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We come to some really serious eschatology in Daniel 7. Theologian John Walvoord wrote concerning Daniel 7, “Daniel takes human history up to the first coming of Christ when the Roman Empire was in sway, and then leaps to the end of the age.” We saw something of this in Daniel 2 when Nebuchadnezzar had that dream of a huge image of four metals representing four kingdoms that ended with the stone cut without hands smashing the whole thing to smithereens and it became a mountain that filled the earth. We’re going to zoom in much closer in Daniel 7.
Before we get into it, we need to clarify several things about prophecy and how we see the end of the age. There are three major views about the end times: Amillennialism, Postmillennialism, and Premillennialism. All of these relate to Revelation 20 where John mentions a thousand years six times. The word millennium speaks of these thousand years. I am super-simplifying here, but Amillennialism says the thousand years refers to the present church age. Augustine popularized this view. It says we are in the millennium and Christ is ruling in his church, which is considered spiritual Israel. Postmillennialism, which has grown in popularity recently, says the gospel will bring the world under the spiritual rule of Christ and Christ will return at the end of the millennium. Neither A- nor Postmillennialism take the 1000 years literally. Premillennialism teaches that Christ will return before the 1000 years and set up a world-wide kingdom with the converted nation of Israel and Jerusalem as the focal point.
I’m a Premillennialist. In a nutshell, I believe God is going to keep His many promises to Israel about a coming glorious kingdom. Premillennialism says God has not abandoned His people Israel, but through the future seven-year tribulation period He will save Israel as a nation and then Christ will return and rule the world from Jerusalem. We do not believe the church is spiritual Israel. That’s about the smallest nutshell I can give you. You won’t hear about the rapture of the church in Daniel 7 because God didn’t reveal it in the Old Testament.
Daniel 1-6 has been mostly historical about Babylon and then Persia. Daniel 7-12 is mostly prophetic. Prophecy is one of the great proofs that God exists (no one but God could predict what is going to happen 100s, even 1000s of years in the future) and that “the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind and gives it to whomever He wishes.” (Daniel 4:32).
Now, Daniel 7 is difficult to outline and not easy to follow. Take off your flip-flops and buckle up your steel-toed boots. We have got work to do. Daniel sees these visions and gives us this summary of what he saw. And some of what he saw really terrorized him.
Daniel 7:1, In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel saw a dream and visions in his mind as he lay on his bed; then he wrote the dream down and related the following summary of it.
He’s in the first year of Belshazzar, which is 553 BC. This is 14 years before the fall of Babylon to the Persians in 539, so chapters 7-8 actually precede chapters 5-6. Daniel’s writing doesn’t follow a simple plan here. He’s going to tell us about three major things: about four empires, about ten horns and a little horn, and about the second coming of Christ, the Son of Man. But he mixes them up. So instead of an outline we’ll just read and comment through the chapter.
Daniel 7:2, Daniel said, “I was looking in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea.
Four winds are stirring up the great sea. The four winds speak of God’s powerful providential hand or angels over the nations. The stirring of the great sea pictures the turbulence and strife of the nations. History is the story of the nations at war.
Daniel 7:3-4, “And four great beasts were coming up from the sea, different from one another. 4 “The first was like a lion and had the wings of an eagle. I kept looking until its wings were plucked, and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man; a human mind also was given to it.
Daniel 7:3-7 pictures four beasts emerging from this turbulent, wild sea, one following another. The lion with wings like an eagle represents Babylon. The wings plucked out and then standing as a man probably refers to God humiliating Nebuchadnezzar, sending him out to act like a beast, and then restoring his sanity when Nebuchadnezzar came to his senses.
Daniel 7:5, “And behold, another beast, a second one, resembling a bear. And it was raised up on one side, and three ribs were in its mouth between its teeth; and thus they said to it, ‘Arise, devour much meat!’
The bear with three ribs in its mouth represents the Persian Empire, a huge empire. The three ribs in its mouth represent Cyrus the Great marching his massive armies and conquering Lydia in Asia Minor, Babylon, and Egypt between 546 to 525 BC. Cyrus is the one God named 200 years before he was born in Isaiah 44:28; 45:1. In 538 Cyrus sent the Jews back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple.
