The Prophecies of Daniel
Part 3: The Four Wild Beasts
This morning we have reached part three of our teaching series on the prophecies found in the book of Daniel. The book of Daniel is sometimes called the Apocalypse of the Old Testament because the prophecies it contains parallel the prophecies found in the New Testament book of Revelation and they deal with the Gentile nations of the world and the times of the end.
The last two weeks we’ve studied the first vision given in the second chapter of Daniel. It was given in the form of a dream to the ancient Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar. The giant statue of a man in his dream was a visualization of the Times of the Gentiles. This is a period of time when the Jewish people will be without a king and the Gentiles will rule over them. It began in 606 BC and will last until Christ returns to set up His earthly kingdom at the end of the Tribulation period.
Today we are going to start looking at the second vision concerning the Times of the Gentiles found in Daniel chapter seven. This is the vision of the four wild beasts. [I hope you had a chance to read this chapter before this morning so that you are at least vaguely familiar with what we will be talking about today.]
So, let’s begin with Daniel 7:1, “In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream, and visions passed through his mind as He was lying on his bed. He wrote down the substance of his dream.”
We know by the date given in this verse, (the first year of Belshazzar’s reign), that Daniel is about eighty-five years old when he receives this second vision. Almost sixty-two years have passed since Nebuchadnezzar’s dram of the Colossus that we examined last week and the week before.
I. The Winds and the Sea
Let’s continue reading with verses two and three which begin the description of this vision.
Daniel 7:2-3, “Daniel said: ‘In my vision at night I looked, and there before me were the four winds of heaven churning up the great sea. [3] Four great beasts, each different from the others, came up out of the sea.’”
Before we take a look at the four beasts, there are two things found in verse two that we need to take note of.
A. The Four Winds of Heaven
The first thing I want you to look at is the phrase “the four winds of heaven.” This is something that I’ve skipped over while reading this passage many times before. But God doesn’t put something in His Word if He wants us to skip over it or ignore it. So upon taking a closer look at this phrase, I found greater insight into what is happening in Daniel’s vision.
I looked up the phrase, “the four winds of heaven” in the Hebrew/Greek Key Study Bible and found that the word translated, “winds” in verse two is the Aramaic word, “ruha” which could mean, “wind, mind, or spirit.”
Many times in Scripture you will find the word “ruha” or its Hebrew equivalent, “ruah” interpreted as “spirit,” “breath,” or “life.” It can be used to refer to the spirit of a man, the Holy Spirit, the breath of God, or spirits such as angels or demons.
In Zechariah 6:5 an angel is interpreting a vision for the prophet Zechariah and uses the same word “ruah” that is used in Daniel 7:2, only in Zechariah, instead of saying the four winds of heaven it says, “… these are the four spirits of heaven.” It’s the same word just translated differently.
So with this knowledge, I think it is safe to say that these four winds of heaven are actually spirits or hosts of heaven.
Now, if you do another word search on the word translated “heaven” you’ll find it could mean “the dwelling place of God,” or “the air and the sky.” Depending on which heaven is being referred to these spirits could be angels of God or forces of Satan, because Ephesians 2:2 calls Satan, “…the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.” And Ephesians 6:12 tells us, “ For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rules, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”
I have done a little bit of further study and haven’t been able to come to a conclusion about whether these are spirits from God or part of Satan’s army. I have found several places in Scripture where God uses evil spirits to fulfill His ultimate purpose, (Judges 9:23, 1 Kings 22:22, 2 Thessalonians 2:11.)
But whether the spirits are from God or Satan doesn’t matter as much as the fact that they are fulfilling God’s purpose for the ages. Because notice what these spirits are doing. Verse two says they are, “churning up the great sea.”
B. The Great Sea
This leads us to the next tidbit of information that we should look at, which I have so easily skipped over in the past. It is the phrase “the great sea.” I think it’s probably important to know what the great sea is since the spirits are churning it up and the wild beasts come out of it.
In Scripture you’ll find that the great sea has two meanings, both of which can apply here.
