Daniels Vision of the Beast

If you have your Bibles, I invite you to open them up one more time, and let's turn to Daniel 7. Daniel 7, again, as we continue to prepare ourselves for the return of Jesus Christ. Of course, Daniel is the perfect place to turn in these matters. There's a very exciting prophecy here that is revealed in Daniel, so let's get right to it. I'd like to sketch in the background a little bit.

Here is Daniel. We find him here in chapter 7, as he has been taken into captivity some 55 years before. So perhaps we find Daniel at this moment in his 70s, I'd say. He has been in captive to the empire of Babylon, and he receives this vision of beasts. He's given the interpretation by an angel.

At this point, while he began his captivity under Nebuchadnezzar, he is now under the Babylonian king and emperor, Bel-Shazar. Daniel at this point would have certainly recalled the vision that he gave explanation to and gave to Nebuchadnezzar, which we find in chapter 2. There in chapter 2, we find another vision of a giant statue, you know, and this giant metal progression of the statue, representative of consecutive empires, four consecutive empires, in fact, there in chapter 2.

So now, as Daniel is receiving this vision, we can now liken these four beasts that are about to come out of this sea to those same four empires. Again, that statue vision was now some half a century earlier, and now comes this subsequent prophetic dream. And we'll take note that these four evil empires, representative in these beasts, have come into power, risen throughout history.

It's important to know that the fourth empire will once again revive. And this fourth empire that we're going to read about today will actually be in existence. It'll be an evil empire that will actually exalt itself above God and look to fight Jesus Christ at his return. It's important that we know about these things. So here we go. Daniel chapter 7. Let's read verses 1 through 8. The beasts of the sea. Daniel records, In the first year of Belshazzar, king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream and visions in his head while on his bed. Then he wrote them down, the dream, telling the main facts.

Daniel spoke, saying, I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea. And four great beasts came up from the sea, each different from one another. The first was like a lion and had eagle's wings, and I watched till its wings were plucked off. And it was lifted up from the earth and made to stand on two feet like a man, and a man's heart was given to it.

And suddenly another beast, a second like a bear, and it was raised up on one side, and it had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. And they said thus to it, Arise, devour much flesh. Verse 6, After this I looked, and there was another, like a leopard, which had on its back four wings of a bird. The beast also had four heads, and dominion was given to it. After this I saw night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong, had huge iron teeth, and it was devouring, breaking in pieces, trampling the residue with its feet.

It, this fourth beast, was different from all the other beasts that were before it. It had ten horns. I was considering the horns, and there was another horn, a little one, coming up among them, before whom three of the first horns were plucked out by the roots. And there, in this horn, were eyes, like the eyes of a man, in a mouth speaking pompous words.

Let's stop there. It's not easy, is it? You know, we're just halfway through this chapter here, and there's so much here, and I got to tell you, when you look ahead, it doesn't get much better. We have here weird creatures, mysterious symbols, images of horns being plucked out, a little horn that has eyes and a mouth speaking pompous words, you know.

All this, at first glance, is quite daunting here, and I think that's why many decide to vacate the whole notion of studying, you know, chapters like this. But, if we want to be serious about preparing for the end time and preparing for the return of Jesus Christ, we can't shy away from a study like this. And I got to tell you, there's incredible spiritual insight that is given by Daniel through this vision, and this is what we need to hear today.

So, where does one start? Where does one start? I was thinking about this. I think, you know, first of all, to understand, there is a certain genre of language here. Some have described it as apocalyptic language, of all things. We certainly understand that. And apocalyptic literature is a genre that's employed out of necessity, we could say.

You know, when the Bible employs it, when the drama of the whole thing is just so overwhelming and perplexing. You know, how do you encapsule this with normal literary mechanisms? You know, how do you describe the indescribable? How do you describe what's going to happen at the end of the age? How could you use language effective and available to the initial readers so as to cross the barriers of the centuries to us today? How do you do this? You know, if we described events today from our 21st century perspective, you know, there would be difficulty in first century interpretation, of course.

And, you know, God knows that. So, he employs this apocalyptic language through Daniel, and there's a lot of imagery, a whole lot of imagery to bridge the gap here between centuries. I think we can, with God's help and spirit, bring this to our understanding today.

Again, verse 1, we're here in the first year of reign of Belshazzar. He was a succeeding king to Nebuchadnezzar there in Babylon. Verse 2, Daniel says, I saw my vision at night. Behold the four winds of heaven. We're stirring up the great sea.

