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WORLD POWERS OF DANIEL’S PROPHECY

The immense image (Daniel 2:31-45)

Four beasts out of the sea (Daniel 7:3-8, 17, 25)

BABYLONIA from 607 B.C.E.

MEDO-PERSIA from 539 B.C.E.

GREECE from 331 B.C.E

ROME from 30 B.C.E.

ANGLO-AMERICAN WORLD POWER from 1763 C.E.

POLITICALLY DIVIDED WORLD in the time of the end

Chapter Nine

Who Will Rule the World?

1-3. Describe the dream and visions that Daniel had in the first year of Belshazzar’s reign.

DANIEL’S gripping prophecy now takes us back to the first year of Babylonian King Belshazzar. Daniel has long been an exile in Babylon, but never has he wavered in his integrity to Jehovah. Now in his 70’s, the faithful prophet beholds “a dream and visions of his head upon his bed.” And how those visions frighten him!—Daniel 7:1, 15.

² “See there!” exclaims Daniel. “The four winds of the heavens were stirring up the vast sea. And four huge beasts were coming up out of the sea, each one being different from the others.” What remarkable beasts! The first is a winged lion, and the second is like a bear. Then comes a leopard with four wings and four heads! The unusually strong fourth beast has large iron teeth and ten horns. In among its ten horns rises a “small” horn having “eyes like the eyes of a man” and “a mouth speaking grandiose things.”—Daniel 7:2-8.

³ Daniel’s visions next turn heavenward. The Ancient of Days sits gloriously enthroned as Judge in the heavenly Court. ‘There are a thousand thousands that keep ministering to him, and ten thousand times ten thousand that keep standing right before him.’ Judging the beasts adversely, he takes rulership away from them and destroys the fourth beast. Lasting rulership over “the peoples, national groups and languages” is vested in “someone like a son of man.”—Daniel 7:9-14.

4. (a) To whom did Daniel turn for reliable information? (b) Why is what Daniel saw and heard that night important to us?

⁴ “As for me,” says Daniel, “my spirit was distressed within on account of it, and the very visions of my head began to frighten me.” So he seeks from an angel “reliable information on all this.” The angel indeed provides him “the very interpretation of the matters.” (Daniel 7:15-28) What Daniel saw and heard that night is of great interest to us, for it outlined future world events reaching into our times, when “someone like a son of man” is given rulership over all “peoples, national groups and languages.” With the help of God’s Word and spirit, we too can understand the meaning of these prophetic visions.a

FOUR BEASTS COME OUT OF THE SEA

5. What does the windswept sea symbolize?

⁵ “Four huge beasts were coming up out of the sea,” said Daniel. (Daniel 7:3) What was symbolized by the windswept sea? Years later, the apostle John saw a seven-headed wild beast come out of the “sea.” That sea represented “peoples and crowds and nations and tongues”—the vast body of mankind estranged from God. The sea, then, is a fitting symbol of the masses of mankind alienated from God.—Revelation 13:1, 2; 17:15; Isaiah 57:20.

6. What do the four beasts picture?

⁶ “As for these huge beasts,” said God’s angel, “because they are four, there are four kings that will stand up from the earth.” (Daniel 7:17) Clearly, the angel identified the four beasts that Daniel saw as “four kings.” Thus, these beasts signify world powers. But which ones?

7. (a) What do certain Bible expositors say about Daniel’s dream-vision of the four beasts and King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of an immense image? (b) What do each of the four metallic parts of the image represent?

⁷ Bible expositors commonly link Daniel’s dream-vision of four beasts with Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of an immense image. For example, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary states: “Chapter 7 [of Daniel] parallels chapter 2.” The Wycliffe Bible Commentary says: “It is generally agreed that the succession of four Gentile dominions . . . is the same here [in Daniel chapter 7] as that contemplated in [Daniel] chapter 2.” The four world powers represented by the four metals of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream were the Babylonian Empire (gold head), Medo-Persia (silver breasts and arms), Greece (copper belly and thighs), and the Roman Empire (iron legs).b (Daniel 2:32, 33) Let us see how these kingdoms correspond to the four huge beasts that Daniel saw.

FEROCIOUS AS A LION, QUICK AS AN EAGLE

8. (a) How did Daniel describe the first beast? (b) What empire did the first beast represent, and how did it act like a lion?

