Daniel III—Heads, Horns & Toes

Revelation Series #3
Fred R. Coulter—September 24, 2005

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Very few people have really understood prophecy down through history. We, perhaps, today have an opportunity to understand more than others. But, the most important thing is that:

• you love God
• you keep His commandments
• you stay in His grace
• you attain to the resurrection

Understanding prophecy—whether clearly or looking through a glass darkly—is something that we need to approach with great caution! So, let's take a look here in the book of Daniel and let's just see what Daniel saw of all of these things, and yet, he never understood it.

As we saw in Daniel 2, he understood—and so did Nebuchadnezzar—the beginning of this prophecy with the head of gold was Nebuchadnezzar. Then he listed the succeeding kingdoms. Then he comes down to v 42, and this is where all of the prophecies in the Bible end up. This is where most ministers and people and teachers down through history have misunderstood, because everyone wants it to happen in their lifetime. You can go back through history and see how that's happened.

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). It shifts immediately from toes to kings and brings us right to the return of Christ. This is a great span of history, a great projection of prophecy. Of course, Daniel didn't know what it was, but he knew that the dream and interpretation thereof was sure, because it came from God.

Verse 44: "And in the days of these kings, the God of heaven shall set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed. And the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. Because you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands…" (vs 44-45). Look at that phrase—"…without hands." This means that it is God's Divine work and NO human hand. In other words, it isn't going to be done by the power of men, but by the power of God.

"…and that it broke in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold, the great God has made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter. And the dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure" (v 45). But he didn't say how long.

Then I want you to see this again, which brings us to the end, Daniel 8:25: "And also through his cunning he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand…." That has direct meaning to witchcraft, the occult and all of those things.

I don't know how many of you have been shopping, but Delores was in Costco and she saw a book of wizardry. Please understand that just in America, with the last edition of the Harry Potter book, which has broken the barrier now with the evangelicals—they say there's a lot of good stuff in it—they don't resist it as they use to when it first came out. Here is this book on wizardry, on how to form a coven, cast spells, make potions and all of these things. When you understand that there have been probably close to a hundred-million Harry Potter books sold, plus the movies that were made, then you're going to realize this world is going to be absolutely given over to Satan-worship, just like Rev. 13 says. That's why this prophecy, as we're going to see, is important.

"…And he shall magnify himself in his heart, and in time of security shall destroy many. He also shall stand up against the Prince of princes… [here we come down to the return of Christ] …But he shall be broken without a human hand" (v 25). Going to be destroyed by God! Not by any human hand.

This also tells us something that's very important to realize, a great principle with God, with the Word of God: No man is going to set himself up to be an apostle or a prophet and proclaim prophecies, and God would be compelled to do what he says! It'll never happen! That's a great word of caution that people need to understand, because there's currently one man who has said, 'I am the apostle to the Church for the 21st century.' He just wrote a letter on his website and said—his name is David Pack—'all you Churches of God ought to all come to me.' Nonsense! It's not going to happen!

God is doing His will! And the bottom line is that, individually, if we don't make ourselves right with God through Jesus Christ—through repentance and mercy and forgiveness and loving God and serving the brethren, and all those things—then we're all in deep trouble! All of that supersedes prophecy or the arrogance of setting yourself up to do something. What God is going to do, HE is going to do; and HE'S going to use whom HE is going to use in the way that HE chooses to use him—not men setting themselves up for different things.

I just want to review and remind you again of a very important principle: When Jesus told us to watch, we are to watch and continuously be watching, but be cautious in how we interpret the things that we see.

Daniel 11:40 is a fundamental Scripture, we've gone over how many thousands of times. But remember this: "And at the time of the end the King of the South shall push at him. And the King of the North shall come against him like a whirlwind…" There is no King of the South on the horizon, and you cannot even come close to the time of the end until he is. As we progress a little further on the things we're discussing here, I'll give you some thoughts that I have about how these things may come about, but now is not the time to do it. We'll bring it in at the appropriate time.

