DANIEL 7 THE VISION OF THE FOUR BEASTS2011 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Daniel 7 The Vision Of The Four Beasts

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You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2011.

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Chapter 7 and as we go forward in the coming weeks, we're going to be digging a little bit deeper than we have in the previous weeks, getting a little bit more insight into the historical things that have gone on, but also looking forward to those things that have yet to be fulfilled that God had said would come to pass. And so we start off this evening in Daniel chapter 7 and would you look with me please at verse 1, it says this,

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In the first year of Belshazzar, king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream and visions of his head while on his bed. Then he wrote down the dream, telling the main facts.

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And so here in verse 1, what we have is kind of an introduction to what we're going to be looking at this evening. It's a dream or a vision that Daniel has. And here chapter 7 is Daniel recording the main facts of that vision, the main elements of this vision that God gave to him. Now he points out to us that this is in the first year of Belshazzar.

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Belshazzar was a king of Babylon. Originally, you remember it was Nebuchadnezzar, but he died and then the next person ascended the throne and he died and then the next person ascended the throne and that is Belshazzar's father.

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And I always mispronounce his name, so I'm not going to try to do it. But Belshazzar is now on the throne of Babylon. His father is still alive, but he's not in Babylon. And so he's ruling over the region of Babylon. And this puts this prophecy, this vision, at around 553 B.C.,

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So 553 BC, it's been several years, probably 40 years or so that Daniel has been there captive. He's probably in his 60s at this point as he's receiving this vision. It's towards the end of his life and the end of his ministry. And God gives him this insight in a vision and a dream that he had while he was on his bed.

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Now, this vision that he gives is going to be about four different beasts, and then God will give us some insight into what those beasts are and what they represent. Now, as we look at these things, some of these things have already been fulfilled. Some of them are yet to be fulfilled, and in fact, much of it parallels and corresponds very well with things that we studied in the book of Revelation.

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And so for those things, I probably won't go in as much detail as I normally would, but you can check it out for yourself later on. I would encourage you, Revelation chapter 13, chapter 17, 18, 19, and chapter 21 all really relate to what we're going to be looking at here in Daniel chapter 7. So that's Revelation 13.

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17, 18, 19, and 21 all contain very important elements that parallel the things that are written here in Daniel chapter 7. Alright, so let's take a look at this vision that God gave to Daniel. Starting in verse 2 it says,

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Daniel spoke, saying,

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I watched till its wings were plucked off, and it was lifted up from the earth and made to stand on two feet like a man, and a man's heart was given to it. And suddenly another beast, a second like a bear, it was raised up on one side, and had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth, and they said thus to it, Arise, devour much flesh. Verse 6. After this I looked, and there was another like a leopard.

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which had on its back four wings of a bird. The beast also had four heads, and dominion was given to it. So here's Daniel, he's...

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They're on his bed and God gives him a vision. It's not just a weird dream because he ate too much food too late at night or something like that. It's a vision that God gave to him because he goes on then, God gives to Daniel the interpretation, the understanding of what this dream means or what this vision means.

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And so what we've seen thus far is three different animals or three different beasts. So the first thing we have is a lion and it has a lion that has wings. Of course, the lion is a powerful creature. They don't normally have wings, but here in this vision, the lion has wings. And then he sees the wings that are plucked off.

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And the lion is made to stand up on his hind legs and he's given the heart of a man. So already we're thinking, okay, that's kind of a weird dream. If I had this dream, I wouldn't think much of it. I probably wouldn't write it in the Bible. But we'll see why it's important as we go on to the interpretation later on.

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Well, the second animal that he has in his dream is a bear. And this bear has three bones in his mouth and it's raised up on one side and people speak to it and say, go and devour much flesh. That is, go and kill a lot of people or go and be very victorious.

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Well, then the third animal that we see in Daniel's vision is the leopard. And it's a strange kind of leopard because it has four wings. Again, we don't normally see leopards with wings. But this in his vision has four wings. But it also has four heads. And so you've got these...

