Introduction: These transcripts are from Kay Arthur's lectures on the old course on Daniel and not the new lecture series circa 2006. They are provided as a service to the body of Christ with the written permission of Precept Ministries International. This material is the property of Precept Ministries International and all rights are reserved.

The transcripts are for the most part verbatim with deletions identified by the characters (...). The utilization of italics, bolding, hyperlinks and pop up notes represent editorial additions. Any written additions are identified by the designation "Ed note".  All references are the NASB unless otherwise indicated.

Please note that these lectures by Kay Arthur supplement the excellent Precept Upon Precept inductive Bible study on the Daniel. Click on the link below and note that you can download lesson 1 free of charge.

Daniel 1-6 - Part 1 - Living Out a Biblical Worldview
Daniel 7-12 - Part 2 - Gaining Understanding of the Time of the End

Below are links to the excellent Precept study of the Revelation. If you are planning on doing this four part study, I would strongly encourage you to first complete the Daniel study, as knowledge of the prophecies in Daniel is critical to a full understanding of the prophecies in the Revelation.  Note that for each part, you may download a PDF of lesson one at no charge.

Revelation 1-3 - Part 1 - Jesus' Message to the Church
Revelation 4-22 - Part 2 - The Unveiling of the Book of Revelation
Revelation 5-22 - Part 3 - What is the Sign of His Coming and the End of the Age?
Revelation 5-22 Part 4 - Interpreting Revelation in the Light of Biblical Prophecy4

Note that the explanation of Daniel 7 is continued in Lecture 10

We are living in "beastly" days‑we are seeing what man looks like when all restraints are removed, when all fear of God is removed. When sin is blatant we need to recognize that this world is not our home. The world wants no restraints. Christians look at things different: in death we look to life, in trials we look to holiness, in poverty we look toward our heavenly inheritance, in sorrow, sickness and tears we look toward the time when God will wipe away all our tears. We are despised and called to suffer for His Name's sake but we can confidently look forward to the day when we will reign with Christ.

What is God trying to tell His children
through this chapter on the 4 beasts?

We need to understand how Daniel 7 relates to Daniel 2 and then in light of these incredible prophecies we need to purpose in our heart as to how we shall live.

First, let's put Daniel 7 in the context of the entire book, noting at the outset that chapter 7 marks the beginning of a new section in the book of Daniel. The book can be divided as follows...

Daniel 1‑6 Nebuchadnezzar had the dreams and Daniel was the interpreter.

Daniel 7‑12 Daniel has visions and dreams and angelic beings interpret.

From Daniel 2:4b through Daniel 7:28, the original text is written in Aramaic which leads to another way one can divide the book of Daniel.

Daniel 1‑7 = deals primarily with Gentile dominion of the world, these powers interacting with Israel in some manner

Daniel 8‑12 = The story shifts focus to the nation of Israel and takes it all the way to the end of history as we know it.

All of Daniel's prophetic portions have been fulfilled except for one segment and we are living at a time when we may well see even this segment fulfilled!

(Editorial note: Donald Campbell, former president of Dallas Theological Seminary, sums up this section writing that "Daniel 7 concludes the first major section of the book, which describes the destinies of the nations of the world. With chapter 8 we turn a corner and find the emphasis to be on the destiny of the nation of Israel".

Dr Campbell goes on to add that there is clearly "a remarkable similarity between the prophecies of chapters 2 and 7. Both give a panoramic sweep of Gentile world history, showing that there will be four great empires, each succeeding the other, and that history will come to its climax when God's kingdom is established on earth and His Son reigns. Further, Daniel 7 adds important information not found in chapter 2 about a wicked world ruler in the end times, and this information provides a foundation for the development of this personage's character and career in subsequent visions. It has been said that chapter 7 "provides the most comprehensive and detailed prophecy of future events to be found anywhere in the Old Testament" (Walvoord, Daniel, p. 145). Clearly then, this is a chapter that merits our close attention.) (Campbell, Donald: Daniel: God's Man in a Secular Society: Discovery House, 1988)

OVERVIEW OF DANIEL

Chronological Context of "the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon" (Daniel 7:1)

Daniel 7‑ Daniel's dream and vision took place approximately 553BC, actually before the events in Daniel 5 (which marks the defeat of Belshazzar and Babylon by the Medes and Persians in about 539BC) between Daniel 4 & 5 in about 553BC, approximately 14 yrs before Daniel 5. It is worth noting that Daniel had 4 visions (Daniel 7, Daniel 8, Daniel 9 and Daniel 10-12) and all four visions apparently occurred during the historical period covered in Daniel 1-6.

