Daniel 7:1-28: "The Four Beasts: Kingdoms Come and Kingdoms Go"

Welcome back to our Wednesday evening Bible Study through Daniel! We are finally together again after the summer break!

Before the events of Daniel took place there was one name that would set fear into the heart of people for generations. It was the empire of Assyria.

The Assyrian empire w
as known for its cruelty. Assyrian palaces were lined with drawings of cities burned to the ground, enemy rulers skinned alive, captives impaled on stakes, and bodies piled outside city gates. It wasn’t necessarily brutal extremists who were cruel from Assyria, but it was mandate
d from Assyria’s rulers and law. They defeated kingdoms and ruled through fear and brutality.

But their terror is nothing when compared with who we learn about in Daniel 7.

But before we get into our story, let's review what we've covered in our spring series of Daniel. A few months ago we covered the first 6 chapters and we started off with Pastor Tony talking about the overview of the book. He also talked about some of the false theories that surround Daniel. He talked about how some scholars believe that Daniel was written during the Maccabean revolt that takes place in the intertestamental section of your Bible, and not during King Nebuchadnezzar through King Cyrus's reign. But he also shared how those beliefs are false and don’t align with Scripture.

Then we covered Chapters one through six. And these were the historical accounts of Daniel. Andrew Hall preached through Chapter one’s account of Daniel and his friends refusing to compromise and eat of the king’s meat. And God rewarding their perseverance to not give up their convictions. Daniel Armstrong preached through chapter two’s account where King Nebuchadnezzar had a terrible dream, and his wise men could not tell the king his dream or the interpretation, so the king was going to have them all killed. Then Daniel appeared before him and with God’s power he told the king his dream of a statue made of different materials that would be destroyed by a stone hitting the feet of the statue. And he spoke of how the statue translated to world kingdoms that would dominate the earth until verse 44. And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever…

Mitch Palermo walked us through Chapter 3. Where Nebuchadnezzar made his dream a reality by making a golden statue for everyone to worship. He made the entire statue gold and not just the head signifying his desire that his empire rule forever. But Daniel’s 3 friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to bow down and break one of God’s great commandments. In anger King Nebuchadnezzar had them thrown into a fiery furnace. But God humbled Nebuchadnezzar by delivering Daniel’s 3 friends from the furnace completely unharmed.

Then I preached through Chapter 4 where Nebuchadnezzar has another dream of a beautiful tree getting judged by God and being cut down. Daniel tells the king that it is God proclaiming judgement on him for his pride. That he is the proud tree, but the watchers cut him down yet leave the stump and don’t remove it from the earth. Daniel asks the king to give God the glory and to humble himself. The king ignores Daniel and instead loses his mind and roams the earth like a beast eating grass for 7 years. Then he finally gives God the praise for the Kingdom that God had given to him after he gets his mind restored.

Adam Casalino preached through 5 where King Nebuchadnezzar’s grandson, Belshazzar is being besieged, but he is throwing a party and defiling the sacred vessels of God and God uses Daniel to interpret the writing on the wall written by a floating hand. The writing means that that Belshazzar was measured and found lacking, and the kingdom was going to be overthrown that night. And true to his word Belshazzar the king was killed and King Darius of the Medo-Persian empire begin his reign as the next Medes became the next major world power.

And finally Levi Hartsfield finished us off with chapter 6. Where King Darius’s princes make a rule that no one may pray to anyone except the king thus making the king their god, and they tricked the King into signing it, knowing full well that Daniel would still faithfully pray to his God. And just as they suspected Daniel prayed to God, and he suffered the punishment: Being thrown into a den of lions. King Darius was frustrated that they had tricked him, but there was nothing he could do. But God delivered Daniel and shut the mouth of the lions! Daniel spent the night in the lion’s den, and the following morning the king made a decree that the evil princes who sought to kill Daniel by writing that law would be thrown into the lion’s den instead! And the Bible said that their bones were broken by the lions before they even hit the bottom of the pit!

Wow! These stories are fantastic! The sermons have been fantastic as well! If you would like to get
caught up you can listen to the messages on our website or wherever you get your podcasts.

Now here we are at chapter 7.

The title of tonight’s message is “Kingdoms Come and Kingdoms Go”

We will see human kingdoms rise, boast, and conquer, but eventually disappear. But Daniel 7 will show us a kingdom that will never pass away.

