Predict the future
Daniel 7
Naming the Unnamed Beast
In the prophet Daniel’s vision, recorded in the seventh chapter of the biblical book which bears his name, we are presented with four animals, representing nations. They are a lion, a leopard, a bear, and a fourth, unnamed creature.
This creates a direct parallel with Revelation 13 where the same four “beasts” are brought to view.
In Revelation 13 the lion, leopard and bear are combined in one conglomerate beast whereas in Daniel 7 the three beasts are presented separately. This is one evidence among others to show that these visions are meant to apply now, and not thousands of years ago. Almost all Bible commentaries place the fulfillment of Daniel 7 in the distant past. The lion is Babylon, the bear Medo-Persia, the leopard Greece, the unnamed beast Rome. And these explanations would be fine if there were not reasons from the text of the Bible itself indicating that the visions should apply now.
The first reason comes from a comparison of the visions of Daniel 7 and Revelation 13. Because of the obvious parallel of these visions (see Table 2) it to interpret them in tandem. In Daniel 7 the animals are presented individually. In such a presentation it is natural to conclude, as commentators always have, that the animals refer to successive empires. Medo-Persia followed Babylon, just as the bear followed the lion. But when we see the lion, bear and leopard rolled into one beast in Revelation 13, the symbolism is telling us that all three of the powers represented here are existing at the same time. The explanation we presented in chapter two takes that into account.
Since we gave evidence in that chapter to interpret the unnamed beast of Revelation 13 as the United States, then if the visions of Daniel 7 and Revelation 13 are parallel, then we would expect that the unnamed beast in Daniel 7 is also the United States. Before pursuing that, let us look at a few more evidences from the text indicating that this prophecy of Daniel 7 should be patient of another interpretation beyond the traditional interpretation which places it in the past.
In verse 17 of Daniel 7 the interpreting angel, probably Gabriel, tells Daniel (and now the rest of us who are also listening) that these four beasts are four kingdoms which “will arise from the earth.” We are being told about beasts which arise in the future. But at the very time the angel was telling Daniel these things, Babylon was about to fall. It was not about to “arise” in the future. This is very crucial Biblical evidence begging for an alternative explanation for this chapter than the traditional outlay of Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome.
Another textual evidence to look beyond the traditional explanation of this chapter comes from verse 7. We read there:
After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast…and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it… (Dan 7:7)
At face value, the expression “the beasts that were before it” seems to mean the beasts that came before it in time. That is, first the lion came and went, then the bear came and went, then the leopard came and went and now the fourth beast is appearing. But the Hebrew word qodam, translated “before,” more perfectly means “in the presence of.” Thus, what Daniel is telling us is that all these animals were before him at the same time. Lion, bear, leopard, and fourth beast are all standing together at the same time. Thus, as in Revelation 13, we can conclude that these animals represent nations existing at the same time. The language of the prophecy fits better with a future, simultaneous application of the symbols than the traditional sequential, chronological one.
Another indication that this prophecy refers to the end of time, and not to thousands of years ago, come in verses 21 and 22:
I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them; Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom. (Dan 7:21-22)
The “horn” referred to above comes from the fourth beast, and is seen “making war” with God’s people (“the saints”) right until the final judgment at which time “the saints possessed the kingdom,” a reference to the Age to Come. But if the fourth beast represents Rome, this prophecy is false, because Rome is not still persecuting Christians. But if the fourth beast symbolizes the “image to the beast” power which the United States will be involved with as we described in chapters 2 and 3, the words of this prophecy would fit. The beast power would be persecuting the people of God until the Lord executes judgment at the end of time, as described in this chapter:
Thrones were set up while I was watching, and the Eternal God took his place. His clothing and his hair were white as snow. His throne was a blazing fire with fiery wheels, and flames were dashing out from all around him. Countless thousands were standing there to serve him. The time of judgment began, and the books were opened. I watched closely to see what would happen to this smaller horn because of the arrogant things it was saying. Then before my very eyes, the fourth beast was killed and its body destroyed by fire. The other three beasts had their authority taken from them…(Dan 7:9-12)
Looking at the beasts of Daniel 7 we can see the filling in of the current world’s power structure. The lion has the loudest animal roar, and has no natural predators. The papacy speaks with more authority, and is listened to by more people than any other single figure on earth. And who could successfully make war with this institution?
Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? (Revelation 13:4)
Those who apply the symbol of the lion to the past say it symbolizes Babylon; and now applied to the present it symbolizes the power which the Reformers referred to as spiritual Babylon.
In verse 4 we are told that this lion’s eagle’s wings are plucked. Eagle’s wings are a symbol of divine protection. (See Exodus 19:4; Deuteronomy 32:11 and Isaiah 40:31). We have seen that this power will prosper. It could not do so without divine protection, divine forbearance. Several time phrases are given in the Bible to indicate the length of this power’s persecuting reign:
…and they will be given into his had for a time, times and half a time. (Dan. 7:25)
…and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. (Revelation 13:5)
If this power is given a period of protection during which it “prospers,” then at the end of that time frame, it could be said:
“I kept looking until its wings were plucked…” (Daniel 7:4)
The bear is a traditional symbol for Russia. It is an apt symbol to characterize her foreign policy, and of communist philosophy generally. Verse 5 says, “Arise devour much meat!” This fits the ultimate communist goal of world domination. Because Western media now treat communism and Russian brutality as things of the past, we neglect the extent to which Russia has lost none of its former tactics and ambitions. What is the difference between the Russian invasion of Hungary in 1956, and the current Chechen war she is engaged in? Chechnya wants independence, as Hungary did. Russia will not grant it. Russian troops have engaged in horrible atrocities in Chechnya where thousands have died on both sides.
The Bible is a better reminder about the character of the Russian bear than the characterizations of a liberal press. The Chechen people understand the following two scriptures better than the “experts” from the West:
Like a…rushing bear is a wicked ruler over a poor people. (Proverbs 28:15)
I will encounter them like a bear robbed of her cubs. (Hosea 13:8)
While the West considers Russia as a benign teddy bear, Scripture sees differently:
…like a bear lying in wait… (Lamentations 3:10)
The Bible also provides another almost overlooked characteristic of the Russian bear. Daniel 7:5 tells us that this bear “was raised up on one side.” Thus most illustrators show the bear with two of its same-side feet on the ground and the other two lifted up. The word which is translated “side” is shetar. But Shetar does not mean “side.” Shemar means side. It is uncertain how translators missed this, but shetar means “authority.” Daniel is thus telling us that the bear was raised up on one authority. Every dictatorship is raised up on one authority, and every Communist nation is raised up on one authority: Karl Marx. The entire Communist empire has arisen from the writings of one man. Marxists form a godless religion of their own, worldwide. There are as many people studying Marx in the world as there are people who study the Bible.
Looking at the third beast in this chapter, the leopard, we read in verse 6 that “dominion was given to it.” “Dominion” is the delegated sovereignty that Heaven has bestowed upon Israel, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome as discussed in the last chapter. One of the great themes of the book of Daniel is how God’s kingdom interrelates with the kingdoms of men.
The eventual, eternal “dominion” of this planet will be given to the Lord Jesus as Daniel writes:
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. (14) 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. (Daniel 7:13-14)
Then the longsuffering Lamb will rule the nations with His gentle rod of iron. Then the wolf will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the kid, and they will not hurt or destroy in all of God’s holy mountain, and all peoples, nations, and languages will serve God and confess to His glory that Jesus is lord.