In Daniel 7 the prophet Daniel records that...

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 (cf Revelation 13:1), different from one another."
 

God let's His children know what is coming to pass so that we will not be caught unaware –­ He doesn't give us all the details but He does give us signs along the way so that we know where we are on our journey.

Who or what are the "four great beasts"?

If we compare Scripture with Scripture (always the best commentary) in this same chapter Daniel explains that...

"These great beasts, which are four in number, are four kings who will arise from the earth. (Daniel 7:17)

FOUR BEASTS = FOUR KINGS

Observe that the "Sea" in Daniel 7:3 is interpreted as the "Earth" in Daniel 7:17 and as mentioned able denotes mankind. Therefore Daniel 7:17 refers to 4 kingdoms that came from the mass of humanity and were not of divine origin (although clearly God is still sovereign and still in control of world history, Daniel testifying earlier that God "removes kings and establishes kings" Daniel 2:21). Isaiah helps understand "sea" recording that...

"the wicked are like the tossing sea, for it cannot be quiet, and its waters toss up refuse and mud." (Isaiah 57:20)
 

"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. (Daniel 7:4)

Description of Lion with wings like an Eagle with wings plucked which is very similar to Nebuchadnezzar's dream of the tree which was man and was great like the lion was great but which was reduced to an animal and then lifted back on its feet and given a human mind.

The image of Beast #1 corresponds to the  HEAD OF GOLD  in Chapter 2.

Beast #1 is a symbol of the Neo-Babylonian Empire (Babylon existed in Genesis at the time of Nimrod, then lost power but now had come back into prominence. "Neo" means "new" so this Babylonian empire is "new" relative to the "old" Babylonian empire referred to as "Shinar" in Genesis 11)

WINGED LIONS guarded the gates of palace of the king at Babylon (click picture below)
 

What does Scripture say about the phrase "Lion...had the wings of an eagle"? Daniel's contemporary, the prophet Ezekiel in a chapter which dates about 588BC, 2 years before the destruction of Jerusalem, writes a riddle about...

"A great  eagle with great wings, long pinions and a full plumage of many colors, came to Lebanon and took away the top of the cedar."  (Ezekiel 17:3)

This "riddle" is then explained in Ezekiel 17:12

"say now to the rebellious house, 'Do you not know what these things mean?' Say, Behold, the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem, took its king and princes, and brought them to him in Babylon."

So in this riddle, God likens the king of Babylon to an eagle, a bird that generally was held to be the "king" of the sky. Here in Daniel 7, the eagle had his wings plucked wings which suggests a humbling event. Babylon was built rapidly which may explain the wings of eagle, but one cannot be dogmatic.

Jeremiah uses "lion" to picture Babylon writing that...

A lion stalks from its den, a destroyer of nations. And it is headed for your land! Your towns will lie in ruins, empty of people. (Jeremiah 4:7)

Thus we see that the lion and the eagle were both symbols of Babylon elsewhere in Scripture.

 BABYLON ‑ (see Babylon, history and religion) To be a student of prophecy you need to be alert to what God says about Babylon (The name "Babylon" occurs at least 260 verses --click for verses-- in the NASB and is found in 100 out of 1372 chapters in the Bible mostly in the prophetic books!). Babylon means "gate of the god". The city covered 2000 acres and was located along the Euphrates in modern day Iraq. Babylon had control of the major trade routes. Prior to the war in Iraq in 2003, there was an ongoing effort to re‑build Babylon in honor of Saddam Hussein!
 

Babylon had a Ziggurat (click picture above, see also Wikipedia article) for their chief false god, Marduk, who was held to be the lord of the foundation of heaven and earth. 

Daniel 7 gives us insight into the real character of the "head of gold" which is described as "like a lion". The Lion, bear, etc probably symbolize the "beastly" character of these kingdoms opposed to God and  therefore are also opposed to the children of God. The beastly kingdoms rejected the knowledge of God and in turning away they became very beastly in character‑ ‑anti‑God and anti‑Christian.
 

In Daniel 7:5 we read about the second beast...

"And behold, another beast, a second one, resembling a bear. And it was raised up on one side, and three ribs were in its mouth between its teeth; and thus they said to it, 'Arise, devour much meat!'

As shown in the depiction of the Statute from Daniel 2 the bear parallels the  chest and arms of silver

A Bear is larger than a Lion and the Medo‑Persian Empire was larger (as demonstrated by the maps below) but less majestic than Babylon

A bear is less swift. Next to the lion, bears were the most ferocious beasts in Palestine.

The three ribs is somewhat enigmatic but most observers agree that it probably represents the three rulers, nations or empires they conquered, Babylon, Lydia (Turkey) and Egypt.

