My Thoughts on Daniel's Use of Symbolisms for the Four Empires
36 This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king. 37 Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. 38 And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold. 39 And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth. 40 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. 41 And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters' clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay. 42 And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken. 43 And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay. 44 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. 45 Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.
So, we can see the first piece of the puzzle is put together. Daniel reveals to Nebuchadnezzar that the head of gold is the Kingdom of Babylon. Daniel mentions that the head of gold is Nebuchadnezzar. The elements are shown to be gold, silver (which is considered inferior to gold), bronze (the rise of Greece and the bronze age), and Rome as the fourth beast. Yet, the identities are not fully revealed yet until later.
II. Daniel's vision of the four beasts compared to the rest of the Scripture in revealing the identities
It's very easy to notice that Daniel 7-12 is not recorded chronologically but topically. Daniel 7 begins with the statement that Daniel dreamed of the four beasts in the first year of Belshazzar who is often mistaken as Nebuchadnezzar's son. However, a study of history will show that Belshazzar was the son of Nabonidus and a grandson of Nebuchadnezzar. Evil-Merodach the one who treated Jehoiachin kindly was a son of Nebuchadnezzar and didn't rule long either.
We need to see the vision of the four beasts and the symbolism associated with them in Daniel 7:3-8:
3 And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another.
4 The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man's heart was given to it.
5 And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh.
6 After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it.
7 After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse 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 little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.
The symbolisms are vague (at first) until we do some dig. Babylon used to have the symbol of a winged lion which symbolized the King of Babylon. The bear (at first) seems mysterious until we realize that Babylon fell to the Persian Empire. French explorer Sir John Chardin recorded that the standards of the Persians had the figure of a bear. Who are the other two beasts namely the four-headed winged leopard and the ten-horned unidentified beast? It would be good to move forward and backward in the pages of Daniel to figure out who they are.
We can read in Daniel 8 the story of the ram and the goat. The identity of the four kingdoms is now shown. The ram with one horn longer than the other is revealed in Daniel 8:20 to be the kings of Medes and Persia. However, the two kingdoms became one then it conquered Babylon. The goat with a horn in the center is Greece as revealed in Daniel 8:21. The representation is the rise of Alexander the Great who died young so his empire was later divided among his four best generals. To backtrack, we can see now that the next two kingdoms are Persia and Greece. Speaking of Greece, it would be very important to note that the leopard was a sacred symbol of Dionysius. It's also said that Alexander the Great was a worshiper of Dionysius as his mother Olympia was a part of the same cult. Daniel 11:2 further reveals the identity of the next two beasts. Persia rose after Babylon and then Greece came in.
III. So why is Rome assumed to be the fourth beast in Daniel?
After the fall of the Greek Empire, the Romans eventually kicked in. However, it seems that Rome has two phases - ancient Rome and revived Rome. personally, I feel the prophecy of the fourth beast is also happening today. The ten horns are there and the European Union (EU) has ten countries with full voting rights. They are Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxemburg, Netherlands, and Portugal. There are 28 countries in the EU but only 10 have voting rights. The Bible says in Revelation 17 that the ten horns of the scarlet beast are the ten rulers. You can think of how everything seems to fit perfectly as Greece and Italy are part of the EU.
The interesting fact among the ten horns is a little horn. Some Protestant scholars have interpreted it as the rise of the Vatican. There were ten kingdoms in the Roman Empire and three got knocked out. Eventually came the rise of the Vatican which claimed to be held by the successor of St. Peter. However, the Pope is far from a successor of Peter and more of a successor to Caiaphas. The Pope has been claiming stuff Peter never claimed. Peter never claimed himself to be the Vicar of Christ. I'm amazed at how some Catholic scholars still deny certain Popes said certain stuff. The Roman Catholic system has a dark history of hiding things. Besides, the rules of the nation were required to bow down to the Pope. The Popes had a long history of destabilizing politics. Today, the average Roman Catholic is left clueless about that. All Roman Catholics think of the Pope today as just your good old man. What they don't know is their bloody history. It's no wonder the Reformers all called the Pope, Antichrist. Though, I believe the final Pope will be the False Prophet of Revelation. If not, any of the cardinals could serve as the False Prophet as some Protestant scholars identified the cardinals as the Beasts of the Earth.
The fourth beast is portrayed to have these words to describe him too:
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces. 24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings. 25 And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time. 26 But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end.
The Popes have had a history of subtly doing what's described. Think of how often the Roman Catholic institution has a long timeline of adding new doctrines contrary to the Word of God. Yet, her most rabid defenders say Protestants have been rejecting the Word of God to keep their tradition? It's baffling really at how they chew themselves. The Vatican has been adding new doctrines such as the veneration of saints and has the nerve to say they supposedly compiled the Bible for centuries later. Yet, Bible reading was already banned during the Dark Ages, something Rome keeps denying until today. The Roman Catholic institution has been making lots of ill-gotten wealth by a series of false claims. The Pope does more than insult Peter by claiming to be the latter's successor. The Pope also insults Jesus Christ by claiming to be his sole representative on Earth (as a vicar). Pope Pius XI, for one, even said, "You know that I am the Holy Father, the representative of God on the Earth, the Vicar of Christ, which means I am God on the Earth." Such a claim is something Peter never said either!
IV. Fitting the imagery into Revelation and current events
Eventually, the imagery in Daniel fits well into Revelation. The Antichrist's symbolic character is a beast with seven heads, ten horns, the body of a leopard, the mouth of a lion, and the feet of a bear. The Antichrist that was portrayed as that little horn speaking great things is now symbolized by a vicious beast that combines the traits of the four kingdoms.
Revelation 13:1-2
And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. 2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
So the very symbolism of the little horn really gets magnified by the symbolism of a seven-headed monstrosity. Granted, I'm not a preterist (believing all prophecies have already happened), so I believe that some of the prophecies of Daniel had happened, many are happening, and many are yet to be fulfilled. Yet, the signs are already shown. It was believed Antiochus IV Epiphanes was the fulfillment. However, Antiochus IV was but a type of Antichrist who desecrated the altar. It seems too that the prophecies are still being fulfilled in the light of recently recorded history. Today's news is tomorrow's history.
We should see how things fit with the four world empires today. Iraq was founded on October 3, 1932. The Kingdom of Iraq was founded in 1933. Later, Iraq's dictator Saddam Hussein fell down in 2003 though not at the hands of the Iranian government. Hussein was hanged and he once held the status as the most wanted man alive due to his notoriety. Hussein's hanging almost felt like a fulfillment of the head of gold falling down. Iraq, until now, is still under a bad economy and it's not going to be in your recommended tourist spot. Meanwhile, Iran is now a big threat in the Middle East, especially with the nuclear program. Uranium is of silver color and Iran is carrying a nuclear program. Uranium can arise and devour much flesh. Try reading the history of nuclear plant explosions and the damage they cause. Read about the history of the nuclear bomb. Iran is literally putting its surroundings in danger with its nuclear program. Arise, devour much flesh is really happening today!
The EU has ten main power states includes Greece and Italy. Both of the beasts were already identified historically among the four beasts. EU is basically a revived Roman Empire just waiting for the Antichrist to sit on his throne. It can be observed how the EU, as an organization, is full of arrogance as if they know the whole world in the palm of their hands. That kind of attitude by the EU really shows that they're getting themselves ready to rule the world. EU is also defending politically correct people worldwide. However, it's only held at bay because the Church Age isn't over. I believe the EU is fulfilling the prophecy on a daily basis. They will only succeed during the Tribulation Period but it will soon be destroyed at the Battle of Armageddon.
Even so, come Lord Jesus!
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