The dominion God has granted nations, sometimes called “the times of the Gentiles,” is transitory. The leopard beast, who receives a portion of this earthly “dominion”, represents the Third World, especially the lands where the leopard is native, Africa, Central Asia and India. The God who gave the prophecy also made the leopard. A biblical parallelism indicates the relationship between Third World and the leopard:
Can the Ethiopian change his skin
Or the leopard his spots? (Jeremiah 13:23)
Parallelisms are common in Hebrew writing. This parallelism equates “leopard” with “Ethiopian.” “Ethiopian” means “dark-skinned,” or as one translator has it, “region of dark faces.” The Bible is thus associating the leopard with dark-skinned people. The areas where the leopard is native, including India, once called the “Gibraltar of heathenism” and Africa, once known as the “dark continent,” are now experiencing tremendous Christian growth. These countries have been spared the mammon that to a large extent has corrupted and neutralized the witness of western Christianity.
These revivals were likely being prophesied by Noah in the prophecy he gave over Canaan:
Cursed be Canaan
A servant of servants
He shall be to his brothers.
(Genesis 9:25)
Traditionally this prophecy has been applied to the subjection of the world’s dark races to slavery, since the flood. But if the prophecy is interpreted spiritually, it would mean that the curse experienced by Canaan becomes a sharing in the cross of Christ, typified by the dark-skinned Simon of Cyrene being “pressed into service to bear His cross.” (Matthew 27:32)
It should be noted that the use of the Hebrew superlative “servant of servants”, always refers to something good, not negative. Thus being a “servant of servants,” a phrase that seems a curse from Noah’s lips, becomes a prophecy of the highest calling men can gain; fulfilling Jesus’ call to be least of all if you would be greatest. “Servant of servants.” In a sense the prophecy means they will become the best Christians of all!
The fact that the leopard has on its back “four wings” indicates that the leopard gained the dominion lost by the plucking of the wings on the lion (v. 4). The leopard also has four heads, indicating that there will be four Third World nations associated together when this power comes to ultimate fruition. We have seen that Revelation 17 gives the order of earthly successions as Israel, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, the Papacy, and the Papal-Protestant conglomerate power which we have not yet seen. The only way this four-headed leopard can fit in this succession is if it is the “eighth” power referred to in Revelation 17:11.
And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.
As we pointed out before, there are prophecies around the world that when the Messiah returns he will be black. Satan may thus impersonate Christ returned as a black man heading some form of one-world government, after the short term of the seventh head. (“…when he cometh, he must continue a short space. Rev. 17:10)
But in all this we are getting away from our current focus which is to locate the place of the United States in these prophecies.
Do the descriptions of this unnamed fourth beast in Daniel 7 fit the U.S. and the “image of the beast” power which the U.S. will help create? Here is Daniel’s initial description of the fourth beast:
The fourth beast was stronger and more terrifying than the others. Its huge teeth were made of iron. It devoured and broke in pieces, and stamped the remnant with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns. (Dan 7:7)
Certainly the U.S. is stronger than Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome, and all other powers who have been part of world history. Teeth made of iron? The ability to manufacture and use iron and steel on a giant scale is something that was perfected in the U.S. during the industrial revolution and is certainly one of the major reasons that the U.S. is the leading power in the world. The “teeth” of iron would likely refer to the arsenal of weapons that we have manufactured and been able to use against our enemies in warfare. When we were defeating Hitler in Nazi Germany, we would have 1,000 B-17s in formation at the same time, each with a crew of ten, each filled with bombs. Along with the Mustang fighters which would often accompany the bombers, these were indeed “iron teeth” which devoured the Nazi Luftwaffe.
The reference to “stamping the remnant” is a reference to what this final “beast” power will do to the final remnant of God’s church. It is another reference that this “image to the beast” power will persecute the final Christians, the “remnant.” So this power has both material power, evidenced by the iron and spiritual authority, evidenced by the ability to persecute the remnant and get away with it. This means this government will have “legitimacy,” as was discussed in chapter 3. If any government can provide legitimacy it is the United States, arguably the most stable nation in modern times.