You know, four winds, north, south, east, west. I don't know. It's a way to describe just the all that it encompasses here. But I think if we read through this too quickly, sometimes we miss little details. We've mentioned this before. Every time we read prophetic language, prophetic stories in the Bible, what's one thing we say? We say prophecy is given to us to show us that God is in control. When we studied the seven seals, who was it that was opening up each seal? It was the Lamb of God. You know, nothing's out of control here. And so when we read this stirring up of the sea and these quite dramatic and scary beasts coming out of this sea, what is stirring these seas? Winds from heaven. Winds from heaven, you see. Nothing's out of control. Nothing is out of control. When you turn the news on at night, just know God is sovereign over all these things. And when we go through these prophecies and these empires, you're going to see just how awesome God is. That he's able to foretell the beginning from the end. He's in control. And this is all working to a conclusion here. A conclusion with the return of Jesus Christ. So we need not be any doubt here that these are four subsequent kingdoms and kings. If you allow your eyes to go down to verse 17, very clear. Verse 17, those great beasts, which are four, are four kings which rise out of the earth. Okay, so there it is. So in reflecting back to Daniel chapter 2, and with this vision, we know that we're dealing with four empires that have arisen throughout history. Those four empires that we're going to discuss today are the Babylonian Empire. That's what King Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar, Babylon. The second is the Media Persia Empire. Some refer to it as the Medo-Persia, Media Persia. Third is the Greek Empire.

These all have risen in history. Fourth is the Roman Empire.

And we know in the fourth empire it will be the one in which will be revised and be the empire at the end time.

We recognize animals are sometimes associated with and symbolize nations. The animal for America, the eagle, we know that. So it's the same with these symbolism here with these nations. By the way, be glad Benjamin Franklin didn't have his way or else our nation's bird would be the turkey.

A little anecdotal information for you. But anyway, here we go.

Vision number one, verse three and four, representing the kingdom of Babylon. Vision number one, verse three and four. And the four great beasts came up from the sea, each different from one another. The first was like a lion and had eagle's wings. And I watched until the wings were plucked off and it was lifted up from the earth, made to stand on two feet like a man, and a man's heart was given to it. Stop there. Kingdom of Babylon. This is the head of gold in Daniel 2. Describe here a line with eagle's wings.

Instead of flying it standing on the ground, a human man's heart is given to it.

Does this line up with Nebuchadnezzar's Babylonian kingdom? Absolutely. We remember there was a period of time in which Nebuchadnezzar, through his pride, did not give God credit for anything, credit for all that was under his power. God struck him down, cast him out to become like an animal, where he even ate grass. His hair became like feathers. His fingernails became like claws. If you want to just turn there for a moment, it's Daniel 4 verse 32. Just read this briefly. Again, Daniel 4 verse 32. Nebuchadnezzar was taking credit for everything, so God exiled him out to become like an animal for seven years. Here it is, Daniel 4 verse 32 and 33. And they shall drive you, Nebuchadnezzar, from men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and they shall make you eat grass like oxen, and seven times shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever he chooses. Verse 33. That very hour the word was fulfilled concerning Nebuchadnezzar. He was driven from men, ate grass like an oxen. His body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hair had grown like eagles' feathers, and his nails like birds' claws. Stop there. So, in turning back to Daniel 7, the plucking out of a lion's eagle's wings here. This is the plucking out of Nebuchadnezzar's pride and his power. Eventually, he was restored. You know, God is very merciful. God calls them to stand on his own two feet again. He gave him a heart like a man again, restored him back to humanity.

So, Nebuchadnezzar's Babylonian empire has come and gone. If you look at verse 4 again, like a lion who had eagle's wings there, all the connections are there. You know, if you look back into history, in Nebuchadnezzar's time, he constructed a gate, a beautiful gate. It was the Istar gate, and along this huge beautiful gate entrance was a procession of yellow lions, and it had a blue glazed brick around each yellow lion. It was initially part of the Seven Wonders of the World. So, the Babylonian empire was absolutely associated with the lion here.

Vision 1 fades. Babylonian empire is conquered. Vision 2, the second empire, comes into the scene. Daniel 7 verse 5. Suddenly, another beast, a second, like a bear. It was raised up on one side, had three ribs in its mouth, between its teeth, and said thus to it, Arise, devour much flesh. Well, the second kingdom in history is the Mediapurgea empire. Mediapurgea empire. It's Daniel chapter 2. It's the chest and arms of silver.

King Cyrus was at the helm, defeated the Babylonian empire.

