God s History Channel Daniel 7:1-8 Introduction

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1 Introduction We come to another great division in the book of Daniel. Chapters 1 through 7 deal with the destiny of nations; and chapters 8-12 reveal the destiny of the nation Israel. After the seventh chapter; the book of Daniel ceases to be written in Aramaic and returns to the Hebrew language. Alfred Weber, historian, economist wrote; Farewell to European History; To the one endowed with historical perspective, it must be clear that we are in the end of world history as we know it. How close are to the end of human history; and Gentile government domination? With the presence of nuclear weapons in Pakistan, India, North Korea, China, and perhaps very soon Iran, self-destruction does not seem far fetched. What will be the final outcome of the nations in the world in which we live? I think I am philosophically opposed to a group of people who believe in reincarnation having nuclear capability. Stay tuned. According to Dr. John Walvoord, of Dallas Theological Seminary; the seventh chapter of Daniel provides the most comprehensive and detailed prophecy of future events that you will find anywhere in the Old Testament. The problem; the prophecy is not linear, chronological; the first six chapters of Daniel where in historical chronological order; not so the last six chapters. Daniel s four visions take place over a 22 year period. In chapters 1-6 Daniel interprets the dreams of others; in chapter 7 his own dream will be interpreted by an angel of the Lord. In chapter 2 the dream of Nebuchadnezzar was human history from a human perspective; a great statue in the image of a man; with a head of gold; and chest of silver; and thighs of bronze and legs of iron. When Charles A. Beard, the famous historian, was asked if he could summarize the lessons of history in a single volume, he said he could do it in four sentences: 1. Who the gods would destroy, they first make mad with power. 2. The mills of the gods grind slowly, but they grind exceedingly small. 3. The bee fertilizes the flower it robs. 4. When it is dark enough, you can see the stars. Now we see human history from God s perspective; a series of vicious, ravenous beasts; devouring and being devoured by one another. Even though the prophecy might seem like a confusing cacophony of sights and sounds, animals, people, nations and events; it is actually a collage of the Lord s sovereignty in the affairs of human history. God has a plan. History has a terminus; an end-game; a final outcome. 1

2 There is a sense of wonder that God would reveal the future at all. The Lord will do something else, it is not simply a revelation of the future, but a revelation of Himself. The chapter can be divided into three sections; each beginning with the phrase; I was watching or I kept looking ; the first section is comprised of verses 2-8. The second section in vv. 9-12; I watched (vv.9,11) speaks of thrones and judgment. The final segment in verses 13-27; I was watching (vv.13,21); has as its focus the interpretation of the vision. I think we are meant to see the beasts, to smell the beasts like wet dog ; G.K. Chesterton wrote in a child s book; Stand up, and keep your childishness, Read all the pedant s creeds and strictures But don t believe in anything That can t be told in colored pictures! Daniel is a book about colored pictures. Many read Daniel and try to figure out the specific unfolding of end-time events. Like armchair theological detectives; they see Daniel as a prophetic whodunit and desperately desire to know the identity of the little horn and the ten kingdoms. I want to know also. But if you fail to see God s majesty, God s mystery, and the awful underlying conflict; man s kingdom verses God s kingdom, you will miss the point of the passage. The chapter begins with Daniel s vision of four beasts or four empires; then in the center of the chapter (vv.9-14) he records his vision of God s throne and the one who seems to be Son of Man. The chapter ends with the interpretations of those scenes (see Sinclair B. Ferguson; The Communicator s Commentary; p.147). For purposes of our study we will look at the setting of Daniel s dream (vv.1-3); the sequence of Daniel s dream (vv.4-7) and the lesson or schooling of Daniel s dream (v.8). On Location With Daniel (vv. 1-3) Daniel 7:1; In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream and visions of his head while on his bed. Then he wrote down the dream, telling the main facts. The first year of Belshazzar would put the dream at about 553 B.C.; Daniel would have been about 67 years of age; and still living under Babylonian rule. Daniel 7:2; Daniel spoke, saying, I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the Great Sea. One of the principals of Biblical interpretation is a symbol can never mean what it never meant. The Hebrew word for wind is ruach; which can mean spirits; and could by implication mean angels. Where else do we find the expression the four winds of heaven? Why Revelation 7:1; Revelation 7:1; After these things I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, on the sea, or on any tree. 2