Dan. 2, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12 all end with the return of Christ—all of them! This is setting the stage, with all of these prophecies, to come forward to the time when we have the book of Revelation to give us a little more of a framework on which to look at the prophecies and try and understand how they're going to be fulfilled.

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… [this is a worldwide empire with various parts] …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).

He's not going to give it to other people. This gave some understanding at the time it was given, and this has given some understanding down through history. But until you come to the book of Revelation where it says 'and blessed are those who are in the first resurrection for they shall be priests and kings of Christ and shall reign with Him a thousand years,' that ties directly in with this verse and gives us more understanding.

Half of the book of Daniel, which has 12 chapters, all end in the same place: the return of Christ and the setting up of the Kingdom of God.

The Chart of Gentile Kingdoms

The original basis for this chart was published in 1960, and when they published it, they were expecting the return of Jesus Christ in 1975. So that being the case, it's not surprising that were some errors in this. There are some proper historical interpretations because of what the Bible and history corroborates together. However, there is a complete misunderstanding of thebeast of Rev. 13 and the ending of the beast in Rev. 17.

As we will see, the proper sequence by the interpretation in Daniel and Revelation is that the last one of Rev. 17 becomes the beast of Rev. 13. We'll go from left to right from the top.

• Dan. 2—the image, the head of gold

coordinates with

• Dan. 7—the first beast—like a lion
• The explanation is: the first head is the Babylonian Empire or the Chaldean Empire (625-538B.C.)
• Dan. 2—the Medo-Persian Empire, which was the
• breast and arms of silver
• Dan. 7—the second beast like a bear
• Today, that is symbolized by the country which has the national symbol of the bear—which is who? Russia!
• Dan. 8—the ram with two horns. This equates to the
• second head of prophesied Babylon, because this is the whole Babylonian system—the Persian Empire, which is the Medo-Persian Empire (558-330 B.C.)
• Dan. 2—belly of thighs and brass equates to Dan. 7,
• the third beast: a leopard with four heads
• Dan. 8—the he-goat, equates to the Empire of
• Greece begun by Alexander the Great (333-31B.C.)

The legs of iron, equates to the fourth beast, strong like iron with ten horns

Then it lists down all the ten horns coming down in succession (Dan. 7). This is the seventh head of Dan. 7 and equates to the Roman Empire (31B.C.). To say that the Roman Empire fell in 476A.D.: part of it was conquered—the western part, but not the eastern part—because there were the two legs. Something happened there that was very profound! You find that the Vatican asserted it's power and this is when the woman begins to 'ride the beast.'

Here's the interpretation—Daniel 7:17: "These great beasts, which are four, are four kings… [which is synonymous with kingdoms as we saw in Dan. 2] …that shall arise out of the earth. But the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever" (vs 17-18). This again brings us down to the end of human history at the point that Christ and the saints take over.
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; 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. I watched, and that same horn made war with the saints and overcame them" (vs 19-21).

This has got to be the papacy of the Roman Catholic Church. They've instigated more inquisitions and fought against the true saints of God more than any other institution on earth. Plus, they have had great political power from the time of Justinian forward. They had great political power inasmuch as they were responsible for getting the armies together to get rid of three of these horns.

"…overcame them, until the Ancient of Days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High. And the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom" (vs 21-22). We have it here three times in this chapter that the saints are going to possess the kingdom. What we need to understand is this: This ends up as a worldwide kingdom, a great worldwide, Babylonian kingdom.

Verse 23: "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…" It hasn't done it yet, and it wasn't the Roman Empire that did it. It hasn't been accomplished yet, but it is going to happen with Babylon the Great at the end.

"…and shall trample it and break it in pieces. And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise…. [this gives us a sequence: we have ten that arise, one after the other] …And another shall arise after them. And he shall be different from the first, and he shall subdue three kings" (vs 23-24).

