Daniel 7 reveals one of the most powerful visions in Scripture — the rise and fall of kingdoms, the judgment of the Ancient of Days, and the everlasting dominion of the Son of Man. This sermon unpacks the meaning behind Daniel’s dream and what it reveals about God’s ultimate plan for the nations.
The Vision of Four Beasts
Turn with me to Daniel, chapter . As we come to Daniel, chapter , Daniel has a dream. This is Daniel’s dream. This isn’t Nebuchadnezzar’s dream.
God is going to reveal something to Daniel. And as you begin to take a look at chapter this morning, what you’re going to see is Daniel has a dream of four different beasts. Now, as you look at this, you’re going to begin to see that these four beasts represent the same thing that Nebuchadnezzar saw when he saw a statue consisting of four different elements of metal.
Gold, silver, bronze, and iron. So why would God give the same dream to Nebuchadnezzar, which Daniel interpreted? And then Daniel has a very similar dream. And God gives him the interpretation, which is very similar to the interpretation He gave to Nebuchadnezzar.
I want you to understand, the dream given to Nebuchadnezzar was a dream that was seen from man’s perspective. Man looks at kingdoms, and he sees the power of men. He sees the glory of the kingdom.
He sees the authority that’s behind it. Remember when Nebuchadnezzar came to Daniel and he said that gold was the symbol of the kingdom of Babylon. And there was no other kingdom like it on earth.
But then there would come one that would replace Babylon, and it would be the Medo-Persian kingdom. And it was less, because silver is worth less than gold. And in the eyes of men, the Medo-Persian kingdom was less.
And then we come, and the third kingdom is the Greek kingdom, symbolized by bronze. Again, a metal that has value, but it’s less value in the eyes of men. Then the fourth kingdom we saw was the Romans, the Roman Empire.
Iron, of less value. And then iron and clay, seemingly very little value. But that’s man’s perspective.
Why give a second dream or vision to Daniel with beasts? And these beasts are terrifying beasts, because this is from God’s perspective. We are going to see the kingdoms from the understanding of God and how they relate to the world. Let’s read Daniel in order to come back and discuss it.
So he has now come to power. Nebuchadnezzar is off the scene. And Belshazzar’s dad is his co-regent, if you were.
And he is down dealing with issues in other portions of the kingdom. We find that out from other sources of history. In the first year of Belshazzar, king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream.
In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel had a dream and visions of his head upon his bed: then he wrote the dream, and told the sum of the matters. 2 Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea. 3 And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another. 4 The first was like a lion, and had eagle’s wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man’s heart was given to it. 5 And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh. 6 After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it. 7 After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns. 8 I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.
9 I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. 10 A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened. 11 I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake: I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame. 12 As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time. 13 I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. 14 And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.
15 I Daniel was grieved in my spirit in the midst of my body, and the visions of my head troubled me. 16 I came near unto one of them that stood by, and asked him the truth of all this. So he told me, and made me know the interpretation of the things. 17 These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth. 18 But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever.
19 Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast, which was diverse from all the others, exceeding dreadful, whose teeth were of iron, and his nails of brass; which devoured, brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with his feet; 20 and of the ten horns that were in his head, and of the other which came up, and before whom three fell; even of that horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look was more stout than his fellows. 21 I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them; 22 until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces. 24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings. 25 And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time. 26 But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end. 27 And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him. 28 Hitherto is the end of the matter. As for me Daniel, my cogitations much troubled me, and my countenance changed in me: but I kept the matter in my heart. Daniel 7:1-28
Let's just bow in prayer. Lord, I pray that you just help us and speak to us, and help us to begin to get the picture of what your word is proclaiming about the day in which we live. That we're seeing events that are pertaining to this beginning to happen. Lord, I pray that you would just help us. Help us to have wisdom and knowledge. Help us to seek your spirit to help us understand. And Lord, help us to be there to share with others the hope we have in Jesus. This we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.
As I mentioned at the beginning of the message, we’ve got four kingdoms that were revealed to Daniel earlier in the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, but this dream is a different dream. This dream shows what the real intent of these kingdoms is. Death and destruction.
Coming against that which God stands for. And establishing authority over an earth which God created. And which God sustains.
And which is God’s to do with as He chooses. But these are self-deceived and they think that they can come and they possess much power and authority. Now I want you to see where all of these kingdoms reside.
