The Daniel 7 Beasts

Crash courses count in this poll.

I'll go ahead and put my opinion up there, and at some point I'll explain myself a little better.

Blow by blow



"1 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."

It MAY be a clue that this happens in the first year of Belshazzar. In my personal Bible study, I have seen parallels that lead me to consider Belshazzar to be a particular type of the end-time Anti-Christ. The conquering of Babylon by the Medes at the end of his reign, to me, represents several 70th Week predictions, including the sudden "outside the box destruction", the drying up (diverting) of the Euphrates to allow the enemies in, and the blasphemy of the defiling of the Israelite temple instruments. The phrase "Mene Mene Tekel Upharsin" is said to be a thinly veiled play on words that sounds very similar to the Hebrew for Times (mene mene) a time (tekel) and half a time (upharsin). I'd have to find my old sources on this. IF THESE THINGS are so, then the fact it is Belshazzar's first year when Daniel dreams this dream, could indicate the passage has a relevance both to his own times, and to the 70th Week. These parallels and multiple applications are quite common to Bible prophecy.

2 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 # 4 is very significant in the Bible. It has to do with the earth. The four winds represent 4 cardinal directions. The great sea represents the multitudes of the Gentiles. The fact that the four winds are mentioned, to me is very important. This suggests that the 4 beasts we're about to see, may very well come each from a different cardinal direction. At least that's a distinct possibility. The fact that the 4 winds strive together suggests to me that the entities striving (4 beast kingdoms) are actually all present at the same time, not consecutively. Though they do evidently arrive on the scene consecutively.

3 And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another.

There is nothing in these 8 verses that categorically states that each beast destroys the one before it. The picture I have, is that these four beasts arrive one after the other, from the four directions of the earth, until all four are assembled. That these beasts are different from each other should indicate a distinct difference of philosophy, history, culture, strategy, character, and purpose for each beast-nation.


4 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.

The standard Baptist view of this verse is that the Lion-beast is Babylon, as indicated by the winged lion gods depicted on the Ishtar Gate and elsewhere. They say that wing-plucking incident refers back to Nebuchadnezzar's humbling, when he was caused to roam the earth with the heart of a beast for 7 years. While I don't reject this as an application (a man's heart was given to it), I have some issues with this, which also have been brought about by others. A. there's significant evidence that the winged-lion god was not endemic to Babylon, but was a prominent god of Assyria, which was accumulated into the Babylonian pantheon when they captured Assyria. As such, why use a second-or third-tier obscure idol to symbolize a nation? B. There is no direct evidence in this passage that the lion beast is actually dangerous or evil (to Israel, or anyone else in particular). Babylon was very aggressively destructive to Israel-- if the lion represents Babylon, why is there no reference to its ferocity, or its significant conquests, etc.? I submit to you the suggestion that the lion beast represents a powerful but non-aggressive nation or group of nations at the end times. Considering the end times truly began around the time of the Balfour declaration, and are ongoing until now, I suggest that the lion coming first suggests that the lion was the first of these beasts to be dominant over the earth in the end times. This would put it as the United Kingdom and its allies. Keep in mind the Gog passage of Ezekiel 38 and 39, where we have reference to Tarshish and its young lions. Tarshish meaning, Spain, England, etc. England especially uses a lion as their symbol. In the 20th-21st century world, England represents the leader of the western allies, whether in WWI, or WWII. This role was increasingly passed off to its young lion, the United States, whose symbol is the eagle. (The lion beast had eagle's wings). The wings of the eagle are very significant, for it was the United States who first gave the world flight by aircraft, and to this very day, the United States Air Force is conclusively the most powerful in the world. --For now. Interestingly, Germany's symbol is also the eagle. Germany's air force wings-- the mighty Luftwaffe-- were certainly ripped off at the end of WWI and WWII. England's Royal Air Force, once the second- or third-largest in the world, and one of only two to mount mighty strategic bomber forces in WWII-- is now in shambles, with only a few hundred fighters compared to the thousands it once had. The RAF would be hard put to defend England from an attack from Sweden, let alone a serious enemy like Russia today. On June 2 of 2016, both a Blue Angels and a Thunderbirds jet fighter crashed on the same day. The two aerobatic display teams represent the epitome of the Air Force and Navy aviation. Both aircraft were number 6. The one crashed at Smyrna TN (prophetic name). The other crashed at the Air Force Academy grad ceremony, with President Obama present. The same week, 9 Army soldiers were drowned in a flooded river at Ft. Hood. Also, Green berets on a training mission in Colorado were forced to be rescued from a mountaintop after contracting hypothermia. About that time, an antique Consolidated PBY Catalina navy aircraft was lost and destroyed in Florida, and a P-47 Thunderbolt fighter was also lost, representing symbolic losses for Navy and Air Force also. These I believe are harbingers of things to come-- Britain, Germany, and all of western Europe have been weakened, especially in their air power, and the US is in trouble. The wings are being plucked. Meanwhile, two important things occurred-- Brexit in England could be called England coming to its senses, standing up on its own two feet like a man, and having a man's heart put into it. Also in the US, Trump was elected, which could be considered a similar thing occurring in the US.

