Let's examine in detail this interesting chapter.
Time: around 553 B.C.
Vv 1 – 8 Vision of the Four Beasts
V 1 In the first year
of Belshazzar king of
mind as he lay on his bed; then he
wrote the dream down and related the
following summary of it.
A. He saw both a dream and a vision, and then he wrote it
down.
1. Was he asleep or
awake? Both.
2. First year of
Belshazzar was 553 B.C.
V 2 Daniel said,
"I was looking in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of
heaven were stirring up the great
sea.
B. The great sea usually deals with humanity, and it is the
case here. 4 points of compass.
V 3 And four great
beasts were coming up from the sea, different from one another.
C. We learn later that these 4 great beasts are four
countries that rule the world.
1. Nebuchadnezzar
saw these four world leaders in Chapter 2.
2. They are:
V 4 The first was like
a lion and had the wings of an eagle. I kept looking until its wings
were plucked, and it was lifted up
from the ground and made to stand on two feet
like a man; a human mind also was
given to it.
D. Lion and Eagle are symbols of strength and speed—both are
attributed to
Jeremiah
4:7, 13.
V 5 And behold,
another beast, a second one, resembling a bear. And it was raised up on
one side, and three ribs were in its
mouth between its teeth; and thus they said to
it, Arise, devour much meat!
E. A symbol for the Medo-Persian Empire known for its
strength and fierceness in battle,
Isaiah 13:17-18.
1. Raised up on its
side represents the superiority of the Persians.
2. Three ribs may
indicate three conquests: 1)
V 6 After this I kept
looking, and behold, another one, 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.
F. Leopard represents the Greek Empire under Alexander the
Great.
1. The Leopard
represents speed, and Alexander mobilized his armies quickly into
battle.
2. Four heads shows
his divided kingdom after his death: 1)
3)
V 7 After this I kept
looking in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and
terrifying and extremely strong; and
it had large iron teeth It devoured and
crushed and trampled down the remainder with its feet; and it was different from
all the beasts that were before it,
and it had ten horns.
G. This fourth beast is
1. The ten horns are
explained in verse 24.
2. We’ll learn more
about this powerful country then.
V 8 While I was
contemplating the horns, behold, another horn, a little one, came up
among them, and three of the first
horns were pulled out by the roots before it;
and behold, this horn possessed eyes
like the eyes of a man and a mouth uttering
great boasts.
H. As I was considering all the above, a little horn, the
anti-Christ, came up among them.
1. Among whom?
a. The ten horns.
b. The Old
2. The first thing it does is defeat
completely three of the countries’ rulers.
3. It looked like a
man, but it wasn’t.
4. A very boastful
mouth that uttered great boasts.
Vv 9 – 12 The Ancient of Days Reigns
V 9 I kept looking
Until thrones were set
up,
And the Ancient of Days
took His seat;
His vesture was like
white snow
And the hair of His head
like pure wool
His throne was ablaze
with flames,
Its wheels were a burning
fire.
A. Who is the Ancient of Days? God!
1. What seat is he
taking? The Great White Throne Judgment Seat.
2. Why is his throne
ablaze with flames? His Glory!
3. What are the
wheels? Ezekiel 1:16
V 10 A river of fire
was flowing
And coming out from
before Him;
Thousands upon thousands
were attending Him,
And myriads upon myriads
were standing before Him;
The court sat,
And the books were
opened.
B What a powerful description of our Lord!
1. A river of fire.
a. This God isn’t
a Casper Milk Toast as some describe him to be.
1) He’s
powerful
2) He’s
ready for action
3) He has
power and glory
b. Is this really
fire or is it his glory?
1) Ps.
18:8, Smoke went up out of his nostrils,
and a fire from his mouth
devoured: coals were
kindled by it (this fire from his mouth).
2) Ps.
50:3, . . .fire devours before him, and
it is very tempestuous around him.
3) Ps.
97:3, Fire goes before him and burns up
his adversaries round about.
a)
Does this describe fire or his glory? It's His Shekinah glory!
b)
How awesome and powerful is the God we serve?
4) Isaiah
30:27, Behold, the name of the Lord comes
from a remote place;
burning is his anger,
and dense his smoke: his lips are filled with
indignation and his tongue
is like a consuming fire.
5) Isaiah
30:33, . . .a pyre of fire with plenty of
wood; the breath of the Lord
like a torrent of
brimstone sets it afire.
6) I think
it his glory displayed as it was before the Israelites, a pillar of fire
by
night!
