Tuesday 19 April 2016

Daniel 7 Commentary : Vision of The Four Beasts

Every builder knows the importance of a foundation when constructing a house. A firm foundation will go a long way in ensuring the durability of a house. 

When it comes to bible prophecy there is no better foundation for understanding prophecy than Daniel chapter 7. In it you will find what God has in store for the nations. He still rules and and is in control of the destiny of nations.

In Daniel chapter 7, Daniel is given a vision that helps us understand the course of nations leading to the everlasting kingdom of God. 

Before we go on we need to understand that the prophecies of Daniel are not arranged in a way that fits our modern understanding of presenting things.

With this in mind it is important to know that chronologically Daniel chapter 7 takes place between chapters 4 and 5. If you remember what we have discussed previously, Daniel chapter 5 Belshazzar marks the final year of Belshazzar's rule and the kingdom of Babylon gave way to the Persian kingdom.To be precise Belshazzar's final year is 539 B.C. The vision of Daniel chapter 7 in fact takes place in the first year of Belshazzar's rule, 553 B.C. 

In this chapter we see one of the most dramatic scenes in bible prophecy. Four beasts are seen rising out of the turbulent waters of the great sea.

However as you read this prophecy you will notice that Daniel's attention is focused on the fourth beast which was different from the rest and its meaning.

In the vision Daniel also sees  events taking place in heaven. He sees the "Ancient of Days" and alsos the son of man who has been tasked with taking over the earthly kingdoms symbolised by the four beasts.

It is important to note that the prophecies of Daniel complement each other in that the succeeding visions shed more light on the preceding prophecies. For instance in Daniel 2 we have Nebuchadnezzar's dream where he dreams of a huge image made up of a head of gold, arms and chest of silver, thighs of bronze, legs of iron and feet of clay and iron. Then at the end of this prophecy we see a stone made without hands smashing the image at its feet. The stone then grows and covers the whole earth.

Daniel's interpretation is that each of the segments of the image are representing earthly kingdoms that succeed each other starting with the head of head representing Nebuchadnezzar. The stone is said to represent the kingdom of God that will crush men's kingdoms and establish God's kingdom on earth.

Daniel 2 is then complemented by Daniel 7 in which instead of an image we have earthly kingdoms represented by 4 beasts: a lion, bear, leopard and a horrific beast with iron teeth and bronze claws.At the very end of this prophecy we see the son of man destroying the final kingdom of the fourth beast. This fourth beast therefore corresponds with the iron feet

Here in seven, we see the division of kingdoms represented by 4 beasts; a lion, bear, leopard and a horrific beast with iron teeth and bronze claws.  The culmination of history ends when a son of man destroys this final kingdom pictured as the fourth beast.  This fourth beast corresponds with the Iron and clay feet “Kingdom"in Daniel chapter 2.

Below is a video bible study on Daniel 7.