Daniel 7: Vision of the Four Beasts
1 In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel saw a dream and visions in his mind as he lay on his bed; then he wrote the dream down and related the following summary of it.
2 Daniel said, "I was looking in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea.
3 "And four great beasts were coming up from the sea, different from one another.
The symbols that we will be examining today are the beast. When we have a good understanding of what these beast refer to then we can determine what value they have for us today. The bible does not leave us trying to guess what the beast represent but it tells us in verse 17.
17 'These great beasts, which are four in number, are four kings who will arise from the earth.
We now see that these beast represent kings, leaders or presidents that will arise but if we continue to read we find in verse 23 that the beast also represent a kingdom that will rise up on the earth.
23 "Thus he said: 'The fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on the earth....
From these verses we now know that the vision that Daniel had will be the rising of kingdoms or nations and the king or president of that kingdom or nation. Now lets look at the first beast.
4 "The first was like a lion and had the wings of an eagle. I kept looking until its wings were plucked, and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man; a human mind also was given to it.
God is not random when he uses symbolism in scripture. We know that this lion represents a kingdom and its ruler or government so we need to see if there is a nation that is universally known as being represented by the lion. In Websters 3rd Addition Dictionary if you look up lion it says, a symbol of a country....Great Britain.
In Trafalgar Square in London, England Great Britain there are statues of lions all over the place. The lion is the official emblem of Great Britain. So God is telling that Great Britain will be one of the nations that is on the earth when this prophesy is fulfilled.
Now while the lion is the beast we still have the issue of the wings of an eagle. The vision states, I kept looking until its wings were plucked, and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man; a human mind also was given to it.Where do we see an emblem of the wings of an eagle? The back of the dollar bill of The United States! The bald eagle has been the official emblem of the U.S.A. since 1782, just six years since the USA came out of Great Britain. This prophesy was written over 2500 years ago and foretold of the rise of the U.S. from Great Britain. The vision continues with and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man; a human mind also was given to it. Keep in mind that we are still looking at symbolism that refers to nations and, or a leader or government of a nation. The wings that Daniel saw were separated from the lion, lifted up to stand on two feet like a man and given a human mind.
Uncle Sam has been a popular name and icon representing the government of the United States since 1820.
Great Britain and The United States are currently two major players in World government and we will look at the other beast to determine what country they represent and then we will look at God's plans for these governments as we near the end of the age.
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