Daniel – Chapter 7

1 In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel had a dream and visions of his head upon his bed: then he wrote the dream, and told the sum of the matters.

2 Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea.

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

(*) In the prophetic language of the Bible, a “beast” is the symbol for a kingdom or nation (compare with [27] Daniel 7:17). These 4 beasts are the four empires since the time of Daniel: Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. The vision of[27] Daniel 7 parallels that of [27] Daniel 2, but it digs deeper and provides more details.

4 The first was like a lion, and had eagle’s wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man’s heart was given to it (*).

(*) King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon eventually converted to the Lord, that’s why this ravenous lion was described as being given a heart of man.

5 And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it (*): and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh.

(*) The empire of Medo-Persia consisted of the Medians and the Persians, in which the Persians came up later but became significantly more powerful, thus one side of this bear was raised up. This empire devoured not just Babylon, but also Lydia and Egypt.

6 After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads (*); and dominion was given to it.

(*) Greece under the command of Alexander the Great possessed an incredible speed of conquest (it was not just a leopard, but a leopard with 4 wings instead of the 2 wings of the lion). Taught by Aristotle and became king in 20 years old, by the time Alexander passed away at the age of 33, he had finished conquering the entire massive region for the Greek empire. However after Alexander died, the kingdom fell apart to the hands of 4 generals: Cassander, Lysimachus, Ptolemy, và Seleucus (the leopard has 4 heads).

7 After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns (*).

(*) These ten horns were ten kings that came from the Roman empire when it fell apart (verse 24). 7 of these 10 nations still remain until today: England, France, Germany, Switzerland, Italia, Spain, and Portugal, while the other 3 were plucked up by the roots (verse 8).

8 I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things (*).

(*) The little kingdom that arose amidst the kingdoms of Europe was none other than the church kingdom of the Vatican in Rome. The three kingdoms that were plucked up by it were the Heruli (493 AD), the Vandals (534 AD) and the Ostrogoth (538 AD). The Vatican is vastly different compared to all the other kingdoms or nations of the world, in that it is also a religious organization with religious power. Some of its outrageous claims include: “We hold upon this earth the place of God Almighty” (Pope Leo XIII); or “The Priest does really and truly forgive the sins in virtue of the power given to him by Christ.” (A Complete Catechism of the Catholic Religion, page 279).

9 I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire.

10 A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.

11 I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake: I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame.

12 As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time.

13 I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.

14 And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.

15 I Daniel was grieved in my spirit in the midst of my body, and the visions of my head troubled me.

16 I came near unto one of them that stood by, and asked him the truth of all this. So he told me, and made me know the interpretation of the things.

17 These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth.

18 But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever.

19 Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast, which was diverse from all the others, exceeding dreadful, whose teeth were of iron, and his nails of brass; which devoured, brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with his feet;

20 And of the ten horns that were in his head, and of the other which came up, and before whom three fell; even of that horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look was more stout than his fellows.

21 I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them (*);

(*) That the Vatican had persecuted and martyred numerous Christians was a well-known fact admitted even by the church itself. Historians estimated over 100 million people were killed for their faith by this organization during the dark age that it reigned.

22 Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.

23 Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.

24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings (*).

(*) The European kings of old were mostly Catholic Christians, under the influence and even rulership of the Catholic church, except the kings of the Ostrogoths, the Heruli and the Vandals. So, the other Catholic kings decided that these kings needed to be destroyed. First, king Zeno (474-491 AD) arranged an agreement with the Ostrogoths which led to the destruction of the Heruli in 493 AD. Then Justinian (527-565 AD) destroyed the Vandals in 534 AD, and finally the Ostrogoths in 538 AD. And thus “the three horns” were “plucked up by the roots” before the little horn.

25 And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws (*), and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time (**).

(*) The Vatican had changed the law of the Ten Commandments of God: they omitted the second commandment forbidding idolatry (that’s why there are numerous idols in the Catholic church), splitted the tenth commandment into two to make up for the deleted one, and cut short the fourth commandment regarding the weekly Sabbath from 98 words to 8 words and changed the Sabbath to the first day of the week (changing time). The verse said that it “THINK to change times and laws”, because no matter how well-received these changes are, in reality the Ten Commandments of God still ever remained unchanged, they cannot be altered by any human power.

(**) A time is a year. Times are two years. There 3 and a half times are 3 and a half years, which is 42 months, which is 1260 days (Hebrew calendar has 360 days a year divided into 12 months). This period of time was repeated over and over again under these 3 different forms in various prophecies of the Bible. In the prophetic language of the Bible, a prophetic day equals a year in real time (compare with [26] Ezekiel 4:6 and [04] Numbers 14:34) so this period of time is the 1260 YEARS reign of the Vatican, from 538 AD when it finished uprooting the three kingdoms that resisted it. By 1798, when Alexandre Berthier, general of Napoleon marched into the Vatican, captured the Pope and exiled him to death in France, ending the Vatican’s bloody reign of terror, was exactly 1260 years!

26 But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end.

27 And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.

28 Hitherto is the end of the matter. As for me Daniel, my cogitations much troubled me, and my countenance changed in me: but I kept the matter in my heart (*).

(*) See lesson “Who is the Anti-Christ?” in “the Prophecy Encyclopedia“, explaining in detail this prophecy of [27] Daniel 7.