We find that in the beginning of verse , it says, and after for the first year of Belshazzar, the king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream. And you go down and it says in verse , And Daniel spake and said, And I saw in my vision by night, and behold there were four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea. What is the great sea? The great sea in scripture here is not the Pacific, it’s not the Atlantic, it’s not the Arctic, it’s not the North Sea or the Baltic Sea, it’s the Mediterranean Sea.
And what you’re going to see is the Mediterranean Sea out of that area of the world. That’s where creation began. We don’t know exactly where the Garden of Eden was, but the picture given to us in the first portion of the book of Genesis would indicate that it would be somewhere in the Middle East.
Throughout history, God’s focus in scripture has always been on this region. Even when there were Europeans, even when there were Chinese, even when there were Africans, even when there were people in South America and North America, God’s focus on events always was around the Mediterranean area. Why? Because God in His wisdom and God for His purposes chose that His city and His mountain would reside in the center of three continents, in a mountain that was called Mount Zion, in a city that would be referred to as Jerusalem.
And the focus of the whole world would be there. And what the world cannot understand, why this little tiny mountain in this little tiny city that is part of a little tiny country should cause so much problem. At the heart of it all is Satan’s rebellion against God.
And Satan wants to destroy that which God has chosen and that which God has promised because Satan wants to usurp God’s authority and establish his own. And this battle began way back on earth in the Garden of Eden. And prior to that, as it’s recorded and you can see where glimpses of heaven are given to us, where Satan was created to lead the angelic hosts in heaven of worship.
How many angels are there? We don’t know. All I know is the Scriptures give here, and they talk about the angels that Daniel saw in heaven. , of ,, millions upon millions.
An innumerable amount. And God created them. Just as He created all other things.
And He created one archangel who was given great beauty and great authority to lead all these angels in singing in worship of God. As you look at some of this, I want you to understand and begin to look at things from a Christian perspective. Why is music an issue which leads so many kids into darkness? Why is rock and roll’s message so dark? And how does it control people? You want to know why and how? Satan knows because God established that as His gift to lead the angels in worship of Him.
And now what He’s done is that gift has been perverted and now He wants the world to worship Him. And He uses music as part of it. So begin to take a look at that when it looks at the music that you get drawn to.
What is the message? How does it impact you in your thoughts and in the way that you focus? Does it make you want to be drawn closer to God? Or does it want to make you drawn closer into your own self-centeredness and into a world system that’s in rebellion against Him? Just one thing. But as you look at this, this is where the battle still is today. Remember out on the table you’ll find a book and it talks about the battle that we’re in.
Dave Hunt wrote it. And he talks about many of these things and how they’re centered in Rome today. A battle against truth.
Did you know the Roman Catholic Church wants to control Jerusalem? They want Jerusalem as theirs. Did you know the World Economic Forum wants Jerusalem? They want it as theirs. Who does Jerusalem belong to if it belongs to God? And what event is going to occur in Jerusalem that means it will always be there as long as we live? Israel will remain in the land.
Mount Zion will remain a significant object of desire and a center of battle and war. Because God has said one day, and we read it here in Daniel’s vision, one who appears as the Son of Man shall come and He shall appear before the Father, the Ancient of Days, and it shall be given unto Him to rule and reign from where? Jerusalem and Mount Zion. And He shall rule the whole world with His saints.
That’s why when we were looking at Babylon and the significance of Babylon, there’s a spirit in the world that’s at the heart of all of these four kingdoms that will manifest itself in the last day in the greatest manifestation of all in the fourth kingdom, which will be a resurrection of the Roman Empire. Let’s take a look at these and take a look at what God’s got to say in here. And He says that there was the winds came from four directions, they stirred the waters of the great sea, and out of these stirred waters, troubled waters, means there was great problems.
What were the problems? Rebellion against God. That was a problem. Out of the rebellion against God, rose up nations.
If you look at, going back to the Tower of Babel and Nimrod, same area of the world, and the Tower of Babel, Nimrod wanted to build a tower because he wanted the people to worship the demons of hell and they were going to, and at the center of all of that worship would be the worship of man. The very thing that Satan attempted Adam with, Nimrod was going to fulfill. And as he did that, God looked down and said, no you’re not.
And remember He scattered the languages and He confused the languages and He scattered the people because they were told by the Lord to go and multiply and inhabit the earth, to take dominion over the earth. They weren’t to remain as one group of people in one language. So God scattered them.
But ever since He scattered them within the heart of man has been rebellion and they want to come back together. A few years ago, M had as a cover on one of the major magazines, we were back to Babel. And they were talking about how they were getting the ability to communicate so that we no longer had to be divided by languages that we could all be one language.