Open your Bibles to Daniel 7, we are going to start with verse 1. We transition in chapter 7 from the historical accounts to the dreams and the visions that he had.

And Daniel 7 is a pivotal chapter. M
any modern commentators generally agree that this chapter is the single most important chapter in the entire Book of Daniel. All of the apocalyptic materials that come after are influenced by this vision Daniel has in chapter 7.

(And I will be honest with you guys. This is th
e most difficult text that I have had to preach through yet. And it was difficult to prepare and get my thoughts to be cohesive. So I am going to give you all an overview of the chapter before we begin. I will lay out the structure of the chapter to help you understand the flow of the chapter. Daniel starts the chapter with visions of four beasts. Each one being more terrifying than the last. The final beast had horns that are terrifying, but then the “Ancient of Days” set up thrones and prepares for judgement. The smallest horn on the fourth beast grows mighty and blasphemes the Ancient of Days, and the beast is killed. Then the Ancient of Days gives the kingdom to the “Son of Man” and to his people. Daniel is puzzled by this vision and asks for more details about what he’s just seen. Specifically on the fourth beast and the little horn that is unlike any other beast that he can even compare it to. The angel gives him more details on the atrocities of the fourth beast, but shows him that the final beast will be destroyed and the kingdom will be given to the Son of Man and to his saints.

So there you have it! T
hat’s a quick summary, but now let’s dive into this chapter.) Our first point is this:

1. BEASTLY KINGDOMS RISE AND FALL.

Daniel begins by showing us four kingdoms rising from the earth. Not as noble men, but as beasts! Let’s begin in verse 1.

In the first year of Belshazzar k
ing of Babylon, Daniel saw a dream and visions of his head as he lay in his bed. Then he wrote down the dream and told the sum of the matter. 2 Daniel declared, “I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea. 3 And four great beasts came up out of the sea, different from one another. 4 The first was like a lion and had eagles’ wings. Then as I looked its wings were plucked off, and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man, and the mind of a man was given to it. 5 And behold, another beast, a second one, like a bear. It was raised up on one side. It had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth; and it was told, ‘Arise, devour much flesh.’ 6 After this I looked, and behold, another, like a leopard, with four wings of a bird on its back. And the beast had four heads, and dominion was given to it. 7 After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, terrifying and dreadful and exceedingly strong. It had great iron teeth; it devoured and broke in pieces and stamped what was left with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. 8 I considered the horns, and behold, there came up among them another horn, a little one, before which three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots. And behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things.

So here we have Daniel seeing the four winds of heaven stirring up the great sea. And from the sea the four beasts arise.

Don’t less this passage puzzle you. When trying to understand scripture especially prophetic scripture it helps to interpret it first as an actual account of what the writer saw and heard, and not just some sort of poetic literature that represents other things as an abstract tool. It’s only when things are still unclear that we try to interpret the dreams as representative of something else. Which will occur a lot throughout this passage. In other words don’t view Daniel chapter 7 as something that could be open to any type of interpretation. That could be spun about every which way, but rather something much more tangible and open to less interpretation rather than more. And make sure to always use scripture to interpret scripture.

So the passage mentions the four winds of heaven, and the great sea.

The four winds of heaven can be represented as God’s judgements, coming down from all 4 directions of the earth much like a compass” We see his judgements coming plainly later on throughout the text, and it’s eluded to here. And what is the sea?

Some scholars interpret the great sea as the Mediterrane
an, the center territorially of the four kingdoms of this vision, but you could also translate the “sea” as people or nations of the earth as other parts of Scripture portray the sea. We learn further on in verse 17 that these four great beasts are four kings or kingdoms who shall arise out of the earth. So verses 2 and 3 are understood as God’s watchful eye on the earth, and from the earth four great kingdoms arise.

