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Picking up from the last blog. We were marching through the prophecies in the book of Daniel and left off last time with the fall of the pagan Roman empire.
Daniel 7: 23 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.
Pause. Identify. That is the pagan Roman empire. And when it falls, here is what is next…
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.
25 And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of 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.
26 But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end.
What are the ten horns? Well, we have been told in verse 24 that “the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise.” We understand that the word “kings” is a figure of speech in which the king stands for the kingdom. Therefore, we should look for ten kingdoms that arose out of the fallen, pagan Roman empire.
Does history offer any such evidence? Indeed, it fits like a glove. First, let us recall that in 395 A.D. the Roman empire split into an eastern leg, centered at Constantinople, and the western leg remained headquartered at Rome. This also fulfilled the two legs of the statue seen by Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel in chapter 2.
The Roman emperor, Theodosius, had engineered this split because of the continuing incursions of the so-called “barbarians.” He felt that with two Caesars and two armies, the empire would be better able to withstand the invasions.
Less than one hundred years was all it took for his plan to prove unworthy to the task because by 476 A.D. the city of Rome itself had fallen to the invaders. Thus, the older and stronger leg of the empire succumbed nearly one thousand years earlier than the eastern leg.
The Eastern leg of the empire at Constantinople later became known as the Byzantine Empire and it continued to exist until 1453 A.D. when it was overrun by the forces of Islam under the Ottoman Turks.
The Byzantine empire was Greek-speaking and, just as a side note, it was the conquest of Constantinople in 1453 which forced many of the Greek-speaking Christians to flee into western Europe.
Fortunately, they brought with them their ancient Bible manuscripts which became the textual foundation of Protestant Bibles—at least until the late 1800s when Westcott & Hort made their bold and cunning move to help place Protestants back under bondage to Rome through their Revised Bible Version which incorporated the Vatican and other untrustworthy manuscripts. Of course, we have taught about all that at great length in our 20-lecture series entitled Which Bible? Which Version.
So, in the former territory of the western Roman empire there arose the ten horns—ten kingdoms. There are variations both in the number and in the names of the kingdoms if one views this over the period of the several centuries after the fall of Rome.
The number ten, however, fits better than any other, both during this period and, in fact, up until WW I. Because if you look at a map of Europe just prior to 1914, you will still find ten nations within the general outline of the territory of the old Roman empire.
But Daniel’s prophecy at this point clearly deals with the centuries immediately following the fall of pagan Rome, thus here is a list of those ten kingdoms.
Note for scholars: Much of my information comes from old books in my possession. Some of the information found therein is not found on the internet. For example, I could find nothing with a websearch of the Reigians. Sometimes there are alternate (alt.) names and spellings referring to the same tribes, kingdoms, etc. For example, regarding the Reigians, there are many alternate spellings/names, such as the the Rugii, Rugians, Rygir, Ulmerugi, Holmrygir and (Norwegian: Rugiere), and (German: Rugier). So, yes the Reigians existed!
If we moved forward in history another century, a few of the names will change, but there will still be ten kingdoms. Except that at some point, there is this little horn who comes on the scene among them. This little horn of Daniel 7 is what became known as the Roman Catholic papacy.
It is designated as a little horn which indicates that it does not enter the scene with all its later power and pomp, but that it begins relatively small, seemingly of no great consequence. Let us go back and collate the verses that deal with the little horn. First, …
Daniel 7:8 I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots:…
20 And of the ten horns that were in his head, and of the other which came up, and before whom three fell; ….
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.
The common element in all three verses is that this little horn, in some way or another, conquers or displaces three of the ten kingdoms. Can we find any such events in the rise of the papacy? Indeed, we can. And in more than one way.
Writing in volume 3 of his massive, 2,500-page work entitled, Horae Apocalypticae, E. B. Elliott suggests that the three Arian kingdoms fit the prophecy. Specifically, he says that the Heruli under Odoacer [alt., Odovacer] (who was the man who conquered Rome in 476, by the way,) along with the kingdoms of the Vandals and the Ostrogoths, were “eradicated from before the pope.”
This does not mean, of course, that the pope himself did the conquering, but that others did so on behalf of the pope, and we will get to those details shortly. Those conquered kingdoms were thereby forced to submit to the then-emerging religion of Roman Catholicism.
