Daniel II—Historical Survey

Revelation Series #2
Fred R. Coulter—September 17, 2005

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It's very interesting that one of the clues that we see in the book of Revelation—which ties it all together—is where Jesus said, 'I am the Beginning, the Ending, the First and the Last, Alpha and Omega.' That gives us a clue. As we saw in part one and going through Dan. 2, that God is the One Who reveals the understanding of Scripture. He's the One Who has shown—through Dan. 2—that only God knows the truth of the events in the future! Just think about it: How many times have people been wrong in trying to analyze the future because they want to speed up the return of Jesus Christ, and in many cases, to fit their own theories. We've also seen that happen—haven't we?

What we want to do with the book of Daniel is establish the historical fulfillment of things as we look back. This gives us a perspective that was not available until—even the beginning of it—the final writing of the New Testament and the canonization of it by John. But even after John was given the whole book of Revelation, he didn't understand it. That's evident, as we saw there in Matt. 24 and Luke 13, where it talks about 'the abomination that makes desolate.'

It says, 'Whosoever reads, let him understand'—which was an editorial comment that was put in there by John as he was canonizing the New Testament. Even in your red-letter Bibles you will see that statement: 'The one who reads, let him understand,' indicates that John—and probably Andrew and Philip—the other two apostles who were with him in canonizing the New Testament—did not understand it. But they realized that these are the words of God, and it's going to be given and understanding will come later when God reveals it to us. We have that promise in the book of Daniel.

All the things that Daniel wrote of—all of the prophecies that were there—the only one he really understood, or began to understand, was the 70-weeks prophecy—all the rest he didn't understand. He knew that the 'head of gold' was Nebuchadnezzar, and he knew that other empires were going to rise after him. But, he only lived to see the beginning of the Persian Empire. By that time he was well into his 90s.

That fulfills what Jesus said that 'many righteous men and prophets have wondered'—about the things that we understand and 'have not been able to understand.' The reason is because it wasn't time to reveal it, and that's the whole key that I want to emphasize with Dan. 2. When it is time for God to reveal the understanding He will!
As we will see with every one of the prophecies in the book of Daniel, it ends with the return of Christ. There is nothing that we find in the New Testament or in the Old Testament, which gives us an absolute timing as to the year when Jesus is going to return. The only hint that we have is that in Dan. 9, the 70-weeks prophecy, and the last week being the final seven years leading to the return of Christ, no one knows when it begins.

That's why in the charts that we have for Revelation we begin by going to the prophesied fulfillment, and then based upon the framework of the Holy Days we are able to get a perspective on these things, which is much clearer. But, as I mentioned concerning the chart: A chart is a visual approximation of how the things will fall. That's why it was done that way. We use the calculated Hebrew calendar at the end-time because we see so many fulfillments in God's Word, such as the day Jesus died was on the Passover Day.

He used the Passover Day to fulfill His Word in prophecy; same way with the Passover in Egypt; same way with the origin of the Passover with Abraham. We can see all of those things and that gives us some understanding. Likewise, with the Day of Pentecost: we know that the Law was given on Pentecost, and we also know that the Church began on Pentecost.

So, we have those as markers which tell us that if we want to increase our understanding of the events at the end-time, and the prophecies that are in the Bible—if we view it on the framework of the Holy Days—we are going to have more understanding. But it doesn't mean that we have absolute finite understanding.

Please realize that when we are dealing in prophecy it's not like 'remember the Sabbath Day to keep it Holy. Six days shall you work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord.' That's clear! That's dogmatic! But with prophecies that have yet to be fulfilled, we can say:

it looks like this
perhaps it could be this way
here is a clue for us to understand

We have to do that with the things that we don't understand because, as Paul said, 'we are looking through a glass darkly.'

We have the whole litany of all of the failed interpretations of prophecy of men down through time trying to understand the Word of God and trying to understand the prophecies and many of them to make it fit their own time. Well, it's going to fit God's timing!

As we've pointed out and I just want to review this. To understand what the mark of the beast is could not be understood until the advent of the digital insertable chip, which can go in the right hand or in the forehead. They have been working on that for years, and it's going to improve absolutely considerably. We do not know exactly how far it's going to go, but let me give you a clue. You've been seeing the iPOD. The new iPOD is about a quarter of an inch thick, it's about an inch and a half wide and it's about five inches long. And the technology there is so sophisticated that this one little instrument can hold 1,000 songs!

I bring that up from the point of view to bring out this: When the final mark of the beast comes, it is going to be so powerful—buying and selling is just going to be a minor part of it—it's going to be for control!

•  control of your mind
• control of your choices
• tracking you wherever you are

It is going to be an absolute profound thing that is going to remove, from all of those who receive it, free choice!

That violates what God has given to all human beings so absolutely, that that's why God gives a warning concerning the mark of the beast. And along that line, we also know this: Paul wrote in 1-Cor. 13, that prophecies will fail. It's important to understand this. A lot of people look at that and say, 'Paul wrote that the prophecies of God are going to fail.' Well, let's understand something: they are not going to fail! What did we read in Dan. 2? 'The vision is sure and the interpretation thereof is true.'

