Table of Contents

1. In Daniel’s vision, four winds strove upon what?

Daniel 7:2 Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea.


2. In symbolic prophecy, what do bodies of water represent?

Revelation 17:15 And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.


3. What came up from this “sea”?

Daniel 7:3 And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another.


4. These great beasts, which are four, are what?

Daniel 7:17 These great beasts, which are four, [are] four kings, [which] shall arise out of the earth.


5. What was the first beast like?

Daniel 7:4 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.


6. What nation, as a lion, broke Israel’s bones?

Jeremiah 50:17 Israel [is] a scattered sheep; the lions have driven [him] away: first the king of Assyria hath devoured him; and last this Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath broken his bones.


7. What nation had great eagle’s wings?

Ezekiel 17:3, 12 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; A great eagle with great wings, longwinged, full of feathers, which had divers colours, came unto Lebanon, and took the highest branch of the cedar: Say now to the rebellious house, Know ye not what these [things mean]? tell [them], Behold, the king of Babylon is come to Jerusalem, and hath taken the king thereof, and the princes thereof, and led them with him to Babylon;

Archaeology has revealed that composite lion-eagle creatures were common symbols in ancient Babylon. Regarding lions as royal beasts, Nebuchadnezzar engraved them on his walls and stamped bricks with them.


8. What was the second beast like?

Daniel 7:5 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.

Historically, Babylon was followed by the combined dominion of the Medes and Persians (Daniel 5:28-31). This kingdom was represented in Daniel 2 by the image’s silver breast and arms, and in Chapter 8 by a two-horned ram. Just as one of the ram’s horns was higher than the other (8:3), so the bear of Daniel 7:5 raised up itself on one side. At first the Medes were the more dominant of the two. But soon the Persians became the more powerful side, fulfilling the prediction that “the higher came up last” (8:3). Daniel 8:4 says that the Medo-Persian ram would push “westward, and northward, and southward.” Between 547 and 525 B.C. they conquered Lydia, Babylon, and Egypt. Perhaps that explains the three ribs between the bear’s teeth (7:5).


9. What was the third beast like?

Daniel 7:6 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.

Medo-Persia was followed by Greece. This winged leopard kingdom corresponds to the brass belly and thighs on the image in Chapter 2, and the goat in Chapter 8.

Wings give the connotation of swiftness. As the goat in Chapter 8 came from the west “and touched not the ground,” so Alexander’s conquests were accomplished speedily. Just as the leopard had four wings and four heads (7:6), so the goat grew four horns (8:8) which represented the four divisions of the Greek empire (8:22). It is also interesting to note that Macedonian coins were minted with the likeness of a goat.


10. The fourth beast was dreadful, terrible and what?

Daniel 7:7 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.


11. What did this fourth beast represent?

Daniel 7:23 Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.

The fourth and final secular world empire was Rome. The great iron teeth (7:7) of this beast remind us of the iron legs of the image in Chapter 2.


12. How many horns did the fourth beast have?

Daniel 7:7 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.


13. What did the horns of that kingdom represent?

Daniel 7:24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom [are] ten kings [that] shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.

By A.D. 476, western Rome had fully given over its power to ten barbaric nations: Franks (French), Alemanni (Germans), Burgundians (Swiss), Suevi (Portuguese), Vandals (in Northern Africa), Visigoths (Spanish), Anglo-Saxons (English), Ostrogoths, Lombards, and Heruli (each in Italy).


14. What came up among these horns?

Daniel 7:8 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.


15. What happened to three of the first horns?

Daniel 7:8 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.

Verse 24 says, “He shall subdue three kings.” Historically, this horn power was responsible for the fall of the Heruli in the year 493, the Vandals in 534, and the Ostrogoths in 538. The other seven still exist today as nations of Europe..


16. What kind of eyes did this little horn power have?

Daniel 7:8 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.


17. What else did he have?

Daniel 7:8 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.


18. How did he look compared to his fellows?

Daniel 7:20 And of the ten horns that [were] in his head, and [of] the other which came up, and before whom three fell; even [of] that horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look [was] more stout than his fellows.

These characteristics, along with the contextual indications that he acted in a spiritual realm as well as having political authority, account for the statement that “he shall be diverse from the first” (7:24).


19. Daniel beheld until what happened?

Daniel 7:9 I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment [was] white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne [was like] the fiery flame, [and] his wheels [as] burning fire.


20. The judgment was set, and what were opened?

Daniel 7:10 A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.

“Cast down” in verse 9 is old English for “set in place.” The passage indicates that this judgment occurs among the heavenly host, while on earth the final activities of the kingdoms of men are nearing their close. This, of course, is the investigative judgment which we studied in lesson 16.


21. How will the outcome of the judgment affect the little horn?

Daniel 7:26 But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy [it] unto the end.

In the Light of God’s Word....(Please respond YES or NO)

I understand that the ten horns of Daniel 7 represent kingdoms which would come into power after the fall of Rome.

I understand that three of those kingdoms were to be uprooted by the emergence of another power.

Next Lesson: The Beast of Revelation 13

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