical empire that in some respects took the place of the old empire, and carried on its civilizing work.” Myers’s General History for Colleges, 316
“If any man consider the original of this great ecclesiastical dominion, he will easily perceive, that the Papacy is no other than the ghost of the deceased Roman Empire, sitting crowned upon the grave thereof.” Thomas Hobbes
“There grew up in Europe a line of rulers far more powerful than any of these, namely the popes at Rome. Moreover, the majesty of Rome helped to raise the bishops above his fellows.” Medieval and Modern Times, James Harvey Robinson, 40, 41
Here we see secular history almost quoting Scripture regarding the characteristics of this new kingdom and its power over the previous ten kingdoms.
It is a well-established, historical fact that “Papal Rome was for all practical purposes the continuation of the Roman Empire … . Whatever Roman elements the barbarians and Arians left were put under the protection of the bishop of Rome who was the chief person there after the emperor’s disappearance. The Roman church in this way privily pushed itself into the place of the Roman world empire of which it is the actual continuation.” The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, Vol. 4, 846, (Adolph Harnack in 1903, What is Christianity?, 269, 270) If we understand that Papal Rome is a mere continuation of the Roman Empire, then we will understand that Rome was established as a world power that would continue until the end of the world.
“The empire has not perished, but has only undergone transformation. … That is no clever remark, but the recognition of the true state of the matter historically, and the most appropriate and fruitful way of describing the character of this church. It still governs the nations.” Ibid. That was in 1903 he recognized that. “It is a political creation, and as imposing as a World-Empire, because the continuation of the Roman Empire, the Pope, who calls himself ‘King’ and ‘Pontifex Maximus,’ is Caesar’s successor.” Ibid.
- G. Wells talks about this power. “As the barbarian races settled and became Christian, the pope began to claim an overlordship of their kings. In a few centuries, the Pope had become in theory, and to a certain extent in practice, the high priest, censor, judge, and divine monarch of Christendom.” The Outline of History, 526. This provides a description of the development of the little horn’s power; a power that became greater than any other nation in Europe, and continues to this day.
Joseph Stalin also said, “How big an army does he [the pope] have?” He doesn’t need an army for He can use the armies of any nation he chooses.
He Speaks and Persecutes
The two big subjects of Daniel 7 are the little horn and the judgment. These subjects should be studied together because we cannot understand the judgment without understanding the little horn.
As the little horn’s power grew, prophecy tells us what happens next. “He shall speak pompous [great] words against the Most High.” Daniel 7:25, first part. “The pope is of so great dignity, and so exalted that he is not a mere man, but as it were God and the vicar of God. So that whatever the pope does, seems to proceed from the mouth of God. … The pope is as it were God on earth.” Ferraris Ecclesiastical Dictionary.
Pope Leo XIII said, “We hold upon this earth the place of God Almighty.” Great words, indeed. But notice as we further in verse 25, Daniel says, he “shall persecute [wear out] the saints of the Most High.” Encyclical letter dated June 20, 1894
History says that “the church of Rome has shed more innocent blood than any other institution that has ever existed among mankind, will be questioned by no Protestant who has a competent knowledge of history. The memorials, indeed, of many of her persecutions are now so scanty, that it is impossible to form a complete conception of the multitude of her victims, and it is quite certain that no power of imagination can adequately realize their sufferings.” W.E.H. Lecky, History of the Rise and Influence of the Spirit of Rationalism in Europe, Vol. 2, 32
A Roman Catholic scholar stated, “The Catholic Church is a respecter of conscience and of liberty. … She has, and she loudly proclaims that she has a ‘horror of blood.’ Nevertheless, when confronted by heresy she does not content herself with persuasion; arguments of an intellectual and moral order appear to her insufficient, and she has recourse to force, to corporal punishment, to torture. She creates tribunals like those of the Inquisition, she calls the laws of the State to her aid, if necessary she encourages a crusade, or a religious war and all her ‘horror of blood’ practically culminates into urging the secular power to shed it, which proceeding is almost more odious—for it is less frank—than shedding it herself. Especially did she act thus in the sixteenth century with regard to Protestants. Not content to reform morally, to preach by example, to convert people by eloquent and holy missionaries, she lit in Italy, in the Low Countries, and above all in Spain, the funeral piles of the Inquisition. In France under Francis I and Henry II, in England under Mary Tudor, she tortured the heretics, whilst both in France and Germany during the second half of the sixteenth and the first half of the seventeenth century if she did not actually begin, at any rate she encouraged and actively aided, the religious wars.” The Catholic Church, the Renaissance, and Protestantism, 182–184
The Thirty Years’ War, fought from 1618 to 1648, resulted from religious conflict within the Holy Roman Empire, sparked by the Reformation. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died in battle, from famine, or disease. Parts of Germany reported a 50% decline in population, this included approximately 98 percent of the Protestant men in Germany. (wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirty_Years%27_War)
This was common knowledge in America because it was recent history. Today in America, it is not only acknowledged, but justified and defended. “The church has persecuted. Only a tyro [a beginner] in church history will deny that. … One hundred and fifty years after Constantine, the Donatists were persecuted, sometimes put to death. … Protestants were persecuted in France and Spain with the full approval of the church authorities. We have always defended the persecution of the Huguenots, and the Spanish Inquisition. … Wherever and whenever there is honest Catholicity, there will be a clear distinction drawn between truth and error, and Catholicity and all forms of heresy. When she thinks it good to use physical force she will use it. … But will the Catholic Church give bond that she will not persecute at all? Will she guarantee absolute freedom and equality of all churches and all faiths? The Catholic church gives no bonds for her good behavior.” The Western Watchman, December 24, 1908
The Saints
A saint keeps the law of God (Romans 7:12). A wicked person breaks the law of God. Understanding Daniel 7 is fundamental, foundational to understanding the prophecies regarding the judgment and the end of time found in the book of Revelation. More than any other chapter in the Bible, Daniel 7 provides the different descriptions and identifying marks of the little horn, and the distinguishing mark or sign of its power.
