It is important to note how the diverseness of the Fourth Empire is continually emphasized. For this diverseness Daniel seeks a meaning. He further wishes to know the meaning of the ten horns and finally the little horn. In requesting this, Daniel is given further information regarding the activity of the little horn; he causes three of the ten horns to fall, he speaks great things, he wars against the saints and is allowed to prevail over them. But finally he is personally defeated by the coming of the Ancient of Days. Once the judgment is passed on the little horn by the Ancient of Days, he will be done away with and the kingdom will pass over to the saints. The saints are the nation of Israel, not the Church. This is the Old Testament and the Church was not born yet. The ten horns are ten divisions of the world that will encompass this stage of the Empire of Imperialism, yet future to us. These ten continue until the middle of the Tribulation.
The little horn is the Antichrist who will appear someday on the earth. Scripture is silent on when or where he will appear. He will sign a covenant with the nation Israel. We don’t know exactly what it is but it allows the Jews to rebuild their Temple and he signs it with the majority of the Jews. The Great Tribulation begins when the covenant is signed.
THE DIVERSENESS OF THE FOURTH BEAST DANIEL CHAPTER 7 Daniel 7:14-28 15As for me, Daniel, my spirit was grieved in the midst of my body, and the visions of my head troubled me. 16I came near unto one of them that stood by, and asked him the truth concerning all this. So he told me, and made me know the interpretation of the things. 17These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, that shall arise out of the earth. 18But the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever. 19Then I desired to know the truth concerning the fourth beast, which was diverse from all of them, exceeding terrible, whose teeth were of iron, and its nails of brass; which devoured, brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with its feet; 20and concerning the ten horns that were on its head, 2 and the other horn which came up, and before which three fell, even that horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spake great things, whose look was more stout than its fellows. 21I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them; 22until the ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High, and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom. 23Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be a fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all the kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces. 24And as for the ten horns, out of this kingdom shall ten kings arise: and another shall arise after them; and he shall be diverse from the former, and he shall put down three kings. 25And he shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High; and he shall think to change the times and the law; and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and half a time. 26But the judgment shall be set, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end. 27And the kingdom and the dominion, and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High: his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him. 28Here is the end of the matter. As for me, Daniel, my thoughts much troubled me, and my countenance was changed in me: but I kept the matter in my heart (ASV, 1901).
Having received this summary interpretation, Daniel requests further interpretation regarding the fourth beast. In making this request Daniel describes what he saw regarding the fourth beast. Its diverseness is pointed out. It is important to note how the diverseness of the Fourth Empire is continually emphasized. For this diverseness Daniel seeks a meaning. He further wishes to know the meaning of the ten horns and finally the little horn. In requesting this, Daniel is given further information regarding the activity of the little horn; he causes three of the ten horns to fall, he speaks great things, he wars against the saints and is allowed to prevail over them. But finally he is personally defeated by the coming of the Ancient of Days. Once the judgment is passed on the little horn by the Ancient of Days, he will be done away with and the kingdom will pass over to the saints. The saints are the nation of Israel, not the Church. This is the Old Testament and the Church was not born yet. The ten horns are ten divisions of the world that will encompass this stage of the Empire of Imperialism, yet future to us. These ten continue until the middle of the Tribulation.
THE LITTLE HORN The little horn is the Antichrist who will appear someday on the earth. Scripture is silent on when or where he will appear. He will sign a covenant with the nation Israel. We don’t know exactly what it is but it allows the Jews to rebuild their Temple and he signs it with the majority of the Jews. The Great Tribulation begins when the covenant is signed.
3 THE STAGES OF THE FOURTH BEAST Having made his request, Daniel is given the interpretation of the fourth beast. As in Daniel 2, the Fourth Empire is seen as going through several stages, though not always the same components within the stages as found in chapter two. The First Stage of the fourth beast is described as the “United Stage” and it’s diverseness from the other three empires is seen. It’s followed by The Second Stage of a one world government, because it states that this beast is going to devour the whole earth. This is still future to us. It is going to consume the entire earth; it will be under the rule of this one world government. Then it’s going to be followed by: The 10 Kingdom Stage of some sort which, in turn, will be followed by The Little Horn Stage, or the Antichrist stage. These verses state that he arises after the Ten Division Stage. While the Fourth Empire is diverse from the previous three, the little horn is diverse from the other ten. He eventually puts down three of these kings. Scripture again points out his “speaking great things” as seen here is his speaking against God and against the saints. Anti-Semitism is increasing today and it accelerates.