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unusual creatures, these strange beasts that are there in Daniel's vision. He's just describing the vision for us. Now, we'll get on into the chapter a little bit further and we'll begin to talk about what are these things mean and God will give us insight into that. But so far we have the lion, we have the bear, we have the leopard, and now there's a fourth beast that's found in verses 7 and 8. It says this,

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Verse 2.

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Verse 1.

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And so now he describes for us the fourth beast. The fourth beast is unlike the others for several different reasons. First of all, it's unlike the others in that there's not a direct parallel. It's not like a lion. It's not like a bear. It's not like a leopard. There's not an animal that Daniel can say it's like a rhinoceros or it's like a giraffe or something like that. He has no words for it. He just calls it a terrible beast, a dreadful and terrible beast.

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that's exceedingly strong. And so one artist renders it this way, kind of like a dragon, kind of like a dinosaur. We don't know exactly what it looked like, but he describes this beast and there are certain things that we know about it. It's dreadful, it's terrible, it's strong, it's breaking in pieces and so it's going to be very successful as far as conquering and able to rule.

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But also we find that it has ten horns on it. And so you can see on there, there's ten horns if you want to count them. The ten horns become important and so that's why I bring it up. Well, those ten horns are not just sitting there. Now there's another little one that comes on the scene and it uproots the

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three of the horns. And so there's some change of the horns that are going on here in this beast that Daniel will describe and we'll talk a little bit more about as we talk about the interpretation.

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So again, what we have here is this vision that Daniel has. And he's describing it for us. And we'll talk about what it means. But again, we have the lion. We have the bear. We have the leopard. And then we have the terrible beast, the fourth beast that Daniel sees in his vision. Well, the vision continues in verse 9. It says this.

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I watched till thrones were put in place, and the Ancient of Days was seated. His garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head was like pure wool. His throne was a fiery flame, its wheels a burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him. A thousand thousands ministered to him.

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Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The court was seated and the books were open. So as Daniel sees these four beasts, these four terrible beasts, then he also goes on to see a heavenly scene where a throne is set up and he sees there the ancient of days.

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Who is this Ancient of Days? Well, skipping ahead to the interpretation a little bit, we understand this is the Heavenly Father. This is God who is there set up upon the throne. He describes His garment being white, His hair like pure wool, His throne as a fiery flame. And so there's this great brilliance that's surrounding Him. And it's not just God there on the throne, but He's also the Heavenly Father.

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But there in verse 10, it describes the thousand thousands that minister to him. And so that's a million servants that are ministering to the Lord there. But then, it's not all, 10,000 times 10,000 are standing before him. And so he sees this heavenly scene, the Father on the throne with this great multitude around him.

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And this, if you were with us in our study of Revelation on Sunday mornings, is very, very familiar. In fact, I would encourage you later on, check out Revelation chapter 4 and 5. Because in Revelation chapter 4 and 5, John gives in great detail a heavenly scene with the Father there on the throne. And much of the imagery and the things that he's describing are identical or parallel to what we're seeing here.

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the fiery stream that goes before the Lord here in verse 10. We also see in Revelation chapter 4 verse 5 about the lamps and the Holy Spirit and the fire that's going forth before the throne. The many people, the thousand thousands and tens of thousands of

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or 10,000 times 10,000 rather, that's also referred to in Revelation chapter 5 verse 11. And so there's this great multitude standing before the throne of God. We see that here and we also see that in Revelation chapter 4 and 5 verse 11. The vision is continuing still. He says, I watched then because of the sound of the pompous words which the horn was speaking.

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And so here in verse 11 and 12, we have Daniel paying attention to that fourth beast.

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And he explains to us why he's paying attention. Because, remember, it had ten horns, but then this little horn came up. And this little horn had eyes and a mouth, and with the mouth it was speaking pompous or great words. And so Daniel sees this heavenly scene, but his eyes are diverted in his vision. He's

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drawn to or he's paying attention to this mouth on the horn that is speaking these great things. Now, when we use the word great, or when I use the word great, I'm not saying they're good and wonderful things, but they're actually terrible things. They're blasphemous things that are being spoken by this mouth there on that little horn. And so Daniel says, I watched until the beast was slain.

