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Daniel 7:
The Beasts of Daniel 7
By:
Natalie Kazzi
Introduction
Our human nature often makes us demand for
proof. While we may often readily believe some
things, life experience teaches us to be more
cautious, and to only trust in people or things
that have proven to be trustworthy and valid in
the past. The Bible is reliable as a source of
truth for several reasons, one of which is that
the prophecies in it have come to pass,
according to their time lines.
When it comes to interpreting Bible prophecy, we
have to allow the Bible to interpret itself.
There are many symbols in Bible prophecy, yet
the scriptures themselves give the keys to these
symbols. This principle will be demonstrated as
Daniel 7 is explained.
Another principle demonstrated in prophecy is:
repeat and expand. When a prophecy is first
given, it may be given again with the second
version having more details than the first. The
prophecies in Daniel 2 and Daniel 7 are an
example of this. Daniel 7 is a repetition and a
more expanded version of Daniel 2 in that it has
additional details in description and
significance.
As you read this article, you are encouraged to
read Daniel 7 as well as the Bible study in the
following link:
Four Great Monarchies (Bible Answers)
Symbols
In the first few
verses of Daniel 7, Daniel describes while he
was one night sleeping he had a dream, and in
the dream he saw the four “winds” striving upon
the “sea” and then four different “beasts” come
out of the sea (Daniel 7:1-3). Already, there
are three symbols here to decode: winds, sea,
and beasts. According to the Bible:
-
Winds
represent strife, commotion, and destruction
(Revelation 7:1-3).
-
Sea
or water represents vast amounts of
people-a densely populated area (Revelation
17:15).
-
Beasts
represent kingdoms (Daniel 7:23).
In Daniels dream,
God is about to reveal to him information about
kingdoms that would arise from a densely
populated area as a result of strife or wars.
Daniel then goes
on to describe each of the four beasts in his
dream.
The First Beast
“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.”
Daniel 7:4.
Here we have an additional symbol which is
“eagle’s wings.” In Bible prophecy, wings of
eagles represent speed
(Deuteronomy 28:49; Jeremiah 4:13; Habakkuk
1:6-9).
The lion with eagles
wings represents Babylon (605/6 - 539 B.C.). The
symbols for Babylon are all in the superlative:
Gold (Daniel 2) is the finest of metals; the
lion is king of the beasts; the eagle is lord of
the air. Ancient Babylon was a mighty empire and
history reveals to us that a winged lion was
evidently the official symbol of the Babylonian
kingdom.
Notice the words
“... wings
plucked, lifted up ..., made to stand like a
man, and a man's heart given to it ...”
and compare this to
Daniel 4: 33-34. This sounds like the experience
of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel chapter 4.
The Second Beast
The
second beast was “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.” Daniel 7:5.
The bear represents Medo-Persia (539 B.C.) under
Cyrus the Great. Notice that the bear has one
side higher than the other and that it has three
ribs in its mouth. The image of ribs crushed in
its mouth points to the bear devouring other
animals until they are consumed. These are the
three great conquests that brought the Persians
to power. Egypt, Lydia and Babylon formed an
alliance but were defeated.
-
Babylon. 539 BC. Babylon is occupied.
Nabonidus captured.
-
Lydia. 547 BC. Croesus of Lydia taken
prisoner.
-
Egypt. 568 BC. Amasis II of Egypt
suppressed. In 605 BC, Egypt was originally
defeated in the battle of Carchemish.
At first the Medes and Persians ruled jointly,
but later the Persians rose to be the greater
power over Astyages of Medes, and this is
depicted as the bear being lifted on one side.
The Third Beast
The third beast was “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.” Daniel
7:6. This leopard represents Greece (331 - 168
B.C.) The Grecians, under Alexander the Great,
literally flew (wings representing speed) from
conquest to conquest to dominate the world.
Alexander the Great died of consumption, caused
by drunkenness, at age 33 on June 10, 323 BC.
The kingdom passed to the Diodachi
("successors") and was eventually divided up
among four generals, represented by the four
heads of the leopard:
-
Cassander
(East). Macedonia, Thrace and Greece
-
Lysimachus
(North). Asia Minor
-
Ptolemy
(South). Egypt and Palestine
-
Seleucius (West). Babylon, Persia and
Syria
The Fourth Beast
After these three beasts, Daniel saw “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. 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.” Daniel
7:7-8.
This dreadful beast represents Rome, the next
kingdom to come after the Greek Empire. We can
see a correlation between Daniel 2 and Daniel 7
when it comes to describing Rome: the beast has
iron teeth (Daniel 7) and the image had
iron legs (Daniel 2).
We also have an additional symbol here, the
horns. According to the Bible, the horns
represent kings that will come out of the
kingdom of Rome: "And as to the ten horns, out
of this kingdom shall arise ten kings; and
another shall arise after them; and he shall be
diverse from the former, and he shall subdue
three kings."