⁸ What beasts Daniel beheld! Describing one, he said: “The first one was like a lion, and it had the wings of an eagle. I kept on beholding until its wings were plucked out, and it was lifted up from the earth and was made to stand up on two feet just like a man, and there was given to it the heart of a man.” (Daniel 7:4) This beast pictured the same rulership as that represented by the head of gold of the immense image, the Babylonian World Power (607-539 B.C.E.). Like a predatory “lion,” Babylon fiercely devoured nations, including God’s people. (Jeremiah 4:5-7; 50:17) As if with the wings of an eagle, this “lion” sped forward in aggressive conquest.—Lamentations 4:19; Habakkuk 1:6-8.

9. What changes did the lionlike beast undergo, and how did these affect it?

⁹ In time, the unique winged lion had its wings “plucked out.” Near the end of King Belshazzar’s rule, Babylon lost its speed of conquest and its lionlike supremacy over the nations. It was no faster than a man on two feet. Getting “the heart of a man,” it became weak. Lacking “the heart of the lion,” Babylon could no longer behave like king “among the beasts of a forest.” (Compare 2 Samuel 17:10; Micah 5:8.) Another huge beast vanquished it.

VORACIOUS AS A BEAR

10. What line of rulers did the “bear” symbolize?

¹⁰ “See there!” said Daniel, “another beast, a second one, it being like a bear. And on one side it was raised up, and there were three ribs in its mouth between its teeth; and this is what they were saying to it, ‘Get up, eat much flesh.’” (Daniel 7:5) The king symbolized by the “bear” was the very same as that represented by the silver breasts and arms of the great image—the line of Medo-Persian rulers (539-331 B.C.E.) starting with Darius the Mede and Cyrus the Great and ending with Darius III.

11. What did the symbolic bear’s being raised up on one side and its having three ribs in its mouth signify?

¹¹ The symbolic bear was ‘raised up on one side,’ perhaps to get ready to attack and subdue nations and thus maintain world power. Or this position may have been intended to show that the Persian line of rulers would gain the ascendancy over the sole Median king, Darius. The three ribs between the bear’s teeth could denote the three directions in which it pushed its conquests. The Medo-Persian “bear” went to the north to seize Babylon in 539 B.C.E. Then it went westward through Asia Minor and into Thrace. Finally, the “bear” went to the south to conquer Egypt. Since the number three at times symbolizes intensity, the three ribs may also emphasize the symbolic bear’s greed for conquest.

12. What resulted from the symbolic bear’s obeying the command: “Get up, eat much flesh”?

¹² The “bear” assaulted nations in response to the words: “Get up, eat much flesh.” By devouring Babylon according to the divine will, Medo-Persia was in a position to perform a valuable service toward Jehovah’s people. And it did! (See “A Tolerant Monarch,” on page 149.) Through Cyrus the Great, Darius I (Darius the Great), and Artaxerxes I, Medo-Persia freed Babylon’s Jewish captives and helped them rebuild Jehovah’s temple and repair Jerusalem’s walls. In time, Medo-Persia came to rule over 127 jurisdictional districts, and Queen Esther’s husband, Ahasuerus (Xerxes I), was “king from India to Ethiopia.” (Esther 1:1) However, the rise of another beast was in the offing.

SWIFT AS A WINGED LEOPARD!

13. (a) What did the third beast symbolize? (b) What can be said about the speed of the third beast and the domain it occupied?

¹³ The third beast was “like a leopard, but it had four wings of a flying creature on its back. And the beast had four heads, and there was given to it rulership indeed.” (Daniel 7:6) Like its counterpart—the copper belly and thighs of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream image—this four-winged, four-headed leopard symbolized the Macedonian, or Grecian, line of rulers starting with Alexander the Great. With the agility and speed of a leopard, Alexander moved through Asia Minor, south into Egypt, and on to the western border of India. (Compare Habakkuk 1:8.) His domain was greater than that of the “bear,” for it included Macedonia, Greece, and the Persian Empire.—See “A Young King Conquers the World,” on page 153.

14. How did the “leopard” become four-headed?

¹⁴ The “leopard” became four-headed after Alexander died in 323 B.C.E. Four of his generals eventually became his successors in different sections of his domain. Seleucus held Mesopotamia and Syria. Ptolemy controlled Egypt and Palestine. Lysimachus ruled over Asia Minor and Thrace, and Cassander got Macedonia and Greece. (See “A Vast Kingdom Is Divided,” on page 162.) Then a new menace arose.