Daniel 7:6, “After this I kept looking, and behold, another one, 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.
The leopard with four wings and four heads depicts Alexander and the Greeks. In 331 BC Alexander the Great set out from Macedonia and launched an ancient blitzkrieg across the Near East, determined to conquer the world. Like a leopard with four wings he wasted no time conquering, murdering, and pillaging hundreds of thousands as he went. His famous military phalanx was 16 lines of 1000 soldiers each; 16,000 men all marching together with shields up and long spears stuck out before them. And on each side of the marching men rode horsemen. This massive disciplined military gave the impression of a gigantic monster moving across the land destroying everything in its path (Cyrus and Alexander, Abbott, p. 107). Alexander the Great conquered Tyre, crucified 2000 Tyrians along the Mediterranean Sea coast, and sold 30,000 into slavery. The priests from Jerusalem met him and supposedly showed him Daniel’s references to him. He gloried in that, so doing Judah no harm he kept going and conquered Egypt and founded Alexandria. He then defeated the massive armies of the Persians near the Tigris River, leaving 300,000 Persians corpses and dead horses and elephants over a vast area. He marched his army all the way to India. He wanted to keep going, but his soldiers said, “We’re tired of fighting. We want to go home.” So he came back, set up his throne in Babylon,
and began to party, get drunk, catch a cold, and die in 323 BC at age 32. After he died, his kingdom broke into four sections: Syria, Egypt, Asia Minor, and Greece. These were the four heads on the leopard.
Daniel 7:7, “After this I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrifying and extremely strong; and it had large iron teeth. It devoured and crushed and trampled down the remainder with its feet; and it was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns.
The fourth beast is the most terrifying to Daniel. History reveals this dreadful monster to be the Roman Empire. This brings us to the time of our Lord. The Roman general Pompey captured Jerusalem in 63 BC. This Roman Empire beast was dreadful, terrifying, extremely strong, with large iron teeth, devouring, crushing, and trampling. Rome was a ruthless, destructive power that slew captives by the thousands and sold them into slavery by the hundreds of thousands (Walvoord, p.161). The empire swept across the Mediterranean world from India to the Atlantic and from northern Africa up to northern Europe and England. Ancient Rome lasted until AD 476 in the west and 1453 in the east. But this beast will rise up again in the future before the coming of the Son of Man.
Daniel 7:8, “While I was contemplating the horns, behold, another horn, a little one, came up among them, and three of the first horns were pulled out by the roots before it; and behold, this horn possessed eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth uttering great boasts.
This fourth beast had ten horns. These ten horns got Daniel’s attention. Not only that, but a little horn came up, destroyed three of the horns, had eyes like a man and a big mouth uttering great boasts! Eyes indicate brilliance – a brilliant devil is what he is. Guess who this is? Here’s where we take that leap to the end of the age that theologian Walvoord mentioned. This little horn is none other than the Anti-Christ. Paul calls him the man of lawlessness and son of destruction in 2 Thessalonians 2. Second Thessalonians 2:4 says he “opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that “he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.” He is Satan’s masterpiece, getting the world to worship him. He’s the one who appears to have been murdered but then comes to life again. John describes him like this:
Revelation 13:3-6, I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain, and his fatal wound was healed. And the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast; 4 they worshiped the dragon because he gave his authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him?” 5 There was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies, and authority to act for forty-two months was given to him. 6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme His name and His tabernacle, that is, those who dwell in heaven.
Daniel 7:9-10, “I kept looking Until thrones were set up, And the Ancient of Days took His seat; His vesture was like white snow And the hair of His head like pure wool. His throne was ablaze with flames, Its wheels were a burning fire. 10 “A river of fire was flowing And coming out from before Him; Thousands upon thousands were attending Him, And myriads upon myriads were standing before Him; The court sat, And the books were opened.
