THE FULFILLMENT OF THE VISION OF DANIEL

(continuation of the INTRODUCTION) THE FULFILLMENT OF THE VISION OF DANIEL

chapter 1
THE FOURTH BEAST WITH TEN HORN
7 After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: 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. 8 I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.

9 I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame and his wheels as burning fire. 10 A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.

11 I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake: I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame. 12 As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time. 13 I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. 14 And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed".

. DANIEL 7:7-14
The book of Daniel chapter 7 talks about four BEASTS which came out from the sea, after it had been strove upon by the four winds of the heavens. These four beasts were the four kingdoms that were going to take authority and rule over the world according to the explanation given to Daniel in his dream. The four beasts, according to History, were the four great Empires: Babylonian (626-539 BC), Medo-Persian (539-331BC), Greece (331-63BC) and Roman Empires (63BC-476AD). All these empires had come and gone and now, we are living in the period of the horn with eyes like the eyes of man. Rome became Roman Empire with the following states Europe, Asia Minor and Northern Africa. The visions were revealed to Daniel during the ruling periods of the Babylonian and Medo-Persian empires by Kings Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus the Persia and Darius the Median; and Daniel was asked to seal up and keep it till the times of the end.

When God's own appointed time came, all these kingdoms were revealed consecutively according to the prophecy. Talking about the last Beast that had the ten horns, it was described to be a diverse from the other beasts. This was because there were going to be TEN kings coming out from it, whereby one of them would appear to pluck up three kings by their roots. The horn with eyes like the eyes of man would stand till the end of the world, when judgement shall come upon him and his dominion given to the saints of the Most High. It was exceedingly dreadful, terrible, and strong; and it had great iron teeth: it devours and brakes in pieces, and stamps the residue with the feet of it. The general characteristics of this beast are seen in its teeth, feet and its ability to destroy.

These same four Beasts were first revealed to King Nebuchadnezzar in a different form as the Great Image of four diverse parts - Head Gold, Breast and Arms Silver, Belly and Thighs Brass and Legs of Iron and feet, part of Iron and part Clay - in his forgetful dream. These parts Daniel explained them as kingdoms that would arise. The fourth kingdom was explain in Daniel 2:40-43 "And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise. 41 And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters' clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.

42 And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken. 43 And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay".

This wonderful revelation gives us the background of the Roman Empire, how it would come up as one strong empire (thigh of Iron) and later be split into two, the Eastern and the Western (feet partly of Iron and partly of Clay); and how one would be weak and other strong. According to Daniel, the Kingdom would be made up of two different Ethnos, Rome and Byzantium (Turkey) or Western and Eastern.

The Roman Empire was formed by Julius Caesar as Julio-Claudio Dynasty (27BC-14AD) and was a unified body strong as Iron until the period of Diocletian Tetrarchy (293AD-313AD), when it was divided into Eastern and Western Roman Empires (Iron and Clay) with four emperors, and finally collapsed in 476AD, but the iron part of the feet which was the Byzantine empire (Now Turkey) was revived until 1256AD, when most of its remaining territories were lost in the Byzantine - Ottoman wars, which culminated in the Fall of Constantinople (Byzantium) and the conquest of the territories by the Ottoman Empire. It was finally destroyed in 1453AD and became a Muslim state. This was the Iron mixed with miry Clay Kingdom. This Kingdom according to the vision of Daniel had ten Horns which he interpreted as the ten kings, within which another king different from the rest would arise and plucked up three of the kings by their roots. Below are the Ten Horns (DYNASTIES) of the Roman Empire before its fall in 476AD:-

THE TEN HORNS ARE THE TEN DYNASTIES
"After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: 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".

. DANIEL 7:7
The ten horns were explained to be the ten kings that would arise within the Empire as dynasties and control the world with their polity. Below are the list of the Dynasties and the year of their ruling:-

1st Horn (King):- Julio - Claudio Dynasty (27BC - 68AD) - Octavian, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius and Nero (in whose reign the Temple of Jerusalem was destroyed).

2nd Horn (King):- A Year of Four Emperors (68-69AD) - Galba, Otho, Viterius and Vespasian.

3rd Horn (King):- Flavian Dynasty (69AD - 96AD) - Vespasian, Titus and Domitian.

4th Horn (King);- Nerva - Antonine Dynasty (96AD -192AD) - Nerva, Trajan, Hadran, Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius, Verus and Commodus.

