We thus introduced our first study of these two chapters:—
‘These two chapters are very relevant for Christians today, for they refer to many of the things that will take place in the last days of this age. Yes, the visions of Daniel recorded here begin with references to times, many centuries ago but it also deals with the last event of this age and the first of the new age, the Millennial Age!
“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. 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.
I might suggest that the words of the Saviour in Matthew 24 imply that He expects His people to be familiar with the prophecies of Daniel.
“When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)” Matthew 24:15.
It is very evident that prophecy was given to us as a means of warning and instruction, especially for the latter days. How we should study the prophecies of the last times as they dawn upon us!’
We now come to part 2 of our study.
I. PROPHECY FEATURES EVENTS INVOLVING PEOPLE AND NATIONS IN ONE PARTICULAR REGION OF THE EARTH.
“Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea. And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another,” 7:2-3.The ‘great sea’ is the Mediterranean Sea. It is well known what the word ‘Mediterranean’ means. It is derived from Latin and means ‘in the middle of the earth’.
It is the Sea at the centre of the region of the earth that chiefly features in the Bible and in which the central acts of the eternal purpose of God amongst men are carried out. Nations not immediately linked geographically to the ‘Great Sea’ , such as Babylon, feature in prophecy because of their dealings with Israel, which lies on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea.
1. It is ever been the region upon which the powers of heaven have focused. “The four winds of the heaven” striving is a picture of the powers of heaven bringing about in the region the will and purpose of God. In Numbers 34:6, the ‘Great Sea’ is first mentioned. “And as for the western border, ye shall even have the great sea for a border: this shall be your west border.” Israel is at the heart of that territory related to the ‘Great Sea’. In Genesis 12, we are introduced to one of the central figures in the grand purpose of God, ABRAM, later renamed as ABRAHAM, for he was to become the ‘father of a multitude’ as his new name depicts. From Genesis 12 onward, the Old Testament remains focused on Israel and the nations that interact with it. In the New Testament, events in Israel are the subject of the gospels and then we are allowed to follow the activities of those Jews who take the gospel of Christ into ‘all the world’. The last book of the New Testament brings us back again to Israel and the events that will take place under Antichrist before the heavens open and Christ returns in power and great glory to that place from which He ascended to heaven — the Mount of Olives.
It is the activities and events in that land and that city that the Lord would have us watch and observe as this age slowly, but surely, draws to a close.
2. The importance of the region is seen, of course, in that it was to there that God sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. The land is called ‘the holy land’ (Zechariah 2:12); ‘an exceeding good land’ (Numbers 14:7); the Lord calls it ‘my land’ (2 Chronicles 7:20); the Lord tells the Jews that is, ‘your land’ (Leviticus 19:9).
These titles surely make us understand that the land of Israel is a special region of the world to God and it is the ‘dais’ upon which the drama of the ages will be enacted.
3. To look elsewhere for the outworking of God’s purpose or the fulfilment of prophecy is most foolish and futile. Fanciful notions are frequently espoused by some as the world’s attention is focused on some prominent nations and individuals. During the run-up to World War II, many Christians were most adamant that Adolf Hitler was the Antichrist. Indeed, he had many likenesses and features of the future Antichrist, as have had men such as Cain, Nimrod, Pharaoh etc,. His hatred of the Jewish people and the most wicked persecution of them by his regime, certainly indicated a resemblance to the Antichrist, BUT Hitler’s Germany is not a Mediterranean country!
No, our eyes must ever be fixed upon the lands of the ‘Great Sea’ if we are to watch for the outworkings of prophecy!
II. WE ARE GIVEN THE IDENTITY OF THE FOUR GREAT KINGDOMS OF PROPHECY
We are specifically told that the “four great beasts” verse 3, are pictures, figurative representations of four great kings and their kingdoms. “These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth,” Daniel 7:17.
1. Their location. They shall arise “out of the earth”, that is, out of the region in the vicinity of the Mediterranean Sea. I cannot emphasis this enough. In the New Testament, the Greek word Ge is translated as ‘earth’, ‘ground’ and ‘country’ but it is first translated as referring to the Holy Land.
“And thou Bethlehem, in the land (Ge) of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel,” Matthew 2:6.
“Saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land (Ge) of Israel: for they are dead which sought the young child’s life,” Matthew 2:20.
We should ever consider the context of the word in order to understand the parameters of its meaning. The word does not always mean the whole of the world for, as here, it refers to the region around the ‘great sea’, the Mediterranean Sea.
2. The character of these kings/kingdoms. They are depicted by ferocious animals, the last of which is more evil than its predecessors. These were Gentile kingdoms, all of which exercised, at one time or another, dominion over Israel and the Holy Land. One kingdom succeeded another. Babylon was conquered by Medo-Persia and it was vanquished by Alexander’s Grecian empire and, it in turn, was defeated by the Empire of Rome.
