Study – Grow – Know

Daniel 7 and Revelation 13 Pt 1

December 13, 2021 at 6:14 PM 2 comments

Audio for this article here: SermonAudio.com/StudyGrowKnow

When I was in Bible college in the mid-1970’s, it was common to study the books Daniel, Ezekiel and Revelation together. This was done mainly because these three books tended to point to the others. Without Daniel, we would have no knowledge of the “70 weeks” of Daniel 9, nor would we really have any understanding of what was/is contained in those 70 weeks. We would not be fully aware of the man-led kingdoms that would lead up to the physical return of our Lord Jesus to establish His own Kingdom, which will stand on this earth for 1,000 years (the Millennium).

Daniel, Ezekiel and Revelation prove, in my mind, that though God used numerous human writers to write down what He essentially wanted in His Word, the ultimate Author of the entire Bible is God Himself. It is mind-boggling to consider just how much the individual books of the Bible flow together.

I’ve written on aspects of Daniel previously. In fact, one series I did contains about 19 written parts, all covering the information presented in Daniel 11. For those interested, part 1 can be found here. Daniel is thoroughly worth studying, as is Revelation, Ezekiel and other books that speak prophetically of future times (from the perspective of the human author). What is even more fascinating is the fact that at least some of Daniel and Ezekiel have not been fulfilled yet. In the case of Revelation, most has not been fulfilled yet, though I’m aware that many would disagree with that statement. It all depends upon how a person interprets these books and the events described in them.

As I’ve pointed out previously, for me, the most logical way to approach Scripture is to understand it in its most plain and ordinary sense. We do this in everyday language when communicating with other people, don’t we? I’ve used numerous examples of how even colloquial expressions or figures of speech, while sounding weird because of the images they tend to conjure up, still normally have only one literal meaning. Whether it’s “I’m so hungry I could eat a horse” or “I’ll catch you on the flip side,” the truth is that when people use these expressions, they are understood to mean one particular thing. Only those who have not ever heard them might have an initial difficulty understanding their exact meaning.

In my opinion, it is the same thing with Scripture. In order to fully comprehend the Bible’s meaning, we must immerse ourselves in the vernacular used by the people who wrote individual books of the Bible. It does not help to determine meaning of their colloquial expressions by trying to place our meaning over them. We must instead, go back in time as it were to try to ascertain what they meant when they used the expressions they used. When we do this, we are more apt to gain their intended meaning and we won’t be trying to place our meaning over their words.

This is the case in every portion of Scripture, including when we come to places where expressions of futurism or prophetic events of the future are employed. We owe it to our Lord and ultimate Author of the Bible to do our best to understand what the Bible means from His perspective, not ours. Only then, we will come down on the interpretation that best suits the words used.

The books of Daniel and Revelation require this approach. I’ve read many commentaries where very learned individuals seem to go off on a path of their own creation with respect to interpretation, thereby missing the key points in passages of Scripture. The Bible says one thing or it says nothing.

I want to start opening up Daniel 7 and Revelation 13 because they clearly tie together in many ways. I also want to do this series on these two chapters in separate parts of the Bible because I firmly believe the time is approaching when the Tribulation is going to begin and the man of sin is going to be revealed. We will also touch on and explore Klaus Schwab’s “Great Reset” and “Great Narrative” inside this series.

I think what we are seeing in the world today is quite frankly, Satan’s plan to bring forth the final kingdom first mentioned in Daniel 2, which will be the revived Roman Empire. It appears as though God has given the go-ahead for this to occur. I absolutely could be wrong about this and something may yet happen to derail Satan’s efforts. However, what I find fascinating is the attitude of people like Dr. Anthony Fauci and others who double down and continue to push the need for “vaccination” against an illness with a 99%+ survivability rate. There’s something very odd about this and I believe it has to do with wanting to control global society. In parts of Revelation, it seems clear enough that all of global society comes under the full control of the Antichrist and his False Prophet. It won’t happen overnight, but will take time to implement and in stages or increments.

Because more and more facts are coming out causing more citizens of the world to renounce what they are being force-fed and even take a firm stance against what the globalists seem bent on trying to accomplish (i.e. world domination), it may well be that what Fauci and others hope for may not go too much further at least in certain parts of the world. However, it is also possible that if it is actually not within God’s timing for this final global kingdom to come to the fore and take over the entire world, it’ll be stopped.

I was just reading this morning that at least three International lawsuits have been filed against globalists because of the fact that the Nuremberg Code is being set aside as they attempt to push their agenda onto the entire world. You can see the list of those being sued in the image and there’s more info in the linked article. Certainly their money will protect them for a while, but will it forever? Only God knows literally, but I certainly commend those who are taking the bull by the horns. People have tried working within the system in place in their own countries but have made no headway, so they are upping the ante via International courts.

