FOUR KINGDOMS … AND THEN THE FIFTH

Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on June 23, 2024 under 2024 |

Bethany Bible Church Sermon Message from June 23, 2024 from Daniel 7:1-28

Theme: History flows according to God’s sovereign plan; and will lead to the eternal kingdom of Jesus Christ.

(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).

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This morning, we come to the second half of the Book of Daniel. And it’s quite a bit different from the first half.

In Chapters 1-6, we were taught about history. Those chapters told us the story of this man Daniel; and how God used him to impact mighty world leaders through two successive world empires. But in Chapters 7-12, we’re taught about prophecy. You could sum it up this way: in the first half of the book, Daniel interpreted the dreams and visions that God gave to others; but in the second half of the book, Daniel has dreams and visions that God gave to him directly.

And the first of his visions—the one that we find in Chapter 7—is the most important one of them all. It’s the key that unlocks all the rest of the Book of Daniel to us. In fact, it gives us the foundation for interpreting biblical prophecy from this point on all the way to the Book of Revelation.

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Now; before we begin to look at it, let’s consider a question. You hear this question asked a lot nowadays. It’s the question, “What’s this world coming to?”

Many have asked it with great seriousness of thought. Philosophers of history have wondered if there is a pattern or a flow to human history. Is history to be seen as linear?—that is, does it have a starting point and flow along some kind of continuum? And so, is that continuum progressive in nature, and is humanity improving? Would it be true—as some have said—that ‘everyday, and in every way, we’re getting better and better’? Or is human history in decline?—that is, is it going in the opposite direction of progress? Is it suffering in an increasingly downward spiral? Or is human history cyclical?—that is, does history simply repeat itself in both a progressive and a digressive direction? Philosophers have debated about the nature of history throughout … well … history!

But when most people today ask that question, they aren’t thinking about it philosophically. The question “What’s this world coming to?” is usually asked from out of a sense of frustration and foreboding. They look at things in their own times, see things going out of control, and worry about the future. They wonder where it will all end up. What’s it all coming to?

Well; as we come this morning to Daniel 7, we come to a prophetic message that’s given to us by God—the very God who controls history. In it, He shows us that history isn’t meaningless. It’s heading somewhere purposeful. He shows us that, even though the journey may be very rough at times, it ends on a high note. History flows according to God’s sovereign plan; and will lead to the eternal kingdom of Jesus Christ.

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So; with that in mind, let’s look closely at this chapter … and at the amazing and important dream that God gave Daniel.

First, notice …

1. THE CONTEXT OF THE DREAM.

We find that stated to us in verse 1. It says;

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 (Daniel 7:1).

There are three important things to notice in these words. First, notice the time of the dream. It was in ‘the first year of Belshazzar, king of Babylon’. Belshazzar was the last king of the Babylonian empire. He was the king who saw ‘the writing on the wall’ in Daniel 5. And because Daniel had this dream in the first year of Belshazzar’s reign—in 553 B.C.—that would mean that Daniel was given this dream about 14 years before the writing on the wall and the fall of Babylon. When Babylon fell, it came as no surprise to Daniel. He already knew what was about to happen.

Then, notice how this dream came to Daniel. It came to him when he was a relatively older man as he was lying on his bed. Before this time, the first king of the Babylonian empire—King Nebuchadnezzar—had a dream on his bed also. It was a dream that God had given him of a mighty statue that represented four successive world empires. The first empire was Babylon—his own kingdom—as the head of gold. The second was Media-Persia, represented by the two arms of silver. The third was Greece, represented by the belly and thighs of bronze. And the fourth was Rome, represented by the two legs of iron … and below them, the two feet with the ten toes mixed with iron and clay. In Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, a stone that was cut without hands struck the two feet; and then the whole statue came crumbling down from the bottom up and blew away. And that stone then became a mighty, immovable mountain that filled the earth. And now Daniel—in the same kind of way—is said to have a similar dream and vision in his head while on his bed. The content of Daniel’s dream—as it turns out—was a prophecy about the same four kingdoms; but with different images.

