Pt. 7. Wrapping up Daniel 7:25
‟And they (God’s people) shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.”
In our previous article we saw how Daniel 7:25 depicts very clearly the behaviour or activities of the Roman Catholic Church when the bishop of Rome became the head of the Christian Church in all the empire by a decree of the Roman Emperor Justinian in 533 AD. This decree, however, could not go into effect in any substantial way while the German Arian churches among the tribes of the Ostrogoths, the Vandals and the Heruli held greater power than the Catholic church. It should be remembered that the prophecy of Daniel spoke of three horns that were rooted up in order to make way for the little Horn (we saw this to be Roman Catholic Church in previous articles) to have absolute power in the Roman Empire, first ecclesiastical and later temporal or political, we find this in Daniel 7: 8, 20, it reads, ‟I was considering the horns, and there was another horn, a little one, coming up among them, before whom three of the first horns were plucked out by the roots.”
The angel who visited Daniel interpreted this aspect of the vision as, ‟The ten horns are ten kings who shall arise from this kingdom. And another shall rise after them and he shall be different from the first ones, and shall subdue three kings. It was only after the removal of these tribes that the Catholic church could have substantial supremacy. The starting point of this supremacy is dated from 538 AD. It is also fair to point out that while 538 AD is a watershed for the supremacy of the bishops of the Catholic church, the baptism of Clovis 1 in 508 in December according to Dr. Shanzer 1 was also a pivotal year in the establishment of Roman Catholicism since Clovis, after his baptism, went on to be the champion of Catholicism, putting it in a superior position, which was strengthened and enhanced by his successors Justin1, and Justinian 1 2
Daniel concludes his vision on the Little Horn in Chapter 7 with the pronouncement that this persecuting power known as the Little Horn will be allowed to kill God’s people (called the ‘saints’), ‘for a time and times and half a time.’ Since prophecy, with historical factualization, shows that the Little Horn is the Roman Catholic Church birthed out of the Pagan Roman Empire, we understand that the saints will be persecuted and killed by this church ‘until’ the end of three and half times. We therefore ask, how long is three and half times in biblical reckoning?
Before looking at the historical confirmation of this prophecy let us look at the simple meaning of the biblical use of ‘time.’ The Hebrew word for time is ‘‘iddan’ and it means in this textual context, time, segment of time, season, day, year. There are several references to show this. Many of the concordances on the Old Testament make this clear. 3 Any biblical data base programme will show this. Just key in: time AND year or time, and look up the references that appear. Here are just two, in Deut. 31:10 we read where God says, ‟And Moses commanded them, saying: “At the end of every seven years, at the appointed time…”
Notice how time (‘iddan) and year (sana) are used together showing the time element in both. In several references the English Bible translates the Hebrew word yom, meaning day, as time. The reader could check out other references such as, 2 Samuel 11:1; 1 Chron. 20:1 for the interplay of time in the Hebrew with year in the English translation. A second example of time referring to year is seen in Daniel 4. Here we find the story of king Nebuchadnezzar’s dream where he dreamed of a spreading tree that was cut down except for the stump. The stump was left like that for seven times; at the end of the times (times, Heb. ‘iddanin, (pl.) the tree once more grew and flourished. The prophet Daniel interpreted the dream for Him, telling him that he would become mentally sick for seven (times) years before taking up his kingship again. Archaeological evidence seems to indicate that Nebuchadnezzar was indeed afflicted by a form of mental sickness for seven years. 4 These archaeological findings give historicity to the biblical story.
With these biblical, archaeological and historical facts at hand let us return to Daniel 7:25 on the persecution of God’s people by the Catholic church or the biblical Little Horn for ‟a time, times, and half a time” or as we have seen, three and a half years. In our previous articles we have followed the rise and progress of the Little Horn spoken about in Daniel’s vision in chapter 7. The pertinent question we ask now is when were the saint of God given into the hands of the Little Horn or the Roman Catholic church? And can the historical facts of the beginning and end of this three and a half years pronouncement be validated? Let us examine the date given for the beginning of when the saints of God were given into the hands of the Roman Catholic church.
Several scholars posit the date 538 AD for the beginning of Roman Catholic domination in the Roman empire. Reasons for this date are already given at the beginning of this article. When Justinian came to the throne of the Roman Empire with headquarters in Constantinople he became one of the bulldogs for the Roman Catholic Church. In 529 AD Justin 1 (c. 450- 527) ‟who was a champion of Christian orthodoxy” 5 appointed Justinian (483-565) as Caesar. As emperor he also took the title of Equal of the Apostles and God’s viceregent on earth, 6 a title which the popes will later apply to themselves. It should also be noted that Justinian took pains to unite all the priests of the Eastern church subjecting them to the pope, ‟because you [he is] are the Head of all the holy churches (qui caput est omnium sanctarum ecclesiarum).” This decision was incorporated in the Civil Code. 7 (This also applied to the churches in the East, making the Eastern pontiffs second to the Western Church). 8
According to Robert Browning, excepting the Ten Commandments, this Code had such lasting effect it remained the chief basis of European legislation for almost 1260 years, 534 until 1793. It even became ‟the basis of all canon law,” including the Roman Catholic Church. 9 The one caveat here was that the Emperor remained the head of all the churches; the popes had ecclesiastical precedence, not dominion of a temporal nature; he himself remained the vicarius Christi, the real head of the church within his jurisdiction. Petrine Primacy would come to full fruition only two centuries later through the spurious Donation of Constantine.
