A FEARSOME BEAST PROVES TO BE DIFFERENT

Daniel described the fourth beast as "fearsome and terrible and unusually strong."  He continued: "And it had teeth of iron, big ones.  It was devouring and crushing, and what was left it was treading down with its feet. And it was something different from all the other beasts that were prior to it, and it had ten horns." (Daniel 7:7) This fearsome beast  began as the political and military power of Rome.  It gradually took over the four Hellenistic divisions of the Grecian Empire, and by the year 30 B.C.E., Rome had emerged as the next world power of Bible prophecy.  Subjugating everything in its path by military force, the Roman Empire eventually grew to cover an area that stretched from the British Isles down across much of Europe. All the way around the Mediterranean, and beyond Babylon to the Persian Gulf. 

Desiring to make certain concerning this "extraordinarily fearsome"  beast, Daniel listened intently as the angel explained:  "As for [its] ten horns, out of that kingdom there are ten kings that will rise up; and still another one will rise up after them, and he himself will be different from the first ones, and three kings he will humiliate." (Daniel 7:19, 20, 24) What were these "ten horns," or "ten kings"?

As Rome became more affluent and increasingly decadent because of the licentious living of its ruling class,m it diminished as a military power.  In time,  the decline of Rome's military strength became clearly evident.   The mighty empire eventually broke up into many kingdoms.  Since the Bible often uses the number ten to denote  completeness, the "ten horns" of the fourth beast represent all the kingdoms that resulted from Rome's dissolution. Compare Deuteronomy 4:13; Luke 15:8; 19:13, 16, 17. 

The Roman World Power, however, did not end with the removal of its last emperor in Rome in 476 B.C.E. For many centuries, papal Rome continued to exercise political, and especially religious, domination over Europe.  It did so through the feudal system, in which most inhabitants of Europe were subject to a lord, then to a king. And all kings acknowledged the authority of the pope.  thus the Holy Roman Empire with papal Rome as its focal point dominated world affairs throughout that long period of history called the Dark Ages. 

who can deny that the fourth beast was "different from all the other kingdoms"?  (Daniel 7:7, 19, 23)  In this regard, historian H.G.Wells wrote: "This new Roman power . . .was in several respects a different thing from any of the great empires that had hitherto prevailed in the civilized world. . . .[It] incorporated nearly all the Greek people in the world, and its population was less strongly  Hamitic and Semitic than that of any preceding empire . . .It was so far a new pattern in history . . .The Roman Empire was a growth, an unplanned novel growth; the Roman people found themselves engaged almost unawares in a vast administrative experiment."  Yet, the fourth beast was to have further growth. 

Next time: A SMALL HORN GAINS THE ASCENDANCY

From the book: PAY ATTENTION TO DANIEL'S PROPHECY! 1999