Daniel 7:23 Commentary and Bible Study

The angel answers Daniel’s question. Much of what is said is a repetition of verses 7-9, and a rephrasing of Daniel’s question in verses 19-22. The fourth beast which he had asked about will be the most extensive empire of the four; it will devour the whole earth. It will be characterised by its ferocity, destroying all in its path in its effort to promote itself. We have already been told that it has iron teeth, and nails or claws of brass (verse 19); it transcends any real animal with these unnatural features. The angel adds that the ten horns are ten kings that shall arise. The words indicate still more clearly that these ten horns come after the fourth beast first appears. The are associated with it, but they are a later development. They are four kings, and given the equality between kings and kingdoms (verses 17 and 23), we can understand them to be kingdoms, nation states, some earthly power less than a world empire. Again, another horn arises after them – the little horn of verse 8 – and the angel adds that it is diverse, different, from the first ten. We have been told that this difference consists in it having ‘eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things’ (verse 8), and ‘whose look was more stout than his fellows’ (verse 20). This little horn takes on a human form, and the translations all use the personal pronoun, ‘he’. There is something deeply sinister about this.His activity is enlarged upon: ‘And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws.’ The great things that his mouth speaks (verse 8, 20) are words against the most High. They are blasphemies; they are words that dare to find fault with the most high God, to accuse him of injustice, inconsistency, error. We can think of the torrent of abuse that comes out of the mouth of atheists in their endeavour to discredit God, to denigrate him, to overthrow his righteous government, and even to discount his existence. But this war against the truth is also waged against the saints who uphold the word of God, and the testimony of Jesus Christ. The words ‘wear out’ strongly suggest that this will be a prolonged war, with more and more assaults brought to bear on God’s people. Antichristian philosophies relentlessly pressed on the minds of the people are part of this. The world’s media with its unbelieving bias is recruited by the little horn. The world is drowned in godless propaganda, just in case any were foolish enough to believe what God says in his word! Again the words ‘wear out’ suggest that an enormous quantity of this material will be brought against the saints, so as to overwhelm them. Where can we look that we do not see godless ideologies thrown at us? – perversion of Biblical Christianity, false churches, cults, humanism, science coopted to do away with God, communism, false religion.He will ‘think to change times and laws.’ Some people say, ‘Oh, he will only think to do it; he won't succeed’, but ‘think to change times and laws’ means much more that times and laws will be changed by antichrist after much thought, and a period of campaign. It is an intelligent strategy with a definite goal in mind. To change times is to change prevailing worldviews, the way people think at different time in history. Is history proceeding in a random undirected fashion? No, says this verse, it is being steered toward the destination that Satan wants to reach. Yes, laws are changed also, because laws can become a powerful instrument to enforce evil behaviour and to forbid righteous behaviour. To do this, the legislators must be those who have already adopted this worldly philosophy. There is much work for the powers of darkness to do, but they will not give up generation after generation until they have achieved their goal, or else are destroyed.But the time signature for their period of operation helps identify the ten horns and the little horn that comes from them. ‘And they [the saints of the most High] shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time’. There is the same phrase used in various forms in the Book of Revelation. The same period is described as ‘a time, and times, and half a time’ (Revelation 12:14), ‘a thousand two hundred and threescore days’ (Revelation 11:3; 12:6), and ‘forty and two months’ (Revelation 11:2; 13:5). This is the period during which the dragon persecutes the woman (representing the church) and pursues her (Revelation 12:13). ‘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’ (Revelation 12:14). This is the church age, the gospel age, during which the gospel is preached in all the world, and when the gates of hell shall not be allowed to prevail against the church (Matthew 16:18). It ends with the destruction of the fourth beast and its horns (Daniel 7:11) at the return of Christ. The church has faced persecution in various forms throughout the gospel age, but that persecution will become particularly severe at the end of the age when antichrist, the little horn, arises. Again, John tells us in his first epistle that already there are many antichrists. The full manifestation of antichrist is held back until the time that God wills he should appear. At that time he will be permitted to achieve what he was not fully able to achieve before, and so the Book of Revelation pictures the church as cast down. ‘And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them’ (Revelation 11:7). ‘And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them’ (Revelation 13:7). They are cast down, but not destroyed.