The Danielic Imperative, Episode 28

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I do a podcast. I'm not interested in your podcast. The anathema of God was for those who denied justification by faith alone.
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When that is at stake, we need to be on the battlefield exposing the error and combating the error.
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We are unabashedly, unashamedly Clarkian. And so, the next few statements that I'm going to make,
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I'm probably going to step on all of the Vantillian toes at the same time. And this is what we do at Simple Riff around the radio, you know.
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We are polemical and polarizing Jesus style. I would first say that to characterize what we do as bashing is itself bashing.
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It's not hate. It's history. It's not bashing. It's the Bible. Jesus said, woe to you when men speak well of you.
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For their fathers used to treat the false prophets in the same way. As opposed to blessed are you when you have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness.
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It is on.
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We're taking the gloves off. It's time to battle. Welcome to the
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Danielic Imperative, a podcast in which we evaluate the eschatology of the people of God in the light of the timeline revealed to us by the prophet
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Daniel. I am your host, Timothy F. Coffman, and this is episode 28 on the chronology of Daniel 7 and the principle of recapitulation, which literally means starting over from the top or from the beginning.
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Recapitulation is the restatement of a prophecy in a different way or from a different perspective. Each time recapitulation occurs, it is to reveal something to us that was not revealed in a single telling.
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We are familiar with recapitulation in its broadest usage. The vision of Daniel 7 is a recapitulation of the dream of Daniel 2.
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Daniel 8 is a recapitulation of the silver and bronze periods of Daniel 2 and the bear and leopard periods of Daniel 7.
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Daniel 11 is a recapitulation of the leopard period of Daniel 7. But the prophets also recapitulate within a single chapter, describing an event and then describing that same event in the next verse, but from a different perspective.
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If we are not careful and do not notice when a prophet recapitulates, we will miss the very thing he is revealing to us.
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But we also have to be careful that we do not make the opposite mistake by assuming that apparently similar prophecies are merely recapitulations of a single prophecy.
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We have seen that mistake too when the prophecy of the Greek little horn of Daniel 8 is assumed to be the same as the prophecy of the
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Roman little horn of Daniel 7, but from different perspectives. When that invalid assumption is made, we miss what the
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Lord is telling us about each one and end up finding neither. This principle will be very important to us in our analysis of Daniel 7 because Daniel recapitulates at exactly the moment that the commentaries assume he does not.
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And in other cases, within the chapter, the commentaries assume he is merely recapitulating a single event three times when he is in fact reciting three different events.
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These are the challenges facing us in Daniel 7, but with a little focus and energy, we can overcome them.
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But first, a quick recap of our last episode, in which we set the stage for understanding when the prophets are speaking of heaven and when they are speaking of earth, which is particularly important to today's episode.
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In episode 27, entitled Heaven and Earth in Eschatology, we walked through all the references to heaven and earth, not only to show how important it is to know when the
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Lord is talking about heaven and earth and when he is talking about heavenly kingdoms and earthly kingdoms, but also to demonstrate that the
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Lord has repeatedly and emphatically shown us that Jesus has taken his heavenly throne but has not yet taken an earthly one and will not take an earthly throne until he comes back to destroy the beast and the false prophet and cast them into the lake of fire.
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That's Revelation 19 .20. That is what is depicted for us in Daniel 2 .35, at the second strike of the stone as the kingdom of God filled the whole earth, and what is depicted for us in Daniel 7 .27,
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when the dominion of the little horn is taken away and the saints of God are given the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven.
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This is depicted for us quite graphically in the throne room scenes of Revelation as the Lord takes his heavenly kingdom and from that point forward continually aggregates the persecuted saints unto himself in heaven until the time comes for him and his servants to invade the earth from heaven and destroy the beast, the false prophet, and the remaining ten horns on earth.
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From the moment Jesus comes into his heavenly kingdom in the first century, he continues reigning in heaven and continues gathering the saints to himself in heaven until he concludes the seven seals, trumpets, and vials.
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And then, with his gathered saints, he comes to earth and the saints together with Christ judge the little horn, the beast of Revelation 13, and cast him into the lake of fire with the false prophet.
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It is only then that the saints rule together with Christ on earth, and it has not happened yet.
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Today, as we analyze Revelation 12 and Daniel 7, we'll lay the final groundwork for proceeding with the seals, trumpets, and vials of Revelation.
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And, as it turns out, knowing when the prophet is speaking of heaven and when he is speaking of earth is extremely important.
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The seventh chapter of Daniel presents a challenge to us for several reasons. First, Daniel uses the principle of recapitulation as he tells of the rise of the little horn based on what was happening on earth, and then retells of the rise of the little horn based on what was happening in heaven to bring it about.
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If we miss that recapitulation, we are led down a confusing and contradictory path as the two judgment scenes depicted in the chapter, the first against the
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Roman Empire and the second against the little horn, are assumed to be a single judgment against them both, when in fact they are two separate judgments thousands of years apart.
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Second, the three references to the Ancient of Days in this chapter are variously interpreted to refer to the incarnation or the final judgment, but are generally collapsed into a single event or time frame, which, of course, is a huge mistake, as we will show.
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In truth, they are actually three different events involving the Ancient of Days, as John makes clear to us in Revelation.
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If we miss that, we are led down a confusing chronological path in which Daniel appears to relate things that occur after the millennium as if they were premillennial.
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Third, if we simply read the chapter in linear chronological order and assume two judgments are collapsed into one, and three references to the
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Ancient of Days are collapsed into one, we end up with an untenable sequence, in which the Ancient of Days destroys the beast and the little horn together in a single judgment, and then, inexplicably,
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Daniel keeps watching as the little horn goes right on persecuting the saints, even after he has already been destroyed.
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It's a chronological mess, but the Apostle John will help us navigate Daniel's chronology in a surprising way.
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He shows us how the principle of prophetic recapitulation works to give us God's complete revelation by viewing the same event from different perspectives.
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If you've ever felt lost or confused by the Daniel 7 narrative, today's podcast is for you. The Scripture reveals the proper sequence to us, and when we are finished today, we'll be able to construct a timeline by which we can determine not only the time frame when the seals must begin, but the actual dates they occurred, and how
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Jesus, breaking the seals in heaven, destabilized the Roman Empire, bringing about the rise and earthly dominion of the little horn of Daniel 7, the beast of Revelation 13.
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What we will find and prove in Daniel 7 can be summarized simply, inspired by the words of the angel to Daniel in chapter 7, as follows,
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It's that fifth empire that had Daniel's attention in chapter 7 and John's rapt attention in Revelation 13, and it is the chronic mistakes of the commentaries, both
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Catholic and Protestant, that have our attention in our analysis, because their mistakes have caused many people to miss the identity of the fifth empire, as well as the scriptural distinction between Christ's heavenly and earthly kingdoms.
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What we will continue to show, including today, is the historicist biblical chronology with Christ and his saints receiving a heavenly kingdom during the
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Roman Empire, the Roman Catholic Antichrist taking his earthly kingdom after the Roman Empire, and Jesus and the saints taking their earthly kingdom after Jesus comes to earth and destroys the earthly dominion of Antichrist.