A FEARSOME BEAST PROVES TO BE DIFFERENT

15. (a) Describe the fourth beast. (b) What did the fourth beast symbolize, and how did it crush and devour everything in its path?

¹⁵ Daniel described the fourth beast as “fearsome and terrible and unusually strong.” He continued: “And it had teeth of iron, big ones. It was devouring and crushing, and what was left it was treading down with its feet. And it was something different from all the other beasts that were prior to it, and it had ten horns.” (Daniel 7:7) This fearsome beast began as the political and military power of Rome. It gradually took over the four Hellenistic divisions of the Grecian Empire, and by the year 30 B.C.E., Rome had emerged as the next world power of Bible prophecy. Subjugating everything in its path by military force, the Roman Empire eventually grew to cover an area that stretched from the British Isles down across much of Europe, all the way around the Mediterranean, and beyond Babylon to the Persian Gulf.

16. What information did the angel give about the fourth beast?

¹⁶ Desiring to make certain concerning this “extraordinarily fearsome” beast, Daniel listened intently as the angel explained: “As for [its] ten horns, out of that kingdom there are ten kings that will rise up; and still another one will rise up after them, and he himself will be different from the first ones, and three kings he will humiliate.” (Daniel 7:19, 20, 24) What were these “ten horns,” or “ten kings”?

17. What do the “ten horns” of the fourth beast symbolize?

¹⁷ As Rome became more affluent and increasingly decadent because of the licentious living of its ruling class, it diminished as a military power. In time, the decline of Rome’s military strength became clearly evident. The mighty empire eventually broke up into many kingdoms. Since the Bible often uses the number ten to denote completeness, the “ten horns” of the fourth beast represent all the kingdoms that resulted from Rome’s dissolution.—Compare Deuteronomy 4:13; Luke 15:8; 19:13, 16, 17.

18. How did Rome continue to exercise domination over Europe for centuries after the removal of its last emperor?

¹⁸ The Roman World Power, however, did not end with the removal of its last emperor in Rome in 476 C.E. For many centuries, papal Rome continued to exercise political, and especially religious, domination over Europe. It did so through the feudal system, in which most inhabitants of Europe were subject to a lord, then to a king. And all kings acknowledged the authority of the pope. Thus the Holy Roman Empire with papal Rome as its focal point dominated world affairs throughout that long period of history called the Dark Ages.

19. According to one historian, how did Rome compare with the preceding empires?

¹⁹ Who can deny that the fourth beast was “different from all the other kingdoms”? (Daniel 7:7, 19, 23) In this regard, historian H. G. Wells wrote: “This new Roman power . . . was in several respects a different thing from any of the great empires that had hitherto prevailed in the civilised world. . . . [It] incorporated nearly all the Greek people in the world, and its population was less strongly Hamitic and Semitic than that of any preceding empire . . . It was so far a new pattern in history . . . The Roman Empire was a growth, an unplanned novel growth; the Roman people found themselves engaged almost unawares in a vast administrative experiment.” Yet, the fourth beast was to have further growth.

A SMALL HORN GAINS THE ASCENDANCY

20. What did the angel say about the outgrowth of a small horn on the head of the fourth beast?

²⁰ “I kept on considering the horns,” said Daniel, “and, look! another horn, a small one, came up in among them, and there were three of the first horns that were plucked up from before it.” (Daniel 7:8) Concerning this outgrowth, the angel told Daniel: “Another one will rise up after them [the ten kings], and he himself will be different from the first ones, and three kings he will humiliate.” (Daniel 7:24) Who is this king, when did he rise, and what three kings did he humiliate?

21. How did Britain come to be the symbolic small horn of the fourth beast?

²¹ Consider the following developments. In 55 B.C.E., Roman General Julius Caesar invaded Britannia but failed to establish a permanent settlement. In 43 C.E., Emperor Claudius began a more permanent conquest of southern Britain. Then, in 122 C.E., Emperor Hadrian began to build a wall from the Tyne River to the Solway Firth, marking the northern limit of the Roman Empire. Early in the fifth century, the Roman legions left the island. “In the sixteenth century,” explained one historian, “England had been a second-rate power. Its wealth was slight compared with that of the Netherlands. Its population was much less than that of France. Its armed forces (including its navy) were inferior to Spain’s.” Britain evidently was an insignificant kingdom then, making up the symbolic small horn of the fourth beast. But that was to change.