Persia, like a great bear here. This kingdom, the second kingdom, is actually identified for us in Daniel. If you go forward just one chapter to Daniel 8, we see Persia identified, and we get verbiage of why this bear is raised up on one side here. Look at Daniel chapter 8. Let's look at verse 3 and 4 for a moment. We won't spend too much time on this, but we're going to see the Mediapurgea empire identified, and this concept of one higher than the other. Chapter 8, verse 3 and 4. Then I lifted my eyes, and there standing beside the river was a ram, which had two horns, and the two horns were high, but one was higher than the other, and the higher one came up last. And I saw a ram pushing westward, northward, southward, so that no animal could withstand him, nor was there any that could deliver from his hand. But he did according to his will, and became great. So this is the second beast here. So going down to verse 20, go down to verse 20. If you allow your eyes to go down there, the ram, which you saw, verse 20, having two horns, they are the kings of Mediapurgea. So going back to chapter 7 and verse 5, we see this bear raised up on one side. Why is that? Well, throughout history, we know that the Persia side of the Mediapurgea empire was more powerful. It came up last. It had had greater influence in that way. Three ribs. I don't know. The bear was hungry. Actually, some proposed that there were three major conquests of this empire that lines up with those three ribs. Three major conquests. I'll leave that to your to your history, your study.

It all lines up very well. King Cyrus led this empire until it fell. Who did it fall to? Well, it fell to our third beast here. Moving on to the third beast, Daniel 7 verse 6. After this, Daniel continues. This is an incredible prophecy. And note that all this is being written before these things happen. Daniel 7 verse 6. After this, I looked and there was another, like a leopard which had on its back four wings of a bird. And the beast also had four heads, and dominion was given to it. Stop there. So this lines up with the bronze belly and thighs of chapter 2, the big statue. Greek empire. Four wings, four-headed leopard.

Who was at the helm of the Grecian empire in its great reign? Well, that was Alexander the Great. Alexander the Great. We know after the demise of Alexander, there were four generals which rose up and split the empire into four different sections. They ruled. So as we consider these four wings here on the back of this leopard, if you go back to Daniel 8, and let's look back at verse 20 through 22, we see that this third empire is identified actually as the kingdom of Greece. So Daniel 8 verse 20 through 22. The ram which you saw having two horns. They are the kings of the media. Persia. We read that. Verse 21 of Daniel 8. And the male goat is the kingdom of Greece. And the large horn that's between its eyes is the first king. As for the broken horn and the four that stood up in its place, four kingdoms shall arise out of that nation, but not with its power. So, since Alexander the Great died, none of them rose to the prominence ever again that it had with Alexander the Great. But you know, Alexander the Great was an incredible leader. Incredible just in the means by which he conquered, you know, we could say evil incredible in that way. Remarkable, maybe is the better word. Again, the leopard, swift and dangerous here certainly would describe Alexander the Great's reign. You know, he controlled the entire region in about 10 years. It only took him about 10 years. And it was only by the age of 32 years of old, 32 years old. How could someone so young within such a short period of time have such conquering power? How could he destroy such a vast Media Persia empire? Well, you read it here. The answer is right here. Back to Daniel 7, verse 6 again there at the end.

The beast had four heads and dominion was given to it. Who gives dominion? God gives dominion. Given by God, you see. So prophecy is for the purpose where if you stand back far enough from it, you see the winds of heaven blowing in all these circumstances. When you turn on the evening news, turn when you turn it off, stand back, say to yourself, where are the winds of heaven? These are the winds of heaven blowing here. You know, nothing's out of control. Things are going to come to pass just as God foretold. We need to be assured of that because there is a fourth beast. There's a fourth beast in history and there's a fourth beast that's going to be revived in the end time. And it's a dreadful beast. Daniel 7, fourth beast here. We have duality. We talked about that last time where it carries out and passed. It has a future fulfillment. Daniel 7 verse 7 and 8. Daniel 7 verse 7 and 8.

After this, I saw in the night visions and behold a fourth beast. Dreadful, terrible, exceedingly strong, huge iron teeth. It was devouring, breaking into pieces, trampling the residue with its feet. Different. It was different from all the other beasts that were before it. It had 10 horns. As I was considering these 10 horns, there was another horn, a little horn, coming up among them before whom the three first horns were plucked out by its roots. And there in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth speaking pompous words.

