THOSE FOUR BEASTS in DANIEL 7

Let’s take a closer look at those beasts that Daniel sees in a dream shared with us in chapter 7...

No prizes for guessing which current empire was represented by the 1st beast - a lion with eagle's wings. Nebuchadnezzar II dominated the New Babylonian Empire by reigning for 43 years, during which he had his 'wings clipped' for 7 years when he suffered probably lycanthropy.

Daniel doesn't know this yet but the next empire will be a lop-side Medio-Persian empire, the Persians being stronger, and it will chew those 3 ribs: Egypt, Babylon and Lydia.

Daniel has no clue yet that a Greek Empire will conquer with unbelievable swiftness - until Alexander the Great dies in Babylon, leaving the empire to fragment between his 4 generals: Cassander, Lysimachus, Ptolemy I & Seleucus - the 4 heads.

Daniel was especially troubled about this 4th beast and had a problem even believing this was true - 'devouring the whole earth...breaking it in pieces...stamping it down', 'making war with the saints and prevailing against them'. How could anything be worse than Babylon's recent treatment of the Jews? Well they sure found out in 70AD... and guess what! The Roman Empire was never conquered - it fragmented in 476AD and survives fractured to this day.

Notice how we are taking care to not jump to conclusions but always viewing this as Daniel saw and understood it. He knows the first empire must be Babylon that he finds himself in – that’s all!                                  
He does not yet know which empires will follow.