Daniel: Dream of the Four Beasts
Notes
Transcript
Today, we hit a transition point in the book of Daniel. Up until now, we have been presented with a series of stories of this holy man of God who, time after time, is delivered from danger as he demonstrates the power of God while living in a strange and foreign land. Throughout the first six chapters, the message is pretty clear: the people of Israel may be in exile, but the God of Israel is still very much in control. First Babylon, now the Medes & Persians, may appear to rule from a historical perspective, but the reality is that God reigns and exile is the means by which he is calling his people back into obedience.
The first six chapters read like a biography of a famous person. Like a historian telling the story of George Washington chopping down his father’s cherry tree as a boy, or the famous crossing of the Delaware river on Christmas night in 1776.
In chapter 7, a shift occurs from third person to first person. External stories of a faithful servant move to personal accounts of visions that Daniel receives - visions that reveal the future destiny of God’s chosen people.
When everything around you looks bleak and the future is uncertain, how uplifting is it to receive a ray of hope.
During World War II, the Germans were quite confident that the code they were using to communicate plans to their field commanders was unbreakable. It was called the Enigma code.
Unbeknownst to the Germans, British mathematicians and scientist cracked the code using their Ultra system. They could now decipher German communications. But they had to be careful not to let the Germans figure out that their code was cracked.
In March of 1941, UItra decoded plans of an assault by the German Luftwaffe (German air force) and the Italian navy on a convoy of British ships in the Mediterranean. How could they thwart this plan without giving away the fact that Enigma had been broken?
As the British sent ships from Egypt to the convoy in order to meet the threat, the Commander of the Royal Navy sent a reconnaissance plan, a Sunderland Flying Boat, to fly within sight of the Italian Navy - making sure that they were seen. In doing so, it appeared that the Brits had accidentally discovered their plans. The British Navy had the upperhand, but they still had to fight. They destroyed the Italian navy in that battle but it did not end the war. Much more suffering would be endured - much more pain and destruction - but imagine the morale boost those in leadership must have had knowing they had cracked the code, and even though suffering continued, victory was theirs to obtain.
Daniel was given a vision that cracked the code, that delivered a ray of hope, that made clear the outcome.
The dream he received was very similar to the one King Nebuchadnezzar had back in chapter 2 that we explored a few weeks ago. The king had received a disturbing dream of a huge frightening image that had a gold head, chest and arms of silver, stomach and thighs of bronze, legs of iron and toes of iron and clay. A dream of earthly kingdoms. God gave Daniel the interpretation of that dream - each part of the image represented a kingdom that would rise, each in succession. The head of gold represented the Babylonians. History has shown that the successive order was very likely as follows:
Silver chest and arms represented the Medes and the Persians, the Bronze middle was Greece, the Iron legs Rome, and toes of iron and clay possibly represented the weak foundation that held the image up.
Now Daniel has had his own dream and he wakes up and immediately writes it down. It greatly disturbs him. In his dream, he sees four beasts arise out of the great sea - which in that region would have been the Mediterranean. And again, the images are symbolic. The Lion with wings is most certainly Babylon. In fact, if you visit the Louvre museum in France, you will see a relief of a winged lion that adorned the walls that lined Procession Street in Ancient Babylon.
Early Church Fathers, for the most part interpreted the Bear as the Medes and Persians. Jerome, one of the early leaders of the church born in 347, said that the three ribs in the mouth of the Bear was an allusion to the fact that the Persian kingdom was divided up among three princes who ruled over the Babylonian, Medes and Persian territories.
The Leopard was likely Greece. The leopard is considered one of the fastest land animals, and this leopard had four wings - and Jerome writes “there was never, after all, any victory more quickly that Alexander’s, for he traversed all the way from Illyricum and the Adriatic Sea to the Indian Ocean and the Ganges River, not merely fighting battles but winning decisive victories; and in six years he subjugated to his rule a portion of Europe and all of Asia.
And then there is the beast that is like no other. It is not compared to any earthly beast - but it does have ten horns.
Another early Church Father, Theodoret of Cyr, says Daniel “calls the Roman Empire “the fourth beast,” but he does not give it a name because the Roman state was forged together from very many nations and so acquired mastery over the whole world. First it was governed by kings, then by the people, then by the aristocracy (air - ee - stock - racey) , and at last it returned to the first mode of government, monarchy. He states that this beast is “fearsome and very awe-inspiring,” because this was the mightiest kingdom of all the other kingdoms. And in the statue that Nebuchadnezzar saw, he put down the fourth metal as iron. Just as iron crushes and breaks everything, so this empire would crush and break everything.
Daniel’s vision differs from Nebuchadnezzars. The interpretation of the king’s dream was more to demonstrate that Daniel’s God was all-knowing.