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And so because of this blasphemy, because of the great words that this little horn is speaking, that beast is put to death there before the throne or under the heavenly scene. But the rest of the beasts, they are not put to death. They're taken away, you know, the authority, their power, but they're allowed to live a little bit longer. Verse 13 now as we continue on the vision.

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He says,

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And so here we have the conclusion of Daniel's vision. So he sees the lion, he sees the bear and the leopard, and then the fourth beast, he sees the heavenly scene, and then he sees the fourth beast put to death, and now he sees one, he says, like the Son of Man.

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Now, the Son of Man is a title that Jesus loved to use of himself. And as you read through the Gospels, he often refers to himself as the Son of Man because he is the one that Daniel sees in this vision. Jesus is the one who, at the end of the ages, will receive life.

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The eternal kingdom. And so that's what Daniel is seeing here. We're kind of getting into the interpretation a little bit, I know. But it's so clear here that it's important for us to talk about it. And so here the Son of Man comes. Jesus comes. He comes to the ancient of days. And he is given dominion and glory and a kingdom. Now looking forward to...

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Prophecies that we know are going to be fulfilled. The end times events as we refer to them. We understand that there's going to come a day where Jesus will come back and set foot upon the earth and he will establish his kingdom upon the earth for 1,000 years. Just before eternity happens, he will rule and reign on the earth for 1,000 years.

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We went through this, of course, in great detail throughout the book of Revelation. And so, hopefully, it's still pretty fresh in your mind.

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This is what we see happening here. Jesus comes before the Father, the Ancient of Days, and God gives Him the dominion, the glory, and the kingdom that all nations should serve Him. And the kingdom that He has is an everlasting dominion. It's not going to pass away. It's not going to cease. He will always reign on high for the rest of eternity. Jesus' kingdom will not be destroyed.

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And so Daniel has this vision. He doesn't quite understand it. He doesn't know what it means. He doesn't know what's going on in the vision, but he knows that it's something from God. He knows that God is speaking to his heart. And so we continue on in verse 15. He says, I, Daniel, was grieved in my spirit within my body, and the visions of my head troubled me.

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I came near to one of those who stood by and asked him the truth of all this. So he told me and made known to me the interpretation of these things. Verse 17, Those great beasts which are four are four kings which arise out of the earth. But the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever. And so Daniel is still in this vision.

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As he's receiving this vision, he's not understanding it. It's troubling him. It's concerning him. And so he asks someone who's near him. Now, he doesn't tell us who this is. This is perhaps an angel. Perhaps there's someone else that God has there to explain it for Daniel. But he asks him and they give him the interpretation.

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What are the interpretation? Those great beasts, the lion, the bear, the leopard, and that hideous beast, the fourth beast, are kings. Or we could also say they are kingdoms which arise out of the earth. And so we have some insight here. These animals in Daniel's vision represent kingdoms or kings. Maybe we would call them nations or specifically world powers today.

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And so these animals represent nations. What nations do these animals in this vision represent?

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Well, there's two common understandings to what these animals represent. There's kind of a newer one and then there's a traditional one. And so I'll give you the newer one first because I won't spend much time on that and then we'll go back to the traditional interpretation and understanding of these animals. But I want to share with you the alternate interpretation in case you want to look into it or spend some time with it later. So...

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The Lion represents Great Britain, the United Kingdom.

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The Lion of the Lone Star

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And so this understanding puts the lion as Great Britain. The bear then would represent Russia.

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which of course the bear has represented Russia and been a symbol of Russia for hundreds of years as well. And so it seems to fit. And then the leopard, they would say, is representative of the Islamic nations. So not a particular nation, but Iran, Egypt, you know, those Islamic nations that they kind of joined together and represented by the leopard.

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And then the fourth beast would represent the kingdom of the Antichrist. And so this understanding of these animals puts it all at the end times, all, you know, yet future, nothing has been fulfilled yet, that these are all nations that are going to exist right at the end, right before Jesus returns.

