The Prophecy of Daniel 7 by W. A. S.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Sep 9, 1915

The Prophecy of Daniel 7

By W. A. S.

Part 1. The Four Great Universal Empires

So important is it that we understand the events leading on to the end, that repeatedly the “sure word of prophecy” deals with the course of this world's history and sets up waymarks along the highway to the everlasting kingdom.

In the light of prophecy, we see the hand of God guiding and overruling through all history, shaping events for the carrying out of his purpose to end the reign of sin and to bring the reign of eternal righteousness. His word of prophecy foretells events of history, that we may know that he is the living God over all, and that we may understand that the divine purpose will surely be fulfilled:—

“I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure. . . . I have spoken it, I also will bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it. . . . My salvation shall not tarry: and I will place salvation in Zion.” Isa. 46: 9-13.

Above a wicked world there is a God in heaven, waiting only the time.

In the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, recorded in the second of Daniel, the Lord revealed in brief but graphic outline the course of history from the days of Babylon to the end. The four great universal monarchies were represented by the various parts of the metallic image—Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. That prophecy described particularly the division of the Roman Empire into the kingdoms of western Europe. “And in the days of these kings,” declared the word of the Lord, the God of heaven was to set up his kingdom, bringing an end to all earthly powers.

In the seventh chapter we are taken over the same course of history, in Daniel's wonderful vision. Here also chief attention was devoted to the fourth great kingdom and its divided state; for the events taking place here are of deepest eternal interest to all.

In the prophet's vision, as recorded in Daniel 7, he saw these four universal empires represented by great beasts. One after another, the symbolic beasts rose, did their work, and gave place to the next scenes in the history. The angel clearly explained to Daniel the meaning of the vision:—

“These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth. But the saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever.” Dan. 7: 17, 18.

Of necessity, then, it is a repetition of the story of the four universal monarchies dealt with in the second chapter, ending

with the setting up of the everlasting kingdom.

Let us place the view given the prophet in vision alongside the record of history.

First, however, a word as to the manner in which the great beasts appeared to the prophet:—

“I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea. And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another.” Verses 2, 3.

Again and again, in the figurative language of Scripture, winds are used as the symbol for wars; and the sea, or waters, for nations or peoples. The prophet saw the clashing of the nations in war, and out of the conflicts of the peoples arose the kingdoms dealt with in the prophecy.

1. Babylon

Note the prophetic picture of the prophecy and the corresponding representation in history.

PROPHECY.—“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.” Verse 4.

HISTORY.—As the lion is king of beasts, it was a fit symbol of Babylon, “the glory of kingdoms.” The eagle's wings suggest rapidity of movement and far-reaching conquest. The prophet Habakkuk said of it, “Their horsemen shall come from far; they shall fly as the eagle.” This was the characteristic of Babylon under the earlier kings, but especially under Nebuchadnezzar. Berosus, the ancient Chaldean historian, wrote of him, “This Babylonian king conquered Egypt, and Syria, and Phenicia, and Arabia, and exceeded in his exploits all that had reigned before him in Babylon.” (See “Flavius Josephus Against Apion,” book 1, par. 19.) But now, at the time of Daniel's vision, degeneracy had come; the empire was tottering. The lion heart was gone, the eagle's wings were plucked, and within three years from the time the vision was given, Babylon was overthrown.

2. Medo-Persia

As the dominion passed from Babylon to the next great power, the prophet says:—

PROPHECY.—“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.” Verse 5.

HISTORY.—The Medes and Persians overthrew Babylon. Medo-Persia was a dual kingdom, lifting itself up on one side, first the Median branch the stronger, then the Persian, under Cyrus and his successors, rising higher. This two-sided characteristic, noted as a distinguishing mark in the prophecy, was emphasized by the ancient writers also. Æschylus, the Greek poet, who lived in the days of Persia, wrote:—

“Asia's brave host, A Mede first led. The virtues of his son Fixed firm the empire. . . . Cyrus third, by fortune graced Adorned the throne.” —“Persæ.”