ACTIVITIES OF THE ANTICHRIST A Different Calendar He [Antichrist] somehow is going to implement a different calendar We use a Roman and a Babylonian system. One system uses 360 days and they really thought that was correct and it was pretty correct until they realized they needed a few more days in each year. So the calendar was adjusted and we are on a Roman calendar now. The Julian calendar, named after Julius Caesar, is still 111 /2 minutes longer than the actual solar year. In the French Revolution they tried to change the calendar, they tried to change the seasons and they tried to change the hours in the day. That’s where the metric system came from. They tried to change measurements too. The Antichrist is going to do all of this. He’s going to change time, the recording of time, and he’s going to change the way we monitor seasons. It will cause confusion. He is going to try and do that against the Saints – against the Jews. He is not really going to change it, but he is going to change the way we look at it. He can’t change what God has given us, but he is going to try.
THE REIGN OF THE ANTICHRIST The Antichrist will only be allowed to rule for a time, times and half a time, which from other passages (Daniel 9:27; 12:7; Revelation 11:2,3; 12:6, 14; 13:5) means 3 ½ years. But finally his domination is destroyed.
THE ANTICHRIST’S COVENANT WITH ISRAEL The Antichrist comes to power; he makes the covenant with Israel (Isaiah 28:15). It’s likely some sort of agreement for peace. At the mid point of the Great Tribulation he will break the covenant with Israel and commit the abomination of desolation. This will be the 4 placement of an image of the Antichrist into the Holy of Holies by the False Prophet which Satan will cause to come alive. Daniel 7:28 28Here is the end of the matter. As for me, Daniel, my thoughts much troubled me, and my countenance was changed in me: but I kept the matter in my heart (ASV, 1901). THE
EMPIRES OF DANIEL 7 OUTLINE Daniel seven, then further develops with greater detail what was given in chapter two, especially in relation to the Fourth Empire. In chart form the information found in chapter seven could be viewed as follows: 1. The Babylonian Empire 2. The Medo-Persian Empire 3. The Hellenistic Empire a. The United Stage b. The Four Division Stage 4. The Fourth Empire – The Empire of Imperialism a. The United Stage -The Roman Empire b. The Two Division Stage -The East-West Balance of Power c. The One-World Government Stage d. The Ten-Division Stage -The Ten Kingdoms e. The Antichrist Stage – Absolute Imperialism 5. The Messianic Kingdom
THE 4TH EMPIRE – THE EMPIRE OF IMPERIALISM IS THIS THE ROMAN EMPIRE? The Scripture teaches that the Empire, the Fourth Empire, continues until the Messianic Kingdom. It doesn’t show a break. In actuality, the Empire that the Bible is talking about is more generic and is probably an imperialistic form of government. IMPERIALISM Imperialism is simply a policy where one government extends its influence or power through negotiations, diplomacy or military force. Most of the Western powers are imperialisms – imperialistic governments. There is nothing wrong with being an imperialistic government, it’s just that’s the characteristic of that type of Government. Rome instituted this. It was Rome that brought imperialism into the world. 5 Both Daniel passages make it clear that the Fourth Gentile Empire begins with the end of the Third Empire (Greek) and continues until Messiah comes to set up His Kingdom. There is no break or gap in the imperialist form of government on the earth from the initiation of the Roman Empire until Christ returns. Nowhere in Scripture is this stated. This Roman Empire, this Fourth Empire, This Empire of Imperialism will go through five successive stages.
FIVE STAGES OF THE 4TH EMPIRE – THE EMPIRE OF IMPERIALISM Age of Imperialism – United Stage
1. The United Stage-Rome is the first stage of the Imperialist Form of government. The first stage or the United Stage started about 63 B.C and lasted until A.D. 364. Rome had a long history going back into the 700s. Someone created Rome, perhaps Romulus and Remus, although there are no eyewitness accounts to confirm. It suffices to say, the empire under Julius Caesar started in about 63 B.C. and lasted until about A.D. 364. That was the First Stage, (of the United Stage, of the Fourth Empire).
