DANIEL'S DREAM OF FOUR BEASTS

(Daniel 7:1-14)

In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon,

Daniel had a dream,

And visions passed through his mind as he was lying on his bed.

He wrote down the substance of his dream.

2 Daniel said:

'In my vision at night I looked,

And there before me were the four winds of heaven

Churning up the great sea.

(Bringing to the nations of the world,

Social, economic and political unrest).

3 Four great beasts, each different from the others,

Came up out of the sea.

4 The first (the Babylonian empire under Nebuchadnezzar),

Was like a lion

And it had the wings of and eagle.

I watched until its wings were torn off

And it was lifted from the ground

So that it stood on two feet like a man,

And the heart of a man was given to it.

5 And there before me was a second beast

(the Media-Persia empire),

Which looked like a bear.

It was raised up on one of its sides (one part of the empire),

And it had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth.

It was told, 'Get up and eat your fill of flesh!'

6 'After that, I looked, and there before me was another beast

(the Grecian Empire of Alexander the Great),

One that looked like a leopard.

And on its back it had four wings like those of a bird.

This beast had four heads

(Alexander's four generals, his successors),

And it was given authority to rule.

7 After that, in my vision at night I looked,

And there before me was a fourth beast--

Terrifying and frightening and very powerful.

It had large iron teeth;

It crushed and devoured its victims

And trampled underfoot what ever was left.

IT WAS DIFFERENT FROM ALL THE FORMER BEASTS,

AND HAD TEN HORNS(symbolizing ten kings).

8 While I was thinking about the horns,

There before me was ANOTHER HORN,

A LITTLE ONE, which came up among them;

AND THREE OF THE FIRST HORNS

WERE UPROOTED BEFORE IT.

THIS HORN HAD EYES LIKE THE EYES OF A MAN

AND A MOUTH THAT SPOKE BOASTFULLY.

(The Antichrist, the Beast of Revelaion)

9 As I looked, thrones were set in place

(for the Court of God),

And the Ancient of Days (God, the Father Almighty)

Took his seat.

His clothing was as white as snow;

The hair of his head was white like wool.

His Throne was flaming with fire,

And its wheels were all ablaze.

10 A River of fire was flowing

Coming out from before Him.

Thousands upon thousands attended Him;

Ten thousand times then thousand

Stood before Him.

The Court was seated,

And the books were opened.

11 Then I continued to watch

Because of the boastful words THE HORN was speaking.

I kept looking until THE BEAST was slain

And its body destroyed and thrown into the blazing fire.

12 (The other beasts had been stripped of their authority,

But were allowed to live for a period of time.)

13 In my vision at night I looked,

And there before me was one like a son of man,

Coming with the clouds of heaven.

He (Christ) approached the Ancient of days

And was led into His Presence.

14 He was given authority, glory and sovereign power;

All peoples, nations

And men of every language worshiped Him.

His Dominion is an Everlasting Dominion

That will not pass away,

And His Kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.'

(This is the Kingdom of Christ Jesus)

(Daniel 7:1-14)