As for the reference to the ten horns, and the denouement of the “little horn” which follows (in verses 8, 20, and 24; see the chart on the literary structure of Daniel 7), it points to the governmental structure that will be set up to fulfill the “image to the beast” prophecy of Revelation 13.
It could be that the current division of the United States into ten sections for the administration of certain federal programs and for use by such federal agencies as the EPA may be the beginning harbinger of this ten-headed image power. Federal programs are often funneled through these ten regions and the 50 state capitals are passed over in the process. Our federal government has seized the power about which the anti-federalists warned in America’s founding debates. Our president has gained all the power of a king. The breadth of our civil and religious rights has been limited by Supreme Court decisions and the threat of terrorism. America is changing from republic to beast before our eyes!
The prophecy said that this beast would be “different” from the other beasts. The Constitution and government of the U.S. are unique. Here the church was separated from the state. This had never been done before in the history of the world. Furthermore, citizens are given the protection of law for a broad range of personal and religious freedoms. This too was a novel idea undeveloped by former or current world powers. Israel, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome were all governments which merged the power of the church and state and had a single powerful king. The Papacy too had always favored merging the church and state, and tried throughout its medieval history to have the Pope exercise power as an earthly king in the affairs of Europe and the civilized world. The United States certainly presented to the world a different face.
But when the U.S. collapses economically as prophesied in Daniel 8, there could be drastic measures taken in this nation which could bring forth a new, even more “different” kind of government. Hitler arose in the Weimar Republic after a financial collapse, and brought about such a drastic governmental change. America would be much more likely to consider some form of global or shared government in the event of a financial collapse and/or through experiencing increased terrorist atrocities like that of September 11. A new form of government could easily eliminate the powerful protections for civil and individual rights which we have for so long taken for granted. We are yet to see the fullness of the “difference” that is prophesied for this fourth beast.
The likelihood of an Iranian-U.S. war has occasioned the writing of this book on the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation and their relationship to the United States and its involvement in a Middle Eastern conflict.
And while the Bible does deal with the subject, as we have attempted to show, it would be fair to say that even in these prophetic portions of Scripture, the earthly clashes of nations are not the center of the Bible’s message. While the Bible chronicles the rise and fall of these earthly kingdoms, and likens them to beasts, it makes plain that there is one kingdom which does not rise and fall, and which will not be left in the ash heap of history.
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. (14) And dominion and glory was given Him, 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 that which shall not be destroyed. (Daniel 7:13-14)
The kingdom of God will not pass away, it will not be destroyed. Jesus, the “Son of Man,” with His resurrection victory on behalf of the human race, has obtained the title deed to an eternal kingdom, which He freely shares with all who desire citizenship. Daniel, though he faithfully worked for the Babylonian and Medo-Persian earthly empires, learned to live and serve the eternal kingdom, which will have no end. Daniel’s book, which offers so much in the way of prophetic direction, is a guide in this regard also. Daniel’s life is an example of standing faithfully in the service of God and country, even when his country was in moral decline.
The book of Daniel ends with an assurance to Daniel that he will have his place in Heaven. He is first told that the words of his prophecies would be “sealed” until the end-time.
And He said, Go, Daniel! For the words are closed up and sealed until the end-time. (10) Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried. But the wicked shall do wickedly. And none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand. …(13) But you go on to the end, for you shall rest and stand in your lot at the end of the days. (Daniel 12:9-10, 13)
The war between the United States and Iraq, and the coming war with Iran, prophesied 2500 years ago by Daniel, are evidence that his book is now being unsealed. Daniel is told, as are those of us who read his words, that the “wise will understand.”
It is the purpose of this little work to do its part in helping many to be wise in understanding the times in which we live, and to find personal assurance that their future is secure through entrusting their lives to the Living God, whose kingdom shall have no end. May each reader, like Daniel, find rest in Him, and find his or her heavenly lot “at the end of the days.”
Daniel 2 is the final chapter we will look at in this brief study. That chapter also contrasts the kingdoms of man with the eternal kingdom of God.
