The Final Stages of the Kingdom; Rev.
13:1-4; Dan. 7
What John is seeing in
Revelation 13 is really the final form of the fourth beast that Daniel saw.
Satan energizes and empowers the first beast, the Antichrist, and he is the one
who has engineered history to bring this about. God is still in control even
though Satan is bringing this into existence in history; Satan never does it
apart from the authority of God. The interesting thing that we have to remember
is that Satan is no more aware of when the Rapture is going to occur than we
are. That means that in any given generation or decade Satan has to be working
to be able to move at almost a moment’s notice to be able to put his man into
play and into power in such a way that he can engineer the rise of his final
kingdom, the ten-nation confederacy. One of the things that will be seen in the
end time is the speed with which the Antichrist pulls his kingdom together.
One of the things that has
been noticed over the past ten or fifteen years is how quickly things move
today, how quickly things change, how the chess board of the nations can move
very rapidly, and how quickly a nation like the United States can change. An
article in the English version of Pravda last week commented on how quickly the
Some believe the Antichrist
will be Muslim. One of the ways that events will unfold in the Tribulation in
the way Revelation says they will unfold is that there will be a rebuilt temple
on the temple mount. The location of the temple is believed to be where the
Mosque of Omar is located in
The focus in Daniel chapter
seven is on the fourth beast, not in its early manifestation but in its later
manifestation. Daniel 7:7 NASB “After this I kept looking in the
night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrifying and
extremely strong; and it had large iron teeth. It devoured and crushed and
trampled down the remainder with its feet; and it was different from all the
beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns.” These are strong adjectives
here in the Aramaic emphasizing the power of this animal. It is as if Daniel is
struggling to find the right words to describe the power and the fear that is
engendered by this fourth beast. The words “devour, crushed and trampled” are
all participles and indicates ongoing action.
To be noted in the fact that
it has these ten horns. One thing about that is that the ten horns weren’t
there historically. If we recognize that this beast is the
We need to ask some
questions: a) What is distinct about the fourth kingdom? b) How did this
expansion occur? c) Since these ten kingdoms of Daniel 7 are yet future to our
time then we are still within the time period of the kingdom even though it is
in a dissolved state. What is distinct about the description here? Unlike the
other beasts which can be identified because they have enough of the
characteristics of the lion, the bear and the leopard to be identified as such,
this beast has certain manufactured human qualities. There is bronze and there
is iron and these have to be defined. It is thought that this implies something
about technology, something about the technological development that man brings
this manifestation of the empire that makes it even more bestial than it would
otherwise have been. There is something about the technology of man that makes
it even more bestial and more powerful, and perhaps in its final manifestation
the revived Roman empire is much more deadly and destructive than the old Roman
empire was simply because of the technology of weapons systems that we have for
warfare today.
Daniel 7:8 NASB
“While I was contemplating the horns, behold, another horn, a little one, came
up among them, and three of the first horns were pulled out by the roots before
it; and behold, this horn possessed eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth
uttering great {boasts.}” Out of the ten-nation confederacy another horn, a
little one which is the eleventh horn, comes up among them. Then the explanation,
Daniel 7:20 NASB “and {the meaning} of the ten horns that {were} on
its head and the other {horn} which came up, and before which three {of them}
fell, namely, that horn which had eyes and a mouth uttering great {boasts} and
which was larger in appearance than its associates…. [23] “Thus he said: ‘The
fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on the earth, which will be different
from all the {other} kingdoms and will devour the whole earth and tread it down
and crush it.” This isn’t just a kingdom of
Daniel 7:24 NASB
“As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings will arise; and another
will arise after them, and he will be different from the previous ones and will
subdue three kings.” This is future and nothing in the past fits this. There is
nothing in history where we see ten kings reigning simultaneously in a
confederacy. These aren’t successive kings; they are ten kings at the same
time.
Verse 24 brings up the
question of the uniqueness of this kingdom. It points out another—after the ten
kingdoms. First of all there is this movement towards a
confederation/association of the ten kingdoms and then after that develops,
which probably occurs in the period between the Rapture and the Tribulation and
may still be continuing after the Tribulation begins. Then we are told that
another king rises up “after them.” This will be the Antichrist. He is not
identified prior to the Rapture. This is the little horn mentioned in Daniel
7:8; and he is arrogant. Arrogance is the prime characteristic of the
Antichrist, but arrogance can camouflage itself in pseudo-humility that will
deceive the masses. Jesus said that he is going to be so deceptive that if possible
he would deceive even the elect. This is what is so dangerous about the
Antichrist. He is going to have an ability to lie, deceive and manipulate that
will get past everybody.
Daniel
We have also seen that this
kingdom is also depicted in Revelation chapter seventeen. There we have another
image of the kingdom as the great harlot who sits on many waters. The waters
represent the nations, so the great harlot represents the final form of the
kingdom over all the nations of the earth. God is going to judge that final
form of the kingdom. Revelation 17:1-3 NASB “Then one of the seven
angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me, saying, “Come here, I
will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters,
A comparison that we see
between Daniel 7:25 and Revelation. Daniel 7:25 NASB “He will speak
out [pompous words] against the Most High and wear down the saints of the
Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law; and
they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time.” He will
come along and try to change the calendar. Man in his arrogance thinks that he
can come along and change these movements that God set up in the creation.
There will be a three and a half year period of tremendous persecution of
believers. [26] “But the court will sit {for judgment,} and his dominion will
be taken away, annihilated and destroyed forever.” At the end there is going to
be judgment on him. In Revelation 12:6, 14 we see that “time, times and half a
time” equals 1260 days or three and a half years. This is equivalent to the
last half of the Tribulation period. Cf. Revelation 13:5 where 42 months equals
a time, times and half a time. The little horn is waging war against the saints
in Daniel 7:21, and in Revelation 13:7 he is given power to make war against
the saints and to conquer them—same focus, same agenda. In Daniel 7:11, 26 God
will interrupt the reign of the little horn in order to establish His kingdom.
In Revelation 19:19, 20 God will also interrupt the reign of the Antichrist
when Jesus Christ returns and establishes His eternal kingdom. The conclusion
is that the little horn in Daniel must be identified as the first beast of
Revelation.
Summary
1.
He rises to power
from within the fourth empire, an empire made up of ten nations, a revival of
the
2.
He comes up after
this ten-nation confederacy has come together. When he arises the ten kings are
already in place.
3.
There is some
unique quality about him, as indicated in Daniel 7:28. He is able to bring
people together and this is what concerns Daniel.
4.
He is arrogant
and challenges the Most High with great or boastful words.
5.
He persecutes the
Tribulation saints. He will pursue
6.
He is given
authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. Revelation 13:7, 8.
All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast.
7.
In Revelation
13:16-18 he forces everyone to receive his mark—showing his economic control.
8. He gains control of the world for only three and a half years. The first three and a half years is his rise to power and then he tries to consolidate it during the second half of the Tribulation.