Daniel 7:15-28: The Fourth Beast

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Daniel 7, beginning with verse 15, as for me,

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Daniel, my spirit was distressed within me and the visions in my mind kept alarming me.

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I approached one of those who was standing by and began asking him the exact meaning of all this.

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So he told me and made known to me the interpretation of these things. These great beasts, which are four in number, are four kings who will arise from the earth.

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But the saints of the highest one will receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever for all ages to come.

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Then I desired to know the exact meaning of the fourth beast, which was different from all the others, exceedingly dreadful and its teeth of iron, its claws of bronze and which devoured, crushed and trampled down the remainder with its feet.

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And the meaning of the ten horns that were on its head and the other horn which came up and before which three of them fell, namely that horn which had eyes and a mouth uttering great boasts and which were larger in appearance than its associates.

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I kept looking and that horn was waging war with the saints and overpowering them until the ancient of days came and judgment was passed in favor of the saints of the highest one.

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And the time arrived when the saints took possession of the kingdom. Thus he said, the fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on the earth, which will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth and tread it down and crush it.

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As for the ten horns out of this kingdom, ten kings will arise and another will arise after them and he will be different from the previous ones and will subdue three kings.

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He will speak out against the most high and wear down the saints of the highest one and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law and they will be given into his hand for time, times and half a time.

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But the court will sit for judgment and his dominion will be taken away, annihilated and destroyed forever.

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Then the sovereignty, the dominion and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the highest one.

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His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom and all the dominions will serve and obey him.

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At this point, the revelation ended. As for me, Daniel, my thoughts were greatly alarming me and my face grew pale, but I kept the matter to myself.

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Let's pray. Father, our prayer is simple once again that as we look at your word, as we read it, that you would grant us understanding and that,

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Father, that we would be encouraged, that we would be comforted and that, Father, that we would come to know our savior more and more through your word.

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We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Please be seated.

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If I were to ask you to describe the church in one word from the time of Christ up until the present time,

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I wonder what it would be. I actually asked a few people at this week. I got a couple of answers.

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Alive was one. Resilient, I thought of one as you could say was militant.

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Many different adjectives. But if I had only, if I were asked this question and I had only one word to describe the church from the time of Christ up until the present day, the word

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I would choose would be suffering. That might surprise some of you.

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But I think it's an appropriate and an accurate description. Why would I say suffering?

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Because since Christ sent out the first apostles, the church has suffered persecution to one degree or another.

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And that has actually aided in the advancement of the church. As far as we know, all the disciples except for the

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Apostle John were martyred. The early church suffered inhumane forms of torture simply for being followers of Jesus Christ.

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And that has been the case throughout history to one degree or another. Now you may say, well, not now.

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I mean, living here in America, we have freedom to worship as we please.

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And while we may suffer minor insults and things such as that, but certainly, you can't say that that would be true of our church today.

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I would answer and say that's, that the brief history of America is the exception and not the rule.

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And here's a fact that you might not realize. The 20th century saw more bloodshed for the name of Christ than any previous century in the history of the church.

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The 20th century. We have it so good here in America that we have a tendency to forget the plight of our brothers and sisters in foreign lands who are slaughtered every day just for naming the name of Christ.

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What does this have to do with Daniel? I hope by the time we finish, you'll see the connection.

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But remember what we saw last week in our text. Behind the political and social maneuvers here on earth is a cosmic battle that's taking place in the spiritual realm.

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When something important is taking place on earth, there is always action in heaven preceding it.

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We saw that even in Matthew chapter 16. Remember Matthew 16 verse 19.

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Jesus, after Peter makes that tremendous confession of faith, thou art the Christ, the son of the living

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God, he says, I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.

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So we see that action in heaven is necessary for action here on earth.

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We also see it in our present text in Daniel 7. Daniel is observing the vision of four beasts representing four kingdoms.

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And he alternates between watching what is taking place in heaven and what is taking place on earth.

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The ancient of days is sitting on his throne and gives dominion to the son of man returning to heaven.

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Now remember something. This prophecy is all about Jesus Christ.

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Don't get sidetracked with the beast. I mean, there are important parts of the puzzle. But the prophecy is about Jesus Christ.

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So after the vision of the four beasts, Daniel focuses on the fourth.

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He's not concerned how the kingdoms rise and fall up until that point. In fact, he had already seen the other visions of that.

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But he's concerned about the fourth kingdom. Look at his response in verse 15.

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As for me, Daniel, my spirit was distressed within me and the visions in my mind kept alarming me.

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This is interesting. Daniel has seen and experienced a lot by this time in his life.

