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SA B B AT H AF T E R N O O N
Read for This We e k ’s Study: Daniel 7.
M e m o ry Te x t : “Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day
will not come unless the falling away comes fi rs t , and the man of sin
is reve a l e d , the son of perdition” (2 Thessalonians 2:3, NKJV).
The vision in Daniel 7 (given about 553 B.C., the first year of B e l s h a z z a r ’s coreg e n cy with his fa t h e r, Nabonidus) is larg e ly par-allel to the vision in chapter 2. Some reasons for this repetition 1. Fifty years had gone by since Nebuchadnezzar had received his 2. To repeat important matters is a good principle of teaching.
3. Daniel 2 gave a general survey of the future from Nebu c h a d n e z z a r ’s d ays until the Second A d vent. Daniel 7 enlarges on the time periodb e t ween the fourth empire and Christ’s return to eart h .
4. Daniel 2 port r ays the wo r l d ly empires from a political and military v i ewpoint. Daniel 7 includes the spiritual power that plays an import a n trole in the great controve r s y. W h a t ever the reasons for the parallel to theearlier chapter, Daniel 7 is a powerful prophecy, one filled with impor-tant—and releva n t — t ruth for our time.
The Week at a Glance: What is the essence of the vision in
Daniel 7? What is the fo u rth beast? What is the little-horn power that
arises out of, but is still part of, the fo u rth beast? How did the
m e d i eval church justify its persecution of heretics? What does the
time prophecy in Daniel 7:25 re p re s e n t ?
*Study this we e k ’s lesson to pre p a re for Sabbath, November 13. SU N D AY N ovember 7
The Vision (Dan. 7:1-8).
In his vision Daniel sees the four winds of heaven stirring up the gr e a t sea. As a result of it, four wild beasts emerge from the wa t e r.
W h a t explanations can we glean from Scripture for most of the symbols
appearing in this vision?
Winds (Je r. 25:31-33)________________________________________ Water (Isa. 57:20, Rev. 17:15)______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _______ The four beasts (Dan. 7:17)____________________________________ Lion (Dan. 2:38)____________________________________________ Bear (Dan. 5:28, 8:20)_______________________________________ L e o p a rd (Dan. 8:21, 11:2) ____________________________________ A ny history book about the ancient world will confi rm that the gr e a t world powers following Babylon were Media-Persia and Greece. Butwhat about the fourth powe r, the dreadful and terr i ble beast? Though nots p e c i fi c a l ly named in Scripture, history confi rms that the power thatdefeated Greece was Rome, the only sensible identification for the fourt hbeast. W h a t a re the similarities between the ex p ressions used to describe the
fo u rth kingdom in Daniel 2 and the fo u rth kingdom in Daniel 7?
( C o m p a re Dan. 2:40 and Dan. 7:7, 23.)
World power may be said to have passed from the Greeks to the Romans at the battle of Pydna, in 168 B. C ., where the Romans won a com-plete victory over Macedonia, which was divided into four confederaciesthat eve n t u a l ly became a Roman province. Thus within another centuryof conquests, the world was united under Rome. History affi rms, aga i n ,G o d ’s foreknowledge of world eve n t s .
MO N DAY N ovember 8
The Little Horn (Dan. 7:8, 23-25).
The Roman Empire did not succumb to another world empire, as had the previous kingdoms; instead, it disintegrated. Fr o m A . D. 330 on, wh e nEmperor Constantine moved the seat of gove rnment from Rome toConstantinople, a long decline began in the we s t e rn half of the empire.
Its authority slow ly disappeared, its vitality eva p o r a t e d, and its apparatusof gove rnment faded away. Into this void stepped the barbaric tribes fromthe north, who carved the empire up into many smaller pieces and in A . D.
476 deposed Romulus Augustulus, the last of the We s t e rn emperors.
W h a t happens to the fo u rth beast, as depicted in Daniel 7:19, 20, 24?
The prophecy does not treat the horns independently of the beast; on the contrary, they are presented as a continuation of its activities. T h eh o rns correspond to the mingling of the iron with the eart h e n ware in thefeet and toes of the image of Daniel 2. As in Daniel 2, the fourth empire,as a single powe r, broke apart; this was depicted in Daniel 7 as the activ-ity of the ten horns. T h ey represent the European nations that emerg e dfrom the Roman Empire and, to a large extent, maintained her civ i l i z a-t i o n .
W h a t a re the specific characteristics of the little horn , and what powe r
does it re p resent? Dan. 7:8, 24, 25.
Historians tell us that “out of the ruins of political Rome, arose the great moral Empire in the ‘giant form ’ of the Roman Church.”— A l exander Flick, The Rise of the Mediaeval Church ( N ew York: B.
