<p>13:3 <em>And I saw one of his heads as though it had a mortal wound; but its mortal wound was healed- </em>This significant head is to be associated with the little horn of Daniel 7 and 8. See further commentary <a href=http://www.n-e-v.info/cm/dan8com.html>here </a>and <a href=http://www.n-e-v.info/cm/dan8com.html>here</a>. </p><p>The little horn represents the beast; the persecution of the saints by the horn is therefore also by the beast:</p><table border=0 cellspacing=3 cellpadding=0>    <tbody>        <tr>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p><strong>The   Little Horn</strong></p>            </td>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p><strong>The   Beast</strong></p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p>&quot;Diverse&quot;   (Dan.7:24)   from&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; others</p>            </td>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p>&quot;Diverse&quot;   (Dan.7:23) from <br />            others&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p>&quot;A mouth   speaking great things&rdquo; (Rev.3:5)</p>            </td>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p>&quot;A mouth   speaking great things&quot; <br />            (Dan.7:8)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p>&quot;He shall   speak great words&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br />            against the Most High&rdquo; (Dan.7:25)&nbsp;</p>            </td>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p>&quot;He opened   his mouth in blasphemy against God&quot; (Rev.13:6)</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p>&quot;The same   horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them (Dan.7:21).</p>            </td>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p>&quot;Make war   with the saints, and&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; to overcome them&quot; (Rev.13:7)</p>            </td>        </tr>    </tbody></table><p>Thus Dan. 7:11 speaks as if the beast and the little horn are interchangeable: &quot; I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake: I beheld even till the beast was slain&rdquo;. Rev.13:5 says that the beast makes war with the saints (AVmg.) for 3.5 years- as does the little horn in Dan. 7. The beast was &quot;like a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion&quot; (Rev. 13:2). Again we see the elements of the various beasts of Dan. 7 and therefore the metals of the image of Dan. 2 all incorporated in this beast. It has &quot;seven heads and ten horns&quot; (Rev. 13:1)- which is the total number of heads and horns of the four beasts of Dan. 7. In harmony with this, Hos. 13:7 describes Israel&rsquo;s latter day invader as a lion, bear, leopard and wild beast. All elements of the beasts are brought together in the final latter day invasion.</p><p>One of the heads receives a deadly wound, but this is described as the beast receiving a deadly wound, thus identifying the beast with one of its particular heads (Rev. 13:3,12). The overall picture presented by the descriptions of the horns is of conflict with each other, whilst at the same time dominating the earth / land of Israel. The little horn &lsquo;subdues&rsquo; to abase / humiliate / degrade three of the horns, and according to Rev. 17:16, the ten horns hate the whore, the individual riding the beast entity, and bitterly destroy and burn her. And the fortunes of the entire entity ebb and flow- one of the wounds has a deadly wound but revives, the beast itself has a deadly wound from a sword but revives (Rev. 13:3,12,14), the beast was, is not and yet is (Rev. 17:8), and we are beginning to see this ebb and flow of the fortunes of the entity developing in the land / earth. This is precisely the picture that has more recently unfolded in the land promised to Abraham- a series of increasingly powerful and aggressive leaders and powers, morphing together <em>from the perspective of Israel and God&rsquo;s people</em> into a system of abuse such as has never been seen and never will be. And yet from another viewpoint, they are bitterly divided against themselves.</p><p>The tendency is to want to clearly identity each of the ten toes / ten horns of the fourth beasts, the wings of the lion, the three ribs in the mouth of the second beast, the four wings and four heads of the third beast, the three horns who are plucked up by the little horn of the fourth beast, and then in Revelation we have seven heads found on the beast, as well as the ten horns, who in Revelation &ldquo;hate the whore&rdquo; and burn her; and the whore who rides the beast sits on seven hills or kings. Each of these attributes toes, horns, wings, heads refer to kings / kingdoms. Looking at the scenarios through half closed eyes, as it were, not sweating the details, we have the impression of a latter day entity dominating the earth / land promised to Abraham, which is comprised of a bewildering array of smaller powers and charismatic leaders who are often pitted against each other. This is exactly the position we see developing in that geographical area. We don&rsquo;t need to interpret the fine details ahead of time- that is not how prophecy functions. When it all happens, then it will be clear. What we are seeing is the general picture developing- an array of aggressive powers, some strong and some weak, broadly grouped into four groups, matching the four beasts who will exist in the last days. They are all united around a desire to dominate Israel. It&rsquo;s not hard to imagine how they will destroy each other, which is God&rsquo;s preferred method of judging His people&rsquo;s enemies. &nbsp;</p><p>The changing of times and laws by the antichrist figure of Dan. 7:25 sounds like the radical Islamist desire to impose the Islamic calendar and <em>sharia</em> law in the land promised to Abraham, which they see as their caliphate; and for sure, if Israel becomes part of an Islamic state, then the keeping of the Jewish calendar will be outlawed. The implementation of <em>sharia</em> law and changing legal structures to reflect it, is a major theme in their program. It&rsquo;s clear that the three and a half year domination of Jerusalem and changing of the Jewish law and calendar had an initial fulfilment in the abuses of Antiochus Epiphanes, who desecrated the temple. There was a three and a half year period from the edict of Antiochus in June 168 BC to the rededication of the temple in December 165 BC.