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He's interpreted the visions for Nebuchadnezzar. And remember this vision is given to Daniel in the first year of Belshazzar being the king of Babylon.

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So he's still at least over 60 years old at this point. He had already garnered the favor of Nebuchadnezzar.

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He's interpreted all kinds of visions. And being a wise man, he assuredly sees a connection between these visions.

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Yet this particular vision keeps alarming him. So much so that he says he was distressed in his spirit.

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Which means there's something different in this vision. Something different than the previous ones.

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So he approaches one of the angelic watchers. And I'm, I believe that that's who we're standing by and watching.

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That's their job. That's why they're called watchers. So he approaches, verse 16.

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Now he says, I approached one of those who were standing by and began asking him the exact meaning of all this.

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So he told me. And made known to me the interpretation of these things.

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And he starts, these great beasts, which are four in number, are four kings who will arise from the earth.

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Well, so far this vision is absolutely consistent with the one that we'd seen in chapter two.

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With further detail emphasized. Notice the phrase, four kings who will arise from the earth.

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Daniel wants us to make sure that we understand that these are earthly kingdoms. These are not spiritual.

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These are physical kingdoms. That's why he says they arise from the earth.

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And that's an important piece of information. Since the vision also depicts what's happening in heaven.

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Look at verse 18. But the saints of the highest one will receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever for all ages to come.

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Now that's a heavenly kingdom and not an earthly one. And how do we know that? Well, first of all, look at the context.

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Let's go back to verses 13 and 14. Where Daniel says, I kept looking in the night visions and behold with the clouds of heaven, one like a son of man, a son of man was coming.

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He came up to the ancient of days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion, glory and a kingdom that all the peoples, nations and men of every language might serve him.

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His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which will not pass away. And his kingdom is one which will not be destroyed.

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Now that is clearly Christ's kingdom, the son of man receiving his glorious kingdom.

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And we know from his own words that this was not an earthly realm. Remember what Jesus said in front of Pilate when

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Pilate says, so you are a king. And Jesus says, my kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then my servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the

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Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not of this realm. So we see clearly there's what's happening in heaven in one hand and how that affects what's happening on the earth.

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But that's not where Daniel's interests lie. Daniel wants specifically details about the fourth beast.

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Look at verse 19, then I desired to know the exact meaning of the fourth beast, which was different from all the others, exceedingly dreadful with its teeth of iron, its claws of bronze, and which devoured and crushed and trampled down the remainder with its feet.

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I think it's fair to say that it's the vision of this fourth beast which distressed him.

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For not only is that the first part of the vision he questions, but he wants an exact meaning.

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And he takes time to repeat the description of this beast, starting with the fact that this beast was different than all the others.

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This fourth beast. Look at verse 19 again. He wants to know the exact meaning.

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And then look at how we describe it. Exceedingly dreadful with its teeth of iron, claws of bronze.

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And then what does he do? He devours, crush, trample the remainder with his feet.

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And then it's also different, 10 horns on its head. And then another horn that comes up.

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So this is an awesome sight. And before he actually receives the answer of the exact meaning of this, the vision keeps coming.

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Verse 21, I kept looking and that horn was waging war with the saints and overpowering them.

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That's that little horn that had come up. There's a lot going on here, but this part of the vision is certainly the stressful part.

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Remember also Daniel's vision, this vision is specifically directed to the church.

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Because this is not something that he related to any of the kings. He didn't tell

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Belshazzar nor anyone else until he writes this book, which certainly wasn't meant for the earthly kings, but for the people of God.

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But that's not the whole vision. Look at the rest of it. Verse 22, until the ancient of days came and judgment was passed in favor of the saints of the highest one.

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And the time arrived when the saints took possession of the kingdom. I think this is a good time for a what

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I've called a planned digression. Interpreting the book of Daniel is no easy task.

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I have read many, many commentaries and other articles and works on the book of Daniel in preparation for this series.

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And one thing I can say for certain, there are as many differing interpretations as there are commentaries.

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Biblical scholars that we know and respect have widely different views on the meaning of the various visions and how they should be applied to the events of history.

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There's not one commentary that I've read that I can point to and say, oh, yeah, this guy's got it.

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He's nailed it right from the beginning to end. Not one. And don't get me wrong,

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I'm not setting myself up as the authority. Why is that?

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Well, some commentators, and this is always distressing when you see a commentator just violate clear rules of interpretation.

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And there are some, and I'm talking about good, I'm not talking about liberal textual critics.

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I'm talking about good, solid pastors and theologians. But others interpret everything based upon a certain theological system and they read the text through that matrix.

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That's always a dangerous practice. Then there are some who just try to interpret the text and I simply just disagree.

