The Man of Sin

We now come to an amazing prophecy in the Bible. We have travelled through the Biblical records and have seen that the True Sabbath stands as an everlasting memorial, how from creation up to the time of Christ and the early apostles the seventh day was observed as the Sabbath. But then in the course of history, the Sabbath gradually lost its sacredness as Sunday rose into prominence, which resulted in an attempted change of the Sabbath. In the line of the argument we are now considering, we cannot refrain from noticing the power that brought about this change. The Bible is not silent about this matter, in prophetic language, Daniel declares "And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High and think to change times and laws and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time." Dan 7:25. The power described by the verse is known as the little horn (Dan 7:20). In order to get the true identity of the little horn, we need to do a background study on Daniel 7.

The Four Beasts in Daniel 7

In the book of Daniel, seventh chapter, there was seen by the prophet in vision the four winds of heaven striving upon the great sea, "and four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another (Beasts symbolize kingdoms, Dan 7:23; the fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom) The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings;" which symbolized the world-kingdom of Babylon. The second was like a bear, which raised itself up on one side, and had three ribs in the mouth of it; which symbolized the united world-kingdom of Media and Persia. The third was like a leopard, which had four heads and four wings of a fowl which symbolized the Greek empire. The fourth beast was "dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns." This great beast symbolized the world-empire of Rome. The ten horns symbolize ten kings/divisions which later rose into kingdoms (Dan 7:24) History shows that the Western Roman Empire divided into ten separate kingdoms, 1) Alemanni (Germany) 2) Franks (France) 3) Burgundians(Switzerland) 4) Suevi(Portugal) 5) Visigoths(Spain) 6) Anglo-Saxons(England) 7) Lombards(Italy) 8) Ostrogoths 9) vandals 10) Heruli. The latter three do not exist currently as they were exterminated.

The Little Horn

Then says the prophet: "I considered the horns [the ten horns], and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things." As these horns denote kingdoms, the little horn must denote a kingdom also, but not of the same nature, because it was diverse from the others. They were political kingdoms. And now we have but to inquire has any diverse kingdom arisen from Rome? Yes, which one? Let us outline its characteristics, then it will be easy to identify it.

1. It arose out of the fourth beast, among the ten horns (Dan 7:7,8)
2. It came after the ten horns and it was different from the other horns (Dan 7:24)
3. It uprooted three kingdoms (Dan 7:8,20,24)
4. It looked more stout than the others (Dan 7:20)
5. It had a mouth that spoke great words against the most High (Dan 7:8,25)
6. It wore out the saints of the most High for a time, times and dividing of times (Dan 7:25)
7. It thought to change times and laws (Dan 7:25)

Is there a power that perfectly fits these characteristics? Certainly.

And that is none other than the PAPACY. Carefully consider how it matches the above characteristics.

1. It came out of the Roman empire within the ten kingdoms.
2. It came after the other kingdoms had already been established.
3. It removed three horns(kingdoms) before it; namely, the Heruli, the Ostrogoths, and the Vandals. And the reason why they were plucked up was because they were opposed to the teaching and claims of the papal hierarchy, and hence to the supremacy in the church of the bishop of Rome.
4. The pen of inspiration declares it to be "more stout than his fellows", this is because the papacy was both a political and religious power. Thus it exerted more power than all the rest of the kingdoms.
5. The mouth speaking great things is a fit symbol of the arrogant claims of the papal system. Look at such self-approved titles of the pope as "Holy Father", "Vicegerent of the Son of God," and "Lord God, the Pope." – He goes even further to speak as if he is God by professing to forgive sins, to be above all secular and religious power and assumes infallibility all attributes which belong to God alone.

An Incredible Time Prophecy

The description given in Daniel 7, is symbolic thus we need to get the literal meaning. This is an easy task as the Bible explains itself, by line upon line (Isaiah 28:10)

Time refers to a year in the Bible (Daniel 4:23), times will be two years and dividing of time is half a year. By adding we get 1+2+½ = 3½ years. That is prophetic years. A prophetic year has 360 days, since months in the Biblical times had only 30 days. Let us now turn the years into days. 3½*360= 1260 days (prophetic days).

One day in prophecy symbolizes one literal year (Numbers 14:34, Ezekiel 4:6). Therefore, the 1260 days in prophecy refer to 1260 literal years. The papacy was to rule for a period of 1260 years, did this occur? Verily it did, beginning from 538 AD when the last rivals (the Ostrogoths) were plucked out, the papacy exercised its cruel power over the people of God. Millions upon millions were persecuted for their faith, martyrs were burnt, many were exiled to the forest, the horrific details of the 'Dark Ages' as done by the Roman Catholic Church under the Pope are written in the books of history. This was to last for 1260 years. Add 538 + 1260 = 1798. In the year 1798 AD, the pope (Pope Pius VI) was taken captive by the French army under general Berthier, thus the papal sovereignty came to an end (538-1798 AD)

Think to change times and laws

Which laws are these that the papacy has sought to change? It cannot be the laws of the state, since he already had control of the state. Rather it is the law of God, the ten commandments written by the finger of God Himself. Has the Roman catholic church done this? Yes, the second commandment forbidding Idolatry has been removed to give way for worship of the images they have set up. The tenth commandment has been broken into two to fill the number to ten. Not only have they done this, but they have trampled on the holy Sabbath. Here is a statement from the Catholic church.

In the Convert's Catechism of Catholic Doctrine, we read:

Q. Which is the Sabbath day? A. Saturday is the Sabbath day.

Q. Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday? A. We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church, in the Council of Laodicea, (AD 336) transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday….

Q. Why did the Catholic Church substitute Sunday for Saturday? A. The Church substituted Sunday for Saturday, because Christ rose from the dead on a Sunday, and the Holy Ghost descended upon the Apostles on a Sunday.

Q. By what authority did the Church substitute Sunday for Saturday? A. The Church substituted Sunday for Saturday by the plenitude of that divine power which Jesus Christ bestowed upon her! —Rev. Peter Geiermann, C.SS.R., (1946), p. 50.

It is clear that the papacy has made a breach in the law of God by exalting a false Sabbath of her own making. Well would he be called the 'Man of Sin', for he has opposed and exalted himself above God (2 Thess 2:3,4), else he would not have dared to tamper with God's holy law. Jesus had explicitly declared "Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled." Matt 5:18.

The issue here is more than just about a day, it is a life and death issue, eternity is at stake. Prayerfully consider that which you have read, and the Spirit will guide you into all truth. Currently we have seen, the papacy up to its wounding in 1798, what follows after that? Does the Bible offer more insight into the future? Join me next time, as we continue with this solemn prophecy. Till that time may the good Lord bless you and keep you.