And then, finally, notice how this dream was recorded for us. Daniel wrote it down “telling the main facts”. At the time that he had this dream, he apparently didn’t tell anyone about it. At the end of Chapter 7, we’re told that he ‘kept the matter in his heart’. But he didn’t leave it to memory. He wrote it down; because he knew it was a message from God. Perhaps the fact that this is stated in the third person, at the beginning of this chapter, is because it bore the authority of an official record. It may have even been written down because it had actually been entered—later on—into the official records of the Median-Persian empire in the Aramaic language after the fall of Babylon.

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And that leads us, then, to …

2. THE CONTENT OF THE DREAM.

In verse 2, we’re told;

Daniel spoke, saying, “I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the Great Sea” (v. 2).

The ‘Great Sea’ that is mentioned here is the Mediterranean Sea … the name of which means “in the middle of the earth”. And it’s interesting to notice that with respect to all the kingdoms that are about to be symbolically pictured to Daniel—Babylon, Media-Persia, Greece, Rome, and even Israel—what they all have in common is that they all share the coast of the Mediterranean. We so often tend to think of our own nation as the center of the world’s activity … with every other country simply in the background somewhere. But from the standpoint of God’s prophetic promises, it’s the other side of the globe that’s the center—with the Mediterranean Sea as “in the middle of the earth”.

Now; very often in biblical prophecy, the ‘sea’ is a figure for the various Gentile people groups of the world—often stirred up in turmoil like the raging waves of mighty waters. And here, Daniel saw the ‘four winds of heaven’ stirring up the Great Sea. The reference to ‘the four winds’ represents the providential workings of God through the circumstances of world events. And from out of that stirring, Daniel then saw ‘four great beasts’ arise. He goes on to tell us;

“And four great beasts came up from the sea, each different from the other. The first was like a lion, and had eagle’s wings. 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” (v. 4).

This is a picture of the Babylonian empire—’ the head of gold’ that Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream. It was represented by a lion—the king of the beasts; and Nebuchadnezzar was the first and the greatest of all the kings of the Gentile nations. The ancient empire of Babylon represented itself—in fact—as a lion. But the lion Daniel saw was a strange-looking lion. It had two wings—probably to symbolize the swiftness by which Babylon conquered the known world. Those two wings were shown as being plucked off; and the lion was then made to stand like a man—probably to illustrate how God had humbled the great King Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 4, and caused him to crawl on the ground like an animal for seven years until his sanity was restored to him. Thus, King Nebuchadnezzar’s proud heart was brought low; and he gave praise to God.

“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!’” (v. 5).

This is a picture of the Median-Persian empire—the ‘arms of silver’ in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. It took possession of the Babylonian empire in just one night’s time—back when the Babylonian king Belshazzar saw ‘the writing on the wall’. This empire is symbolized by a bear—a lumbering, awkward beast that’s also swift and brutal and dangerous when outraged. We’re told that it came ‘suddenly’; just as it took the Babylonian empire by surprise. It is shown as ‘raise up on one side’; because over time, the Persian aspect of the empire took dominance over the Median aspect. It’s also shown as having three ribs in its mouth; and while we can’t be entirely certain of this, many scholars believe this is meant to represent the Median-Persian empire’s three great conquests—Lydia in the year 546 B.C., Babylon in the year 539 B.C., and Egypt in the year 525 B.C. It was told, “Arise, devour much flesh!” And indeed, the Median-Persian empire did!

“After this I looked, and there was another, like a leopard, which had on its back four wings of a bird. The beast also had four heads, and dominion was given to it” (v. 6).

This is a picture of the Grecian empire—the belly and thighs of bronze in King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. It was represented as a leopard—a very quick and deadly creature; and its swiftness was even further emphasized to us by the fact that it had four wings. This symbolized the career of the Grecian empire’s greatest king—and one of the most remarkable individuals in history—Alexander the Great. He conquered the known world in only about 12 years’ time—a feat that could only have been made possible because God Himself ordained it. This leopard is shown as having four heads; because after Alexander’s death in 333 B.C., his empire was divided up between his four generals Casander, Lysimachus, Selucus, and Ptolemy.