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And there's some interesting things about that and there's some possibilities to that, but I'll let you kind of wrestle with those and consider those. And now the traditional understanding, the traditional interpretation also has some incredible things that we can learn from it.

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Now the traditional interpretation is to correspond these animals with the vision that King Nebuchadnezzar had in Daniel chapter 2. And so going back a couple chapters to chapter 2, you might remember this vision of this image, this statue that King Nebuchadnezzar had.

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And God gave us the interpretation through the prophet Daniel when King Nebuchadnezzar had this vision. And so there was a statue that had a head of gold and the head of gold represents the nation of Babylon. And so the Babylonian Empire reigned from 612 to 539 B.C.

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So what we're looking at here in the statue is world powers, not just individual nations, but nations that had dominating control of the civilized world at the time. And so during Daniel's day, that was the nation of Babylon. Well, Babylon...

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fell and was conquered by the Medo-Persian Empire. And in the statue, that's represented by the chest and the arms of silver. So the Medo-Persian Empire came on the scene, took over Babylon's territory and even much more. And that empire lasted from about 539 to about 330 B.C.

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Well, after the Medo-Persian Empire came the Greek Empire. We'll talk about these things a little bit more in just a moment. The Greek Empire was represented in the statue by the bronze thighs.

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And these bronze thighs represented the strength of the Greek Empire as it came and conquered. And so the Greek Empire reigned from 330 to about 63 BC. And then you had the legs or the feet of iron and then the feet of iron and clay and the ten toes in the statue of King Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel chapter 2.

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And that was the fourth kingdom, the final kingdom, which was the Roman Empire, which reigned from about 63 BC to 475 AD. It reigned for the longest time of all the previous nations.

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And so this statue, this image that King Nebuchadnezzar had wasn't just a weird dream that he had, but it was a vision that God had given him to show him the events that were about to pass. And so in this image and in this dream that King Nebuchadnezzar had,

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Almost everything has been fulfilled. The Babylonian Empire fell just like God said it would, and it fell to the Medo-Persian Empire just like God said it would. That fell to the Greek Empire, and then the Greek Empire fell to the Roman Empire. The only part that has not been fulfilled in the vision of the statue is the ten toes on the bottom. He describes it there as being iron mixed with clay.

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And these ten toes we understand to be representing a future kingdom that is a revival of the old Roman Empire under the leadership of the Antichrist, the coming world leader that will lead a final rebellion against God and bring about the return of Jesus at the end of the age.

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And so these ten toes are yet to be fulfilled. The Antichrist has not yet come and these things have not yet happened. So back in Daniel chapter 7, the traditional understanding and interpretation of these animals is that they correspond with these different elements in the statue of the vision that God gave to King Nebuchadnezzar. So the lion would be parallel with the gold.

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And so the lion would represent then the Babylonian empire. Now the lion with the wings, you know, it tells us there, he saw in the vision that the wings were plucked off and the lion was made to stand up and then it was given the heart of a man.

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Now this could easily be a reference to what we studied back in Daniel chapter 4. You remember King Nebuchadnezzar, he had a humbling event where God reduced him to being like an animal because he refused to recognize that God reigned on high.

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And then when he finally recognized that God reigned on high, God brought his sanity back and lifted him back up and set him back on the throne of the nation of Babylon. And so it's very possible that that's what's being referred to in that vision that Daniel sees of the lion being lifted up and then given the heart of a man. Well, then the next beast is the bear. And that would correspond with the Medo-Persian Empire.

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Now the Medo-Persian Empire was an empire of two nations joining together, the Medes and the Persians. Now as they joined together, they began to conquer, but one nation began to be stronger than the other. And so we often refer to it as the Persian Empire because it's the Persians who grew to be stronger than the Medes and they conquered.

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pretty much had control of the nation. And so although they started out joining together, the Persians grew in strength. And so what we have in the vision is it talks about this barren. One side is lifted up. And so that could be a reference to the Persian Empire growing in strength in this gathering together or joining together of the Medes and the Persians.