1-Corinthians 13:8: "Love never fails. But whether there be prophecies, they shall cease…" These cannot be the prophecies of God. Why? Because Jesus said the 'heaven and the earth shall perish but My words shall not perish'(Matt. 24)!

It means that all the prophecies of God are going to come true exactly as He said. So, 'prophecies shall fail' means the prophecies of men! This is the forewarning of the wrong interpretations of men concerning the prophecies in the Bible. That's why we have seen so many of them fail. As we have already covered and given the litany of all the years that were supposed to be the return of Christ.

And just to show you another thing, I got a paper from someone who said Christ is going to return on Day of Atonement 2005. I was discussing with someone, you cannot have a beginning of the end until the 'King of the South' is ensconced in power. There are a lot of things that have to happen in prophecy.

One thing that is very important is this: It's going to happen the way God has said in the timing that God has determined, which means that there also has to be a fulfillment of the prophecy that the Apostle Paul said 'that they will say where is the promise of His coming?' Which means this: It's going to have to have enough time and go beyond what everyone has thought when Christ would return so that now everyone who believes in Christ and His return can be mocked!

You tie that together with what Jesus said concerning Noah. Remember, Noah was 120-years building and preaching that the end was going to come in a flood. They all mocked him! I just imagine on the day that it all started to happen—when the 'fountains of the deep' broke up and the heavens turned absolutely almost black as coal and dropped rain; it says the 'windows of heaven opened and the fountains of the deep were broken up'—that the day before at one of the wedding parties…

What did Jesus say? They were 'marrying and giving in marriage' until the day that Noah went into the Ark! I just imagine that they were even mocking Noah when they had their wedding ceremony on that day. 'Oh ho ho, look, things are going on just the way they always have.' So, God catches all the mockers and those who are cynical in their own traps! You need to keep that in mind with all of these prophecies.

Let's come to Dan. 3 and we're going to review just a little bit here, to get a little bit of numbers involved, because there are numbers in prophecy that give us clues. Remember, we started out by showing that at the end-time (Dan. 9), the last seven years is reserved right for the end. We have some clues pertaining to that.

Daniel 3:1: "Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was sixty cubits… [90-feet high (a cubit is 18-inches)] …and its breadth six cubits [9-feet wide]…" If you take the cubits, 60 x 6=360 x 7=2,520 days, which is the approximate length of seven years. So, we have a clue! A lot of these things in Daniel we have clues and markers. We have some interpretations. When we get to the book of Revelation we have greater understanding and a greater interpretation, but we don't have it absolutely finite! That's what we need to realize. The reason God has done it that way is so that 'the just' shall live by faith!

Rather than trusting God by seeing a prophecy—and you're looking for it and you misunderstand it or you misinterpret it—therefore, you give up on God, which a lot of people have because they've put too much stock in their absolute interpretation of prophecy.

As a result, since it didn't happen the way that they expected it to happen, they just give up and go on their way—which shows that you must live by faith and believe God all the time, and the things that don't work out the way that we think, it's in the hands of God!—likewise here. We can say, 'All right, we can come up with 2,520 days, which then is the literal fulfillment of seven years.

Then we also see here in Dan. 4 where Nebuchadnezzar was insane for seven years—seven times or seven years—we have an indication, we have a fulfillment or a type, and then we have a latter fulfillment, or an antitype at the end. There again is another clue, which goes to the end.

We're going to see that we have a clue in the fall of Babylon. Remember, every place that it talks about Babylon falling, it is always used twice: Babylon is fallen, is fallen! That gives us a first fulfillment (Dan. 5) and a final fulfillment (Rev. 18). So, we have type/antitype; first fulfillment/last fulfillment.

We have buried in the saying here, beginning in Daniel 5:25, where it talks about the judgment against Babylon: "And this is the writing that was inscribed… [this is where we get the saying: 'the handwriting on the wall.'] …MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN." This is all based upon the gerah, the mene and the tinkle—which is this:

• mene=50 shekels—so mene, mene=100
• tekel=1 shekel
• upharsin—25 shekels

Then you add all of that up and you multiply it by 20, because there are 20 gerahs in every shekel. You come up with 2,520. Here we have a clue concerning another seven years, which also at the end of that seven years is the judgment against Babylon, and it falls! That's why the last seven-year period, which we see prophesied of in the book of Daniel, must also be carried over into the book of Revelation. When Babylon is finally judged, it is judged at the end of the seven years. We covered about how that was taken by Darius and Cyrus.

Then we also have another attempt concerning getting at Daniel's life, and it wasn't time for Daniel to die. He wasn't going to die that way because at the end of the book of Daniel God promised that he would 'go his way'—meaning he would die a natural death and be put in the grave. He was probably buried somewhere there in Babylon. I don't know if they ever took his bones to Judea or not—I couldn't tell you—there's no record of it.