3 The winds represent the power of God blowing on the kingdoms of man. The number four is significant in the Bible; often representing the physical earth; the four corners of the world; the four points of the compass; the four seasons. There are four seas mentioned in the Bible; the sea of Galilee (which is really a lake); the Dead Sea the Red Sea and the Great Sea. The Great Sea may mean the Mediterranean Sea or the peoples and nations of the world or the sea of humanity. Here I suspect Daniel is making reference to the peoples that surround the Mediterranean Sea; and history as well as geography has as its focus the land of Israel. In Bible prophecy when a nation is north or south or east or west it is almost always in relation to eretz Israel. Israel is in the geographic center of God s plan for the world; the place Joel Rosenberg calls the Epicenter. Daniel 7:3; And four great beasts came up from the sea, each different from the other. In Revelation 13 we see two beasts coming up out of the sea. In Revelation the beasts are the false prophet and the antichrist. The sequence is very important. The beasts do not all come up at the same time; rather they follow one another. Each of the beasts represent a chronology of kingdoms exactly the same as in Daniel chapter 2. You will remember the statue and the head of gold, the Babylonian Kingdom. The silver chest; the Medes and the Persians; the belly of bronze; Greece. The legs of iron, the Roman Empire. Chapter 7 will follow the same sequence; but from a different vantage point, another perspective, the perspective of God, who sees the nations for what they really are; beasts. The Storyboard Of Daniel s Dream (vv. 4-7) Daniel 7:4; The first was like a lion, and had eagles wings. 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 mans heart was given to it. The lion is the king of beasts and the eagle is the king of birds. The national symbol of Babylon was a winged lion. The wings represent how quickly Babylon was able to conquer her neighbors. The first kingdom combines majesty, cruelty, strength and power. In Jeremiah 49:19-22 the eagle and the lion are both used to describe the coming king Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel notes the plucking of the wings; and it was made to be lifted from the earth and to stand on two feet like a man, with a man s heart. You will remember God judged the king; struck him down and made the king to eat grass like an animal. He walked on all fours; the king was struck down. Then Nebuchadnezzar experienced a return to the land of humanity; and was given the heart of a man. The beast got up on two legs and returned to sanity. 3

4 Daniel 7:5; And suddenly another beast, a second, like a bear. It was raised up on one side, and had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. And they said thus to it: Arise, devour much flesh! There are 13 references to bears in the Bible. Each time they are mentioned, it is always in the context of their ferocious and violent and unpredictable behavior. Like Yogi Bear of childhood cartoon fame; the bear s appetite is never satisfied. This second kingdom stretched from the Indus River (India) all the way to the Aegean Sea to the west. God granted this second kingdom the ability to subdue nations like a hungry bear. In his dream there were three ribs in the mouth of the bear. Ancient historians tell of the remarkable conquest of Egypt; Lydia (the area of modern Turkey) and Babylon. The ribs in the mouth of the bear; are the torn flesh of its latest victim. But the bear is not satisfied. Daniel notices the Bear is lifted to one side; picture a bear in a river with two paws on one side. What does this mean? Among the Medes and the Persians; the Persians were dominant; by the end of the Book of Daniel, the Medes have all but disappeared and the Persians remain dominant. Persian is of course modern Iran. Daniel 7:6; 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. The leopard represents Greece. The leopard can run at incredible speeds; the leopard is cunning and cruel and has an insatiable curiosity and an ever present thirst for blood. This is the Empire of Alexander the Great. History bears witness to the fact that Persia was humbled by Greece. The wings on the leopard speak of swift conquest. The leopard has four heads. History again tells us that when Alexander the Great died in Babylon; when asked who would receive the Kingdom; he said, Give it to the strong. The Empire was divided in four geographic regions to four Greek Generals; Ptolemy; Seleucus, Lysimachus and Cassander. Greece and Macedonia were controlled by Antipater and Cassander; Thrace and Asia Minor were controlled by Lysimachus; Syria and Babylon and much of the Middle East, was controlled by Selecus I Necator. Egypt and Palestine was controlled by Ptolemy I Soter (who becomes the ancestor of Cleopatra VII). Daniel mentions dominion. With 35,000 soldiers Alexander the Great went into battle against the army of the Medes and Persians who had between 200,000 and 300,000 soldiers. In a brilliant strategy that combined guts, sheer gaul and in most ways a miracle, Alexander subdued the Persian Empire. God gave dominion to Alexander the Great. Alexander was subject to the will of God, and the plan of God, and the sovereignty of God. Daniel 7:7; After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong. It had huge iron teeth; it was devouring, breaking in pieces, and trampling the residue with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. 4