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So what does one do? How can one preach the truth within so much controversy?

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I can't, so I'm leaving. No, I'm tasked with preaching this text.

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So what I have attempted to do is preach what is clear from the text and those things that are universally agreed upon.

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For example, the four beasts, Babylon, the Medo -Persian Empire, Greece, and Rome, that's universally accepted.

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The only people who can testify against the four beasts those are the liberal critics. I also try to be true to the time text.

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For example, the kingdom of God comes to earth during the fourth empire. That text is clear, plus the

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New Testament verifies that that's when the kingdom comes. He brings, he ushers in the kingdom at his first advent.

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He tells his disciples that. Now, I may give some theories of respected scholars, but I don't want to bring the focus to the book, to the contrary, to the controversies.

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So I'm also going to avoid giving specific identities to individual horns and things like that because I think that's where a lot of commentators go astray.

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The message of this book is too important to be lost in controversy and idle speculation.

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So I hope you will bear with me and feel free to speak to me after because this is such a controversial book, but I believe the message is so crucial to the church today.

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So with those thoughts in mind, the digression is over. And let's return to Daniel's response.

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Before the angelic watcher answers him, Daniel sees more of the vision.

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The little horn wages war with the Saints. Until the

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Ancient of Days judges in favor of the Saints. And the time arrived when the

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Saints took possession of the kingdom. Now, let's examine the timing of these events. Whoever this little horn represents, it's part of that fourth beast.

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It grows from its head. So we're still in the reign of Rome. Then Daniel sees this taking place until the

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Ancient of Days judges in favor of the Saints. When does that take place?

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That's a little trickier. Some, in fact, many commentators say this is the end of the age judgment at the end of time.

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And it's easy to see why. But I submit to you that there are judgments other than the final end of the age judgment.

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There are numerous judgments. Egypt is judged. Babylon is judged. The nation of Israel will be judged in 70

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AD. Is there a judgment that occurs during the age of Rome?

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Well, how about when Christ sacrifices himself and accomplishes redemption for all the

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Saints on the cross? And then he ascends into heaven to receive his reward. And what is his reward?

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A kingdom that will not pass away, an everlasting dominion of which all the Saints share with him.

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If you take those three events together, it's a pretty strong case for the timing of this event during the first century of Rome.

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Now we come to the response to Daniel's request.

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And the witness says this in verse 23. Thus he said, the fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on the earth, which will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth and tread it down and crush it.

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We mentioned earlier the description of the fourth kingdom as being different from all the other kingdoms.

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We broached this last week, but it's worthy of more commentary. So it's different in several ways.

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First, it's not described as looking like any animal, as the other three are. We have a lion, a bear, a leopard, but this one is not given that.

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So that's the difference. And that's significant. It's also different in that it is described with these adjectives dreadful, terrifying, devouring, crushing everything in its path.

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And then it has these ten horns growing out of its head. And it's said to devour the whole earth.

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No wonder Daniel was distressed. No wonder he wanted to immediately.

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I want to know exactly about the fourth beast. That description will draw your attention right to this fourth beast.

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But he continues. And he says, as for the ten horns out of this kingdom, ten kings will arise and another will arise after them and he will be different from the previous ones and will subdue the three kings.

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Now, this is one of those verses that provokes so much speculation.

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Who are these kings and these different monarchs?

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Some say the ten kings are the ten Caesars that start with Julius Caesar and go all the way to Vespasian.

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It's possible. Could be. Another commentator believes the ten kings represent ten sub kingdoms within a greater

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Roman Empire. It's got merit. It's possible. Another commentator says the ten kings represents the

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Roman Senate. And there's other theories as well. And all with some weight.

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You can't just dismiss them out of hand. Here's the problem with each of those views.

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They cannot be verified, documented by either scripture or definitive fulfillment in history.

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The most that can be said about each of these is, well, it could fit, but that's not enough for me to stand in this pulpit and say, thus saith the

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Lord. And the same is true of the little horn that replaces three of the first horns.

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Eyes like a man, mouth of great boasting. Wow, think of the candidates for that one. And there are equally as many opinions about who this little horn represents.

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The witness continues. He will speak out against the most high and wear down the saints of the highest one.

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And he will intend to make alterations in times and in law. And they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time.

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This description is very important, even though we can't definitively put a name to the individual.

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What is important, and this is where I want to focus, is the events during the reign of Rome of the fourth beast.

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Why? Because this time period is the centerpiece of all of history. The incarnation of Jesus Christ takes place during that fourth beast.