Franklin, 1959), p. 150, quoted in The SDA Bible CommentaryS o u rc e b o o k , vol. 9, article 1142. Indeed, when the we s t e rn half of theRoman Empire fell to the Germanic tribes, the Bishop of Rome becamean important figure in the West, and soon he exercised not only spiritualbut also political powe r. “The Roman Church in this way privily pusheditself into the place of the Roman Wo rld Empire, of wh i ch it is the actualc o n t i n u a t i o n ; the empire has not perished, but has only undergone at r a n s f o rm a t i o n .”—Adolf Harnack, What Is Christianity? (quoted in T h eS DA Bible Commentary Sourcebook, vol. 9, p. 1359, author’s emphasis). A ga i n , d o n ’t miss this point: The persecuting little-horn powe r
arises out of the R o m a n E m p i re—it never ceases to be a R o m a n
p owe r. W hy is this point especially important for us to re m e m b e r,
p a rt i c u l a rly in the context of last-day eve n t s , when all sorts of wild
speculation is made about the identity of end-time playe rs ?
TU E S DAY N ovember 9
Pe rsecution of the Saints (Dan. 7:25).
Jesus wa rn e d (in Matt. 24:9) that His fo l l owe rs would be pers e-
c u t e d . What do you read in Daniel 7 about the activity of the little-
h o rn power that fulfills this pre d i c t i o n ?
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Christians were persecuted during the time of the pagan Roman Empire (the fourth beast itself), but the persecution mentioned in Daniel7:25 is a persecution of the saints by the little horn, which arose only afterthe pagan phase had ended. The best-known example of this persecutionis the Inquisition. In the Middle Ages, the gr owing threat of so-calledheretical groups led the church to use secular authority to repress what itdeemed heresy. In today ’s climate, with all the talk about Christian unity,these atrocities are not talked about much anymore, but untold numbersperished at the hands of the little-horn powe r, depicted in Daniel 7. It is diff i c u l t for us to comprehend how people who claimed to be
fo l l owe rs of Jesus could tort u re and kill other Christians. H ow did
t h ey justify this horrible action, all in the name of Christ? See, as an
example of this kind of thinking, John 16:2.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ The theological justification for the Inquisition was based on A u g u s t i n e ’s (A . D. 354–430) understanding of Luke 14:23 where Jesus inthe parable of the great supper, says, “ ‘ “Compel them to come in” ’ ”( N K J V ) . Augustine took this to mean “Force them, if they do not come oftheir own free will.” The great Roman Catholic theologian Thomas Aquinas (A.D.
1224–1274) responded to a question concerning the heretics by say i n g ,“If forgers of money and other evil-doers are condemned to death at onceby the secular authority, much more reason is there for heretics, as soonas they are convicted of heresy, to be not only excommunicated but eve nput to death.” H owever horre n d o u s , this thinking should serve as a wa rn i n g :
Those who believe that God is behind what they do are capable of
g reat ev i l .W hy, t h e n , do we need to be so very careful in how we
seek to justify our own actions, p a rt i c u l a rly when we do them in
the name of God and for what we believe is His cause?
WE D N E S DAY N ovember 10
Changing Times and Laws (Dan. 7:25).
Compare Daniel 2:21 and Daniel 7:25. In what specific way does
the little horn seek to take upon itself what belongs only to God?
How does this action parallel with what is written in 2 Thessa-
lonians 2:3, 4?
The word for “times” in this text is the same Aramaic word rendered “seasons” in Daniel 2:21. God as the Creator of the times can changethem, but the little horn arr oga n t ly claims this power for himself by theattempted change of the “time” of the Sabbath, the one commandmentthat points to the Lord in His role as Creator—the role that makes Him,and Him alone, God. R e a d the fo l l owing texts (Gen. 2:1-4; Exod. 20:8; Isa. 40:28; 44:6-8; 45:5,
6 ) . Toge t h e r, what message do they have for us, p a rt i c u l a rly in the
c o n t ext of today ’s study?
As A d ventists, we love to circulate all sorts of quotes from early Catholic sources mocking Protestants—who claim the Bible as their ru l eof faith—for keeping Sunday, a day not commanded in the Bible bu t ,i n s t e a d, was form a l ly instituted by the authority of the Roman Church.
What was the reason for this change? Both ex t e rnal pressures and inter- nal pressures on the church forced many Christians to break radicallywith the Jews. The conflict between the Jews and the empire caused manyof these Christians to develop a new identity, one that helped them avo i dthe repressive measures applied to the Jews under Roman dominion.
M e a n while, the Judaeo-Christians who insisted on the literal observa n c eof certain Mosaic regulations helped push many others to sever their tieswith Judaism in eve ry way possibl e .
Christians of the first four centuries never confused Sabbath with S u n d ay but for a time celebrated both, as indicated in the Constitutions ofthe Holy Apostles ( p s e u d o nymous work, c. A.D. 375). “Keep the Sabbath,and the Lord’s day festival; because the former is the memorial of the cre-ation, and the latter of the resurr e c t i o n .” —The SDA Bible Student’sS o u rce Book, vol. 9, article 1414.
The change of the Sabbath didn’t happen ove rn i g h t . S l ow ly bu t
s u re ly, with one small step at a time, the apostasy from God’s law
b e ga n . But it can happen only as indiv i d u a l s , one by one, a l l ow it to
h a p p e n . Had the masses stayed faithful, the changes never wo u l d
h ave come. What lessons are in here for us?