5 In chapter 2 Daniel wrote; the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything; and like iron that crushes, that kingdom will break in pieces, and crush all the others (v.40). Daniel describes the beast as dreadful and terrible and exceedingly strong. The beast has huge iron teeth; devouring breaking in pieces; and trampling the residue with its feet. Its as if Daniel can hear the marching of the Roman legions in their bid to take over the world. The beast is different from every beast before it; there isn t an animal in the animal kingdom that fits this beast. The beast is cruel, material, imperialistic, with ten horns. Rome did not invent crucifixion but perfected it as a form of torture. The victim hung with iron nails, like daggers, like teeth. Rome crucified Jesus. Rome beheaded Paul. Rome crucified Peter. Rome banished John to the Island of Patmos. Rome burned Christians. Rome took Christians and sewed them inside the skins of animals and allowed wild beasts to tear them to shreds. Rome impaled Christians and smeared them with tar and lit them on fire. Horns in the Bible speak of powers, rulers, or authority, and sometimes applied to kings, or kingdoms. The ten horns may be ten kings or kingdoms who rule at the same time. Among them one will appear, and dominate and control the others and become a world dictator. I believe Daniel is speaking of the Antichrist; to my knowledge the Roman Empire never consisted of ten provinces; or kingdoms; and must refer to a future time and future kingdom. This is why many Bible teachers and prophecy scholars speak of a revived Roman Empire; perhaps like a European union or a European common market. Some refer to this kingdom as a fifth and future kingdom; though future--the kingdom emerges from this kingdom; the ten horns grow out of the head of the fourth beast. The suggestion is that Rome never really fully disappeared. Rome is the only kingdom that was not destroyed by an outside kingdom, but rather rotted from within; and in that decay and rottenness; did not die; but like a leprous cankered sore infested, leper, continued to live. Rome was not destroyed, and Rome did not disappear. Rome fell apart; and rotted. The nations of Western Europe and those adjacent to the Mediterranean Sea are still a part of what was called the Roman Empire. Nations that immigrated to Rome did not found a new kingdom; but intermarried with Roman families and continued the old Roman kingdom without dominion (David Jeremiah Handwriting On the Wall; VOl. 2; 26). In his book Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, written in 1788; Edward Gibbon defined five basic reasons why that civiliztion withered and died. One wonders whether historians centuries from now will find a deadly parallel between the United States and Imperial Rome. Here the flaws Gibbon outlined: 5

6 1. An undermining of the dignity and sanctity of the home, which is the basis for human society. 2. Higher and higher taxes; and the spending of public money for free bread and circuses for the populace. 3. A mad craze for pleasure, with pastimes becoming every year more exciting, brutal and immoral. 4. Building great armaments, although the real enemy was within--the decay of individual responsibility. 5. Decay of religion--faith fading into mere form, losing tough with life and losing power to guide the people. God s View Of Human History (v.8) Daniel 7:8; 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, and a mouth speaking pompous words. Daniel considers or ponders the meaning of the horns; there came up another little horn by whom three of the first horns were plucked out by the roots (does this mean utterly destroyed?). Bible teachers suggest this little horn will subdue or conquer three kingdoms; forcefully or violently. Later in verse 20 the little horn becomes more stout, imposing, and greater than the other horns or federation of nations. He is able to conquer three of them and then use the sheer power to subdue the rest of the nations; and bring them under his control and subjection. The horn has eyes like a man and a mouth speaking pompous words. Is this little horn a king or a kingdom? I suspect the little horn is a man; dominated by pride and self-will. We are left with the impression of a man; completely on his own, quite apart from God. The words are pompous because they are spoken by someone who acts and thinks he is god. We already know that when man pretends to be God; there is an inevitable showdown; a conflict between the true God and the being who wonders whether he is god. The scene changes again; as if we have an unfinished portrait, a portrait that will be painted sooner than later. The little horn has many titles in the Scriptures; he is also called the willful king (Dan.11:36); the man of sin (2 Thess.2:3); the son of perdition (2 Thess.2:3); the wicked one (2 Thess.2:8); and the Beast (Rev.11:7). Later we will discover the antichrist will be an intellectual genius (Dan.8:23); and an oratorical master (Dan. 11:36). His profile in the Bible is political, commercial, military and religious genius. He begins by controlling the Western power bloc (Rev.17:12) and continues with a peace covenant (Dan. 9:27). We will have much to say about this perverse being in future studies. He will set himself up as God (Dan.11:36-37). I believe after the rapture of the church; attempts will be made to a form a global governance; a world federation; I suspect that will consist of two regions with five specific zones (a total of ten). What will happen to human beings? Where is human civilization going? 6

7 Will we disappear in a global catastrophe? Will we be incinerated from space; etc. God says it won t happen. While the civilization of the ten kingdoms remains intact; Jesus will return. Jesus will come back. The world will remain in some form until Christ returns. What is his ultimate end? The antichrist will be crushed by the Lord Jesus Christ at the Battle of Armageddon (Rev.19). He will be the first creature thrown into the lake of fire (Rev.19:20). He will be a master of deceit (2 Thess.2:10); he will profane the Temple (Matt.24:15) and will be energized by Satan himself (Rev.13:2). What can we learn? Human progress will not result in Utopia; but things will get worse and worse. The Bible teaches the preservation of humans in the future. The Bible teaches there is a purpose and a direction in human history. Why will God allow kingdoms to get worse and worse, destroying and devouring each other? I think in part because God is demonstrating the cruel and ultimate failure of human beings to govern themselves; and their utter inability to rule the world God created. All of the coups, plots, rebellions, all of the chaos is just a reminder that what man has never been able to do, God in heaven has in control. And one day King Jesus is going to come and set it right. Someone has rightly pointed out that the cycle of both men and nations seem remarkably similar; 1. From bondage to spiritual faith. 2. From spiritual faith to great courage. 3. From courage to liberty. 4. From liberty to abundance. 5. From abundance to selfishness. 6. From selfishness to complacency. 7. From complacency to apathy. 8. From apathy to dependency. 9. From dependency back to bondage. 7