Verse 4 describes the beast as a lion with eagles wings. This is a representation of King Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian empire.
King Nebuchadnezzar was symbolized as a lion and an eagle elsewhere in the Bible (as a lion in Jer 4:7; 49:19,22; 50:17,44 and as an eagle in Jer 49:22; Lam 4:19; Ezek 17:3; Hab 1:8 as the kingdom that would bring Judah into captivity)  So what does it mean that its wings were plucked off and it was lifted up from the ground and make to stand on two feet like a man and the mind of a man was given to it? This is a representation of the beast becoming less beastly. Its wings being cut off is similar to the visual representation given in Daniel 4 where the tree representing King Nebuchadnezzar was cut down and it’s limbs stripped off. But now back in chapter 7 this beast being lifted up from the ground and standing on two feet like a man with a mind of a man being given to it is a retelling of Nebuchadnezzar in chapter 4 where after his insanity God restores him to a place of honor and he worships the one true God! An
d he is the only beast in this passage being given a mind of a man, or becoming less of a beast.

But after this beast we are introduced to the beast who looked like a bear in verse 5. I want you to notice that each beast becomes successively
meaner than its predecessor^.

Some of its differences from a bear indicate it was raised up on one side, and its three ribs in its mouth.

What does this represent?

Man
y scholars attribute this to the Medo-Persian empire that came to become the leading world power after the events of Daniel chapter 5. This is evidenced by the clear passage in Daniel 8 that the ram is the Kings of Media and Persia in chapter 8:20. The ram has two horns. One larger than the other just like this second beast here in chapter 7 is mentioned that one side is raised higher than the other. We know from history that the Persian empire was stronger than the Mede side of the empire and lasted longer.

I have a
diagram here that shows the similarities from the statue in chapter 2 to the beasts in Chapter 7. It will be up as I continue to go through this. But we see that the head of gold and the lion with eagles wings both represent the Babylonian empire.

And now we are at the bear. We learned from Daniel Armstrong’s teaching of chapter 2 that the Medo-Persian empire was also portrayed by the two arms of the statue.

The bear is a fitting representation for this beast because the bear is noted for its needless destruction. Remember from Daniel 6, that King Darius commanded that those men who had maliciously accused Daniel were brough and cast to the den of lions. They, their children, and their wives! So much destruction! The three ribs in it’s teeth can indicate the three major cities or empires that it held under its reign to strengthen itself.

Next verse 6 has a leopard with four wings and four heads! This represents Alexander the great coming to power quickly. The leopard while smaller moved quickly. So Alexander, a small king, from the small kingdom of Macedonia dominated the world. The outstanding characteristic of a leopard is it’s speed. The “Four wings” on the leopard's back increased the speed of this already swift beast. The kingdom of Greece is represented by this flying leopard. Its conquests were carried out with lightning speed, and it had an insatiable lust for territory. Alexander the Great invaded Asia Minor in 334 BC and within 10 short years he had conquered the entire Medo-Persian Empire to the borders of India. “Dominion was given to it” shows that God not Alexander's own military might gave Alexander the Great this kingdom.
Many scholars believe the four heads represent his four generals that carved the kingdom into four parts after his death.

And now we get to the fourth beast in verse 7! Terrifying and dreadful and exceedingly strong. With great iron teeth. It devoured and broke in pieces and stamped what was left with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns.

This fourth beast could not be compared to any that Daniel knew of. It wasn’t due to Daniel’s lack of imagination. But because it
defied any zoological category. The lion, bear, and leopard were not like any real life versions of those animals, but overall they did exhibit many of the same characteristics between the beast and the kingdom. But the fourth beast did not look like any animal Daniel have ever seen. Some scholars believe the fourth animal was indefinable because it wouldn’t come in the near future like the rest of these beats, but in the distant future. But there are similarities to this beast and the world power that came after Greece.

By the second century B.C. the Roman empire had taken over Greece as the dominant world power. So the fourth beast (in part) represents the Roman Empire. It is hard to definitely say that the Roman Empire is definitely the fourth beast because Daniel tells us that the beast was unlike anything he had seen before.

The difference of how Rome ruled could by why this beast was so different. The previous conquering kingdoms allowed the ruling class to stay in power. When Babylon conquered an area, they did not set up Babylonian rulers, but allowed nationals to govern their won countries. The Medo-Persian Empire continued in the same manner as did the Greeks. But
the Romans were imperialists. And this system made them different from the empires that came before. When Rome conquered a nation, Roman consuls were sent in to rule the area (Pontius Pilate, Felix, Festus in the NT.)

But this fourth beast was more cruel than the beasts that came before it. Not only did it “Arise and devour much flesh”, but it broke into pieces and stomped out whatever was left that it devoured! There are similarities to the iron teeth of this fourth beast and the iron legs and feet of the statue in chapter 2.

