Chapters 13-20 are introducing characters, beasts, nations and judgements one by one. Each chapter starts in the late 1700s or 1800s, and ends close to the 1900s. These aren’t chronological as the previous chapters have been, each introduces it’s own set of characters. These chapters are a set-up for the vial judgements, then their fall and the coming of Christ.
This was my benchmark chapter when I started digging into the prophecy. We can start here because we see the beasts in Daniel 7 and have their fulfillment firmly in place. The prophecy in Daniel was sealed (12:4) for the time of the end so again, we know that the prophecy will be fulfilled later. Also in verse 26 it speaks of this dreadful beast enduring until the judgement, which is in chapter 20 of Revelation. The only beast that fits this description is Europe, evolving out of the Roman Empire and enduring until the final judgement.
In chapter 7 of Daniel, he receives a dream about beasts that would come and conquer in the future. He sees the lion, bear, leopard, and a great terrible beast. The first beast is the Babylonian empire, a lion that devours and conquers, with wings that are swift and cover a large area. The Babylonian empire started under Hammurabi, but under King Nebuchadnezzar, it was fierce and swift. Nebuchadnezzar reigned in Babylon, which is by the Persian Gulf, and was trying to conquer Tyre which was by the Mediterranean Sea. The second beast was a bear, risen up on one side, devouring much flesh including the three ribs. This kingdom is the Persians, rising first, then the Medes. Those empires were cunning and fierce, like a bear and devoured three powers, Egypt in 525 BC, Assyria in 615 BC and Babylon in 539 BC. The third beast, the leopard with four wings, four heads and dominion given to it (the four heads). This beast is Greece under Alexander the Great, and later divided to his four generals. We have the fourth terrible beast which will rule until judgement day.
Daniel 7:1 In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel saw a dream and visions of his head as he lay in his bed. Then he wrote down the dream and told the sum of the matter. 2 Daniel declared, “I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea. 3 And four great beasts came up out of the sea, different from one another. 4 The first was like a lion and had eagles’ wings. Then as I looked its wings were plucked off, and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man, and the mind of a man was given to it.
At the time Daniel wrote this, he was a captive in the city of Babylon, which is in modern Iraq. Babylon was the lion written about here. The lion is the king of the wild beasts, and Babylon had conquered from Iraq to the Mediterranean Sea. The eagle’s wings indicate the swift and powerful nature of the conquests. The wings were plucked off so the beast showing his conquering would come to an end. Daniel had already prophesied about Nebuchadnezzar and told him he would go through a mental breakdown, then recover and give glory to God. Nebuchadnezzar was made to stand on two feet, and the mind of a man, not of a beast, was given to it. His reign ended in 562 BCE. We read about Belshazzar losing the Babylonian Empire in Daniel 5.
5 And behold, another beast, a second one, like a bear. It was raised up on one side. It had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth; and it was told, ‘Arise, devour much flesh.’
The Babylonian empire was put in the hands of Darius the Mede in Daniel 5:30 after the death of Belshazzar in 539 BCE. According to Dr. Anderson in his book Darius the Mede: A Reappraisal: Cyrus shared power with a Median king until about two years after the fall of Babylon. This Median king is called Cyaxares (II) by the Greek historian Xenophon, but is known by his throne name Darius in the book of Daniel. Cyrus did not make a hostile conquest of Media, did not dethrone the last Median king, and did not become the highest regent in the Medo-Persian Empire until after the fall of Babylon. Cyrus was Darius’s co-regent, the hereditary king of the realm of Persia, the crown prince of Media, and the commander of the Medo-Persian army—yet it was still Darius who was officially recognized as the highest power in the realm. Darius died naturally within two years after the fall of Babylon, and as he had no male heir and Cyrus had married his daughter, Cyrus inherited his position upon his death and united the Median and Persian kingdoms in a single throne.
The proud lion was no longer, and the new beast of the bear had taken over the Babylonian Empire. The bear is the Median/Persian empire, rising up on one side, when Cyrus the Great, leader of the Persian Empire, started to conquer and devour much flesh. The three ribs were Egypt, Assyria and Babylon, the three world-ruling empires that were consumed by Media and/or Persia. They ruled until 331 BCE.
6 After this I looked, and behold, another, like a leopard, with four wings of a bird on its back. And the beast had four heads, and dominion was given to it.
The leopard is the Greek Empire, starting with Alexander the Great. He inherited the Macedonian throne in 336 BCE, and began immediately to conquer the Persian Empire. Macedonia is in Greece, and the eastern reaches of the Persian Empire extend to the edge of India, north into modern Russia. Four wings speak to the colonies that the Greeks had already acquired. Their colonies surrounded the Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea because of their extensive fleet and military style of combat. Alexander the Great was a “brilliant” military commander. After the death of Alexander, his former friends and rival generals tried taking over the land he conquered. The Diadochi (Lysimachus/Cassander, Antigonus I, Seleucus I Nicator, and Antigonus I Monophthalmus) were the heads of the leopard who ruled the four areas of the Greek Empire.
7 After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, terrifying and dreadful and exceedingly strong. It had great iron teeth; it devoured and broke in pieces and stamped what was left with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. 8 I considered the horns, and behold, there came up among them another horn, a little one, before which three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots. And behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things.
19 “Then I desired to know the truth about the fourth beast, which was different from all the rest, exceedingly terrifying, with its teeth of iron and claws of bronze, and which devoured and broke in pieces and stamped what was left with its feet, 20 and about the ten horns that were on its head, and the other horn that came up and before which three of them fell, the horn that had eyes and a mouth that spoke great things, and that seemed greater than its companions. 21 As I looked, this horn made war with the saints and prevailed over them, 22 until the Ancient of Days came, and judgment was given for the saints of the Most High, and the time came when the saints possessed the kingdom. 23“Thus he said: ‘As for the fourth beast, there shall be a fourth kingdom on earth, which shall be different from all the kingdoms, and it shall devour the whole earth, and trample it down, and break it to pieces. 24 As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings shall arise, and another shall arise after them; he shall be different from the former ones, and shall put down three kings.
Rome is the fourth dreadful beast, and exceedingly strong. The Roman Republic conquered Greece in 146 BC. The Romans took over the colonies of Greece and extended them north to Britain and completely encompassed the Mediterranean Sea and most of the Black Sea. The Romans were almost always at war and made warfare a science that has been integrated into medieval and modern warfare. The “Migration Period” of the Roman Empire saw the rise of the 10 horns. Here is a list of the 10 horns (tribes, or established families) occurring after 100 AD:
The little horn that came up is the papacy, which was firmly established as an authority when Emperor Theodosius I declared Christianity the official religion in 380 AD and appointed a Bishop of Rome, the pope. The eyes speak to the omniscience of God, observing evil and good (Proverbs 15:3). The mouth means the beast can speak - make decrees of judgement or laws. The popes used their “Papal Supremacy” to settle disputes and issue pronouncements on religious matters. When there were disputes, they even went as far as to excommunicate others based on their religious authority.
The papacy came against three horns (horns 8, 9, &10) near the end of the Roman Empire. From an AI Overview:
25 He shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and shall think to change the times and the law; and they shall be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time. 26 But the court shall sit in judgment, and his dominion shall be taken away, to be consumed and destroyed to the end. 27 And the kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High; his kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.’
God mentions other qualities of this little horn. The papacy, although stated as a “Christian” institution, they will wear out the saints…change the times and the law… and in verse 21 above make war on the saints and prevail. This was seen in Revelation in both chapters 11 and 12. Now we will see the transition of this beast in Revelation 13 to the time around the beginning of the 1700s.
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