Completing the Little Horn in Daniel 7.
In our previous article, Wrapping up Daniel 7:25, we saw that the Little Horn was historically identified as the Papacy. For example, as early as the 13th century, after a salacious document written in gratitude to the people of Lyons by Cardinal Hugo (1250), another Cardinal and general of the Franciscans, St Bonaventure, likened Rome to the harlot of Apocalypse, anticipating Luther by three centuries.[i] On the heals of this episode came Dante (1265-1321) the poet, he gave hell to both Pope and Curia.[ii] Many others followed in these early centuries that saw the wickedness of Rome and it’s association with the harlot of the biblical book, the Revelation. Even James the 1st, king of Scotland, then England, wrote of the pope as the beast of the Revelation, followed by a slew of both religious and non-religious authors.[iii] In between these historical figures that disparaged the Papacy was that mighty personage that delivered a fatal blow to the Papacy, and who has become a household name, Martin Luther (1483-1546), only to be followed by giants like Helwig,[iv] through to Wesley, Calvin, John Knox and many others whom we are all familiar with today.
This month’s article will look at the concluding verses of Daniel 7; these are Daniel 7:26, 27. Verses 25 and 26 of Daniel 7 tell us that after the Papacy stops destroying God’s people for 1260 years, which the previous article showed us historically ended in 1798 AD, at some point after this date, the verse continues to say that the judgement shall sit, the papacy’s dominion will be taken away and consumed, destroyed at the end. Verse 27 of Daniel 7 goes on to tell us that after the destruction of the Little Horn, the people of God, the saints, will receive the kingdom and its greatness and that this kingdom is God’s kingdom and that it is an everlasting kingdom. When will this take place? Well, we know that this has not yet taken place completely because today the papacy is still reigning, although not subjugating God’s people at this time. In Daniel 7:9-11 we read where the Little Horn was judged and it was slain and completely destroyed echoing verses 26, and 27.
A small part of this judgement can perhaps be seen when in 1798 when the papacy had its kingdom taken away by Napoleon and later on in 1870 when the armies of Victor Emmanuel took away the temporal power of the popes. From then on the popes shut themselves up as prisoners in the Vatican at Rome until the signing of the concordat with Italy in 1929 which restored “his dominion” over the Vatican City, a small section of the city of Rome.[v] And this was in fulfillment of another prophecy which predicted that the deadly wound of the Little Horn would be healed and he would once again be given power over all the earth until the final judgement. Clearly then, the judgement scene in verses 9-11 and 26-27 of Daniel 7 is not completely fulfilled especially as the papacy is still around today.
It is equally clear that this judgement in its entirety completely gets rid of the Little Horn and its kingdom and its followers, and to cap things off, the saints of God will inherit the kingdom forever. With this description of the judgement of the Little Horn we see for sure that judgement on the said entity has not yet been concluded. This article will therefore refrain from any further analysis of the judgement on the Little Horn mentioned in Daniel and alluded to in the New Testament by Jesus, Paul and John’s Apocalypse. Let us, however, give a summary of the Little Horn of Daniel 7.
These five points bring us to the end of Daniel 7 but not to the end of the prophecy dealing with the Little Horn. There is much more ahead for us. As we continue to study the prophetic books of the Bible, especially the books of Daniel and the Revelation we will have an advantage over many others who do not study these books. This advantage is that we will understand God’s format in dealing with earth’s rebellion and it’s restoration to Edenic beauty. Knowledge of this format will keep the possessor in perfect peace in these horrific times because he sees God’s Way in all the mayhem in our planet today, and he knows that the promise of God is as sure as it was in Jeremiah’s horrendous times, when he could write with assurance: “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end” Jer. 29:11.
May God bless you my friends. Never give up. Hang on the best is yet to come!
[i] Peter De Rosa, Vicars of Christ, (Cox & Wyman Ltd., Reading, Great Britain, 1988), p.164.
[ii] Ibid.
[iii] Edwin de Kock, The Truth about 666 and the Story of the Great Apostasy, vol. 1, (Edwin de Kock, Los Terrazos Blvd., Edinburg, TX 78541, USA, 2013 2nd Revision), p. 62-76.
[iv] Ibid., 49-62
[v] Uriah Smith, Daniel and the Revelation, (Review and Herald Publishing Ass., Washington, DC, Hagerstown, MD, 1944), 146, 147.
[vi] Donald Ernest Mansell, Open Secrets of the Antichrist, (Pacific Press Publishing Ass., Nampa, Idaho, 2002), pp. 57-59.
May God bless you all. Pastor Ron Henderson is a retired Seventh-day Adventist Pastor. You may reach him at ron.hende@gmail.com if you have any comments or questions.