Other similarities to the connection between the Statue in chapter 2 and the fourth beast here in chapter 7 is the number 10. The statue had ten toes, this beast has ten horns. And horns c
ommonly symbolized kings or kingdoms in scripture. (Rev 13:1 and 17:12; also Ps. 132:17, Zech 1:18), and the “horns” In this verse are specifically identified as kings or kingdoms in vs 24 of our text.

Verse 8 goes on: 

“I considered the horns, and behold, there came up among them another horn, a little one, before which three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots. And behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things. “



As Daniel considers the horns, or kings and kingdoms that are represented he notices a little horn. But our text tells us that three of the first horns are ripped out by this little horn! In verse 20 he exclaims that before this one horn three of the other horns fell. And this horn had eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth that speaks great things. And as we will learn the “great things” it’s speaking are not good things verse 25 clarifies for us, “He shall speak words against the Most High”

These kingdoms look terrifying, and the little horn sounds as though no one can
silence him. But Daniel’s attention is
suddenly pulled away from the chaos on
earth and lifted to the courtroom of heaven. This brings us to our second
point:

2. God prepares to judge (vv. 9–10).

The beasts may be raging, but heaven is not panicking. Look at verse 9

9 “As I looked, thrones were placed, and the Ancient of Days took his seat; his clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; his throne was fiery flames; its wheels were burning fire. 10 A stream of fire issued and came out from before him; a thousand thousands served him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him; the court sat in judgment, and the books were opened.

These thrones being placed shows the judgement being prepared by the Ancient of Days as he calmly takes his seat. Notice the contrast in verses 7 and 8.
The beast making a ruckus, and the Ancient of Days sitting on his throne calmly preparing for the day of judgement. The transition at verse 9 is not only purposefully abrupt, but the whole structure of verses 9–14 seems designed to diminish the place of the little horn and fourth beast.

This scene reminds me of
a parent calmly waiting for their toddler to stop throwing a tantrum. The toddler is doing their best to be mad be as loud as possible many times they can’t even speak yet, but gosh, once they learn how to talk its much worse! But the wise parent sits unaffected, waiting to correct their child once their child is calm. That is unless this happens at the supermarket, and then the parent rushes to an empty isle where no one can see them “instruct” their child.

We see the clothing white as snow which is a symbol of his absolute moral purity. And his hair like wool. In Daniel’s day white hair (which was the typical color of wool) did not mean frailty, but it meant wisdom. The wisdom of the ancient of days was evident through his figure. Sitting on his throne ready to judge. His throne was on fire!

We see throughout the Old Testament that fire represents God’s presence. (Gen. 15:17; Exod. 3:2; 13:21; 19:18), even his presence in judgment (Lev. 10:1–2; Num. 11:1–3; 16:35). And this could represent the stream of fire that proceeded from him as well. His judgement on display against the beast.

And we see his majesty on display! The phrase “ten thousand times ten thousand” was “the square of the highest number for which a
ncient peoples had a word” It would be like us saying infinity times infinity. It was an incalculable number to Daniel. These uncountable people wait on the Ancient of Days. Surround his throne.

In Scripture “the books” are symbolic of God’s memory of the deeds, words, and thoughts of every person who has ever lived (Exodus 32:32, Daniel 12:1, Luke 10:20, Rev 20:12)

Wheels on a throne may at first seem strange, but the image of God sitting upon a chariot-throne with wheels is set forth in other passages, particularly Ezekiel 1 and 10, where the chariot-throne is more fully described. It was common in the ancient Near East for thrones of kings and gods to have wheels.

The court is seated, the books are open, and judgment is ready. But the horn is still speaking. That leads us to our third point.

3. The horn blasphemes and meets its end (vv. 11–12).

Verse 11 changes the scene again.

“I looked then because of the sound of the great words that the horn was speaking. And as I looked, the beast was killed, and its body destroyed and given over to be burned with fire. 12. As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away, but their lives were prolonged for a season and a time.”

The beast’s noise causes Daniel to lose focus on the thrones, but just as quickly as he is focused on because of his blasphemous words he meets his e
nd. It’s almost anti-climactic!

So in verse 12 how is it that the other beasts, or first three empires have their authority taken away, but their lives were prolonged while the final beast was killed? The explanation is that their dominance ceased, but they continued to live because they were absorbed into the next empire. For example Greece was conquered by Rome, and although Greek dominance came to an end, the nation continued to live by being absorbed into the next empire, the Roman Empire.

