Roman and the “Beast”



Daniel 7:7-8
7 After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, terrifying and dreadful and exceedingly strong. It had great iron teeth; it devoured and broke in pieces and stamped what was left with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns.
8 I considered the horns, and behold, there came up among them another horn, a little one, before which three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots. And behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things.

As promised, we march back into Daniel after a brief interlude for the retreat. When I began my devotional study time today, I had intended to do verses 7-12 today. As the study began it became quickly obvious that this was way too much to bite off for a 10 minute study! So with lowered expectations we just do two verses.

As we learned in previous entries, Daniel’s vision of the future has included the kingdoms of the Babylonians, the Medo-Persians, the Greeks, and now the Romans. Next will come the Kingdom of God, which needs to stand alone, thus the reduction in the number of verses we will study for today. The fourth beast is described as just that – a beast. The previous three were identified with animals we would all recognize (lion, bear, leopard). This beast is typified by the way it made Daniel feel (terrifying and frightening) and his visceral reaction to it (very powerful). He describes it as having the power to crush and destroy all that it encounters. This fourth beast represents the massive power that was the Roman Empire. (Rome was also represented by the shins and feet of Nebuchadnezzar’s statue dream.)

Then the vision gets even weirder. The “beast” had 10 horns. The horns of an animal represent its power and 10 horns would mean that is beast surpasses all others in its power. Finally, there comes a “little horn” that has eyes (awareness) and can speak (intelligence). This horn represents the Antichrist or Satan. Clearly, we have moved into a new realm in Daniel’s vision. He now goes beyond the physical world into the spiritual, which we will take up in more detail tomorrow. (Maybe you want to bone up on your understanding of Revelation between now and then. Just kidding. We’ll go slow and work it out!)

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