This dream shows God’s take on earthly kingdoms. As Dale Davis states in his commentary “The Message of Daniel”,
The Message of Daniel: His Kingdom Cannot Fail 1. Clear Realism: The Fearful Face of History (1–8)
Daniel’s vision is telling us that history is beastly; it is scary. He wants us to hold a clear realism about life in this world
Daniel is watching these beasts arise, each image is frightful, but the last one is by far the worse. This horn has eyes and a mouth and is “speaking great things” - it seems that evil is building up and is unstoppable - but then, abruptly, the scene changes.
We see the Ancient of Days takes his seat - it is obvious that he has always been, he was there before the beasts and now he is there at their end. He is the all wise and the all powerful. Fire streams forth from his throne. Again Davis writes:
The Message of Daniel: His Kingdom Cannot Fail (2. Heartening Secret: The Firm Kingship of Heaven (9–14))
From the first of redemptive history, fire signals Yahweh’s presence (think burning bush and the pillar of fire that led the Israelites through the wilderness), even his presence in judgment. Here in Daniel 7 the fire suggests the fury of God in judgment, but it is a just fury, for the court sat, and the records were opened (10c); it was all ‘by the book’. Finally, majesty: a thousand thousands served him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him
The beasts receive their judgment and sentence. The fourth beast is destroyed.
But then another character enters the scene. Unlike the beasts that arose out of the chaos of the sea, this one comes down from the clouds - implying that he is a divine being that appears as a man.
We know who this figure is. In fact, Jesus confessed as much when he was standing before the Sanhedrin following his arrest.
And the high priest stood up and said, “Have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you?” But Jesus remained silent. And the high priest said to him, “I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.” Jesus said to him, “You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.”
Jesus tells them that the time will come when they will see him, not as a prisoner before them, but as judge presiding over his court. In his response, he is referring to both Daniel 7 and to Psalm 110 where we read
The Lord is at your right hand; he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath. He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses; he will shatter chiefs over the wide earth.
At the time Daniel had the dream - he was greatly unsettled. What did it all mean? God provided one of his messengers to tell him.
“As for me, Daniel, my spirit within me was anxious, and the visions of my head alarmed me. I approached one of those who stood there and asked him the truth concerning all this. So he told me and made known to me the interpretation of the things. ‘These four great beasts are four kings who shall arise out of the earth. But the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, forever and ever.’
Daniel’s dream cracks the code, delivers a ray of hope, makes clear the outcome - by revealing that the kingdoms of the earth, which will cause much suffering and harm, will come to an end. Judgment will come and it will be swift. But for those who worship the true king, for those who are faithful and true, victory belongs to them. If you were a Jew living in exile, Daniel’s dream, written down and shared, would bring hope.
As a Christian living a world that is full of uncertainty, where violence is increasing become the norm, where it is difficult to tell truth from lies, knowing the outcome of all things is a gift from the Lord. It brings hope in dark times. It lifts morale as we worship together. I reminds us - there is a future ahead that is brighter and greater than we can possibly imagine.
One final note.
The little horn, the one with human eyes and mouth that spoke great things - greatly disturbed Daniel. When he asked the angelic being about it, he said..
“Then I desired to know the truth about the fourth beast, which was different from all the rest, exceedingly terrifying, with its teeth of iron and claws of bronze, and which devoured and broke in pieces and stamped what was left with its feet, and about the ten horns that were on its head, and the other horn that came up and before which three of them fell, the horn that had eyes and a mouth that spoke great things, and that seemed greater than its companions. As I looked, this horn made war with the saints and prevailed over them, until the Ancient of Days came, and judgment was given for the saints of the Most High, and the time came when the saints possessed the kingdom.
the angel responded.Daniel 7:24-25
As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings shall arise, and another shall arise after them; he shall be different from the former ones, and shall put down three kings. He shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and shall think to change the times and the law; and they shall be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time.
It appears that there will be one, (or several ones throughout history) who will cause much harm to God’s people until Christ returns.
The one Daniel refers to is probably the same one Paul calls the “man of lawlessness” in his 2nd letter to the Thessalonians and the one John would call the Antichrist in 1 John 2:18
Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour.
To say what Daniel saw bothered him is an understatement. He actually says...
The account ends here. Now as for how I, Daniel, felt about this: My thoughts disturbed me greatly. My mood darkened considerably, and I kept thinking about this matter.
So I think it is important to know that in the end, Jesus will handle him. We don’t need to fixate on who that will be, but we do need to do our part in bringing as many people as we can into saving faith in Jesus. The stakes are quite high.
And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming. The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.
Amen.