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His sinless life, his crucifixion, his resurrection, his ascension to the throne in heaven, his sending forth of the

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Holy Spirit. That is what history is all about. And if we get sidetracked by,

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I need to know the name who that represents, we're going to miss the centerpiece, which is

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Jesus Christ. Any view of history that does not include the ministry of Jesus Christ is inherently flawed.

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Keep in mind the principle we addressed last week. Action on earth is always determined by action in heaven.

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The church has the keys to the kingdom and the power of binding and loosing. Here's a question for you.

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Have you ever read the New Testament and remarked how often Jesus and the apostles were confronted with demonic activity?

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Have you ever noticed how frequent that takes place? You ever wonder why there's so much demonic activity during that time?

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You don't see much during the Old Covenant time. Think about the whole Old Covenant. How many times was there actually demonic activity?

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There's some. But nothing compared to what takes place during the life of Christ. During the ministry of Christ, it is abundant.

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Abundant. Demonic activity is all over the place.

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The reason why is fairly easy to deduce. The centerpiece of history, the

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Son of Man is prophesied as coming. Satan has gathered his army led by himself to attack

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Jesus and present him from completing his earthly mission. That's the primary goal of Satan.

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So that's why you have so much demonic activity because all the forces of evil are centered around the person of Jesus Christ being born and trying to prevent that.

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Why do you think Herod has all the babies slaughtered? Same reason that Pharaoh did 2 ,000 years before.

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It was Satan's priority one. And then when Jesus did complete his mission perfectly and foiled

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Satan's attempts, Satan turns his focus to the saints. He declared war on the church.

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And the saints came under great persecution during the reign of Rome for an unspecified period of time, a time, times, and half a time.

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I know the popular views that means three and one half years and there's all kinds of big explanations.

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Show me in Scripture where that says that and then I'll believe it. I think it just means an unspecified period of time determined by God.

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So what's the point of this vision? What can we be assured of? From the time of Babylon, there'll be four successive kingdoms ruling the world.

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That's fact. They will come and go according to God's timetable. Fact. The fourth kingdom will not be as glorious as the others but it will be more fierce and more destructive than all the previous.

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Fact. It will be a mixed kingdom that's plagued with internal conflicts.

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That's Rome. During this time frame, Jesus Christ will come to earth and accomplish redemption for his people.

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Hallelujah. That's a fact. And then he will return to heaven and assume the royal throne at the right hand of God.

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And he will be watching while this kingdom wages war with the saints of God. It will appear that the enemy is having a measure of success.

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That's a fact. Look at verse 21. I kept looking and that horn was waging war with the saints and overpowering them.

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Doesn't that get you? The early saints. Waging war with them and overpowering.

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Then look at verse 25. He will speak out against the most high and wear down the saints of the highest ones.

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He'll wear them down and he will intend to make alterations in times and law and they will be given into his time his hand for a time times and half a time.

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There's persecution. But though there is persecution the end will reveal the sovereignty and dominion of God Almighty.

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The enemy will be defeated because in verse 26 and 27 says the court will sit for judgment and his dominion will be taken away annihilated destroyed forever and then the sovereignty and the dominion and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the highest one.

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His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom and all the dominions will serve and obey him.

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In the end. The news is good. Now that brings us back to the questions.

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That I asked during the introduction concerning the suffering of the church. As I was preparing.

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This sermon versus 21 and 25 just jumped out. I mean you would think that the description of the beasts and all this these political machinations would be the thing but those two verses jumped out.

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The horn was waging war with the saints and overpowering them. They will be given into his hand for a time.

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You know as we move through this important book. I've been trying to highlight spiritual truth.

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That's contained in the book that will aid us in our walk for Christ. The study of this book is not so we can figure out who everybody is and we can have a nice system.

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But it's to strengthen our walk with Jesus Christ. And if I move off of that then

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I have failed to do my job. Those two.

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Those two verses. Jumped out at me. Because of what they contain.

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And it's kind of. Not emphasized. We've already examined sovereignty. We've examined death and resurrection in this book.

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In chapter seven I couldn't help but notice that though God's sovereignty and impotence is clear.

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He allows his saints to suffer. During their lifetime. The beast overpowers them.

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Twenty five. The beast wore them down and given. They were given into his hand. So the question

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I have for you this morning. How do you handle suffering. When it strikes home to you.

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Let me suggest that there's. In fact. Well let me let me preface my remarks.

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This morning I'm not going to address. What people out there and in false churches and in liberal churches.

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How they do it. And what they say. Because quite frankly.

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I'm not going to change that. The question for us is how do we. People who are attending a church because we want to hear the word.

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Expounded. We want to be followers of Jesus Christ. We want to love him.

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We want to honor him in our old things that we do. So how do we handle suffering.

