The historical sketches found in the second, third, and fourth chapters of the book of Daniel, when correctly understood, will furnish a suggestive key for the understanding of the prophecies found in the later portion of this book. Daniel was a captive in ancient Babylon. He and his companions were the preachers of the gospel in this center of paganism. In a fair trial, Christianity conquered paganism, and the king of Babylon was converted. But paganism asserted itself under a later king, the city of Babylon was captured, and the rule of the kingdom of Babylon was brought to an end, because the message of the gospel was rejected in the apostasy of Belshazzar. Here we have in a historical setting the proclamation of the gospel followed by apostasy with its result.
In reading these simple facts we are dealing with a prophetic history. It was the definite purpose of the invisible king of Babylon, acting through any visible king who was willing to be his vicegerent, to make Babylon the headquarters for a revolt against the King of heaven (Isa. 14: 3-14; Ps. 48: 1, 2), and thus to prevent, if possible, the establishment of the kingdom of God upon the earth. Daniel's interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream of the great image foretold the failure of this organized rebellion, and plainly declared that the God of heaven would set up His everlasting kingdom, and that this would be accomplished by breaking in pieces and consuming all earthly kingdoms. Not by evolution, but by revolution will the kingdom of righteousness be established. Catastrophe precedes restoration. The law of continuity collapses.
The real question at issue is whether the God of heaven shall be recognized and exalted as the great King over all, to whom worship shall be offered in true humility of heart, or whether the creatures, the product of the human mind or of the human hand, shall be served and worshiped. Rom. 1: 25. In Babylon was found a complete system of organized idolatry, with a priesthood at its head (see " The Two Babylons," by Hislop, p. 7), openly opposed to the spiritual religion inculcated by the prophets of Israel. But back of this outward system, was that of which it was simply the formal expression " self-idolatry, which lies at the foundation of all sin."—" Gospel Workers," p. 114. This is the religion of human nature.
Ancient and Modern Babylon
A cursory reading of Daniel's interpretation of the great image in which the outline of world empires is given, will show that the kingdom of Babylon and " the fourth kingdom " occupy the center of the stage. In dealing with these two kingdoms more than four times as many words are used as in dealing with the second and third kingdoms. Furthermore, it is noteworthy that while the first three kingdoms are plainly designated in the Scriptures as Babylon, Media and Persia, and Greece, the fourth kingdom is never called Rome. This is not an accidental omission. There is a meaning in it. This meaning becomes clear when we take notice of the fact that the organized false religion of Babylon, which has persisted until the present time (see " The Two Babylons," Hislop, p. 224), was not transmitted through the second and third kingdoms of Nebuchadnezzar's dream. While therefore Medo-Persia and Greece are necessary to preserve the chronology of the times and the seasons which God has revealed, they are not principal factors in the great controversy between the God of heaven and the god of this world, between the religion of Jerusalem and the religion of Babylon.
It is noteworthy that the religion of ancient Babylon was transferred to the fourth kingdom via Pergamos, and not via Medo-Persia and Greece, although the religion of these two kingdoms was a form of paganism. The following brief extract tells the essential part of the story:
" On the overthrow of Babylon by the Persians, who nourished a traditional hatred for its idolatry, the Chaldean priesthood fled to Pergamos in Asia Minor, and made it the headquarters of their religion. Hence Christ in His charge to the church in that city speaks of it as being ' where Satan's seat is.' The last pontiff king of Pergamos was Attains III, who at his death bequeathed his dominions and authority to the Roman people, 133 n. c., and from that time the two lines of Pontifex Maximus were merged in the Roman one."—" The True Christ and the False Christ," J. Gamier, Vol. II, pp. 94, 95.
In the great apostasy, which received a marked impetus hi the days of Constantine and the two centuries which followed his reign, when the Christianity of the West became so largely paganized, the religion of the empire gradually became the religion of the professed church, being cloaked under the forms and names of Christianity. Note the following extract:
" But just as pagan Rome was the true offspring and successor of Babylon, so is papal Rome the true offspring and successor of pagan Rome. When paganism was nominally abolished in the Roman Empire, the head of the pagan hierarchy was also suppressed.
Some of the Christian emperors did indeed accept the title of Pontifex Maximus, while others, refusing it themselves, appointed a pagan priest, until the reign of Gratian, who, refusing to do either, abolished the office 376 A. D. Two years afterward, however, fearing that religion might become disorganized, he offered the title and office to Damasus, Bishop of Rome. . . . This bishop, less scrupulous than the emperor, accepted the office, and from that time until now the title has been held by the popes of Rome, from whom, and through whom, the whole hierarchy of Western Christendom have received their ordination. So also the honors and powers attached to the title, the dominion of the civilized world, previously wielded by the pontiff emperors of pagan Rome, passed to the pontiffs and hierarchy of papal Rome, who for centuries imposed their will upon kings, and held the nations in thralldom, because the dragon god of paganism had given them ' his power and his seat and great authority.' "—Id., pp. 95, 96.