Their cruelty stemmed from the fact that they were utterly godless Gentile entities, which practised all the dark and cruel customs born of the depravity of those with no knowledge of God. It is true that the greatest of the Babylonian kings, Nebuchadnezzar, would appear to have come under the workings of God’s grace – some would even believe that he was converted and refer to Daniel 4:34-37 as a basis for such a belief.
“And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation: And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou? At the same time my reason returned unto me; and for the glory of my kingdom, mine honour and brightness returned unto me; and my counsellors and my lords sought unto me; and I was established in my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added unto me. Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.”
Babylon & Medo-Persia
However that may be, if he was changed, his empire remained in utter heathen darkness. Belshazzar was the last king of Babylon and Daniel chapter 5 tells of his demise and the prevailing darkness and evil that marked Babylon to the end.
Likewise, Cyrus king of Persia is a man who showed great favour to the remnant of Judah who returned to Jerusalem from exile. 2 Chronicles 36:22-23 is an example of his kindness to God’s people.
“Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth hath the LORD God of heaven given me; and he hath charged me to build him an house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? The LORD his God be with him, and let him go up.”
Nevertheless, as with whatever change there was in Nebuchadnezzar, the kingdom of Persia was not altered in character by the favour Cyrus enjoyed from the Lord for his empire was brought to ruin by Alexander the Great.
Grecian empire destroyed
The Grecian empire was destroyed by the final kingdom to arise out of the ‘Great Sea’, that was, the Roman Empire. While there have been empires which territorially have been greater than these four kingdoms — the British Empire, upon which in its heyday, the sun never set _— nevertheless, these alone are the only world powers which feature in prophecy. The reason is simple. They alone were specifically related to Israel!
3. There was an evil unity linking these empires even though they acted destructively toward each other. In Daniel 2, we are told the dream Nebuchadnezzar had of a ‘great image’. “Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible. This image’s head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay,” Daniel 2:31-33. There was one image made up of various materials.
This is but another setting forth of the four great kingdoms under a different imagery. The fourth kingdom is utterly cruel and thoroughly evil. It will be feared by all.
Daniel explained the vision of the great image to Nebuchadnezzar.
“Thou art this head of gold. And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise,” Daniel 2:38-40.
The spirt of them all was united together in an image depicting the evil Gentile powers that would dominate Israel in ‘the times of the Gentiles’.
4. I want it to be noted that the final kingdom, that which is depicted as having ‘legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay’, will be in existence when Christ returns! Daniel explained how the great image Nebuchadnezzar had seen in his dream would be destroyed. “Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth,” Daniel 2:34-35.
It is taught that “In the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever,” Daniel 2:44.
Although it is the ‘tail-end’ of the Roman Empire that will be in existence when Christ returns, note that the final days of this age are called “the days of these kings” and “these kingdoms” in Daniel 2:44. The ‘spirit and essence’ of the four kings and their kingdoms and all their rebelliousness against God and hatred of His people will be evident in the final development of this “mystery of iniquity” (2 Thessalonians 2:7).
While it is only the structure of the fourth kingdom that exists when the Lord returns, the fourth kingdom has the fulness of the spirit that was evident in the three previous kingdoms.
The Stone
Daniel then explains just what the “stone was cut out without hands” referred to.
“And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever,” Daniel 2:44.
That is a reference to the return of Christ and the establishing of His Millennial Kingdom. It is NOT a reference to the Saviour’s first coming and the establishing of His gospel kingdom. The gospel kingdom did not DESTROY the evil kingdoms depicted by the four ‘beasts’. The truth is that Christ was crucified by Rome rather than He destroying Rome. Furthermore, it is likely that all of the apostles were murdered by the same evil civil power. Throughout the age of the gospel, the ‘civil powers’ were much opposed to God’s truth and hindered it when they could and persecuted the people of everywhere the gospel was preached!
The gospel kingdom was never meant to destroy the kingdoms of this world, “For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them,” Luke 9:56.
Future
Rather, the destruction wrought by the “stone . . . cut out without hands” is a reference to the coming again of Christ to “judge and make war”!
“And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great. And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh,” Revelation 19:11-21.
This scene of the routing of Christ’s enemies was earlier described in Revelation 11:15. “And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.”
Thus the evil at work in the days of Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and the early Roman Empire, is still at work today and will continue and grow until the Saviour comes and reduces it to “the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them.”
Paul
This truth is borne out by Paul. He refers to the Antichrist in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-6.: “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time,”
The ‘restraining’ of the ‘spirit’ that will reach its fulness in Antichrist is taking place today in order that God’s purpose and ‘timetable’ may be kept, rather than the devil’s schemes given freedom to develop. Paul goes on to say in verse 7, “For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.”
“The mystery of iniquity” or the spirit of lawlessness, is working today. It is that which accounts for the downward plunge of our nation from comparative decency in times past, down to the gutters of sin in which every form of perversion is now sanctioned by law and by apostate religious bodies. That is what is at work in the ecumenical, theologically liberal churches which have endorsed that which every evil parliament has legalised.
This is what the Lord, through His servant Daniel, would have us understand.
Rev Ivan Foster (Rtd)
Thursday 3rd July, 2025