[Illustration.]
Handwriting On The Wall. "In that night was Belshazzar ... slain, and
Darius the Median took the kingdom." Dan. 5:30, 31.
Prophecy, Why Given
[Illustration.]
Daniel In Babylon. "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but He revealeth
His secret unto His servants the prophets." Amos 3:7.
1. Why were the Sacred Writings given?
“For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written _for our
learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might
have hope_.” Rom. 15:4.
2. By what means is all scripture given?
“All scripture is given _by inspiration of God_.” 2 Tim 3:16, first part.
3. For what is it profitable?
“And is profitable for _doctrine_, for _reproof_, for _correction_, for
_instruction in righteousness_.” Same verse, last part.
4. How was the prophecy given?
“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_.” 2 Peter 1:21.
5. What is the Lord able to do regarding the future?
“Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare:
_before they spring forth I tell you of them_.” Isa. 42:9.
6. How far-reaching is God’s ability to reveal the future?
“Remember the former things of old: for I am God, ... and there is none
like Me, _declaring the end from the beginning_, and from ancient times
the things that are not yet done.” Isa. 46:9, 10.
NOTES.—In contrast with this, note the following confession of a
noted modern historian as to man’s inability to reveal the
future:—
“History has yet made so slight progress toward the scientific
basis that she is able to foretell nothing that is to be
hereafter. As to the future, she is stone-blind. There is not a
philosopher in the world who can forecast the historical evolution
to the extent of a single day. The historian is as completely dumb
before the problems of 1895 as a charlatan weather-prophet ought
to be with respect to the meteorological conditions of the next
season. The year will come and go. It will fulfil its purpose in
the great calendar of man-life. Its events and issues will be
evolved with scientific exactitude out of antecedent conditions.
But no man living can predict what the aspect and event will be.
The tallest son of the morning can neither foretell nor foresee
the nature of what is to come in the year that already stands
knocking at the door.”—_John Clark Ridpath, in Christian at Work,
Dec. 27, 1894._
Knowing all things, the future is present with God. More, perhaps,
than any other one thing, the prophecies of the Bible and their
fulfilment bear witness to its divine inspiration.
7. To whom does God reveal the secrets of the future?
“Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but He revealeth His secret unto His
servants _the prophets_.” Amos 3:7.
8. To whom do the things which have been revealed belong?
“The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which
are revealed belong _unto us and to our children forever_.” Deut. 29:29.
9. What testimony did the apostle Peter bear concerning his experience on
the mount of transfiguration?
“_For we have not followed cunningly devised fables_, when we made known
unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, _but were
eye-witnesses of His majesty_.” 2 Peter 1:16.
10. When did he say he saw the majesty of Christ, and heard the voice from
heaven?
“And this voice which came from heaven we heard, _when we were with Him in
the holy mount_.” Verse 18.
11. How does he emphasize the reliability of prophecy?
“And we have the word of prophecy _made more sure_.” Verse 19, R. V. “Now
_more confirmed_.” Boothroyd’s translation.
NOTE.—Every fulfilment of prophecy is a confirmation of the
truthfulness and reliability of prophecy.
12. What admonition is therefore given?
“Whereunto ye do well that ye _take heed_, as unto a lamp shining in a
dark place, until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in your hearts.”
Verse 19, last part, R. V.
13. What has ever been the theme of God’s prophets?
“Receiving the end of your faith, even _the salvation of your souls_. Of
which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who
prophesied of the grace that should come unto you.” 1 Peter 1:9, 10.
14. Whose spirit inspired their utterances?
“Searching what, or what manner of time _the Spirit of Christ which was in
them_ did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ,
and the glory that should follow.” Verse 11.
15. In what prophecy did Christ recognize Daniel as a prophet?
“When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by
_Daniel the prophet_, stand in the holy place, (_whoso readeth, let him
understand_).” Matt. 24:15.
16. To what time were the prophecies of Daniel, as a whole, to be sealed?
“But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to _the
time of the end_: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be
increased.” Dan. 12:4.
17. What assurance was given by the angel that these prophecies would be
understood in the last days?
“And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed
till the time of the end. Many shall be purified, and made white, and
tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall
understand; _but the wise shall understand_.” Verses 9, 10.
18. What is the last book of the Bible called?
“_The Revelation of Jesus Christ_, which God gave unto Him.” Rev. 1:1.
19. What is said of those who read, hear, and keep the things contained in
this book?
“_Blessed_ is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this
prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein.” Verse 3.
Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream
[Illustration.]
Daniel Interpreting The Dream. "There is a God in heaven that revealeth
secrets." Dan. 2:28.
1. What statement did Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, make to his wise
men whom he had assembled?
“And the king said unto them, _I have dreamed a dream, and my spirit was
troubled to know the dream_.” Dan. 2:3.
2. After being threatened with death if they did not make known the dream
and the interpretation, what did the wise men say to the king?
“The Chaldeans answered before the king, and said, _There is not a man
upon the earth that can show the king’s matter_: therefore there is no
king, lord, nor ruler, that asked such things at any magician, or
astrologer, or Chaldean. And it is a rare thing that the king requireth,
and _there is none other that can show it before the king, except the
gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh_.” Verses 10, 11.
3. After the wise men had thus confessed their inability to do what the
king required, who offered to interpret the dream?
“Then _Daniel_ went in, and desired of the king that he would give him
time, and that he would show the king the interpretation.” Verse 16.
4. After Daniel and his fellows had sought God earnestly, how were the
dream and its interpretation revealed to Daniel?
“Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel _in a night-vision_. Then Daniel
blessed the God of heaven.” Verse 19.
5. When brought before the king, what did Daniel say?
“Daniel answered in the presence of the king, and said, The secret which
the king hath demanded cannot the wise men, the astrologers, the
magicians, the soothsayers, show unto the king; but _there is a God in
heaven that revealeth secrets_, and maketh known to the king
Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Thy dream, and the
visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these.” Verses 27, 28.
6. What did Daniel say the king had seen in his dream?
“Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these; ... Thou,
O king, sawest, and behold _a great image_. This great image, whose
brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was
terrible.” Verses 28-31.
7. Of what were the different parts of the image composed?
“This image’s head was of fine _gold_, his breast and his arms of
_silver_, his belly and his thighs of _brass_, his legs of _iron_, his
feet _part of iron and part of clay_.” Verses 32, 33.
8. By what means was the image broken to pieces?
“Thou sawest till that _a stone_ was cut out without hands, which smote
the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to
pieces.” Verse 34.
9. What became of the various parts of the image?
“Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken
to pieces together, and _became like the chaff of the summer
threshing-floors; and the wind carried them away_, that no place was found
for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and
filled the whole earth.” Verse 35.
10. With what words did Daniel begin the interpretation of the dream?
“Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee
a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. And wheresoever the children of
men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath He
given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. _Thou art
this head of gold._” Verses 37, 38.
NOTE.—The character of the Babylonian Empire is fittingly
indicated by the nature of the material composing that portion of
the image by which it was symbolized—the head of gold. It was “the
golden kingdom of a golden age.” The city of Babylon, its
metropolis, according to history towered to a height never equaled
by any of its later rivals. “Situated in the garden of the East;
laid put in a perfect square sixty miles in circumference, fifteen
miles on each side, surrounded by a wall three hundred and fifty
feet high and eighty-seven feet thick, with a moat, or ditch,
around this, of equal cubic capacity with the wall itself; divided
into six hundred and seventy-six squares, laid out in luxuriant
pleasure-grounds and gardens, interspersed with magnificent
dwellings,—this city, containing in itself many things which were
themselves wonders of the world, was itself another and still
mightier wonder.... Such was Babylon, with Nebuchadnezzar,
youthful, bold, vigorous, and accomplished, seated upon its
throne.”
11. What was to be the nature of the next kingdom after Babylon?
“After thee shall arise another kingdom _inferior to thee_.” Verse 39,
first part.
12. Who was the last Babylonian king?
“In that night was _Belshazzar_ the king of the Chaldeans slain. And
Darius the Median took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years
old.” Dan. 5:30, 31. See also verses 1, 2.
13. To whom was Belshazzar’s kingdom given?
“Thy kingdom is divided, and given to _the Medes and Persians_.” Verse 28.
14. By what is the Medo-Persian Empire represented in the great image?
“The breast and arms of silver.” Dan. 2:32.
15. By what is Grecia, the kingdom succeeding Medo-Persia, represented in
the image?
“His belly and his thighs of _brass_.” Verse 32. “And another _third
kingdom of brass_, which shall bear rule over all the earth.” Verse 39.
16. What is said of the fourth kingdom?
“And the fourth kingdom _shall be strong as iron_: forasmuch as iron
breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all
these, _shall it break in pieces and bruise_.” Verse 40.
