Fourth Beast
The fourth beast is the focus of the vision, especially its little horn with a mouth speaking great things.
The fourth “beast” is presented in more
detail than the first three. It is the center
of the vision. The other “beasts” provide background information for the
rise of this kingdom. Unlike the first three, it has no analog in the animal
kingdom. It is an unnatural creature with “iron teeth” and “ten horns.”
The fourth
beast’s “iron teeth” and feet are used to “trample” its
victims, a clause which parallels the fourth section of the “great image”
in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, the kingdom with legs and feet “strong like iron”
that “shatters and subdues all things”:
- (Daniel 7:7-8) – “After that, I was looking in the visions of the night, when, lo, a fourth beast, terrible and well-hipped and exceeding strong, and it had large teeth of iron, it devoured and broke in pieces, and the residue with its feet it trampled down, and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. I was considering the horns, when, lo, another horn, a little one came up among them, and three of the former horns were uprooted from before it, and, lo, eyes, like the eyes of a man in this horn, and a mouth speaking great things” – (Compare Daniel 2:40-43).
TEN HORNS
With its
feet, it “tramples the remnant.” The identity of the “remnant” is
not given, but verbal links connect the “trampling” to the next vision where
the “little horn” tramples “some of the stars underfoot” - (Daniel
8:8-10).
The “ten
horns” may correspond to the toes of Nebuchadnezzar’s earlier “great image,”
although that dream did not mention the number of “toes.” The “little
horn” emerges from among the “ten horns,” three of which are “uprooted.”
In the
Aramaic text, the verb rendered “uprooted” is passive. That means the
three horns are “removed” by someone or something - (Daniel 2:41).
The number
“ten” could be symbolic or literal. Elsewhere, “ten” symbolizes a
complete set of something. But the removal of three horns and their replacement
by an eleventh is quite specific, which makes it difficult to interpret the numbers
symbolically. More likely, this level of detail points to a known historical event
or events.
The “little
horn” has human eyes and “a mouth speaking great things,” suggesting
intelligence, arrogance, and perhaps something blasphemous.
DIVINE SOVEREIGNTY
Next, the Heavenly
Court reacts to the “Beast” and its blasphemous “horn.” We
are now presented with events from the perspective of God’s throne - (Daniel
7:9-14).
Daniel
gazes “until thrones are placed.” The vision transitions to a judgment
scene (“judgment was set, and the books were opened”). The image of “one
seated on the throne” symbolizes the sovereignty of God over historical events
- (Daniel 12:1-4, Revelation 4:1-8, 20:11-15).
The other beings
who are sitting on the “thrones” are not identified. Their plurality may
stress the majesty of the “Ancient of Days”; likewise, the picture of “thousands
upon thousands that serve him.”
The four ravenous creatures “from the sea” gave the impression that human kingdoms are not under the control of the “God of Heaven.” Any such notion is now set aside by events in the heavenly court.
The “fiery
wheels” indicate mobility. There is no place safe from the judicial reach
of the “Ancient of Days.” His rule is dynamic, and He determines
the course of empires. The “four beasts” can only exit the sea when He
permits, and He is the source of the forces that stir the surface of the sea, causing
them to ascend and march on the earth.
The fourth
“Beast” is “slain” for its arrogance. The impious nature of the
four “beasts” reaches its most blasphemous height in the “mouth”
of the “little horn”; consequently, the “fourth beast” is
destroyed. But it is the fourth “Beast” that is slain, NOT its “little
horn.” This points to the “death” of a regime but not necessarily to that
of an individual ruler.
However, the
first three “beasts” reappear (“The rest of the beasts”). In the historical
record, each kingdom succeeded its predecessor. In the symbolic world of the
vision, the first three realms remain contemporaneous with the “little horn.”
All four regimes continue until they are destroyed collectively by an
act of divine judgment.
Likewise, in
Nebuchadnezzar’s earlier vision, all four segments of the great image” were
destroyed simultaneously by the stone cut “without hands” - they were
constituent parts of a single whole.
Each
kingdom is “given a lengthening of life until a time and season.” Each kingdom
continues for the time allotted by God, and each one loses dominion but then receives
the duration of life for the appointed time. The final destruction of the first
three “beasts” is inextricably linked with the demise of the “little
horn.”
The
destruction of the fourth kingdom and its “little horn” ends the entire World
Empire, just as in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream when the “stone” struck
the “feet” of the “great image” and destroyed the entire
structure.
The sovereignty
of the World Empire passes successively from one kingdom to the next, but
each exercises the same malevolent power. The form varies, but the nature of
each regime remains the same.
In the
interpretation, the length of a “season and time” is not defined but constitutes
a link to Daniel’s earlier declaration that God “changes times and seasons; he
removes kings and sets up kings” - (Daniel
2:19-23).
The
lengthening of life means that each “beast” continues to exist in the subsequent
regimes. Nebuchadnezzar saw four individual kingdoms represented by one figure composed
of four sections. Thus, the World Empire has multiple incarnations but is
a single entity. Its form may change but its true nature does not.
The “one
like a son of man” is seen approaching the “Ancient of Days,” but only
after the destruction of the fourth beast. The figure is in sharp contrast to
the monstrous “beasts,” especially the “little horn speaking great
things.”
The nature of this figure’s dominion differs markedly from the beastly nature of the World Empire. Behind this image is the story of Adam. Yahweh made man in His “likeness” and commanded him to take dominion over the earth. The “son of man” now succeeds where Adam failed.
The “Son
of Man” does not receive the kingdom until judgment is given “for the
saints” and the “beast” is slain. Recorded in the “books” are
the deeds of the four “beasts.”
The “Son
of Man” approaches the “Ancient of Days” and receives the kingdom.
This is another link to Nebuchadnezzar’s earlier dream in which he saw the “stone
cut out without hands” that became “a kingdom that will never be
destroyed” - (Daniel 2:44-45).
IN REVELATION
And in the
book of Revelation, the vision of the four “beasts from the sea”
is modified. The four beasts become a single
beast summoned by the “Dragon” from the sea. And that “Beast” possesses the same animalistic
features as Daniel’s four “beasts from the sea.”
This single “Beast from the sea” also
has “ten horns” and a mouth “speaking great blasphemies.” It is
related to Daniel’s four beasts, but it is also something more, and presumably,
far worse.
In Daniel, the “little horn” wages
“war against the saints and prevails over them.” In Revelation,
the “Beast from the sea” with the “mouth speaking great things” also
wages “war against the saints and overcomes them.”
And in both Daniel and Revelation,
the saints do not take full possession of the kingdom until after their ordeal
at the hands of the “Beast” – (Daniel 7:21, Revelation 13:7).