Daniel 6—Darius and Cyrus both were kings—Darius was of the Medes and Cyrus the Persian. It was the Medo-Persian Empire. After they threw Daniel into the lion's den, God probably put an angel in there to calm the lions. I don't know if Daniel went in there and said, 'Here, kitty, kitty, kitty!' or not. But all of those who conspired to have him thrown into the lion's den—after, Darius was happy that Daniel was spared; thrilled that he was spared—he threw all of them in there and the lions ate up all of those who conspired against Daniel.

God was working with the Persian Empire to set this whole thing up years before it ever happened. Cyrus—who was prophesied in the book of Isaiah to be a redeemer to the Jews in captivity in Babylon—was the son of Ahasuerus or Artaxerxes and Esther. Who was in the court in the Persian Empire? Mordecai and Nehemiah! There were a lot of things going on in Persia to set everything up for this time right here in Dan. 6 & 7. We can take that as a clue.

There are a lot of things that God is doing to set up the events at the end-time that we do not yet see and understand. When it comes time for the end events to take place, it has already been prepared. That means God is working with nations and leaders and people and His Church. The angels of God are also working. Satan and his demons are also working. This is going to be, at the end-time, a whole worldwide affair that is basically empowered by the spiritual powers of God and His angels, and the spiritual powers of Satan and his demons—how they lead and guide the nations. With it, there are going to be men that God will use. For example: Darius.

After Daniel was brought out of the lion's den unhurt, Daniel 6:24: "And the king commanded, and they brought those men who had accused Daniel, and they threw them into the lions' den—them, their sons, and their wives. And the lions overpowered them and broke all their bones in pieces before they even came to the bottom of the den." In other words, as they were falling down the lions got them.

Here's another thing we can look at: In the middle of the greatest trial and everything that is going to take place in the history of the world, what do we have in Rev. 7? The 144,000 and the great innumerable multitude! Which means that there will be those who will be protected right in the middle of all the things that are going on, just like Daniel was thrown into the lion's den to be killed, but God spared him.

Verse 25: "Then King Darius… [and Cyrus] …wrote to all people, nations, and languages who dwell in all the earth…" This is to the whole civilized world. We need to understand the effect and the vast reach that Babylon had with the 120 provinces. It covered all of the Middle East; all of Asia going into India; all of the north going into Medo, Parthia and Persia; and all of the kingdoms over into Europe; down into all of northern Africa and down into Arabia and everything. So, this went out in all of them.

"…'Peace be multiplied to you. I make a decree that, in all the domain of my kingdom, men must fear and tremble before the God of Daniel…'" (vs 25-26). God gives Himself a witness of the true God—doesn't He? All the time!

Darius was undoubtedly not converted, but he was used of God to do His will. Here's part of an epistle. Nebuchadnezzar wrote an epistle—didn't he? Yes! Which means this: God is going to deal with the world leaders to accomplish His will in the end-time the same way He did here!

"'…for He is the living God and endures forever, and His kingdom is that which shall not be destroyed, and His dominion shall be to the end. He delivers and rescues, and He works signs and wonders in the heavens and on earth, He Who has delivered Daniel from the power of the lions.' And this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian" (vs 26-28).

Daniel 7 is a very important, pivotal or very basic prophecy, which then ties in with Dan. 2 & 8. So, we're going to go through Dan. 7 quite meticulously and then we will go back review the historical fulfillments of it. What I want us to see is what happens in Dan. 2, 7, 8, 9, 11 & 12, it ends up at the end with the return of Christ.

Daniel 7:26: "But the judgment shall sit, and his dominion shall be taken away to be consumed and to be destroyed unto the end. And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, Whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. And all kingdoms shall serve and obey Him" (vs 26-27). Right up to the setting up of what we know in the book of Revelation, the Millennium. In order to understand Dan. 7, we're going to see that's dependent upon Dan. 2, 8; Rev. 17, 13—all together.

It doesn't tell us how long that Belshazzar ruled, but he ruled a very short time, because he was actually co-regent with his father who was the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar.

Daniel 7:1: "In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream and visions of his head upon his bed. Then he wrote the dream and told the sum of the matters. Daniel spoke and said, 'In my vision by night I was looking, and behold, the four winds of the heavens were stirring up the Great Sea'" (vs 1-2).

We're going to see again, just exactly like in Dan. 2, there are clues pointing to the coming book of Revelation. God reveals! Remember, we saw seven times: God reveals! We'll come back to each one of these verses and analyze it a little bit more after we read down through v 8.

Verse 3: "And four great beasts came up from the sea, different from one another. The first was like a lion and had eagle's wings…." Very similar to what we would call cherubim or cherub].

"….I watched until its wings were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth and made to stand on its feet like a man. And a man's heart was given to it. And behold another beast, a second, like a bear. And it raised itself up on one side, and it had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. And this was said to it: 'Arise, eat up much flesh.' After this I saw, and lo, another beast, like a leopard, which had four wings of a bird on its back. The beast also had four heads and dominion was given to it. After this I looked in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, frightening and terrifying, and exceedingly strong. And it had great iron teeth; it devoured and broke in pieces, and stamped the rest with its feet. And it was different from all the beasts before it; and it had ten horns. As I was considering the horns, behold, there came up among them another horn, a little one, before whom three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots. And behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things" (vs 3-8).

