Daniel 7 – The four beasts and the kingdom of the Son of Man

Daniel 7 presents one of the most important visions in the book. Four beasts represent four successive kingdoms. The last has ten horns, among which a little horn appears that opposes God and persecutes the saints. But its power is limited. The heavenly court intervenes, the hostile power is judged, and “one like a son of man” receives a kingdom eternal — show definition INF038. The vision thus shows that human empires pass away, while the kingdom of God endures forever.

Daniel sees four winds stirring up the great sea:

“And four great beasts came up out of the sea, different from one another” (Daniel 7.3).

The text itself explains the symbol:

“These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth” (Daniel 7.17).

The fourth beast is then explicitly called a “fourth kingdom” (Daniel 7.23). The kings therefore represent here the kingdoms to which they belong.

In the interpretation adopted in this study, these four kingdoms are:

Babylon → Medo-Persia → Greece → Rome — show definition INF004.

This succession corresponds to that of Daniel 2.

The difference lies mainly in the symbols. Daniel 2 presented the empires in the impressive form of a statue composed of precious metals. Daniel 7 represents them as wild beasts.

Human history thus has two faces: empires can impress through their power and splendor, but they can also become predatory when they exercise their rule through violence.

The first beast is:

“like a lion, and had eagle’s wings” (Daniel 7.4).

It corresponds to Babylon, the first kingdom in the succession.

The lion evokes power, and the eagle’s wings speed. These two images can fittingly describe the expansion of the Babylonian Empire.

Daniel then sees the wings torn off. The beast is raised up like a man and receives a human heart — show definition INF155.

This transformation recalls the fate of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 4. The king had been humbled to the point of living like a beast before regaining his reason and acknowledging the sovereignty of the Most High God.

The text does not explicitly state that Daniel 7.4 describes this episode, but the literary parallel is striking.

The second beast resembles a bear:

“It was raised up on one side; it had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth” (Daniel 7.5).

This power corresponds to the Medo-Persian Empire.

Daniel 8 confirms the association of the two peoples. The ram with two horns is explicitly identified there as representing:

“the kings of Media and Persia” (Daniel 8.20).

One of the ram’s horns becomes higher than the other. In the same way, the bear in Daniel 7 is raised up on one side. This asymmetry may suggest the growing predominance of the Persian component.

The three ribs have sometimes been identified with three major conquests, particularly Lydia, Babylon, and Egypt. Daniel, however, provides no interpretation of these three ribs; this identification must therefore remain a hypothesis.

The third beast resembles a leopard:

“and had on its back four wings like those of a bird; this beast had four heads” (Daniel 7.6).

Once again, Daniel 8 helps with the identification:

“The rough goat is the king of Grecia” (Daniel 8.21).

It is the Greek world.

The four wings reinforce the idea of speed. They correspond particularly well to the conquests of Alexander the Great, who overthrew Persian power within a few years.

The four heads then evoke the fragmentation of the Greek world after Alexander’s death in 323 BC.

Daniel 8 and Daniel 11 return to this division. Alexander’s kingdom was not passed on intact to his descendants but was divided among several powers that arose from his generals.

The fourth beast makes a particularly strong impression on Daniel:

“It was terrifying, dreadful, and exceedingly strong; it had great iron teeth” (Daniel 7.7).

Unlike the previous three, Daniel cannot even compare it to any known animal.

Its iron teeth immediately recall Daniel 2:

“There will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron” (Daniel 2.40).

In the interpretation adopted here, this fourth power corresponds to Rome — show definition INF004.

Rome — show definition INF004 gradually succeeded the Hellenistic world and absorbed the main powers that had emerged from Alexander’s empire.

But the prophecy does not end with ancient Rome — show definition INF004.

The fourth beast has ten horns.

The angel explains:

“The ten horns are ten kings who will arise from this kingdom” (Daniel 7.24).

The ten kings therefore still belong to the fourth kingdom.

Daniel then sees another horn appear:

“another little horn came up among them” (Daniel 7.8).

Three horns are uprooted before it.

This little horn has human eyes and a mouth speaking arrogantly. It then becomes more prominent than the others.

Its activity is both political and religious.

It dominates kings, but it also directly opposes God.

Daniel receives this explanation:

“He will speak words against the Most High, oppress the saints of the Most High, and intend to change times and law” (Daniel 7.25).

The little horn therefore does not simply represent an ordinary kingdom.

It seeks to exercise an authority that directly competes with God’s authority.

It also persecutes the saints.

Daniel even sees it:

“making war against the saints and prevailing over them” (Daniel 7.21).

Its victory, however, is only temporary.

The rule of this power has a fixed duration:

“a time, times, and half a time” (Daniel 7.25).

This expression corresponds to three and a half times.

Revelation allows us to understand the duration more precisely.

Revelation 12 speaks successively of 1,260 days and of “a time, times, and half a time” (Revelation 12.6, 14).

Revelation 13 gives the beast authority for forty-two months (Revelation 13.5).

We therefore obtain:

3½ times = 42 months = 1,260 days.

The calculation is based on prophetic months of thirty days:

42 × 30 = 1,260 days.