Also interesting is that Bill Gates has also been charged with murder due to a vaccine death in India. Speaking of Gates, do you know that CVS pharmacies (which bought Aetna), has partnered with Microsoft to “streamline” things for pharmacy customers. Will Gates have access to that information, including who may or may not be vaccinated? What an intricate web of potential deceit that’s being created.

In the final analysis though, we know from Scripture that God is always in control of all things, in spite of people’s free will. We also know that when Jesus returns following the seven-year Tribulation period (highlighted in Daniel 9, Revelation 6-18 and elsewhere), He will destroy the works of Satan, judge the nations and establish His own Kingdom of 1,000 years.

While we do not know when Jesus will return to establish His physical Kingdom, we know His return will bring to close the period known as the Tribulation. So conceivably, once the Tribulation officially starts, it wouldn’t be that difficult to figure out a general time frame of when Jesus would return. This is not the case with the Rapture however, which could occur at any moment and is why throughout Scripture (especially in Paul’s letters), we are taught to always be ready, always be on guard, always be prepared to be taken at any moment. While many have issues with the concept of the Rapture, I suggest folks should live with the thought in constant readiness that you do not know the day, time or actual date of your own death, do you? We are to live as though each day here is our last because we do not control the time of our death.

In the remainder of this article, let’s begin looking at Daniel 7, a fascinating chapter.

In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream and visions of his head while on his bed. Then he wrote down the dream’s main facts.

The above opening verse (v 1), sets the scene for us. We learn several facts:

• It was the first year of Belshazzar’s reign
• Belshazzar was Nebuchadnezzar’s grandson in Babylon (Belshazzar’s father was Nabonidus and he probably ruled as co-regent with him)
• Daniel was lying on his bed preparing for sleep
• Daniel experienced a dream and visions in his head
• He immediately wrote down the dream’s main facts

Obviously, God had something to say via revelation to Daniel. Daniel wrote it down, which turned out to be for our benefit.

Daniel spoke, saying, ‘I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the Great Sea. And four great beasts came up from the sea, each different from the other. The first was like a lion, and had eagle’s wings. I watched till its wings were plucked off; and it was lifted up from the earth and made to stand on two feet like a man, and a man’s heart was given to it.’

This is fascinating as Daniel 7:2-8 above gets right into what he saw. Daniel saw “the four winds of heaven” and these winds “stirred up the Great Sea.” This vision Daniel saw came to him about 50 years after the events of Daniel 2 with Daniel being around 68 years of age. Conservative scholars place the events of Daniel 7 between Daniel 4 and 5.

The “Great Sea” is probably the Mediterranean Sea (cf. Num. 34:6-7; Josh. 1:4; 9:1; Ezek. 47:10). The winds are likely spirits of heaven (cf. Jer. 23:19; 49:36; Zech. 6:1-6; Rev. 7:1-3). Often, in ancient times, the sea was used as a figure of speech representing all of society made up of all ethnic groups and cultures; ultimately the entire populace of the earth. This was often the case of the Near Eastern mindset.

Since the Mediterranean Sea is most likely in view, the reference then might simply extend and incorporate the Mediterranean World itself, not necessarily the entire world. The “winds” express God’s judgment and how He uses those heavenly and earthly forces to bring about His own will in influencing the nations.[1] Interestingly enough, the first four beasts/kingdoms were centralized in roughly the same area of the world. Only the revived Roman Empire will likely incorporate the entire world.

Notice in verses 2-4, Daniel sees four beasts coming up out of the “sea” of people, and describes them. He goes into further detail in Daniel 7:5-8.

• first beast like a lion and had eagle’s wings
  

  The empires during the “Times of the Gentiles” of Daniel 2

• second beast like a bear (v5)
• third beast like a leopard with four wings (v6)
• fourth beast – terrible & strong with iron teeth (v7)
  • ultimately has 10 horns
  • an 11th horn materializes (v8)
  • 3 of 10 horns “plucked up by root” leaving 7
  • 11th horn (becomes 8th),
  • this horn with eyes of a man
  • mouth speaking pompous words

You’ll likely recall these same beasts first mentioned in Daniel 2 but in the form of an image made of various metals. We will also see some of them in Revelation 13 when we get there and will go into more detail regarding these verses next time. For now, suffice it to say that these beasts all represent specific kingdoms as first noted in Daniel 2 with Daniel 7 providing more information related to these beasts.

We know that the first beast was Babylon, the second beast was Medo-Persia, the third beast was Greece and the fourth beast was Rome. However, Rome ultimately extends into 10 horns, which has has not yet occurred. This is why conservative Bible scholars believe there will be a revived Roman Empire at the end of this age that will engulf the entire world and be standing when Jesus physically returns and will destroy.

More to come in our next part, so please join me then!

[1] Of more than 120 references in the Bible to wind (more than 90 in the O.T. and about 30 in the N.T.), well over half are related to events and ideas which reflect the sovereignty and power of God. In Daniel, wind is uniformly used to represent the sovereign power of God, which is the viewpoint of the book (cf. Constable’s Notes on Daniel).

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