A terrible beast, dreadful, iron teeth, devouring. What it couldn't devour, it stopped with its feet. We know who conquered the Grecian Empire. The Roman Empire. The great Roman Empire. The powerful Roman Empire. The fourth kingdom. Iron. You know, this is signified in chapter 2 of Daniel's vision as the legs of iron, feet of partially iron and clay. Iron signifies toughness. The Roman Empire could crush any foe, any foe, especially cruel and evil. And we have something different here. You know, there's something different. This little horn with eyes and a mouth speaking pompous words here. In fact, what we're about to read is this fourth empire and the duality not only existed in the past, but it will exist at Christ's return. And again, it will rise up to challenge Jesus Christ himself at his return. Let's get into this. And this little horn has, it plays great significance in that situation. Notice verse 8 again. Little horn. Verse 8 plucks out the first three horns by the roots, speaking pompous words. Daniel said, I want to know more. Skip down to verse 15. Verse 15. Let's find out more about this fourth empire. Verse 15 through 25. I, Daniel, after seeing this vision, was grieved in my spirit within my body, and visions in my head troubled me. I came near one of those who stood by and asked him for the truth of all this. And he told me and made known to me the interpretation of these things. Those beasts which are four are four kings which will arise out of the earth. But the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever. By the way, that's a little hint in that there's a, there's not only four kingdoms that we're speaking about here. There's a fifth kingdom. There's a fifth kingdom. We'll get to that later. Verse 19. Then I wish to know more about the truth of this fourth beast, which was different. It was different from all the others, exceedingly dreadful. Teeth of iron, nails of brawn, it devoured, broken to pieces, trampled the residue with its feet. Ten horns on its head. The other horn which came up before which three fell. Namely, the horn had eyes and a mouth and spoke pompous words, whose appearance was greater than its fellows. Verse 21. And I was watching, and the same horn, that same little horn, was making war against the saints and prevailing against them. So now we're projected into the future here. The same little horn was making war with the saints, prevailing against them until the ancient of days came, and a judgment was made in favor of the saints of the Most High, and the time came for the saints to possess the kingdom. And then, detailed interpretation here, continuing, verse 23 through 25. And he said, thus he said, the fourth beast shall be a fourth kingdom on earth, which shall be different than all other kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, trample it, break it into pieces. The ten horns are ten kings who shall arise from this kingdom, and another shall rise after them, and he shall be different from the first ones, and shall subdue three kings. He, this little horn, shall speak pompous words against the Most High, and shall persecute the saints of the Most High, and shall intend to change times and law. Then the saints shall be given over to his hand for a time, times, and half a time. Let's stop there. Incredible. Here, this little horn will look to challenge the Most High himself, the ancient of days, and will come against God's saints, his people. So what do we know? What is revealed here? Well, verse 8 and verse 24 mention these ten horns here. Verse 8 and verse 24.

And the ten horns are ten kings. Verse 24, who shall arise from this kingdom. So this reveals to us these are ten kings who have ten different revivals of this empire, this Roman Empire, revivals at different times in history, the fourth kingdom. Those revivals have continued throughout history. There is one final revival to come, a tenth revival at the time of Jesus Christ's return. The Roman Empire will be resurrected back into power, be in existence at Christ's return, and look to make war against the ancient of days himself and God's people.

But let's focus on this second part of verse 24 here. Ten horns are ten kings. Verse 24 shall arise, but yet let's look at this. Another shall rise after them. He's different from the first ones, and shall subdue three kings. This describes the little horn here.

In verse 8 says, before him three of the horns were plucked out by the roots. So a little bit of a history lesson here. After the first three revivals of the Roman Empire, the first three kings were what they called barbarian kings. That just simply means non-Catholic, non-Roman kings, barbarian kings in the first three revivals. After those first three rulers, though, the papacy, the Roman Catholic Church, would rise and play a major part in the empire from that point forward in the subsequent revivals. The following revivals of the Roman Empire would have a new look. The Roman Catholic Church would be joined and would make this union. With the ten horns, they represent the ten different revivals. The little horn would come onto the scene after the third, and the world would never be the same since.

The little horn would push up. And you see here a unifying with the Roman Empire. And there is a dimension here that's religious, isn't there? A religious dimension to this. An anti-God, an anti-Christ element to this. Because again, verse 25, he shall speak this little horn, pompous words, against the Most High. Persecute the saints there in verse 25. The saints of the Most High. Intend to change times and law, and the saints shall be given over into his hands.

You know, in history, Constantine, when he came into power, the emperor Constantine, he looked to make Christianity part of the state-sponsored church. It was his form of Christianity, of course. An anti-Christianity, really. But that, the pope, the bishop of Rome, over time, was granted incredible power. They could actually enthrone and depose of emperors themselves this religious element. So this combined church-state would put forth a persecution on true Christians at that time. Incredible persecution.

