7:23 The interpreting angel now granted the prophet more insight about the fourth beast and particularly about the little horn. Here the dual identification of the beasts with kings and kingdoms becomes transparent. The fourth beast does not just represent a king (v. 17) but also a kingdom. The angel repeated the facts already revealed (v. 7) but clarified that the previous description referred to a kingdom.
The phrase "whole earth"does not necessarily mean the whole planet. The Old Testament generally uses this term to refer "to the entire territory of the Near and Middle East that in any way relates to the Holy Land."282Another view is that a "one-world government under a worldwide dictator"is in view.283Later revelation seems to support the second view (Rev. 13).
7:24-25 One difference between the description of the little horn here and earlier (v. 8) is that the little horn is a king, not a kingdom. Another is that he will be different from the previous 10 kings (cf. Rev. 13:1; 17:12). His boastful words will be against the Most High and His saints (v. 25). He will wear down the saints evidently by persecution (cf. 2 Thess. 2:8-9; Rev. 12:13-17; 13:1-10, 16-17). He will also desire to make changes in times (the calendar?) and in law.284Someone, obviously the sovereign God, will allow him to have his way for "a time, times, and half a time"(cf. 12:7). Even liberal interpreters concede that this is a period of three and one-half years (cf. 4:16; Rev. 11:2-3; 12:6; 13:5).285It evidently refers to the last three and one-half years before the little horn's destruction and the return of Jesus Christ. This corresponds to the "Great Tribulation,"the phrase Jesus used to describe the last half (three and one-half years) of the seven-year Tribulation (Matt. 24:21).
"When the hordes from the north conquered the Roman Empire in the fifth century A.D., they did not unite to form another empire. Instead individual nations emerged out of the old Roman Empire. Some of those nations and others stemming from them have continued till the present day. The present Age, then, is the 10-horned era of the fourth beast. (Other premillenarians, however, hold that the time of the 10 horns is yet future, that the present Church Age is not seen in this vision, and that 10 kings will coexist over a future revived [or realigned] Roman Empire.)"286
"The ten-nation confederacy of the future anticipated in these prophecies would naturally be considered a revival of the Roman Empire if for no other reason than that it is portrayed as an integral part of the fourth empire."287
"Our Lord ministered on earth three and a half years, and the Antichrist shall enact his Satanic ministry for the same length of time."288
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