His visions of the 4^th beast though terrifying are constantly cut off by the Ancient of Days on his throne. Verse 9 he says “As I looked”. Describing seeing the ancient of days. Then in verse 11 it says he looked twice. Once because he was baffled at the “great words” the horn was speaking, and then again the beast being killed.

But the destruction of the beast is not the climax of the vision. Daniel looks again in verse 13, and this time he sees the King who will replace every beastly kingdom. This is our fourth point.

4. The Son of Man receives the kingdom (vv. 13–14).

Vs 13:

I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. 14 And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.

Verse 13 is the verse of Daniel most often quoted in the New Testament. Notice the visual difference from the beasts coming from the sea or the earth in verses 3 and vs 17, and the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven.

In the Ancient near east cultures, clouds were often associated with deity so we have the Son of Man being presented before the Ancient of days, and being given dominion and glory and a kingdom!

There are three prominent views about who the Son of Man could be. I
t could represent the archangel Michael, and the “holy ones” of Daniel 7 are his angelic followers on whose behalf he receives the kingdom.

Second
many interpret the “son of man” to be the personification of God’s chosen people, the Jewish nation. The problem with these first two interpretations is that in verse 14 all the nations of the earth are said to “worship” the son of man, and the Scripture is clear that God alone is to be worshipped.

So the third view (also known as the
“correct” view) is that the Son of Man is a reference to the Messiah, Jesus Christ! He himself being a part of the Godhead, worthy to receive worship. This passage is beautiful because we get a glimpse of the plurality of the persons making up the Godhead.

John 12:34 says:

“So the crowd answered him, “We have heard from the Law that the Christ remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up?”

In this passage the terms, the Christ [The Messiah] and “the Son of Man” are used interchangeably. The people of Jesus’ day already had come to identify the “Son of Man” in Daniel 7 as the Mesiah!

I
n Mark 14:61-62 he identified himself as that

“Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.”



And the high priest understood his statement to be blasphemous. (In his mind) Because he knew that title was reserved for a member of the Godhead, their Messiah. Unfortunately he refused to see Jesus as his Messiah.

I love this description I found in a commentary: “
Satan, as the serpent, is the representative head of all that bestial; man, by following the serpent, has become bestial. God must, therefore, become man, so that man may cease to be beast-like.”

Let’s zoom out a bit. This passage shows the effortless manner in which the little horn and the fourth beast are destroyed. It’s as if the little horn and its beast are scrunched and squeezed between the Ancient of Days verses 9–10 and the Son of Man verses 13–14. It’s as if Daniel wants us to understand how the scary horn truly is little and powerless compared to the power and glory and kingship of the ancient of Days and the Son of Man!

We see the earthly kingdoms dominance coming to an end in chapter 2 when the rock strikes the statues feet, and we see that the beasts and the dominion all come to an end with the judgement that comes from God and the start of his kingdom.

Nebuchadnezzar saw the world powers as a splendid statue, and the kingdom of God as a mere stone. But from Daniel’s perspective the world powers are beastly, and the Kingdom of God that is spectacular!

We have now seen the glorious end of the vision: the Son of Man receives an
everlasting kingdom. But Daniel is still troubled. He wants to understand what
God’s people will face before that kingdom comes. That brings us to our fifth
point:

5. The horn makes war against the saints (vv. 15–25).

Back to our text verse 15 continues…

15 “As for me, Daniel, my spirit within me was anxious, and the visions of my head alarmed me. 16 I approached one of those who stood there and asked him the truth concerning all this. So he told me and made known to me the interpretation of the things. 17 ‘These four great beasts are four kings who shall arise out of the earth. 18 But the
saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, forever and ever.’



There we go! Let’s all go home! If all we had was verses 16 thru 18 then this would be such an easy text to breeze through. But there’s more! Verse 19:

19 “Then I desired to know the truth about the fourth beast, which was different from all the rest, exceedingly terrifying, with its teeth of iron and claws of bronze, and which devoured and broke in pieces and stamped what was left with its feet, 20 and about the ten horns that were on its head, and the other horn that came up and before which three of them fell, the horn that had eyes and a mouth that spoke great things, and that seemed greater than its companions. 21 As I looked, this horn made war with the saints and prevailed over them, 22 until the Ancient of Days came, and judgment was given for the saints of the Most High, and the time came when the saints possessed the kingdom.