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And so the lion would represent Babylon. The bear would represent the Medo-Persian Empire. And with this understanding, these things have already been fulfilled. Babylon has come and gone. The Medes and the Persians have come and gone. And then the third beast would be the beast that was like a leopard. It had four wings and four heads. Now, four wings would speak of how swift it is or how fast it is.

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Now, the Greek Empire came to power and conquered the world very, very quickly. You probably are a little bit familiar with this because it was accomplished by a man named Alexander the Great. And Alexander the Great led the Greek armies and accomplished incredible victories very swiftly, very quickly. And at a very young age, it's said that he wept because there was nothing more for him to conquer.

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And so the wings are a very good picture of the Greek Empire and the way that they came to power and conquered the world. Not only that, but this leopard in his vision has four heads, which makes it very interesting because when Alexander the Great died, there was not one leader who could take his place.

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And so the nation was actually divided between his four generals. And each general had a different portion of the Greek Empire. And so that represents, or the four heads represent those four generals who took over the Greek Empire and maintained it until their fall to the Roman Empire.

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Well, that would mean then that the fourth beast is the Roman Empire. The fourth beast represents it. You remember it has the teeth of iron, which corresponds with the iron in the legs of the statue in the vision that King Nebuchadnezzar had. And so this fourth beast accomplished great victories and did a lot of damage to the surrounding nations, brought peace by conquering all the enemies and anyone who would stand up against them.

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You with me so far? These things can get quite technical and quite deep. Again, it's a little bit deeper than where we've been in Daniel, I know that. But I encourage you to consider these things. And so thus far, all of these things have been fulfilled. Now the element, the part that hasn't been fulfilled in the statue are the ten toes. And the same is true when you look at the picture of the beast's

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It's the ten horns that have not yet been fulfilled. The Roman Empire came and then it was dissolved, but it will be revived one day. There'll be a kind of a revival of the Roman Empire and these ten horns are representing that revival of the Roman Empire. And so those things are yet future.

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That is an empire, that is a world power that will come to be by the leadership of that person we call the Antichrist. The one who will come on the scene and cause all of the world to worship him and to lead a final rebellion against God. That is yet to take place. That is something that is going to happen but has not happened yet.

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Now that's important to understand because we can look back and you can see how each of these corresponds with the nations of Babylon and the Medo-Persians and the Greeks and the Romans and how the different elements of the vision represent those nations and how it happened exactly the way that God said. How these nations came and went and conquered and did what God said that they would do.

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You see, as you notice those things and you take note that history was fulfilled the way that God said it would be, then you can also rest on the promises that have not yet been fulfilled and know, okay, God has already been faithful to His Word thus far. He's already fulfilled all the details of the prophecies and the promises that He's given. And so the things that are yet unfulfilled, we can trust, we can know, they will be accomplished. They will take place at the right time.

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Daniel is writing these things, of course, during the time of the Babylonian Empire. How could he have known all of the details and some of the specific things about those nations that would come hundreds of years later? Of course, he couldn't. But God gave him this vision and gave him the interpretation so that he could prove that he is God and that he's in control, that he's on the throne and that we can trust him at his word.

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Well, he talks more about the fourth beast in verse 19. It goes on to say this, "...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 broken pieces and trampled the residue with its feet."

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Verse 2.

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So Daniel now focuses his attention once again on this fourth beast.

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He's paying attention to it because it's not like the other beasts. There's something different about it. Again, these other beasts fulfilled these other nations that were long gone for us now. But the fourth beast is different because although it has come, the Roman Empire was there, it's not yet been fully fulfilled. There's something unique and different about it. There's a future fulfillment yet of this fourth beast.

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This beast is exceedingly dreadful, it's exceedingly powerful, it's breaking in pieces, it's victorious, it's conquering. Understanding that these beasts represent kingdoms, you could see and understand that this final world power, this revived Roman Empire, is going to be quite strong and going to be quite oppressive.

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There's the ten horns he is remembering. He's thinking about, okay, there's the ten horns and then there's another one that comes up and it has eyes and a mouth and it's speaking blasphemy and it knocks out three of the other horns and so there's these horns that are coming into play. What are all these things? He's wondering. He's also paying attention. He notes that this horn with the mouth and the eyes is making war against the saints. Okay?