Age of Imperialism – Two Division Stage 2. The second stage or the Empire of Imperialism was the Two Division Stage. This stage was foreseen by Daniel 2 (Legs of Iron) but not by Daniel 7. It began in A.D. 364 when Emperor Valentinian divided the Roman Empire into an east and west division. There was an earlier division in A.D. 285 that was of short duration. The emperor Constantine in A.D. 312-313 reunited the empire. The A.D. 364 division was permanent. The Western Headquarters were in Rome and the Eastern Headquarters in Constantinople. The Emperor Constantine managed pull it back together for a short time. Theodosius later forced Christianity on everybody in 388 AD. The Eastern Division lasted until 1453 when it collapsed in the Turkish invasion. The Two legs of Nebuchadnezzar vision The Eastern Leg When Constantinople fell, the political rulers, scribes, and scholars fled north into Russia and infiltrated the government there, where they set up an imperialist form of government. The rulers called themselves Czars, which is Russian for “Caesar.” Later Russia began calling itself the Third Roman Empire. Eventually, the eastern balance of power was centered in the Soviet Union and included the Communist block of nations. When European communism collapsed the eastern balance of power shifted to Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). We know what happened in Russia. The balance of power shifted. It moved from the Russian czars into the Communists and ultimately into the Soviet block of countries. The power then shifted from there after the quiet revolution they had, Glasnost. It went 6 again back to Russia to the CIS, the Commonwealth of Industrial States. So the power transfer shifted, but it stayed on this Eastern Block from Constantinople up into Russia. There are more power transfers going on right now. The country of Russia is in great turmoil. It hasn’t lost its power; it hasn’t lost its military prowess; it hasn’t lost its world status. It’s still extremely strong. But the power is starting to shift into the Islamic groups, not necessarily the Arab groups, but the Islamic groups. They’re starting to get a great deal of power in the Eastern Sphere. There will probably be yet more shifting. The The Western Division of power remained in Rome from 364 until 476 when Rome fell. Now Rome fell and where did that controlling power go? The people that had power and want power and understand it and know how to get it, are not going to let it go. It’s not just going to dissipate. Somebody’s going to grab it. From there it shifted to France, especially the power gained by Charlemagne in A.D. 800. He called his domain the Holy Roman Empire of the Frankish Nation. In 962 Otto I of Germany defeated the Franks and set up the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. The leaders called themselves Kaiser, which is German for “Caesar.” Since then, especially after World War I, the western balance of power has been centered in the democratic nations of the west. So the Two-Division Stage, which began in A. D. 364, continues to this day and there may be some shifting yet to come before the east-west balance becomes the third stage.
AN ALLIED INVASION OF ISRAEL Now back to our primary text of Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39. Here as we have seen the text discusses an invasion of Israel by the Russians and Muslim states The Israeli’s lose no armed forces and Russia and the Muslim states suffer massive losses and lose their political power as a world influencing nations. Everybody who comes in to invade them is completely taken out of the world’s scene. This is seemingly the reason that the western democracies and economic powers gives way to the One World Government Stage. They have not political opposition and probably coalesce into a single unit
3. One World Government Stage There will be another shift of power. One of the “Legs” lost its power.The Eastern leg in a failed allied invasion of Israel, in a time yet future to us, lost it power and standing as a world power.
4. The Ten-Division Stage. The Ten-Division Stage was seen in both Daniel 2 with the ten toes and in Daniel 7 with the ten horns. This stage is clearly stated to come out of the One World Government Stage. The Bible is silent as to why the division occurs. These ten kingdoms will cover 7 the entire earth and not be limited to some specific continent such as Europe. They will begin sometime before the Great Tribulation and continue into the middle of the Tribulation.
5. THE ANTICHRIST STAGE The Antichrist Stage is going to follow the Ten Kingdom Stage. He is going to rise to power. We don’t know how he rises to power, we are not given that. But he is going to dethrone three of the ten Kings. Scripture is silent on the method he uses to achieve this. The other seven submit to his authority. Once this submission occurs, he begins his reign. That’s the fifth and final stage of Gentile Imperialism.
THE DYNAMICS OF POWER We have now looked at the dynamics of the shifting of power in human relationships. We saw how this power over the world shifts from person to person and empire to empire, while at all times, God remains in control affecting His will in a minimum of two characteristics; His Creative (also known as causative) Will and His Permissive Will. He either causes things to happen or he lets things happen. Because of the sin that came into the world, He allows it to continue. He allows it to continue. Yes, the Savior has come into the world, but only those that look to Him are going to have salvation, and then only those that pay attention to what He says are to minimize the problems we are going to have upon the earth. We can define power in the following ways:
1. It’s a force that has an effect on human behavior. In some way it causes human behavior to make a change from the status quo to another status quo.
