Daniel 7 - The Vision of Four Great Beasts

Hello friends. I'm Chadwick Harvey, and this is Faithful Performance, where we explore the testimony of the biblical prophets and how they perfectly correlate with the current events of today. Thank you for joining us.

In this episode, we are going to discover Daniel 7 as we continue our three-part series on Daniel 2, Daniel 7, and Daniel 8. In last week's video, we covered Daniel 2, and as we proceed, we'll see how Daniel 2 and Daniel 7 align and correlate as we deal with the four kingdoms that will rise at the end of the age. But before we compare those two chapters and go into extensive detail with Daniel 7, we want to address the question: how do we know we are living at the end of the age?

There are a few things to consider. The first is the seven-day creation plan, which I believe is highly prophetic. As we know, God worked six days and rested on the seventh. He set a pattern: work six, rest on the seventh. He told us to work six days and rest on the Sabbath, again giving us this understanding of six and seven. In Leviticus 25, he commanded the children of Israel to work six years and rest on the seventh year — a full year of rest. The pattern repeats: work six, rest on the seventh.

Now when we look at 2 Peter 3:8 and Psalm 90, we have two witnesses — Peter and Moses — who both declare that a day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as a day. I believe they are pointing us back to the days of creation with that understanding. If we read the days of creation as a prophetic framework, with a day representing a thousand years, then we have 6,000 years in which the earth labors — six completed days — followed by the seventh day, the 7,000th year, when I believe the Messiah will return. This is what the biblical prophets call the Day of the Lord: the seventh day, the 7,000th year. He will then reign for a thousand years, as described in Revelation 20, through the 8,000th year, or the eighth day, which represents eternity. I believe this framework is very prophetic in confirming that we are living at the end of the age.

How can we calculate this? From Adam to the Messiah is approximately 4,000 completed years, or four completed days. Since the first coming of Messiah Jesus, approximately 2,000 more years have passed — almost two completed days. That gives us a total of nearly six completed days, or nearly 6,000 completed years. This is not about setting dates. It is about understanding the times and the seasons we are living in. Looking at the days of creation prophetically, we can see that we are truly at the time called the end of the age, before the Messiah's second coming and his millennial kingdom. If the Messiah was resurrected and ascended around AD 30 to 33, the math speaks for itself — not to set any date, but to understand the times and seasons.

Remember, the Messiah himself said to watch. He said to be a wise virgin, not a foolish one, and to watch the prophecies he ordained through his Word and the Holy Spirit, so that we would not be caught as a thief in the night. The lukewarm church and the dead church described in Revelation are the ones caught as a thief in the night — the foolish virgins, if you will. But the faithful church, described in 1 Thessalonians 5, knows the times and the seasons because we are of the light, not of the darkness. It is critically important to understand these things through the calendar, the feast days, the covenants, the biblical prophets, and the markers that God has ordained so we can recognize we are living at the end of the age.

Beyond the creation calendar, we also see historical markers. In 1948, the state of Israel became a nation again — an enormously important event. It is the doorway, the gate that had to open for all the other end-of-age prophecies to be fulfilled. The Jewish people had to be back in the land, and after 2,000 years, they were. It is called the Promised Land for a reason. Then in 1967, during the Six-Day War, they recaptured Jerusalem as their capital. Since those two markers, we have begun to see the four kingdoms of the book of Daniel emerge. I believe those four kingdoms are among the most important markers for understanding that we are living at the end of the age. They give us a road map to the Messiah's second coming — in Daniel 2 last week, Daniel 7 this week, and Daniel 8 next week. Together, these three chapters provide a clear road map, and that is why we wanted to do this three-part series.

In last week's video on Daniel 2, we went through four kingdoms symbolized as the metal components of a statue. The gold represented Babylon — modern-day Iraq. The silver was the second kingdom, Medo-Persia — modern-day Iran. The bronze was the third kingdom, Greece, or Yavan, which more properly refers to Turkey. The fourth kingdom was the iron, representing the Antichrist kingdom with the ten toes, or ten kings. We also went through in summary how these are coming to fruition today: Babylon, or the Iraq region, fell in 2003. The second kingdom, Medo-Persia — Iran — has been the dominant superpower of the Middle East ever since, just as the prophet Daniel said. And now we are seeing the third kingdom — Turkey, the bronze, Yavan — rise to power over the last couple of decades, beginning to take supremacy in the Middle East from Iran. We will get more into that next week with Daniel 8 and the transition from the second kingdom to the third.

We wanted to go through Daniel 7 now because I believe it mirrors Daniel 2. Both are for the end of the age. Yes, there were earlier fulfillments with Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, and Alexander, but those are not the latter-days fulfillment. As the prophet Daniel said in Daniel 2, in the days of these kings — in sequence, together, in order — the stone will come and crush the ten kings and then crush the rest of the statue. In Daniel 7, we see the same four kingdoms through different symbolism, serving as a second witness. Remember, in scripture a matter must be confirmed by two witnesses. Daniel 2 was given to Nebuchadnezzar, and Daniel interpreted it. Daniel 7 is a vision Daniel himself received, and we will see it interpreted by an angel.

Also significant is Daniel 12:4, which states that Daniel's book is sealed until the time of the end. The time of the end is the latter days — not 2,500 years ago with Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, and Alexander. When you hold to the seven-day creation framework of 6,000 completed years, the latter days are not in the middle of that span. The latter days are the latter days — the time of the end, the end of the age — before the stone, before the Messiah comes to set up his kingdom, which will be everlasting, forever and ever.

Now let us go to Daniel 7. This vision takes place during the time of Belshazzar, king of Babylon — Nebuchadnezzar's grandson — under whose reign Daniel still served.

Daniel 7:1–6 reads: *"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, telling the main facts. 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 until 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. And suddenly another beast, a second, like a bear. It was raised up on one side and had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. And they said thus to it: "Arise, devour much flesh." After this I looked, and there was another, like a leopard, which had on its back four wings of a bird. The beast also had four heads, and dominion was given to it.'"*

We will stop there and work through these first three beasts before addressing the fourth kingdom. Once again, this mirrors Daniel 2 — these are the same kingdoms. Daniel 2 was given to Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel 7 is Daniel's own vision, confirmed through an angel. Two witnesses confirming the same matter.

First, Daniel says the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea — that is, the Mediterranean Sea. He then says four great beasts came up from the Mediterranean Sea. This establishes the geography of these four kingdoms. The fourth beast will be the Antichrist kingdom. All four of these beasts rise out of the Middle East — the Mediterranean region. Daniel does not say the Atlantic or the Pacific. He says the Mediterranean. These are Middle Eastern beast kingdoms, arising from the Middle East and North Africa. That geographic detail is critical.

In Daniel 2, the kingdoms were symbolized by metal components of a statue. In Daniel 7, the vision is of beasts. The first beast was like a lion with eagle's wings, and a man's heart was given to it. The second was like a bear, raised up on one side, with three ribs in its mouth. The third was like a leopard with four wings on its back and four heads, and dominion was given to it.

So the first three kingdoms are: a lion, a bear, and a leopard. This is so important to recognize as we move forward.