17. What scripture shows that the Roman emperors ruled the world?
“And it came to pass in those days, that _there went out a __ decree from
Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed_.” Luke 2:1.
NOTE.—Describing the Roman conquests, Gibbon uses the very imagery
employed in the vision of Daniel 2. He says: “The arms of the
republic, sometimes vanquished in battle, always victorious in
war, advanced with rapid steps to the Euphrates, the Danube, the
Rhine, and the ocean; and the images of _gold_, or _silver_, or
_brass_, that might serve to represent the nations and their
kings, were successively broken by the _iron_ monarchy of
Rome.”—_“__Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,__”__ chap. 38,
par. I, under __“__General Observations,__”__ at the close of the
chapter._
18. What was indicated by the mixture of clay and iron in the feet and
toes of the image?
“And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters’ clay, and
part of iron, _the kingdom shall be divided_.” Dan. 2:41.
19. In what prophetic language was the varying strength of the ten
kingdoms of the divided empire indicated?
“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_ [margin, _brittle_].”
Verse 42.
20. Were any efforts to be made to reunite the divided empire of Rome?
“And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, _they shall mingle
themselves with the seed of men_: but they shall not cleave one to
another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.” Verse 43.
NOTES.—Charlemagne, Charles V, Louis XIV, and Napoleon all tried
to reunite the broken fragments of the Roman Empire, but failed.
By marriage and intermarriage ties have been formed with a view to
strengthening and cementing together the shattered kingdom; but
none have succeeded. The element of disunion remains. Many
political revolutions and territorial changes have occurred in
Europe since the fall of the Roman Empire in 476 A.D.; but its
divided state still remains.
This remarkable dream, as interpreted by Daniel, presents in the
briefest form, and yet with unmistakable clearness, the course of
world empires from the time of Nebuchadnezzar to the close of
earthly history and the setting up of the everlasting kingdom of
God. The history confirms the prophecy. The sovereignty of the
world was held by Babylon from the time of this dream, B.C. 603,
until B.C. 538, when it passed to the Medes and Persians. The
victory of the Grecian forces at the battle of Arbela, in B.C.
331, marked the downfall of the Medo-Persian Empire, and the
Greeks then became the undisputed rulers of the world. The battle
of Pydna, in Macedonia, in B.C. 168, was the last organized effort
to withstand a world-wide conquest by the Romans, and at that time
therefore the sovereignty passed from the Greeks to the Romans,
and the fourth kingdom was fully established. The division of Rome
into ten kingdoms is definitely foretold in the vision recorded in
the seventh chapter of Daniel, and occurred between the years 351
A.D. and 476 A.D.
21. What is to take place in the days of these kingdoms?
“And in the days of these kings shall _the God of heaven set up a kingdom,
which shall never be destroyed_: ... but it shall break in pieces and
consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.” Verse 44.
NOTE.—This verse foretells the establishment of another universal
kingdom, the kingdom of God. This kingdom is to overthrow and
supplant all existing earthly kingdoms, and is to stand forever.
The time for the setting up of this kingdom was to be “in the days
of these kings.” This cannot refer to the four preceding empires,
or kingdoms; for they were not contemporaneous, but successive;
neither can it refer to an establishment of the kingdom at
Christ’s first advent, for the ten kingdoms which arose out of the
ruins of the Roman Empire were not yet in existence. It must
therefore be yet future.
22. In what announcement in the New Testament is the establishment of the
kingdom of God made known?
“And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven,
saying, _The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord,
and of His Christ_; and He shall reign forever and ever.” Rev. 11:15.
23. For what have we been taught to pray?
“_Thy kingdom come._ Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” Matt.
6:10.
24. What event is closely associated with the establishment of God’s
everlasting kingdom?
“I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall
judge the quick and the dead at _His appearing_ and His kingdom.” 2 Tim.
4:1.
25. With what prayer do the Scriptures close?
“He that testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. _Even
so, come, Lord Jesus._” Rev. 22:20.
‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
Look for the way-marks as you journey on,
Look for the way-marks, passing one by one:
Down through the ages, past the kingdoms four,—
Where are we standing? Look the way-marks o’er.
First, Babylonia’s kingdom ruled the world,
Then Medo-Persia’s banners were unfurled;
And after Greece held universal sway,
Rome seized the scepter,—where are we today?
Down in the feet of iron and of clay,
Weak and divided, soon to pass away;
What will the next great, glorious drama be?—
Christ and His coming, and eternity.
F. E. BELDEN.
The Gospel Of The Kingdom
[Illustration.]
Jerusalem And The Mount Of Olives. "In the days of these kings shall the
God of heaven set up a kingdom." Dan. 2:44.
1. What gospel did Jesus preach?
“And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and
preaching _the gospel of the kingdom_.” Matt. 4:23.
2. How extensively did He say this should be preached?
“And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached _in all the world_ for a
witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” Matt. 24:14.
3. What shows that it has always been God’s purpose that all the world
should hear the gospel?
“Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from
thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will show
thee: and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and
make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: and _in thee shall all
families of the earth be blessed_.” Gen. 12:1-3. “And the Scripture,
_foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith_, preached
before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be
blessed.” Gal. 3:8.
4. How did God warn Israel against formalism?
“Forasmuch as this people draw near Me with their _mouth_, and with their
_lips_ do honor Me, but have removed their heart far from Me, and their
fear toward Me is taught by the precept of men: therefore, behold, I will
proceed to do a marvelous work among this people: ... for the wisdom of
their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men
shall be hid.” Isa. 29:13, 14.
5. What shows that they had substituted the ritual service of the temple
for heart service?
“Thus saith the Lord, ... Amend your ways and your doings, and I will
cause you to dwell in this place. _Trust ye not in lying words, saying,
The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord,
are these._” Jer. 7:3, 4.
6. What national disaster did they bring upon themselves by their apostasy
from God?
“So all Israel were reckoned by genealogies; and, behold, they were
written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah, _who were carried
away to Babylon for their transgression_.” 1 Chron. 9:1.
NOTE.—From the earliest times it has been God’s purpose that those
who receive the gospel should make it known to others. For this
purpose He chose a special people and established them in
Palestine, in the highway of the nations; but they shut up the
revelation of the truth to themselves, and so lost it. A few, like
Daniel and his companions, maintained a personal connection with
God, although surrounded by spiritual declension and dry
formalism, and so were chosen by God to carry out His plan that
the gospel of the kingdom should be preached in Babylon. They were
tested and trained in Babylon, as shown in the first chapter of
Daniel, and then, being ready to make known the gospel, the way
providentially opened for them by the dream of Nebuchadnezzar.
7. In interpreting Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, what kingdom did Daniel say
would follow the four world empires?
“And in the days of these kings shall _the God of heaven set up a
kingdom_, which shall never be destroyed.” Dan. 2:44.
8. What was this kingdom to do to the other kingdoms?
“The kingdom shall not be left to other people, but _it shall break in
pieces and consume all these kingdoms_.” Same verse.
9. How long is this kingdom to continue?
“And it shall _stand forever_.” Same verse, last clause.
10. What words of Christ imply the gospel’s final triumph?
“And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will
build My church; and _the gates of hell shall not prevail against it_.”
Matt. 16:18.
NOTE.—Anciently the gates to cities were places for holding
courts, transacting business, and deliberating on public matters.
The word gates, therefore, is used for counsels, designs,
machinations, and evil purposes. The gates of hell mean the
plottings, stratagems, and designs of Satan to overthrow the
church. But none of these are to prevail.
11. What promises to David will thus be fulfilled?
“Thine house and thy kingdom shall be established forever: ... thy throne
shall be established forever.” 2 Sam. 7:16.
NOTE.—By uniting His divinity with humanity in becoming the Son of
David, Christ laid the foundation upon which He built His church,
and thus established the house of David forever. The kingdom of
God, the house of David, and the church of Christ are so
inseparably connected in this prophecy that the establishment of
either involves the establishment of the other two.
12. Through whom are these promises to be fulfilled?
“He shall be great, and shall be called _the Son of the Highest_: and the
Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David: and He shall
reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of His kingdom there shall be
no end.” Luke 1:32, 33.
13. In order to fulfil these promises, whose son did the Son of God
become?
“The son of _David_.” Matt. 22:42.
14. What is this union of divinity and humanity called?
“And without controversy great is _the mystery of godliness_: God was
manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached
unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.” 1
Tim. 3:16.
15. What did Jesus call this same mystery?
“And He said unto them, Unto you it is given to know _the mystery of the
kingdom of God_: but unto them that are without, all these things are done
in parables.” Mark 4:11.
16. In what confession did the wise men of Babylon deny any knowledge of
this essential doctrine of Christianity?
