Chapter 8 The Great War

The greatest war ever fought, or ever to be fought, is the struggle between good and evil. This is the conflict between God and Satan. It is a life-and-death combat between right and wrong. This war involves the whole creation of God. The welfare of the entire universe is at stake. This earth has become the battlefield, and the outcome involves every human being. The matter is not a temporal one, such as making the world safe for democracy, but a spiritual one which is concerned with making the universe safe for righteousness.

In the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation, wild beasts are used to represent the forces of evil. The forces for good are called saints and are marshaled under the banner of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. Both of these prophetic books promise victory to God’s people. Here the angel explains:

Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, "Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before God day and night, has been cast down.
And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony" (Revelation 12:10,11).

We begin to see these animals used as symbols in the seventh chapter of Daniel. Here the prophet records his vision of four beasts rising out of a wind-swept sea. These beasts represented four universal kingdoms that would develop out of the winds of war, and in territory occupied by many people. For in the Bible, the sea, or waters, represent populated areas, as we notice in Revelation 17:15, "Then he said to me, ‘The waters which you saw, where the harlot sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues.’"

Here is the Bible record of Daniel’s vision:

   "And four great beasts came up from the sea, each different from the other.
   "The first was like a lion, and had eagle’s wings. I watched till its wings were plucked off; and it was lifted up from the earth and made to stand on two feet like a man, and a man’s heart was given to it.
   "And suddenly another beast, a second, like a bear. It was raised up on one side, and had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. And they said thus to it: ‘Arise, devour much flesh!’
   "After this I looked, and there was another, like a leopard, which had on its back four wings of a bird. The beast also had four heads, and dominion was given to it.
   "After this I saw in the night visions, 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" (Daniel 7:3-8).

Daniel was told that these four beasts stood for four kingdoms which would successively arise to rule the world. When we compare the story in Daniel 7 with the stories in chapters 2 and 8, and reflect a bit on world history, we know that these beasts represent Babylon, Medo Persia, Greece, and Rome.

As soon as Daniel was told that these four beasts were four kingdoms, he immediately wanted to know more detailed information concerning the terrible "fourth beast, which was different from all the others."

    ". . . And the ten horns that were on its head, and the other horn which came up, before whom three fell, namely, that horn which had eyes and a mouth which spoke pompous words, whose appearance was greater than his fellows.
    "I was watching; and the same horn was making war against the saints, and prevailing against them" (Daniel 7:19-21).

Responding to the prophet’s request, the heavenly spokesman explained:

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 (Daniel 7:24,25).

The fourth beast, the fierce one, was a fitting representation of the very powerful Roman Empire, which continued its rule much longer than any of the previous three. The ten horns on the head of this beast, like the ten toes on the image of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in Daniel 2, represent the ten branches into which the Roman Empire was ultimately divided. Following is a list of these divisions, together with the more familiar names of their approximate territories:

Huns (Alamani)	Germany
Franks	France
Anglo-Saxons	England
Visigoths	Spain
Burgundians	Burgundy
Suevi	Portugal
Lombards	Italy
Heruli	Plucked Out
Vandals	Plucked Out
Ostrogoths	Plucked Out

The only power that grew out of the Roman Empire and vanquished three other powers was the Papacy, which subdued the above three tribes in the fifth and sixth centuries. The Word of God makes quite a number of alarming predictions concerning the conduct of the Papacy, and the controlling authority it would exercise through the centuries. If we were to discuss here at length how the papal power has spoken "pompous words against the Most High," persecuted "the saints of the Most High," and attempted "to change times and law," we should have to add another volume to this work. And so we shall cite only brief examples of these activities.