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As we have stated before, this timeline eliminates preterism and dispensationalism from consideration and corrects the historicist eschatology with an earlier date for the rise of the beast of Revelation 13.
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So that is going to be our focus today, as we use the principle of recapitulation in Revelation 12 to help us see when
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Daniel is using recapitulation in chapter 7, ultimately pointing us to the two separate judgments, by the first of which
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Christ destabilizes the Roman Empire, creating the circumstances necessary for the little horn to rise up and persecute his saints, and by the second of which he destroys
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Antichrist and introduces his earthly reign. Okay, so let's look at Daniel 7 to lay out the challenges, and then we'll jump to Revelation 12 to see an illuminating use of recapitulation, and then back to Daniel 7 to understand the chronology, and particularly where Daniel applies that principle.
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The first challenge we face in Daniel 7 is that there are two mentions of judgment, which the commentaries usually collapse into a single judgment, as we have noted several times before, just as they do with the two strikes of the stone in Daniel 2.
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That assumption creates a chronological mess, placing the final judgment of Revelation 20 prior to the destruction of Antichrist in Revelation 19,
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But Daniel's explicit words and his use of recapitulation will sort that out for us, and will show that Daniel did not put anything in the wrong order at all.
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The first judgment that is mentioned is usually assumed to refer to the final judgment described in Revelation 20 after the thousand -year reign of Christ, while the second judgment depicted in Daniel clearly refers to the destruction of the little horn
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Antichrist in Revelation 19, which is before the thousand -year reign of Christ. How could
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Daniel put those two events in the wrong order? Our goal today is to identify the actual judgments
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Daniel had foreseen. Let's take a look. In Daniel 7, verses 9 to 10, there is a judgment scene in which judgment was set and books were opened.
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This is the first time Daniel mentions that judgment was set. Now citing Daniel 7, verses 9 to 10,
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I beheld till thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of Days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool.
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His throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him.
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Thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him.
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The judgment was set, and the books were opened. Again, Daniel 7, verses 9 to 10.
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The commentaries almost universally assume that this must refer to the final judgment, according to the Book of Life in Revelation 20, verses 4 to 15, which says,
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And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them, and the books were opened. And whosoever was not found written in the
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Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire. Under that reading, when Daniel says the books were opened, it is assumed that he must be referring to the final judgment of Revelation 20, in which the books were opened.
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It's an easy assumption to make until we realize that the judgment scene of Revelation 20 is after the little horn, the beast of Revelation 13, has already been cast into the lake of fire in Revelation 19, and the thrones are set up on earth.
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But in chapter 7, thrones are set up in heaven, and Daniel is clearly referring to something that happens chronologically prior to the little horn being destroyed, since in his narrative, the little horn keeps right on speaking arrogantly and persecuting the saints.
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The problem becomes even more apparent when we continue reading in Daniel 7, 26, only to find that the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, that is, the dominion of the little horn, to consume and destroy it to the end, which would appear to place the judgment of the little horn after the final judgment of Revelation 20, when the books were opened.
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But the judgment of the little horn is supposed to occur prior to the thousand years, as shown in Revelation 19, 20.
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And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet. These were both cast alive into the lake of fire, burning with brimstone.
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So that's the first apparent problem. Two judgments at least a thousand years apart in two different locations are collapsed by the commentaries into a single swift judgment.
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And for some reason, Daniel mentions them in the opposite order as John. That would be a gigantic prophetic mistake, but the truth is,
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Daniel obviously gets nothing wrong here. And the fact is, the commentaries have been looking at it wrong all along, to which we will return presently.
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But let's move on to the next problem. There are three references to the Ancient of Days in this chapter, and the commentaries generally assume all three are to be understood in a final eschatological movement in which
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Jesus returns on the clouds, the books are opened, and the world is judged, and the saints take over. The problem is that Daniel appears to list these in the wrong order too.
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First, the Ancient of Days did sit in judgment, Daniel 7 .9, and the books were opened, which is taken to suggest a reference to the final judgment of Revelation 20 after the
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Millennium, as we mentioned earlier. Then the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven unto the
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Ancient of Days, Daniel 7 .13, which would appear to refer to something Jesus does before the
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Millennium. And then the Ancient of Days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High, who then possessed the kingdom,
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Daniel 7 .22, which appears to refer to the earthly reign of Christ with the saints at the beginning of the
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Millennium. It is an odd ordering since, as we mentioned before, the books are opened in Revelation 20 .12
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after the Millennium, Jesus returns on his white horse in Revelation 19 .11 prior to the
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Millennium, and then the saints receive their earthly kingdom in Revelation 24 before the thousand years, and in fact before the books were opened.
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It creates a very messy chronology, but the truth is, Daniel did not get anything wrong in the order here either, and there is a simpler explanation and a proper chronology based on what we can know from the
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Scriptures. But we will come back to that too. Let's proceed with our next problem. The third challenge we face when reading
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Daniel 7 is that if we read the chapter in linear fashion on the assumption that there is a singular swift judgment executed by the
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Ancient of Days against the fourth beast and the little horn together, Daniel 7 .11, as most of the commentaries assume, we end up with yet another odd sequence of events in which the little horn keeps on making war with the saints in Daniel 7 .21
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and exercising civil power over them, Daniel 7 .25, even after he has already been destroyed ten verses earlier.
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This becomes a problem precisely because of the assumption that the fourth beast and the little horn are destroyed together in a single judgment by the
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Ancient of Days. The commentaries generally assume that Daniel 7 .26, but the judgment shall sit and they shall take away his dominion, is merely a recapitulation of Daniel 7 .10
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and 7 .11. The judgment was set and the beast was slain. This gives the distinct impression that the
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Roman Empire and the little horn were destroyed at the same time and the heavenly and earthly kingdoms of Christ and his saints are initiated at the same time immediately following the
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Roman Empire. In the period of the fourth beast, the saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom, as the narrator says in Daniel 7 .18.
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And after the destruction of the little horn, the kingdom under the whole heaven shall be given to the people and the saints of the
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Most High, Daniel 7 .26. If we do not distinguish between the heavenly kingdom the saints received during the
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Roman Empire, as also prophesied in Daniel 2 .34, and the earthly kingdom the saints received after the destruction of the little horn, as also prophesied in Daniel 2 .35,
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we will be led to believe that the medieval Roman Catholic Church that arose from the fragments of Rome is the earthly manifestation of God's heavenly kingdom.
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As we have pointed out repeatedly, that is simply one of the most dangerous teachings in the history of the
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Church because it legitimizes the wicked one, the man of sin, the beast of Revelation 13, as the true
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Church, the Bride of Christ. Mistaking him for the true Church is the very error Jesus was warning us to avoid.
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And yet by their invalid assumptions some commentarians have actually arrived at that very conclusion. As it turns out,
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Daniel did not get the order wrong at all and we will show from the Scriptures that the first judgment of Daniel 7 is executed against the
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Roman Empire alone, answering to the first strike of the stone of Daniel 2, creating the circumstances necessary for the little horn and the other ten horns to rise up and continue unharmed until the second judgment of Daniel 7, which answers to the second strike of the stone of Daniel 2.
