I considered the horns, and behold, there came up among them another, a little horn, before which three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots; and behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things. Dan. 7:8
This Lesson Outline was prepared by John M. Wharton October 8, 2006
Sources –
All bible text, unless otherwise indicated, is the Darby Translation. ASV indicates the American Standard Version, with KJV indicating the King James Version. Quotations are often included from various classic Christian commentaries such as John Gill’s Expositor, Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Robertson’s New Testament Word Pictures, and others. Greek and Hebrew word definitions are often included from the Strong’’s Concordance, unless otherwise indicated. All of these sources, both the bible texts, commentaries, and Strong’’s definition’’s are taken from the excellent source the e-Sword Bible computer program unless otherwise indicated.
Watching the news –
It’s fine to watch the news with an eye to Bible prophecy. But we must always remember that what is going on in someplace in the world today, may change significantly, or totally, in a few days or weeks. A trend that seems to fulfill prophecy may play out and change, or completely reverse itself over time, and the trend you thought you saw may turn out not to be any such thing. Or it may simply continue to be a general trend but not develop any further clear shape within your lifetime.
Daniel 7 – the three horns and the little horn
News, this last week, credits some U.S. Foreign affairs experts with thinking that Iraq is headed for a breakup into three states. Kurdistan, already has a defined area of it’s own in parts of north Iraq, being somewhat independent of the rest of the country. That trend seems to be growing in the Kurdish areas. The two other leading elements seem to be the Shiites, the largest religious element in Iraq’s population, who along with the Kurds, were oppressed under Sadaam Hussein, and the Sunnis. The largest Shiite political party in the country, is now calling for a separate Shiite region in southern Iraq. That would leave the Sunni’s in a separate area of their own, in central Iraq.
Burdensome Weight of Unity Could Force Iraq Break-Up. September 20, 2006 . FoxNews. Retrieved October 1, 2006. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,214820,00.html
Daniel, in his vision of the last days, saw three countries in the Middle East that seem to have been trouble for the entire region. He also saw a little horn ruler who would arise at that time, continuing in the spirit of the ancient four world empires that Daniel had seen in chapters 5 and 7. Those four were Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece (and the smaller kingdoms out of her), and Rome. But the little horn seems to grow out of the area of the old Syrian Greek kingdom (see Dan. 10-11) which he seems to resemble (see also Rev. 13:1-2). The area in question is especially modern Syria, Jordan, and Iraq. One of his first acts will be the complete defeating of these three problem kingdoms.
Dan 7:7 After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and exceeding strong; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and broke in pieces, and stamped the rest with its feet; and it was different from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns.
Dan 7:8 I considered the horns, and behold, there came up among them another, a little horn, before which three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots; and behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things.
Dan 7:23 He said thus: The fourth beast shall be a fourth kingdom upon the earth, which shall be different from all the kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.
Dan 7:24 And as to the ten horns, out of this kingdom shall arise ten kings; and another shall arise after them; and he shall be different from the former, and he shall subdue three kings.
He will be empowered to defeat them as Daniel saw, pulling them out by their roots. He overpowers them, absorbing their territory. They aren’t mentioned again. The three were part of a group of ten horns that have arisen in the last days. They will all be in the area of the last world empire seen in Dan. 7. That was Rome. But contrary to many, they do not have to arise from the old western Roman Empire in Europe. Rome, had an eastern element as well. John, in his New Testament Revelation, saw symbols of this beastly ruler to come in the end times, and it had the body of a leopard, which reminds us of the ancient Greek kingdoms. But the beast had a bears feet.
Rev 13:1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea; and I saw a beast rising out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and upon its horns ten diadems, and upon its heads names of blasphemy.
Rev 13:2 And the beast which I saw was like to a leopardess, and its feet as of a bear, and its mouth as a lion’s mouth; and the dragon gave to it his power, and his throne, and great authority;
The bear was the second symbol that Daniel saw in his chapter 7. It represented the Medo-Persian empire coming after the lion of Babylon.
Dan 7:5 And behold, another beast, a second, like unto a bear, and it raised up itself on one side; and it had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth; and they said thus unto it: Arise, devour much flesh.
But Persia conquered Babylon, and then moved it’s capitol there. It’s growth was north, west, and south out of the Persian homeland. But not further east. So the Medo-Persian empire became centered in the heartland of the previous Babylonian empire. The area of especially Iraq and Syria today.
Will this coming breakup of Iraq into three countries become the situation the little horn inherits? No one can say that it will. The situation may yet change again. Perhaps Iraq won’t fracture. It’s just interesting that Iraq, that must be involved in the little horn’s kingdom, seems at this moment to be headed for a breakup into three smaller areas. And presumably, Iran will continue to fund and train insurgent elements unbalancing Iraq now. Radical Islam and anti-western sentiment is on the rise throughout the region. Future unrest could threaten to spread to neighboring countries, creating a real need for someone to take control in the region.
