In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Lutherans don’t talk that much about the End Times when Jesus will return. But that’s not because we’re scared of it or we don’t have a good understanding of what’s going to happen. We don’t have to leave that subject for other Christians to handle. Since we get our teaching from the clear Word of God, we’re going to talk about it this morning. We’ll go through Daniel’s vision in chapter 7, and let Scripture give us our understanding for the End Times. This vision was explained to Daniel by an angel later in this chapter. And we’ll use other Scripture too, since it all comes from the Holy Spirit. And we can also use history as we see that much of this vision has already come to pass.
Daniel’s visions in chapter 7 was given to him toward end of the Babylonian Empire. He tells us this vision came during the reign of King Belshazzar. You may know this guy as the one who literally saw the writing on the wall—God’s hand, spelling out Belshazzar’s doom and the end of his kingdom. So at the time of this vision in chapter 7, Daniel and the other Judeans have been living in exile in Babylon for almost 70 years. They are still longing for the time when the Lord will take them back to Jerusalem and they will rebuild His temple. This vision also has some similarities to a vision that had been given way back at the beginning of the exile to King Nebuchadnezzar—the king with the fiery furnace. He saw a statue made from gold, silver, bronze, iron, and clay, and this showed the unbelieving Gentile king how a series of kingdoms would succeed his own, until at last the kingdom of God would come. But the vision in chapter 7 is given only to Daniel, and at least for the time being, he keeps it to himself. As crazy as it might seem at first glance, Daniel’s vision is for the saints, to comfort and strengthen them, and give them hope. This vision is for you.
Behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea. The four cardinal directions (north, south, east, west) mean that the number four often symbolizes the earth. So the four winds stirring up the sea, shows the whole earth in turmoil, and all the people of the earth going through tribulation. The forces of evil in this fallen world are arising out of the hearts of men and working by means of forceful violence. So, out of this churned up tribulation, rise up four great worldly empires. These are the four beasts.
First, there was one like a Lion with eagle’s wings. This was Babylon. It swiftly rose to great power, and quickly conquered a great empire. But then its wings and its bestial ferocity were taken away—it lost its power and fell to the second great kingdom.
The next beast was like a Bear. This was the Empire of the Medes and the Persians, who conquered Babylon. One side of the beast was raised up, showing that within this dual empire, the Persians would have greater power than the Medes. It had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth; and it was told, ‘Arise, devour much flesh.’ The power and triumph of the empire is shown in the beast devouring some carcass. It’s possible that the three ribs represent the three major kingdoms that Persia conquered: Lydia (in modern-day Turkey), Babylon, and Egypt. But we should always remember that visions are symbolic, and especially numbers have symbolic meaning. So, three ribs is clearly not a complete set, not an even number, meaning that Persia would conquer a lot of the known world, but not its entirety. Either way, notice that the beast is told to devour. God commands the empires to rule. And while these worldly kingdoms are not direct agents of God, we know that all authority ultimately comes from God.
The third beast is like a Leopard with four wings and four heads. This was the kingdom of the Greeks. The leopard is a swift animal, and this one has two sets of wings, making it even faster. And this is a good image for the dominion of the Greeks that was achieved when Alexander the Great conquered Persia and, in less than 10 years, established the largest empire ever in the ancient near east. Remember, four is a number for the earth, so the four heads show the ambition and vision of Alexander to conquer all the earth. Also, after Alexander’s death, his short-lived empire was divided into four Greek kingdoms. And once again, we realize it was God who gave this beast its dominion, although the text doesn’t explicitly say that. Because God only rules indirectly through earthly government. The dominion of these worldly kingdoms is very different from the dominion that will come in God’s kingdom later in the vision.
Then came the fourth beast, and Daniel doesn’t tell us if it looked like any animal we would know. But he says it was terrifying and dreadful and exceedingly strong. It had great iron teeth; it devoured and broke in pieces and stamped what was left with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. This was the Roman Empire. Unlike the bear who devoured others, and the leopard who was given dominion, this beast is recklessly destructive. It crushes and tramples with its feet—good imagery for the cruelty of the Roman legions that subjugated so many different smaller kingdoms and peoples. And this beast had 10 horns. 10 is a number for completion, totality (like the 10 Commandments). So this beast is shown to have total power, surpassing the power of the previous beasts. And we know the Roman Empire is the last worldly kingdom, because it was during the Roman Empire that the Christ was born and the kingdom of God was first established (but more on that later).
Next, Daniel noticed something about the horns on the fourth beast. A little horn came up and three of the original horns were uprooted. And behold, in this little horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things. So, this little horn is a power that comes out of the Roman Empire, but only wields a portion of Rome’s power. And later in the chapter, we hear that the great things spoken by the little horn are words against God and against God’s holy people, His saints. So this is the Antichrist.
There’s a lot of false ideas of the Antichrist out there, from Hollywood and from other Christians. But he’s not the devil, he’s not the son of the devil, he’s not even one individual. The really short, simple thing to keep in mind is that the Antichrist is anything that is anti-Christ. So, the first thing to notice is that the main weapon of Antichrist is what he says: great things against God and against His saints. His main weapon is blasphemy, lies about God, false teaching. The Antichrist is all false teachers who twist and contradict God’s Word.
