Scenes of the
World Historical
Antichrist Battle
The
Four Empires are the true
Antichrist
Beasts of this World
We now begin the study of the second half of the Book of Daniel. We shall break it down chapter by chapter into a systematic, six part bit-size series in which we will encounter some of the most dramatic and incredible prophecies of the entire Bible. The following six chapters shall trace the evolution of the Antichrist kingdoms through history.
- We will witness the rise and fall of the evil one, the Antichrist himself.
- We will come to know and understand his career and the spiritual reasons for his rebellion and hatred of God.
- We will look into the heart of man and discover the reasons why most people will follow the Antichrist en masse.
- But, we shall also come across the single greatest, most encouraging, all encompassing prophecy of Scripture; the one which tells us of
- Jesus' first and second coming.
- How to identify the Antichrist.
- And what determines the beginning of the seven year period of horror known as The Tribulation.
- We will have promises and interpretations ministered to us by none other than the angel, Gabriel.
- And ultimately, we will be reassured that God's kingdom is the kingdom of His Son and of His people (us) and that it will be victorious, lasting from everlasting to everlasting.
If you love prophecy then Daniel is for you. If you are ignorant of Bible prophecy then the book of Daniel is for you. The book of Daniel is extremely important to the end-times saint and needs to be studied with the same sort of fervency that we study all other aspects of Bible truth. It is important that the reader keep in mind that Daniel is God's Secret End-times Weapon fashioned 25 centuries ago through the life and pen of his wise and faithful servant to further our faith and salvation. Everything written in the book's twelve chapters is intended to be applied by end-times saints to their personal faith. At the book's conclusion the studious reader is informed that its meaning and understanding would be sealed up and impossible to be understood, until the time of the end when travel and knowledge would be increased. We, who live in this fast-paced, rat-race of a world, as the information superhighway hums away on lap-tops throughout the land and on face-books everywhere, we cannot but conclude that the time for understanding Daniel's meaning and purpose is established, and is of itself a sign that this generation is likely the final generation of saints. God is using Daniel to alert us and keep us abreast of the lightening history we are experiencing. The old adage: forewarned is forearmed has never been more true than it is in today’s changing world. God is using Daniel as a secret weapon that arms his people with knowledge and, above all, builds faith.
Dan. 7: Clear Vision of Evolution of the Antichrist Kingdoms
Another point of division is that until now Daniel has not been given a dream of his own or prophecy strictly his own. But chapter seven opens with: "In the 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." The first six chapters of Daniel are ordered in a certain chronological sequence. Starting with his arrival in the king's palace in Babylon around 512 B.C.E, Daniel related, in order, events during the reigns of Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar (Neb's grandson) and the Median King, Darius. They are stories of conquest by faith and build to a glorious crescendo with the story of Daniel and the lion's den during the time when the Persian Empire ruled supreme over God's earth. But now, suddenly in the seventh chapter, Daniel’s first prophetic dream reverts back to the dream he once had during the reign of Belshazzar the last Babylonian king. Why the break in chronology? Because it is beginning a new chronology, one of the future, a chronology that will tell the story of history all the way up to the end. The fact that the sequential flow of Daniel is broken in chapter seven lends credence to subdividing the study in half. The first half is about the type of faith end-time saints need; the second half is about the type of spirits they are up against and the promise that the kingdom of God will win out over the apparently awesome kingdoms of the antichrist and this world. The second half lays out history before it ever happens. Its revelation gives the end-times saint added courage and faith knowing that God is in control of all things, even the governments and kingdoms of this world. God, and only God, knows the beginning from the end.
Daniel's dream is interpreted for us by an angel of God. Though the dream's prophetic meaning seems, at first, mysterious we are told what will happen in the future. But, as in all prophecy, we do not know exactly who, where, or when these things will occur. But we do find out what is going to happen. Some details on how or when we can piece together by our study of the entire Bible prophecy, but we are told definitely, what is going to happen. Keeping that in mind, that we are being told what is going to happen, let us look at the dream and discover what it signifies.
The dream is a follow up of Nebuchadnezzar's dream in chapter two, which we already took a look at during the first half of this study. Arthur Bloomfield, in his book on Daniel, described the relationship between the two dreams as just a matter of perspective. Nebuchadnezzar's dream in chapter two shows the four major kingdoms of prophecy from the world's viewpoint. They are glorious, magnificent and built into a body of great majesty and might. But Daniel sees these four kingdoms from God's vantage point and they are ugly, vicious beasts waiting to devour and crush mankind under their dominance. In chapter two Nebuchadnezzar, representing the kings of this world, saw the four great significant empires of history as gold, silver, brass and iron - a marvelous statue of a colossal being that towered over the whole earth. Daniel, however, sees them marauding through the earth, devouring each other and fighting against God's people Christ’s kingdom. In Nebuchadnezzar's vision, God merely forecasts the evolution of the Antichrist and its ultimate defeat by the kingdom of Christ. In Daniel's dream God exposes the beastly, cruel nature of the rulers of this world and begins to enlighten the end-time saints about the Antichrist's tactics and methods.
