Daniel had a vision in which he saw four beasts which represented four kings and their kingdoms. These depict all the civil and political powers of the world bent upon the destruction of the church of our Lord Jesus Christ. The expression "a time, and times, and the dividing of time" (verse 25) refers to three and one half years, a number symbolic to the Jews of a time of great distress (1 Kings 17:1). From the cross of Christ to His second coming, the saints of God in this world have been and will continue to be a people hated by the world and opposed by Satan. This is the period of the antichrist. John wrote that the spirit of antichrist "already is in the world" (1 John 4:3). Today Babylon (false religion) flourishes. Yet this is also the time in which the gospel of grace is being proclaimed and believed by God's elect for none can frustrate the Lord's purpose of grace. Soon our Savior shall come again and all opposition shall be overthrown and His glorious kingdom shall continue throughout eternity. (Read Revelation 13.)