The Beasts of Daniel 7

The Beasts of Daniel 7.
The chapter in which these creatures appear is Daniel 7. But to understand the context, one must go back to Daniel 2 where a vision is given and an explanation of the meaning of a statue. It had a head of gold, chest of silver, belly and thighs of brass, legs of iron and feet of iron and clay. Then a rock from heaven comes down and destroys the whole thing.
This statue represented 4 empires to come, beginning from Daniels time, each one superceding the one before, and the final to continue right down to the second coming of Christ, which the rock represents.
The first kingdom was Babylon. The second, Media – persia, the third Greece, and the fourth, Rome. Rome would continue till our day except in a different form. The iron on it’s own was pagan Rome, the mixture of iron and clay is papal Rome. So Rome continues to exist, but as a church/state union.
What happens in chapter 7 is the same pattern of empires but with much greater detail. A lion representing Babylon, a bear representing Media-Persia, a Leopard representing Greece, and a horrible indescribable beast representing Rome. Out of this last beast grows 10 horns, plus another which grew up among them, and displaces 3 of them.
Belshazzar ruled Babylon approx. 553 BC.to 539 BC. The prophecy re the predatory animals was given in his first year of reign.
The bear, the second animal to rise up, therefore represented whatever kingdom succeeded Babylon. The bear was pictured as rising up higher on one side, and had 3 ribs in it’s mouth. A corresponding prophecy in Daniel 8 enlarges on the theme, and gives even more detail The ram here is said to represent Media/Persia, and the horn on the ram had one side which grew up first, but the other side came up last and grew higher.
The empire was made up of two groups of people. The Medes came up first and Ahasuerus and then his son Darius were the first kings. It was Cyrus however who defeated Babylon in 539BC and he took full power later that year.Cyrus was the first of a line of Persian kings that ruled until Greece defeated them. The 3 ribs in the mouth of the bear represented the 3 major powers that were defeated by this Media/Persian empire, Egypt, Lydia, and Babylon.
The next animal was a leopard which had 4 heads. Alexander the Great
defeated the Persians at the battle of Arbela in the year 331 BC. Greece then became the ruling empire, and was represented by the leopard and the goat of Daniel 8. The leopards 4 heads represent 4 generals that took over from Alexander when he died at the age of 33. These 4 generals divided the empire up between them; they were Cassander, Seleucus, Ptolemy, and Lysimachus. The goat had at first one horn,(Alexander) but was broken and and four others came up in its stead. Thus the 4 horns and the 4 heads all are the same 4 generals who became kings of their own territories.
The 4th beast, Rome, appeared on the scene approx 150 BC. The 4th beast with its 10 horns and a little horn which grew great and destroyed 3 of the first horns, will be the focus of the next post. It is this beast, that remains a part of the world of politics until our day, and takes a major role in the near future.
So far, 3 beasts have been dealt with, and 3 empires identified. Babylon, Media-Persia, and Greece. We saw how the 4 heads of the leopard in Daniel 7 and the 4 horns of the goat in Daniel 8 represented the break up of the Grecian empire into 4 distinct kingdoms under Alexander’s 4 generals who took over after his death.
Things get very interesting with the 4th beast. We are given much more detail, and our attention is drawn in particular to the “little horn” which grows from the head of this beast, as if God is wanting to focus our attention on this horn, reasons for which you will shortly understand.

Antichrist…what does that mean exactly?

I would like to clarify a couple of things about the meaning of ‘Antichrist’.
Before we look at the antichrist, I want to look at the real Christ. Who is He? Let us go to the scriptures to find out what and Who He claimed to be.

Matthew 12:6 But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple.

The temple, the priesthood, and the religious system of the Jewish nation go hand in hand. It was the mainstay and focal point of the life of Israel. Yet Jesus claimed to be greater. Greater even than the very High priest who no doubt would take great interest in hearing a report of these words. Greater even than the very law of God enshrined within. (Or at least it used to be). Only one person can be greater than any law of God, and that is the lawgiver.

38 ¶ Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee.
39 But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas:
40 For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
41 The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.

Jonah was the most powerful and successful of all OT prophets. In all 40 odd chapters of Jeremiah, there is no record of anyone at anytime taking the slightest bit of notice of anything Jeremiah said. Yet Jonah, on the strength of just one or two sermons, converted an entire city of the children of Ishmael totaling maybe 60,000 people. Nineveh. By any standards, that has got to be recorded as a very successful evangelistic campaign. Yet Jesus claimed to be greater than Jonah.

42 The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.

Solomon was the wisest and wealthiest and most successful of any ruler of the ancient world. Yet Jesus claimed to be greater even than Solomon.

In the three startling claims as shown above, we have before us the threefold ministry of Jesus. Priest, prophet, and King.