In the depiction of the large statue in Daniel 2 the two arms clearly indicates the combination of Medes and Persians; but the fact that it was "raised up on one side" would point to what we saw historically of the rise of the Persians to greater power than the Medes.

Jeremiah makes a reference to Medes (and specifically most feel to Cyrus the Mede) writing...

"Behold, one will come up like a lion from the thicket of the Jordan to a perennially watered pasture... " (Jeremiah 50:44)

This verse pictures Babylon's enemy coming against her like a lion coming out of the Jordan Valley jungles. When the Jordan River would overflow the floodwaters would drive the lions from the thicket As an aside, although it is known that lions and bears were once indigenous to Canaan as illustrated in the following passage (on the occasion of David battle with Goliath)...

"Then Saul said to David, "You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are but a youth while he has been a warrior from his youth." But David said to Saul, "Your servant was tending his father's sheep. When a lion or a bear came and took a lamb from the flock, I went out after him and attacked him, and rescued it from his mouth; and when he rose up against me, I seized him by his beard and struck him and killed him. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, since he has taunted the armies of the living God." (1Samuel 17:33‑36)

The ascendancy of the Persians to become the leading power in the Medo-Persian empire is alluded to in the book of Esther

Now it took place in the days of Ahasuerus, the Ahasuerus who reigned from India to Ethiopia over 127 provinces, 2 in those days as King Ahasuerus sat on his royal throne which was in Susa (Shushan) the capital, 3 in the third year of his reign, he gave a banquet for all his princes and attendants, the army officers of Persia and Media, the nobles, and the princes of his provinces being in his presence...19 "If it pleases the king, let a royal edict be issued by him and let it be written in the laws of Persia and Media so that it cannot be repealed, that Vashti should come no more into the presence of King Ahasuerus, and let the king give her royal position to another who is more worthy than she. (Esther 1:1-3, 19)
 

In addition, the Scriptures describe the Persians ruling in first part of book of Nehemiah
 

Daniel 7:6 gives the following details...

"After this I kept looking, and behold, another one, like a leopard, which had on its back four wings of a bird; the beast also had four heads, and dominion was given to it (cf Daniel 2:21 where we see that God "removes kings and establishes kings").
 

So this "beast" has  4 heads and 4 wings of a bird. The Leopard is less majestic but is more feared because it stalks and springs quickly. Alexander the great, the first head of the kingdom of Greece, moved his armies very rapidly using forced marches which would overtake his adversaries by surprise. As a result, Alexander's empire spread from Macedonia (Greece) to Africa to India. It was

Alexander's practice not to "crush" the conquered countries.

Alexander died suddenly at age of 33yo before he had made provision for a successor. He had 5 generals, one of whom faded out, leaving 4 generals who (about 20 years after his death) divided his kingdom into 4 parts (which equates with the 4 HEADS OF THE LEOPARD) (See Lecture 13 for more detailed discussion). Remember that this vision occurred during Belshazzar's reign, before the Medes and Persians had conquered Babylon and before Greece was even a world power! And yet Peter writes that the Word of God we hold in our hand today is "a prophetic word made more sure" (2Peter 1:19)!

In Daniel 7:6 we read the description of the fourth beast...

"After this I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrifying and extremely strong; and it had large iron teeth. It devoured and crushed, and trampled down the remainder with its feet; and it was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns.
 

When Rome conquered, they crushed their enemies.

In 63BC the Roman General Pompey (106–48BC), a rival of Julius Caesar, conquered Jerusalem.

As a general rule of practice Rome literally destroyed civilizations, killing by the thousands and making slaves of hundreds of thousands. The point is that when Rome defeated a nation, it crushed that nation instead of embracing it.

Matthew 2 records the decree of King Herod (who largely depended on the power of Rome for his power) to destroy the Messiah. 

And they came into the house and saw the Child with Mary His mother; and they fell down and worshiped Him; and opening their treasures they presented to Him gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh. 12 And having been warned by God in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed for their own country by another way. 13 Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared^ to Joseph in a dream, saying, "Arise and take the Child and His mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is going to search for the Child to destroy Him." 14 And he arose and took the Child and His mother by night, and departed for Egypt; 15 and was there until the death of Herod, that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, "OUT OF EGYPT DID I CALL MY SON." 16 Then when Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he became very enraged, and sent and slew all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its environs, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had ascertained from the magi. 17 Then that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled, saying, 18 "A VOICE WAS HEARD IN RAMAH, WEEPING AND GREAT MOURNING, RACHEL WEEPING FOR HER CHILDREN; AND SHE REFUSED TO BE COMFORTED, BECAUSE THEY WERE NO MORE." 19 But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared^ in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, 20 "Arise and take the Child and His mother, and go into the land of Israel; for those who sought the Child's life are dead."