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When seen in that light, we can see that the first judgment depicted in Daniel 7, verse 11, merely prepares the way for the
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Antichrist to rise up among the fragments of the Roman Empire. But to understand that, we're going to need to spend a little time in Revelation 12, where John provides an excellent demonstration of the principle of recapitulation for us.
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Now, were we simply to assign to Revelation 12 a chronology based solely on the order in which the text is laid out, we would end up with a jumbled chronological mess in which the same events continue occurring repeatedly and in different order.
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For example, in the first six verses, we are introduced to a pregnant woman clothed with the sun, standing on the moon with the crown of twelve stars, waiting to give birth, and a dragon waiting to devour her child as soon as he is born.
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Nevertheless, the son is born and caught up to God and to his throne, and the woman fled into the wilderness.
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But then, in the next eight verses, the devil is cast down to earth and the woman flees from him to the wilderness.
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Did she flee twice? Or are we just seeing the same event from another perspective? Similarly, in Revelation 12, verses 9 to 11, the devil is cast down to earth and persecutes the saints, and they loved not their lives unto death.
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Then in verse 13, the devil suddenly realizes that he has been cast down to earth and persecutes the saints.
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Did he get cast out twice? Or are we just seeing the same event from another perspective? What we are going to show is that the two events, that is, the flight of the woman and the casting down of the devil, are narrated twice, or recapitulated, once from the perspective of what is happening in heaven and once from the perspective of what is happening on earth.
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It is an important point because it shows a way that the Lord provides what we would call stereoscopic revelation by revealing the same event from two different perspectives.
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Now, we revisit this to demonstrate how John uses recapitulation here in Revelation 12.
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As it turns out, Daniel uses the same method in Daniel 7. That method is to build the narrative around one specific plot point and view that plot development from multiple perspectives in order to convey a specific truth about it, to convey the full truth about it.
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In Revelation 12, the plot developments are the devil being cast out of heaven and the flight of the woman to the wilderness.
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Let's take a closer look. The first time John addresses the flight of the woman, it is strictly from the perspective of what is happening on earth.
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He says, there appeared a great wonder in heaven, referring to the woman of Revelation 12, and then there appeared another wonder in heaven, referring to the dragon.
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Here he is describing heaven as a projection screen of sorts on which are viewed a series of events that have taken place or will take place in the future.
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The woman is national Israel as she transitions to ecclesial Israel, the church. The labor pangs are the tribulation the woman undergoes as national
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Israel prepares for the arrival of her Messiah, for salvation is of the Jews, as John says in his gospel in chapter 4, verse 4.
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The dragon is the devil, and he is described here as if he was operating in and through the succession of empires resisting the woman and her offspring.
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For in Revelation 12, he has seven heads and ten horns, the crowns on the seven heads, which represent the beastly empires of Daniel 7.
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As we have noted before in previous episodes, when the crowns are on the heads, it indicates the reign of the succession of empires.
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When the crowns are on the horns, as they are in Revelation 13, it indicates the reign of the horns just as they are about to give their power and strength unto the beast, as we are told in Revelation 17, 13.
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Returning now to chapter 12, John says of the dragon that his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven and did cast them to earth.
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This is a plain reference to the persecution of the Jews under Antiochus IV in the Greek Empire.
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Daniel 8 is the only other place in scriptures that talks about the stars being cast down and trampled underfoot.
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Daniel 8, 10 says he cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground and stamped upon them.
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And in Daniel 8, 13 -14, the angel tells Daniel that it shall be 2 ,300 days for the host to be trodden underfoot.
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The host and stars being cast down to the ground or to earth is a reference to the
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Jewish people called stars based on the prophecy in Joseph's dream in Genesis 37, in which the heads of the other eleven tribes are called stars that bow to Joseph's.
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John says his tail drew the third part of the stars because Daniel had described three kinds of Jews in Daniel 11, verses 32 -33.
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The corrupt, the knowledgeable, and the wise. And of those, the wise would fall by the sword, and by flame by captivity.
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That's Daniel 11, 32 -33. Or, as he confirms again a few verses later, some of the wise shall fall, verse 35.
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Thus, the devil swept one third of the stars from the sky and trampled them underfoot. It's the persecution of the saints under the reign of Antiochus IV, and it is the beginning of the woman's labor pains as national
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Israel prepares for the arrival of her savior. All this, of course, is taking place on earth.
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The devil then attempts to interfere with the incarnation and fails, referring to Herod's attempt to thwart the incarnation in Matthew 2, 16.
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And then the son born to the woman ascends from earth to heaven, and the woman flies to a place of safety in the wilderness on earth.
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Again, everything is described from a viewpoint on earth. The devil operating through the earthly empires casts the stars to the ground and trample them underfoot and stood before the woman to defour the child as soon as it was born.
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The child is caught up to God from earth to heaven, and the woman flies to a place of safety on earth.
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Clearly, this is all viewed from below, as John explains what was happening leading up to the flight of the woman.
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But then the perspective changes, and the events leading up to the woman's flight are described again, except this time it is all viewed from above.
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There is a war in heaven, and the devil is cast down from heaven. A voice speaks in heaven about how good it is that the devil is cast down.
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The people in heaven are given cause for rejoicing while the people below are given cause for alarm, for the devil has come down unto you.
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Revelation 12, 12. Clearly, this is all described from above, and the frame of reference is what is being viewed from heaven.
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Then the perspective changes again in the next verse, and now we understand why the woman fled, and the point of view this time is from earth.
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Now, citing Revelation 12, verses 13 to 14. And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto earth, he persecuted the woman, which brought forth the man -child.
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And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness. Again, Revelation 12, 13 to 14.
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Clearly, this time it is all viewed from below, as John explains what was happening leading up to the flight of the woman.
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The devil saw that he was cast to earth, and persecuted the woman on earth, and the woman fled to safety in the wilderness on earth.
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Having viewed these events of Revelation 12, the value of recapitulation presents itself quite obviously.
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We see the man -child caught up to heaven, and the woman fled to the wilderness, but we are not told why she fled. Then we hear the same events described again, and we can see now what had been going on above.
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We hear that the devil is cast down from heaven, what he did when he arrived below, and that gives us some idea of why the woman fled to the wilderness, after the man -child was caught up to heaven.
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The chapter ends with the woman fleeing to the wilderness, and the devil pursuing her with doctrinal error that proceeds out of his mouth.
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And we have the complete story. The important point for us now is simply to observe how the principle of recapitulation works.
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The prophet tells us something from one perspective, and then tells it again from another perspective, and then moves on with the story.
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In the case of Revelation 12, the devil is persecuting the woman through the empires on earth, then tries to destroy her offspring, but her man -child ascends to heaven.
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The devil is cast out of heaven and brutally persecutes the woman as she flees to safety in the wilderness, as he pursues her with error that flows out of his mouth, and continues to war against her offspring on earth.
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The pattern of recapitulation shows the devil's actions through the earthly empires, then shows him being kicked out of heaven down to earth, and by this means we now understand the reason for her flight to the wilderness.
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Had we not understood this, we might have thought that she fled to the wilderness because of the ascent of the man -child.
