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THE JUDGMENT;

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Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · May 4, 1876

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 2, No. 21.

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THE JUDGMENT;

By James White

OR, THE WAYMARKS OF DANIEL TO THE HOLY CITY.

(Concluded.)
Verses 13, 14. “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. 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.”
The scene here described is not the second advent of Christ to this earth. It is a coming to the Ancient of Days, who is not on earth, but in Heaven. There, in the presence of the Ancient of Days, a kingdom, dominion, and glory, are given him. The Son of man receives his kingdom before his return to this earth. See Luke 19 : 10–12, and onward. This is a scene, therefore, which transpires in the heavenly temple, and is closely connected with that brought to view in verses 9 and 10. He receives the kingdom at the close of his priestly work in the sanctuary. The peoples, nations, and languages, that shall serve him are the nations of the saved, Rev. 21 : 24, not the wicked nations of the earth; for these are dashed in pieces at the second advent. Some out of all the nations, tribes, and kindreds of the earth will find themselves at last in the kingdom of God, to serve him there with joy and gladness forever and ever.
Verses 15–18. “I Daniel was grieved in my spirit in the midst of my body, and the visions of my head troubled me. I came near unto one of them that stood by, and asked him the truth of all this. So he told me, and made me know the interpretation of the things. These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth. But the saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever.”
No less anxious should we be than was Daniel, to understand the truth of all this. And whenever we inquire with equal sincerity of heart, we shall find the Lord no less ready now, than in the days of the prophet, to lead to a correct knowledge of these important truths. The beasts and the kingdoms which they represent, have already been explained. We have followed the prophet down through the course of events even to the complete destruction of the fourth and last beast, the final subversion of all earthly governments. What next? The saints take the kingdom. The saints, those of all others held in low esteem in this world, despised, reproached, persecuted, cast out, who were considered the least likely of all men ever to realize their hopes, take the kingdom and possess it forever.
Verses 19, 20. “Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast, which was diverse from all the others, exceeding dreadful, whose teeth were of iron, and his nails of brass; which devoured, brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with his feet; and of the ten horns that were in his head, and of the other which came up, and before whom three fell; even of that horn that had eyes and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look was more stout than his fellows.”
Of the first three beasts of this series, Daniel had so clear an understanding that he had no trouble in reference to them. But he was astonished at this fourth beast so unnatural and dreadful. Wonderful was all this to the prophet, but something still more wonderful appears. It is the little horn that thrusts up three of the ten horns as it comes up. This horn has eyes, not the uncalculating eyes of a brute, but the keen, intelligent eyes of a man. It also has a mouth which utters proud sayings, and puts forth preposterous and arrogant claims.
Verses 21, 22. “I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them; until the Ancient of Days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.”
Daniel saw this horn making war upon the saints. Has this been true of the papacy? Let fifty millions of martyrs answer. Witness the cruel persecution of the popes of Rome against the Waldenses, the Albigenses, and Protestants in general. It is stated on good authority that the persecutions, massacres, and religious wars, excited by the Roman church, have occasioned the shedding of far more blood of the saints of the Most High than all the enmity, hostility, and persecutions, of all the heathen from the foundation of the world.
Verses 23–25. “Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces. And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise; and another shall arise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings. And he shall speak great words against the Most High, and think to change times and laws; and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.”
We briefly notice the specification of the fourth beast, its ten horns, and the little horn, as follows:—
1. The fourth beast. This beast represents the fourth universal empire, which is Rome, the same as symbolized by the fourth, or iron division of the great metallic image of chapter 2. Rome answers to the prophecy in diversity from other kingdoms, and in the universality and tyranny of her iron rule. “The empire of the Romans,” says Gibbon, “filled the world. And when that empire fell into the hands of a single person, the world became a safe and dreary prison for his enemies. To resist was fatal; and it was impossible to fly.”
2. The ten horns. Between the years A. D. 356 and 483, the Roman empire was divided into ten kingdoms, as noticed in remarks on verse 8. Thus, the ten horns are ten kings, or kingdoms, that arise out of the Roman empire.
3. The little horn. It will be admitted that a power has arisen answering with great exactness to the specifications of this horn, and that it is the papacy. It speaks great words against the Most High, and wears out the saints. The same character is given in Rev. 13 : 6, 7: “And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in Heaven, and it was given unto him to make war with the saints.” Paul calls this same power “the son of perdition, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God.” 2 Thess. 2 : 3, 4. The titles which the popes have assumed, of “Most Holy Lord,” and their pretensions to pardon sin, even before its commission, if we had nothing else, sufficiently establish the blasphemous character of that power.
Pope Innocent III. writes: “He [Christ] hath set one man over the world, him whom he hath appointed his vicar on earth; and as to Christ is bent every knee in heaven, in earth, and under the earth, so shall obedience and service be paid to his vicar by all, that there may be one fold and one shepherd.”
Again, Pope Gregory VII. says, “The Roman pontiff alone is by right universal. In him alone is the right of making laws. Let all kings kiss the feet of the pope. His name alone shall be heard in the churches. It is the only name in the world. It is his right to depose kings. His word is not to be repealed by any one. It is to be repealed by himself alone. He is to be judged by none. The church of Rome has never erred, and the Scriptures testify it never shall err.”
