Bible Prophecy Today

 

 

5 

Brothers and Sisters we serve a Living Saviour, Jesus is alive !  The Jewish leaders and the Roman Government crucified Him, but death could not hold in the grave the Author of Life.  

The followers of Buddha will tell you that Budda died about 480 years before Christ.

 

The followers of Mohammed will tell you that he died in 632 AD, 600 years after Christ.

 

 But, Praise God the followers of Jesus will tell you He died on the Day of Passover in AD 31, at the “9^th hour” , and rose from the dead on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, just before the break of day, and that He ascended to Heaven and sits on the right hand of His Father forever !  Jesus is alive !   A wonderful old hymn expresses it so well, it reads:

 

“I serve a risen Saviour, He’s in the world today,

 I know that He is living, whatever men may say,

 I see His hand of mercy, I hear His voice of cheer,   and just the time I need Him, He’s always near.

 

He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today,

He walks with me and talks with me along life’s narrow way,

He lives, He lives, salvation to impart,

You ask me how I know He lives,

He lives within my heart !

 

Daniel chapter seven is another wonderful Prophecy that   reveals in more detail   that which we learned in Daniel chapter two .

 

Why are we seeking a better understanding of Bible Prophecy ?  We are obeying the instruction of The Holy Spirit who testified in:

 

2 Peter 1:19    “We have also a more sure Word of Prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the Day Star arise in your hearts: 

 2 Peter 1:20   Knowing this first, that no Prophecy of the Scripture is of any private      

 2 Peter 1:21   For The Prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by The Holy Ghost .

 

Do we want to know how near we are to the coming of Christ ?  Study Bible Prophecy !  Do we want to know the events that have happened, are happening and will transpire in the very last days before Christ returns ?  Study Bible Prophecy.  Do we want to know all the tricks of the devil and his agents to deceive us and destroy us ?  Then study Bible Prophecy !

 

Daniel 7: 1 – 28

“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. 

 7:2   Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea. 

 7:3   And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another.

 

What does it mean when it says the ; four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea. What is represented by the ; four winds  ?  Jeremiah 49: 36 – 37.

 

“And upon Elam will I bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven, and will scatter them toward all those winds; and there shall be no nation whither the outcasts of Elam shall not come. 

 49:37    For I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies, and before them that seek their life: and I will bring evil upon them, even my fierce anger, saith the Lord; and I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them:” 

 

So we see The Bible gives us the answer.  We do not need to guess or speculate what the four winds mean. They are a symbol of war .

 

Where does it say the four winds were blowing ?  It says they were blowing,   “upon the great sea”  What does the “the great sea”   represent ?  Open your Bible to Revelation 17:15

 

“And he saith unto me, “The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.”

 

The Great Sea represents the nations of earth who are constantly at war with each other.  First one conquers then another, as  the devil stirs them up  to slaughter each other !

 

Then; Daniel 7:3 says: “And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another.” 

Who is represented by the four great beasts ?  Again The Bible gives us the answer:

 

Daniel 7: 4 “The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man's heart was given to it.”

 

Remember Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in Daniel 2 ? What nation was represented by the head of gold ? Daniel told the king, “Thou art this head of gold”. From the nation of Babylon, until now there have only been one succession of nations following each other.  Just as the head of gold represented Babylon in Daniel 2; so the first beast in Daniel 7 that looked like a lion represents Babylon.  That means that we are looking at exactly the same period in history, which is from the kingdom of Babylon to  the Second Coming of Jesus Christ !

 

Notice that at the beginning of it’s power the lion is shown having eagle wings but then ,” the wings were plucked and a man’s heart was given to it.” Babylon was as swift and powerful as an eagle as it first conquered the nations, but like the kingdoms that followed, idleness and moral decay came upon them and under the corrupt reign of Belshazzar, Babylon was defeated by the Medea Persian

Empire.

 

Verse 5:

“And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh.” Just as Medea Persia was the “chest and arms of silver”  in the image of Daniel 2, she is represented as a bear in the seventh chapter of Daniel, verse five. 

The Bible describes in Daniel chapter five, in vivid detail, the events of the night that Babylon was conquered by the

 

Medes and Persians. 

We are going to look at that chapter also in the study of Bible Prophecy.