When you look into history, that little horn has to represent the papacy and the power that it had to cause the Vandals, the Hureli and Ostrogoths to remove out of the western leg of the Empire. Remember, the eastern leg of the empire never fell. One of the mistakes that has been made in trying to interpret this, Rev. 13 says, 'one of the seven heads was wounded to death.' But in order to make it work in a parallel fashion on this, they have to say that the whole beast died, when the whole beast did not die! One of the heads was wounded to death.

Now, this little horn, v 25: "And he shall speak words against the Most High…" If you want to know what some of those words are you just read in the Holy Bible in Its Original Order commentary: A Tribute to William Tyndale and the pope's say, 'Well, what can I make of myself, but I'm God.'

"…and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change the set times and the laws…." (v 25). That's how all of the occult holidays of this world have ended up being called 'Christian.' There are a lot of people out there who think they are Christian, but they are no more Christian than the followers of Nimrod back at the first empire under his hand.

"…And they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and one-half time" (v 25). I think even in understanding that today, there has to be a different understanding than we have understood, and I don't know exactly how that fits. We know at the end there's going to be a three-and–half-year period. We understand that. But how this equates in the number of times I would just have to say that I don't know.

Let's look in history and let's see how the other seven of these ten horns came, what they were, who they were. In 554A.D., the Roman Catholic Church and the papacy took over and they created the Holy Roman Empire or what is called The Imperial Restoration by Justinian, and the pope coronated him as the emperor.

When you read in the Tribute to William Tyndale the popes say that they had the 'power over all kings temporal,' If you compare the power of the papacy to the power of the emperor, it's like comparing the power of the sun and its light to the power of the moon and its light. That the papacy is so much greater and has so much power and, therefore, it can rule over all emperors, over all kingdoms, and so forth. This is when the 'woman' of Rev. 17 began to 'ride the beast.' This then is the fourth horn—Justinian.

I've got a real good book, which I've had for years: Langer's Encyclopedia of World History—and its got all the major events that have happened down through time and it's just one war and peace settlement after another war and a peace settlement over the whole earth! Just really an amazing thing! It just kind of wears you out reading it.

There were the ups and downs with the empire that Justinian brought in, and it was pretty well centered in Constantinople and he restored the power to Rome. This set up the division between the eastern church and the western church, and soon there was competition as to who was the real pope. So, finally that led to the split between what is now the Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church—the western part in Rome in 1084A.D.

What we have here is this: The next Holy Roman Empire was the Frankish kingdom, which began in 774A.D. and Charlemagne was crowned by the pope in 800A.D. Then it had its ups and downs. I've gone through the Langer's Encyclopedia of World History to see how all of these things have come and gone. These are high points. It starts out with an emperor and then it continues on and it declines, and then there's a restoration, which then becomes another horn.

The next one was—and this lasted a long time—from 800A.D. and it came down to the Holy Roman Empire with a German head: Otto the Great. He was crowned by the pope in 962A.D. After that we have the Habsburg (Hapsburg) dynasty which still has remnants today. This was the Austrian head, and Charles the Great was crowned by the pope in 1520A.D.

Eighth horn: Napoleon! He pulled a fast one on the pope. The pope was going to coronate him, so he came up to the pope and to show his independence from the pope, when the pope took the crown to put on his head, he reached up and took it and put it on his own head.

After reading about Garibaldi, he despised the Roman Catholic Church and how he took away all the temporal kingdoms of the pope in Italy and put them under a civil government. The 'woman' did not 'ride' this beast! She was actually thrown off!—which becomes significant when we come to Rev. 13. When he took away all of the temporal kingdoms of the pope, the pope was driven into exile into the Vatican. And the only agreement that Garibaldi made with the Catholic Church was that he would allow the pope to have sovereignty over the 108 acres of the Vatican. That was it! And the pope remained in exile there from that time—from 1870-1929.

