We're going to talk about the little horn of Daniel 7 today. I'm Dr. Fred, you're listening to another episode of Study, Grow, Know. Welcome to Study, Grow, Know, where we discuss theology, prophecy, and current political issues from a conservative biblical perspective. Here's your host, Dr. Fred DeRuvo. Good morning, evening, or afternoon, wherever you are, and whatever time it happens to be when you're listening to me. This is Dr. Fred, and you're tuned in to another episode of Study Grown Oh. Last time we were talking about Daniel 7 and what happens, what transpires in that chapter. And one of the things we ended on was Daniel 7 verse 8, and I'm going to read that verse for you, even though we talked about it last time, because it's a good place for us to pick up where we left off. Daniel 7, 8 says this, while I was contemplating the horns, behold, another horn, a little one, came up among them, and three of the first horns were pulled out by the roots before it. And behold, this horn possessed eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth uttering great boasts." That's Daniel 7 verse 8. Now what we learn here is that while Daniel is watching this movie, however it was unfolded to him, whether in a vision, whether it was something he saw in front of him, whatever it was, while he was watching this vision unfold, this movie in his mind, he has just seen this terrifying fourth beast of Daniel 2 and Daniel 7 come along that devours and smashes anything and everything in its path. Daniel sees this beast as something completely different from the other empires. He also sees ten horns, which was something new, as we've explained previously in our last episode. But then, as he continues watching and thinking about what he has just seen regarding these horns, the ten horns, all of a sudden another horn comes up and Daniel describes this as a little horn. it comes up among the ten. Now, picture the fact that he has just seen ten horns, and we know that horns, in this particular context, like most times it's stated in Scripture, often represents a ruler or an empire. So, these ten horns are there and out of those 10 horns he sees this 11th one, this little one, come up. Now picture the fact that he's seen this and he's thinking about what they could possibly mean when he now sees this smaller horn rise up out of or among the original 10. And now as he looks, as he continues to look, three of the original horns of the 10 are literally uprooted, and that is a picture in Scripture of death. They are killed. They're killed. Now we have 11 horns total, but then three are killed or they die, they're uprooted. And that leaves seven of the original horns and one smaller horn for a total of eight. So we have the 10 original horns, out of among them comes up another one, which is the 11th, okay? He's not one of the original 10, he's an additional horn, making it 11. He uproots three of them. Now 10 minus three equals seven. So now we've got seven original horns and him remaining. He now is the eighth. It's fascinating. This comes up again. and we'll get into this a little bit more because it's there in Revelation 13 and Revelation 17. So the phase one, let me just do that again because I know if you're a visual learner like I am, you need to see it. So I'm trying to paint a picture for you because you're listening to me on the radio. If you were to get my book, Rome Rising, which is available at Amazon.com, then you would see charts that I've included and illustrations and additional information that kind of paints the picture for you so that you can look at. So we got phase one. Phase one of this whole scenario is in Daniel 2, 10 toes. And then in Daniel 7, 10 horns. Same thing, 10 toes equals the 10 horns from Daniel 2 to Daniel 7. They both represent the same thing. Rulers, powers, okay, that's phase one. Phase two, out of these original 10 horns, a smaller horn rises up to take his place among them. This smaller horn becomes the 11th. That makes sense. You've got 10 plus one, that's the 11th. After the smaller 11th horn rises, 3 of the original 10 horns are uprooted, killed, or they die. Now the smaller horn still exists, 7 of the original horns still exist. And so that makes this little horn the eighth. But what we need to figure out, of course, is not only who the leaders are who are represented by the original ten horns, but who the smaller horn is as well. And before we do that, we need to take a look at Revelation 13 and 17 to see if God provides any more detail concerning these beasts. It's important that we get as much information so that we avoid guessing. And what the scripture does not tell us, we cannot guess about. There's a reason why God has not revealed everything to us, but he has revealed enough to us. So before we get there though, we want to take another look at Daniel 7. Is there anything else we can discern from this chapter that will help us understand the situation? Verse 8 in Daniel 7 continues by telling us that this horn possessed eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth muttering, uttering great boasts, excuse me. He appears every bit human here. So this is our first glimpse that these 10 toes, these 10 horns have human qualities. This 11th horn has eyes like the eyes of a man. That's a human characteristic and a mouth uttering great boasts. He obviously appears human here and he obviously has a brain that allows him to boast great things. The boasts are about himself and what he hopes to accomplish. We're going to flesh this out a bit more when we start talking about the chapters in Revelation. However, if we look at what Paul the Apostle says in 2 Thessalonians 2, 3b-12, we learn