This sounds like Nintendo games and some of the movies today! Isn't it interesting that in the end-time we see many of these type of creatures portrayed in the movies and games and things like this that are played today.

Let's look at some of the clues that we have as to what this means. First of all, let's count the number of heads and then the horns.

• v 4: one head "like a lion"
• v 5: one head "like a bear"
• v 6: four heads
• v 7: one head, "10 horns"

So, when we add those together, what do we get: 7 heads and 10 horns.

We're going to see seven head and ten horns is always a marker of Satan's system and his organization. We also have to realize that God uses Satan in very powerful ways.

Revelation 12:3 "And another sign was seen in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns on his heads." We're going to see when we come to the last beast of Rev. 13, the power shifts from the seven heads to the ten horns.

We have seven and ten in Revelation 13:1: "And I stood on the sand of the sea…" Isn't it interesting, now we have the sea—that ties in with Dan 7:2, four beasts rise up out of the sea. That's beginning with Daniel. At the end we have one beast rise up out of the sea. Here we have the sea and water and everything.

"…and I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns…" (v 1). Only this time the crowns are on the ten horns. The apparent power shifts to these ten horns. Rev. 17 helps tie it all together. This also tells us that you cannot understand the final fulfillment of Dan. 7, until we understand the final fulfillment of the book of Revelation.

Revelation 17:3: "Then he carried me away in the spirit to a wilderness; and I saw a woman sitting upon a scarlet beast that had seven heads and ten horns…"

Verse 12: "And the ten horns that you saw are ten kings, who have not yet received a kingdom, but shall receive authority as kings for one hour with the beast." We have the seven and the ten again. What does it say about the ten?

Verse 13: "These all have one mind, and shall give up their power and authority to the beast. These will make war with the Lamb, but the Lamb shall overcome them; for He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those who are with Him are called, and chosen, and faithful" (vs 13-14). Again, it ends with the return of Christ. As we have already seen, that ties in with Dan. 7 & 2.

Let's go back and read Daniel 2, because we're looking at ten again—only this time, instead of ten horns, we're looking at ten toes! What does it say of the ten toes, which ties in with Rev. 17, as kings? Those ten are contemporaneous at the same time!

Daniel 2:42: "And as the toes of the feet were part of iron and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly broken. And whereas you saw iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mix themselves with the seed of men. But they shall not cling to one another, even as iron does not combine with clay. And in the days of these kings…" (vs 42-44). What do we have? We have God interpreting the 'ten toes' as ten kings! What does it say?

Verse 44: "And in the days of these kings, the God of heaven shall set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed…." That has to tie in with Rev. 17 with the ten horns that receive power one hour with the beast and they fight Christ. Without the book of Daniel and without the book of Revelation we can't make this connection. This brings us the harmony of it.

Let's investigate this a little bit more. One other thing concerning water, let's come to Rev. 17 again, and we'll finish the type of the waters and the sea and so forth.

Revelation 17:1: "And one of the seven angels who had the seven vials came and spoke with me, saying to me, 'Come here; I will show you the judgment of the great whore who sits upon many waters….'" There again we have waters.

It is defined for us in v 15: "Then he said to me, 'The waters that you saw, where the whore sits, are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages. But the ten horns that you saw on the beast shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and shall burn her with fire'" (vs 15-16).

So, right at the end, God does the same thing He's always done. What does He do? He turns the enemy against its own self! Did He not do that when the Assyrians came down and they were threatening in the days of Hezekiah? Yes, He did! He caused a tumult among them and all 180,000 of the Assyrians got up and were fighting among themselves and killed themselves and the hand of the angel was there to make sure that it was done. So, we have a repeat of it here—don't we? The waters, the seas, the oceans have to do with people and nations and tongues and languages and so forth. This is also depicting a whole worldwide event!

Let's go back and look at Daniel again, and let's see how this ties in with Nebuchadnezzar and the first kingdom of Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar was not converted—I don't believe he was ever converted—but through the experience of being insane for seven years, he wrote his epistle. We'll go back and read that because it says of this one here that he was made to stand on his feet and a man's heart was given to him. That can only refer to Nebuchadnezzar and his experience of what he wrote to the people.

Daniel 4:1: "Nebuchadnezzar the king, to all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth: 'Peace be multiplied to you. It seemed good to me to declare the signs and wonders that the Most High God has done for me. How great are His signs! And how mighty are His wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and His dominion is from generation to generation'" (vs 1-3). Then he explained the whole thing about what happened to him.

Isn't it interesting, the first beast was given a man's heart and spoke of God with greater eloquence than any of the other beasts. We saw that Darius wrote a very short epistle, but here Nebuchadnezzar writes this, because he was given the heart of a man after he was given his kingdom back and his sanity was returned to him. This gives us the interpretation of Dan. 7:4.

Verse 34: "And at the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up my eyes to heaven, and my understanding returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and I praised and honored Him Who lives forever, for His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom is from generation to generation."

