D. The dreadful beast, the most interesting of the four, 7
“After this, I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong. It had huge iron teeth; It was devouring, breaking in pieces, and trampling the residue with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. I was considering the horns, and there was another horn, a little one, coming up among them, before whom three of the first horns were plucked out by the roots. And there, in this horn, were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking pompous words.”
This corresponds to the legs of iron and the feet of iron and clay in the image of chapter 2. What makes this beast diverse from the other three is that it is not like any beast represented by the animal kingdom; And unlike the other three, it is adorned with 10 horns.
1. Its strength is illustrated by the fact that this beast boasted teeth and claws of iron with which it devoured the other three kingdoms.
2. This beast was also adorned with ten horns.
Horns are a symbol of power, and the power of this beast was far greater than the power of the three previous beasts. The ten horns correspond to the ten tows of the image in chapter 2
Skip to verse 15
III. Meaning is Provided by the Angel, 15-28
What we are going to do at this point is skip to verses 15-28 and then we will come back and pick up verses 9-14 at the end next week.
A. Revealed interpretation = absolute meaning
“I, Daniel, was grieved in my spirit within my body, and the visions of my head troubled me. I came near to one of those who stood by, and asked him the truth of all this. So, he told me and made known to me the interpretation of these things: ‘Those great beasts, which are four, are four kings which arise out of the earth. But the saints of the Most-High shall receive the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever.’”
Notice, Daniel says, “he told me and made known to me the interpretation.” So, revealed interpretation = absolute meaning, and this was provided by the spokesman in the vision. This defies all human attempts of interpretation. There is no other possible meaning. Would that everyone (the millennial mind) could grasp this concept!
The interpretation given by the speaker is that four kingdoms would arise out of human history and that in the time of the last of these four kingdoms, the saints would receive the kingdom that we saw portrayed in the vision of the colossal image of chapter 2, and they would possess it forever.
“After this, I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong. It had huge iron teeth; It was devouring, breaking in pieces, and trampling the residue with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. I was considering the horns, and there was another horn, a little one, coming up among them, before whom three of the first horns were plucked out by the roots. And there, in this horn, were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking pompous words.”
This corresponds to the legs of iron and the feet of iron and clay in the image of chapter 2. What makes this beast diverse from the other three is that it is not like any beast represented by the animal kingdom; And unlike the other three, it is adorned with 10 horns.
1. Its strength is illustrated by the fact that this beast boasted teeth and claws of iron with which it devoured the other three kingdoms.
2. This beast was also adorned with ten horns.
Horns are a symbol of power, and the power of this beast was far greater than the power of the three previous beasts. The ten horns correspond to the ten tows of the image in chapter 2
Skip to verse 15
III. Meaning is Provided by the Angel, 15-28
What we are going to do at this point is skip to verses 15-28 and then we will come back and pick up verses 9-14 at the end next week.
A. Revealed interpretation = absolute meaning
“I, Daniel, was grieved in my spirit within my body, and the visions of my head troubled me. I came near to one of those who stood by, and asked him the truth of all this. So, he told me and made known to me the interpretation of these things: ‘Those great beasts, which are four, are four kings which arise out of the earth. But the saints of the Most-High shall receive the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever.’”
Notice, Daniel says, “he told me and made known to me the interpretation.” So, revealed interpretation = absolute meaning, and this was provided by the spokesman in the vision. This defies all human attempts of interpretation. There is no other possible meaning. Would that everyone (the millennial mind) could grasp this concept!
The interpretation given by the speaker is that four kingdoms would arise out of human history and that in the time of the last of these four kingdoms, the saints would receive the kingdom that we saw portrayed in the vision of the colossal image of chapter 2, and they would possess it forever.