2. Notice it does
not say thousands times thousands and myriads times myriads.
a. The Hebrew,
Greek and Aramaic languages have no way to multiply.
b. Therefore we do
not know how many attend him.
c. However, it
will be an awesome sight.
d. Perhaps we will
be in the crowd of those attending him. Don’t know for sure!
V 11 Then I kept
looking because of the sound of the boastful words which the horn was
speaking; I kept looking until the
beast was slain, and its body was destroyed and
given to the burning fire.
C. Notice that the fire destroys the anti-christ, the one
who was boasting about being
god.
1. What is the end
of the anti-christ?
2. Look at 2
Thessalonians 2:1-8, Read!
3. Here again, a
good case for glory rather than actual fire.
V 12 As for the rest
of the beasts, their dominion was taken away, but an extension of life
was granted to them for an appointed
period of time.
D. The rest of the demons who serve Satan and the
anti-christ lost their power, but not
their life
just yet.
1. Why?
2. Revelation 20:1-3
Read!
Vv 13 – 14 The Son of Man Presented
V 13 I kept looking in
the night visions,
And behold, with the
clouds of heaven
One like a Son of Man was
coming,
And He came up to the
Ancient of Days
And was presented before
Him.
A. First reference to Jesus as the Son of Man.
1. Son of God is His
divine name.
2. Son of David
links Him to the Jewish Nation.
3. Son of Man links
Him to the earth and to His mission.
a. It was his
favorite description of himself.
b. He uses it over
80 times, and was based on Daniel 8:13, 14.
c. The emphasis
that the term Son of Man gives are:
1) His
lowliness and humanity (Matt. 8:20).
2) His
suffering and death (Luke 19:10).
3) His future reign as king (Matt. 24:7).
d. Another sign
that it links to the man and his mission, mere men are called “son of
man” often
in scripture: Num. 23:19; Ps. 80:17; Isa. 51:12; Ezekiel 2:1; Heb. 2:6.
e. These are only
a few of the references made of the son of man as humans, not of
Jesus.
4. Here before all
the sinners and the attendants, Jesus is presented as Lord of Lords
and King of
Kings.
a. It is here that
the whole of mankind, living and dead, will know him.
b. It is here that
every knee shall bow and tongue that he is Lord!
c. If we are
there, we have already bowed and worshiped Him and confessed that
He is Lord
and King. We did that here on earth, and we will do it again in
heaven when
we fall down and worship him and cast our crowns before him.
V 14 And to Him was
given dominion,
Glory and a kingdom,
That all the peoples,
nations and men of every language
Might serve Him
His dominion is an
everlasting dominion
Which will not pass away;
And His kingdom is one
Which will not be
destroyed.
B. The real Son of Man will receive His Kingdom which he
prepared before the
foundation
of the world. He bought and paid for it with His blood.
1. Dominion: Aramaic,
shol’- tawn1 an empire. It’s
an everlasting empire.
2. Glory: From an OT word, yek-awr’2 value, i.e., wealth, costliness, dignity:
honor
precious
(things), price, glory and honor.
a. In other words,
Jesus will inherit everything in the world.
b. Then he will
have 1000 years to make it perfect again, and then he will present it
to the
father without wrinkle or blemish.
3. Kingdom: mal-kooth’3 A rule,
concretely a dominion: empire, kingdom, realm,
reign, royal.
It can not be destroyed.
Vv 15 – 28 The Vision Interpreted
V 15 As for me,
Daniel, my spirit was distressed within me, and the visions in my mind kept
alarming me.
A. I had seen all these visions, but since I didn’t
understand them, they distressed my
spirit.
V 16 I approached one
of those who were standing by and began asking him the exact
meaning of all this So he told me
and made known to me the interpretation of
these things:
B. Whomever he saw in his visions were approachable.
1. Daniel goes to
one of them and asks, what are the meanings of these things?
2. Whomever he
approaches begins to tell him the meanings of the things he has seen.
V 17 These great
beasts, which are four in number, are four kings who will arise from
the earth.
C. The four beasts you saw are four kings or kingdoms who
will rule on earth.
V 18 But the saints of
the Highest One will receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom
forever, for all ages to come.'
D. Doesn’t matter who rules on earth, the saints of the Most
High will receive
and possess
the kingdom forever.
1. God has an
2. He owns it.
3. He is the despot
of it.
4. He has chosen to
give it to those who by faith from all ages will receive it.
V 19 Then I desired to
know the exact meaning of the fourth beast, which was different
from all the others, exceedingly
dreadful, with its teeth of iron and its claws of
bronze, and which devoured, crushed
and trampled down the remainder with its
feet,
E. Because of the fierceness of the fourth beast, Daniel
wants to know about it.
