Shalom!
This is Israel Leonard with the word of God for you. Because Jesus is coming soon!
In the previous message we spoke about some beasts that the prophet Daniel saw, coming out of the sea, a sea that was agitated by the four winds of heaven. We saw that those winds are actually spirits, and that the sea represents peoples. But as we all know, not everyone sees in these prophecies the things God intended us to see. Then, our first question should be:
What do YOU see in these prophecies?
Because that which we see and believe determines what we do. Let's read about the first three beasts in the prophet's vision:
Daniel 7:4-6
"The first was like a lion, and it had the wings of an eagle. I watched until its wings were torn off and it was lifted from the ground so that it stood on two feet like a human being, and the mind of a human was given to it"
"And there before me was a second beast, which looked like a bear. It was raised up on one of its sides, and it had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. It was told, 'Get up and eat your fill of flesh!'"
"After that, I looked, and there before me was another beast, one that looked like a leopard. And on its back it had four wings like those of a bird. This beast had four heads, and it was given authority to rule"
Wow! This is weird, isn't it? I don't know about you, but I have never seen those things in my dreams. And it becomes more complicated if we google these beasts. Some sites say they are England, Russia and Germany. Another ones say that they are Babylonia, Media and Persia, or other ones. Are all interpretations OK? Maybe we could add some other ones, with a little imagination?
Why shouldn't we identify them with Attila's huns, Genghis Khan's Mongolians and the Ottoman Empire? Then Europe is "the Kingdom of God"!
Or maybe identify them with the Mayas, the Aztecs and the Incas, and America should be "the Kingdom of God"?
Well, imagination is a useful thing. Maybe you have had to hammer a nail without a hammer, or to fasten a screw without screwdriver. In such a situation we could use a stone to hammer, or a table knife to fasten the screw. You simply imagine something that could do the job. But that's no reason to go to a hardware store and buy some stones to hammer, or some table knives to screw. Because we know that there are hammers for nails and screwdrivers for screws.
In a similar way, prophecies have A MESSAGE, the one God intended to deliver to us. Imagination is no substitute for the Holy Spirit. It doesn't matter how many interpretations you could imagine, prophecies have one message from God to us, and that's the one you are supposed to ask God for. That's why there is only one Messiah, Our Lord Jesus Christ. It doesn't matter how many persons fulfil a messianic prophecy, or some messianic prophecies. In Christ Jesus are ALL messianic prophecies fulfilled, because He is Israel's Messiah, the one who will bring to us the Kingdom of God.
When we read Daniel 7:4-6, we find a "mystery" - as a matter of fact, THREE mysteries - becase these three "beasts" are not "beasts" in a literal sense, they mean something else. This is a very usual feature in visions and prophecies. We can see that some persons jumpstart their imagination and find three interpretations that never were in Daniel's mind, or even in God's mind. That's wrong, of course. Other ones have a hidden agenda, and they force the facts so that the vision says what they want, not that which God revealed to the prophet. That's also wrong. These ways to "interpret" the Scripture will never show us God's message in the book of Daniel, neither in the whole Bible.
What do these beasts represent?
In the same chapter seven they are called "kings" in verse 17, and "kingdoms" in verse 23. This interpretation puts the vision in the same light than the interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream in Daniel chapter two. We find the same kingdoms represented by these three beasts in the gold, silver and bronze of the statue. Daniel revealed to the king that the head of gold was Babylonia and the other ones, other empires that would rise after it.
Which empires are the ones God revealed to Daniel the prophet in this vision?
LET'S PRAY
Almighty Father:
-We give You thanks for Your word, because it is comfort, guidance and hope to us. -We give you thanks for Your Son Jesus Christ, Who came to save us and to bring us back to You.
-We give You thanks for Your Holy Spirit, the giver of life, Who comes to reveal your word in our hearts.
-We pray that You use Your word to reveal to us that message you showed to Daniel the prophet, because you are the same yesterday, and today, and forever, and Your word doesn't change. In Jesus Holy Name we pray. Amen.
If you have read the book of Daniel, then you know it is composed of two main parts. The first one, from chapters 1 to 6, include stories of Daniel and his friends in Babylonia, the interpretation of two dreams and the scripture in the wall. The second one, from chapters 7 to 12, is about those visions and prophecies that were revealed to Daniel. A panorama of this second part, together with the statue of the king's dream in Daniel two, is crucial in order to understand the meaning of the beasts of Daniel seven. Let's take a look at that view.
Daniel 8 shows a battle between a ram and a goat, and interprets the vision as the war between Greece and Persia, where the Greeks won and Alexander the Great conquered the Persian Empire. We can also read there about an evil king who descended from one of Alexander's followers. That man was a fierce enemy of the Jews, and was finally defeated by them in the Maccabean revolt. The two Empires in this chapter, Greece and Persia, are of course two among the four we read about in the beasts of Daniel seven or in the statue of the dream of Nebuchadnezzar. We can say that Daniel 8 is a zoom of the total view, showing two of the four kingdoms in a more detailed way.
