13. What grew out of one of the four horns, and how did it act?

¹³ The next part of the vision spans more than 2,200 years, its fulfillment stretching into modern times. Daniel writes: “Out of one of them [the four horns] there came forth another horn, a small one, and it kept getting very much greater toward the south and toward the sunrising and toward the Decoration. And it kept getting greater all the way to the army of the heavens, so that it caused some of the army and some of the stars to fall to the earth, and it went trampling them down. And all the way to the Prince of the army it put on great airs, and from him the constant feature was taken away, and the established place of his sanctuary was thrown down. And an army itself was gradually given over, together with the constant feature, because of transgression; and it kept throwing truth to the earth, and it acted and had success.”—Daniel 8:9-12.

14. What did the angel Gabriel say about the activities of the symbolic small horn, and what would happen to that horn?

¹⁴ Before we can understand the meaning of the words just quoted, we must pay attention to God’s angel. After pointing to the coming to power of the four kingdoms from Alexander’s empire, the angel Gabriel says: “In the final part of their kingdom, as the transgressors act to a completion, there will stand up a king fierce in countenance and understanding ambiguous sayings. And his power must become mighty, but not by his own power. And in a wonderful way he will cause ruin, and he will certainly prove successful and do effectively. And he will actually bring mighty ones to ruin, also the people made up of the holy ones. And according to his insight he will also certainly cause deception to succeed in his hand. And in his heart he will put on great airs, and during a freedom from care he will bring many to ruin. And against the Prince of princes he will stand up, but it will be without hand that he will be broken.”—Daniel 8:23-25.

THE SMALL HORN BECOMES MIGHTY IN POWER

16. (a) Out of which symbolic horn did the small horn come forth? (b) How did Rome become the sixth world power of Bible prophecy, but why was it not the symbolic small horn?

¹⁶ According to history, the small horn was an offshoot of one of the four symbolic horns—the one farthest to the west. This was the Hellenistic kingdom of General Cassander over Macedonia and Greece. Later, this kingdom was absorbed by the kingdom of General Lysimachus, the king of Thrace and Asia Minor. In the second century before our Common Era, these western sectors of the Hellenistic domain were conquered by Rome. And by the year 30 B.C.E., Rome took over all the Hellenistic kingdoms, making itself the sixth world power of Bible prophecy. But the Roman Empire was not the small horn of Daniel’s vision, for that empire did not continue till “the appointed time of the end.”—Daniel 8:19.

17. (a) What relationship did Britain have with the Roman Empire? (b) How is the British Empire related to the Hellenistic kingdom of Macedonia and Greece?

¹⁷ What, then, does history identify as that aggressive “king fierce in countenance”? Britain actually was a northwestern offshoot of the Roman Empire. Down till the early part of the fifth century C.E., there were Roman provinces in what is now Britain. In the course of time, the Roman Empire declined, but the influence of the Greco-Roman civilization continued in Britain and in other parts of Europe that had been under Roman dominion. “At the fall of the Roman Empire,” wrote Nobel Prize winning Mexican poet and author Octavio Paz, “the Church took its place.” He added: “The Church fathers, as well as the later scholars, grafted Greek philosophy onto Christian doctrine.” And the 20th-century philosopher and mathematician Bertrand Russell observed: “The civilization of the West, which has sprung from Greek sources, is based on a philosophic and scientific tradition that began in Miletus [a Greek city in Asia Minor] two and a half thousand years ago.” Thus, it could be said that the British Empire had its cultural roots in the Hellenistic kingdom of Macedonia and Greece.

18. What is the small horn that became “a king fierce in countenance” in the “time of the end”? Explain.

¹⁸ By 1763 the British Empire had defeated her powerful rivals, Spain and France. From then on she demonstrated herself to be the mistress of the seas and the seventh world power of Bible prophecy. Even after the 13 American colonies broke away from Britain in 1776 to establish the United States of America, the British Empire grew to embrace a quarter of the earth’s surface and a quarter of its population. The seventh world power gained still greater strength when the United States of America collaborated with Britain to form the Anglo-American dual world power. Economically and militarily, this power had indeed become “a king fierce in countenance.” The small horn that became a fierce political power in the “time of the end,” then, is the Anglo-American World Power.

19. What is “the Decoration” mentioned in the vision?

¹⁹ Daniel saw that the small horn “kept getting very much greater” toward “the Decoration.” (Daniel 8:9) The Promised Land, which Jehovah gave to his chosen people, was so beautiful that it was called “the decoration of all the lands,” that is, of the entire earth. (Ezekiel 20:6, 15) True, Britain did capture Jerusalem on December 9, 1917, and in the year 1920, the League of Nations assigned the mandate over Palestine to Great Britain, to continue until May 14, 1948. But the vision is prophetic, containing many symbols. And “the Decoration” mentioned in the vision symbolizes, not Jerusalem, but the earthly condition of the people whom God views as holy during the time of the seventh world power. Let us see how the Anglo-American World Power tries to threaten the holy ones.