“After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong. It had huge iron teeth; it was devouring, breaking in pieces, and trampling the residue with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns” (v. 7).

This symbolized the last of the four great Gentile world empires—Rome; which was represented as the two legs of iron and the feet of clay in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. The two legs represented the two later divisions of the Roman empire—both east and west. The Roman Empire was truly terrible in its cruelty and strength; as it devoured the residue of all the other nations that came before it.

And this is where we need to consider this vision very carefully. From Daniel’s standpoint, all of what we’ve just read about was yet in the future. From our standpoint, however, it has almost all occurred in our past … except for one aspect. The beast that Daniel saw was shown to have 10 horns—which are symbols of political power. In our history, the Roman Empire was never politically represented by 10 cooperative powers. So this is speaking of something yet future to our time; something that will occur in a yet-to-be-revived version of the fourth kingdom—the Roman empire.

And in addition, Daniel noticed something else. In verse 8, he said;

“I was considering the horns, and there was another horn, a little one, coming up among them, before whom three of the first horns were plucked out by the roots. And there, in this horn, were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking pompous words” (v. 8).

He saw that from out of the midst of these ’10 horns’—as a separate horn altogether—came a little horn that plucked three others out completely. This horn had ‘eyes like the eyes of a man’; which symbolized remarkable intelligence; and a mouth that bragged and boasted in a startling way. We know from later biblical prophecy that this talking ‘horn’ is symbolic of the rise of the Antichrist as the chief king of this future, revived Roman empire. Elsewhere in the Bible, he’s called ‘the prince that shall come’, or the one who brings ‘the abomination of desolation’, or ‘the man of sin’. In the Book of Revelation, he’s called ‘the Beast’. He will come onto the world scene ‘according to the working of Satan’; and under his dreadful rule, evil will be released upon the world at an unprecedented level.

But dear brothers and sisters in Christ; it’s very important that you and I notice what Daniel said next in verses 9-10:

“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;
Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him.
The court was seated,
And the books were opened” (vv. 9-10).

The ‘Ancient of Days’ is none other than God our heavenly Father—the Creator and Ruler of all that is. His white garments and hair show forth His holiness and purity. And the fire that emanates from His throne speaks of the decisiveness of His righteous judgment. What a stunning image this must have been for Daniel! And he saw that, even as the ‘little horn’ was boasting and bragging and blaspheming in a horrifying way, the court of heaven was being seated and the books of judgment were being opened. Daniel said;

“I watched then because of the sound of the pompous words which the horn was speaking; I watched till the beast was slain, and its body destroyed and given to the burning flame. As for the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away, yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a time” (vv. 11-12).

This tells us that—even in that future dark time of history—God remains in absolute control. Daniel then went on to say;

“I was watching in the night visions,
And behold, One like the Son of Man,
Coming with the clouds of heaven!
He came to the Ancient of Days,
And they brought Him near before Him.
Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom,
That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion,
Which shall not pass away,
And His kingdom the one
Which shall not be destroyed” (vv. 13-14).

These are words that are very much like what King Nebuchadnezzar said in Daniel 4—after his sanity had been restored to him. And it describes a scene very much like that in Revelation 5; when Jesus—the Lion of the Tribe of Judah—comes to take the seal from the hand of “Him who sits on the throne”. This, dear brothers and sisters, is that stone—cut without hands—that King Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream. And just as it became a great mountain that filled the earth in the king’s dream, so it will be at the destruction of that dreadful fourth beast, and at the destruction of the Antichrist ‘horn’.

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Now this all confused Daniel and troubled him. We can’t blame him. Even though he wrote it all down carefully and accurately, it was all still a great and perplexing mystery to him. And that’s when we read on to find …

3. THE INTERPRETATION OF THE DREAM.

We’re told that Daniel sought answers from someone who stood by—perhaps an angel;

“I, Daniel, was grieved in my spirit within my body, and the visions of my head troubled me. 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: ‘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’” (vv. 15-18).