Looking at verse 24 again, notice that it says that this little horn would be diverse from the first. The question is: how would the little horn be different? And different from whom? Well, different from the other ten kingdoms, but different how?
One feature seems to stand out above all the rest; namely, the papacy eventually laid claim to both spiritual and temporal supremacy. Let us look at a snapshot of how the papacy came to assert both.
In the year 602, a military man had engineered a coup d’état in Constantinople and had become the new Roman emperor. His name was Phocas. The papacy, meanwhile, was in its infancy over in Rome.
And we should take just a moment to explain that word “pope” and its derivative word, “papacy.” The following information comes from Dr. Loraine Boettner, a classical Presbyterian scholar from a generation ago. From his book, entitled Roman Catholicism, first published in 1962, I quote:
“The word ‘pope,’ by which the head of the Roman Church is known, and the word ‘papacy,’ by which is meant the system of ecclesiastical government in which the pope is recognized as the supreme head, are not found in the Bible. The word ‘pope’ comes from the Latin papa, meaning ‘father.’
“But Jesus forbade his followers to call any man ‘father’ in a spiritual sense: ‘And call no man your father on the earth: for one is your Father, even he who is in heaven’ (Matt. 23: 9). For centuries, this term was applied to all priests, and even to the present day it is so used in the Eastern Church.
“In Italy, the term ‘pope’ came to be applied to all bishops as a title of honour, and then to the bishop of Rome exclusively as the universal bishop. It was first given to Gregory I by the wicked emperor Phocas, in the year 604.
“This he did to spite the bishop of Constantinople, who had justly excommunicated him for having caused the assassination of his (Phocas’) predecessor, the emperor Mauritius. Gregory, however, refused the title, but his second successor, Boniface III (607) assumed the title, and it has been the designation of the bishops of Rome ever since.”
Now back to the idea of uprooting three of the ten horns. So, while E. B. Elliott’s suggestion seems valid enough to fulfil the prophecy, other classical Protestant expositors have thought its fulfillment ought to be looked for after the papacy’s temporal dominion had been established.
We find the origins of that temporal dominion, the papal state, in the eighth century, and it came about in a manner which likewise could precisely fulfill the prophecy of the rising of the little horn. I quote now from Dr. Thomas Newton’s 730-page book called Dissertations on the Prophecies, written in 1754.
Before I commence quoting, let me give you brief definitions of a couple of words with which you may not be familiar. First, we will find mentioned the Exarchate of Ravenna. Ravenna is a city in Italy located on the coast of the northern Adriatic Sea. It was a province of the eastern empire of Constantinople. The appointed governor was called an “Exarch” and his territory, therefore, was called an “exarchate.”
Then we have the word “see,” as in “the See of Rome.” A see refers to a province or jurisdiction, or the seat of power, of a bishop, of an archbishop, or of the pope, as it does in this quotation.
“First, the exarchate of Ravenna, which of right belonged to the Greek emperors and which was the capital of their dominions in Italy, having revolted at the instigation of the pope, was unjustly seized by Aistulphus, king of the Lombards, who thereupon thought of making himself master of Italy.
The pope, in this exigency applied for help to Pepin, king of France, who marched into Italy, besieged the Lombards in Pavia, and forced them to surrender the Exarchate and other territories, which were not restored to the Greek emperor, as in justice they ought to have been, but at the solicitation of the Pope were given to St. Peter and his successors for a perpetual possession. This was affected in the year 755.
Secondly, the kingdom of the Lombards was often troublesome to the Popes: and now again King Desiderius invaded the territories of Pope Adrian I. So that the Pope was obliged to have recourse again to the king of France, and earnestly invited Charles the Great, the son and successor of Pepin, to come into Italy to his assistance. [Let me just insert here that Charles the Great is also known as Charlemagne.]
He came accordingly with a great army, being ambitious also himself of enlarging his dominions in Italy, and conquered the Lombards, and put an end to their kingdom, and gave a large part of their dominions to the Pope.
He not only confirmed the former donations of his father, Pepin, but also made an addition of other countries to them, as Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, the Sabine territory, the whole tract between Lucca and Parma, and that part of Tuscany which belonged to the Lombards: and the tables of these donations he signed himself, and caused them to be signed by the bishops, abbots, and other great men then present, and laid them so signed upon the altar of St. Peter. And this was the end of the kingdom of the Lombards, in the year of Christ, 774.