The pompous words are spoken especially by those who speak about the pope, and for him: "The Pope is not only the representative of Jesus Christ, he is Jesus Christ himself, hidden under a veil of flesh" (Catholic National, July 1895, quoted in the periodical, The Protestant, Vol. 4, No. 1, St. Ignatius, MT. 59865, 13). Another example of the pompous words:

The pope is as it were God on earth, sole sovereign of the faithful of Christ, chief king of kings, having plenitude of power, to whom has been entrusted by the omnipotent God direction not only of the earthly but also of the heavenly kingdom (Lucius Ferraris, Prompta Bibliotheca, art. "Papa" II Vol. VI, 26-29, cited from Uriah Smith, The Prophecies of Daniel and the Revelation, Nashville, Southern Publishing Association, 1944, 129).

The papal power bears the guilt of persecuting the saints of the Most High over many centuries, and by extreme measures:

Can anyone doubt that this is true of the Papacy? The Inquisition; the "persecutions of the Waldenses"; the ravages of the Duke of Alva; the fires of Smithfield; the tortures at Goa – indeed, the whole history of the Papacy may be appealed to in proof that this is applicable to that power. If anything, could have "worn out the saints of the Most High" – could have cut them off from the earth so that evangelical religion would have become extinct, it would have been the persecutions of the Papal power. In the year 1208, a crusade was proclaimed by Pope Innocent III. against the Waldenses and Albigenses, in which a million of men perished. From the beginning of the order of the Jesuits, in the year 1540 to 1580, nine hundred thousand were destroyed. One hundred and fifty thousand perished by the Inquisition in thirty years. In the Low Countries fifty thousand persons were hanged, beheaded, burned, or buried alive, for the crime of heresy, within the space of thirty eight years from the edict of Charles V., against the protestants, to the peace of Chateau Cambresis in 1559. Eighteen thousand suffered by the hands of the executioner, in the space of five years and a half, during the administration of the Duke of Alva. Indeed, the slightest acquaintance with the history of the Papacy, will convince any one that what is here said of "making war with the saints" (ver.21), and "wearing out the saints of the Most High" (ver. 25), is strictly applicable to that power, and will accurately describe its history. (Albert Barnes, Barnes’ Notes on the Old Testament: The Book of Daniel, Grand Rapids, MI, Baker Book House, no date, 90,91. Reprinted from 1853 edition: London, Blackie and Son)

The attempt of this apostate church "to change times and law" can be seen by looking at the Ten Commandment law as published in Catholic Catechisms. You will notice that the second commandment, that forbidding graven images, is omitted entirely, and that the tenth commandment, the one against coveting, is divided into two commandments. The third through the ninth are moved up one number each. The Sabbath commandment becomes the third rather than the fourth, and simply states, "Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day." This abbreviation fails to say which day is the Sabbath, and fails to state the purpose of, and authority for, the Sabbath requirement.

Next we need to determine how long is meant by a "time and times and half a time," the period during which the saints would be given into the hand of this persecuting power. Once we discover the length of this period, we can easily fix the dates for its beginning and its end. This, then, will sharpen our focus on the Papacy.

The length of this time of papal supremacy is clarified by our study of the 12^th chapter of Revelation. In this chapter the true church is represented by "a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars" (verse 1). In her effort to escape persecution, and her struggle for survival, God’s true church "fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days" (verse 6). This 1260-day period of persecution agrees with the length of time Daniel was told the saints would be given into the hand of the persecutor. This is made doubly clear in Revelation 12:14:

But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent.

In Numbers 14:34 and Ezekiel 4:6, one day is used as a symbol for one literal year. We find this symbolism to be true in the figurative prophecies of Daniel and Revelation, so that a 1260-day period represents 1260 actual years. It is also true that a "time" in this type of prophecy stands for a symbolic year of 360 days, so that three and one-half "times" would represent 1260 actual years.

You will notice that in time prophecies, the Scriptures use a 360-day year to stand for a literal 365-day solar year. Of course it is easier to calculate numbers of days and months with the 360 figure. But is it a legitimate approach? We think it is. Bible scholars have long accepted the 360-day prophetic year because the predictions have been fulfilled in harmony with its calculations. This is seen in the prophecy we are discussing here, and very clearly in the Messianic forecasts of Daniel 9:24-27.