Here, most certainly, is a power diverse from all others, and proud and blasphemous enough to answer the character of the little horn. It is said of this horn that he shall think to change times and laws. What laws? and whose? Not the laws of other earthly governments; for it was nothing marvelous nor strange for one power to change the laws of another, whenever it could bring such power under its dominion. Not human laws of any kind; for the little horn had power to change these so far as its jurisdiction extended; but the times and laws in question were such as this power should only think to change, but not be able to change. They are the laws of the same Being to whom the saints belong, whom it wears out with persecution; namely, the laws of the Most High. And has the papacy attempted this? Yes, even this. It has expunged the second commandment to make way for its adoration of images. It has divided the tenth to make up the number. And, more audacious than all! it has taken hold of the fourth commandment, torn from its place the Sabbath of Jehovah, the only memorial of the great God ever given to man, and erected in its place a rival institution to serve another purpose. See Catholic catechisms, and the work entitled, “Who Changed the Sabbath?”
4. The period expressed by the prophetic phrase, and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time. The pronoun, they, embraces the saints, the times, and the laws just mentioned. How long a time were they to be given into the hands of this power? A time, see chapter 4 : 23, is one year; two times, the least that could be denoted by the plural, two years, and the dividing of time, or half a time, half a year. We thus have three years and a half for the continuance of this power. We must now consider that we are in the midst of symbolic prophecy; hence this measurement is not literal but prophetic. The inquiry then arises how long a period is denoted by the three years and a half prophetic time? The only rule given us in the Bible is, that when a day is used as a symbol, it stands for a year. Eze. 4 : 6. Num. 14 : 34. The ordinary Jewish year, which must be used as the basis of reckoning, contained three hundred and sixty days. Three years and a half contained twelve hundred and sixty days. Each day standing for a year, we have twelve hundred and sixty years for the continuation of this horn. Did the papacy possess dominion that length of time? The answer again is, Yes.
The edict of the Emperor Justinian, dated A. D. 533, made the bishop of Rome the head of all the churches. But this edict could not go into effect till the Arian Ostrogoths, the last of the three horns that were plucked up to make room for the papacy, were driven from Rome, and this was not accomplished till A. D. 538. The edict would have been of no effect had this latter event not been accomplished; hence from this latter year we are to date, as this was the earliest point where the saints were in reality in the hands of this power. From this point did the papacy hold supremacy for twelve hundred and sixty years? Exactly.
Verse 26. “But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end.”
At the close of the long period of its blasphemous and bloody rule, judgment finally sits upon the papacy. The time had come for the prophetic words of Rev. 13 : 10, to be fulfilled: “He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity; he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword.” From A. D. 538 the clearly defined date for the commencement of this prophetic period, measures 1260 years, and we are brought to A. D. 1798, when Berthier, a French general, entered Rome, proclaimed a republic, took the pope a prisoner, and for a time abolished the papacy. And it has never since enjoyed the privileges and immunities which it possessed before. Thus again this power fulfills, to the very letter, the specifications of the prophecy.
Some very startling events relative to the papacy, filling up the prophecies uttered in this chapter concerning that power, have taken place within a few years of the present time. Commencing in 1798 where the great national judgment fell upon the papacy, what have been the chief characteristics of its history? Answer: The rapid defection of its natural supporters, and greater assumptions on its own part. At the close of the 2300 days of chapter 8, in 1844, judgment of another kind began to sit, namely, the investigative judgment in the heavenly sanctuary, preparatory to the coming of Christ. Dec. 8, 1854, the dogma of the Immaculate Conception was decreed by the pope. July 21, 1870, in the great Ecumenical Council assembled at Rome, it was deliberately decreed by a vote of 538 against 2 that the pope was infallible. In the same year Napoleon, by whose bayonets the pope was kept upon his throne, was crushed by Prussia, and the last prop was knocked from under the papacy. Then Victor Emanuel, seizing this opportunity to carry out the long-cherished dream of a united Italy, seized Rome to make it the capital of his kingdom. To his troops under General Cadorna, Rome surrendered, Sept. 20, 1870. Then the last vestige of the temporal power departed, nevermore, said Victor Emanuel, to be restored; and the pope has been virtually a prisoner in his own palace since that time. Because of the great words which the horn uttered, Daniel saw the beast destroyed and given to the burning flame. This destruction is to take place at the second coming of Christ and by means of that event; for the man of sin is to be consumed by the spirit of Christ’s mouth, and destroyed by the brightness of his coming. 2 Thess. 2 : 8. What words could be greater, more presumptuous, more blasphemous, more insulting to high Heaven, than the deliberate adoption of the dogma of Infallibility, clothing a mortal man with the prerogative of the Deity, which was accomplished by papal intrigue and influence, July 21, 1870! Following in swift succession, the last vestige of temporal power was swept from his grasp. It was because of these words, and as if in almost immediate connection with them, that the prophet saw this power given to the burning flame. His dominion was to be consumed unto the end; implying that when the last vestige of his power was consumed as a civil ruler, the end is not far off.
Verses 27, 28. “And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him. Hitherto is the end of the matter. As for me Daniel, my cogitations much troubled me, and my countenance changed in me; but I kept the matter in my heart.”
After beholding the dark and desolate picture of papal oppression upon the church, the prophet once more turns his eyes with delight upon the glorious period of the saints’ rest, when they shall have the kingdom in everlasting possession. What could the children of God do in this present evil world, sighing over the misrule and oppression of the governments of earth, and the abominations that are done in the land, if they could not look forward to the kingdom of God, and the return of their Lord, with full assurance that the promises concerning them both shall certainly be fulfilled, and that speedily?
Now let us see whereabouts we are in prophetic chain. We have passed the lion, Babylon. We have also passed the bear with three ribs in his mouth. The sign of the leopard with four wings of a fowl and four heads has been passed. The dreadful and terrible beast with ten horns has been seen. We have passed the little horn having eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things. That is among the things numbered in the past. What comes next? The Judgment and God’s everlasting kingdom.
JAMES WHITE.