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The True Fulfillment of Prophecy, part 16

During the time of the Babylonian empire, Daniel prophesied of four main beasts that would arise: Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome. He then mentioned a little “horn” coming out of the Roman beast (Daniel 7:8). A prophetic horn is a power that acts like an extension of a beast. In other words, when the Roman empire fell, it would be given an extension of life in a new form.

Some teach that this little horn was the emperor Constantine, who ruled from 306-337 A.D. But Rome fell in 476 A.D. So unless the little horn grew inward, Constantine was not that horn. The extension of Rome could not begin earlier than 476. However, fifty years later after the fall of Rome, Justinian the Great, who was the emperor in the Eastern Roman Empire, fulfilled Daniel’s prophecy as the original little horn.

Alterations in Times and in Law

Daniel 7:25 describes this little horn:

²⁵ He will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law; and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time.

Justinian came to the throne in 527 A.D. His first project was to change the Roman calendar. The Romans had always dated their years from the year of the founding of Rome (753 B.C.). Justinian changed this so that the first year on the Roman calendar was to date from the birth of Christ.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ab_urbe_condita

This is how the little horn made an alteration in “times.” From then on, all legal contracts had to be dated according to the new official calendar. His next big project was to change the laws of the empire to reflect Orthodox Christian Law.

“Justinian’s best-known work was as a codifier and legislator. He greatly stimulated legal studies, and in 528 he set up a commission to produce a new code of imperial enactments or constitutions, the Codex Constitutionum. This was published in 529, and in 530 a second commission sat to codify the Roman jurists; the work of this commission, known as the Digest (Digesta), appeared in 533. At the same time, a handbook for the use of law students, the Institutes (Institutiones), was prepared and published in 533. A second edition of the Code of Justinian containing Justinian’s own laws up to the date of issue was published in 534.”

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Justinian-I

The Catholic Encyclopedia says of Justinian, “the most enduring work of Justinian was his codification of the laws.” It was known as the Corpus Juris Civilis. The Catholic Encyclopedia says further,

“It would be difficult to exaggerate the importance of this ‘Corpus.’ It is the basis of all canon law (ecclesia vivet romana) and the basis of civil law in every civilized country.”

Will Durant’s book, Age of Faith, says,

“This Code… enacted orthodox Christianity into law… All ecclesiastical, like all civil, law, was to emanate from the throne.” (page 112)

This Corpus Juris Civilis, making “alterations… in law,” fulfilled the second description of the little horn given in Daniel 7:25. This became the basis of European laws, which, though modified over the years, is used to this day. Church law was better than Roman law, but unfortunately, it was based on man’s imperfect understanding of God’s law. Justinian’s efforts established the Feudal System that resulted in near slavery (serfdom) for most of the people.

When the Kingdom of God is established in the earth, there will be another historic alteration in law, comparable to the Corpus Juris Civilis, that will reflect a greater alignment with the laws of God.

A Time, Times, and Half a Time

Daniel 7:25 allots “a time, times, and half a time” to the little horn with no explanation. This is interpreted in Revelation 13:5 as “forty-two months.” A prophetic month is 30 days, so 42 months is 3½ years, or 1260 prophetic “days/years.” The little horn comes in the context of long-term prophecy, so it actually describes a period of 1260 years.

The first draft of the Corpus Juris Civilis was published in 529; its final revision came into effect on December 30, 534. A period of 1260 years later saw the French Revolution (1789-1794). This was when France suffered the “Reign of Terror” and the Roman church received its “fatal wound” that was subsequently “healed” (Revelation 13:3). More than 30,000 Roman Catholic priests were killed, and many fled to Canada and to other countries.

Out of this turmoil rose Napoleon, who marched to Rome and took the pope captive in 1798. The era of the popes ended. Yet just five years later (1804), Napoleon needed a pope to crown him as emperor of France, so he reinstated a pope (Pius VII). The “fatal wound” was thus healed, as John had prophesied.

Two Beasts

Whereas Daniel had seen just one “little horn,” John saw more details. John saw two beasts, not just one. The first was the beast from the sea (“Holy See”), which he described in terms much as Daniel had written. But John then saw a second beast “from the earth” (Revelation 13:11), working in conjunction with the first beast. This second beast is described in financial terms, and it was fulfilled in the rise of the Rothschild banking empire.

The “mark” of this beast is money. The “image” of the beast is the image portrayed on money (Luke 20:24). Laws were passed so that no one could buy or sell without using the national currency. Essentially, this put the people into economic slavery. To “worship” the beast is to have the love of money, which is the root of all evil (1 Timothy 6:10), a violation of the First Commandment.

The mark on one’s forehead signifies mental labor to secure money; the mark on one’s hand signifies one’s physical labor to secure money. It is the opposite of the mark of God (Deuteronomy 6:7, 8; 11:18). His laws are to be bound upon our hand and forehead. The Jews in Jesus’ day followed this command literally (Matthew 23:5), but God was more interested in writing His law upon our minds, so that all that we do with our hands is lawful.

John does not tell us how long this coalition of beasts was to keep the earth in bondage. In my view, we are now seeing that coalition crumble as the financial system is reaching the end of its mortal life. It will again receive a “fatal wound,” but this time the wound will not be healed. A new financial and spiritual system will arise that is empowered by the Holy Spirit. A Jubilee will be declared that will set the world free from all beast oppression that has afflicted the earth since the Babylonian beast took Jerusalem in 604 B.C.

The Great Tribulation

The earth has been in tribulation ever since the dominion mandate was taken from Judah and given to Nebuchadnezzar and his successors in 604 B.C. The time of tribulation was to be a cycle of “seven times” (Leviticus 26:18). The law does not define it, but the prophet Daniel portrays it as a time cycle when speaking of “a time, times, and half a time.”

John, in turn, defines this more specifically as “forty-two months” and also speaks of 1260 “days” (Revelation 11:2, 3; 12:6) as the equivalent of 3½ days/years. This, of course, is just half of a full seven-times cycle, or 2,520 years in long-term prophecy. This is much longer than a mere seven years that men have assumed recently.

If we count 2,520 years from 604 B.C., we come to the year 1917 A.D., the year that British General Allenby took control of Jerusalem from the Ottoman Empire toward the end of World War 1. Some astute Bible teachers foretold this even thirty years earlier, and they were right. They assumed, of course, that Christ would return at that time. However, this did not happen.

They failed to account for the hundred-year independence of Jerusalem from 163-63 B.C. During that century, the “tribulation” (rule by foreign empires) was set aside, depriving the beast empires of part of their allotted period of “seven times.” This century, then, had to be added to 1917, which brings us to 2017, in order that the beasts received all that was due to them by the divine decree in the time of Jeremiah and Daniel.

Hence, at the Feast of Tabernacles in October of 2017, we were led to issue a legal declaration from the divine court that the time of the beast empires was complete. The Kingdom of God was to arise to replace the beast empires. But this transition would take time to develop. If the beast empires had suddenly collapsed, millions of people would have faced economic disaster. Millions would have starved. So God did not allow that to happen.

At the same time, when the beast empires failed to fulfill the responsibility of the dominion mandate by declaring a Jubilee, they found themselves on the wrong side of the law, giving God a legal cause against them. This was similar to what God did to Pharaoh in Egypt, who too refused to let the people go. Hence, divine judgment will soon fall upon the oppressors as God intervenes to set the people free.