Daniel Chapter 7
The Gentile Kingdoms
- One of the most, if not the most detailed and exhaustive set of prophecies in the entire Old Testament
- Chapters 2-7 written in Aramaic (focus is on Gentile world)
- Chapters 1-6 are mostly historical
- Chapters 7-12 are prophetic visions
- Chapter 1: Daniel deported as a teenager, tribe of Judah, in royal line
- Chapter 2: Nebuchadnezzar's dream
- Chapter 3: Fiery Furnace (Daniel not even mentioned)
- Chapter 4: Nebuchadnezzar's second dream, Nebuchadnezzar's pride revealed, humility given as a lesson on it, and it was written by Nebuchadnezzar himself
- Chapter 5: Fall of Babylon, key part of world history and prophetic biblical history
- Chapter 6: Daniel in lion's den
- 7-8 occur between chapters 4-5, not in chronological order
- Chapter 7-The Times of the Gentiles
- Chapter 8-The Ram and the He-Goat
- Chapter 9-The Messianic prophecy, the Seventy Weeks
- Chapter 10-A Glimpse of the Dark Side
- Chapter 11- Intertestimal, period, the "400 silent years"
- Chapter 12-The End of all things
- ALL BOOKS ARE NOT IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER
THIS IS THE ORDER HISTORICALLY
- Chapter 1- 606 B.C.
- Chapter 2-602 B.C.
- Chapter 3-The Image of Nebuchadnezzar
- Chapter 4-The Pride of Nebuchadnezzar
- Chapter 7- The Times of the Gentiles, between chapters 5-6, in 556 B.C.
- Chapter 8-The Ram and the He-Goat, between chapters 5-6, in 554 B.C.
- Chapter 5-Babylon Fall to the Persians-539 B.C.
- Chapter 6- Daniel in The Lion's Den
- Chapter 9-The Seventy Weeks-538 B.C.
- Chapter 10-12 Visions and Prophecies to The End of The World
- So the Order is 1,2,3,4,7,8,5,6,9,10,11,12, chronologically
2188-5702 B.C. to 1525 B.C. The Egyptians did not keep certain records, like having nothing on the Israelites, no mentions of defeats, etc.
Assyrian Empire- 1369 B.C.-609 B.C.
Babylonian Empire-608 to 539 B.C. conquered by
Medo-Persian Empire-539 to 332 B.C. conquered by
Greek Empire-332 B.C. to 68 B.C.
First Roman Empire- 68 B.C-200-300-400-500 A.D.? Crumbles slowly
Second Roman Empire-being revived now.
Daniel Chapter 7
(Luke 21:24)And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.
- Jesus came in the fullness of time
- NEBUCHADNEZZAR IS DEAD 9 years now
- This entire chapter, with chapter 8, is parallel to Revelation chapter 13, et al
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.
- Nebuchadnezzar had dreams, Belshazzar saw the handwriting on the wall, now Daniel gets the dreams and visions
- Nabonidus was NOT king; he was absent, silencing the skeptics
Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea.
- The sea in this case may be symbolic of the world and the people in it, a mass of humanity
- It can mean the Mediterranean Sea ("The Great Sea" as it was called)
, where all of this happens, these kingdoms - It can be both. The mass of people lived next to and around the Mediterranean
- This is the first time that Daniel saw it personally himself
And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another.
- Four kingdoms, all different, like Nebuchadnezzar's dream
- All four kingdoms are around the Mediterranean
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.
- Winged lions with man's head on ancient gates of Babylon?
- Jeremiah 4, 48 Ezekiel
- This could be Nebuchadnezzar getting a heart of flesh from stone
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.
- Bears are strong, just not as royal as a lion, not as regal
- This is not Russia, now considered "a bear"
- 2.5 million man army for the Persians with Artexerxes, Cyrus, etc.
- They were slow and powerful and deliberate
- Conquered Babylon, Egypt, Lydia (Isaiah 13), mostly without a battle, through showing up-the three ribs
- Medo-Persian empire becomes Persian fast, Cyrus's mother was a Mede; his father Persian
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.
- Fast moving, like Alexander the Great conquering everything to India before age 29!
- The lion had two wings, but the leopard has four, meaning much, much faster conquest
- Leopards-crafty, cunning; very, very powerful (able to lift more than their own weight up a tree),
heightened senses, hard to hunt - Dominion is given.........by God in His Sovereignty
- Four top generals divide up his kingdom
- Alexander was asked before he died, "To whom do you will your kingdom?” His answer was, “Give it to the strong.” His four top, great generals... Ptolemy, Seleucus, Cassandar and Lysimachus – took it over, just as it was foretold in Scripture here.
- His army invented the use of caltrops to defeat chariots, ruining the horse's feet.
Caltrops
CALTROP, n. 1. A kind of thistle, the Latin tribulus, with a roundish prickly pericarp; on one side, gibbous, often armed with three or four daggers; on the other side, angular, converging with transverse cells. It grows in France, Italy and Spain, among corn, and is very troublesome, as the prickles run into the feet of cattle. 2. In military affairs, an instrument with four iron points, disposed in a triangular form, so that three of them being on the ground, the other points upward. These are scattered on the ground where an enemys cavalry are to pass, to impede their progress by endangering the horses feet.
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.
- First three beasts Daniel does not question; he understands them
- This one is a puzzle to him
- No real animal/beast by name that he can use to describe it-it is JUST A BEAST.................
