1. Repeat Dan. 7:24. What was to arise after the ten horns on the fourth beast, in this line of prophecy? How was this power to compare with the first ten?—They were political powers; this, then, to be diverse, must be religious. What religious power, claiming sovereignty, arose in the territory of the Roman Empire?—The Papacy. What was this little horn first to subdue? Tell what three kingdoms, out of the ten, were subdued.—The Heruli, Vandals, Ostrogoths. See Note 1.
2. What attitude was this power to assume toward the Most High? Repeat Dan. 7:25. Tell how the Papacy has fulfilled this specification. See note 2. How were the saints of the Most High to be treated by this power? What blasphemous attempt was to be made by this power against the law of God? What New Testament description do we have of this same power? 2 Thess. 2:4.
3. What apparent change in the law of God is acknowledged by nearly the whole Christian world?—The substitution of the first day for the seventh as the day of the Sabbath.
4. Was there to be a limit to the time that the little horn power would have dominion over the saints, times, and laws of the Most High? Dan. 7:25, last clause. Note 3.
5. Give historical dates and facts, marking the beginning and the termination of the temporal supremacy of the Papacy. Note 4.
6. Repeat Dan. 7:26. How long will it be before this power will be consumed? Compare 2 Thess. 2:8.
7. How will the fate of this fourth beast differ from that of the three which preceded it? Verses 11, 12. Note 5.
8. Who will then appear upon the scene as the rightful ruler of the kingdom which for a time had been usurped by Satan? Verse 27.
NOTES.
1. Following the Council of Nicea, called by Constantine in A. D. 325, the Arian powers were uncompromisingly opposed to the claims of supremacy put forth by the bishop of Rome. The Heruli, in Italy, were the greatest foe of the Papacy. The pope's successor could not be chosen without their consent. In A. D. 490 Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths, desiring more territory, obtained a commission from Zeno, emperor of the East, and a friend of the pope, to take possession of Italy. After a three years' war, the Herulian kingdom in Italy was overthrown. Thus the first of the three opposing powers to the establishment of the papal supremacy was "plucked up by the roots," in the year 493. Yet the Ostrogoths were also Arian, and still the bishop of Rome was in a measure restrained, while the Vandals in Africa defied the power of Rome. Next the Vandals fell before a conquering army sent by Justinian, emperor of the East (534), and, later, the Ostrogothic power was forever broken in Italy (538). Thus was the way prepared for the exaltation of the Roman bishopric.
2. The Papacy has indeed spoken great words against the Most High, by assuming titles and prerogatives which belong only to God. The following are samples of many quotations that might be given:—
"The most holy and most happy, who is the arbiter of heaven and the Lord of the earth, the successor of St. Peter, the anointed of the Lord, the master of the universe, the father of kings, the light of the world."—Titles assumed by Pope Martin V., in despatches to his ambassador to Constantinople.
"The pope is all in all, and above all, so that God Himself and the pope, the vicar of God, are but one consistory."—Hostiensis Cap., etc.
"Given in Rome from our palace, the 20th of February, 1817, the XIV. jurisdiction of the most holy pontiff and father in Christ, and Lord our God the pope, Leo XII., etc.—Conclusion of Dr. Giustianni's ordination letter."
3. In Hebrew usage a time means a year. (See Dan. 11:13, margin.) The period given would therefore be a "time" (1 year), "times" (plural, 2 years), and a dividing, or half a time (½ year), all together, 3½ years. In the reckoning of Bible times 360 days to the year, the period would be 1260 days. We are dealing with symbolic prophecy, however, in which one day stands for a year (see Num. 14:34; Eze. 4:6), so that the duration of the prophetic period would be 1260 years.
4. The last of the opposing Arian powers was plucked up in 538, when the Roman Papacy was free to assert its sovereignty. Just 1260 years from this date bring us to 1798, in which year the French troops took the pope prisoner, and for a time it appeared as tho the Papacy had received a death blow.
5. When Babylon, Media-Persia, and Grecia came to the end of their existence as empires, the people who composed those kingdoms passed down and became merged into the successive kingdoms. Thus "they had their dominion taken away; yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a time." But when the fourth beast shall be "slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame," then shall "the kingdoms of this world . . . become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign forever and ever."
