Continuing with the explanation of the prophetic Fourth Beast in Daniel 7 - the Little Horn in particular.
Dan 7:25 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.
A Time and Times and the Dividing of Time
"And they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time." The pronoun they embraces the saints, the times, and the laws just mentioned. How long a time were they to be given into the hands of this power?
(The following is a rather detailed, fact-filled explanation for the meaning of a time and times and the dividing of time. Please take the time to read this simply because these are people more competent in language, unless you too are a Biblical expert.)
A time, as we have seen from chapter 4: 23, is one year; two times, the least that could be denoted by the plural, two years, and the dividing of time, or half a time (Sept., hmisu) half a year. Gesenius also gives " [the same in Chald.,] a half. Dan. 7: 25."
We thus have three years and a half for the continuance of this power.
The Hebrew, or rather the Chaldaic, word for time in the text before us, is iddan, which Gesenius defines thus: "Time. Spec. in prophetic language for a year. Dan. 7: 25, for a year, also two years and half a year; i. e., for three years and a half; comp. Jos. B. J. 1. 1. 1."
We must now consider that we are in the midst of symbolic prophecy; hence in this measurement the time is not literal, but symbolic also. The inquiry then arises, How long a period is denoted by the three years and a half of prophetic time? The rule given us in the Bible is, that when a day is used as a symbol, it stands for a year. Eze. 4: 6; Num. 14: 34.
Under the Hebrew word for day (yom), Gesenius has this remark: " 3. Sometimes [Yamim] marks a definite space of time; viz., a year; as also Syr. and Chald. [iddan] denotes both time and year; and as in English several words signifying time, weight, measure, are likewise used to denote certain specified times, weights, and measures."
The ordinary Jewish year, which must be used as the basis of 'reckoning, contained three hundred and sixty days.
Three years and a half contained twelve hundred and sixty days.
As each day stands for a year, we have twelve hundred and sixty years for the continuation of the supremacy of this horn.
Did the papacy possess dominion that length of time? The answer again is, Yes.
The edict of the emperor Justinian, dated A. D. 533, made the bishop of Rome the head of all the churches. But this edict could not go into effect until the Arian 0strogoths, the last of the three horns that were plucked up to make room for the papacy, were driven from Rome; and this was not accomplished, as already shown, till A. D. 538.
The edict would have been of no effect had this latter event not been accomplished; hence from this latter year we are to reckon, as this was the earliest point where the saints were in reality in the hand of this power.
From this point did the papacy hold supremacy for twelve hundred and sixty years? - Exactly. For 538 + 1260 = 1798; and in the year 1798, Berthier, with a French army, entered Rome, proclaimed a republic, took the pope prisoner, and for a time abolished the papacy. It has never since enjoyed the privileges and immunities which it possessed before.
Note: This was true as to the writing from which this study is based upon made in 1897, however, the papacy has been fully re-established to its former power "the deadly wound" is now fully healed as of the reign Mussolini in Italy around 1929.] Thus again this power fulfils to the very letter the specifications of the prophecy, which proves beyond question that the application is correct.
Also to note, while the Papacy today (2022) is powerful with influence, political and religious, it is not the same as it was before 1798. There was a time even in our country (the United States) that to be Catholic wasn't a great thing. Protestants fled to this country to get away from religious persecution. The Reformation in the 1500's and onward, resulting in the Protestant Religion- those protesting against Catholicism- evolving into many different denominations, but all opposed to Catholicism. Today Catholicism has one of the largest number of believers- proving that the deadly wound dealt to the papacy was healed over. The papacy today is revered by many of ALL different faiths.
Dan 7:26 But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end.
The Judgment Shall Sit.
After describing the terrible career of the little born, and stating that the saints should be given into his hand for 1260 years, bringing us down to 1798, verse 26 declares: "But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end." In verse 10 of the same chapter we have substantially the same expression relative to the judgment- " The judgment was set." It would seem consistent to suppose that the same judgment is referred to in both instances. But the sublime scene described in verse 10 is the opening of the investigative Judgment in the sanctuary in heaven, as will appear in remarks on Dan. 8: 14 and 9: 25 27. The opening of this judgment scene is located by the prophecy at the close of the great prophetic period of 2300 years, which terminated in 1844. Four years after this, in 1848, the great revolution which shook so many thrones in Europe, drove the pope also from his dominions. His restoration shortly after was through the force of foreign bayonets, by which alone he was upheld till his final loss of temporal power in 1870. The overthrow of the papacy in 1798 marked the conclusion of the prophetic period of 1260 years, and constituted the "deadly wound " prophesied in Rev. 13: 3, to come upon this power; but this deadly wound was to be "healed."
To be continued….