Part of me wants to harp on verse 22, which is the true focus of this text, but it starts with the atrocities of the fourth beast, particularly the horn! We see the focus change from the fourth beast to now the horns.

The ten horns could symbolize ten physical kings,
or kingdoms. Or in scripture since ten is the number of completion, it could symbolize a “complete” world alliance made up of many nations that feels complete in their power, in their dominance over the earth. And it’s from those powerful kingdoms the small horn will rise up to rule them all.

Who is this little horn? The little horn is none other than the most infamous person in all of human history, the “Antichrist” The little horn in verses 8,11,20-22 previously identified as a person is now interpreted as a king (ruler) of the last days. He is called in Scripture, among other names, the “man of lawlessness” (2 Thess 2:3) the “Antichrist” (1 John 2:18), and the “beast” (Rev 13:1)

Antichrist will go beyond what anyone has done before in his attempt to create a thoroughly secular world. Even now there are those seekin
g to rid society of all traces of religion and Antichrist will set himself as the object of worship.

It seems to me that Daniel’s vision presents him as the last leader of earth’s final kingdom. Would this matter to 500s bc Israelites? I think so. This vision with its emphasis on the fourth and final monstrocity would tell them that their trauma will not cease when Babylon falls or Persia allows them to return to Israel.

Notice the detail that Daniel goes through to describe this. It should make us pause and consider why this was shown
to Daniel. What benefit did the Hebrew in exile reading Daniel’s text benefit by reading this? What benefit do we in the 21^st century have by having this text?

Well the Hebrew in ancient days understood that their exile and subjugation to other world powers would continue, but would come to an end when the Most High God commands. They could endure expecting that blessed hope that comes from knowing that in the end God wins.

It’s like kids who are bragging about their dad being stronger than the other kids dad at the playground. Or thinks that their parent has the coolest car out of all the kids parents. Yeah for now, you’re the runt who can’t run as fast, or who gets picked last in the team activity, but just wait until they see your father! They will wish they picked you! The Hebrew here reads about the judgement, the beasts coming to the end, and the Most High ruling and giving his kingdom to the saints and they go woooo!!! That’s us!!!!

The time will come when a future regime and ruler will make Nebuchadnezzar and Cyrus look like nothing more than kindergarten bullies But as fascinating as this is, the vision keeps pointing us to The Ancient of Days!

I love this quote:

“The shepherd sees the lion
coming, and the bear, and the leopard, and the Fourth Beast, and does not flee.” – Walter Luthi

Notice verse 22. We see that the Ancient of days came. In our Text the Father or the Ancient of Days is never said to “come”; but it is the Son who comes. The title applied to the Father in verse 13 is here applied to the Son! This is fascinating! We see in Isaiah 9:6 a verse describing the son calling him “Mighty God” and “Everlasting Father”. Our God is complex. The doctrine of the trinity is shown in Daniel 7, but I want to warn you. There’s a false teaching circulating called the Oneness Movement, or during the 2^nd and 3^rd centuries it was known Modalis
tic Monarchism, that tries to use verses like Isaiah 9:6 to describe God as one person who reveals Himself in different manifestations at different times rather than as three co-eternal, co-equal persons. To combat the Oneness movement’s false teaching, we have Daniel 7 with the Father giving his kingdom to his son who is also present. But in verse 22 to those who try to claim that Jesus is not God, it also shows that God and the Son have the same honor both being a part of the Godhead. Philippians 2 teaches that Jesus did not count equality with God as something to strive to attain, but Jesus (God the Son) took upon himself the form of a servant and became obedient to death on the cross. We see in the New Testament Jesus praying to the Father. We see all three parts of the trinity interacting with each other in passages like Matthew 3:16-17. Where Jesus is baptized and the spirit of God descends like a dove, and a voice from heaven said, “this is my beloved Son, With Whom I am well pleased.” Yes our God revealed through the trinity is complex, but it i
s also clearly taught. We may just have a hard time grasping it. If I was teaching on just this verse, or just this topic I could spend more time here, but we have to keep moving.

Let’s finish this chapter. You have done so well, and we are nearly finished.