Are we all depressed by now? Don’t be. Daniel gives us hope in verses 9-10. Before going on describing this blasphemous beast, Daniel assures us this final beast and this blasphemous horn will be slain. Just look at this vision of God Almighty, who is a consuming fire. Don’t try going to Him in your sin. He is holy and righteous and eternal. His clothing and hair are figurative. God doesn’t have a body. But God wants us to know He is in control of even this demonic beast and His wrath is revealed in all this fire. Even the wheels of God’s sovereign providence are blazing with holy wrath, plus river of fire flows from His throne. He is surrounded by an innumerable host of angels displaying His omnipotence. No matter what this world ruler with his co-rulers does to defy God and attack God’s people, God is still on the throne and rules with absolute justice. He keeps books on everyone, including this little horn boaster.
Daniel 7:11-12, “Then I kept looking because of the sound of the boastful words which the horn was speaking; I kept looking until the beast was slain, and its body was destroyed and given to the burning fire. 12 “As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away, but an extension of life was granted to them for an appointed period of time.
Verse 11 lets us know that even while the little blasphemer who is trying to rid the world of God’s people, including Gentiles and Jews in the great tribulation period, Jesus is going to come down in Revelation 19 and toss this blasphemer into the lake of fire. Like hand in glove Daniel 7 fits right into Revelation 19:20.
Revelation 19:20, And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone.
Verse 12 notes that aspects of each evil empire continues into the following empire. They are all godless and demonic. In fact, world history is not a nice story. You won’t see a wonderful, beautiful world history until you get into the coming thousand years with Christ ruling the earth. When Nebuchadnezzar foresaw the four world empires, they were glittering gold, silver, bronze, iron. That’s man’s view of history. They think, “We’re doing really great, our cities glitter and dazzle, and as soon as we can rid this world of all this God-notion and all these Christians, we’ll have a utopia.”
God’s view of history and man’s kingdoms are not gleaming metal, but beastly and cruel. That’s been history. The time we are in is not the time to beat our swords into plowshares. Today our nation needs as strong a military as possible because there are plenty of bad operators who would like to destroy us. When Christ returns and sets up that beautiful millennial kingdom, then we can melt down our tanks and fighter planes and make them useful for good (Isaiah 2:4).
Daniel 7:13-14, “I kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days And was presented before Him. 14 “And to Him was given dominion, Glory and a kingdom, That all the peoples, nations and men of every language Might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away; And His kingdom is one Which will not be destroyed.
Daniel is still looking and now sees the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven and He comes to the Ancient of Days, the Father, to receive the title deed to the earth. Here He is, Son of Man, both God and Man. This is how Jesus referred to Himself in the Gospels. He takes possession of the earth and sets up that glorious kingdom which will continue for a thousand years and then merge into the eternal kingdom. This is not heaven; this is earth. People around the globe will worship and serve Him. Christ deserves the kingdom as the second Adam. He refused to worship Satan in his temptations, unlike Adam and Eve. He prayed, “Not My will but Yours be done.” As the Creator and the Redeemer, He now receives the rights to rule on earth. This fulfills Psalm 2.
Psalms 2:6-8, “But as for Me, I have installed My King Upon Zion, My holy mountain.” 7 “I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. 8 ‘Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, And the very ends of the earth as Your possession.
Daniel 7:15-16, “As for me, Daniel, my spirit was distressed within me, and the visions in my mind kept alarming me. 16 “I approached one of those who were standing by and began asking him the exact meaning of all this. So he told me and made known to me the interpretation of these things:
Daniel is struggling with all this – distressed, alarmed! He needs help just like we do. We may not get all the details right, but we know certain things: This world is no friend of grace, we’re headed to an awful end of man’s day when the whole earth is dominated by this Anti-Christ, but Christ will come. Daniel goes up to an angel for clarification.
Daniel 7:17-18, ‘These great beasts, which are four in number, are four kings who will arise from the earth. 18 ‘But the saints of the Highest One will receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, for all ages to come.’