5 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.

This year is the 100th anniversary of Russia's communist revolution. Russia has always (in recent memory) been referred to as a bear. Persia, on the other hand, has never been called a bear. Strangely, Persia's national animal today is the lion. How confusing. . . .

I have a hard time equating Persia to the bear beast in any significant way. Many things have been said to make the bear seem like Persia, but while it could be a secondary meaning for the verse, I really don't see it as the primary meaning. Notice this is a truly fearsome beast: "they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh." While the medo-persian empire did a good bit of conquering, as far as ancient empires are concerned, they were not a truly fierce and blood-thirsty nation. Their kings and people valued the finer things in life, and their army commanders were known far more for their cunning and skill rather than fierce raging hate. This is demonstrated in their sacking of Babylon-- they used shrewd scientific tactics to divert the river and breach the city unawares, rather than taking it by an all-out assault. It is clear they did not massacre all the people in the city, as some might have done, but made them their conquered vassals. In contrast with Babylon, Babylon was the fierce and vicious one, and Persia was the restrained and strategic one.

So how about Russia? well what about that being raised up on one side thing? Very interesting. If you look at a map of eurasia, you find that Russia's population is concentrated in its western end (the Europe end of Russia). Everything in this incredibly long country is concentrated to the west-- culturally, administratively, population-wise, financially, and military-strategically. Russia considers its neighbors on its west end to be far more dangerous than its neighbors on its east end (Japan, China, and the Koreas). Specifically, Russia considers NATO to be its key enemy. How about the three ribs in its mouth? Well, in WWII when Russia and Germany divided Poland, Russia took that opportunity to also sneak in and annex the three independent Baltic nations of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, three neat little countries stacked up like ribs near Russia's west end. A very tempting morsel for the great bear-- try this at home-- dangle three ribs with meat on them in front of your pet bear's nose, and see whether he grabs them or not. LOL. Guess what. Today, Putin and Russia are salivating over those three ribs again. Which are right adjacent to its "raised up side." The picture I see in this verse is, that AFTER the bear already has the three ribs firmly in its mouth, someone tells it to arise, devour much flesh. This event could well be the hook in the jaws of Gog that draws Russia into the Ezekiel 38 invasion.

6 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.

The leopard passage has been used to represent Alexander's empire. As a secondary meaning, I suppose this is justified. The four heads, four wings, etc. However, the leopard is not a normal symbol of Greece or Macedonia. With Macedonia, we are back to the lion (Again). Greece seems to be depicted by things like goats and dolphins. The beast has four heads, which is thought to represent the four divisions the Macedonian empire was split into after Alexander's death. This is a problem. Why does the leopard arrive on the scene with four heads? Alexander was a very individualistic leader. I submit to you, the leopard beast is a coalition of four significant nations. Now here is where it gets real fun. You can't think off the top of your head, of any nations with a leopard as their national animal, or known for it? Well there are a few, scattered throughout Africa and Asia. Point well taken-- the leopard is a very widely-ranging animal, with many species that range from China to South Africa. BUT BUT BUT. Wait. There's more. Did it occur to you that there are some animals not found in the Bible? Well there are. At least in the King James. Good luck doing a word search for elephant, giraffe, walrus, rhinoceros, or tiger. Did somebody say tiger? Oh. . .. . . Guess what. The English words leopard and tiger are exactly the same in Hebrew-- נָמֵר "namehr." This could change everything. Maybe now we're talking about a coalition of four major nations from a part of the world where leopards and tigers are found in abundance. Tigers and leopards are well-known throughout most of Asia. Therefore how surprising would it be for there to be four nations, possibly led by China, including India? Might I mention that Revelation has something to say about the Kings of the East. The leopard beast is the third to arrive. This would make sense, since-- though China and North Korea are both flexing their muscles right now, they are behind Russia and the Western Allies in their military preparation, especially where it comes to global deployment. Yet they are not to be ignored-- they represent nearly half the world's population if you include some of the lesser nations nearby, and that is nothing to sneeze at.