I do not believe that you can count Garibaldi as the 'ninth horn.' In reading history, something greater took place in the 1870s-1918, and that was the rise of the German Empire, which began by throwing out all the Jesuits, that finally made a deal with the Vatican.

Nine horn/sixth head: Bismarck has to be the ninth horn of Dan. 7 and the sixth head of Rev. 17. That empire ended in 1918. What came next? 1929: Mussolini made a concordant called the Lateran Treaty with the Vatican. The 'woman' didn't quite get on the beast and 'ride' it, but almost! When Hitler came to power and joined forces with Mussolini—when he first came to power in 1933—the first thing he did, through Prime Minister Von Poppin was to establish a concordant agreement treaty with the Vatican. The reason this has to be, in my opinion, Bismarck for horn #9 of Dan. 7 and head #6 of Rev. 17, and Mussolini/Hitler has to be the 10th horn (1929-1945)—we're not to the ten toes, yet.

Note sermon: The Beast That Was, and is Not, and Yet, Is and how I tie that in with the coming world government of the United Nations. If we understand it correctly, the seven heads of the beast (Rev. 17) are the last seven horns (Dan. 7).

Revelation 17:3 talks about the beast; talks about the woman and she is riding a scarlet colored beast: "…I saw a woman sitting upon a scarlet beast that had seven heads and ten horns…"

Verse v 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. 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…" (vs 12-14).

These 'ten horns' have not yet come into existence. When they do it will be for a very short period of time. So, the ten horns here in Rev. 17:12 must go back to Dan. 2 and must equate with the 'ten toes' of Dan. 2. The stone that is 'cut out without hands' smashes the feet and the ten toes first! So, these 'ten horns' here have not come into existence, yet. Therefore, we can conclude that the last seven horns of Dan. 7 must be the seven heads of Rev. 17.

Let's look at something else here, v 9: "Here is the mind that has wisdom…" Notice how that ties in with Dan. 12, 'the wise shall understand.' But when will the wise understand? When it's time to understand!

"…The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits" (v 9). That equates with the last 'seven horns' of Dan. 7 on which the 'woman' sits.

Verse 10: "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." That's why it has to end with Hitler! How long did Hitler last? The Third Reich was to last a thousand years, but it was only twelve! That's a little time compared to other emperors and kingdoms.

Verse 11: "And the beast that was, and is not, he is also the eighth…" How do you account for the eighth? This has to be last one—doesn't it? Yes, it is! But what about the eighth? We have never focused on the eighth, because we have only partially understood the United Nations. That's why you need to listen to the sermon: The Beast That Was, and Is Not, and Yet, Is. This is the one that has got to be Rev. 13.

The thing that is important to understand in Rev. 17 is where the mistake has been made. The mistake has been made that the seventh head of Rev. 17 is the last one. It is of the heads, but it separates out, and adds to it, the eighth one—which is of the seven (v 11); and it separates out 'the beast that was and is not, and yet, is'—he is also the eighth! So, there is another one following the seventh one and that's where the mistake was made.

That's why you have to have the clarification that #6 is Bismarck (1871-1918), through the end of WWI, and that #7 is Mussolini/Hitler (1929-1945). But the eighth one has not come yet! With the eighth one will be the 10 horns of the 10 kings at the end; which then equate back to Dan. 2 and the 'ten toes.' The 'ten horns' of this beast of Rev. 17 have not appeared on the scene, yet. These appear all contemporaneously rather than successively down through history. That's the key to understanding.