The importance of all this history for the Roman Catholic church was hinged on the pacification of those ‘three horns’ that were antagonistic toward it, the Vandals, Goths and Heruli. And as stated above the pivotal incident that brought about this state of affairs was the defeat of the final horn, the Ostrogoths at the battle of Rome by Belisarius, Emperor Justinian’s greatest general in 538. While the Ostrogoths were not vanquished at that battle, and while Italy and Rome were attacked several times after, even sacking Rome, the holding of Rome in 538 AD was a huge protection and establishment of Roman Catholicism in the Empire. Had the battle over Rome in 538 AD been given to the Ostrogoths, the future status of Catholicism in the Empire may have been very grim, and Arianism may have been the predominant teaching in Christianity.
If the persecution of God’s people by the Catholic church began in 538 AD then when should it end? Simple mathematical calculation for a literal three and a half years would give us AD 542. History shows us that literal three and half years would not work because persecution had only basically begun. And went on much longer. Biblical research has shown that ‘time’ in symbolic prophetic language is equal to a prophetic year. In a prophetic year each day in that year is equal to a year; so in symbolic prophecy a day stands for a year. Therefore, three and half prophetic years would be 1260 years and not 1260 literal days. In the Bible we read the following in Ezekiel 4:6: ‟And when you have completed them, lie again on your right side; then you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days. I have appointed you a day for each year.” And again in the book of Numbers: ‟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, and ye shall know my breach of promise.” Here God tells the prophets that a day will be equal to a year in these prophecies. Applying the same principle to Daniel 7 we find that the time calculations work out precisely.
Bible students have recognized this principle through the years. Joachim, abbot of Calabria, a great ecclesiastical figure of the twelfth century, applied the year-day principle to the 1260-year period. 10 We also find this in Sir Isaac Newton. 11 Here is how we can simply this:
One literal year = 360 days (in biblical chronology a month had 30 days)
Two literal years = 720 days
Half a year would =180 days
Total literal years = 1260 days
In applying the biblical year-day principle found in Eze. 4:6 and Num. 14:34 this is what we have:
One literal year of 360 days =360 years
Two literal years of 720 days =720 years
Half a literal year of 180 days =180 years
Total prophetic time would be =1260 years.
If the Bible student calculates the prophetic time literally then the prophecy makes no sense. However, if the student uses prophetic time of the year-day principle then the prophecy makes complete sense. So if we start the prophecy of Daniel 7:25 where the ‟saints are given into the hands of the Papacy to be persecuted” from AD 538, the end date would be 1798. We saw that in 538 AD the authority of the pope was made supreme under the Emperor. Did anything take place in 1798 to the Catholic church? Friends, the rest is all history. For we read in history that in 1798 the French Monarch, Napoleon Bonaparte had his general Berthier enter Rome with an army, proclaimed a republic there, took the pope prisoner, inflicting a deadly wound to Catholic supremacy. The pope, Pius VI, was taken to France where he later died. Catholicism was stripped of its political power and its many properties were confiscated. Some possessions together with the Vatican were later returned as well as recognition of its right to exist independently or politically.
Friends, God’s word never fails; everything that was predicted about the Roman Catholic church took place. And the future predictions about that church, its revival, dominance and final destruction will just as surely take place. The only question for you and me today is, are we listening to the Word of God? Have we accepted the God of the Universe, the Creator God, the Redeemer of humanity and this world as our personal saviour? Time is short, events are showing that God will soon wrap things up. He will not allow the wickedness and rebellion of humanity to continue much longer. My appeal to you is to please turn your life over to Him and give Him your total commitment. He loves you dearly and will soon come back to take those that are waiting on Him to heaven. His appeal to you is, ‟As I live, says the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?
May God bless you all. Pastor Ron Henderson is a retired Seventh-day Adventist Pastor (Pastor Ron has been called back into service). You may reach him at ron.hende@gmail.com if you have any comments or questions.
Endnotes:
1. Danuta Shanzer: Dating the Baptism of Clovis: The Bishop of Vienna vs. the Bishop of Tours (Oxford, UK, and Malden, MA.: Blackwell Publishers, 1998) p. 30. (Quoted in Edwin de Kock, The Truth About 666 and the Story of the Great Apostasy, (Edinburg, TX 78541, 2013), p. 174.
2. Edwin de Kock, The Truth About 666 and the Story of the Great Apostasy, (Edinburg, TX 78541, 2013), p. 175.
3. CDWGTHB (A Concise Dictionary of the Words in the Greek Testament and the Hebrew Bible). sv. 5372; HAL Aramaic (Hebrew And Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament). Vol. 5 Aramaiac. sv. ‘iddan, id-dawn; GHCLOT (Gesenius’ Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon of the Old Testament. sv. ‘iddan’. This is just to mention a few.
4. Ministry Magazine, April 1978; and www.bible.ca. Copyright ©2005 The Interactive Bible.
5. Encyclopaedia Britannica 08, s.v. ‟Justin 1.” (Quoted in Edwin de Kock, Ibid, p. 192).
6. John Julius Norwich, A Short History of Byzantium (New York: Alfred a. Knopf, 1997) p. xl. (Quoted, de Kock, ibid., 192)
7. Froom, PFF, Vol. 1, p. 511. (Quoted, de Kock, ibid. 193)
8. Ibid. 513. (Quoted de Kock, ibid. 193)
9. Browning, Justinian and Theodora, p. 257. Catholic Encyclopedia, s.v. ‟Justinian 1, Roman Emperor (527-65,” www.newadvent.org, downloaded 06/24/08). (Quoted in Edwin de Kock, Ibid., p. 193)
10. Joachim of Floris, Concordantia, book 2, chap. 16, p 12b. (Quoted in Uriah Smith, Daniel and the Revelation, p. 144).
11. Sir Isaac Newton, Observations Upon the Prophecies of Daniel, pp. 127, 128. (Quoted in Uriah Smith, Daniel and the Revelation, p. 144).