7 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.

This is said to be Rome-- but here is another problem with the concept of this merely being a retelling of Daniel 2. Here we have 4 beasts, but in Daniel 2, there were 5 distinct entities-- the fifth was iron and clay mixed together. If this fiercest of all beasts were based on a European system, they are nowhere near ready to fulfil this prophecy. The people of Europe are war-weary peaceniks today who have no stomach for a prolonged conflict or a huge shedding of blood. They want to live a secular, peaceful life. They are singularly disinterested in war, making them much more like the lion beast, than the dreadful beast. There is little strength in Europe today, and little unity for military action. No outgoing leadership from Rome, the Hague, Paris, or Berlin can seem to gin up any support in Europe for any decisive military or police action. No desire for blood and war. Not in Rome, not anywhere among the European people. The only place you see a massive appetite for war today, and a thirst for blood, is among the moslem peoples. And certainly not all of them. The moslems may have many fierce fundamentalists among them, but they are disjointed and disunified among themselves. However, all it will take is for someone to come along to become their 12th Imam-- their idea of a Messiah or righteous one-- and it could possibly join all the remaining moslem people into one united front against Israel and any and all other enemies. Indeed at this time, it is only moslems who go about violently destroying all their opposition, and intentionally destroying all in their wake. I suggest to you-- if this all goes down now, with the rapture this fall as many anticipate-- the moslem hoards, united, are the most likely embodiment of the fourth beast. Satan's intense leadership on earth can bring all this to pass.

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.

And here is your antichrist. Evidently there will be ten major moslem nations that unite, and this guy comes up to the forefront as a result of a war in which three of the ten are eliminated. He seems not to be one of the original ten, but one whose advancement comes from his role in the destruction of three of the ten. With his leadership, he unites the moslems of the nations of the first three beasts (and believe me, there are moslems in those nations and coalitions) and makes a power grab for all the available portions of the world, and especially Israel, the heart of it all.

I could be wrong. I could be way off. But with all the info I have available, this is the scenario that makes the most sense to me. Especially if this process has to begin soon, and in fact has already begun.

Whew-- I'm glad you see it too, Gary, that's evidence I'm not daft. Would love to hear your or anybody else's thoughts about this passage. I'm sure I got something wrong.

It's possible, I suppose! What I'm finding is that the exact meaning of symbolic prophesies like these is rarely able to be exactly determined until it becomes history rather than prophecy, so your guesses are potentially valid as well as mine!

The Daniel 2 prophecy is easier to nail down because Daniel explains it a lot better than the chapter 7 prophecy, in my opinion.

One of the best ways to study how prophecy works is to study prophecy that has already been fulfilled, especially that which we find in the Old Testament that has already been fulfilled, especially at Christ's first coming and ministry, death, and resurrection. Studying the Gospels especially shows how the OT prophecies have come to pass. When you read the New Testament, look up the OT passages everywhere it says something like "that the scripture might be fulfilled." See what the OT passage actually says, and how it is worded, and you will see how it plays out in the NT.

And one big thing we must never miss-- the Scriptures are spiritually discerned. To discern them, we must be people of God who are in Christ and in tune with the Holy Spirit that is within us.

While studying the mysterious x-ray emmissions from a distant galaxy in Fornax, I came across the Chinese understanding of 4 beasts, and thought I would share it.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Symbols_(China)

The four beasts are a white tiger, a vermillion bird, a blue dragon, and a black turtle. Each represents a direction of the compass. The white tiger is "the guardian of the west." Hmmmmmmmm