 

Daniel then sees a third beast coming out of the Great Stormy Sea which we have learned represents the nations at war with each other ! This beast looks like a leopard, look at verse 6.

 

“After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it.”

 

What nation is represented by this beast ?

Remember what history reveals and what God showed Daniel in the kings dream of the huge image made of several different metals ?  We learned that the kingdom of the Medes and Persians was conquered by Alexander The Great who ruled the kingdom of Greece ! 

 

Why do you think God chose a leopard to represent Greece ?

 

“Leopards can run over thirty eight miles per hour. They are very agile. They can leap over twenty feet and jump over nine feet vertically.”

 

God chose the leopard because it represents the speed and power with which Alexander attacked and conquered the Medes and Persians. The Persians had an army of over 200, 000 while Alexander only had 35,000, but numbers do not win battles when God has determined that a nation’s cup of iniquity is full and another is to take the position of power in the course of history ! Persia was defeated by Greece in 331 B.C.

 

Why did the leopard have four heads ?

 

Alexander The Great was only 22 years old when he became ruler of Greece.  After conquering Persia and only 33 years old, Alexander died of a drunken stupor.  He was a mighty general of armies but he could not control his perverted appetite !  Sadly there are many in the world today who are doing the same.

 

When Alexander died, the four leading generals of his army fought each other and divided the kingdom into four parts.  And out of one of those divisions comes the next kingdom to rule the earth. So we see how  Bible Prophecy is very particular about detail.

 

Daniel 7:7

 

“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: it devoured and brake 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.” 

 

 Well, this next beast is vicious !  It isn’t satisfied with just killing the people it stamped upon them and crushed them to make sure they were really dead !

 

What nation is represented by this beast that is so cruel and powerful ? 

 

Rising up on the banks of the Tiber River was the city of Rome.  Founded on the banks of the Tiber River in Italy in 753 B.C. it became a powerful nation and by 168 B.C. had conquered all the territory which was ruled by Greece.  Pagan Rome ruled until 476 AD.  The Empire was invaded 10 German tribes and divided into the nations that make up the countries of modern Europe.

 

What was it about Rome, that made it so different from Babylon, Meda Persia and Greece that God could not use another well known beast of prey to represent it in this prophecy ? Why did God have to invent a beast that was so cruel and vicious that does not exist in all His creation ?

On the website:

 

http://wap.bible.org/article/revival-rome

One Bible historian, by the name of “Leupold” wrote when considering this fourth beast with iron teeth:

 “That must surely signify a singularly voracious, cruel, and even vindictive world power. Rome could never get enough of conquest. Rivals like Carthage just had to be broken: Carthago delenda est. Rome had no interest in raising the conquered nations to any high level of development. All her designs were imperial; let the nations be crushed and stamped underfoot.”6

Leupold, Herbert Carl (1892-1972)

The kings of Babylon and Meda Persia would actually seek out among their captives, young men whom they thought would be able to occupy important positions in the government after a period of training.  That is how Daniel and his three Friends became one of the “wise men” of Babylon,   and Nehemiah became the king’s “cup bearer” in Persia. And the people that were not of this class were allowed to live in relative peace.

 

Greece had many slaves of the nations they conquered but in most cases the slaves were treated quite well as long as they were peaceful and performed the work assigned to them.

 

Even the Romans allowed the people to go about their occupations when conquered as we see in the Gospels during the time of Christ and the apostles, but they put down any rebellion with great severity.  However; many of the Roman rulers were very cruel and dissolute men.  And in the city of Rome , thousands of Christians and prisoners from other countries were put to death in the Roman Coliseum just to entertain the ruling class. The most horrible suffering and death was inflicted upon these poor souls. The cruelty of this fourth beast was so great that God had to invent a beast to fit her terrible ferocity for no real animal of prey was as cruel as Rome. The Prophecy says:

 

“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: it devoured and brake 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.”

 

Notice: that just as the “ten toes” of  the image of Daniel 2 shows that the fourth kingdom would eventually disintegrate and be divided into ten kingdoms so the “ten horns” on this beast tells us the same thing.  Rome was invaded by “ten tribes” from the north” and divided into ten kingdoms. These nations still exist today in the traditional states of Europe.  However; as the Prophecy continues, “three of the ten” were “plucked up by the roots” and are no more.      