A lot of it was sent around the computer. Today it’s coming even more real, it’s coming AI. I just saw that you can buy a little translating tablet that you can take with you on vacations and you go to foreign countries, you plug in what language you’re speaking, you hold it up and it speaks to you in whatever language yours is.
It translates it instantly. They’re trying to bring everything back together, but it’s not to bring them to God, it’s to bring them to man and ultimately to Satan. So we see that these waters were troubled.
They’ve always been troubled by rebellion against God. And what happened is it says that there are great beasts that came up from the sea to burst from one another. Now, same vision that he had earlier, there was parts of this statue of a man that came up that Nebuchadnezzar saw.
Now we see beasts. They come up out of the sea, out of the nations that surround the Mediterranean, but they’re different from one another. And I don’t know if you caught it, but everyone got worse than the previous one from God’s perspective.
From man’s perspective, the first was the greatest and they kept getting poorer. From God’s perspective, they just kept getting worse and worse and worse. I want you to see what he says about the first.
The first was like a lion and it had eagle’s wings. If you go to Babylon and look at what Babylon’s symbol was, it was a lion with wings. You’ll see that if you Google Babylon and Google symbols for Babylon, it’s lion with wings.
It shows that it’s fierce and fast. That’s what it symbols. This is an interesting lion because from God’s perspective, something happened.
Satan thought he had in Babylon the perfect situation. Fierce and fast, totally under his control. Nebuchadnezzar given all these wonderful abilities establishing this great kingdom that flowed out of what was left of Babel.
We see that yet what happened. This kingdom becomes the least fierce of the four kingdoms. Why? It says it was lifted up from the earth and made to stand upon the feet as a man and a man’s heart was given to it.
Nebuchadnezzar was mocking God and God remember when we were going through that portion of Daniel? Seven years Nebuchadnezzar was out of his mind. Never lost the kingdom. The kingdom was still there but all of his authority and power that he once possessed, all the great wisdom knowledge that he had was gone.
He was out of his mind. And at the end of the seven years Nebuchadnezzar was given his mind back and God gave him a heart of understanding why this happened to him. And it was the conversion of Nebuchadnezzar.
None of the other kingdoms had that happen to them. After that conversion Nebuchadnezzar made a decree that all of the authority that he had all the kingdoms that were under him that he had conquered were to be told to worship the true and the living God, the God of the Jews. So he was a beast a fierce beast who possessed great power could move quickly conquered much but all of a sudden there was a transformation that occurred and God changed his heart from that of a beast to a man.
So the kingdom of Babylon, in the sense that it was under Nebuchadnezzar when he first established it, was never the same. This was the first year of his grandson, Belshazzar. We all know what happened in Belshazzar’s time.
That’s when the second kingdom came to power. And he said, And behold, another beast, a second, like a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth and in between the teeth of it. And they said, Thus unto it arise, devour much flesh.
The next one that rose up, it says it rose up, but it was higher on one side than the other. It was sitting there and had these three bones, ribs in its mouth. It said that if you look at the Medo-Persians, there were three major cities they conquered which led to their empire.
It was Babylon, and it was the cities of Egypt, and the cities of Libna. Those are the three ribs. But this was not a fast-moving, powerful, it’s powerful in the sense that people couldn’t stand in its presence.
But it didn’t move fast, it had no wings. And we also know that the Medes were the most dominant people initially, but the Persians had greater power, and eventually they rose to the greater influence within the kingdom. And today you still see portions of the Medo-Persian empire in the Middle East.
The Kurds are what’s left of the Medes, and the Iranians are what’s left of the Persians. They’re not a single kingdom anymore. As a matter of fact, right now Kurds are one of the only Muslim allies that Israel has in the Middle East, because they were under Darius the Mede.
The Jews were allowed to go back and begin to rebuild Jerusalem after they’d been taken away into captivity of Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar. So this would be the second kingdom. And we see that it’s just as Daniel saw exactly what happened.
But the second kingdom would be overtaken by a third kingdom. And this kingdom was kind of really amazing. It says here, And I beheld another like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl.
A beast had also four heads, and dominion was given to it. A leopard is considered one of the faster cats. But this is really fast, because it’s got four wings to help it fly.
This would be the kingdom of the Greeks. They weren’t as powerful as the Babylonians or the Medo-Persians, but they were fast. By the time he was years of age, Alexander the Great had gone all the way from the area of Macedonia in the Middle East, all the way to India, and conquered every nation that stood in his way.
