Daniel, Chaper 7

Review

Chapter 1 - not eating the king’s food

chapter 2 - dream of statue

chapter 3 - fiery furnace

chapter 4 - King lost is mind

chapter 5 - handwriting on the wall

chapter 6 - Lions’ den

Chapters 7 thru 12: dreams and visions of Daniel

Dual Fulfillment

A double fulfillment or dual fulfillment of a Bible prophecy is the circumstance in which the prophecy has both a short-term and long-term fulfillment. A prophecy is made, and the first fulfillment comes to pass relatively soon thereafter. Later, there is a second fulfillment to the prophecy, and that second fulfillment is usually fuller and more literal. So, there is a “near” fulfillment and a “far” fulfillment.

Examples

Isaiah and the virgin birth

to king Ahaz: by the time this virgin, gets married, has a kid, and child gets old enough to know right from wrong, your two enemy nations will be defeated

there was a real virgin birth: Jesus

prophet told David - you will have a son that will build me a temple and rule forever

Solomon was his son and built a temple, and ruled a long time

Jesus is that “son of David” who will actually rule forever; he built the church (upon this rock I will build my church)

we bring this up because we see Daniel’s visions and dreams being fulfilled pretty soon. But we also see a lot of parallel with the Book of Revelation and think that his dreams have a fulfillment in the future

Despite all of this deep stuff, we will get to the main point . . . and the main point is very easy

Daniel 7:1 NASB95

1 In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel saw a dream and visions in his mind as he lay on his bed; then he wrote the dream down and related the following summary of it.

if you have a lot of dreams and visions, or however God speaks to you, you should write it down

smart phones make it very easy

his vision starts off in the world

Daniel 7:2–8 NASB95

2 Daniel said, “I was looking in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea. 3 “And four great beasts were coming up from the sea, different from one another. 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. 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!’ 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. 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. 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.

scary sounding stuff

four winds of heaven stirring up the great sea

there is a connection between heaven and earth

winds of heaven represent heaven

the great sea represents the world

we wee that heaven is in control - heaven stirred up the sea

four great beast coming up from the sea

lion with wings - Babylon

think of majestic creatures

but wings torn off - came to a quick end

lifted from the ground, stoop up like a human, given a human mind - story of Nebuchadnezzar

bear with ribs in mouth - Medes/Persians

told to devour

crushing, a brute, just overwhelmed people

leopard with wings, four heads - Greeks with Alexander the Great

dominion given to it

fast predator/pounce on you - fast conqueror

empire divided into four after his death

dreadful, terrifying, strong, iron teeth, ten horns - Roman Empire

horns, teeth - symbols of strength, power

devoured, crushed, trampled, different from the others

a small horn replaced three of the horns - horns had eyes like a man and a mouth that boasted

Then the scene changes and we get a vision of a king and his throne room, a king and his court

Daniel 7:9 NASB95

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.

Thrones set up but only one sits down

people have been given authority, but only one true authority, the authority

Ancient of Days - nickname for God (he’s been around since before ancient times) . . . thus the source of time

fiery throne with wheels

God’s presence often associated with fire

Isaiah said smoked filled the room

Elijah taken up by chariot of fire

baptize you with fire, day of Pentecost

also fire often indicates judgment

throne had wheels

Ezekiel mentioned wheels-go any and everywhere

chariot throne - ready for battle

Daniel 7:10 NASB95

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.

river of fire

thousands (x thousands)of servants at his command (NLT translates this as millions)

great numbers standing before him

they mentioned court - uncounted numbers standing to be judged

books opened

we are about to take care of business

things are orderly compared to the chaos of the beast from the sea

things are already decided

kind of scary? - scare us to act right, fear of the Lord

back to the world

Daniel 7:11 NASB95

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.

many believe this boastful horn on the scariest beast to be the anti-christ

as Daniel keeps looking (as time passes) the scariest beast of these four dreadful beast is slain and destroyed and put in the fire

the court ruled that he would be slain

Daniel 7:12 NASB95

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.

other beast. . . the court ruled that they would be allowed to live a little longer, power taken away

no matter how scary

life is

things are

situations are

enemies are

our God is Greater . . . he controls everything

the song “Our God is Greater” says

Our God is greater, our God is stronger God You are higher than any other Our God is Healer, awesome in power Our God, Our God

And if Our God is for us, then who could ever stop us? And if our God is with us, then what can stand against?

back to the heaven, the throne room

Daniel 7:13–14 NASB95

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. 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.

Daniel sees another personality that he says is like the Son of Man (like a human)

(This was written way before Jesus was born on earth)

presented before God and given dominion, glory, kingdom, every person will serve him, his dominion is everlasting (unlike the beast) and will not pass away or be destroyed

he is given God-level things that equate him to God

Jesus called himself the Son of Man

when he rose he said all power and authority has been given to me

Jesus left on a cloud, and he is supposed to reappear in the clouds

Vision Interpreted

Daniel 7:15–18 NASB95

15 “As for me, Daniel, my spirit was distressed within me, and the visions in my mind kept alarming me. 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: 17 ‘These great beasts, which are four in number, are four kings who will arise from the earth. 18 ‘But the saints of the Highest One will receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, for all ages to come.’

four beast = 4 kingdoms/empires =

matches Nedbuchadnezzars dream - near interpretation

but the followers of God will be given the victory in the end . . .THAT IS THE STORY/CONCLUSION!!!!! THE BIBLE’S STORY! WE WIN, PERIOD! WE WIN IN THE END!

We Win!

Verses 19-22

Then he asked about the 4th beast (4th kingdom) and we are given some more information

extra horn made war with God’s people, and ws winning, until God stepped in and pronounced judgment

Daniel 7:23–24 NASB95

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. 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.

4th empire will devour the whole earth - one world government

this empire will be made up of ten kingdoms, but another kingdom will come in to power and defeat three of the ten

Daniel 7:25 NASB95

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.

the leader of this new kingdom will be against God and God’s people, openly speak against God

he will try to make change the times and law

change holidays - recognize God

change weekday - recognizes God

ex. France tried a 10 day week one time

law probably refers to God’s laws, God’s moral standards

and God will allow him to be success for for a time

Daniel 7:26–27 NASB95

26 ‘But the court will sit for judgment, and his dominion will be taken away, annihilated and destroyed forever. 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.’

but God is in charge and will take complete control

court sill sit for judgment - court just makes a ruling and that’s it . . . beast is defeated and the kingdom will be given to the saints

that’s all power!

Daniel 7:28 NASB95

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.”

Actually seeing it was scary

and knowing that his dreams come true; there would be some suffering

just for thoughts

far fulfillment possibility

lion/eagle - British Empire/USA

bear - Russia

lepeord - China

beast - one world government

Announcements

Each one reach one - three families gone on vacation (Cooks, Crayton, Thompson)

good sunday to fill up the chairs!

take time to think of who you could invite