Ten Horns, Twice

A vision of ten horns takes the center stage in prophecy, not just once, but two different times. The first time is in Daniel 7, in a vision of five beast nations. The second occurrence is in Revelation 17, portraying an eighth beast that will dominate at the very end of the age.  

Let’s make it clear at the outset, the two images of ten horns are not portraying the same thing. Although the ten horns signify ten nations in both cases, the two prophecies are clearly describing two different things. They are distinctively unique. This is important to understand, because sometimes the imagery in Daniel’s prophecies is reiterated in Revelation. But not the ten horns.

Daniel records the first prophetic vision that includes ten horns. He saw four beasts – a lion, a bear, a leopard, and a terrifying beast. Each beast represented a specific nation – Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome. On the head of the fourth beast there were ten horns. They took center stage for only a brief moment, though, because a little horn grew up in their midst, and that horn upstaged the ten horns and took on a character that dramatically captured Daniel’s curiosity. The ten horns represent ten nations that arose out of the Roman empire when it finally collapsed (Dan 7:24). As history unfolded, some one thousand years later, people from these old-Roman nations migrated to the New World in significant numbers. Eventually, America flexed its muscle and became an independent nation. In the process it had to defeat three of the original horns (Dan 7:24) -- England, France, and Spain. What began as a puny, little, fledgling horn in the vision grew to become a boastful, arrogant, oppressive, powerful, and violent empire (Dan 7:25; Rev 13:5-7).

History is always the best interpreter of prophecy, and in the case of Daniel’s vision the interpretation is pretty clear now. There is no need to speculate or conjecture what the ten horns or the little horn represent. The little horn is not a vision of Antichrist as many would suggest, even though it is portrayed with eyes like a human being and a mouth that spoke boastfully. We know the little horn represents a nation because when it is destroyed it is compared with the destruction of the other four beasts, all of them nations. (Dan 7:11-12). The little horn is even referred to as another “beast” (Dan 7:11), a fifth nation in Daniel’s vision. America, the boastful and oppressive little horn, is likewise the seventh head of the beast in Revelation 13. The lion, bear, and leopard are also heads of that beast (corresponding with the Daniel 7 beasts), specifically heads number three, four and five. Beast nation number six was Rome (cf Rev 17:10) and numbers one and two, if you’re curious, were Egypt and Assyria.

The second prophecy of ten horns occurs in Revelation 17. Actually, it first appears in the Revelation 13 vision of a beast with seven heads and ten horns, but the ten horns are not elaborated until chapter 17. A cryptic statement about the seven heads confirms that the seven-headed beast represents seven nations, not Antichrist. “They are seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come” (Rev 17:10). At the time of John’s writing Rome was the empire on the scene, and America had not yet come. But then the prophecy goes on to describe an eighth beast that would supplant the seventh beast and receive authority for just “one hour”. The ten horns in the vision of the beast represent ten kings who will give their authority to the beast (Rev 17:12). They are ten Arab-Islamic kingdoms that will unite under one Caliph-Mahdi at the end of the age to become the last beast empire. The leader of that Arab-Islamic army is identified elsewhere in Biblical prophecy as Gog (Ez 38 and 39) and the man of lawlessness (II Thes 2).

Another little cryptic phrase in the prophecy helps to determine that the eighth beast is indeed an Arab-Islamic alliance.  “The beast who once was, and now is not, and yet will come, is an eighth king” (Rev 17:8,11). The Arabs were always a thorn in the side of the Jews, from the time of Jacob and Esau, all through their history in the land of Israel. But at the time of John’s writing the Arabs were not a force to be reckoned with, not at all (“now is not”). But with the rise of Islam, instituted by Muhammad, in the 7^th century, the Arabs rose up again on the world scene, astonishingly so (Rev 17:8). The Arabs’ long-standing hatred for Israel, coupled with their latent Islamic Jihad mission, will boil over when Armageddon unfolds. That is the message of the ten horns in the Revelation 17 prophecy.

Ten horns, two prophecies. One already fulfilled, for the most part. The other beginning to take shape and dominate the world scene in just the next few years.