Here’s a quick review. There are four beasts, godless empires in view. But God’s people, both saved Gentiles and restored Israel, will have final and eternal victory in the millennial kingdom and then into the eternal kingdom forever and ever for all ages to come. God’s people may be like sheep for the slaughter until that time, but God will have the last word. Instead of godless ideologies, false religions, and evil philosophies saturating the earth’s population, God will bring about a time when the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea (Isaiah 11:9).
Daniel 7:19-22, “Then I desired to know the exact meaning of the fourth beast, which was different from all the others, exceedingly dreadful, with its teeth of iron and its claws of bronze, and which devoured, crushed and trampled down the remainder with its feet, 20 and the meaning of the ten horns that were on its head and the other horn which came up, and before which three of them fell, namely, that horn which had eyes and a mouth uttering great boasts and which was larger in appearance than its associates. 21 “I kept looking, and that horn was waging war with the saints and overpowering them 22 until the Ancient of Days came and judgment was passed in favor of the saints of the Highest One, and the time arrived when the saints took possession of the kingdom.
Daniel again is concerned about that fourth beast with dreadful, teeth of iron, crushing everything in its path, and especially that little horn. No question, that little horn is going to wage war against God’s people and overpower them. This will happen in the last half of the tribulation period. He is Satan’s Man. He wants to defeat God by killing all God’s people, especially God’s elect Israel. He will cause great economic hardship, requiring some kind of special mark to buy and sell. His rule is global and totalitarian for a short while. This is why we love our freedom. We resist the government forcing behaviors and medications on us. The state’s responsibility is to protect the people from enemies, not force the population to bend to its every whim and mandate.
Daniel 7:23-25, “Thus he said: ‘The fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on the earth, which will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth and tread it down and crush it. 24 ‘As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings will arise; and another will arise after them, and he will be different from the previous ones and will subdue three kings. 25 ‘He will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law; and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time.
This fourth empire headed by that horn will devour the whole earth. This is a global totalitarian government. The Anti-Christ will persecute God’s people, wearing them down. He will try to change all normalcy – times and law. This is a planet at war with God. We’ve seen beastly men like Marx, Darwin, and Freud pour their godless ideologies into the mainstream of our own world. And we are seeing this changing of laws in our own day. Who would have guessed reasonable people would legislate in favor of a male who thinks he’s a female sharing showers with females and competing in sports against females. Our entire nation has caved to the woke agenda in incredible speed as it stirs up hatred between groups of people. Our corporations, media, courts, legislators, universities, even churches have wholesale sold out to CRT and the LGBT agenda, normalizing and making legal what God clearly declares is abominable.
Even so, come Lord Jesus.
Daniel 7:25 says he’ll have power for 3 ½ years, or as the apostle John wrote: 42 months.
Revelation 13:5-6, 5 There was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies, and authority to act for forty-two months was given to him. 6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme His name and His tabernacle, that is, those who dwell in heaven.
Daniel 7:26-27, ‘But the court will sit for judgment, and his dominion will be taken away, annihilated and destroyed forever. 27 ‘Then the sovereignty, the dominion and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One; His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him.’
Oh Victory In Jesus! There was never a doubt who will have the last word. But there’s also no promise that life on earth might not get really rough between now and then, even for the church. But God has a plan and no one will alter it! That plan includes the rapture of the church and then after the seven year tribulation period, a thousand years of Christ and His saints ruling this planet for God’s glory. All those people will be there for one reason: Christ redeemed them by His blood on that cross.
Revelation 20:4, Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
Daniel 7:28, “At this point the revelation ended. As for me, Daniel, my thoughts were greatly alarming me and my face grew pale, but I kept the matter to myself.”
Daniel felt something like what we feel – overwhelmed. But this is God’s truth. All this is to build up our confidence in our God, to intensify our hope in Christ’s return, assure us that God is controlling and directing all the insanity of our own days. Scripture is clear. This world is not getting better and better. It’s progressing alright, into greater deception and godlessness. The only hope and our only message as God’s people is not to make this a better world, but to preach the gospel so people are prepared to meet their God in Christ and not in their sin.