- When people conquered other nations, they used the best people (Jews) there, honored them
- It devoured and brake in pieces. The Romans simply destroyed and controlled-this was their pride
- This is in contrast to the former practice of captivity and usage of the elite, as stated above
- To enlist in the Roman army was a 25 year stint and in the end Rome gave the soldiers back a piece of conquered land and citizenship as a retirement package
- When they came, you were dead-tomorrow, or over time (seige, starvation, etc.)
ROMAN CITIZENSHIP
(Acts 21:37-39)And as Paul was to be led into the castle, he said unto the chief captain, May I speak unto thee? Who said, Canst thou speak Greek? Art not thou that Egyptian, which before these days madest an uproar, and leddest out into the wilderness four thousand men that were murderers? But Paul said, I am a man which am a Jew of Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city: and, I beseech thee, suffer me to speak unto the people.
(Acts 23:27)
This man was taken of the Jews, and should have been killed of them: then came I with an army, and rescued him, having understood that he was a Roman.
(Acts 22:25-29)
And as they bound him with thongs, Paul said unto the centurion that stood by, Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman, and uncondemned? When the centurion heard that, he went and told the chief captain, saying, Take heed what thou doest: for this man is a Roman. Then the chief captain came, and said unto him, Tell me, art thou a Roman? He said, Yea.And the chief captain answered, With a great sum obtained I this freedom. And Paul said, But I was free born. Then straightway they departed from him which should have examined him: and the chief captain also was afraid, after he knew that he was a Roman, and because he had bound him.
(Daniel 7:8)
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.
- This is eleven horns total
- Horns in ancient and Biblical culture symbolized authority and power
- Eyes, mouth, a person
- This last horn is the last worldly leader of the last earthly empire/kingdom, the anti-Christ
- This is the anti-Christ of Revelation 13:
THE FOURTH BEAST
(Revelation 13:5-7)And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
(Daniel 7:9)
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.
- The Reign of Christ, as thrones (plural) are all tossed aside
- Same basic description as in Revelation
- Fire=judgment, and it is associated with the Throne throughout Scripture
- Hair white like wool
- These are not mentioned in detail in the Old Testament
And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
(Revelation 4:4)
And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold.
(Revelation 20:4)
And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
(Matthew 13:34-35)
All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them: That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.
(Ephesians 3:5)
Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;
(Ephesians 3:9)
And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:
THE FIRE OF GOD AND HIS THRONE
(Exodus 3:2)
And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.
(Exodus 13:21)
And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night:
(Exodus 19:18)
And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.
(Psalms 50:3)
Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him.
(Psalms 104:4)
Who maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire:
(Daniel 7:10)
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.
- He is seeing Judgment Day
And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
(Daniel 7:11-12)
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. As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time.
- Kingdoms one to three conquered, but were around for a time
- Kingdom 4 not conquered at all, breaks up, then judged by God
- Fourth beast, by Divine Judgment- Joel, Matthew 25, Revelation 1
And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.
(Revelation 20:10)
And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
(Daniel 7:13)
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.
- Jesus Christ, Son of Man
- It is how He left earth
- It is written in the Gospels, throughout the prophets and New Testament writers and spoken personally by Jesus Himself
Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
(Matthew 24:30)
And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
(Matthew 26:64)
Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.
(Mark 13:26)
And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.
(Mark 14:62)
And Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.
(Revelation 1:7)
Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.
(Daniel 7:14)
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.
- This is comforting news for us, as this kingdom is eternal, and righteous
And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.
(Daniel 7:15)
I Daniel was grieved in my spirit in the midst of my body, and the visions of my head troubled me.
- Over all, this is a very big dream, filled with death, destruction, tribulation, conquests, defeats, persecutions, martyrdoms of saints, "devouring of flesh" (v.5)
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.
- Even without the interpretation, the vision itself has to have been frightening
These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth.
- Knowing the interpretation makes it perhaps even more frightening, as it is people involved
But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever.
- We get the victory, no matter what happens in this life.
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;
- The Roman Empire was brutal in every way and seemingly unstoppable, making this description quite accurate
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.
- This person with a mouth and eyes is the anti-Christ
I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them;
- This cannot be the Church, since it will not be defeated
- This must be Tribulation saints who believe after the Rapture
And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
(Daniel 7:22)
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.
- This is Jesus Christ, no doubt.
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.
- None of the other kingdoms were worldwide; none could be- the empires all centered around Jerusalem, north, south, east, west.
- This will be the first and last of the worldwide ones, not "worldwide" from man's perspective
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.
- Currently the number goes up and down, and will eventually settle on ten
and other countries." -http://europa.eu/ (Daniel 7:25)
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.
- Change the week from seven days?
- Will speak blasphemies against the God of Heaven
- The saints are tribulation saints. They must be
- This cannot be the Church, since we cannot be worn out:
And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
(Daniel 7:26)
But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end.
- This is a temporary kingdom
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.
- The Last King, the Last Kingdom, the Last Reign, the Last Rule, The Last Dominion, when we are there, it is given to us.
- This has to be the encouragement of our lives.
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.
- This bothered Daniel because of the visions of the tribulation
- We will watch from Heaven in glorified bodies with feelings and emotions which are renewed and perfect, holy.
- He was in the flesh on earth, with the same feelings and emotions tainted by sin and the curse
Daniel Chapter 8