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But the full revelation is delivered to us through John's use of recapitulation. We have included a graphic in the show notes to show how
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John uses recapitulation to tell the same story from multiple perspectives. Because the woman's flight is deeply and intimately intertwined with the timing of the flood of error and the apostasy at the end of the 4th century and the 6th seal and the first few trumpets of Revelation, we shall return to those events in much greater detail later.
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But for now, we simply wanted to illustrate the principle of recapitulation and revelation because, as we will show,
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Daniel uses that same principle in chapter 7. And if we're not careful, we will miss what he is saying and assume that he was describing two different events when he was actually describing the same thing twice from two different perspectives.
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So now let us turn our attention back to Daniel chapter 7. In this chapter, he recapitulates on a central theme.
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This time, the central plot development is the arrogant words spoken by the little horn. And Daniel returns to that specific point four times in this chapter.
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In verse 8, he says, In this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth speaking great things.
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In verse 11, he returns to the horn and says, I beheld them because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake.
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Then again in verse 20, even of that horn that had eyes and a mouth that spake very great things.
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And finally in verse 25, and he shall speak great words against the most high. Let's revisit the narrative, paying close attention to Daniel's repetition of the central theme.
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Daniel has watched as four beasts come out of the earth and he has paid special attention to the fourth beast and has watched the thirteen horns of Daniel 7.
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And yes, we are using that number advisedly, as we have shown many times in this series that there are in fact thirteen horns.
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And has even watched the little horn uproot three of the horns as it comes up among the remaining ten. By way of reminder, the twelve -way division of the
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Roman Empire was begun late in the third century and came to its completion a thirteen -way division late in the fourth century, between 373 and 381
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AD. And all of this was happening on earth in Daniel's first telling of the story.
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Let's listen to him. I considered the horns and behold there came up among them another little horn before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots and behold in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouse speaking great things.
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After depicting the thirteen -way division of the Roman Empire and the arrogance of the little horn from the perspective of earth,
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Daniel rewinds, circles back, and revisits the central plot theme again, this time from the perspective of heaven, until he arrives again at that arrogant little horn.
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This time we are told what was happening in heaven leading up to the rise of the arrogant little horn. Now, citing
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Daniel 7 verses 9 to 11. I beheld, or literally, as I was watching, the thrones were cast down, and the
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Ancient of Days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool. His throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire.
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A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him. Thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him.
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The judgment was set, and the books were opened. I beheld then, because of the voice of the great words which the horns spake.
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Again, Daniel 7 verses 9 to 11. What we have here is not a sequential narrative in which the little horn speaks arrogantly, and so the
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Ancient of Days sits in judgment of his arrogance. Rather, it is a case of Daniel describing events as they unfold on earth, leading up to the arrogance of the little horn,
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Daniel 7 8, and then pausing to recapitulate, this time describing events unfolding in heaven, again leading up to the arrogance of the little horn,
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Daniel 7 11. In Daniel's second telling, we learn that the judgment from heaven against the
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Roman Empire creates the circumstances conducive to the rise and the reign of the little horn, just as we saw in chapter 2, where the stone strikes the feet of the statue, fragmenting the feet and forming the toes.
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So the listener may be asking, hey, how can you say that the Ancient of Days is not judging the arrogance of the little horn here, but that Daniel is only recapitulating the rise of the horn from the perspective of heaven?
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Well, the answer is actually in the Scriptures, in this very chapter. It is typical to assume that the judgment of Daniel 7 9 is executed against the arrogance of the little horn, and therefore that when the beast is destroyed in verse 11, that is, the fourth beast, the
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Roman Empire, the little horn is destroyed with him, and both are judged and destroyed together at once.
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But that is impossible for one very simple reason. The arrogant horn is neither judged nor destroyed in this scene from Daniel 7 verses 9 to 11.
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A careful reading shows that the little horn is not judged here. Once the judgment is fully executed, it is clear that only the fourth beast is destroyed, and the little horn is not only left untouched, but in fact is granted an extension of life and goes on to wear out the saints and overcome them.
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But the commentaries have historically missed that point. Let's look at that mistake the commentaries often make in their assessment of Daniel 7.
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They assume that because Daniel mentions the Ancient of Days sitting in judgment immediately after mentioning the arrogant words of the little horn, therefore the judgment must have focused on the arrogance of the little horn.
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Some examples are statements like these in commentaries on Daniel 7 9. The horn speaking great things is first visited with the sentence of death.
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Or another commentary. He looked on until he saw a solemn judgment passed on this fourth beast, particularly as if God had come forth in his majesty and glory to pronounce that judgment and to bring the power and arrogance of the beast to an end.
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Notice that Daniel at no time in Daniel chapter 7 says that the fourth beast was arrogant, and yet it's assumed that the judgment happened because of the arrogance of the beast.
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That's to conflate the two as if the fourth beast and the little horn were the same entity.
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Calvin in his commentary on Daniel 7 11 makes a similar mistake saying, then the presumptuous speaking of the little horn was at an end and the fourth beast was extinct at about the same time.
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Notice that when all these commentaries speak of this, they are assuming that the ancient of days in verse 9 is sitting in judgment of the little horn and his arrogance.
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That mistake is like assuming in Revelation 12 that war broke out in heaven because the woman fled to the wilderness.
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After all, that's how the chapter reads. And the woman fled to the wilderness and there was war in heaven.
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But once we understand John's use of recapitulation, we can see that war broke out in heaven leading the devil to being cast down which is why the woman fled to the wilderness.
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It's very important that we not assume a sequence just because of the order in which events are related to us.
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Understanding John's use of recapitulation helps us to understand the real reason the woman fled. She fled because the devil was cast down and was persecuting her.
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And yet, if we're not careful and we read the chapter without knowing about recapitulation, it would be very easy to conclude that the woman fled and then the devil was cast down.
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The commentaries are not taking recapitulation into account in Daniel 7, but listen to what
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Daniel is saying. This is Daniel 7 verses 11 to 12. I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake,
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I beheld even till the beast was slain and his body destroyed and given to the burning flame.
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As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away, yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a time.
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Again, Daniel 7 verses 11 to 12. Daniel has told us something profound here and if we don't pay attention to what he's saying, we will entirely miss his point of the first judgment scene.
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Those who have listened to this entire podcast understand what we believe about the identity of the little horn.
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When Daniel says, as concerning the rest of the beasts, their lives were prolonged, he is referring to the little horn.
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Another way to say this is, I beheld even till the fourth beast was slain and his body destroyed, but as for the little horn, his life was prolonged.
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In other words, the little horn is not judged at this point in the chapter. As we have mentioned in a previous episode, the little horn of Daniel 7 is the beast of Revelation 13 and the beast of Revelation 13 is in fact made up of the other empires of Daniel's vision of chapter 7.
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According to Revelation 13 verses 1 to 2, the sea beast was like a leopard and a bear and a lion, referring to Greece, Medo -Persia, and Babylon, but also had seven heads and ten horns, which means that it had four leopard heads, one bear head, and one lion head, and the ten -horned head of the fourth beast, the
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Roman Empire. In other words, the little horn of Daniel 7 is the beast of Revelation 13, which is made up of all the other empires, and that little horn is what gets a prolongation of life in the first judgment scene so that the little horn can prosper and persecute the saints and then be judged in the second judgment scene.