It has been said, and I think wisely, that the Bible must be understood grammatically before it can be understood theologically. Anti- as in antichrist, according to Strong’s concordance, and like other words having the prefix ‘anti’, means at it’s most basic form “in the room of”, “instead of”, or “in the place of”.
In other words, ‘antichrist’ stands as a substitute. We all know that Satan works by deception. Yet many would claim the ‘antichrist’ will be one who will charge in on a black horse guns blazing with fury and hatred directed at all things Christian and opposing with great force the church. Pray tell me, how will the world be deceived by such a tactic as this?
In 2 Thess. 2:1 we are told that there was to be a falling away first, which will reveal the antichrist, or as Paul describes him, the man of sin or son of perdition. Now falling away in this instance is a falling into apostasy; divorce.
Any divorce necessitates a prior favourable relationship. The only other example of a ‘son of perdition’ is Judas Iscariot. Did Judas openly and with force oppose Christ? Did he attack His teachings and disagree with Jesus claims to divinity? Did he argue and debate everything Jesus stood for and seek the destruction of His followers? No. Not by any means. Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss. He betrayed Him with an act of apparent love, fellowship, and friendship. He undermined and betrayed Jesus at the same time as claiming Him to be his friend!! This squares perfectly with the meaning of antichrist. He is not an opposer, but a subtle imposter. A counterfeit. An imposter of Jesus Christ. A false copy, or forgery of the true.
Antichrist is therefore a person or power who impersonates the offices of Priesthood, the Prophet or spokesmanship, and the Kingly rule of Christ. The office that ministers for God, speaks for God, and rules for God.
Satan has many counterfeits. Now counterfeits are almost identical to the true. You do not get counterfeit 99$ notes. You get counterfeit 100$ notes. And unless you get trained and disciplined to know intimately the true 100$ note, you will not recognise the false. It has been estimated that every person in America who has regularly handled 100$ notes, has had pass through their hands a counterfeit at least 4 times a year! And not known it!!!! Unless you are intimately acquainted with the true Jesus, how will you recognise the counterfeit?
So how does Antichrist counterfeit the threefold ministry of the true Christ, as Priest, Prophet and King? Is there an entity in the world today who claims to do just this? Is there one like Judas who is betraying the Master with a kiss, all the while claiming to be a friend? Is there in the world today a religious system or religious ruler who claims to be the earthly representative of Christ as His priest, claiming to be a mediator between God and man? Claiming to forgive sin even?
Does this entity also claim the prerogatives of a prophet? Does it claim to speak for God in spiritual matters? Does it claim to stand as Gods spokesman on earth and claim that only through it’s authority can salvation be found?
And finally, does this entity also claim to be a king? Does it claim authority as a secular power? Does it exercise authority and power within the auspices of a church/state relationship?

I think you all know the answer is yes.There is an entity in the world today who claims all the above Godly prerogatives which belong only to Jesus Christ. Priest, prophet and king.This entity has set itself up as counterfeit and thus can be affirmatively identified as the antichrist, the impostor and impersonator of the true. And this entity can be found in the Roman Catholic church system.

In Roman Catholic theology is also the embedded principle of ‘replacement’ or ‘displacement’ of Jesus.The entire sacramental system is based on the premise that only through participation in the sacraments as administered by Rome, can anyone hope for eternal life. Rome does not recognise any path to eternity apart from that which she has ordained through the priesthood under the headship of the Roman bishop. Thus Rome has implemented a system of works that men must do, or tasks that men must accomplish, be it confession to a priest, penance, participation in mass, partaking of the Eucharist, pilgrimages to shrines or basilicas, recitation of the rosary, or prayers to Mary or the saints and many other ‘religious’ acts, all for the purpose of salvation. The Protestant principle of ‘sola fide’, faith only, is anathema to Rome.

More Evidence Required….

As it appears he (a moderator who cast doubts as to the historicity of the reformers’ condemnation of the papacy as being the Antichrist) is yet to be convinced, I would like to add a few more quotes from our Christian forbears who agreed that the papacy is the Antichrist, the ‘man of sin’. Before I do so however I feel it is important for me to make something as clear as I can. It is not to engender hatred or animosity toward individual Catholics, nor even against the church they hold dear. I am convinced that in all churches there are genuine sincere Christians who love Jesus and are living up to what light they have regarding religious faith.
It is important however that they understand the true nature of the papal system. God calls them, His children, to come out of her (Revel. 18) for the papal or Antichrist system is devoted to destruction, and it is not in God’s will that there should be any who have placed their faith in Him to remain a part of the counterfeit which places itself in place of Him in the minds and hearts of the world.

Eberhard II von Truchsees, Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg in 1241 at the Council of Regensburg denounced Pope Gregory IX as “that man of perdition, whom they call Antichrist, who in his extravagant boasting says, I am God, I cannot err.”

1350 John Milicz is ordained a priest in Bohemia
In 1367 Milicz travelled to Rome and appealed for reformation.He posted a sign in the city proclaiming the Coming of the Antichrist – he was arrested and imprisoned. Released after 12 months, he began preaching in Prague in 1369, and 3 years later in 1372 is excommunicated by Pope Gregory X1.
A short time later Milicz went to be ‘examined’ in Avignon. On May 21 he preached to the assembled cardinals there but died before judgement on him was made.

Philip Malencthon“It is most manifest, and true without any doubt, that the Roman pontiff, with his whole order and kingdom, is very antichrist. . . . Likewise, in 2 Thessalonians 2, Paul clearly says the man of sin will rule in the church by exalting himself above the worship of God”.

