Daniel 7:22–26

The little horn not only makes war with the saints, but prevails against them up to a certain time — that is, until the coming of the Ancient of Days. Here we get something more definite than that God will judge the boldness of man. We are no longer occupied with public history and general principles, but with explanations for the saints in the person of the prophet. It is the coming of the Ancient of Days that puts an end to the power of the little horn over the saints.

If God permits the beast to overcome the saints, that lasts only until Christ, the Ancient of Days, comes. It lasts until judgment is given to the saints of the Most High, and until they get the kingdom. What puts an end to the authority of the beast is the coming of the Ancient of Days, and not the preaching of the gospel.

He prevails until the Ancient of Days came. Here we see that the Son of Man is the Ancient of Days, because we know that the Son of Man comes. Then a total change takes place: judgment is given to the saints of the high places, and the time has come that the saints possess the kingdom.

In chapter 7 he is seen as a little horn... and in the same chapter we also have the period fixed for the end of the persecution of the saints, "until the Ancient of Days came" (v. 22), as distinct from the time when He sat upon the throne (v. 9)... In fact three things are marked: the coming of the Ancient of Days; the judgment given to the saints of the high places; and the time when the saints shall take the kingdom.

So in verse 22, when the kingdom is mentioned, it is not said "the saints of the high places," but simply "the saints possessed the kingdom"... Judgment is given to the heavenly saints, and the kingdom is given to the saints. The first of these two events belongs to the heavenly saints alone. The second is wider. The saints on earth share in it according to their condition, and this does not exclude the saints in heaven according to their condition.

It has been common to suppose that the Church is here referred to; and there can be no doubt that the Church will possess the glory this passage speaks of. But the Church is not the subject of Daniel's prophecy... and there is no need to limit the title of heavenly saints, or saints of the high places, to the Church.

The "saints" here are not the saints who belong to the Church, not the Christians of the present moment. In that day God will have some earthly saints. The Spirit of God will work again among the Jews. It is against them that all the hatred and energy of this horn is directed.

How remarkable is the language of Scripture! We all thought that by and by we were going to be judged; but even the book of Daniel says that, far from the saints being judged, they are going to be the judges.

They ought really to have known that "the saints will judge the world." This fact had been stated in the Old Testament... Had they really known it, they would not have dragged one another into pagan law courts. If we really knew it, we would perhaps avoid certain things that we do.

The angel explains the vision of the fourth beast. We are told plainly that it represents "a fourth kingdom on earth." This we know was the Roman Empire. It was "different from all the kingdoms" because it took a form of government that combined rule by one man with rule by the people. The iron and clay of the image had pictured this beforehand. Its rule was almost universal, so it could well be said to "devour the whole earth." By treading down and breaking in pieces, it subdued the nations, and crushed those who refused to submit. So we have a picture of the Roman Empire in the day of its first power.

We need not travel beyond Daniel's book to learn that Gentile rule is simply bestial in God's sight. The same powers that were shown to Nebuchadnezzar as metals in Dan. 2 were shown to Daniel as wild beasts in Dan. 7. Rev. 13, 17, referring clearly to the time of the end, confirm this. Scripture speaks of the last great united monarchy of Christendom as a beast out of the sea, and out of the abyss. The symbol means that Gentile power, and especially in its last phase, is completely without conscience and without God.

Nothing but the Roman Empire matches the feet of iron and clay. Nothing else offers a parallel to the ten toes in one picture and the ten horns in the other. Their only true meaning is ten kings reigning together. No other power that ever held sway can be so truly compared to iron that "breaks to pieces and shatters all things," or to a ravenous beast of no known kind with great iron teeth that "devoured and broke in pieces and stamped what was left with its feet." Then the Germanic clay entered. It shows the brittleness of independent will, in contrast with the old Roman way of holding together around one centre. That self-will broke up the empire in the past, and it will come to a head in the tenfold division of the future, in that revival of the empire which Daniel 7 assumes before judgment falls, and which Revelation 17 reveals plainly.

Next we are told that "the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise" (v. 24). This is the crucial point in the interpretation. Verse 23 refers without doubt to the past. So the question arises: are these ten kings past or future? Some argue for what many call the historical interpretation, and hold that the prophecy has already been fulfilled. There is a fatal objection to this theory. Once this fourth kingdom is judged, the kingdom of the Son of man at once succeeds it and takes its place (vv. 13, 14, 26, 27; compare also Dan. 2:43-44). What event in the past, we may well ask, could answer, even in the smallest degree, to what those Scriptures speak of?

We have watched the Beast treading down the earth and breaking it in pieces (Dan. 7:23) — a display of senseless brute force — and his partner in crime, the Antichrist, morally darkening and deceiving the world.

We have a crowd of detailed predictions of an unmatched kind. There are the many horns in the last empire at its close. There is the bold presumption and restless ambition of its last chief, who from a small beginning ruled the rest. Not content with trampling down the saints, he rose up in blasphemy against God and His rights. That called out summary and final judgment on all, and heaven acted to establish the everlasting kingdom of power and glory.

Daniel shows the Roman Empire divided into ten kingdoms — "out of this kingdom ten kings shall arise." After this another little horn comes up, the same as the beast in Revelation. He subdues three kingdoms and wields the whole power of the empire, and God judges that empire because of his blasphemy.

"It had ten horns," and these are ten kings (verse 24). This was never true in the past. The Roman empire was under one government. It is true that in the last days of its power many of the emperors shared the running of their vast lands with others. But there was never anything like what Daniel saw in his vision. Here we have ten horns — ten kings — and one rising among them to become their leader and head. What does this prove? It proves that this vast power, scattered and broken for so long, still has a history ahead of it. Scripture cannot be broken. Every word of it must come true.