(Daniel 7: 24).
These 10 kingdoms are the same as the 10 toes of
the image described in Daniel 2:41-44. History
tells us that the kingdom of Rome was overcome
by barbaric tribes that each gradually took over
a certain part of the Roman empire and made it
their own. These barbaric tribes were 10 in
number, equivalent to the 10 horns. Seven of
those 10 tribes developed into the countries of
modern Western Europe, while three were uprooted
and destroyed (Daniel 7:8).
-
Visigoths--Spain
-
Anglo-Saxons--England
-
Franks--France
-
Alemani--Germany
-
Burgundians--Switzerland
-
Lombards--Italy
-
Suevi--Portugal
-
Heruli--Rooted
up
-
Ostrogoths--Rooted
up
-
Vandals--Rooted
up
The Little Horn
We are told in Daniel 7:8, 24 that the little
horn which appeared and uprooted 3 of the 10
horns. This little horn represents the Papacy.
Between the later part of the Roman Empire and
the arising of the different kingdoms of the
barbaric tribes, the Catholic Church was formed
and gradually gained power. As time progressed,
the emperors of Western Europe were largely
Catholic and supported the papacy in its growth
and authority.
Three Arian kingdoms, however, did not support
the papacy--the Vandals, Heruli, and Ostrogoths.
For this reason, the emperors who were Catholic
decided these three kingdoms must be subdued or
destroyed. "The Catholic emperor Zeno (474-491)
arranged a treaty with the Ostrogoths in 487
which resulted in the eradication of the kingdom
of the Arian Heruls in 493. And the Catholic
emperor Justinian (527-565) exterminated the
Arian Vandals in 534 and significantly broke the
power of the Arian Ostrogoths in 538. Thus were
Daniel's three horns --the Heruls, the Vandals,
and the Ostrogoths--'plucked up by the roots'"*.
It is not difficult to recognize that the papacy
is indeed this little horn.
*Dr. Mervyn
Maxwell, God Cares, vol. 1, p. 129
The little horn is a very important character in
Daniel 7, and essentially in end time Bible
prophecy. You can read a Bible study about the
characteristics of the little horn in the
following links:
Some of the characteristics of the little horn
are as follows:
-
Speak great
words against the most High (Daniel 7:25).
-
Wear out and
persecute the saints for a time, times and
the dividing of time (Daniel 7:21, 25).
-
Think to
change times and laws (Daniel 7:25).
These points help in confirming that the little
horn represents the papacy. The Catholic Church
speaks great things against the most High (God)
by claiming to be God on earth and claiming to
have the ability to forgive sins. These points
are also mentioned in Revelation 13 and are
further discussed in the article:
(coming soon)
The Catholic Church persecuted God’s people for
a specific amount of time. God’s people are
those who keep the commandments of God and have
the faith of Jesus (Revelation 14:12). The
specific amount of time is: time, times, and the
dividing of a time. A time represents a year,
times represents two years, and the dividing of
a time half a year, so over all, we’re looking
at three and a half years.
In Bible prophecy, a day represents a year (Ezekiel
4:6; Numbers 14:34). In three and half years,
there are 1260 days, therefore, 1260 days in
prophecy represent 1260 years, which is exactly
the amount of time that the papacy persecuted
the saints. The rule of the papacy began in A.D.
538, when the last of the three opposing Arian
kingdoms was uprooted. Its rule continued until
1798 when Napoleon's general, Berthier, took the
pope captive with hopes of destroying both Pope
Pius VI and the political, secular power of the
papacy. This period of time is an exact
fulfillment of the 1,260-year prophecy and is
also mentioned in Daniel 7:25; 12:7; Revelation
11:2, 3; 12:6, 14; 13:5.
As for thinking to change
times and laws, the papacy did this as well.
God’s law is the Ten Commandments, He wrote them
on stone with His own finger (Exodus 31:18). The
papacy changed the law of God by totally
deleting the second commandment, and dividing
the tenth commandment into two in order to have
“ten” commandments. In addition, the only
commandment dealing with time is the fourth
commandment, which tells us to remember to keep
the seventh day holy. The papacy claims to have
changed the sanctity of the seventh day to the
first day of the week. Thus, the Catholic Church
has tampered with God’s laws.
Conclusion
The last half of Daniel 7 is often referred to
when interpreting the prophecies found in the
book of Revelation. This goes to show how end
time Bible prophecy is intermingled together,
and that only true Bible students can be able to
decode Bible prophecy.
In conclusion, Daniel 2 and Daniel 7 complement
each other in portraying the history of world
empires in consecutive order, and in giving
specific identifying criteria to help us Bible
students to be sure of the interpretation. The
information we gain through these chapters is
essential to helping us understand other
prophecies in the Bible, and Daniel 7 plays a
key role in interpreting the prophecies of
Revelation, as will be demonstrated in other
articles.
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