And so the power here of this little horn, this religious element which has attached itself in an unholy union with the the empire, it has incredible power. It's not military might, though. You'll notice. This is a mouth, and it has power to change times and law. And we know you look back into Roman Catholic Church history, all the doctrinal upheavals, what occurred? They changed the time. They moved God's sacred seventh day that was instituted since Genesis, since the beginning of time. God rested on this day, made it holy. They took the power of themselves to change that holy day from Saturday to Sunday. Who has the right to do that? This is where the power of the little horn lies. They changed times. There was a subsequent de-emphasis on the law, a sole emphasis on grace, changing law in that way. So this is the power that this little horn has. It is a religious element. It's the Roman Catholic Church element here. It's had an initial fulfillment, absolutely. It will have a future fulfillment as well. And we read of this future union, unholy union of the great beast power, the empire, the governmental power, the evil power that will be in the end time, joining themselves with an anti-Christ, a false prophet. Very clearly, we see this in scripture. Keep your marker here, Daniel. We're just going to go over to Revelation 13 just for a moment. I want to show you what it will look like in the end time. Revelation 13 gives us to us very clearly. We're going to have a little horn and anti-Christ together with this evil empire in the end time. The influence will be from the dragon himself, the devil. Revelation 13 verse 1 and 2.

John picks up this inspiration from God and speaks of the end time. Look at this. Revelation 13 verse 1 and 2. John writes now of this end time beast and ant and false prophet.

Then I stood on the sand of the sea, and I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns were ten crowns, and on his heads was a blasphemous name. Verse 2. Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard. His feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth was like the mouth of a lion.

And notice the dragon, though, gave him his power, his throne, and his great authority. I'll just stop there for a moment. So this shows us that as each subsequent empire took over the next one, it took on, if you will, that empire's evil characteristics with each conquering.

Building to this final empire with this incredible evil authority.

Again, they share the power of the dragon there in verse 2. Verse 3. John continues verse 3. And I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed, and all the world marveled and followed the beast. You know, if you look at the revivals of the Roman Empire, there were certain times when you'd say they will never come back from that. Mortally wounded, and they always do. They came back. So if we project this to the future, there will be a moment in which it may seem like it's conquered, but it will be healed and seek to deceive even the elect by this. Notice verse 4. More religious deception. Verse 4. So they worshiped the dragon. This is the end time. Who gave authority to the beast. That's the governmental power. And they worshiped the beast, saying, Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him? And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for 42 months. That's our last three and a half years of the tribulation. Then he opened his mouth and blasphemy against God to blaspheme his name, his tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation, and all who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the book of life of the Lamb slain since the foundation of the world. Let's stop there. So amazing clarity. This unholy union between church and state here, and its aim will be worship. It will look for your worship. It will look for your allegiance. Just know that.

Watch for that. Pray, God, make me sensitive to know if I'm giving allegiance to any one or anything else other than you. A worldwide system, of course, will control everything as it says. Terrifying, absolutely terrifying, perhaps seemingly hopeless. But, as I mentioned, Daniel's vision does not stop with a fourth kingdom. In fact, there's one more kingdom to come. And we know that fifth and final kingdom is one that's going to be ruled by Jesus Christ himself. So as we conclude, let's turn back to Daniel 7 and read about that fifth and final kingdom. It gives us great hope.

Don't compromise in the end. You don't have to. Don't feel fear.

Who's controlling these wins? Heaven. Don't let these things shake you. Stir you. Let them stir you today. So Daniel 7 verses 9 through 14, we have this fifth and final empire to look for. Look forward to.

Daniel 7 beginning in verse 9. Daniel continues, here it is.

I watched till thrones were put in place, and the ancient of days was seated. His garment was white as snow, and his hair on his head was like pure wool. His throne was a fiery flame, its wheels a burning fire, a fiery stream issued and came forth from him. A thousand thousands ministered to him. Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The court was seated, and the books were opened. And I watched, and then because of the sound of the pompous words which the horn was speaking, I watched till the beast was slain, and its body destroyed and given to the burning flame. As for the rest of the beast, they had their dominion taken away, yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a time.

I was watching in the night visions, and behold, here it is. This is the fifth and final government. And king, one like the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven. And he came to the ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. Then to him was given dominion and glory in a kingdom that all peoples, nations, languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and his kingdom is one which shall not be destroyed. Let's stop there. And to that, we could say, Amen. Right. Finally, here is Christ. I'll tell you once again, never fear. Don't let fear come into your experience. Instead, meet these things with faith. Faith. I hope you are stirred to faith and belief, knowing, knowing that we are on Christ's side, and we are preparing to help him usher in a world, and our heart pangs for this world.

This world is destroying itself, and we need a true and pure king to come. May he rule in our hearts today, until today, the kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our Lord and Jesus Christ, and he will reign forever and ever.