Daniel 9 shows us the prophecy of the seventy weeks, which is God's answer to a prayer of Daniel for his people Israel. We can read there about the death of the Messiah and about the last enemy of the Jews who will arise in the last "week". This is related to the Kingdom of God which is coming, the final event in Nebuchadnezzar's dream and in the vision of Daniel seven.
Daniel 10 shows us Jesus Christ Himself when He appeared before Daniel, after that time of fast and prayer the prophet spent. Even when the issue of Daniel's prayer is not mentioned, the answer of the Lord, that starts here and covers the rest of the book to the end, shows that Daniel was still praying for his people, and for clarity in the visions he had got.
Daniel 11 shows us more than two centuries in the history of the Middle East, with prophecies about many kings, queens and military leaders from three different empires, Persia, Greece and Rome. The prophecies of this chapter are so accurately fulfilled that many people who don't believe in the spiritual gifts seek to explain it with the "maccabean thesis", a satanical tergiversation that makes the book of Daniel a fraud written more than three hundred years later. But for us who believe in the gifts of the Holy Spirit, most definitively in the gift of prophecy, the accuracy of the fulfilment of this chapter is a testimony of Daniel's awesome prophetical anointing. When the chapter is reaching its end it becomes eschatological, jumping to the end of times, the "seventieth week" and the same bad guy of Daniel nine. The chapter is a detailed account of the events from the second "beast" to the end of times.
The last chapter, Daniel 12, shows us the final salvation of Israel, and a promise to the prophet about his own future blessing. Several prophecies we see here - as the final intervention of the archangel Michael, the resurrection of all the Jewish believers who are written in the book of life and the end of the times of the Gentiles - show us that the chapter is about the last times and the coming Kingdom of God. This is also the final issue in the dream of Nebuchadnezzar and in the vision of the beasts in Daniel seven.
ALL PROPHECIES in the second part of the book of Daniel are linked to the interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream in chapter two. Chapter seven is a parallel revelation, chapter eight treats two of the empires, chapter eleven treats kings, queens and military leaders from three empires... The whole book is about the same revelation Daniel got from God: that there would be four great empires against Israel, but at the end of times, the Kingdom would be given to the holy people of the Most High. This is a basic knowledge to get the revelation of the empires Daniel saw in those "beasts".
Who is represented in the first beast?
"The first was like a lion, and it had the wings of an eagle. I watched until its wings were torn off and it was lifted from the ground so that it stood on two feet like a human being, and the mind of a human was given to it"
The original Aramaic sounds like this:
"Kadmaytá ke aryé, vegapín dineshár la. Khazé havét, ad di merítu gapé, unetilát min ar-á, veal ragláyin ke enásh hakimát, ulebáb enásh yehíb la"
The rendering of NIV is a very good one to the original. "Mind of a human" is the translation of "lebáb enásh", which literally means "heart of man". But we know that the "heart" in the Bible means often our mind, it is our thoughts and feelings.
Now the "lion" is a symbol of royalty, and the "wings of eagle" mean the power of God (you can find it in Exodus 19:4 and Isaiah 40:31) The gold of the head of the statue in Nebuchadnezzar's dream represents divinity, because the authority to govern comes from God. And the "wings of eagle" mean the same thing. But they add a new revelation in Daniel's vision. The fact that the wings were "torn off" and the king became a simple "human being in two feet", with "a heart of man", means that this king was wrong in the use of that power God gave him. Then he was rejected by God - as king Saul did when he chose his own way - and replaced with another empire.
Why did God "torn off" Babylonia's wings?
The prophet Jeremiah predicted Babylonia's fall in a rather long passage, that takes two chapters in his book. There we can see some reasons of Babylonia's punishment:
- They scattered Israel (in Jer 50:17-18)
- They defied the Lord, the Holy One of Israel (in Jer 50:29)
- They did wrong in Zion (in Jer 51:24)
- They killed many Jews (in Jer 51:49)
This beast that got its wings torn off is Babylonia, as the golden head of the statue was also Babylonia in the interpretation of the prophet Daniel.
Who is the second beast, then?
In Daniel 7:5 we read, "And there before me was a second beast, which looked like a bear. It was raised up on one of its sides, and it had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. It was told, 'Get up and eat your fill of flesh!' "
In the original Aramaic we read, "Vaarú khevá akhorí tinyaná, damyá ledób, velistár khad hakimát, utelát ilín befumá, ben shiná. Vekhén amerín la: 'kúmi, akhúli besár sagí"
The phrase "your fill of flesh" that we read in the NIV is "besár sagí" in Aramaic, which literally means "a lot of flesh". Besides this, the rendering is a literal one.
Who is this bear, "raised up on one of its sides"?
