Daniel's Vision of The Four Beasts PART ONE Daniel 7:1-14 (NKJV)

Message for THE LORD’S DAY MORNING, July 15, 2012Message 9: PART ONE in “Back To The Future” Series from the Book of DanielChristian Hope Church of Christ, Plymouth, North Carolinaby Reggie A. Braziel, MinisterDaniel’s Vision of The Four BeastsPART ONEDaniel 7:1-14 (NKJV)Today as we resume our series from the Book of Daniel I would likefor you to please open your Bibles with me to the seventh chapterof Daniel.Before we get into today’s message, let me give you somerelevant background information that will help you betterunderstand what is going on in Daniel chapter 7.Starting with this seventh chapter, the rest of the Book of Danielis noticeably prophetic in nature, whereas the first six chapterswere historical in nature.You notice this seventh chapter begins with these words,“In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon.”Now you’re probably thinking, “Wait a minute!” Isn’t Belshazzar thatking that got drunk and saw the handwriting on the wall and died atthe end of Daniel chapter 5? Yep, that’s the guy!Well if Belshazzar died at the end of Daniel 5 how can he be in Daniel 7?Let me explain. Do you remember I told you two or three messages agothat after King Nebuchadnezzar died there was a series of bad Babyloniankings over the next twenty five or so years? And do you remember I toldyou that during that time virtually nothing is heard of Daniel until thatnight Belshazzar summoned him to the banquet hall to read thehandwriting on the wall.What was Daniel doing during those “silent years?” Most Biblescholars agree that it was during that period Daniel received andrecorded the first three of four prophetic visions that we find inDaniel chapters 7-12. Daniel 7 is a record of Daniel’s first vision.

As I was preparing this message I realized there was no way I couldget all of Daniel 7 into one message and do it justice. So I am goingto preach this message in two parts. Today in PART ONE we willfocus on THE VISION DANIEL WAS GIVEN.I. The Vision of The Four Beasts (vs. 1-8)1. Let’s read VERSE 1 and stop.1 In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream andvisions of his head while on his bed. Then he wrote down the dream,telling the main facts.2. Daniel has just told us a lot of information in this first verse.(a) He tells WHEN he received the vision.(v.1a)v.1aIn the first year of Belshazzar king of BabylonThat means Daniel received this vision sometime duringthe year 553 B.C. or between the events of Daniel 4and Daniel 5. In other words, Daniel received thisvision almost 2,600 years ago.(b) He also tells WHERE he received the vision. (v. 1b)v.1b Daniel had a dream and visions of his head while on his bed.We learn in verse 2 that Daniel received this vision inthe night which would explain why he was in bed.(c)He also tells us WHAT he did when he received thisvision. (v. 1c)v. 1c Then he wrote down the dream, telling the main facts.Have you ever had a strange or unusual dream and bythe time you awoke the next morning you had forgottena lot of the details? The vision Daniel received wasstrange and unusual to say the least. And rememberit was a vision given to Daniel by God Himself. Danielrecorded what he saw in very minute detail.2. As we move on to verses 2, 3, Daniel gives us some general

information about the vision.2 Daniel spoke, saying, “I saw in my vision by night, and behold,the four winds of heaven were stirring up the Great Sea.3 And four great beasts came up from the sea, each different from theother.“The four winds of heaven” represent the HEAVENLYpowers of God setting something into motion on EARTH.In this particular vision it was the “stirring up of theGreat Sea.”Now what is “the Great Sea?” The Great Sea is anothername for the Mediterrean Sea. But the term “sea” isalso used in the scriptures to describe the sea of HUMANITY,more speficially the GENTILES. The Great Sea in Daniel’svision refers to the latter.“Four great beasts came up from the sea.” Because ofthe interpretation given in the latter half of Daniel 7 thisstatement could read: “Four great beasts came up fromamong the GENTILE nations.”3. In verses 4-8, Daniel gives us some more specific detail aboutthese four beasts he saw. In order for you to understand whatwe are about to read let me explain something.DANIEL 2 AND DANIEL 7 CONNECTIONDaniel’s vision in Daniel 7 is the same as the one given to Nebuchadnezzarin Daniel 2, except with different symbols. Remember in Daniel 2,Nebuchadnezzar dreamt of THE GIANT IMAGE with the HEAD OF GOLD,the CHEST AND ARMS OF SILVER, the BELLY AND THIGHS OF BRONZE,THE LEGS OF IRON and the FEET AND TOES OF IRON AND CLAY. Andremember Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar that image represented theearthly Kingdoms or Gentile Empires that would rise up and rule the worldover the course of history. And at the end of that period CHRIST, “thecrushing rock” would come and destroy the final kingdom and establishHis eternal kingdom that would never be destroyed.Daniel’s vision here in DANIEL 7 is also about the rise of those sameearthly kingdoms or Gentile Empires, but with each kingdom beingrepresented by various “beasts” instead of an image of a man madeof various types of precious metals.Now here’s the key difference between Nebuchadnezzar’s dream inDaniel 2 and Daniel’s vision in Daniel 7.7 Nebuchadnezzar’s dreamreflected “man’s view of these earthly kingdoms. Daniel’s visionmans view of these earthly kingdomsreflects God’s view of these earthly kingdoms.