In 2 Thessalonians, Paul calls him the man of lawlessness and the son of destruction. Both St. Paul and St. John say that Antichrist or this man of lawlessness was already active in their time. As Daniel foresaw, the little horn came out of the fourth beast—the Antichrist comes up out of the Roman Empire. So, at the same time that Christ appeared and established His kingdom, Antichrist also gets to work opposing Christ and His kingdom. And so the work of Antichrist will continue, fighting against God’s Word and His people for the entire New Testament age, including our time, until Christ comes again. Daniel records that the Antichrist shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High (7:25), meaning that we become exhausted in trying to fight against his lies and remain steadfast to God’s Word. And it says that he shall think to change the times and the Law (7:25), meaning that he will create new laws for God’s people—man-made laws for how to worship and serve God. And this matches with what Paul says: the man of lawlessness exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God (2 Thess. 2:4). Ultimately, this means that Antichrist takes away from God’s glory and teaches that we can be saved by our works, our glory.
But let’s go back to Daniel’s vision and notice that it’s not all beasts and talking horns. God is there. The Ancient of Days is God the Father. He is sitting on His throne, surrounded by the angel hosts, and He is ready to judge the earth. God’s court sits in judgment on all people, but in this vision we see specifically the judgment of the evil powers that attack God’s people.
And then someone else enters the heavenly court: Behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a Son of Man, and He came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him. And to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom. This glorious figure like a son of man is someone that has a true human nature, but is also greater than a man. It says that all people will worship Him. This is Jesus—true God and true Man. We know this for sure because many times in the Gospels Jesus calls Himself the Son of Man, and even says that He will come on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory (Matt 24:30). He received His kingdom from the Father even as He said (Matt. 28). And His kingdom was first established at His first coming, when He became man during the Roman Empire.
At that time, He did the work of His kingdom by suffering and dying for the sins of the world, rising to life in victory, and sitting down at the right hand of God to begin His reign. And His kingdom goes on from right now until His final coming and even into eternity. Daniel sees all of this compressed into one big picture: Jesus is incarnate, born, suffered, died, risen, ascended, and coming again. Daniel sees all of this happen at once as the Son of Man receives His dominion from the Ancient of Days. And at the same time, God’s judgment was given for the saints of the Most High, and the time came when the saints possessed the kingdom (7:22). Because Jesus didn’t get His kingdom for His own benefit. He did it for us—for our salvation. All who believe in Him inherit His kingdom and we will reign with Him forever. Also, the coming and work of the Son of Man means that the little horn and all the forces of evil are already defeated. And when the King reappears, they will be thrown down to burn in the fire of hell.
Now this all means that almost all of this vision has already happened. All that remains to take place is the final appearance of Jesus and the final judgment. Isn’t that wonderful? But that also means the danger of the little horn is already here. This is the danger of false teaching—the corruption of the Gospel. We must be on guard against that now. St. John in his First Epistle says that there are many antichrists active right now (1 John 2). All false teachers serve that office of Antichrist. They can be Protestants who teach falsely on the End Times or deny the power of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. They can be politicians who use Christianity for their own purposes and make it mean whatever they want. They might even include Islam, which pushes itself as an alternative to Christianity. And these false teachers definitely include the office of the Pope of the Roman Church. Now listen to me carefully: when I say the Papacy is Antichrist, I don’t say that to ridicule or demean Roman Catholic Christians, but to warn them. And we should certainly warn our brothers and sisters in Christ that if they trust in their own works as the papacy teaches then they cannot be saved. We say this only out of love. But because Paul tells us that the man of lawlessness will rule IN the Church, then recognizing the pope as Antichrist also means that the Roman Church is still a part of the one holy Christian and apostolic Church. And that means there are many true Christians there. The only thing we condemn as Antichrist is the office of the papacy as it commands and promotes false teachings and practices.
So, instead of listening to the great and evil words of the little horn, Daniel’s vision focuses our attention on the kingdom of God that is already ours because of God’s free grace in Christ’s death and resurrection. Daniel’s vision teaches us at least four important things. First, God governs all world history for the sake of His kingdom and His people. Second, God’s kingdom comes only through the Christ: the Man who is God. Third, God’s people receive this kingdom. Believers receive what belongs to Christ: His righteousness, His resurrection, His eternal kingdom where they reign with their King. And fourth, this should comfort and encourage God’s people even now while they face suffering and persecution.
I know Lutherans don’t talk about the End Times that much. But that’s because we don’t need to worry about it too much. We know who the King is. We know He’s coming back. We are aware of false teachers and so we keep listening to the Truth. And we know the King is reigning now. He’s even with us now—in His Word and Sacraments. We know that we already live in His kingdom by faith. So, we live and work without fear, praying and longing for His return while doing what we should while here. We live with calm, confident faith. We live according to His promise that we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells (2 Peter 3:13).
Come quickly + Lord Jesus. Amen.
Preached at Trinity, Clinton, IA and Immanuel, Charlotte, IA