Now, what about the eighth one? Well, sure enough, it follows in the book of Daniel and tells us a great deal about it in Dan. 8, which follows the seventh chapter! Let's go back Dan. 8 and let's look at the prophecies there. Here we have also some more information and interpretations for us. Dan. 8 actually gives us an understanding of the eighth beast of Rev. 17, and the kind of power that he has. Remember, there is a type and antitype; there is a first fulfillment, there is a second fulfillment. Let's see if we can understand a little bit about the prophecies here:

Daniel 8:1: "In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar a vision appeared to me—to me, Daniel—after that which appeared to me at the first. And I saw in the vision, and it came to pass when I looked, I was at Shushan the palace, which is in the province of Elam…. [Shushan is in Persia; Elam was part of Persia] …And in the vision I looked, and I was by the river Ulai. Then I lifted up my eyes, and looked. And behold, a ram stood before the river having two horns, and the two horns were high, but one was higher than the other, and the higher one came up last. I saw the ram pushing westward and northward and southward, and no beast could stand before him, nor any that could deliver out of his hand. But he did according to his will and became great. And as I was considering, behold, a he-goat came from the west, over the face of all the earth, and did not touch the ground. And the he-goat had a notable horn between his eyes. And he came to the ram that had two horns, which I had seen standing before the river, and ran at him in the fury of his power" (vs 1-6).

It will tell us who these are; we don't have to guess. We can look back in history and see it, but we will also see that this comes down to the time of the end and helps us understand the eighth head of Rev. 17, and hence in Rev. 13.

Verse 7: "Shattered his two horns. And there was no power in the ram to stand before him. But he threw him down to the ground and stamped upon him. And none could deliver the ram out of his hand. Then the he-goat became very great. And when he was strong, the great horn was broken. And in its place there came up the appearance of four horns toward the four winds of the heavens. And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which became very great, toward the south and toward the east and toward the glorious land. And it became great, even to the host of heaven.… [this talks about a mighty, mighty battle!] …And it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and trampled upon them" (vs 7-10).

Verse 11:"Yea, he magnified himself, even to the Prince of the host… [standing up against God] …and the daily sacrifice was taken away by him, and the place of His sanctuary was cast down." This is different than the stopping of the sacrifices as we find in Dan. 12. That is another occurrence.

Verse 12: "And the host was given to it together with the daily sacrifice because of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground. And it practiced and prospered." He wanted to know what all this was.

Verse 13: "Then I heard a certain Holy one speaking, and another Holy one said to that certain one who spoke, 'How long shall the vision last, concerning the daily sacrifice and the transgression that causes desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trampled under foot?' And he said to me, 'Unto two thousand, three hundred evenings and mornings. Then the sanctuary shall be cleansed'" (vs 13-14). This actually means 2,300 morning/evening sacrifices. So, you divide that in half and you have 1,150 days.

Verse 15: "And it came to pass when I, even I, Daniel, had seen the vision and sought to understand it, then, behold, there stood before me one having the appearance of a man. And I heard a man's voice between the banks of Ulai, which called and said, 'Gabriel, make this one understand the vision.'" (vs 15-16). So, we have its final fulfillment at the time of the end.

Verse 17: "So, he came near where I stood. And when he came, I was terrified and fell upon my face. But he said to me, 'Understand, O son of man, for the vision is for the time of the end.' Now, as he was speaking with me, I fell into a deep sleep, my face toward the ground. But he touched me and set me upright. And he said, 'Behold, I will make you know what shall happen in the latter time of the indignation, because it belongs to the appointed time of the end'" (vs 17-19). Again, at the time appointed—God is going to determine that.

Verse 20 gives us a key, historical interpretation: "The ram which you saw having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia. And the shaggy goat is the king of Greece. And the great horn between his eyes is the first king. Now, that being broken, then four stood up in its place; four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not with its power" (vs 20-22).

We know from history that the king of Greece had to be Alexander the Great, and he did come in fury! He conquered the Persian Empire in 12 years. That was all of Asia Minor, clear up into Persia and Medo, clear down into Babylon, all of the Holy Land and clear down into Egypt. In the twelfth year he was in Babylon he had a seizure and died. His four generals divided the kingdom, so that's this four.