22. (a) What other three horns of the fourth beast did the “small” horn overcome? (b) Britain then emerged as what?

²² In 1588, Philip II of Spain launched the Spanish Armada against Britain. This fleet of 130 ships, carrying more than 24,000 men, sailed up the English Channel, only to suffer defeat by the British navy and to fall victim to contrary winds and fierce Atlantic storms. This event “marked the decisive passing of naval superiority from Spain to England,” said one historian. In the 17th century, the Dutch developed the world’s largest merchant marine. With growing overseas colonies, however, Britain prevailed over that kingdom. During the 18th century, the British and the French fought each other in North America and India, leading to the Treaty of Paris in 1763. This treaty, said author William B. Willcox, “recognized Britain’s new position as the predominant European power in the world beyond Europe.” Britain’s supremacy was confirmed by the crushing victory over Napoléon of France in 1815 C.E. The “three kings” that Britain thus ‘humiliated’ were Spain, the Netherlands, and France. (Daniel 7:24) As a result, Britain emerged as the world’s greatest colonial and commercial power. Yes, the “small” horn grew to become a world power!

23. In what way did the symbolic small horn “devour all the earth”?

²³ The angel told Daniel that the fourth beast, or fourth kingdom, would “devour all the earth.” (Daniel 7:23) That proved true of the Roman province once known as Britannia. It eventually became the British Empire and ‘devoured all the earth.’ At one time, this empire embraced one fourth of the earth’s land surface and a fourth of its population.

24. What did a historian say about the British Empire’s being different?

²⁴ As the Roman Empire differed from previous world powers, the king depicted by the “small” horn would also “be different from the first ones.” (Daniel 7:24) Concerning the British Empire, historian H. G. Wells noted: “Nothing of the sort has ever existed before. First and central to the whole system was the ‘crowned republic’ of the United British Kingdoms . . . No single office and no single brain had ever comprehended the British Empire as a whole. It was a mixture of growths and accumulations entirely different from anything that has ever been called an empire before.”

25. (a) In its latest development, what constitutes the symbolic small horn? (b) In what sense does the “small” horn have “eyes like the eyes of a man” and “a mouth speaking grandiose things”?

²⁵ There was more to the “small” horn than the British Empire. In 1783, Britain recognized the independence of its 13 American colonies. The United States of America eventually became Britain’s ally, emerging from World War II as the earth’s dominant nation. It still has strong ties with Britain. The resulting Anglo-American dual world power constitutes the ‘horn having eyes.’ Indeed, this world power is observant, astute! It ‘speaks grandiose things,’ dictating policy for much of the world and acting as its mouthpiece, or “false prophet.”—Daniel 7:8, 11, 20; Revelation 16:13; 19:20.

THE SMALL HORN OPPOSES GOD AND HIS HOLY ONES

26. What did the angel foretell about the symbolic horn’s speech and action toward Jehovah and his servants?

²⁶ Daniel continued to describe his vision, saying: “I kept on beholding when that very horn made war upon the holy ones, and it was prevailing against them.” (Daniel 7:21) Regarding this “horn,” or king, God’s angel foretold: “He will speak even words against the Most High, and he will harass continually the holy ones themselves of the Supreme One. And he will intend to change times and law, and they will be given into his hand for a time, and times and half a time.” (Daniel 7:25) How and when was this part of the prophecy fulfilled?

27. (a) Who are “the holy ones” persecuted by the “small” horn? (b) How did the symbolic horn intend “to change times and law”?

²⁷ “The holy ones” persecuted by the “small” horn—the Anglo-American World Power—are Jesus’ spirit-anointed followers on earth. (Romans 1:7; 1 Peter 2:9) For years before World War I, the remnant of these anointed ones publicly warned that 1914 would see the conclusion of “the appointed times of the nations.” (Luke 21:24) When war broke out in that year, it was evident that the “small” horn had ignored this warning, for it persisted in harassing the anointed “holy ones.” The Anglo-American World Power even opposed their efforts to carry out Jehovah’s requirement (or, “law”) that the good news of the Kingdom be preached worldwide by his witnesses. (Matthew 24:14) Thus the “small” horn attempted “to change times and law.”