Every time you see something about Babylon, it shows a cherub with a lion's head and wings.

Verse 35: "And all the inhabitants of the earth are counted as nothing…" Tie that in with Isa. 40:12—all the nations are as 'a drop in a bucket.' And isn't it interesting how God has made us in His image; that He's given us free moral agency; that He's given us choice, and yet, we can stand up and reject Him, go against Him, and nothing else in all of creation does that!

What if you created a machine and it was so sophisticated—and, of course, you've had this on some science fiction movies and so forth—it goes against you! What would you do? Destroy it! All of this shows that God has a greater purpose for mankind in the end-run. But, because of this, and the carnal mind and deception—which Nebuchadnezzar is bringing out here—that people think they're some great thing, like Nebuchadnezzar did. He was standing there looking at Babylon—and I can just see him kind of with his thumbs in his robe under his arms and looking out there and saying, 'Oh, my great power built this mighty Babylon!' BAM! That's when the seven years started on him. Well, here at the end of the seven years, he now gets the point!

Verse 35: "And all the inhabitants of the earth are counted as nothing; and He does according to His will in the host of heaven… [Isn't that interesting? Angels!] …among the inhabitants of the earth. And none can stay His hand, or say to Him, 'What are You doing?'" You can tie that in with the book of Job. Isn't that what happened with Job? Yes!

Verse 36: "At that time my reason returned to me. And the glory of my kingdom, my majesty and splendor returned to me.…" Probably very groveling: 'Oh yes, Lord. Yes, king. Oh, here we are, yes, we're right here.' The mighty politicians!

"…And my advisers and my lords sought me out, and I was established in my kingdom, and surpassing greatness was added to me" (v 36). That means he was given the heart of a man rather than the heart of a beast—because back here in Dan. 3 what happened? He had the heart of a beast! What did he do with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego? He threw them into the fiery furnace!

Here he comes back very humble, v 37: "Now, I Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and honor the King of heaven, for all His works are Truth and His ways justice. And those who walk in pride He is able to abase." He had seven years experience of abasement. This gives us the interpretation of Dan. 7 and the first beast that was 'like a lion with eagles' wings'; was made to 'stand on his feet'; was given a 'heart of a man.'

Daniel 7:5: "And behold another beast, a second, like a bear. And it raised itself up on one side, and it had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. And this was said to it: 'Arise, eat up much flesh.'"

In order for the Medo-Persian Empire to arise, what they had to do was this: They had the first takeover of the Assyrian Empire—which they did. Then they took over the Babylonian one, and they took over Egypt. So you've got:

• Assyria
• Babylon
• Egypt

Those are the three ribs that the Persian Empire took over.

Verse 6—we will see this again when we come to Dan. 8; an interpretation: "After this I saw, and lo, another beast, like a leopard…"—meaning strong, stealthy, cunning, able to come against an enemy with few and defeat it.

If you have access to the History Channel, look at the rise of Alexander the Great and the Grecian Empire; how quickly that came about, and how he used tactics and weapons never before used to come against the Persians with a few number of men moving swiftly, to absolutely encircle and destroy the vastly superior number of the Persian Empire. What it is is this: It's not 'by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit,' God says. Which means that when it comes time for God to take down a kingdom, all the power and might and armies of that kingdom are not going to stop it.

"…which had four wings of a bird on its back. The beast also had four heads… [we'll see what those were in a little bit] …and dominion was given to it" (v 6). This tells us that no empire or world power can rise in power unless it's of God! God gives it dominion. If you study the Grecian Empire under Alexander the Great and how quickly it went; he conquered all of the civilized world in such a short period of time! It's really quite an amazing thing! What happened? Let's just get some dates on this:

Using: A Chart Showing Prophecies of Reign of Gentile Nations see how we put them together in sequence:

• Dan. 2: 'head of gold—first head of Dan. 7:4:'beast like a lion'
• In the far right-hand corner: the Chaldean Empire (625-538B.C.)
• On the left: Dan. 2: 'chest and arms of silver'—ties in with the second beast—the bear (Dan. 7:5) and the second head—Medo-Persian Empire (558-330B.C.) lasting over 300 years.

We will see the fulfillment in Dan. 8

• 'the belly and thighs of brass' ties in with the beast with the four heads, and also represents the third, fourth, fifth and sixth heads of Babylon—the Grecian Empire (333-31B.C.—a little over 200 years) under Alexander the Great, divided into four divisions.

That's why there are four heads. There are four divisions.

• The fourth beast: 'legs of iron'

Isn't it interesting that in the fourth one we have iron? This ties it together.

Verse 7—this is the seventh head of the prophesied Babylon with ten horns: "After this I looked in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, frightening and terrifying, and exceedingly strong. And it had great iron teeth; it devoured and broke in pieces, and stamped the rest with its feet. And it was different from all the beasts before it; and it had ten horns."

This means it was different, it was—not quite a combination of it—different than all of them. It used all of the tactics, but with greater force, greater power and it conquered the whole civilized world; not the Far East. The Far East has its day a little later on at the end of time.