1. The Mediterranean Sea
In the Old Testament, the term “great sea” refers to the Mediterranean Sea. This is important to know in that it gives us a geographical area which to look at for where these wild beasts are coming from. All of the empires of Bible prophecy are either located on or near the Mediterranean Sea. And if they are not bordered by the Mediterranean, then they rely greatly on it for commerce and economic reasons.
2. Nations or Peoples
The sea in Scripture can also be a reference to the nations or peoples of the world.
Revelation 17:15, “The waters you saw…are peoples, multitudes, nations and languages.”
Isaiah 17:12, “Oh, the raging of many nations – they rage like the raging sea! Oh, the uproar of the peoples – they roar like the roaring of great waters!”
So, if we put these two clues together, the four winds of heaven being spirits, and the great sea being the nations of the world especially those in the Mediterranean area, then we can see that there are spirits stirring up the nations and peoples living in the Mediterranean Sea area or the Middle East. [Boy, that gives you something to think about when you hear about what’s happening in the Middle East.]
While Daniel’s vision covers all of the Times of the Gentiles, we can see that the closer we get to the end of this time the more stirred up the nations and peoples of this area become. This seems to be especially true since the rebirth of the nation of Israel. Today, all eyes are on the Middle East, the area of the globe which all prophecy is centered around – the area of the great sea. And I think we can only expect this area and peoples to be thrown into more and more turmoil as the time of the Antichrist grows nearer.
II. Repeat of the Colossus
Verse three then tells us that from this churning sea of humanity in the Mideast rises four wild beasts. And if you skip down to verse 17 we are told clearly what these four beasts are.
Daniel 7:17, “The four great beasts are four kingdoms that will rise from the earth.”
As we study these four beastly kingdoms we are going to find that they correspond with the four metals of the statue that Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream. [The first handout I gave you shows this correspondence.] Why does God repeat this revelation of the nations of the Times of the Gentiles? Well, for two reasons.
A. Different Standpoint
The first reason is that man and God see the nations of the world from a different standpoint. Man sees in the empires the concentration of wealth, majesty, and power as seen in Nebuchadnezzar’s golden-headed statue.
God sees the empires of man as a set of ravenous wild beasts devouring one another. He sees them as bestial in character, and as maintaining their supremacy by brute force. The lion devours, the bear crushes, the leopard springs upon its victims, and the character of the fourth beast is so hideous there is no beast in nature to which it can be compared.
B. Further Insight
The second reason God gives a repetitive vision is because with each successive vision God is revealing more and more detail. He is shedding additional light on these empires, their leaders, and the time of Gentile power. One example would be that in this vision of the four beasts we will clearly see the four-fold nature of the Greek Empire that we didn’t see in the vision of the Colossus. Another example is that the vision of the four beasts will reveal the presence of the Antichrist that wasn’t visible in the Colossus.
III. The Four Wild Beasts
A. The First Beast – the Lion
Now let’s turn our attention to the study of the first beast as described in Daniel 7:4, “The first was like a lion, and it had the wings of an eagle. I watched until its wings were torn off and it was lifted from the ground so that it stood on two feet like a man, and the heart of a man was given to it.”
The first beast, which represents a nation or empire, was likened unto a lion with the wings of an eagle. Take a look at Picture #1 in your handouts. This is a drawing of an actual statue from the British Museum in London. The statue has a body of a lion, the wings of eagles and the head of a man. This statue and several more like it were found in the ruins of ancient Assyria and Babylon.
Daniel, who was living in Babylon at the time he was given this vision, would easily have seen the similarities between this beast and those statues and recognized the fact that the first beast represented Babylon and its king, Nebuchadnezzar.
In this eagle-winged lion we see a combination of the king of the beasts and the king of the birds. This kingship denotes the absolute monarchy of Nebuchadnezzar and his conquering flight over the nations of the world.
But as Daniel was watching the beast’s wings were plucked or torn off. This symbolizes the fact that after a certain amount of time Nebuchadnezzar became satisfied with his conquests and quit trying to expand his empire. Instead he began building palaces and pursuing more peaceful activities. What he didn’t realize however, was that from that point on, his empire began to wane.
Something else happened to the lion in verse four. Daniel said it was raised up so that it could walk like a man on its back two feet and a man’s heart was given to it. The lion, or the Babylonian Empire, no longer resorted to the use of its teeth and claws to overcome its enemies, but instead relied on its intellect. This again points to the fact that Nebuchadnezzar changed from conquering his enemies to pursuing more peaceful diplomatic endeavors.