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This is why the first strike of the stone in Daniel 2 only fragments the fourth empire alone, iron and clay, but the second strike destroys all the empires together, gold, silver, bronze, iron, and clay.
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The first judgment always targets the fourth empire, and the second judgment always targets the little horn, which is made up of all the empires together.
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Once that is understood, it is obvious to us that the first judgment was not directed against the little horn at all.
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Rather, the little horn actually escapes judgment in that first scene. And to our point, this is how we know that in Daniel 7 verses 9 to 11,
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Daniel is simply retelling the rise of the little horn from another perspective, and not simply proceeding with the judgment of the little horn.
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The little horn is not judged at all. In Daniel 7 verses 7 to 8, from the earthly perspective, the fourth beast came to power and ended with a thirteen -way division and the little horn rising up among them, taking three, speaking arrogant things, and ultimately reigning over the remaining ten.
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Daniel 7 verses 9 to 11, from the heavenly perspective, shows why the little horn had the opportunity to rise at all.
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The fourth beast was under judgment, creating the circumstances in which a divided, declining Roman Empire needed a new unifying power, and the little horn was just that unifying power.
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As Revelation reveals to us, the remaining ten horns give their authority to the little horn, and with his life prolonged, he goes forward to wear out the saints and prevail over them.
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For this, he will be judged in the second judgment, but he most certainly is not judged at all in the first judgment scene.
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He escapes judgment entirely. Now that we understand how Daniel is recapitulating, let's reread the first judgment of Daniel 7 so we can see that the little horn grows up out of the fourth beast and speaks arrogantly, and then
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Daniel says that while that was happening on earth, thrones had been set up in heaven as the Ancient of Days judged the fourth beast, which thus allowed for the rise of the little horn and an extension of life.
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Let's read Daniel 7, starting in verse 7, leading up to the arrogance of the little horn. This is Daniel 7 verses 7 to 8.
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After this, I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly, and it had great iron teeth.
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It devoured and broke in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it. And it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns.
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I considered the horns, and behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots.
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And behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things. Again, Daniel 7 verses 7 to 8.
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And here, Daniel has narrated all the way up to the central plot theme, which is the arrogance of the little horn, and he has narrated thus far solely from the perspective of what is happening on earth.
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That gets us to Daniel 7, 8. And behold, in this horn were the eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things.
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We have thus far been introduced to the fourth beast and little horn, but now let's read the next verses and notice that when we arrive at the arrogant little horn again, it is clear that there is a judgment in progress, and it was explicitly targeted against the fourth beast, resulting in the unfettered rise of the little horn to power, to his prolongation of life.
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Now, citing Daniel 7 verses 9 to 11. As I was watching, the thrones were cast down, or literally set up, and the
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Ancient of Days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool. His throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire.
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A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him. Thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him.
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The judgment was set, and the books were opened. I beheld then, because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake,
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I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame. As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away, yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a time.
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Again, Daniel 7 verses 9 to 11. Okay, so after reciting the development solely from the perspective of what is happening on earth in Daniel 7 verses 7 to 8,
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Daniel stops, rewinds, and then tells the entire story again in verses 9 to 11, but this time from the perspective of heaven, starting with the
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Ancient of Days taking his seat for judgment. Not judgment against the little horn, but against the Roman Empire.
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As we have noted, this is consistent with what we observed in Daniel 2, namely that the first strike of the stone is directed at the
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Roman Empire and brings about its fragmentation, preparing the way for the little horn to rise up and take his earthly dominion and start to speak so arrogantly against the
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Most High. This is why it is so important that we understand what Daniel has done here. It is that judgment from heaven that begins to destabilize the
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Roman Empire, paving the way for the rise of the little horn. Now, after Daniel has recounted the narrative a second time, from a different perspective, he arrives again at the arrogant little horn and now we see the preparation for the second judgment, which this time will finally be directed against the arrogance of the little horn and his persecution of the saints.
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This is the second judgment of Daniel 7, the second strike of the stone of Daniel 2, as Jesus is about to take his earthly kingdom and administer that strike.
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Now, citing Daniel 7, verse 13, I saw in the night visions, and behold, one like the
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Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought him near before him.
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That's Daniel 7, 13. And then in the next verse, the Son of Man in heaven is granted dominion, glory, and an earthly kingdom,
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Daniel 7, 14. As we will see in a moment, this scene takes place in heaven, as Jesus is granted authority and power to return to earth and take earthly dominion away from the little horn.
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He is presented here before the Ancient of Days, wearing a single crown. Next time we see him, he will be on his way to earth, wearing many crowns.
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Having seen all this, Daniel is troubled in his spirit and asks to understand the truth of it all. That's Daniel 7, verses 15 to 16.
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The angelic narrator gives a simple summary. There are four empires, but the saints of the
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Most High shall take the kingdom. That's saints, plural. Now one way to look at this is to understand the angel to say that there are four kingdoms on earth, and then the saints will receive their earthly kingdom because Daniel had just seen the
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Son of Man appearing before the Ancient of Days to receive a kingdom. That is how a typical
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Roman Catholic would understand it, and in fact how many Protestants understand it. But that is to misread the chapter.
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Go back and read it all so far and the only one who is explicitly mentioned receiving a kingdom is the Son of Man, singular, in Daniel 7, 14.
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And even then, he has not come to earth yet. He has not brought the saints with him to take their earthly kingdom. Daniel has not seen that yet, and therefore that is not what the angel is talking about.
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It is not a reference to the saints taking their earthly kingdom. It is a reference to the saints taking their heavenly kingdom.
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When the angel says there are four empires, but the saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom, he is referring to what
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Daniel saw in that heavenly throne room scene in Daniel 7, 9, not to what he saw in Daniel 7, 14 when the
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Son of Man was presented before the Ancient of Days to receive his earthly kingdom. Here is how we know this.
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There are two important judgment scenes in which thrones are set up in the book of Revelation. One takes place in Revelation 4 and 5 in heaven, and one takes place in Revelation 20 on earth.
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The scene in Revelation 4 and 5 takes place in heaven, and the saints in heaven on those thrones are already reigning, singing to the
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Lamb that thou hast made us unto our God, kings and priests. That is Revelation 5, 10.
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The scene in Revelation 20 is after Jesus has already come back to earth with his saints, destroyed the
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Antichrist, the false prophet, and the remaining ten horns. In this case, thrones are set up and the saints are reigning with Christ on earth.
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Two different judgment scenes, two different locations, thousands of years apart. They are not the same thing.
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We observe the same thing in the scenes of Daniel 7. In verse 9, Daniel sees thrones set up and the
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Ancient of Days sits and judgment is set. It is clearly happening in heaven. In verse 22,
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Daniel sees the Ancient of Days come, it's Jesus this time, and when the angel explains what this means, he says in verse 26 and 27, that judgment was given to the saints of the
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Most High, and this time it is clearly happening on earth, under the whole heaven. Again, two different judgment scenes in two different locations, thousands of years apart.