The Distinguishing Mark
The Roman Catholic church is not alone in persecuting God’s saints. Other religions have spoken great things about themselves, but the little horn power has a special distinguishing mark that these other religions do not have. We find that mark in Daniel 7:25. We must understand this to have any comprehension about the investigative judgment.
Daniel 7:25, last part, says that this special distinguishing mark that sets the little horn power apart from other religions and powers, that he “shall intend to change times and laws.” What are these times and laws? The context of the prophecy is speaking about the things of the Most High. So, if the little horn power seeks to change times and laws, then it is seeking to change the times and laws of the Most High.
Can any human being, power, or organization in this world change the law of God? No! Why? Because God has said that He does not change, and we know that the law of God is His character. Changing the law would changing Himself, and this He will not do (Psalm 89).
Jesus said, “And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the law to fail.” Luke 16:17. A tittle is part of a letter, it’s actually a part of a part of a letter. Jesus said heaven and earth cold pass away, but not a single part of a letter of the law to fail. I don’t think you could state it in any stronger language. The apostle Paul says concerning Jesus Christ that it was through Him that God made the worlds, and He is the One who upholds everything by the word of His power, and He says that He would destroy it all before He would allow the smallest part of a letter of the law to fail.
The Protestant Reformation gave man access to the Bible. No longer was the Bible written only in Latin, a language the common man could not read, nor was it chained to the wall in Catholic churches. Reformers translated the Bible into many of the European languages, and the printing press was invented, allowing the Bible to be distributed everywhere.
When men began reading the Bible, they asked, “Why are we keeping Sunday?” Believed to be written in 1545 by Melanchthon, Martin Luther’s associate, in very old English, he says, “He changeth the tymes and lawes that any of the size works days commanded of God will make them unholy and idle days when he listeth or of their own holy days abolished make work days again. When they changed ye Saterday into Sondaye they have changed God’s laws and turned them into their own tradicions to be kept above God’s precepts.” Right away people recognized what was happening.
“Question: Have you any other way of proving that the Church has power to institute festivals of precept? Answer: Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her—she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday the seventh day, a change for which there is no Scriptural authority.” From A Doctrinal Catechism, 174. The special, distinguishing mark of the little horn power was an intention to change the times (the Sabbath) and the law (the fourth commandment). This is foundational to understanding the subject of the Investigative Judgment.
How Long, Lord? How Long?
God not only told us when and how the little horn power would develop, providing all the descriptions of who and what it would be so that we would recognize it, but for the first time God gave His children a timeline so that they would know how long this power would be given authority to persecute and overcome God’s saints. This period of time is so important that in Daniel and Revelation, it is mentioned seven times. Seven is a perfect number in the Bible. If something is mentioned seven times in the Bible prophecies, we can be sure it is very important that we understand it, the prophecies regarding the three and a half years, the 42 months, and the 1260 days.
Point 1: The year is called a time in scripture (Daniel 11:13, margin). So, a time is one year, a time dual is two years, the dividing of time is half a year giving you three years and a half.
Point 2: According to ancient history, historians and Jews believed that a year was 360 days.
Point 3: In a symbolic time prophecy, a day equals a year (Ezekiel 4:1–6). The prophecies that foretold Christ’s first coming as the Messiah used the day for a year principle. If a person does not believe in this principle, then they should be looking for a messiah to come around 455 B.C. The day for a year principle is foundational to the Christian religion (Daniel 9:25).
