CHAPTER IV. WAYMARKS on the JOURNEY To the HEAV ENLY CITY. IN the year of Visions of his head upon his bed: N the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel then he wrote the dream, and told the sum of the matters. Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great Sea, or waters, are in prophecy a symbol of nations or people. "The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues." 2 Storm, or the winds, striving upon the great sea, denotes war. "Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth. And the slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth." The mighty billows of the sea lashed into fury by the storm are a suitable picture of the great wars between the nations. One great kingdom overturns another and establishes its throne on the ruins of the subdued power. The four great beasts coming up from the sea represent kingdoms which arise from war between the nations. We read in Dan. 7:17: "These great beasts, which are four, 1 Dan. 7: 1, 2, 2 Rev. 17: 15. 3 Jer. 25: 32, 33. are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth." And in verse 23 we read: "Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms." Thus we see that the four beasts denote four kingdoms which should rule one after another. And they should be 'diverse one from another." 4 "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." 5 This beast is a symbol of the first universal monarchy, Babylon. A man's heart given to it may denote that it became weak and at last passed away. "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." This bear is a symbol of Persia, the second universal kingdom. That the bear raised up itself on one side may denote the union between Media and Persia, and that Persia became the greater. Three ribs in the mouth of it may have reference to the three kingdoms conquered by it; to wit, Babylon, Lydia, and Egypt. The bear devouring much flesh shows that the Persian kingdom would subdue many people. "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."7 The third universal monarchy, Greece, is represented by a leopard. Four wings on the back may refer to the wonderful swiftness with which the king of Greece, Alexander the 4 Dan. 17:3. 6 Dan. 7: 5. 5 Dan. 7: 4. 7 Dan. 7 : 6. NOTE. The Four Kingdoms are distinguished by the different colors, the outline of each kingdom being in the same color as the letters which name the kingdom. Thus the combined red and yellow outline bounds Babylon; the green, Medo-Persia; the yellow, Grecia; and the scarlet, Rome. Great, overcame all his enemies. He marched with his army 5000 miles in less than eight years, and subdued all the countries he passed through. Four heads may denote that his kingdom was divided between his four generals. "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 break 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. '8 The fourth or Roman monarchy is here symbolized by a nameless beast with great iron teeth and nails of brass." Its power was very great. No other kingdom could stand before it. It devoured and stamped the residue with its feet. There was no limit to its cruelty. It subdued at last all the nations. It spared nothing that was left by previous powers. It was diverse from all the beasts that were before it. Rome was very different from all previous kingdoms in its government and proceedings. This symbol is applicable only to Rome. Ten Kings. It "And it had ten horns." Just as the symbolic image in Daniel 2 had ten toes, so this symbol had ten horns. is easily seen that the legs of the metallic image denote the same kingdom as the fourth terrible beast in Dan. 7:7. The prophet says expressly that the fourth beast is the fourth kingdom on earth. 10 And he says just as plainly that the legs of iron denote the fourth kingdom. Consequently, they are two different symbols of one and the same kingdom. 11 But if the legs of iron and the fourth terrible beast denote one and the same kingdom (to wit, Rome, the fourth great universal monarchy), then the feet and toes 8 Dan. 7: 7. 10 Dan. 7 23. 9 Verse 19. |