Daniel’s Dream of the Four Beasts
In the dream Daniel sees the winds of the earth blowing on the ocean and out of the midst of the waters rose up four very powerful beastly creatures.
- The first is a lion which stood on its hind feet and it was given a man's heart.
- The second is a bear with three ribs sticking out of its mouth and it was told to arise and devour much flesh.
- The third is a four-headed, winged leopard and dominion was given to it.
- The fourth is like no other having iron teeth and ten horns and Daniel described it as dreadful, terrible and exceedingly strong. This last beast had a "little" horn come up from the midst of the ten horns and three of the horns were plucked up. And the little horn had eyes like a man and a mouth speaking great things.
But Daniel was troubled and wanted to know what it meant, so he asked one of the angels in the dream. The angel said, "These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth.”
A Quick Look at Antichrist History
The four kingdoms have already been identified by Nebuchadnezzar's dream in other places in Daniel (as we shall see) and by history itself. The four kingdoms which rose out of the earth to fight against the everlasting kingdom of God's son are: Babylon (the lion), Persia (the bear), Greece (the leopard) and Rome (the indescribably horrible beast). These are the kingdoms of significant history. They are the powers that matter in God's plan of redemption and the struggle for the souls of this earth. But anyone who knows about history may object that the Roman Empire has been gone now for over a thousand years and since that time there have been other movements and powers that have shaped world history. But not so fast.
A quick look at history tells us that the scepter of Rome has never completely faded away from the face of the earth. The Charlemagne and the Hapsburg's in Europe continued the title of the Holy Roman Emperor from 800 A.D. until the First World War ended the monarchy in 1918. Kaiser Wilhelm carried the title Caesar (Kaiser). Napoleon's vision of a new empire was bolstered by his forcing the Papacy to bestow on him the title of Holy Roman Emperor. Papal Rome has continued in the spirit to dominate the beliefs of the people throughout the West. The dream of chapter two describes the partly strong and partly weak condition of the Roman Empire. The interpreter tells us the kingdom would be divided and that it would not be able to get it all together until the Antichrist came.
”And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise. And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters' clay and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay. And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken. And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay. And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed ..” (Dan. 2. 40-44)
Take some time to re-read the second chapter and especially ponder the words about the fourth empire which is Rome. Consider whether or not it still exists both in spiritual and material realm. Chapter seven shows a further connection between Rome and the Antichrist which is still yet to come in prophecy. Out of this fourth beast come ten horns. In verse 24 we are told that these ten horns are ten kings, later in Daniel we discover that they give over their power totally to the Antichrist (the little horn). The coming of the Antichrist is prophesied in II Thessalonians 2.3 and (Revelation 13 & 17). It is clear that the Antichrist must come out of the fourth beast; therefore it is reasonable to assume that the fourth beast is still alive and well. Deep within that beast is the drive and determination to dominate the world. Hitler came out of that Roman Spirit, Napoleon came out of it. Another will come who will use the powers of Europe and other "Roman" devotees to fulfill the vision of the Antichrist. Chapter seven can be edifying to the end-times saint because it shows how Daniel's prophecies have been fulfilled and now all that remains is for the arrival of the Antichrist.
All Four Beasts Have Come Just as Prophesied
Babylon was
the kingdom in power when Daniel had his dream of Chapter seven. It was
the most glorious of all kingdoms to come and the image of a lion standing
on its legs like a man and being given the heart of a man reminding us
of King Nebuchadnezzar who was made like a beast but then restored and
given a heart of a man.
Persia lay
just around the corner. Symbolized by a bear the Persians would take
the Babylonian possessions and make it a cohesive empire. They set
up systems of governors and provinces which could be ruled from a central
location. They were renowned for their ruthlessness. Thus: the picture
of a bear with ribs in its mouth devouring much flesh.
Greece
In 340 B.C. Alexander the Great took a band of Greeks over the Hellespont into Asia Minor and within three short years had taken over the Persian Empire. By 332 B.C. Alexander the Great had taken over the known world. Thus: the picture of a leopard with wings. With lightening speed he had subdued the world. But upon his death at Babylon in 332 B.C. the kingdom was divided to the four winds. His generals made four separate kingdoms portrayed in the symbol of the four headed leopard.
Rome
Rome vaulted to world dominance during thelast two centuries beforeChrist. It marched the antichrist spirit throughout the world and lived up to the prophecy of stamping the world under its feet. No nation or land could withstand the force of its will.
Daniel's dream has come to pass, though it took six hundred years for the first part of it to be fulfilled. Now we wait on just the last part about the ten horns of the Roman Empire and the "little horn".
We can take heart because Daniel's amazing vision of the kingdoms of
history has already come true, so we know the rest is shortly to come
to pass also.