Isaac Newton “But it [the Papacy] was a kingdom of a different kind from the other ten kingdoms [referred to in Daniel 7:7, 8]. . . . And such a seer, prophet, and king is the Church of Rome [referring to the little horn of Daniel 7]. (Sir Isaac Newton, Observations on the Prophecies, p. 75)

Cotton Mather (Congregational Theologian)
“The oracles of God foretold the rising of an Antichrist in the Christian Church: and in the Pope of Rome, all the characteristics of that Antichrist are so marvelously answered that if any who read the Scriptures do not see it, there is a marvelous blindness upon them.” Taken from “The Fall of Babylon” by Cotton Mather

Roger Williams (First Baptist Pastor in America)
He spoke of the Pope as quote:”the pretended Vicar of Christ on earth, who sits as God over the Temple of God, exalting himself not only above all that is called God, but over the souls and consciences of all his vassals, yea over the Spirit of Christ, over the Holy Spirit, yea, and God himself…speaking against the God of heaven, thinking to change times and laws; but he is the son of perdition (II Thess. 2).” Taken from The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers by Froom, Vol. 3, pg. 52.

Samuel Lee (A seventeenth Rhode Is minister.) “It is agreed among all main lines of the English Church that the Roman pontiff is the antichrist.” (Samuel Lee, The Cutting Off of Antichrist, p. 1)

 

The aforementioned moderator then asked, “Do you believe that ‘the man of sin’ is an actual person or just figurative of a type of people?”

The above is an interesting question. There is much debate over whether the Antichrist is an individual, as it is propagated in futurist circles, or a system. Following is my answer:

The Antichrist is revealed to us through scripture in several different ways. In Daniel 2 he is the mixture of iron and clay. In Daniel 7 he is the little horn. In 2 Thess the man of sin and son of perdition, and in Revelation 13 the first beast.
I have mentioned before that Nebuchadnezzar was the representative of the entire empire, so also with the ‘man of sin’. Below is an excerpt from a sermon by the renowned preacher and writer Puritan Thomas Manton in the 17th century. Charles Spurgeon testified to Mantons works as being “a mighty mountain of sound theology”

But because he is called the man of sin, here it cometh fitly to be inquired whether Antichrist be an individual person? for ‘that man of sin’ would seem to be some single person. No; he is put for a society and succession of men, that make up the head of the apostate state. As one lion figured the whole kingdom of the Babylonians, and one bear the kingdom of the Medes and Persians, and one leopard the kingdom of the Grecians, Dan. 7, — and there the fourth beast is the fourth kingdom, — so one person that succession of men that head the revolters from Christ. So Dan. 8, a goat figured a succession of kings; so the Assyrian, Isa. 10:5, several kings in that empire; so Isa. 14:9, the king of Babylon, meaning not one but many. So this man of sin doth not note a single man, but a succession of men, a body politic or corporate, under one opposite head to the kingdom of Christ: so the ‘man of God’ is put for all faithful ministers, 2 Tim. 3:17; so ‘honour the king,’ I Peter 2:17, series regum. So o arciereus, Heb. 9:25, ‘The high priest every year entereth into the holy place;’ meaning not one, but the succession of the order; and in reason it must needs be so here. Because Antichrist, from his beginning to his end, from his rise and revelation, till his ruin and destruction, will take up such a long track of time, as cannot fall within the age of any one man, even from the time of the apostles till the end of the world. Antichrist is the head of the apostasy; for here the apostasy and the revelation of the man of sin are tied together; now the mysterious apostasy could not be perfected in a short time.

In this sermon, Manton, like many reformers before him, was applying the prophecy of 2 Thess. concerning the man of sin directly to the papal system.

 

The Dream Becomes Reality

A reader suggested that rather than teach these prophecies, I should just stick to the gospel.My reply was as follows:

I would like to point out that proclaiming thetruth about the church’s most deceptive enemy and exposing her lies, her sins, and her false doctrines is an essential part of the gospel.

Revelation 14:6 ¶ And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,
7 Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come:……
(this is clearly present truth teaching for the final generations just as the apostles teachings were present truth for their generation see 2 Peter 1:12)
…..and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.
8 And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.…..
(Part of the gospel for the last days is to proclaim the apostasy of Babylon)
…..9 And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation;….
(surely you aren’t suggesting that we cease to warn others of the impending crisis?)
…. and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
11 And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name…..
(All the above form the full gospel for the last days. You neglect teaching and proclaiming any one part, you are nor preaching the gospel.)

….12 Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.(The above is a description of the church, the remnant against whom the dragon is waging war, see Revel. 12:17, that proclaims this message in direct contradistinction to the vast majority who receive the mark….which do you belong to?)

Finally, we are to plead for those who are locked into this system,to
Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

God has a people in Babylon. They are not predestined to destruction and judgement, but have the opportunity to repent and take a hold of the truth. It is our calling, nay our duty, to expose untruth and warn people to flee error.

Continuing the discussion…..

Speaking of Babylon….