&nbsp; The little horn of Daniel 8 comes out of the Greek kingdom, but the horn of Daniel 7 out of the fourth kingdom. I suggest that this is because the prophecy could have been fulfilled totally at the time of Antiochus- Messiah could have come and destroyed him. But the various required preconditions weren&rsquo;t met, and so there was another possibility of it coming true out of the Roman kingdom another possibility is that the four beasts and metals refer to Babylon-Media-Persia-Greece rather than Babylon-Medo Persia-Greece-Rome. Revelation uses the same imagery to describe the antiChrist of the last days, who will incorporate some elements of the previous historical fulfilments of the little horn in men like Antiochus Epiphanes.</p><p>The entire vision of the beasts of Daniel 7 is summed up in Dan. 7:1: &quot;the <em>rosh</em> of the words&quot; (AV &quot;sum of the matter&quot;). And the <em>rosh</em> surely refers to the individual of Ezekiel 38:2 who will lead the latter day armies against Israel. The whole system of beasts is summed up in an individual <em>rosh </em>or leader, just as the metals of the image in Daniel 2 are in the form of a man with the face of Nebuchadnezzar. The little horn of Daniel 7 is actually called &quot;the beast&quot;: &quot;I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake: I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame&quot; (Dan. 7:11).</p><p><em>And the whole earth marvelled as they followed the beast- </em>One feature of the presentation of the beasts is that both John and &quot;the whole earth / land&quot; wonder at it and at the whore riding it (Rev. 13:3; 17:6,7). This matches with the stress in Daniel 7 that the fourth beast is strikingly different from all the other beasts. The world will be in shock and awe at the entity which will suddenly develop- and we see the beginnings of that with the awe and fear inspired by the jihadists. This speaks not only of the fear inspired by the entity in its enemies on the ground, but implies a watching world onlooking in awe and fear, unable to do anything against it</p><p>Let&rsquo;s not get caught up with the idea that Israel shall survive and defeat the invaders in her own strength. The beast must dominate Israel. Jerusalem will be taken. Dan. 7:7,21 speaks of how the beast made war with the saints and prevailed against them- Israel- <em>until</em> the Ancient of days came; in Dan. 7:23 he devours the whole land as a beast and shall tread it down. The beast of Revelation is so powerful in the earth / land that &quot;the world&quot; wondered at it and at the whore riding it (Rev. 13:3; 17:6,7), feeling unable to make war with it. This of itself requires the demise and degrading of America, Europe and the West generally. Dan. 11:41,45 are likewise clear about the latter day King of the North: &ldquo;He shall also come into the glorious land&hellip; He shall plant the tents of his palace between the sea and the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him&rdquo;.</p><p>As the entire image was &quot;terrible&quot; (Dan. 2:31), so the fourth beast system is described with the same word (Dan. 7:7). As the image appeared &ldquo;excellent&rdquo; (Dan. 2:31), so the strength of the fourth beast was &lsquo;excellent&rsquo; (s.w. Dan. 7:7). Dan. 7:7 emphasizes that this final beast is altogether more aggressive than any previous beast / dominator of the land: &quot;Dreadful, terrible, strong exceedingly... it was different from all the beasts that were before it&quot;. The original word translated &ldquo;dreadful&rdquo; suggests whoever sees it slinks away in fear- its strength and advantage over others is &ldquo;exceeding&rdquo;. This is the same awe we find in Rev. 13, where the world looks on at the beast, marvelling at this entity and feeling that nobody can even begin to make war with him. This speaks of an entity that is more aggressive and fear-inspiring than the aggressive Babylonians, Assyrians or abusive Nazis. It implies too the eclipse of the West as the dominant world power block and power broker. The current Islamic jihadist movement may develop into an entity which fits this bill- a reign of terror involving cutting off children's heads and parading their actions on videos, live crucifixion of any who don't agree with them, but with a stranglehold advantage over any critics... The same radical difference between this final beast and all previous ones is brought out by the way in which John, after all he had earlier seen, was in shock at the way the beast drunk the blood of the saints, i.e. the people of God, Israel in their land (Rev. 17:6). The whole world likewise is in shock horror at this beast (Rev. 13:3; 17:8). Dan. 12:1 puts it this way: &quot;There shall be a time of trouble such as never was&quot; for God's people, and they will be saved from it by the standing up of Jesus for His people, the resurrection of the dead and the destruction of the &quot;king of the north&quot;. The &quot;time of Jacob's trouble&quot; from which he shall be saved (Jer. 30:7) must be understood in the context of how the phrase &quot;time of trouble&quot; is used in the Bible to describe times of Israel's invasion and suffering at the hands of their neighbours (Is. 33:2; Jer. 2:27,28; 8:15; 11:12,14; 14:8,19; Ez. 7:7). &quot;There shall be a time of trouble such as never was&quot; therefore suggests a time of abuse of Israel such as has never been seen. And this includes the Nazi holocaust, the death camps of Europe, the Babylonian and Assyrian atrocities... It's purely wishful thinking to hope that the IDF and Israel's military technology will stave this off. It will not. Jerusalem is to be taken and the women raped (Zech. 14:2). The beast is to dominate the earth / land of Israel.</p>