The hostile power appears formidable, but God has already set the limit of its rule.

Did you know?

The account of the Flood provides an interesting precedent for this calculation.

Between the seventeenth day of the second month and the seventeenth day of the seventh month, five months pass (Genesis 7.11; 8:4).

Yet Genesis 7.24 gives a duration of 150 days.

This corresponds to five months of thirty days.

This calculation does not mean that the ordinary Jewish calendar always had 360-day years. It simply shows that the Bible can use a schematic reckoning based on thirty-day months, comparable to that used in the prophetic periods of Daniel and Revelation.

Daniel never uses the word “Antichrist — show definition INF265.”

However, the New Testament takes up several characteristics of the little horn to describe the final hostile power.

Paul announces a “man of lawlessness” who:

“exalts himself above everything that is called God” (2 Thessalonians 2.4).

He will ultimately be destroyed by the intervention of the Lord Jesus (2 Thessalonians 2.8).

Revelation 13 also describes a beast with ten horns, uttering blasphemies, making war against the saints, and exercising its authority for forty-two months.

The parallels with Daniel 7 are particularly strong.

In the eschatological interpretation adopted here, the little horn therefore finds its final fulfillment in the figure that Christian theology designates as the Antichrist — show definition INF265.

Antiochus IV Epiphanes, the Seleucid king of the second century BC, persecuted the Jews and brutally interfered with their religion.

He occupies an important place in Daniel 8 and Daniel 11.

He therefore provides an essential historical precedent for understanding the figure of the persecuting ruler.

However, the little horn of Daniel 8 appears in the context of the Greek kingdom, whereas the one in Daniel 7 appears on the fourth beast.

In the interpretation defended here, Antiochus therefore constitutes a particularly important foreshadowing of the final power, but not the complete fulfillment of the little horn of Daniel 7.

At the moment when the hostile power seems to triumph, the scene changes completely.

Daniel sees thrones set in place:

“And the Ancient of Days took his seat” (Daniel 7.9).

Thousands of beings stand before him.

Then:

“the court sat in judgment, and the books were opened” (Daniel 7.10).

The true center of power finally appears.

While kingdoms fight one another on earth, the heavenly court remains sovereign.

The little horn may persecute the saints, but it cannot escape judgment.

Daniel then sees:

“with the clouds of heaven came one like a son of man” (Daniel 7.13).

This figure stands in sharp contrast to the four beasts.

The human empires had become beastlike.

The final kingdom is entrusted to a truly human figure.

The Son of Man approaches the Ancient of Days and receives:

“dominion, glory and a kingdom” (Daniel 7.14).

All peoples serve him.

And unlike the previous empires:

“his dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not pass away.”

Jesus directly takes up this prophecy.

He announces:

“the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (Matthew 24.30).

At his trial, he also declares:

“you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power and coming on the clouds of heaven” (Matthew 26.64).

In the Christian interpretation, the Son of Man in Daniel 7 therefore finds his messianic fulfillment in Jesus.

The one whom people rejected is precisely the one to whom God gives the kingdom eternal — show definition INF038.

Daniel first states that the Son of Man receives the kingdom.

But he then declares:

“the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom” (Daniel 7.18).

There is no contradiction.

The Messiah receives the kingdom as king, and his people share in his reign.

The chapter thus presents a dramatic reversal.

The saints were persecuted.

The little horn appeared victorious.

But after the judgment, those who were persecuted become heirs of the kingdom.

The two great visions can be placed side by side:

Daniel 2:

Babylon → Medo-Persia → Greece → Rome — show definition INF004 → divided phase → kingdom of God.

Daniel 7:

lion → bear → leopard → fourth beast → ten horns and little horn → Son of Man and kingdom eternal — show definition INF038.

Daniel 7 therefore develops in greater depth what Daniel 2 had already announced.

Above all, it adds information concerning the final phase of the fourth kingdom and the power that will oppose the Most High.

In the interpretation defended in this study, and in keeping with Edward Denny’s prophetic perspective, Rome — show definition INF004 constitutes the historical beginning of the fourth kingdom, but it does not exhaust its full prophetic significance.

The fourth power has a final phase represented by the ten horns.

It is within this configuration that the little horn appears.

This interpretation does not mean that it is possible today to identify with certainty the ten kings or the Antichrist — show definition INF265.

Daniel gives no names.

Caution therefore remains essential.

The prophecy provides criteria that will make it possible to recognize the structure when it is fulfilled; it does not authorize us to arbitrarily identify every new political coalition as its fulfillment.

The four beasts represent four successive kingdoms: Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and, in the interpretation adopted here, Rome — show definition INF004.

The fourth power has a final phase represented by ten kings.

The little horn appears among them, opposes God, and persecutes the saints.

Its rule is limited to three and a half times, corresponding to 42 months or 1,260 days.

The New Testament takes up several of its characteristics in its descriptions of the final hostile power.

The Ancient of Days brings this rule to an end.

The Son of Man receives a kingdom eternal — show definition INF038.

The saints ultimately share in his reign.

Daniel 7 therefore does not present the triumph of the Antichrist — show definition INF265, but the certainty of its defeat and the definitive establishment of the kingdom of God.