Daily Bible Verses for 4/30/2016

Bible Verse
And behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong. It had huge iron teeth; it was devouring, breaking in pieces, and trampling the residue with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns I was considering the horns, and there was another horn, a little one, coming up among them, before whom three of the first horns were plucked out by the roots. And there, in this horn, were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking pompous words.

The fourth beast shall be a fourth kingdom on earth, which shall be different from all other kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, Trample it and break it in pieces. The ten horns are ten kings who shall arise from this kingdom. And another shall rise after them; He shall be different from the first ones, and shall subdue three kings. He shall speak pompous words against the Most High, Shall persecute the saints of the Most High, and shall intend to change times and law. Then the saints shall be given into his hand for a time and times and half a time.

Reading Notes
In this section of scripture Daniel continues with his vision of the four beasts coming out of the sea. Daniel is now focusing on the horns of the fourth beast and the little horn which is starting to grow. We know from this vision, there will arise a revived form of the Roman Empire before the rise of the Antichrist begins. The fourth beast represents the Roman Empire, whereas the ten horns represent the end-times rebirth of the Roman Empire. This new version of the Roman Empire will have ten kings, kingdoms or governing bodies. These ten horns correspond to the ten toes of Nebucadnezzar’s earlier dream of the statue with the head of gold. The little horn sprouting up among the ten horns or kings, represents the rise of the Antichrist, who will subdue three of these kingdoms in his rise to power. We have to remember the Antichrist will be demonically influenced at first and later Satanically indwelt.

We also see that the Antichrist will start small and grow in power and authority while building his empire which will be different from the others. This difference could be due to the diversity of peoples. But most likely refers to the fact that the purpose of the Antichrist will be to get the world under his control. Satan’s goal has always been to steal the worship due God for himself and therefore get all people groups to worship him and rebel against God. He will go so far as to institute his own system of beliefs that may change the holidays, seasons and traditions we currently follow. As the Antichrist grows in power he will initiate a great persecution against believers. We may see a return of the ancient era treatment of Christians, where people were killed for their faith in Jesus. The Antichrist will be the culmination of everything that hates and rebels against Christ.