In Daniel 7:6 you have it defined this way: "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" There it describes the four again; that gives us the interpretation of the third beast.

Daniel 8:23: "And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors have come to the full, a king, fierce of countenance and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up. And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power… [this is at the time of the end] …And he shall destroy marvelously, and shall prosper and do his own will, and destroy the mighty and the Holy people. And also through his cunning he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand. And he shall magnify himself in his heart, and in time of security shall destroy many. He also shall stand up against the Prince of princes. But he shall be broken without a human hand" (vs 23-25).

Chart for: 1,150 Days of Daniel:

Now then, how do we understand this? Let's look at the chart for the 1,150 days of Daniel's prophecy. We've done it two ways, showing every day as it were. In the first one we have it beginning in 168B.C.—so we've listed out the whole month of Tishri. You can start out with Trumpets, come down to Atonement, come down to the Feast of Tabernacles, and then on Sunday, October 2, 168B.C.—Tishri 28—begins the 1,150 days. This carries right on down to when in history it is noted that Judas Maccebeus on Kislev 25, 165B.C., after exactly 1,150 days or after 2,300 morning and evenings without sacrifices.
Let me read to you a little bit about the one who did this, the one who was the type of fulfillment to stop the sacrifices? His name was Antiochus Epiphanes—Antiochus IV—and he reigned from 175-164B.C.; he died shortly after the restoration. Before we read about him—Kislev 25, when the sacrifices were restored—here is what the Jews now know as Hanukah, restoration of the temple. The reason that he is called Epiphanes was because it means the manifest 'God.' That's why it talks about 'fighting against the host of heaven.'

When he fought and came in, because of the sins of the Jews, and desecrated the temple, it was because of all the paganism that was going on at the temple; just like it was during the days of Manasseh. When he came in and desecrated the temple, he himself walked into it and then had swine's blood offered on the altar. Then for exactly 1,150 days there were no sacrifices at the temple. On some of his coins they have him as 'Theos'—which is a name for God. When it was restored it was on Kislev 25, 165B.C.

You can look at this chart in a little bit different way. We start out by going backwards—just to double-check our math—going backward from Kislev 25 clear back to, accounting for each day, Tishri 28, 168B.C. So, he was the first fulfillment of this. As we have read, the second fulfillment is at the end. It's interesting that Antiochus Epiphanes was one of those who came from the 'four horns' or the kingdom divided into four kingdoms.

This was absorbed by the Roman Empire. When we come to the last one, we find something entirely different—don't we? But he's going to be destroyed 'without hand'—without human hand. There's only one other place in the New Testament that tells us exactly this same thing (2-Thess. 2). Antiochus Epiphanes was the type who called himself God, the manifestation of God. When we come to 2-Thess. 2 we have the New Testament fulfillment of it for us and it also gives us an understanding of Rev. 13, which then gives the understanding of the eighth one of Rev. 17.

We have covered this many times in the past, but here's the time to put it together with these prophecies, 2-Thessalonians 2:3: "Do not let anyone deceive you by any means because that day will not come unless the apostasy shall come first… [the rebellion of all the earth against God] …and the man of sin shall be revealed—the son of perdition, the one who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God… [this is the only place which gives us the interpretation of Dan. 8.; here we have the New Testament interpreting the Old] …or that is an object of worship; so that he comes into the temple of God and sits down as God, proclaiming that he himself is God" (vs 3-4). That's why Antiochus Epiphanes was only a type. He is called the manifestationof God.

So, this man comes on the scene proclaiming that he is God; this has not yet happened! In order for that to occur, there will have to be a lot events that have to take place to bring it about.

Verse 5—this is a warning for the Church: "Do you not remember that when I was still with you, I told you these things? And now you understand what is holding him back in order for him to be revealed in his own set time" (vs 5-6). Notice how many instances that we have of:

• the appointed time
• the set time
• the time determined by God

It's not going to be rushed. It's not going to be slowed down.