“And it is a rare thing that the king requireth, and there is none other
that can show it before the king, except _the gods, whose dwelling is not
with flesh_.” Dan. 2:11.
NOTE.—The union of the divine and human in the person of Christ is
“the mystery of godliness,” or “the mystery of the kingdom of
God.” In the case of the seed which is sown in the field, this
same principle is illustrated by the union of the reproducing
power with the material form. As the seed is thus capable of
multiplying itself, so Christ reproduces His own character in
believers, by making them partakers of the divine nature. At His
coming He bestows upon the subjects of the kingdom the gift of
immortality (1 Cor. 15:51-53), and so the kingdom will stand
forever. It is quite likely that the wise men of Babylon did not
understand about the incarnation of God in the flesh in the coming
Messiah, but in their statement that the dwelling of the gods was
not with flesh they announced the fundamental error of Babylon,
both ancient and modern, and really denied the vital principle of
Christianity. This was the essential secret, or mystery, of the
kingdom of God, which needed to be known in Babylon, and which is
still to be proclaimed throughout the world.
17. Concerning what did Daniel and his companions pray?
“Then Daniel went to his house, and made the thing known to Hananiah,
Mishael, and Azariah, his companions: that they would desire mercies of
the God of heaven _concerning this secret_.” Verses 17, 18.
18. What would have been the result of failure on their part to obtain a
knowledge of this mystery?
“That Daniel and his fellows should not _perish with the rest of the wise
men of Babylon_.” Verse 18, last part.
19. How was the secret concerning the king’s dream revealed, and thus the
mystery of the kingdom of God made known in Babylon?
“Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel _in a night-vision_. Then Daniel
blessed the God of heaven.” Verse 19.
NOTE.—The most vital truth of the gospel of the kingdom of God was
denied in the religion of Babylon. This made it necessary that
this very truth should be preached in Babylon. This mystery of the
kingdom of God was the real and essential secret which the wise
men of Babylon could not make known to the king, and which could
be learned only by revelation. This is the mystery which “from the
beginning of the world hath been hid in God” (Eph. 3:9); and the
“riches of the glory of this mystery” is “Christ in you, the hope
of glory” (Col. 1:27), or “the mystery of the gospel” (Eph. 6:19).
20. How did Nebuchadnezzar acknowledge God as the revealer, and thus
Daniel’s intimate fellowship with Him?
“The king answered unto Daniel, and said, Of a truth it is, that _your God
is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, seeing
thou couldest reveal this secret_.” Verse 47.
21. When the gospel of the kingdom has been fully preached, and Christ
appears as King, what invitation will be extended to those who have
learned “the mystery of the kingdom”?
“When the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with
Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory: and before Him shall
be gathered all nations.... Then shall the King say unto them on His right
hand, _Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you
from the foundation of the world_.” Matt. 25:31-34.
‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
Thy kingdom come. Thus day by day
We lift our hands to God, and pray;
But who has ever duly weighed
The meaning of the words He said?
Four Great Monarchies
[Illustration.]
Isaiah’s Vision Of The Ruins Of Babylon. "And the dream is certain, and
the interpretation thereof sure." Dan. 2:45.
1. At what time was Daniel’s second vision given?
“_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.” Dan. 7:1.
NOTE.—That is, in the first year of Belshazzar’s office as
associate king with his father Nabonadius, or 540 B.C.
2. What effect did this dream have upon Daniel?
“I Daniel was _grieved in my spirit_ in the midst of my body, and the
visions of my head _troubled me_.” Verse 15.
NOTE.—The effect of Daniel’s dream upon him, it will be noticed,
was similar to the effect of Nebuchadnezzar’s dreams upon him; it
troubled him. See Dan. 2:1.
3. What did Daniel ask of one of the heavenly attendants who stood by him
in his dream?
“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.” Verse 16.
4. What did the prophet see in this vision?
“Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, _the
four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea_.” Verse 2.
5. What was the result of this strife?
“And _four great beasts came up from the sea_, diverse one from another.”
Verse 3.
[Illustration.]
The Four Beasts Of Daniel 7. "These great beasts, which are four, are four
kings, which shall arise out of the earth." Dan. 7:17.
6. What did these four beasts represent?
“These great beasts, which are four, are _four kings, which shall arise
out of the earth_.” Verse 17.
NOTE.—The word kings here, as in Dan. 2:44, denotes kingdoms, as
explained in verses 23 and 24 of the seventh chapter, the two
words being used interchangeably in this prophecy.
7. In symbolic language, what is represented by winds?
Strife, war, commotion. See Jer. 25:31-33; 49:36, 37.
NOTE.—That winds denote strife and war is evident from the vision
itself. As a result of the striving of the winds, kingdoms rise
and fall.
8. What, in prophecy, is symbolized by waters?
“And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest ... are _peoples_, and
_multitudes_, and _nations_, and _tongues_.” Rev. 17:15.
NOTE.—In the second chapter of Daniel, under the figure of an
image of man, the mere political outline of the rise and fall of
earthly kingdoms is given, preceding the setting up of God’s
everlasting kingdom. In the seventh chapter, earthly governments,
are represented as viewed in the light of Heaven,—under the
symbols of wild and ferocious beasts,—the last, in particular,
oppressing and persecuting the saints of the Most High. Hence the
change in the symbols used to represent these kingdoms.
9. What was the first beast like?
“_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.” Dan.
7:4.
NOTE.—The lion, the first of these four great beasts, like the
golden head of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, represents the Babylonian
monarchy; the lion, the king of beasts, standing at the head of
his kind, as gold does of metals. The eagle’s wings doubtless
denote the rapidity with which Babylon extended its conquests
under Nebuchadnezzar, who reigned from B.C. 604 to B.C. 561. This
kingdom was overthrown by the Medes and Persians in B.C. 538.
10. By what was the second kingdom symbolized?
“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.” Verse
5.
NOTE.—“This was the _Medo-Persian_ Empire, represented here under
the symbol of a _bear_.... The Medes and Persians are compared to
a bear on account of their _cruelty and thirst after blood_, a
bear being a most voracious and cruel animal.”—_Adam Clarke, on
Dan. 7:5._
11. By what was the third universal empire symbolized?
“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.” Verse 6.
NOTES.—If the wings of an eagle on the back of a lion denoted
rapidity of movement in the Babylonian, or Assyrian, Empire (see
Hab. 1:6-8), four wings on the leopard must denote unparalleled
celerity of movement in the Grecian Empire. This we find to be
historically true.
“The rapidity of Alexander’s conquests in Asia was marvelous: he
burst like a torrent on the expiring Persian Empire, and all
opposition was useless. The gigantic armies collected to oppose
him melted like snow in the sunshine. The battles of Granicus,
B.C. 334, Issus in the following year, and Arbela in B.C. 331,
settled the fate of the Persian Empire, and established the wide
dominion of the Greeks.”—_“__The Divine Program of the World’s
History,__”__ by H. Grattan Guinness, page 308._
“The beast had also four heads.” The Grecian Empire maintained its
unity but a short time after the death of Alexander, which
occurred in B.C. 323. Within twenty-two years after the close of
his brilliant career, or by B.C. 301, the empire was divided among
his four leading generals. Cassander took Macedonia and Greece in
the west; Lysimachus had Thrace and the parts of Asia on the
Hellespont and Bosporus in the north; Ptolemy received Egypt,
Lydia, Arabia, Palestine, and Cœle-Syria in the south; and
Seleucus had all the rest of Alexander’s dominions in the east.
12. How was the fourth kingdom represented?
“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_.” Verse 7.
13. What was the fourth beast declared to be?
“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.” Verse 23.
NOTES.—“This is allowed on all hands to be the Roman Empire. It
was _dreadful_, _terrible_, and _exceeding strong_; ... and
became, in effect, what the Roman writers delight to call it, the
_empire of the whole world_.”—_Adam Clarke, on Dan. 7:7._
The final overthrow of the Greeks, by the Romans, was at the
battle of Pydna, in 168 B.C.
14. What was denoted by the ten horns?
“And the ten horns out of this kingdom are _ten kings that shall arise_.”
Verse 24.
NOTES.—The Roman Empire was broken up into ten kingdoms between
the years 351 A.D. and 476 A.D.
“The historian Machiavelli, without the slightest reference to
this prophecy, gives the following list of the nations which
occupied the territory of the Western Empire at the time of the
fall of Romulus Augustulus (476 A.D.), the last emperor of Rome:
The Lombards, the Franks, the Burgundians, the Ostrogoths, the
Visigoths, the Vandals, the Heruh, the Suevi, the Huns, and the
Saxons: ten in all.
“Amidst unceasing and almost countless fluctuations, the kingdoms
of modern Europe have from their birth to the present day
_averaged_ ten in number. They have never since the breaking up of
old Rome been united into one single empire; they have never
formed _one whole_ even like the United States. No scheme of proud
ambition seeking to reunite the broken fragments has ever
succeeded; when such have arisen, they have been invariably dashed
to pieces.
