Day 13 – God’s Animal Parade
Read Daniel 7: 1 – 8
In chapter 7, Daniel records a glimpse of the horror of human evil that he was given in a dream, the first of several visions that give him a sketchy image of the world’s future. Chapter two relates a dream of the future of humanity given to Nebuchadnezzar and chapter seven gives God’s viewpoint of that same time – a bunch of worldly kingdoms (depicted as ravenous beasts) devouring one another. This style of writing uses metaphors to throw light on difficult concepts but it can be a mistake to take the analogies and interpretations too far.
Perhaps it is helpful to view the sea mentioned in the dream as the great “sea of humanity.” The striving of the wind upon the sea denotes disruption brought on by political strife, wars and bloodshed. The animals coming up out of the sea represent earthly kingdoms that come upon the scene and try to control the affairs of men. Earthly nations are often symbolized by animals such as the lion for Great Britain or the eagle for the United States. God sees the parade of human governments as a chronicle of immorality, brutality, and depravity. A new kingdom comes upon the scene to devour the previous one and conditions for the people they rule get worse as they demonstrate how inept they really are.
The beasts didn’t all come up out of the sea at the same time. They follow each other, one at a time, and they devour the previous beast. The winged lion represents Babylon, the bear represents Medo-Persia, the four-headed leopard represents Greece, and the final beast with the iron teeth represents Rome. Daniel did not understand this vision when he received it but history has provided us with many interesting corollaries. For example, the four-headed leopard was used to symbolize the kingdom of Greece and ruled by Alexander the Great. Alexander died in 323 B.C. with no clear succession plan and his kingdom was divided among his four generals – Ptolemy, Seleucus, Lysimachus and Cassander.
Q1. People of ancient times regarded the sea as a wild and foreboding place that was often a source of fear (Isaiah 17:12; Jeremiah 5:22). Does it make sense that the beasts would come from the sea?
Q2. Why do you think God allows terrible kingdoms, one after another, to succeed each other? What do you think might be His purpose in that? If God knows that humanity will never be able to govern themselves without chaos, evil and depravity, why doesn’t He just come and take over now?
Q3. How will God finally answer the chaos and deal with the corrupt, evil kingdoms of man? (Hint: Read Revelation 19: 11 – 16 for the good news!)
Final thought: The Roman empire (the last kingdom symbolized in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream) was never conquered as the other kingdoms had been. Rome did not die but rather fell apart because of internal corruption and rottenness. Many scholars believe that the ten horns growing out of the head of the fourth beast (Rome), represents a new, future kingdom of nations (formerly aligned with the Roman empire) that will come upon the scene to take control in the future.