Verse 7 gives us another clue: "For the mystery of lawlessness is already working… [showing it's going to come in and infiltrate the Church; showing that it's going to be civil and religious] …only there is one Who is restraining at the present time until it arises out of the midst." We'll see that in Rev. 13.

Verse 8: "And then the lawless one will be revealed (whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth, and will destroy with the brightness of His coming)… [the interpretation of Dan. 8:24-25] …even the one whose coming is according to the inner working of Satan… [this helps tie it into Rev. 13] …with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in those who are perishing because they did not receive the love of the Truth, so that they might be saved. And for this cause…" (vs 8-11). God does something according to the behavior of people.

Now, when we come to the day of the Feast of Trumpets we will see that God is going to make all nations on the whole earth submit to this final eighth beast of Rev. 17, which then is the beast of Rev. 13. We'll see why it has to be. Dan. 8 and 2-Thess. 2 gives us the interpretation and ties it together, and there's one other place that also ties it together. God is going to give them a powerful deception that they will believe the lie! What is the lie? This man is God!

Let's see in Rev. 13 that it shows the same revealing characteristic. Then I'll give you a few points that I think will help us understand how it's going to come about.

Revelation 13:6: "And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God… [that ties right in Dan. 8, 2-Thess. 2] …to blaspheme His name, and His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. And he was given power to make war against the saints, and to overcome them; and he was given authority over every tribe and language and nation. And all who dwell on the earth will worship him…" (vs 6-8). This is a worldwide event yet to come; a great and a fantastic thing that's going to happen. This is the eighth one of Rev. 17.

Let's see how this is going to happen; how this is an amalgamation of all the prophecies put together, yet different. Or, as it says in the book Daniel: diverse!

Verse 1: "And I stood on the sand of the sea; and I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy." The apparent power shifts from the heads to the horns. Interesting!—isn't it?

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." So, the crowns shift from the heads to the horns, and this ties in with Rev. 17 with the ten kings that we see 'have power one hour' with the beast.

I'll just jump ahead a little bit and say this: watch the United Nations. It's not ready yet to assume world power, but what nations are really the head nations of the UN today? Five permanent members on the security council: United States, Russia, Great Britain, France and China. What if they expand to seven? It is known, and has been known for a long time, what I have on The Beast That Was and Is Not, and Yet Is: the United Nations has the world divided down into ten regions.

As we read the amalgamation of this and the coming of the United Nations, let's put together a couple of things here. What one power is holding the world together today? The United States! You have to understand Israel in prophecy; when the United States becomes a lesser power, which we can see is getting mighty close to happening, but not yet. In order to fulfill the prophecies against Israel, Israel has to go down, which includes the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

What's going to happen when, especially, the United States and Great Britain and Australia go down? There is a great power vacuum in the world—isn't there? What is the world going to do? They are going to all come together and say, 'Oh, what are we going to do? We have got to control the world now, because there is no super-power left. Let's all get together and submit to the United Nations. Let's reform it. Let's move it over here. Get it out of New York. We don't want anything to do with America anymore. We don't want anything to do with Britain anymore. Let's set it up over here in Europe.'

Remember, the United Nations owns all the property that the League of Nations owned, because it was deeded to the United Nations in 1945. Where are many of the bureaucracies of the United Nations located even today? In Geneva, Switzerland!

I can see when the United States, Britain and Australia go down, the rest of the world is going to say, 'We need a world government and we're ready for it.' That's what's going to happen. They'll replace America and Britain on the Security Council with two other nations. They'll probably end up with seven nations as the heads of the Security Council. They will have the world divided into ten regions, which will be the ten horns (Rev.13), which will be the horns (Rev. 17) and the ten toes (Dan. 2).

We'll see in v 2 that this is the final Babylonian kingdom—Babylon the Great—at the end-time, which is a an amalgamation of all of the remnants of the great empires of the past, showing all their power, all amalgamated. This describes a United Nations very well—doesn't it?