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And here's what we learn from this. When the angelic narrator says there are four empires, but the saints of the
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Most High shall take the kingdom, he is not referring to Jesus in Daniel 7 .14, preparing to receive his earthly kingdom, but rather to saints, plural, sitting on their thrones in heaven in Daniel 7 .9.
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And he's referring to the heavenly kingdom Jesus came announcing, a kingdom they had received during the fourth empire, during the
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Roman Empire. This is confirmed by Daniel 2, in which we see the succession of empires, and during the fourth empire, the
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God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, and the kingdom shall not be left to other people.
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That's Daniel 2 .44. In other words, what the angelic narrator is saying to Daniel is that after four empires arise out of the earth, the saints will take their heavenly kingdom, as evidenced by the fact that the saints are with him in the throne room of heaven in Daniel 7 .9.
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That is the only place Daniel has seen saints, plural, so far, in this entire vision.
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Okay, so Daniel, having heard that simple summary from the angel, will now recapitulate again, returning to an earthly perspective, but now with even more details.
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Now we see the rise, brutal reign, and earthly dominion of the little horn until the Ancient of Days comes and destroys him.
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That will be the second strike of the stone of Daniel 2, and the Ancient of Days will come to earth and finally take away the dominion of the little horn.
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As we read this, remember Jesus' own words. Before Abraham was, I am.
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Jesus is the son of man, presented before the Ancient of Days in heaven in Daniel 7 .13. But he himself is also the
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Ancient of Days, and comes to earth to destroy the little horn in Daniel 7 .22. Now, citing
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Daniel 7 .19 -22. Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast, and of the ten horns that were in his head, and of the other which came up, and before whom three fell, even of that horn that had eyes and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look was more stout than his fellows.
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I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, that is, on earth, and prevailed against them, until the
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Ancient of Days came, that is, to earth, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High.
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Daniel 7 .19 -22. Notice that Daniel is back to that central plot theme as he rewinds again and goes back to the
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Roman Empire and the thirteen horns that rise up out of Rome and the little horn who removes three of them and comes up among the remaining ten speaking great things.
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This time we finally see how the little horn uses his extension of life granted to him in verse 12 at the destruction of the fourth beast.
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He makes war with the saints and prevails against them. These things are obviously happening on earth, and this time the
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Ancient of Days, Jesus Christ, comes to earth and executes judgments against the little horn.
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That is a reference to Jesus coming on his white horse and executing judgment against the beast of Revelation 13.
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The little horn and the false prophet with him, basically what is described in Revelation 19 and notably the viewpoint is from earth.
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In response to this inquiry from Daniel the angelic narrator rewinds again and we finally get the whole story.
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He explains what Daniel had just seen from the perspective of earth, finally arriving at the glorious conclusion when the arrogant little horn is finally judged on earth and his earthly dominion is taken away and the saints finally receive their earthly dominion under heaven.
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Now citing Daniel 7 verses 23 to 27. The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth and the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise and another shall arise after them and he shall be diverse from the first and he shall subdue three kings and he shall speak great words against the most high and shall wear out the saints of the most high and think to change times and laws and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time but the judgment shall sit and they shall take away his dominion to consume and to destroy it unto the end and the kingdom and dominion and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven shall be given to the people and the saints of the most high whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and all dominions shall serve and obey him.
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Again that's Daniel 7 verses 23 to 27. Recall that in the fourth empire the saints received the heavenly kingdom which we know from the angel's previous response to Daniel and from the rest of scripture and from Jesus' own words but here in the angel's answer to Daniel's second inquiry it is only after the destruction of the little horn that the saints receive an earthly kingdom this is an extremely important development in the plot and notice that Daniel by revisiting the central theme multiple times has essentially narrated for us the familiar scenario that we can confirm from the rest of the scriptures.
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Daniel 2, Revelation 4 and 5 and Revelation 17 to 20 namely that during the fourth empire
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Jesus receives his heavenly kingdom and the saints with him in that role
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Jesus in heaven opens the seals of judgment against the Roman empire fragmenting it to pieces among which the little horn rises up as successor to the dying
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Roman empire whose body is destroyed and given to the burning flame according to Daniel 7, 11 then the little horn enjoys an earthly dominion as his life is prolonged persecuting the saints and speaking arrogantly against the most high until Jesus returns with his saints, destroys him and takes up his kingdom under the whole heaven after delivering the second strike of the stone it very clearly distinguishes not only between Antichrist's earthly kingdom and Jesus' heavenly kingdom which are contemporaneous and parallel but also between Antichrist's earthly kingdom and Jesus' earthly kingdom which are sequential in eschatological literature those three kingdoms
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Jesus' heavenly kingdom Antichrist's earthly kingdom and Jesus' earthly kingdom have been chronically and fatally confused on the assumption that there is only one strike of the stone in Daniel 2 and only one judgment by the
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Ancient of Days in Daniel 7 but a logical analysis of each chapter reveals two separate judgments and thus protects us from the invalid conclusion that Roman Catholicism's earthly medieval kingdom was the legitimate ecclesiological expression of the kingdom of God it most certainly is not it is the dominion of the little horn, the dominion of the beast of Revelation 13, the earthly kingdom that exists between the first and second strike of the stone of Daniel 2 the prolongation of life for the little horn between the first and second judgments by the
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Ancient of Days in Daniel 7 the fifth empire of Christian eschatology we have been warned repeatedly and emphatically to stay away from it and God's people have historically known this and obeyed now, if we had simply read
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Daniel chapter 7 in linear chronological order, we might have thought that the Ancient of Days took his seat and judged the fourth beast and the little horn in one swift judgment and gave the heavenly and earthly kingdoms to the saints.
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In fact, that is exactly how Roman Catholics read the chapter we can absolutely rule that out for the simple reason that the first time the
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Ancient of Days sits in judgment, he does not judge the little horn and neither Christ nor his saints get an earthly kingdom until after the little horn is judged it is that simple and yet Roman Catholics and some
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Protestants and even Reformers read the chapter as if it all happens at once and conclude that the civil dominion of the
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Roman Catholic Church after the collapse of the Roman Empire is the fulfillment of the saints inheriting their earthly kingdom and that the way the saints received the greatness of the whole kingdom under heaven is through Roman Catholicism's civil earthly dominion but that is a fatal logical error and the text absolutely prohibits that interpretation
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Okay, that was the first challenge with the chapter, namely that the two judgments are collapsed into one that is a mistake we can avoid if we read the chapter closely.
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Now let's move on to the second challenge The second challenge is that there are three mentions of the Ancient of Days in Daniel 7 and those three are generally assumed to refer to the same event, the final judgment of Revelation 20, although Calvin assumed that they all refer to the
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Incarnation and the founding of the Church The commentaries that focus on the final judgment assume that Daniel's description of the
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Ancient of Days taking his seat and the books were opened must refer to Revelation 2012, which says the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books
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But it's important to know that books were not even invented until centuries later and the word translated as books in Daniel and Revelation is literally just writings.
