| In Daniel 7, four animals symbolize four consecutive empires. The 4th is the Roman Empire. It has 11 horns, symbolizing the kingdoms into which the Roman Empire fragmented. The 11th horn is the Antichrist. It will only be destroyed when Christ returns. This article identifies it from 9 characteristics in Daniel 7. |
This article assumes that the previous articles in this series have been read, particularly the articles on Daniel 7 and The Fourth Animal. This article also assumes a level of knowledge of the Arian Controversy.
Daniel 7
In Daniel 7, four animals symbolize four successive empires.
Out of the fourth animal, 10 horns grew. After them, an 11th horn came up, uprooting three other horns. At first, it was small, but it grew and became larger than the other horns, meaning it would dominate the other kingdoms. It was different from the others. It blasphemed God and persecuted God’s people, and it will only be destroyed when Christ returns.
This 11th horn is the main character in Daniel 7. The only reason Daniel 7 mentions the preceding four empires and ten horns is to enable the reader to identify the 11th horn.
A previous article identified the Fourth Animal as the Roman Empire.
The horns are fragments of the Roman Empire.
In Daniel, horns symbolize parts into which an Empire or kingdom fragments. For example, in Daniel 8, the Goat first has one prominent horn, symbolizing the united Greek kingdom of Alexander the Great. But the one large horn was broken off, and 4 horns came up, symbolizing the four Greek empires that were formed after Alexander died.
Therefore, the 11 horns of the 4th animal symbolize the kingdoms that were formed as the Roman Empire fragmented in the fifth to eighth centuries. This is also stated in the text of Daniel 7. Explaining the first 10 horns, it says: “Out of this kingdom [the fourth] ten kings will arise” (Dan 7:24), implying that these ‘kings’ will not exist inside or during the fourth kingdom, but after it.
This can also be confirmed from Daniel 2. As discussed in a previous article, Daniel 7 is parallel to the vision of the statue of a man in Daniel 2. The fourth animal in Daniel 7 is parallel to the Iron Legs of the statue. The 11 horns of the fourth animal are parallel to the feet of the statue. Since the body parts of the statue in Daniel 2 symbolize consecutive ages of history, the Feet exist after the Legs. Therefore, the 11 horns exist after the Fourth Animal.
The 11th horn is the Antichrist.
It would blaspheme God and persecute His people for a time, times, and half a time (Dan 7:25). It will become so important that a court will sit in heaven to judge between it and God’s people (Dan 7:26, 9-11, and 14). It will only be destroyed when Christ returns (Dan 7:26, 11). Another article shows that this 11th horn is the same as the Beast of Revelation.
The State Church of the Roman Empire
The purpose of the current article is to show that the 11th horn symbolizes the State Church of the Roman Empire. The following characteristics of the 11th horn are evident from Daniel 7:
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- Since the horns represent the fragments into which the Roman Empire was divided, they were part of the Roman Empire before it fragmented.
- They became distinct when the Empire fragmented.
- The 11th was the last of the 11 horns.
- It uprooted three other horns as it came up.
- It began small.
- It grew “larger than its associates.”
- It would “wear out the saints.”
- It would reign for a time, times, and half a time.
- It would only be destroyed when Christ returns.
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This article will show that the Roman State Church is the only entity in history that fits this description:
(1) It was part of the Roman Empire.
In the Roman Empire, like in all ancient kingdoms, the rulers (emperors) decided which religions to allow. During the first three centuries, Christianity was outlawed, but was legalized in the early 4th century. However, the Church was divided, mainly between the Arian East and the Nicene West, and emperors had a low tolerance for divisions. The emperors chose sides and forced the church to unite. In the 4th century, most emperors were Arian and suppressed the Western Nicene theology.
The dominance of Arianism came to an end in 380 when the Roman Empire, through the Edict of Thessalonica, formally made Nicene theology its State Religion, meaning that all Romans were required to be Christians, specifically, Nicene Christians. Nicene theology, which later developed into the Trinity doctrine, was now the only legal religion.
That same Edict outlawed Arianism. This was followed by severe persecution. Arian churches were confiscated, and Arians were forced out of the Church. In this way, the State Church of the Roman Empire, to which all Romans were required to belong, became Nicene. In practice:
(a) The Emperor was the head of the Church: “Simonetti remarks that the Emperor was in fact the head of the church” (Hanson, p. 849).
(b) The Emperor determined the Church’s theology: “If we ask the question, what was considered to constitute the ultimate authority in doctrine during the period reviewed in these pages, there can be only one answer. The will of the Emperor was the final authority” (Hanson, p. 849).
(c) There were many Christian factions, not just two, and the Emperor decided which factions complied with the prescribed theology. For example, in 383, Emperor Theodosius summoned a council of all ‘sects’. Each party had to produce a statement of faith. Theodosius himself decided which factions complied. He accepted only the submissions of the Nicenes and the Novatianists (Ayres, p. 259).
In conclusion, since it was the Roman State Church, it was part of the Roman Empire.
(2) It became distinct when the Empire fragmented.
In the fifth century, Germanic nations defeated the Western Roman Empire and divided it into several Germanic kingdoms. They were Arians, but allowed the Roman State Church, with its doctrine and hierarchy of bishops, to remain. In the West, the Roman State Church was now subject to Arian rule, but continued to serve the Roman population.
In the sixth century, Emperor Justinian of the Eastern Roman Empire defeated the Germanic kingdoms in the West, liberating the Western Roman State Church from Arian domination.
In the subsequent two centuries, the Eastern Roman Emperors ruled the West through the Imperial Forces but also through the Roman State Church. This made the Roman State Church politically very powerful. During this period, the defeated Arian kingdoms officially converted to the Roman State Church.
In the eighth century, Muslim conquests significantly weakened the Eastern Roman Empire. Suddenly, much of the Christian world in the East was under Islamic rule. The Eastern Empire was no longer able to control or protect the Western Roman Church. Pope Zachary, in 741, was the last pope to seek the emperor’s approval for his election.
However, the Roman State Church in the West was able to survive because it was now protected by the nations that, over the previous two centuries, had converted to Roman theology. It was no longer the Roman State Church but became known as the Roman Church.
In conclusion, the Roman State Church had become a distinct entity after the Roman Empire had fragmented.
(3) It was the last of the 11 horns.
The first 10 horns symbolize the kingdoms into which the Germanic tribes, in the fifth century, divided the Western Empire. While subject to Arian rule in the 5th century, the Roman State Church in the West was not yet a distinct ‘kingdom.’ It would only become distinct later, as the next point will explain.
(4) It uprooted three other horns as it came up.
In the 6th century, to recover lost territory and to liberate the Roman State Church in the West, Justinian, the Eastern Roman Emperor, defeated three Arian kingdoms:
In 533–534, his troops dispersed the Vandals of North Africa to the fringes of the empire.
After a protracted war, Justinian defeated the Ostrogoths in Italy in 553. They returned to South Austria.
The Visigoths were driven out of Gaul in 507. In 552, Justinian recovered a strip of land that barricaded the Visigoths from being a threat to the Roman Church in Italy.
According to Daniel 7:8, the 11th horn came up when three other horns were pulled out by their roots. Therefore, the 11th horn began to exist when the Vandals, Ostrogoths, and Vandals were defeated. While, as stated, in the 5th century, the first 10 horns began to exist, the 11th began later, namely, in the 6th century.
(5) It began small.
After the Eastern Empire liberated the Western Roman Church in the sixth century, the Church remained subject to the Eastern Emperor. For example, the Emperor still approved the appointment of popes.
After the Eastern Empire lost most of its wealth and power in the eighth century, due to Muslim conquests, the Western Roman Church survived:
In the ninth century, it was protected by the Carolingian dynasty, founded by Charlemagne (Charles the Great), which ruled in western and central Europe from 800 to 888. Charlemagne was the first emperor to rule most of Western Europe since the fall of the Western Roman Empire three centuries earlier. However, the Carolingians followed the example of their Roman predecessors by asserting “immense authority over the Western church” (Britannica). Charlemagne claimed to govern both Church and State.
After Carolingian power waned, the Ottonian dynasty in Germany established a new imperial line and became the preeminent power in Latin Europe. The Ottos protected the Papacy but also dominated it. They treated churches as their property, appointed bishops, and forbade appeals to Rome. (Britannica)
In conclusion, until the 10th century, the Roman Church remained ‘small.’ The monarchs controlled the appointments of popes and high-ranking church officials. The Church was always ruled by :
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- Roman Emperors in the fourth century,
- Arian Germanic kings in the fifth,
- Eastern Emperors, from the 6th to the 8th centuries,
- Carolingians in the 9th century, and by
- The Ottos in the 10th century.
(6) It grew “larger than its associates.”
However, in the 11th century, in what is known as the Investiture Controversy (investiture = investing a person with honors or rank), the Church challenged the authority of the monarchs to control appointments to the higher church offices.
The humiliation of King Henry IV before Pope Gregory VII during the Investiture Controversy illustrates how powerful the Roman Church had become. Henry IV, the mightiest king in Europe at the time, had to wait for three days, stripped of his royal robes and clad as a penitent, barefoot in ice and snow, before Pope Gregory was willing to withdraw his excommunication.