2. It’s abstract. We can’t see power. We can’t see power in the mechanical or electronic world. But, you can see the effects of power. The same thing is true with power in the social economic world. You can’t see power. You can see people who have stations in life that appear to have power – people with lots of money, people who have high ranking government jobs, and people in large corporations with high ranking positions. They appear to have high ranking power. Then there are other people who appear to have power within those organizations that can affect the behavior of the decision maker and they have power too. So power, you can’t see it, but in organizations you’re in, you know who’s got it. You know who can control things and who can make things happen.
3. It’s temporary. Nobody keeps power forever – any kind of power. Nobody keeps it. It’s almost an illusion. You’ve got it for a little while and it goes away.
4. It has many spheres There are all kinds of different powers. There’s economic power. The person that has tons and tons of money or is well supported can buy lots of armaments, can engineer wars, and build huge buildings. They can make a positive or negative effect on the economy. There is a lot of power in particular political situations. 8 Heads of state have a lot of political power, so do heads of corporations. So, organizational power is one of the spheres of economic powers. Another one is military power. He that controls the Army, throughout history, has had a lot of power to change things for his or her needs.
5. It gets transmitted in various ways. Power is transmitted in a variety of ways. It is transmitted by means of war, by means of election, or by means of somebody giving it to somebody else. For example in money, somebody bequeaths billions to somebody else, but he takes over a Corporation. It’s not always the apparent individual in an organization or geopolitical government that has the power. They may be the [one who sits just outside the office of the President]. The Secretary that controls access to the CEO in a large corporation, she or he has a tremendous amount of power or control over who gets access to the president. The people that want to see the president know that. They realize that. So power is abstract it’s temporary. It’s comes in all kinds of forms, transmitted in a variety of ways
6. God is the supreme power and always in complete control of everything. It’s hard for me to keep that in my mind as I walk through my daily life. God is in complete control. You see the chaos in the world, you see the wars going on, you see sin that’s abounded, and you see heresies and everything that’s happening. We have to constantly remember that God is in complete control. The Scriptures are true and faithful. They won’t lead us astray.
7. COMBINING BOTH DANIEL CHAPTERS TWO AND SEVEN WE SEE THE FOLLOWING: Daniel Two Daniel Seven 1. The Babylonian Empire 1. The Babylonian Empire 2. The Medo-Persian Empire 2. The Medo-Persian Empire 3. The Hellenistic Empire 3. The Hellenistic Empire a. The United Stage b. The Four Division Stage 4. The Fourth Empire a. The United Stage b. The Two Division Stage c. The Ten Division Stage 4. The Fourth Empire a. The United Stage b. The One World Government Stage c. The Ten Division Stage d. The Antichrist Stage 5. The Messianic Kingdom 5. The Messianic Kingdom 9 Combining the two charts together, they would be viewed as follows: 1. The Babylonian Empire 2. The Medo-Persian Empire 3. The Hellenistic Empire a. The United Stage b. The Four Division Stage 4. The Fourth Empire a. The United Stage b. The Two Division Stage c. The One World Government Stage d. The Ten Division Stage e. The Antichrist Stage 5. The Messianic Kingdom
SO THE LATTER DAYS AND BIRTH PANGS FITS IN AT “B” HERE.. The sign that the end of the age has begun is the worldwide conflict fulfilled by World War I and World War II. This started on July 28, 1914. However, Jesus does describe these calamities as the beginning of sorrows, which is literally the beginning of labor pains; the idea is both of giving birth to a new age, and implying an increase of intensity and frequency in these calamities. These are: 1.Beginning of the End Times 2.Restoration of the nation Israel 3.Jerusalem coming under Jewish authority and control 4.The allied attack on Israel by Russia & Islamic Nations 5.The One World Government 6.The Ten Kingdoms 7.The Rise of the Antichrist 8.Peace and Security 9.The Antichrist’s Covenant with Israel 10. The Tribulation starts with The Covenant 11. The Lord Jesus Returns
NEXT MESSAGE: THE PROPHECY AGAINST THE GOG & MAGOG INVASION PART VI E-mail: info@pentwaterbiblechurch.com Call: Toll Free 877-706-2479