The word spoken in the vision, “Arise, devour much flesh,” describes the history from the time when the Persian side rose uppermost. Rawlinson says, “Cyrus proceeded with scarcely a pause on a long career of conquest.” An alliance against Persia was formed by Lydia, Egypt, and Babylon (Herodotus 1:77); and as these three great provinces were subdued, they may well be represented by the three ribs in the mouth of the Medo-Persian bear.

3. Greece

Yet another kingdom was to follow, and strikingly the symbol pictures the characteristics of the Greek conquest.

PROPHECY.—“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.” Verse 6.

HISTORY.—The third kingdom was Grecia. Under Alexander the Great, the Greeks swept into Asia with the quickness of the leopard's spring. And the four wings on the leopard must represent astonishing fleetness. Plutarch speaks of the “incredible swiftness” of Alexander's conquests. Appian wrote:—

“The empire of Alexander was splendid in its magnitude, in its armies, in the success and rapidity of its conquests, and it wanted little of being boundless and unexampled, yet in its shortness of duration it was like a brilliant flash of lightning. Although broken into several satrapies, even the parts were splendid.”—History of Rome, preface, par. 10.

Thus the ancient Roman writer pictured the career of Grecia just as represented by the prophetic symbol—the fleetness, the great dominion given it, the division of the empire into satrapies, as suggested by the four heads of the leopard. Out of the conflicts following Alexander's death, there came the fourfold headship of the empire. Rawlinson says, “A quadripartite division of Alexander's dominion was recognized.” (See “Sixth Monarchy,” chap. 3.) The real situation is best represented, as Dr. Albert Barnes says, by “one animal with four heads,” just as the prophetic symbol described it centuries before.

Thus the course of empire followed the outline of the “sure word of prophecy” from age to age.

“Armies were ranged in battle's dread array: They fought—their glory withered in its bud; They perished—with them ceased their tyrants' sway; New wars, new heroes came—their story passed away.”

There was to be no abiding kingdom till the time came for God's glorious kingdom to be set up.

4. Rome

As the prophet watched the moving panorama of history, foretold in symbols, he says:—

PROPHECY.—“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. 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.” Verses 7, 8.

HISTORY.—As the iron of the image of Nebuchadnezzar's dream fitly represented the “iron monarchy of Rome,” so here the dreadful beast, with its iron teeth, can be none other than Rome, that followed Grecia in world dominion. It was the most powerful, the most dominating, of all the beasts in the prophetic series. A Roman Catholic writer, Cardinal Manning, compresses into a paragraph the correspondence of history to the likeness of the prophecy:—

“The legions of Rome occupied the circumference of the world. The military roads which sprang from Rome traversed all the earth; the whole world was as it were held in peace and tranquillity by the universal presence of this mighty heathen empire. It was ‘exceedingly terrible,’ according to the prophecies of Daniel; it was as it were of iron, beating down and subduing the nations.”—The Temporal Power of the Pope, page 122 (London, 1862).

Thus far every symbol of the prophet's vision finds its exact and clear counterpart in history. An old writer living in the third century, in the days of imperial Rome, rejoiced to see how exactly the prophecy was being fulfilled. Hippolytus (counted a saint by the Catholic Church) wrote:—

Rejoice, blessed Daniel! thou hast not been in error! All these things have come to pass. After this again thou hast told us of the beast, dreadful and terrible. It has iron teeth and claws of brass; it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it. Already the iron rules; already it subdues and breaks all in pieces; already it brings all the unwilling into subjection; already we see these things ourselves. Now we glorify God, being instructed by thee.—Treatise on Christ and Antichrist, sec. 33.

Now the prophetic outline comes to the time of the division of the Roman Empire, introducing events of deepest personal interest to us today.

W. A. S.