The End in the Middle

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PRAYING TOGETHER:

Consider focusing opening prayer on VCC and/or community needs such as:

• Pray & fast for God’s name to be hallowed, his kingdom to come, and his will to be done in our lives, in our church, in our nation, and in the upcoming election.

• Pray for our faith to be strengthened and build endurance during this COVID trial.

• Pray for the well-being of our congregation (spiritual, emotional, physical) during this time of isolation.

STARTER QUESTION

As we enter these chapters that describe the apocalyptic visions of Daniel, why do you think it’s important we don’t avoid studying them and embracing what might be uncomfortable?

LEADER STUDY NOTES:

Daniel 7:3 — "The four great beasts came up out of the sea...”

In the OT the sea frequently stands for the chaos God had to control in the beginning (Genesis 1:2-10). "The sea is a negative entity, a hostile element tamed by God, a chaotic world in opposition to the civilized world.” Thus these beasts coming up out of the chaotic sea depict disorder and hostility to God. Another indication that these beasts represent disorder is that they are described as hybrid creatures: a lion with eagles’ wings, a bear with three tusks like a boar, a leopard with four wings, and a monster with ten horns. These hybrids stand in striking contrast to God’s good creation where God created creatures “according to their kinds.” “In the light of the laws on clean and unclean animals in Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14, Jews would regard hybrid creatures as unclean.” The fourth beast, apparently, is so awful that it cannot even be pictured as an animal. Instead Daniel describes it as “terrifying, dreadful, exceedingly strong,” with “great iron teeth,” “ten horns” (v. 7), and “claws of bronze” (v. 19).”*

Daniel 7:4 — "The first beast was like a lion and had eagles wings ..."

All agree that the first kingdom was Babylon (605-539 B.C.) ... The first beast “was like a lion and had eagles’ wings” (7:4). The lion is the king of land animals and the eagle king of birds. The Old Testament prophets compare King Nebuchadnezzar to a lion (e.g., Jer 4:7; 50:17, 44) and to an eagle (e.g., Jer 48:40; Eze 17:3). There is general agreement, therefore, that the first beast represents Babylon, the head of gold in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream (Dan 2:38).*

Daniel 7:5 — "Another beast, a second one, like a bear..."

“The second beast “looked like a bear ... raised up on one side” (7:5). In the Old Testament, bears were known as ferocious animals who mauled people (see 2 Kings 2:24) and could weigh “up to 250 kilos.” “It was raised up one side” so that this side was higher than the other. “One side of the bear being higher or larger could indicate that the empire symbolized by the bear consisted of two parts, one being greater than the other. If so, the two divisions would be Media and Persia, and the higher side would symbolize Persia, which rose to a position of dominance in the alliance.” This interpretation is confirmed in Daniel 8, where Daniel sees a ram with two horns: “Both horns were long, but one was longer than the other, and the longer one came up second” (8:3). Again, an empire made up of two parts. The angel Gabriel identifies this empire for Daniel: “As for the ram that you saw with the two horns, these are the kings of Media and Persia” (8:20). Not Media alone but this united empire of Medo-Persia would “arise, and devour many bodies" (7:5).*

Daniel 7:6 — “Like a leopard. The beast had four wings ... and four heads ...”

The leopard is one of the fastest animals in the animal kingdom. But with the addition of four wings, this animal was incredibly fast. This speedy animal is an apt representation of Alexander the Great of Macedonia and the amazing speed with which he conquered the then-known world. Alexander “invaded Asia Minor in 334 B.C. and within ten short years (by the age of thirty-two) had conquered the entire Medo-Persian Empire to the borders of India.” This third beast, then, is the kingdom of Greece. This interpretation is confirmed by the fact that when Alexander died at a young age, the Greek Empire did indeed split into “four heads” (7:6), four sections, each governed by one of Alexander’s generals: Ptolemy, Seleucus, Lysimachus, and Cassander.*

Daniel 7:7 — “A fourth beast” ... was “terrifying and dreadful and exceedingly strong [taqqîpâ]. It had great iron [parzel] teeth and was devouring, breaking in pieces [dĕqaq], and stamping what was left with its feet ...”

This is the kingdom of iron of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, as Daniel explained to the king, “And there shall be a fourth kingdom, strong [taqqîpâ] as iron [parzel]; just as iron [parzel] crushes [dĕqaq] and smashes everything, it shall crush [dĕqaq] and shatter all these” (2:40). We see the Roman legions marching across the world, breaking in pieces what was left of the Greek Empire, forcing regions in Asia, Africa, and Europe to submit to the Caesar in Rome. This monster “was different from all the beasts that preceded it” (7:7b). “Rome showed itself to be the first truly universal empire of antiquity. Rome was characterized by its conquering and crushing power and by its ability to consolidate the territories which it seized.” Daniel describes this fourth beast as having “ten horns” (v. 7). Evidently, these ten horns arrive after the glory days of Rome, for the angel says: “As for the ten horns, out “of this kingdom ten kings shall arise” (v. 24). As Greece was split up into four heads after reaching its pinnacle, so Rome will break up into “ten kings” or kingdoms after its peak. Since apocalyptic literature frequently uses numbers as symbols, we should probably understand the number “ten” symbolically as the number of fullness (cf. the “ten times better” in 1:20). Thus the kingdom of Rome will continue after its glory days with a full number of partly brittle kingdoms.*

Who is this “son of man?”

Daniel 7:13 — “one like a son of man come with the clouds of heaven” - one like a human being, in contrast to another beast ... The “coming” ... is not a coming of God or a coming of the son of man from heaven to earth. It is a coming of one like a son of man to God who himself is seated in heaven on his throne. The direction of the coming is not from heaven but toward heaven ... .therefore not a prophecy of the second coming of Jesus ... rather, as Calvin long ago explained, it is better to understand as a prophecy of Christ’s ascension to the right hand of God after his resurrection (Acts 1:9-11; 2:33; 5:31).

*Excerpts From: Greidanus, Sidney. “Preaching Christ from Daniel.” Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. iBooks.