end times
Daniel’s Prophetic Vision In Daniel 7
Daniel’s Prophetic Vision in Daniel 7
In Daniel 7 Daniel has a prophetic vision of four great beasts emerging from the sea. Each beast represents different kingdoms or empires. The first beast is like a lion with eagle’s wings. The second beast is like a bear. The third beast is like a leopard with four wings and four heads.
The fourth beast is terrifying and powerful, with iron teeth and ten horns. The fourth beast represents 2 things. A kingdom to come and that would be around in Jesus’ time on earth, and a future kingdom that would be in power in the end times.
Daniel’s Prophetic Vision in Daniel 7
A Vision of 4 Beasts
Daniel 7:1-3 – In the first year of the reign of Belshazzar over Babylon, Daniel had a dream, and visions passed through his mind as he lay on his bed. He wrote down the dream, and this is the summary of his account. Daniel declared: “In my vision in the night I looked, and suddenly the four winds of heaven were churning up the great sea. Then four great beasts came up out of the sea, each one different from the others.
While Daniel and many others from Israel are in captivity during the Babylonian Empire and later the Medo-Persian empire, Daniel has a prophetic vision. Daniel’s prophetic vision is detailed in Daniel 7. The vision reveals 4 different beasts that came up out of the sea.
Daniel’s Prophetic Vision in Daniel 7
The First Beast
Daniel 7:4 – The first beast was like a lion, and it had the wings of an eagle. I watched until its wings were torn off and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man, and given the mind of a man.
Daniel’s prophetic vision took place while he and many others from Israel were in captivity in Babylon. Babylon was the most famous city during the Babylonian Empire, and was a great cultural and religious center. Babylon’s ruins lie in modern day Iraq, 59 miles (94 km) southwest of Baghdad.
The Old Babylonian period was from approx. 2000 to 1595 BC. The Middle Babylonian period was from approx. 1595 to 1155 BC. The Neo-Babylonian period was from 626 to 539 BC. Nebuchadnezzar II was one of the kings during this period, from 605 to 562 BC. He was king of Babylonia when Daniel and many others were taken captive.
The first beast in Daniel’s prophetic vision appears like a lion. The beast had wings like an eagle. The first beast represents the Babylonian Empire, in which Daniel and many others were taken captive and sent to Babylon. The Babylonian Empire lasted until 539 BC, when it was conquered by Cyrus, king of the Medo-Persian Empire. Ultimately the city of Babylon was destroyed in 485 BC by Xerxes, who ruled the Medo-Persian Empire after Cyrus.
” it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man, and given the mind of a man” symbolizes when king Nebuchadnezzar was sentenced by God to an animal like existence for “7 periods of time” as a result of his pride (Daniel 4:32-36).
Daniel’s Prophetic Vision in Daniel 7
The Second Beast
Daniel 7:5 – Suddenly another beast appeared, which looked like a bear. It was raised up on one of its sides, and it had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. So it was told, ‘Get up and gorge yourself on flesh!’
The second beast in Daniel’s prophetic vision has the appearance of a bear. This beast represents the Medo-Persian Empire, which defeated the Babylonian Empire in 539 BC. The Medo-Persian Empire lasted from approx. 550 BC until Alexander the Great conquered them in 331 BC.
The “raised up of one side” of the beast indicates that one of the kingdom’s parts, Persia, would be more dominant than the other. The three ribs in the second beast’s mouth symbolize nations that were devoured by the Medes and the Persians. These three conquered nations were Babylon, Lydia, and Egypt.
Daniel’s Prophetic Vision in Daniel 7
The Third Beast
Daniel 7:6 – Next, as I watched, another beast appeared. It was like a leopard, and on its back it had four wings like those of a bird. The beast also had four heads, and it was given authority to rule.
The third beast in Daniel’s prophetic vision has the appearance of a leopard with 4 wings and 4 heads. The third beast represents the Greek Empire under Alexander the Great. They defeated the Medo-Persian empire in 331 BC. The Greek Empire lasted until 146 BC, when Greece was annexed into the Roman Empire.
The four heads symbolize the dividing into 4 parts of the Greek Empire following Alexander the Great’s death. Daniel’s vision of the ram and the goat in Daniel 8 gives further details of the second and third kingdoms.
Daniel’s Prophetic Vision in Daniel 7
The Fourth Beast
Daniel 7:7-8 – After this, as I watched in my vision in the night, suddenly a fourth beast appeared, and it was terrifying—dreadful and extremely strong—with large iron teeth. It devoured and crushed; then it trampled underfoot whatever was left. It was different from all the beasts before it, and it had ten horns. While I was contemplating the horns, suddenly another horn, a little one, came up among them, and three of the first horns were uprooted before it. This horn had eyes like those of a man and a mouth that spoke words of arrogance.
The fourth beast in Daniel’s prophetic vision represents the Roman Empire, which defeated the Greek Empire in 146 BC. The Roman Empire was extremely strong and dreadful for the nations that it conquered.
The fourth beast also represents a future kingdom to come in the end times. Thus making Daniel’s vision a prophetic vision, not only about the Roman Empire which was around in Jesus’ time on earth, but about the end times as well.
An more detailed explanation about the fourth beast and the horns are given to Daniel by an angel later in Daniel 7.
In Part 2 of Daniel’s Prophetic Vision in Daniel 7 we will continue to seek the meaning of Daniel’s vision. And look more into the fourth beast and what is to come in the end times.
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