Introduction: How good are you at putting together a jigsaw puzzle?
You might begin by trying to match the color and pattern, then you
make sure the shape is right. Getting the right piece is not always
easy. Our lesson this week reminds me of a jigsaw puzzle. We are
going to compare certain historic “pieces” and see which seems to fit
the best. Let’s plunge into our study of the Bible to see what we can
learn!
- Sea Beast
- Read Revelation 13:1. From where does this beast come?
(The sea.) - Imagine catching this thing in your fishing net! If
you did, could you say that you had seen one of these
before? (Read Daniel 7:7. You have seen a Ten Horn
before!) - Read Daniel 7:2-3. From where does the Daniel 7 Ten Horn
come? (From the sea. They may be the same Ten Horn.) - What does the water from which Ten Horn comes
represent? (Read Revelation 17:15. “Peoples,
multitudes, nations and languages.”) - Read Revelation 17:7. Is this the same Ten Horn? (How many
can there be? It seems the same.) - Read Revelation 13:5-7. What do we know about this Ten
Horn? (He is proud, he blasphemes God, and makes war
against the saints. However, he has a limited time of
authority.) - Like us, Daniel is very interested in learning more
information about Ten Horn. Let’s follow Daniel’s
questions and see what we can learn. Read Daniel 7:19-22
and then Daniel 7:23-24. What are the ten horns? (Ten
kings.) - John is also astonished by Mr. Ten Horn. Read Revelation
17:8. What kind of a time line does Ten Horn have? (As far
as the unsaved are concerned, he has a gap somewhere in
the middle of his life.) - Read Revelation 17:9-10. What are the “heads” of the Ten
Horn? (They are “hills” and they are also “kings.”) - Read Revelation 17:11-12. What are the “horns” of Mr. Ten
Horn? (Again we see that they are kings who have not yet
received a kingdom. One of them also seems to be a beast.
They are hostile to God. It seems that the odd time line
really belongs to one of the horns.) - Read Daniel 2:36-42. Do you recall this story from Lesson
2 in this series? What did we decide was the “fourth
kingdom, strong as iron?” (The Roman Empire.) - Let’s put our jigsaw puzzle skills to work. Does this
fourth iron kingdom of Daniel 2 seem to be the Ten Horn of
Daniel 7, Revelation 17, and Revelation 13? (It fits well
enough for me. The Revelation 17:9 reference to the “seven
hills” connects it to the city of Rome, which is situated
on seven hills, and is the capital of the Roman Empire.) - Did the Roman Empire persecute the saints?
(Absolutely. It killed Jesus. It killed Paul.) - There is some information about Ten Horn that raises an
issue. Read Daniel 7:15-17. This says Ten Horn arose from
the “earth” and not the sea. What should we make of this?
(I don’t know. All of the other parts match.) - Friend, the conclusion that we have reached at this point
is widely held by students of the Bible. Where we go next,
the question of the Little Horn was subject to more
uniform agreement among the scholars of 150 years ago.) - Little Horn
- Look again at Daniel 7:7-8. We have seen references to
this “little” horn as part of the Ten Horn. What does that
tell us about Little Horn? (It had its origin in the Roman
Empire.) - To what is this Little Horn compared? (A man.)
- What might that mean? (It suggests that the
importance of the kingdom is centered in a
person.) - What does Little Horn displace? (It uproots three
horns (kings). The Jamieson, Fausset and Brown
Commentary describes the three kings and shows, as a
historical matter, how their kingdoms were turned
over to the Papacy – the religious power that arose
from the Roman Empire.) - Look again at Daniel 7:24-26. What does this view of
Little Horn reveal? (That it opposes God, oppresses the
saints, and tries to change “the set times and laws.) - Did you notice the time period given? What is it?
(One year, two years and half a year. This would
equal 1,260 days, or if we conclude that these days
are symbolic/prophetic years (see Ezekiel 4:6), it
would be 1,260 years.) - Read Revelation 13:5-7. What time period do we find
here? (The same as in Daniel 7. Forty-two months
times 30 equals 1,260!) - What should we decide about this piece of the jigsaw
puzzle? The JFB Commentary, as I mentioned above, says the
Papacy is the Little Horn – which was a very common belief
among Protestants 150 years ago. What do you think? (My
heart and my head are in conflict. I hate attacking fellow
Christians. In my religious liberty litigation I have
represented wonderful, sincere Catholics who are now my
friends. The entertainment media attacks on the Catholic
Church make me angry. However, the historic transfer of
power from the Roman Empire to the Vatican appears, in
this jigsaw puzzle, to fit the prophecies of Daniel and
Revelation. Roman Emperor Hadrian, in A.D. 135, was
central to the change in the day of worship from Saturday
to Sunday. According to the web site: www.catholic.com the
Catechism states “The Church celebrates the day of
Christ’s Resurrection on the ‘eighth day,’ Sunday, which
is rightly called the Lord’s Day.” The Roman Empire and
the Catholic Church have a very bad history of killing
Christians. I cannot ignore that.) - This 1,260 day/year time period fits A.D. 38 to A.D.
1798. The latter year is when the Pope was taken
captive. What does this suggest about our jigsaw
puzzle of history? - Earth Beast
- Read Revelation 13:11. Notice that this beast seems to
follow the Little Horn. Thus, it should come “out of the
earth” around the last date for the Little Horn – 1798.
When was the United States created? (July 4, 1776.) - When was Australia founded? (January 1, 1901.
However, its first penal colony was established on
January 1788.) - When was Canada founded? (July 1, 1867.)
- When was New Zealand founded? (May 7, 1856.)
- When did Peter the Great found the Russian Empire?
(1721.) - When was the French Revolution? (1789-1799.)
- If the date 1798 is important to determining the identity
of the Earth Beast, we have several countries that have
significant dates around that time. Let’s examine them
further to see if they fit our jigsaw puzzle. Revelation
13:11 says that this beast arose “out of the earth.” Some
suggest this means a lightly populated area. Which of our
candidates fit that criteria? (The U.S., Canada,
Australia, New Zealand, and, perhaps the Russian Empire.) - Recall that Daniel 7:17 says that the Roman Empire
arose “from the earth.” If “earth” refers to
geography, and not population, then that would point
to France. The Russian Empire and the Roman Empire
also overlapped.) - Read Revelation 13:11-12. Have any of our candidates
caused the world to worship the Ten Horn or the Little
Horn? (My understanding of history is not perfect, but I
think the answer is “no.” The U.S., Canada, Australia and
New Zealand have historically allowed religious freedom.
The U.S. population (which is largely Protestant) has been
prejudiced against the Catholic Church. The French
Revolution was hostile to religion. The Russian Empire had
the Orthodox Catholic Church as its state religion.
However, in AD 1054 it split with the Roman Catholic
Church over the authority of the Pope. None of our
candidates fit this description – at least not so far.) - Read Revelation 13:13. Have any of our candidates caused
“fire to come down from the heaven to earth in full view
of men?” (If you watched the U.S. invasion of Iraq, you
saw this. Does television constitute “full view of men?”) - Read Revelation 13:14-15. Has this happened? (No.)
- What should we do about this piece of the jigsaw
puzzle? (We need to keep our eyes open to see what
power best fits the description of the Earth Beast.) - Friend, the religious world did not expect Jesus to come
the way He did, even though there were many prophecies
about His coming. This cautions us to be alert and
continue to study the Bible and compare current events.
Will you commit to being ever alert? - Next week: God’s Seal or the Beast’s Mark?