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And so again, these are very symbolic things. He's not talking about a literal horn, but he sees this horn. It's representing something that's going on. And this horn is making war against the saints. Who are those saints? It says that he's able to prevail against them. So he's able to fight against the saints and win war.

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Until. So there's a certain amount of time, a certain time period he's able to make war against the saints and prevail. It says, Until the Ancient of Days came and a judgment was made in favor of the saints of the Most High. And so God steps in and he gives the saints victory and gives them the kingdom. Well, we find...

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More detail about what these things mean in verse 23 and following. It says, Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be a fourth kingdom on earth, which shall be different from all other kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, trample it, and break it in pieces. The ten horns are ten kings who shall arise from this kingdom, and another shall rise after them. He shall be different from the first ones and shall subdue three kings.

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He shall speak pompous words against the Most High, shall persecute the saints of the Most High, and shall intend to change times and law. Then the saints shall be given into his hand for a time and times and half a time. So here we have some insight into the meaning behind this fourth beast. What is it that God is seeking to tell us and tell Daniel through this imagery of this beast?

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Well, he tells us this fourth beast is a fourth kingdom. And it's going to be different than other kingdoms. Again, it's going to be powerful. It's going to be ferocious. It's going to be victorious. But also there's these ten horns. And these ten horns are ten kings who arise from this kingdom. And so that's how we understand that there's going to be a revival of the Roman Empire. These ten kings arise from this beast.

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And so these ten kings arise, but there's also another one that rises up. So there's these ten horns, and then there's an eleventh horn that rises up. And as it rises up, it plucks out, it casts down three of the other horns.

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And so there's going to be a revived Roman Empire. There's going to be a revival of what once was this great and powerful and awesome mighty empire. But there's going to be some turmoil in it. There's going to be some shifting of power as the little horn, the Antichrist, rises to power and he casts down three others in the process.

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The ten horns, he says, are ten kings. Now this corresponds with the things that we studied in the book of Revelation. And you can check out Revelation chapter 13, verse 1, when it's talking about the beast, the Antichrist, and how he has these ten horns on him. Also, Revelation chapter 17, verse 12, tells us that the ten horns are ten kings.

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And so here we understand much of this has been fulfilled, the lion, the bear, the leopard, those things have been accomplished in past history. It's already been done and it's fulfilled exactly the way that God said, but there's an element to this fourth beast that has not yet been fulfilled. We look at the end times in the Bible and we understand there's a lot of trouble that is coming to this world.

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What we refer to as the tribulation period, the time where all of these devastating things, these plagues and wars and all these things that happen upon the earth that lead up to the return of Jesus Christ. Well, it's during that time that this last kingdom, these ten horns, rise up and try to take control of the world and the Antichrist is involved in this final kingdom.

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And as he rises up, three of the other kings that are represented by these horns are cast down or plucked up. Now we also learn about the Antichrist here in verse 25 that he will speak pompous words against the Most High. It's already said that a couple of times. Again, this means great words or we would probably better describe it as blasphemous words. He's speaking blasphemy, terrible things against God and against God's people.

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Now again, this is something that is fulfilled by the Antichrist as John records it in Revelation 13, verse 6. He talks in much the same way that the Antichrist, this beast who comes on the scene, is speaking blasphemy against God and speaking blasphemy against God's people. Well, not only that, but we see that, again, he shall persecute the saints of the Most High.

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It tells us that the saints will be given into his hand for a time and times and a half a time. The Antichrist, this little horn that comes up in this fourth beast...

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will be making war against God's people and he will be successful. He will be victorious. He will prevail against God's people, against the saints of the day. Now, who are the saints of the day? Before we start getting freaked out and wondering if we're in trouble. The saints of the day are those who are alive during the tribulation period. Now, backing up just a little bit.

