The Ancient of Days Reigns
As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time. Dan. 7:12
rest of the... The beasts or kingdoms preceding the little horn will each reign for a season and a time, then pass away, allowing a succeeding one to come, until the little horn comes whose kingdom is the eighth and last kingdom before the second coming of Christ and the establishment of the kingdom of heaven on earth forever (Dan. 7:12-14, 7:18, 7:27; 8:20-25; 9:27; 11:35-45; 12:1-13; Zec. 14:1-21; Mat. 24:15-31; 25:31-46; 2Th. 1:7-10; 2:8-12; Jude 1:14; Rev. 13:1-18; 17:8-17; 19:11-21).
These beasts were speaking of Babylon (Iraq), Persia (Iran), and Greece. They were no longer ruling powers as they had been represented in their place in the image. The kingdoms of this world have fallen. They were not totally destroyed, but lost all power.
These earlier beasts each successively lost its chief dominance when it was conquered in history. Yet each was amalgamated into the empire that gained ascendance, and survived in its descendants. As the Second Advent draws near, all 3 empires in their descendants will be a part of the Roman phase in its final form.
Survival will not be possible for the final and revived phase of the fourth empire after Christ’s second coming, for catastrophic devastation will utterly destroy it, and Christ’s kingdom will replace it.
This event will terminate “the times of the Gentiles” (Luke 21:24, 21:27). The kingdoms represented by the three preceding beasts had already been stripped of their power by military conquest. But the fourth beast will be relieved of its power not by being conquered militarily, but by divine judgment (cf. Dan. 9:27; Rev. 11:15; 19:15). Each of the three, however, had been allowed to live for a short time. This may mean that the cultures of each of the first three conquered empires were assimilated into the conquering nations.
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