Daniel and revelation - Daniel 7

• The Book of Daniel

  • It has been considered an Old Testament Apocalypse
  • It contains vision, symbol, interpretation
• Daniel 7 is the last Danielic chapter written in Aramaic
• Daniel 7 has been described as "the very center of gravity of the whole book" and "the heart" of the whole of Daniel
• Daniel 2

  • Connected with Daniel 7
  • In Daniel 2 God shown the vision and image to king Nebuchadnezzar, while in from chapter 7 onwards it is Daniel, the man of God, who receives the visions and the interpretations
• Daniel 2

  • Portrays the worldly empires from a political and military viewpoint
  • Daniel 7 includes the spiritual powers that exist in the world
• The vision in Daniel 7 was given about fifty years after the vision of Daniel 2
• Symbolism of beasts


  Represents the achievement of international supremacy by one nation after another through political revolution and conquest
• Wild animals


  A familiar symbol for nations and empires
• Winds represented storms of war and conquest
• The great sea


  • Flooding rivers symbolized the movements of invading armies
  • Many waters, the nations supporting spiritual Babylon (Rev 17:15)
• First beast (7:4) - Lion with eagle's wings

  • Represents Babylon (605 - 539 BC)
  • Symbols of lions and wings represent wealth and luxury
• Second beast - A Bear with three ribs


  • Represents the empire of Medo-Persia (539 – 331BC), and its conquest of Lydia (547), Babylon (539) and Egypt (525)
  • The Persian predominance over the Medes
• Third beast, leopard with 4 heads and 4 wings

  • Represents Greece (331 - 168 BC)
  • Faster in its conquest
  • Divided into 4 kingdoms: Cassander (Greece and Macedonian), Lysimachus (Minor Asia), Seleucus (Syria and Mesopotamia), Ptolemy (Egypt and Palestine)
  • The four wings are a fitting symbol for the speed of movement that was characteristic of the young Alexander
• The fourth beast, the animal with "iron teeth"


  • Represents Rome (168 BC – 476 AD)
  • A counterpart of the iron legs and feet of the image in Daniel 2
  • The fourth kingdom was different from all the others before it in that they had been monarchies whereas Rome was a democracy
  • The fourth beast takes power gradually, defeated other kingdoms and became the domain of western Mediterranean
• The little Horn

  • Emerges from the 4th beast which is Rome
  • It is between the ten horns (10 Germanic Tribes)
  • It rose out of the fourth beast
  • It appeared after ten other horns
  • It was little when first seen, but became greater than its fellows
  • It was to put down three kings so that, as it arose, three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots
  • It had eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things, and it spoke words against the Most High
  • It was to wear out the saints of the Most High
  • It was to think to change the times and the law
  • It was allotted special powers for a time, two times, and half a time
• The little horn power is an extension of pagan Rome and thus shares essential characteristics of the former empire
• The little horn power takes the prerogatives of Christ, persecutes God's people, changes God's law, speak against God, and acts as it pleases for three and a half times (which is 1260 calendar years)
• These activities indicate that this entity hold both political and religious power, which fits with the papacy
• The rise of papacy

  1. Diocletian becomes an Emperor and wants to have uniformity of worship

  2. Diocletian divides the empire, abdicates, and is succeeded by Galerius and Constantinus

  3. Constantinus fights a battle in the name of the Christian God and defeats Maxentius, becoming the first Roman Emperor to profess Christianity

  4. Constantine issues an edict forbidding work on "the venerable day of the sun" (Sunday), the day that had come to be substituted for the seventh-day Sabbath

  5. The fall of Rome to Barbarians and the foundation of Constantinople in the east were important factors that favoured the rise of the papacy

  6. Emperor Justinian in AD 533 but effective in AD 538 declares the Pope the head of all the churches, opening the door for the papacy to implement its rule
• The Church of Rome has shed more innocent blood than any other institution that has ever existed among mankind
• The Catholic Church has introduced and enforced many changes in Scriptural doctrines and practices, including the transfer of the celebration of the divinely appointed festival of the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day of the week