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What are we looking forward to as believers in Jesus? What is the prophetic thing that we have hope in, that we are trusting in? Well, Jesus said, I'm going to prepare a place for you. In John chapter 14. He said, if I go to prepare a place for you, I'm going to come back and receive you unto myself. The Apostle Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4,

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That we're going to be caught up. That Jesus is going to return for His church. For His followers.

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He's going to be in the clouds and then we're going to be caught up to meet him, to join with him in the clouds. And then we will forever be with the Lord. It's the rapture of the church. And so we're looking forward to, we believe that Jesus is coming back for his bride, that's us. And that we'll be caught up and taken out of this world. And then the world will go through those seven years of tribulation.

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Now after the church is taken out of the picture, those who are left behind still have an opportunity at that point to turn and get right with God. And so there will be saints during the tribulation period because there will be those who turn and get right with God during that time of great difficulty. As the Antichrist rises up and makes war against the saints, it's those who

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who were left behind from the rapture, who turned to God after the rapture took place, that he will be making war against. And primarily, that will be the Jewish people. Because the scriptures tell us, and the book of Revelation, as well as some other places, that during that tribulation period, that the Jews will turn back to God. Right now,

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Collectively, there's a blindness. They do not receive Jesus Christ as their Messiah, but during the tribulation, they'll realize Jesus really is their Messiah. And so as a whole, collectively, the Jewish people would turn to Jesus and

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and the Antichrist will be making war with them. That's probably way more information than you wanted to know, but that's what's taking place here in this fourth beast. There's these ten horns. It's a future kingdom. There's a little horn that comes up. It's the Antichrist. He's blaspheming God, and he's making war against the tribulation saints. He's making war against those who turn to God during the tribulation.

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But he can only do it until the Ancient of Days comes. He can only do it for the amount of time that God allows him. It says there, for a time and times and half a time. Now, if you were with us in Revelation, that should be very familiar to you. Time, times, and then half a time. What is that? How long is that? That's three and a half years. That is...

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Exactly half of the tribulation period. The tribulation period is seven years long. There's three and a half years in the beginning where the Antichrist is rising to power. But then in the middle of the tribulation, he proclaims himself to be God and demands all of the world to worship him. And so that last three and a half years...

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are what's being described here. He's going to be speaking blasphemies because he's proclaiming himself to be God. He'll be making war against the saints because the Jews at that time will recognize, hey, he's not our Messiah. Jesus is our Messiah and they'll turn to Jesus. And so he will be making war against them for the last three and a half years of the tribulation period.

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And so again, these things correspond with the things that we studied in the book of Revelation. They're things that are yet unfulfilled, but we can trust and know that they will be fulfilled because all of the things leading up to it have taken place exactly the way that God declared. Verse 26 says,

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Verse 1.

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So the final aspect of this vision is the court that is seated. Now the court is a reference to what he talked about there in verse 10. There was that great multitude that was before the throne of God. That's the court. And so they're seated and seated.

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They take away His dominion. And so this Antichrist, he sets up his kingdom, he blasphemes God, he wars against the saints, but the end, God wins. And they take away His dominion, they take away His power, and everything is given to God's people. It says, given to the people, the saints of the Most High. It's the children of God who receive the kingdom, the dominion, the earth.

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It's at that time that Jesus will set up and establish his kingdom on the earth, which it describes here as an everlasting kingdom and all dominions shall serve and obey him. And so he receives the kingdom. He receives the authority. He sets up his kingdom upon the earth, which he reigns for a thousand years here upon the earth. But then that brings in eternity where he rules and reigns for the rest of eternity.

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And so that is Daniel chapter 7. Now, let me give you a quick summary.

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Just to kind of wrap it up and try to help you understand what we're talking about. So first we had the lion as part of Daniel's vision. That was fulfilled by the nation of Babylon from 612 to 539 BC. Then we saw the bear. The bear was fulfilled by the Medo-Persian Empire, which was from 539 to 330 BC. These are historical things. You can look back, you can see the aspects of those nations.

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Then you have the leopard in his vision with four heads and four wings that was fulfilled by the Greek Empire from 330 to about 63 BC. Then you have the fourth beast, which is unlike the other beasts, which is fulfilled by the nation of Rome from 63 BC to about 475 AD. So all of those things have been fulfilled exactly the way that God said, exactly what he described is what happened.