With the Concordat of Worms in 1122, the Emperor agreed to allow the Church to appoint its officials but retained the right to veto the appointments of bishops. In 1059, the Church formed the College of Cardinals to appoint new popes, restricting interference from political rulers.
In the subsequent centuries, known as the High Middle Ages, the Roman Church was the dominant power in Europe. It attained power that rivaled and exceeded that of the Monarchs. It claimed that the pope stood between God and humankind as the vicar of Christ, has jurisdiction over all matters relating to sin, has full power over the church worldwide, has authority over emperors and kings in the Christian world, and has the right to depose the kings. Emperors and kings, to reign lawfully, had to be in communion with the Pope. Otherwise, the Pope could declare the ruler unfit to reign. It had grown “larger than its associates.”
(7) It will “wear out the saints.”
In the Middle Ages, through the civil rulers, the Roman Church engaged in brutal forms of coercion, such as the Albigensian Crusade, the Inquisition, and the Waldensian massacres, seeking to compel or exterminate the true people of God who dared to stand up against its evil innovations. Over the centuries, the Roman Church imprisoned, tortured, and killed millions of God’s people. For example:
Innocent III (1198–1216) called the Albigensian Crusade in southern France, which resulted in the massacre of Christians.
The Inquisition is infamous for the severity of its tortures. The Spanish Inquisition alone resulted in some 32,000 executions. (History.com)
The Roman Church instigated the Waldensian massacres. The Waldensians identified the Roman Church as the harlot of the Apocalypse. In response, the Catholic Church called for the destruction of the Waldensians, absolving all who would perpetrate such crimes. The Waldensians were looted, raped, tortured, and massacred.
Even if there was no other indication of the identity of the Antichrist, the cruel persecution of God’s people is always a key and sufficient identifier (Rev 13:7; 11:2; Dan 7:25). It reveals the true nature of this beast. In another article, David Plaisted discusses the estimates of the Number Killed by the Roman Church in the Middle Ages. The following are some of his quotes:
“From the birth of Popery in 606 to the present time, it is estimated by careful and credible historians, that more than fifty millions of the human family, have been slaughtered for the crime of heresy by popish persecutors” (John Dowling, “History of Romanism, pp. 541, 542. New York: 1871).
“That the Church of Rome has shed more innocent blood than any other institution that has ever existed among mankind, will be questioned by no Protestant who has a competent knowledge of history” (W. E. H. Lecky, “History of the Rise and Influence of the Spirit of Rationalism in Europe,” Vol. II, p. 32. London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1910).
“Need I speak to you of the thirty years war in Germany, which was mainly instigated by the Jesuits, in order to deprive the Protestants of the right of free religious worship, secured to them by the treaty of Augsburg? Or of the Irish rebellion, of the inhuman butchery of about fifteen millions of Indians in South America, Mexico and Cuba, by the Spanish papists? In short, it is calculated by authentic historians, that papal Rome has shed the blood of sixty-eight millions of the human race in order to establish her unfounded claims to religious dominion (S. S. Schmucker, Professor of Theology in the Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, The Glorious Reformation, Published by Gould and Newman, 1838).
(8) It would reign for a time, times, and half a time (Dan 7:25).
This period is mentioned seven times in Daniel and Revelation. It is discussed in another article, which concludes that this period is not the End Time but always precedes the End Time. It is a symbolic period, not literally 1260 days but 1260 years, namely, the period in Europe, beginning with the birth of the Roman Church, when three other horns were uprooted, until the French Revolution, when the ability of the Roman Church to persecute and dominate was significantly curtailed, and the modern era of religious freedom in the West began.
(9) It will only be destroyed when Christ returns.
The Roman Church still exists today.
Conclusions
The Roman Church is the only historical entity that fits both the timing and the characteristics of the 11th horn of Daniel 7.
Another article concludes that the 11th horn is the same as the Beast of Revelation. Therefore, it can also be identified from the Book of Revelation, but its main identification is from Daniel.
To believe in God is not always easy. We live in a world where we see evil, pain, and death. We get used to these things, and sometimes we fail to see the infinite miracles of life in us and around us. For example, see Inner Life of a Cell. We must also observe the miracles in the Bible, such as the miracle of His laws, the Sermon on the Mount, and the prophecies. Daniel 9 seems to be a clear prediction of the life and death of Jesus Christ. And, for me, Daniel 7 seems to be a clear prediction of the Church of the Roman Empire.
Other Articles
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