These passages illustrate how Herod (in a sense representing Rome) tried to crush the Messiah.

Rome is not likened to any known animal because there is none which adequately describes Rome's character. The DT ("dreadful and terrible") beast has 10 horns and then a little 11th horn (that has eyes, a mouth and makes great boasts) and 3 of the horns were pulled out gradually, slowly, leaving 8 horns. This is recorded in Daniel 7:8

"While I was contemplating the horns, behold, another horn (Note: in addition to the 10), a little one, came up among them, and three of the first horns were pulled out by the roots before it; and behold, this horn possessed eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth uttering great boasts.

In  Daniel 7:10, 26 we read that...

"A river of fire was flowing and coming out from before Him. Thousands upon thousands were attending Him, and myriads upon myriads were standing before Him. The court sat, and the books were opened....'the court will sit for judgment, and his dominion will be taken away, annihilated and destroyed forever."

There is a day when the books will be opened and these beasts will be judged, even though it may look like these beasts are winning now, but the Little horn and the beasts will be judged and destroyed.

In Daniel 7:13 the prophet writes...

"I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, and He came up to the Ancient of Days And was presented before Him."

The Son of Man in this context is the Messiah and interestingly represents the only OT reference to Him as the Son of Man. In contrast there are 84 passages in NT (click for all these passages) in which Jesus refers to Himself as the "Son of Man", which is almost as if He is saying "listen to Daniel's prophecy".

In Matthew 24:30 we read about the second coming of the "Son of Man"...

"the sign of the SON OF MAN will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the ' SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY with power and great glory."

Jesus became the Son of Man when Mary gave birth to Him, so "Son of Man" refers to Jesus in His incarnate state, fully God and fully Man. When Jesus Christ ascended He ascended bodily and will return bodily as a perfect Man. Because He sits today at the right hand (the hand of power) of God the Father, we will someday reign with Him (sit with Him) as man.

Daniel records that...

"And to Him was given dominion, glory and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and men of every language might serve Him." (Daniel 7:19)

Are all peoples, nations  men serving Him now? Obviously not.

Note the parallel between the 10 toes of Dan 2 statute and the 10 horns of Dan 7.

When is the Son of Man given dominion? Daniel 2 explains that it is when the Stone crushes the 10 toes "in the days of those kings"...

34 "You continued looking until a stone was cut out without hands, and it struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay, and crushed them.
35 "Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were crushed all at the same time, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them was found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.
 

44 "And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever.
45 "Inasmuch as you saw that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold, the great God has made known to the king what will take place in the future; so the dream is true, and its interpretation is trustworthy."

Not only does the Stone get the kingdom but the saints also get the kingdom Daniel 7:18 recording that...

'But the saints of the Highest One will receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, for all ages to come.'

The 10 toes, and 10 kings point to a time yet future because the little horn's kingdom comes to an end when the Ancient of Days comes.

WE HAVE JUST BEGUN TO STUDY ONE OF THE MOST EXCITING PORTIONS OF PROPHECY IN THE WORD OF GOD (Ed note: For example, Dr John Walvoord the dean of modern prophecy writes that Daniel 7 "provides the most comprehensive and detailed prophecy of future events to be found anywhere in the Old Testament" Walvoord, Daniel, p. 145).

1 Chr 12:32 And of the sons of Issachar, men who understood the times, with knowledge of what Israel should do

If you want to understand the times, then you need to study the book of Daniel and keep your eyes on Israel. Israel is God's time piece and it's "almost midnight." You will see the signs of the times and because of your knowledge of the book of Daniel, you will know when the clock is about to "strike 12". You can know that all the DREADFUL BEASTS that have sought to devour the kingdoms and peoples of this world and to quench, crush and put an end to Christianity, will soon themselves come to an end because THERE IS A KING COMING TO BRING IN A KINGDOM & THE SAINTS OF THE MOST HIGH ARE GOING TO POSSESS THAT KINGDOM WITH HIM! Will you?

Daniel 1: 8 But Daniel MADE UP HIS MIND (literally "put in his heart" or "purposed in his heart")  that he would not defile himself with the king's choice food or with the wine which he drank; so he sought permission from the commander of the officials that he might not defile himself.
 

Daniel 3:17-18 "If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire and He will deliver us out of your hand, 0 king. But even If He does not, lot It be known to you, 0 king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up."
 

Daniel 11:32 ... the people who know their God will display strength and take action

Closing prayer: