“As my vision continued that night, I saw someone like a son of man coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient One and was led into his presence.” – Daniel 7:13-14
As we continue in the prophetic literature of Daniel 7, God uses a lot of creative imagery and figurative language, and it shifts between the seen and unseen realms. All of this interpretation and detail is in the open hand, or something Christians can debate and disagree on, but what’s not to be debated is that Jesus is coming back one day.
This chapter jumps back to when King Belshazzar was king of Babylon. If you’ll remember back to Daniel 5, this is the young king who is throwing a party when God shows up in the form of a hand writing on the wall. At that time, Daniel had a dream about four beasts, which are four successive kingdoms (similar to the imagery in Daniel 2). In this case, different movements, nations, and empires are typified by different animals, similar to how the United States would be typified by an eagle, the Republican Party would be typified by an elephant, and a donkey would represent the Democratic Party. Just like in Daniel 2, the beasts represent successive pagan, godless kingdoms that would overthrow each other. I also believe God is using beastly imagery because demons are empowering these godless nations.
Here are the animals described in Daniel’s dream:
- Winged lion: This is Babylon. A winged lion sat above the Ishtar Gates, which you would pass through to enter Babylon.
- Lumpy bear: This is Medo-Persia, with one side bigger than the other, because Medo-Persia was two empires together, but the Persian Empire was much bigger and stronger. They overtook Babylon (Daniel 5) and, eventually, the Persians overtook the Mede Empire.
- Winged leopard: This is the Greek Empire led by Alexander the Great. Leopards are fast, and he quickly expanded his empire. It had four horns because he didn’t have an heir so, when he died, the Greek Empire was divided under four generals who ruled under him. This did not happen in Daniel’s lifetime.
- “Terrifying and dreadful and exceedingly strong” beast: I believe this is the Roman Empire, which was the largest empire in the history of the world. It had 10 horns and, among those, came up a little horn, which I believe is the Antichrist or counterfeit Jesus. It’s little because Satan always just wants a little temptation or cowardice, and then it eventually spreads like wildfire.
As we continue on with Daniel’s dream, he gets a glimpse of Jesus sitting on a throne, ruling and reigning as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He has an army of angelic and divine beings that remain faithful to Him. God is always at work, and His angelic army is available for the people of God to enjoy His power and presence. This is a reality you need to see by faith until you can see it by sight.
Get ready for tomorrow’s devotional where we begin to tackle what is arguably the greatest prophetic chapter in the Bible.
The book of Daniel and the entire Bible are ultimately about Jesus. Read Daniel 7:13-14, which prophesies the Second Coming of Jesus.
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