Daniel's dream (Daniel 7:1) consisting of a series of night visions (Daniel 7:2,7,13) occurred towards the end of the Babylonian captivity - in the first
year of Belshazzar (Daniel 7:1) who was Babylon's last king (Daniel 5:1,30-31)
Daniel's visions occurred at night (Daniel 7:2,7,13),
which is significant concerning the time described by these visions
When the Lord is away from His people He describes the
time as being "night" (John 9:4-5 cf. Mark 13:34-37)
There are four watches (3 hours each) of the night (6:00
PM - 6:00 AM) - the fourth watch just before dawn (Matthew 14:25; Mark 6:48) is the darkest watch of the night alluded to by Peter when describing
the Tribulation, which immediately precedes Messiah's appearing as "the Day Dawn" (II Peter 1:19)
- Messiah is called "the Bright and Morning Star" (Revelation 22:16)
Daniel's night visions concern four beasts which are to
arise out of the "Great Sea" (Daniel 7:2-3) and are also said to be four kings which will arise out of the "earth"
(Daniel 7:17) - the "Great Sea" is a specific region of the "earth"
identified as the western boundary of the Land of Israel, i.e. the Mediterranean Sea (Numbers 34:6-7;Joshua 1:4; Joshua 9:1;Joshua 15:12,47; Joshua 23:4)
These four kings (Daniel 7:17) and their kingdoms (Daniel 7:23) will have their "thrones" to be "cast down" in
judgment by "the Ancient of Days" (Daniel 7:9,22)
Three of these kingdoms existed sequentially in the past
(Daniel 2:37-39) and the fourth kingdom is yet future and will "subdue ALL"
just before Messiah's Kingdom (Daniel 2:40-44)
The three past kingdoms will reappear together with the
future fourth kingdom and they will ALL be crushed together by Messiah when He establishes His Everlasting Kingdom
(Daniel 2:34-35; Daniel 2:44-45) and so the four kingdoms seen by Daniel in chapter 7 must be the SAME
ones as seen by Nebuchadnezzar in chapter 2
The first beast was a "lion" with "eagle's
wings" which wings were plucked and which was made to stand upright as a man and which was given a man's heart
(Daniel 7:4)
Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, identified as the
head of the "gold" kingdom (Daniel 2:37-38), which will reappear as the "lion" kingdom of the future
(Daniel 7:4,17) and be destroyed together with the other kingdoms by Israel's Messiah
at His coming to establish His Everlasting Kingdom (Daniel 2:34-35,44-45)
However, the Lord abased Nebuchadnezzar by clipping the
wings of this high flying "eagle" in driving him from men to live as the beasts of the field (Daniel 4:29-33),
which resulted in his heart being changed from that of a ferocious "lion" to that of a man who has been
humbled (Daniel 4:34-35)
The second beast was a "bear" raised on its
one side with "three ribs" in its mouth telling it to "devour much flesh" (Daniel 7:5)
Darius, the Median, conquered Babylon (Daniel 5:30-31)
and was succeeded by Cyrus, the Persian (Daniel 6:28), and so the "three ribs" represent the kingdoms of Media
and Persia, which assimilated the kingdom of Babylon
Media-Persia is the "inferior" kingdom identified
as the "silver" kingdom which is to arise after Babylon (Daniel 2:39) and will reappear as the "bear" kingdom of the future (Daniel 7:5,17)
and be destroyed together with the other kingdoms by Israel's Messiah at His coming to establish His Everlasting
Kingdom (Daniel 2:34-35,44-45)
Media-Persia is also described as the "two-horned
ram" having a horn that came up first (Media) followed by the higher horn which came up last (Persia), and
so is analagous to the "bear" raised up on its one side (Daniel 8:3-4,20 cf. Daniel 7:5)
The third beast was a "leopard" with "four
wings" and "four heads" and is also described as the "goat" with a "notable horn"
(Alexander the Great) between his eyes (Daniel 8:5) and the "great horn" (Alexander the Great) was broken and
replaced by "four notable ones" (Daniel 8:8)
The "goat" which destroyed the "ram"
(Daniel 8:6-7) is identified as Greece which conquered Media-Persia (Daniel 8:20-21),
and so is the "third" kingdom of "brass" (Daniel 2:39) which "bear rule over all the earth" under Alexander the
Great (the "great horn" that was broken), and will reappear as the "leopard" kingdom of the
future (Daniel 7:6,17) and be destroyed together with the other kingdoms by Israel's Messiah
at His coming to establish His Everlasting Kingdom (Daniel 2:34-35,44-45)
The FourthBeast - "Dreadful and Terrible" (Daniel 7:7-8)
The fourth beast having "ten horns" is not described
by any particular animal figure (Daniel 7:7)
It is said to be "exceedingly ... dreadful and terrible"
having "iron teeth" that "devoured and brake in pieces" (Daniel 7:7), which ties in with the fourth "iron" kingdom that "breaketh
in pieces" (Daniel 2:40)
The residue (remainder) which was not broken by the "iron
teeth" is said to be "stamped ... with the feet of it" (Daniel 7:7)
The "ten horns" of this beast (Daniel 7:7)
correspond to the "ten toes" on the feet of the metallic image (Daniel 2:41-42)
This fourth beast in Daniel's vision (Daniel 7:7-8)
is not fully described, because Daniel is told that the words of his prophecy are "closed and sealed till
the time of the end" (Daniel 12:9)
However, this fourth beast is fully described by John
in his vision, because he was taken by the Spirit to the "Day of the Lord" and told to "seal NOT
the sayings" of his prophecy "for the time is at hand" (Revelation 22:10)
This fourth non-descript beast as seen by Daniel (Daniel 7:7-8)
is a composite of the first three beasts (six heads) plus the fourth beast (seventh head) as seen by John (Revelation 13:1-2):