Greetings CTK,
I appreciate your response and agree with what you have stated except for the above comment. I consider that the Little Horn of Daniel 7 is the Papacy and Daniel 7 speaks mainly of the Western portion of the Roman Empire and speaks of a religious power which also gains the territory of the three portions, the Papal States which the Papacy lost to Italy in 1870. The Little Horn of Daniel 7 comes out of one of the 10 sub-divisions when the Roman Empire declined and fell to allude to Gibbon's title. This development was many hundreds of years after the development of the Little Horn of Daniel 8.
The Little Horn of Daniel 8 comes out of one of the four sub-divisions of the Grecian Empire and speaks of the Eastern portion of the Roman Empire. The Little Horn speaks mainly of a military and political power, and this is firstly the Pagan Roman power who opposes Christ at his first coming and then as the new King of the North of Daniel 11:40-45. I consider that this latter day fulfilment will be the same power mentioned in Ezekiel 38 and I understand this is to be headed up by Russia, the Gog of Ezekiel 38.
Kind regards
Trevor
Thank you very much and I can understand your interpretations... but the first comment I would like to make is that you may be mixing the spiritual with the secular regarding the little horn and the 10 horns that come out of pagan Rome. And please understand, there are points within your comments that are considered to be "today's accepted interpretations." Meaning, the discussion around the 10 horns are thought to be secular kingdoms that come at the end of time ... or certainly well after the 16th century.
The little horn does indeed come out of the 4th beast kingdom of pagan Rome. And so do the 10 horns, however, the 10 horns comes out of pagan Rome first. The little horn is not one of the 10 but follows behind them. He is unlike the 10 having eyes like a man.. He is indeed a man who represents the papacy that WILL COME TO POWER just after 500 AD. But in Chapter 8, God will purposely use very different symbols to speak about the kingdoms or kings that were identified in Chapter 2. And one of the most important things to consider, in my opinion, is that God will begin to "reduce and enlarge," if you will. He will start to carve out those powers within the 4 kingdoms that will continue to play a major role in His plan of salvation. There are two ways to view Chapter 8, and I will focus on just one. If you notice in this chapter, God will identify the 3 powers as either being great, very great or exceedingly great. So He has just placed a very important tag or label on these three to pull them out and have us focus on them. Don't worry about any others than these 3 ... But He does not stop there because that would not be enough to completely identify those 3 powers He is focusing on. Notice that He will now use symbols for each of these 3 entities that ONLY have HORNS. Thus, the two horned ram is the Medes-Persians, the one large horned he-goat is Alexander and Greece. Ant the final 3rd horned entity is ..... the little horn himself or the papay that comes around 500 AD. God will not mentione either Babylon or pagan Rome in Chapter 8 - neither have been assigned a "horn."
So, these verses in Daniel 8 will quickly do away with the Medes-Persians and Greece, and focus only on the 4th beast kingdom of the little horn ... thus, the little horn of Daniel 7 is the same as the little horn of Daniel 8. It is impossible to comment on everything that supports this comment, but God does not spend much time after the Greece.... and, the mentioning of the 4 generals is ONLY His way of "closing out the 3rd kingdom." They have absolutely no part in God's plan... God will simply use them as a marker to close out that kingdom. He does the exact same thing in the 2nd kingdom when Greece will destroy the Persian army - NOT the Medes- Persian army. Because within each kingdom, God will identify two separate parties - He will give the "main" power in the kingdom a "mission" within His plan of salvation. He will then idenitify another power or entity to "close out" that kingdom - but they will be a "God given type mission" within His plan of salvation.
And I certainly know there is so much mission here ... but the little horn does not come out of the Greece (4 generals). They come out of the 3rd kingdom of Greece and are thrown out "towards the four winds of heaven." Meaning, it is God who has selected them and thrown them out into the turmoil and instability of the post-Alexander reign, However, the little horn of Daniel 8 will indeed come out of, not towards the 4 winds of heaven...... in the latter part of their kingdom (the 3rd kingdom of Alexander was long gone and the 4 generals were not given a kingdom, but merely thrown out towards the four winds). In verse 8:9, "out of one of them came a little horn." This is indeed the same little horn of Daniel 7. Remember, God is only discussing those with a horn attached to them. So, He is revealing the horn of Alexander (Greece), He is completely skipping over pagan Rome in Chapter 8, and has moved on to the last mention of one having a "horn." - the little horn of 7. And it is this little horn who will indeed come out of the latter part of their kingdom WHEN or DURING the "winds of heaven" are also found - meaning, turbulence and turmoil and infighting, etc. And here is how this works:
After the cross, His disciples will go out into the pagan Roman Empire preaching the Good News. It will not take long when this Jewish/Christian church grows exponentially. But most of the converts will be Gentiles and pagans. It will not take very long when these Gentile folks not only bring in pagan practices and rituals but they will also create a Roman like heirarchial structure to rule the church. Soon the Jews will be removed or worse from within this growing and very powerful [now] Gentile/Christian church. There will be various layers of priests, bishops, etc., just like one would find in a military type organization. The bishops would gain immense power and their would be 4 major Gentile / Christian centers within the pagan Rome Empire - Antioch, Jerusalem, Alexandria and Rome. Each one of these four desiring to be the head of this most powerful institution that has almost taken over the Empire. But, among this infighting, arguing and turmoil and greed for power and wealth, there would be one bishop that would rise to the top - the bishop of Rome. He would rise to the top of the 4th kingdom beast AFTER the 4th beast of pagan Rome was slain and its body destroyed (7:11). Now, he would head this powerful Gentile/Christian movement and would soon be given the lable of the pope or papacy ruling this new kingdom. He would indeed come out of the 4 winds in the latter time of their kingdom (8:23).
There is no mention of an Angelic Arch Enemy of God in the book, at all! Not once, not even a hint! Understanding this point when considering the highly symbolic language in the Revelation is essential in forming a correct understanding of these critical prophecies.