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The Greek biblios in Revelation and the Aramaic separ in Daniel 7 simply refer to writings or a roll with things written on it
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When understood that way, it is clear that the description of the first judgment seen in Daniel 7 verses 9 to 10 is not a vision of the final judgment of Revelation 20 after the destruction of the little horn, but rather of the judgment seen of Revelation 5 during which the seals are opened each seal representing a portion of the scroll in which certain judgments were written
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When Daniel says, and the books were opened, it literally means and the writings were opened, and it refers to the writing revealed at the breaking of each seal.
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Those are the writings that Daniel was referring to. The listener is encouraged to read the judgment seen of Daniel 7 verses 9 to 10 and compare it with the judgment seen of Revelation 4 and 5 in which writings are indeed opened in judgment as the
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Ancient of Days sits on the throne and the Son of Man comes and takes the scroll and begins to open the seals.
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Here are Daniel 7 verse 10 and Revelation 5 verses 5 and 11 together to make the point.
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Daniel 7 10 thousand thousands ministered unto him and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him.
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The judgment was set and the books or writings were opened. Now Revelation 5
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The lion of the tribe of Judah the root of David hath prevailed to open the book and to loose the seven seals thereof.
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And I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands
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Both verses Daniel 7 10 and Revelation 5 verses 5 to 11 describe a single scene in which the
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Ancient of Days sits in judgment and writings are opened. The first judgment scene in Daniel 7 is the first judgment scene of Revelation.
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And when we get to our study on the seals, we'll see that the seals of Revelation 5 are targeted directly against the
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Roman Empire alone. Just as the first judgment of Daniel 7 is directed against the fourth beast alone, just as the first strike of the stone is directed against the
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Roman Empire alone, the iron and the clay feet of the statue. In all three descriptions of the same judgment we'll find that the final result of that targeted judgment against the
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Roman Empire the fourth empire of Daniel's visions, is to destabilize it, creating the circumstances necessary for the rise of the little horn, the beast of Revelation 13.
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It is all the Lord's doing and he ordered it in such a way as to cause the whole world to fall into error through the delusion that he himself sent upon them according to 2
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Thessalonians 2 11. The first courtroom scene of Revelation is the first appearance of the Ancient of Days in Daniel 7 and it happens during the
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Roman Empire after Jesus has already ascended to his father. He then takes the scroll and opens the seals revealing the writings by which judgments.
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He then proceeds to fragment the Roman Empire ultimately giving rise to the little horn and finally destroying the
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Roman Empire in the process. The second appearance of the Ancient of Days is when the Son of Man is presented before him on the clouds and please note this happens after the
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Roman Empire has already been fragmented after the rise of the little horn and after his extension of life and after the little horn's persecution of the saints but before the little horn is judged.
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Now citing Daniel 7 13 I saw in the night visions and behold one like the
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Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven and came to the Ancient of Days and they brought him near before him and there was given him dominion and glory and a kingdom.
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A couple of things to keep in mind here. This does not refer to Jesus' prophecy in Matthew 24 30 and Mark 13 26 and Luke 21 27 and John's prophecy in Revelation 1 7 that Jesus would return to earth on the clouds within one generation.
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We have already covered that in a previous episode. That appearance on the clouds happened just as Jesus said it would within one generation before Jerusalem was destroyed in 70
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AD. That is not what is in view here. Those biblical prophecies testify that Jesus would come to earth visibly bodily on the clouds to judge
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Jerusalem. They were not prophecies that Jesus would be appearing before the Ancient of Days unseen by the people of earth.
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The scriptural testimony is that the people of earth would see this happening. They are not referring to the same event at all.
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Here in Daniel chapter 7 Daniel is seeing what is depicted in Revelation 14 14 in which
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Jesus Christ is described as the Son of Man coming on a cloud wearing a crown and quite noticeably this occurs in heaven and while in the throne room of heaven the
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Son of Man is given a sickle and when he does return to earth he will tread the winepress of the wrath of God.
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As we read John's depiction of it in Revelation we find that it is time for Jesus to prepare to execute judgment on earth.
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That is to administer the second strike of the stone. Now citing Revelation 14 verses 14 to 16
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As I looked and behold a white cloud and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of Man having on his head a golden crown and in his hand a sharp sickle and another angel came out of the temple crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud thrust in thy sickle and reap for the time has come for thee to reap for the harvest of the earth is ripe and he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth and the earth was reaped.
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Again Revelation 14 verses 14 to 16 This is not a description of Jesus harvesting the righteous from the earth as many commentaries suppose.
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It is rather a description of his preparation to lay waste to the nations of the earth that have aligned with the beast of Revelation against him.
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It is a preparation for the judgment as Joel 3 .13 clearly portrays for us. Put ye in the sickle for the harvest is ripe come get you down for the press is full the fats overflow for their wickedness is great.
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As with Joel 3 .13 the cry for Jesus to thrust in thy sickle and reap refers to the gatherings of the heathen for judgment followed immediately by a harvest of the grapes of wrath which
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Jesus himself will tread out upon his return to destroy the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered to make war against him.
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That's Revelation 19 .15 Revelation 14 .14 does not refer to the harvest of the saints because that harvest of the righteous had already been ongoing as Revelation 14 .4
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shows us. For the first fruits unto God and to the Lamb had already been harvested and were already with him in the throne room in heaven.
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No, this appearance of the Son of Man before the Ancient of Days is for one purpose to grant him authority over the whole earth that he may judge it.
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When he appears before the Ancient of Days he is already wearing one crown as we'll see in a moment. This is the moment he receives many crowns as he is given dominion over all earthly kingdoms.
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This is when he is about to take his earthly kingdom. In both scenes in Daniel 7 .13
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and in Revelation 14 .14 when Jesus has appeared on a cloud before the Ancient of Days he is authorized to execute judgment on earth and then goes to earth to exercise judgment.
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In Daniel 7 .15 he is given an earthly kingdom and dominion and as the chapter goes on it is clear that he will use that authority to take away the dominion of the little horn.
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Daniel 7 .26 Okay, so that's the second reference to the Ancient of Days. Now for the third reference.
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The next step is for the Son of Man to tread the winepress of the wrath of God according to Revelation 14 .20
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and 16 .19 and it is important to notice that the specific target of the Lord's wrath in Revelation 14 .20
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is Great Babylon or as described in 17 .18 that great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth.
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That's the city of Rome. But to execute God's wrath this time Jesus the Ancient of Days will come to earth in judgment and that's the third reference to the
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Ancient of Days in Daniel 7 .22 it's the second strike of the stone now citing
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Daniel 7 .21 21, 22 and 26 I beheld and the same horn made war with the saints and prevailed against them until the
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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 but the judgment shall sit and they shall take away his dominion to consume and to destroy it to the end.