Medes and Persians were joined together as one empire,history tells us the PERSIANS were much stronger thanthe Medes.Now what about those “three ribs” in the bear’s mouth?Those ribs represent three powerful nations the Mede-Persian Empire conquered: Lydia (546 B.C.)Babylon (539 B.C.) and Egypt (525 B.C.)The Mede-Persian Empire ruled for 206 years from536 B.C. to 330 B.C.(C)Moving on to verse 6, Daniel tells us the third beastwas “like a LEOPARD.” (v.6)v.6 “After this I looked, and there was another, like a leopard,which had on its back four wings of a bird. The beast alsohad four heads, and dominion was given to it.This leopard represented the GREEK empire.It corresponds with the belly and thighs of BRONZE inNebuchadnezzar’s dream in Daniel 2:32.The leopard was a very fitting symbol for the GreekEmpire because with “lightning speed” Alexander theGreat conquered the most powerful nations on earth atthat time. And after just ten short years Alexanderexpressed his regrets over having “no more nations toconquer.”Now what about those “four heads on the leopard”that were given dominion? In 323 B.C. Alexander theGreat died at the young age of 33 years old. Alexanderhad no family heir to his throne, so the Greek empirewas divided into four territories, each being ruled byone of Alexander’s four top military generals. Thiswould explain “the four heads” on the leopard.The Greek Empire ruled the world for 184 years, from330 B.C. to 146 B.C.(D)And then in verses 7,8, Daniel describes “the TEN-HORNED” beast. (That’s the #10, not “tin” like the

“Tin man” in the Wizard of Oz.) (vs. 7,8)

v.7 “After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourthbeast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong. It hadhuge iron teeth; it was devouring, breaking in pieces, andtrampling the residue with its feet. It was different from allthe beast that were before it, and it had ten horns.v.8 I was considering the horns, and there was another horn, alittle one, coming up among them, before whom three of thefirst horns were plucked out by the roots. And there, in thishorn, were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouthspeaking pompous words.The Ten-horned beast represented the ROMAN Empire.It corresponds with the legs of IRON in Nebuchadnezzar’sdream in Daniel 2:33.The thing that immediately stands out about this fourthbeast is that it doesn’t look like anything Daniel had everseen before.-The first beast, “looked like a lion.” (v.4)-The second beast, “looked like a bear.” (v.5)-The third beast, “looked like a leopard.” (v.6)This fourth beast is the strangest, most bizarre lookingcreature Daniel has ever seen.Notice the details:v.7a “It was dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong.”These three terms describe the overwhelmingdestructive power of this beast.v.7b “It had huge IRON teeth.” The Roman empirewas far more vicious and cruel than the threeprevious empires. The first three empires, thoughstrong militarily, had an appreciation for the culturesand assets of each nation they conquered. Theyallowed the peoples of those conquered nationsto continue to practice their traditions and customs.The Roman empire, on the other hand literally