We have some revelations already:
- this empire defeated Babylonia
- it consisted in two parts (its sides) and one of them was greater than the other one
- it conquered three other empires (the three ribs in its mouth)
The empire that defeated and conquered Babylonia was Persia. In the Bible it is called also "the Medes and Persians", because the first conquest or Persia was Media, the empire that existed before in the same region for centuries. The "three ribs" can be seen in the other conquests of Persia: they are Lydia, Babylonia and Egypt (which we know now as Turkey, Irak and Egypt)
The Persian Empire can be seen also in Daniel eight as a "ram with two horns" in which "one of the horns was longer than the other but grew up later". This "longer horn" is Persia and the other one is Media. And this difference between the horns is the same difference between the sides of the bear. That this empire "ate a lot of flesh" is evident in the huge extension of the Persian Empire, which ranged from Turkey and Egypt all the way to India.
But the Persian victory would not endure forever. A third empire raised in the region, the one which Daniel saw as a "third beast" in Daniel 7:6 :
"After that, I looked, and there before me was another beast, one that looked like a leopard. And on its back it had four wings like those of a bird. This beast had four heads, and it was given authority to rule"
In the original Aramaic we read, "Vaatár dená, khazé havét, vaarú akhorí, kinemár, velá gapín arbá dióf al gabá. Ve arbá reshín lekhevatá, ve shaletán yehíb la"
NIV has a perfect rendering of the original. This "leopard with four wings and four heads" appears also in Nebuchadnezzar's dream (as the "belly and thighs of bronze") and in Daniel eight (as a "goat"). About this kingdom we know that:
- it is a third kingdom that defeated Persia, the second one
- its conquests happened rapidly (the leopard is one of the fastest animals on earth, and the goat was "crossing the whole earth without touching the ground")
- the first king died (the "prominent horn between the goat's eyes") and four other ones emerged after him
- it is called "Greece" - from Hebrew "Javán" - in Daniel 8:21
The Persian Empire was conquered by Alexander the Great in a very fast campaign of eight years, which made Alexander one of the most able military leaders of all times. After his great conquests, Alexander died and the huge territory he had occupied was divided in four Greek Empires: Macedonia, Thrace, Egypt and Seleucia. Those empires roughly correspond to nowadays Greece, Turkey, Egypt and a big territory from Turkey to India (old Seleucia included half Turkey plus Syria, Irak, Iran, Afghanistan and a part of Pakistan) These four empires form the "Hellenistic Greece", which is the name that secular history calls Greece in the period between the death of Alexander and the rise of Rome. Most of the known world in Africa, Asia and Europe by that time was influenced by Greek culture and under Greek rule. In Daniel two we read that this third kingdom should "rule over the whole earth". And in Daniel eleven we read about the same situation (the death of Alexander and the rise of several empires after him) That chapter deals also with the wars between Seleucia and Egypt (the "kings of the north and of the south") for the control of Syria and Israel.
Daniel chapter seven continues with a fourth beast, equivalent to the "legs of iron and feet of iron and baked clay" in the statue of Nebuchadnezzar's dream. This beast represents another kingdom, a non-Greek one which should defeat Greece. But we can take it in a next message.
There are many satanic lies going around in this world, being called "revelations" and "interpretations". But the real revelation is that which the Spirit of God gave to those men who wrote the Word of God. These beasts in the book of Daniel have been seen by many readers as many different things, but the revelation of God to Daniel is about these three empires that should exercise dominion on Israel.
Maybe you meet someone who says that these interpretations are not "that" important. You can remind them that "interpretations" are the basis of what we believe, and our beliefs are the basis of what we do. Because of some "interpretations" of the Quran, some people are killing many others today "in the name of Allah". Because of some "interpretations" of the Bible, some people that call themselves "Christians" are committing sin and practising abomination. The Bible says that Christ will tell them, "I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!"
There are terrible judgements because of all the evils of this world, and the Lord wants to deliver us from that eternal death and give us eternal life with Him. If we believe that the Bible is the Word of God, that's right. But if we don't receive the real revelation about this Word of God, then we should be rejecting God Himself. The meaning we see in prophecies, the revelation we get from God, is "your" revelation about Him, is "your" knowledge of God. This revelation, this knowledge, is true or false. The true God saves you, but a false one should lead you to condemnation. If you've been living in a lie up to now, there is someone who can deliver you from your sin, and his name is Jesus Christ.
If you have not yet received Christ Jesus as your Lord and Savior, today is the day! Don't wait any longer! Some day it will not be possible, and we don't know which one is that day or that time. But today you've got that possibility, to receive Christ and to be save from death and eternal condemnation. The only thing you need yo do is to come before Him in prayer:
"Thank You Lord, for Your Word and for these awesome revelations You have given us in it. Thanks for Jesus Christ Our Lord, who bore our sins on the cross of Calvary. Forgive us our sins, wash us in that blood that was shed on the cross, and fill us with your Holy Spirit, so that the revelation of your heart will come to our lives, so that we can remain faithful, and hear from you, "Well done, faithful servant. Come and share your master’s happiness!". Thank You, Lord, because your ears are inclined to our prayer. In the holy name of Jesus. Amen"
God's peace be with you all!
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