Thirdly, after Charles the Great had overthrown the kingdom of the Lombards, he came again to Rome, was chosen Roman Patrician, and then settled the affairs of Italy, and permitted the Pope to hold under him the Duchy of Rome with other territories.
After the death of Charles, his son and successor, Lewis the Pious, at the request of Pope Paschal, confirmed the donations which his father and grandfather had made to the See of Rome. These, as we conceive, were the ‘three horns,’ which fell before the little horn and the Pope has in a manner pointed himself out for the person by wearing the Triple Crown.”
That last phrase refers to the actual three-tiered crown which if I am not mistaken, the popes still wear to this day. And of course, if you are into “spiritual sign language,” the Triple Crown also nowadays refers to the Kentucky Derby, the Belmont Stakes, and the Preakness where the winners of these horse races each year seems to provide some interesting prophetic insights.
What Bishop Newton has just described is the way the papacy first came to a position of holding temporal power—power of lands, cities, and provinces. This is confirmed by no less a secular authority than the British historian, Edward Gibbon. In his Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, he wrote in chapter 49:
“The gratitude of the Carlovingians [by which term he means the kings of France—JWB] was equal to these obligations, and their names are consecrated as the saviours and benefactors of the Roman Church. Her ancient patrimony of farms and houses was transformed by their bounty into the temporal dominion of cities and provinces, and their donation of the Exarchate was the first fruits of the conquests of Pepin…
“The Exarchate comprised the territories of Ravenna, Bologna, and Ferrara; its inseparable dependency was the Pentapolis, which stretched along the Adriatic…
“In this transaction the ambition and avarice of the popes had been severely condemned. Perhaps the humility of a Christian priest [meaning the pope] should have rejected an earthly kingdom…
“The splendid donation was granted in supreme and absolute dominion, and the world beheld for the first time a Christian bishop invested with the prerogatives of a temporal prince, the choice of magistrates, the exercise of justice, the imposition of taxes, and the wealth of the palace of Ravenna.
“In the dissolution of the Lombard kingdom, the inhabitants of the duchy of Spoleto sought a refuge from the storm, shaved their heads after the Roman fashion, declared themselves the servants and subjects of St. Peter, and completed, by their voluntary surrender, the present circle of the ecclesiastical state.”
Alright, we have now seen how the little horn arose among the ten horns by subduing three of them. Now as we continue, we shall see how the little horn became “little Big horn,” if you will allow the punny reference to Custer’s last stand.
Seriously, though, we shall now briefly trace the history of the papacy and its dominant position in western history which lasted for over a thousand years. Much of this period has been justly called by historians “The Dark Ages.”
As a college student, I had an entire semester course dealing with just the rise of the Medieval Papacy, and so the best we can do here is to present a few snippets or snapshots. We are now moving into the centuries of western history described in Daniel 7, verse 8 once again. So, in partial review, we have…
Daniel 7:8 I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: …
Alright, I hope all of us can now understand how that much of that verse was fulfilled 1200 to 1500 years ago. And now the last part of this verse describes the character of the papacy.
Daniel 7:8d …and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.
And let us compare that to verse 20…
20 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.
Okay, the papacy has eyes. One can look at that literally and conclude that the popes are just flesh and blood human beings like everybody else, and that would be true. But I wonder if we might not see that figuratively and understand it this way as well.
Anytime you have an all-pervasive, totalitarian state, there is constantly great fear among the people. They are always on guard lest they say or do something which would cause them to be arrested by the authorities. Under those kinds of governments, people often use phrases such as, “Be careful what you do; the government has eyes everywhere!”
This became all the more prominent and common when papal Rome ruled Europe because through the tool of the confessional, the papacy, through their parish priests, had their “eyes” constantly peering into the most personal details of the private lives of all the people, including all the civil rulers from kings on down. Daniel’s description in verse 20 is fitting indeed: “that horn that had eyes!” And it says in the last part of verse 20: “whose look was stouter than his fellows.”
This indicates that the little horn, which had such a small beginning, eventually came to be the most powerful of all his fellows, i.e., all other rulers, whether kings or emperors. How powerful did this once-little horn become? Powerful enough to conquer God’s people for a period of centuries.
Daniel 7:21 I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them;
And in verse 25… Daniel 7:25 And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of 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.
Interesting, isn’t it? Let us pick up from this point in the next one.