“And the division is as apparent now as ever. Plainly and palpably
inscribed on the map of Europe this day, it confronts the skeptic
with its silent but conclusive testimony to the fulfilment of this
great prophecy. Who can alter or add to this tenfold list of the
kingdoms now occupying the sphere of old Rome? _Italy, Austria,
Switzerland, France, Germany, England, Holland, Belgium, Spain,
and Portugal_—ten, and no more; ten, and no less.”—_“__The Divine
Program of the World’s History,__”__ by H. Grattan Guinness, pages
318-321._
15. What change did Daniel see take place in these horns?
“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.” Verse 8.
16. What inquiry on the part of Daniel shows that the fourth beast, and
especially the little horn phase of it, constitutes the leading feature of
this vision?
“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; _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.” Verses 19, 20.
17. When was the little horn to arise?
“And another shall rise _after them_.” Verse 24.
NOTE.—The ten horns, as already shown, arose when Rome, the fourth
kingdom, was divided into ten kingdoms. This division was
completed in A.D. 476. The little-horn power was to arise after
them.
18. What was to be the character of the little horn?
“And he shall be _diverse_ from the first, and he shall _subdue three
kings_.” Same verse, last part.
NOTES.—That power which arose in the Roman Empire after the fall
of Rome in A.D. 476, which was entirely different from all the ten
kingdoms into which Rome was divided (for it demanded and
exercised spiritual power over the other kingdoms), and before
whom three of the other kings—the Heruli, the Vandals, and the
Ostrogoths—fell, was the Papacy.
Having located the place and the time of the kingdom of the little
horn, the study of its character and work will be considered in
the readings which follow.
The Kingdom And Work Of Antichrist
[Illustration.]
The Papal Tiara. "He shall speak great words against the Most High." Dan.
7:25.
1. What is said of the little horn as compared with the ten horns of the
fourth beast of Daniel 7?
“He shall be _diverse_ from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.”
Dan. 7:24.
NOTE.—The Papacy, which arose on the ruins of the Roman Empire,
differed from all previous forms of Roman power, in that it was an
ecclesiastical despotism claiming universal dominion over both
spiritual and temporal affairs, especially the former. It was a
union of church and state, with the church dominant.
2. What attitude of rivalry was the Papacy, represented by the little
horn, to assume toward the Most High?
“And he shall _speak great words against the Most High_.” Verse 25, first
clause.
3. How does Paul, speaking of the man of sin, describe this same power?
“Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that
is worshiped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing
himself that he is God.” 2 Thess. 2:4.
NOTES.—The following extracts from authoritative works, most of
them by Roman Catholic writers, will indicate to what extent the
Papacy has done this:—
“All the names which are attributed to Christ in Scripture,
implying His supremacy over the church, are also attributed to the
Pope.”—_Bellarmine, __“__On the Authority of Councils__”__ book 2,
chap. 17._
“For thou art the shepherd, thou art the physician, thou art the
director, thou art the husbandman; finally thou art another God on
earth.”—_From Oration of Christopher Marcellus in fourth session
of Fifth Lateran Council, Labbe and Cossart’s __“__History of the
Councils,__”__ published in 1672, Vol. XIV, col. 109._
“For not man, but God, not by human but rather by divine
authority, releases those whom, on account of the need of the
churches or what is regarded as a benefit, the Roman pontiff (who
is vicegerent on earth, not of mere man, but of the true God)
separates [from their churches].”—_“__The Decretals of Gregory
IX,__”__ book 1, title 7, chap. 3._
“The Pope is the supreme judge of the law of the land. He is the
vicegerent of Christ, who is not only a priest forever, but also
King of kings and Lord of lords.”—_From the Civilta Cattolica,
March 18, 1871, quoted in __“__Vatican Council,__”__ by Leonard
Woolsey Bacon, American Tract Society edition, page 220._
“Christ entrusted His office to the chief pontiff; ... but all
power in heaven and in earth has been given to Christ; ...
therefore the chief pontiff, who is His vicar, will have this
power.”—_Gloss on the __“__Extravagantes Communes,__”__ book 1,
__“__On Authority and Obedience,__”__ chap. 1, on words Porro
Subesse Romano Pontiff. Canon law, published in 1556, Vol. III,
__“__Extravagantes Communes,__”__ col. 29._
“Hence the Pope is crowned with a triple crown, as king of heaven,
and earth, and purgatory (_Infernorum_).”—_“__Prompta
Bibliotheca,__”__ Ferraris, Vol. VI, page 26, article
__“__Papa__”__ (the Pope)._
“The decision of the Pope and the decision of God constitute one
decision, just as the opinion of the Pope and his disciple are the
same. Since, therefore, an appeal is always taken from an inferior
judge to a superior, as no one is greater than himself, so no
appeal holds when made from the Pope to God, because there is one
consistory of the Pope himself and of God Himself, of which
consistory the Pope himself is the key-bearer and the doorkeeper.
Therefore no one can appeal from the Pope to God, as no one can
enter into the consistory of God without the mediation of the
Pope, who is the key-bearer and the doorkeeper of the consistory
of eternal life; and as no one can appeal to himself, so no one
can appeal from the Pope to God, because there is one decision and
one curia [court] of God and of the Pope.”—_Writings of Augustinus
de Ancona, printed without title-page or pagination, Ques. VI,
__“__On an Appeal From the Decision of the Pope.__”_
“All the faithful of Christ must believe that the Holy Apostolic
See and the Roman pontiff possesses the primacy over the whole
world, and that the Roman pontiff is the successor of the blessed
Peter, prince of the apostles, and is true vicar of Christ, and
the head of the whole church, and father and teacher of all
Christians, and that full power was given him in blessed Peter to
rule, feed, and govern the universal church by Jesus Christ our
Lord.”—_“__Petri Privilegium,__”__ in section on __“__The Vatican
Council and Its Definitions,__”__ by Henry Edward Manning,
archbishop of Westminster (Roman Catholic), London, Longmans,
Green & Co., 1871, page 214._
“We teach and define that it is a dogma divinely revealed; that
the Roman pontiff, when he speaks _ex cathedra_, that is, when in
the discharge of the office of Pastor and Doctor of all
Christians, by virtue of his supreme apostolic authority he
defines a doctrine regarding faith or morals to be held by the
universal church, by the divine assistance promised to him in
blessed Peter, is possessed of that infallibility with which the
divine Redeemer willed that His church should be endowed for
defining doctrine regarding faith or morals; and that therefore
such definitions of the Roman pontiff are irreformable of
themselves, and not from the consent of the church.”—_Id., page
218._
“Should Jesus Christ come in person from heaven into a church to
administer the sacrament of reconciliation, and should He say to a
penitent, ‘I absolve thee,’ and should a priest sitting at His
side in the tribunal of penance pronounce over a penitent the
selfsame words, ‘I absolve thee,’ there is no question that in the
latter case, as in the former, the penitent would be equally
loosed from his sin.”—_“__Jesus Living in the Priest,__”__ by the
Rev. P. Millet, S. J., English translation by the Rt. Rev. Thomas
Sebastian Byrne, D. D., bishop of Nashville; New York, Benziger
Brothers, printers to the Holy Apostolic See, 1901, pages 23, 24.
Imprimatur, Michael Augustine, archbishop of New York._
Among the twenty-seven propositions known as the “Dictates of
Hildebrand,” who, under the name of Gregory VII, was Pope from
1073-87, occur the following:—
“2. That the Roman pontiff alone is justly styled universal.
“6. That no person ... may live under the same roof with one
excommunicated by the Pope.
“9. That all princes should kiss his feet only.
“12. That it is lawful for him to depose emperors.
“18. That his sentence is not to be reviewed by any one; while he
alone can review the decisions of all others.
“19. That he can be judged by no one.
“22. That the Romish Church never erred, nor will it, according to
the Scriptures, ever err.
“26. That no one is to be accounted a Catholic who does not
harmonize with the Romish Church.
“27. That he can absolve subjects from their allegiance to
unrighteous rulers.”—_Annals of Baronius, 1076, Vol. XI, col. 506.
See Gieseler’s __“__Ecclesiastical History,__”__ third period,
div. 3, par. 47, note 3; and Mosheim’s __“__Ecclesiastical
History,__”__ book 3, cen. 11, part 2, chap. 2, par. 9, note._
“They have assumed infallibility, which belongs only to God. They
profess to forgive sins, which belongs only to God. They profess
to open and shut heaven, which belongs only to God. They profess
to be higher than all the kings of the earth, which belongs only
to God. And they go beyond God in pretending to loose whole
nations from their oath of allegiance to their kings, when such
kings do not please them. And they go _against_ God, when they
give _indulgences for sin_. This is the _worst_ of all
blasphemies.”—_Adam Clarke, on Dan. 7:25._
4. How was the little horn to treat God’s people?
“And shall _wear out the saints_ of the Most High.” Dan. 7:25.