Revelation 13:2: "And the beast that I saw was like a leopard [Dan. 7] and his feet like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion…" Isn't it interesting that the one that had the lion's head is given the heart of a man? It's going to look really, really good! And something's going to happen.

"…and the dragon gave him his power, and his throne and great authority. And I saw one of his heads as ifit were slain to death, but his deadly wound was healed; and the whole earth was amazed and followed the beast" (vs 2-3).

On the chart of Revelation: the Last Seven Years—Revelation 1, 2 & 3—I explain how I think he's going to receive this wound but survive, and that's when he goes in and cuts off the sacrifices at the temple that's going to be built in Jerusalem. The Jews are going to come after him with a suicide gang to get him.

"…his deadly wound was healed; and the whole earth was amazed and followed the beast. And they worshiped the dragon, who gave his authority to the beast. And they worshiped the beast, saying, 'Who is like the beast? Who has the power to make war against him?'" (vs 3-4).

Some people think that the United States is the beast, but it's not. They're beginning to see that, yes, we can make war against the United States. Here there's going to be an amalgamation of power that no one is going to be able to resist. It will hold together for a while.
I've often wondered: How is this really going to become an armed camp at the end? It will have to come about because of the fall of the United States, Britain and Australia! Those are the three powers of the world that are holding it together with some form of stability today. That's it! When they go down the world will want to have a world government and to fill the vacuum left by the United States—and you can probably throw in Canada there with the United States, too. When they go down the world is going to suddenly come together. 'The man of sin, the son of perdition' is going to be the beast of Dan. 8 and 2-Thess. 2 and is going to come on the scene.

Now then, let's understand something: How much flextime does God have with the man who's going to be the beast? How old is he going to be? We don't know! He could be anywhere from, say, 20 to 60—so there's a 40-year period giving God the flexibility for whatever He decides is the appointed time. Then he's only going to reign 3-1/2 years with peace, 3-1/2 years with war.

Verse 5: "And a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies was given to him; and authority was given to him to continue for forty-two months." {Note other sermons that cover the mark of the beast} It's interesting that when we come to Rev. 13, we find something important. The religious power pictured by 'the woman' in Rev. 17 is not 'riding the beast,' but is standing alongside of him, working with him. Very interesting change—isn't it?

Verse 11: "And I saw another beast rising out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, but spoke like a dragon; and he exercises all the authority of the first beast before him… [meaning they're simultaneous] …and he causes the earth and those who dwell therein to worship the first beast… [who is called 'God'] …whose deadly wound was healed. And he performs great wonders, so that he even causes fire to come down to the earth from heaven in the sight of men" (vs 11-13). Then we find the enforcement of the mark of the beast.

This is how we can put the Scriptures together and come to some understanding. The reason that I went ahead and projected forward how this might come about—we understand that we don't know exactly how it's going to come—but looking at the events in the world today we can see how it might come about.

Next time we'll go back and finish the book of Daniel and then we'll be ready for Revelation.

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

Scriptural References:

• Daniel 2:42-45
• Daniel 8:25
• Daniel 11:40
• Daniel 7:26-27, 17-25
• Revelation 17:3, 12-14, 9-11
• Daniel 8:1-22
• Daniel 7:6
• Daniel 8:23-25
• 2 Thessalonians 2:3-11
• Revelation 13:6-8, 1
• Revelation 12:3
• Revelation 13:2-5, 11-13

Scriptures referenced, not quoted: Daniel 12

Also referenced:

• Charts:
  • Reign of the Gentiles
  • 1150 Days of Daniel
  • Revelation: Last Seven Years
• Book: Langer's Encyclopedia of World History
• Sermon: The Beast That Was, and Is Not, Yet, Is
• Commentary: Tribute to William Tyndale (from The Holy Bible In Its Original Order, A Faithful Version)

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