We are trying to read signs. Are we in a time of God’s judgement? Are we in ‘End Times’? As we look at possible signs, I can imagine several errors we might make:
We can take something as a sign that is not a sign. In Greek mythology, the beauty of Europa inspired the love of Zeus. He approached her in the form of a bull and carried her away from Phoenicia to Crete. The name Europe comes from that myth. In front of the Council of Europe headquarters in Strasbourg is a statue, ‘The Removal of Europa’, based on the myth. Europa is naked, riding a bull. Europa’s face also appears on EU banknotes.
‘It’s a sign!’ some people say. ‘It’s just like Revelation, a woman riding a beast.’
But is it? Or is it seeing something as a sign that is not a sign?
We can take a false sign as true. As far as I can see, every reference to a false sign in the Bible is in connection with ‘End Times’. I’m not sure what are false signs today – but the warnings are there.
We can fail to see or heed a true sign. I think this is a real risk. Jesus criticised the Pharisees and Sadducees for failing to read the signs of the times. To avoid falling into the trap of over-interpreting Scripture or signs we see around us we might be overly cautious and under-interpret, not taking note of what is reasonably evident.
In my last Reflection, I attempted to identify the fourth beast in Daniel’s prophecy and its ten horns. It seemed reasonable to imagine that the ten horns represent the nations that are the spiritual and cultural successors of the Roman Empire, countries which we think of today as the westernised nations. Some people (over-interpreters, perhaps?) see those ten horns as the European Union.
But let’s run with the hypothesis that the ten horns are the westernised nations, and return to Daniel. Daniel describes the fourth beast as ‘terrifying’, ‘dreadful’, ‘exceedingly strong’. He says, ‘It had great iron teeth; it devoured and broke in pieces and stamped what was left with its feet’ (7:7). He says much the same in 7:19, and in 7:23 adds that ‘it shall devour the whole earth, and trample it down, and break it to pieces.’
Does this description fit with the ten horns representing the westernised nations? Exceedingly strong? Yes. Iron? Yes. The world today is built on steel, which is about 98% iron. It’s especially true now. World production of steel has gone up by 600% in the space of the last 60 years. Devouring, breaking in pieces, stamping, trampling? Yes. We see the effect of the global economy on the environment. Devouring the whole earth? Yes, but it’s only in the past 50 years or so that we could say that the global economy is devouring the whole earth.
It seems to me that, without over-interpreting, there’s a lot here that supports the hypothesis that the ten horns in Daniel’s vision represent the westernised nations. However, these descriptions do not only support the hypothesis. They take us further and locate us in time. It’s really only recently that ‘devour the whole earth’ has become a reality.
There’s a poem that has spread very quickly on YouTube and Facebook called ‘The Great Realization’. Part of it goes:
You see, the people
Came up with companies
To trade across all lands
But they swelled and got much bigger
Than we ever could have planned
We’d always had out wants,
But now, it got so quick.
You could have everything you dreamed of
In a day and with a click.
Daniel doesn’t speak of God’s judgement on these nations. However, with all of this trampling and devouring going on, we can’t imagine God would be very happy. But I think we’ll have to wait until we get to Revelation for further development of these ideas.
Have a good day.
Simon
