02-14-2021, 03:26 PM
The Messianic Kingdom
"I beheld therefore in the vision of the night, and 10, one like the son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and he came even to the Ancient of days, and they presented him before him. And he gave him power, and glory, and a kingdom, and all peoples, tribes and tongues shall serve him. His power is an everlasting power that shall not be taken away, and his kingdom that shall not be destroyed.
"My spirit trembled: I Daniel was affrighted at these things, and the visions of my head troubled me. I went near to one of them that stood by, and asked the truth of him concerning all these things. And he told me the interpretation of the words, and instructed me: These four great beasts are four kingdoms, which shall arise out of the earth. But the saints of the most high God shall take the kingdom, and they shall possess the kingdom forever and ever.
"After this I would diligently learn concerning the fourth beast, which was very different from all, and exceedingly terrible. His teeth and claws were of iron: he devoured and broke in pieces, and the rest he stamped upon with his feet; and concerning the ten horns that he had on his head; and concerning the other that came up, before which three horns fell; and of that horn that had eyes, and a mouth speaking great things, and was greater than the rest. I beheld, and 10, that horn made war against the saints, and prevailed over them, till the Ancient of days came and gave judgment to the saints of the Most High, and the time came, and the saints obtained the kingdom.
"And thus he said: The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be greater than all the kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces. And the ten horns of the same kingdom, shall be ten kings. And another shall rise up after them, and he shall be mighter than the former, and he shall bring down three kings. And he shall speak words against the High One, and shall crush the saints of the Most High; and he shall think himself able to change times and laws, and they shall be delivered into his hand until a time, and times, and half a time. (1) And judgment shall sit, that his power may be taken away, and be broken in pieces, and perish even to the end, and that the kingdom, and power, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, may be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all kings shall serve him, and shall obey him.
[size=medium] "Hitherto is the end of the word. I Daniel was much troubled with my thoughts, and my countenance was changed in me, but I kept the word in my heart." (7: 3-28).
c. "And out of one of them came forth a little horn: and it became great against the south, and against the east, and against the strength. And it was magnified even unto the strength of heaven: and it threw down of the strength, and of the stars, and trod upon them. And it was magnified even to the prince of the strength: and it took away from him the continual sacrifice, and cast down the place of his sanctuary. And strength was given him against the continual sacrifice, because of sins: and truth shall be cast down to the ground, and he sh.all do and shall prosper. And I heard one of the saints speaking, and one saint said to another, I know not to whom that was speaking: How long shall be the vision, concerning the continual sacrifice, and the sin of desolation that is made: and the sanctuary, and the strength be trodden under foot? And he said to him: Unto evening and morning two thousand three hundred days: and the sanctuary shall be cleansed ...
"And he said to me: I will show thee what things are to come to pass in the end of the malediction: for the time hath its end ...
"When iniquities shall be grown up, there shall arise n king of a shameless face, and understanding dark sentences. And his power shall be strengthened, but not by his own force: and he shall lay all things waste and shall prosper, and do more than can be believed. And he shall destroy the mighty, and the people of the saints, According to his will, and craft shall be successful in his hand: and his heart shall be puffed up, and in the abundance of all things he shall kill many: and he shall rise up against the prince of princes, and shall be broken without hand. And the vision of the evening and the morning, which was told, is true: thou therefore seal up the vision, because it shall come to pass after many days" (8: 9-26).
(1) Three years and a half, which is supposed to be the length of the duration or the persecution of Antichrist. (Bishop Challoner note) .
d. "Seventy weeks (1) are shortened upon thy people and upon thy holy city, that transgression may be finished, and sin may have an end, and iniquity may be abolished, and everlasting justice may be brought, and vision and prophecy may be fulfilled, and the Saint of saints may be anointed. Know thou therefore, and take notice: that from the going forth of the word (2) to build up Jerusalem again, unto Christ the prince, there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; and the street shall be built again, and the walls in straitness of times. And after sixty-two weeks Christ shall b2 slain; and the people that shall deny him shall not be his, And a people with their leader (3) that shall come, shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall. be' waste, and after the end of the war the appointed desolation. And he shall confirm the covenant with many in one week, and in the half of the week (4) the victim and the sacrifice shall fail, and there shall be in the temple the abomination cf desolation. And the desolation shall continue even to the consummation, and to the end." (9: 24-27).
(1) That is, of years or seventy times seven, that is 490 years.