Some scholars say that the plucking of the wings and the beast standing upon its feet and being given a man’s heart may also be referring to the incident recorded in Daniel chapter 4. In this chapter you will find recorded the time when God struck Nebuchadnezzar insane for seven years and he lived in the fields like a beast. Then after the seven years were over God restored Nebuchadnezzar’s sanity and he took his place as king of Babylon once again. They claim that this event is being pictorialized in this vision of the first beast.
B. The Second Beast – the Bear
Let’s continue with verse five and the second beast.
Daniel 7:5, “And there before me was a second beast, 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. It was told, ‘Get up and eat your fill of flesh!’”
The second beast was like a bear. The bear is the strongest animal after the lion, and is known for its voracious appetite. It has none of the lion’s agility or majesty and is awkward in its movements. Because of its slowness it effects its purpose with brute force or sheer strength.
Those are characteristics found in the Medo-Persian Empire, which the bear represents. The Persians were not swift in battle but rather ponderous and slow. They defeated their enemies by their sheer size and strength. A Persian king by the name of Xerxes made an expedition against Greece with 2.5 million fighting men. They didn’t win through bravery and skill; they overwhelmed their enemies by hurling massive numbers of troops at them. It’s easy to see how the movements of such enormous bodies of men would “eat up their fill of flesh” in battle.
Daniel says that the bear was raised up on one side. The bear two sides correspond with the two arms of Nebuchadnezzar’s statue. The side of the bear that was raised up meant that it was the stronger side and it was getting up in preparation for attack. This raised side stood for Persia, which of the dual Medo-Persian Empire, was the stronger and more aggressive people.
This Medo-Persian bear also had three ribs in its mouth. Take a look at Map #1 of the Medo-Persian Empire. Do you see the three arrows pointing at the three nations close to Medo-Persia? Those arrows are showing the three kingdoms that formed a triple-alliance to try to check the Medo-Persian power. Instead they were destroyed by that power. Those three ribs in the bear’s mouth stand for those three kingdoms devoured by the bear – Lydia, Babylon, and Egypt.
C. The Third Beast – the Leopard
Let’s continue with verse six, which tells us about the third beast.
Daniel 7:6, “After that, I looked, and there before me was another beast, one that looked like a leopard. And on its back it had four wings like those of a bird [fowl]. This beast had four heads, and it was given authority to rule.”
The leopard is a very agile and graceful creature. It has a slight frame but is strong, swift, and fierce. These characteristics make it the perfect symbol for the rapid conquests of the Greeks under Alexander the Great. Alexander led small but well-equipped and extremely brave armies. Unlike the large, slow, ponderous movements of the Persian Empire, Alexander’s armies would move so quickly and fiercely that the enemy wouldn’t know what hit them. In about ten year’s time the Greeks overthrew the Persian Empire and subdued the entire civilized world.
The leopard Daniel saw had four wings, but they were the wings of a fowl and not an eagle. Scholars say that although the wings probably help contribute to the leopard’s swiftness in battle, the fact that fowls rarely, if ever fly, show how Alexander’s forces were fitted mainly for lowland fighting. Some have pointed out the fact that since they weren’t eagles wings, this shows that the Greek victories, though swift and great, were not the magnificent royal victories of Nebuchadnezzar’s armies.
Why there are four wings is not known. They could denote the four corners of the earth into which Alexander tried to extend his empire. Or they could stand for the same thing that the four heads of the leopard do.
Look at Map #2 of the Greek Empire. When Alexander the Great died without an heir his empire was divided between his four generals. The four heads of the leopard show us this four-fold division of the single Greek Empire. The map shows you how the empire was divided. Namely, the General Cassander took over the kingdom of Macedonia. General Lysimachus took over the kingdom of Thrace. General Ptolemy took over Egypt, and General Seleucus took over Syria. Two of these generals and their kingdoms will come into play in a later chapter of Daniel where they become known as the King of the South and the King of the North.
