Daniel 7:19 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

Navigator

Daniel 7:19

Comments

‘Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast’, the Roman Empire. The fourth beast was ‘diverse’, different in kind and in behaviour from the other three, and this was what made Daniel ask particularly about it. We have already seen that no animal is offered by way of comparison with it, as with the others; it defies comparison. It was, verse 7, ‘dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth:’ – verse 20 adds that it had ‘nails of brass’ – ‘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.’ Then there was the little horn that came up, displacing three of the ten horns. All this was deeply significant, Daniel realised, but he did not fully understand what it meant. The little horn was particularly alarming because it ‘made war with the saints, and prevailed against them.’ What did this mean? Had God deserted his people? Was he unable to protect them against this foe? Daniel adds here, ‘whose look was more stout than his fellows’, more lordly, more imperial, more self-assured, more boastful than the other horns. This little horn comes up at the time of the Roman Empire. We identify it with the antichrist. With the Roman Empire comes the kingdom of Christ; there is an overlap between them. Christ comes, and with the founding of the church comes antichrist. There are many antichrists, says the apostle John in his first epistle. Antichrists are here now already, not just at the end of the present gospel age, and pride is the great feature of antichrist. Satan is trying to bring his man of sin openly into the world, but he is restrained by God until the time when God allows him to be manifested. ‘Let no man deceive you by any means,’ says the apostle Paul, ‘for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;⁴ Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.⁵ Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?⁶ And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.⁷ For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.⁸ And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:⁹ Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders’ (2 Thessalonians 2:3-9). ‘I beheld and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them’ until the final Day of Judgment. That is exactly what has happened. Rome falls, and a succession of nation-states – represented by ten horns – take over, but they all operate in a similar vein. They are not world empires but they are all conquering and aggressive groups. The spiritual warfare continues throughout the gospel age: the antagonism of Satan towards the proclamation of the word, and the church of Christ. It's come in different forms, but is has a common author and a common aim. But out of these nation states arises one particular malevolent power or individual, the little horn. This one is vastly more intelligent, more hateful. This is the antichrist, who strives to be manifested from the time of the apostles, but who only succeeds during Satan’s little season (Revelation 20:7-9), and is allowed to triumph over the people of God, until he is destroyed by the Lord Jesus Christ himself at his coming. We think we are in near to that time now, or even in it. We see the rewriting of moral values rolling on at such a pace, the passing of legislation that makes our beliefs illegal. Daniel describes this little horn as a great persecutor of God’s people who will prevail over them, and who is present right up to the end of the world, for he is only destroyed with the coming of Christ.

Application

In the early centuries you see the rise of the Church of Rome, Satan's chosen channel to oppose the church. Justification by works is promoted, and the grand authority of clergy, and a new priesthood, all claiming authority over souls, an authority to devise doctrine and ceremonies, and taking people away from the pure gospel and persecuting those who proclaim it. But the dangerous part of it was the contradiction of the gracious doctrine of the New Testament. Then as time goes on, you get the enlightenment and human reason is exalted above revealed truth, the revelation of God, and the doctrine of the word of God. It gets into the churches themselves. Then more blatant attacks: the rise of science and the seizing hold of science by Satan, to deploy it, if he can, to deceive minds and suggest rational explanations for the universe and for life.

Verse 21 is on the surface so depressing. Look at our nation. Believers are all third-rate citizens. Here we are in a minority, fighting to get our word out, unrecognised, suppressed where possible. The mighty broadcasting authorities won’t let us in. Nobody will let our message into the marketplace of the world today. Antichrist has blinded everybody's mind and we are suppressed. However, by the power of the Spirit we witness and we preach the gospel, and God continues to save his elect. But judged on a superficial level, we are a repressed community, the true church, the proclaimers of the gospel. And so it is through the gospel age. There are times like the mighty Reformation when God makes bare his arm, when just a handful of monks who left the Church of Rome and rebelled against the tyranny, were able to spread the light of the gospel through the entire civilised world in their day, and to push back all the superstition of Rome, the nonsense, the darkness and the spiritual ignorance. There are times of awakening. We have had them in this country, when thousands upon thousands, even millions, have been converted and it has made a tremendous impression upon the whole land, and even governments have had to pause and take their breath, and respect the gospel of Christ. But then Satan and antichrist strike back, and we see the rise of Darwinism and Freudianism and so on. By and large through the gospel age, we see the triumph of Christ in the conversion of millions of individuals, but you look at nations, and you see the repression of the church. In just a few words Daniel has covered there the gospel age, the return of Christ, the day of judgment, the marriage supper of the Lamb, the ushering in of the eternal glory.

Questions

Why is the antichrist a little horn? Probably because antichrist doesn't manifest itself in military power, in physical might and strength. It isn't powerful in that way as the conquering nations or empires were. Words are its main tool. Antichrist is operating with cunning, with teaching, contradicting, tearing down truth. False ideologies and words are our great enemy. Yes, we do have violence against us. Satan does inspire violence from time to time, and in different parts of the world, but words are the key thing.

Outline

Purpose

Introduction

Daniel 7:19 Commentary and Bible Study