Then he saw something very interesting, v 8: "As I was considering the horns, behold, there came up among them another horn, a little one, before whom three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots. And behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things."

This is a very unusual thing. What we actually have is eleven horns—don't we? We have ten plus a small one, and the small one exercises great power! We will see what this amounts to, because it gives the interpretation, and this is what helps us tie everything together as we have on this chart.

Verse 15: "I, Daniel, was distressed in my spirit in the midst of my body, and the visions of my head alarmed me. And I came near to one of those who stood by and asked him the truth concerning all this…. [there was an angel that was there to give him an understanding of this] …So, he told me and made me know the interpretation of the things. 'These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, that shall arise out of the earth.'" (vs 15-17).

Remember in Dan. 2, we saw the king and kingdom were used interchangeably. It wasn't just four kings alone, but what these four kings did was to establish an empire or a kingdom.

Verse 18: "But the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever" This comes right down to the end again, as we've seen in every one of these prophecies. So, this helps give the first part of understanding the book of Revelation.

That's why you cannot understand the book of Revelation without Daniel; and you cannot understand Daniel without the book of Revelation. Each of them have certain parts that gives us interpretation. Each of them have things to add one to another like a hand in a glove or like a puzzle. A puzzle would be a good description of it from this point of view. If you've ever had a thousand-piece puzzle and almost all of them look the same, it takes you a long time to get it together.

There comes a point as you're going along which then you begin to see a pattern and then you can put certain sections of it together. Well, this is what the interpretation is here. It's giving us certain key pieces to the puzzle so we can put it together a little more accurately and understand it with the book of Revelation. Obviously, Daniel didn't understand very much of it except as he was given the interpretation like it is here.

Verse 19: "Then I desired to know the truth concerning the fourth beast which was different from all the others, exceedingly dreadful, whose teeth were of iron and his nails of brass; who devoured, broke in pieces and stamped the rest with his feet." That's exactly the description in history that they attribute to the Roman Empire:

• they had iron
• they had power
• they built roads
• they had weapons
• they had ships, some of the best ships in the world at that time

Verse 20: "And of the ten horns that were on his head, and of the other horn which came up, and before whom three fell; even of that horn that had eyes, and a mouth speaking very boastful things, whose appearance was greater than his fellows." That's very interesting—isn't it? We'll see how that is fulfilled when we look at the book of Revelation.

Verse 21: "I watched, and that same horn made war with the saints and overcame them… [so this is going to happen] …until the Ancient of Days came…" (vs 21-22). Isn't that interesting? Referring to Jesus as the 'Ancient of Days': One like the Son of man you have the Ancient of Days Who actually is God the Father, which then tells us something—doesn't it?

Remember, we have thought that when we're all resurrected and on the Sea of Glass, why should we not see God the Father? Well, this tells us we're going to see Him! He's not coming directly to the earth. But Who's going to perform the wedding between Christ and the Church? Why not God the Father? After all, the Church consists of His children—doesn't it? Just as the One Who became Jesus Christ was the Son of God.

"…and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High…. [this really helps tie it in to Rev. 20 more than anything else] …and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom. Thus he said, 'The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be different from all the other kingdoms and shall devour the whole earth… [this prophecy is yet to be fulfilled] …and shall trample it and break it in pieces. And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise. And another shall arise after them. And he shall be different from the first, and he shall subdue three kings. And he shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change the set times and the laws. And they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and one-half time [3-1/2 years or 1,260 days if you take a day in fulfilling a prophecy]" (vs 22-25). We will see how that is literally true.

If you don't have the video Israel of the Alps this is a tremendous video done by the Seventh Day Adventists—which shows not only the Church being taken into the wilderness (Rev. 12), but also it shows the persecution against the Church. It shows how the 'little horn'—which could be none other than the Roman Catholic Church! It can be none other! Actually, was the one behind the Inquisition and all of the killing and everything that was done. Yes, they used the civil powers of the Roman Empire to do it, but whoever commands it to be done is the one who's responsible.

Like the very last persecution against the Waldensians—I think it is was in the late 1600s—that the Jesuit confessor of Louis XVI promised that Louis XVI would go into heaven if he would exterminate the Waldensians. It was the very last persecution in the 1600s! Mind you, that's only 300 years removed and it was a terrible thing that they went through. It was just awful, the things that they went through! Like it said here: wore out the saints!

It is literally true at the end that the few of the Waldensians that were finally released out of prison, were allowed in the winter time—barefoot, hardly clothed—to walk over the Alps and go down into Switzerland to find some refuge, which they did with the Protestants. That was something! They were literally worn out just like it says here. This also tells us that when the persecution comes again, that's exactly what's going to happen. They're going to wear out the saints.

There's another identifying factor of it here: "…and think to change the set times and laws…" (v 25). It was the Roman Empire, Constantine and the popes that changed Sabbath to Sunday; changed the Feasts of God to the occult holidays of this world; changed the laws of God—which you cannot change. This identifies that system today! Looking at it from Daniel's point of view forward. You wouldn't be able to know or understand what that would be, because here we are now 2,000 years removed, and we can look back and see that, yes, that does fulfill it.

