The Beasts from the Sea Text: Daniel 7:1-8
Introduction: History with the Lid Off
We live in an age that believes history is a blind, drunken stumble from one accident to the next. The secular historian, peering at the past, sees a chaotic jumble of economic forces, political ambitions, and sheer dumb luck. He sees the rise and fall of empires as nothing more than the churning of a great, meaningless cosmic washing machine. To him, history is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
But the Christian knows that history is a book, and it has an Author. History has a plot, a protagonist, and a glorious, foreordained conclusion. In our text today, God, the author of history, pulls His prophet Daniel behind the curtain. He gives him a backstage pass to reality. He shows him the spiritual truth that animates the political headlines. And what Daniel sees is not a random series of events, but a parade of monsters, a succession of beasts rising from the sea of humanity. God is showing us that the great, glittering empires of man, the ones that write the history books and stamp their faces on the coins, are, from a divine perspective, ravenous, monstrous beasts.
This is not a flattering portrait. This is a divine exposé. This is God telling us what He thinks of human political power when it is unmoored from Him. It is brutal, it is predatory, and it is temporary. This vision was given to Daniel to comfort the saints. It was not given to satisfy our curiosity about newspaper headlines, but to steady our hearts in the midst of turmoil. It teaches us to see the world as God sees it, so that we will not fear the beasts, and so that we will put all our trust in the Son of Man who is coming to judge them.
The Text
In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel saw a dream and visions in his head as he lay on his bed; then he wrote the dream down and said the following summary of the matter. Daniel answered and said, "I was looking in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea. And four great beasts were coming up from the sea, different from one another. 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; and a heart of a man was given to it. And behold, another beast, a second one in the likeness of 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!' 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. After this I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, fearsome and terrifying and extraordinarily 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. While I was contemplating the horns, behold, another horn, 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 speaking great boasts.
(Daniel 7:1-8 LSB)
God's Controlled Chaos (vv. 1-3)
The vision begins with the stage being set. Daniel sees this in the first year of Belshazzar, the last king of Babylon. The golden empire is in its twilight, but it doesn't know it yet. This is where God chooses to reveal the next four centuries of world history.
"I was looking in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea. And four great beasts were coming up from the sea, different from one another." (Daniel 7:2-3)
We must get the symbols right. The "great sea" in Scripture is a consistent symbol for the gentile nations, the roiling, chaotic mass of humanity apart from God (Isaiah 17:12, Rev. 17:15). It is the source of restless, unstable, and often violent political turmoil. The empires of man arise from this chaos.
But this chaos is not ultimate. The sea is not stirring itself. Notice that "the four winds of heaven" are stirring it up. The winds represent the sovereign, invisible power of God. God is the one agitating the nations. He is the one who raises up kings and brings them down. History is not a runaway train; the living God has His hand firmly on the throttle. The political storms that terrify us are all within His perfect control. He is the one who will call these four beasts up out of the deep, one by one, for His own purposes.
The Parade of Monsters (vv. 4-7)
What comes out of the sea is a rogues' gallery of empires, each depicted as a monstrous beast. This corresponds to the statue in Nebuchadnezzar's dream in Daniel 2, but here the vision is not from man's perspective (a glorious, shining statue) but from God's (a series of ravenous beasts).
"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; and a heart of a man was given to it." (Daniel 7:4)
This is Babylon. The winged lion was a common symbol of Babylon. It represents majesty, strength (lion), and swiftness (eagle). This was the empire of Nebuchadnezzar in his pomp. But then, the beast is humbled. Its wings are plucked. It is made to stand like a man, and a man's heart is given to it. This is a clear reference to the humbling of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 4, when God drove him into the wilderness until he learned that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men. God shows here that He can take the proudest beast and, through discipline, bring it to its feet and give it the heart of a man, capable of confessing His sovereignty.
"And behold, another beast, a second one in the likeness of 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!'" (Daniel 7:5)
This is the Medo-Persian empire. It is less majestic than the lion, but more brutish and powerful, like a bear. It was "raised up on one side" because the Persian element of the empire was far more dominant than the Median. The three ribs in its mouth represent three of its foundational conquests: Lydia, Babylon, and Egypt. The command given to it, "Arise, devour much meat," perfectly captures its character. It was a lumbering, conquering, consuming empire.
"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." (Daniel 7:6)
This is Greece under Alexander the Great. A leopard is known for its speed, but this leopard has four wings, signifying the breathtaking, supernatural swiftness of Alexander's conquests. In just over a decade, he conquered the known world. But the beast also had four heads. After Alexander's early death, his empire was not passed to a single heir but was divided among his four generals. And notice the crucial phrase: "dominion was given to it." Alexander did not conquer the world by his own genius alone. God gave him that dominion for His own purposes, and God took it away.
"After this I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, fearsome and terrifying and extraordinarily 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." (Daniel 7:7)
This is the Roman Empire. This beast is so terrible it is not compared to any animal. It is a nondescript monster of industrial strength. Its defining feature is its large iron teeth. It doesn't just conquer; it devours, crushes, and tramples. It was a different kind of empire, a relentless, soul-crushing machine of law and military might. This was the beast that was on the scene when Jesus was born. The ten horns represent the kings and kingdoms that would later emerge from the fragmented Roman empire.
The Arrogant Usurper (v. 8)
As Daniel is contemplating this final, terrible beast, something new and even more sinister appears.
"While I was contemplating the horns, behold, another horn, 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 speaking great boasts." (Daniel 7:8)
This "little horn" is the focal point of the vision. This is the spiritual culmination of all the beastly power that came before it. It is the spirit of antichrist. It arises from among the powers of man ("came up among them"). It is politically disruptive ("three of the first horns were pulled out"). But its defining characteristics are spiritual. It has "eyes like the eyes of a man," indicating cunning, intelligence, and shrewd political calculation. And it has "a mouth speaking great boasts." This is the essence of godless humanism. It is man, embodied in the state or a political leader, boasting against the Most High God. It is blasphemous arrogance.
This little horn is the archetypal enemy of God and His people. We see a prefigurement of him in Antiochus Epiphanes, who desecrated the Temple. We see him in the Roman emperors who demanded worship and threw Christians to the lions. We see him in every totalitarian state that deifies itself and declares war on the church of Jesus Christ. And we see him today in the soft totalitarianism of a secular state that boasts of its own autonomy and seeks to redefine marriage, life, and reality itself in defiance of the Creator. This is the enemy. He is intelligent, he is arrogant, and he hates the saints of the Most High.
Conclusion: Why God Shows Us the Zoo
So why does God give Daniel this terrifying vision of a parade of monsters? He does it for at least three reasons. First, he does it to strip away our illusions. God wants us to see godless political power for what it is: beastly. We are not to be impressed by its pomp, its parades, or its power. We are to see it as God sees it, a monster from the deep.
Second, He does it to assure us of His absolute sovereignty. These beasts do not rise by their own power. God stirs the sea. Dominion is given to them. Their leash is held by a sovereign hand. They can do nothing that God does not permit for His own glory and the good of His people. There is no such thing as a political maverick.
And third, He shows us the beasts to prepare us for the King. This vision does not end here. The very next scene is a courtroom, where the Ancient of Days takes His seat, the books are opened, and the beasts are judged. This whole vision is the setup for the main event: the coming of one "like a Son of Man," who will receive an everlasting dominion that shall not pass away. The beasts get a few centuries; the Son of Man gets eternity. This vision is given so that we, the saints of the Most High, will not fear the little horn's great boasts, but will trust in the Son of Man who has already crushed the serpent's head and who will, in the end, put all His enemies under His feet.