NOTES.—“Under these bloody maxims [previously mentioned], those
persecutions were carried on, from the eleventh and twelfth
centuries almost to the present day, which stand out on the page
of history. After the signal of open martyrdom had been given in
the canons of Orleans, there followed the extirpation of the
Albigenses under the form of a crusade, the establishment of the
Inquisition, the cruel attempts to extinguish the Waldenses, the
martyrdoms of the Lollards, the cruel wars to exterminate the
Bohemians, the burning of Huss and Jerome, and multitudes of other
confessors, before the Reformation; and afterwards, the ferocious
cruelties practised in the Netherlands, the martyrdoms of Queen
Mary’s reign, the extinction by fire and sword of the Reformation
in Spain and Italy, by fraud and open persecution in Poland, the
massacre of Bartholomew, the persecution of the Huguenots by the
League, the extirpation of the Vaudois, and all the cruelties and
prejudices connected with the revocation of the Edict of Nantes.
These are the more open and conspicuous facts which explain the
prophecy, besides the slow and secret murders of the holy tribunal
of the Inquisition.”—_“__The First Two Visions of Daniel,__”__
Rev. T. R. Birks, M. A., London, 1845, pages 248, 249._
A detailed summary of the number of the victims of the Inquisition
in Spain, under each Inquisitor-General, is given in “The History
of the Inquisition in Spain,” by Llorente, formerly secretary of
the Inquisition, pages 206-208. According to this authority the
number who were condemned and perished in the flames is 31,912.
“The church has persecuted. Only a tyro in church history will
deny that.... One hundred and fifty years after Constantine the
Donatists were persecuted, and sometimes put to death....
Protestants were persecuted in France and Spain with the full
approval of the church authorities. We have always defended the
persecution of the Huguenots, and the Spanish Inquisition.
Wherever and whenever there is honest Catholicity, there will be a
clear distinction drawn between truth and error, and Catholicity
and all forms of error. When she thinks it good to use physical
force, she will use it.”—_The Western Watchman (Roman Catholic),
of St. Louis, Dec. 24, 1908._
5. What else does the prophecy say the little horn would do?
“And he shall _think to change the times and the law_.” Dan. 7:25, third
clause, R. V.
NOTES.—“The little horn, further, shall think to change times. The
description applies, in all its force, to the systematic
perversion of God’s words by which all promises of millennial
glory are wrested from their true sense, and referred to the
dominion and grandeur of the Church of Rome. The orator of the
Pope, for instance, in the Lateran Council, declares that in the
submission of all nations to Leo the prophecy was fulfilled: ‘All
kings shall fall down and worship Him; all nations shall serve and
obey Him.’ The same antichristian feature appears in those
advocates of the Papacy who would clear it from the guilt of
actual idolatry, because ‘it is part of that church from which the
idols are utterly abolished.’ Thus are the times changed; but only
in the vain ‘thoughts’ of dreamers who see false visions and
divine lying divinations; because the visible glory of Christ’s
kingdom remains still to be revealed.”—_“__The First Two Visions
of Daniel,__”__ Rev. T. R. Birks, M. A., London, 1845, pages 257,
258._
Although the ten commandments, the law of God, are found in the
Roman Catholic versions of the Scriptures, as they were originally
given, yet the faithful are instructed from the catechisms of the
church, and not directly from the Bible. As it appears in these,
the law of God has been changed and virtually reenacted by the
Papacy. Furthermore, communicants not only receive the law from
the church, but they deal with the church concerning any alleged
infractions of that law, and when they have satisfied the
ecclesiastical authorities, the whole matter is settled.
The second commandment, which forbids the making of, and bowing
down to, images, is omitted in Catholic catechisms, and the tenth,
which forbids coveting, is divided into two.
As evidence of the change which has been made in the law of God by
the papal power, and that it acknowledges the change and claims
the authority to make it, note the following from Roman Catholic
publications:—
“_Question._—Have you any other way of proving that the church has
power to institute festivals of precept?
“_Answer._—Had she not such power, she could not have done that in
which all modern religionists agree with her,—she could not have
substituted the observance of Sunday, the first day of the week,
for the observance of Saturday, the seventh day, a change for
which there is no Scriptural authority.”—_“__A Doctrinal
Catechism,__”__ Rev. Stephen Keenan, page 174. Imprimatur, John
Cardinal McCloskey, archbishop of New York._
“_Ques._—How prove you that the church hath power to command
feasts and holy days?
“_Ans._—By the very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday, which
Protestants allow of; and therefore they fondly contradict
themselves, by keeping Sunday strictly, and breaking most other
feasts commanded by the same church.
“_Ques._—How prove you that?
“_Ans._—Because by keeping Sunday they acknowledge the church’s
power to ordain feasts, and to command them under sin: and by not
keeping the rest by her commanded, they deny again, in fact, the
same power.”—_“__An Abridgment of the Christian Doctrine,__”__
composed in 1649, by Rev. Henry Tuberville, D. D., of the English
College of Douay; New York, John Doyle, 1883, page 58._
“Is not every Christian obliged to sanctify Sunday, to abstain on
that day from unnecessary servile work? Is not the observance of
this law among the most prominent of our sacred duties? But you
may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not
find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The
Scriptures enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day
which we never sanctify.”—_“__The Faith of Our Fathers,__”__ by
James Cardinal Gibbons, Baltimore, John Murphy & Co., 1893, page
111._
All Roman Catholic writers agree in this teaching. See page 441.
6. Until what time were the saints, times, and laws of the Most High to be
given into the hands of the little horn?
“And they shall be given into his hand _until a time and times and the
dividing of time_.” Dan. 7:25, last clause.
7. In what other prophecies is this same period mentioned?
“And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might
fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for _a
time, and times, and half a time_, from the face of the serpent.” Rev.
12:14. “And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and
blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue [margin, to make
war] _forty and two months_.” Rev. 13:5. See also Rev. 11:2. “And the
woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God,
that they should feed her there _a thousand two hundred and threescore
days_.” Rev. 12:6.
8. In symbolic prophecy what length of time is represented by a day?
“After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty
days, _each day for a year_, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty
years.” Num. 14:34. See Eze. 4:6.
NOTES.—A time in prophecy being the same as a year (see Dan.
11:13, margin, and R. V.), three and one-half times would be three
and a half years, or forty-two months, or twelve hundred and sixty
days, since the calendar year of 360 days, or twelve months of
thirty days each, is used in prophetic chronology. As each day
represents a year, the period, the end of which was to mark the
limit of the time of the supremacy of the little horn, the Papacy,
over the saints, times, and the law, would therefore be twelve
hundred and sixty years.
The decree of the emperor Justinian, issued in A.D. 533,
recognized the Pope as “head of all the holy churches.”
(Justinian’s Code, book 1, title 1. Baronius’s Annals, A.D. 533.)
The overwhelming defeat of the Ostrogoths in the siege of Rome,
five years later, A.D. 538, was a death-blow to the independence
of the Arian power then ruling Italy, and was therefore a notable
date in the development of papal supremacy. With the period
533-538, then, commences the twelve hundred and sixty years of
this prophecy, which would extend to the period 1793-1798. The
year 1793 was the year of the Reign of Terror in the French
Revolution, and the year when the Roman Catholic religion was set
aside in France and the worship of reason was established in its
stead. As a direct result of the revolt against papal authority in
the French Revolution, the French army, under Berthier, entered
Rome, and the Pope was taken prisoner Feb. 10, 1798, dying in
exile at Valence, France, the following year. This period,
1793-1798, during which this death-stroke was inflicted upon the
Papacy, fittingly and clearly marks the close of the long
prophetic period mentioned in this prophecy. Any standard history
of the time may be consulted in substantiation of the facts here
stated.
9. What will finally be done with the dominion exercised by the little
horn?
“But the judgment shall sit, and they shall _take away his dominion, to
consume and to destroy it unto the end_.” Dan. 7:26.
10. To whom will the dominion finally be given?
“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.” Verse 27.
NOTE.—Here, as in the second chapter of Daniel, the announcement
of the setting up of the everlasting kingdom of God in the earth
includes a brief outline of the history of this world; and the
prophecies of Daniel concerning the powers that would oppose the
purpose of God, furnish additional features of this outline. The
exact fulfilment of this outline in the history of the world since
the time of Nebuchadnezzar constitutes an unimpeachable testimony
to the inspiration of these prophecies, and furnishes a ground of
confidence that the unfulfilled portion of the prophecies will be
wrought out in the future with absolute certainty and in every
detail.