Let's come back to the chart and we will see how this is fulfilled. Let's come to the left hand side of the chart—Dan. 2 and the image—"the legs of iron"—that's equated to the fourth beast of Dan. 7: "strong like iron and with ten horns." This ten horns gives us a succession of kingdoms coming down to the very last kingdom—which we will see is manifested in Rev. 13. So, you come across here, the explanation: "the prophetic head of prophetic Babylon with ten horns" (Dan. 7).

You have the Roman Empire that began in 31B.C. and the pagan Roman Empire was not fully converted until 476A.D. In 476A.D. the old interpretation was that the deadly wound was the fall of the Roman Empire. Well, the truth is, the Roman Empire never really fell. And besides, Rev. 13 talks about one of its heads was wounded. But here we have seven heads and ten horns.

Let's look at the horns as they come down. If you've never seen the one on the Huns—which then are the Hureli, the Huns and the Ostrogoths—Attila the Hun, quite a story. If you can watch that on the History Channel, that'll be really good if you can see that. It was Pope Gregory who went and made peace with Attila the Hun. Right after that his kingdom was taken down. It was the popes who were instrumental in bringing down the three invading empires against Rome. They came in and became part of the Roman Empire. Those who stayed became part of it, could never conquer it. Rome never really fell. It was ransacked; it was invaded; people were carried off captive by the Vandals, by the Hureli and the Ostrogoths.

Now, until Emperor Justinian, in 554A.D. the emperor ruled supreme with the church kind of by its side. What happened with Justinian was this: He was coronated by the pope, and as ruler of the Holy Roman Empire. So, the empire never really ceased to be. But the empire continued now with something unusual. The Catholic Church was the great power.

This has to be the 'little horn' that becomes the great power, which then rules the Roman Empire. All of these are revivals of the Roman Empire, and with every one of these things you have a rising of the empire and then a waning of the empire through all of theten horns. But the last seven of the horns—because the first three are removed—are run by the 'little horn'—which then has got to be the 'woman who rides the beast' (Rev. 17).

We'll see that a little bit later on when we tie it all together, each one of these resurrections of it. We'll just mention it here, but you have the imperial restoration of the empire by Justinian, because the eastern part of the empire never fell. You have the two legs: eastern and western. It never fell, so you cannot say that the Roman Empire ceased to be, because you have the eastern empire and the western empire. But when Justinian came in, he went back and submitted to the pope at Rome and the pope took great power and authority over the Roman Empire and brought it together. That's why it's called the imperial restoration by Justinian.

That lasted for a period of time, and after 200 years it was revived again under what is called the Frankish kingdom under Charlemagne, and that began in 774A.D. and Charlemagne was crowned by the pope in 800A.D. All of these things are very interesting and you can see at various times on the History Channel. They were very absorbed in doing religious works and promoting the Catholic Church and building temples and things like this for their good works that they would do.

Now then, the next revival of it was the Holy Roman Empire, which came out of Germany, and Otto the Great was crowned by the pope in 962A.D. If you can get Langer's Encyclopedia of World History, you will see that all during this time there were wars, there were battles, there were different empires that would come up. They would come down to a low point. Then another horn would rise up and reconstitute the empire. All the way through with the rising and falling of these different phases of the Roman Empire, you have the ten horns that come up.

We're getting into a more modern time: the Habsburg dynasty with Charles the Great crowned by the pope in 1520A.D. Napoleon is a little different. The Habsburg dynasty even came down to the Ostro-Hungarian Empire and remnants of that lasted into the time of WWI. The Habsburgs still have the throne, still have the family, still have descendants. If you know anything about the Da Vinci Code and what they claim about the descendants of Mary Magdalene and so forth, they say that it comes down through the Habsburg dynasty and that some of the literal genes of Jesus are in this royal linage, which is a lie!

But nevertheless, they have one of their descendants—Prince Karl Habsburg—who works directly with the United Nations and many people think that he will be instrumental in finally getting the United Nations back to Europe—which it is going to go back to Europe! You wait and see, it is going to go back! Then will come the final restoration.

Let's come back here to Napoleon. Napoleon came to the pope to be coronated by the pope, and he took the crown out of the pope's hands and put it on his own head to show that he was not going to submit to the pope. And, of course, there were a lot of battles and wars and things that went on and so forth.

Now, after that time, the Roman Catholic Church rose to its greatest height of power up to the 1870s. During that time they established the doctrine of the infallibility of the popes; they established doctrine of the assumption of Mary into heaven; and it reached its greatest power at that time. They actually had temporal kingdoms that the pope would rule as king in Italy. They were so oppressive, so hateful and so mean!

