Daniel 7- Vision

“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. Daniel spoke and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea. And four great beasts came up from the sea, different one from another. [1] The first was like a lion, and had eagle’s wings: I beheld until the wings of it 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. [2] 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. [3] 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. [4u] 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 broke in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was different from all the beasts that were before it; [4d] and it had ten horns. 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. [s] I beheld until 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. 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. I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spoke, I beheld even until the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame. As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time. 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. 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.” (v1-14)

Technically, before reading the interpretation, we don’t yet know that these beasts represent kingdoms. However, I put in the markers because I read ahead! See verse 17. Also, notice how the words “king” and “kingdom” are used interchangeably. A king represents his kingdom. This is a good example of multiple words used in the same way, similar to a word used in multiple ways. Patterns help us get the true meaning contained by imperfect words.

Parallels

Notice the parallel between the tens horns of the fourth beast and the ten toes of the fourth metal in the statue in chapter two. Also, notice that God’s judgment sits near the end of the fourth kingdom and brings about its downfall. This is similar to the stone “cut without hand” destroying the iron and clay feet. There is a little difference in that the stone is the kingdom that comes after the fourth, while the judgment sits during.

In addition to pointing out that there are no gaps (not clear in the vision, but clear in the interpretation), there is another teaching goal in this chapter: parallels. I just pointed out a couple obvious ones and there will be several more in chapter eight that will help us with interpretation. Another one will become clear in the interpretation: the number of words focused on the fourth kingdom. There is probably more space devoted to it than all the others combined!

The [S] marker means Sanctuary. Usually this means the sanctuary in heaven (see Hebrews 8 and 9), but might also mean the ancient Jewish temple. In this vision we are clearly in God’s throne room with the angels so it is the heavenly sanctuary. The italicized words in the chart are events in the sanctuary.

The judgment in the sanctuary brings up another parallel. This time it is with Moses’ timeline. Just before the blowing of the Jubilee trumpets—representing Christ’s return—there was the Day of Atonement ceremony, which was the final judgment on evil.