(2) That is from the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when by his commandment Nehemias rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem.
(3) The Romans under Titus.
(4) Because Christ preached three years and a half, and then by His sacrifice upon the Cross abolished all the sacrifices of the Law. The abomination of desolation: some understand this of the profanation of the temple by the crimes of the Jews, and by the bloody faction of the zealots; others think it refers to bringing the ensigns and standards of the pagan Romans to the temple. Others distinguish three different times of desolation: that under Antiochus, the destruction of the temple by the Romans, and the last near the end of the world under Antichrist. (Bishop Challoner note).
e. "And there shall stand up in his place one despised, (1) and the kingly honor shall not be given him, and he shall come privately, and shall obtain the kingdom by fraud ...
"The king shall do according to his will, and he shall be lifted up, and shall magnify himself against every god: and he shall speak great things against the God of gods, and shall prosper, till the wrath be accomplished. For the determination is made. And he shall make no account of the God of his fathers: and he shall follow the lust of women, and he shall not regard any gods: for he shall rise up against all things. But he shall worship the God Maozim in his place: and a god whom his fathers knew not, he shall worship with gold, and silver, and precious stones, and things of great price. And he shall do this to fortify Maozim with a strange god7 whom he hath acknowledged, and he shall iI1crease glory and shall give them power over many, and shall divide the land gratis.
"And at the time prefixed the king of the south shall fight against him, and the king of the north shall come against him like a tempest, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with a great navy, and he shall enter into the countries, and shall destroy, and pass through. And he shall enter into the glorious land, and many sh,all fall: and these only shall be saved out of his hand, Edom, and Moab, and the principality of the children of Ammon. And he shall lay his hand upon the lands: and the land of Egypt shall not escape. And he shall have power over the treasures of gold, and of silver, and all the precious things of Egypt: and he shall pass through Libya, and Ethiopia. And tidings out of the east, and out of the north shall trouble him: and he shall come with a great multitude to destroy and slay many. And he shall fix his tabernacle in Apadno between the seas, upon a glorious and holy mountain: and shall come even to the top thereof, and none shall help him" (11: 21, 36-45).
(1) Antiochus Epiphanes, who at first was despised and not received as king. What is here said of this prince, is regarded by St. Jerome and others to pre-figure Antichrist. (Bishop Challoner note).
f. "But (1) at that time shall Michael rise up, the great prince, who standeth for the children of thy people. And a time shall come such as never was from the time that nations began even until that time. And at that time shall thy people be saved, everyone that shall be found written in the book.
"And many of those that sleep in the dust of the earth, shall awake; some unto life everlasting, and others unto reproach, to see it always. But they that are learned shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that instruct many to justice, as stars for all eternity.
"But thou, 0 Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time appointed. Many shall p.ass over, and knowledge shall be manifold.
"And I Daniel looked, and behold as it were two others stood: one on this side upon the bank of the river, and another on that side, on the other bank of the river. And I said to the man that was clothed in linen, that stood upon the waters of the river: How long shall it be to the end of these wonders? And I heard the man that was clothed in linen, that stood upon the waters of the river, when he had lifted up his right hand, and his left hand to heaven, and had sworn, by him that liveth forever, that it should be unto a time, and times, and half a time. And when the scattering of the band of the holy people shall be accomplished, all these things shall be finished. And I heard, and understood not. And I said: 0 my Lord, what shall be after these things? And he said: Go, Daniel, because the words are Rhut up, and sealed until the appointed time. Many shall be chosen, and made white, and shall be tried as fire; and the wicked shall deal wickedly, and none of the wicked shall understand, but the learned shall understand. And from the time when the continual sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination unto desolation shall be set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred ninety days. Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh unto a thousand three hundred thirty-five days. But go thou thy ways until the time appointed, and thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot unto the end of the days.' '(12 :1-13).
213-216. The Minor Prophets
In the former book will be found the relative prophesies from Joel (14), Amos (15), Micheas (16), and Zacharias (17). Tbey deal with divine chastisements, false prophets and the reestablishment of Israel.
217. Malachias
"Behold I will send you Elias the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers: lest I come, and strike the earth with anathema" (4: 5-6).
218. I Machabees
17. "Elias, while he was full of zeal for the law, was taken up into heaven" (1 Mac. 2: 58).
(1) Bishop Challoner heads this chapter of Daniel thus: (The Archangel) Michael shall stand up for the people of God: with other things relating to Antichrist. and the end of the world.