Daniel 7:1-28 NIV
Daniel’s Dream of Four Beasts
1In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel had a
dream, and visions passed through his mind as he was lying in bed. He wrote
down the substance of his dream.
2Daniel said: “In my vision at night I looked, and there before
me were the four winds of heaven churning up the great sea. 3Four great beasts, each different from the others, came up out
of the sea.
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 human being, and the mind of a human was given to
it.
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!’
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. This beast had four heads, and it was given authority to rule.
7“After that, in my vision at night I looked, and there before me
was a fourth beast—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 human
being and a mouth that spoke boastfully.
9“As I looked,
“Thrones
were set in place,
and The
Ancient of Days Took His Seat.
His Clothing Was as white as snow;
The Hair of
His Head Was white like wool.
His Throne Was flaming with fire,
and its Wheels
were all ablaze.
10A river of
fire was flowing,
coming out
from before Him.
Thousands
upon thousands attended Him;
ten thousand
times ten thousand stood before Him.
The court
was seated,
and the
books were opened.
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. 12(The other beasts had been stripped of their authority, but were
allowed to live for a period of time.)
13 “In my
vision at night I looked, and there before me Was ONE like a SON of Man, Coming with the clouds of Heaven. HE Approached The Ancient of Days and Was Led into His Presence. 14HE Was Given
Authority, Glory and Sovereign Power; all nations and peoples of every language
worshiped Him. His Dominion Is An Everlasting Dominion That Will Not Pass Away,
and His Kingdom Is One That Will Never Be Destroyed.
The Interpretation of the Dream
15“I, Daniel, was troubled in spirit, and the visions that passed
through my mind disturbed me. 16I approached one of those standing there and asked him the
meaning of all this.
“So he told me and gave me the
interpretation of these things:
17 ‘The
four great beasts are four kings that will rise from the earth. 18 But the
holy people of The MOST HIGH will receive The Kingdom and will possess it
forever—yes, for ever and ever.’
19 “Then I wanted to know the 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 had eyes and a mouth that spoke
boastfully.
21As I watched, this horn was waging war against the holy people
and defeating them, 22until The Ancient of Days Came and Pronounced Judgment in favor
of the holy people of The MOST HIGH, and the time came when they possessed The
Kingdom.
‘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. 24The
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 holy people and try to change the set times and the laws. The holy
people will be delivered into his hands for
a time, times and half a time.b
26“ ‘But the court will sit, and his power will be taken away and
completely destroyed forever. 27Then the sovereignty, power and greatness of all the kingdoms
under heaven will be handed over to the holy people of The MOST HIGH. His
Kingdom will be an Everlasting Kingdom, and all rulers will worship and obey Him.’
28“This is the end of the matter. I, Daniel, was deeply troubled
by my thoughts, and my face turned pale, but I kept the matter to myself.”
This chapter contains Daniel's vision of the four beasts, The
time, place, manner, writing, and declaration of the vision, Daniel 7:1,
the rise of the beasts, and the description of them, Daniel 7:2,
The Judgment of GOD Upon them, especially the last, and the delivery of
universal monarchy to His SON, Daniel 7:9,
the interpretation of the vision at the request of Daniel, being greatly
affected with it, Daniel 7:15,
a particular inquiry of his about the fourth beast, concerning which a full
account is given, Daniel 7:19,
all which caused in him many thoughts of heart, and reflections of mind, Daniel 7:28.
Chapter
|
Parallel sequence of prophetic elements as
understood by Historicists
|
|||||
Past
|
Present
|
Future
|
||||
Head
Gold (Babylon) |
Chest & 2 arms
Silver (Persia) |
Belly and thighs
Bronze (Greece) |
2 Legs
Iron (Rome) |
2 Feet with toes
Clay & Iron |
Rock
GOD's Unending Kingdom left to no other people |
|
Daniel 7
|
Winged Lion
|
Lopsided Bear
|
4 Headed/4 Winged
Leopard |
Iron toothed Beast
w/Little Horn |
Judgment scene
Beast w/Horn slain |
A SON of Man comes in clouds
Given Everlasting Dominion HE Gives it to the saints. |
“God’s Perspective”
I am sure that you have noticed the similarities between this prophecy and the king’s dream that Daniel interpreted in chapter two. We see the same four kingdoms, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome, depicted one after another. However, there is one large difference. Chapter two shows us what will happen in human history, from a human perspective, with its glittering metals portraying the world’s kingdoms. The statue is impressive, great, humane, and majestic, but it is still plagued with weakness. We see our empires like the statue, we see them and we are impressed, but GOD Sees things differently. This second look at human history is from GOD’s point of view. GOD Doesn’t See these human kingdoms as something grand, or something to be proud of. Instead, HE Sees them as beasts, or monsters. HE Sees them as terrible creatures that do terrible things. HE Sees them as immoral, self-serving, and cruelly destructive. We see them from one perspective and GOD Sees things from a different perspective.
There are a lot of things that we see from a different perspective. From our perspective we see a kingdom that is grand, powerful, and something to behold, but from GOD’s perspective, it is a beast which is holding back his kingdom. From our perspective we see suffering and say that it isn’t fair, but from GOD’s Perspective HE Sees spiritual muscles being built, and us getting more faithful.
From our perspective we see things in this world that need to be fixed, things that need to be made better, but from GOD’s Perspective, HE Sees something that needs to keep going because it is making us stronger. From our perspective we look at the Earth as a playground, or a place to have fun, but from GOD’s Perspective, it is a war zone, a place that is in a state of rebellion, and heaven is the playground that we should be striving for.
From our perspective we look at a door closing as a setback, but from GOD’s Perspective, it is a way to get us to go down a different path. From our perspective we see an attempt to reach someone who doesn’t respond to the Gospel as a failure, but from GOD’s Perspective, we have just planted a beautiful seed that might sprout sometime in the future. From our perspective something we do might look like a harmless little sin, but from GOD’s Perspective, it looks horrible. We have to remember that GOD always Sees things from a different perspective. What looks to us like a magnificent kingdom, might just look like a monster to GOD.
One of the reasons that GOD Sees things from a different perspective is because HE Has Seen this movie before. GOD Sits outside of time and Has already Watched the ending. HE Knows what is waiting around the corner. Since HE Has Seen this movie it means that HE Can Direct the characters of the movie in ways that will lead them to where they need to be. Remember the introduction of this message? If you knew that someone had predicted, over and over again, what would happen in the future, you would start listening to that person wouldn’t you? Well, that is what we have with GOD. GOD Proves this in chapter 7 and HE Will Keep Proving it throughout the rest of this book.
From GOD’s Perspective HE Can See everything. HE Knows everything that is going to happen, and the amazing thing is we have access to GOD, but sometimes we have to wait for HIM To Show us which way to go, To Show us the part that our character is supposed to play, To Show us the gifts and talents that our character possesses, and To Show us the best ways for our character to serve. Sometimes we come to points in our journey where we need to rely on The ONE Who Knows the future. These are the times where we need to wait for HIM To Show us the right path. The only question is, when HE Shows us the right path, are we paying attention, or are we too consumed by this world to see where HE Is Leading us?
Here is a link to the sermon that accompanies this Bible study: “God’s Perspective”
Read more : http://www.confidentfaith.net/gods-perspective-daniel-7#comment-1231
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