 

Daniel 7: 8

 

“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 man, and a mouth speaking great things.”

When Pagan Rome began to weaken and was invaded by the ten tribes from the north, the Prophecy says another “little horn” came up among the “ten horns”, whose look was “more stout” than the other horns, and that this “little horn” as it arose to  power, “plucked up” three of the “first horns”, “by the roots” and ruled the other 7 horns or nations that remained.

 

Who was this “little horn” , whose look was “fatter than the others’’ ? History is very clear on this, who was this “king” that “plucked up” three of the first horns.”

 

Let us here the answer from the “little horn” itself in:

 

American Catholic Quarterly Review, April 1911.

1.   “Long ages ago, when Rome through the neglect of the Western Emperors was left to the mercy of the barbarous hordes, the Romans turned to one figure for aid and protection, and asked him to rule them; and thus,... commenced the temporal sovereignty of the popes. And meekly stepping to the throne of caesar, the vicar of Christ took up the scepter to which the emperors and kings of Europe were to bow in reverence through so many ages.”

American Catholic Quarterly Review, April 1911.

The Catholic Church tells us clearly that she is represented by the “little horn”  of Daniel Chapter Seven.

 

Now let us continue reading Daniel 7: 15 – 28.  We will return at another time to discuss verses 9 – 14 when we look at what the Bible reveals about the Judgment.

 

Verse 15 – 28.

 

“I Daniel was grieved in my spirit in the midst of my body, and the visions of my head troubled me.”

 

Why do you think Daniel was troubled by this vision ?

 

Daniel saw that the cruel nature of the fourth beast continued to be nature of this “little horn” power, and that the “little horn” would persecute God’s people !

 

Verse 16.

 

“I came near unto one of them that stood by, and asked him the truth of all this. So he told me, and made me know the interpretation of the things.” 

 

Who was this person who was “standing by” that showed Daniel the meaning of all these things” ?  The Bible tells us who this person was in verses 21 and 22 of Daniel chapter 9, notice:

“Yea, whiles I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation. 

 9:22 And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding.

 

The Chief of all the Angels was sent to explain to Daniel the meaning of  his vision.  When the devil rebelled and was cast out of heaven, Gabriel became the “covering cherub” who stands in the very presence of God.  Once again we see that Scripture  is “not of any private interpretation but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost”.

 

2 Peter 2: 21

Then Gabriel said in verse 17 to 22.

 

“These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth.

 

Easy to understand, is it not ?

The four beasts represent four kings or kingdoms. All of these kingdoms had more than one king during their time in history.

 

 7:18 But the saints of the Most High shall take The Kingdom, and possess The Kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever.

 

Right now we are still in the midst of the battle but, soon very soon the war will be  over !

 

 7:19 Then I would know The Truth of the fourth beast, which was diverse from all the others, exceeding dreadful, whose teeth were of iron, and his nails of brass; which devoured, brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with his feet;

 

In Daniel 7: 7, we are told this fourth beast had great iron teeth, but there is something new in this verse, what is it ?

Yes, his nails , or claws, were of brass !

What nation is represented by this fourth beast ? Pagan Rome. Vicious and blood thirsty showing very little mercy to its enemies !

 

 7:20 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. 

 7:21 I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them;  

 7:22 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. This “little horn” admits they are the power mentioned in this verse.  Who is the “Little Horn”.  The Catholic Church.

 

When did they “make war” with God’s People ?

The Dark Ages it is called by Protestant believers today.  From 538 – 1798, The Papacy persecuted, tortured and killed over one million people who refused to bow down to the popes !

Flee to the wilderness.

 

This Prophecy is so important that the angel Gabriel repeats it in verses 23 – 27 and adds a few more details.. Gabriel says:

 

 “Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces. 

 7:24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings. 

 7:25 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.  

 7:26 But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end. 

 7:27 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 dominions shall serve and obey Him.”

 

   

 

2.   “Long ages ago, when Rome through the neglect of the Western Emperors was left to the mercy of the barbarous hordes, the Romans turned to one figure for aid and protection, and asked him to rule them; and thus,... commenced the temporal sovereignty of the popes. And meekly stepping to the throne of Caesar, the vicar of Christ took up the scepter to which the emperors and kings of Europe were to bow in reverence through so many ages.”

American Catholic Quarterly Review, April 1911.