Daniel's Dream - Daniel 7:1-14
INTRODUCTION:
This morning we are going to shift gears a bit, as I was studying Revelation 13 this week and seeing how much it relates to Daniel 7, I felt we needed to go back to Daniel and review chapter 7 before venturing into Revelation 13. So, this morning and Sunday, March 4th we will be in Daniel 7.
Daniel 1-6 is the historical section of Daniel. Beginning in Daniel 7 and going through the end of the book, Daniel 12, we have the eschatological section, or the section that teaches through prophecy future events. My prayer is that God will use our study both in Daniel 7 and through the rest of the book of Revelation to transform our lives as we wait for the Savior to return. Before turning to Daniel 7 let’s pray and ask God to teach us from His Holy Word.
--PRAY--
SCRIPTURE:
Turn in your Bibles to Daniel 7, this chapter as I said begins the prophetical portion of Daniel. This morning we will be looking at verses 1-14. Please stand if you are able in honor of the reading of God’s Word. Follow along as I read.
Daniel 7:1-14,
“In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel saw a dream and visions in his mind as he lay on his bed; then he wrote the dream down and related the following summary of it. Daniel said, ‘I was looking in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea. And four great beasts were coming up from the sea, different from one another. The first was like a lion and had the wings of an eagle. I kept looking until its wings were plucked, and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man; a human mind also was given to it. And behold, another beast, a second one, resembling a bear. And it was raised up on one side, and three ribs were in its mouth between its teeth; and thus they said to it, “Arise, devour much meat!” After this I kept looking, and behold, another one, like a leopard, which had on its back four wings of a bird; the beast also had four heads, and dominion was given to it. After this I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrifying and extremely strong; and it had large iron teeth. It devoured and crushed and trampled down the remainder with its feet; and it was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. While I was contemplating the horns, behold, another horn, a little one, came up among them, and three of the first horns were pulled out by the roots before it; and behold, this horn possessed eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth uttering great boasts. I kept looking Until thrones were set up, And the Ancient of Days took His seat; His vesture was like white snow And the hair of His head like pure wool. His throne was ablaze with flames, Its wheels were a burning fire. “A river of fire was flowing And coming out from before Him; Thousands upon thousands were attending Him, And myriads upon myriads were standing before Him; The court sat, And the books were opened. Then I kept looking because of the sound of the boastful words which the horn was speaking; I kept looking until the beast was slain, and its body was destroyed and given to the burning fire. As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away, but an extension of life was granted to them for an appointed period of time. I kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days And was presented before Him. And to Him was given dominion, Glory and a kingdom, That all the peoples, nations and men of every language Might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion Which will not pass away; And His kingdom is one Which will not be destroyed.” (Daniel 7:1–14, NASB95)[1]
THE FOUR BEASTS – THE TIME OF THE GENTILES (Daniel 1:1-8)
Daniel begins by relating to us the time period in which the dream came to him. It was the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon. Belshazzar reigned as a co-regent with his father while his father was in Arabia. If this is his first year of that co-regency, then it was about 553 B.C. and Daniel would have been in his late 60s. Chronologically, this chapter falls between chapters 4 and 5 after the death of Nebuchadnezzar, but before the fall of Babylon to the Medo-Persian Empire.
Daniel says that had a dream and visions as he lay in his bed. Daniel in his dream was looking and he saw the four winds of heaven stir up the great sea. If you remember back in Revelation 7 John had seen four angels standing at the four corners of the earth holding back the four winds of the earth. Is it possible in Daniel’s dream that he sees these winds released by the angels to stir up the great sea? The Old Testament uses this phrase “the great sea” as another name for the Mediterranean Sea and this fits the context because this dream focuses specifically on the Mediterranean world. This same phrase has also been used in Scripture as a description of the earth, or of mankind on the earth, maybe you have heard the phrase “sea of humanity.” This also fits this dream because later on in this chapter we will see that the beasts that we are about to see rise out of the sea and they are known as great “earthly kingdoms or realms.” So, both interpretations work well for Daniel 7 since the earthly kingdoms represented in this passage of Scripture did emerge from the lands surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. The common denominator in all this is domination over Israel.
Daniel goes on to describe the churning of the sea which caused four great beasts to rise out of it.