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This is the Ancient of Days coming to earth Jesus coming to earth and it answers to John's vision in Revelation 19 in which
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Jesus comes to earth and executes judgment on earth and treads the winepress of the wrath of God on earth after which thrones will be set up and he will reign with his saints on earth now citing
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Revelation 19 verses 11 to 15 and I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse and he that sat upon him was called faithful and true and in righteousness he doth judge and make war his eyes were as a flame of fire and on his head were many crowns and he had a name written that no man knew but he himself and he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood and his name is called the word of God the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses clothed in fine linen white and clean and out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword that with it he should smite the nations and he shall rule them with a rod of iron and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and the wrath of almighty
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God this concludes the third appearance of the ancient of days in Daniel 7 and this time the judgment is executed on earth and this time he's wearing many crowns
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Revelation 19 12 because as John says in Revelation 11 15 at the sounding of the last trumpet the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our
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Lord and of his Christ it is the second strike of the stone of Daniel 2 and this time the ancient of days comes to earth to smite the nations and quite notably the target of his wrath is the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies this is all consistent with the two strike or two judgment paradigm established by Daniel and by John in which the first strike is against the
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Roman Empire to bring about the rise of the little horn and the second strike is against the little horn itself between those two strikes is the life and reign and dominion of the little horn commonly and fatally confused for the church of Christ now had we ignored the textual cues and collapsed all the appearances of the ancient of days into one either in the first century as Calvin does or at the final judgment as others do we might have concluded either that Jesus set up his earthly kingdom immediately following the
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Roman Empire which causes great confusion among the saints and leads some to conclude that Roman Catholicism is
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Christ's earthly kingdom or that Daniel conveyed all of this to us in the wrong order such that the first judgment of Daniel 7 is taken to suggest a reference to the final judgment of Revelation 20 after the millennium followed by the son of man coming with the clouds of heaven unto the ancient of days which would appear to refer to something
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Jesus does before the millennium and then the ancient of days came and the judgment was given to the saints of the most high who then possessed the kingdom which also appears to refer to the earthly reign of Christ and his saints prior to the millennium it creates a very messy chronology indeed however when the first reference refers to the opening of the seals in Revelation 5 the second to Jesus receiving his earthly authority in Revelation 14 and the third refers to Jesus coming to execute that authority in Revelation 19 the confusion and contradictions are resolved so that concludes the second challenge we face in Daniel chapter 7 the third challenge we face when reading
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Daniel 7 is caused by an improper response to the first two challenges namely if we read the chapter in linear fashion on the assumption that two judgments are collapsed into one and three references to the ancient of days are collapsed into one we end up with an odd sequence of events in which the little horn keeps making war with the saints in Daniel 7 21 and exercising civil power
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Daniel 7 25 after he has already been destroyed along with the fourth beast 10 verses earlier that's more than a little odd it's an absolute chronological mess just think through the sequence if the first judgment scene of Daniel 7 in which the books are open is intended to show the final judgment of all mankind in Revelation 20 at least a thousand years after the destruction of the little horn why does
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Daniel describe it first taking place immediately after the arrogance of the little horn and show the little horn being destroyed in that judgment scene after he was already destroyed in a prior judgment a thousand years earlier according to John or if the little horn is destroyed by the ancient of days seated on his heavenly throne in Daniel 7 11 why does the ancient of days have to come to earth and take his dominion away at the end of the chapter verse 22 that chronological mess is resolved when
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Daniel is understood in the two judgment paradigm and when we understand Daniel's use of recapitulation to describe the rise and reign of the little horn and when we use the textual cues in Daniel and Revelation to understand the three appearances of the ancient of days a simple consistent chronology emerges from the mess created by the invalid assumptions that have historically been used to interpret the chapter
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Daniel watches the rise of Rome as a global empire and the beginning of its decline and sees the arrogant little horn emerging from the fragments then
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Daniel explains the same events from the perspective of heaven showing that there is a heavenly judgment against the Roman Empire that brings about the rise of the arrogant little horn even as the
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Roman Empire is gasping its last breath and finally collapses and the little horn takes over as its successor in this role the arrogant little horn wears out the saints and overcomes them
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Jesus Christ appears before his father in heaven the ancient of days wearing a single crown and is given dominion and authority and a kingdom over the whole earth and is told to harvest the earth in judgment with that authority
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Jesus comes back to earth wearing many crowns smiting the nations and destroying the little horn in his armies casting him into the lake of fire trampling out the vintage of the wrath of God and the saints inherit a kingdom under the whole heaven all of this occurs long before we even get to the final judgment of the second resurrection in Revelation 20 in fact
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Daniel stops his narration at the kingdom and dominion and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven which is given to the people and the saints of the most high in Daniel 7 27 which gets us all the way to Revelation 24 which says and I saw thrones and they sat upon them and judgment was given to them and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the word of God in which had not worshipped the beast neither his image neither had received his mark upon their forehead or in their hands and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years that's where Daniel leaves off the narration we're still a thousand years before we ever get to the final judgment scene of Revelation 20 12 in this sequence he narrates one of the most profound and yet plain instructional prophetic warnings in all of Scripture that the saints get a heavenly kingdom during the fourth earthly empire and get an earthly kingdom after the destruction of the fifth earthly empire that fifth earthly empire is
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Roman Catholicism which we miss entirely if we bring our invalid assumptions with us to the text so where does that leave us it provides us with a very clear path forward to understand the seals of Revelation and establishes a timeline so that we may understand exactly when the seals began to be broken the first strike of the stone hits the feet of the statue not the legs and not the toes and that tells us two important facts the first judgment occurred during the
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Roman Empire after the transition from legs to feet but before the feet began to be fragmented into toes as we have noted the iron period of Daniel 2 spans the first seven emperors of Rome as revealed to us in Revelation 17 10 from Julius Caesar in 44
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BC to Emperor Galba who died on January 15, 69 AD after just seven months in office he was the last emperor of the
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Julio -Claudian line after which the emperors alternately came from commoners and from royalty fulfilling
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Daniel's prophecy that after the period of iron they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men
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Daniel 2 43 the transition from iron to iron and clay therefore occurs on January 15, 69
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AD we also know that the first strike of the stone fragments the empire into toes creating the circumstances for the rise of Antichrist the toes first form in the 12 -way division of the empire in 293
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AD when Diocletian divided the Roman Empire into 12 diocese under the authority of the four tetrarchs each tetrarch ruling over three diocese the final 13 -way division came to its completion late in the 4th century between 373 and 381
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AD when the diocese of Oriens was split in two half of it remaining under the metropolitan capital of Antioch and the newly created diocese of Egypt being governed from its new metropolis of Alexandria the stage was thus set for the little horn to rise up and claim three of those 13 diocese as Roman Catholicism asserted the
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Petrine primacy of the three metropolitan cities of Rome, Alexandria, and Antioch so called because Peter was alleged to have established those three churches
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Rome, of course, occupying the first position by then those three cities of Rome, Alexandria, and Antioch were the three metropolitan cities of the diocese of Italy, Egypt, and Oriens, fulfilling
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Daniel's prophecy that the fourth empire would be divided 13 ways and another little horn would uproot three of the 13 and rise up among the remaining 10, and with that knowledge we can establish a time frame during which the breaking of the seals of Revelation must have occurred the first strike of the stone occurs in the period of the feet after the iron legs but before the period of the toes and therefore the seals of Revelation must begin to be opened after 15
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January 69 A .D., the death of Galba, the 7th emperor of the Julio -Claudian line, but before 293
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A .D., when the fragmentation of the Roman Empire began under Diocletian that's our time frame which we have depicted in a graphic in the show notes we'll begin our next episode with the four horsemen of the apocalypse and the first one rides forth conquering and to conquer this has been the