The fourth or Roman power is just as clearly divided into ten horns, ruling at the same time, with one small horn at its rise that pulls up three of them by the roots. That horn is as remarkable for its intelligence as for its pride and blasphemous boldness. Here, though, we stand before something that still awaits its fulfilment, even if we admit a partial application to past history. By its lawlessness that horn brings on more than the loss of rule that God allowed to fall on the earlier beasts. It brings direct, distinct, divine judgment when God's kingdom appears in the person of the Son of Man.

He is different from the ten kings because they stand for different kingdoms. This king stands for a special power that rises up among the ten kingdoms, and he gains his territory by subduing three of them. It is "his dominion" that judgment deals with at the end (verse 26). So it seems certain that the little horn, while subduing three of the kings, gains power over the whole empire.

The conclusion is unavoidable: the little horn is none other than the head of the revived Roman empire in Western Europe in the last days. So the little horn rises after the ten kingdoms are formed. He subdues three of them, whether by military strength or by other means. Then the other seven join with the three he has conquered in one vast confederation, and the little horn becomes its imperial head.

But the great words of the horn bring down judgment on the beast, and this assures us still more that the horn is a person. A system of government cannot be held responsible; for that you must have a living being. Nor could we think of ten systems of government, an eleventh of which subdued three, as is said of the "horn." But if a real king is meant, nothing is more natural.

This person must not be confused either with the Antichrist on the one hand, or with the little horn of Dan. 8:9 on the other. Antichrist is a religious leader more than a political one. His kingly power seems to be limited to the land of Israel, where the people will accept him as the promised Messiah (Dan. 11:36). He will be in league with the Western chief, no doubt, but must not be confused with him. Scripture plainly says that the little horn of Dan. 8 rises out of one of the four divisions of Alexander's empire.

His moral character comes out next, in the words, "And he shall speak great words against the Most High." Like every person who is not born again, his mind is hostile to God. But in his wild contempt for God he goes further: he dares to stand in open defiance.

As a result — for whoever hates God must also hate His people — he will "wear out the saints of the high places"… in his bold attempt to wipe the name of God off the face of the earth. So God will let the patience of His people on earth be tested… He allows them to fall at this time into the hands of their enemy for their chastening and purifying. But though their enemy, as Satan's instrument, may sift them, not one single grain of wheat shall fall to the ground.

This little horn will "think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand." By then the Jewish temple will have been rebuilt, though in unbelief, and with it the rules of the law and the various feasts. These are the "times and laws" this king will think to change — that is, to do away with. Their very existence testifies that God exists, whatever the people who keep them are like. That is unbearable to a man who wants to take God's place for himself.

The saints of the Most High were the people the prophet knew and cared about… This wicked power wears out the saints of the high places, and thinks to change times and laws; and they shall be given into his hand. The saints are not what is given up, for God never hands them over to the enemy. He may let saints be troubled for a while, but He never lets them go. It is the times and laws that are given up for a time.

The sufferings of God's chosen people during the great tribulation last 1260 days, and Satan could not make it 1261 however much he wanted… "Times and laws" (religious institutions) may be given into his hand, but not God's people.

Two different words are translated "Most High," one singular and one plural. The plural means "the high (places)."… Here the subject is government only. It is the government belonging by right to the heavens, and to Him who reigns there, that must be owned — in the face of a power that denies it, sets itself up against it, and will own no power but its own on the earth.

A "time," it is said, was the word the Jews used for the period from one yearly sacrifice or festival to the next. So it came to mean a year of 360 days. "Times" would stand for two years, and the "dividing of time" for half a year. So we have three and a half years in which this little horn gets his way and stops all Jewish worship.

Comparing the different phrases for the same period in Revelation makes it perfectly certain that three and a half years were meant… there is no objection to allowing a longer application in a general way, as long as the crisis itself is not set aside.

The persecutions end with the coming of the Ancient of days and judgment given to the saints.

Afterwards the thrones are set, and the Ancient of days sits. It is a session of judgment, the throne of Jehovah's judgment; it is not said where, but its effect is on earth. The words of the little horn are the occasion of the judgment being carried out. The scene of judgment forms part of the vision of the fourth beast, and relates especially to it.

Nowhere in this chapter, I think, does Daniel tell us that the judgment sits in heaven because this little horn boasts and blasphemes. I grant that the Judge, because of such blasphemy, has the fourth beast slain. He also has the dominion of the little horn itself consumed and destroyed. But that, I believe, is all we learn from either verse 11 or 26.

But the judgment sits to take account of all this pride. The dominion of the little horn is consumed and destroyed. We may notice here that it is in fact the little horn that in the end wields the supreme power. It is his dominion which is destroyed.

The idea of "the Consumption" rests on a mistake about the meaning of Scripture and its language. Neither Daniel 7:26 nor 2 Thessalonians 2:8 means a gradual weakening of strength, though our English word "consume" may suggest it. "Destroy" is the true force of the Aramaic and of the Greek.

It means that the effect of the judgment will be thorough, not a slow process, nor repeated acts of vengeance.

This is instant and extreme judgment, carried out by the Lord in person. If anything were needed to confirm it, the plain phrase "the appearance of His coming" does so. So does the important addition of "Jesus," the Lord Jesus.

Babylon lost its dominion and yet lasted for some time, and Persia did the same. But the destruction of the fourth beast will be complete. The others were granted longer life after their empire fell. Here the judgment and the destruction go together.

The horn speaks great words against the Most High, wears out the saints of the Most High, and thinks to change times and laws. These are given into its hands for a time, times, and half a time — that is, for the last half week of Daniel's seventy weeks, just before the Lord comes and the judgment falls.