Daniel 7:24
And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings. And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.
Daniel's vision presents four beasts as the successive empires of Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome. Its apocalyptic beasts arise from the union of church and state and cruelly crush those who oppose them. The ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings or kingdoms that arise from the Roman Empire, figured as the fourth beast.
The other king that rises after them, diverse from the first, is the little horn, the Papacy or Roman Church. It is represented as a horn even before it possessed civil power. It succeeded to the power, seat, and authority once held by the Roman Empire.
It subdued three kings, the Heruli, the Vandals, and the Ostrogoths, whose removal cleared the way for papal rule. It displaced the Heruli in 493, the Vandals in 534, and the Ostrogoths in 538. Its rise in 538 began the 1,260-year period ending in 1798.
In 1798 its dominion was taken away when French forces under Berthier entered Rome and took the city, abolished the papal government, and made the Pope a prisoner, taking him into exile and confining him in the Vatican. The papal power figured by the beast of Revelation 13 inherits the power held in succession by those empires. The verse belongs to prophecies about future ages that were not fully understood even by Daniel and were sealed until the time of the end.
It is part of the mysteries of the future taught through figures and symbols and recorded for coming generations, covering the events of this world's history till the close of time. The prophecies of Daniel are to be studied carefully as figurative outlines of events in prophetic history leading to the close of earth's history, with historical events showing their fulfillment in order. Understanding was given in visions and dreams with the spirit of prophetic power because Daniel clung to God with unwavering trust, firmness, self-denial, and purity of motive, and God blessed him with knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom in fulfillment of the promise that those who honor God will be honored.