TH U R S DAY N ovember 11
A Time Prophecy (Dan 7:25).
This time period of three and one half times, or three and one half years, is again mentioned in Daniel 12:7 and in various ways in the bookof Revelation. Though space doesn’t allow for us to show why, all thet exts below are talking about the same time period.
L o o k up these texts and write down the time prophecies given in each
o n e. What can we learn by comparing them with one another?
Dan. 7:25_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Dan. 12:7_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ R ev. 11:2_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ R ev. 11:3_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ R ev. 12:6_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ R ev. 12:14_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ R ev. 13:5_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ A comparison of these texts shows that a prophetic year has 360 day s , and thus three and one half years is the same as 1,260 prophetic days, or42 prophetic months. As A d ventists, we have long believe d, and rightlyso, that these prophecies demand the day / year principle. Among the bib-lical reasons for the day / year principle are the following: (1) The visionsare symbolic, hence the times indicated should also be symbolic. (2) A sthe visions extend over long time periods, the times specifi e d, therefore,should also be seen as extending over long periods of time. (3) The pecu-liar way in which the time periods are expressed also indicates that theymust apply symbolically; i.e., the fact that the word years is never usedin any of the time expressions can be explained only on the basis of theye a r / d ay principle. (4) The pragmatic test of this principle in Daniel9:24-27 indicates that, indeed, years are intended.
FR I D AY N ovember 12
F u rther Study: Read Ellen G. White, The Great Controv e rs y, pp. 51–55.
Notice the parallel between Daniel 2 and Daniel 7. We can clearly see how the two chapters are dealing with the same events, thoughfrom different perspective s .
Discussion Question:
As mentioned earlier in the week, Adventists love to quote
Roman Catholic sources that blatantly boast of Rome’s author-
ity in changing the Sabbath to Sunday. In most cases, however,
those are older quotes. Rome, today, appears to be taking a dif-
ferent tack on this issue. The best example is the apostolic letter,
issued by Pope John Paul II in 1998, called Dies Domini (the
Lord’s Day), in which the pope admonishes the flock to be more
faithful in keeping Sunday. What’s interesting, however, is that
instead of boasting about the church’s authority to change the
Sabbath day, as apologists for Rome and Sunday so frequently
did in the past, the letter in some places sounds like our defense
of the seventh-day Sabbath. The pope even goes back to the
Genesis Creation account as part of the reason for keeping
Sunday, even quoting Genesis 2:2.Why do you think Rome has
changed its approach to its defense of Sunday? How does this
change fit with our understanding of last-day events?
Summary: God granted Daniel a prev i ew of world history from the day s
of Babylon down to the time when the saints will receive the kingdom.
After the four world powers (Babylon, Media-Persia, Greece, and Rome)there was to come a religio-political power that would continue until thetime of the end.
Brother Lee* is a Global Mission pioneer. He had been working in southern China for several months without any apparent success, in spiteof his best efforts. Then one day Brother Lee was involved in a serious accident that also involved another man. Both victims were sent to the hospital and placedin the same room. During their lengthy recuperation Brother Lee hadplenty of time to become acquainted with his roommate. By the time themen were released from the hospital, the two men had become goodfriends, and Brother Lee had led his roommate to accept Jesus as his Lordand Savior. In fact, the two men decided to work together for God. Brother Lee learned that his new friend’s wife had been paralyzed by a stroke and was confined to their home. She could not walk or take care ofherself. Brother Lee asked a kind Adventist woman to visit this man’swife. The Adventist woman gave her massage and other natural treat-ments. Before long the woman could stand and move slowly around usinga cane. This woman’s healing created interest in knowing more about God, and before long several people were meeting in a small group with BrotherLee. They meet for worship in a small room that they have rented. The lit-tle group is growing. Brother Lee is happy that the Lord has used an unfortunate situation to bring him in contact with someone whose heart was searching for a betterlife. Through this unfortunate incident God continues to work in the livesof this family. Even his friend’s mother-in-law, a lifelong Buddhist, beganwarming to the gospel as she saw the power of God to heal her daughter.
The wife’s healing continued through patient massage and natural treat- ments, and eventually she was able to throw away her cane and evenresume working. Her mother has accepted Jesus Christ as her Savior andremoved the idols from her home. A white sheet covers the wall wherethey once were encased, and today the little group of 11 believers meets inher home.
Recently Brother Lee informed church leaders that the local religious authorities have given his group of believers permission to build their ownchurch. With permission to build a legal church, surely the group will con-tinue to grow. Brother Lee thanks God for keeping His promise that “in allthings God works for the good of those who love him, who have beencalled according to his purpose” (Rom. 8:28, NIV). * Jin Long (all names in this story have been ch a n ged) is a Global Mission pioneerwo rking in China. Produced by the General Conference Office of Mission Awareness
E m a i l : g o m i s s i o n @ c o m p u s e rv e. c o m

Source: http://absg.adventist.org/2004/4Q/SE/EAQ404_07.pdf