28. The “time, and times and half a time” are how long?

²⁸ Jehovah’s angel referred to a prophetic period of “a time, and times and half a time.” How long is that? Bible expositors generally agree that this expression denotes three and a half times—the sum of one time, two times, and half a time. Since Nebuchadnezzar’s “seven times” of madness amounted to seven years, the three and a half times are three and a half years.c (Daniel 4:16, 25) An American Translation reads: “They shall be handed over to him for a year, two years, and half a year.” James Moffatt’s version says: “For three years and half a year.” The same period is mentioned at Revelation 11:2-7, which states that God’s witnesses would preach dressed in sackcloth for 42 months, or 1,260 days, and then be killed. When did this time period begin and end?

29. When and how did the prophetic three and a half years begin?

²⁹ For the anointed Christians, World War I meant a time of testing. By the end of 1914, they were expecting persecution. In fact, the very yeartext chosen for 1915 was Jesus’ question to his disciples, “Are ye able to drink of my cup?” It was based on Matthew 20:22, King James Version. Hence, beginning in December 1914, that small band of witnesses preached “in sackcloth.”

30. How were anointed Christians harassed by the Anglo-American World Power during World War I?

³⁰ As war fever took hold, the anointed Christians encountered mounting opposition. Some of them were imprisoned. Individuals, such as Frank Platt in England and Robert Clegg in Canada, were tortured by sadistic authorities. On February 12, 1918, the British Dominion of Canada banned the recently published seventh volume of Studies in the Scriptures, entitled The Finished Mystery, as well as the tracts entitled The Bible Students Monthly. The following month, the U.S. Department of Justice pronounced the distribution of the seventh volume illegal. The result? Why, homes were searched, literature was confiscated, and Jehovah’s worshipers were arrested!

31. When and how did the “time, and times and half a time” end?

³¹ Harassment of God’s anointed ones climaxed on June 21, 1918, when the president, J. F. Rutherford, and prominent members of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society were sentenced on false charges to long prison terms. Intending “to change times and law,” the “small” horn had effectively killed the organized preaching work. (Revelation 11:7) So the foretold period of “a time, and times and half a time” ended in June 1918.

32. Why would you say that “the holy ones” were not wiped out by the “small” horn?

³² But “the holy ones” were not wiped out by the harassment from the “small” horn. As prophesied in the book of Revelation, after a short period of inactivity, the anointed Christians became alive and active again. (Revelation 11:11-13) On March 26, 1919, the president of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society and his associates were released from prison, and they were later exonerated of the false charges against them. Immediately thereafter, the anointed remnant began to reorganize for further activity. What, though, would be in store for the “small” horn?

THE ANCIENT OF DAYS HOLDS COURT

33. (a) Who is the Ancient of Days? (b) What were the “books that were opened” in the heavenly Court?

³³ After introducing the four beasts, Daniel shifts his eyes from the fourth beast to a scene in heaven. He beholds the Ancient of Days sit down on his resplendent throne as Judge. The Ancient of Days is none other than Jehovah God. (Psalm 90:2) As the heavenly Court takes its seat, Daniel sees ‘books being opened.’ (Daniel 7:9, 10) Since Jehovah’s existence extends into the infinite past, he knows all human history as if it were written in a book. He has observed all four symbolic beasts and can pass judgment upon them according to firsthand knowledge.

34, 35. What will happen to the “small” horn and other beastly powers?

³⁴ Daniel continues: “I kept on beholding at that time because of the sound of the grandiose words that the horn was speaking; I kept on beholding until the beast was killed and its body was destroyed and it was given to the burning fire. But as for the rest of the beasts, their rulerships were taken away, and there was a lengthening in life given to them for a time and a season.” (Daniel 7:11, 12) The angel tells Daniel: “The Court itself proceeded to sit, and his own rulership they finally took away, in order to annihilate him and to destroy him totally.”—Daniel 7:26.

³⁵ By decree of the Great Judge, Jehovah God, the horn that blasphemed God and harassed his “holy ones” will have the same experience as the Roman Empire, which persecuted the early Christians. Its rulership will not continue. Neither will that of inferior hornlike “kings” that came out of the Roman Empire. What, though, about the rulerships derived from the previous beastly powers? As foretold, their lives were lengthened “for a time and a season.” Their territories have continued to have inhabitants to our day. Iraq, for example, occupies the territory of ancient Babylon. Persia (Iran) and Greece still exist. Remnants of these world powers are part of the United Nations. These kingdoms also will perish with the annihilation of the last world power. All human governments will be obliterated at “the war of the great day of God the Almighty.” (Revelation 16:14, 16) But, then, who will rule the world?