1. This beast was
different.
2. It had teeth of
iron and claws of bronze.
3. It devoured,
crushed and trampled down the other beasts with its feet.
V 20 and the meaning
of the ten horns that were on its head and the other horn which
came up, and before which three of
them fell, namely, that horn which had eyes
and a mouth uttering great boasts
and which was larger in appearance than its
associates.
F. Not only that, but I want to know the meaning of the ten
horns on its head.
1. Tell me about the
little horn that came up with eyes and a mouth uttering great
Boasts.
2. It was larger in
appearance than its associates.
V 21 I kept looking,
and that horn was waging war with the saints and overpowering
them
G. That small horn with the big mouth was waging war against
God’s saints and
he was
winning.
1. He will kill all
Jews and believers that he can who don’t take the mark of the beast.
2. Nothing can stop
him for 3-and-1/2 years.
V 22 until the Ancient
of Days came and judgment was passed in favor of the saints of the
Highest One, and the time arrived
when the saints took possession of the
kingdom.
H. Nothing could stop him that is until God shows up in time
to take possession off
the kingdom
for the saints.
V 23 Thus he said:
'The fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on the earth, which will be
different from all the other
kingdoms and will devour the whole earth and tread it
down and crush it.
I. The fourth beast will be different because it will
possess the whole earth, subdue it
and bring
it under control.
V 24 As for the ten
horns, out of this kingdom ten kings will arise; and another will arise
after them, and he will be different
from the previous ones and will subdue three
kings.
J. The ten horns will be ten kingdoms out of the Old Roman
Empire (the 10 horns of
Daniel 2:42).
1. Another will
arise from them, but he will be different from them all.
2. The first thing
he will do is destroy 3 of their kingdoms.
V 25 He will speak out
against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest
One, and he will intend to make
alterations in times and in law; and they will be
given into his hand for a time,
times, and half a time.
K. He will make war with the saints and blaspheme God, the
Most High.
1. He will try to
change times to suit his reign.
2. He will change
laws to suit himself and his father, Satan.
3. The children of
God will be given into his hand to do with as he sees fit.
4. How long will
this last? 3-and-½ years.
V 26 But the court
will sit for judgment, and his dominion will be taken away, annihilated
and destroyed forever.
L. The court will sit for judgment.
1. Which court is
Daniel talking about?
a. The one at the
beginning where his vision takes place.
b. Vv 13, 14.
2. The dominion of
the anti-christ will be taken away.
a. Why?
b. Because there
can’t be two dominions.
c. God will have
an eternal dominion that can’t be destroyed or taken away.
3. The end of the
anti-christ.
a. He will be
bound.
b. He will be
thrown, live, into hell along with his false prophet by whom the signs
and wonders were performed (Revelation 19:20).
V 27 Then the
sovereignty, the dominion and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the
whole heaven will be given to the
people of the saints of the Highest One; His
kingdom will be an everlasting
kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and
obey Him.
M. Who then gets God’s everlasting kingdom?
1. The believers of
all ages and maybe his angels.
2. This kingdom will
last forever.
3. All the
dominions, other rulers of the other empires, will serve and obey Him.
a. Isaiah writes
that
b. Assyria will be
saved, and other kings will bring their glory to
Jesus.
V 28 At this point the
revelation ended. As for me, Daniel, my thoughts were greatly
alarming me and my face grew pale,
but I kept the matter to myself.
N. For now the revelation was ended.
1. They troubled me
because I didn’t know what they meant.
2. However, I kept
all this to myself.
1. Ibid.
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
Daniel
Chapter 7
Study Questions
1. What year was
Belteshazzar king?
2. What does the
four winds represent?
3. What does the
great sea usually represent?
4. Describe the
first beast.
5. Describe the
second beast.
6. Describe the
third beast.
7. Describe the
fourth beast.
8. Go to Revelation 13:2
and describe the difference in John’s four beast.
9. What happens to
the boastful beast?
10. Why does Daniel use the term, “one like the son of man?”
11. The four beasts are actually four what?
12. Who will receive the kingdom according to Daniel?
13. What do the ten horns represent on the great beast?
14 Who is the great beast?
15. How many years will his actual reign take place?
16. How long will the over comer’s kingdom last?
Thanks for checking out our blog at B. C. Ministries, Inc. Our mission is to provide meaningful study material from God's word. The materials we provide are the works of Howard, and any relation to others woks is purely coincidental.
Blessings,
Howard
Who You Are Isn't Based on Performance with God. Who You Are Should Have A Direct Bearing on How You Perform.
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