If you read the book Assassination of President Abraham Lincoln by CharlesChiniquy—the one who wrote the book Fifty Years in the Church of Rome—I wonder how he ever got through it, because he must have had huge tear glands, because he says all the time in fifty years all he did was cry and moan and weep and wonder why it was so evil. Finally, after fifty years he got out of it. But nevertheless, well documented. But, he shows how the Roman Catholic Church was behind the powers to cause the United States to fall and they were the ones who were funding money to Jefferson Davis—President of the Confederacy—and Maximillian, Emperor of France at that time, to send French troops down to Mexico and to come up after the Civil War to take over America.

They have been at this scheme for a long time and they still have never ended it. And the scheme is finally going to work in a little different way, except they're going to be disappointed from this point of view: Most Catholics in America today are like Protestants, rather than obedient Catholics like they are in other countries of the world. In many cases they could care less what the pope says or thinks. That's why, in the final analysis, a lot of them are going to be killed like the Roman Catholics who did not submit to the pope the way that the pope wanted were also killed and martyred along with the Protestants during the Inquisition. If you haven't read anything about the Jesuits, and if you haven't read anything about the power that they exercise, and all of those factors all come into play for the fulfillment of these prophecies at the end-time.

Under Garibaldi: What did he do beginning in 1870? He led civil war in Italy and he conquered all of the papal kingdoms; reduced the power of the papacy to what we now know as the Vatican, which was limited to 108 acres. The pope from that time forward until the concordant with Mussolini in 1927 or 1929 was in exile and captive in the Vatican. So, the revival did not begin with Garibaldi. The revival began with Mussolini and Hitler—because both of them made concordance with the Vatican and that allowed the Vatican to then be recognized as a nation and, again, a world power, although geographically restricted. No more papal armies, they have to use armies of nations now; no more papal states, but they rule through their diplomatic system.

Let's come back to Rev. 17 and let's talk a little bit more about the Vatican and so forth, which gives us an identification of this whole religious system of the 'great whore.' The great whore is the counterfeit of the bride of Christ, and the great whore claims that she is the bride of Christ. But the bride of Christ will not be the bride of Christ until after the resurrection! Here is what identifies it:

Revelation 17:18: "And the woman whom you saw is the great city… [no longer having any temporal lands at all—that reigns] …that has royal power over the kings of the earth." Isn't it interesting, it's not a nation, but it is a city. The religious power has to 'ride the beast,' dictate to the beast what is going to be done. Rome was built on seven hills. There are other cities that are built on seven hills: Moscow and Seattle, Washington. But none of them fulfill this. It is the 'great city.' What do they call Rome? That's where the Vatican is located. So, we have the revival of it—the sixth head and the seventh head there with Hitler.

Before we go on let's look at something else that's very interesting. We'll explain this a little bit more next time:

Verse 9: "Here is the mind that has wisdom: The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits…. [so it controlled the last seven heads] …And there are seven kings; five are fallen, and one is, and the other has not yet come; and when he has come, it is ordained that he remain a little while. And the beast that was, and is not, he is also the eighth…" (vs 9-11).

Note sermon: The Beast that Was, and Is Not, and Yet, Is where I show very conclusively that in order to fulfill this prophecy it's got to be the United Nations; because it's not an empire; yet, will be given power. It has no geographical territory and yet, it's going to rule the world.

And notice, it says: "…he is also the eighth and is from the seven, and goes into perdition" (v 11). So, all the other charts in the past have misinterpreted the eighth; and the eighth one has got to be, as we will see, Rev. 13.

We have back here in Dan. 7 the explanation as given. We can look back with historical fulfillment and we can match it up. Just like we've said in the past, when you look at a historical fulfillment you have perfect 20/20 vision, looking back! But if you're back in the days of Daniel, or in the days of John, looking forward, you can't understand these things.

Only at particular times in history are we able to see a fulfilled prophecy that took place at a specific time and we know by the fulfillment of it that God's hand was in it, and that he did it. We can see that in relationship to the nations of the world; and we can see that in relationship to Christ, the Church and the promises of God!

Scriptures from The Holy Bible in Its Original Order, A Faithful Version by Fred R. Coulter

Scriptural References:

• 1 Corinthians 13:8
• Daniel 3:1
• Daniel 5:25
• Daniel 6:24-28
• Daniel 7: 26-27, 1-8
• Revelation 12:3
• Revelation 13:1
• Revelation 17:3, 12-14
• Daniel 2:42-44
• Revelation 17:1, 15-16
• Daniel 4:1-3, 34-37
• Daniel 7:5-8, 15-25
• Revelation 17:18, 9-11

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Matthew 24
• Luke 13
• Daniel 9, 4
• Revelation 18, 7
• Daniel 8
• Isaiah 40:12
• Revelation 20

Also referenced:

• Chart: Prophecies of the Reign of Gentile Kingdoms
• Video/DVD: Israel of the Alps (produced bythe Seventh Day Adventists
• Books:
  • Langer's Encyclopedia of World History
  • Assassination of President Lincoln by Charles Chiniquy
  • DaVinci Code by Dan Brown
  • Fifty Years in the Church of Rome by Charles Chiniquy
• Sermon: The Beast That Was, and Is Not, and Yet, Is

FRC:bo
Transcribed: 1-7-10
Reformatted: 2/2014