I have been looking at the implications coming out of an understanding of Matthew 16:27-28 and pointing out that Jesus had come (Second Coming) cir. 70 AD in fulfillment of his promise to come into his Kingdom, during the lifetimes of some of the people, who were listening to him (Matthew 16:28). In doing so, I’ve drawn on several prophesies in Isaiah and Daniel in an effort to show that Jesus was “a servant to the Jews for the sake of the truth in order to fulfill the promise God made to the fathers” (Romans 15:8 – paraphrased).
At this time, I want to look at Daniel 7 once more in an effort to identify the persecutor of the saints, identified in Daniel as the little horn (Daniel 7:8, 21, 25), which grew out of the head of the fourth beast (Rome) among the original 10 horns of that beast had (Daniel 7:7-8). The little horn is also called a beast in Daniel 7:11. The 10 horns were 10 kings, according to Daniel 7:24, but they, too, are called beasts in Daniel 7:12.
I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. (Daniel 7:13-14; emphasis mine)
Here, we find that the One like the Son of Man (i.e. the Messiah) was given a Kingdom, and judgment was given to the saints (Daniel 7:22). That is, the Messiah will destroy the persecuting power (Daniel 7:26), but he will give the Kingdom to the saints (Daniel 7:27), or in other words, he comes in the glory of the Father (Matthew 16:27), i.e. as Judge (Daniel 7:22; cf. John 5:22), and rewarded every man according to his works (Matthew 16:27).
The little horn is often interpreted as a gentile power, but I don’t believe the context of Daniel, as interpreted by the Gospels will allow this conclusion. Notice that Jesus claimed that he would go up to Jerusalem and suffer many things and then he would be crucified (Matthew 16:21). Then Jesus told his disciples that, if they wished to continue to follow him, they mustn’t hold their lives dear (Matthew 16:24-25), because following Jesus meant saying and doing the things he said and did, and this would culminate in their having a similar end (cf. Matthew 24:9). Who did Jesus identify as the source of his trouble, and, by association, would be the source of the trouble of his followers? Wasn’t it the chief priests and scribes who were in Jerusalem (Matthew 16:21)? The fact is that Jesus identified the Jewish authorities at Jerusalem, the chief priests, the scribes and the Pharisees, as the ones responsible for the blood of the righteous (Matthew 23:29-36; Luke 11:44-51).
Therefore, the persecuting power that rose out of Rome, Daniel’s fourth beast, could be none other than the Jewish authorities at Jerusalem during the first century AD. A comparison of Daniel 7 with the Gospel narratives shows us there could be no other conclusion (unless we wish to interpret the Bible by supposition). Nevertheless, if we allow the Bible to interpret its own content, there can be no other conclusion. This means, of course, that Jesus came in judgment upon that persecuting power and destroyed it from among the nations (cir. 70 AD), but he delivered the Kingdom of God to the saints (cf. Daniel 7:26-27), thus, ending the Old Covenant and establishing the New.
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