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Then you have things that are yet unfulfilled. The ten horns, not yet been fulfilled. These things will be fulfilled in the last days, just before the second coming of Jesus. And so those are ten kings of a future empire.

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The other horn that comes up, that is the Antichrist who will be a prominent leader in the establishment of that nation but also will take the full reins of that last world empire. And then you have the eternal kingdom which is given to the saints. And I want to just stop and consider that for a moment. Would you turn with me please to Hebrews chapter 12? Hebrews chapter 12. We'll wrap it up with this last verse here.

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Hebrews chapter 12. It's there in the New Testament towards the end of the Bible. The author of Hebrews here is talking about making sure we listen to God, not refusing God, paying attention to what he has said and serving him. And so in Hebrews chapter 12, verse 28, it says, therefore, here's some pages turning. I'll wait just a moment. Hebrews 12, verse 28. It's page 1061. If you have my Bible, probably you don't.

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Hebrews 12.28 says this, Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.

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As we look at Daniel chapter 7, there's a lot of details there. There's a lot of things that are, wow, that's interesting. That's amazing. Wow, look at how it corresponds. Look at the historical accounts. Look at the speculation about what might be in that final kingdom. And there's a lot of ways that we can go. But I think the bottom line for us comes back here to Hebrews 12, 28. Because what we see and what we understand is this.

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that we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken. The kingdom that Jesus establishes is forever and ever, even to forever and ever, even to everlasting. It's never ending. He reigns on high. He rules.

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And so it's Jesus that we need to be paying attention to. We could be worrying about all the different world powers and all the different interpretations and understandings and we can get caught up in those things. And there's certain value in studying and understanding. Obviously, God gave it to us for us to dig into and to grasp hold of. But the result in our lives needs to be Hebrews 12, 28. As we recognize what the Bible says about the kingdom of God.

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And where we will be spending eternity and how we will be with Jesus forever. Our response should be, he says, since we're receiving this kind of kingdom, it cannot be shaken. It will not fall like these other past world empires. It will last forever. Since that's the kingdom that we are receiving, he says, let us have grace. That word have means to hold on to. Take a firm grasp of grace.

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Grace. What is grace? Grace is God giving to us wonderful things that we don't deserve. He says, since this is the kingdom that we're going to have, let's hold fast to grace.

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Let's not get caught up in legalism and doing good works and that's how salvation comes. No, let's not get caught up in works. Let's not get caught up in conspiracies or philosophies or other things of this world. No, let's instead hold on to grasp hold of grace. God is good to us. He's good.

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done for us things that we don't deserve. He's continually doing things for us that we don't deserve. Let's hold fast to you. Let's hold on to grace. Not just holding on to grace and receiving the goodness that God has given to us, but he says, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. Let's hold on to grace so that we can serve God.

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You see, as we see what is to come, we see the things that have yet to be fulfilled, the things that God is promising. It could cause us to be freaked out. It could cause us to be worried. It could cause us to be really consumed with the speculation on the fulfillment of all these things. But the author of Hebrews says, now listen, since you're receiving this kingdom, stay focused, hold fast to grace. Don't lose sight of, don't lose your hold of,

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that God has given to us forgiveness, salvation, the hope of eternity, not because we deserve it, but because He's gracious. Hold fast to that. Don't lose sight of that. And then, with that in mind, with that in your heart, you can serve God. And so what we need to be doing, how we need to be responding to Daniel chapter 7 and the prophecies that are contained,

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is to serve God because of the grace that He's given to us. The worship team is going to come up and close us in worship. And as they do, let's take some time to grasp hold of the grace of God, to reflect upon what God has done for us and remember how good He's been towards us, that we might then be able to go forth and serve Him, to love people, to share with them the good news.

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to minister to the people around us, to do the things that God has put upon our heart. Let's hold fast. Let's reflect upon the grace of God as we worship Him, that we might be able to serve Him with reverence and godly fear. Let's worship the Lord together. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.