Daniel described the first beast as a lion that had the wings of an eagle. The lion is a symbol of power and strength, the eagle’s wings speak of swiftness. The lion is considered the king of the beasts and the eagle is for sure the king of all birds. As Daniel watched the wings of the eagle were plucked off the back of the lion and a transformation took place in which the lion was made to stand on his hind legs like a man and the mind of a man was given to the lion. On March 4th we will investigate the interpretation of this dream in the second half of Daniel 7 and we will learn what these symbols mean and who this lion represents, for those of you who like to dig and cannot wait for two weeks to find out what this means I will give you a hint, part of the answer can be found in Daniel 2.
Second, Daniel saw a second beast rise out of the sea and this beast resembles a bear. Not as majestic, or as swift, or as graceful as a lion, yet still known for its shear strength and ferociousness. The bear is apparently raised up on one side and Daniel could see that he had in his mouth between his vicious teeth three ribs and Daniel hears a command given to the bear beast to arise and devour much meat.
Third, Daniel saw in his vision another beast rise out of the sea and this beast resembles a leopard having four heads and four wings of a bird. Leopards can be fast, not as fast as a cheetah, but they can move up to 36 miles per hour. The two pairs of wings speak of added swiftness. Daniel tell us that this beast was given dominion.
The fourth beast that Daniel sees in his vision was so awful and terrifying that Daniel could not even come up with an animal that it resembled. Daniel said that it had teeth of iron and it was the most fearsome of the four because it crushed and destroyed everything in its path. Not only was it dreadful and terrifying, but unlike the other three, Daniel says this one possessed ten horns in the beginning. When we get into chapter 13 of Revelation in a few weeks we will see that John describes a similar beast, he writes in verses 1-2, “And the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore. Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten diadems, and on his heads were blasphemous names. And the beast which I saw was like a leopard, and his feet were like those of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority.” (Revelation 13:1–2, NASB95)[2] John’s description of this beast sounds like a combination of the beasts which came before this fourth one in Daniel’s vision. In a couple of weeks as we begin to look at the interpretation of Daniel’s dream we will see how this all fits together and it will make understanding Revelation 13 easier as well. Daniel goes on to say while he was thinking about the ten horns that this beast possessed, which definitely are a symbol of this beast’s authority and power, while he was thinking about them another horn, a little one, grew up among the other ten and it caused three horns of the ten to be uprooted to make room for itself. This little horn was different from the ten previous horns, this little horn Daniel says that it had eyes like the eyes of a man which tells us that this horn was intelligent. Daniel also says it had a mouth which spoke great boasts about itself. In other words, this horn was very proud. This little horn shows up again and again in the rest of the book of Daniel. In this first part of Daniel’s vision God laid out for Daniel the “times of the Gentiles.
THE ANCIENT OF DAYS – THE JUDGMENT OF UNBELIEVERS (Daniel 7:9-12)
As Daniel continues to look a new vision was given to him in which thrones were being set up. Once the thrones were set up Daniel tells us that the “Ancient of Days” took His seat. This person that Daniel describes as the Ancient of Days is the Sovereign God of the Universe, the God who controls heaven and earth and raises up kings and disposes of kings. This is the God who raised up Nebuchadnezzar and then humbled him, this is the God who rescued three Hebrew young men through the flames of a blazing furnace, this is the God who wrote on the wall of the palace of a rebellious, prideful king. This is the God who rescued His aged servant from the jaws of hungry lions.
This is the God of heaven and earth, this is God the Father the first person of the Trinity and He is seated on His judgment throne. We have already seen God on His judgment throne in Revelation. Daniel in this vision has been transported to the end of the age and is about to see the judgment of Gentile rulers who ruled during the “times of the Gentiles.”
This term “Ancient of Days” does not describe an old man, but rather is a description of the eternalness of the One who sits on the throne. Daniel records for us what he sees: the clothes of the Ancient of Days were like white new-fallen snow. Daniel described His hair as like pure wool, again pure white. This does not speak of age, but rather of purity, of the holiness and righteousness of God. Daniel goes on to say His throne was burning with flames and the wheels of the throne were like burning fire. Daniel says that a river of fire is flowing out from before God, this river of fire represents God’s judgment, His justice.
