Daniel's vision.
The Book of Daniel is not for the faint of heart, especially when it comes to Chapter 7. This chapter occurs before Daniel is cast into the lion's den in Chapter 6, and before the 70 Week Prophecy given to Daniel by Gabriel in Chapter 9.
In Chapter 7, Daniel sees the same beast described in The Book of Revelation. As we will see, most scholars believe the beast seen by the apostle John in Revelation is the antichrist Daniel sees in his vision of the 4th beast in Daniel Chapter 7.
It's interesting that John sees the beast of Revelation as having similar characteristics as the beast Daniel saw, only in reverse order. Daniel Chapter 7 was written around 553 BC and the Book of Revelation was written sometime around 95 AD. The order in which John saw the characteristics of this beast is explained by the fact that Daniel is looking forward in time and John is looking back.
The 4 beasts.
In Chapter 7 Daniel see 4 beasts in his vision. He devotes 1 verse to each of the first 3 beasts, and 21 verses to the 4th beast. Even though there is no agreement by Biblical scholars on every point I will cover, I think it's safe to say, the 4th beast is where our focus should be. (The verse by Jeremiah found in the footer of this page is a great prayer if you want to seek additional revelation about any book or passage in the Bible.)
Unlike the first part of the book, where Daniel is interpreting the dreams of kings, here Daniel has a dream or vision that is interpreted by an angel. The 4 beasts that Daniel sees corresponds to the statue King Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream in Chapter 2.
King Nebuchadnezzar saw a statue representing future world empires that consisted of a head of gold, shoulders of silver, hips of brass or bronze, legs of iron, and toes of iron mixed with clay. Daniel sees a much more gruesome representation of mankind in his vision. He sees the future world kingdoms represented by a lion, a bear, a leopard, and a 4th beast which gave him great concern.
In the following verse, many scholars say that Daniel saw a future Roman Empire that was "different" from the first 3 world empires because Rome was gradually defeated from within, rather than being conquered by another empire. Daniel 9:19 Then I wished to know the truth about the fourth beast, which was different from all the others, exceedingly dreadful, with its teeth of iron and its nails of bronze, which devoured, broke in pieces, and trampled the residue with its feet.
Because the 4th beast worried Daniel it is very possible that he is unknowingly seeing a dual prophecy., both of which were future to him. Daniel 9:20 and the ten horns that were on its head, and the other horn which came up, before which three fell, namely, that horn which had eyes and a mouth which spoke pompous words, whose appearance was greater than his fellows. 21 I was watching; and the same horn was making war against the saints, and prevailing against them.
In this verse Daniel sees a total of 11 horns, with one representing the antichrist and the other 10 representing a future 10 nation federation that will be ruled by the antichrist. The 11th horn is also referred to as the "little horn" in Daniel 7:8.
Some scholars point out that many times prophets saw multiple prophecies at the same time without realizing they were seeing more than one prophecy. It would be like if you or I were driving toward a mountain range from afar. Initially, we would see the outline of the range, but as we got closer we would start to see some separation between the ranges that were lower in height from the taller mountains behind it. When we first started the journey we saw multiple mountain ranges, but they appeared as just 1 from a distance.
The antichrist will be defeated.
Many scholars say that before the antichrist is revealed that Christ must return in the clouds and remove His Church from the world. This is known as The Rapture. In the end, the 4th beast (the antichrist) is defeated.
It's also important to note that in the visions that Daniel had, he did not see the Church Age. This gap between the 69th and 70th week in the prophecy given to Daniel by Gabriel in Chapter 9, is also known as The Age of the Gentiles.
The prophecies contained in the Book of Daniel run deep. They require a commitment to study them with a purpose. Do not take my word for everything I have written. Ask your questions, and be diligent about finding the answers to them.
For every fear, there is an empty grave. Elevation Worship.