Everything was conquered. He’d gone far south, he’d conquered Egypt, the northern tier of some of those nations along Africa, and all the way to India. At years of age, Alexander was poisoned.
It’s not certain who killed him. They’ve always surmised in history it may have been his own generals. Alexander’s had four major generals.
I’ll also probably tell you why there’s four wings on this animal. These four major generals, one of the things that they began to do was kill off Alexander’s kids and wives, because they wanted the power themselves. As you get into Daniel more, you’re going to see that these four never came to the power that Alexander the Great had.
It is said that when Alexander the Great was approaching Jerusalem, he had planned to go into Jerusalem, ravage and sack the city, destroy Jerusalem. But the high priests and some of the other priests came out and met Alexander in their priestly garb and told him they were not going to stand in his way. And Alexander turned away from doing that.
He never destroyed Jerusalem. And one of the things that Alexander did, which he did with Israel, he would go into a land, and if they did not fight against him, he would allow them to keep their religion, he would allow them to keep their customs. He allowed the Jewish religion, the belief system of this book, to remain in Israel.
And he went on to India. Then we have the fourth beast, the most ferocious of all. And after this, I saw in the night visions and befold a fourth beast.
Dreadful and terrible. Now, he didn’t call any of the others this strong of words. And I want you to understand something about this beast.
This beast appears twice. It disappears but never really disappears. The first time we see it is when it comes in Scripture and it’s the fourth in line and it takes over the kingdom that the Greeks had established.
The first time this beast comes, an amazing event was going to occur in Jerusalem, right outside of Jerusalem, about five miles away from Jerusalem, in Bethlehem. The fulfillment of all the prophecies about Jesus’ first coming were going to be centered at the time that this beast would be in power. This beast would think that it had power and authority over the whole world.
This beast, the Roman Empire, would think that men could not stand and the people that they put in charge had absolute authority. One of them was Herod, a governor that was established over the area of Jerusalem and Israel and told that he was to be called the king of the Jews. And Jesus came during the beast being there.
This beast did everything in its power to first prevent Christ from ever living beyond the cradle. Herod came to authority and when the wise men came because they’d seen the signs that told of the coming Messiah that was in the area of Jerusalem, they thought the logical place you go is to the king to find out where the latest king is born. So they went to Herod and Herod told them that there had been a prophecy dealing with the birth of this child and when they found this child, he wanted to know and to come back and tell him.
They left and they were led by the Lord to Bethlehem to the area where Jesus was. This would have been probably a couple of years after Jesus was actually born that the wise men came. And then an angel warned them to go a different way.
Not to go back to Herod, not to tell him. But I want to see what this beast thinks of Christians. What this beast thinks of the Christian message.
Because Mary and Joseph were warned in the dream to take Jesus and go to Egypt. And that was another fulfillment dealing with the coming Messiah. Herod found out.
Scripture said that he was to be born in Bethlehem. He sent his soldiers down there and they went to the area of Bethlehem and they killed every baby under three years of age. Every baby boy was slaughtered.
Because he was going to have nothing to do with this King of God. And you see the same attitude this beast has today. So the first time this beast appears is during the first coming of Christ.
The second time this beast will appear is right at the second coming of Christ. And that’s what we’re going to be able to take a look at next week. We’re out of time.
So we’re going to look a little bit more at what this beast is and what’s all about this beast. Why does it have ten horns? And then all of a sudden three of the horns are pulled out by the roots. And there’s a little horn that comes up.
And this little horn has great power and can make wonderful things. And he destroys three of the horns and takes over their power. And he has control over the whole world.
Daniel is seeing exactly what the things that are being put in place right now in our world today that we’re living in. And when Daniel saw these beasts, it says that he went and he… Can you imagine? He was not terrified because he was afraid of them, but he was terrified because of what he saw. The coming judgment of the beasts.
And ultimately, the worship of the King. We’re going to get into it more next week. Let’s just close.
Lord, I pray that you just help us to understand these things. Help us to realize that this is Heaven’s perspective of these beasts. The world thinks that they’re so glamorous, so powerful, so great.
And Heaven says, oh, they’re wicked. They’re evil. They’re destructive.
Lord, help us to always keep our view from Heaven. And help us always to read the whole account all the way to the end of the chapter to see who really wins. Does the beast win? Or do you win? Lord, you are the one who gave us a means of salvation so that our rebellion could be paid for and we no longer have to serve a beast.
But we can serve the giver of life and experience the joy of salvation. Go with us now, we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.