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I'm going to suggest that there's three basic ways in which. Mature Christians. Usually handle their suffering.

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First. That God has given them their condition so that. He will remove it at some point.

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And he will receive glory. The condition could be an illness.

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It could be some difficult. Circumstances with family. It could be that we find ourselves in a very uncomfortable position in society.

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And so. A lot of Christians. A lot of us.

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Say God will deliver me from this and then he'll receive glory. Second way

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Christians. Mature Christians look at suffering. Is that God would transform their condition.

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They see God in the trouble. And just pray that God would change the trouble into something more bearable.

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I prayed that one a lot. Or perhaps change them. So they can endure the trouble with more grace.

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Third way. As Christians just try to ignore the trouble. Simply look past the trouble and see the joy that's on the other side.

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All three of these responses. Are. Proper.

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To some degree or another. But are these the only proper responses.

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Are they the only options. Well first let me say that. There's not only an element of truth in each one but the assessment may be wholly true.

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For example God. Does God give a person a condition. So that he can remove it and receive glory.

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Absolutely yes that's what he did in John chapter nine. The man was born blind not for anything he had done.

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But simply for the glory of God. So God could heal him. And bring glory to himself.

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So yes. That's possible. Does God bring trouble in order to transform it or to change the person again for his glory.

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The answer is yes. There are numerous examples of answered prayer that indicate that.

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God does exactly that. In fact Jesus told Peter that. Satan had requested to.

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Permission. To sift him like wheat. And then he says and Peter would pass on.

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Similar advice in his first epistle. Remember these words beloved.

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Do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you. Which comes upon you for your testing as though some strange thing was happening to you.

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So should we look past the trouble and know that there is joy on the other side. Of course. The hope of future glory is certainly a motivator for holy living.

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In fact Peter. Continues in his first epistle in verse 13. And says but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ.

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Keep on rejoicing. So that also at the revelation of his glory you may rejoice.

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With exultation. But is this all there is.

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To the trouble God brings. Into our lives. Let me suggest. A fourth response that's a little more comprehensive.

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And can include one or more of the other responses. It is the response of Jesus Christ.

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That we can see especially in the gospel of John. And that is.

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To embrace. The trouble. That God brings to our lives. And accept it as what is necessary and best for us.

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And thereby giving glory to God. Not by escaping trouble. Or not even just by.

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Bearing up under it. But by embracing it. We demonstrate the power and wisdom of God.

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As we walk through the fire. This is what the apostles did. Remember they were.

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They were brought before the council. And ordered not to preach the gospel anymore. They were.

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Told not to do that. And then remember Gamaliel Paul's mentor. Gives wise counsel leave these men alone.

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You might find yourself striving against God. And they took his advice.

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Acts 540 says. And after calling the apostles in. They flogged them. And ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus.

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Then released them. You know what happened? They flogged them. Flogging is not just a smack on the wrist.

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But what was their response? So they went on their way. From the presence of the council.

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One. Rejoicing. That they had been considered worthy. To suffer shame for his name.

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And in another portion of scripture. They were in the same situation. And as scripture tells us.

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They went right on preaching. They embraced the torture for the glory of God.

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And Paul says the same is true for us. In Philippians chapter 1 verse 29. Paul says to the church in Philippi.

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For to you it has been granted for Christ's sake. Not only to believe in him.

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But also to suffer for his sake. Experiencing the same conflict which you saw in me.

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And now here to be in me. You have the privilege to suffer for his sake.

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Just as Paul did. You know with this vision.

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Of chapter 7. Coupled with the vision of chapter 2. We can clearly see. The sovereignty of God over the nations.

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Yet it was. By his design. And for his reasons that Israel and Judah.

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Were carried off into captivity. And he was gracious to reveal to Daniel. How this would all work out for the

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Messiah to come. At just the right time in history. But also in his sovereignty.

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He allowed the church. The saints of God to suffer. Various trials and afflictions.

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But the day is coming. It will be here. Someday in the future.

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When all this will cease. And as the hymn writer said so aptly. The great church victorious shall be the church at rest.

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And we can pray for that day. When all the struggles. All the trials. All the pain.

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The suffering. Will be over. Christian do you trust

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God? That he is working all things together for good. For his church and for his glory.

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When difficult times come remember these words. Jesus said in John 1633.

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These things I have spoken to you. So that in me you may have peace. In the world you had tribulation.

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But take courage. I have overcome the world. If you're here today and you're not a believer in Jesus Christ.

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These promises are not for you. I would encourage you. Repent of your sin. And bow the knee to Jesus Christ.

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Receive him as Lord and Savior. Repent of your sin and be saved.