crushed and chewed up everything it took. Theydestroyed the national monuments of each nationthey conquered. They prohibited the people frompracticing their customs and traditions. And theyforced the peoples of those conquered nationsto bow in submission to Rome as the superiorworld power.-It was ROME that crucified Peter upside downand beheaded the apostle Paul.-It was ROME that banished the apostle John tothe Isle of Patmos.-It was ROME that burned Christians at the stake,and savagely butchered Christian men, womenand children.-And it was ROME that mercilessly beat Jesusand nailed our LORD to a cross.Do you see now why Rome is pictured as abeast with “iron teeth” in Daniel’s vision?v.7c “And it had ten HORNS.” Horns in Daniel, as wellas in other parts of the Bible often represent KINGS.As we will see in part two of this message nextweek, these ten horns represent ten KINGS andten KINGDOMS. (Daniel 7:24)While Daniel is still contemplating the ten hornsand what they could possibly mean, his attentionwas diverted to a “little horn” that sprouted upamong the ten horns that uprooted three of thehorns as he emerged.Now “key in” on this “little horn” because it willbecome the focus of David’s attention in PART TWOof this message next Lord’s Day, Lord willing!For now let me just say this about that “little horn.”Notice the two features of this “little horn: One, “ithad the eyes of a man” and two , “it had a mouth thatspoke pompous words……pompous meaning,“arrogant or boastful or to speak with an exaggeratedview of one’s self-importance.”

The fact this “little horn” has the eyes of a man anda boastful mouth tells us this “little horn”represents a specific INDIVIDUAL rather than aKINGDOM.Who is this “little horn?”Who is this “pompous, boastful individual?”This is our first “glimpse” of the most evil dictatorwho will ever live, the one the apostle John calls“the Antichrist.” We will be learning much moreabout this “little horn”…..this “Antichrist” in theremaining verses of the Book of Daniel.****************************************************************************************TRANSITION: As we come to verses 9-149there is a very distincttransition. The scene now shifts from the PAST to the FUTURE;from EARTH to HEAVEN.What happens between verse 8 and verse 9 is Daniel’s vision isbeing “fast-forwarded” over 2,000 years in time, from Daniel’s dayto sometime in our future. In other words, same vision, same night,same place, only 2,000 plus years into the future.What Daniel is about to describe for us here is the same thing Johndescribes in Revelation 19.II. The Vision of The Ancient of Days (vs. 9-14)In this portion of the vision, Daniel sees two very distinctheavenly beings.(A) First, Daniel sees “the ANCIENT of DAYS.” (vs. 9,10)9 “I watched till thrones were put in place,And the Ancient of Days was seated;

This scripture corresponds with what John says inRevelation 19:20 (NKJV).…..20 Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophetwho worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived thosewho received the mark of the beast and those who worshipedhis image. These two were cast alive into the lake of fireburning with brimstone.Now Whom will God, the “Ancient of Days” send to carryout this divine judgment? We find our answer in vs. 13,14.(B) Daniel sees “One like the SON of MAN.” (vs. 13,14)13 “I was watching in the night visions,And behold, One like the Son of Man,Coming with the clouds of heaven!He came to the Ancient of Days,And they brought Him near before Him.14 Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom,That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him.His dominion is an everlasting dominion,Which shall not pass away,And His kingdom the oneWhich shall not be destroyed.Who is this “One like the Son of Man?” It is our LORD andSAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST. After casting the Antichrist intothe “pits of hell” Christ will establish His eternal kingdomthat will never end.C O N C L U S I O NWhile the vision of Daniel 7 is very disturbing, there is also a wonderfulmessage of hope!When we look at the awful things that are going on in this world.When we see things growing progressively worse, it is easy tobe discouraged and overwhelmed with a sense of hopelessness.But we have been reminded through Daniel’s vision today that God, ourheavenly Father, “the glorious Ancient of Days” is very much in control!

In this seventh chapter of Daniel we find two promises of God uponwhich we can rest our hope.The first promise is that JUDGMENT DAY IS COMING and Godis going to bring down all the proud, arrogant, cruel and godlessin due time. God will NOT allow the evil we see now togo on forever! God has already pre-determined a daywhen He says “enough is enough.”And the second promise is THE KINGDOM OF THE MESSIAH,the kingdom of which you and I will be part of, will be established toreplace all earthly kingdoms, and His Kingdom will never end!And He shall reign forever and ever. AMEN!