Daniel's Dream

November 24

Daniel 7-8

Psalm 130

Proverbs 28:8-9

1 Peter 4

Daniel’s Dream

“In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel saw a dream and visions in his head as he lay on his bed; then he wrote the dream down and said the following summary of the matter.”  Daniel 7:1 LSB

This dream bears a striking resemblance to King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in chapter 2.  Daniel’s role in these two chapters is very different.  In chapter 2, he was the interpreter of the dream, but in chapter 7 he was the recipient of the dream.  In Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, the multi-metallic image shows the outward splendor and glory of the kingdoms because that was what God knew would attract Nebuchadnezzar’s attention.  But in the vision He gave Daniel, God let him in on the inward character and the true nature of these kingdoms.  They are like wild beasts, evil and destructive.  The kingdoms of this world line up with Nebuchadnezzar’s dream and the 4 kingdoms represented in the giant statue. 

1.     Head of Gold- Babylonian empire- Lion

2.     Arms and chest of silver- Medo-Persian empire- Bear

3.     Bronze belly and thighs- Grecian empire- Panther or leopard

4.     Iron legs and feet- Roman empire- Composite beast

The first beast is a lion with wings like an eagle.  It represents Babylon, which in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream was the head of gold.  The lion is the king of the beasts, and the eagle is the ruler of the skies.  This mixed image suggests the power and speed of the Babylonian empire.  “The wings were plucked” refers to the time of Nebuchadnezzar’s humbling when God took him from his throne and made him wander around like a wild beast.  His royal authority and humanity were plucked from him, but after he repented he was “lifted up from the Earth.”  As he stopped going about on all fours like an ox, he was “made to stand on two feet like a man.”  “A man’s heart was given to it” refers to Nebuchadnezzar’s conversion.  He came to know the living and true God. 

The bear symbolized the empire of the Medes and the Persians and parallels the arms and the chest of silver in Nebuchadnezzar’s statue.  The bear was raised up on one side because the Persians were stronger than the Medes.  The three ribs in the mouth probably represent their three major conquests—Babylon in 539BC, Lydia in 546BC, and Egypt in 525BC.  The command to “devour much flesh” was fitting for the Persian Empire, which destroyed many on battlefields across the middle east during their reign.  The third beast is a leopard or panther which leaps with suddenness on helpless prey.  This represents the Grecian empire of Alexander the Great, which corresponds to the belly and thighs of bronze.  His conquest of the world was stunningly fast, which is symbolized by the 4 wings.  Alexander the Great died at age 33.  The 4 heads represent the fact that the Greek Empire was split into 4 separate dominions after Alexander’s death: Macedonia, Asia Minor, Syria and Egypt.  Because he died so young, he did not have a successor and his kingdom was divided among his leaders. Historically the Greek Empire fell in the intertestamental period between the Old and New Testaments.  There is no Biblical record of this time period but we know it was a time of great suffering for the remnant of Israel at the hands of Egypt and Syria.  

The nondescript beast represents the Roman Empire and the legs of iron and feet of clay and iron. It is different from the other three and this was given to him in a separate vision.  All of the other beasts could be described in terms similar to a familiar beast.  This beast was unlike anything Daniel had ever seen and there was nothing he could even compare it to.   He described it as dreadful and terrible and having great strength.   The Roman Empire was characterized by brutality and lack of grace and beauty.  It swept across the ancient world and defeated one nation after another until the empire extended from the Atlantic Ocean east to the Caspian Sea, and from North Africa to the Rhine and Danube Rivers, Egypt, Palestine and Syria. 

The first three empires were defeated by the one that followed and swallowed up by it.  The Roman Empire, however, simply fell apart in AD 476.  It was not defeated by a larger empire.  It lives on today in the many nations of Europe and even the United States gets its roots from the Roman Empire.   The first three empires have come and gone but the 4^th empire will be revived at some point.  The ten horns we see here and the 10 toes of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream represent 10 nations that will form a union to reestablish the Roman Empire.  The 10 horns do not represent a new kingdom, they grow out of the head of the 4^th beast.   In the vision of the statue the toes are made of iron and clay.  The iron (Roman empire) is still there, but the clay representing weakness is there as well.  Rome fell apart because of internal corruption and rottenness. Individual nations emerged out of the old Roman Empire.  At some point during the 10-nation confederacy, another Gentile king or head of state will emerge.  He will appear first as a “little horn” but he will prove to be very powerful.  Three kingdoms will resist his power and be conquered by force.  The other kings will likely submit out of fear or inevitability.  The “little horn” is also known as the “antichrist.” 

This final world ruler will be both a counterfeit Christ and an enemy who is against Christ.  Scripture gives us some clues about what he will be like.  He will be a Gentile (Revelation 13:1).  He emerges from a reunited Roman empire (Daniel 7:8 and 9:26).   He will be an intellectual genius (Daniel 8:23), an oratorical genius (Daniel 11:36), a political genius (Revelation 17:11-12), a commercial genius (Daniel 11:43, Revelation 13:16-17), a military genius (Revelation 6:2, 13:2) and a religious genius (2 Thessalonians 2:4, Revelation 13:8).  He will be an evil genius with exceeding abilities to manipulate, seduce, and lie to get what he wants.  He will be disguised as a great humanitarian who will speak of peace, prosperity and plenty.  His final destruction is already determined.  At the second coming of Christ, he will be slain, his body destroyed and thrown into the fiery abyss.  This image is pictured by the stone in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream that smashed the feet of clay.    The first coming of Christ was as a gentle, loving savior.  The second coming will be very different.  He will return as the powerful risen Lord to judge the living and the dead.  He has predetermined the end.  It cannot be changed.  He has told us what to expect and it will happen just as prophesied.