Following out the correspondence between the beasts and the Colossus, Daniel would have seen that the leopard corresponded to the belly and thighs of brass, he must have been confused by the four heads of the leopard since he didn’t have the advantage of looking back upon history like we do. There was no fourfold division of the belly and thighs of brass in the statue. This is probably why we read in verse 15 that the he was “troubled in spirit, and the visions that passed through [his] head disturbed [him].” While we can clearly see what the four heads stood for, Daniel would have to wait two years longer, until his next vision of the Ram and He-Goat, for a solution to his confusion.
D. The Fourth Beast – the Frightening and Terrifying Beast
All of these beasts are what we call freaks of nature. You won’t find lions with eagle’s wings or four-headed leopards in the wild. But nothing is more freakish, more frightening, or more ‘beastly’ than the fourth beast of Daniel’s vision.
There are several verses that discuss this beast. Let’s start with verses 7,8, and 11.
“After that, in my vision at night I looked, and there before me was a fourth beat – terrifying and frightening and very powerful. It had large iron teeth; it crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left. It was different from all the former beasts, and it had ten horns. [8] While I was thinking about the horns, there before me was another horn, a little one, which came up among them; and three of the first horns were uprooted before it. This horn had eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth that spoke boastfully. [11] Then I continued to watch because of the boastful words the horn was speaking. I kept looking until the beast was slain and its body destroyed and thrown into the blazing fire.”
Then we learn a little more when we skip down to verses 19-21, 23-26,
“Then I wanted to know the true meaning of the fourth beast, which was different from all the others and most terrifying, with its iron teeth and bronze claws – the beast that crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left. [20] I also wanted to know about the ten horns on its head and about the other horn that came up, before which three of them fell – the horn that looked more imposing than the others and that eyes and a mouth that spoke boastfully. [21] As I watched, this horn was waging war against the saints and defeating them,…[23] He gave me this explanation: ‘The fourth beast is a fourth kingdom that will appear on earth. It will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth, trampling it down and crushing it. [24] The ten horns are ten kings who will come from this kingdom. After them another king will arise, different from the earlier ones; he will subdue three kings. [25] He will speak against the Most High and oppress his saints and try to change the set times and the laws. The saints will be handed over to him for a time, times, and half a time. [26] But the court will sit, and his power will be taken away and completely destroyed forever.”
The fourth beast was like no other beast that had ever been seen on earth. It was hideous to behold, and had, what no natural beast has, teeth of iron, and nails of bronze. The fact that the fourth beast had iron teeth and ten horns would cause Daniel to see that the iron teeth correspond to the iron legs of the statue, and the ten horns to the ten toes. Therefore the fourth beast represented the Roman Empire. The ten horns represent the final ten-fold federated empire of the Last Days’ which comes out of the Ancient Roman Empire.
What mystified Daniel was the little horn that sprung up among the ten horns because he had not seen a little toe spring up among the ten toes of the Image. This little horn was a new revelation that God gave to Daniel. So he approached one of the heavenly messengers that stood by and asked him the meaning of what he had seen.
In the explanation Daniel was told that the ten horns on the fourth beast represented ten kings that shall arise, and that the little horn was a king that should rise among them. He would be a person of remarkable intelligence and speech, having a mouth speaking great things. This little horn is the first picture we see of the final Gentile ruler, the Antichrist.
Next week we will continue with the seventh chapter of Daniel, the fourth beast, and the little horn.
Sermon Sources:
The Hebrew-Greek Key Study Bible, New International Version. Edited by Spiros Zodhiates, Th.D. AMG Publishers. Chattanooga, TN. Copyright 1996.
Larkin, Rev. Clarence. The Book of Daniel. Clarence Larkin Estate, Glenside, PA. Copyright 1929.
Larkin, Rev. Clarence. The Book of Revelation. Clarence Larkin Estate, Glenside, PA. Copyright 1919.
Larkin, Rev. Clarence. Dispensational Truth or God’s Plan and Purpose in the Ages. Clarence Larkin Estate, Glenside, PA. Copyright 1918.
Lindsey, Hal. Study of Daniel. Series on CD.
Stone, Dr. Perry. Preparing the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse. Two-hour CD teaching. Copyright 2007. www.perrystone.org. Voice of Evangelism.