23 “Thus he said:

‘As for the fourth beast, there shall be a fourth kingdom on earth, which shall be different from all the kingdoms, and it shall devour the whole earth, and trample it down, and break it to pieces. 24 As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings shall arise, and another shall arise after them; he shall be different from the former ones, and shall put down three kings. 25 He shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and shall think to change the times and the law; and they shall be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time.

Let’s compare our text to other end times texts that describe the final iteration of our last beast.

There are similarities between Daniel’s beast in chapter 7 and the beast that John sees in Revelation 13 and 17 that raises up against God in the last days. For times sake you’re going to have to read those on your own, But here is a chart.

Both look similar. Daniel Sees a lion, bear, leopard, and a terrifying beast arise from the sea. John’s beast also rises from the sea, and it resembles a leopard, has bear-like feet, a mouth like a lion, and ten horns.

They each have 10 horns representing 10 kings.

The little horns becomes dominant just like the 10 kings in Revelation surrender their authority to the beast.

The Horn speaks blasphemies against God just like the beast does Verse 25 mentions that he will think to change the times and the law is a reference to the feasts days and Levitical law given to Moses.

The beast devours the whole earth in Daniel, and has authority over every tripe people language and nation.

They are both allowed to make war against the saints and defeat them for a time.

Each is allowed to rule for 3 and a half years.

And The beast meets its destruction at the hand of God who gives the kingdom to the Son and to his saints^.

The horn will speak against God, attack God’s people, and appear to prevail for
a time. But “for a time” is all he is given. Heaven’s court has the final word.

This brings us to our sixth and final point:

6. The saints inherit the kingdom (vv. 26–28).

26 But the court shall sit in judgment, and his dominion shall be taken away, to be consumed and destroyed to the end. 27 And the kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High; his kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.’

28 “Here is the end of the matter. As for me, Daniel, my thoughts greatly alarmed me, and my color changed, but I kept the matter in my heart.”



Daniel’s vision is complete. He is troubled because he sees the little horn as the Antichrist and his destruction at God’s judgement!

Isn’t this wonderful! In the end God Wins! This is the true focus. Here are some points of application. They are going to come at you fast like Pastor Tony says and then we will close.

First: Suffering
for the Christian is temporary. The beasts have their fifteen minutes of fame, but the Son of Man has the everlasting kingdom! As John MacArthur put it:

“We don’t belong to the shakable kingdom. We belong to the kingdom which cannot be shaken.”

So be willing to suffer a bit for Christ!
We aren’t being devoured by the horn. He hasn’t come into power yet, the three and a half years of his reign hasn’t started yet. Suffering for us is sucking up our fear and walking across the room to tell someone that Jesus loves them, to offer prayer to them. To give someone a bible tract. To come downtown once a month and evangelize! By the way the more you do it the more your soul is stirred and the more you want to keep doing it! God wants to use you oh saint to reach the lost! How many fellow saints are you bringing into the kingdom with you?

Next: D
on’t be impressed by this world. What appears glorious and impressive in chapter 2 is beastly and terrifying in chapter 7. The world attempts to hold our minds captive, but we need to do what it says in Colossians and set our minds on things above, not on things of the earth. The hymn says to “Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in his wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of his glory and grace.” This leads us smoothly to our final point of application.

In t

he end God wins. The beast though it was terrifying was cut short right away. I started this text talking about Assyria, but they are nearly forgotten in history. For our little horn being the baddest of the bad it’s reign was the shortest of the short as far as kingdoms go. In the end all dominions shall serve and obey God. Verse 27 says,

“And the kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High; his kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him!”

So where do you stand? Are you one of those saints of the most high? You are not going to be a saint unless you give up trying to be the king on your own throne. Don’t be like the high priest in Mark who refused to acknowledge Jesus as God. The Son of Man, Jesus the Messiah will reign in the end. Not just in the hearts of his saints, but in the same way each beast represented a physical kingdom, Jesus will establish his physical kingdom here on earth when he destroys the final empire the horn speaking blasphemies. Will yo
u be crushed, or will you surrender to Jesus? You can cry out to him today for salvation! Verse 14 once again says,

“And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.”

Daniel 7 is fascinating. Thank you for lending me your ear. I enjoyed studying this passage for you! But we are just getting started! Come back next week for Chapter 8!

Let’s close in a word of prayer.