Recreate Church, Pastor Michael Shockley—Service, Sunday, April 3, 2022

Fantastic Beasts.

Today, Pastor Michael is continuing his study on Daniel and we’re in the seventh chapter of Daniel in the Bible.  

The first six chapters were a narrative, telling a linear story.  But in Chapter 7 something different happens.  Chapter 7 describes something that happens 14 years BEFORE Chapter 5!

So Daniel is famous for interpreting dreams, for years he did that.  So finally he gets a dream, similar to Chapter 2 where King Nebuchadnezzar dreamed of a huge statue of a man.  In this new dream, the four empires are represented by four, fantastic beasts.  These beasts are coming up, out of the sea.  The four winds blow on the sea and stir it up.  This represents the power of God.  These are empires that did not rise up from human intervention but God allowed them to happen in his providence.  

The first was like a lion with eagle’s wings.  This would represent the empire of Babylon, whose symbol was a lion.  The lion being given the heart of man and standing on two feet, like a man, similar to what happened to King Nebuchadnezzar.

The second fantastic beast was a bear.  Raised up on one side and had 3 ribs in its teeth.  In the Bible the bear is a symbol of savagery and hunger.  So who came after Babylon?  The Meads and the Persians.  The three ribs?  They probably represent three fallen enemies: Babylon, Egypt and Lydia.

The third fantastic beasts is a leopard with four heads and four sets of wings.  Leopards were symbols of strength and speed.  Four wings mean it’s even faster.  What empire was equivalent to the speed of a leopard?  Greece and Alexander the Great expanded the empire and made it HUGE.  He was undefeated in battle and partly due to his battle skills and soldiers but also due to God and His providence.  But he died at 32 in Babylon and the Greek empire continued on but was in four parts!  Hmmm…wonder if that’s related to the four heads?

Spoiler.  Yes, it is related.

Then came the empire that was greater than any before them.

The fourth beast was dreadful, terrible, with huge iron teeth.  It was different than all the other beasts before it.  Daniel could not compare it to anything he had ever seen.  It even had ten horns on its head.  Iron is important because Rome was represented by iron in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream.  

It is clear from the book of Daniel that this succession of empires (Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome) was not the result of clever rulers.  God had a plan for it.  God allowed these kingdoms to arise and fall for HIS purposes. 

We see these four empires in succession and that there is a greater purpose for these empires.  That God’s providential hand raised up these kingdoms for His purpose.  He has organized history so that you can get to know His son, Jesus.

Verses can be found today in Daniel, Chapter 7.