Note that the first thing God wants us to know from the interpretation that is given, dear brothers and sisters, is that God’s people shall end up on the winning side of it all. They shall reign.

But Daniel had more questions. He went on to say;

“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, broke in pieces, and trampled the residue with its feet; and the ten horns that were on its head, and the other horn which came up, before which three fell, namely, that horn which had eyes and a mouth which spoke pompous words, whose appearance was greater than his fellows” (vv. 19-20).

Perhaps what we find in verses 21-22 are the words he spoke to that ‘one who stood by’:

“I was watching; and the same horn was making war against the saints, and prevailing against them, until the Ancient of Days came, and a judgment was made in favor of the saints of the Most High, and the time came for the saints to possess the kingdom” (vv. 21-22).

The kingdom would be given to the saints; and yet, the saints were prevailed against by the ‘little horn’. In Daniel’s dream—in his vision of it all—it was all so startling and perplexing that he sought an explanation. And an explanation was given to him. But remember: what was told to him needs to be divided in our thinking into two separate divisions. The first, in verse 23, involved a first manifestation of this ‘beastly’ Roman empire which has already happened in our past; and the second, in verses 24-25, involved a subsequent manifestation of the empire that is yet to occur in our future.

“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.
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 ‘(vv. 23-25).

Verse 23 describes the rise of the Roman empire in the past; but verses 24-25 describe the subsequent events of this empire in a time yet to come. And do you know how we can be sure of this distinction? It’s because verses 24-25 describe the same events that we read about in Revelation 13 and 17—with respect to the rise of the Antichrist. In Revelation 13, we’re told about how the Antichrist would speak great blasphemies and war against the saints for “a time and times and a half of time”; that is a year, two years, and a half a year—or “forty-two months”. And we’re told in Revelation 17 how “ten horns” which are “ten kings” will give their power to him “until the words of God are fulfilled”.

But verses 26-27 go on to describe the glorious events that we read about in Revelation 19-20. As Daniel was then told;

“‘But the court shall be seated,
And they shall take away his dominion,
To consume and destroy it forever.
Then the kingdom and dominion,
And the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven,
Shall be given to the people, the saints of the Most High.
His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
And all dominions shall serve and obey Him’” (vv. 26-27).

King Jesus will return, and judgment will be brought against the Beast; “whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming” (2 Thessalonians 2:8).

That, dear brothers and sisters, is the answer to the question, “What’s this world coming to?” It’s coming to the return and the reign of Jesus Christ, and the setting up of His everlasting kingdom.

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Now; there’s obviously a whole lot more that needs to be said. My hope is that—if the Lord so permits—we’ll dig a bit deeper into some of the specific elements of Daniel 7. It would be good for us to understand a little more of what we’re being told about the ‘little horn’ as it relates to what we’re told in the Book of Revelation. And most of all, we need to spend some time rejoicing in the glorious promise of the reign of Jesus that we find in verses 13-14.

But before we end our time this morning, please notice what we’re told in verse 28 about …

4. THE IMPACT OF THE DREAM.

Daniel wrote;

“This is the end of the account. As for me, Daniel, my thoughts greatly troubled me, and my countenance changed; but I kept the matter in my heart” (v. 28).

I think that people could notice that something had happened to Daniel. He wasn’t the same anymore after having this dream. People could read it on his face. This vision from God was a life-changing experience for him. It should have a life-changing impact on us too.

But how should it change us? I suggest that it should transform our outlook. As this dream from Daniel shows us, history isn’t meaningless and purposeless. No matter what seems to be happening in the world today—or what will yet happen in the future—let’s remember that it all flows according to God’s sovereign plan; and will absolutely lead to the eternal kingdom of our glorious Lord and Savior and King. That outlook should give us joy, confidence, and motivation.

As the apostle Paul said to his brothers and sisters at the end of 2 Thessalonians 2:

But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, to which He called you by our gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle.

Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work (2 Thessalonians 2:13-17).

So; from now on, whenever we hear anyone say, “What’s this world coming to?”, we should respond by saying, “I have the answer to that! It’s coming to the return and reign of Jesus Christ!”

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