In our previous messages, we talked about Nebuchadnezzar’s dream and Daniel’s interpretation of that dream. Almost 50 years later, Daniel had a vision of his own that tied into the dream he had previously interpreted. The vision is mentioned in Daniel 7.

In the vision, Daniel saw four beast coming out of the sea. The first was like a lion and had the wings of eagles, the second was like a bear, one was like a leopard, and one a beast described as dreadful, terrible, and strong (Daniel 7:1-8). These four beasts referred to the 4 kingdoms of the statue in the dream Daniel had interpreted for Nebuchadnezzar.

Today we will look at the first 3 beasts:

The Lion:

The first was like a lion and had eagles’ wings. Then as I looked its wings were plucked off, and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man, and the mind of a man was given to it (Daniel 7:4).

The first beast in the vision is a lion with the wings of an eagle. The Babylonian kingdom is compared to the lion in the kingdom. Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom is also mentioned as a lion in Jeremiah 4:7 and as a destroyer of nations. In Ezekiel 17:3, this kingdom is described as an eagle with great wings. If you look at the architecture during the time of the Babylonians, the images are of lions with wings. You also see these images on the currency of the time.

The lion is the head of gold in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream.

The Bear:

And behold, another beast, a second one, like a bear. It was raised up on one side. It had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth; and it was told, ‘Arise, devour much flesh.’ (Daniel 7:5).

The second of beast of the vision looked like a bear. In ancient times, Persia had dominated over Lydia. The vision showed a bear with three ribs in its mouth. These three ribs are the three empires that Persia conquered: Babylon, Egypt, and Lydia. It states that the bear was given order to devour much flesh which implies that the massive military under Persia’s control expanded as far as the eye can see and were a strong military force which managed to destroy many people.

The bear is the chest and arms of silver in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream.

The Leopard:

After this I looked, and behold, another, like a leopard, with four wings of a bird on its back. And the beast had four heads, and dominion was given to it (Daniel 7:6).

The third beast of Daniel’s vision was like a leopard. The leopard had four heads and four wings. This beast represents the kingdom of Greece who conquered and took the land under the leadership of one man, Alexander the Great. The four heads represent a division of Kingdoms. After the death of Alexander the Great, this kingdom was divided into four provinces: Egypt governed by Ptolemies, Syria governed by Seleucids, Macedonia governed by Antigonids, and Pergamum governed by the Attalids.

The leopard represents the belly and thighs of bronze in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream.

Tomorrow we will continue our discussion on the vision and the final beast in Daniel’s vision.