5th Horn (King):- A Year of Five Emperors (192 -193AD) - Pertinax, Didius Julianus, Pescennius Niger, Clodius Albanus and Septimius Severus

6th Horn (King):- Severan Dynasty (193AD - 235AD) - Septimius Severus, Geta, Caracalla, Elagabalus (priest of the sun god), Macrinus, Alexander Severus. [235-284AD the Dominate. Crisis period. Concluded when Diocletian established himself as Emperor ca. 285].

7th Horn (King);- Diocletian Tetrarchy (284AD - 305AD) - Diocletian and Galerius, Maximian and Constantius, Constantine and Maxentius. Formation of East and West Empires. Before Constantine conquered Maxentius and formed Constantine Dynasty.

8th Horn (King):- Constantinian Dynasty (305AD-363AD) -> From Constantine to Julian the Apostate. (1st Roman Emperor to be converted to Christianity. He established Byzantium - New Rome and the empire had two capitals - east and west - Rome and the present day Istanbul, Turkey)

9th Horn (King):- Valentinian Dynasty (364AD - 378AD) àWest - Valentinian I, Gratian, Valentinian II. / à East - Vales, Theodosius I

10th Horn (King):- Theodosian Dynasty (378AD - 455AD). àWest -> Honorus, Valentinian III [Empire collapsed in 476AD. (the miry clay kingdom). àEast --> Flavius Theodosius I, Arcadius, Theodosius II, Marcian (there was a revival of the Byzantine empire and it collapsed finally in 1453 AD (the Iron kingdom)].

According to the prophecy, three horns (kings) from the kingdom were plucked up by their roots when the little horn (king) with eyes like the eyes of man came out. These 3 were the Constantinian Dynasty, Valentinian Dynasty and the Theodosian Dynasty. These Emperors were plucked up by their pagan roots, when Constantine became converted and stopped the persecution and formed Christianity out of the existing Church. The subsequent emperors ruled the empire with the legacy of Constantine - Christian Legacy - and did away with the Roman Traditions and Customs by abolishing Paganism. What happened?

After the Jews had rejected the Gospel, Paul was chosen by God to be the minister of the Gentiles (Romans 11:13). He expounded the Gospel throughout the Gentile nations like Syria, Cilicia, Antioch, Alexandria, Rome and other regions near and far. He established his headquarters first in Tarsus and later brought it to Antioch. Later in AD68, Paul and Peter were martyred at Rome, and the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed by Emperor Nero in AD70; and all the Jews were scattered abroad. From then, the Church faced persecution until AD 312 when Constantine became Emperor and put a stop to that. His Dynasty collapsed in 363AD and was succeeded by Valentinian and Theodosian Dynasties, before the Roman empire collapsed in 476AD to give way for the Byzantine Christianity, the little horn with eyes like the eyes of man.

Why was the Church persecuted? The reasons why the Church was persecuted in these periods varied. In some cases they were perhaps scapegoats, their faith were attacked where more personal or local hostilities were at issue. There were charges of incest and cannibalism levelled against them, probably resulting from garbled accounts of the rites which Church celebrated in necessary secrecy, being the Passover feast, which is partaking of the body and blood of Christ. The Pagans were probably most suspicious of the believers refusal to sacrifice also to the Roman gods. This was an insult to the gods and potentially endangered the empire which they deigned to protect. Furthermore, the Christian refusal to offer sacrifices to the emperor, a semi-divine monarch, had the whiff of both sacrilege and treason about it.

Thus the classic test of the believer's faith was to force him or her, on pain of death, to swear by the emperor and offer incense to his images, or to sacrifice to the gods. In the mid-second-century account of the martyrdom of Polycarp, officials begged Polycarp to say 'Caesar is Lord', and to offer incense, to save his life. He refused. Later, in the arena, he was asked by the governor to swear an oath by the 'luck of Caesar'. He refused, and although he was apparently eager to meet his death, beast-fighting had been declared closed for the day and so he was burnt alive instead.

General persecutions tended to be sparked by particular events such as the fire at Rome under Nero, or during periods of particular crisis, such as the third century. During the third century the turn-over of emperors was rapid - many died violent deaths. As well as this lack of stability at the head of the empire, social relations were in turmoil, and barbarian incursions were on a threatening scale. The economy was suffering and inflation was rampant. Pagans and Believers alike observed this unrest and looked for someone or something, preferably subversive, to blame. It was hardly surprising that a series of emperors ordered savage empire-wide persecutions of the Believers. This is the Fourth Kingdom the Prophet saw and described in his visions. The persecutions of the Believers by the Emperors continued until the arrival of Emperor Constantine, whose dream of a burning cross in the heavens, put a stop to that and he became Christian.

(to be cont'd)

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