We are now prepared to draw some important conclusions. The prophecies are not primarily concerned with political empires merely as such, but with the attitude of these empires toward the purpose of God to establish His kingdom in the earth, that is, with the religions which they foster. Since the religion of ancient Babylon was the same as the religion of the fourth empire, as has been shown, the fourth empire is, so far as its religion is concerned, a revival of ancient Babylon, and therefore inspiration never designates it as Rome. Furthermore, as the religion of papal Rome became, in its essential features, the same as the religion of pagan Rome, which was the same as ancient Babylon, the papal church is fittingly entitled Babylon. Rev. 17: 5. With these preliminary observations, and remembering that the characteristics of Babylon by which it may be recognized even though wearing a mask, have been revealed in the historical portion, we may now give attention to the prophetic portion of the book of Daniel.
Vision of the Seventh Chapter
It is not necessary to prove that the time covered by the vision of the seventh chapter of Daniel is the same as the time of the second chapter, and that the same world empires are represented by the four leading symbols. This is conceded by all except the modern critics. It should be noted, however, that the vision was given " in the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon"(Dan. 7: 1), in the time of the great apostasy after the death of Nebuchadnezzar, and only a short time before the capture of Babylon by Cyrus. There is much significance in this circumstance, for this prophecy establishes the continuity of Babylon.
This prophecy leads on to the same general result as does the second chapter,— the establishment of the everlasting kingdom,— but it introduces some entirely new and most striking features. The interest of the prophet seemed to center in the fourth beast and the little horn, as is shown by his expressed desire to know the meaning of these symbols. Dan. 7: 19-22. A little study of the characteristics of the kings represented by these symbols, as set forth in the reply to the inquiries of Daniel, will make it clear that the characteristics of ancient Babylon, with which we have become familiar in the historical sketches already considered, are here presented in a different setting. The same arbitrary authority (compare Dan. 5: 19 with Dan. 7: 25, second clause), the same use of the state power to enforce religious observances (compare Dan. 3: 4, 5, with Dan. 7: 24, noting that the little horn represents a king), are in evidence here as were In evidence in ancient Babylon. In other words, this vision, given just at the time when the destruction of ancient Babylon was impending, reveals a most important fact in the history of the opposition to the kingdom of God in the earth, viz., that while the political kingdom of Babylon might soon be overthrown, yet the principles of Babylon would still abide, and that in the time of the fourth great universal empire they would again be revealed in a politico-religious monarchy. The words of a modern writer are appropriate here: " Do not let us, however, choke our interest in this prophecy, as so many students of prophecy do, in the ruins and dust, which were its primary fulfillment. The shell of Babylon, the gorgeous city which rose by Euphrates, has indeed sunk into heaps; but Babylon herself is not dead. Babylon never dies. To the conscience of Christ's seer, this mother of harlots, though dead and desert in the East, came to life again in the West."—" The Book of Isaiah" (Expositor's Bible), George Adam, Smith, Vol. II, p. 199.
Even a standard Roman Catholic authority recognizes that the prophecy of " the man of sin " in the second chapter of the second epistle to the Thessalonians, and the prophecy of the little horn of the seventh chapter of Daniel refer to the same anti-Christian power, as is shown by the following, quotation:
" After studying the picture of Antichrist in St. Paul's epistle to the Thessalonians, one easily recognizes the man of sin' in Daniel 7: 8, 11, 20, 21, where the prophet describes the ' little horn' "— The Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. I, art. " Antichrist," p. 560.
Of course this is not an admission that the little horn of Daniel 7 is a symbol of the papacy, but it does make it possible, on Roman Catholic authority, to apply the specifications of the prophecy of the apostle Paul in the interpretation of the prophecy of Daniel, and thus to show that the little horn represents a religious monarchy, which the papacy claims to be.
The climax of the effort on the part of the little horn, modern Babylon, the papacy, to exalt itself in opposition to the government and kingdom of God, is seen in the purpose to change the law of God, which has been revealed in history in the attempted change of the weekly Sabbath of the fourth commandment to the first day of the week. The significance of this daring interference with the divine sovereignty will be pointed out a little later.
The Kingdom and the Saints
The triumph of the gospel of the kingdom is clearly announced in this prophecy. The judgment scene is vividly described. Dan. 9-12. The overthrow of all earthly powers is foretold. " Dominion, and glory, and a kingdom " are given to the Son of man, and through Him to the saints whom He represents (Dan. 7: 18, 27), and the result will be that " all dominions shall serve and obey " the Most High. (Compare Rev. 18: 21-23 and Rev. 21: 1-3.) At the close of the long controversy Babylon will be utterly destroyed, and Jerusalem will be established as the capital of the kingdom of God upon the earth. So plain is it that the prophetic history in the earlier part of the book of Daniel is fulfilled in the effective preaching of the gospel in the first centuries after Pentecost, in the great apostasy which followed, in the final overthrow of modern Babylon, and in the receiving of the kingdom by the saints. Ancient Babylon was captured on, that fateful night of Belshazzar's feast, but Daniel, who had maintained his loyalty to God even in Babylon, was promoted to a chief place in the succeeding kingdom.
(To be continued)