more about this man and it is fascinating. Again, I want to emphasize to you, this is how Scripture interprets itself. There is ultimately one author for all 66 books of the Bible. That is God. God has chosen, over time, roughly 40 human authors over a period of 1600 years to take God's thoughts and write them down. And sometimes, like what we see in Daniel, these are not just thoughts. These are visions of exactly what is going to happen. So this is what we see. The scripture interprets itself. We're in Daniel, but now we're going to go to 2 Thessalonians 2, 3b-12 to see what Paul says about this same man, the same horn that possessed eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth uttering great boasts. Here's what Paul says. He says this, starting in 3b, And the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God. Wow, that's important. We need to remember that. He takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God. Does that remind you of Isaiah 14, where Satan, as Lucifer, before he fell, said, I will ascend my throne. I will be like the Most High. You see, all this is coming into play because God wants to give Satan the opportunity, every opportunity to try to fulfill his boasts, his promises. He's gonna give him every opportunity to try to do that. Verse 5 continues by saying, Do you not remember that while I was still with you I was telling you these things? And you know what restrains him now so that in his time he will be revealed. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. Then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will slay with the breath of his mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of his coming. That is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan. with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved." I'm going to interject here for a minute, go back to Romans 1. You'll get these same similar thoughts. People who rejected the truth because they had no love for the truth. because they weren't interested in being saved. Verse 11, for this reason God will send upon them a diluting influence so that they will believe what is false in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth. but took pleasure in wickedness." All right, that's 2 Thessalonians 2, 3b-12, and the B references the last part of the verse, but you can start with verse 3 if you want. Taking note of the verse numbers, and again, if you read my book, I've left those in to make it easier, but Paul is responding to a question here posed to him by the people at Thessalonica, and the questions came to him via Timothy. He tells them that the day of the Lord cannot happen until the man of lawlessness is revealed. The man of lawlessness is the way Paul refers to the coming Antichrist. He is the epitome of the totally corrupted, lawless individual who stands opposed to God. The man of lawlessness is coming, says Paul, and he will be revealed in the time he's supposed to be. Paul then goes on to note a few things about this antichrist or this man of lawlessness that tell us more about his character and what type of a person he's going to be. Notice that in verse 4, Paul tells us that this man of lawlessness will take his place in the seat of the holy place. This is similar to what we just read, okay? And the idea stems from Daniel chapter 7 and more other portions in Daniel as well. So, here we go. He's going to sit in the holy place, the rebuilt Jewish temple. In order for him to sit in the temple, temple has to exist. The temple doesn't exist now as you know, but somehow there will be made a way for it to be rebuilt. This is going to be one of the biggest boasts when he goes into the temple, sits in the holy place, and there he will declare himself to be God. That's the biggest boast the Antichrist can come up with, that he is God, and that is exactly what Satan has been trying to do, and will actually be able to do, to say. Because he says it, it doesn't mean he is equal to God, though. Because he says it, it doesn't mean that he has fulfilled his promises of Isaiah 14. Doesn't at all. He, the Antichrist, will then demand that people worship him because of this claim, and many will unfortunately do just that. Now the remainder of the verses I quoted point out how this man of lawlessness, or the Antichrist, will come to his end. It's gonna happen as the Lord Jesus physically returns to this earth at the very end of the Tribulation slash Great Tribulation. This will signal the end of this age. And I want to remind people, I've said this before, but as far as the old sages, the rabbis of Judaism were concerned, there are only two ages in this world. This age that we currently live in, which began at creation. It ends when Jesus comes to the earth in his second coming. then the second age begins where Jesus reigns. But let's not forget verses 9 and 10 because they tell us that the Antichrist will rise to power on earth because he is completely sold out to Satan and his schemes. The sin that caused Satan to fall was pride in thinking that he was equal to God. Isaiah 14, Ezekiel 28. The egotism, narcissistic attitude overcame Satan. And this is where this world is going. This is where the world is going. We will have an Antichrist who will rule the world and the final resurrected beast of the Roman Empire. That's our show for today. It went fast, but I want to thank you for joining me and until we meet again, may the Lord open your eyes to show you how blessed you are. You've been listening to Study, Grow, Know with Dr. Fred DeRubo. Please join us each week for new broadcasts that deal with theology, prophecy, and political issues from a biblical, conservative perspective.