Daniel: Chapter 7

DANIEL: Chapter7

In this lesson we will examine the dreams and visions Daniel experienced regarding the future history of his people. Throughout this study however, I want you to keep in mind Nebuchadnezzar’s vision of the Great Image of chapter two. As I mentioned beforehand, it is the great stabilizer for understanding bible prophecy.

Daniel 7:1

1 In the first year of Belshazzar, king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream and visions of his head upon his bed: then he wrote the dream, and told the sum of the matters.

Daniel 7:2

2 Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea.

If you are a newbie to reading bible prophecy, then you might miss this opportunity to investigate “the four winds” and their responsibilities and positioning.

Revelation 7:1

1 And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.

Here we see that these are four spiritual beings (angels) who have the power to hold back the natural wind of the earth. But if we continue to study, we find that they are endowed with more than just the power to hold or loose the natural wind; but were capable of much more.

Jeremiah 49:36

36 And upon Elam will I bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven, and will scatter them toward all those winds; and there shall be no nation whither the outcasts of Elam shall not come.

The Elamites were the descendants of Elam, the son of Shem, Noah’s son. They lived in what is now southwest Iran and southeastern Iraq.

THE FOUR WINDS

Four spirits of God (spiritual beings or angels) who have the power to set in motion earthly kingdoms.

It is the given power of the four angels to scatter the people of this nation to the four corners of the earth. There would not be a nation wherein they would not be found.

GREAT SEA

When you read a verse such as the one in question, always instruct yourself to seek the identity of people, places or things targeted in a passage. In this case, it behooves us to learn the identity of the “great sea.”

Numbers 34:6-7

6 And as for the western border, ye shall even have the great sea for a border: this shall be your west border.

7 And this shall be your north border: from the great sea ye shall point out for you mount Hor:

Joshua 1:4

4 From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast.

GREAT SEA is known today as the Mediterranean Sea. This is evidenced by the biblical references to the cities whose shorelines lay against it.

FOUR BEASTS

Four kings which shall arise out of the earth.

Daniel 7:3-8

3 And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another.

4 The first was like a lion, and had eagle’s wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was

lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man’s heart was given to it.

5 And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh.

6 After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it.

7 After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns.

8 I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.

The Little Horn

This term little horn is another name for the anti-Christ. But a most significant fact that I want to note here is that he rises up from among the ten. He is a successor of one of the first ten kings. It is not certain as to whether he inherits the kingdom from which he arises to power, or whether he takes it by force.

Daniel continues to reveal to us what he sees in the vision. Therefore I have placed the rest of the dream in chart form. The purpose of this chart is to show you that Daniel and John had visions of the same events. Therefore, be comforted in the fact that these things written in the book of the Revelation are also the same as are written in other prophetic books and can indeed be defined and understood.

Daniel 7:9-14

Revelation 1:14

9 I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire.

10 A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.

11 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.

The method of the destruction of the beast is that it is taken alive and cast into the lake of fire.

12 As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time.

13 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.

14 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.

Revelation 1:14

14 His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;

Revelation 5:11

11 And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands;

Revelation 13:5

5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.

Revelation 19:20

20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.

Revelation 14:14 (KJV)

14 And I Looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.

Revelation 1:5-7 (KJV)

5 And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,

6 And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

7 Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.

Now let us go on to reveal the identity of the beasts of Daniel’s dreams.

Daniel 7:15-28

15 I Daniel was grieved in my spirit in the midst of my body, and the visions of my head troubled me.

16 I came near unto one of them that stood by, and asked him the truth of all this. So he told me, and made me know the interpretation of the things.

17 These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth.

Here we are told explicitly that the four beasts are symbols for four kings. But kings are such because they have a kingdom or a dominion. Thus, these four kings also represent four kingdoms, ruled by a predominant nation.

1. FIRST BEAST

like a lion with eagle’s wings, feet as a man, given a man’s heart. Lion is Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian kingdom.

2. SECOND BEAST

like a bear with three ribs in its mouth. This is the Medes and Persians.

3. THIRD BEAST

like a leopard with four wings of a fowl on the back of it; four heads; given dominion. This is the Grecian Empire ruled by Alexander the Great.

4. FOURTH BEAST

diverse, dreadful, terrible, exceedingly strong, has ten horns, great iron teeth, nails of brass. This is the Roman Empire.

TEN HORNS

Revised Roman Empire; Ten kings that shall arise.

As a student of bible prophecy you should be curious as to how we learn the identity of the beasts in this chapter, seeing as how it is not given in the context of the chapter or elsewhere that we know of. Well, this is where your ability to reason according to the information that is given. Note that the focus for identification or defining attributes is mostly on the fourth beast; and from its attributes, we know to be the Roman Empire revised. Thus, from there we know the succession of the other kingdoms. So we simply count backwards, knowing that the Grecian kingdom precedes the Romans, and the Persians precede the Greeks, and the Babylonians precede the Persians. In doing so, however, we also see that the same characteristics will remain true for each kingdom.

18 But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even forever and ever.

19 Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast, which was diverse from all the others, exceeding dreadful, whose teeth were of iron, and his nails of brass; which devoured, brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with his feet;

20 And of the ten horns that were in his head, and of the other which came up, and before whom three fell; even of that horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look was more stout than his fellows.

21 I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them;

22 Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.

23 Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.

Take note here that the beast, who is diverse from all, is a kingdom that will come to power after the Grecian empire; the third or leopard kingdom. But in the next verse we see the rise of a fifth kingdom that will arise out of the fourth kingdom.

24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.

This 5th kingdom shall consist of ten kings (or powers), who shall be united as a power on the earth. But something happens within this union of kings. Another king shall arise after them and conquer three of the ten. This sounds as if there are ten kings and then an eleventh one rises to power from among the ten and subdues three of the ten. But in our efforts to rightly divide the word, we discover something very interesting; the king that subdues the three is the eleventh; but is one of the ten. This means that there are ten original kings and kingdoms, but one of the kings shall be replaced by a new king, (the little horn). He is a king that rises to power in one of the ten nations; and goes on to conquer three of the original ten nations. This leaves a total of seven kings. Remember, the 11th came out of the ten. In other words, he is either a successor or usurper of one of the ten kings.

Daniel 11:42-43

42 He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape. 43 But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.

The three kings to be subdued are: Egypt, Libya and Ethiopia. This is the same results of the vision of John in the Revelation.

Revelation 17:3

3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness:

and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.

Revelation 17:7-13

7 And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.

8 The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.

9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.

10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.

11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.

12 And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.

13 These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.

I hope that you are beginning to understand that most of the symbols of beasts used in the Book of Daniel and the Revelation are of the same characters or nations. Note that it began with the Great Image in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. Those nations or kingdoms defined there are the same as defined in John’s writings.

Revelation 13:2

2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.

Take note of the description of this beast:

1. The body of a leopard

2. The feet of a bear

3. The mouth of a lion

4. Ten crowns

Revelation 13:5

5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.

The angel goes on to reveal to Daniel more details concerning this latter day ruler who will be different from all others

Daniel 7: 25-28

25 And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.

Here Daniel is given a glimpse as to the coming tribulation of the church and the nation of Israel. It is hard to read this passage and deny that the church will suffer persecution at the hand of the anti Christ. You simply have to ask yourself, “who are the saints of the Most High?”

26 But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end.

27 And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.

28 Hitherto is the end of the matter. As for me Daniel, my cogitations much troubled me, and my countenance changed in me: but I kept the matter in my heart.

But in the end,

we win.