The Vicar Of Christ
[Illustration.]
St. Peter’s And The Vatican. "He as God sitteth in the temple of God." 2
Thess. 2:4.
1. What appeared unto Daniel in 538 B.C., the same year in which Babylon
fell?
“In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar a _vision_ appeared
unto me, even unto me Daniel, after that which appeared unto me at the
first.” Dan. 8:1.
2. Where was Daniel at this time?
“And I saw in a vision; and it came to pass, when I saw, that I was _at
Shushan_ in the palace, which is in the province of Elam; and I saw in a
vision, and I was by the river of Ulai.” Verse 2.
3. What first attracted the prophet’s attention?
“Then I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and, behold, there stood before the
river _a ram_ which had two horns: and the two horns were high; but one
was higher than the other, and the higher came up last.” Verse 3.
4. What power was represented by the ram having two horns?
“The ram which thou sawest having two horns are _the kings of Media and
Persia_.” Verse 20.
5. How are the rise and work of this power described?
“I saw the ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward; so that no
beasts might stand before him, neither was there any that could deliver
out of his hand; but he did according to his will, and _became great_.”
Verse 4.
6. What symbol was next introduced in the vision?
“And as I was considering, behold, _an he goat_ came from the west on the
face of the whole earth, and touched not the ground: and the goat had a
notable horn between his eyes.” Verse 5.
7. What did the goat with the notable horn represent?
“And the rough goat is _the king of Grecia_: and the great horn that is
between his eyes is _the first king_.” Verse 21.
8. How was the conquest of Medo-Persia by Grecia foretold in this symbolic
prophecy?
“And I saw him come close unto the ram, and he was moved with choler
against him, and _smote the ram, and brake his two horns_: and there was
no power in the ram to stand before him, but he cast him down to the
ground, and stamped upon him: and there was none that could deliver the
ram out of his hand.” Verse 7.
9. When the he goat “was strong,” what occurred?
“Therefore the he goat waxed very great: and when he was strong, _the
great horn was broken_; and for it came up four notable ones toward the
four winds of heaven.” Verse 8.
10. Who was represented by “the great horn,” and what followed when it was
broken?
“And the rough goat is the king [kingdom] of Grecia: and the great horn
that is between his eyes is _the first king_. Now that being broken,
whereas four stood up for it, _four kingdoms shall stand up out of the
nation_, but not in his power.” Verses 21, 22.
NOTES.—From the interpretation given, it is plain that the notable
“horn” upon the he goat represented Alexander the Great, who led
the Grecian forces in their conquest of Medo-Persia. Upon the
death of Alexander at Babylon, B.C. 323, there followed a brief
period of confusion in the struggle for the kingdom, but the
succession was definitely determined by the battle of Ipsus, B.C.
301. Alexander’s four leading generals—Cassander, Lysimachus,
Ptolemy, and Seleucus—became his successors.
“The vast empire created by Alexander’s unparalleled conquests was
distracted by the wranglings and wars of his successors, and
before the close of the fourth century before Christ, had become
broken up into many fragments. Besides minor states, four
well-defined and important monarchies rose out of the ruins....
Their rulers were Lysimachus, Cassander, Seleucus Nicator, and
Ptolemy, who had each assumed the title of king. The great horn
was broken; and instead of it came up four notable ones toward the
four winds of heaven.”—_Myers’s __“__History of Greece,__”__ page
457, edition 1902._
11. What came out of one of the four horns of the goat?
“And out of one of them came forth a _little horn_, which waxed _exceeding
great_, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant
land.” Verse 9.
12. What interpretation is given to this little horn?
“And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come
to the full, _a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark
sentences, shall stand up_.” Verse 23.
13. What did this little horn do to the people of God?
“And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and _it cast down some of
the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them_.” Verse
10.
14. In what literal language is this persecution of the people of God
further described?
“And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall
destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy
the mighty and the holy people.” Verse 24.
15. How was this little horn to exalt itself against Christ and His
mediatorial work?
“Yea, it magnified itself, even to the Prince of the host, and _it took
away from Him the continual burnt offering_, and the place of His
sanctuary was cast down.” Verse 11, R. V.
16. In the interpretation of the vision, how is this self-exaltation set
forth?
“And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand;
and _he shall magnify himself in his heart_, and by peace shall destroy
many: _he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes_; but he shall
be broken without hand.” Verse 25.
17. What similar language is used by the apostle Paul in describing the
“mystery of iniquity,” or “man of sin”?
“That day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that
man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; _who opposeth and exalteth
himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped; so that he as
God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God_.” 2
Thess. 2:3, 4.
NOTE.—The last two scriptures evidently describe one and the same
power,—a power which, while religious and professedly Christian,
is anti-christian in spirit, and the very “man of sin” himself.
Possessed with the selfish ambition of Lucifer (Isa. 14:12-14;
Eze. 28:17), he assumes to occupy the very seat and place of Deity
in the temple of God. Professing to be Christ’s vicar, or personal
representative on earth, he magnifies himself against Christ, and
“stands up,” or reigns, in the place of, and “against,” the Prince
of princes.
18. What was given into the hands of the power represented by the little
horn?
“And _the host_ was given over to it together with _the continual burnt
offering_ through transgression.” Dan. 8:12, first clause, R. V.
19. What did this power do to the truth?
“And _it cast down truth to the ground_, and it did its pleasure and
prospered.” Same verse, last clause, R. V.
NOTES.—The interpretation already given to this vision shows
plainly that the power represented by the little horn is the
successor of Medo-Persia and Grecia. In the vision of the seventh
chapter of Daniel, which is closely related to this vision, the
fourth beast represented the fourth kingdom, or Rome, in its
entirety, special attention, however, being given to the “little
horn” phase of its history. As shown by the work attributed to it,
this little horn, which arose among the ten kingdoms into which
Rome was divided, was to be a religio-political power, which was
to change the times and law of God, and persecute the people of
God. In the vision of the eighth chapter the ecclesiastical
features of this fourth world power are especially noticed and
emphasized, and hence the only symbol there used to represent it
is the “little horn” which waxed “exceeding great.”
The religion of all the four great monarchies mentioned in these
prophecies was paganism; but the paganism of ancient Babylon was
reproduced in pagan Rome, and then adapted and adopted by papal
Rome. The little horn of the eighth chapter represents Rome, both
pagan and papal, in its ecclesiastical aspect, with its union of
paganism, and later of apostate Christianity, with the secular
power; with its antichristian persecutions of the saints of God;
with its perversion of the priesthood of Christ; and with its
assertion of both temporal and spiritual power over all the world.
It is evident that pagan Rome is introduced into this prophecy
chiefly as a means of locating the place and work of papal Rome,
and the ecclesiastical features of pagan Rome as typical of the
same features accentuated in papal Rome, and that the emphasis is
to be placed upon the fulfilment of the prophecy in the work of
papal Rome. A careful comparison of Dan. 7:21, 25, with Dan.
8:10-12, R. V., and 2 Thess. 2:3, 4, will amply justify this
conclusion.
“The Romans could not forget—never did forget—that they had once
been masters and rulers of the world. Even after they had become
wholly unfit to rule themselves, let alone the ruling of others,
they still retained the temper and used the language of
masters.... In the absence of an emperor in the West the popes
rapidly gained influence and power, and soon built up an
ecclesiastical empire that in some respects took the place of the
old empire and carried on its civilizing work.”—_Myers’s
__“__Rome; Its Rise and Fall,__”__ Boston, 1900, pages 398, 399,
442, 443._
The host and the stars of Dan. 8:10 are the same as the saints of
the Most High of Dan. 7:25; and the Prince of the host of Dan.
8:11 is the Prince of princes, or Christ. When the same being
appeared to Joshua (Joshua 5:13-15, margin), He applies the same
expression to Himself.
In Dan. 8:11-13, in the Revised Version, the words “burnt
offering” have been supplied by the translators after the word
“continual,” but this rendering seems to place too restricted a
meaning upon the word “continual.” The fact that no word is
connected with “continual” in the original text, although in the
typical service of the sanctuary it is used with “burnt offering”
(Ex. 29:42), with “incense” (Ex. 30:8, here rendered perpetual),
and with “showbread” (Num. 4:7), indicates that that which is
continual represents the _continual service or mediation of Christ
in the heavenly sanctuary_, in which all that was continual in the
typical service found its antitype and fulfilment. See Heb. 6:19,
20; 7:1-3, 14-16, 23-25. The action which made the Pope the vicar
of God and the high priest of the apostasy, really took away from
Christ, as far as human intent and power were concerned, his place
and work as the only mediator between God and man (1 Tim. 2:5),
and this took away from Him, as far as man could take it away, the
continual mediation, according to the prediction in this prophecy.