By applying the day for a year principle to Daniel 7, we find that the little horn power is granted the power to persecute and harass God’s saints for 1260 years.
When did the 1260 years begin? When the papacy was given its authority by the civil government. This was done when Justinian made a decree in A.D. 532 against anyone who was called a heretic, and in A.D. 533, Justinian made a decree making the bishop of Rome the lord of all the churches (The Apocalypse of St. John, 172).
However, Italy’s population included Arian powers who did not accept the pope as lord over the churches. In fact, they wanted to decide who would be pope. Not surprisingly, the papacy did not like that idea. So, the sword of the empire cleared the way.
For 16 years, these campaigns caused the city of Rome to be under different masters or rulers five times and suffered three severe sieges. In A.D. 538, at the close of the first siege, the imperial army under Belisarius and the almost the entire nation of the Goths under King Witiges gathered to take control of the city of Rome. The Goths were defeated, digging ‘the grave of the Gothic monarchy’ in Italy.* The resistance of A.D. 538 against Witiges was the crucial hour in history. George Finlay, a secular historian writes, “With the conquest of Rome by Belisarius, the history of the ancient city may be considered as terminating; and with his defense against Witiges commences the history of the Middle Ages.”
First by Decree, then by Force
In A.D. 533, the pope was made ruler over all Christendom by decree, but in A.D. 538, he was made the ruler by force. Now move ahead 1260 years to 1793. “On November 26, 1793, the Convention, of which 17 bishops and some clergy were members, decreed the abolition of all religion.” The Age of Revolution, W.H. Hutton, 156
As far as the France were concerned, the papacy was the only religion, so by decree, it declared the abolition of all other religions. France was then an atheistic socialistic power. The decree was effective in 1793, but it was not enforced until 1798.
In 1798, “General Berthier, by orders of the French government, led his forces into Rome and proclaimed a republic. The pope [Pius VI] was dragged into exile, where he died. The whole papal government was dissolved.”
“ ‘The papacy was extinct: not a vestige of its existence remained; and among all the Roman Catholic powers not a finger was stirred in its defense. The Eternal City had no longer prince or pontiff; its bishop was a dying captive in foreign lands; and the decree was already announced that no successor would be allowed in his place.’ ” Canon Trevor.
Let’s Summarize
Most of the world thought the papacy was done. However, Daniel 7 says it would continue until the kingdom was given to the saints. The Bible tells us that it would look like the papacy was dead, but it would be healed.
- The Roman Empire was the fourth beast.
- Ten kings would arise out of the fourth beast (A.D. 351–476).
- Another king would arise after A.D. 476.
- This other king would be different from the first ten.
- He would speak great words and be stronger than his fellows.
- He would speak great words against the Most High.
- He would wear out the saints of the Most High.
- He would attempt or think to change the times and laws of God’s government.
- This would continue for 1260 years.
This supremacy was established by decree in A.D. 533. It was established by force in A.D. 538. It was abolished by decree in 1793. It was abolished by force in 1798. When writing about this, Daniel says that this horn had “eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking pompous words. ‘I watched till thrones were put in place, and the Ancient of Days was seated; His garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head was like pure wool. His throne was a fiery flame, its wheels a burning fire; a fiery stream issued and came forth from before Him. A thousand thousands ministered to Him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him. The court was seated, and the books were opened.’ ” Daniel 7:9, 10
Notice, the court, the books, the judgment all have to do with what this little horn has been doing, and what the result of this court session will be.
- Jesus Christ will receive a worldwide kingdom that will last forever. “I was watching in the night visions, and behold, One like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed.” Verses 13, 14
- “I was watching; and the same horn was making war against the saints, and prevailing against them, until the Ancient of Days came, and a judgment was made in favor of the saints of the Most High, and the time came for the saints to possess the kingdom.” Daniel 7:21, 22 The kingdom first given to Christ is now given to His saints.
- “But the court shall be seated, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and destroy it forever.” Daniel 7:26. God destroys the little horn’s dominion.
- “Then the kingdom [when the dominion of the little horn is taken away and destroyed] and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people, the saints of the Most High. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey Him.” Verse 27. The whole world is given to the saints of the Most High. Where do you want to be when that happens?
The Bible tells us that a saint keeps the commandments. Since the law of God is holy, just, and good (Romans 7:12), the person who keeps the law of God, is made holy and is, therefore, a saint.
Our Father controls the future. When there is a transition of rulers in this world, when the true Christ stands up and begins to rule, when the rule of antichrist is over, may we be found among that number who are called the saints of the Most High.
*Thomas Hodgkins wrote a series of books entitled, Italy and Her Invaders. Excerpts from these books are used here.
Pastor John J. Grosboll is the Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be reached by email at historic@stepstolife.org or by telephone at 316-788-5559.