The Little Horn Series

The Prophecies of Daniel

Part 4: The Little Horn

This morning we are ready for part four of our teaching series on the prophecies found in the Old Testament book of Daniel. The prophecies found in this book concern a period of time called the Times of the Gentiles. This morning I am going to be proposing a few interpretations of some of these prophecies that differ greatly from the more popularly held interpretations. I will leave it up to your own judgment as to which view you see as more likely.

Last week we began looking at the second vision given in chapter seven of Daniel. This is the vision of the Four Wild Beasts. We saw how these four wild beasts corresponded with the four metals of the giant statue in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in chapter two. The metals and the beasts both represent the four gentile empires that ruled the earth in the area of the Middle East. These kingdoms were the Babylonian Empire, the Medo-Persian Empire, the Grecian Empire, and the Ancient Roman Empire.

I. The Fourth Beast

We only barely touched on the fourth beast with its ten horns and the one little horn that came up among them. That is where we are going to pick up today. Let’s reread some of the verses in Daniel seven that discuss this beast in order to refresh our memories.

Daniel 7:7-8,11, “After that, in my vision at night I looked, and there before me was a fourth beast – terrifying and frightening and very powerful. It had large iron teeth; it crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left. It was different from all the former beasts, and it had ten horns.

[8] “While I was thinking about the horns, there before me was another horn, a little one, which came up among them; and three of the first horns were uprooted before it. This horn had eyes like a man and a mouth that spoke boastfully.

[11] “Then I continued to watch because of the boastful words the horn was speaking. I kept looking until the beast was slain and its body destroyed and thrown into the blazing fire.”

As we said last week, this fourth beast is a kingdom or empire that arises from the Mediterranean region. The fact that this beast has teeth of iron and ten horns helps us connect it with the iron legs and the iron and clay feet and toes of Nebuchadnezzar’s statue. Therefore, the fourth beast represents the Ancient Roman Empire. And the ten horns represent the Last Days Empire made up of a ten federated kingdom that will come up out of the Ancient Roman Empire.

A. The Ten Horns

Now, many scholars have speculated that this Last Days federation will arise in Europe because this was the area that the Ancient Roman Empire controlled. This leads them to speculate that the European Union could be the ten federated kingdom from which the antichrist rises to power. While I’m not saying that they are wrong, I want to show you some things as we go along that I believe may fit the prophecy a little bit better.

Look at the map I gave you. This is a map of the Ancient Roman Empire. Most people don’t realize just how large the Empire was. Notice all of the territory it covered. Now remember when we talked about the Colossus of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream have two legs of iron and that those two legs represented the two divisions the Roman Empire was split into? (I’ve drawn a red line at the approximate point on this map where the division between the east and west took place.)

Okay, so here are my thoughts on this matter. If you look at this map, most scholars are saying that the ten toes or horns and the antichrist that arises amongst them will come from the western division of the Ancient Roman Empire. Now, this makes sense because Western Rome is along the Great Sea or the Mediterranean Sea. So, this interpretation is possible. And most people like it because we can relate to the Western division since we, as Americans, are a product of that part of the Empire.

Now, I’m not saying that these scholars are wrong. However, as I’ve studied this more on my own, I believe it makes more sense for the Last Days, ten federated empire to arise from the eastern division of the Ancient Roman Empire.

Let me explain. Think about all of the other empires depicted in this vision and the vision of the Colossus. Babylon, Medo-Persia, and Greece all controlled a certain area of the world. They controlled the territories east of the Mediterranean Sea, which today we refer to as the Middle East. Now look at the map again. Which division of the Ancient Roman Empire encompasses the Middle East? The eastern division. So, wouldn’t it make more sense if the final world power also came from this same area?