Daniel like John in Revelation speaks of the immense number of angels attending Him, like John he describes an innumerable host of thousands of thousands and myriads of myriads. This is an awesome scene that Daniel is witnessing. Daniel records that the court sat, and the books were opened. When John describes this scene in Revelation 20 the opening of the books is to judge each one according to his deeds, this is the judgment of the unsaved.
The little horn that Daniel had seen grow up on the fourth beast was brought before the Judge of all the earth and his boastful words continued and judgment was pronounced on the fourth beast and he was slain, and his body was destroyed and given to the burning fire. We read that he was destroyed immediately and forever, the other three beasts which the fourth beast had trampled and consumed were stripped of their authority, but they were granted an extension of life for a period. As we will see when we come back to this chapter in March that the first three beasts were all conquered by the by the fourth beast, but they were not utterly destroyed, the fourth beast assimilated the prior beasts into his kingdom and they continued, but at the judgment the fourth beast was destroyed completely.
THE SON OF MAN – THE KINGDOM OF GOD (Daniel 7:13-14)
Daniel’s third vision of the night was the most exciting part of his dream for him and for us. Daniel said that he continued looking in his night visions and he saw coming with the clouds of heaven One like the Son of Man. This title “Son of Man” is a title of the Messiah. Listen to the words of Jesus in Matthew 16:13-17, “Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, ‘Who do people say that the Son of Man is?’ And they said, ‘Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.’ He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.’” (Matthew 16:13–17, NASB95)[3] Jesus used this title of Himself, thus claiming to be the Messiah, the Son of God. Later on Jesus told His disciples, “And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory.” (Matthew 24:30, NASB95)[4] Jesus Christ is the Son of Man described in the book of Daniel and Daniel watched as the incarnate God, the Son of God was presented to God the Father and the Father gave to Him the authority, the glory, and the kingdom of the entire earth. The Father gave to Him the peoples, nations, and men of every language to be His subjects and serve Him. This kingdom, this dominion will last forever and ever and will never pass away and neither is it one that can be destroyed or overthrown like the kingdoms of the Gentiles. This was exciting to Daniel because He would see His nation restored under the Son of Man; this is exciting to us because we as the church are the bride of Christ. We are the bride of the One who will reign on the earth for all time. We have a glorious and exciting future ahead of us.
CONCLUSION:
This morning we have looked at Daniel’s vision of the “times of the Gentiles.” Daniel’s vision covers a lot of history, when we go back to Revelation 13 in a few weeks you will see how this chapter ties into that chapter. This chapter in Daniel covers a large piece of history, what we will look at in Revelation 13 will just be the end of that history.
Why is this information important for us? First, it shows that God knows the future because much of what we looked at today has been fulfilled, so we can know that the rest of it will be fulfilled. It is also important for us to be ready for the next part of God’s plan for mankind, so that we can recognize the signs of the time, so that we can see the urgency of reaching out to the world around us with the Good News of salvation in Jesus Christ.
Maybe you are here this morning and you do not have a relationship with Jesus Christ, maybe you have even attended church your whole life but never took the step of surrendering your life to Christ in faith, if this is true then this is important information for you too. We are living in the end times, the day of judgment that Daniel saw in his vision is coming. Are you ready? Salvation, the forgiveness of sin, the promise of eternal life, the escape from God’s wrath and justice can only be found in the Lord Jesus Christ. Time is running out, today is the day of salvation. If you have never experienced God’s forgiveness through Jesus Christ you can do so today, you can do it in the quietness of your own heart. Confess to God that you are a sinner and you deserve His judgment for your sin, but you want His free gift of forgiveness in Jesus Christ. Believe in your heart that Jesus death was the only possible payment for your sin, that He died on your behalf and that He was buried and three days later rose from the dead as proof that He had conquered sin, Satan, and death. If you did this for the first time this morning would you please tell me, I would love to rejoice with you in your new-found relationship with Jesus Christ.
The final kingdom to come to this earth will be the eternal one; one that begins on this earth and continues in the new heavens and the new earth. Before that happens, we must be ready for the next great event in the history of the world, the return of the Lord Jesus Christ to the clouds to take His bride, the church, to His Father’s house safe and out of harm’s way when God’s wrath is poured out on the earth. Let’s be ready to welcome our Savior, our Bridegroom, when He comes for us.
[1]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[2]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[3]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[4]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995