The prophecies of Daniel are cumulative and widening in their
view, each carrying matters farther than the preceding one, and
bringing out more explicitly and more in detail important features
down the stream of time. In Daniel 2, under the fourth universal
kingdom, the Papacy is not represented under any direct symbol or
figure at all,—simply Rome in its united and divided state; in
Daniel 7 Rome is symbolized by the “little horn” coming up among
the ten horns representing the divided state of Rome; while in
Daniel 8 the only figure used to represent the fourth world power
is the “little horn” which waxed “exceeding great.”
In each of these last two chapters the little horn is introduced
to tell especially of the workings of the same terrible power—Rome
papal. Both chapters deal with the same great apostasy. In the
seventh chapter, the little horn takes away _the law of God_. In
the eighth chapter, it takes away _the gospel_. Had it taken away
only the law, this would have vitiated the gospel; for, with the
law of God gone, even the _true_ gospel could not save, because
the law is needed to convict and give a knowledge of sin. And had
the Papacy taken away only the gospel, and left the law, salvation
through such a system would still have been impossible, for there
is no salvation for sinners through even the law of God itself
apart from Christ and the gospel. But to make apostasy doubly
sure, this power changes, vitiates, and takes away both the _law_
and the _gospel._
In changing the Sabbath, the Papacy struck directly at the very
heart and seal of the law of God, just as in substituting its own
mediatorial system for that of Christ’s it struck directly at the
heavenly sanctuary and its service, which, in his epistle to the
Hebrews, Paul shows to be the very heart and essence of the
gospel.
20. What question was asked in the hearing of the prophet?
“Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain
saint which spake, _How long shall be the vision concerning the daily
sacrifice_, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the
sanctuary and the host to be trodden underfoot?” Dan. 8:13.
21. What answer was addressed to Daniel?
“And he said unto me, _Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then
shall the sanctuary be cleansed_.” Verse 14.
NOTE.—In verse 13, R. V., the vision is clearly defined. It is
“the vision concerning the continual burnt offering [or continual
mediation], and the transgression that maketh desolate,” which
results in giving both the sanctuary and the people of God to be
trodden underfoot. The time when the vision was to have its
special application is stated in verse 17 to be “at the time of
the end,” or in the last days. This is additional proof that this
prophecy was to find its complete fulfilment in papal Rome only,
as pagan Rome passed away many centuries ago. The sanctuary and
the twenty-three-hundred-day period here referred to are
considered at length in succeeding readings. See pages 230, 238.
22. What prophetic period begins at the time when the continual mediation
of Christ was taken away by the Papacy?
“And from the time that the continual burnt offering shall be taken away,
and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be _a
thousand two hundred and ninety days_.” Dan. 12:11, R. V.
NOTES.—Inasmuch as the taking away of the continual mediation of
Christ is made the beginning of a prophetic period, there must be
some definite act at some definite time which, in form and intent,
takes from Christ His priestly work in the heavenly sanctuary.
This act was the official decree of an ecclesiastical council held
at Rome in 503 A.D., by which it was declared “that the Pope was
judge as God’s vicar, and could himself be judged by no one.” See
Hardouin’s “Councils,” Vol. II, page 983; Labbe and Cossart’s
“Councils,” Vol. IV, col. 1364; and Bower’s “History of the Popes”
(three-volume edition), Vol. I, pages 304, 305. The work of
Clovis, king of the Franks, who earned for himself the title of
“the eldest son of the church” by his campaigns to subdue the
kingdoms hostile to the Papacy, contributed much toward putting
into practical effect this claim of the Papacy, which finally
resulted in establishing the Pope as the head of the Roman
priesthood which has usurped the priestly work of Christ, and has
established another system of mediation in its place. This work of
Clovis came to its climax in the period 503-508, and this period
therefore becomes the natural one from which to date the 1290
years of Dan. 12:11, which would accordingly end in the period
1793-98, at the same time as the 1260 years of Dan. 7:25. See
notes on page 223.
“With Rome would have fallen her bishop, had he not, as if by
anticipation of the crisis, reserved till this hour the
master-stroke of his policy. He now boldly cast himself upon an
element of much greater strength than that of which the political
convulsions of the time had deprived him; namely, that the bishop
of Rome is the successor of Peter, the prince of the apostles,
and, in virtue of being so, is Christ’s vicar on earth. In making
this claim, the Roman pontiffs vaulted at once over the throne of
kings to the seat of gods: Rome became once more the mistress of
the world, and her popes the rulers of the earth.”—_“__The
Papacy__”__ by J. A. Wylie, page 34._
23. What assurance was given to Daniel concerning the period of time
mentioned in verse 14?
“And the vision of the evening and the morning which was told _is true_;
wherefore shut thou up the vision; for it shall be for many days.” Dan.
8:26.
NOTES.—By the expression “the vision of the evening and the
morning” reference is made to the vision concerning the
twenty-three hundred days, as may be seen by referring to the
marginal readings of Dan. 8:14.
The interpretation of the vision of chapter 8 closes without
making any explanation of the long period of time which was
mentioned to Daniel in the answer to the question, “How long shall
be the vision?” This important feature was left to be interpreted
later. See next reading.
A Great Prophetic Period. (The 2300 Days of Daniel 8.) Or The Time Of
Restoration And Of Judgment
[Illustration.]
Artaxerxes Restoring The Vessels Of The Temple. "Unto two thousand and
three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." Dan. 8:14.
1. Immediately after the vision of Daniel 8, what did Daniel learn from
his study of the prophecy of Jeremiah?
“In the first year of Darius ... _I Daniel understood by books the number
of the years, whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet,
that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem_.”
Dan. 9:1, 2.
NOTE.—The first deportation to Babylon, when Daniel and his
companions were carried captive, was in B.C. 606, and the seventy
years of Jeremiah’s prophecy would therefore expire in B.C. 536.
The first year of Darius was B.C. 538, and the restoration period
was therefore only two years distant from that time.
2. What did this nearness of the time of restoration from captivity lead
Daniel to do?
“And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications,
with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes.” Verse 3.
3. What urgent petition of the prophet connects this prayer with the
vision of the taking away of the continual mediation and the desolation of
the sanctuary recorded in Daniel 8?
“Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of Thy servant, and his
supplications, and _cause Thy face to shine upon Thy sanctuary that is
desolate_, for the Lord’s sake.” Dan. 9:17.
4. At the conclusion of Daniel’s prayer, what assurance did Gabriel give
him?
“And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, _O Daniel, I am now
come forth to give thee skill and understanding_.” Verse 22.
5. What previous instruction connected with the vision of Daniel 8 was
thus being more fully carried out?
“And I heard a man’s voice between the banks of Ulai, which called, and
said, _Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision_.” Dan. 8:16.
6. Why was further instruction concerning this vision necessary?
“And _I Daniel fainted, and was sick certain days_; afterward I rose up,
and did the king’s business; and _I was astonished at the vision, but none
understood it_.” Verse 27.
7. To what did Gabriel now direct Daniel’s attention?
“At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I
am come to show thee: for thou art greatly beloved: therefore _understand
the matter_, and _consider the vision_.” Dan. 9:23.
NOTES.—There is abundant evidence that the instruction in the
ninth chapter of Daniel supplements and interprets the vision of
the eighth chapter. Note the following facts:—
(1) Daniel did not understand the vision concerning the treading
down of his people and the sanctuary, and therefore searched the
prophecies anew concerning the period of captivity.
(2) He evidently made a connection between the period of seventy
years mentioned by Jeremiah and the twenty-three hundred days of
the vision, and he at once began to pray earnestly for the
restoration of the city and the sanctuary.
(3) The angel Gabriel, who appeared to him at the first, and
interpreted all the vision with the exception of the twenty-three
hundred days, now appears, and again directs his attention to the
vision.
(4) The events of the vision begin with the kingdom of the Medes
and Persians, the era of the restoration of the Jews to their own
land. In the absence of any instruction to the contrary, this
would be the natural time in which to locate the beginning of the
period of twenty-three hundred days; and this is the very time
given for the beginning of the seventy weeks, which are clearly a
part of the twenty-three hundred days, and thus determine the time
of their commencement.
(5) The seventy weeks, or four hundred and ninety years, extend
from the restoration of literal Jerusalem and the literal temple
to the preaching of the gospel to all the world. See Acts
15:14-17. This special preaching of the gospel was completed in
one generation, and was followed by the destruction of Jerusalem.