That we have applied these symbols correctly is confirmed by the fact that the woman of Revelation 12, God’s true church (See Jeremiah 6:2 and 2 Corinthians 11:2), was made to flee from the extreme persecution of the Papacy during the 1260 years of papal supremacy. This period extended from AD 538 until 1798, as we shall see.

It was Justinian, emperor of the remnant of the Empire of Rome, who by official decree made the Bishop of Rome the supreme head over all other bishops and churches, with authority to root out all heresy. This decree, formulated in 533, became effective when the Ostrogoths, last of the three uprooted horns, were driven from Rome by Belisarius in 538.

Twelve hundred sixty years later, in 1798, General Alexander Berthier, on orders from Napoleon Bonaparte, took Pope Pius VI prisoner. It was Napoleon’s plan that the Papacy be discontinued. This was the deadly wound of Revelation 13:3, of which we shall take further notice in the next chapter (Uriah Smith, op cit., 145,146).

In early apostolic times, the followers of Jesus were persecuted by the Jews. Later they were persecuted by the Romans, who oppressed both Jews and Christians. But since Satan failed to wipe out God’s people by harassing them, he began to beguile them by attractive compromises. Roman emperors became astute politicians, ostensibly accepting Christianity, but bringing into the church several pagan practices inimical to pure Christianity. As time went on, the main church body apostatized and adopted a mixture of pagan and Christian doctrines. And so when those Christian believers, who held tenaciously to the pure Christian tenets, refused to compromise their beliefs and practices, the popular apostate church itself began to persecute these dissenters. Different governments, who were operating under the unbelievably oppressive hand of the Papacy through many centuries, destroyed millions of their finest citizens.

This great apostasy was foretold by the Apostle Paul in his second letter to the Thessalonians:

    Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition,
    Who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
    . . . The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders,
    And with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved (2 Thessalonians 2:3-10).

It is clear that this prophecy of a "falling away," with the revealing of the "man of sin," pertains to the papal power. Various pagan rulers have claimed that they are gods. But this Scripture refers to the Christian’s one true God; for this "son of perdition…sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God." Has anyone other than the pope ever done that? Read this straightforward claim of Pope Leo XIII: "We hold upon this earth the place of God almighty" (The Great Encyclical Letters of Pope Leo XIII, cited in Bible Students’ Source Book, Washington, Review and Herald, 1962, 684).

The papal claim to supreme ecclesiastical and political authority is set forth quite clearly in the Dictates of the Pope (also called Dictates of Hildebrand), the author of which is Pope Gregory VII:

1.     That the Roman Church was founded by the Lord alone.
2.     That the Roman Pontiff alone is justly called universal.
3.     That he alone can depose bishops or restore them . . . .
9.     That all princes should kiss the feet of the pope alone . . . .
12.     That it is lawful for him to depose emperors . . . .
18.     That his sentence ought not to be reviewed by any one; and he alone can review [the decisions] of all.
19.     That he ought to be judged by no one . . . .
22.     That the Roman Church never erred; nor will it, according to Scripture, ever err . . . .
27.     That he can absolve subjects from their allegiance to unrighteous [rulers].
(Karl Hofmann, Der "Dictatus Pape" Gregors VII, Paderborn, Germany. Ferdinand Schöningh, 1933, 11. Cited in Bible Students’ Source Book, 681).

The prophecies we have discussed in this chapter were found to be true because they met the ultimate test: they were fulfilled in history, or else they are being fulfilled at the present time. This is the kind of evidence that Christ Himself advised us to recognize. He said, "And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe" (John 14:29). The reader is urged to consider very seriously the things which have been presented in this chapter, for they will prove to be vitally related to our Christian welfare and to the overall study of the Christian Sabbath.

Chapter 7   Index   Chapter 9               Copyright © 2001 - by McDonald Road SDA Church

All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the New King James Version.
Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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