(6) The twenty-three hundred prophetic days, or twenty-three
hundred literal years, begin at the same time as the four hundred
and ninety years, or seventy weeks, or in B.C. 457, when the
commandment to restore and build Jerusalem went forth; and extend
from the restoration of literal Jerusalem and the typical temple
service after the captivity in ancient Babylon, in the time of the
Medes and Persians, to 1844 A.D., the time for the restoration of
spiritual Jerusalem and of the knowledge of the mediation of
Christ in the heavenly sanctuary, taken away by the little horn,
after the captivity in modern Babylon. This work of restoration is
to be accomplished in one generation by preaching the gospel to
all the world (Rev. 14:6-12), and this will be followed by the
destruction of the world, or fall of all nations, of which the
destruction of Jerusalem was a type.
[Illustration.]
The 2300 Days
The heavy line represents the full 2300 year-day period, the
longest prophetic period in the Bible. Beginning in B.C. 457 when
the decree was given to restore and build Jerusalem (Ezra 7:11-26;
Dan. 9:25), seven weeks (49 years) are measured off to indicate
the time occupied in this work of restoration. These, however, are
a part of the sixty-nine weeks (483 years) that were to reach to
Messiah, the Anointed One. Christ was anointed in 27 A.D., at His
baptism. Matt. 3:13-17; Acts 10:38. In the midst of the seventieth
week (31 A.D.), Christ was crucified, or “cut off,” which marked
the time when the sacrifices and oblations of the earthly
sanctuary were to cease. Dan. 9:26, 27. The remaining three and
one-half years of this week reach to 34 A.D., or to the stoning of
Stephen, and the great persecution of the church at Jerusalem
which followed. Acts 7:59; 8:1. This marked the close of the
seventy weeks, or 490 years, allotted to the Jewish people.
But the seventy weeks are a part of the 2300 days; and as they
(the seventy weeks) reach to 34 A.D., the remaining 1810 years of
the 2300-day period must reach to 1844, when the work of judgment,
or cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary, was to begin. Rev. 14:6,
7. Then special light began to shine upon the whole sanctuary
subject, and Christ’s mediatorial or priestly work in it.
Four great events, therefore, are located by this great prophetic
period,—the first advent, the crucifixion, the rejection of the
Jewish people as a nation, and the beginning of the work of final
judgment.
8. What portion of the 2300 days (years) mentioned in the vision, was
allotted to the Jews?
“_Seventy weeks_ are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city.”
Verse 24, first clause.
NOTES.—“As both the 2300 years of chapter 8 and the ‘seventy
weeks’ of chapter 9 start from the Persian period of Jewish
history, in other words, as they both date from the _restoration
era_ which followed the Babylonian captivity, their
starting-points must be either identical or closely related
chronologically.”—_“__Light for the Last Days__”__ by H. Grattan
Guinness, London, Hodder and Stoughton, 1893, page 183._
“There is plainly a close correspondence between the two visions
of Daniel 8 and Daniel 9. The seventy weeks are said to be _cut
off_ for certain distinct objects; and this implies a longer
period from which they are separated, either the course of time in
general, or some period distinctly revealed. Now the previous date
(the 2300 days) includes two events,—the restoration of the
sacrifice, and the desolation. The first of these is identical in
character with the seventy weeks, which are a period of the
restored polity of Jerusalem; and hence the most natural of the
cutting off is that which refers it to the whole period of the
former vision.”—_“__First Elements of Sacred Prophecy__”__ by T.
R. Birks, London, 1843, pages 359, 360._
9. What was to be accomplished at the close of the seventy weeks?
“To finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make
reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness,
and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy.” Same
verse, latter part.
NOTE.—For “the Most Holy,” the Douay version reads, “the Saint of
saints.”
10. What portion of this period was to reach to Christ, the Messiah, or
Anointed One?
“Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the
commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto Messiah the Prince
shall be _seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks_.” Verse 25, first
part.
NOTE.—The word Messiah means anointed, and Jesus was anointed with
the Holy Spirit (Acts 10:38) at His baptism in 27 A.D. Matt. 3:16.
11. At the end of this time, what was to be done to Messiah?
“And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be _cut off_.” Verse 26,
first part.
[Illustration.]
Rebuilding Of Jerusalem. "And they builded, and finished it, according to
the commandment of the God of Israel." Ezra 6:14.
12. How was the destruction of Jerusalem and the sanctuary by the Romans
then foretold?
“And the people of the prince that shall come shall _destroy the city and
the sanctuary_; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the
end of the war desolations are determined.” Same verse, last part.
13. What was Messiah to do during the seventieth week?
“And He shall _confirm the covenant_ with many for one week.” Verse 27,
first clause. See Matt. 26:26-28.
14. What was He to take away in the midst of this week?
“And in the midst of the week He shall cause the _sacrifice and the
oblation to cease_.” Same verse, next clause.
NOTE.—Ancient Babylon took away the typical service by the
destruction of the temple at the capture of Jerusalem. This
service was restored at the rebuilding of Jerusalem, but was
perverted into mere formalism by the Jews, and was taken away by
Christ at the first advent, when He blotted out the handwriting of
ordinances, and “took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross.”
Col. 2:14. He then became “a minister of the sanctuary, and of the
true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.” Heb. 8:2.
Thus He established the service in the heavenly sanctuary. The
little horn, the Papacy, as far as was within its power, took away
from the people the mediation of Christ in the heavenly sanctuary,
and substituted for it the Roman priesthood, with the Pope as
Pontifex Maximus, or high priest. Power over this truth of the
gospel and over the people of God was allowed to the Papacy
because of transgression (Dan. 8:12, R. V.), just as the people of
Jerusalem were given into the hand of the king of ancient Babylon
for the same reason. 1 Chron. 9:1. Thus has the Papacy “cast down
the truth to the ground,” and has trodden underfoot the sanctuary
and the people of God.
15. How are the judgments upon Jerusalem again foretold?
“And for the overspreading of abominations He shall make it desolate, even
until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the
desolate.” Remainder of verse 27.
NOTE.—Seventy weeks would be four hundred and ninety days; and as
a day in prophecy represents a year (Num. 14:34; Eze. 4:6), this
period would be four hundred and ninety years. The commandment to
restore and build Jerusalem was brought to its completion by
Artaxerxes Longimanus in the seventh year of his reign (Ezra 6:14;
7:7, 8), which, as already noted, was B.C. 457. From this date the
sixty-nine weeks, or four hundred and eighty-three years, would
extend to the baptism of Christ in 27 A.D., and the whole period
to 34 A.D., when the martyrdom of Stephen occurred, and the gospel
began to be preached to the Gentiles. Before the end of that
generation Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans, 70 A.D. The
twenty-three hundred years would extend from B.C. 457 to 1844
A.D., when began the great second advent movement, which calls
upon all to come out of modern Babylon, and to prepare for the
next great event, the coming of Christ and the destruction of the
world by fire.
16. What question was asked in the vision of Daniel 8?
“Then I heard a holy one speaking; and another holy one said unto that
certain one which spake, _How long shall be the vision concerning the
continual burnt offering, and the transgression that maketh desolate, to
give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden underfoot_?” Dan. 8:13.
NOTES.—Literal Jerusalem was given into the hands of ancient
Babylon, and the typical service in the earthly sanctuary was thus
taken away. Dan. 1:1, 2. This was prophetic of the experience of
spiritual Jerusalem in modern Babylon, foretold in the prophecies
of Daniel and John, and of the taking away of the mediation of
Christ in the heavenly sanctuary. Dan. 7:25; 8:13. These two
visions expose the work of modern Babylon, the Papacy, and
determine the limit of its permitted power over the people of God,
and of its perversion of the gospel of Christ in substituting
another mediatorial system for the work of Christ in the heavenly
sanctuary.
The general theme upon which the book of Daniel treats is Babylon,
both ancient and modern. Chapters 1-6, inclusive, present certain
historical facts leading up to the fall of ancient Babylon, and an
attempt to destroy the prophet Daniel himself and the final
attempt to destroy the people of God,—a brief historical outline,
which is in itself a prophecy of modern Babylon. Chapters 7-12,
inclusive, contain prophecies relating especially to modern
Babylon, which supplement the historical prophecy of the previous
chapters, and which enable us to draw a very exact and striking
parallel between ancient and modern Babylon. A brief outline of
this parallel may be stated thus:—
(1) In the religion of ancient Babylon, image-worship found a
prominent place. The same is true of modern Babylon.
(2) Ancient Babylon affirmed that the gods (or God) dwelt not in
the flesh. By the dogma of the immaculate conception of the Virgin
Mary (that is, that she herself was born without the taint of
original sin), modern Babylon teaches that God, in the person of
His Son, did not take the same flesh with us; that is, sinful
flesh.
(3) Ancient Babylon persecuted those who refused to accept her
dogmas and worship according to her laws. Modern Babylon has done
the same.
(4) The king of ancient Babylon set himself above God, and
attempted to make his kingdom an everlasting kingdom. So does
modern Babylon.